Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Water Baby

So Harry has been totally into the water (literally) the past few days. On Saturday we went to visit Lisa who, by the time I write this, is free from work - yay! She gave Haz her Christmas presents (of which she broke one before we left that afternoon and was too scared of the other to play with it!) but you'll be happy to tell Sam that now she has Callie in the shopping trolley, which means she's practically family now Lis.

It was a cool, blustery day but with true determination Harriet made it up to the rooftop pool with a little help from us - she can't press the top buttons on the lift yet you know. It was so cold in there that herlips went blue but she still didn't want to get out! The offer of her octopus towel always eases the blow of dry land though.


The next day was far from ideal though. She was very, very squealy. Everything was difficult (including but not limited to - eating, walking, reading, driving, playing, talking). So we decided to bite the bullet and meet up with Michelle and Peter and the lovely Master Erik at the big Aquatic Centre in Ryde where we had been told of wondrous toddler delights. By the time we pulled in to the carpark however, I was less than thrilled at the prospect of being about 30mins away from home. Harry was screaming and wouldn't do anything but hang on to me for dear life. I felt like my head was going to explode.


Ok. Cut to twenty minutes later. Haz is giggling in the pool, there's a cool wave machine, I'm reclining in the spa and the viking clan are wonderful company. Have more faith Cass! Even after we got out and were sitting outside Harry was happy as anything. You can see here she was investigating everything in her environment, including...err...big safety cones. In fact she was trying to lift said cones off the ground but since they were around large metal poles stuck in the ground the whole event was a little more difficult than expected. But what a score - we found an old tennis ball. Yes! A tennis ball people. Don't think that's exciting? Well I'm here with a toddler named Harriet to tell you who how wrong, wrong, wrong you are.

Yesterday I came up with the ultimate tennis ball game. It involves Mama running after the tennis ball like a crazy woman with arms flailing, legs akimbo (yes yes, "put yourself in a child", i know) and clapping like a toddler as the ball gets flung out of Harriet's hands and down the hallway. Now I'll do almost anything to hear the sweet giggles from my gorgeous child, but this game is more than a tad tiring. And after a week of less than optimal sleep, well, I tire pretty easily. So I suggested the camera instead for a few minutes, when we managed to snap this little happy double up self portrait. Cute, huh? Well, I think so anyway. Cos even when I'm so exhausted I put the washing in the kitchen and (almost) put the coffee in the toaster, she still makes me smile.

In fact I laughed out loud when I saw this photo - I titled it 'You're looking at THIS face?!' on my Flickr. Harry's getting quite talented at feeding herself without making a mess. In fact she's had yoghurt quite a number of times without getting even a drop on her shirt! This is mainly because she has quite thick yoghurt. The food downfall is because she insists on turning her spoon upside down before it gets to her mouth. Cute. But not too practical. But perhaps she's like the Daffodil Grandpa and things taste better upside down? And I am definitely showing my age by mentioning that ad, but I'm showing it already by posting that photo, so who cares hey?

1 comment:

Jen said...

SO glad to read she is feeling better :). Love the photos :) she looks so confident in the water! and I LOL'd at your washing in the kitchen...mmm know that feeling very well!

(am I showing my youth by having no idea what ad you are talking about? :p)

Love the double self portrait as well :)