This and That

Last week Madeleine had her 18 month check up with the local Plunket Nurse. She got weighed and measured and she told the nurse a few stories and then waved goodbye and headed for the door. Unfortunately, it wasn't time to leave yet, so she had to wait a bit longer. She is 29 lb now, so still in the 95th or so percentile for her weight, and is up to 82cm, which means that she is now in the 75th percentile for height (she was always 50th in the past). The nurse commented that with all her babbling and stories full of intonation and gestures, she will likely be quite a talker once the words start forming. 

She's getting tall enough that she can finally climb up onto things that she has been eyeing for awhile now, like our chairs and this little cabinet (she moves her little chair over to it to climb up and down). She loves being able to sit at the counter while we are in the kitchen, and she seems relatively stable up there, so instead of moving the cabinet, I moved all the junk and clutter on the counter so it's a bit more M-friendly.

This past Sunday was windy and rainy and when M woke early from her midday nap, I knew it was going to be a long afternoon if we stayed at home. So we took a trip to the Marine Education Centre in a suburb of Wellington, where they have several touching tanks and many aquariums with all sorts of fish, turtles, snails, and even an octopus. I wasn't sure if Madeleine would be old enough to enjoy it, but she loved it! She couldn't get enough of the touching pools and she wasn't afraid to pick up the starfish, crabs and snails.

Below, she is holding a Brittle Star - a creature closely related to a starfish but with long tentacle-like arms that help it move more quickly. The arms are very brittle though, so they often break off and regenerate.

Baby G continues to grow well and move a lot. I am 33 weeks now, and I am actually feeling less tired in this third trimester than I did in the previous two. I've finally been able to get back into swimming regularly, and usually go in the mornings before Steve leaves for work. I'm not only counting down to the baby's due date (6.5 weeks!) but also to my parents' arrival, which is only 4.5 weeks away.