Funny thing - after all the running around this morning my friend ended up getting a baby sitter so little Rama never came with her and the high chair wasn't needed.  O'well it was an awesome lunch and great company.

I recently missed a good friends birthday and to make it up to her my sister and I decided we would like to take her somewhere really nice for lunch - it is important to point out that she has a 1 1/2 year old little boy.

As I work in West Perth it made sense to organise it somewhere local. 

I am extremely dissapointed in the so called fine dining restaurants in West Perth, I have called all of them this morning and not one that is open on a Monday have a high chair on site.

These restaurants advertise that they cater for weddings and all kinds of functions - how can this be with no high chairs on offer.

Now I understand that they are catering for the business market but wouldn't it make sense to make it easy for a wife, husband or friend to visit someone working in West Perth and have a nice lunch?

I am disgusted and dissappointed and we have taken our business to Subiaco.

Some friends of ours came over for an early dinner with their 3 1/2 year old son. Normally the two mums and the kids meet up during the week so it was unusual to have them all over and in our house. I had been prompting Mia all weekend that her friend Jaxon was coming to visit and that he would be sharing some of her toys but wouldn't be taking them home.

She must have understood as she would then repeat back to me that Jaxon was her friend and he was coming to play. Both kids played really well together with only one small incident over the cash register but that was quickly sorted.

I know Jaxon had a good time as he didn't want to go home at the end of the night. He is a great kid and I get such a kick out of watching Mia play with other kids. It makes me a little sad that she doesn't have a brother or sister.

We are not a regular at Yum Cha but this morning we had been invited to celebrate a friends birthday at a chinese restaurant in Northbridge. Not giving much thought to the type of food on offer we all bundled into the car to join the rest of the celebration.

We arrived a little late due to my bad judgement in parking and some dishes were already on the table. We gave Mia a steamed pork bun, prawn dumpling and spring roll to try but she wasn't interested in any of it. It was difficult to decide on something she would actually like, we ended up ordering some fried rice which again she wasn't interested in until the sweet stuff came out. She was told she had to finish her bowl of rice before she could try anything else. Funnily enough she ate that bowl of rice very quickly. Her favourite sweet item was the soy bean paste thing (no idea of it's true name).

We had taken a number of things to keep her entertained during the meal but she got the most enjoyment out of crawling under the table with her barking dog and keeping Hugh (the birthday boy's 15 month old son) entertained.

The morning was finished off with a coffee (baby cino) at cafe around the corner.

Will post some photos as soon as I work out how.

It has been a while since I posted an entry.  This is mostly due to me wanting this blog to be predominantly about the life and times of Mia.  I work on Wednesdays and Thursdays so see her for such a short period of time and this Friday being my day off was a little unusual with Mia spending the day with my mum before them having her overnight.  So until today there was nothing much to write about.

It was a hard day for Mia today constantly in and out of the car but to her credit she was really good.  We met up with my mum for breakfast at McDonalds.  A little cold for playing outside but she was more than happy to go into the play area and chat to the man washing the windows.  It is so good that McDonalds now sell toast.  I don't mind heading there for breakfast especially the one we visit which is also a McCafe.  The best way to start the day is a Late' and a piece of fruit toast.

Backed up breakfast with an hour at the gym, Mia goes into the creche which she loves.  Not sure what she likes the most in their but whenever I go to pick her up afterwards she is always happily playing either with the dolls or playdoh.  Today it was playdoh and it was a little struggle to get her to leave.

It was a quick trip home to get showered and changed before heading out again to take my mum to a job interview.  Mia threw a spanner in the works by saying she wanted to go to sleep - it was only 11.30am.  I compromised let her have a bottle of milk and put a DVD on in her room whilst I got myself organised.  By the time my mum arrived to leave Mia was also ready to go, she must of just needed a rest.

With mum in her interview I took Mia to a toy store in Subiaco, it is a great store, almost like a big shed filled to the brim with toys.  I wanted to buy Mia some dinosaurs to add to her animal collection.  We ended up with 2 dinosaurs, and 3 pigs (a mummy, daddy and baby - if you ask Mia).  Daddy is a little concerned that the daddy pig has teets. 

