Dear Leilani,

So here we are in the middle of a heatwave, grumpy, not sleeping, and so of course we're potty training you.  It's a trend amongst all your friends, they're all having a go now, and actually you're doing really well.  You've been poo-ing on the potty since you were teeny tiny anyway, so it's not as hard as it might have been.  (Incidentally, did I ever write about that?  I forget...Nanna suggested that we put you on as soon as you could sit up since I always knew when you were about to poo as you always wanted to stand up to do it and had a certain look in your eye.  Anyway, somehow you caught on and so we haven't had to deal with poo-ey nappies since you were really little!)  Ok, back to the potty training.  On day one you had one accident when you did a wee on ME.  At playgroup.  Of course I had 4 changes of clothes for you in my bag but none for myself...Yesterday you had a couple of accidents when you were out in the garden.  The first one just about filled your wellies with wee - I heard you sloshing down the steps in them.  Disgusting!  Today you've had NO accidents, and as we were round at your friend's house you were all on and off the potties all afternoon and I think that helped.  So, the topic on everyone's lips is poo and wee.  I emptied more potties this afternoon than I ever want to again.  It's one thing dealing with your poo but quite another dealing with someone else's...(I know, I know baby....I'll stop talking about poo!)

We've had some rough days behaviour-wise lately.  A run of teething and not sleeping didn't help.  You turned into a total drama queen and if anyone so much as looked at one of your toys at playgroup you would freak out, crying, lying on the floor wailing...it didn't help that this just seems to attract attention and so then all the kids come to see what you're playing with to try and take it from you just to see if you'll freak out again!  Anyway, I've been teaching you to shout 'BACK OFF!' very loudly, which is what they taught me in my self defence classes years ago.  Unfortunately it sounds a little bit rude when you say it, but still, it's better than a meltdown every 30 seconds.  I'm also trying to get you to not cry and instead to come and find me, or another grown up, to tell them what happened.  We'll see how it goes...

You've developed a new love in life...the Muppets!  This makes Poppa very happy.  You've watched most of Muppets take Manhattan now, and your favourite part is where Kermit gets hit by the taxi, goes to hospital and forgets who he is.  Kermit seems to be your favourite as whenever he's not in shot you demand 'where is kermit' over and over until he comes back on.  You sometimes tell me not to run over Kermit when we're out driving.  I'll do my best...

You still love Peppa Pig, and you now have a Peppa Pig umbrella (which you took out to the shops in full sunshine the other day), and a cuddly George, and George pyjamas and Peppa knickers....we've had your paddling pool out in the garden in this hot sun, you like to pour water from one cup/pot/bottle to another, or over the edge onto the garden.  You play with your doll a lot.  Just tonight I saw you push her in the pushchair to the bathroom, sit on the potty with the dolly on your knee saying 'It's alright baby, it's alright, it's just a little bump' in true imitation of me!  You still like to draw, stick stickers, glue anything you can get your hands on, cut with your special scissors and when it's all finished you 'fold' your works of art up into a crumpled ball that looks like a piece of rubbish and proudly hand it over.

Maia came to visit from Switzerland and we had a lovely time playing together.  For a few days after they were here you would moan 'where's my Maia gone?' wandering round the house looking for her.  You went fishing with Poppa and caught a perch.  You fell down the steps in the garden again.  You started to jump off high things.  Oh, and you ate fruit!  Melon and strawberries!  You even tried a grape, and a blueberry, though those came back out again.  But still, it was very exciting to see you eating something vaguely healthy for once.  It was totally down to peer pressure since you saw Abi guzzling it down and wanted to share it too.  Such a sheep.

I love you pickle-puss,

Mommy xx

Dear Lani Baby,

Two months for the price of one today since I forgot last month...I think half my brain fell out when I gave birth to you.

