My Little Girl Growing Up

How is everybody? We are sending our big hellos from a very wet UK afternoon.
I also want to give my biggest congratulations to 9-6 mom for the birth of her gorgeous boy. Very proud of you sis!
And Madsaboutu, you are next. Very happy for you both.
(Although I can't help feeling envious. It could have also been me next in 4 weeks time if only miscarriage did not intervene last March).

Anyway, as my blog title says, my little girl is getting bigger and smarter. They just grow so quick, don't they?
A month before my little girl  turned 2, she can only utter a few words. There was not even a mum word yet.
I remember writing all her words in my cellphone to tell the health visitor of her progress on her 2nd birthday.
As soon as she turned 2, she was just unstoppable.
The words first became phrases then to proper sentences.
Gone are the book chewing but came the nights of book reading. When I say book, it means a dozen of books at bedtime.
Here is a video of my little girl at 27 months old.

She also amazed me knowing all her body parts although she had perfected it before her 2nd birthday. Here she is at 21 months old.

Next were the vegetables. At 27 months old she can already identify even the most difficult ones such as cauliflower, broccoli, aubergine, pumpkin and artichoke!

Next were the numbers. She not can only say/recite  from 1-14 but can identify/read  1-10. I am just gobsmacked!
As with the animals came the shapes,colour, fruits and all the pictures in her books.
She can also name not just herself but her parents, grandparents, home address, age, her favourite shows and food. (I have a video but just won't upload).
She is also showing an interest in singing. We caught her several times singing her favourite songs.
I am proud of her uttering perfectly the lyrics of 12345 Once I caught a  Fish Alive, Eency Weency Spider, Row, Row Your Boat,  Round the Garden and Baa Baa Black Sheep.
Her interest also extended towards dancing. She now attends a contemporary dance lessons every Saturday morning.
I am very proud of her (and myself!)  of her developments as she all just learned this at home. She never goes to a nursery group,  only playgroups 1-2/week during term time.

And, we are now into our 2nd week of potty training and progressing very well.
We are proud to say that we are a totally nappy free day for  10 days now.
Nappy time is only reserved  for bedtime and going out time - although my little girl still insists on the toilet use.

As soon as she turned 2, she quickly learned to inform us if there is something on her nappy.
We told her to try doing it on the potty but she always refuses so we waited.
Two months after, she would tell us before anything happens. Like warning us to get ready. But still refuses the potty when offered.

A month after,  as soon as her nappy was wet or soiled, she gets irritated when it is not changed quickly, so we know she is in fact very ready.
She can even hold off  a wee so we know it is definitely the time for toilet training.

But as everybody would often say - every child's development is different so I did not stress on rushing her with the toilet training.
And I've learned not to compare my child with other children based on mother's stories(sometimes exaggerated)  because it will only leave me feeling inadequate and useless as a mother.

Then at 31 months old, the time has finally arrived.
With the help of  Mothercare's training pants - Mickey Mouse and Upsy Daisy of course!, the Mickey Mouse potty has finally been put into use.
And she eases into it quickly. She only used training pants for a week then switches to proper knickers in just a weeks time of potty training.
She can control her bladder and runs to her potty on her own. Pull down her pants and pull it up after.
Bedtime,  even with a nappy on, she still wants to use the potty and calls for it   as soon as she wakes up in the morning so we are left with an almost very dry nappy.

We went to playgroup last Tuesday and she was on a Huggies pull ups.
Moments later, she tells me she wants to do a wee. I told her she can do it in her nappy as she's wearing one, but no, she wants to go the toilet. And that was the first time she sat on the  grown up toilet seat  and performed her deed. Again, amazed and  very proud of her. And so was during shopping yesterday.

We seem very successful in the wee department.
The pooing is a different story.
She still could not do it in the potty and runs to her room to get a nappy and goes mad telling me to put it on her.
But just like refusing the potty at first, I know it will take time and I know it won't be long till we can totally get rid of the nappy.

At least we've done the first half of the toilet training and we are not far from finishing it.
After all, we are still on our second week!

