Update

It's been a while since my last update. Things have just been ticking along here. The girls are continuing to go to daycare, and Playcentre and playgroups most days of the week. Kathleen now goes to daycare three days a week but I am thinking about changing that next year to two days at daycare and two days at Playcentre.

Kathleen has now started going to ballet one afternoon a week. She is enjoying it. I never would have thought I'd have a pre-schooler going to ballet. I always thought that was for once you started school, and that younger children that went were pushed into it by their parents. But I took Kathleen along to watch one day because she loves dancing at home so much, and being the centre of attention. She really enjoyed it, and so that was that. Now she goes every Tuesday afternoon for half an hour. One of her friends from daycare also goes, which is good but they also distract each other.

At the beginning of November I went away for a week to Norfolk Island with my friend Lou. We'd been planning this trip for a couple of years. The way it happened was that when Victoria was a newborn and I was spending countless hours pacing around with her in my arms, I started thinking about getting away, and how Kathleen was just getting to that age when she didn't need me so much any more. I thought about how nice it would be living in the UK and being able to go anywhere in Europe so easily. Then I thought about how we have all the Pacific Islands on our doorstep and why not go there. So I said to Lou "when Victoria is two we're going to Norfolk Island for a holiday". I chose Norfolk Island because we'd both read the book Morgan's Run which is set there, because it is close, and because I'd seen special deals on flights a long time before (although it wasn't on special any more but I had it in my head it wasn't too expensive). It also turned out to have a lot of history, which we are both interested in.

Peter took the week off work to look after the girls, which I would say was an eye-opener for him. Meanwhile Lou and I had a fabulous time. Norfolk Island is a two hour flight from Auckland. It is made up of a mix of Australians, New Zealanders and Bounty descendants. The climate is very mild and warm. It was about 20-24 degrees the whole time we were there. It never drops to single digits and never really rises above 25 either apparently. I'm planning on writing a whole other blog about it.

A week after I returned was Victoria's birthday. She is now two years old. Her speech has really improved lately and she is now speaking in sentences and is able to make herself and her wants understood. Her hair is still very short, about the length Kathleen's was on her first birthday. She knows all her colours (but sometimes gets mixed up) and can count to three "wuuun, tooo, beee". She loves to sing and often sings the rainbow song or the alphabet song to herself. "Wed an lello an peeeenk an geen. Porpul an o-wintz an booo. Rainbo too". She now calls herself Tora.

We celebrated her birthday on the Sunday before her real birthday which was on the Tuesday. It was a bit strange as neither day really felt like her birthday. We got up and watched TV in the morning as we usually do on the weekend, then gave her her presents. Some Dora books (she is even more of a Dora fan than Kathleen was), some paint since she loves painting at Playcentre so much, some 'new' summer clothes (that used to be Kathleen's) and a teddy with two outfits that she can dress and undress herself.

After that we drove up to Palmerston North for a play at Lollipops with some of our friends. I made her a butterfly birthday cake, which turned out really well.

And now we have the busy season just around the corner - Peter's birthday, Christmas, New Year, Kathleen's birthday, plus all the parties and get-together's that go with it. Although I'm still wondering where summer is. I think I left it in Norfolk Island. It's been raining here for weeks.

Love Meg