Hi all! Missed you. Been off on holiday in Vancouver and got back on Saturday. It was A MAZING. The flights were OK and jetlag was OK too... sleep was a bit difficult after the flight out there as we were all sharing a room for the first few nights, but on the way back she had a normal night's sleep last night and went off to nursery today with a smile. She loved hanging out with my cousins and their kids and really showed off her sociable side. She learned to say a very cute "Buh-bye!" accompanied by her best royal wave and then blows kisses, which got so much attention! She had her first dip in the sea since last summer and absolutely loved it. Seals are her new favourite animal after seeing them in Victoria and at an aquarium and she walks around the house barking and clapping her hands now! She also has this new thing where she has to go around beeping everyone's nose, and won't stop til she's done them all. Now we're home, the cats have to be beeped too which can take a while... Once everyone is beeped, she starts again with patting everyone's heads.
The best bit of the holiday (although not at the time!) was that our flight out to Canada was cancelled... Basically DD had an awesome few hours playing at the Heathrow kids' play area while we waited, then we were back home in time for bed and finally went the following morning. Reason I say 'best' is that we just found out we're getting 600 Euros compensation each (which is more than we paid for the flights!!). We're going to buy DD a mini micro scooter with the little seat and the rest is going towards our artificial lawn!
Glad we're not the only ones experiencing the new scratching, biting, hitting phase. At nursery they say "kind hands" when they do that although I tend to grab her wrists and say NO at her quite loudly. She still just laughs at me though...
Shoe wise we are wearing canvas Clarks doodles and some trainers from See Kai Run which I found on ebay for half price. However the sizing on those seems small so I think we'll have to replace them pretty soon. We got her some nifty cheap water shoes in Canada which have already had a lot of use as they're so quick to put on. I nearly bought her some saltwater sandals in Canada as they were only £20 there ... wanted a red pair to go with an adorable dress we bought her for a wedding, but they didn't have them in stock. I'm also a bit wary about sandals with no toe cover. She constantly has grazed knees at the moment so don't want to risk stubbed toes too.
On holiday I didn't go on MN at all and am trying to keep that up (excluding this thread obviously!). It's such a time waster and I'm increasingly conscious of how much I'm looking at my phone when with DD. We used it a fair bit on holiday for entertainment (watching youtube vids) and now when she sees me with my phone she starts doing the wheels on the bus actions! So being on my phone is another thing I can't do in her presence along with eat anything yummy, drink anything apart from water, etc etc. Yawn!!