check!

our weeks of potty-training had paid off! yes, you read that correctly -weeks.i know some parents probably did it successfully in a few days, but our baby took her time.

it's been almost a week since she started going to the potty on her own, alerting us if she wants to make wee-wee.and it's the third day now that she's making poo-poo (sorry for the toddler language) in the toilet.oh we are so happy! she only wears nappies only at night now.oh, our baby is really growing up.

and just a snippet of our daily conversation:

me: baby, do you want to invite anyone to your party?
baby: yes, B-I-N-G-O! (as in spell out pa ha)
hahahaha! (For the clueless - Bingo is the dog's name in a popular nursery rhyme)

**

this is how i see my lil' one.kyot and feisty!

babyisms

i think our baby is witty :-)

aunty j (looking at baby's watch): what time is it?
baby:  time to go out!

**

me: please say pardon, instead of "what?"
baby: who is pardon?

**

and my favorite...

baby (to me): i want to love you.

**

awww...

baby's expressions

i'm curious where baby is getting all her favorite expressions now.

just some examples:

oh my god
oh my dear
that's a good idea
(and my favorite) whoopsie daisy

it's just so cute hearing these from her!we are not a british household, and so baby must be getting these expressions from her nursery. or maybe from some of her playmates?

her playgroup is a mini united nations - an italian-filipino girl, two french girls, a canadian girl and a south korean boy. plus a bunch of kids coming from several arab countries like lebanon and syria.

she's already added the arabic slang words "shuhada" (in tagalog, ano ba yan? sorry, i can't find a proper english translation!) and "kalas" (finish) to her vocabulary.

and her deutsch has improved a lot after a month-long holiday in germany with oma and opa.

she still has to catch up with her filipino, though.

we have a linguist in the family, and we could not be any prouder!

it's june!

i can't believe it.it's already june, and i've just finished posting about our christmas holidays.

time does pass when you are a working mom. no offense to the sahm's, i know you are doing one heck of a job.and i salute you for that.but to each his own naman, di ba?

baby has started with nursery.and it is going ok,so far.at first she did not want to go and actually proclaimed she disliked it.but after two weeks,she suddenly decided she liked it.

her school reports are positively glowing with praises.so she must really love it, and we are not just imagining her love for education.

promise!

sorry for the lack of posts! mommy duties come first before blogging duties - my poor baby was sick for almost a week.she is ok now, thank god.talkative and bibo as ever.
you should be reading more posts in the coming days.promise! haha.

meanwhile, i am leaving you with these feel-good stuff. you know, just to keep us going!

things i'm grateful for: christmas 2011

we left for germany on the 21st of december armed with wolly hats, jumpers, gloves and really thick coats. i was kinda giddy at this point as i was excited for baby who will see her first snow. at that time, most of europe was not experiencing any heavy snowfall so i really prayed hard for some kind of snowfall, at least.a light one will do as long as baby feels and sees it.

we were picked up by opa, and as soon as we got out of the airport there was already a trickle of snowfall! danke, i thought. baby slept in the car so she did not really see the snow hitting the windshield.i was excited as well as it was only my third or fourth time to experience snowfall!

15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and all about the weekend!

kenzo jungle!

l'eaupar kenzo and more sweets!

my new lucky earrings!

12, 13, 14 and more events!

schnapps!

more sweets!

more facial masks!

***

santa, baby!

there was a christmas tree lighting ceremony at the nearby rotana so the t family and nanny all marched to the hotel.

we came right in time as the choir was just starting to sing.

10, 11 and the uae national day!

a piece of chocolate and uh, a face paint kit? hee.

a lucky magnetic charm from ireland! baahhh

**

the uae celebrates its national every december 2. as it fell on a friday which is the official weekend in the uae, the government granted december 1 as a holiday.

7,8,9 and oma and opa's visit!

cucumber face mask!

a christmas ornament (my favorite item so far) to add to our family's ornament box!

parfum d'ete by kenzo!

**

oma and opa came a-visitin' for about 10 days. baby was very, very happy, surrounded by all these people who love her.it pays that she is already able to say "oma" and "opa."

6!

happy saint nicholas day!



i am definitely familiar with good ol' santa claus, but not with jolly ol' saint nicholas.in europe, he is more popular than santa. anyway, they both spread good tidings and cheer, so what's the difference, ey?

mr t tried hard to look for an old saint nick's chocolate, but he could not find one here in dubai so we will pretend that he is saint nicholas, ok?

what i find fascinating is this little creature called "krampusse."

he accompanies santa claus and frightens off kids who were naughty. he does look very, very scary so i'm not even posting an image of him here.just google him.

