Our First Fayre!

Dear Pia,

Tomorrow you will join me for our very first Pia Bonita stall in a craft fayre. I'm excited and very busy making all kinds of product to have on show tomorrow. You are excited and playing on the swings and having a lunch date at nursery with your Gigi. Each preparing in our own way.

We're going to be the best team ever. 

I love you,

Mama

xx

From Opa and Gigi

Dear Pia,

Your Opa and Gigi are happy to be here with you as you experience the many changes going on in your so far short life.

We are fortunate the way our house buying (spelled non buying) experience in Charleston has worked out. When our latest attempt to secure housing fell through again and we no longer were involved with moving we looked around at what makes us both very happy and thought of you.

So, on Wednesday the contract went "puff" and on Tuesday next we were on our way to see you in London.

                                                     Enjoying a pretzel break

                                                The weather was unusually warm

                                                                      And Sunny!!

                                                 Trying to pack for the move......

The timing for all couldn't have been better. Seems your mom and Papa are involved in a few activities that  having some extra hands around might  be of help. Your Papa is transferring to the new boutique Marriott being built in London with an eye on doing the next one in the USA hopefully soon. in the meantime he will be very busy getting the hotel ready to open and establishing the new brand for future expansion.

Your Mom has been recruited to add some marketing horsepower in Europe to a line of baby/child accessories by a company out of NYC. She started her job last week.

Both your Mom and Papa and therefore you are moving to a bigger flat next week. Now you will have your own room as there will be a proper guest room so you won't have to share (although you are a very good sharer) your space with house guests.

AND YOU ARE STARTING NURSERY SCHOOL THIS WEEK.

                                            No. Not your Nursery but it is right next door

So your Opa and Gigi volunteered to help you with this adjustment to your daily routine. And we get to spend all this time with you before, during and after school playing games and  talking  with you. You are quite the conversationalist. You are putting words together expressing complete thoughts and very aware of what is happening around you.

As an example the other day your Gigi had you in your carriage with the front door open making final adjustments to go for one of her long,  8-10 mile long, walks with you. While you were waiting to go, I was sitting on the couch playing with my Mac not really paying attention to what was going on, all of a sudden I hear out of the blue in a very clear and affirmative voice "BYE OPA". Now no one told you to say those words or that I wasn't going with you, although I may have been in my pj's. It is these little bits of brilliance that makes it  so much fun to be with you.

Speaking of fun! Last weekend they had a carnival on Kew Green which your Mom would tell you about every time we passed them during the week while they were setting up the  fair. On the first day as we were approaching you immediately noticed the "Horseys" on the merry go round. AND they had a BUS ride which you couldn't get your fill of. So we went back the second day and you never tired of driving the bus. You were pretty proud of your time behind the wheel. And your Moma, Papa, Opa and Gigi were pretty proud to be there with you.

On Sunday while your Moma and Gigi were shopping we made a chocolate butter bomb for desert to celebrate Mother's Day and your Papa's birthday the next day. Once you got the hang of cleaning the mixer blade with your finger you kept saying "mas, mas". The bad part was that you always allow yourself to get cleaned up after eating with a simple request of "can I clean your face now". I've seen it many times. Your Mom or Gigi will ask these words and you put your little mug up nice and friendly to get wiped up with a wet cloth. Not this time. Your Opa says these words and I hear "NO". So I ask a little nicer and hear "NO". After many more attempts with same assertive answer, I give up and have to admit to not watching you closely enough as you must have pushed a chair over and climbed up on the counter to get at the mixer full of chocolate.

Yesterday you started at Buttercup Nursery School. That is you, Gigi and Opa started. We convinced your Mom that last week you became comfortable with Gigi and Opa and that it would be easier on everyone if we then introduced you to nursery school.  We went two hours together yesterday playing in the sand box and signing songs. Your Gigi resisted the staff's suggestions of leaving you alone with them for half an hour and stayed the whole time. That is not to say you enjoyed all of it. Your previous experience last week when we visited this and another Nursery to help your Mom make the best decision for you on where to attend had given you an idea of what was to unfold. Being so aware of your surroundings you figured it out and when the staff spoke to you you went into hysterics running for one of us to comfort you.

