Friday 30 October 2009

Buttons

Nathaniel now has a good deal of control over his fingers and has developed an interest in pushing buttons. It has not taken him long to discover that a particular button on the oven will make a beeping noise when depressed and he aims straight for that one each time. He is also enjoying the video (yes, we still own such antiquated equipment!). Hours can be spent pressing the eject button followed by pushing the video back into the machine. Repeat ad infinitum.

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Dance Macabre

Nathaniel seems to be settling in at nursery okay and is enjoying the opportunity to get paint everywhere and refuse to eat anything that sounds like school dinners (he won't eat strawberry mousse or jelly and ice cream!). Today they had a Halloween party and had to come dressed up. Without wanting to sound like a religious nutter, I'm not a big fan of halloween and would happily ignore it, but it seemed a bit mean to send him costumeless so we acquired one. Here he is dancing around the living room:

Monday 26 October 2009

A very busy day

Nathaniel and I have had a very busy day! As it is half term, there was no Steiner Toddler Group this morning, and so we decided to meet instead at the local community centre. Being the person with the keys, I had to be there to open up at the start which was not entirely convenient as Nathaniel would really have rather had a nap.

But it was worth the tiredness, because everyone brought a toy along to share. One of the toddler group parents owns our local cycle shop and brought along with him some of the tester trikes. You should have seen Nathaniel's face as Andy came in. I have never seen eyes so wide!

The object of Nathaniel's affection (yes I know it's not really a trike)


Eventually, after lots of triking around, tiredness overcame Nathaniel, and so leaving the others to lock up (and managing to leave our tea caddy full of tea in the kitchen!), we zoomed home so that Nathaniel could have a mammoth sleep. Two hours later it became necesary to wake him up in order to fit in some lunch.

Then we jumped into the car and braved half-term traffic to drive up to Creepy Crawlies. You would all hate Creepy Crawlies. I hate Creepy Crawlies. But Nathaniel loves it. First of all we went outside and Nathaniel and Maisie found trikes which they asked to be pushed around all the animals on. This wasn't back breaking at all!!!!

Once the goats and ponies and rabbits and chickens and sheep ("baaa baaa") and dogs ("ooof ooof") had been exhausted and we had played on all the outdoor equipment that could be reached by one year old hands, we left the delightful piped muzac and went indoors. I can't really describe indoors. It's giant cage on many levels filled with soft play obstacles. Think Fun House and Pat Sharp and you're almost there. Here is the under five's section (which Nathaniel treats as a recovery area from the over-five's area!) - its tiny in comparison to the main cage:

In the past, the kids have been interested, but not enthralled. But now they can walk! We have never been so exhausted. Four one year olds running around, trying to climb onto the slides on their own, drowning in the ball pools and trying to play on the equipment designed for much older, taller and more stable children, equals chaos. I tried to take some photos on my phone, but the camera isn't really up to much. So you'll have to imagine the faces of the four of them riding down "one of the UK's longest four lane astra slides" on our laps. Here is some flailing around in the ball pool:


When enough fun had been had, we packed the tired children into cars and sat in more half-term traffic on the way home. They all fell asleep which would have been fine if it hadn't been five o'clock. So we woke them up when we got home and Mahine and Phoebe came round for supper. We had made Tricolor Couscous Salad, and on realising that Mahine had not been able to bring the highchair with her, I should have aborted the plan. But common sense did not prevail and so we proceeded to have a picnic on the floor with a large bowl of couscous and two over tired one year olds. Anyone see where this is going?


There was a bit of a mess. This picture doesn't do it justice. There was couscous everywhere. On the sofas, on the piano, in the cracks between the floor boards, mashed into our socks. It was just as we started to get the giggles that Paul, our estate agent called to let me know about two house viewings tomorrow. It was all very silly. Its a good thing that Nathaniel now likes the hoover, because there was no escaping the need for using it before bed!

What a fun day!

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Reading

I have already mentioned that Nathaniel is rather fond of books. But his obsession has been taken to a new level with the era of The Very Busy Spider. When you get to the last page, you turn back to the beginning and start all over again. And again. And again. And again.

I didn't think that anything could top his enthusiasm for Andy Wharhol's Colours but it seems that I was wrong!

On the other end of the scale, Ian has managed to totally freak him out with I Don't Bite. At the end of this perfectly pleasant Rod Campbell book, there is a pop out crocodile who snaps your fingers. However, it seems that there has been one snap too many, and now just a glance at the cover sends Nathaniel backing away from it. Opening the book results in tears. I never realised that a book could be so scary.

Needless to say, the proper "scary" books are just really good fun. Here he is enjoying the Scary Sid book:

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Ill

What's worse than looking after a baby with D and V? Having D and V yourself.

What's worse than having D and V yourself? Looking after a husband with D and V.

Whats worse than a husband with D and V? Everyone having D and V.

Anything worse than that? Everyone having D and V, it being your first week back at work, and having to tidy and keep out of the house because people are looking round it!

Needless to say, we are all feeling a bit sorry for ourselves.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Who lives in a house like this?

Someone who has taken all their stuff to Mikey's house!



See the full story here

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Shoes

As Nathaniel is now prancing around on his feet, we decided that it was time to get some shoes. After all, its a bit chilly for wandering in the park in bare feet.

So we took a trip to Clarks and Nathaniel spent a good 15 minutes removing all the shoes from their display and playing with the foot measuring device. Then out came the shoes and he crumpled! It seems that playing shoes and wearing them are completely different situations!

After much gentle coaxing, we found a pair that fitted, and Nathaniel demonstrated that the velcro fastenings were ideal as he could take them off himself. The patient sales lady disappeared off to get the box and returned with a certificate to say he had his first shoes and a special card with his size written on it (and a reminder to come back so that they could sell me more shoes on a 6-weekly basis!). You even get a photograph taken, but the little boy was all blotchy and refused to put the shoes near his feet, so they wrote on the receipt that I could come back another time to immortalise the occasion.


For a day, Nathaniel would only carry his shoes around on his walker. He was very particular that they should come for the ride and picked them up everytime they fell off, but that was as close to him as they were getting.

The bike helmet was his request!


The next day, he became more curious about them and would watch with interest as you put them on his feet, but once installed, he wouldn't move his feet at all - he just leant in the direction he wanted to go until he fell over!


On day four he suddenly realised that actually, they were quite comfy, and it made walking around outside a much more pleasant experience. And off he went! Now he walks everywhere with them, and if he wants to go outside, he'll bring you a pair of socks and then his shoes! He tries to put them on himself, with limited success, and given half the chance will help you put on your shoes or try them on himself!

Nathaniel helps Ian put on his shoe


Our travel options have been greatly widened by the shoes, and the other day we spent a happy 20 minutes walking to the butchers.