Christmas is here

Sunday

How many presents

Finally the big day arrived.  Santa had come to visit Tom in the night and he proudly brought his stocking into our bedroom in the morning to unpack.  To his delight there was another train, and a very cool froggy torch to play with as well as many other bits and pieces.  We had breakfast, got changed and then packed the car (took quite a while as we had sooooooo many pressies) and drove up the empty A5 to Chirk and Auntie Jude.

Trunki Fireman

Tiny Boy in a Big Bed

We got stuck straight into the pressies, I think it took Tom the best part of 2 hours to get through all his, but he did manage to open all of them.  Everyone was very very good to him, he got soooooo much I don't know where to begin.  His main pressies were a scooter (from us), a Trunki (from Grannie and Grandpa) and a till (from Granma and Pop Pop) all were very well received.  Considering he was overwhelmed with presents and with his extended family, Tom did very well, he didn't cry (except for once when he slipped over and banged his head - which was fair enough) and he ate well - finishing up Auntie Jude's wonderful Christmas dinner without hardly any encouragement.  At 3 we finished, Tom was flagging so he went for a sleep in Auntie Jude's bed (first time ever in a big bed) came down at 4.30 and was a very happy chappy playing with his new toys, until supper and The Gruffalo's Child (during which he sat still for about 15 minutes which is a record) on TV before coming home.  It was almost 9pm before he got to bed, and he was still going strong then!  The only mishap we had were 2 poos in his pants - (too much excitement?!)

Monday

We had a tidy up day in the morning, then decided to go to Granville park for a walk (scoot) to the Club for lunch and back again.  Didn't go quite as well as we wanted as the ground was too rough for the scooter, eventually we had to give up as a nut and bolt fell off!  Oh well.  We also had a bit of a stand off when Tom refused to walk, but we won it after a couple of minutes which was good.  Then the usual cheese on toast at the club for Tom, and a sandwich for Matt and I.  Matt then went to get the car as we didn't think Tom would manage the walk back - he was looking quite tired.  He had a good 2 hour nap and when he woke up Grannie and Grandpa had arrived - yahoo.  Tom showed no shyness at all, went downstairs, found them in the lounge and made himself at home sat between the two of them, showing them his jaunt on the SVR.  The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent playing with Grannie and Grandpa and his new toys, dinner (Matt's stroganoff - which Tom ate without a second's hesitation even though it did have a bit of a kick to it), bath and bed.

Making Mince Pies

Friday

Making Mince Pies

When I had finally finished all my chores and delivered all my cakes, I decided that it was time to bake with Tom (poor lad doesn't get to do much seeing as all my stuff needs to be of a professional quality).  I had found some interesting looking mince meat in Waitrose (Port, cranberry and glace cherry) so we set to work, making pastry, rolling it out (roll Tom, don't push it!), putting it into the bun tins, making holes in it with our fingers and then slapping 'jam' into them, pushing the lids on, sloshing milk on top and stabbing holes in the tops.  A lot of fun was had by all, but they were a little rustic looking.

Party Boy

This weekend has seen Tom at 3 parties - a lot of party food has been consumed and he is no longer afraid of Father Christmas, meaning he has had a lot of fun.

Tom in his Christmas hat

Friday evening was the BEST Christmas party which Sammie (who has the biggest, kindest heart in Telford) arranged for the children of BEST volunteers.  She had no budget and no help and managed to pull off a good afternoon (I don't know how she does it).

Collecting his present from Father Christmas 

  There were games, we provided our food and then Father Christmas came (with a very loud booming soldier's type voice - hummmmmm!)  In fact Father Christmas had us in stitches, with him and Sammie worrying and checking on Rudolph!  Tom didn't enjoy himself to start with, clinging to me and grizzling when we tried to get him to join in.  After about an hour he finally relaxed (better late than never)  When Father Christmas arrived, his bottom lip stuck out - he certainly thought about being upset, but he managed to contain himself and collected his present (a train - which certainly perked him up).  He ended up running around and came home happy.

Saturday was the NCT Christmas party.  Matt took Tom out in the morning on his bike, whilst I made quiche and cakes. 1pm saw us at the St John's Ambulance hut in Oakengates which Lou and Andy had  turned into a Christmas grotto.
 Tom only took about 20 minutes to warm up (much helped by the presence of Mae) and then that was it, he ran his little heart out: up and down, up and down, round and round he went - stopping only to wee (11

Making music

Pin the bow on the Rudolph

times - it is very exciting weeing in other toilets!).  Father Christmas came again and Tom went up by himself to collect his   present in fact all the children went up by themselves to collect their presents except for Jessica who was scared (and the grand daughter of Father Christmas?!).  They played pass the parcel (Tom did exactly what he was told) and Rachel lead the men and children in some Christmas carols which they did well (Tom actually sat still for the whole time which is unusual for him).  The rest of the time, they ran around enjoying themselves: Mae, Olly and Tom played together and Seren and Jessica played together (the mum's friendships are definitely having an affect on the little ones friendships).  We didn't leave until 5pm, came home and then bath and bed.  He must have been tired - no nap and constantly on the move - AND NO TEARS at all even though he fell on his face a couple of times.  Just goes to show tears depend on his mood.  Anyway Matt and I were very proud of him and it was a pleasure to watch him enjoying himself without having to intervene at all.

