Monkey moments

How could you not love Monkey? I ask this a lot. And everyone seems to love her. She has an amazing personality, brought out, cherished and nurtured by her parents - and the day care staff.

She's adventurous and intrepid and independent. And she's caring and thoughtful and intelligent.

Here she is, climbing a tree. She only asked for help when she got a bit stuck because the railings had run out and she was struggling to figure out how to get higher - ie by holding onto the tree trunk.

As far as I know, she's only been in one fight at day care - and that's because the other child had pushed her best friend and made them cry.

Unusually for children her age (she turns 2 next month) she would refer to herself in photos as 'me' - rather than use her name. This is because she couldn't pronounce her name properly and so didn't until she could By the way, she can now, judging by the chanting of her name on Sunday.

And, on Sunday, she called me by name (mostly) for the first time. Oh, her dad has been trying to get her to call me by name for months, but this time - without prompting - it came out.

I can remember a couple of my great-nephews calling my by name the first time. Both times, it went something like this:
'Auntie Anne' - at which point my little heart sung - they know who I am! - and rejoiced. But, this was followed by... 'can I have...'

Did Monkey follow the pattern? Oh no, not at all. Her dad asked, 'What's this?' and Monkey replied 'dad coffee'. Then followed up with 'auntie coffee?' in a concerned tone, just in case I was missing out.

Bless.

She is a treasure. Happy nearly birthday Monkey!