Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

Eighteenth month part 2, 9 Oct - 9 Nov, 2010

Wandering the house and having a great time. She can just see through this hat (the fabric's light-permeable up close) so isn't quite as blins as she looks. And it's a bit big so tends to sit a bit low on her anyway. Mum brought the hat over when she visited at the beginning of the month, and Maggie brought the red knitted dress and skivvies when she came a week later. The dress is wonderful colours, Sparrow and I both quite like it. Red's certainly in at the moment. I even managed to get red tights for her too.

Headstand! Sparrow loves to roughhouse. Daddy is willing to help. She was a little intrigued by this particular experience. I have this growing suspicion that she's going to grow up to be a circus accountant.

It's hot, don't touch! Sparrow will say "heis" to us when something's hot, but it doesn't seem to stop her touching things a second time just to see if it's *still* hot. She was very quick to try and get to these fishcakes.

I've made an attempt to solve the problem of Sparrow always turning off the CD player by adding a shelf to the loungeroom stack. The player is now just out of her reach, and should stay that way for long enough for her to forget that stopping the music is a fun game. Of course, this arrangment means that she can reach the CDs and pull them out. She could do that before in the other room though, so I don't think I've lost too much.

I bought these drapes when I went to IKEA with Maggie, and I've just got them up. Sparrow seems quite pleased with the idea of having her own drapes just like the shops downstairs. I suspect they will annoy me with time, but for now it's fun to see her enjoying them so.

I thought I'd try and contain the constantly spreading pile of books in the loungeroom (increased by a large bagful with Mum's recent visit) by putting them in a cardboard box. Sparrow has rearranged all components of this system to her satisfaction.

Penne pasta time. I can eat this all myself, even the broccoli.

OK, I've eaten all the bolognaise and spread the spaghetti as many places as I can, I'm done now, let me out of the highchair. She LOVES bolognaise, I can get her to eat it almost any time. Spaghetti is growing on her, it's not quite as easy to eat as penne.

Sparrow found my furry green hat and is trying it on and looking at herself in the mirror. The dress is another one that Maggie knitted.

I have started researching getting a bed for Sparrow. I had a look when we visited IKEA and got some ideas. My main idea is to get Sparrow sleeping in her own bed during summer while it's warm. She slept in the cot quite happily last summer, but ended up in our bed again over midwinter when she wasn't well and was coughing a lot. In the warm though she doesn't like being as close to us and our big blankets, and I don't enjoy her trying to throw all the blankets off! I'm also thinking ahead to next winter when the cot may well be occupied and our bed certainly will be! So I've moved the laundry baskets and done some shelf sorting to clear spaces and now one of the red couches is in here. Sparrow had fun climbing on and off it, so the concept has some value. She also slept fairly well on it for this nap. I don't think I could continue using just the couch, we'd need to put in a bed of some sort, but this trial suggests that it will definitely work.

We went to an Emergency Services community fun day which had plenty of entertainment. I don't seem to have any photos of the excursion itself, but we did come home with two helium balloons ("bonk", according to Sparrow). They've now been floating around the house just long enough that one of them has stabilised in equilibrium/buoyancy and goes neither up nor down. So it's fun watching the wind move it back and forth through the house, it just stays wherever it's put. There's never a long window for a helium balloon to do this, but it's fun to play with while it lasts.

For instance, I can put the balloon at Sparrow's head height and just leave it there. She can grab the ribbon and drag it around with her too :-)

Just reading books, don't interrupt. No, don't read it to me, I'm reading this one myself.

Crayons! She is getting better with the crayons but still has more fun picking them up, putting them down, getting them in and out of their box.

I think this little jumper is gorgeous on her. Sparrow is not impressed by my taking photos.

Someone is helping me water the pot plants. We have regular discussions about how this water is not for drinking. (It's greywater from the last rinse of the washing machine, so good enough for plants and should be safe to run off into stormwater after passing through the soil, but I still wouldn't drink it!) She loves playing with the buckets and carrying them around. I have to keep a close eye on them while I'm working.

I was trying to convince her not to pick the flowers. She thought they were obviously for picking. So when she picked ANOTHER one, and I said "No", she turned around to give it to me because that was clearly what would make it all allowed. She's not picking the flowers, she's giving them to Mummy.

Climbing up on the crates. This is such a fun game. She can get right up, and is generally pretty stable though has stood too close to the edge and tipped them once or twice.

She's talking to me about something. I probably don't have any idea what she's saying. Adorable face.