I guess the big event of April was when you fell in the fountain in the Lion Park.  We'd met up with all your pals for the typical Thursday afternoon ruckus and whilst the others all started to head off home you, Eve and Maya were still raring to go.  One minute you're all sitting on the wall of the fountain and I'm gassing with Simone and Asmi, then the next minute there's a big splash and I just see Asmi grabbing the back of your coat where you're lying spread-eagled in the water...It was bound to happen to one of you at some point but of course it would be you, little one!  Well, it hasn't scarred you for life, you still love the lion park, you delighted in telling people about how you fell in the 'mountain' and went swimming with the ducks.  When Ma-Mah and Yeh-Yeh came to visit you listened to Yeh-Yeh telling his story about going to the hospital and then, in a slight conversational lull, announced your own recent adventure.  I tried to shush you up...trust you to tell on me to my mother in law!  Anyway, the only after affect is you being bossy with your friends now, telling them to 'be careful, not fall in' whenever we're near the fountain.

You're still pretty bossy generally, and you've developed a new habit of correcting people when they speak.  This is no doubt due to us correcting you all the time.  Poppa will sometimes say 'Sorry, I got' like you used to, and you'll say 'Not got Poppa, fooooorGOT' and then when he says it properly you say 'Yes, good boy Poppa'!  I've overheard you correcting your friends on their pronunciation too, as well as Ma-Mah and Yeh-Yeh.  And you copy everything.  The other day in your highchair you said 'oh, I not done my straps up Bozo'...that one's Mommy's fault and you now delight in calling people Bozo because it makes me laugh.  When your friend Camille was here to play the other day she was a little bit sad that her dad had left her, and when I was giving her a hug you came over to hug her too and said 'It's alright darlin'.

Granddad came to visit at Easter and we had a treasure hunt for you to find all your Easter goodies.  You used your Easter pennies to buy a remote control train to go on your wooden train set.  This has proved to be a *very* popular toy, and even Poppa likes to play trains with you.  You like to play with your dolly, making a bed for her, pretending that she's crying and giving her a bottle (hmmm, you were breastfed so not sure how that's come about), or changing her nappy.  You like to run round and round in circles to make yourself dizzy.  You try to jump off your stool but you haven't yet grasped the idea of bending your knees when you land.  You want to do everything yourself.  You're totally obsessed with being a 'big girl' and are constantly telling me that you've got bigger now.  Currently when you're a big girl you're going to have a scooter (playing on the 3 wheel one in John Lewis is a popular rainy day activity - they must hate us in there, we never buy anything!), a big girl bike (you can already ride the ones with stabilisers in ToysRUs but you can't reach the floor yet), and apparently when you're a big girl you're going to eat peas, and carrots, and grapes...and anything else remotely healthy-looking...

May has been busy too.  Alongside of all the usual things we've been to two fairs.  One down at Waterloo Meadows with Belle where you had your face painted (you asked to be a tiger), you made a May day hat, planted up a little flower to bring home, and we won various cuddly animals and a can of sweetcorn on the tombola!  Then there was the Reading Children's Festival that we went to with Belle and Cameron.  You had your face painted (a tiger again...), went on the carousel, did various painting/drawing activities, had a picnic and came home with the obligatory balloon (and some candy floss for Poppa).

We also just came back from our first camping trip, down near Ringwood in the New Forest.  We tried out our old 3 man tent in the lounge one day but decided there was not enough room for all of us so we got a new tent.  Your room in it is a dinosaur room...very cool...I wanted a dinosaur room too but Poppa made me sleep in the boring white room.  We got you a Peppa Pig sleeping bag bed which you were totally obsessed with but have now, post-camping, declared to be no good (don't think you were very comfy, or warm, poor monkey).  We played football, fed the friendly horsey, went for walks, played in parks, went to the sea and generally had a lovely holiday.  You've been a bit poorly, but we think it's because part of your back molars have finally made an appearance...only a little bit, but still, it's something.

