Belated Season's Greetings

Belated Christmas and New Year wishes to all our family and friends. Hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday period.

We have now settled into our new home and have finally finished unpacking all the boxes ... although finding places to put everything is another story altogether! The house we have moved into is smaller than the one we left behind (well the bedrooms are larger but the living areas are smaller), so we are downsizing our possessions and I am busy sorting through things deciding what to keep and what to get rid of.

We had a good, family Christmas. I was so looking forward to Kathleen's first Christmas. She had a great time. Of course she didn't really understand what it was all about, but she had fun opening her presents. At first she didn't know what to do with them and we had to show her how to rip the paper. Which must have seemed really strange to her because I'm normally telling her not to rip things. So we'd start the rip going and then get her to rip it further. Then when she did we would all clap and cheer, and she would then clap too and think it was all over and would crawl away from the present before she'd opened it. It was so cute!

Altogether Kathleen made out like a bandit, and came away with a whole new wardrobe.

We spent Christmas Day with Peter's extended family, enjoying a traditional Christmas lunch and playing games with the kids. Boxing Day we had a BBQ with friends, and the following day we took Kathleen to the swimming pool for the first time. Being school holidays it was very crowded and very noisy so I'm not sure if she enjoyed it or not. I had a fantastic time. We went with Peter's family so we all took turns looking after Kat while the others went and played on the waterslides and in the pool.

New Year's Eve saw us enjoying ourselves quietly at home, sharing a bottle of champagne and chilling out. Quite a change from New Years' past, but still enjoyable.

It is Peter and my tradition to go to the zoo on New Year's Day. We have done this every year since our first New Year together in 1990. Usually we go on New Year's Day, although some years it has been a few days later (E.g. a couple of times we've been away from home and not somewhere that there was a zoo, and we both worked on Y2K). This year we postponed it because of the weather. I can't believe how crappy this summer has been. Instead we went on the 3rd when the weather was nicer. Kathleen had a wonderful time. She loved the animals. Her favourite was the Sunbear. The next day when we were looking at the photos on the computer, she got all excited and waved to the animals on the screen.

This time next week my baby will turn 1. It's hard to believe. This time last year we were sitting around waiting for her to be born. Now she's a real little girl. I still call her "Baby Kat" but she's not really a baby any more. Especially in her new clothes that she got for Christmas, she looks so grown up now.

She's still not walking on her own, but she cruises around the furniture constantly, and walks along leaning against cupboards, doors, windows, etc for support. But when it comes to getting somewhere fast, she prefers to crawl as she is very fast indeed.

I am constantly suprised at how much she understands.

• She knows "open" and "closed", "in" and "out", and has known "stand" and "sit" for a long time. It still amazes me though if I say "sit down please" that she actually does it.
• She knows "clap" or "clapping", "wave", "zerbert" (although now just gives a raspberry when you say it), and "bounce". I was reading her a book in which Tigger was too bouncy and when I said it she started bouncing up and down.
• She knows "nose" and can point to Mummy's nose or the toy's nose. I think she knows "mouth" and we're now working on "ears".

Her favourite game at the moment is pulling everything out of the cupboards and shelves. Good thing we're still unpacking and nothing has a permanent home at the moment, because things keep getting pulled out of one cupboard and put back into another.

The other thing she has started doing is handing things to you. So if she pulls all the CD's out onto the floor, she will then hand them to you to put back (which she will then proceed to pull back out again).

Next Saturday we're having a small birthday party for her with some of our family and friends, but no other babies. All of Kat's friends in Auckland are also turning one, and boy do we miss them. Hopefully this time next year she will have made some new friends here in Wellington.

-Megz