Merry go round moments – week 17.

Family fun: top shot.

Her first morning at her new nursery.

Memories are made of this.

Our girly comforting the little man, saying ‘duck, duck baby boy’ when he cries.  I don’t know where the ‘duck, duck’ bit came from, but she definitely uses it as a kind of substitute for ‘there, there’.  Unbelievably sweet.  It makes me smile every time.  And ridiculously, she says it so consistently, that it is beginning to rub off on me too, so now I find myself saying it from time to time!

 

Laugh out loud.

Our girly went to her new nursery for the first time this week. Her previous nursery here in Brunei had no outside space, so imagine her excitement to find a big outdoor play area.  It has a lot of shaded space and a grassy area, as well as water play, a sandpit, a couple of tents and play houses, cars and a ‘car wash’.  She had such a great time out there that I couldn’t persuade her to even contemplate checking out what was going on inside! If her initial reaction is anything to go by, she is going to be very happy going to nursery each morning!

 

Quick quote.

‘Play is not frivolous. It is not a luxury. It is not something to fit in after completing all the important stuff. Play is the important stuff. Play is a drive, a need, a brain-building must do.’

Jeff A Johnson and Denita Dinger

Music makes me happy.

Little man loves being sung to.  Anyone willing to sing to him is rewarded with a great big beaming smile.  It is also a great distraction when our girly is whining and needing to have her energies refocused!!  This week we’ve spent  a lot of time singing to him to make him smile.  She loves to sing ‘row, row, row your boat’ so that she can scream for the crocodile verse and roar for the lion verse.  Luckily the little man is pretty used to his noisy big sister now, so just momentarily startles, goes wide eyed…and then beams that big old smile of his at her.  I could watch these two together all day.

 

Good times.

We are seeing so much really creative, imaginative play from our girly now.  It is such a lovely age.  It is amazing seeing the way her mind works and her thoughts flow.  She really loves the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, and has been having lots of fun with the little character puppets she got for Christmas.  One afternoon this week she started very methodically taking all the cushions and pillows she could find around the house, carefully arranging them in a line leading away from the sofa.  Then she got her pencil case and started using it to whack the first cushion in the line.  I asked her what she was doing, and then instantly felt silly when she told me.  Of course she was Jack, chopping down the beanstalk to stop the giant getting down from his castle!  Just awesome.