Jenerally Speaking,

Peekaboo Girl!

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Peekaboo! The best part of folding the laundry!

(Oh - in naming this blog post I've just discovered I have another post entitled Peekaboo Boy!)

I was trying to capture your "growly face", little Missy. You do this cute head shaky thing when you're trying to jam something into your mouth - a toy, my nipple, your thumb or, in this case, your sleeve. Your nose wrinkles up adorably. I didn't quite capture it in its full glory this time... I'll have to keep trying.

Look at you in a beautiful dress, complete with petticoat and netting layer. You LOVED it. Not because it is pretty. Oh no. Because you could grab the top layer and suck the the heck out of it!! In the end it was so wet I had to remove it!

You can't actually tell, but in the background of this photo is the London Eye. We took you and your big brother for a day out in London. Little R loved the Natural History Museum and you loved looking around at all the sites in the Aquarium. You look quite forlorn in this photo but trust me, you were having a great day! I think your favourite part was flirting with all the other passengers on the underground. Another reason I love wearing you - people can't help but interact with you when you're at their level. A baby in a buggy isn't treated as much like a person as a baby in a carrier. 

What's the best thing about have an enormous size 7 woven wrap? I know I SHOULD say wrapping you up snuggly in it, little one. But I think THIS might be the best thing about it! Making a giant wrap hammock in the hallway and playing on a swing INDOORS. Awesome!

Hiding in Grandma's poncho. Because I always take you out in a wrap, I tend to forget to pack you a warm woolly jumper for when I take you OUT of the wrap! Oops!

Stacking cups. SO much more fun when you have a toddler and a baby. You and Little R took it in turns to knock down the towers. You giggled when they crashed down. And you quite enjoyed wearing them too!

Four generations of strong women. Apparently, the family tradition is for hair to get shorter in each generation! This was a bit of a recreation of THIS photo:

Which was a recreation of THIS photo:

Aw, tiny three-month-old Little R. Similar, but not the same. 

The Hallowe'en Party at Toddlers really wore out this little witch ^_^

(By the way - I'm loving the cape. I've retrospectively decided my costume was SuperMama!)

Flying with Auntie Mandy! There's something very special about watching a childhood friend playing with your babies. I've got to experience it twice this week with two old friends. 

Wheeeeeee!

Conversations with my boy... part 3

Oh my munchkin man. You are so many worlds of funny at the moment.

These are just some snippets from our life at the moment.

[By the way - you still can't manage tr, pl or cr, so it comes out fr. This causes particular confusion when talking about trains, planes and cranes (frains, franes and franes) and particular anxiety when talking about tractors and trucks (fractors and frucks)!]

Putting people in your BRIO train. The weeing is because on the way to and from London last week you delighted in using the toilets on the train.

"This driver does need a wee. And he needs a wee. They both need a wee. And this one. They ALL need a wee. It is a long wee." (I'm particularly proud you know that BOTH is for two and ALL is for three or more!)

Later:

"This frain has broken down! It has come off de fracks! I will get Terence." *You ran to get your Percy train from upstairs* "I'm here! Oh no! What have happened? Dis frain is stuck in ner mud!"

Even later:

"Come on coaches, come on up the hill! It's nice and steep! I'm going on speed! They did all frash to der ground. I going to put you to bed. I'm going up der hill and den down de hill and den I just wanted to go frough der tunnel, dat's all. What frains eat? Bedtime! Bedtime! And nen freakfast time. Yes, yes, yes, yes! Said the Connal (Controller - I think). Faster! No, cause dere's horses! Fast? Yes! The horses gone by! Hurray! And de shildren did jump in hees cab. Woopsie! Woopsie!"

And this was the noise his trains made as the went along the track: "BaNERner, baNERner, baNERner!"  I don't understand why, because I always say "chh-tss" or "ka-chug-a-da-chum".

Other phrases from stories you have used while playing: "I will get a tiny wee one" (This is from the three bears book we read this morning), "Back to Ninevah" (Jonah and the Whale) and "shut off steam" (Thomas the Tank Engine).

We had these strange conversations a few weeks ago. I struggled to maintain a straight face!

R: I wish I was cow.
Mummy: Why do you wish you were a cow?
R: Cause I could have dose two legs.
Mummy: Do you mean four legs for walking on?
R: Yes. I do. 