You can read a few numbers now, and you recognise quite a few letters.  You even wrote L for Lani a few times one day though I've yet to see that repeated so it could've been a fluke.  You still sit on Tracy's knee at Tiny Talk classes, you went along to one of the taster sessions she runs as an example of a good signer and proudly did your signs for the babies there.  You still love singing at the library and we get new books out every week.  You make fart noises sometimes to make yourself laugh.  You saw a man with grey hair one day and announced loudly 'That man old!'  You like to list attributes, telling me 'Mommy got big boobies, Lani got little boobies, Poppa got little boobies' and had further reason to ponder whether we were wise to teach you body parts when we heard you singing 'I love penis, I love penis' to yourself in the bath one night...

Oh, and you told us you love us.  The first time it was Poppa (Grrrr!), we were in the car and you just said 'I love you Poppa' which made him go all funny.  You took a bit longer to tell me, but it was worth the wait.

I love you too little one.

Mommy xx

Dear Lani baby,

I sometimes feel that these brief notes to you each month are ineffectual at capturing the essence of who you are at that moment.  There are so many aspects to what makes you you that really this is often just a list of what you've done or what you've said.  The reality is that you are this amazing tiny little person who burst into my life 2 and a half years ago and turned it upside down.  You know how to make me melt inside, with a rare unrequested hug, and you know how to push *all* my buttons to make me as mad as hell.  You have a 'naughty face' that you make sometimes to make me laugh and you'll slide your eyes to the side with a cheeky smile.  You have a concentrate-y face that makes you look just like Poppa.  You like to pull faces in the mirror which again is exactly like Poppa.  In fact, you struggle to walk past a mirror without stopping for a good look at yourself.

I love that your favourite park, 'the Lion park' (Forbury) is also my favourite park.  And that there are no slides or swings there but that you just love to walk around, post things down the drains, climb up and down the steps of the band stand, sit by the fountain and drop sticks and stones in the water, or run, screaming, across the rattly grate.  I love that I get to spend almost all my time with you just playing.  I both love and hate that it takes us hours to walk the 10 minute walk into town because you notice *everything*.  You make me look at the world differently as we wonder where a plane is going (your guess is usually the supermarket or the seaside), which tree the singing bird is in, why there is a hole in the pavement, what sort of plant that pretty purple flower is, where that funny spider is going, what various outside noises are...I love that you collect stones on almost every trip.  And you've been known to fetch them out of your pockets once at home and take them into the bath with you at night.

The lady at nursery told us that your communication skills are really good, that you can have proper conversations (and don't we know it!).  You're a bit of a bossy boots at times.  I thought you'd got that from me, but on talking to Ma-Mah it turns out that your dad used to boss all the kids in the street around when he was little too.  I hear you yell over at Belle sometimes when we're out 'Not that way Belle, this way!' or 'Come in the tunnel now Belle'.  Thankfully Belle has a mind of her own so she doesn't follow your every command...

Anyway, list-wise you're getting taller, you're strong and as agile and fast as a little monkey climbing up all the ropes/slides/ladders at the park, you like to run, to chase people and be chased, to play ball, you sing a LOT now, especially the theme tune to 'Something Special' which you often just launch into at full volume, sometimes when I give you your dinner you say 'Thank you Ruth Mommy' which makes my heart go to mush, I like to talk to you on the phone because you have this tiny, sweet little voice, you still refuse to have hair clips or bunches or ponytails for more than a couple of minutes, you eat no vegetables and look at me like I've lost my mind if the fruit on offer is anything other than a banana, you had your first McDonald's cheeseburger and declared it to be 'delicious', you like to go for yum cha and glue days at playgroup make you very, very happy.

I'm so glad I get to spend so much time with you Lani.  Being at work was never this hard, but it was also never this much fun.

I love you.

Mommy xx

Congratulations, you caught the chicken pox! Last weekend you had a funny fat spot on your chin that we assumed was due to a chocolate overload on Friday night, but then suddenly on Tuesday night when I took your clothes off for your bath there were spots all over your back and tummy...It hasn't been as bad as I feared it would be. You've hardly scratched at all really, and only had a couple of short fevers. The worst thing has been our lock down in the house, unable to go out to avoid infecting others. We've played many games over and over, in various different rooms in the house, and played in the garden too, but even so you had several really cranky afternoons where I felt like I might go out of my mind, and you were probably heartily sick of me too...Anyway, the spots have crusted over now so you're not contagious anymore and we can go back to our normal routine.  