Less than three weeks until our trip away and we are both starting to get a little excited.  Mia's new jacket is hanging in her room and everytime we go in there she points to it and comments that it is for the snow.  I am excited for my own reasons.  Catching up with my best friend for a week is something we have never had the opportunity to do.

A friend of ours recently got married and moved to Waroona to live with her husband, she is now also pregnant and due on christmas day so we don't get to see her all that often.  It is a long drive to the city.  She spent this weekend in Perth so we caught up with her for breakfast this morning at one of our favourite haunts (Farrells Vic Park).

It is always hard taking Mia to breakfast I never know what to order.  If I order her something different from the rest of us she wants what we are having, if I order her the same she wants something different.  If you order her eggs she wants toast, if you order toast she wants fruit.  If I don't order her anything and assume she will share mine then she eats so much I go hungry if I do order her her own meal then she hardly eats a thing.  You can't win.

Thankfully this morning the 3 adults all ordered the same thing (Bircher Museli) so I ordered Mia the Junior Farrells (sausage, bacon, eggs, tomato and toast) so that she could have a little of everything.  Of course she ate mostly Bircher Museli with a small amount of sausage so the three of us shared her meal also.

After breakfast she went on a train trip with her Aunty Jodie to the city.  Jodie is always complaining that she never gets to spend time with Mia by herself as the grandparents are always stealing her away on the weekends.  Reports that came back were all good, she was very well behaved and no accidents. 

Ngala once told me that it is a great reflection on a parent if your children are well behaved with other people even if they are a nightmare with you.  It means that they feel comfortable enough in your love to push the boundaries but have learned good behaviour and take that when they are away from you.

She came home with a new bananas in pyjamas ball.  Jodie had taken her to the toy department at Myer to choose a present.  She showed her nearly everything and she chose the ball.  It just goes to show that gifts dont have to be huge and expensive to make a child happy. 

There is a new injury that no one seems to know where it came from.  She has a cut on her finger that bled and now sports a bandaid.  I know it hurts because even some icecream wasn't going to make it better.

It was a freezing morning today but we braved it to take Mia to the zoo.  It is a favourite outing of Mia's and we try to take her at least once every couple of weeks.  I have been taking her since she was a baby with friends and their older kids utilising the zoo friends membership (see advice Zoo Membership).

We always have the same routine when we go, first stop coffee and juice before setting out to check out the animals.  Mia had the choice today of what we saw first and she chose the tigers.  They were on full display eating and prowling around.  A gentleman taking photos seemed to know alot about them and said that two of the tigers are due to mate this year.  The zoo may try to produce babies for the christmas season.  Did you know that tigers are only pregnant for 3 months, how great is that.  The girl samutran tiger on display was one of 3 babies, her two brothers are now at the Melbourne Zoo in Victoria and England.

The monkeys followed the tigers and again we were treated to a great display, Mia loved the older monkey who sat right up against the window, she was saying hello and blowing him kisses before we moved on to the nocturnal house.  Now this is the first time I have been in there since I used to take Mia as a baby to get her to sleep.  It scared Mia, the darkness, so we didn't linger long, besides you couldn't really see much, a mouse here and there and a bilby which I haven't seen unless it is made of chocolate at Easter time.

After the return home and a small sleep we took Mia to the DVD store to select some DVD's.  Anything we picked out she wasn't interested in so we let her choose her own.  We came away with A Bugs Life and Teletubbies.  Has anyone seen Teletubbies, what a joke.  They have taken over as the most annoying DVD in this house after Brum. 

Thankfully as I type this we have settled in to watch A Bugs Life, far more interesting!

Today is the day I realised that my child is no longer the baby but she is now the big kid.

There is a small play area in a shopping centre close to us that a friend and I have frequented fairly well since our kid were babies.  It gave us the opportunity to sit for half an hour have a coffee and a chat whilst the kids were entertained.......often particularly during the school holidays bigger kids would come to the play area and we used to complain amongst ourselves that the parents should have taken their kids somewhere else as the little ones were being knocked over.

It has been a long time since we have been to this area but we headed their today after our coffees.  And oh my god it was our kids tearing around knocking over the little ones.  They were both half a foot taller than the rest of them and I could see the looks on the other parents faces as they were fearful for the safety of their babies.

