Happy New Year!

(Background music courtesy of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid - Zoe has been crazy about Mamma Mia ever since our trip to San Francisco...)

Backyard Santa

Santa was in town and dropped by in Frederick Street. There were many shrieks and gasps when he walked down the laneway to our backyard just when we were having a big Christmas garden party with neighbours and friends. Zoe, like most of her friends, was actually a bit scared of the big man with the long white beard and it was only when she noticed a striking resemblence to her Papa in his bearing and his voice that she relaxed a bit. And it definitely helped that Santa had brought lots of presents with him - even though most kids were still a bit apprehensive when they went up to collect their present. But they all promised to be double as good next year so they could get twice as many presents... Merry Christmas!

The lion

There's a lion lurking in our house and the only way to get rid of the beast is to scare it away. Luckily this lion is particularly scared of brushed teeth, so Zoe for the first time actually wants to brush them as often as possible. She will race to the bathroom, shut the door, vigorously brush her teeth and then storm out to kick the cowed lion in its rear out of the front door I will have opened just in time. It usually takes about five good kicks to shoo the lion out.

Oh dear

Often when something doesn't quite go Zoe's way, when she fears she's lost a toy, hears she has to go to bed even though there's still so much to do, finds out her favourite pink dress is in the wash, she will look at you out of big, disappointed eyes and mutter a deeply heartfelt "oh dear". How not to give in to that..?

Baby blues

Have I mentioned Zoe's baby craze before? She absolutely adores babies, can oggle the little ones for ages, carresses their soft heads, fusses over them. And so of course treating her dolls like babies is a favourite game. "Do you want to have a baby, Zoe?" "Nooo, I'm only 3, I'm too little." Silly, question, Papa. "When do you want to have a baby?" "When I'm 5!"