If I leave this space empty, then it'll be 4! consecutive posts without a title. Now how's that for a title?

Just a little video from today :-).

Oh, yeah, what I wanted to say - I think I should say nothing about the dirty shirt (orange juice and mud!) because I think it might be a bit too dark to see. So I should also not appologize for Butterfly's very messy hair (she just woke up), again probably too dark to see. Savta is grandma in Hebrew, and I am very camera shy, so I try and be out of the frame and well, don't talk (but my mum does enough talking for both of us. lol).

[a third post in a row without a title!]

Before signing off and going to sleep (which as she wakes less often now, I allow myself to stay up and not go to sleep with her, lol. Problem is I can sometimes forget myself and not go to sleep until late).



My oldest niece, she is quite (hmmm.. very) cold towards my daughter. Which, well, she actually is usually great around babies, so why? My original thought was that as this is not her first younger cousin (she is the oldest most were born in recent years) plus she has very young brother and sister (half, not from my side), maybe she's tired of all the babies around her. Next thought is that I'm not cool [and I am not cool. I know that and don't really care..], so not cool to be around my kid. And seeing her hovering over my brother's daughters when they came for a visit.. [while at the same time totally ignoring my daughter (as well as her other cousins) oh well.]. And then today I'm thinking maybe it's the name. See, she and my daughter have a very similar first name and they are both named after my grandmother. She once commented (before me annoncing the name), how she doesn't like that my cousin gave her dughter this same second name. Well tough. She (Subta as we used to call her) was my grandmother as well as my sister's (her mother..) and my cousin. Just because she was born first doesn't mean we can't also name our child after the same person.



Bath. Doing so much better! She now actually enjoys it! Loves splashing water :-) [although she does need a little nudge going in, and really doesn't like when I wash her hair and water gets in/near her eyes.
We are still having our baths outside. I do think we are ready to come in but also that it is so much more fun having a bath outside, that I think we'll stay outside as long as the weather permits.



We are nearing the end of the Pesach holiday. As much as it is hard being all day every day with her with mostly nothing special to do, I also very much like being 24/7 with her. And the joy that an hour's relief can bring :-) [i.e sister watching her while I quickly go to the shops]. We are a bit off balanced from the little schedule routine we had, so I do want to get back on track there, but so don't want to hand her over to the nanny, and not so much because she's a crap nanny (and no, that doesn't help), just because I want her all to myself!



And now for why I'm actually sitting and writing this post (it is now almost midnight. While writing I had to put her back to sleep. Unfortunatly as I wanted to be quick so that to continue writing, I didn't offer the bowl. Yes she peed and yes she is still with her wet trousers. I just prefer changing her when she's fast asleep because otherwise there will be a lot of crying and god knows when there'll be sleep again!). I wanted to tell you, tell someone, how cute she was when she woke from her (very belated, see, told you off schedule) morning nap. Ususally I'd go in and see her lying with her eyes open. And then, as soon as she sees me, what a big smile! I so love that seeing mummy smile of hers :-). Anyway I go check on her and she is still asleep (about time for her to wake) so I go back to the other room. Half a minute later I see her coming to me. That was the cutest thing ever! I never know how long she lies in bed until I come (I do think that not much as I don't hear her), but she has never done that before [and I will add that she knows only too well how to get in and out of our bed, so it's not something she's just learnt].


EDT - "and god knows when there'll be sleep again!" - I knew when I wrote it that I shouldn't. You know, jinxing. Changing her went well and I managed to lie a few minutes before.... almost quarter to two when she finally got to sleep [and even now as I'm typing she's making noises]. She just fights it and fights it and fights it. Earlier today we came home from sister, over 1/2 an hour drive [that is, with my sister driving fast..]. She was tired (and doesn't so much like being in cars), but would she sleep? Her eyes were closing from time to time, but no, she will not sleep! Instead she screamed almost the whole journey. Oh the joy. It's already 2 am now. I really liked it better when I went to sleep when she did and had a good night's sleep (even if waking often enough during the night).

A post in which I don't speak. Where I don't tell you about this lovely birthday party we've been to today, and where I don't mention that the only complaint was this terrible sun! It was so hot.. (and I'll also not mention that 11:00 is kind of plus minus nap time for us as we did do, well she, some napping on the way). But I think Butterfly had a lovely time :-). A post where I don't rumble about getting there. Where I don't tell you how I decided to walk by myself (it's in a neighbouring town) and when I saw how hot it is in the morning I thought of asking sis but since she was sleeping I decided yes to walk it. As I am not telling you a thing in this post, I also won't tell you how I tried taking the short cut through the new neighbourhood and the fields I needed to pass to get there. And how it was awfully hot and how I had to go up and down, and the fall (Butterfly on the sling in front and me falling forwards. Good think she was, as always, facing me) and Butterfly falling asleep right after the fall. And those very high plants that were hard to navigate through, and the thorns.. (yes, it was quite an adventure getting there. Don't worry, coming back we did the motor way with sister, lol). And.....

