We have a new swimming day, Sundays and a new teacher. The teacher is fantastic and I really enjoyed the lesson. Ickle crawled across the floating mat (foam that floats in the pool) at swimming yesterday. Em said it’s hard to deny your little one is on the move when she does it in public.

Ickle understands object permanence – she knows where things are like the panda in her cot, the toys in her room, where the doll is that she plays with while getting changed and what blows us away the most is she plays games with Em. Ickle understands that if Em disappears from one side behind me, she’ll usually appear on the other side and Ickle will throw herself over to that side to look for Em and lunge back the other way if she’s not there. This is usually performed in fits of giggles and is a highlight of my day.

Sitting is still not Ickle’s favourite, I think it has to do with the whole being stationary factor. She’ll sit happily until she sees something that she *must* have.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to meet up with Fletcher and his mums. It was great to see them and we were absolutely blown over with Fletcher’s ability to sleep anywhere – he’s such a great little kid and it was great to meet his mums

Today is 7 months and 2 days since Ickle was born and 7 months and 2 days until we head off overseas, time has really flown by since Ickle arrived so it shouldn’t be long until we’re off on holidays!

Happy 7th Month Birthday to Ickle and Fletcher for Saturday! No baking this month

I got the pleasure of taking Ickle to her swimming lessons again today as Em’s arm plaster isn’t waterproof. The next cast will be fibreglass which should be less cumbersome. Things sure have been going a million miles an hour this year, Em and I decided to sell both our bikes and buy one between us. We were both stoked to pick up Envy on Tuesday – a 2008 Roulette Green Triumph Street Triple. I skipped a waiting list (and expected uncrating and delivery in March) to get the colour we wanted immediately by being at the right place at the right time. We had to get some finance to bridge the transition so we’ve got both our bikes on the market to pay that off.

Back to swimming, there was only us and 8 month old Layla in our class today – Ickle showed off to her Aunt and Uncle by kicking and getting really excited in the pool. She is getting much better with going under and I’m more confident putting her under for longer. Ickle and Layla even had a play together in the pool which was really cute. Ickle is really toy motivated, each time the instructor got new toys out she was kicking in my arms to get to them. When she’s finished a bottle in her feeding chair in her room, she’ll try to lunge from my lap to get down and play with her toys.

Ickle is also fascinated by our cats and laughs when she sees them. Only one of them is interested in her, the others run away (we always thought they were the cleverer ones). Today she fished her turbo bouncing Tigger out of the toy basket and I set it off with her in my lap – it’s fair to say that Ickle is definitely Em’s daughter; Ickle laughed and laughed at Tigger and keep prompting me to make him bounce again. Way too cute.

I’m constantly amazed by the awesome relationship Ickle has with her Mia (Em). Mia is absolutely the best thing ever, and apparently has a hilarious stand up routine – which I’ll explain – Mia sits down then stands up. Em always has Ickle in stitches which makes us both laugh too.

Tomorrow we are meeting up with Cody’s friend Fletcher and his mums. Both kids were born on the same day to two mums which we think is a little bit cool.

We’ve got guests for dinner tonight so I’m off to start roasting some tomatoes for a funky pasta.

Three movies I’ve watched more than once:
1. Donnie Darko
2. Zoolander
3. Forest Gump

Three places I have lived:
1. Sydney
2. Perth
3. Adelaide

Shows that I watch:
1. Grey’s Anatomy
2. Scrubs
3. Heroes

Places I have travelled to:
1. New Zealand
2. US
3. Canada

Three of my favourite foods:
1. Pizza
2. Mashed Potato
3. Lollies

Three of my favourite books:
1. Guess How Much I Love You
2. The Magician’s Nephew
3. In My Skin

Three places I would rather be right now:
1. In bed
2. In REM
3. Walking along the beach – it’s a gorgeous morning

Three things I am looking forward to this year (2008):
1. Traveling
2. Watching our daughter grow
3. Seeing my family

Teeth!

Ickle is the proud new owner of a set of bottom teeth discovered today by her Mia! They sure weren’t there yesterday!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Happy 1/2 Birthday to Ickle and Fletcher for last week

We celebrated Ickle’s 1/2 birthday with muffins, chocolate chips ones! I’ve actually got some more in the oven now they were so good.

My favourite thing about Ickle right now is her sense of anticipation – she starts to giggle when we’re threatening to come in for a tickle or raspberry. She also thinks it’s funny when I sing, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. She’s an accomplished roller and can now roll both ways and stop in the middle to play on her side – usually with her iPod or something else she isn’t meant to have. Ickle likes to do baby pushups – heaving her mid section off the ground and showing off on her tippy toes and hands, she can slug backwards quite well and do 360s on the spot too.

Her favourite toys this week are blocks and the piano on her activity centre. She likes to play dj, set up a song and start mixing and bopping around, she’s a better DJ than a few of the Australian acts I’ve seen! Ickle also loves the floor piano in her bedroom and her tigger faux jolly jumper – she’s into music and bouncing

Apple custard is the highlight of her day – once Mia is home She’ll complain about what she is eating however still declare her dessert tummy empty. I’ve got a recipe for baked custard so going to see if I can adapt it for an apple flavour. Ickle likes her weetbix with either apple or banana and will easily eat 1 1/2 of them.

I love how excited she gets when she sees her Mia – it’s probably my parenthood highlight. She also sleeps better when her Mia is home, I totally understand that.

Our delightfully gorgeous baby is developing into a very “talkative”, active little kid and we are both honoured to be sharing her journey.