Before the plague struck we were in the park one morning. You were standing on the climbing frame and watching another little girl on one of the wobbly rocking animals. She wasn't big enough to rock it so she was just sitting still and you shouted over to her 'Not working....not working sweetheart!' I've heard you call people 'sweetheart' on a couple of other occassions since then. In general you use the right words for things and don't do that cute toddler inventing of words, although this month we've bemoaned the loss of 'ballawoos' when you suddenly announced 'Not ballawoo Poppa....balloon...' Fortunately you still say 'fantackits' instead of fantastic and I will endeavor to make sure you're still saying it when you're old enough to go to university. You did invent the term 'air cushions' to refer to arm bands which we, as proud parents, thought was very smart. Oh, and for a while you would say people were 'songing' rather than 'singing' which was cute.  

Mostly though you're a proper little person and we have lots of conversations nowadays. A lot of them seem to revolve around complex negotiations in which I say 'no, maybe later' and you say 'a little bit'. You can be very bossy, but upon being told you're being bossy you revert to sweet little girl mode and say 'pleeeeeeease Mommy, pleeeeeeeeease!' We still love Peppa Pig, and your daily commentary often includes how you're doing something 'like Peppa Pig'. You identified one of your shapes as a 'pentagon' the other day which was impressive, but then I compare it to your counting which now goes from 1 to 6 with no problem but 7 usually becomes 11 and 12 and then you get stuck in a loop...Not so smart.

Stay healthy now, little pumpkin. I love you. 

Mommy

'When she was good she was very, very good. And when she was bad she was horrid.'

The tantrums are back. You've learned some style since you first had them last summer. We were round at your friend's house and the time to go home came around and all of a sudden you were crying, then screaming...lying on the floor, legs and arms flailing, banging your head on every hard/dangerous surface you could find. Textbook tantrums. And none of the 'tricks' I've read about worked. After failing to ignore you/hold you/give you time out/distract you/reason with you I spent a good ten minutes trying to put on your shoes (curse those cute converse trainers and their stupid laces...), failed completely to get your coat on, somehow grappled you into the pushchair without it on only to see you rip your shoes off indignantly and throw them into the road (good throwing by the way, you don't get that from me!) swiftly followed by both socks. This really isn't the weather to be going barefoot but I wasn't about to try and put them back on again, so we walked home with you screaming the whole way and people staring at me in a 'what an awful mother' kind of way as they gazed askance at your little bare legs and feet... 

We had a repeat performance of this last week when I had the audacity to take you to a puppet show at the library. Cries of 'no want, no want' ensued, followed by more shoe and sock throwing and more strangers reaching for their mobile phones to call social services. Of course, once we sat down for the puppet show you stopped crying, got very excited and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Well, apart from the bit with the scary blue lion. All this trauma has come about, we think, because you're getting your last teeth coming through. Well, they come and they go, but hopefully one day soon they'll make a break for it and you'll start being nice again and I'll stop having to try and catch your shoes. 

In other news, you've learned how to do jigsaw puzzles, been to London for a visit to the aquarium and fallen asleep on the tube, made Chinese lanterns at playgroup for Chinese New Year, discovered slightly more patience for reading longer stories, been to another birthday party, held a real baby for the first time and you come out with more new words every day. 

Sometimes we'll tell you something is going to happen soon, for example we warn you if it's a school day and you'll be going to nursery, and you often respond 'on another day?' in a hopeful little voice. Or just this weekend we'd say something was going to happen and you nod wisely and say 'on a saturday.' That cracks me up every time. You like to watch your Justin DVD. He's totally failed to teach you how to count yet (1...2...6...7...8) but you like to repeat the letters from the alphabet with him. Our favourite is W which you say is 'diddy-woo'. 

