Monkey bars

One nice milestone this week: Eila's first experience on monkey bars (thanks to Jill). I love how Eila is game for exploring new things and is always interested in pushing her physical limits: climbing stairs, climbing slides, monkey bars, etc.

And she is also just about big enough to ride her balance bike - which I also love. She has a lot of her mom in her!

She's still waking up early (3:30 the other morning, 5ish today) so probably working through some developmental stage. But she also asks for me if Jill is putting her to bed, and I hear "dadee???" down the stairs which means it's time to go up to kiss her goodnight. It's simple but it's new and fills my heart with joy!

And, at daycare, she is now insisting on a goodbye hug from me. When she was younger I would sometimes just leave if she was distracted because saying goodbye seemed to upset her. I love that now she totally gets what's going on, and wants to say goodbye!

Eila is 2

Sadly and ridiculously we have not been updating our website. But we’ll keep trying. It’s fun to see a record of our memories here in a way that Facebook doesn’t really allow for. Also, it’s impossible to catchup on the past year so we’ll just jump right in to the present with some random thoughts I don’t want to forget.

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Highlights for this week include:

• Her first singing (spontaneously breaking out into “Twinkle, Twinkle”

• Saying “rainbow” instead of “Bah bow” (while watching Sarah and Duck, of course)

• Jumping in bed (“Jump! jump!”)

• As of last week or so saying “dadee” much more often which melts my heart every time. Such as tonight when, doing dishes, I hear down the stairs “dadee!” because she wants to say goodnight. ❤️

Eila is also in the middle of a little sleep regression and has been fighting naps very hard the last 3 days. She has gone down OK at night for 2 nights (at least) but was up at 3:30 this morning. I blame a growth spurt (whether it’s teeth, or cognitive development, or whatever) but who knows. Hopefully she’ll get through it soon.

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Our UK Family

I think this is our 4th stay with our dear friend who are family the Farrants.  Each time we are closer, share more good conversations, make more memories and find deeper appreciation for each other.  This visit, we got to introduce them to our Eila and they fell in love.   Eila fell in love with them right back of course :)

Eila also got to meet sweet Muffin, a dog I e know for almost 10 years, as she was previously owned by a women I took care of while we lived in England.  

Muffin is a beautiful, gentle, sweet golden retriever who let Eila crawl all over her during our visit.   

After our first day recovering from jet lag and just letting Eila get acquainted with everyone, on Sunday we went out to ride on and old steam train called the Blue Bell Railway.  Eila most enjoyed crawling around the rail car and eating the homemade jam sandwiches Heather had packed for her.  But the rest of us took in the scenery as we rumbled along past countryside and horses, sheep, and pheasants.   

On Monday, we took the girls and Eila to a huge indoor play place called Monkey Bizness.  She absolutely loved it!!!!  Eila loved climbing up or over anything: stairs, people, small furniture.  The girls took her through the toddler section about 10 times and Jonathan and I got in there a bit too.  

climbing with Charlotte

In the midst of these lovely outings, we drank lots of tea, had amazing full English breakfasts made by Heather, ate much too much and we all watched Eila tear around the house with the baby walker Heather picked up at a charity shop.  I think she probably put quite a few miles on that toy.  And of course heather insisted on sending it home with us so we’ve packed it in the car along with the 10 pounds of food she sent us with for the journey :)

Eila is coming down the hall with Jack (a jack russell terrier of course) 

Riding the rocking snail with Kathryn’s help :) 

At the breakfast table :) 

walking with Kathryn

a cuddle with Hannah

We ended our stay with a spot of tea.  The perfect end to a lovely visit.  Cheerio til next time! 

Banana toffee, walnut honey, raspberry cream.  All cakes.  And of course meringues the size of your head!  And tea.   

The ladies 💗  Sorry Jonathan and Stephen.   

The most amazing moment was when we were all saying a terribly tearful goodbye and Eila honestly and truly reached out to hug each of these girls and of course Heather.  I have NEVER seen her do that before.  Of course it made Heather and I cry even harder!  But it was the most beautiful site.   

We love you Farrants.  See you next time! 

Night Flying with a 1 Year Old

Rule #1

Always prepare for international night flights with an airport nap. 

Also bring compact stroller.  Thank you Craigslist seller :) 

Rule #2

Allow your child to think you’ve purchased them an actual seat (and other passengers passing by to think you’re a little nuts)

Rule #3

Hold your child tight as they fuss into exhaustion and do not move arm or shoulder for a minimum of 3 hours.  

Rule #4

Cozy bright colored PJs are a must and should stay on in passport inspection to convince officials to let you into the country :)  Cute smiles are also recommended.   

You will now be free explore your destination.  Enjoy ;)