Isabel had a wonderful first Christmas and was completely surrounded by toys...however seemed to be enjoying the wrapping paper just as much!! I know that once she realises that all of these toys are hers she will be very grateful to all of our lovely friends and family....so thank you all in advance! :) Being half Scandinavian (Finnish) we actually celebrate Christmas on the 24th and open our presents after lunch on that day.....the lovely part of being 'half' however is that the other 'Australian half' means there are more presents to open on Christmas day for Isabel for many years to come....TWO days of Christmas!! The unfortunate part as an adult now however is two GI-ENORMOUS lunches/dinners accompanied by desserts, champagne et al and its not so kind on the waist line as it was throughout childhood!
Opening presents on Christmas Eve
Four Generations
Christmas Day was a relaxed affair this year with many of our family away travelling or in New Zealand we just had our immediate family lazing by the pool and eating the mountain of leftovers we had from the 24th.
Isabel and Teddy lazing by the pool
On Boxing Day we all head off in different directions....Mum and Ian to the coast with the Grandmothers and Chris, Isabel and I to Sydney for the start of the Sydney to Hobart on the harbour before Chris went to NZ for a wedding and Issy and I stayed on for some girl time. After a week in Sydney catching up with everyone we headed for the sunny Gold Coast to bring in the New Year with a few close friends before settling in to our holiday house for 2 weeks. Isabel is a huge fan of the warm Queensland sun it seems (aren't we all!!) as she really flourished and loved swimming and socialising every day.
Here is a little picture diary of her holiday:
Baths with little Jasmine Zettler
Watching a lot of Big Bash w Papa and Grandad Lance
Being a clown!!
Turning on the charm...at 5am...hmmmm!!
Crawling commences...reverse only at this stage
More silly business
Sailing with Grandad
The lime was not so good after all
Story time with Poppy
Swimming in the new pool
Just being cute
More swimming...in the big pool
Loving her vegemite toast
First tooth arrives!! Hurrahh!!
Cuddles with Mama
More cuddles with Mummo
Butter wouldn't melt...such a Daddy's girl!
Issy's listening is doing really well....she is turning each time we call her name now and recognising when we say Mama or Papa (as in she will look in the right direction for each). She is saying lots of 'eeeee', 'ahhhh', 'mmmm' and 'aaayyyy'. She waves to people and says 'haayyyyy'....very cute. She is clapping her hands now when she does something clever and dancing whenever she hears music (by rocking back and forward and laughing).
Peekaboo and hide and seek are the games of the moment and she still loves to read books and sing songs. She knows by heart most of her 'That's Not My (Puppy/Dolly/Dragon etc) books now and will look up at me after we turn each page waiting for the 'THAT'S NOT MY part'....she also wants to turn all the pages herself.
Food wise she is continuing to broaden her cuisine....now that she has her ONE tooth and all! ;) She loves berries (mostly raspberries and strawberries) and watermelon and still has her little vegemite toast soldier after her porridge each morning. She is eating all types of meat, but fish and Spaghetti Bolognese seem to be two favourites....occasionally when I make chicken or another type of meat dish she will push the spoon away, but its rare. I do really enjoy making all of Issy's food from fresh produce, however must say that the little Organic satchels for traveling have been a God-send over the last few weeks. They are so easy and convenient in those little squeeze tubes and Isabel loves them. Its so great to be able to give her a real variety of tastes and flavours from 'Spinach, Apple, Broccoli & Pea' to 'Sweet Potato, corn and Cous Cous'. She lights up when she sees them now....a real 'foodie'.
She is also such a great (and seasoned) traveller. Whether its by car, plane or even boat (which we recently were on a couple of times over the holiday) she will just play for a little while, eat and then cuddle up to me and go to sleep and then she seems to always wake up with a huge smile on her face ready to do it all again. Very blessed! Friends keep telling me that this is it...she is my 'good one' and that the rest will all scream the house down, throw up all the time and never sleep a wink....hoping that is not the case, but enjoying every minute with my perfect little angel all the same!
So after a lovely time away we are back into it....well for 2 weeks at least and then its off to Thailand for some spa detox...after the last few weeks I need it!!
M.x
Hey so awesome to see Izzys progress! My name is Liz, our daughter Natalia is 14 months old and is profoundly Deaf also. She has one cochlear implant. Interesting to read through your journey with Izzy. She is just adorable! I have alot of the same struggles as you - especially with trying to keep the thing on, ha ha it is constant battle! I haven't seen the headbands or those pilot hats..hmm something to look into. Where can you buy them?
ReplyDeleteWe have taught Natalia NZ Sign Language from the day she was born. It has been so great to see the benefits of this for her. She begun to understand spoken words and simple phrases just 2 months after switch on. She now has 50 or more signs and about 5 spoken words after 3 and a half months of hearing sound and when I say a word she will sign the word back to me, so nice to see her understanding. Using sign language has enabled her to understand spoken language that much easier and quicker. We were fortunate to already know NZSL. Also useful for bath time, beach and all the other times when it's not practical to have the processors on....like you say in the pram or car seat it's pretty impossible. We live in CHCH, NZ. It would be fab if our girls could meet one day - being that they are so close in age and share the same world.
I hope the progress for Izzy continues well. Take Care
Liz