Last week at your sign language class you sat with Tracy for the first time ever since we started going almost 2 years ago! You thrilled everyone with your expert signing. I like it when you sign because your mouth is too full of food to talk. Or when we're just out of hearing range of each other at playgroup so you'll sign to me that you've seen a boy or a girl, or that you're playing with the baby doll. The other evening over dinner you were singing and signing the song 'daddy, daddy, where are you, peekaboo, peekaboo, I love you' which made your Poppa well up a little bit. Or at least, it did until you followed that verse up with a made up one of your own that went 'Teapot teapot teapot teapot where are you? Peekaboo, Peekaboo, I love you'! He said he felt devalued after that! 

The Peppa Pig obsession continues. You eat carrot cake now thanks to an episode where Peppa and George learn to be rabbits and enjoy eating carrot cake. Actually they also eat some raw carrots too, but I offered you one yesterday and you just gave me the 'don't be so silly Mommy' look that you have perfected over these twenty seven months. 

I hope you get your teeth through soon. Not just because of the tantrums but because I know it hurts you. Keep making us laugh baby girl, we still love you even when you are horrid. Mommy xxx

Dear Leilani,

We have decided that we need another house...one to keep all your stuff in. Over the Christmas period you have amassed a LOT more toys, and we don't quite know what to do with everything!

Christmas was busy, but very fun. You met Santa three times (one was a lady Santa...) but you didn't scream at all this year. You had various Christmas parties at playgroups and Tiny Talk, and a Secret Santa party with all your little chums. And then when all our activities wound to a close for the year you and I went off on our travels, leaving Poppa to 'work' at home. We went to Nanna and Grandad's first where we had an early Christmas with them. You 'helped' set up their Wii Fit (you're good at the hula hoop one), you played with your new doctor's set giving all the toys, and all of us, injection after injection. Grandad took us to see a house with some pretty Christmas lights and tried to show us the donkeys but they'd gone to bed. You played on Nanna's harp, sang your entire repertoire of songs, and spent a lot of time putting all the toys into the 'barfreen' (bathroom) whenever they were naughty as that's what I use as your 'naughty step'. (You sometimes try to send Poppa to the barfreen if he does anything to annoy you...)

Then it was on to Auntie Karen and Uncle Alan's house where you spent hours playing with your new best friend, Annie. She showed you her guinea pig, Henry, and you tried to pick him up saying 'come here Guinea Pig', we fed the ducks, got attacked by the geese, ate far too much chocolate, slept in mommy's bed quite a bit - you wriggle and kick a lot, and one long night, after waking around 10.30pm, you wouldn't go back to sleep until one in the morning as you were lying next to me chattering away about everything you'd been doing and seeing. We went to Auntie Karen's allotment where you did watering and digging and met the chickens. We went to carols on the green where you sang along to the carols with words of your own making. You cried for Annie when we left on Christmas Eve, and you kept crying almost all the way to MahMah and YehYeh's house saying 'Back to Annie...back to Annie!' 

So then it was Christmas all over again at their house, another Wii Fit to set up, more presents to open, and you stuffed yourself silly with sausages. You've started to say 'yeah' rather than 'yes' in a casual teenager kind of way. I expect it's my fault. Poppa has tried to break you of the habit but it's not going in so we've given up for now. I taught you the sign for fantastic and you do it very energetically and shout 'fantacticks' as you do so. Last night you were sitting eating dinner and you counted 'eight...three....on-er (one)....fantacticks!' Counting is your current stumbling block. It's like colours all over again. I hear you countdown to running races saying 'four...eight....four....RUN!' If you're all ready to go out and I'm still doing odds and ends you'll stand at the door and shout 'Come on Mommy!' You loved all the Christmas lights ('beautiful pretty'), and enjoyed your nativity storybook with the angels, shepherds and the 'baby cheese' who apparently didn't receive gold, frankincense and myrrh but actually a pair of socks because in the picture baby Jesus is wearing no socks and this worried you. So when I said the wise men brought him presents you told me it was socks. 