The run with the tablecloth game

Sunday we were invited for Christmas nibbles to Carol & Graham's place.  Derek and Jackie were there as well (fun fun fun!)  For some reason they didn't stay for nibbles - they had a roast cooking in the oven which was strange - why would you cook a roast when you have been invited for nibbles at 12.30?  Anyway, meant we didn't have to talk to them (they are the world's most boring couple).  Tom had a great time, Olly was there and had brought some toys with him, which Tom got stuck into.  He also had a bike up and down the yard, saying hello to the 7 horses.  We had a really good time, so good that when we told him we were going home, he dissolved into tears.  Mind you he was tired from yesterday and although he was still saying 'no home' in the car on the way back, he soon fell asleep and also went back to sleep in his cot when we arrived home.

So, all in all a busy and successful weekend.

Jigsaw maestro

Tom is addicted to jigsaws at the moment - a trait we think he has inherited from his grandmothers. He now insists on doing about 10 a day, after breakfast and before dinner. He's got quite good at them and can usually rattle through a 24 piece jigsaw in a couple of minutes. Have a look at the video to see what I mean.

Busy few weeks

Wow!  Didn't realise how behind I have got with this - now going to have to try to remember what on earth we've been doing the last couple of weeks.

19th & 20th November
Matt went to London for the day, so Tom and I had the day together.  It was a bit of a non-event I'm afraid.  First of all we went to Stafford as I have been wanting to visit Hobbycraft for a long while (supposed to be good for all crafts, including baking).  I was very disappointed, there were hardly any baking things there at all, couldn't find silicone moulding material anywhere (to make my own moulds for specialised cakes) only had a very small selection of paint brushes, not much 15mm ribbon, in fact I left empty handed - good for my bank balance I suppose.  It was quite a small shop, so I'm thinking maybe it was a small store and others would be better.  I will have to go to explore the one in Wolverhampton next.

Little and Large

Sunday we finally got to meet up with Matt's old colleague, Carol.  She's had a bad year - Breast Cancer and a hip replacement.  However, she is very stoic and seems to have bounced back.  Apart from her eyes, you would never know she had been ill.  All was as usual at the Chapman household - complete chaos, everyone talking over each other, but very homely and a warm atmosphere and heaps of warm scones straight from the oven - Carol is a good cook so they were very yummy.  Victoria (Carol's daughter) was there and after a while Olly (her son who is about 3 weeks older than Tom) turned up on his balance bike.  Luckily we had Tom's balance bike in the car so they had fun cycling up and down the yard (Carol keeps horses, so her garden is VERY interesting).  Olly is quite quiet and shy like Tom, so they got on with out too much trouble, in fact Tom was probably a little more boisterous than Olly (that's something I don't get to say much).  Once Tom's bike was out though he disappeared, he was quite happy to be out in the cold exploring, so much so that Graham (Carol's husband) had to turn the electric fence off to be sure of no 'shocks'.  It was good to see Carol in such good spirits.


26th & 27th November
Matt took Tom out on his bike this morning - he took him to Apley Castle.  Unfortunately it was a little windy and Tom decided he didn't like it - they aborted their journey and Tom got sent upstairs in disgrace.  Once they had both calmed down, they went to Wyevale to visit the food fair (Matt wanted some more sausage rolls) and then picked me up on the way to Tom's club for lunch.

Two boys concentrating with jigsaws

Sunday we met up with Jude in Shrewsbury.  We were going to go for a cycle at Haughmond Hill, but there was no point as it was still windy.  We had a couple of errands to run in Shrewsbury anyway, although a couple of them got aborted with shops being closed (we thought all the shops would be open, being close to Christmas).  Found somewhere different to have lunch which was nice enough.  Tom proudly announced to the whole restaurant that he had done a wee wee, which was fine, but then he announced quite loudly the same when Jude left the table - just as well there weren't too many people around!  Anyway, he seemed to have a good time and walked nicely.

Showing Granma the way at Attingham

 The following Tuesday Granma and Pop arrived for a couple of days (delivering some very important parcels).  Tom went to nursery as usual on the Wednesday to give them a chance to recover and then they all went to Attingham Park on the Thursday - Tom on his bike and Granma and Pop Pop chasing after him.  Unfortunately it wasn't all open, so they couldn't do the walk right round, but I think Tom impressed them enough, plus he ate nicely in the restaurant.  They all came back happy, can't ask for more.  In fact they and Tom played really nicely the whole time they were up, so much so that Tom's bottom lip stuck out when they left, and I had to take him to see Rachel to cheer him up.  Tom really came on during his time with Granma and Pop Pop, just goes to show how good it is for him to have time away from me and time with other people (other people do things differently from me which is a good thing - gives Tom different perspectives), his language really came on as did his confidence, which is so good to see.

Tom and Marcus at the Dragonfly 

On Saturday, Michael and Marcus came up for the weekend.  Marcus is 5 and a half now and quite like Tom in that he is quite shy.  Once again, Tom didn't mind having someone else in the house and playing with his toys and positively enjoyed playing with him.  We took them to do the Loamhole Dingle - which they both enjoyed, Tom did the whole thing this time without any picking up - it is much easier doing walks with other children, he always wants to keep up and races ahead which is ace.  We picked up a keyring thingy from the geocache this time, which we need to place in another geocache - think there are some in Granville.

Sunday we did a little walk in Granville, had lunch in Tom's club and then went to Cosford so the boys could have a run around.  Both seemed to enjoy it a lot.  Before we knew it, it was time for Marcus and Michael to leave, time flew when they were here - it was a good time.

