Teeth!

Well as if going to school wasn't enough to prove I am a big girl now, today I lost my first tooth! It was verrrrrry wobbly and then I brushed it and brushed it and all of a sudden it wasn't there anymore. We had to look on the floor to find it!

Meanwhile Zahra is busy getting her teeth and wants to chomp on everything. Yesterday Mama couldn't even get her in the front door without her munching on the tasty door handle.

My first day of school

Guess what? Today was my very first day of school. Here I am with my Schultüte, a special present that German kids get when they start school for the first time. It is filled with cool stuff for school and a few lollies and chocolates too.

Here I am ready to go, outside the house.

Swiss kids are supposed to walk to school on their own, but my school is a bit too far away so Mama and Dada are really behind me. See the cool backpack I chose, with a dragon on it?

I was pretty excited to be a schoolkid. The school I go to is bilingual German and Italian. That's pretty tricky for me, since I don't speak any Italian yet, but I am going to learn I guess!!! It was pretty scary at the start, but once I got in the classroom I was happy.

I am sitting next to a girl who is called Janette, like Mama! Funny hey? I made 3 friends today and had a yummy lunch of squiggly pasta with pesto. At the end of the day I wasn't so sure I wanted to come back again, but tomorrow is another day.

Meanwhile, here is a photo of Zahra looking very cute. Mama and I love it when she is all wrapped up in a towel after her bath.

Summer holidays

July was all about holidays. First, Nonno and Marilyn came to visit us as part of their holiday. That was very cool because Zahra got to meet them for the first time.

Zahra felt very comfortable with Nonno, as you can see here. They both liked doing the same kind of thing!

Then we went on our family holiday to an area in Italy called the South Tyrol. It is very beautiful there and we liked it a lot because they speak Italian AND German and have Italian and German food. We stayed at an awesome hotel that had so many good things for kids that I didn't want to leave. This was the view from our room.

We also stopped at a town called Brixen (Bressanone in Italian) which was very pretty too.

There was a festival on the night we were there and I did some painting with some other kids.

After that Mama and Zahra and I went to have some holidays with our Swiss friends, on Lake Constance in Germany. It was great because I had my friend Zoe to play with all day and Zahra had her friend Lyn and Mama had her friend Noëmi!!!

The house we stayed at was beautiful, it was right on the lake and had a big garden with lots of fruit trees. Zoe and I played and played and played and then we played some more. Again, I cried when I had to go home.

Lots happened in June

First of all, Noni came to visit. Yay! This was her first time to meet Zahra, and Zahra's first time meeting a grandparent, so it was very exciting for us all. Zahra and Noni loved each other straight away.

Then, Zahra turned 6 months old. That meant she could start eating food, and boy was she happy about that. Here is her carrot face.

We thought her being 6 months was a good time to celebrate her Welcome to the World party. We had a little picnic in the park with some of our friends. We asked everyone to bring a wish for Zahra's life, and you can see them here writing them down to put in her wish box. We read them out and then we had some of the yummy chocolate cake we ate the morning Zahra was born and then we had a pinata for the kids.

Here I am having my turn at the pinata.

And you can see everyone watching and waiting for the pinata to break. All the Dadas really wanted to have a turn too.

Zahra loved her party. She looked at each person as they read out a wish for her and seemed very interested, like she was taking it all very seriously. This is her at home late at night after it was all over - still happy and ready to keep partying!

I also had another party that day - a farewell party from my Kinderhaus. I am starting school in August so it was time for me to say goodbye to all my kindergarten friends. I wasn't very sad, because I know I will see them again. In fact, I loved having a little party just to say goodbye and said it was my best day ever! I gave everyone a little koala and a card with this photo on it to remember me.

June really was a party month. Noni had her birthday on the 16th and we took her to a nice hotel in Strasbourg to celebrate. Zahra and I surprised her when she woke up in the morning. We got changed into some matching dresses that Zia had sent us. Noni loved it.

Then of course came the best party of all - my birthday party! I got so many cool presents.

