Father's Day Special

Bonne Fête, Papa!

We're supposed to go to a theme park today but since it's raining outside, the plan was cancelled and we just stayed at home like couch potatoes. Good thing my parents anticipated a bit so we were nevertheless able to celebrate Papa's day yesterday.

I painted this picture frame with my Nanny and gave it yesterday morning to Papa. That was his breakfast treat. He was overwhelmed to notice that I could be an artist at my age. I was too proud when he said he would put it on his office table.

This gift was accompanied by a letter written by my Petite Soeur (Little Sister), with my approval and with the help of Maman, of course. I asked Papa if I could blog it here and he said it's okay. So here it is:

Dear Sir,

I wrote you this letter because I am in big trouble and I strongly believe that you’re the best person who could help me with the problem I face right now.

5 ½ months ago, I moved to a comfortable and spacious apartment owned by a charming lady. The contract was all inclusive – food, heater, etc. Everything I needed to live an ideal and stress-free life was cheerfully provided by the owner. I was actually starting to really love this cozy place until this problem.

Lately, I was apparently taking more and more space and my daily activities start to disturb the owner. I talked to her but as much as she wanted to keep me, she informed me that I needed to relocate on or before October 3 of this year for reasons too hard for me to comprehend. She also informed me that proper authorities would intervene in case I stay beyond this date. Not that she wanted to get rid of me. Apparently, we could get ourselves into big trouble if I don’t move.

The lovely lady was too kind though. She told me that she would watch over me till I finally settle down and get my independence and that I could always count on her.

This is the reason why I call your precious attention, Sir. I badly need a place to relocate and I’ve heard that you have rooms available. I would certainly need a lot of help and attention at the beginning because it’s always hard for me to adapt to new environment and new people. But I’m confident that you would help me deal with this situation. I promise to be a good tenant.

If it’s okay with you, I plan to pay you on a daily basis. Will a daily dose of love and happiness suit you? I know it’s not too much but I could add a lot of smiles which could surely help you forget your worries.

Hoping for your favorable response.

Love (oh yes, I already love you),
Your Future Tenant

PS: The girl who gave me your name is Louna. She’s been a friend since I moved to this place and she fondly calls me PETITE SOEUR. She’s been staying with you for two and a half years now and she highly recommends your place. Two thumbs up, as she describes it. She also told me that I need to call you PAPA. She also advised me to greet you HAPPY FATHER’S DAY today!

See you soon.

Papa read it with full attention. Maman told him that it's a letter she saw in the mailbox that morning. At first, he was like shaking his head, thinking how could somebody he doesn't even know could have the nerves to ask such help? And we could even put ourselves into an unknown trouble if we do something (he read the first 3 paragraphs 3x, asking Maman if she knew the sender). Then, not really understanding the first 3 paragraphs, he continued reading the rest of the letter. As he went through it, a smile started to dawn on his face, looked at us, and told us how lovely the letter was.

After that beautiful breakfast, we went to centre ville just to hang out. To each his own interest. While Papa was checking on laptop chargers and Maman on Ipod Speaker Systems (her gift to Papa), I was busying myself to other stuffs.

I then had a ride at the merry-go-round. yes, you read it right. One ride! Life isn't fair :(.

We then went to the market to buy some local produce. Maman was craving for some grilled fish, so grilled fish we had. It was supposed to be a garden lunch but the weather was too unstable so we finally had our lunch inside. We just picked some Cherries and Blackberries from the garden for dessert. These fruits are just too irresistible that I already ate a lot before even starting lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the swimming pool and look at what I could do now:

In fact, I saw a lot of kids doing the same so I tried. Maman was surprised I did it. I really had fun and did it a lot of times. Maman told me that we will surely go back especially that she could practice aquagym. She said it's good for her and my Petite Soeur. Yipeee! In fact, I could imitate her too. I was doing the bicycle exercise inside the water and Maman said that I finally understood what equilibrium means. I was doing great. She just reminded me not to jump into the water without my flotter.

That evening, Papa's friend went over and stayed with me while my parents went out for dinner. They said it's their anniversary, for whatever that means. It was my first time to stay alone at home with another person but I didn't really mind. This morning, they said they were proud of me for being a cool toddler. Oh well, I know I'm cool. And so what?

5th Month Visit, Mother's Day, etc..

So it's confirmed. The lil bunny is a little girl. She's weighing 530 g at 22 weeks of pregnancy. I had the second echography last Friday, May 23, and everythings seems to be A-ok. Here's her first portrait:
She's becoming more and more active lately, kicking here and there and turning upside down. I saw the culprit. Look at that long leg kicking Maman non-stop.

It actually became an everyday routine to wait for her to kick me. That's a sign of life. I start to know when she's awake or not. She's particularly busy just after every meal, she's a gourmande in the making too.