We only stayed long enough for each of us to run into Cotton On for Kids to buy a couple of things - skinny jeans and pink ugg boots for Mia.  Very cute and then high tailed it out of there before either child did any permanent damage.  Of course convincing Mia that it was time to go well that is a whole other story which ended at home with the biggest tantrum I have seen Mia throw.

All sorted and she is now fast asleep.  Time to clean up the house and do the washing.

A whole day at day care not one accident.  Yes that's right people Mia came home in the same pants that she went to day care in.  This is a great day in the Giles Family.

and forgot to say that the toilet training is going well.  Mia tells me when she needs to go and we go, except for yesterday at the play ground where she stood on top of the play equipment yelling out almost proudly "mummy I done poo poos in my pants".  Of course I had two options grab her and work out how to change her or pretend she wasn't mine.

Just kidding it was an event in itself and a reminder to carry scissors with me at all times, much easier to cut messed up undies off than pull them down.

Anyway just an update.

Nothing like spending time at a park along the South Perth foreshore.  As my sister said when she moved here there is just so much sky in Perth.  And she is right.  Have you ever noticed just how big the sky is here in comparison to other cities.  And on a 21C day (yesterday) it is magnificent. 

Of course the bright idea I had of taking some sausages to the park for a BBQ lunch and to drag some friends along wasn't all that thought out, just something I felt like doing in the morning.  I completely forgot about school holidays.  What are 14 years olds doing tearing around a childrens play ground anyway.

Normally I don't have to keep too much of eye on Mia at a playground, she is confident in her abilities and knows what she can and can't do.  So whilst her and her friend Tyler ran off the rest of us settled on a blanket and got ready to BBQ.  5 minutes later a strange lady was carrying a screaming girl over to where were were sitting.  It took a couple of seconds to realise that it was my daughter she was carrying.  The lady said she had fallen off the slide.  After I got her to calm down a little and checked out her face she had a fat lip.  She looked so sad when she pointed to it saying "lip hurts mummy".   

Given the amount of kids on the playground I wasn't convinced she had actually 'fallen' off the slide. She has been going on slides since she could walk but I wasn't about to argue with the lady who delivered her to me.  Much later when we were home, Richard asked her if someone had pushed her and she said no but then she said someone scared her.  That made a lot more sense.

The BBQ was great, nothing like BBQ sausages with fresh bread and sauce.  The kids loved it, we loved it and but then were all very tired and ready to go home.

I never would have believed that a child so young can have a favourite song that isn't a nursery rhyme or a Wiggles Song.  But it has happened.  Take A Chance on Me (ABBA). 

Ever since Mia was first born, in fact my whole life I have always had a big sing along in the car.  The invention of an ipod has been my saving grace as I sometimes get a little annoyed at the level of ads and chat on radio, so with my ipod I can sing uninterrupted.  I have rarely sung in front of anyone but if you can't sing in front of your infant child then who can you sing in front of.

I sing along to whatever interests me at the time and sometimes I repeat the same songs if it looks like Mia is bopping along in the back or trying to sing along to.

I noticed fairly early on that the tunes of ABBA were a favourite and it wasn't long before she would ask for Take A Chance On Me again once I had played it.  We would sometimes only play that song over and over again for the whole car ride. 

She now asks for it as soon as we get in the car and Richard told me tonight that she asked for it in his car.  We will have to put it on his ipod asap.

Another successful day.  Mia just spent the last 30 hours with mum and dad and also had a very successful time.  We had a small accident tonight when Aunty Jodie was using the bathroom and Mia needed to go, but other than that all good.

So week 1 down and we are ready to head into week 2.

Mia is such a good sharer normally but I am beginning to think this is because she is normally the younger / smaller kid in the room.  Tonight we had some friends over who have a 16 month old son Hugh and Mia did not want to share.  Everything he touched she wanted.  She wasn't mean or pushing him around, she would just calmly take the toy away from him.

To make life easier we ended up all sitting in Mia's room playing with everything - that way both of them had plenty to keep them occupied and we didn't have to worry about running interference.

I guess Hugh will grow up and learn to give as good as he gets.

