Thursday 29 December 2011

Tuesday 27 December 2011

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.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Firsts

There are lots of things that were a big deal when Nathaniel was little that are a hundred times more complicated with Dorothea. Baths are one. But we needed a bedtime routine, and there is only so much washing you can do with a bit of wet cotton wool, so we embarked on the first bath.

Fortunately, Nathaniel was incredibly keen on this idea and was excited all day. He was absolutely certain that this activity should involve him! Dorothea wasn't desperately impressed by the whole proceedings, but neither was she unimpressed. I'd go with puzzled.

I can understand why!


Nathaniel is currently sulking because I said that we couldn't have another first bath. I'm am waiting to introduce him to the idea that we'll be able to have a second bath, and a third, and a fourth....

Preparations

We discovered a useful thing last week - we'll be able to use our favourite new toy earlier than we thought!



We bought the trailer knowing that it was going to be a while before Thea would be able to go in it. Even with the baby sling, she'd need to be at least 3 months before she could cope with the bumps. But on reading the info that came with the sling, we discovered that actually they recommend that you can use it from a month if you just walk with it. So now we have a double buggy!

We celebrated by using it to go for a foraging trip to the woods. Nathaniel was very keen to go and got quite grumpy that it took us so long to get Dorothea installed and appropriately wrapped up!



But everyone was jolly by the time we got to the sunny woods. Nathaniel and I took to the holly bushes with secateurs.



Then a friendly gentleman who was out to watch birds told us about a big bush covered in berries, so we headed there via pine cones and ivy.



Lots of fun was had!



When we got home, we released the tree from its netting and got to work installing it and decorating.





Most of the house is now covered in holly and ivy. Nathaniel spent some time in the garden collecting ivy (more secateurs always leads to a fun game!) and twigs, and Ian and I have done artistic things!





It's a shame it can't stay decorated all year.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Spot the difference



Actually they don't look that alike in these photos, but rest assured, there is a striking resemblance!

Friday 16 December 2011

Christmas Songs

Today was Nathaniel's Nursery christmas carol concert. All the parents are invited to hear them sing the Christmas "carols" that they have been singing. Carols include such favourites as Santa Claus is Coming to Town and I'm a little Snowman.

The children are all encouraged to come in costume, but when I asked Nathaniel about what he would like to wear, he was very insistant that he didn't want to dress up as anything and just wanted to be a little boy.

However, I made appropriate arrangements just in case (two options!), and it's just as well, as half an hour before I set out to nursery, one of the staff rang to ask if I was bringing a costume as Nathaniel was upset that he didn't have one!

So I turned up with my options, and unsurprisingly Nathaniel decided again that he didn't want to dress up! I persuaded him that although he didn't want to be a christmas tree, he might like to be a Nathaniel with baubles, and so he was the only kid wearing half a costume!

It was well worth attending. I wasn't sure whether he would join in the songs with such a giant audience, but in fact he was one of a very few kids who sang with gusto all the way through. He knew all the words, even to the verses of some of the more obscure songs, and sang so loudly (though tunefully), that I could hear him clearly along with the nursery staff.

I figured that you'd all like to see his Christmas tree costume (which he became interested in once we got home), but once he had dressed up in it, he suddenly became all shy and just wanted to sit down. So here is the moodiest of all christmas trees:

It looked more impressive with the green t-shirt and the baubles pinned in more elegant places.

Ian was more jolly!

Thursday 15 December 2011

Four Weeks

Dorothea is four weeks old today, and I'm afraid that nothing partcularly interesting has happened. Also, entertaining a three year old has ensured that we haven't been sitting around with nothing better to do then take cute photos!

Unexpectedly, Dorothea's interest in sleep has remained an obsession far beyond the two weeks that it took Nathaniel to get over it, and so most of the time she looks like this:

Most of our friends have never seen her eyes!

In some ways this has been incredibly convenient as Nathaniel has had a tonsilitis-like virus resulting in a roaring temperature and some extremely sleepless nights. What's more fun than looking after an ill toddler? Lokking after asn ill toddler and a new born!

I'm sure there's more fun ahead.....