winter 2017 updates.

It's been a nice, low-key winter season in our household. We've been enjoying some of the city's winter activities (such as our neighbourhood's Winter Glow festival, replacing the weekly fireworks of previous years - the festival was okay), trying to keep warm in our apartment, and just enjoying each others' company on the weekends.

the Docklands Winter Glow festival. fire everywhere.

Ben's been busy at work, while I've been focusing my free time on art projects and recording new music for upcoming videos, and also preparing for our upcoming trip to the States.

visiting Dada at work on his birthday!

A 21 months, Arden is a little sponge - learning dozens of new things every day, surprising and delighting us with new words, mannerisms and quirks. Some of our favourite recent verbal acquisitions are: "Star Wars!", "AWESOME!", "Yay I did it!" and counting from 1 to 10 (give or take a few numbers...). She loves to sing, often joining in on the lullabies we use to soothe her, and even humming recognisable tunes when she's in her stroller or nursing. She uses a cute sing-song voice when she's looking for something ("ball? oh baaa-alllll...") and in the mornings when she wakes up, the baby monitor will crackle to life with "mama? mamaaaa... oh maaaa-maaaa...?" which is honestly a little creepy too, haha.

For some reason, I feel like this past weekend she's really become a little toddler. She finally started asking to video chat with our families, which is really sweet. It's also really fascinating to see how differently she acts during various FaceTime conversations - she's very shy in front of some of my friends, while she's grown very accustomed to once-a-week phone calls with my family, and doesn't need any time warming up to most of our family members. And thanks to the little family picture book I made her, Arden can recognise and say everyone's name and/or family title, which is really great. Hopefully she's just as warm and playful with everyone in-person during our upcoming USA tour!

weekend storytime

Arden is a bookworm, currently happiest curled up on the couch surrounded with her stacks of books (and a specific order in which to read these books, I might add). She can recognise many letters and a few numbers, and when we're walking outside she'll point out letters on signs and advertisements and shout things like "M! Hi-yo M!" as if the letters were dear friends. She is also obsessed with pointing out boats ("booooat"), planes ("paaaaain"), and helicopters ("COPPA!") as they pass by our window. I also should add that her hearing and eyesight are pretty incredible, as these vehicles are often faint sounds and tiny dots in the distance. She also gets very excited when she sees clocks, especially the giant one at Melbourne Central that opens up every hour and plays "Waltzing Matilda" with little animatronic animals dancing around.

looking for helicopters.

Arden also has a keen sense of direction, to the point where I have to bribe her with Cheerios if we go the opposite direction from her favourite park and library, or else she has a terrific meltdown. She loves wearing "pretty" things (and NOT the cool superhero t-shirts I just bought her... how devastating!). She's also still a bit needy at home, always wanting to be carried or cuddled, but every now and then she'll happily entertain herself with toys or puzzles for a few minutes. Sometimes I'll catch her acting out exercises from our swimming lessons with her plush toys, which is really adorable.

with her "pom poms" and "pretty necklaces"

Sleep habits have improved a lot, especially night-time sleep. We still have really bad nights, but these are once/twice a week occurrences (instead of the other way around), and she is very capable of sleeping through the night in her crib, after one of us (usually Ben) coaxes her to sleep for an hour. Naps are still held/carried (usually in her bedroom in her glider chair, as she nurses) but we've gotten accustomed to the routine. And once she's asleep, I can carefully put on my headphones and catch up with my favourite YouTube vloggers, so it's downtime of some sort!

All in all, it's been a wonderful winter. We're excited to see our families very soon, and especially for everyone to meet almost-2-year-old Arden (who will hopefully be a lot less terrified than 8-month old Arden was last year!)...

CK