first ballet class

Miss Carmen and the other teacher have the patience of a saint.

That's all I have to say. x

first tantrum

Little Lady Isabelle has thrown her first real tantrum last week in the toyshop. We were in Toys 'r' Us, and I went there to buy her a toy stroller. She has been playing with her 'baby' now for a couple of weeks, feeding her, putting her in bed. I thought that she would like to push her around as well, especially that she likes to push her own buggy when we are walking, but because of the size of it, she cannot see where she is going. I had my own selfish reason in mind too: the little stroller would keep her in track while we are walking, so I would have less running after her.

She loved it in the toyshop, pushed it around for about 20 minutes, she was so happy and proud. The problem occurred when I took it away from her so I could pay for it at the counter.

She has thrown herself on the floor with the biggest scream, people watching us, etc. I tried the trick my mum thought me, leave her there and not to pay attention.  I went to pay for it, and my 17 months old daughter stood up, walked away and walked out of the shop through the sliding doors into the carpark. She'd even waved good-bye.

So I had to run and catch her, my credit card in the machine, people in a queue behind me, and a screeming, beetroot head toddler under my arm. Plus a shopping bag, a handbag, a valet, a buggy and a toy stroller. 

We've been using the little stroller since then on our walks and I must say, it was worths all the fuss. It's been my best 10 dollars spent. x

17 months, 17 words

Isabelle is only 17 months old (well, in 5 days), and she is already a little chatterbox. She talks all day, non-stop.

She uses a lot of words which we don't understand, but we can definitely say that her vocabulary at the moment includes the following for sure:

'daddy' - of course. Dada was her first word, and there was a period of time when she called Dougal 'Dadum'. 

'mumma' and 'mummy' - she's been saying mumma for a long time now, and a couple of days ago she started to develop a taste for mummy, too.

'Bobo' - it is herself. Dougal calls her Bobo or Izzie Bobo sometimes and now she calls herself Bobo.

'papa' - both of her grandfathers are very proud of this, of course.

'nyumanyi' and 'nyum nyum' - meaning food, delicious and hungry.

'dup-a-dee' - meaning cup-of-tea. She started to use this when we were back in Scotland.

'baby' and 'bébé' - she sometimes speaks French.

'baa baa' - meaning sheep. In Scotland we saw so many cute lambs jumping around and we were singing the song 'Baa baa black sheep' about 1000 times.

'bye bye' - She says it very clearly, and waving with her hand at the same time.

'appy' - meaning nappy. She used to call the nappy dup-a-dee, same as cup-of-tea, but after a while she has changed her mind. It probably did not make sense.

'pawpaw' - which means both the fruit she loves and the nappy rash cream we use on her and it is made of pawpaw.

'teeee' - meaning tree. It was one of her first proper words despite of the usual dada, muma. It made Dougal very proud. Isabelle the green, outdoor girl.

'bapple' and 'apple' - this is the only word what she says in a very shy, delicate voice. She almost wispers. All the other times she is using a deep, determined voice.

'baw' - menaing ball.

'cheeeee' - meaning cheese. Of course, one of her favorite food. Other favourites include blueberries, mushroom risotto, smoked salmon and bread. Who could blame her?

'bubble' - when we are blowing bubbles.

'tecci tecci' - it is in Hungarian (tessék, tessék), she says it when she gives something to me. It means: please take it. x

baby animals

A couple of weeks ago little animals visited our local shopping center. The cutest lambs, ducklings, baby goats and bunnies were waiting for the children to pat, cuddle and hassle them.

Isabelle was only interested in drinking their water.

I have decided it is still not time to take her to the zoo. x

a perfect weekend

Last weekend we were busy doing nothing.

On Saturday morning we visited our local food market, where Dougal was over the moon finding a new milk called "Over the Moon". It is from Jersey cows, permeate free and non-homogenised so it has the cream on top. It brought back memories of his childhood. He was so impressed he had bought 6 liters on the spot. 

Later in the afternoon we had coffee at beautiful Hardy's bay and  then I baked rosemary, potato and garlic pizza for dinner.  We talked to all four of Isabelle's grandparents on skype at the same time, as my mum and dad were having a great time visiting Dougal's parents in Scotland. We loved the novelty of it Isabelle seeing them all together.

On Sunday morning, I strolled through the monthly car boot sale at the end of our road and I came home with loads of treasures. In the afternoon we did our usual-winter-walk-on-the-beach. 

The little joys of our life. x

'Life is a big canvas, throw all the paint on it you can'