Mirrors, Meetings and Munching

Well we finally touched down in Syd-a-ney and made our way to the serviced apartments where we were staying in Chippendale. Really they were in Redfern but obviously it's a bit of a marketing faux pas to use that in your advertising campaign, so Chippendale it was. The apartment itself was really very nice and having it serviced each day was pretty great too!

It was here that Harriet started to really master this whole walking caper. No longer was walking just something that happened when we dragged her arms a couple of centimetres ahead of her and the feet would reluctantly pick up and follow. Now the walking had progressed to actually wanting to get places! With our hands to hold on to, Harriet had two favourite locations in this place:

1.) The floor-ceiling mirrored built-ins in the bedroom. They housed the magic mirror baby! This awesome baby never cried at Hazza's squeals, was the same height for some good head smacking and loved to smile back at a very cheery Hazza. You can see the two of them playing in this photo which was the only one we took for some reason, so it's not a great shot but you get the gist of it.

2.) The bath. Oh, the love affair with the bath. There were two major responses with the bath - the first was when she would toddle off into the bathroom and rush right up to the rim of the bath and look in...only to find nothing. Nada. No bubbles, no running water, no steam, nothing. A big boo hoo to that. Harriet would look forlornly down in to the tub, back up at me and then give a little sigh of resignation before turning around and toddling back out of there. The other reastion was when we'd take her hands to walk into the bathroom when it was time for her actual bath. WELL! Then such a commotion was never before seen! Flailing arms, excited squeals (well, they happen all the time but still), the legs would start boucning up and down. We soon realised that in order to get her undressed easily for the bath it had to happen before she saw the bath, otherwise it was a nightmare trying to undress her because of the crazy limbs akimbo! I have the bath with her and we sing the bubbles song ("Bubbles bubbles everywhere/bubbles here and bubbles there/bubbles on my nose and hair/bubbles bubbles everywhere". Ok, I'm no lyricist, leave me alone!).

Harriet also met up with KJ (aka Kristy) who was up in Sydney to meet with her cousin's baby, so she decided to undergo a baby-a-thon and see what Miss Harriet Dora was also up to. We met at Clovelly and after eyeing her off a tad suspiciously for a while, Harry decided all was good with Kristy and decided to go on in for a closer look. KJ had to make sure her bracelet was rather securely attached to her wrist, as well as protect her ears from baby grab attacks. It was very cute to see Harry hang out with KJ and they both seemed to have a blast. Harriet was also wearing the very cute top that KJ and her gorgeous mother had bought in the UK for her - it says 'cute chick' on it below an illustration of a..well...a chick! A chicken I guess if you want to be more precise (and let's face it, when *don't* I want to be more precise?

Here Harriet is engaged in one of her top five pasttimes - baby wipe destruction! So much joy and happiness from one baby wipe you never did see. Her favourite thing to do with them is grab them from me, hold it aloft and make a very loud growly roar sound, then bring it back down to mouth level and start chewing off hunks of wipe, all the while ripping apart the rest of the wipe with gusto and voice. After rolling around in her mouth for a while the offending wipe (by now a small ball of mush) is spat out and a new section is chosen carefully from the wipe bits lying scattered at her feet. The wipe game is heaps of fun and not that messy really, since the wipe doesn't actually ingrain itself in the carpet or stain clothes or anything, so it's very satisfying for both of us!

And finally we have a shot of Harry in her Quinny Buzz. It's a pretty cool stroller in a funky purple colour (of course!). It can be turned to face us which is her preferred state of being. We would take it on regular trips up to King St when we were checking the post office box. This is a rare shot because not long after strapping her in this way she decided quite emphatically that she didn't like the arm straps, so now she just has the lap sash on. She also loves to lean forward and chew on the black felt that lines the front bar. I didn't actually realise this until one day I held on to the bar in order to pop her in and felt a whole lot of little bumps. Looking closer I realise they were teeth marks! Then I checked out Harriet's mouth and there was a whole pile of black flecks around her lips! Rascal! So now there's a bib wrapped around the bar that she can chew on instead. Weirdo.