Teeth and Transatlantic Trips pt. I

Before you say it, we know... it's been ages.. since July, in fact. So, since a picture says a thousand words, this blog will essentially contain many thousands of words! [If a picture says a thousand words, how many words does a video say? Do we need to discuss frame rates to answer this?] In fact, it's so large, we're dividing it up into different parts. Looking back over the pictures and videos, it's unbelievable how much Zafra has changed since the last post. Perhaps that's largely to do with the teeth which have just changed her appearance... don't worry, she's still lovely! But it's also to do with her increased dexterity, as you'll see...

Hello, welcome to this blogpost. Yes, I'm naked. You should be used to that by now.

Zafra and Parker have been getting on very well. It seems that Parker has entirely forgiven the hair-pulling episode of a number of months ago and there have even been brief moments where Zafra's been able to give Parker a proper hug. Here, Parker plays "catch-me-if-you-can" with Zafra...

Zafra's starting to really develop friendships, leading to some rather lovely photos...

Alfie places a gentle supporting hand on Zafra's head as he comes over to see what she's looking at.

Zafra checks something out the usual way... by placing it on her head before or after placing it in her mouth!

It tasted more like cardboard than Parsley...

Oy! Do I have to show him how to do everything???

Zafra in the tunnel...

quickly followed by Alfie in the tunnel...

followed by Zafra in the tunnel... (you get where this went for a while!)

Zafra and Alfie sharing in the paddling pool

From time to time, we like to go to a place in Christchurch called Cheese and Alfie's (it's a popular name right now!) where there's a book library downstairs for little kids. On this visit, instead of reading Zafra decided to draw...

Zafra draws for the first time

Zafra considers her next masterpiece

Top beauty tip - Hummus face mask, tomato on top.

Neil spent a good amount of time in the garden this summer, tidying it up and starting work on a vegatable patch. He found a full-size frog, possibly from last year, who can sometimes be heard croaking away in the back garden and there are still a couple of froglets in the front pond. Also, our garden keeps being visited by a robin, even though they usually only visit in the winter.

Another Robin in the family

We interrupt this blog to bring you an exciting development...

So that's one step, but will there be more...? Zafra's dexterity has come on in leaps and bounds (maybe that's not the right expression here since she can't do either, but you know what we mean...). She plays with things, reaches for things and, often, places them on her head. We have to admit, though, that this photo might just have been staged...

Rababy

We've been teaching Zafra baby sign language. The point is that she can always cry to say when she's unhappy, but if she's able to sign what's making her unhappy, for example, then we can help her quicker. So we're teaching her "More," "Drink," "Food," "Sleep," "Nappy," and, well, see if you can work out what this hand action that looks like she's milking a cow is for (there's a not very subtle clue there!)...

That's part 1 of this post. In the next part, Zafra and Parker play some more, Zafra demonstrates her ability to problem-solve and the birthday season starts. See you there.
[By the way, the sign was for "Milk." If you didn't get that, we can recommend a good optician.]