Too much sleeping....

Well it was like the internet never happened again last week and we actually went to the supermarket! I really enjoyed myself, didn’t have to sit in the trolley and was allowed to buy some racing cars with own money I had saved. I was actually quite a good boy, even though the whole ordeal did take two hours!
It was parents evening at nursery as well. I told Mum and Dad that I had been naughty but Del told them otherwise, he said I was a really good boy. Thanks Del.
On Thursday I had an appointment with the health visitor. She said I was all very good except that I hadn’t put on quite enough weight. The truth is I prefer sleeping to drinking milk so any suggestions to keep me up later for another feed or getting me up earlier will be most unwelcome. I’m just fne as I am and if I’m hungry, don’t worry I’ll let you know!
I picked blackberries from outside the front of the house with Mum and loaded them into the trailer of my pedal tractor. I’m like a real life blackberry farmer! We also tidied up the front garden and removed Dad’s attempt at a prize winning thistle.
Friday we went to Ben and Rach’s for the evening. I played with Abi and ate their lovely big strawberries, thanks!
Saturday and Mum and I did jigsaws and played games before I set a new world record for the slowest ever consumption of a McDonalds happy meal. Go me! In the evening we had loads of people round to see me (and play cards). I soon warmed up to them all although Abi’s baby walker claimed a few ankles. I’ve decided to get and ‘Andy’ tattoo on my arm as well.
Andy came round to help us eat our roast beef on Sunday and then showed us all how to play the sports games on the Wii (he was even better than me at tennis). Mum even made our pudding from scratch, a treacle sponge....I didn't like it though.
Monday, I’ve gone up to the butterflies room at nursery! It’s the last room before we go to school and I’ve been re-united with my old mates Hugo and Jude. Sadly Alastair has left our nursery altogether to go to another one, I’m going to really miss him he was probably my best mate and well up for a bit of adventure. In the evening Alan came round for tea and to look after me while Mum and Dad went to visit Nanny in hospital. She’s had a bit of a fall and broken her hip, poor old Nanny. I keep asking to go and see her but they’ve said I’ve got to wait a while, so I hope to see you soon for a cuddle! I decided to bestow the highest honour at my disposal by labelling him ‘My Alan’ as well. I hope he is suitably impressed.
Today we had a lovely sleepy afternoon, I’ve been pretty tired lately so it’s probably done me good. When I did wake we had a barbecue for tea:

Here’s Ellis and I on Mum’s sun lounger.
I don’t understand the fascination with doing everything in the garden really, it’s just like indoors but a bit colder. Still I do enjoy having something different to look at, like the sky.
I did some ace skateboarding too, Mum and Dad were really impressed.
So, here’s my little piece about what I’ve been up to. This week it has been even more smiling than normal and quite a lot of spewing up milk. Sometimes even both together….




Okay then, no update next week as it’s holiday time again! See you in two weeks time for a bumper Cornwall update.

Picnic Picnic Picnic

So then, Mum is still off work and the sun has finally come out, we’ve picnicked ourselves stupid!
Mum and I formed a marching band while Dad was trying to have his now customary half hour kip when he gets home from work:

He woke up pretty sharpish….
Ned has been experimenting with the camera as well, he managed to take a nice one of me:

And not such a nice one of Dad:

Thursday afternoon Chris and Nanny came round, Nanny had got me a lovely outfit.
And she had got me the greatest jumper ever, Transformers!

Dad cleared off out with Owen, Andy, Ben, Jase, Rich and Kaz on Thursday night, Mum reckoned he was going dancing! How ridiculous, I found it hilarious but I’d love to have seen it. Dad said he had really been to see a concert and that there was in fact minimal dancing (but quite a bit of beer by the look of him).
Friday afternoon we went to Fantasy Land. We haven’t been for ages so I was really up for it. I can now climb, slide, jump and balance on everything in there so Mum and Dad are truly redundant when we go there now (I may need to go back to them occasionally if I have a bump though).
Saturday morning we were up and out early to the outdoor swimming pool. I have a chequered history with this place so I think they were a bit nervous as to what I’d be like, but I quite liked it, even though there wasn’t any slides! I taught another small lad how to jump into the water and we had some races up and down the small pool. I’m now big enough to stand up in the shallow end of the big pool as well! I had a good time riding round on Dad’s shoulders, even though he kept falling over and getting me wet. I also enjoyed pushing Mum and Dad into the water from the wall around the side while they were just sitting there minding there own business. We stayed for nearly three hours which must be a record? Even better than the swimming was a trip to the pasty shop….it’s been a long time, I’ve missed you sooooo much.
In the evening Grandad, Anne and Alan came round for a little Barbecue, Grandad and Anne bought me the best t-shirt ever, that had dinosaurs you could stick on and take off, it must be magic or something.
I got a lovely dress as well! I am very well dressed indeed (until I puke all over myself).
So Sunday was picnic time at Savernake:

Dad and I found some bike jumps in the woods, I loved it and was hitting them really fast, so fast the pictures are blurry:

The rest of us sat about in the shade and took it easy:
So then Monday and another day off! Mum suggested we take a picnic to Victoria Park….but walk instead of taking the car! Dad took some convincing but we were soon on our way along the canal.

I was in a hurry as usual. We fed the ducks on the way, and even spotted lots of fishes swimming near the surface:

We set up camp near the playground and had just settled down for a Ham sandwich when Abi, Nick and Carol turned up! Great stuff, I got to play on thw swings with Abi:

We stayed a while and then walked home again. I didn’t get in the buggy once and walked all the way myself. By the time I got home I was whacked out, so tired in fact I didn’t even bother having my tea and just went straight to bed.
I had a lie in on Tuesday so didn’t bother going to nursery. I didn’t mind because I had a lovely time with Mum. We did some gardening and even found a bramble with blackberries on it. They were lovely!
After last weeks art, here’s a piece of performance art for you:

We call it yang-yang!

Arty

First off I’ve added two new words to my vocabulary this week, Awesome and Cool! Anything that’s any good is described like this (such as new toy cars, not broccoli).
I’m still not bothering with actual words, but I am cooing and gurgling quite a bit.
We went out for kite flying and a picnic last Wednesday afternoon at Hungerford common. When we got out of the car the entire place was covered in cow poo, so we decided to give it a miss and ended up at the park in Northcroft. There was a smart aerial runway that I decided I was brave enough to try (with a little help from Mum) and we had a picnic in a rare glimpse of sunshine. I decided I wanted to climb the hill at the back and made Dad come with me all the way to the top. I then insisted that we run back down to Mum, I beat him by miles!
I made Ellis a present at nursery:

It’s a monkey, I really like it too so it’s gone in my bedroom. While were on the subject of bedrooms I’ve now been put in my own! Mum and Dad have kicked me out of their room now I sleep for a good twelve hours at night. I don’t mind at all, it’s better than sleeping in a basket on their floor, I get my own big cot and a lovely animal mobile to watch while I nod off.
Yeah, but what a row she made before she decided to settle down the other night, I had to have a good shout at her!
Friday afternoon and Mum and Dad were hell bent on having a summer so we had to have a barbecue. The weather wasn’t too bad actually and I really enjoyed my sausages.
I had to be trussed up in a big winter all in one and was dragged out to sit in the garden with the rest of them…..
Saturday morning I was having a good old game with my dinosaurs, I asked Mum what one of them was called, she reckoned it was a brontosaurus but I declared it to be a Grumpysaurus (well it looked like Dad). We went over to Grandad and Anne’s for lunch and then a carnival went right past their house, how smart is that? It was their village show and I’m sure it would have been brilliant if it hadn’t been quite so wet! We all got proper soaked.
Except me in my luxury buggy. Suckers.
Then in the evening we went round to Owens. I had a happy meal as everyone else was having curry. The only problem was that the curry wasn’t coming for some time so there were many hungry faces watching as I tried to eat my supper. I let them have a few chips. I’m good like that (well, they had gone cold anyway).. We were staying over for the night as well so after a wrestle with Chard I was off to my Thomas Ready Bed (which everyone coveted almost as much as my happy meal).
I had to go back to my basket and listen to them playing cards all night. Mum did quite well and Dad didn’t (I’m lead to believe that this is quite normal).
When we woke up Sunday Owen cooked us a lovely breakfast, but I got a bit confused and thought it was lunch (sausages at 11:00?) We came home and had a sleepy afternoon, before I had a fit of inspiration and got all arty:

I shouted out ‘look it’s the sun’ and then sat in the middle of my creation.
Monday after nursery we went to Guildford to get me some new shoes. I love having new shoes and I like to make sure they are grippy and I can run fast in them. The trouble is the shops are often a little small to really test them out. Nevertheless these seem fine, if a little ‘bling’ I’ll get a picture for you next week, but they’ll probably be ruined and filthy by then. I spent some of my piggy bank money on ‘Ramone’ (from the film Cars) and nearly bought a Fireman Sam engine until Mum pointed out that it would use up all my savings. I decided to hold back and keep the money for a rainy day (shouldn’t have to wait long!). We rounded off the afternoon with a visit to Pizza Hut. As usual it was all about the ice-cream factory but I made a huge error of judgement and piled on the chocolate raisins. They were okay to begin with but I wish I’d stuck to the pure chocolate hit of the smarties or the buttons.
And guess what…I had milk! I also didn't get any shoes. Having said that my feet are still too small to kepp my socks on.
The best thing about going to Guildford is the park and ride bus trip though. I love it.
So did I, I kept all the other passengers amused by smiling at them all the way back.
On to today then and Mum didn’t bother taking me to nursery because I was a bit sleepy. I gave Dad an early morning call at work, he loves to hear from me and listen to my riveting converasation. In the afternoon we went bowling again. I had a really good game getting three strikes and scoring 129. I beat Dad but not Mum.
I even decided to wake up to watch the show-down. It was a funny place, full of bright lights, loads of people throwing heavy looking balls about and really noisy. I had a good old smile.
After the bowling I decided I wanted to ride my bike on the up-downs at the park, Dad’s always keen to indulge me this one:

I was soon carving some nice lines about the place but did ned a little push now and again. After that I played shops with Mum, my list of stocked items could best be described as limited:

I managed to keep the customer happy in the end though. I also had quite a scary near miss. As we walked across the park, I saw a beast running in front of me and shouted out ‘Wolf!’ and ran for Mum and Dad. Mum reckoned it was in fact Yorkshire Terrier, I’m still not so sure and you can’t be too carefull.
One last point, can someone please take the 'Birth to Six months manual off of Mum?

It suggested that baby may like to lay on it's front for short periods, to try a new perspective on the world. Well guess what...BABY DOESN'T WANT LAY ON IT'S FRONT FOR SHORT PERIODS, IT'S RUBBISH! You end up laying on your hands and get your nose all squashed up.

Sunshine at last!

Summers here and we’ve been outside plenty!
We went to Coate Water country park last wednesday for a picnic.
Well they did, I got milk in the car:

We played in the playground:

Had a game of football, a bit of bat and ball and a bit of a laze about:

And Dad also gave me one of his special public feeds:

Although Mum did muscle in for a cuddle as well:

I suggested we go strawberry picking on Thursday afternoon, what an ace idea! It's only right and proper that I attempt to eat my own weight in fruit before we took them to be weighed and pay for them. The lady behind the till commended me on how clean i'd managed to keep myself despite the amount of fruit that I had no doubt eaten.

I enjoyed it as well:

Friday we had Nanny and Grandma round for the afternoon, we had all the garden toys out and I had a lovely time entertaining them before we headed in for tea. They were both really good and ate all their food up so I let them have some pudding.
It was still nice on Saturday so we spent all day in the garden playing with the sandpit, the paddling pool, the tent and anything else I could drag out of the garage. We even built a ramp to jump our bikes over again. Apparently they had a barbecue for tea but I missed it because I fell asleep.
Sunday was Toby and Martha’s party at Action Farm, I was so excited! I made a bit of a slow start but once Alistair and Ted turned up there was no stopping us:

We rode a pony:

Drove some really fast electric cars (on which I nearly ran mum over and then hit a gate knocking over two other children, sorry!)

We even went on a tractor and trailer ride without any parents to keep an eye on us, how grown up are we?

I even stroked a real live snake, it wasn’t at all slimy and was actually quite soft and nice.
And then today at nursery the animals came! This has happened before but I really git into it this year. There were Horses, Donkeys, Rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens but best of were the geese. They ran around our playground like mad things, especially when the lady was trying to get them to go back to their cages. We were all laughing through the window, I bet she loved that.
So while Ned has been having a generally great time playing and enjoying himself I’ve had to go to the doctors and have my first lot of jabs! It made me cry….really cry. Cry so hard for a little while that no noise actually came out. Mum hated it almost as much as me I think but I’ve forgiven her!