And at 31  months old weighing 32 lbs and measuring 89 cms (just  2 cms. short  from 3 feet) my little girl is indeed growing up. So grown up that I get more attached to her.
Just this morning, I lacked  the courage of sending her away with her grandparents to a weekend getaway in Somerset.
We are attending a sponsored charity ball  with a provided hotel accommodation in Birmingham tomorrow evening. Yet,  despite  knowing the fact  she would only be away from us  for 2 nights only  (as we are picking her up Sunday), and she is in a very good, trusted hands, I still could not warm up to the idea of being away from her.
I was so stressed I could hardly sleep last night. I am scared if something bad happens to her, I just could not forgive myself.
So, for 2 years in a row now, we've cancelled again on the charity ball. At least last year we were stuck in the Scottish highlands - which is about 11 hours drive away!
But  I am happy to have cancelled on it again. I may miss the ball fun but surely, I am more than happy and relaxed in the company of my little girl.
Thankfully, I did not buy any new dress or a pair of shoes, otherwise it would be a different story!

Happy weekend everyone!

Sunny Saturday

Finally, we have  a break today from the dreadful weather!
Oh what a joy to have blue sky and sunshine instead of the gloom and wet we have had for the past weeks. It is 15C today of just pure sunshine.
No wind too. Just lovely.

Our day started  very early.
At 4 am I woke up to a very loud thud. Little Girl had  fallen out of bed! She cried of course but only for a few seconds then went back to sleep.
The worrier in me was the one who could not go back to sleep after.
So I scooped her up and put her in our bed. Waited for Dearest Husband to woke up and then the re arrangement began.

This was how her room used to look like. The bed was in the middle.

This is because I have to accommodate her Hello Kitty play house.
It is just so space consuming and no matter where you put it, it really affects the room's space however small or big it is.
This used to be in her playroom downstairs but it helped her feel at ease in moving to her bedroom hence it has to stay.

And this is now the new arrangement. I just really hope this will work this time now as one side is close to the wall.  A friend also advised to get a bed rail guard.

I have to put back the kitchen and piano toys in the playroom.
The play house stayed  and the the  natural brown changing table which I use as a book case now is placed at the foot of her bed.

This is not the only re arrangement we have done. We also did the same to the stair gates downstairs.
We have a total of 5 in this house.:  2 in the second floor (1 at 2nd floor landing  to stop her going to the 3rd  floor and the other 1 to stop her going to the ground floor).
The other 3 were all in the ground floor:   1 to prevent her going to the kitchen, 1 in the hallway to stop her going to the front door and 1 in her play room.
Her playroom is just next to the stairs.  Now, we removed both the one in the hallway and the one in the the playroom and just put one instead at the bottom of the stairs.
It is much better. She can just come and go to her playroom from the  living room and back without me worrying her climbing up the stairs.

 I have also noticed these past few days that the summer bulbs are already starting to come out while the spring flowers are already finished for this year.

Some of my back garden flowers already springing to life.


At about half past 3pm I told Dearest Husband I wanted to go out.
It seems such a waste to just stay at home and do nothing when the weather outside is just beautiful.

Here we are on our outfits of the day:

Wearing a long sleeve K&D  London top

  Fossil black cross body bag both from my shopping last week

Carvella black ankle boots

H&M Sqin jeans in dark denim blue

a very old Giordano belt.

Although I soon realized after I could have just  worn  instead some open toed heels or a maxi dress, or anything summery for that matter. The weather was just really lovely.

Taking a picture of Little Girl was such a challenge. Here are my few attempts.

Little Girl wearing a Mothercare sleeveless dress 

Pumpkin Patch white tights

Clarks  purple shoes

We went to Touchwood Shopping Center in Solihull.
We made the most out of the 2 hours still left on the mall's opening hours.
Little Girl was with me when we went to different shops.
She would always refuse to stay in her stroller and loves walking around and trying on all the shopping.
But most often, she also loves lying on the flower, playing hide and seek, going to the lift to press the buttons so I definitely could not concentrate on my shopping.
I have to give her back to her dad who is waiting for us at a coffee shop.

while patiently waiting for mummy to come back from her shopping.

I did not have much time left to check all the shops.
I just went straight to Zara, Gap and H&M.
There was nothing that appealed to me at Zara and the black maxi dress at Gap was not too convincing either.
In the end, I settled for these jeans at H&M. It is the same with the one I am wearing on the above picture only on different colours.

H&M jeans from their Sqin collection.  Low waist skinny jeans in black and white colour.  They are only £9.99 each.