But well, I really just wanted to post this picture to show a better side of my little one :-). [although not a good hair day, at least it's not covered with food..]

OMG is this what I signed up for?? I was not looking for just a second and.. I mean spitting out the avocado is one thing. I try from time to time giving her avocado, more often than not she does not like it. [don't ask me how she can not like avocado, that's beyond me. lol]. But I should have realized she's not hungry when the sweet potato came out of her mouth! And might I add that to make life interesting, that's not just sweet potato (and avocado, though there were only a few pieces and by this stage I've taking [well eaten..] the rest out), it's sweet potato mixed with tehina! Yes, sticky and gooey and what a mixture to go up the hair!!

And yes, seems like someone wasn't paying attention at the 'this is the side of the spoon that goes in the mouth' lesson.

! TMI alert !

While I do have fresh ones at home, they are not to be used on Butterfly (yes, she may put it in her mouth, and yes she may do so after I use it to clean her pee from the mat, but not on her dear tush. that kind of mother I am..). When she does a poo I wash her under the sink. Except for one or two really cold days when the water in the sink wasn't warm enough (and then I dabbed her with toilet paper I've wetted), we've always done it this way. Which means (o.k, reminder of that tmi alert..) me scrapping the poo with my bare hands and then getting it down the sink, throwing some to the toilet (now do you believe me when I say tmi!?). Funny how sis#1, when her daughter was a baby once said how she does not like cleaning the poo and how lucky she is that her hubby doesn't mind. Well for me, it's not that I love it, it's just that I love knowing it is done with love and care. So whenever the nanny says there was a poo instead of being happy that someone else had to clean her up, I always feel disappointed or sad that it was not me doing the cleaning. But I digress.

So anyway I was at the mall today with her for some kind of baby activity when she did a poo. I think a first for us, which yes probably means we don't go out too often, lol. Anyway while someone was minding my bag, I went with Butterfly to the toilets (in my socks!) and, not a nice experience. First, I usually begin with flipping whatever can into the toilet (yeah, suppose that alert is still good for here..). Nothing much went. Wait, first of course was cleaning girl's tush. Grrr.. only cold water. Oh well what can we do? But then what do I do with her when cleaning the dirty nappy!? Had to put her on the floor (at least it was a clean bathroom). Go to clean nappy (see above). So had to do it all in the sink. Now the taps at the mall are such that after some time they close automatically, in an attempt to save water (though I always finish washing my hands long before the water stops, so it's actually more a waste than a save [you can't close the tap manually]). Anyway this tap was something wrong with as I kept needing to press it (each press only lasted for seconds). Now I couldn't go to another sink because I had poo in the sink, so boy did it take me a long time to clean. I then see a nice pile on the floor next to girl. Great! She did another poo in the meantime.. And I'll add that I had no bag to put the dirty nappy in and there were no paper towels, so had to wrap it in toilet paper..

Yes, a day in the life of a cloth nappy user..

And last but not least.. the last few days I have these thoughts about my little baby who is growing so fast she very soon won't be a baby anymore. And how I want her to be my little baby forever but I also very much want her to grow and walk and talk and be a three year old and a five year old. It's weird wanting her to stay a baby and become a toddler at the same time..

EDT (because you really want to know, or hmmm see above alert!?)

Next morning, while still in bed and hoping for more sleep I realize Buterfly might need to pee so I put her on the bowl. Well a big poo, but yay for catching it! I manage to not take off her trousers completly when washing her, so I pull up the trousers, put her in the other room and get to clean up. I sit a few minutes by the computer and Butterfly is sitting silently on th mat. Too silently. Yes, more poo. We go to the bathroom again, trousers get off, girl's tush gets clean, girl is put in the bedroom while mummy cleans trousers and hands throughly. Step out of bathroom and... oh my! that's a horrible big lump on the carpet :-( So again the procedure of cleaning girl, cleaning carpet, putting girl in other room, cleaning self and.. you've guessed it! sigh. At least a very small one this time.

2.5 weeks

Woke up this morning and oh, how nice! Butterfly and I have two and a half weeks [Pesach Holiday] of no nanny! Two and a half weeks of just ourselves! And while most of the time will also be without my mum who helps me a lot (she going on vacation), but I don't have to leave my girl with someone I don't trust and don't think is good enough for my daughter.
I am working, albeit less than usual, next week. Probably would have more work if I had a nanny (if they weren't sure if they want a lesson I didn't talk them into having one), but o.k. While in the interview I said this week there won't be work and she said great because she wanted to be with her kid. The other day she then mentions April being a very low pay month and I say that I am working some but less than usual, if she wants (at that point I knew of only two pupils who wanted a lesson). She said yes, but later that day talked about how it's not worth it for her. O.K, fine with me! So two and a half weeks of me and girly :-)). And when the Pesach Holiday is over, that would be two months till the end of the year, just two months.. Yes, I am looking for someone, I really do not want to continue with this woman, but I'm not sure about finding someone for the last two months.

