In The Night Garden Live

I was so excited this morning, as today was the day Eva, Lorna and me were going to see In The Night Garden Live at Cannon Hill Park. We were seeing the 10am Ninky Nonk show where Igglepiggle keeps losing his blanket, and Eva was going to actually meet Igglepiggle afterwards.

It was being shown in a huge, inflatable dome out in the park, that had air conditioning, toilets, baby changing facilities, a lovely big stage area with big steps to sit on, and it was all so well organised and everything thought of. I was very impressed.

We chose where we wanted to sit and waited for the show to start. Eva was a little unsure at first and just wanted to cling to me, she does get quite overwhelmed at times, especially when there's lots of people around her, but when she saw the Pinky Ponk float passed, she was pointing and telling me and did seem excited when she heard the theme music start. She took it in turns sitting on mine and Lorna's laps, she also enjoyed sitting on the step in front of our feet to watch. The whole time she clung to her own Igglepiggle that I'd taken with us, and also sat and ate her snack while she watched and drank her water from her cup. She had a lovely time. I think she will enjoy it even more next year when she's that little bit older, as some of the children were calling out the character's names when they came on and getting so excited. It was magical.

I had booked for Eva to actually meet Igglepiggle after the show, so while we waited for our turn, we sat on little stools and did the colouring in with crayons of the In The Night Garden characters, that had been put out for the children to do. I was a little apprehensive actually, wondering how Eva would react to meeting Igglepiggle, and was waiting for the tears. She pleasantly surprised me. She was a little unsure at first, but there was no tears and she did seem to be in awe of one of her favourite characters. She even gave him a kiss, (shame we didn't get the kiss on camera and she wouldn't do it again) but only Mommy gave him a high 5. We had some photos taken and just generally loved the whole experience. It was very professionally organised, the staff were so helpful and lovely, the show fantastic and the most important thing, Eva had a great time!!!

She was shattered by the time we got home, so had some toast and milk and went down for her sleep. She's still sleeping for around 2 hours every afternoon and is so tired if she's late going down, she actually lies on the ground rubbing her eyes, and when I carry her up, she leans towards her cot from in my arms, desperate to get in it. Bless her.

Nanny arrived just as Eva was waking up this afternoon, closely followed by Grandad, so Eva was in her element with all the attention and seeing them. They found her hilarious as usual. Nanny fed her her dinner and played with her later when I went to get my shower as I was going out early with Sue, Penny and Claire.

Eva is learning so much now. She understands a lot of what we say and communicates herself more and more. She will sit and play with her dolly and comb it's hair, give it water, brush it's teeth, give it cuddles (it's wonderful to watch), she calls it 'baby'. She isn't walking yet, but walks very well with push along things and around furniture, so it won't be long. She uses her shape sorters very well now and has attempted her jigsaws with some success and putting the pieces back in the right place. It's absolutely awesome watching her develop. SUCH exciting times :-) xxxxx