Merry go round moments – week 39.

Family fun: top shot.

 

Memories are made of this.

Ten months old and our little man has a new skill…drinking with a straw out of a bottle! It seems that watching your big sister doing something – especially something involving food and drink – can be quite a strong motivator!  It is so sweet and so funny, watching him sucking so hard that his cheeks draw totally inwards and his eyes go wide with the surprise at getting a mouthful of water as his reward for all his efforts.

 

Laugh out loud.

Trying to get a photo with my lovely friend, Sophia, and our two sons, whilst they wriggled and squirmed in an effort to get down and go exploring.   My little man really did not want to be messing about having photos taken, as is clear from the photo!  These boys have grown up alongside each other for their first year, and we have spent many a happy Saturday afternoon sitting drinking tea, eating cake and watching them play.

 

Quick quote.

“A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles.”

Tim Cahill.

Music makes me happy.

‘January, February, March and April, 

MAY, JUNE, July and August.  

September, Octoooober, December, Acember, 

these are the months of the year.’

Not quite sure why the rest of the song is sung super-sweetly, and May and June get the full throttle, shouty voice.  Nor why ‘Octooober’ is sung with the ‘o’ sound to rhyme with ‘who’ instead of ‘woe’. And quite honestly, the muddle with November and December at the end is just adorable.  It’s one of those little linguistic blips that you want to help them correct, but at the same time want to hang on to forever, as a little touch of stardust from their childhood.

 

Good times.

Our girly is such a joy right now.  She is drawing pictures all the time, and ‘writing’ us letters, which are essentially just a sheet of horizontal wiggly lines.  The other day she drew me a rainbow which actually looked like a rainbow!  It melts my heart thinking what a grown up, gorgeous little girl she is becoming.  She is climbing into her car seat herself, getting dressed herself, pouring her own milk.  I cannot believe how fast the years have gone.  How is my baby nearly three?

 

Merry go round moments – week 38.

Family fun: top shot.

Family fun in the park. They loved sitting in the swing basket together, whilst daddy pushed.

Memories are made of this.

A week where teething and the desire to practice standing at all times have made sleeping a touch tricky for the little man.  It has not been the best of fun for anyone, waking up four, even five times a night sometimes.  These things pass, of course, but it has most definitely been a somewhat grumpy week in our household.

 

Laugh out loud.

‘When we go to the Falklands it is going to be very windy, and very cold, and there will be penguins.  And maybe we will have a cat, won’t we mummy?  And my cat will be called Ginger.  Okay?  Good!’

So, there we have it, the toddler boss has spoken!  We haven’t actually told her that we are hoping to get a cat, as we are planning to settle in first and then see how things are going, before making the commitment to get a pet.  However, she has either sensed our weakness or is just making sure her requirements are noted!

I am also left wondering whether Ginger will still be the name if we end up with a black cat…time will tell.

 

Quick quote.

“It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses, we must

plant more roses.”

George Eliot.

Music makes me happy.

Radiohead – Fake Plastic Trees.  In no way a happy song (no surprise there as it is Radiohead!), and yet hearing this tune on the radio brought a wave of teen nostalgia and sing-along happiness.  I am incredibly content in my mid-thirties skin, and don’t hanker in any way for my youth, but musical memories are a powerful thing aren’t they?

 

Good times.

Another week with some really lovely opportunities to see friends and catch up.  It is beginning to feel real that we are leaving soon, especially as friends are starting to fill up our days and nights with ‘one last meal/coffee/playdate for the kids’.  It is so lovely, and keeps us focused on the good bits, instead of the continuing grind of sorting out the myriad administrative and logistical tasks involved in such a big move.

An impromptu sunday lunch round at Sally and Joe’s house, watching whilst our little miss and their son played, was just the perfect end to the week.  They are a year apart in age, but they go to the same nursery school and they play so nicely together.  They had a great time toddling round the garden, playing with their umbrella’s (a random highly prized item for each of them today, for some reason!).

 

Merry go round moments – week 36.

Family fun: top shot.

Busy, busy! With her bestie, in a real, working helicopter cockpit. As you do! What an incredible morning she had. Unlike a few of the children she was not in the least bit daunted by the experience – she was totally in her element!

 

Memories are made of this.
Looking at the big world map on the wall in the playroom. Talking about and finding where we live now, where we will be living, where all our friends and family live. Then we moved on to talking about the weather and the clothes we will need in a colder country.  “Ummmmm, gloves….a woolly hat….a scarf….a snow coat….a ball.”  Wait – what?!  A ball?  “yes mummy, so that I can take it and play with the penguins.”  At times she is such a little monkey, at others she is just the sweetest girl in the world.

 

Laugh out loud.
Our girly tried fresh lychees for the first time this week.  Surprisingly, they were a very big hit. She calls them “cheesies.” I tried correcting her to say “lychees”, to which she replied “yes, they are light cheese aren’t they? Not dark cheese. Good job, mummy!” So sweet, so funny.

 

Quick quote.

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously.  This is how character is built.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

Music makes me happy.
Row row row your boat. The little man rows along with me, grinning this huge toothy grin at me.  When I stop at the end of each verse, he tugs my hands towards him, indicating that we are not done yet!

 

Good times.
Making caves with bedsheets and chairs. Watching the endless stream of imaginative play ideas my beautiful girl comes up with, whilst her little brother crawls all over the pile of pillows and cushions, pulls himself up, falls, rolls over, starts all over again. Everyday stay-at-home mum life is so repetitious and so mundane. But also dotted with so many precious moments like these.  It’s the little things.