Guess who has now learnt how to take out my USB internet connection?? "Fighting" over it I can see how probably not very long in the future we will be "fighting" over computer time. (I mean now she doesn't like my computer time as obviously I am not with her [when she sleeps!? naa, doesn't work for me. maybe I'll explain in another post, maybe not] but soon will be a time when she will want to use the computer. o.k I'm really rumbling instead of going to sleep.

Just want to finish with what a smart little girl she is - I was sitting on one side of the garden deck having breakfast with Butterfly playing by my side. She then (after groaning a bit) went all the way to the other side, to a small (children's) plastic table, stood by it and peed! She prefers peeing standing up (yes, she was with just a top) as to not to pee on herself, and she does that, stands to pee. But going all the way to the other side so she can use the table to stand? Isn't she clever?

Questionair: Can you be my nanny?

1) How many hours would you be talking on your phone while taking care of me:

• a. I do no such thing!


• b. Okay, I admit I do some talking.


• c. How many hours do I work?

2)And what do you tell my mum when she asks you to phone her in case of an emergency (something she didn't say before because she thought was obvious):

• a. Don't worry! Your mum, sister, doctor, hospital... I know all those numbers by heart.


• b. Sure, will do.


• c. My phone has only incoming calls.

3)Where would you take me for a walk? How long for? And at what time of the day?

• a.Well of course when I come at 14:00 and it's nice and warm (not yet summer). We'd go to the local playground for about an half an hour an hour and have a very good time.


• b. To the local playground when I feel like we should go.


• c. Taking you for a walk!? I don't think so! Your mum can nag & nag, I'll just take you for a ten minute walk up and down the street. And of course when it's dark and cold! Oh wait! I can sneak you to my house for an hour or two without your mother knowing, can't I?*

4) How do you feel about listening to children's songs, even if they're not in your language?

• a. That's a cool way to improve my English! Oh, and I see you also have classical music! We'll play music a lot.


• b. Well, I do prefer the songs I know, but I guess I can learn something new.


• c. I don't speak it - I don't play it! And take away those classical CDs! No, I'll stick to the good old absolutely nothing for kids radio.

5) What about safety in the house?

• a. Babies can get hurt. I'll take every safety precaution to make sure it doesn't happen.


• b. I'll try my best to keep you safe!


• c. O.K, so your mum showed me that gate thing at the top of the stairs [and yes, stairs lead straight to room where baby plays. No hall or anything]. She even showed me how to open/close it. But hey, what's the big deal!? Why would I want to bother and close it???**

* I must say huge improvement here! She finally, after really nagging her for 7 months, learned where the local playground is (5 minute walk with a pram!) and that it's much nicer also for her! She now goes with my sister's kids nanny [who has quite often asked "my" nanny to join]

** I had a rant post which I started writing (and accidentally published instead of saving), continued on paper and more or less got it out of my system. Until by chance I discovered today she doesn't know how to open/close the stair gate. We (my mum and I) always hand baby over to her downstairs (mum's place) or outside. It never occurred to us she is not using the gate! Beyond safety, I am quite upset that for over three months my daughter must have been hearing all these unnecessary "no"s.

P.S

Stopping here. And not because there no more questions..

EDT (which is kind of funny as I haven't yet written here the post..[wrote post on paper first]). I am so furious! As I mentioned, yesterday me and mum were shocked to find out she doesn't use the stair gate (doesn't even know how to use it). She was told how to. Today mum saw her as she was leaving and told her again to use the gate. I hand her the baby (down at my mum's) and ask her to go up and finish dressing her. After a few minutes I come up and..... the gate is open! OMG do you think we were kidding??? So she says to me I forgot. Damn was I cross with her. You can forget to take the baby for a walk. You can forget to change her nappy. You can forget to feed her. But you CANNOT forget to close the stair gate. I made her show me how she closes and opens it while she rolled her eyes. Yeah, whatever, baby safety.

1. [number only as I can't seem able to seperate this from previous paragraph, it keeps on sticking together..] Another Edit to Add: This is already a long post (and my girl is sleeping in the other room and I'm scared the noise of me typing will wake her..), so I'll be short. To say I'm not pleased with this nanny will be an understatement. At first I was frightened to look for someone else in case she finds out (and leaves me before I do find a replacement). But lately things are really bad. And yesterday, seeing her have my girl on the swing for almost half an hour, hardly paying attention to her, maybe once giving a faint push another time sang a song.. I was so upset. [the stupid nanny knew I could see. mum says she doing it to show me as I don't allow her to take baby for a walk at this hour (it's cold but more importantly, this is the time she takes her to her house..).But as mum also says, she's digging her own grave. I'm going back and forth between finding someone new and just swallowing it till the end of the year (mainly as I'm not sure it's good for my baby, at 9 months with all the fear of strangers of this age, to bring someone new. I think better done at the end of the holiday, slowly introducing this new person. Anyway I am interviewing, just hope I'll do a better job choosing (and if I see she's not the right person, don't keep her..). [yes, that wasn't exactly short..]