Nov 30 09 - wow lots to catch up on...!

Nov 29 - wow where did 2 months go ??? Let's see....

Sept - I started work 1/2 time, Angelique started 5 day/wk daycare 1/2 days, and Paul was very busy at work. We had a VERY fun party for our first 'Family Day' on Sept 20 - I think that's where we left off the last post....

After that, the rest of Sept was also great - preschool and gymnastics started and went really well - Angelique loves to be busy!
Our main daycare provider went away with her husband for a week to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, and her adult daughter (who's also a teacher) covered daycare for the week - that went great, nice to know A has the flexibility to handle a change in her new routine!

In October, we celebrated our one-year-home date Oct 6, then had thanksgiving dinners with our families - yum! We remembered last year at thanksgiving is when A first had trouble with her teeth and our saga with the dental surgeon began - hard to believe it's been a year!

Also in Oct we celebrated Paul's sister/BIL Suzette and Steve's 25th wedding anniversary, with a surprise gathering at a lovely restaurant called Chop - it was a great evening - congrats again you guys!

The 3 of us went to a 'Wiggles' concert in Oct - if you're not familiar, the Wiggles are a foursome of kids' entertainers from Australia - they are excellent and we really enjoyed the show! Angelique thought it was hilarious that we were soooo close to the guys that she usually only sees on the TV!

My Dad finished his chemo/radiation mid-october, and my parents went to their Arizona home for a few weeks to rest and recuperate in the hot weather!

Paul and I celebrated 17 years together at the end of October - wow!

And then of course - Halloween! We had LOTS of fun - Angelique dressed as a cat for her preschool party, and then as a PRINCESS (of course!) for trick-or-treating - we gathered with Paul's sisters and parents at Sue/Steve's house, and Angelique went house-to-house with 5 of her cousins - 4 Mario/Luigi's and a lion - tooooo cute! A understood the idea so much more than last year, when she didn't know what it was people were putting in her treat bag - this year she was all about the candy! LOL...

November - I upped my hours to 3/4 time, still working from home - Angelique at daycare 4-6 hours, depending if it's a preschool day or not. Still going really well - A learning lots of new things, hanging out with other kids all day - there is another 4.5 yo girl (the daycare provider's daughter), a 5 yo girl who goes to school half-days, and 3 two-year-olds. When the 5 yearold goes to kindergarten in the afternoons and the little ones are napping, A and K spend time learning letters, numbers, days of week, etc - our daycare provider Lisa is a teacher herself, and also wants to prep her daughter for kindergarten so it works out great that they have this time to do school-stuff. And A is so happy to learn new things - we're as always so impressed with her memory and ability to absorb new info.

Also in Nov - A was invited to her first non-family birthday party - our friend/neighbour Matthew who turned 6 - they went bowling - how fun! That same day we went to the Santa Claus parade downtown - also a hoot - Angelique waved at every float and could NOT stop smiling!!

Unfortunately A had her first bad cold/flu mid-Nov, fever for 2 days, then coughing and sniffling for a week - poor thing! She feels much better now though! (as do we!)

In general, Angelique has grown soooo much these last few months - physically she continues to stretch and stretch, growing 5 inches and gaining 8 pounds since this time last year! Emotionally she seems content and secure, which is amazing and heart-warming and wonderful as parents. Socially she continues to get more confident - she's still shy with new people (we're OK with that), but warms to them more quickly now - faster with adults than with other children, but we're sure that will also come.

And the talking - omigoodness !! Talking talking talking talking........... she'll tell us about her day, remember little things that happened (good and bad), and she asks lots of questions - lots of 'why?', 'how?', and more 'why???' - which is exhausting but exciting at the same time!

And also - her drawing/ colouring/ imagination has SOARED over the last couple of months! For drawing, her 'people' used to consist of a circle with 2 smaller circles for eyes and a straight line for a mouth - now she adds nose and nostrils, eyelashes, ears, hair, smiley mouth and even teeth! Wow - such detail!!

I think that's all for now - hope everyone is well! Thanks so much for checking in!
Take care - Love ya lots - N&P&A
xox