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76/365

This little face of absolute joy is very very Priya. I love watching her get excited and seem to be overtaken with happiness. I guess this is toddlers in general but Peach is 100% in the moment. Pure joy or pure tragedy, she’s feeling it. Today we decided our beautiful Willow needed a bath and went outside to enjoy her and the water in the afternoon sun. While Willow is very gentle and sweet with Priya, she is also ridiculously large and excitable so time together must be closely supervised. I nearly have heart attacks when Willow bounces around Priya and looks as though she’s about to knock her over. Priya on the other hand, has no fear at all. Even when Willow has accidentally knocked her Peach just furrows her brows and yells ‘NO Dog’ while trying to push her away. Peach doesn’t hold a grudge and goes straight back to kissing and cuddling her Willow.

WIllow is not fond of being washed. We’ve tried doing it in various ways (in the bathtub, in a huge bucket outside, on the driveway, with cups at the tap etc) but to no success – she just does not like being washed. Except at the beach. We’ve settled for the quickest way and hose her down, sud her up and hose her down again. Today it wasn’t a very quick ordeal as Peach took the reigns (or hose as it would be), poor Willow was very unimpressed. I can’t say Priya’s aim was very good either. She got Willow’s face AND my camera Thankfully she was off the lead and rolling in the dirt again within minutes (argh!)

75/365

My little sweet is changing faster than I can keep up with. I’m truly amazed at how quickly her comprehension and understanding have improved lately. Each day I am surprised by new words and new phrases. Today she laughed over her shoulder ‘FART! Bottom! Funnnny!’ and had a lovely little chuckle to herself. I hear her hidden behind our couch in her playroom saying ‘Oh no, it’s broken’ while trying to put back together her Duplo pieces. She peeks over my shoulder while I edit photos and says ‘Oh no, he’s sad’ (pointing to Theo laughing). I say ‘He’s laughing Priya’ she shakes her head and gives me a sombre look ‘NO, he’s crying. He’s sad’. In the night when she wakes her cries have been replaced with a anxious little ‘Mama? Mama, my bot bot!’ (meaning she wants more rice milk!). When she asks to hold Theo and I tell her he’s feeding she places a hand on my leg and says with much seriousness ‘Share mama’. I can give her detailed instructions which she follows. Things like ‘Hey Priya, can you please go get me a nappy for Theo, they are on the bed’ or ‘Priya, please go and put all your blocks back and then bring me a book to read’. Lately she is happy to amuse herself for quite some time, happily singing while she stacks blocks or dances up and down our hallways. In part I am happy she’s becoming independent and so clever but I am secretly scared because it’s going too fast! I know I am going to wake up any day now and she’ll be ready to leave home

74/365

It has come to my attention that there are no photos of Priya doing one of her all time favourite things – DANCING. I have no idea how I’ve come thus far in the project without capturing her dancing, this girl was born to move. Obviously her rhythm was inherited from her dada as the dear Lord did not bless me with such a skill. As soon as she hears music, she’s getting her groove on – on the toilet, in an ergo, while ASLEEP, on the couch, eating dinner, watching a movie, having a swim, nothing stands in the way of her having a bit of a boogie. I will never forget when she was only 9 months old we had just watched a film in the Philippines. Peach had slept through the entire movie and woke with a start as the end credits rolled to a upbeat song. Her startled face was priceless, obviously she had been woken from a deep sleep and yet with her eyes still bleary she raised her arms in an almost obligatory way and started jigging with the beat, as though she couldn’t help herself. Today Peach decided to combine two of her favourite activities together, dancing and admiring herself in the mirror, oh my delight. I couldn’t stop smiling at how obviously fine she found herself to be.

73/365

I am pretty pleased with this photo as it contains two of Priya’s favourite things in the world. Zali and a puppy. How she loves her cousin Zali. I am thankful beyond thankful that Hailey has two beautiful daughters to set such fine examples and be close friends for Priya (Not to mention Hailey set such a fine example in parenting for me!). I have to be very careful to mention Zali (or Poppy’s) name as P’s eyes will light up and she’ll dash off to find my car keys saying ‘Car, Zali, POPPY?’. I’ve also had to be careful not tell her they’re coming over until they’re practically at our house as too many times it’s been a very long wait with Priya sitting by our front door singing ‘Zali, Pop Pop, Zaliiii’. The singing turns into moans ‘ZAAAAALIIII, POPPPPPPEEEEEEE’ when they do not arrive in her expected time frame. Her pure happiness on seeing them is just delightful, she quite literally SHAKES with joy. Today Priya was delighted to find that Zali and Poppy had a new baby to introduce to her, beautiful Earnest. I love watching how Zali carefully shows Priya things, telling how she could pat Earnest and holding him at a safe distance from nipping her nose. How I hope Peach is as caring, thoughtful and loving as Zali is when she is 10, this would be my greatest success.

72/365

Today we took Alanna to the airport and said goodbye. We were a little bit sad because it felt like she only just arrived! Errol and I did our best to convince her to be our other daughter and live-in-babysitter but to no avail. Apparently her mother likes her too! As Alanna was walking down to the security check Peach blew her some kisses and said in a soft voice "bye, byeeeeeeeee". Errol went and broke my heart by saying ‘Poor Priya, all her friends always leave her’. I had to choke back little tears as I watched her big eyes follow Alanna’s back and then look up at me somewhat confused.

I remembered all our trips to the park where P follows other children around and tries to join in their games. Mostly the children ignore her and she plays by herself alongside them, looking at them nervously and smiling as if to say ‘do you want to be my friend?’ I once saw her go up to a older girl and start a conversation saying ‘Box, nice’ while pointing at the bucket the girl was playing in the sand with.’No, this is a BUCKET, B-UUU-CKEEET’; retorted the girl before running off with the older children. When Peach reached down to play with her bucket the girl quickly returned, snatched it back and said "This is MY bucket!" before running off again. P stood in that same spot at the part just watching that girl run away. How I wish I could control the world for her. I am thankful I am not sending her to school otherwise I know I’d be one of those mums leaning over the playground fence yelling ‘WHY DON’T YOU PLAY WITH PRIYA!?!?’ For now I am thankful she understands and trusts when I tell her ‘She’s going to come back Priya, we’ll see her again’, we didn’t have to leave the airport in tears.