A cheeky personality starting to emerge

After 5 days with "quiet and obedient" Olivia, we are now finally getting to meet the the REAL Olivia... today she showed that she can be a lively little girl who gets up to no good with a cheeky grin on her face...

She has invented (like so many kids before her) the game of "I'll throw this thing on the floor and laugh so hard that Mum can't help laughing too"... well, it is hard not to laugh with her. Right now we don't want strict rules to get in the way of bonding so the disciplining will have to come later. Except for meal times - where we try to be calm and have quiet play just before we sit down to eat - Olivia can play fun throwing games with pretty much anything - other than electronic gadgets.

That leads us to another new thing, which happened today. Olivia has started exploring her surroundings. Feeling safe enough to leave Mum's lap and even let go of her hand for a little while, she likes to explore the lounge room (especially if Dad is not around). Three days ago we said to each other "OK, if this is how she is, we don't have to child-proof anything". We take that back. She has tiny little hands with tiny little fingers that love to push buttons on electronic devices, play with mobile phones, etc. When Mum asks for the phone back, she reaches the phone towards Mum, but only to pull it back at the last second while laughing out loud.

Being a water lover I was over the moon to finally take our first swim together. She was - as usual - timid at first but quickly relaxed and was splashing and paddling around.

Speaking of loud, we've finally heard the full capacity of her voice today. She has a very gentle speaking voice, but she can also be LOUD with excitement. Wonderful! While in the pool she was squealing and laughing and speaking a lot of Thai words at the top of her lungs (Chin - maybe you can help us understand what she is saying from the video below????)

She is long past the age where she can be carried around all day so today we also played "getting familiar with the stroller in comfortable surroundings" while we were at the pool.

The next boundary we have to expand is for her to be comfortable being out and about with us on busy streets before we head to Bangkok on Tuesday. Yesterday we walked down to the 7Eleven on the corner at the end of our street. It is a busy road (along Jomtien beach) with lots of traffic, street kitchens, and young kids hanging out playing loud music.  She is clearly scared of dogs and strange men (Aaron is one of the strangest I have met...).

While she was quite nervous yesterday, she was much more at ease today, and she sat with Mum on the beach for half an hour observing people. Mum, on the other hand, got to have her first experience of the massive attention one gets with a beautiful Thai princess on the arm - not a single woman passed by without big smiles and some - presumably friendly - Thai words. I can only smile back and say thanks... kop khun kah!