Autumn Leaves

Umbria!

We've been lucky to have lots of holidays this year - although we've realised that sometimes holidays with two children are not as relaxing as holidays used to be, and that being at home is more restful! Anyway, we had a lovely time in Umbria for Hannah and Ian's wedding. Stella made good friends with Ella and Rosie, two second cousins of Hannah and cousins of each other, who were staying in the same Agrotourismo as we were. She loved the food of course - pasta, pizza and gelato heaven! Unfortunately the pool was freezing cold so Stella took to being my coach and running up and down the poolside as I swam! Both she and Affy were brilliant at coping with all the late night dinners which surrounded the wedding. At around nine, Stella would just go and sit in her buggy and go to sleep - Amazing!

In Wales

We've had a lovely summer of UK holidays including a trip to South Wales for a week. I think the highlight for Stella was sleeping on the top bed of a bunk bed at one of the houses which we rented in St Davids, but we also had a great time visiting the National Welsh Botanic Gardens where I took these pictures. We're already having to start thinking about which school Stella will go to as we have to make our application at the beginning of next year. She won't start until January 2009 though. In the meantime she's still enjoying Little Buds three days a week.

Stella has entered the phase of devotion to all things pink (do all girls go through this??) and having persuaded me to buy her a pink tutu a few weeks ago has now started ballet too (at her own request!). On the first day before we got there she announced that she wanted to go in on her own and for me and Africa to leave her there. So, I did as I was told (eye's misting up!) and she got on just fine. The second time I was a bit surprised that she was less gung ho about heading in, but after a few minutes watching she still went for it. Fortunately for now, ballet seems to mainly involve jumping around being a star and running around pretending to be a car. This seems pretty harmless! I must get a picture of the tutu soon..

A beach holiday in Whitstable

It's a busy life being three and there's not much time for writing blogs. But, today, thanks to Stella's sister waking me up for the day at four thirty, I find myself with time a the computer and an inability to think straight. So, instead I can post some pictures up here and write about what Stella's been up to.

These photos were taken during a little holiday we took in Whitstable in May. We stayed in a beach hut which Stella loved. In fact she wanted to stay there forever and never come home. Fortunately we did come home though and I think, in the end, she would have missed her cousins next door, her friends and her toys. Books are still probably Stella's favourite thing in the world and it's a rare occasion that an offer of being read to is turned down. She also spends lots of time playing with small figures, chatting to them and making up stories. Once a week I try and take her swimming, either in the new lido at London Fields or the local pool and she absolutely loves it. Her confidence is growing in the water, and who knows, maybe by the end of the summer she'll be well on her way to her first doggy paddle!

She's getting interested in letters now too and can recognise quite a few - S is a favourite obviously, but also M (for Mack, her friend at nursery), and F for Fran and P for Pearl another friend and A for Africa. Lots more too, I'm sure.

She still loves going to Little Buds and amazingly for me is one of the big girls now. Tim and I are off to visit a potential primary school tomorrow. It's all coming very fast!

Stella is Three!

Grizedale Forest

We spent a wonderful couple of weeks in the Lake District at Grandma and Grandad's house recently while Tim was in America on a book tour. OK, Stella did wake up a scream the house down at 5 am every morning and one day, when I refused to get up, she proceeded to decorate Grandad's office with highlighter pen... but apart from that we had a lovely time! Here's Stella running on a bench in Grizedale Forest where there's a great walk with wooden musical instruments along the path.



Here's a picture of Stella's art work from Grandad's wall which has thankfully been painted over now.

Scary pair

Stella loves to pull faces these days. Here she is taking lessons from the expert...

Potty Training

This little girl may look like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but I have to say that potty training her has forced me to discover new levels of tolerance!! Hopefully it will all be over soon and we will be able to go out of the door without a hundred changes of clothes once more...

Wassailing

So, we went to a carol service at the local church on Sunday. As the congregation launched into "Once in Royal David's City", Stella preferred to regale those there gathered with a moving rendition of "When Santa Got Stuck Up The Chimney". Later, "While Shepherds Watched" was sung in harmony with the topical "Baa Baa Black Sheep".

Christmas Fairy

It was fancy dress time at the nursery Christmas party this week and Stella made a very cool Christmas fairy with jeans under her tutu!

Stella at Little Buds

A few weeks after Africa was born Stella had to unexpectedly move to a new nursery called Little Buds. Fortunately lots of her friends and carers from Apple Tree came with her and she has been having a wonderful time there. Here she is pictured at the Christmas Party enjoying her pizza.

Meeting Father Christmas for the first time

It was a nerve wracking event but Stella was very pleased with her bag of goodies!

