Nom nom nom…

… Fluffies, …

 

 

 

… toes, …

 

 

 

 

 

… and ice-cream.

Yeahhhh Eloïse is crawling!

Finally! It took 10 months and 4 days but we got there...

Things are a bit wobbly, but it’s a start.

 

She’s also able to pull herself up pretty well now.

 

 

So I put this really cool Fisher Price toy in front of her to encourage her to practice. It’s colourful, makes fun sounds, and it moves around.

You’d think she’d have a bit of a play with it, but noooo… She completely ignored it, and made a beeline straight to my laptop’s power cable. She’s got a fascination for cables, shoes and anything she can stuff in her mouth. I think the playpen will get a good run for its money.

Happy 3rd birthday Nico!

Eloïse is 9 months, 2 weeks and 2 weeks old.

Nicolas turned 3 years on 29/10, and the Saturday after we celebrated it with cake.

We went for an under the ocean theme, and even though Nemo wasn’t here, his absence was overshadowed by the bouncy castle and the piece de resistance: a magnificent treasure chest cake, courtesy of the talented Margot.

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Note the rivets and the necklaces,
which I painstakingly shaped with my bare hands (lightly dusted with cornstarch)

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The bouncy castle was a hit. With the kids for obvious reasons, and with the parents who got to relax for once. Lucky I fit the maximum height and weight criteria

 

 

Eloïse well looked after by Helen

 

 

 

Ngaia was the first one to stick in, under Nico’s slightly worried look

 

 

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The kids congregated around the cake like grains of Piha sand to a magnet

 

 

Cameron, securely held back by Matt.

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Leo - with 1st and 2nd servings

 

 

 

Ngaia was squirreling some beads while Emily and Valerie were hopefully looking on (and learning).

 

Mackenzie had managed to secure a prime place - the seat closest to the cake

 

Cadeau time!

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Thomas loaded, check.
Pedals functioning properly, check.
Seat strong enough to withstand a cake-weighted bum, check.

Love where it’s due

Nicolas turns 3 in 4 days and Eloïse is 8 months and 3 weeks.
With Eloïse’s teething (she’s grown 2 bottom incisors in the last month) and our colds and sniffles, I’ve had even less sleep than I normally get so I’ve been feeling a bit grumpy miserable lately. However today Eloïse has been back to her normal smiley self, the weather is sunny and we’ve had a long week-end. Time to reset my mood back to where it should be, and recognise that despite the fact that I’ve had more than my share of washing to fold and less than my share of rest, I still love:

• Eloïse babbling away when examining a toy, a nappy, or yet another strand of my unceremoniously plucked hair.
• Eloïse beaming her gummy smiles and excitedly flailing her arms about at me for no reason other than the fact that I’m her mummy.
• Eloïse falling asleep peacefully in my arms, with or without drool on my top.
• Hearing children’s songs and rhymes mumbled sang even when the iPod is switched off. Sometimes out of tune, sometimes with the wrong words, but always recognisable.
  
  

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• Huggles, cuddles and snuggles
• Looking at Eloïse’s cot in the morning and seeing her stuffed toy poking over the edge of the cot while she happily lays there, playing.
• Nico bringing me flowers from the garden. Even though he sneaks out of the gate to pick them from Camilla’s garden.
• Nico coming to me for an injury and happily resuming his play after I’ve kissed him better.
• Nico coming to snuggle up in bed with us during the week-ends, after several trips to get his bear, and his lion, and his dog, and his sun, and his chicken, and whatever flavour of the month toy it is. This month, it’s the push-on Thomas the Tank Engine we got him for his Christmas almost 2 years ago.
• Nico helping me out by loading/unloading groceries when we go shopping. Spontaneously and sometimes over-enthusiastically…
• Papa reading books and making all the right noises.
• Rough and tumble after dinner time - with Nico on Papa’s shoulders, Eloïse in Maman’s arms, and Loki’s butt at the end of a boot.
• The kids playing together and giggles are heard throughout the house.
• Tickles and giggles, anytime and anywhere. We’ve made a few heads turn during our trips to Pak ‘n’ Save.

Rat in mi kitchen

Nicolas turns 3 in 5 days’ time. Eloïse is 8 months and 3 weeks.

One morning I woke up and there were no whispers of ‘Maman je veux Cocoa Pops’. So after the usual morning routine we all sat down for breakfast (Eloïse has now graduated to having cereal with us and seems to be enjoying it) and I then noticed the bowl of fruit I had left on the dining table. I’m pretty sure that we when turned off the lights the previous night there were three entire pieces of fruit and a full bowl of grapes.

