See if we can get sound with this Baby!

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Have NO idea what the heck happened to the quality of the video here! I made it with my phone but when I play it on the PC (so not from Dropshots) it's SO good! Anybody with any ideas? feel free to share!

This was at the Ardgillan Playground. We were having a picnic and I was sitting on the blanket. She was trying to get me to lie down UNDER it! :) Mamma had to go sleepies! She's a gas child! One funny onion!

Attempting a video post!

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Little Miss' first Meme!

An Internet friend sent us a Meme. It's Little Miss' first!

Here goes:

3 things that scare me:

1. Spiders, once my mamma had a really big one fall on her in the shower and she screamed so loudly it scared the living mess out of me. Now, I run and cry when I see one and wait for my Daddy to make it go away.
2. The shower head. I love, love loooooove my bath, but when my mamma tries to rinse my hair with the shower I will kick up stink like you wouldn’t believe.
3. Being confined to one place. Once, I went on a plane with my Mamma and I had to stay in my seat with my seatbelt on until the plane was in the sky. I just wanted to sit with mamma. I cried and I said “Please Mamma? PLEASE?!” It broke my Mamma’s heart and made her cry too.

3 people that make me laugh:
1. My Daddy, he sings songs to me with the words all wrong and that makes me belly laugh like someone released a cloud of laughing gas in to the room.
2. My Mamma, she will pretend to eat my face and neck and that tickles me!
3. My cousins, running around and playing with my cousins at my Nannie’s house makes me so happy I practically laugh out loud the whole time!

3 Things I love
1. My Care Bear, she’s pink and she’s tie-dye. And I think she’s called Secret Heart Bear. My Mamma bought her for me and I she’s very special to me.
2. Singing songs with Mamma in the car. Mamma bought two tapes with kids’ songs and I make her play them and sing them with me, over, and over, and over, and over, and over……
3. Going to my Nannie’s house. She minds me for three days a week when my Mamma is in work. I love her so much and race to her door with my little purple case when Daddy brings me over in the mornings.

3 Things I hate:
1. Vegetables. I only like carrots really. My Mamma recently discovered that if she gives me a piece of say Yellow Pepper and calls it carrot: I will try it. It’s no guarantee that I will empty my plate however. I will eat my veggies when they are in a chicken and rice stir fry dish my Mamma makes though!
2. Hearing “No”, parents can be so unreasonable at times! I mean, surely it can’t be THAT big of a deal if I want to splash the entire downstairs toilet washing my hands after I use the potty??
3. Thunderstorms, they scare me so much I try to crawl under my Mamma’s t-shirt. Luckily we don’t get them much!

3 Things I don’t understand
1. Why I don’t get to see Mamma’s Mamma and Daddy as much as I would like. They can’t be that far away because when I go to the airport and on the plane with my Mamma I fall asleep and before you know it Pake and Beppe are there!
2. Why my Daddy has to go to work when I want him to stay with Mamma and me.
3. Why some kids on the playground are so mean. Mamma says I have to stand up for myself I am trying but I just want for everybody to be nice to each other!

3 Things on my nursery floor:
1. My Cot
2. My Chest of Drawers
3. My night stand. – My room is so small, there’s no room for anything else!

3 Things I am doing right now
Well, I am upstairs in my cot, sending my Mamma these messages through the power of the mind. I told my Mamma I would be dreaming about the tooth-fairy and I will do just that when this meme is finished.

3 Things I can do.
1. I can count to 20 in English, And 10 in Spanish and Dutch.
2. I can tell my Mamma when I have to go toilet. I wear big girl pants all day now!
3. I can make my parents melt just by looking at them, wrapping my arms around their necks and saying “I love you”. I can also get hugsies every time I want to just by standing in front of them and saying “Hugsies Please!”

3 Things I can’t do
1. I can’t get my Mamma to speak Dutch to me. I would pick it up so quickly, if she would only just try!
2. I can’t ride my trike. I can ride other kids’, just not mine.
3. I can’t hold the toilet roll when I need a piece of tissue; for some reason my Mamma doesn’t like the whole thing unrolled! Go Figure!

3 Ways to describe to my personality
1. Loving, I am extremely affectionate. I tell and show the people I love that I love them all the time. I give great hugs and kisses!
2. Bubbly, I laugh and run and play. I remind my Mamma of sunshine.
3. Caring. I am very gentle and affectionate with smaller kids. And when someone is crying, I will be the first one over to give hugs and kisses to make them feel better.

