Reading

Maybe Abi has started to read by herself. Lately she has been able to "read" certain words as part of the books adults are reading to her. Then with her birthday cards got her chance to read names and "happy birthday". Today went to the toilet at Bicentennial Park with Priscilla. As we went into the airlock Abi said "female", reading the symbol or the letters?

Yesterday Abi copied out her swim teacher's name onto a christmas card. She spaced the letters evenly and it all just fit onto one line. "Lorraine", then "Abigail" all in uppercase.

Two weeks ago, Abi drew a picture of 4 figures and wrote some letters at the top of the page. Priscilla asked her what they were. "boy, girl, father, mother" said Abi. (BOU GEL FRV MRE). Before that Abi wrote the names of all her family onto a drawing of 4 figures, phonetically since she didn't ask anyone to help her.

Abi has been reading to an occasionally attentive Pascale as they both play in the playtent. Let me read to you Pascale, she says, then either reads or recites the text. She has been wanting to draw lions and tigers etc, so Priscilla suggested Abi look at books eg. Richard Scarry Busytown to copy some instead of asking an adult to do it. Then Abi copied parts of a cow drawing onto some craft thing sah was making for Pascale (lost patience with it tho.)

Christmas picnic with Ho family

Fed bread chunks to ducks, water fowl, eels, large fish by throwing beyond the edge netting. Held Pascale's hand as she walked/ran around the lakeside. Disappointed at secret santa (pink dotty cushion with dangling pompom edging) butliking it later in the car, playing with Pascale's Mr Potatohead toy, enjoying craft (stickers on lollybox( then lolly hunt, Rocket launcher (foam) with Owen and Mathew.

Vigorous play in playground afterwards with cousins. Climbed the net tower as high as Samuel did, did flipbacks off the lower cables onto sand base.

Canberra

Train (our new red house), staying 3 nights, sleeping as she looked at stars on a clear night with half moon, falling star, birthday gelato in McDonalds, wedding of Bron and Marty, Museum, gingerbread biscuit and mouth rash

Playing in the street

Abi's parents were stringing up christmas lights and vacuuming the car. It was like an oven and Abi stayed in the shade watching. She said that she was a princess, eating her frozen ice stick. When Pascale woke from her nap the sisters enjoyed their afternoon tea of fruit and anzac biscuits inside the hallway. Then Abi wanted to ride a tricycle up the street. While she was temporarily off the trike Pascale got on and started to ride. Abi was most upset and the sisters fought until both were in tears. Priscilla grabbed a push cart that Pascale liked to use as a distraction, but then both wanted that toy.

Priscilla gave Pascale a ride up the street, then Abi wanted one too. Pascale refused to get off. More tears loomed. Somehow Abi then decided that she would push Pascale in the cart up and down the street, and was quite strong in making it up to no. 83 (Sam and Ana's) before coming downhill still in control of the cart.

Big Night Out

Abi attended the dinner for Emma and Jasmine, after recovering from a week of scarlet fever. She was quite hungry and ate 3 anzac biscuits in the car on the way, after having a piece of buttered bread for afternoon tea. Abi managed to try the chicken rice dish but there was too much fun to be had with the cousins. Great Auntie Celeste (GM of the new bubs) had brought lots of colouring crayons and textas, and printed lots of colouring in pages. Abi wanted to draw the cake instead. She also played with Tara's Barbie (wearing purple ballgown and having only one platform shoe).

Despite leaving the restaurant at 10pm and driving via UTS, Abi remained awake until reaching home around 11pm. While waiting for her father in the car outside of UTS, Abi asked why we were not home. "We have to wait for papa." "But sometimes you have to leave him," she said before realising she needed to do a wee and we had to call him from the photocopying.

Great Auntie Celeste managed to remember Abi's birthday and gave her a large package to be opened on her birthday. This morning whe we were discussing the forthcoming trip to Canberra for her birthday, Abi said "and don't forget to bring Kum Por's present!"

Away in a Manger

During a singing session of Christmas carols today, Abi happily sang all three verses alongside her mother. There were some uncertain words but most of them were correct. Abi also knows the "Doh a deer" and "Favourite things" songs from The Sound of Music.

Sketching from life

Abi was in a drawing mood. She sat on the play sofa and drew in her tiny ringbound book using a glitter gel pen: a house. Then she said that she was going to draw her father.

Chris stood in front of Abi and suggested that she draw what she sees rather than what she thinks Chris looks like. A few minutes of intense quiet concentration, and Abi produced a drawing of Chris standing. The porportions of the legs and torso were pretty good. She included the zippers of Chris' zip-off pants, and each hand had 4 fingers and 1 thumb. She wanted to write "my dad" and asked her mother to help her to spell the words. Abi only managed "my" before she got too tired and lost interest.

Another bout of tonsillitis - no it's scarlet fever!

After the swim lesson Abi was quite happy getting changed and showered. However during the ride to Por Por's place for lunch, Abi became tired and looked it. She said that she was feeling sick, but Priscilla dismissed it as being hungry (she only ate 2 pieces of vegemite toast for breakfast).

