Camille's Chronicle: March 2008

Fun and Games

My studious alter ego

Keeping busy sorting the cutlery

Mum why do I have to read this book?

The sourceror's apprentice

Lady Macbeth
'Out damn spot'
(food colouring raided from the pantry was the true culprit)

Breaking news: Camille Goodman Sleeps in Bed all Night

Stunned parents of Camille Goodman awoke at 6am to find that their daughter had for the first time managed to sleep the entire night in her own bed without waking. Needless to say her parents are overjoyed but are at this stage uncertain as to whether this is a once off or the start of a new era in their lives. To be continued............................

Suixi get together

The beautiful Kiewa River

Braving the deep cold river

The hunt is on.............

There's no such thing as too much chocolate Mum!

Having fun up at the Boote's

On the way home we had lunch at the Wandilagong pub

On the long weekend the Suixi girls met up in Mt. Beauty for their inaugural camping get together. Next to the very pretty Kiewa River the country folk camped whilst the city-siders opted for cabins.

It was wonderful to see just how our gorgeous girls are growing. They all had great fun playing footy and golf and then there was Ruby’s fabulous bike which they all wanted to ride (at the same time of course). Mandy brought along a pool for the girls to cool off in. Ebony, Mei and Camille were very brave girls and also had a swim in the deep, cold river.

On Sunday we all went up to Eb’s for a photo shoot of the girls in their Chinese outfits, followed by a Easter egg hunt on the lawn. Camille ate far too much chocolate and could not get to sleep that night. She had much more fun sitting up with the adults until 11pm and chatting about this and that.

It was all so much fun. We can’t wait until we meet up again mid year in Bendigo.

Look who's talking

For a long time we’ve known that Camille was understanding everything we were saying. But as recently as Christmas Camille was only stringing together a few words together here and there. Well that’s certainly changed! The past few weeks have seen Camille start talking non stop. Forming new sentences, using words we didn’t even know she’d picked up, and copying just about everything we say. It’s an absolute delight to hear her telling us all the things she’s thinking about. Jo warned me that once she started she’d never stop…… And now we have a non stop chatterbox….

Some early first sentences have been
Pick up mummy dada
Antony has blue bot bot

Daddy's birthday

Look at the cake Mummy made to celebrate Dada’s birthday! You see my Daddy just loves Thomas and he loves nothing better than to set up the tracks and play with me. That’s why for his birthday I gave him a tunnel to add to my (our) set. (Dada even dreamt that his welder had a face like Thomas on it. Look at this picture and you can understand why)

Creche on Wednesdays

I’m completely overjoyed that Camille has a place at Clifton Street Children’s Centre. Overlooking a park, with a beautiful outdoor play area, it was my first choice for childcare. Given that there is a waiting list of over 1000 for childcare in the City of Darebin, we were so lucky to get this place. Mind you Camille’s name was down for 2 years, even before allocation. (I had her down as Amelia Goodman, as that was what I originally planned to name her).

Much to my surprise, from day one Camille has settled in without any fuss at all. She loves to paint and calls it ‘my creche’. On the first day she ate two serves of lunch and slept for an hour an a half (no doubt exhausted from the 5 paintings she completed). I’m over the moon and have enjoyed every moment of my new found freedom (movies + a pedicure=bliss!). Although I must confess that most afternoons I can’t wait to pick her up, suffering from pangs of separation anxiety.

Chinese new year: the year of the rat

Rats are creative industrious and hard working.
They make excellent critics, publicists or sales people.

After cleaning the house and putting up the lanterns we were ready. Time to celebrate Chinese New Year- the first day of the first moon. Feeling adventurous I made dumplings for the first time and to my surprise they were delicious.

At playgroup Ruth and I organized for the girls to make Chinese lanterns. We had so much fun! And to finish off festivities we went to the FCC function to meet up with all the other families.

The Summer of 2008

Beach baby
It came as no surprise that Camille loved the beach. A true water baby, she busied herself in the shallows and quickly learnt how to jump the waves. And then there were all those sandcastles to make. Whether down by the river at Barwon Heads or on the beach at Ocean Grove, Camille thoroughly enjoyed herself. The photos speak for themselves…………………….

Collingwood Children’s farm
The Collingwood children’s farm is just a short 30 minute walk from Mei’s place. With cows, sheep, goats, horses, guinea pigs and chickens the girls have the chance to sample country life without ever being too far from all those things their mummies love (cafes, movies, restaurants, shops). We were even lucky enough to see a cow being milked. This has had a lasting impact on Camille, especially when we read Belinda the Cow. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze…..

The Children’s Garden
All the littlies and their Mums from Wednesday playgroup met up at the Botanic Garden to explore the children’s garden: the bamboo forest, winding paths, vegetable gardens, little bridges across ponds and of course digging in the dirt. So much fun!