3 Things I think you should listen to:
1. The birds in the woods when I go walking with my Nannie.
2. My Mamma and I singing “I’m a little Teapot” and “The grand old duke of York” in the car.
3. My Daddy telling me how much he loves me, how I am his best girl. How he is so blessed to have me. The love in his voice will bring a tear to your eye.

3 Things I think you should never listen to:
1. Mamma and Daddy saying that it’s time to go after a day at Nannie’s house.
2. Mamma and Daddy saying that it’s time to go after the playground.
3. My tantrums when I am upset. They don’t last long and it’s usually because I am very tired.

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
1. My Mam’s nassi, a dish with rice, chicken, vegetables and herbs and spices. The only dish that makes me lick my bowl!
2. My Mam’s spaghetti, I get it all over my face. The only way to eat it!
3. My Nannie’s Stew.

3 Things I’d like to learn:
1. To speak Dutch.
2. To read for myself. I am having fun pretending I can already though.
3. To ride a bicycle! It looks like LOTS of fun when the neighborhood kids do it!

3 Beverages I drink regularly:
1. Milk
2. Water
3. Actimel, once a day.

3 Shows I watch on occasion:
1. Dora the Explorer
2. The Wiggles
3. Go Diego Go

3 Babies I tag

Mam has to think about this one!

Potty Training

After the turn of "toilet-going events", I was not sure what to do in regards to the whole potty training thing. For some (incredibly stupid) reason I had it in my mind that the issue would resolve it's self as soon as were back home. I even went so far as to take Little Miss to the shops to buy lots of new "Big Girl Underpants" She has a "Dora the Explorer" book on Potty Training and one of the sentences in that is: "Big girls don't wear Nappies!"
So in the car it was:

"What are we getting?"
"BIG GIRL PANTS!!"
"'Cause big girls don't wear??"
"HAMMIES!!" (her word for Nappies)

In the shop, I made a big deal of the pants, she got to pick which ones she wanted. And I got her all the ones she wanted. You want both kinds? You shall have both kinds! 'Cause buying your first big girl pants is an Event! And this will be fun! And without Stress! Also got her a cute new dress as I figured it would be easier to hike up quickly for the potty dashes!

That first day, she did tell me a few times that she needed to go Tinkle, but we also had, the to be expected, accidents. The thing was: it was just too early. She was emotionally completely out of whack. She cried allot the first few days we were back. And the thing was: she wanted her Daddy. She would scream, rant and rave that she wanted her Daddy, she would cry when she had to go number two and I couldn't help her because, well, I am not Daddy.

So, to preserve all of our sanities, we decided to leave the whole potty training thing for a while. Just until we were all back in to our routines.

I am delighted to say that we are back three weeks, and she is wearing big girl pants all day long now. We have only had two "accidents" in the last 2.5 weeks but they were not really accidents. (One was when she just got so excited about something she was running around and with the laughter things just kind of "went" and the other was when she was wearing her bathing suit and she was already wet. I think the sensation of wet clothing confused her)
She wears a nappy at night now, but we plan on starting to try and get her dry for the night when she goes in to a big girl bed after our holiday.

I am SO proud of her!!

Holiday Update - Part 2

The boat trip took us to a boating village that has a small playground and Little Miss had a great time playing there with her Pake.
On the way over there, she would sit on a space next to the wheel (Not really up on the exact "nautical" term.) and yelled at my Dad when bridges and boats were coming.
The lower bridges are opened by a bridge master, he will then hang a wooden shoe out on a pole and you put a set amount in the wooden shoe as you go by. Very exciting stuff when you're a two year old, let me tell you!
She spent a lot of time on her Pake's lap, steering and pointing at interesting things. It was such a huge success that we went out again the next day.
My dear, dear friend M. and her two eldest kids. E. and L. came with us too. Little Miss had dubbed them her new "Best Friends" and adored having them there. As did I.
M. and I are very close, we have been friends for just over ten years now and we never, ever get to have an outing together with our kids. The weather was perfect for a day on the boat, the kids were excited and had a blast! We will be going to the Netherlands again in August, and I am already looking forward to all of us spending time together again.