10th December

Daddy here. Tom and I continued our Saturday morning boys' activities by making our first visit to a dads & tots group that's held once a month at Albrighton Primary School. I had a feeling it would go well as Tom kept saying "playgroup" all the way there in the car. Sure enough, we both had a great time and the 2 hours flew by. There were 4 kids there, with Tom being the oldest by a few months. The other folk there were all very nice, as was the lady who runs the group. I didn't hear a single whinge or moan from Tom all morning, and he played nicely with the other little ones, did a 20 piece jigsaw (more or less) all by himself, shared "his" cars with a little girl called Amelia, and rode on every single one of the outdoor vehicles (see video). We haven't seen him pedal a vehicle along before, so that's another sign of his current rapid development. He ate his snack, despite dropping his cucumber in his milk, and even joined in (ish) with the songs at the end. All in all, a complete success, and it's a shame that we won't be able to go next month - I'll be in York.

We drove home, picked up (a very pleased) Mummy and headed to the Golf Club for our usual lunches - calzones for Nik & me, and cheese on toast and running around like a loony for Tom. Thence back home for a sleep for his nibs, after which we watched a few YouTube clips of Doctor Yellow (as we have to every day at the moment). Tom had dinner by himself today, as we were too full from our lunches to eat at 5.00. Tom then put on a show of utter madness for his Grandpa on Skype before having a bath with Mummy and a story with Daddy and then hitting the hay. A good day.

My older girlfriend

Had a lovely weekend this weekend.  Adam (Matt's best man) came down with his daughter Leia who is 4.  Unusually for Tom, he accepted her straight away, no shyness, no clinging to me.  She bossed him about and he was quite happy to be bossed about and went wherever she asked him to go.  Fantastic, this meant we could all relax and didn't really need to involve ourselves that often - how lovely.

Splashing in Granville

After a make your own pizza and a catch up we took Leia and Adam to Granville for some fresh air.  Leia was on good form, running this way and that and even treating us to an impromptu performance of some songs.  She was a pink blur full of energy and not at all shy.  Tom just followed in her wake and managed to keep up (but no singing from him).  They both enjoyed splashing in the puddles, so much so that Tom had to be stripped down to just his top before being allowed in Adam's car to go home.  We tried to get a good photo of the two together, but neither would stand still.

The plan for the evening was to go to the Donnington Fireworks.  Leia really likes fireworks, we weren't sure about Tom, but thought we would give it a go.  We gave the kids an early dinner of hotdogs and then walked down.  Then it all went wrong.  The bonfire was supposed to be lit at 7.00 and the fireworks started soon after.  The bonfire didn't get lit until 7.30 - not a good start.  Then we waited and waited and waited.  Not great with two little ones.  Leia got herself some sparkly pink hair which amused both of them for the wait (don't you think Tom looks great - very Baby Spice!) It got to 8.45 when I finally found someone to ask what was going on.  Apparently there had been congestion on the road, so they decided to delay everything (great! - if I was stuck in congestion I would turn around, not think that the fireworks would be delayed for me!)  They finally started at 8.50.  Tom cried immediately, but I think by then he was just too tired to cope with anything new.  I took him home, leaving Leia and the boys behind, but apparently Leia, who was also tired by now missed Tom and followed quite soon afterwards.  So, a complete disaster - thanks Telford!

Baby Spice?

On the good side, both children went straight to sleep, so we grilled ourselves some hot dogs and burgers in the lounge, watched the football and then went to bed ourselves, not exactly the night we had planned.  As Adam had predicted, Leia was up dead on 6am.  I could hear her shouting so went down to check on her, Adam was still spark out and he looked so tired last night, I couldn't bring myself to wake him up.  So I stayed with Leia and we played in her bedroom for a couple of hours until the boys were up.

We took Leia and Adam to Cosford in the morning.  Tom and Leia continued to play really nicely - at one stage they were rolling on the floor kissing and hugging each other - how cute!  After inspecting all the planes, buying a 'nellow elicopter' and a play in the 'fun & flight' area we continued on to Codsall Station pub for fishfinger sandwiches and to watch the trains (there weren't any due to engineering works!) before saying our goodbyes and heading our separate ways.

A very good weekend - haven't seen Tom so animated and play so nicely with someone for quite a while, so good to see.  We also risked Tom in pants for the weekend and he did really really well.  At Cosford he had his first wee on an adult toilet - he enjoyed it so much he did it 3 times, looks like we have wee wee sorted - can't believe it has been so easy.

A big week (and it's only Tuesday!)

Tom is certainly developing fast at the moment.

Monday - I took him swimming as usual.  I've not been able to let him go (when wearing armbands) yet - he's screamed the place down each time I've tried it.  At the beginning of the session he was the same as usual, but me being me I didn't give up and kept trying.  He finally did it!  He suddenly discovered that if he kicks his legs he propels himself and can move.  Hurray!  He managed to kick along a couple of widths and then I'll move him out to the middle of the pool and tell him to get to the edge which we did.  I was so proud and he was pleased with himself, although he did get tired and grumpy at the end, but can't blame him really.  He got lots of hugs and kisses.  Although to put it in perspective, there was a 2.5 year old girl in the pool with him swimming widths and jumping in with no buoyancy aids at all - couldn't believe my eyes when I saw her, didn't realise 2.5 year olds were capable of swimming!

Tuesday - I'd been wondering what to do about nursery and nappies so called them for advice, explaining that we had started potty training and that Tom was doing pretty well, but not great when wearing anything more than pants.  They told me to risk it and take in plenty of spare pants and trousers, which is what I did.  He cried as usual when I left him (to be expected these days).  When I went to get him after lunch, I was wondering which trousers he would be wearing and how big a bag of washing I would get.  To my utter surprise he was wearing exactly the same trousers I left him in.  I couldn't believe it.  He greeted me with a huge beaming smile and the staff rushed to tell me no accidents.  Wow!  Apparently he really liked being part of the 'toilet culture' taking his turn on the potty and even sat on the toilet too.  What an angel.  Another proud moment.  He did well this afternoon as well, only had one poo accident which was my fault as I didn't get to him quickly enough to help him with his jeans, but all wees went in the potty without event.  He really is growing up...

Back home

Easy Rider

So after an exhausting Saturday (flogging round the cake show for me and taking a grumpy boy train spotting for Matt) Sunday dawned beautifully clear, blue and sunny.  We decided to take Tom to Attingham Park so he could ride his bike (we were a little worried he may have forgotten what to do). We didn't need to worry, he was very excited to see his bike loaded into the car and was on it in a second. He was off, with us running after him.  We took him to the play park, but he wasn't interested, being on his bike was too much fun to worry about a slide or some swings!  He even tried to get on the roundabout with his bike.  He motored his way about 80% of the way round, before finally flagging.  He got a life onto Daddy's shoulders to finish off the path - but with his helmut on (he refused to take it off - but I can understand why, it is a very cool helmut).  We treated him to a cake in the cafe (during which time he decided to ride one of their 4 wheel buses around the courtyard) before leaving for lunch.  He got back on his bike to get to the car.  He is very very stable now and beginning to go faster, just needs to learn to pick up his feet when going downhill and we WILL be running after him.  He certainly turns people's heads already.

Spain - Part 3

The weather has gone off again - last night it rained and rained and rained.  This morning it rained and rained and rained.  What to do with a toddler in a small villa in the cold and wet? Well we've done all the indoor activities there are to do.  However, Matt managed to break the cafetiere yesterday so we thought we would seek out a shopping centre and see if we could replace it.

Two Toms

We headed off to Velez Malaga to a shopping mall we had seen on the way here.  First stop a huge hypermarket that sold everything and I mean everything, you could even buy a 125cc scooter there.  Found a replacement cafetiere but at a price, so left it there and got ourselves some bits for dinner and breakfast tomorrow.  Tom was given the job of pushing around a mini trolley on wheels which he took very seriously and did very well, didn't bump into anything or anyone which was brilliant for him.  We then looked round the rest of the Mall, Tom leading the way running ahead - he was in a really good mood.  I can't understand it, he expended more energy and had more fun today in the shopping mall than he did down on the beach - can you explain that?  I can't!

We found a more reasonably priced cafetiere in another store, had a look round C and A's for nostalgia more than anything else, and then decided to head back to Frig for lunch, there was a food court at the mall but it looked like nasty fast food - why have that when you can have good food elsewhere?  So, we had another €9 menu del dia at the Balcon de Frigiliana - and very nice it was too.

Came home to a damp villa with lots of damp washing (we did our last laundry yesterday).  Problem, there is a heater in the villa - but no remote control, which is the only way to use it.  There is also a gas heater, but that ran out of gas.  Last resort - a log burner for which we only have massive damp logs.  Matt tried very hard to get the log burner working, but with no kindling and no paper it was pretty hard work, and in the end we gave up.  Oh hum, lets hope the washing manages to dry overnight.  Spanish houses really aren't set up for cold, rainy days (just as ours aren't set up for hot days).

An interesting night - the torrential rain didn't let up for a minute. Neither of us got much sleep, mainly because we were worried about the villa flooding and the dirt track down to the main road washing away. Tom, of course, slept his usual 13 hours without stirring. How does he do it? There was thunder and lightning as well as the insane rain.

Business class

By morning, the rain was coming in through the roof, windows and doors. We set off earlier than planned for the airport, thinking that the journey might be difficult. In the end, it wasn't, so we had to hang around a bit before we could check in. Sadly, Burger King was the least ghastly option for an early lunch - our first trip to such a joint for a long time (since the night Tom was born in fact). The flight back was very good - Tom behaved well and slept on my (eventually dead) leg for an hour, and we landed at Brum about 15 minutes earlier. Then bus to the car park and the drive home, the last 15 minutes of which was in pretty much the same weather as we'd left behind in Spain.

All in all, it was a very nice holiday in a lovely area. Yes, we had some spectacularly bad weather, but the other days were nice and we made the most of them. The villa was comfortable, Tom liked the mule in the olive grove next to the villa, I liked the big ginger cat next door the other way, Frigiliana is one of the most charming little towns we've ever seen, and we all ate some excellent food. I should also point out that none of us consumed even a drop of alcohol for the entire duration of the trip, largely because the Spanish seemed to have cracked the art of making non-alcoholic beer that actually tastes like beer. Shame you can't get any of it over here.

Spain - Part 2

Tom's new favourite food

Sunday dawned nice and sunny.  We decided to go on a walk from the villa.  We had tried to find out about local walks in the area, but to no avail.  We aren't sure how walking works here, has all land got public right of way, or are you liable to get into trouble for walking through someone's olive grove?  Not sure.  We made a few false starts walking up what we thought were tracks only to discover they were people's driveways, but we managed a semi-interesting walk in the end.  A little boy, however, didn't enjoy himself and grizzled all the way round, until we found some windfall oranges which we rolled down the road, that was fun, but the rest wasn't.  Oh and we said hello to Mr Horse and the goats that live just down the road from us.  Tom was straight in and stroked the horse's head - we couldn't believe it - so he can be brave when he wants to be.

When we got back to the villa we discovered that we were almost out of beer - not a good situation, so we went into Frig to get some more.  We found a shop that was open, but we couldn't find anywhere to park our car, the town was seriously full.  So, we ended up down in Nerja as the supermarkets there are on this side of town.  The supermarkets there were closed.  Oh hum, so we ended up in the town again.  By now it was lunch time, so we decided to go back to the bakers and get some pastries to eat overlooking the sea.  This we did.  Tom seemed to eat more than either of us, focusing on a rather lovely Quiche Lorraine of which Matt and I only managed one bite each.  We then got ourselves an ice cream each.  Tom said he wanted a pink ice cream, so I got a fruits of the forest one.  This he liked very much - in fact I think he had more than me - he has certainly got to like ice cream on this holiday.

We then came home, Tom had his nap and we spent the afternoon playing by the pool, Tom once again using his potty when he needed a wee - what a good boy.

Pool time

Monday - another big moment in Tom's life - this morning he did a poo in his potty - Matt and I were very excited.  We are getting there.  As it dawned clear, hot and blue, we decided to go down to the beach.  So we packed up and went down to the Playa de Burriana which was a nice enough beach, some stones, but mainly sand.  He sat ourselves down close to the sea and started to play.  Matt took Tom down to the sea, from which I heard almighty screams - Tom went absolutely mad.  He showed himself to be absolutely terrified and this was with Matt holding him, not dunking him.  Tom wouldn't calm down at all so in the end we had to give up.  Luckily he was happy enough playing in the sand so we let him do so.  What made it worse was there was a little German girl a year younger than him on the beach having a wonderful time running about and playing in the sea.  She really wanted Tom to play with her, but he did his usual shy, clingy routine and wouldn't.  He was interested in her though, watching her from a distance and when she had all her clothes off, he decided to do the same and stripped down.  He finally went over to say hello, but wouldn't play, he would only watch.  He even got given some food by her parents, but wouldn't eat it, would only hold it.  What a shame.  He could have had a wonderful time playing with her.  Oh well, silly boy!  After Paulina had left the beach, we decided to give up and have lunch at one of the seaside restaurants. We slightly over-ordered, still haven't got to grips with how Spanish menus work, ended up with a huge portion of calamari, a huge huge portion of chips and half a chicken, baked potato and veggies.   Then it was back to the villa, nap, playtime round the pool, dinner and bed.

Frigiliana playground

Tuesday we decided to go back for a wander through Frig as we only scratched the surface last time.  We took it easy, Tom was in a good mood, so we took advantage of it and strolled around at his pace.  We looked around the shops and found some bits and pieces we liked.  Matt got his holiday T-shirt (the only time he buys clothes is on holiday).  Had a sit down, drink and ice cream in a cafe overlooking the gorge (guess who ate most of the ice-cream?!) then some more exploring before finding a restaurant where we ordered a paella for lunch (Tom ate more than his fair share - "nice rice") and then we explored the upper part of the old town.  Wow - I thought the lower street was nice, but the upper street was unbelievably pretty.  The locals obviously take great pride in their town as it was immaculate, little white washed houses in narrow cobbled streets, plants outside, a really nice atmostphere.  Tom even got cooed over by an old woman sitting in her porch, he was on good form though as we had to climb some steep steps - he didn't complain once, which is unlike him and a very pleasant change.  Then it was back to the villa for the afternoon routine.

Wednesday it dawned cloudy.  We hoped it would clear up over breakfast but it didn't.  Whilst outside Tom had his first accident in a couple of days which was a shame, but to be expected.  We decided to go exploring today, so took the road out of Frig and drove the windy roads to Torrox.  We then went to find a beach to play on, but they were all stoney, so we drove back to Nerja and went back to Monday's beach.  Tom still wouldn't go anywhere near the sea, but was happy to play with the sand.  At one stage, Matt and I were making sandcastles and playing football, whilst Tom was lying on the beach - isn't it supposed to be the other way round?  Trust us to have a child who is scared of sandcastles!!!!!

El Acebuchal - 'The Lost Village'

After an hour or so we packed up and headed back to the track on which our villa is located, but this time carried on to El Acebuchal - a hamlet up and then down a narrow windy track.  We had been recommended lunch there.  Wow!  What a place.  It has a horrible history where all the men and boys were shot during the civil war and the place was then abandoned until 1998, when an old villager decided to rebuild his family house, which sparked others to do the same and now it is the prettiest of places.  There is one restaurant there serving home cooked rustic spanish food.  The menu sounded wonderful, I couldn't decide so asked the waiter to decide for me.  Matt ordered lamb in a cinnamon sauce - which turned out to be really sweet and almondy but in a nice way.  Our meals arrived, and they were gorgeous, my first ever wild boar was lovely, Tom liked both our meals too (how many 2 year olds have had wild boar?).  We decided to try dessert and were treated to home made chocolate ice cream with big white chocolate buttons in it (Matt was in heaven) and a huge lump of date cake (Tom was in heaven).  What a place.

Spain - Part 1

View from the villa

Can't believe we've been here 6 days already - so glad we decided to make this a longer holiday, only just beginning to relax!