So, now it's almost 2009 and your third Christmas is over. I hope you enjoyed it too little one. Stay healthy and happy this year.

I love you.

Mommy

xxx

Dear Leilani,

I can't believe that tomorrow morning we'll be eating the first chocolate from the advent calendar Uncle Jonty bought you.  This year has gone by too fast, and this month you seem to be doing something new every day...

You've decided that you will wear your welly boots now, perhaps thanks to Peppa Pig who wears hers to jump in muddy puddles.  It is also thanks to Peppa Pig that you finally put on the red trainers we bought you over in Boston, as Peppa goes shoe shopping one day and gets some new red shoes.  I'm holding out hope for an episode where Peppa and George eat all their vegetables.  Happily.  With yummy noises.  Watching 'pig' is a daily activity and it's almost as popular as your first love, Justin.  Poppa likes to shout 'din-saur' like George does and it drives you crazy as you start shouting 'No shout din-saur Poppa' back at him!  You're talking more and more.  I noticed today you're saying 'careful' quite a bit so that must be a new one.  Tonight you asked us how to sign 'dirty', and you're saying and signing 'where' and 'sorry' a lot recently.  One day you came home from nursery and sang 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' in full (well, quite a few words were made up, but we knew what it was) and it made me cry!  Just one of those emotional Mommy moments I guess...Oh, and you rode a bike!  Well, a trike, but still, I practically screamed across the hall for Sarah to look at what you were doing as I was so proud.

Since it's important to be truthful in all things, I should also mention that there were some days (it felt like many, many days) when you were almost unbearable to live with.  You were sick with a really bad cold, and waking every hour at night at the worst point, which left me ragged and short on patience for you moaning all day long.  We think you're last molars are also starting to come through which wasn't helping.  Well, we survived, and it made me see again how lovely you are most of the time normally.  I hope you don't get sick again this winter.  Poppa and I both have it now, but you seem to be bouncing with health.

On one of my Mondays off I went further away from you than I've ever been before as I had training in Birmingham for the day for the book reviewing that I'm going to be doing.  That was a fun day.  I left the house before you and Poppa were awake, so he had to do your breakfast (that I left prepared in a bowl since I think he'd only every given you breakfast once before in your life!) and then take you to nursery.  He said you were a really good girl and totally accepted that I had gone to 'Mommy school'.

We went to Addy's birthday party and you helped him blow out his candles.  We went to Abi's party and you had to be restrained from blowing out her candles.  You often point to the candles on the mantlepiece and talk about birthday cake.  You love to play with play doh, you still like to take your pushchair to the park but it's no longer the total obsession it was before.  You like to draw.  You still love robots and you specifically requested we buy a 'bobot' book with your birthday money.  When the girls write in your 'what you did today' book at nursery the food section usually reads 'snack: some, lunch: some, pudding: all'.  Poppa says you cry a bit still when he leaves you but that you run off to the 'lady' without looking back at him, and they say you're not crying for long and you seem to be enjoying your 'school'.  You talk about 'Yeh Yeh' (Grandad Ng) sometimes.  You can play the mouth organ like him, right down to the wobbly hand to give it some vibrato! 

And one evening as Poppa took you out of the bath he was saying 'Are you beautiful Leilani?' and you looked at me and said 'Beautiful Mommy'...not nearly as beautiful as you, my precious one, but thank you.

I love you, baby girl.