Little Miss had a very bad time going to the toilet when we were there. The first two days were grand, then, the drama started. The poor little mite could not go nr. 2. She would cry, and shake, one day there was actually blood in her nappy and my heart broke for her. My parents were at a loss too. It's so horrible to see your little Honey is so much pain. She would say she had to go potty. Walk around with her knees pushed together and her bum stuck out, crying her little eyes out. When I would get the potty she would say she didn't have to go anymore. When it finally HAD to come out, she would scream with it. It makes me well up even thinking about it.

The last day arrived all to quickly and my parents drove us back to Amsterdam. We made good time, but had to go to the gate straight away. (Of course the gate was all the way over at the end of the airport and Schiphol? Is BIG!)
The flight home was great! Beppe had given us a little bag of raisins and Little Miss was as happy as a pig in muck sitting in her seat, eating her raisins. Once we landed in Dublin though, it was a different story. We had spent the flight coloring, and reading stories. When we landed and all the people stood up, Little Miss Freaked. The. Heck. Out. Tears streaming down her little cheeks "Let's GO Mamma! Time to get off the plane!!" "Please mamma! PLEASE!!" One idiot started whining, in an attempt to imitate her. I was ready to punch his face in. As was, all I said was: "Charming".
The saddest part was when she got off her seat, and tried to get to the aisle. She was sobbing, but obviously thought that the crying wasn't getting her anywhere, so she tried to smile. Through the tears. I can't describe how that felt. The closest I can get to it, is that it felt like someone took my heart and put it in a bench screw and started twisting.
Once we were out of the plane though, she was fine again. We made great time getting our luggage and getting out. Daddy was parking the car as we came out so we sat down on the chairs at the arrivals hall to wait for him.
Little Miss was SO delighted to see him again! She ran in to his arms. It was SO good to see him again! For all of us to be together again.

It's good to be home people, it's good to be home!

Another morning with Caíthlyn and Daddy

Received the following in an e-mail from Darren this morning. I swear, he should start his own blog for her!

"Well...lets just say that my ventriloquist skills are getting better by the day. Care bear took on a whole new life on his own this morning, and I have to admit he was very good and giving the instructions to Caithlyn to put on her clothes etc. I was quite impressed with him. I didn't have to say a word myself cause care bear done it all for me. Funny thing actually, Caithlyn seems to response to care bear better than to me. I think I'll wake up care bear tomorrow morning also!! ;-) Yeah..there was definitely high risk of tears this morning but, gladly enough they were diverted by the bear!

She's a mad thing, she wanted me to bring her big buggy with us to Nannies house this morning. So right enough, I let her wheel it all the way over to the car. When we got to the car I told her that I had to fold it up so I could fit it in the car. Guess where it had to go...??.....In the flippin' boot! She nearly died a death when she say me going to put in on the back seat....I reckon she is going to be a great tap dancer or jazz dancer cause you wanna see the moves and grooves she was bustin' and to no music either!. So anyway needless to say, the buggy went in the boot, and right enough when we stopped outside my Mams, first thing she said.."I'll get my buggy"! She's a gas child!"

I can just see her to dit too. What a way to start the day! :-)

Darren and Caíthlyn's morning

Part of an e-mail I received from Darren this morning:

Howya,

Talk about a bloody night mare this morning...

I woke up to her calls of Daddyyyyy...daddyyyyyy....I looked at my phone and it was 08:11...there were cries of "Oh my Gawd" ringing around Lovely Town harbour. Fisher men all over the east coast were turning their ears towards land as they pulled up the lobster pots to faint cries of "Oh my gawd" I don't know what happened. The alarm just never went off. The phone even still has the Alarm symbol on the screen. This only goes off the screen when the alarm goes off...very strange..

Anyways...I went in to her and the first thing she said was I need to go tinkle. So I took her out and brought her into our toilet. While she was having her tinkle she announced that she would also like to have a Pooh...and being the generous kind that I am granted her permission for that also with an affirming nod of my head! To which she gladly deposited a most stinky Pooh, and after careful examination she declared that from this day forth, this pooh would be referred to as 'Mr Fishy' Pooh. I can only assume that our daughter is going to be seriously creative in her later years, although I am a little bit concerned at this point with the subject of her inspiration :-)

So, there was lots of running around after that little piece of entertainment. I still had to have my shower and shave etc and get her dressed and ohhh..the short version of the story is that we finally got to my Mams at 9am. My Mam gave me the questioning look to which I answered with the 'dont ask' shake of my head..