 

 

 

There's a rat in mi kitchen what am I gonna do?
There's a rat in mi kitchen what am I gonna go?
~ UB40

Birthday invite

Address removed in case there are any 3 y.o. party crashers.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Another 2.5 weeks and Nico will be 3 years old. Eloïse is 8 months and 1 week old.

We went to Waiheke Island last week. It was going to be Tante Babiche and Oma, but a gastro bug meant that Oma had to stay away from us. While Bas later on caught the bug, the tadpoles and myself miraculously managed to escape unscathed. Probably due to him being quarantined in his own quarters.

We just wanted the trip to be an easy going, low key one, so we decided to stay on Matiatia Bay, unpack our sandwiches, pureed fruits and drink, and have a feast there.

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Much to the kids’ delight (and the seagulls’!), the seagulls finally came to our table so Nico could feed them. This took the trip to a whole new level and it could well have been their highlight of the day (the kids’, and the seagulls’).

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Ice-creams back in Auckland. Luckily for us, Eloïse fell asleep in the pram so we didn’t have to endure her burning glare for eating something yummy and not giving her any.

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The trip on the ferry was fun - Nicolas enjoyed looking at the boats and the sea (and other kids’ toys) and was very well behaved (a travelling parent’s best tools: iPod and food. You can even buy alphabet and number-shaped biscuits to call ‘educational’ and overcome the guilt of feeding them overly processed foods), and Eloïse distributed gummy smiles around like a politician with pamphlets before election week.

Ooo’s a clever girl den?

Today Eloïse is 8 months and 5 days old.

Since Monday I’ve been putting her on the toilet every so often, and just like Nico, she’s been taking the toilet very easily. What puzzles me this time round is that I actually didn’t get the chance to teach her to teach her the cues - pipi or caca beforehand, so I’m unsure as to what is prompting her to go when I place her on it. I’m thinking either watching her big brother (who is pretty used to having an audience by now), or just the sitting position, nappy off, might be enough.

What really helps this time round is the toilet seat that we got Nico. It certainly helps my back not having to hold her in an awkward position. When we have this down pat, hopefully at around 9 months, I’ll go for reusable nappies. What a shame I haven’t got MS Project installed on this laptop, it’s almost worth drawing up a project plan with milestones. No resources to help me out with this one though, unless Papa can help with the cueing via Skype. Which would be an entertaining sight from Brent’s desk.

Eloïse is now eating pretty much everything we eat (exceptions are honey, milk, nuts and anything unhealthy or that could cause choking). This means that I’ve seen the end of leaky nappies. This, combined with Nico learning to ask to go to the toilet before he pees (finally! 3 weeks short of 3 y.o.!) means that the wash load is dramatically decreasing. Life is good… Now to teach both of them to stop smearing food everywhere at meal times.

Art and music critics

Nicolas is 2 years and 11 months and Eloïse is 8 months old.

They have started to interact together quite nicely, Nico sometimes pulling faces and (more rarely) hugging Eloïse. Eloïse adores her big brother and is sure to break out in a fit of giggles when we chase him around the house.

In a typical sibling fashion, there is quite a bit of contention, especially when it comes to ownership. Last week I took out some paper and some felt pens and let Nico loose, under Eloïse’s supervision. What ensued was a bit of scuffling and argumentative monologue.

I normally have some kids’ songs playing during the day, and at meal times I switch to a selection of classical / easy-going music - so that Nico can focus on eating instead of waving his arms around and jumping on his chair to the tune of Mrs Bunny. Thursday evening there was some Tchaikovsky and I wondered, in my head, if it was from The Swan Lake or The Nutcracker. Then out of the blue Nico piped up and informed me that it was The Nutcracker. I felt somewhat ashamed of being out cultured by a 3 y.o…

Toilet training continues

Nico is 2 years and 10 months today. Yesterday he spent the whole day in underpants without making a mess anywhere - I was so proud, though this was mainly because I kept on reminding him throughout the day. I thought we still had some time to go before he’d finally decide to tell me when he wanted to go.

But this afternoon, I felt a major burst of pride when he said ''Maman je veux faire pipi…’ so I showered him with hugs and compliments and displays of affection.
Then he finished his sentence ‘… outside.’

Thanks, Loki, for showing the way.

Happy Father’s day Papa

… and thanks for the chocolate!

Wendy from Mainly Music gave us mugs with a sachet of Nescafé coffee creamer and a stick of Whittaker’s Chocolate to take home and give the fathers this Sunday. So this morning as Nicolas came upstairs and his dad took him to the toilet, I placed the cup and its contents on Bas’ pillow. Bas and I both had a late night so we took an extended snooze, with Eloïse and Nico wedged between us. When we got up, Nico’s mouth looked suspiciously messy and we couldn’t find the chocolate. We did find an empty wrapper.