Mommy xx

Dear Leilani Baby,

Happy Birthday baby girl! You're two whole years old, and to celebrate I've packed you off to nursery for the day! You had your birthday at the weekend really, since that's when your party was. You woke up on Saturday morning and it was, finally, pushchair day! Poppa had made you a countdown chart and over the last few weeks you've been colouring in a box every day, counting down to your birthday (though you also coloured in the wall underneath too...oops! We both went to get you up on Saturday morning and gave you your little dolly pushchair. You were inseparable from it all day...you even fell asleep for your nap holding tightly to the handle, held it folded up in the car on the way to your party, and spent the whole party pushing it round and round and round...Your party was lots of fun, with balloons and music and play doh and stickers and cakes and toys and all your little friends. I think my favourite part was when we sang you 'Happy birthday' and you clapped heartily at the end and then blew out your candles beautifully (which shouldn't be a surprise since you've been practising with imaginary birthday cake for weeks).

It's been quite a month. You did lots of settling in sessions at nursery, and last week started going properly for one full day a week. You seem to be enjoying it, and as much as I love you, little one, it is *wonderful* to have a little time to be Ruth again rather than constantly being Mommy. It means our weeks are very busy now, with something happening every day, but that's how we like it. I always mean to jot down the new things you say to try and keep track, but it's happening so fast now that I forget really quickly. You do make me laugh though when you fart as you announce 'Bart', and if it's someone else who farted you have no qualms about announcing their fart too, and saying who did it. You're starting to sing a tiny bit, mostly 'baa baa baa baa' and then I have to fill in the rest, or we sing 'Miss Molly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick' and you will sing and sign most of the song. Oh, and you've made up your own little song that goes something like 'ee ee ee, oh oh oh, ee ee ee, oh oh oh'...you kind of hum it to yourself when you're just pottering around the house or walking to the shops with me.

When we walk through tunnels and under bridges you like to shout, very loudly, to hear the echo. Mostly you shout 'Mommy' but sometimes you also shout 'Poppa' only recently it's been sounding more like you're saying 'Pop-eye'. You love to dance with Poppa. You like to pretend to do ballet (it's very strange- looking ballet that often involves you trying to do a headstand...we should probably send you for some lessons at some point). You love to splash in puddles but have an aversion to wearing welly boots so you don't get to do it very often. You like sunny days when we go walking through crunchy autumn leaves (me too), and sitting on the wall of the fountain at the park and dropping twigs and leaves in and watching them float away. You love climbing at the park, we hardly ever go to town without a visit to either the bookshop or the library since you start to demand 'books' as soon as we're anywhere near either of those, but obviously that's no hardship for me. Oh, and you like to find all those ride-on things in town - Bob the Builder and Thomas the tank engine and little cars...only I haven't put any money in any of them, so you don't yet know what they actually do. Hopefully we can keep it this way for as long as possible! You like to load and unload the washing machine. You like to eat peanut butter straight out of the jar with your hands. You love your dolly and duck. You like to walk, everywhere, and most especially you like to walk on any walls we pass by.

Thinking back to that day two years ago, it's hard to believe you're the same person as the fat, red-faced little person that fought her way out of me in such a rush and tumble. You've become your own little person this year, a little girl now not a baby, with your own thoughts and opinions. Although there are sometimes little things that I miss from my life before I was a Mommy (like sleep...) I feel incredibly blessed to have you in my life, and somehow it's as if I have always known you. You're my hardest job ever, but also my funniest. I love that we can talk to each other now, and I hope you'll always want to chat with me about everything you've done or want to do. You're beautiful, little one, and I love you. Happy birthday.

Mommy xx 

One month to go until your birthday party!  You already had a false alarm when we went round to Abi's house...as we got out of the car you started to talk about cake, and then when Monika opened the gate to let us in the garden you started saying 'appy, appy' which is how you refer to birthdays, and then Monika brought out Abi's dolly pushchair for you to play with, knowing your obsession with these things, and you cried out 'pushchair' so happily that I began to realise that for some reason you thought *this* was your birthday.  Your friends were there, there was a possibility of cake, and someone had handed you a pushchair (which we've told you you're getting for your birthday)!  Poor Leilani!  Not long now until the real thing...

