Caíthlyn's Blog

Blogging about our Little Miss. Family 2 pregnancy

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

December Update (Part 1)

Holy Mother, the idea of starting this log is very intimidating! I should really get my act together and blog more frequently! Between going to The Netherlands, Christmas and Little Miss' birthday I just did not have the gusto. Also, the few times that I DID try and leave a short post, Blogger wouldn't let me in. I took that as a sign to take it Ham and Cheesy (easy) and blog whenever the inspiration hit me! This, appearantly, is now....

First, Little Miss and mine's trip to The Netherlands. Honesty bids me to confess that I was more than a little nervous about the prospect of a plane trip with an almost 2 year old. Little Miss is an absolute Honey.... MOST of the time. When she decides she "Don't want to!!!!" not even Nanny Deb or Stella will be able to save you!

I had bought her a little Eyore backpack with a handle and wheels so she could have a case just like Mammie. I put together a mini Dora Backpack filled with Crayons, Pencils, a blank notepad a little Baby Doll and some Dora figurines. I hid this in my own backpack together with some cartons of milk and two tupperware boxes with grapes and tangerines and I was ready for action.
And what do you know? IT WORKED!! Apart from not wanting to sit on my lap at take off and landing it was just great! There was an empty seat next to us. (God bless the Gods of airtravel!)
Little Miss parked herself there and was delighted when I whipped out the entertainment back pack!
My parents were at the gate and it would seem that we were quite the sight, me pushing an empty buggy and pulling my big purple suitcase and Caíthlyn walking next to me pulling her little purple case ("MY Case!!" is what she called it)
She fell asleep on the 2 hour trip to Leeuwarden and consequently would not sleep that evening. Darren had jokingly said that I would be up at 01.00 hrs when he heard she had slept in the car...... Does he not know by now that the Gods are always listening?? Little Miss stopped crying at about 01.04 hrs.....
She had been in great form right up untill bed-time though. My mam was breaking a sweat 5 minutes after us emerging from the gates from running after Little Miss!
It was lovely to see Little Miss lift up her hand to take my Mam's. There was zero shy-ness and it was like she had seen them a hundred times before. (Of course, there were the few "I don't want to" -moments but that's a pleasure we ALL get. )
Once we arrived at the house, she was dancing and running around. It was like the kid was on Happy Pills!
After the first rough night, she was in great form again for the next day and we had quite the busy day.
Shopping for clothes in the AM (The Netherlands have a bit more choice in size "Is-that-a-woman-or-a-jet-carrier" than Ireland does), but not finding anything for me and ending up with a new outfit for Little Miss instead. Visiting my friend A. in the first half of the afternoon and my friends R. and her mom G. in the second half. A. lives in an adorable little farm house that she is slowly restoring to it's former glory and is very happy there with her 9 (I think) cats. She gave Caíthlyn a Care Bears DVD (which turned out to be a life saver! Every time Little Miss got narcky, we popped on the DVD and she would chill out and recharge the batteries while following Sunshine Bear's adventures in Joke-a-Lot.)
It was so very nice to see A. again and I can't wait for her and her new man to come over to visit us again. She loves Ireland and she hasn't been over here in WAAAAAY to long!
Seeing R. and G. again was great too. G. has a very nice home on a river. I have spent many a happy day/evening in that house and always have a lovely time when I re-visit. It's almost like a little time-warp to my teenage years. (Do you realize 1995, the year I met R. , was ELEVEN years ago?? I'm only sayin'........ )
R. was absolutely AMAZING with Little Miss. They took to each other immediatly. R. did allot of Ballet as a child and she and Little Miss were doing all kinds of Ballet-ish things in the sitting room. SO CUTE to see Little Miss trying to copy R. When the dancing was over, G. pulled out the Duplo. They were so involved with her. Giving her tangerines and having her on their laps. You could tell they really enjoyed having her there. It's moments like that that I wish it could work for us in The Netherlands....... But, I also realize that it's all extra special now because it's a holiday and that "real life" would be very different. Ireland is the best place for our family. Caíthlyn is very happy here. And to be honest, I don't miss LIFE in The Netherlands at all. It's the people, the friends that I can get a bit homesick about. Being able to drop by for a cuppa or take the kids to the petting zoo, or something as incredibly mundaine as that.

My parents really enjoyed our stay as well. Little Miss is so interactive now, she will chat to you. Take your hand to go for a walk, dance in a way that's SO CUTE it generates collective "AAwwwww's"
My dad took apart a ballpoint pen. And Little Miss helped him put it back together again. My dad would hand her the piece and tell here where to put it. And if something didn't work, or would fall out, her little mind just took that information and started working on how to correct it. My little problem solver!
My mam also got her colouring books and supplies and between that and the PC. (You haven't séén excitement until you've seen Little Miss' reaction to seeing "The Wiggles" pop up on a PC monitor: "LOOK MAMMIE!! THE WIGGLES!!!!!!" Absolutely hysterical! ) she was well entertained.
It must have been so nice for them to walk in to the room and get a beaming :"Hi Pake (grandad)!!" Or "Hi Beppe (grandma)!!" She most definitly still remembered them from when they were over to see us and I think that helped. If my mam would go for a smoke outside and Caíthlyn would cop she was out of the room she would ask "Where Beppe Go?" Or shout "Bepppeeee, where ARRRRREEE you?" Every time we went somewhere in the car she would say: " Beppe's Car!"
Even after we were back in Ireland she mentioned "Beppe's House" My dad had her in fits of laughter. Those fantastic belly laughs that only small children can produce.


Just glanced at what I wrote and realized I am giving Tolstoi a run for his money (in quantity, not quality, would'nt dream of comparing myself in that way)
Therefore, I shall give you a breather and continue this later.

Have a great one!

Love Always, Nynke

PS: Quick hello to my (semi-) silent readers!: Ciao Claudia!!
Hej Helene!!
Hallo Rixt!!