Friday was Rebecca’s last day with us. Rebecca is a student nanny from The Nanny Centre and used us as her guinea pigs for 2 weeks. During this fortnight, she was to observe, learn and help. The kids, Nicolas in particular, loved having her there as she spent a lot of time with them, entertaining them with cuddles and activities.

 

Finger painting. I’m just glad that my iPod has got a protective cover.

 

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Making meringues from start to finish

 

 

 

Face painting (in case you’re wondering, it’s Nemo on each cheek)

 

 

Loki learning to be still. Bit of a difficult lesson for him.

 

 

 

At Butterfly Creek.
Eloïse was Miss Popular with the butterflies, at times even having two butterflies resting on her, one on each sleeve.

We went to Kelly Tarlton’s on Saturday. Nico loved the Penguin encounter (train rides and penguins, how much better can it get?) and of course watching Nemo (all three of him) and Dory in the tropical tank. Eloïse was also fascinated by the colourful tropical fishes and kept on reaching out to touch them.

Eloïse is now rolling around and sitting pretty well, able to pick up toys and books straight into her mouth before even observing them. Her big brother was in those rare sharing moods and brought her with all his foam blocks.

This evening in the shower, Nico spontaneously and oh so generously gave Eloïse a little plastic watering can. He also gave her a boat and I felt sooo proud of him. Then I noticed a funny innocent look on his face and that he was tightly holding onto his crocodile; he had successfully (and very cunningly might I add) diverted my attention onto other toys in the hope that I wouldn’t ask him to share his prized crocodile with his little sister.

We’ve started solids - stewed apple and pear were a resounding success, however meat is taking a bit more effort. Since Eloïse needs her iron, I had to outwit her. So her lunch and dinner now consist of 5 tbs stewed apple, 1/2 tbs meat and some formula. It stinks (I hate the smell of formula), and it’s apparently tasty!

I have decided not to express this time round, so that if Eloïse needs to be fed by someone else she’ll have to contend with formula. I can’t imagine a single bottle during an evening out hurting her immune system. My dairy cow impersonation days are over!!!

Nico is becoming a little music critic. He’s got his favourites (Jack in the box, Mrs Bunny, Little Peter Rabbit, 5 Cup Cakes, 8 In The Bed being the flavour of the month) which I’ve picked up from CDs borrowed at the library. I also borrowed the Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for myself, and lo and behold this afternoon he requested Swan Lake to be played.

 

 

One of those rare shots where Papa isn’t behind the camera. Nico had his arm around Eloïse’s shoulders.

 

Nico had kicked off his Crocs and was trying to put on Papa’s boots.

Nico is 2 years and 10 months and Eloïse is 7 months and 4 days old.

Attention span of a goldfish

I needed to go outside to pick up stuff from my car.

Loki rushes out after me.
Nico rushes out after Loki.

Nico excitedly yells “Je veux *mumblemumblemumble*! Je veux… je veux…”
Stops and looks at the fish.

When I got back inside, he was still looking at the fish.

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The alphabet…

… according to Nico, 2 years & 9 months old.

K for Cake

Q for Cucumber

R for Pirate (Arrr matey!)

S for Escargot

Feed meeeee…

Nico is 2 years and 9 months. Eloïse is 6 months and 4 days.

 

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Nico’s been dragging a cold for the last 2 weeks now. Today he only had half an apple for lunch, which meant that he had three servings of pasta (most of it was from my plate but it’s only a technicality) at dinner.

 

 

 

Eloïse has started solids. She loves pear and has been known to complain when Papa dares to take it away before she’s dismissed him.

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Rusks are also a great thing for her to nibble on. They are so hard that even Loki’s had trouble sinking his teeth into - I found one lying on the floor with canine tooth marks on either side.

 

 

 

Took her to the Plunket nurse today. 5.95kg, 62cm.

A week in the life

Monday

01:00 - Went to bed after dealing with an unsettled baby, a grotty partner and a snoring toddler. Breastfeed Eloïse, gave Bas his cough syrup and tucked Nico back in. Changed the bed sheets after Eloïse had a nappy failure.

10:00 - Took Eloïse to Wriggle & Rhyme, a SPARC initiative held at libraries for kids under 2 y.o.

17:50 - Cuddled, played and sang with Eloïse. Her favourite song of the month: This is the way the lady rides.

