I love being pregnant, I find it such a miracle to have this little person growing inside of me.  Being pregnant second time round is very different from the first time.  The first time I was very anxious up until about 20 weeks so I was very aware of every little thing, whereas this time, although I have had my moments, I am much more relaxed.  It also helps to have a nearly 3 year old running around keeping me both physically and emotionally busy.  

Grace loves guavas. We got some delicious organic ones from the Ethical Co-op (first of the season) and Grace devoured them with great abandon. And now we can't find any, anywhere. Oh, oh, this is a problem for a two year old. "Want gaabas," has been heard many a time in the last week. So off the adventurers – Grace, Donné, Keren and Granny – went to search for guavas. Woolworths, Pick 'n Pay, Fruit and Veg, online……none.

We were swimming this morning and Grace decided to wear her goggles over her shoulder, kind of like a handbag. She stood on the top step and put her hand to her side. It was stretched out and flat, against her ribs under her arm – roughly where her goggle "handbag" was. She pulls it away and pushes her hand flat against her ear, "Hello, okaaay, byyye!" and then after a few more conversations like that, "Hello, put oven on, okaaay, byyye!" Turns out she was phoning someone (me I guess) on her "cellphone." She carried on like this the whole day. Every now and then she would take out her phone to have a little conversation. I thought it was absolutely precious.

We’ve embarked on a mission to create a more structured environment for Grace to play in. Partly inspired by our visit to the Montessori school, and also from seeing Grace respond well to some changes in her environment, we decided to organise some of her toys and games to give her better access to them.

Donné recently reorganized Grace’s cupboards to make it easier to get to her winter clothes, and she has been loving it. Every morning she gets out of bed and puts on socks (and sometimes slippers), and when it’s time to dress she picks some pants and tries to put on a top. At least now it is warm clothes, rather than summer dresses.

Today we went on a mission to get Grace a shelf for her activities and a small cupboard that we can turn into a dish washing and food prep station.

We didn’t find something so we decided to build something. First step is the dish washing station, and we’ve made good progress on that (photos to follow).

And in other events today Grace decided that every sentence should end with, “see you soon, goodbye!”

Today Grace and Caleb had a fun morning filled with baking, Dora, riding bikes, swinging and jumping on the trampolene.

A highlight seemed to be riding to the end of the street and watching the school children jumping over a skipping rope.

This morning Donné was holding Grace and I went to give them a group hug. As I gave them a squeeze Grace turns to me and says, "Uv you daddy too." And then tonight when I was saying good night to her she turns to me and puts her hand on my head, "Uv you so much."

Wednesday's is hair washing day and Grace is quite adept at getting her hair wet on her own. One of her techniques is to bend forward to wet the front of her hair. Today she decided that she should stand and bend over to get her head into the water – bum sticking straight up in the air.

We spent some time at the Bradshaw’s this afternoon and I enjoyed Grace’s playing. The first thing that surprised me was how well she can climb one of the trees in their garden. The tree is lovely for children to climb in, because it has lots of branches at the right height. I have seen Grace climbing in before, but today she climbed up to the top (about wall height) and back down again all on her own. She seems to really be enjoying climbing. When we went camping there were some rocks at the top of a hill which she really loved climbing and clambering on.

Grace has been willing to share her health status with anyone that is willing to listen. If someone (like a cashier) asks her how she is she says, "Gracie not well. Got a snotty nose." Today, one person just said, "Hello," and they got the full story.

Today we went for coffee and after we had parked the car, Grace turned to Duncan and said "good job dad."  Duncan and I were a little confused as to what he had done so we asked her, "Good job for what Grace?" "Parking in the shade".  She really is a funny bunny sometimes.