Later the same day:

R: I wish I was a cow.
Mummy: Why do you wish you were a cow?
R: Because I could moo.

While you were helping Grandma and I to make Christmas cakes, we heard a lot of "I am just licking dis!" 

At bedtime the other day, out of the nowhere, you declared: "I do wish I had MORE dinosaurs!" It should be noted that at the last Nearly New Sale, in September, we acquired (for only £5, might I add) a BINBAG full of dinosaur toys. Seriously - there must be at least 40 dinos of different species and sizes in there. You have played with them EVERY DAY since. We have borrowed a dinosaur themed books from the library (fiction AND non-fiction) and visited the dinosaur bones at the Natural History Museum in London. We have watched several episodes of Walking with Dinosaurs. It's fair to say that I am as, if not more, fascinated with pre-historic animals as you. But you really don't need MORE dinosaurs! (Ok... maybe a pterosaur or two. We have no flying pre-historic reptiles...yet)

After Toddlers on Monday, you were sad that I said you couldn't watch 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' before lunch and started to weep:

R: I do want a minute of Mummy milk.

Mummy: Ok. One minute to cheer you up before I cook lunch.

R: Oh! Look! My tears did not come!

You're all kinds of scrumptious, Little R. My favourite moment of all in the last week was when, out of the blue, you wrapped your arms around my neck and whispered in my ear: "I do lub you." Gorgeous boy, I do lub you too. 

Surprised face!

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Surprised face!

In the mornings, Baby O, I do like to do a few minutes on the exercise bike. I usually leave you with some soft toys or rattly things to play with, but on this day I whipped Little R's mirror off his wall so you could admire yourself. Terrible photo, but you did enjoy checking yourself out!

Ha ha! How cute are you in your jammies and your new hat?

At the moment, young lady, you are a chewer and sucker. Your fingers, your thumbs, and also your sleeves. This top is new, and has quite long sleeves, which you enjoyed pulling out so you could give them a good sucking. 

Relaxing in the garden late on this afternoon. And yes, checking ourselves out in our newly acquired wrap. You were too sleepy to smile at the camera though. 

Finishing off

Little R was playing with this "duck" again today. This "duck" (note the sarcastic quote marks) lives in a bowl in the lounge with six crochet chicks and is often used in imaginary play. But let's face it, it's not a duck. It's a begun-but-never-completed project started by my wife. To be fair to her, Rachel has finished two crochet projects in her life (Little R's baby blanket, and a big blanket). And a fair few knitting projects (although there was the "pair" of socks she made Little R. She knitted the first sock when I was about halfway through the pregnancy. I knitted the second sock myself when Little R was a few months old.).

She is a not-finisher. I've lost count of how many just-started and definitely-not-finished projects there are floating around our house. This duck is just the tip of the iceberg. And looking at it has been making me feel sad and depressed. So today I finally nipped upstairs for some yarn. While I was up there I collected the two crochet animals Rachel made for Little R while I was pregnant. They're cute - the hippo has a squeaker in its tummy, and the giraffe has a jingly tummy. But they have no eyes. So they're cute-but-creepy.

I got to work, and fudged a beak and feet for the duck. Little R was very pleased. Then I stitched eyes, nostrils and even a belly button on the hippo. 

Little R marvelled at my skills. Or perhaps, just the fact that his teddies finally had features!

Finally, three COMPLETED and CUTE teddies. Very satisfying.

Squirmy girl

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Ouch. It's such a production line these days. Calpol, Rotavirus, triple virus, Men C and Men B. Our little baby's body, which was already fighting off a cold, suddenly had six new viruses to develop immunity to. I don't normally worry too much about vaccinations, but these ones had be worried. You had a good scream during the injections, but you were as then happy as Larry for the rest of afternoon... so much so that I didn't give you the next dose of Calpol when it was due. You were happy and giggling! You had no fever! You had no pain! BAD MOVE. Ten minutes later you were one miserable baby and I had to dose you up and try to sooth you with a breastfeed until it kicked in. Note to self: when you're told to keep your baby dosed up... DO! I'm sorry, little one. These vaccinations made you feel grim and I hated seeing that. But I believe it is for the best. They keep you safer than you'd otherwise be. 

First time in the bouncer! 

