A Portrait a Week: 43/52 -First Birthday!

Isabella celebrated her first birthday in Germany with one of her Ouma's and Opa. She had a lovely time,  got spoilt with lots of presents* and was treated with a visit to the zoo which she still 'talks' about! We have to look at the zoo pictures every day with her favourite being the lion. She also discovered she really likes cake (she had a few small tastes) and that she would like to either become a ballerina or a princess so she can prance around in a pink tutu every day.

*Isabella enjoyed birthday presents nearly every day for more than a week! Parcels arrived for her in the post from before her birthday until just after with more on her actual birthday too. She quickly got the hang of opening presents and learnt she needs to bring it to us to help her get started on opening it to see what's inside. This weekend we ordered a few bits off amazon which arrived today, nothing exciting for her, but she now gets very very excited each time a box arrives and will bring it to me to help her open it. 

Isabella discovers she likes ice-cream

A couple weeks ago we went for a walk and there happened to be an ice-cream truck! We've been really good about not giving Isabella any sugary treats before she turns one, but she's so close now, we let her have a little taste.

At first she wasn't much impressed, but after the second lick of ice-cream she realised that this is actually really good and then really got her mouth around that ice-cream!

A bonus portrait this week: Milk Moustache

After already posting this week's portrait, Andre took this cute photo of Isabella this afternoon. She didn't have a lunch time milk bottle so I just gave her a little sip of milk in a cup. It was also to see what she thinks about drinking cow's milk. She's still on formula but will be switching soon. She pulled a face at first, probably because she was expecting water as that's all she ever gets in her open cup. But then she smiled and had quite a few more sips. She is used to either cow's milk or soy with her cereal, and now recognises and signs for milk in any form -her bottle, the milk jug or sometimes we have it in a carton and will 'mmm' (moo) as there is a cow on the container. Disappointingly there is no cow on the soy milk carton... she checked.

She wasn't bothered to finish it though and toddled off to go and explore something. Probably to have another go at opening the kitchen bin before we tell her off again...

A Portrait a Week: 42/52

A windy Autumn day at the park yesterday. Look at all that hair!

Last week's portrait: 41/52 -first ponytail

For a while now Isabella would remove my headband from my head when I'm wearing one and wear it around her neck. Last week that wasn't enough and she asked to have my hair tie too. I gave it to her and she kept putting it on her head. She allowed me to put it in her hair and I only just managed to snap this quick picture before she pulled it out again.

A Portrait a Week: 40/52 -Autumn

I love Autumn over here, it's as though the Autumn colours are so much more noticeable. I've been showing Isabella the different coloured leaves when we're outside. This week she's also discovered that she can pull them apart. The weather has still been really nice, warm and sunny t-shirt weather just about every day. We had rain today for the first time in quite a while and it seems as though tonight will be getting a bit colder as it's already only 7C outside now at 9pm. I plan to fill a big tub with leaves for Isabella to play in soon.

Last week's portrait of the week: 39/52 -Bubba and her hats

I struggled to decide on a photo for last week which is part of the reason I never got around to posting it sooner. The other reason is that Isabella absolutely won't sleep in her cot in the daytime anymore. She also won't sleep anywhere else in the house so it means I've been out driving or walking her to sleep. Which means no me-time during the day.

So here she is last week, 11 months and 3 days old. It's now the countdown to her first birthday and our first full year as parents! I think we've done a pretty good job so far, besides not getting her to sleep during the day.

She's had a thing about hats for a while now. Until now it's just been her two sun hats which are always lying around the house ready to grab whenever we go outside. Recently she's started wearing Andre's hats too. She now knows where he keeps them hanging on a hook by the garage door and she will ask for them pointing to the hats and then touching her head. Also don't come near her wearing a hat if you're not going to let her try it on! There was a boy at the children's centre this week wearing a cap and she desperately wanted to get a hold of it. She gave up and instead took another baby's muslin cloth, another one of her favourites. She believes every single muslin in sight belongs to her and there's no convincing her to give it back. Twice this week I've had to ask the mummy of the muslin cloth if they minded that Isabella held onto their muslin for a while. Once she lets go I give it back and they hide it. At least we don't run the risk of loosing a favourite comforter! And if a musy isn't available as a comforter a hat will do as well.