18:00 - Dinner at Oma’s. On the menu: fries and croquettes. Yummy!

Tuesday

10:30 - Nico refused to put his pants on after going to the toilet, wanting me to do it, so I just left him pants down and went to look after Eloïse which he was quite happy with till he wanted to watch the Dumbo DVD; so i told him to put his pants on first. Now he's running around with his pants back to front.

15:00 - Fastest toy clean-up ever. The bribe? Hairy Maclary (put on pause as a visual incentive).

20:00 - Ong Ngoài and Ba Ngoài got a fair share of smiles from Eloïse. Love Skype.

21:00 - Papa said that Nico can now button and unbutton his pyjamas by himself. Another thing on the milestone chart to tick off.

Wednesday

09:00 - Realised that Eloïse has spent the whole of yesterday without needing any clothes change. Would rejoice, but am afraid to jinx it.

9:30 - Lele from PAFT comes to visit. Nico shows off his train set and spelling skills (”K for Cake”) and Eloïse behaves like an angel.

13:30 - Late lunch. Nico hogged up all the cucumber in our Subways.

16:15 - Running late for kitchen tidy up & dinner prep. Cuddling Eloïse is much more of an enjoyable activity.

Thursday

07:45 - Woke up nice and rested. Eloïse slept through, yay!

09:15 - Running late for Mainly Music. After spending the last 15mins trying to persuade Nico to put his pants and his shoes on, then get into the car without getting distracted by cats, trains, food etc, I’m wondering if Nico isn’t a tiny bit intellectually disabled. Then I remember that he’s a male.

11:55 - Nico got a massive hug after telling me that he needed to pee. I did make sure that the hug was after he peed. Wouldn’t want to squeeze it out of him before he sits on the toilet. He must have heard me lamenting to Ange about him not being toilet-trained yet.

13:35 - Just did the maths. Today I trimmed 60 nails.

Friday

06:30 - Realised that Eloïse slept through the night again. If we can keep this up tomorrow morning, I’ll call it a winner.

10:30 - Bragged to poor Simone who had to wake up 9-10 times last night. Elijah is 7 months old, and his older sister only started sleeping through the night at 14 months so potentially she could have another 7 months to go. I hope that didn’t jinx me.

12:55 - Manage to escape the clutches of 2 little boys at the library whose parents were nowhere to be seen. Nico and I were minding our own business after story time, reading books, when they decided that kicking and throwing furniture around wasn’t so fun after being told off. So I read to 4 attentive boys and girl, who kept on bringing me piles of book to read despite being told that we needed to leave.

Saturday

02:00 - Nico had a fever so I gave him some Paracetamol. Then he wanted to pee. Then he wanted to kiss Loki goodnight. Papa was asleep on the couch, so grinning Nico was very happy to see him.

04:00 - Nico woke up, either uncomfortable because of the fever or because he had a bad dream. For the first time in ages, he got to sleep in Papa and Maman’s bed. I offered to get his bear, to which he agreed, so I got up again. Not 1 minute later, decides that he wants his giraffe too.

05:30 - Eloïse was unsettled. Breastfed her then got back to bed, completely forgetting about Nico. Headbutted him in the process. Yep. By the looks of it, my bragging to Simone just jinxed me.

08:00 - Realised that the whole family, bar Loki, managed to sneak into the bedroom: Papa, Maman, Nico, Eloïse, Naliah and Aïcha. Who needs a 3-bedroom house?

11:00 - Took Eloïse in a sling to Mangere market. I always forget how nice the people there are. She loved the sights, sounds and smells and was very excited, cooing all the way. I’m amazed at the number of people who offered to help me with my bags.

15:30 - We’re $370 poorer. Just bought a Safe-n-Sound Maxi Rider II booster seat for Nico. On 13 August we’ll need to give Eloïse’s capsule back to Plunket, so Nico will get a shiny new booster seat and Eloïse will take over his Safe-n-Sound Guardian car seat.

Sunday

12:00 - Happy 1/2 birthday Eloïse! Wow, 6 months already. She is so different from Nico (2 years, 9 months) when he was her age - chattier, more social, more tactile… Unfortunately she likes to explore by putting things in her mouth which is a worry. She isn’t rolling over yet unless Naliah is here to provide an incentive. The poor cat has had her skin and fur tugged by the fistful but has been taking it really well. Although Nico has learnt (“Oww Naliah”) to steer clear from her when she lies back and glares at him. One thing that Eloïse has in common with Nico is their love of food. She’s started having stewed apple and pear and absolutely loves it. They’ve been interacting quite well together. She seems to really love Nico, who has been very good at sharing his toys and books. He even took her hand and helped her touch a touch & feel book when we read a book before bedtime.

