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Only 20 days now until my 'baby' turns 3!!!! We have decided to not really have a party for her - we'll just have a special afternoon tea with immediate family & perhaps Sarah & Rikki, and Gaby's boyfriend Josh & his Mummy - Serena. It's going to be so exciting to see how she reacts this year, now that she seems to understand the importance of birthdays (well, that birthdays=presents & cake!)... I just hope she likes what we got her!!!
Terri was up on Saturday for around 24 hours - before flying out to Thailand! Was good that Gaby got to spend some time with her - they made a tent (though not as extravagent as last time!), went out early in the morning & played at the playground, then got Macca's for breakfast... Gaby was at Stu's for the afternoon, so Gab didn't get to go to the airport with us to see Terri off - but that kind of made it easier! Well, less stressful!
Under a week now until Gaby starts kindergarten! Exciting!!! I can't wait to see how she is after her first couple of days there, whether she has found some new friends, whether she likes the teachers, whether she adjusts easily - I believe that answer will be a YES to all of the above, but I guess there is always a chance for things to go a little pear shaped huh...
It's so cool to see her growing, and having all these new experiences - though I'm sure the time will come where I will wish I could stop time & go back to when she was still little & depended fully on me. Bittersweet to think that in two years time, I will be saying "only 20 days until Gaby is 5 & at school".. gosh, it seems so far off - yet so close at the same time.
Today is September 26th - this time in one month, Gaby will be THREE!!!!!!!!!!! How the heck did that happen? Seriously?!
Being completely honest, I'm having a hard time dealing with Gaby's behaviour lately - she's so... stubborn & ignorant, and at times she is just plain obnoxious. I know it comes with the age, and Gaby isn't the first child in the history of the world to drive her Mama a bit loco - but once again THIS WASN'T IN THE MANUAL! Heh... Luckily she seems to be fine when she is out with OTHER people. Jason took her out y/day morning & said she was perfect - but when she got home.. wham bam psycho girl... Obviously I just need to figure out the best way to deal with her behaviour, and then be consistent with it.
On the flipside, when she is being good, she is very very good. Her manners are coming along perfectly, sometimes she asks for something so sweetly, I have to battle the urge to give her 10 of whatever it was she was asking for! Guess this is what being a parent is about though, the good, the bad & the ugly... Mum assures me that in 15 years time, she'll start being nice again! Oh-so-reassuring!!!
Not too sure about what we'll do for her birthday yet, might just have afternoon tea with Mum, Dad & Jason, it's labour weekend so everyone will have plans to go away for the weekend, and Aunty Terri will be in THAILAND (! how exciting!). I'm going to make her a Nemo cake - I think, but she is also quite a fan of Mickey Mouse now as well, so am thinking of a Mickey Mouse cake - guess it'll depend now creative I feel like being. Jason suggested we take her to Lollipop's or Chipmunks (massive indoor play area's for kids) - which I think is a good idea, and probably something we could do in the morning - if they're open over the long weekend. I ended up getting her the LeapFrog Scribble & Write, so her birthday present is out of the way, but we might get her a couple of small things over the next couple of weeks....
All that tent making is tiring!
Well, the past THREE mornings, Gaby has gotten up nice & early, and either partially or fully removed the bedding from her bed, in order to make a tent! Friday morning she came in at 6am and told me she wanted to make a tent, quite a strange request I thought, in my half-asleep state. Then this morning upon waking up, I looked into her bedroom & thought it looked as though her bed had no bedding on it, but figured that was just because I didn't have my glasses on... but no. I was right. No bedding. Sheets were draped over the couch in her room, over the 'special light', over the dolls cot - and when I asked what she'd done, she proclaimed she'd been making tents! Could be the beginning of a very frustrating hobby!!!
Of course I love the fact that my princess is using her imagination!!! I think it's awesome, I love seeing her using her imagination, and entering into imaginary play - makes me feel good to know that she's reaching all her cognitive developmental milestones at the right age! I guess I just need to set some ground rules - now that it appears to not be a one off! Maybe this means she is going to stop getting into the sugar, flour, coffee &... well, anything she can make a mess with!
