Bike Riding

After being at the park and watching kids ride their bikes around the track, I was thinking about Daniel and his riding and how I want to encourage and develop that. He has loved riding his tricycle around outside and over the past 2 weeks has confidently started to use the pedals.

A few weeks ago we went for a walk where I pushed Daniel on his bike. On the flat areas I stopped pushing and encouraged him to have a go pushing the pedals on his own. He was good at using the pedals, but would get distracted looking around himself so ride onto the grass. It was very slow but he was growing in confidence. 

Mothers' Group this week was decided to be at the park so I popped Eliza into the Ergo and Daniel went onto his tricycle and we headed up to the park.When we got onto the bike track I told Daniel to have a go at pushing on his own. He did pretty well, even with going up a slight slope. 

When it came to the hill, I would run behind him with my hand over the handle as he would gain a lot of speed and not watch where he was going. I love his little giggle, although I'm pretty sure it's a nervous giggle.

As he rode each lap he really gained in confidence. I'm so proud of him! We will need to make time to head back and keep using the bike path.

Let's Go Walking

On Friday 27th March Eliza started to take her first steps using a walker. Previous weeks I had tried her on it and she showed no interest at all. Today she was pulling up on Daniel's bike and pushing it slightly then moving closer to it so I decided to give her another go on the walker.

She was very hesitant at the start. It didn't help that Daniel was assisting her by pushing the walker away from her, instead of just letting her go at her own pace, but maybe that helped her work out what to do. As the walker moved away from her she worked out that she needed to move her feet forward so she didn't fall flat on her face. 

She started to walk well in the small space of the back room so I decided to try her in the hallway. She did really well! She would push the walker into the wall and not be able to move but once redirected she would go off again. She would also get upset each time she fell down, but is starting to learn to just stand up again and start walking on her own.

It's so cute to see her starting to walk. Can't wait to see it continue to develop but oh boy, she's on the move and it's going to be a lot trickier to keep an eye on 2 of them!

Eliza's 1st Birthday Party

On Sunday 22nd we had family come around for a lunch to celebrate Eliza's 1st birthday. It was lovely that Julie was able to fly down to be with us and also be an extra set of hands. 

Eliza opening her present from Nana J and Boompa

The day before during their nap time, I started to make her birthday cake. James and I decided to make the ride-on horse that Eliza enjoys using. It is a modified version of the rocking horse. It took up nap time but I was pretty happy with the outcome.

It was so lovely to have family surround Eliza and us for her birthday. She is a very loved little girl. She did so well during the party being passed around from person to person and being up for a long time. She enjoyed the attention, enjoyed eating lunch with everyone and especially enjoyed her cake. 

Flying with Uncle Milton

Chatting with Kimberly

Eliza was so happy to be with Michael. She had her arms out and everything

Chatting with Great-Auntie Shirley, Great-Grannie and Aunty Julie

Having lunch

Eliza was head of the table

Put your hand up if you're 1

Hanging with Uncle Howie

The kids had a great time playing together - Tristan, Oscar, Daniel and at times Kaysey. I love how our cousins kids are friends with each other.

We then gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to Eliza and cut the cake. Daniel was keen to join in but we had to keep him away from the cake as he had been coughing with croup and had a bit of a cold so he sat on a seat beside us.

Eliza was more than happy to have some of her cake, picking it up straight away and popping in as much as she could.

Eliza then opened her presents with Daddy. She is a very blessed little girl who got very spoilt.

And it was very sweet that she blew everyone kisses at the end of it.

Once everyone had gone, I found the bobux shoes that James and I gave her on her birthday that I planned for her to wear. I had put them with the presents and couldn't find them while I put them away. This was driving me crazy as I looked everywhere but they weren't there at all. We gave up once people started to arrive (besides asking Auntie Jenny to try and find them) and she even said that they would show up as the last person left. When the last few people were leaving, I started to feed Eliza and saw in the tv cabinet draw the shoes. Daniel had 'helped' put them away in a very unpractical spot. Oh well. At least we found them before New Zealand!

It was a really lovely lunch, lots of food, lots of laughs, lots of loving family. Happy 1st birthday baby girl!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl

Today we celebrated Eliza's 1st Birthday. 

