kanguragu: December 2013 - Annick 19 months, Luca 3y7m

Summertime Luca and Annick.

Annick:
- blablablablablablablabla
- favourite words and phrases: Annick (still #1), more/d'autre (also "shamore"), celle la/that one. what that?, Annick's one, mine.
- takes some deciphering sometimes. Pointing urgently at the counter chanting, "Shamolay! Shamolay!", mama and nonna eventually worked out she was asking for "some more lait" as if she were Sean Connery.
- given a flower, identified it without prompting as a 'daddy-wai-won', which is pretty impressive. I blame Ah kong and Ah ma.
- will dance to just about anything, particularly likes turning around and around
- LOVES having her hair tied in the couettines. Also, lost the mullet this month.
- is picking up the toddler attitude, will get the 'face de gorille' along with a determination not to do anything anyone tells her to
- after some tickling and kisses, looks mama in the eye and says, "je t'aime mama".

Luca:
- awesome toilet training! Even in Sydney in an unfamiliar toilet! Was in underpants by Christmas and has been pretty fabulous since. You should see his sticker chart now!
-is very interested in all the different kinds of toilets there are. Asks thoughtful questions about each new toilet he encounters (at Kheng Ee's house: "this toilet has flush mama?" In shopping centre toilet: "this toilet can have caca mama?")
- is delightfully reasonable for many things, e.g. was told once not to touch Nonna's soap and sponge when having a bath and since then just leaves it be; knows to only go and get a sticker when there is a reason to get one, even though they are always in reach (although once he got himself one and told Nonna "c'est pour ma gentilesse").
- is obnoxiously unreasonable at most other times, as per being three years old
- still infuriatingly picky at mealtimes, but often quite randomly so (Roast sweet potato? NO. Raw fennel? YES.)
- still all about mama

This month, we went to Sydney!

Coogee beach - Luca and Annick loved the sand!

And were quietly optimistic about the sea until, about 10 seconds after this photo, they got hit by a wave and from then on decided the ocean was not for them.

Luca was a cool Sydney dude.

An hour's nap in Hyde park after a big Sydney day!

A promise to Luca that we would go to a 'little beach' instead of big, whooshy Coogee meant a walk down to Clovelly, which was much more his style.

On return to Melbourne, we go to Brunetti. Annick shows the sparkly reindeer the big chunk of gruyere she insisted on carrying all around Carlton, and her Cookie Monster 'handbag'.