Love, bubs and life on our little farm

I haven't done an update on Miss Elka for a long time. She is almost 15 months now and well and truly a toddler!

She amazes me every day now - so much talking and learning. She chatters in her own language but has picked up a lot of words now - dog, woof, miaow, duck, quack, ta, more, me, bubble, bath, bye, hello daddy, shoe, sock, swing, Nana, cheese, toast, ball, gone, there, this, where.... to name a few. We can really communicate now and she loves to mimic sentences such as "press the button" and "where's the ball?" She can point out her nose, tummy, feet and eye when asked.

She is very helpful around the house. She gets out the broom and sweeps. She likes to wipe down her high chair after meals and today when i gave her the cloth to wipe, she went to the cupboard and got out the cleaning spray to use! When I say its time to feed the cats, Elka climbs into the low cupboard to fetch a can of cat food - very handy! She can also pull out their cat biscuits and pour them roughly into (and around!) their bowls, much to the cats delight! She loves to hand feed the chickens and the magpies and helps make up the horses hard feed scooping up the different feeds and "helping" to carry the bucket.

We are still waiting patiently for some more teeth! She has thankfully not been as sick in the last month or so. She is on a long term low dose of antibiotic to prevent any more burst eardrums. She still sleeps wonderfully - still 7pm-7am every single night. She has dropped down to one day sleep - generally at about 11am for 2 hours.

Her hair has grown very long but she has developed a great interest in pulling out any hair ties or clips so she is currently getting around with wild curls at the back and a messy full fringe.

Daycare has started sending her to the 2 year old room for a few hours to get used to it. She seems to love it - much more stimulation and interesting activities then the nursery. She has even slept in the little portable camp beds that they use in that room - her first non-cot sleep!

She is a good eater - loves to snack all day. Current favorites are bananas, sultanas and Tiny Teddy's. She had her first ice cream cone the other day (see pic) - wasn't too fussed but ate some before the chickens scored the rest.

She adores music - loves to bop and dance. She loves pop music and will clap away to JT or Madonna (hmmm terrible music taste of mother coming out I think!). She sings Row Row Row Your Boat and loves to be rocked back and forth.

She has shot up in height and is wearing size 2 in some clothes - mainly for her round little tummy! She is just moving out of size 5 shoes and into size 6.

She has started to be very independent and I struggle to keep her out of the gardens unsupervised - I am concerned about snakes as the weather warms up. If she doesn't get her way, then she will precede to do a bit of a cry/scream and throws her arms around. If you are in range she might try a bit of a swinging hit at your legs etc. We tend to ignore her when she is doing these tantrums - that is punishment enough as she hates being ignored.

She is great company, very tiring and a lot of fun. I am as always excited about what will come next - every stage has been so wonderful and I always think it can't get better!