London

So the weather is still nice, good!
We had a barbecue last Wedneaday, as usual Auntie Chris and Nanny sniffed it out and turned up. I’ll only eat little sausages cooked on it and don’t fancy any of this burger malarkey at all.
I still prefer milk, and milk alone!
Friday afternoon we went to London to see Max, Leo, Emma and Dean. We had a barbecue Friday night when we got there which meant I got to stay up really late.
I always get to stay up quite late, and for the purpose of this weekend I decided to also do a lot of lying in. I thought it would be best seeing as Dad was on duty and these weekends usually end up quite boozy affairs.

The weather was lovely all weekend so we made the most of being outside, so much so, even Dad was tempted into a game of cricket:

We even found an abandoned trampoline to have a go on:

But in the end we had to have a little sit in the shade:

Dad made spaghetti for tea and even managed to finish the job off and sit down to eat it with us this time, rather than his trip to the naughty step and off for an early night….

I had a lovely cuddle with Max, and here’s this weeks close up:

I had a great time, sorry I got you into trouble Max.
I had quite a shock Monday afternoon when I awoke from my post nursery nap to find Mum and Dad gardening. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’ve never seen them do it before ever since I’ve been born.
Tuesday I had the morning off from nursery in preparation for the main event…baking with Auntie Christine! We mad spiderman cakes, cookies, shaped biscuits and even ribena ice lollies. I had such a lovely afternoon, thanks. I’ll be back soon.
I spent the afternoon in Newbury town with Mum and Dad, it was rubbish so I slept through it.
Okay then that’s about all for now I think, except I have now come clean regarding the two mysterious scabs on my nose, I fell off one of the bikes at nursery. Dad was quite proud I think.
And I’ve had a horrible stinking cold, I think Dad gave it to me the horrible man. I’ve been snorting like a little piggy and sneezing like a good un. It hasn’t really upset me though. I even produced an enormous bogey for Mum, she loved it almost as much as she loved me getting up for a little snack at 4:30 am Monday morning when she was back on duty.

We're mobile!

So, it must be over eight weeks now, and we’re still getting on famously!

Yep, I’ll have to agree with him. We do have a mutual appreciation society going on, especially now his cuddles are a little more gentle.

Here we are watching the Tour De France on telly with Dad. I don’t know why he watches it really, all he does is complain that they’re all cheats and they should ride real bikes.
Chris bought Nanny to see us while we were still car-less, I had a lovely sleepy cuddle and watched Postman Pat with her.

And then it was my turn:

Things were getting desperate in the afternoons what with the wet weather and the lack of transport so we finally cracked and walked to the bowling alley. I was really excited about it as we hadn’t been since Dad’s birthday. As soon as we left the house it tipped it down with rain. I had to huddle under the rain cover in Ellis buggy with her to stay dry. Sadly there wasn’t room for Mum and Dad so they got soaked. The bad luck didn’t end there either, we arrived at the bowling alley at the same time as three coach loads of exchange students who filled the whole place up. Dad asked about us playing and was told there would be a 2 hour wait…..oh no! We sat and had a drink and Mum spotted an empty lane….she went to the counter to ask about it and within two minutes we were playing, great work Mum!

I decided that we all won to save any tears.
And I decided to sleep through it all, just for a change.
I said i’d drive everyone home in a taxi to save us getting wet but didn’t get any takers:

So then, Friday was the big day…CAR! We used Andy’s again (thanks very much Andy) to drive to the garage and after a few phone calls and filling in a few bits of paper we had wheels of our own again. Mum drew the short straw and had to drive Ellis and myself home while Dad drove Andy’s car on his own. Poor Mum, she had to put up with my running commentary of everything we passed on the way home, and I mean EVERYTHING! My new high up vantage point is great.
It’s true, I thought he’d never shut up.
The weekend was party time, hooray! Mum and I made some cakes for Abi’s birthday:


And here’s a glimpse 15 years into the future, Max and I with a couple of snags and a few cold ones!
I had a lovely time in the posh ‘pavilion’ watching all the comings and goings.
Happy 1st birthday Abi, sorry we couldn’t stay long!
We had another barbecue to go to, this time with Dad’s family. Here I am with Nanny and all my Uncles and Aunties:

What a bunch! Dad was quite choked up after I pulled my first wheelie and jumped my first ramp on a borrowed bike. He claimed it was more significant than my first word or my first steps.