For once nothing major seems to be happening in the life of Gabrielle Oakden!!! She seems to be well over her illness of a couple of weeks ago - and thank goodness for that, it was not fun seeing her so miserable! We've been working on using our manners the past two or three weeks - and I think it is all finally starting to make sense to Gaby - yayyyy. She regularly asks in the car "May I please listen to Halo", or "may I please have a sandwich" it is so cute to hear her speaking so maturely!
She has been very spoilt lately by her Aunty Terri - but I guess that is what Aunties are for! She got an adorable little denim jacket and a very cool flap book, as well as 5 pairs of cute undies - AND her own (used) iPod, with her favourite songs already loaded! There is apparently a book on the way in the near future - and goodness only knows what else... Now if only we could go and visit Aunty Terri to thank her properly!!! She may be seeing her at the end of this month - fingers & toes crossed, because we haven't seen Terri since... well, I can't even remember, so must have been quite awhile ago!
Last Wednesday I decided it'd be a nice idea to travel the 2 hours(ish) to Temuka, to stay a couple of nights with Deb & Mark... Planned to be home by midday Friday so we could keep our regular lunch-date with Mum at the Palms. Thursday Terri text me & managed to convince me to travel the extra 4 hours to go & visit her in Queenstown. I had planned to go to Wanaka & Queenstown later this month, but figured that since I was already 2 hours of the way there, why not just go through then.
Friday morning we left Temuka & met Grandma, Arthur & Stacey in Omarama, before travelling over the Lindis Pass, to Wanaka (well Albert Town, but close enough), where we set up camp at Grandma & Arthur's house. Stacey is staying with them for the next few weeks before she goes to Australia, so it was a nice chance to catch up with her too!!! Friday nothing major happened (minus of course all the travelling) - but Grandma did take Gaby down to the river, and Gab took great pleasure in laying in the [muddy] puddles down there!!! She came home looking muddy and dirty, but it was so adorable!
Saturday midday me, Stace & Gab left for Queenstown (about 80 minutes away from Wanaka) to stay with Terri for the night! We arrived in Queenstown after Ter finished work & then went up to the supermarket to buy some buns & salad stuff for lunch - then went to a playground nearby so Gab could have a play & we could have a bit of a picnic. Was lovely - such a scenic spot compared to the playgrounds in cities! Could see the Remarkables & hear the jetboats on the lake... Amazing. After we got back to Terri's we went for a walk down to Lake Wakatipu to have a swim. Trust me, it was cold - but very fun! Terri & Gab stayed together on the shore & in the water up to Terri's waist, but me & Stace swam out deeper... & I got rather dizzy trying to touch the bottom in a particularly deep part of the lake. I was still light headed two hours later. Saturday night we had a BBQ for dinner, then just hung around Terri's - was nice to just chill out!
Sunday we went into Queenstown (Terri lives in Frankton, which is like a suburb of Queenstown) & went to watch the National Rugby 7's - sexy men in short shorts - who could ask for more? We were there for a couple of hours, but stupid ignoramus' kept standing in front of us so we didn't really get to see much!!! It was pretty hot & I managed to end up with a little patch of sunburn on my leg! Afterward we went back to Terri's - and then down to the lake for another swim, before heading home about 4.45 that night. We got back to Grandma's & were met by a lovely dinner, then just had a quiet evening. Stacey, Grandma & I played Yahtzee later in the evening, and it was a lot of fun - full of lots of laughing, and cheating on Staceys behalf!
Monday... Monday... I don't really remember Monday. Oh, we made a waterslide, which was very fun, but me & Stacey both woke up sore & bruised & scraped the next day - never used to happen when we were kids! Monday night we went into Wanaka for a swim in Lake Wanaka - which was reallllllllly nice! Was cold to start with, but you soon got used to it! Was quite sad when we had to leave - but Gaby was ready for bed, so it wouldn't have been a good idea to stay!
Tuesday we were up bright & early, I packed & we left at 8.45am, to head home. Just out of Wanaka I picked up a hitch hiker! He was really nice, quite talkative too - he was tiny & I could have squashed him if he'd tried anything evil! Temuka we stopped and picked up Mark - and brought him through to Christchurch to pick up their new truck. We got home at 4.15 - was definately a relief to be home, but at the same time it was sad, because we'd had such a nice time away!!!!!!!!!!
I will post photos on a seperate blog entry!