After collapsing on the couch and being fed some noodles and mince, Abi said that she wanted to go to bed. She climbed into Pascale's cot and was soon snoring away. Half an hour later she awoke crying. Her body temperature was 38.2C, and she complained of a tummy ache. Luckily Dr Mankarious was available and the diagnosis: tonsillitis. Panadol worked a treat and Abi was lively despite having no nap, until dinner time when she got hot again and had to be fed. Off to sleep in the car ride back to Lilyfield.

Post script
The next evening (Saturday) was dinner with Grandfather Wong at a Hurstville Chinese restaurant (Mr Chau's Seafood Restaurant). Prior to going, the children were bathed and it was only then that Priscilla saw the bright red rash covering Abi's torso, matching her "sunburnt" cheeks. Chris rang Dr Mark Wong to try and find out if it could be infectious (resulting in our being embarrassingly late for dinner). Diagnosis by phone and mobile phone photos was inconclusive, but we were told to bring our penicillin just in case. Abi gracefully said that she didn't want to stay home despite being uncomfortable, and she would come to yeh yeh's dinner party. She even wore her ballet dancing dress.

At the restaurant, Dr Mark took one look at Abi's rash and strawberry tongue and said "Scarlet fever". Infectious version of strep throat, so no kissing her cousins etc. Started penicillin straightaway. Despite this Abi was cheerful and tried some of the food: peking duck pancakes, e-fu noodles, long life buns. Mostly ate jatz biscuits and water crackers. She posed willingly for group photos and played mainly with Lorien. Didn't sleep in the car trip home tho' with all the excitement of dinner and driving past nightlights.

Slight occasional cough developed the next night. On Monday, saw Dr Heron who increased the dosage of penicillin from 5 to 7.5mls after Abi's temperature reached 40.7C in the night. Abi wore only a sleep nappy to bed, waking in the middle of the night with high temp and distressed, possible hallucinations.

Swim confidence

Today's swim lesson was quite happy for Abi. There was only one other girl in the class, and she was not as advanced as Abi so guess who showed Larissa how to do all the tasks? After the initial cry/hands in mouth (which Teacher Lorraine dismissed) Abi was smiling after every swim, blowing bubbles and bobbing around at the ends. The back kick was great, with Abi showing her "ballet legs" by kicking with pointed toes and straight-ish knees.

Towards the end of the lesson, Lorraine got the 2 kids to go for a horsey ride on the swim noodles, then gave them a ball to pass to each other on the "ride" back! Great fun. Then there was jumping through the "magic circle" from the edge of the pool. If Abi had been on the sofa she wouldn't have had any of her reservations.

Christmas decorations

Abi was excitedly sweeping the leaves that Chris had trimmed from our front hedge. She only agree to put these leaves into the recycling bin when Priscilla prompted her that we were going to put up tinsel and lights on the front yard.

We had lunch out of lunchboxes on the front porch, in preparation for Abi's pre-school lunch box use next year.

After lunch, Abi and Pascale were quite excited by the bundles of tinsel that Chris brought out from storage. Abi grabbed the purple ones, Pascale wasn't sure and held onto a gold one for a short while. Priscilla started to string a gold line of tinsel on the front hedge, then Abi replicated using purple tinsel. When an 18m line of red tinsel came out, Abi unravelled it completely and stretched a line from the end of Eric's fence to the far end of our fence. Pascale was content to run with the other end of the tinsel until time for afternoon tea. They took the red line of tinsel to hang on the deck. Abi replicated (Chris did the actual work under supervision) the looping around the timber handrail as Priscilla had showed her with the purple tinsel on the wire front fence.

Jazz music

Usually the children dislike any music that is not Wiggles or Play School. However they came out of the bath today to hear Sade playing. Abigail said "That's nice jazz music". A while ago Priscilla had told Abi that some musice they were listening to was called jazz.

Artworks and books

Today at Union childcare Abi made some cupcakes (patty pans with coloured in bottoms). She also made a pattern using strips of paper: radiating then radials. Yesterday at Blackfriars Abi made a picture of watermelons, using green and red pencils. She wanted to follow a library book and make a gingerbread house but we didn't have a paper bag. Most of the time Abi was in her play tent reading and luxuriating on the fold out sofa. Chris even put fairy lights in at one stage. This was preferable to her using sofa cushions to make a cubby house that kept on falling down and required lots of attention without being useful. The cardboard cubby house is on the deck and a bit neglected at the moment, being too hot to play outside.

Jailbreak

A milestone for Abigail today, as she took the house keys from the box on the hall table, found the correct house key (colour coded), inserted and opened the screen door to let herself and Pascale out into the front garden.

Parents were chatting and putting away dinner leftovers, thinking all was okay cos the front screen was locked! Chris was horrified to hear the gate squeak and rushed to find 2 kids heading up the street hand in hand. Chris gave Abi a talking to, then Priscilla did as well after she calmed down (stayed inside the house).

Abi was surprised at the fuss about danger, and wanted to remind the adults that she found the key and opened the door all by herself. She was proud of that achievement and got acknowledgement of sorts from mum.