Stella is two and a half

Well, she was two and half about a month ago, so it must be time for an update. Stella is a bundle of fun at the moment. She talks from the moment she wakes up to the moment she falls asleep. Whether anyone is listening to her or not! Her favourite words are "Why?" and "No!", and she gets one or other of these in just about every sentence she utters. It's amazing to me and Tim how fervent her negativity can be. Consequently we are becoming experts in reverse psychology. "No, don't eat those vegetables!", "No, don't put your coat on!", "No, don't go to bed!" Our success is mixed, and anyone listening in to our conversations might be bewildered, but at least it gives us a laugh or two!

Stella loves to play make believe. She spends hours with her little dolls talking to them, arguing with them, telling them off and generally having fun! She's still a big fan of books. In fact, she would sit all day listening to you read, if you gave her the chance. She also loves CBeebies, but fortunately they only exist at Grandma and Granddad's house at the moment so we don't have to decide just how much TV is healthy! She will happily sit for an hour in front of the computer watching DVDs like Charlie and Lola and Peppa Pig though, and now she's decided that she won't nap during the day this gives me at least a little rest.

Other favourite activities are painting, drawing and going to the park. She seems to love her nursery, Little Buds, where they do plenty of all the above. They tell me she's a bit nervous of outsiders coming into the nursery like Malcolm the dance teacher and George the music man, but she seems to be getting used to them and the other week she stood at the front of everyone when George came and did a dance.

Stella seems to be adapting well to being a big sister. She likes to hold Affy and talk to her and try and make her smile. Sometimes her affection is a bit too violent for the good of her eleven week old sister, but no animosity seems to be intended!

Moving target!

It's becoming increasingly hard to capture Stella on camera, partly because she's so busy that she doesn't like to stop, and also because I usually have a heavy baby strapped around me these days so it's quite hard to wield a camera at the same time.

Anyway, here are two recent pictures. The first was taken at Halloween. We risked trick or treating after we had such fun in the US last year. We had been told one particular street in Stoke Newington was friendly to the activity and so we went there with some friends. Stella didn't really fancy going up to anyone's door to say trick or treat, but she was very happy when the older children brought her back some booty.


I'm not sure whether I should post the next picture as it makes me look like a bit of a bad mum... taking photos when my daughter is crying! But as the reality of the life of a two year old includes lots of tears I thought I would put up this picture taken after Stella had jumped off a swing in mid flight. Of course daddy is doing a good job of consoling.

Stella is a big sister

Stella's sister Africa was born on September 25th and now Stella seems like a giant! She's quickly getting used to the new addition to the family and is thankfully learning how not to kill her with affection. Stella has been enjoying all the attention from visitors and all the gifts that Africa seems to have brought along with her!

Two years and three months

Getting to be quite a big girl now. Stella is looking forward to being a big sister very soon. She now goes to nursery at Apple Tree three days a week and has lots of fun there learning songs, dancing, painting and playing in the garden. When not at nursery she likes going to Art Club, the park, swimming and story time at the library. She's still a big fan of books. Current favourites are the Little Princess Books and books about Mog the Cat.

Babyccino!!

Stella's drink of choice in London and Italy is the North London invention of Babyccino. It's a mini cappuccino without the coffee, but with the sprinkly chocolate on top. Granddad is also known to make a wicked babyccino at home, making trips to the Lake District a big hit.

Italy and Icepops

Stella is just back from a wonderful 10 day holiday in Italy at an Agrotourismo near Parma called Cergallina. She had a great time thanks to the perfect combination of seven of her cousins to play with and a diet of pasta and ice cream (and some ice pops).... What more could a two year old ask for?

She's chattier than ever these days and is following in her father's footsteps, mastering the art of rational (and often irrational!) argument. Favourite sentences go along the lines of "No I can't go to bed mummy, because I'm a big girl" or "No I can't eat my vegetables, because they're too prickly" and so on. I can see fun ahead!

Enjoying the English summer

The weather has been hot and Stella has been enjoying splashing around in the paddling pool with her cousins Fabio and Massimo. She's very happy at nursery these days, and it's a struggle to get her out of the door at the end of the day. Her other favourite thing to do is watch Bod or Charlie and Lola on my computer. She's watched them so many times that I think she can recite them word for word by now!

And now I am two!

Stella celebrated her second birthday on May 13th with five of her cousins - Martha, George, Molly, Massimo and Fabio, two aunts, two uncles and mum and dad. Lots of fun was had by all and yes, she did blow out the candles!

Cheeky!

