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[From this page onwards, click on any picture to enlarge.]
In November, Emma showed she can suck on her toe when she is not wearing too much clothing, Piet had couscous for dinner with Emma on watch, Piet and Emma looked each other in the eye on the rug in in Emma's bedroom, where she also happily lay on her tummy, and the new sofa was instantly popular for book reading by mamma or, mostly with Piet, for jumping - his parents hold their breath. Uncle Paul read Piet the book "Where is the green sheep?" and we had a Friday lunch with grandma in Montsalvat, the artist colony down the road.
Emma sits upright
Emma surprised us with being able to sit upright unsupported, either in her
playpen or on the living room
rug, examining her
monkey or biting his
tail.
Piet's language skills
Gradually, Piet is learning new words. The latest addition is "auto", his first, proper two syllable word, which means "car" in Dutch. Together with kgaakgaa, which is Piet's way of pronouncing "vrachtwagen" ("truck"), he now has enough vocabulary to make reading a car book interesting, as Piet tries to classify each vehicle as either a car or a truck.
He has also become better in using mamma and pappa in the right context. A month ago, a typical conversation would have been:
(pointing at pappa) "Mamma?"
"Nee, pappa."
(pointing at Emma) "Mamma?"
"Nee, Emma"
(pointing at himself) "Mamma?"
"Nee, Piet"
(pointing at mamma) "Mamma?"
"Ja, mamma!"
Nowadays, he will often get at least pappa right, even if not on the first try. One of his other words, "pa" for "paard" (horse), is now used extensively when reading books about horses, pointing at each horse and saying "Pa?" and waiting for confirmation. He also manages to point out horses (and cars) on television and in the newspaper and even abstractly painted horses on a t-shirt.
Finally, we experienced some hot days: over 35 degrees outside and 33 degrees inside the house. This made us explore the swimming pool. As expected, Piet was keenest on a swim. Emma could wear her cool dress, while Piet had fun in the buffet and with water and sand.
Lecia, Tanja and Karen joined us for lunch from Richmond (Melbourne), Sydney and Duesseldorf. Piet went his first day to the local nursery. Emma is keen on her solids, here carrots, but she also eats peas, sweet and normal potato, avocado, rice cereal and banana, all boiled to death, mashed and mixed with a bit of milk. Piet read the local advertising papers and on Thursday 19th we had our first "severe" bushfire risk warning, which only lasted a day, but was unusually early in the season.