Mia had a great cubby house in the backyard that we bought her for her 2nd birthday.  She uses it alot but usually it is just going in and then out, in and then out rather than actually playing in there.

Dad came around this morning to help finish my new washing line which brought us all outside.  I wasn't paying that much attention to Mia but did notice that she kept going in and out of the house.  Next thing we could here her from the cubby house yelling out "once upon a time" followed by "I'm reading a story daddy".  It was so cute,  she had gone inside to get some books and teddy and them all neatly lined up inside her cubby house.

She was reading to teddy but yelling I am certain to make sure we didn't miss out on story time either.

When dad was finished he took Mia home and will bring her back before her sleep tomorrow.  She happily packed her things including her fridge and said her goodbyes.  It used to be hard to let her go as she was cry that she didn't want to go and then would be fine as soon as we were out of eye shot.  Now she happily goes with Pappa and waves goodbye to mummy and daddy without a tear.  I guess she now knows that she will be coming back.

A nice rest for me today after a few too many drinks at our work's mid year function last night.

Mia and I joined some friends for our weekly coffee at Gloria Jeans.  I was a little nervous as they don't have their own toilet and it was quite a hike to the nearest one.  Realising I can't let this training business restrict us we went fully armed with a change of clothes, plastic bags, wipes etc.  We tried on the toilet before we went and again once we had left.  Pleased to report no accidents.

We rarely take Mia out for dinner, other than to friend's houses.  In fact I cannot remember the last time we took her out for dinner.  Now breakfast and lunch is common practice.  So after picking Mia up from day care today and finding out she had a 2 hour sleep (unheard of at day care - 40min is the norm and hour if we are lucky) I made the decision to attempt a dinner outing.

Now Japanese is my favourite food and there is a cute little cafe in Vic Park called Koto Japanese that does a sensational Bento Box.  Mia loved the idea of going to dinner, she proudly showed teddy to the lady behind the counter as we placed our order and chose where we were going to sit.  She was very chatty, again unusual for that time of night and after day care.

When the food arrived she tried in vein to use her chop sticks but sadly ended up going back to the fork.  We shared our Bento Box which is a good variety for her to choose from (rice, salad, teriyaki beef, sushi)  I think she felt like quite the grown up.  Aunty Jodie and Daddy finally joined us as we were half way through our meal. 

It was finished off with a baby chino which could explain the accident in daddy's car.

Good news, we successfully went out for dinner with Mia and the only accident was on the way home in daddy's car.  Funny from my point of view but no so from his.  No way we could have guessed that after going to the toilet successfully that she would then need to go again 10 minutes later on a 5 minute car ride.

The better news was she had another successful attempt when she got home.  Seems like we are almost there but don't want to jinx it just yet.

Mia's imagination never ceases to amaze me, she has an ability to make believe her own little world whether it is taking daddy shopping, making dinner or hiding from the crocodile that seems to follow us where ever we go.

If we are at home we have to hide because the crocodile will find us, if we are shopping we have to hurry and get into the car or the crocodile will bite us. 

She seems to get great amusement out of this crocodile game, I thought it all sounded a little scary.

I believe the crocodile came from a friend of hers but she is certainly running with it.

 

Today was the 2nd day care day nappy free.  I am pleased and proud to report only one accident for the whole day.  She is a legend and of course she gets that from me.....ha ha!

I am new to this world of Minti and those who know me particularly well will know the competitive streak within my personality. I have learned recently that there is a ranking of members within the site and I figure I need to use the site more to increase my ranking.  One of these uses which I have never done before is post advice.  Now initially I was a little shy at giving advice, I mean who am I a mother of one living in Perth and still learning every day how to bring up my child - who would listen to me.

But the longing to increase my ranking from 100+ made me think long and hard about some advice I could give to other parents out there. I finally came up with the idea that I should write about the things that have worked the best for me. So this afternoon I lost my virginity and posted my first advice.

When logging in tonight I received an award for first vote. I was very excited to receive this award (I know sounding very sad right about now) and told Richard about it. I quickly tried to see if my ranking had increased and noticed Richard laughing. When I asked him why he was laughing he told me he had made the vote.............although I appreciate his vote i kind of lost my excitement............