As Stella approaches her second birthday she's becoming increasingly cheeky and strong willed! She likes to enunciate each syllable very clearly just to make sure we've understood: "I_Want_A Bread_Stick_Mum_Mee" and especially first thing in the morning when Tim and I are hardly awake "I_Want_Some_Weet_A_Bix_Down_Stairs_With_A_Silver_Spoon". It reminds me of a British Person trying to be understood in a foreign land, or maybe she just thinks her parents are stupid. I guess given the speed of our response sometimes she might be right to think this.

She still seems to be settling into her nursery, Apple Tree. Every time we go there she tells me "Mummy will drop you off and Mummy will pick you up" as if to reassure herself. When at home her favourite things are listening to nursery rhymes, drawing (read: scribbling) with crayons especially on furniture, getting all the pans and pots out of the cupboard and pretending to cook, changing her bear's nappies and being read to.

We recently had a lovely time on holiday in Ireland where Stella became very attached to life in a "HoTail" and going to restaurants. Mummy was relieved to be home and not have to worry about plates and cutlery flying towards other guests at meal times.

Settling in...

It's a sure sign that we're finally getting on top of things after the move that I have some time to update Stella's blog. Apologies for the silence.

Stella settled back into London life much quicker than either of her parents. She is over the moon to have her two cousins, Fabio and Massimo, next door to play with. She's also been enjoying the chance to catch up with all the other 9 cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents much more frequently.

All being well, in six months or so, Stella is going to have another big life change to cope with when she becomes a big sister. I'm not sure she's quite grasped the concept yet because apart from enthusiastically pointing to my stomach and announcing "There's a baby in there" she also does the same to her own tummy, and even this weekend to her granddad's! I think we need to be careful as the next recipient of this friendly banter may not be quite so good humoured about it...

Despite displays to the contrary when I say goodbye in the morning, Stella seems to be having lots of fun at her new nursery, Apple Tree. She loves the "singing, singing and dancing" in particular but is also a big fan of the painting, drawing and garden. Probably Stella's favourite part of the nursery regime is the white sliced bread which they get at lunch time. She loves it so much that they've nick-named her "Bread Girl". When I ask her what she did during the day "Bread" is the most common answer. Still only the crusty brown variety at home though.

Stella's language continues to explode beyond our belief. We've decided that "floppy ears" is a good name for her these days because even the most subtle of conversations seem to get repeated back at us. We are learning that we need to be careful. One popular four letter word has already been making embarrassing appearances, so we will need to wash our mouths out.

The picture above is at grandma and grandad's local park in the lake district and the one below at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, a favourite outing for us these days.

Lots more to tell, but I'll try and get back to monthly posts rather than infrequent and lengthy ones!

Something different

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Things have been very busy getting ready for the big move back to the UK next week. In the meantime Stella is busy expanding her vocabulary. She now amazes us by reciting entire books (Peek a Boo and Chicken Soup and Rice are the current favourites) nursery rhymes (Hey Diddle Diddle, Twinkle Twinkle) and by finishing sentences whenever we stop reading the books she knows well. I don't think she really understands what it means when we say we're moving to London, but she's got her responses off pat, it goes something like this. Fran:"Next week we're moving back to London, Stella" Stella: "Fabio, Massimo, Giuliana, Paul, Apple Tree, Children" I think she's got the idea of what it will entail! Apple Tree is the name of the nursery where she will be going two days a week once we get back.

These pictures were from my final project at the Corcoran Art class I did last semester. Thanks to my brother in law for the beautiful backgrounds.

Stella the witch

Well, we got into the Halloween spirit in true American style this year. Stella dressed up as a witch and we went from door to door, trick-or-treating with some friends of ours who live a few blocks away in a neighbourhood called Shaw. Luckily the first house we went to was also equipped with bags for poor children like Stella whose parents hadn't thought that there would be so much to carry that a bag was necessary! She definitely enjoyed marching up to people's houses and having sparkly goodies put in her bag. This year she didn't realise what was inside the shiny wrappers. I'm sure she'll have cottoned onto that next year though.

In the window light

I've been having lots of fun on a digital darkroom course at the local art school in Washington. Hopefully you'll notice an improved standard of photos as a result! This one of Stella by the window.

Stella at 17 months

We're all feeling a bit jaded today as Stella decided to return to newborn sleeping patterns last night. Well, not quite... she woke up twice, very angry, for no apparent reason. Tim said it was the worst night he'd had since she was born - I think he's got a very poor memory!

Fortunately, Stella generally specialises in new tricks not old ones these days. Most exciting of all is the speaking. She recently started to put together more than one word - Daddy's shoes, Good story, Nice bread etc.. Her vocabulary is expanding rapidly as well. Two of her favourite new words - lorry and lift - thoroughly confuse the American babysitters. We're trying our best to make sure she fit's in OK when we move back to the UK. I did notice this morning though, when we were reading an alphabet book, that when it came to the last letter there was a definite "zeee" rather than "zed".... oh well, I guess this can be remedied quite easily at a later date.

