Still here (Anna)

It's unfortunate that we posted about the floods and then haven't posted for weeks. Those two things aren't linked. We're back in Vancouver. We've just been caught up in other worlds and other projects.

Emma is great. Huge explosions of language, cognitive understanding and memory. She talks in full sentences now and it's a bit of a shock sometimes. She says things like: "I did it. I turned on the light!" Today, we went to a French Canadian festival and I bought myself a new winter hat, and she said, "Nice hat, Mumma!" (a reminder that it won't be too long before she rolls her eyes at our fashion choices rather than being supportive of them). She also has definite preferences. 'I like chocolate" has become a favourite utterance. But my favourite sentences are: "I need a Mumma/Mummy cuddle!" and "We have a big family cuddle?

Her memory is also developing. Two weeks on, she's still talking about our trip to Australia, saying things like, "I miss Granny Heath...and Grandad, too," and "I see [saw] koalas climbing a gum tree, and I see other koala too. And I see karoo (kangaroo)." Yesterday, we went to the pool and Emma said on the way, "I like swimming. I go swimming and I chase leafs!" a reference to collecting leaves in Granny Heath's and Grandad's backyard pool. She also astounds us by making links between things that we didn't know she knew, or reminding us of things we said a week ago.



P.S. It's funny how parenthood changes things. We've always had a tradition in our house of spontaneous dancing. One of us will put some music on - or respond to whatever's already on - and grab the other one for a quick one-song dance in the living room. While I was writing this blog post, Caroline came over and grabbed me for a dance and said, "Not a song I would usually choose but whatever." So we danced to Track 4 of Emma's kids CD - a particularly romantic song called "She'll be coming 'round the mountain" and we must have had our arms around each other for all of three seconds when Emma came racing over and said, "Family cuddle!" and wriggled up in between us for kisses and cuddles. A little different from how it worked pre-kid. Funny thing is, we're not complaining. Mostly.

Yes - we are in Brisbane

We've been quiet here recently because we're coming to the end of a three week holiday in Brisbane.

Yes - the same Brisbane that is currently going under water.

The suburb we're in is not under threat and we are fine. We are safe, but the devestation around us is horrific. Brisbane is in a declared state of emergency. Thousands of people have been evacuated and lost their homes; people have also lost their lives. The river has not yet peaked, and there is a possibility of the dam collapsing. We've never seen anything like it.