I start to feel her weight too. Or should I say our weight? Sleeping became difficult as I wake up each time I change position. I start to have backaches too! I think the inconvenients of the 3rd trimester start to weigh on me. Poor me. But hey, only 4 months to go and I'll be with my lil girl. Louna's getting excited too.

Look at how round I am! Oh by the way, to those Mommies who wowed me on my 4th month portrait for not having any stretch marks, I actually have them. Not that visible yet, but I assure you, I'm not spared!

Bonne Fête, Maman!

Today is Mother's Day here in France. Louna arrived with a gift which she bought with her Papa last night. After greeting me Bonne Fef, Maman (that's how she pronounced it), she immediately asked Il est où, bonbon, Maman? (Where's my candy, Maman?)

She's apparently bribed to greet me on Mother's Day!

The picture above shows another gift which she gave me this morning. She did it with her nanny.

Link: Louna's pre-natal check-up at the same period.

Salad Eater

She loves tomatoes and she likes eating salad with me (for my dose of vitamins and folic acid!). Oh, and she loves salad sauce too!

Deux Ans et Démi

She Utters Thoughtfulness

Attention (Careful) Papa/Maman - She always reminds us to be careful while driving especially when we suddenly break or swerve and she feels the impact.

Ecoute (Listen) Maman - We were in a department store when suddenly, the song New Soul was aired. She stopped and told me Ecoute Maman while pointing on her ear. It's our ritual to listen to the radio inside the car every morning on our way to the nanny. And when it's my favorite song on air, I tell her Ecoute Louna, c'est le favoris de Maman (Listen Louna, that's Maman's favorite). She in fact registered my favorite songs.

Calin (to give a kiss and a cuddle to somebody) - She claims a moment of tenderness every now and then. She's becoming sweeter by the day. And that's not exclusive to us, she does calin to her toys and even to her rabbit bootee.

A Real Chatterbox

And she demands attention. During conversations with families or friends, she would catch our attention by going at the center then she would start singing Ta ta poisson dans l’eau, nage, nage, dans l’eau.

And notice how she switched the rhyme to Twinkle, twinkle little star, kulit!

Or in a funnier way. She would imitate the sound of a pig and she would say cochon.

She says her name and age too. But she says deux ans et demi now (2 and a half years old), the vid is quite obsolete. Just check on how she shows with her fingers how old she is. Now, she would voluntarily tell her age even if it's not her being asked but other kids.

She would voluntarily tell to a stranger (like the fish vendor in a supermarket, for example) that Maman, bébé, ventre (Maman, baby, tummy) while pointing to my tummy.

Now, she even goes further. I bought a Dora activity book where Dora presents her baby brother and sister. So that same night, I read the story to her explaining that she too will have a baby sister. The next day, she was already telling her nanny non-stop that bébé (pe)tite soeur (little baby sister).

This morning, she told bébé tite soeur again on the phone to her auntie (hope she didn't understand) and just this afternoon at the supermarket, to a vendor of hair dryers.

We can’t keep any secret anymore, me thinks.

She’s Independent

Je vais le faire. Toute seule. (I will do it. Alone.) That’s her favourite phrase now when she’s dressing up, serving a glass of water, washing her hands, etc. It’s great, alright. But morning rituals became longer because she wants to do everything alone!

She’s a Traveller

We drove quite a number of kilometres during our vacation in Italy but guess what? It was a breeze. She was sleeping most of the time or talking to our friend who spent a few days of vacation with us.

Visiting the city was not a problem because she likes walking or pushing her stroller around. She’s not picky with food. She’s not grouchy inside a restaurant. She’s got another notion of tourism though. She would rather feed the pigeons and run after them afterwards, or cuddle the dogs, or smell and pick some flowers, or collect eggs from the farm.

We wrote her name and contact info on her shoes though. There were just too much people and we didn't know how we could trace her back in case she's lost or we're lost. Writing on a piece of paper wasn't that handy as she didn't have a pocket all the time. We just explained to her that just in case, tell other people about her shoes. Thankfully, we never had to use it.

One funny thing though. She saw this ad and she immediately asked C’est Louna ça? (Is that Louna?). Taas ng ambisyon ng anak ko.

Magkamukha ba?

Ninja, The Bad Toy

During our stay at the seaside in Italy, she found a Ninja Turtle on the sand. And she decided to keep it with her. Disaster. Once it got inside the car, the Ninja started to bite the hand of one of her dolls (of course, she's doing it - putting the hands of the doll on the mouth of Ninja). The doll in return pushed Ninja. So Ninja and the little doll went to the corner alternately. Then Ninja started to bite Louna too. It was a bad toy.

And the role of the parents? We were obliged to talk to Ninja and the doll, plus bring them to the corner (in one part of the car) all the time during the duration of the travel. That’s pretty sweet at the start but it became tiring in the end especially when there’s Louna at the backseat being grouchy. She was taking her created story to heart.