                                                          After First Day of School

So today was your second day and we spent two and a half hours there. Actually you spent that time. We were shuffled off for a cappuccino next store at the Garden Shop for twenty minutes while you and the staff became friends. Luckily I got  to leave first and wasn't aware of your shrill "OPA" as I was leaving until Gigi caught up with me in the coffee shop. On our return you had indeed become friends with Madeline and were getting along quite well together looking at the birds and listening to their songs which is your latest fascination.

Tomorrow we go back for an afternoon session at 3:00. Fortunately your Gigi has experience and takes you to the swing at the park by your home each day before getting into the car and heading over to the Nursery. Also after your schooling we all go over to the Garden Center next to the school so you can visit all your animal friends. Yesterday you went from one to the next giving each one a beso. 

Your Gig and Opa are very glad we are able to be here with you as you start to experience the the things we must as we move through our time here on earth. it is not always fair or fun. But everything happens for a reason and has a purpose. You don't know what it is all the time, nor do we, and that is why we have each other.

Love Opa &Gigi

Opa & Gigi to the rescue

Dear Pia,
Our lives are changing in a big way. In the next few weeks, we are moving house, I start a new job, Papa starts a new job, and (sigh) you will start nursery. Your Opa and Gigi heard about the busy month and jumped on the next plane over. We are so lucky to have them... and as if it were possible, we're realising it more and more with each box piled high, each email of your smiling mug kept safe in their care and each day.
You, on the other hand, always knew. From the moment I told you they were coming, you started showing me their pictures in the book (along with the rest of your fam of course) and when we went to pick them up from the airport and you were greeted by sirens of emergency vehicles of every kind (which is pretty much the top of your "wow" list right now), you still wanted to go inside and find Opa and Gigi with me. (But we checked on the ambulances and played with the firemen every once in awhile too.) After all that, when you saw them you grinned and buried your head in my shoulder. You are still getting over your fever and since it's appearance you've had a real fondness  for your Mama (in the always clinging to my neck/leg/hair kind of way). I admit I love it. Though it isn't going to make this nursery thing any easier.
For weeks I've moaned about the decision of where you would be best cared for while I work.   At first (after a lot of hemming and hawing) I chose the nursery near our house and went in to register you. I hadn't been there more than 10 minutes before making a million and one excuses to go and ran out without paying your registration fees. I couldn't do it so I convinced your Papa to meet a Nanny I found online one sleepless night. She left the country before she even started so your Papa found another nice Spanish girl for you. I was convinced the first catastrophe was a sign and the right thing to do would be to put you in a nice stable nursery like all your friends (if they love it, you'll love it, right?), so we picked a different nursery than the last one. It was further away but brand new and your friend goes there. I made it all the way through the registration. We even got so far as to do the introduction at that nursery. Then Opa and Gigi came and I forced them to view both places to help me make up my mind.   As I wished, they set me straight. On Monday I'll call in and you'll be back at the original nursery. The one I wanted you to go to originally because when you walk in, it feels like you've just hit the kid-jackpot.
Slightly reminiscent of the opening ceremony stage at the London Olympics, but with dozens of glee-struck faces glittering it's grassy mounds. It's close to our new house so I can always come rescue you when I.. erm you... need it and it's close to our favourite garden centre with the aquariums too, which means we'll have many days of beautiful fish spotting in our future. I think someday you're going to love it there despite the initial tears you're sure to shed. I think someday the thought of it won't bring tears to my eyes either. But not yet.
I'm embarrassed at the drama and indecisiveness I've had with this decision. But I guess it just goes to show how very much I love you. And just know... it was hard on me too.
Thankfully your Opa and Gigi love you too. So much that they toured about all these different places nurseries and entertained you all the while. They're going to help take care of you this month so you can get used to the idea of nursery slowly. It's a pretty amazing thing to do and we're so grateful.
With all this positive change happening, their presence is definitely the best change of all.


Especially when your having a group snooze.

I love you,
Mama
xx

all in a week

Dear Pia, 

You've been doing a mighty fine job working on recovering from your fever. Over the weekend, you even tried to convince us you were feeling well enough to spend a day out at the Circus. 

 But we thought you'd do better at an indoor circus (ahem, the Westfield shopping mall) and once you saw Minnie Mouse there, you agreed.

Though you spent lots of time preparing your own tea with lemon and honey at home too. Clever girl.

By Monday, you were feeling almost back to your usual self, so we headed on over to Chelsea Westminster hospital for your Physio appointment. It's been almost a year since you had to wear the Pavlik harness and you have come leaps and bounds. Just waiting for your x-ray, you were climbing up and down and all around on the kids furniture. 