Won't stop me posting advice though, hope I can help at least one parent out there.

It has taken a long time but finally Mia enjoys the art of having coffee.  Now before you all freak out at a 2 1/2 year old having coffee it is only baby cino (milk lightly flavoured with chocolate).  I have been guiding her through the coffee ettiquette for some time, this usually results in cino all over the floor and table, loud squealing (coupled by dirty looks from other patrons) and general crazy behaviour.

I usually take Mia out for coffee (one of my favourite past times) at least twice per week.  Always to the same place so we have become quite the regulars.  In fact I treat this particular coffee shop as our second lounge room.  The staff love her whatever mood she is in but today she was particularly gorgeous. 

We went to the local newsagent first and both chose our respective magazines - me the latest parents magazine and Mia chose a Cars magazine (based on the new movie).  We arrived at the coffee shop placed our order and read, chatted and drank our coffees.  Strange, almost like having coffee with a friend.

How good is it that we can spend this time just us and enjoy it so much.

Does anyone elses children have the look the drives you crazy?  It is the look that says I know what I did was wrong and I know what you want me to do but because I am stubborn and defient and testing the boundaries I am not going to do it.

I was faced with this look tonight after an argument about getting organised for a shower.  After a few time outs I sent Richard in (we have an agreement that whoever starts the discipline finishes it unless the starter is about to loose his/her cool)  I went to brush my teeth and calm down a little.  Not long after a sheepish Mia came to see me closely followed by Rich.  He asked her what was she going to say to mummy and she just looked at me with this look.  If I can capture it in a photo I will.

It took some time for her to finally say sorry mummy but I am sure she thinks she won the battle and she would be right.  I had to look away to keep from laughing, she looked so grown up and definant, really coming into her personality.

I forsee many fireworks with my little angel but I would rather her have personality than none at all.

Not such a successful day at day care.  2 accidents in the morning followed by a request by Mia to put a pull up on this afternoon.  The day care ladies say to keep perservering and that to continue will nappies will just confuse her.  So tomorrow morning we start again.  A new day dawns, the days washing is complete and raring to go.

Today was all hands on deck to help putting up our new clothesline and generally cleaning up our back yard.  Mia was on hand to help Pappa install the poles for the new line and used her dust pan and brush to help sweep up the dropped leaves from our very annoying Jacaranda tree.

We have tried toilet training in the past, approx 6 months ago when Mia started to ask to use the toilet.  We had a few successful attempts but it all just got too hard.  Mia consistantly tells us now when she needs to go or just after she has been so we decided today to try again.  I think the key is to just bite the bullet and give it a go, if it doesn't work over a week give it a rest and try again.

Well thats the system I am going to work with.  So today we were 2 for 4, 2 in the toilet and 2 out.  Not a bad start.  In both missed instances she did try to get there in time but no such luck.  She is very excited about wearing knickers and likes to choose the colour she is going to wear. 

Stay tuned, for the next week it will be nappies only for sleep time and knickers for the rest of the time.  Will let you know how we go.

I think Mia may have woken on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  She was up a little earlier than normal (after 7am is normal) and decided to push the boundaries for most of the day.  In hind site we should have stayed at home or at least done something a little more child friendly.

Instead we headed to our weekly coffee and breakfast at Gloria Jeans followed by a trip to the city to look for a birthday present for Rich. 

Getting side tracked as I do when I am shopping I decided it would be a great idea to head to the kids department of David Jones to look for a winter coat for our impending trip over East.  We agreed I would look for the coat whilst Rich entertained Mia in the toy section next door.  Big mistake.  She seems to think that everything in the store is hers for taking home with the big asumption that mummy will just buy it.

Well mummy doesn't own a money making tree (sounding like my mum now) but this was a little hard to explain to Mia.  She did find a ride along car which kept her occupied for a while.  Of course we couldn't get her out of it and had to threaten that the lady working there would tell her off if she didn't get out of it.

It was an early afternoon sleep for our little gem and a very much needed long walk for mummy to clear her head.  I am back and Mia and daddy are asleep, ahhh more calm before the storm.

PS - noticed another development today - well not development, more like an increase in height.  There is a elevator that we used to have to hold Mia up so she could push the ground button now she can do it by herself if she stands on her tippy toes.  These things just creep up you.