Just funny that all her toys are kind and cuddly for her while her found Ninja has been tagged as a bad one. It’s resting somewhere now, with the agreement of Louna. It created a bad ambiance among her toys so better back off.

4th Month Visit

Our visit to the gynecologist is always an exciting event. She's got a 3D doppler machine (or is it 4D?) so we get to see not only the black and white images, but the 3D image as well. She's even saving the images on a CD, great for sharing with family and friends.

The highlight for this month's visit is that:
- the risk for trisomy 21 is very low at 1/2308 so I won't undergo amniocentesis (risky at 1/250).
- they found the presence of nitrite on my urine analysis so I had ECBU analysis which revealed nothing alarming.
- we tried to peek on our child's gender and it seems to be a girl. Another one! To be confirmed on next month's visit. Though we preferred it to be a boy, the fact that maman and baby are healthy is more than enough to be thankful for.

Maman

Getting rounder by the day. Gained 4 kgs from the start of pregnancy, that's one kilo a month! Wow. Average gain weight at this point is 2 - 4.5 kg, needless to remind me that I'm on the borderline. I need to be more responsible. I probably need to stop sneaking on my M&M pack in my drawer. Ang sarap naman kasi.

Weight gain graph comparing 1st and 2nd pregnancy.

Baby

Heart busy pumping at 144 bpm. 17 weeks and 3 days.

So far so good. No nausea. Baby's starting to kick left and right. Papa, a bit disappointed, but supportive as ever. Louna, a promising doting ate starts to practice feeding and changing diapers with her doll.

Life is good.

Link to Louna's pre-natal visit at 4th month.

The Blabber

I knew she's got the potential. I saw it. And I was quite sure of it. I talk pretty much. And so does Papa. An apple tree bears apple fruits, no mystery.

She's been trying to communicate at an earlier age. Though not clearly, she's nonetheless able to express what's in her mind and get what she wants most of the time. A mix of baby talk and body language are this girl's secret.

Here's some tricks and phrases of the moment:

Me trying to play Dora the Explorer DVD on my SIL's computer, but the computer was only able to read sounds without the images. Then there was Louna, playing narrator to her grandparents, auntie and cousins started:

Meow.. dans l'eau.. il pleure.. Diego.. il fait calin.
Meow (the little jaguar) .. fell on the water.. it's crying.. Diego.. cuddled him.

In trying to help her wear her shoes, or anything for that matter:

Je vais le faire.
I will do it.

In trying to accompany her to her potty, to her room, etc..

Reste là.
Stay there.

In trying to push her to eat something:

Aime pas ça.
I don't like that.

If she did a mistake:

Oh no! (With Dora accent please!)

In trying to help me or Papa finish our yoghurt:

Aider Maman?
Can I help you Maman?

The way she expresses herself just shows how independent she had become. My baby is a big girl now.

Oh Merde!

Rule #1: If you want to effectively educate your child, don't forget to educate yourself first.

I thought I heard her say Oh men! (I think it was more like - I wanted to believe I heard her say Oh men!) Then I heard her say it again last night... after Papa said Oh merde! (Exact translation of Oh shit!)

Oh men!

4 Months On the Way

My tummy's getting rounder and rounder since the preggy announcement and I hate that I needed to purchase some preggy clothes because the ones I used during the first pregnancy were summer clothes and that, obviously, were out of style.

Last night, I had this brilliant idea of getting Papa behind the camera and capture Louna and the growing bunny at play time. The result ain't that bad so this would become a monthly pictorial series till the bunny's out.

Our 29 month old little mademoiselle is a certified chocolat addict. In fact, it was hard to really capture a good portrait with her running around. So we bribed her with a bar of chocolate. Instantly, she was cooperative and the result was awesome. But just after the pictorial session, she was already claiming her chocolat.

We're slowly introducing her the art of partage (sharing) since she will soon share her Maman and Papa. Below is the scenario at lunchtime: An Easter egg to be shared between the 3 of us.

Louna dividing the chocolate, giving a portion to Papa, then to Maman and the biggest share infront of her (I was still eating some fruits). They ate their share of chocs then afterwards, Louna moving out of her chair walked to my direction. With a big smile, she asked me:

Louna: T'aimes pas ça? (pointing to the chocolate) You don't like it?
Maman: Non, j'aime bien. No, I like it a lot.
Louna (insisting, again pointing to the chocolate): T'aime pas ça? You don't like it?
Maman: J'aime beaucoup. I like it a lot, Louna.

The question and answer portion were probably repeated 5 times with her fingers getting closer and closer to the chocolate. Then she looked at me again and said Partage (Let's share) dividing the chocs into 2, one for her, another for me.

That T'aime pas ça and Partage conversation went again and again till I was done with my fruits. In the end, I only had 1/8th of what I was supposed to have.

Well, at least she understood the principle of sharing - and it always works to her advantage.

Pssst: please watch her dance We did it! with Dora and Boots: