Another glorious day - this time in Wales

We didn't have a fantastic night. Tom was up at 1.30 and 4.00. Took us a long time to get back to sleep after the 4am episode. However, it dawned a beautiful day and Matt had decided that we should get out to a National Trust property. Tom had a difficult morning, he cried as soon as I got him out of the cot and it took him a long while to smile and play which is unusual for him.

Anyway, he had a good breakfast and then did 3 poos within half an hour, so I guess that was probably what was bugging him. We put him down at 9am, but he cried and cried. We comforted him and then put him down in the cot in the downstairs bedroom with Reggie. Within 10 mins he was fast asleep - I guess it was too hot upstairs.

Once he was awake again, we headed off to Powis Castle. What a beautiful place, a sandstone castle set on a hill above its wonderful gardens. This combined with beautiful weather meant that it really was just stunning. We spent a couple of hours in the gardens, enjoying the flowers (I am much more interested these days now I am doing sugarcraft). We found ourselves a nice shady area for a picnic. This was the first time that all 3 of us ate the same. I made 3 rounds of sandwiches with different fillings and Tom actually ate some (last time I did this, he refused point blank to eat anything). Felt really good. We then had some time practising to stand and walk. He is standing now for about 10 seconds before toppling over. He didn't really want to do much freestyle walking today, but was happy walking across the grass, exploring the flower beds. One little boy even came up with him with a football, obviously wanting to play with him - had to explain that Tom couldn't walk on his own yet...

We had a look around the formal gardens, and then found a fountain. Tom LOVED it. First of all I dabbed his hands in the water, then he actively tried to get into it, giggling all the way. He drew quite a crowd of admirers as he splashed away. If he could, he would have gone for a swim! We stayed there quite a while and we had tears when we left.

We then went up to explore the castle. Usual collection of paintings, painted ceilings (which Tom really enjoyed) etc. Then a sit down for a drink and a slice of bara brith (shared between 3 of course) before heading to the oven which was our car and return home.

Tom slept the whole way back (an hour), which is an hour less than usual so he was a little grizzly for the afternoon. However, he managed a good dinner, then a good web chat with Grannie and Grandpa London before bath and bed.

Oh - today was also a poo day - he did 6 and they were all solid- yahoooooo! First full day of solid poo in about 10 weeks.

Anyway, it was a lovely day. It really is nice to go out as a family now that Tom is more interactive. We think he really enjoyed his day out today, as did we.