My little boy

I've spent the last 5 minutes sitting on the floor next to Tom, smiling at him and having him smile back. I couldn't make him perform the trick for you, but am sure we won't be able to stop him soon. Instead, you can have this very lovely picture from last night.

Two weeks of snow

We already know that Marisca isn't a big fan of snow.  I think she's just too grown up, she finds it cold and wet and inconvenient, just like most grown-ups.  But she's had to get used to it, as we've had snow on the ground for the past week and a half, and another front load is coming through tonight.  She has got a bit better with it, willingly walking over the odd patch on occasion, but she certainly doesn't enjoy it.

We decided to build a snowman with her last weekend - she likes snowmen when she encounters them in books and the like, and she was very excited about making one until we got outside, with Tom in support.

Thankfully our next door neighbours had put down some rock salt during the week to make it easier for them to reach their car, which meant there was a patch where Marisca could stand whilst her mummy and daddy made her a snowman.

Since she wasn't really having much fun we restricted ourselves to a very small snowman that we could put on our wall, where it stayed until last night, getting less and less snowman-like as the snow continued to fall.  (Last night I put it out of its sightless, noseless misery).

And of course we had hot chocolate afterwards!

2 months

The health visitor came and weighed Thomas the other day: he is now 13 pounds, which puts him on the 75th centile for weight. Ignoring numbers, he's obviously healthy (hospital visits aside) and happy. He has recently found his voice and will coo at us when he is awake - as long as he isn't sucking his fists! I think our boy is going to be a thumb sucker...

The obvious change this month is in Thomas' levels of alertness. When he's awake he is watching and taking in everything happening around him. This means he actually rather likes busy toddler groups - put him in a bouncy chair and he will sit and watch the action avidly! He has graduated from the carry cot to the bouncy chair in the kitchen and sits and watches us while we cook or eat. Mind you, he is still happiest being cuddled. He isn't keen on his playmat yet, and loves being cuddled to sleep. Interestingly, he stays awake after feeds and falls asleep later, which is a different pattern than we are used to. It is fun learning how he works and what his likes and dislikes are. He is starting to become his own little person now, and we're looking forward to seeing how he develops.

posted by Elspeth!

A wedding and a playground

It seems like most posts these days are me saying 'we had a lovely time at XYZ'.  Well, this weekend was no different.  We travelled down to Rushden for Richard & Julie's wedding, and then over to Milton Keynes to see Grandma and Grandpa and catch up with Marisca's baby friends.

Marisca particularly enjoyed two aspects of the wedding: the plates of cakes, and the space to run around with a cohort of small people, jumping off the stage about a hundred times.

Thomas also had a good day.  This was the furthest he's been from home, ever.  He was lovely and quiet for the journeys and enjoyed the amount of cooing at the wedding.

I didn't manage to get any photos of the bride and groom together - something about their mistrust of photography - but did manage to get one picture of Richard.

I suspect this hooded cardigan was knitted by some lovely friend/family/associate of Tom's.  It is quite lovely.

Marisca and Leo playing on the see-saw.  Yes, they should have been on different ends of the see-saw for it to be more effective, but then they wouldn't have been able to have cuddles.  When asked, Leo said that Marisca was his best friend.  And who did Marisca say was her best friend?  "Marisca!".

Look at the camera, children...

Our babies

Here they are, both at two months old.  Which is which?

I was trying to take a lovely photo of the family

We're just leaving Richard and Julie's lovely wedding. Marisca and Thomas were both brilliantly behaved and we had a lovely time.

As the photo was intended to show...

Book review: Hairy Maclary

We LOVE Hairy Maclary. We now have the full set, excluding the Schnitzel von Krumm spin offs.

The books all describe a rambling adventure by Hairy Maclary or one of the other title characters (Slinky Malinki, Scarface Claw) in a funny, rambling, rhyming way. For example, Hairy Maclary may be given a bone by the butcher, causing all of the neighbourhood dogs to try to follow him home. He meanders his way back to Donaldson's Dairy, conveniently passing through small holes (forcing Hercules Morse, who is as big as a horse, to give up) over walls (which Schnitzel von Krumm, possessing of a very low tum, balks at), and other such obstacles, until he gets home, along, with his bone.

I like them because of the silly rhymes, the fun long words (it was a blusterous, gusterous, dusterous day), and the repeated refrains: I can quote by heart that pittery pattery, skittery scattery, ZIP round the corner came Zachary Quack.

Marisca likes them for the same reason, I think. She remembers so many of the details, and has finally come round to not being scared of Scarface Claw, the toughest tom in town.

Since picking up a box set at Christmas I've read them with Marisca every day, and even when we read through 10 in a row, I'm still having fun. I can't say the same for Thomas or even Charlie & Lola.

New year

A new year started yesterday, 2013.  But our new year really started on the 18th of November.  The turning over of the calendar year has had so little impact, compared with the arrival of Thomas.

So, 2012 was about settling into life in Yorkshire, and about Marisca growing from a toddling baby into a proper little girl.  2013 will be about growing into a family of four with all the fun that entails.  In a year's time Tom will be eating, he'll be mobile, and he may even have a few words.  We've got a fun year ahead!

The Amundruds come to visit

Our New Year guests this year were Duncan and Fraser ("my boys", as Marisca has taken to calling them), with Trish & Cory, down from Aberdeen.  They've been fabulous house guests, taking turns entertaining Marisca and Thomas, and enjoying being in rainy Yorkshire.  

We made the most of the weather with a very cold and wet walk to see the Bolton Abbey 12 days of Christmas, a lovely set of installations through the woods celebrating the song.  The drums were the favourites with the boys, although the adults quite liked the live French hens and I enjoyed the 8 'recently vacated' milking stools.  We followed up with lunch at the ice cream farm, mmmmmmm.

Yesterday we started a new tradition, or what Elspeth and I would like to be a new tradition, with a fish supper at Murgatroyds. A cracking way to end the year, and a lovely family to spend it with.

Happy New Year!