Quietly Playing

This is a video of Elyse quietly playing. Usually I can't get this on tape because she sees me and goes after the camera. It is fun just observe how she interacts with her toys and the world around her. Now, if you are not a grandparent you might get bored watching this because there is not too much action - just to warn you.

Hotmail

Just an FYI: my hotmail account does not work all of the time, so if you have emailed me and I have not replied, that is probably why. I am sorry and I will try and write back as soon as I can.

Jurong BirdPark

Today we went to the Jurong BirdPark. It was a lot of fun. The first thing we saw were the penguins. Elyse liked being able to walk right up to the glass in the exhibit. Penguins were swimming less than an inch from her face! As were wondered around we saw flamingos. At this point we let Elyse wander around the bridge that surrounded the flamingo lake. She really like watching these birds as well. She would walk to the side of the bridge and squat down to watch them. It was very cute.

We were there in time to see a bird show. It was on the birds of prey. Birds flew down from high towers to demonstrate there skills and entertain the crowd. I really think that Elyse was watching the show because when a girl moved in front of her, Elyse moved to try and look around her.

I think my favorite part was the Lory Loft where we were high in the trees and got to feed the birds. Elyse liked it when the birds came to feed. We had to watch that she didn't pull their tails

Some of the birds were in enclosures, but others were free to roam around. The interesting part was that they usually stayed where they were supposed to. There were swans in the Swan Lake, pelicans in the Pelican Cove, and storks in their little pond (although I did see a stork visit the birds of prey area).

Overall a great day. The only thing that went wrong was that our camera ran out of batteries which meant we had to resort to taking pictures with our phones. You can see the difference in the pictures we took. Oh well, at least we got some pictures.

Boom

Elyse is slowly learning new words. She can sign more, all done, drink and can point to various body parts. I am trying to get her to sign help, please and thank you. She can say ma/mama, da (which can mean Daddy or dog or any other animal, cheese (sounds like gez and can mean cheese or other food), ball, hi, bye and boom.

Hug Joko

Joko is a big stuffed Orangutan that Jack and Jan (Gramps and Grammy) gave Elyse for her birthday. It was carried down a mountain (I think the story goes) put into Aunt Lisel's suitcase and flown to CO where Joko was then shipped to Texas. Today I asked Elyse to hug Joko and got some great pictures. She would only hug him looking one way, so I had to change my position to get pictures of her face. Enjoy!

Hot, Hot, Hot

This morning I thought it would be a good idea to go to a local park about 10 minutes walk away. It is along a path that circles Jurong Lake (the lake our apartment overlooks). It had just rained, so I thought it would be cool as we walked and the only problem would be water on some of the playground equipment. It was true that we only ran into one problem and it wasn't the water, it was the heat. It was so hot! We got to the park and Elyse went to climb on some things but they were too hot. Then, just walking around I began to sweat buckets and Elyse didn't look like she was having fun so I decided it was time to go home.

On the way back I was thinking how nice it would be to jump in the pool and decided that's what we would do. Unfortunately as we approached the gate to our complex I heard a loud noise a big foggy cloud approaching; it was fumigation day. This forced us to go to the front gate (me totally sweating and Elyse getting a bit red faced) and canceled our pool plans. Instead we stayed in and Elyse got a nice bath. Oh well, perhaps we can go to the pool this afternoon.

Part of the playground.

Elyse's new place to hang out.

Elyse Turns 15 Months

Here are some"official" pictures on the day Elyse turned 15 months (Halloween).