I am not one of those who are very particular with only wearing a designer jeans or tops. I am more with the fit and comfort. And as I wear jeans most of the time, replacing/adding some more won't be financially challenging.  

Back in the Philippines I am a fan of the Bench jeans. There were several instances before  in my trips abroad (Paris and Las Vegas) wherein I was often asked about my jeans and where to get it from. I could not help but smile as a pair would only cost Php 700.00 (or about £10.00 at present conversion) . 

And this was back in 2006.

 Nowadays, I am into H&M and Dorothy Perkins jeans. I still go to Levi's occasionally.  
Shoes and bags are a different story of course. 

I sincerely wish the sunshine would still be with us tomorrow. 
I still have more loads of washing to do. And I want a beautiful day out with Little Girl somewhere she can really enjoy.
Good night everyone.

The Tale of Little Girl's Sleeping Accommodation

I announced in  my Facebook yesterday that my Little Girl has finally slept in her own bed in her own bedroom. She  finally made the long overdue move. This may not be a big deal to some but to us it was a very big moment. We have waited and struggled for this for a long time.  Although this wasn't any fault of her own. I take all the blame. I've been putting off the move, for months. It was a big undertaking on my part. The first 6 months were understandable. It was also the recommendation. But as I was exclusively breastfeeding her (and she asked to be fed almost every 2 hours up to her 9th month) I found it too inconvenient to move her to her room while I would get up several times at night to feed her, hence her sleeping in our room. Plus I also breastfed her until she was 17 months so this gave me the further excuse to just let her stay in our room. But as soon  she was weaned off, we were already in the stage where moving  had become really challenging.  Don't get me wrong, there were times she slept in her room but I would end up putting her back in our room because I lost a lot of sleep. I would keep  checking on her although there was really no need. I was just being so anxious . Or should we say I just could not really let go of my Little Girl.

The  nursery room  I lovingly decorated while pregnant with her was never used

As she slept in our bedroom since her first night at home.

Our room has been re arranged several times to accommodate her.

From crib/moses basket days to big cot days -  which started  about her 2nd  month as she  outgrew her moses basket so quickly.

the cot was really next to my side of the bed

But I did try to move her into her own bedroom.

and  back again to our bedroom after a few days.It became a cycle- asking Dearest Husband to put her cot in her bedroom or in our bedroom and unsurprisingly, he eventually got fed up or should I say exhausted of the assembling/dis assembling. He let the cot stay in her room. I can totally understand. It is not easy to move a cot from one room to another.

We let her slept in a travel cot instead. We thought this would just be for the time being until she would move to her bedroom. Of course it didn't happen right away as what we originally wanted.

And as she got older, it has just gotten more difficult. She would even want to sleep in our bed. Although we never let her and as soon as she's asleep we would put her in her cot. She may be sleeping with us in our bedroom until she was 26 months old  but she never slept with us in the bed. I would not even breastfed her in the bed before for fear of sleeping over her.

And then one day, I finally told Dearest Husband that it  was  about time. I was very ready by then.  This was when she was turning 2 years old. By that time, her cot  (in her room) was already a toddler bed (dropped the sides down as it's a cot bed at the same time)  but she  would not  sleep there. We even sort of camped in her bedroom (by putting a mattress on the floor) just to let her feel she was not alone. Those were nights of struggles,  so finally exhausted,  just let her  carry on sleeping in our bedroom.

Her new bedroom was just waiting for her.  I have had spent time moving and redecorating  her room. Her nursery room before was a smaller one and was across ours. The present one is bigger and just next to ours.  I spent days redecorating her  new room with the Disney Princess theme. I did all the wallpapering myself and the Wall Mural was the hardest part. It came in 12 parts and I have to make sure that they were all pieced together correctly in all its sides.

 And just last weekend, we finally bought her a grown up single size bed. I thought it might help in the moving aspect. And true enough , she immediately warmed to it. She spent her first night soundly asleep and when she woke up in the morning, she did not cry,  just went to our room and  climbed into the bed with us. Although I have to admit I was the one who was very apprehensive. I checked her several times. Even tried  sleeping beside her. In the end, I just left her bedroom door and ours half open and  put on the baby monitor. I was being so silly!! And since then on, she just settled into her new sleeping accommodation so quickly as if she has been sleeping there for months now.

