The new sailing season

Today was the first day of the new sailing season and the weather obliged by being glorious. The sun shone, it was warm, and there was little enough wind for Nathaniel to sail, but enough to make it worth while. Dorothea was very interested by her first proper visit to the club (she slept through a clearing morning) and enjoyed getting involved. She greatly enjoyed rigging and waved her arms and legs madly trying to get hold of ropes and sails and had the same intent concentrating face that Nathaniel pulls. I assume that she has taken it all in and will be able to rig an RS200 perfectly now! Nathaniel was pleased to be back and enjoyed all his favourite activities such as rigging the boat, and pushing it down the slipway and discovered that he had grown since October and could now lift more things and climb higher. He was, as ever, very pleased to see the YRISC matchbox car selection! Ian and Nathaniel sailed in the first race and Nathaniel discovered that the river was rather cooler than it had been in the autumn and that trailing his fingers overboard led to cold fingers. We had a tasty lunch and then I comandeered a GP while the others were eating and had a wonderful pootle down the river while everyone else was eating. It was perfect - the sun on my back, and enough wind to allow me to close reach all the way down to Naburn properly hiked out with the water bubbling merrily beneath me. I almost didn't come back!

Pox on you

Sorry we've been a bit quiet. We've been busy. This was the first night, before he got properly spotty. Then we weren't allowed to take photos. But it was impressive!

15 weeks

This is Dorothea's main position: one hand on top of head. It makes her look wise - like she is thinking very deep thoughts!

14 weeks

Delicious?

This is what happens when you let Nathaniel chose the baking activity: You don't want to know what colour it all comes out the other end!

Waiting for spring

This is what we hear at least 10 times a day: "Excuse me Mummy/Daddy, I thought that we could go camping in spring". But we can't go until he has learnt to stay in his sleeping bag all night. So he has been practising. Endlessly.

13 weeks

This week, Dorothea has been mainly talking. I wonder if she has already realised that it might be heard to get a word in edgeways in this household?!

An Ian and Nathaniel adventure

To the station and the Railway Museum: Then for some food: And then to see the "very giant wheel" all lit up:

12 weeks

This week saw Dorothea roll over. We made her do it three times to prove that it wasn't a fluke, but I expect that that will be that now. Nathaniel rolled over in the same way at the same age and then I never saw him do it again until he could walk. Once he had proved he could do it he moved on! Dorothea has not shown any inclination to repeat her trick. She is very much enjoying everyone's company, particularly that of Ian and Nathaniel (I'm not bitter!!). They get the biggest smiles and the longest gurgles.

Snow (3)

How many videos of Nathaniel sliding down slopes can you cope with? And snow is not just for sledging on:

11 weeks

(The ones where she was smiling also feature large amounts of unatractive dribble!)

Snow (2)

Take three little boys, two little sisters, three mums and a dad home on a snow-day. Put them all in the snow. You get a snowman and.... ....an amazing igloo! They thought I was joking when I suggested it, and by the end, most people had retired indoors to have lunch, but Bruce and I persevered, and in the bright warm sun completed a whole room complete with ceiling! The photo doesn't really do it any kind of justice:

Snow

The snow has arrived!

Funny Frustration

As previously mentioned, Thea has been enjoying finding out about hands and starting to grab things. However, this doesn't always lead to an easy life.

Today at supper she was waving her hands carefully around and making sad noises. When we watched, we realised why. She had seen something in front of her - her hand - and was trying to grab it. Unfortunately, as she tried to grab it, it moved!

Definitely frustrating!

Fun with mirrors

Thank you toy bus!

We're still here!

Things have been rather busy recently, so sorry for the lack of posts. I'm going to try and get up to date, so I'll be posting some things in the past. Keep a look out for them. But be warned, they might be rather word-light!

10 weeks

Dorothea is being very smiley and initiates grinning sessions with pretty much anyone! She is starting to grab things and when lying on the play mat, slowly, with great concentration, raises her hand to the hanging toy and carefully wraps her fingers around it. She'll persevere with this for ages. She's learnt the value of the p word (practise) already!

Scooting with friends

Getting to Steiner has got a bit more complicated now that there are two of them. We can't cycle yet, and it's a pretty long walk. So we have taken to driving to South Bank and then scooty biking over the bridge. Some of our friends have followed suit (they don't like the cold cycle!), and now we have a caravan of scooty bikes heading home at the end of the session.



The boys are so funny - they scoot 200 yards and then stop for a chat:
"Why is your bike pink, Robin?"
"It's not pink, Hanyul, it's purple"
"It is pink, Dylan - I like it"
"I like it too"

The Park

Nathaniel and I have been enjoying going to the Very Young Friends of West Bank Park again. This week we made houses for felt animals and then built a den big enough for us all stil in and listen to a story and have a snack.



Then we went scootering around the park and had fun learning how to zoom down the hill and use the break to stop.



And what was Dorothea doing?

Normality

Christmas was great, but it is nice to get back to normal life (though saying that, I haven't done a day on my own with both kids yet!).

Nothing of particular interest has happened, which is exactly the way it should be. There have been scooter rides and seeing friends and doing drawings. And everyone has grown a bit:

Strange behaviour

The Windmill

Nathaniel has been a great fan of windmills ever since we introduced him to Camberwick Green and Windy Miller. So he was very excited when the Holgate Windmill got it's long-awaited sails up and a trip had to be taken in the pouring rain to see them.

He's even more excited to find that he can see them from his bedroom window. They look pretty impressive against a leaden sky.