You love to chew your fingers. Little R was never a digit sucker, so this is a new thing for me. It keeps you happy and it is cute to watch ^_^

On this afternoon, I decided to be one of the Cool Mums who Does Stuff. So I hacked a hole in this box, to make a puppet theatre. Then I realised that Little R has no concept of a puppet theatre, having never seen one - he kept interrupting my "shows" while I was crammed in the box, interacting with the characters and taking the action to other parts of the room. He was, quite literally, thinking outside the box.

You, for your part, enjoyed watching the shows and playing with the dinosaurs who weren't currently in use. Seriously though, little lady, what is going on with the moustache on the back of your head? Do you think we should trim it off? It's the only bit of hair you were born with that hasn't fallen out. The rest is all fluffy blonde hair, so that little rectangle looks hilarious!

We love these colourful blocks with different materials inside. Great for people as small as you, who can look and listen to them. Great for bigger people like Little R, who can build towers and sculptures and look through the colours to see the world turned green or yellow.

So nearly a roller. You've rolled over twice, from front to back. But that was a couple of weeks ago and I think you've forgotten how! Today you were really squirming and trying to roll back onto your front. You're so keen to be mobile. This week you've become a muscly, wriggly body. You throw yourself forward and backwards, shuffling off my lap, headbutting me in the chin and generally making it very hard to hang onto you. What's the rush? Stay my little baby. Please?

Chunky Bunky

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Oh Baby O. How I love your arms. Such chunky, bunky bundles of squishiness. Nom, nom, nom!

Grandma came swimming with us on this day - it was on her birthday, in fact. She loved swimming with Little R (he loved it too), then I swam with you. Lots of giggling, splashing and chatting in the water. Grandma got in a muddle with the towels though. She struggled to wrap Little R up in a tiny white towel, but then you got to relax in his HUGE scuba diver towel!

"Say, WHAAAAAT?!?!"

Playing with music. You loved grabbing hold of these bells and the rattle and listening to the sounds you were making. When I helped you to shake them, you giggled and squirmed with glee.

I'm loving pairing up your summer rompers, which only just fit now that it's getting colder, with long sleeved-vests and tights. Cosy and CUTE!

Last night was Bake-Off final evening, and I'm going to hedge my bets now and say you're going to be a little baker, because you refused to fall asleep until after the final had finished. You were very interested. You were also very determined to SEE what was going on on the screen. You twisted yourself almost in half trying to get a view but I was even more determined, so I kept you turned away. You are too little for hyper-stimulating television, young lady. It was a bloomin' good night of television, though! 

Enjoying some October sunshine. Little R was busy washing some toys which we've been using in the garden all summer, but which need to come in for the winter, so need to be CLEAN. You really love being outside - you love looking at the leaves, the sky and everything around you. The outside is so much more interesting than the inside. Outside, everything is always moving and making noises. Babies weren't made to be kept inside the walls of a house. I was sitting out there trying to work out ways we can continue playing outside on horrid wintery days. This being Britain, I feel there will be some days just LOOKING out the window will be the best I'll manage!

Bouncing Baby

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This was a quick photo taken on my phone, on the morning of the 26th. I realised that it was exactly one year from the day that I found out you had begun your life inside me. How quickly you have grown into so many of thousands of times your original size. And so much cuter too! In one year you've gone from a speck of possibility to a breathing, smiling, giggling little person. If that's not miraculous, what is?

Outside Yarndale, I lay you down to experience long Yorkshire grass between your fingers. Apparently, me taking photos was hilarious.

A barge ride on the Skipton canal. You were fascinated watching the ducks, and watching the green leaves drifting past.

Snoozy girl at bedtime.

A moment of respite. This was a photo taken yesterday... the day of tricky situations and non-stop questions. We were all tired after a busy morning at toddlers. We sat in the patch of sunlight on the lounge floor and did nothing in particular. We read some books. We listened to a story tape. You had a little snooze and a cuddle. I let the lunch things moulder in the kitchen and the laundry fester not on the washing line. I enjoyed my babies. We enjoyed each other.

Tee hee hee. You love a ride on my legs. I have an internal debate with myself as I sing, about the pronunciation of "mountain". MountIn? MountAIn? At the moment I'm going with mount'n and just swallowing the contentious vowel. You don't care either way, as long as I sing and you go up and down.