Stella is a flower girl

Stella was one of the flower girls at her babysitter Alice's wedding on August 13th. The wedding was in the garden of a lovely B&B on the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland. In spite of temperatures of about 110 degrees Fareinheit, she had a great time and took the whole event in her stride and even walked down the aisle with all the other flower girls (with a bit of help from her escort who kindly carried her basket of flower petals!).

Daddy practises his karate moves!

Tim had a karate grading this month and was keen to get out and practise. Stella was much more intrigued by me and my camera though!

All wrapped up

This is actually a photo from when we were in Canada last month. This was early one morning when Stella wouldn't sleep because of jetlag and we were trying not to wake the grandparents!
She's lots of fun at the moment, we counted over fifty new words last night - of course most of them only intelligible to her parents! Some current favourites are oh dear, door and beer.

Subscribe to Stella's site feed

If you click on the "feed" icon below right, you can subscribe to the Stella's blog site feed. This means that if you have an RSS Reader like "Sharp Reader" which you can download for free, you will automatically get updates when we post on Stella's blog. How cool is that?!

I can walk!

Stella took her first independent steps aged 13 and a half months, while on holiday in Canada at her Great Uncle Gerry's house by Pike Lake in Saskatchewan. With perfect planning for maximum attention, Stella also timed her first walk to coincide with the visit of the Monks Grandparents to this side of the Atlantic. It will come as no surprise to hear that our lives have changed again as we busy ourselves running around after our increasingly mobile daughter!

Cows go mmmmmmm

Cows are without a doubt Stella's favourite animal at the moment, so we went to visit two of them at the Washington zoo.

Breaking for freedom

Stella's getting firmer on her feet by the day. When given both space and something to lean on at a friends' house in the suburbs she was off in a flash....

Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island is in the middle of the Potomac River and a rare urban wilderness in Washington DC. In the hope that Stella will get to know what trees and birds are we went there for a lovely walk one very hot Sunday.

Stella turns one!

Stella turned one on May 13th. I don't think any year has ever passed this fast! The actual birthday was quite quiet with cake and a quick round of Happy Birthday to celebrate. On the 14th we had a party with nearly 40 adults and about 15 children. It was crazy but Stella loved it. In fact Tim and I hardly saw her all evening as she crawled around following her friends.

A very exciting development over the past couple of weeks has been Stella's increasing vocabulary. She can now say "teeth" while pointing to her teeth, "moo" when asked what cows do, "brown bear" at the sight of any book (Brown Bear is her favourite) and the latest is "hi" whenever she or anyone else enters a room.

Presents the American way.....

The morning after Stella's party, we were a bit overwhelmed by the generosity of our party guests... No shortage of toys in this house anymore

Reading on her bed

Stella will often take herself off to the bedroom and spends hours leafing happily through her books.

Still enjoying the sling

At 26lbs she's getting quite heavy but Stella still loves being in the sling and for short journeys I can still just about manage it!

Learning to walk

Stella is an independent soul. She's now a super fast crawler and an expert cruiser and is learning to walk with the help of anything that moves, furniture wise that is. She doesn't seem to trust her parents not to let go, so she'll only walk with a solid inanimate object to cling onto.

We've also made big progress on the sleep front in the past couple of weeks and for the last few nights she's slept all the way through the night. Well, until at least 5.30am, which strangely enough we now consider to be morning..... Tonight we erected some black-out curtains in the bedroom so we're hoping for more of a lie in tomorrow. Let's see.

The Cherry Blossom Festival

Just like the Japanese, the Washingtonians like to celebrate the coming of spring with a Cherry Blossom Festival. Unlike the Japanese, the Americans don't like to sit under the trees drinking beer and singing Karaoke. Nevertheless, Stella enjoyed getting her first proper look at these beautiful flowers as we walked around the Tidal Basin at the weekend. Huge crowds had gathered to see the wonderful blossoms and Stella was kept very busy trying to capture the attention of all passers by with loud shouts and waves from her buggy. Much to her delight, some of them were even kind enough to wave back.

Waving "Da Dye"

Ten months old and Stella is having lots of fun waving and using her "first word" a great imitation of Bye Bye, "Da Dye". She's fascinated with doors and hinges, including the dishwasher door, the loo seat (which she loves to eat) and wardrobe doors. On the same theme turning book pages and flicking through daddy's Journal of Economic Perspectives are other favourite pass-times.

Last week we started a babysitting swap with her friend Alvar, who is Finnish-German and was born two weeks before Stella. We'll do it a couple of times a week so that Stella gets a regular break from her mum, something I'm sure she'll enjoy a lot!

On the swings