So we got here ok, Tom was impeccably behaved, especially as we had to get up at 3am to get the flight here.  He was so shattered by the time we got on the plane that he slept for the first hour, which was fab.  He was just beginning to get fidgety and bored when the plane descended so all in all, good timing.

We arrived in a soggy, rainy Spain????!!!!!  Never seen weather like it here before.  Torrential rain, and not all that warm, in fact the weather was better in Birmingham (how often can you say that?)  Anyhow, we picked up our luggage and car and found the nearest supermarket to get some groceries and lunch.  Then off to Frigiliana to meet Eddie in a pub who was going to show us where our villa was.  It all sounded a little dodgy, until we got here, down some very minor tracks - there was no way we would have found it on our own.

The villa was nice, and the view - well, we couldn't really say, it was still hammering it down with rain.  In fact it rained just until the sun went down, when finally it cleared and we saw some mountains - looks good.

Galloping in Nerja

On Tuesday, it dawned clear - hurray.  We got up too early though, the sun doesn't rise until 8.30 so we had breakfast in the dark, the cold and dark - no heaters in the villa - not a great start to a summer's holiday!  The sun finally got to us around 9.30 so we went outside to greet it and warm up.  The villa is in a stunning location, in the midst of mountains, and overlooking the sea (about 8km away).  We decided to go into Frigiliana (Frig for short) for a walk around and to get some more provisions (we were out of beer already).  First stop was the children's play area for Tom (from which he saw a green 'Petit Train' oh dear), we managed to drag him away and then went in search for the Spar that Matt had seen on Google Earth.  Google Earth was out of date, there isn't a Spar!  By now it was late, I found a little grocery store and managed to stock up on beer and bread.  We then found ourselves by Balcon de Frigiliana, which had been recommended to us by some friends, as it was getting on for 2pm we thought we might as well try it out.  Had a lovely meal.  Tom did really well too.  He had been miserable as anything this morning - whinging, whining etc, but he had a very disrupted day yesterday and hadn't eaten much.  As soon as we sat down at the table he demanded bread and ate 4 slices of it as well as most of the food we gave him to try out.  After that he was delightful: ran and skipped all the way back to the car which, to be fair, was some distance away.  Came home, Tom went to bed, the weather clouded over,  so we stayed in for the rest of the day, although managed some time to play around the pool - splashing balls into the pool is the best game in the world.

Wednesday it dawned clear again so we headed into Nerja.  Went to the Balcon de Europa at the heart of the old town and which looks over the sea.  Was a very pleasant town, we strolled around the old parts, got ourselves some snacks for lunch and then some very lovely ice cream.  It was beginning to cloud over, so we headed home, Tom went for a nap and we chilled out.  It was cloudy and dreary for the rest of the day unfortunately, once again we stayed in and made our own fun, mainly around balls and the pool.

'Enjoying' the hot springs

Thursday it rained, rained, rained and rained.  Not gentle rain, but full on heavy torrential stormy rain!  Not great, so we decided to go to the caves in Nerja.  We were expecting a couple of stalactites and stalagmites, but no, we got a huge huge cave full of thousands and thousands of stalactites and mites and columns and lots of other formations. Quite simply the best cave system I have ever seen.  There was too much to take in.  Tom was in a good mood and decided to count at the top of his voice every stair he climbed and descended and so gave everyone in the system an English counting lesson (it would have been ok, but quite often he would miss out a couple of numbers, so I'm not sure anyone could have learnt from him!)  When we came out, we were shocked to find clear blue sky and sunshine??!!  We found a nearby play park so Tom had a play whilst we wilted in our jeans and tops.  We decided that as it was so nice, we would grab some food from a supermarket and head back to the villa for lunch.  This we did, but then the clouds closed in on us and before we knew it we had torrential rain again.  This is how it pretty much stayed for the rest of the day.  We ended up playing hide and seek in the villa.  The villa is pretty small with very few hiding places but the game lasted for quite a while - mainly because Tom is really bad at it - not a problem though he really enjoyed it, even if he was bad.  His idea of hiding was to walk in the next room and when we called out 'ready or not' he would come and find us.  We have some way to go with that!

In Alhama de Granada

Friday, hurray, clear blue sky and a weather forecast to say it will be nice for the rest of the day.  We decided to take a day trip and headed to Alhama de Granada where we were told we would find some hot springs.  The drive there was spectacular, up through the mountains, hairpin bends, amazing scenery.  Got to the hot springs with only one wrong turning which was pretty good.  There was a hotel at the Hot Springs, but they charged entrance and seemed to concentrate on therapies (not great with a 2  year old in tow).  However, down by the river there was an outlet for the spring so we headed there.  When we got there, there were 3 very large Finnish women and about 5 Arabic men, the men (bar 1) headed out almost immediately and after about 15 minutes the Finnish women left so it was just us and the Arabic man.  Tom really enjoyed himself, he spent most of it climbing onto a rock and jumping off it into our arms and the pool - great fun.  If the other man wasn't there he would have had a wonderful time splashing etc, but we had to reign him in - a spa is about relaxing not playing after all.  We must have spent a good hour there, before we dragged ourselves out, got changed and then headed back into the town for some lunch.  We have managed to adjust ourselves to Spanish time, so we get up around 9am, have lunch around 2pm, Tom naps around 3 to 5pm, we have dinner at 7pm and Tom's in bed for about 8 / 8.30pm.  This means that we have lunch at a typically Spanish time and not the English time of 12 which makes life easier for using restaurants etc.