**

only 18 days to go...

i don't think i've ever gotten so excited for christmas like now. could it be because we will go to somewhere cold and very christmas-y? *wink*

and having a baby just triples the fun.oh how i wish she would enjoy her very first (hopefully) white christmas.

this is it!

it's december! yahoo!!! cartwheels!!!

and what's better, today is declared a holiday in celebration of the islamic new year and the uae national day which is officially celebrated on the second of december.

mr t is starting a tradition of having advent calendars at home. i am not quite familiar with this as i'm guessing it's mostly a european or german tradition, to be specific.

advent calendars are used as count downs in anticipation of christmas day. the one that we have has 24 cloth sheets with pockets that has to be filled in with chocolates or small gift items. ours is shaped like a (hostaged) bear.kyot!!!

since baby is still too young to appreciate the relevance of it, mr t is offering it to a very willing and captive audience member - me! hahaha.

it's hanging by our kitchen door...

today i took out my first treat, much to my delight! yes, i'm very easy to please, as you may know by now...

winner! hahaha. lovee eett!

thank you, mr t! dear friends, watch this space for daily updates of my advent treats! and lest we forget, christmas is not just about material gifts, ok? ok. just so we are clear.

p.s. oma and opa also brought an advent calendar from munich for baby. here it is, hanging by her cabinet:

my favorite holiday

...hands down, is the christmas season.

how can you not love christmas?

aside from the spiritual and religious aspect, there is just something about this holiday that cheers you up and makes you feel like a kid again.

i am just thankful that although we are living in a muslim country, different religions and celebrations are tolerated here.

so the christmas tree is up, the advent calendar is waiting to be filled, baby is starting to say "mas" for "christmas" and "noe" for "snow." yes, we are in the desert, but one can pretend, eh? anyway, we have ski dubai and the weather now is just gorgeous.

there's also a festive mood in the neighborhood- a beach soccer game, an open-air market, tourists in their warm clothes...

and more christmas songs!

weekend round-up

we set up our christmas tree last night. hopefully, the trimmings and the overall look of the tree will improve in the years to come, but for now, this is our christmas tree.and we are happy to see it all glittering and shimmering.baby even had a comment on it, "it's nice!"

eid mubarak

we were given a very long weekend  due to eid celebrations! so that's friday until tuesday for all of you, my non-uae readers.

here's a catch-up from last month and last week:

things i'm grateful for: road trip! (bavaria)

i can vaguely remember our few days in munich as i think i just slept most of the time! haha.it was drizzling and the skies were dark.sometimes when the sun would peep out, we would head out to the playground near oma and opa's house.

baby update

baby was a handful during our trip, but we would not have it any other way!our li'l family bonded to the max, and baby just developed socially.it was amazing.

now, she can name parts of the body like head, nose, eyes, mouth, teeth, ears, chin, hands, feet.one of her favorite songs is, you get it, "head, shoulders, knees and toes."

off we go

la dolce vita

**

and a hearty congratulations to my mr t! you certainly deserved all these blessings coming your way.way to go! baby and i are super duper proud of you! cheers!

**

things i'm grateful for: milestones

how time flies.as of now, baby can:

-say mama, papa, (her name),hi, dada, babye, hallo (aha! a german word), yaya, whatsthis, whatsthat, why
-eat finger food
-use fork and spoon when she feels like it!
-sign "keep quiet!" by putting her chubby fingers in her mouth
-"read" fliers (adorable!)
-walk forward and backward,(almost) run
-do "beautiful eyes," "close/open"
-kiss you when you tell her to
-point to her head/mouth/nose/ears when you ask her to
-recognize the names of her toys
-give you a book, ball, toys, if you ask her to
-pick up a mobile phone and say "hallo?" haha.mr t said he gave her a calculator once.she then picked it up, put it near her ear and said "hallo?" freakin' hilarious.
-dance! honestly.if there's music playing, she would shake her li'l booty.cutest thing ever.
-kick/throw balls
-scribble with crayons
-climb stairs(thank god we don't have stairs!)
-stack blocks

her favorite (non) toys are cotton buds, newspaper, toilet paper.hehe.and oh, she has six teeth now.

goodness gracious.we are so proud of this adorable li'l one.