Week 3 has really flown by! I can't believe how little we do some days. It's Thursday at 4pm and we haven't left the apartment. We did, however, put our clothes on. That was a step in the right direction.
First thing Monday morning we were lucky enough to talk to two of Amelia's favorite people: Lena and Lily, my mother's helpers. They come over and play with your child while you are still at home. They're 13 and have all of Amelia's attention when they are around. The girls graciously let us call them on Sunday (Monday here) so Amelia could say hello. That was all she could talk about the rest of the day, though when we're Skyping them, she doesn't say much. That would be true for most of the Skype calls we make.
On Mondays (this was our second time doing this) we have been visiting Eric at work. We walk to his office at the
Entertainment Quarter, going through a wonderful place called Centennial Park. I've mentioned this before but I can't say enough how much I love this park! This week we saw all sorts of interesting birds, some I've never seen before. It makes me wish Los Angeles had more parks. Honestly, you can't walk more than 15 minutes without encountering some type of green space. Believe me, I've tried! I walk somewhere almost every day and it's just not possible. These people planned well.
It seemed to take us less time to get to the office this week, maybe because I had already been there and it didn't feel as new. On our way, besides seeing birds, we geese, ducks and the most adorable chocolate laberdoodle named Bailey. Awww. I wanted to give Bailey a big kiss! After a brief chat with the owners, they walked on. Amelia saw them playing and said, "that puppy is playing with his mommy and daddy and other mommy!" So darn cute. And wow. Imagine if we were all that accepting of different lifestyles.
I'm sad to report that either Amelia or I accidentally deleted some really great pictures and videos from the phone. It happens. I don't think there's any way to retrieve them since they hadn't been backed up yet. The iphone is not really great with that. Oh well.
The pictures I do have, which I will have to post later, are from Monday and Wednesday. Monday, as I said, we met Eric for lunch. After which, we ended up playing in a kid store for over an hour. They had a giant doll house Amelia seemed to like. She put the little
JellyCat bunny to sleep in the bed, put her on the potty and also made her do other household chores. It was quite darling.
 |
| Playing in the store seemed more fun than the playground! |
 |
| Having fun with the giant doll house |
 |
| Sitting at the table |
 |
| Bunny is sleepy |
 |
| Bunny is going potty |
 |
| Wearing a fancy headband |
Tuesday was library day. This was our 3rd storytime at Waverly library. This week they had Rainbow Fish (which they edited not only for time but content. I actually appreciate that because if you've ever read Rainbow Fish, you'll know it's not actually a great story for kids.) There was a video with Maisy scuba diving with a playful dolphin. And then we had our craft project. My craft project really. We made an octopus and though Amelia did stick the smile and eye on, she didn't really want to do the other stuff. It kind of scares me that she won't even try to do things--she'll just say, "No, mommy, you do it." Ugh. C'mon girl... try! We need to work on that. As for the rest of the day, I can't remember what we did.
Wednesday was our big day. On this day Amelia took her first ever dance class at a place called
Rhythm Factory located in Randwick. I don't know if she loved it, but I think she loves the idea of. She has been watching and reading Angelina Ballerina so she seems very into everything dancing right now. It's very sweet. I love that when it came time to choose what to wear, instead of picking the traditional pink tutu, she wanted to wear her green turtle skirt (thanks Uncle Andy!) with the blue flower shirt.
First dance class.
 |
| Trying to get the hang of the magic line. |
 |
| Kicking their feet |
The pom-poms were a HUGE hit!
 |
| Barefoot ballerina. |
They had all sorts of props in the class and the music was a tad bit too loud, but it was fun to watch. It took us about the same amount of time to walk there as it did for the actual class. But it was worth it. After dancing, we walked to the park, played there a little, met a nice woman who gave us a lunch recommendation, then headed over there.
Three Blue Ducks. It was quite good. Amelia and I split a steak sandwich and I had probably the best coffee I've ever had. Seriously! It was amazing. Why? I don't know why. A flat white, is like a latte but they use
microfoam instead of poured steamed milk with foam on top. Some shops in Santa Monica do it this way:
Cafe Luxxe and maybe
Le Pain Quotidien.
 |
| She finished her half of the sandwich. It was delicious! |
 |
| My flower is getting a little silly. |
After a delicious lunch, we continued our walk East to
Bronte Beach. Stunning. Gorgeous. Amazing! The ocean in Australia is much more beautiful than California. I will be posting pictures, but for now, take my word for it! We played in the sand for a while, making sand castles (well, trying to anyhow) and tried, twice, to get gelato, but the only shop which carried it, was out! And I watched the surfers. They seems to glide through the water so effortlessly. We took the bus home, which was great because it would have been a steep ass walk back home. I don't know if we could have made it with the stroller.
 |
| First view of the beach. |
 |
| Bronte is beautiful. |
 |
| Dreaming of warmer water. |
 |
| Making sandcastles in the sand. |
 |
| Dreamy. |
Today. We've done NOTHING today. Well, we have been ballerinas and read books and played with the shells I collected yesterday and had pistachios and gotten dressed and finally, taken a nap. That's it. I hope to get to the store shortly because we have nothing to eat for dinner. Must go wake the sleeping child now. It's 5 o'clock!