2:30 - Just tucked Nico into bed with Papa. Better not become a habit! Eloïse woke up for a feed.

4:45 - Eloïse woke up for another feed.

11:30 - Only 6 months into it and I’m already contemplating dropping breastfeeding. Papa, Nico and I all have a nasty cold and I’m the only one who can’t take medicine to relieve the cough. Add to that the energy it takes to breastfeed (I’ve just realised that with the exception of Bastiaan’s initial contribution, the entirety of Eloïse’s cells have been constructed and grown purely using my resources - quite an amazing process)…

12:50 - More maths - By the time I’m done breastfeeding Eloïse, I’ll have gone through about 5 continuous years of sucking it up and not being any to take any cold and cough relief.

23:55 - Papa went to check on Nico who’s got a fever, so once again back in our bed. Papa ended up sleeping on a mattress the floor so Nico wouldn’t overheat in between us. I realised that Nico snuggles up to me, which defeated the purpose of having Papa on the floor. I put a pillow between us after sitting up to see that I only had one metre of space.

Trip to Nouméa

On 18 May my grandmother on my mum’s side passed away. This brought to four the number of losses in our families since Eloïse’s birth; starting with my father’s mum, then Bastiaan’s grandmother, followed by his father.

So we headed off to Nouméa for the funeral and caught up with some of my family from France.

Pictures:

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2nd meeting with Bà Ngọai and Ong Ngọai

 

 

Spending some quality brother-sister time

 

 

 

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At the Baie des Citrons. The little water gun that he’s holding was scored at the Bilboquet Plage restaurant, when we ordered a kid meal. We noted that in overly PC New Zealand, this would never happen.

 

 

The typical New Caledonian “winter” - it was stinking hot for us.

 

 

When you’ve experienced proper pain au chocolat for breakfast, Sanitarium cereal is just so dull. Demonstrated here is a technique developed by Nico. 1) Start by eating the chocolate in the centre. 2) Offer the rest of the pain to Maman. 3) Ask for more.

 

At the Buddhist temple, offering a bit of relief to Bà Ngọai

 

 

 

Both Nico and Eloïse were fortunate enough to be at the temple to celebrate Lễ Phật đản (Buddha’s birthday), which we celebrated on 23 May.

 

 

 

 

 

With my uncle Minh, who adores kids.

 

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At the funeral procession.
Under Vietnamese tradition, blood relatives wear white gauze over clothes, a white headband, a white shirt and black trousers. Prior to the funeral procession, a lengthy ceremony held by a Buddhist Monk is held, followed by the wake. My grandmother was cremated so her ashes could be brought to a Buddhist temple in France. 100 days later our family will celebrate the ‘end of the tears’ ceremony.

 

The morning ritual was: wake up, eat have a baguette, a croissant or a pain au chocolat, feed the bunnies, feed the chickens, then check out the fishes. Rain or shine.

 

 

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At the Aquarium de Nouméa, which would be great if they had better labelling so we actually knew what we were looking at.

There’s a beautiful rockpool with coral, clown-fish, starfish, a sea turtle and a big fat hermit crab. There are also two dark rooms, one with nautilii and the other with colourful coral.

Nico was so excited, pulling me everywhere, that my fingers were sore in the evening.

 

 

 

Yo. ‘sup, man?

 

 

 

 

Papa could only stay 9 days as he had to go to Australia. He gets to have his own porter at La Tontouta airport.

 

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With Bà Ngọai and Ong Ngọai, waiting to go back to Auckland.

 

 

Without Papa’s presence, Nico was a handful. Trunki helped keep him busy and happy.

 

 

Travelling with a baby and a toddler is so much more difficult than with one child. If we were to do it again (which we will in December), here is my bare essentials checklist:

• Kids’ suitcase - we got a Trunki, which Nico loves to ride and pull along. In there were snacks, changes of clothes, nappies, wipes and change mats, cuddle toys, and things to entertain the kids with.
• Portable video file player - Papa’s iPod had Hairy Maclary and Maisy loaded on it. My iPod Nano had Spot the Dog. Invaluable as an entertainment centre, and I’m not ashamed to say it, as a bribe to get Nico to sit on his seat on the plane.
• Sun shade/tent - I didn’t want to carry around the Kindercot that we have, so I bought a Baby Moov anti-UV tent. Good when going to the beach as there isn’t much shade at midday.
• Paracetamol - Doliprane, Pamol, whatever the brand. As long as it brings the fever down. Nothing spoils a trip like a child who’s feeling miserable.