We went on holiday this month to Boston.  In future years you will come to realise just how brave this was of Mommy and Poppa to take a transatlantic flight with a toddler!  Even before we took off there was excitement.  There was a fire alert at Heathrow and we had to evacuate the departures lounge, then our flight was delayed over three hours...you made friends with a little boy and played with all the bears in Harrods...then once we got to Boston we had to wait forever for our hire car, there were road works on the highway, Walmart was shut so no food supplies, we couldn't find the house and were tramping through the sand...in the end we arrived at the house at what was around 5 a.m. UK time. You were very good even with the jet lag, and it was totally worth it because it was a wonderful holiday.  Our house was right on the beach.  You got up that first morning and walked to the patio doors that looked out onto the deck and said 'Wow, sea!'  We spent a lot of time on the beach, digging in the sand, collecting stones, shells, sea glass, drawing in the sand, paddling, finding crabs and star fish and sea weed.  Poppa and I had lots and lots of lobster, and you lived on Frosties, chicken dinosaurs, apple juice and ding dongs!  None of us wanted to come home...

Whilst we were away you suddenly seemed to grow up a lot, talking in little sentences ('Momma sit there....Poppa sit there...') and just being more grown up about things.  New words crop up often now.  Yesterday I took you out to Belle's house, and as you knew where we were going you spent almost the whole way talking about Belle, Belle's door, feeding the ducks some bread with Belle...then you were just chattering nonsense away to yourself when suddenly you said 'I like babies!'  'You like babies do you?' I said.  'Yes' you replied!

You've expanded your acceptable foods again to now include little sausages.  You attempted some peas the other night but they came back out again :)  I keep trying to get you to sing songs with me but whenever I say 'you sing it Lani' you give me the cutest little smile as if to say 'i'm far too shy and I don't really want to!'  You have a new obsession with doing the 'oke koki' (I have no idea how to spell that!) and you love to 'row your boat'.

I'm really excited about your birthday coming, little one.  Even though it means you'll be TWO!  I love you baby girl.

Mommy xx

Happy almost birthday to you....!  I'm getting very excited at the thought of your birthday coming up next month.  On my things to do list is booking the hall for a party, and making a card to send to Cbeebies.  We know what we're getting you for a present and you will LOVE it so it's all very exciting!

In the meantime you've been busy as ever.  You're learning to put your trousers on yourself (often with both legs in one hole), and also your shoes.  Mostly you like to wear Poppa's shoes to clomp around the house though.  You're into robots in a big way - you still love Wall-E but also now ask to see the end of Short Circuit...you go very quiet when the robot gets blown up, you say 'ahhh' when the lady is crying and the man hugs her, and you shout 'BOBOT!' when Number 5 appears in the van at the end!  I never knew there were so many robots around - you seem to spot them everywhere.  And pirates too!

Dolly and duck are still your favourites sleep/outing companions.  But you also have a thing for Postman Pat who you call Po-pat.  I like Postman Pat myself actually, though these new episodes where he's married and everything are a bit weird...You like Bob the Builder too, or at least the opening song to it, and Brum.  There's a Brum car you can ride on in Mothercare but although you always ask to go in to see it you're very wary of getting too close!  Not so for the Bob the Builder & Noddy rides that are around town.  You love to climb on those and so far I've managed to avoid putting any money in them since you don't know that's what they're really for!

We took you to Chessington World of Adventures (which features in one of your favourite episodes of 'Something Special') and you had a lot of fun going on the big wheel, the tiny trucks, the boat rides etc.  I think you would've liked to go on the log flume...maybe when you're bigger...for now we have little video clips of you on everything that you like to watch again, and again, and again.

I like it when Poppa gets you up from a nap and you start up a chant of 'Momma gin, Momma gin' (Mommy again, mommy again).  You do the same for Poppa when he's out or at work.  You have a new game you like to play called 'under the bed' where we have to go in our bed and lie down under the duvet and pretend to sleep and then sit up and shout 'boo'...I think you could play that all day.  I'd prefer it without the jumping up and shouting boo bit to be honest.

Stay happy, little one.  I love you.

Mommy xx