If it works, here’s the video!
I had a great time with Josh and Ben and we put on quite a stunt show for everyone.
I did nothing of the sort and spent the whole evening being passed about for cuddle after cuddle after cuddle, ideal.
I had a brief incident involving a glass of Pimm’s that was thought to be Ribena (I didn’t like it) before riding the bike long into the evening darkness and heavy rain. I hope your lawn isn’t ruined Uncle Den and a big thanks to Uncle Al who was running around the garden with an umbrella over me.
Sunday and I was tired out…so was Dad, but he had a bad head too. Just as well we were both quiet then really. We had a lazy old time and caught up on some sleep.
I didn’t have to ‘catch up’ on any sleep really, but you know me, always ready for a nap.
With the weather finally better we played in the garden yesterday.
I’d never really been in the garden before so that was all new. I found it a great place for a sleep.
Today was swimming day! I was really up for it as we haven’t been for so long. Even the outdoor section was open and we did loads of jumping off the wall into the water (I don’t even need to be caught anymore).
I decided to stay in my car seat, it looked wet and cold and not at all for me.
In other news, I can now reach the entry buzzer at nursery on my own because I am so tall. Nursery had better get plenty of batteries in!
And I can sometimes stay awake for upto an hour at a time now and again without crying at all. I think it’s the discovery that I can suck my two fingers like Ned (but with the left hand instead).

Still no wheels.

Okay, you’ll have to bear with us this week, we still haven’t got a car of our own so we’re struggling to get out and about.
So then last Wednesday, mum is still struggling into to nursery with both of us sharing one pushchair. Dad came to pick me up on the bike and it rained on us on the way home! Never mind we were soon dry again.
Mum and I had the food shopping delivered in the morning, we’re ladies of leisure. We’d borrowed Andy’s car (thanks Andy) so we were able to go and see some more cars in Swindon, how lucky! It was rubbish as usual and we didn’t buy one.
Thursday we had to take Ellis to be weighed. She weighs 10lbs and 5oz’s, whatever pounds and ounces are. After that we went up the woods for a bit, I rode my bike:

Then we found a dead bee:

The woods were rubbish though as there weren’t any puddles to splash about in.
I had a lovely walk round in the buggy, I’m loving all the fresh air I’m getting with out daily walks to nursery.
Friday was wet…very wet. I didn’t go to nursery so I helped mum make spaghetti Bolognese (my absolute favourite). We made a much better job of it than dad does.

Dad came home from work with wet trousers and feet, his office had flooded, it’s then Mum realised just how much it had rained. We were lucky and didn’t have any flooding at home although the television was showing plenty of pictures of peoples houses full of water. In the afternoon when it had stopped raining we went out for a bit of a walk:

The river had come up over the road and there were ducks swimming on peoples gardens! Mum had to explain to me several times where all the water had come from.
It was Dad’s turn on night feeding duty Friday night, so I decided to sleep right through!
Saturday was car shopping again. This time we went to Wantage where we didn’t buy one and Kidlington where we did! I know, I couldn’t believe it either. We took a really smart one out that had seats nice and high up so I could see right out the window and into the fields, it was brilliant. The salesman sat on a seat in the boot and when I asked Mum what he was doing, she told me we were taking him home! I don’t know who looked most worried. The bad news is that we can’t have it until this Friday! Later in the afternoon Kin and Andy came round to collect Andy’s car, it was nice to see them.
Dad’s turn for the night feed again, I slept through all night. We have an arrangement.
Sunday Grandad and Anne came for dinner and a spot of maintenance:

They even came bearing gifts, thanks! We had a great time with them, Grandad was brilliant at pushing me round the garden in my wheelbarrow but Anne was too good at skittles.
Well it’s taken 7 weeks but here’s one of mums speciality close up shots, Ned tells me he’s had to endure his fair share of these in his time.

After getting her up in the night for a feed (Dad was off duty),I had a massive spew on Mum just to really test her. She passed.
I did some painting in a special colouring book, you paint it with a wet brush and it colours itself in!

So then, another week done and dusted, I finished it off by amazing mum, singing pretty much all of the A,B,C song and doing my alphabet jigsaw.
And I had a good work out on my gym, I’m determined to get rid of the bingo wings mum said I had.