Chocolate ice cream - the aftermath

We found a nice Plaza for lunch, Tom did well again enjoying calamari and chips and nearly all of my egg custard pudding.  We then went for a wander - really nice, ancient old town - proper Spanish set on the side of a gorge.  Had a really nice feel to it, before heading back.  Got back to sunshine - yahoo, so spent most of the afternoon playing around the pool - Tom decided that being naked was best and happily played all afternoon as such.  We have brought his potty with us and have been having nappy off time in the afternoon to see if we could train him.  We haven't had much success yet - he either holds it in or wees in situ (ie not on the potty).  On Wednesday he held it in all afternoon which meant that he woke me up at 2am on Thursday morning with a full nappy, I've not had to change his nappy at night time for over a year! We will keep trying though.  In the evening we had a bbq, during which we were joined by 2 cats - not to Tom's liking, so in the end we had to give up and eat inside.

Saturday, woke up to another clear and sunny day - big smiles all round.  After breakfast we decided to go into Frig to do some more exploring.  This time we went into the old part of the village - and what a pretty village it is too.  Ancient, narrow, clean, cobbled streets with whitewashed buildings either side - looks amazing with a deep blue sky above.  We had a good amble along, looking in shops and taking in the scene.  One small boy though was very keen to get to the square so he could have a ride on the green train - we couldn't deny him this twice, so on we got.  The driver was good enough to let Tom get in the cab for a photo and to ring the bell - but Tom did his shy thing and refused (not a problem, I got to ring the bell instead!)  We did a circuit of the new town in the train and then headed back into the old town for lunch.

Frigiliana Old Town

Found a tapas bar, sat down to find the owner was English and had a huge stack of toys for little ones to play with.  So Tom ended up with a huge bag of lego and very content he was too.  We had a selection of Tapas, all very nice, which Tom ate as well without too much encouragement and then headed back to the car and then the Villa.  In the afternoon, Tom had nappy off time as usual and today he used the potty not once, not twice, but three times and no accidents - wow!  We were so proud of him as he was of himself.  Just need to build on it now.  It was a lovely hot afternoon - yahoooo, Matt and I even managed to get ourselves into the pool - which was very brave as believe me it was FREEZING - the result of too many cold days.

Biker Tom

At last. Tom is now finally tall enough to be able to manoeuvre his Kiddimoto balance bike properly. We made some progress on the old railway line at Ironbridge yesterday, but he made a giant leap forward today. We went to the Forestry Commission land at Haughmond Hill, which has lots of nice flat paths, and he rode his little heart out. We think he probably rode it between 1.5 and 2 miles altogether. Once he realised that he could balance and that he could get up easily if he dropped it, there was no stopping it. He actually preferred going "off road" into the undergrowth than ride along the boring old path. I did point out that his Triumph Daytona is a track racing bike, not a motocrosser, but he was having none of it. The video clip gives you a good idea of how well he can ride now.

Anyway, we're off to Spain tomorrow morning, but we're taking the MacBook, so we should be able to blog while we're away.

Sick Boy

Sorry didn't take any photos this week
This one is 2 weeks old

We didn't have a very interesting weekend.  We took Tom to the barber on Saturday morning and had to cope with a full-on meltdown from him - snot and goo everywhere, which meant that he didn't end up with the smartest of haircuts - all his own fault.

Tom wasn't very well this weekend, he got a temperature on Saturday afternoon and ended up striped and feeling sorry for himeself.

Sunday he was better, we did the Coalbrookdale Watercourses walk followed by lunch at the Greenwood centre.  The walk wasn't completely fun, Tom whinged his way round but did manage it by himself.  We found a Geo-cache box under one of the bridges which would have been fun, except it coincided with Tom hitting his Dad on his glasses which resulted in shouting (Dad) and crying (Tom).

We went out on Sunday night - went to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which was good.

That's about it.

Pink Lizard Cake

Oh, Tom is much better now and managed two wees yesterday, one on the potty and another on the loo - huge smiles all round.

 I haven't put up much about cakes recently, mainly because I have been so busy with them that I haven't had any spare time to blog about them.  Business seems to be going well, unfortunately I am having to turn away all potential wedding bookings due to the house being on the market, apart from that all is ok.

Magazine where you can find 5 of my cakes

Here's my latest creation - a cake shaped to look like a favourite pink lizard soft toy a 1 year old girl has.  Was fun and very big.

Almost forgot - some of my cakes got published in a cake magazine this month - I was very excited.

Trains and bikes

Where to stash naughty boys

We've had an unseasonal 3-day weekend as I decided to take Friday off so that we could all go and play trains on the Severn Valley Railway without the weekend hordes in attendance - a good decision as it turned out. The SVR had its annual diesel gala and ran a huge number of trains on the day (9.00am until after 11.00pm), and we counted at least 13 preserved diesel locomotives in use, some of which were in amazing condition given their age. A huge green engine called "Atlantic Conveyor" won our prize for being "Wow Train" of the day. There wasn't a speck of dust on it, inside and out - a real credit to whoever looks after it. We kept remarking that Tom's grandfathers would probably have enjoyed the day too.