She woke up and had a milk feed and then we had presents. Daniel was very excited to help her open her presents. We had bought her some Bobux shoes for New Zealand and a box set of Winnie the Pooh books. She had a great time pulling out the books and did pretty well at just looking at them (until she started to put them into her mouth). Daniel also enjoyed looking at the books.

After breakfast we hopped into the car and headed to Brooklyn to meet up with Mums' Group Mums and kids. It was such a lovely morning. The kids enjoyed swimming in the water, playing with the sand, playing with each other. It's a really nice place for them to play in the water. I think we need to head back there.

Lachie and Evie (and their mum Tamara) are so beautiful. They bought a present for Eliza and Evie helped her open the it. A book that they enjoyed reading when they were babies. So sweet!

We then headed to get fish and chips. The kids were so very cute at walking along with each other, holding hands. 

The kids did really well with the wait and enjoyed having a picnic back at the park and waters edge. Daniel was quite up and down which was a bit frustrating at times, but Eliza loved sitting and eating her lunch.

Then the kids got to have a short play in the park which they enjoyed. It was really nice to spend the day there.

The kids had their nap in the car on the way home (with some extra driving around so their sleep could go longer) and after a short stop at home to get some dinner and have the pest inspection people come, we headed over to Nana and Poppy's place for Eliza to have some milk and Daniel to have a play. The kids enjoyed watching tv and Eliza had fun crawling around and pulling herself up around the place.

 

High 5 for being 1

After dinner it was time to sing Happy Birthday and have some cake. Mum was very creative and make a little Eliza cake which looked like her. 

She really just wanted to touch the cake which was pretty cute. She had help from Oscar and Daniel to blow out the candle and then it was time for her to try her first piece of cake.

Unlike Daniel and Oscar, Eliza picked up the piece and it went straight into her mouth, no hesitation. Once that piece was finished, she then picked up the parts that broke off. My girl sure has no problems with her eating. Too funny!

After cake we had a chance to Facetime Nana J, Boompa, Auntie Jenny, Maddie and Aly which was so lovely. It was nice to be able to see Aly even if it was over the computer. It was very sweet that Daniel asked to see her and Eliza enjoyed waving at everyone.

So Eliza's first year of life has gone and she is such a delight! Love her to bits, love her cuddles, love her kisses (or head butts), love her chatter and giggles, love her attitude (at times). Love her lots!

Ready, Steady, Wiggle

Today I took Daniel and Eliza to their first concert - The Wiggles. Daniel hasn't really had much to do with them but after our road trip to Hervey Bay where he loved listening to the newly purchased 'Best of the Wiggles' CD we decided to get tickets to the concert (along with a lot of his mothers' group too). We have been listening to their new CD to get familiar with the songs and have been talking it up. James and I thought he would quite enjoy it as it's music and he loves music.

After swimming we went to Jens and Howie's place for a quick shower Jenny dropped us off at the RSL for the concert. We found a place on the ground and found our friends - Preeti and Rohan, Anne, Lachie and Emily, Siobhan and Dan. We didn't get off to a great start. While waiting Daniel started saying 'I want to go outside'. Oh dear. He was fortunately distracted enough to happily stay around.

 
Then Captain Feather Sword came out and said 'Hello Everybody'. Daniel freaked out. He climbed into my arms and started saying 'Mummy, I want to go home'. The poor little guy had tears in his eyes and was shaking. He didn't want to be there at all. On the way home I asked him why he was upset and he said that Captain Feather Sword came out and spoke loudly. I think it took him by surprise. He did settle a little bit with the music, but was attached to me while watching.

 After each song Daniel asked to go outside but fortunately they started singing again which distracted him. He happily got up to sing 'Rock-a-bye bear' which was good and that slowly started to ease him into other songs. 

Phew! He did still have a stunned mullet face for most of it which I had expected too, but so did his buddies.

Playing Simon Says

I was proud of my boy doing lots of the dances. It was a nice mixture of songs that he knew. It was great too that the Wiggles went out into the crowd to collect things for Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog and for Emma. We had Simon come near us.

Eliza did very well too for it being her normal nap time. I think there was enough going on for her to be distracted. 

  The Wiggles were great. Lots of different songs, lots of movement, coming out into the crowd, getting the kids involved in the songs. Was fun to see them. Don't know if we'd go to other shows but it was nice to experience it for the first time and I'm glad the kids enjoyed it (in the end)