Feeling a little behind the eight ball today, not convinced I ever really woke up and someone forgot to tell Mia that mummy is a little tired today.

Nothing quite like hearing "Wake Up Mummy" at the top of a 2 year olds voice right in your ear.  Serves me right for dozing off in the middle of the most important showing of Monsters Inc ever.  I guess she was afraid I would miss something that I hadn't seen in the past 900 showings of this particular movie.

Nontheless there we were helping out my sister by spending a couple of hours in her new place waiting for the electrician to come and finally fix her hot water system.  Stupidly I didn't think to take any food for Mia and a Batcheloress doesn't store a lot of food in the fridge or cupboard.  Must remember to tell her that Mia ate the rest of her cheese.

Lunch finally came by going to McDonalds with friends of ours, Sha (mother), Tyler (4 1/2) and Zali (12 months).  All went well the kids played and Sha and I had a much needed chat.  You don't realise until you have children how hard it is to have a grown up conversation when they are around. 

Somehow all 3 children timed their need for number 2's perfectly.  Now I understand the concept behind keeping the disabled toilet (with change room facilities) locked.  But the reality when you have a very smelly 2 year old who just wants to play and you have to stand in the lunch time queue waiting to ask the manager to come and unlock the door is crazy.  Then of course the door locks behind you when you leave so Sha had to perform the same process for her children.  Seriously think about it McDonalds?

The lunch date ended with very naughty children making their way up to the very top of the play area.  Sha being 6 months pregnant could hardly crawl in after them to get them to come down so I had the honours.  My knees are never going to be the same again.

With Richard's return it prompted me to consider the trip my best friend gave me for my 30th birthday.  A flight to Brisbane to spend some time with them and their little girl Siena. 

We have travelled only once with Mia and let me tell you it was nothing short of a nightmare.   Couldn't tell you which was the worst bit:

1) kicking the air hostie
2) no food provided by Qantas for Mia (apparently we were supposed to tell them at booking that we would need food)
3) constant screaming
4) hitting and thrashing about

I swore at the time (xmas just past) that it would be a long long long time before I travelled on a plane with her again.

But alas here I am, a booked holiday departing 11th Aug, 7 nights in Brisbane followed by 5 nights in melbourne.  Just Mia and I and I am sure Richard is silently laughting at the impending flight trauma.

I am originally from Melbourne and am excited about introducing Mia to family and friends and I am even taking her to the snow for a couple of days. 

To top it off a great friend of ours (the best man at our wedding) and his girlfriend are due to have their first baby on the 31st July.  Mia and I will be staying with them for a couple of days to meet their new bundle of joy and hopefully help out a little.

Finally daddy is home - you have never seen a happier 2 1/2 year old.  It is a little sad in a way, for two weeks I was top of the pecking order in her life (well at least when pappa wasn't around) but now I am back to my 2nd position.

I shouldn't complain it is really nice to see Mia wandering around after daddy and not letting anyone else help her with anything. 

Wonder how long until he starts to get a little annoyed.

Today is the day - Mia's daddy is coming home from America, he is supposed to arrive at 11.25 but I just checked the arrival schedule through the Qantas website and the it isn't scheduled to arrive until 12.15pm.

Mia is chomping at the bit to go and see the planes and pick up daddy so we may go early anyway so she has plenty of time.

My sister decided to study aromatherapy and massage.  After watching her give me a shoulder message Mia decided that she wanted one.  It was so cute at the time watching her enjoy her first massage.

Please note this was some months ago -

For some reason she has now decided she wants a massage before she goes to bed every night.  Delaying tactic I am sure but how does one refuse such a request when she asks so nicely.

For those of you with baby girls you will understand the trials and tribulations of growing your little angels hair. 

First there is the decision to cut it or not to cut it.  Then the fringe gets a little long so you have to use a small clip to keep it out of her eyes.  Of course the clips are so small they don't actually  hold anything and by the time the larger clips work the little angel is at the stage of pulling them out of her hair.

Lets not forget that it is not long enough to tie up or short enough to leave down without extra clips. 