Holiday Update - Part 1

Little Miss and I went to The Netherlands for a week. We were looking forward to it in a big, big way!
I had packed the night before and managed to get all our stuff in to the one suitcase. We left well on time just in case the cheaper long-term car park was full and I would have to find a different place to park. We were in luck, so far, so good!
Darren was going to get the car out of the car park that night, but as we only had a spare set of keys for the doors, and not for the engine (second hand car.... ) we planned that I would leave the keys in the boot. So, I get the suitcase out. Grab Little Miss' little trolley-case and my backpack. Throw the keys in the boot and close it....... Leaving the buggy inside! Doh! Great start!
So, Little Miss had to walk. We made it on to the shuttle bus no problem and we were both really excited. I loved seeing her that way.
She was asking where all the other people were going and I told them that they were going to the Airport too. "Really Mamma?!" She was amazed that there were other people going on planes too!
She got an awful fright at the metal detector. When the alarm went off and the lady went to wave that wand around Little Miss, she panicked and raced back in to my arms. The poor thing was petrified. I managed to calm her down, and lift her to the gate.
Once on the plane, she first thought it was way cool that she had her own seat and seatbelt. The shine went off that pretty quickly though and she lost it completely. She just went hysterical. t was heartbreaking to see. She wailed! "Please Mamma, I want hugsies! I want to sit wit' you!! Please Mamma. Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaassseee!!!" I had tears in my eyes at seeing her so genuinely scared and upset.
The elderly, Australian Lady sitting next to us, was very understanding. When we were finally air-born, Little Miss leaned in to me to close her eyes, and she tried to pull the lady's cardigan over her as a blanket! The lady smiles and draped her cardigan over Caíthlyn and pulled her feet in to her lap.
Little Miss was out like a light in mere seconds.

Once we arrived at Schiphol Airport, she was completely refreshed and a totally different child! We made it through the Passport control easily and breezed through to the baggage claim. Coming out of the gate, she spotted my mam and jumped up in to her arms!
They were very happy to see each other! J
My Aunt I. and my Mam had come to pick us up together as my Dad had to attend a very important business meeting. So, to the car we went for the hour and a half drive back to Leeuwarden.

We called my dad from the car and he was very excited about our arrival! Once we made it to Leeuwarden, we were happy to be able to sit down. Man, traveling with a small child is hard work!
My Dad arrived shortly after but I think Little Miss had just had too many impressions that day because she was a little bit shy. Boy, did THAT change in the course of the week!
By the end of our holiday, every other sentence was “Watcha doin’ Pake?” “Where ya goin’ Pake?” “I sit with you Pake?” She was Pake mad! My dad would take her for walk around the neighborhood and they just had a great time together.
When my mam would come home from her job, she would be greeted by a: “Beppe!!”
She played catch with my mam in the back garden. I was very happy to see the bond between the three of them growing so quickly and strongly. They are genuinely crazy about each other.
Little Miss had been very good going to the toilet and telling us that she had to go, but all of a sudden she did not want to go to the toilet and was scared of making a deposit.
Going nr. 2 became traumatic and the tears would flow freely at least once a day. She would shake and scream with the effort. It was heartbreaking.
We went to see my friend M. and her kids twice that week and Little Miss had a fabulous time. The language barrier was practically non-existent. They played together so well and it was a joy to see. We also went to see another friend and her mother, actually, I consider both friends. It was lovely to see them again but Little Miss was a bit hyper so we didn’t stay as long as I would have liked originally.
That Friday we went for a little cruise on my parents’ boat. It’s called after Caíthlyn. It was fantastic to see her name on the side of such a beautiful boat!
I wasn’t sure how Little Miss was going to react to the boat but she flat out LOVED it.
Well, when we were setting off, my mam was at the front to cast off and Little Miss couldn’t see her. She got upset and started calling “Beppe, where’s Beppe? I need Beppe!”
But then my mam appeared and all was well again!
Caíthlyn looked SO cute in her little lifejacket! I was afraid she would make a fuss about having to wear it but she was fine, she actually really liked it!

To Be Continued…….

Back from Holidays

So, I come back in to the office after my holidays to find that they have turned the Internet Nanny up to full power. This means that I can't access Flickr from there anymore.
We are set to get broadband at home, at which time I will do all the editing on the pics.

'Till then, the pics here will have to do.

Will try and write a proper update early next week.