Vera's 2nd birthday!

Thursday 30th May was Vera’s 2^nd birthday and she had a mini sleep in before going downstairs to discover her new bike, a present from mamma and dada.

“I got bike! she exclaimed

Mark went to work for the morning and Vera and I road tested the bike in the cul-de-sac next to our house.

Then I decorated the cake and Vera got to watch some Pippi!

We collected Mark from work, had lunch and then Skyped mormor and morfar and opened most of the pile of presents that Vera had been given!

She got very excited about books, dressing up outfits, Lego and the doll’s pram she got (from mormor and morfar). She also got a lot of new clothes, from us and others and now has a completely re-vamped spring/summer wardrobe!

Ana & Ariane joined us for some chocolate cake in the afternoon, which went down well for the birthday girl! Vera got a lovely mini walking rucksack from Ana. Mark and Ariane, which she insisted on wearing for the rest of the afternoon, so now we’re all set for the Peaks!

We went for another long cycle along the school and village in the afternoon, followed by a Skype session with her Swedish cousins with beautiful song and a bit of dancing!

An exhausted but very happy birthday girl went to bed at 7:45!



Sunny Sunday

Long weekend

After an absolute down pour and a measly 7 degrees yesterday, today has been a bit better with 18 degrees. I was meant to go to the Cambridge Beer Festival on Friday, but the thought of freezing in a tent was too much so I met Mark and Vera in The Green Man pub and we had some nice food and a relaxed end to an eventful week.

Today has been full of chores but we managed a trip to the Gog Magog Farm Shop for coffee, scones and a visit to the animals.

Speech wise Vera is developing fast. When you ask her "Var ar pappa" (where's dada) she replies "There he is". When you ask her to get a book, she comes running, triumphantly "I found it! I found it!"
She calls flowers "blomma" interchangeably, so I'm hoping she picks up a few Swedish words!
She calls airplanes "hair planes" and exclaimes "ninished" when she has finished any meal.
Vera's really got into "nanas" (banans) of late and apart from that she's got a sweet tooth and loves chocolate. Smarties are a real treat (at weekends only).

Ears

Yesterday Vera and I went to the doctor's to check her ears. It's six weeks since her perforated ear drums and we were asked to go back to see whether it had affected her hearing. I was under the impression that they were going to do a hearing test, but the doctor examined her ears instead. He said it it was healing fine, but that it is still not fully healed. Sometimes the ear drums dont fully close, so we need to come back again in two weeks' time.

We had a lovely weekend and Terese came up to visit on Sunday. We spent the afternoon outdoors at the Fort St George and Ana, Mark & Ariane came down to join us. It was a blissful afternoon and great to catch up with everyone. Ariane is growing so fast!

In other news, we have accepted a new offer on our house. It is from a careful couple, first time buyers, so Mark and I are cautiously optimistic, but half expecting things to go wrong.

Thanks for all your thoughts and well wishes though!

 Vera in the waiting room at the doctors

Vera and Terese at the Fort on Sunday

23,5 months

Unbelievable that Vera is two years old in a couple of weeks! We measured her the other night and she is 89 cm tall. She's slipped back from the 95th to the 91st percentile :-), but still tall for her age. If uncle Tom's theory is right, that you are half your adult height at the age of 2, she'll be 1.78.

She continues to be "head strong" and at nursery today she insisted on wheeling a wheel barrow in to the nappy changing room as she refused to come in from the garden and change her nappy without it.

 Vera's favourite past time is to watch the cartoon version of Pippi Longstocking. She would happily watch it all day, every day. It's the only time she sits still. She cries when we switch it off, so we have to tell a white lie and say that Pippi has gone to bed to sleep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap8e0K15U9I

No news on the house front, so keep those fingers and toes crossed for us!

Pubs and viewings

Weekends come and weekends go and this one started and ended with house viewings and visits to the pub. I did my first ever viewing of our house on Friday at 5.45 and once done, quickly headed over to The Green Man in Trumpington where we all enjoyed a pub meal, Vera had chicken and chips, followed by some ice cream. A Friday treat to celebrate cousin Åke's 4th birthday!

I can't believe that he is four years already! Such a big and gorgous boy. Wish we could have been there to celebrate with him and the whole family.

Saturday disappeared in the usual errands, post office, butchers, food shop and other bits and pieces. Sunday was spent viewing the house again - three more viewings on that, including one couple who knocked on the door two hours early!

Keep your fingers and toes crossed now!

 

Vera in Whittlesford on Sunday

 

Saying hello to the fish at Scotsdales, on Sunday

 

Vera enjoying chicken and a giant chip in the Green Man on Friday night

Selling houses...

On Friday we got the disappointing news that our buyers had pulled out of buying our house. Why it took them 8 weeeks to come to this decision  we dont know. But onwards and upwards as they say and after adding a few new photos, the house went back on the market on Saturday. Fingers crossed for viewings and new buyers so we dont lose the house in Sheffield.

Mark spent Saturday cleaning the decking, Sunday oiling the decking and Monday painiting the fence and shed. I've been cleaning the windows and the house. Boring work, but has to be done and if it gets the end result...

On a good note, we've had some glorious weather and spent a lot of the weekend in the garden, where we had a tea party for Vera's stuffed toys. A long visit to the play ground. Vera is getting braver and braver and watches the older boys and attempts rope tunnels, steep climbs etc.

On Sunday afternoon, we met up with Ana, Mark, cutie pie Ariane (nearly six months!) and Ana's mum. We spent some time in the Orchard in Grantchester and then went to the beer garden of a local pub. It seems that everyone in Cambridge was out and about at the weekend!

We finished up the long Bank Holiday weekend with a BBQ and Vera was devouring half a cob of sweetcorn. Her absolute favourite!

Who knew eating sweetcorn was so much fun

By Vera "the Hoover" Collins

One fine day (weekend)!

Saturday

Tantrums

So it's all go here. Vera's learning to be more and more independent and expressing her will and opinion.
This morning we had a big tantrum because we had to take off her new pyjamas (with a dog on it) to put on a t-shirt (with a cat on it). She yelled and screamed for ages, hurled cereal across the table and only calmed down after she got to eat her beloved egg. According to the nursery, she's had a few tantrums there too, when she has to come inside or when she's not allowed to join the others on a walk (they usually split the group up for the longer walks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon).

Nursery has also been eventful in that she fell off something last week and had a nose bleed, she's been bitten twice by another kid and today she fell off a tricycle and bit her lip. She's absolutely fine after a few kisses and cuddles, but many accident forms for us to sign.

At the weekend, we all went shopping in town - riding the escalators is much more fun than sitting still and drinking coffee (one of us accompanying her of course!). On Sunday, we went to Linton Zoo. It's a small family run zoo and whereas their large owl/bird collection was probably of less interest to Miss V, she loved seeing the monkeys, tigers, lions and zebras. We had a long play break on the slides though and she also got to meet Postman Pat and take a ride in his post van!

Spring is finally properly here. Cool in the mornings still, but the sun is shining and we're hoping for 15-20+ degrees over the long weekend. As we don't get to enjoy May Day on May 1st but rather as a bank holiday on Monday 6th. Looking forward to a long weekend in any case!