last weekend

Last weekend, we braved a 9 hour road trip to join Emily's family on the beach in Florida. This was totally worthwhile as there was a restaurant a short walk away that sold 50 cent oysters and hosted a crayfish broil on Sundays, and there is nothing better than fresh seafood. The beaches are also beautiful, and Bluet enjoyed herself in the sand (and in the pool at the house, although the less said about the time she fell into the pool, the better). Actually my favourite part of the trip was when I was swimming and Bluet insisted coming into the water with me, almost throwing a temper tantrum until she was allowed in - this was very sweet. She also had fun seeing her American cousins - she is almost big enough to play properly with Lila. You can see more on this trip here as I don't have that many photos

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,13,14

We're about to go off to the Zoo, but as Bluet is happy in her room playing, an unexpected opportunity to update the blog has arisen. Yesterday we went to the American equivalent of B&Q ('Lowes') and purchased some household items. Keeping Bluet under control as she ran around the wide-aisled shop made this the most strenuous shopping trip ever. She seemed to like the plants best, correctly identifying 'purple', 'red' and 'black' plant pots, climbing under shelves, and finally exhibiting herself for sale, viz:


 
Whilst the initial investment may look very cheap, remember there are a lot of hidden costs with a purchase like this.

Whilst in the car or riding on my shoulders, Bluet likes to practice her counting. Here she is counting to 14 (minus 11 or 12, but who needs those numbers) in the back of the car:

X Factor/Pop Idol/American Idol 2013

I think Bluet has a shot at being the next big pop phenomenon

Commuting, Houston Style

Today, I took Bluet to school. This might not sound like a big deal, but unfortunately when they built Houston, they forgot to make it fully habitable, and as a result the public transport is not very, (how do you put it?) Good. So the trip involves a 10 minute walk to the train, a short wait (pictured, Bluet a little damp as it was drizzling), 5 minutes on the train (which Bluet loves), then a 20 minute walk to daycare. The pavements are poorly kept, so there were puddles of water to be avoided whilst walking, but we made it safely. All the time, Bluet talked about everything she could see around (aeroplanes, all the numbers, taxi's etc) and I tried to teach her the colours of passing cars. I am pretty sure that walking a mile and a half with Bluet on my shoulders counts as good exercise.

Be Bluet's valentine

Sunday

On Sunday before the big storm, Bluet and I headed to the park. I thought I'd let her run off a little into the trees and explore. Of course, she immediately found what I thought was a mole hill. As I started to explain what a mole hill was, she reached down to prod it, and I realised it was not a mole hill, but an ant hill. I had never seen such a thing. By this point her and my feet were covered in ants. Then they started to bite. I took Bluet's shoes off to brush off the nasty ants, and she was very brave and didn't cry, just said 'yucky'. Then the storm clouds rolled in and we headed home. So both Bluet and I learned about fire ants. They are not my favourite animal.

As it rained, Bluet discovered rainbows, from some stickers she has. She calls them 'wee-mows' and they may soon rival the moon for sheer excitement. Then later we went to the children's museum (a brisk 10 minute walk away), where Bluet learned to drive.

Off to find some fire ants

Back home, sheltering from the storm

Learning to drive

Playing with the water features at the Children's Museum

Bluet's Letter Quiz

Yesterday morning, Bluet quizzed herself on all they letters in the alphabet.

Numbers

Today Bluet is supposed to take her favourite toy to school to share. Her favourite toy is probably this mat filled with numbers that you may recognise from New York, but it doesn't seem right to send her to school with a giant "6" as her favourite toy. Anyway, here she is a couple of days ago interacting with her numbers. She really does love them, and will happily count up to 10(approximately correctly) or ride on your shoulders pointing out every number she sees.

Today

After work, we went to the park and ate raisins and looked at aeroplanes

Where everything is bigger

So we are all now together again in Texas. It is abnormally hot for winter, and it seems strange to be able to see palm trees outside the window. Bluet likes going to daycare, but runs immediately over to Emily when she comes to pick her up. She is getting more and more talkative by the day, can count to ten, and knows almost all the letters. She also likes going in the car, I hope that that novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon. The postings of pictures, audio and video will resume shortly. The following are pictures of Houston from a couple of weeks ago, including a trip to the Zoo where we overheard a Texas man explaining to his children that the meerkat acting as a lookout was a Republican, whilst all the meerkats lazing around were Democrats.

Bluet loves crawling inside this clear tube that goes underwater past the fishes

I am pretty sure that Bluet would happily watch these jellyfish all day

At Ikea, Bluet chose an abacus for herself

More Ikea