And it just felt so good to have finally our bedroom back to ourselves after a very long 27 months! (as we have of course arranged and put her crib beside our bed before she arrived).

from this - with the travel cot on the side

to this!!!

Anyway, I have to sleep now. And as of this writing, my Little Girl is already in dreamland asleep in her own bed in her own bedroom!! Now, what was that  fuss all about in moving to a new room? I  couldn't be any prouder.

Shoes ... and more Shoes! For the Ever Growing So Tiny Feet!

Today, I found Little Girl in her bedroom and I wasn't surprise to see clutter everywhere.
There were shoes everywhere.  
I kept all her outgrown shoes ( in its packaging as much as possible - box and receipt together)  at the bottom drawer of her wardrobe.
I think I need to put all of them  now somewhere else - out of her sight and most of all out of her reach!
She is now into the stage of opening cupboards, drawers and doors.
 I just  need to put things now as high as possible.

I was putting all the shoes back in order when I noticed this pair of shoes - this was Little Girl's  first proper shoes and it was 15March 2011  when she had her first proper shoe fitting (thankfully the receipt was there to remind me) at our local Blunts Shoes.

Clarks Smokey Brown Shoes, Size 3 1/2 F

I then realized when I look at the collection of shoes in front of me the number of pairs the Little Girl  have had amassed in the past 12 months - a total of 21 pairs of shoes so far!  (these excluding the 3 pairs  I've left in the Philippines last Christmas while we were on  our lovely, sunshiny holiday and the 3 pairs of bigger sizes I have bought for her in advance).
That would be an average of 2pairs/month for such tiny pair of feet.
With the rate that she's going, Dearest Husband has to work doubly hard to finance this shoe extravaganza.

Join me as we look at Little Girl's shoe collection and where she had worn them.

•  Her very First Proper Shoes were she mostly wore it establishing her walking.

Clarks Smokey Brown Shoes, Size 3 1/2 F 

•  First Summer Sandals

Clarks Fun Time Hot Pink Leather UK size 4F

Which she wore to Summer 2011'  very few warm, sunny, dry days

•  First Trainers:

Hello Kitty Gracie Mid Pink UK size 6

Which she wore on her First Scotland Holiday. Here's the Little Girl at the Sun Deck of The Royal Yacht Britannia

And also on her First Trick or Treating

• First Wellies:

Barratts Blue Hearts Love Wellies UK size 4

•  First Holiday Sandals which I had to persuade the sales lady at John Lewis to check their stockroom for any  unsold sandals her size left over from Summer. 

Clarks Leather Sandals UK size 6F

Which she wore on our Christmas 2011 Philippine Holiday

• And this was supposed to be her First Holiday Sandals, unfortunately I didn't anticipate her tiny feet could grow that quick!

Hush Puppies  Mac Pherson on Lime Green UK size 5.5

Which I let her wore when we had a very unusual high temperature at the start of Autumn

• Of course there were other shoes she got which she wore to several places: 

At Buckingham Palace wearing a  Clarks Star Love Brown Leather Shoes UK size 5F

Following pictures showing little Girl in her Clarks Pink Leather Shoes UK size 4 1/2F

Blenheim Palace

Stonehenge

And on her very First Barrio Fiesta in London

I  stopped buying Little Girl half sizes shoes as soon as her walking was established. I just didn't find it practical esp. as she only get to wear a pair of shoes for about 6 weeks - and off to the next size. If the shoes still a bit lose, then a thicker  tights would help or in the case of Wellies,  the welly socks!

First Boots, a brown UK size 6

• Little Girl on Her First Snow:

Kiddorable Pink Wellies UK size 7

• And these are her current favourites: Little Girl's shoe size is now UK 7. 

Clarks Shoes with Flashing Lights UK size 7F

Hush Puppies Tall Suede Boots UK size 7

I have already bought Little Girl, a  new set of  shoes in her next size:

Both from Clarks Shoes, UK size 8

Joules Junior Welly Girls UK size 8

And to think these are just on her First year in wearing Proper Shoes!!

Had enough of shoes now, just wants to wish everyone a very Happy Weekend and a Very Happy Mother's Day for Sunday  to British Mummy Bloggers who happen to pass by  this blog of ours.