We both left the hospital with big smiles on our faces because the doctor confirmed that your hips are growing like normal. As if those few months never even happened. It seemed like eternity at the time and each day felt sad, but looking back, I've never been so grateful for something that caused us both tears.

We celebrated with yogurt. Well, you celebrated with yogurt. I got side-tracked speaking with Auntie Ali on the phone and then found you like this:

You sure do know how to celebrate.

I love you,

Mama
xx

Ickworth

Dear Pia,

With you down and out in a fever induced sleep for the next few hours, I've finally got some time to catch up on our lovely few days at Ickworth... and life. A lot has happened lately. Most notably, I have accepted a new job. It's a consultant position, working from the home, doing all the things I love for a great brand with huge potential... aka, even though I didn't go out looking for this job, it's not the kind of thing you say 'no' to. And so, with a looming start date, we made last minute plans with your bestie Issy and her Mama to do a few days at a spa in the English countryside.

Ickworth is 17th century manor, built with an extravagant rotunda that was filled with a beautiful art collection (eventually stolen by Napolean's army) and surrounded by gorgeous woodlands and (your new favourite) sheep. Part of the Ickworth is a hotel run by Luxurty Family Hotels (you may remember our stint at Wolley Grange last year), so we knew we'd have the best of everything: beautiful surrounds, toys aplenty, spa in house, lovely meals cooked for us three times a day and swimming at our doorstep. And despite us both missing your Papa a bit, we both knew that sometimes, girls just wanna have fun. And so we did.

From the moment of arrival, you girls were giggles. You'd slept almost the whole of the 2.5hr car ride there and when you were greeted with an oversized King bed in your connecting suites, you made good use (with your shoes on clean linens, oops!) of the trampoline.

You loved playing on the beds, but there were also cupboards to open and close (and hide things in as we later discovered) and walk in closets to play hide-and-seek in and red and green carpeting to wiggle and squirm all over.

The massive halls were filled with wonder, and even though there were little pockets of toys in each of the grand rooms, you guys always seemed to make your own games. 

...with the crazy lights

...or the big potted plants (aka fairy's new swimming hole)

...and on your running track, erm the hallways.

At brekkie, you loved having a breakfast mate that actually talks (your roo never seems to respond to you at home), and I loved having a wonderful make-your-own-granola buffet at my fingertips. 

 And everyday we sang the song to the sheep, Baa Baa black sheep... and then pranced about in the lawn.

 Poor Issy always having to chase after your crazy circles...

But both of you stopped to admire and smell the flowers.

Inside, you took full advantage of Issy's favourite game (or is it yours?). You poked your head into her vision and then scooted off giggling...waiting to be found. "Where's Pia?"

The creche didn't work out quite the way we'd hoped. There were no other children in sight and you both had one carer to play with and hundreds of toys each, but it didn't matter. When we went to have our massages, you-and only you-screamed the house down. Issy tried to comfort you, but I could hear it and couldn't bear it, so I forfeited the massage break for a few minutes and came to play. I got there in time to calm  you and then watch you pick out sandwich fixings, set them on the table, pull out the chair between Mickey and Minnie for yourself and proceed to have yourself a little tea party. Unprompted by anyone around you. Yes, Minnie enjoyed her bread very much thank you.

Then we had a lovely lunch in which we arrived a bit early...

and somewhat shirtless...

But many minutes later (after a bit of confusion and a few apologies for the late service from a cigarette-smelling chef) we were served anyway

We eventually had our naps and found our way to the playground. (The Ickworth's lack of signage and lack of helpful staff made sure we were often 'finding our way'.) You had more fun on the stairs than anywhere else.

Unfortunately, the next morning you were having a little too much fun on the stairs because you took a tumble down a few of them (which prompted the panic when your fever hit the following night). Ouch. But thankfully you showed me everything was ok just moments later.

On the way home you and Issy slept like the little princesses that you are and when you awoke, 30 minutes from home, we sang songs over and over enough to make my Girl-Scout-Troup-Leader-of-a-mum proud and Issy's semi-more-sane-of-a-mum reconsider ever going on a mini-break with us again.

But you girls just smiled, sang and did the motions right along with me. Just more of the reasons why...

I love you,

Mama
xx