Happy First Birthday, Baby

27.07.2007

Who is 1 today? Tara, Tara!

For her birthday, Tara gets a great sunny weather, a trip to the beach and the hottest possible weather. By now, she has learned to love the sea, and only infrequently tries to sample a fistful of sand, and we break our holiday record for playing in the water. So of course we're way to late getting home for her party, for of course a party she gets as well, and a big FAT five kilo cream cake with, appropriately, Snow White on it (see picture below and compare Tara's skin colour to the rest of her resident family).

(many thanks to Tito Antonio, one of the local Corvi bakers, who sponsored this marvel the size of mummy's torso & roughly the weight of Tara twice over a year ago!)

Now where there's a party, there are guests, and presents, and Tara had a multitude of both - some of her Nana's friends and the closest of her family which included, hurrah, children, and amounted to a very noisy crowd and not-at-all-educational amounts of presents.

(not pictured - the larger part of the sofa that we only managed to squeeze on to by shoving some of the presents aside)

Tara was (well past bed-time!) on a hysterical people high, presents high, plasticky toys high, and cousin Carlitos high, and would have definately gotten herself onto a cream cake high as well, if only mummy had let her.

Well then, baby - party party, and I'll just forget about that fully-fledged bed-time tantrum because I absolutely understand that you just wanted to go on playing with all your people and presents, even though it was 11.30 by the time I decided you'd had more than enough party - and cream cake!

(And here is a video (click click!) of Tara and her cake)

Thanks to everybody who remembered her birthday, before and after the event, and have so kindly showered her with (not-at-all-eductional ;-) amounts of lovely presents, cards, and loving attention. I would have liked to bring some cream cake back for all but you know cream cake and airplanes don't go together well...

Muchissimas gracias para todos los que se han acordado de Tara en su cumpleanos, y nos han regalado ese dia tan especial, con tanta tarta, tantos amigos, tantissimos regalos, y tanto carino!

Remember?

Tara's Holiday (Part I)

Welcome to your native country - well, the country you hold a passport of, Tara! We arrive at San Javier, just a short drive from Tara's roots in La Union, in close proximity to the beach and summertime resort, La Manga.

Drink. Wonderful stuff, especially when you have just stopped eating, like Tara has. Climate change, outrageous heat, the onset of a monster cold, possibly another tooth breaking through - Tara takes to the bottle!

We have two seas to pick and choose from, the 'little sea' and the wild wide open 'big sea'. Both lovely, if you ask mummy or daddy (or grandma or granddad, or uncle or aunty)


Mummy cruelly kept taking pictures as Tara kept scoffing sand - I mean, who'd expect her to keep going while she's already nearly on the verge of tears?! The adults eventually got a hold of the situation and extricated sand from mouth by tilting baby and flushing mouth with lots of water.
Now, talking about water? That too was a failure...

On we go, and Tara develops a full blown cold, along with a conjunctivitis so bad that her eyed cake over completely, and after a nap you can't really tell whether she's woken up, or whether she's still sleeping. Now add awfully hot nights, and lots of tossing, turning and coughing. Poor poppet. Daytime sleeps are not much more successful...


And while the debate "conjunctivitis - chamomile tea or eye specialist?" leads to the near-divorce of mum and dad, both mum and dad catch Tara's viruses as well.

Mind you, the food is great...

...to be continued...

Holiday

Off to Spain! When all that sun and the white yellow beach get too much, I'll just come back and stare at those lush green leaves of New Walk. Though somehow I don't think that'll happen...

As always, I have slightly over-shoppe. Tara has about 7 swim suits and 5 or 6 sun hats, some of them reversible, not yet counting the ones her Spanish family will have bought. Maybe I just shouldn't pack any of her 23 bibs, so she can thoroughly soil the 15 t-shirts and dresses I have packed (out of the 15 plus I have bought), and still change three times daily, in and out of the gadzillions of Spanish outfits that are awaiting her. Poor kid don't stand a chance of a tan!

BBQ

Wish Come True

Tara's cousin is roughly 3.64cm small, and will become available for cuddling and, way more important, playing with some time in early 2008.
To this, Tara says, mmmaa-mmaaa daa-daaa pa-pa, which is not at all inaccurate.

Plastic Heaven

The cow has arrived! It says, peep, oink, moo, and sings merry songs a-plenty! Oh, how Tara loves the cow! I'm sure the cow, too, loves it in her new home, for she has arrived in the excellent company of another 9 plasticky toys, with up to 40 melodies each!!
The postman who delievered the slightly oversized parcel was rather excited. He shook the parcel at me and exclaimed, "It makes a sound! It says MOOOO"! And it did, o joy!

MOOOOO! Oink oink!

Fairy

Dress-up day at nursery, and Tara gets to be a fairy. Make a wish!

Put Your Bum Up In The Air - Yeah!

Daddy comes home, mummy nips to the gym, and Tara gets to have a bath, aaaahh! A bit of splish, a bit of splosh, a fair amount of soap, and shampoo, and our favourite bathtime toys, and from the waters emerges, a yummy scrummy clean baby Tara.


So off to bed we go, when mummy is back, right? Naaa... what do you do when it's friday night and you are your cleanest yummiest best? You PARTY!

(click on pic for a little video)

So off we go. Venue: Bed. Guests: Tara, larger than life, mummy, daddy.
And we do the Tara dance. Brand new moves, got to show them off! (To be read as a rap)
We.... lie on our back and have a sip of boob, do a flippy dippy flop, stick out bum up in the air!
We... push back on our arms, and sit up on our own.
We... twist and turn and lean on our mum, now push some more and stretch your legs!
We... giggle, jiggle, laugh, and stand up on our own!
We... balance till we fall and proudly laugh out loud,
and when mummy puts us down we say no! no! We wriggle and we giggle, and
we... lie on our back...
Boogie to 2 1/2 hours past bed time.
And in the middle of the night when mummy opens her eyes to check on Tara, we sit (sit!) at the edge (edge!) of the bed and grin a big fat grin.
Can't sleep. High on own great new skills. Mummy? Can't sleep either. Got to make sure party girl Tara doesn't throw herself off the venue.
Paa-rtyyyy!