Alan's Gold Star

Well, I am not very happy with Mummy and Daddy today! They went out to a ceremony for Alan to get his Gold Star for 25 years service to the Fire Service, leaving me behind with Lyn and Malcolm. They are fine, I like them (Malcolm's moustache scares me a little though) but I was not very impressed when I realized they were not taking me with them. Malcom and Lyn seemed just as relieved as I was when Mummy and Daddy came home later.

Walking Outside

I had a bit of a walk around the back yard today, in my new shoes! The ground seems to be covered with this funny green stuff. I like pointing out often that I am now one year old.

Recently I have found it fun to walk around holding Mummy's bath towel (like Linus of Peanuts). But today, I was walking in the kitchen and stepped on the towel and slipped over, bumping my head on the door jam. I wasn't very happy about that and cried for a while, but I'm ok. I have a bit of a red spot and a lump on my temple but apparently I can expect more of these when I start to do this thing called "running". Mummy took me to pick up Daddy from the train and we went and bought fish and chips for dinner. They even let me eat a few chips and a little piece of fish!! Then Daddy stuck this on my head ...

New Shoes

We went to North City to buy me my first pair of shoes. (Nao-chan and Ezzy-chan bought me what are really my first pair, but they are still on the way from Japan) We eventually bought them from Pumpkin Patch. I had a bath, and Mummy kept putting this cloth on my head!!

Te Papa

Daddy worked all this week on his PhD and today he took me to Te Papa (the national museum) leaving Mummy at home to have a rest (it turns out she was naughty and used the time to do cleaning and vacuuming!).

I slept while he watched the demonstration of Iaido (a style of Japanese swordsmanship) and when I woke we had a look around at the exhibition of Japanese national treasures from the Tokyo national Museum. I found the statues most interesting, and enjoyed the wide open spaces to walk in long uninterrupted lines and around the large display cases. Lots of ladies looked at me and wanted to talk and play with me. Well, I was pretty tired after all that. On the way out we took a photo near a Maori carving, and near a model boat used in Lord of the Rings.

Mainly Music

This morning we went to a music/dance playgroup at the Salvation Army in Tawa called Mainly Music. There were many mothers and children there, and there was music that everyone danced (hand gestures, touching part of the body etc.) to. I wasn't that into it, but found it very interesting to see the other children and watch them dance and do the actions. At the end, all the kids got a little yellow cloth pouch each with some Easter Eggs in! There were two small chololate eggs and a larger marshmallow egg in mine. I guess the two small ones are for Mummy and Daddy, and the bigger one is for me. However, Daddy put the eggs on the photo-stand cabinet thing in the lounge, which I can actually reach the top of. So when no-one was looking, I decided to try one of the little ones!! After walking around for a few minutes with the whole thing in my mouth, Daddy noticed i was sucking on something, stuck his finger in my mouth, and fished it out. He told me that I had to take the colourful wrapping off the egg before eating it! But it was too big for me to swallow anyway - I couldn't even push it to the front to bite it since it was so big. I had managed to scrape off some of the foil which tickled my thoat, causing me to cough a little, which had alerted Daddy to the fact that I was eating it. Daddy also looked disappointed that it was all covered in my saliva and partially melted, so he couldn't salvage it to eat himself. The other eggs seem to have been moved somewhere, so I probably won't have the opportunity to try this again.

Dinner with Nga

Nga-chan treated us all to dinner at La Casa Pasta, an Italian restaurant in Wellington to celebrate Daddy's scholarship and my first steps. Mummy let me have some lasagna!! I really liked it, and Daddy said it was quite a good lasagna too. I enjoyed playing with Nga-chan and walking around a bit. The restaurant was quite crowded and the highchair I used wasn't as comfortable as my one at home, so later I got a bit restless. I like to go to bed at 9pm these days, so we left early and said bye-bye to Nga-chan near the train station. I am indeed tired, so will go to bed now.

Easter Bunny and walking!!

A few days ago Colin came over from next door and gave Daddy a BIG chocolate Easter egg for him and Mummy, and a BIG chocolate Easter bunny for me! Today Daddy let me try some, and although t was very sweet, I kinda liked it and wasn't happy when he put it away after only letting me suck the tip of one of the ears. Oh well, I guess I'll get to have some more later. I also have discovered today that I can use my legs to get me from A to B even when B is not Mummy or Daddy. So I've done lots of walking around, up and down the hall and around and around the lounge. I'm still not quite sure of my balance and walk as though I'm a pro-wrestler with a fire extinguisher stuffed down my pants, but mummy and daddy give me lots of encouragement. Daddy has a video of me taking a long walk, and he can give it to you if you ask him nicely.

Lately I wasn't able to sleep in my own bed - about three hours after going to sleep at night I woke up and screamed until Daddy came and got me and took me to sleep with him and Mummy. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think its probably my teeth that are bothering me. I've got 8 teeth now, and there are probably more on the way. You can see two of them on the photo below. But the last few nights I have gone to bed early (before 10pm) and and have slept in late, in my own bed. I don't seem to mind it now, but I still scream if they don't come and get me in the morning.