Elizabeth has reached 15 months of age, and she is certainly not a baby anymore - she is a fully fledged toddler. She can walk really well, and she only really falls over when she runs too fast! She is adventurous, brave, inquisitive - in fact the only thing she is scared of is loud aeroplanes flying overhead.

In the last month, she has finally got the hang of sleeping. She wakes up at a very civilized 7.30am, and is happy to go back to bed at about 1.30pm, sometimes for as long as 3 hours! 7.30pm is bedtime, and she waves goodnight to Mummy, listens to her story and turns over and goes straight to sleep. She still isn't very keen on her milk though - she drinks half a bottle in the morning, and that's it. Still, she will eat pretty much anything that you put in front of her - cheese, yoghurt and exotic fruits are her favourite. Sometimes she will let you spoon-feed her, more often she will pick up the food and feed herself with her fingers, and more recently, she grabs the spoon and tries to feed herself - sometimes successfully!

Elizabeth's world is a noisy one. When she isn't giggling or screaming, she is practising her speaking. By far her favourite word is 'Ptub', but no-one seems to know what it means. I may be imagining it, but I am sure she says 'baba' when she sees a baby, 'ish' when she sees the fish, 'nana' (banana) at breakfast time and 'eesh' when I offer her some cheese.

As you would expect, Elizabeth loves playing with her toys, and will sit for a long time trying to fit the shapes into the boxes, and the pieces into the puzzles. She can scribble on her fax machine, bash her computer keys, play her musical box... but her favourite toy is the big bouncy ball, and all the balls in the ball pond. Fimbo is her favourite little friend, and she often carries him around with her (although she is pretty fickle, and will leave him lying on the floor if something else takes her eye).

She spends a lot of time walking through the house, picking things up and putting them down. If she can get her hands on the box of baby wipes, she pulls them out one by one and leaves them strewn across the floor. She hides behind the curtains, and loves being chased around the coffee table. She likes to look through my wardrobe, and she often takes out a pair of knickers, and wears them over her head or around her neck!

Playing in the garden is fun - Elizabeth strips the bark from the tree, pulls the leaves off the plants, takes the stones out of the plant pots, and loves looking at the tropical fish. Going for a walk with Elizabeth is a time consuming affair - we have to check every plant, every stone, every leaf on the route... She also likes to take frequent rests along the way, sitting on the kerb stones and checking that everything is all right in the world!

And where do we walk to? The swimming pool is her favourite destination, and she sometimes gets in the water before I've had a chance to get her changed.

Some days at the pool she will walk around and play with the various toys, and want to go in the water - most times she sits on the side of the pool and simply pours. Sometimes for over an hour!

Bugiland is the Total playground, with slides and climbing flames, and lots of other little children to play with. Elizabeth has mastered even the biggest slides - she climbs up the steps, and either sits down or turns on to her tummy to slide down. She finds it amusing to stand at the top of the slide and try to walk down it - I don't share the amusement! Her favourite friend to play with is Iona - she's a big girl of four years old, and loves looking after Elizabeth. She also likes Clement, a little French boy who loves playing 'Cache-cache' - hide and seek!

The downside to Balikpapan is that there isn't that much going on. However, there are a few things we do every week... On Monday mornings we go to Deli Cafe, and she plays in the ball pond with all the other kids.

But you have to keep a close eye on her - if no-one is looking, she will rush off to the delicatessen area, pick up a basket, and fill it with (generally expensive!) shopping.

Tuesday is Family Hash day - Elizabeth has been a hare once and done more than 10 runs now (well, either Alex or I have carried her...) She has been given the Hash-name 'Small Strawberry' (I'm Strawberry Shortcake) - I preferred 'Teeny Queenie', but it was not to be....

Friday is Baby Group, where Elizabeth gets together with all her friends, and causes havoc. The expat babies are a mixed bunch of age and nationality, but while her Mum struggles to communicate in a mixture of French and English, Elizabeth and her friends understand each other's language perfectly.

She used to be a bit scared of all the other babies and toddlers, especially when they pinched her toys or pushed her. Now, she's learning to be a bit more confident - if something happens which she doesn't like, she doesn't cry, she just lies down on the floor whimpering slightly.

So - that's Elizabeth's world at 15 months. No longer a baby, not quite a little girl, but definitely a little madam!.