Then the decision does it need to be styled or should we just let it grow.  Finding clips and hair bands everywhere but never when you actually need them.  The every growing cost of purchasing said hair clips and hair bands when you can't find any.

HOORAY - 2 1/2 years on and our little girl can finally where her hair in a single pony tail without one clip.  It has been a long haul but well worth the wait.

Now we just have to overcome her less than enthusiastic approach to having her hair done in the morning........

A new injury to add to the collection - falling and sliding down the limestone retaining wall.  Makes for a lovely graze and has taken the focus off her head.

We were supposed to go to a 1st birthday party today for Zali but she has been suffering from a gastro bug for the last couple of days.  It is hard to explain to a 2 1/2 year old why we are no longer going to a party when I have been telling her about it all week.  My sister and I decided to take her to the park along with Tyler, Zali's brother. 

We went to Sticky Beak Cafe in Kings Park which I haven't been to for a while.  It has been updated over the past 12 months so much of it has been closed down.  To be honest there really isn't anything different except for Mia's abilities.

What she couldn't conquor only a month ago she is now doing with confidence.  Hard to describe (but her dad will get it), the parks here have these curly steel poles that either go up and down or across play equipment.  If you dont have the right balance or grip you just fall through the holes.  The last time Mia attempted this she fell straight through onto the floor below.  Lots of tears.  Today she was moving across them like she had been doing it all her life.  Our little girl is growing up.

Tonight we had dinner at my sister's with some other friends of ours who have  a 13 month little boy.  Mia was really good with him, making sure he had things to play with and generally kept him out of trouble.

She is now tucked up in bed and I have just watched Big Brother for the first time this week.  Shock value on the assumed sexual assault and eviction of John and Ash.  Can't believe it.  Anyway good night all.

Mia had had her fair share of falls and knocks over the past 2 years but tonight was the worst I have seen.  She tried to climb up the chair and brought it down on top of her.  Her leg got jammed up in the chair so it pulled it down with a much greater force than it should have and one of the iron bars smacked her in the forehead.

It was instantly blue.  Luckily just did first aid and put some ice on it to keep the swelling down.  The crying was the worst thing I have heard.  There is nothing worse than hearing your child cry but when it is a cry of pure pain that is so much worse.

Crises lasted 10 min or so and then off she went to play but there will be a bruse for some time.

Meeting my parents for coffee this morning so they could take Mia out for the day she picked out her clothes.  She chose her 49'rs cheerleader outfit that her dad bought for her on his last trip to the US.  She looked so cute and I will post a photo as soon as Rich gets back with the photo thingy. 

I decided the perfect match to the outfit was her Roots Cap which was bought for her by a good friend of ours in Canada when she was born.  Between the car and the coffee shop the hat went missing and when I asked her about it she said she left it in the car.  Stupid me believed her and left it at that.

An hour later I mentioned the hat to my sister who had joined us for coffee and she had not only seen the hat on the floor outside of the shop but had stepped over it twice and had debated whether or not to pick it up.  She had decided to leave it where it was as she thought whoever had lost it would return to collect it.

I raced outside but it was gone.  Can't tell you how annoyed I am, I loved that hat.  Sorry Josie.

It seems the entries I posted yesterday became lost in the endless thing called Internet, I have no idea what happened to them but as my husband pointed out there are not on this site.  So to remember what I wrote is impossible so I wont try.

End of financial year is a little strange for me, in my past life (ie pre Mia) I worked in financial services so end of financial year was a huge thing with a bit party to celebrate the end and a cruisy few weeks to recover from the chaos that is end of financial year.

This year I spent it predominantly with Mia,  She did visit the creche at the gym for an hour while I slugged in out on the treadmill.  This is the 2nd time in a few weeks that she has been to the creche and was very happy to be there.

When I went to pick her up I spent a few minutes watching her from the door before she could see me.  She was playing by herself in the 'home makers' corner.  She was seated at a small table with all the dolls in their seats around the table and she was serving them tea.  I could see her talking to them and feeding the baby dolls whereas she had just placed plates and cups in front of the older looking dolls.  She plays alot at home with her dolls but this is the first time I have seen her create a tea party.  Very cute.  When she did finally see me she wanted me to join in.  It took a bit to get her to leave and had to promise that we would be back next week.