In the afternoon I had a party with my friends at the movies. There was a Princess Lillifee film on and me and my friends like her (well, the boys don't like her so much but they were happy to come anyway). We watched the movie together and then we had a party with games and cake and opening presents and running around popping balloons. I loved it.

Last weekend I had my Acroballet show. I did lots of cartwheels and somersaults and bridges and here I am taking a bow at the end.

Oh, one more thing happened in June. I got married! Here I am with my husband Lenz. He has red hair like me and is really funny. He likes football and Power Rangers and playing with me. He is one year younger than me, but I don't mind. His birthday is the day after mine, so I got to go to his party too. Anyway, after all this partying, I am glad that it is summer holidays now - I need a rest!

Zahra is getting big

Guess what? Zahra is big enough to sit in a high chair now! She sits with us at the table sometimes, at least when she is awake. The only problem is, she REALLY wants to eat food like us too. Not long to wait now though. She is 5 months old and she can start when she is 6 months.

The flowers in Switzerland are really pretty at the moment.

I saw these ones and said "Mama, I can't stop looking at these flowers! I think I won't be able to go home because I want to look at them all day!"

My cousin Thomas came to stay!

We had the best time just after Easter. My cousin Thomas and my Zia came to stay for 2 whole weeks. It was soooooooooooooo much fun having them around and I was very, very sad to see them go. I still get upset if I hear songs that remind me of them. Here is a photo of us 3 red-headed cousins together.

Thomas was very, very sweet with Zahra. He was so gentle with her and gave her lots of kisses. Zahra wasn't so sure about him at first. This is the first time they met!

Zahra loved her Zia though.

Thomas was the best fun to play with. We had lots of fun in my playroom and also when we went out. He has the best laugh and likes doing funny things with me.

Here is a nice photo of Zahra from when we all went to the Sports Club.

And one of me with Dada and Zahra on the swing.

Zahra got her passport

Well, it was a long time ago now, but Zahra got her passport! We had to go to Geneva to give the papers to the Australian Consulate and then later they sent us a passport for Zahra, with her picture in it and everything. We went to Geneva on the train. It was Zahra's longest ever train trip, but we stayed in the same country! Funny, hey?

Of course going to Geneva was a good chance to catch up with our friends there. Here are Alison, Maitreyee and Kanti with Dada and Zahra. They all seemed to like looking at Zahra. I was too busy playing in the playground with my friend Sohini to be in the photo.

My black eye

Look what I got at Judo yesterday! Well, it looks worse in real life, it was hard to get a good photo, but I got a nice black eye. A boy landed on me when he was doing a technique. It hurt at the time but it is OK now, in fact I am quite proud of it!

Zio came to visit

Zahra met her first family member other than me and Mama and Dada last week. Zio came for a quick visit and Zahra liked him a lot. I liked seeing him a lot too, and I cried when he left, sobbing "this is the saddest day since Noni left".

A ski holiday in Adelboden

Last week we went on a ski trip. We were very lucky because it snowed lots the day we arrived, and then was sunny for the rest of the week. We were also very lucky to get a room upgrade and stayed in a great big apartment with this awesome view.

I had ski school every day, which was lots of fun.

And Zahra even took a gondola to the top of the mountain, so that Mama could do a little bit of snowboarding while she slept.

When Zahra wasn't doing apres-ski, she used her time to practise new skills, like pressing up on her arms. She is getting strong.

Fasnacht 2009

Another Fasnacht is over and I loved it just as much as ever. This time Dada took me to the Morgestraich at 4am on Monday morning. That afternoon I went in to see the parades, first with Mama and then with Dada. I dressed up as a bear, as you can see!

In the parades, wagons with these clown kind of guys called Waggis come around and the Waggis either throw out lollies or cover you in confetti.

On the Tuesday, the day for kids, my friend Zoe borrowed my bear costume and I was a Chinese princess.

The kids' day is great, because then we get to throw the confetti.

I also gave out most of the lollies I had got from the Waggis to other kids.

Here I am, hanging out with my friends.

It was Zahra's first Fasnacht, and here she is hanging out with her friend Lyn too! Well, they are there somewhere under those green hoods.