"Western Courier"

Tom kept going very well all day -  the only slight panic coming when the (extremely loud) exhaust note of "Western Courier" (big maroon engine in photo) spooked him. Otherwise, he spent most of the day pointing shouting "train", "coach" or "truck" as appropriate. It was also quite a good exercise in getting him to learn his colours as the engines and coaches came in a real variety of shades. We had regular trips to the buffet to keep ourselves fed and watered (it's hard work, this playing on trains). As is often the case on days like this, he was asleep within a minute of getting in the car to come home. Not much doubt about what he was dreaming about on Friday night.

"Defiance"

Given what an exciting time we all had on Friday (especially Nik, who went out drinking with pals in Ironbridge in the evening) and the fact that the weather forecast had (correctly) predicted a nasty day, we decided to have a quiet Saturday. We headed into Wellington so that Nik could stock up with cake ribbons at the market. We made a fundamental error by walking through Wellington station and not hanging around long enough to see a train - cue grumpiness, crying and a refusal to walk from you-know-who. We eventually convinced him to be a bit less petulant, ran various errands, had an early lunch in the pub and drove home via Wylie & Holland, my local motorbike dealer. It's normally a bustling, lively place full of bikes of every kind, but the showroom looked terribly bare and lifeless this time. Perhaps the recession has hit them. If so, I hope they manage to weather the storm - I've always had excellent service there and I do like drooling over all the new Triumphs in there. Nik was out babysitting Mae (Tom's girlfriend) in the evening, so I had a quiet evening in - sadly, not even an old cat for company these days.

Today looked like being a nicer day, so we decided to get some fresh air at Attingham Park - our nearest NT property. There's a good playground that Tom always enjoys charging round and we thought it was high time he got to grips with his Triumph Daytona balance bike that we got him last Christmas. Up to now, he's been a bit scared of it as it (obviously) falls over when he lets go of the handlebars. So, we allowed him to get his courage up in the playground, which he did to excess as you can see from the video - I've never seen him so dizzy. We must have been in there for almost an hour, but it worked, because as we took a stroll through the woodland walk, he finally realised that riding a bike is great fun. We still had to hold the back of the bike, but he did all the steering himself and kept going for long stretches - maybe 100 yards at a time - grinning from ear to ear. So, a great success all in all. We now need to take the bike with us when we go out, as frequent practice should cement his new-found ability and enthusiasm.
We had a quick lunch at Sam's Cafe at Long Lane, our greasy spoon of choice. Tom demolished a sausage sandwich (smothered in ketchup), but Nik and I held back as we're going out for dinner at the excellent Miller & Carter in Wolverhampton tonight - I recently hit another work-related milestone, so this is our treat for reaching it.

Weekend away

Wow!  What beautiful weather we have enjoyed this week - in the high 20s, deep blue sky and sunshine

The Manor House, Eardisland

On Friday we headed down to the very picturesque village Eardisland in Herefordshire to meet up with the Chester Shell crew who we enjoyed a nice weekend with last year (we seem to have been accepted into the crowd).  Sara had found a gorgeous black and white manor house in the centre of the village for us to lodge in.  12 bedrooms, huge gardens, hot tub and very comfortable.  We made ourselves at home, met Jessica (Sara's new baby - who is 9 months old), very cute.  Before too long Maggie, Tamsin and Jenny turned up with Lisa.  We thought that Tom and Tamsin would want to play with each other again (as it was only 3 weeks ago they last saw each other), but Tom was too shy and Tamsin too full of energy.  Nevermind, we found Tom some curry and gave him dinner which he gulped down.

He ran around the house enough to accept going to bed without any trouble (phew) so we had a good relaxing evening eating curry with the 20 others in the party.

Saturday we went to the local National Trust property, Berrington Hall, it was ridiculously hot!  Had to put suncream and sun hats on.  We had a little look round the property and a picnic with the others under a tree, but then decided to go back to the house - Tom didn't sleep very well on Friday night (he was in the same room as us) and was grumpy.  So, we put him down for a nap and then went for a dip in the hot tub (which would have been relaxing if we hadn't had to share it with 3 excited little girls)  Oh well, they seemed to enjoy it.

We lazed around in the afternoon playing in the garden (there was a trampoline in the garden which Tom enjoyed playing on as long as no-one else was on it and he wasn't made to jump on it!)  The men then set the bbqs alight whilst we did bath and bedtime with Tom.  By the time we came down, food was ready which was fab.  We then had a relaxing evening before retiring to our wonderfully comfortable beds.

Sunday we had a lazy morning including two dips with Tom in the hot tub which he loved before heading back.

Nik & Tom by the River Arrow

We didn't really do that much this weekend, but it was nice to be somewhere different with nice people and very good for Tom to be surrounded by so many people - as is usual, he just began to relax with everyone as we left on Sunday.  He did do quite well though during the weekend, I on purpose took a back step and tried to back out of playing with him to try to get him to play either with himself or the other children - there were plenty of them and they were all willing to play with him, but a little too rough for his liking.  Maybe next year he will be big enough and confident enough to play with them.


Oh today he showed signs of wanting to brush his teeth rather than just chewing his toothbrush:0)

Shoes

Today, Tom managed to put his sandals on more or less by himself, just needed a little direction and encouragement, he was a very pleased boy once he had done it! :0)

A week in Devon

Sorry, getting behind - but I had to do 5 cakes in 3 days last week which is why.

So, we went down to Devon for a long weekend so Tom could visit / tire out his grandparents.  He was an absolute star in the car, we stopped once to change drivers, he didn't complain once - the first time ever.

Having a giggle in Crapstone

He was very excited to see Granma and Pop Pop and it didn't take too long for him to start saying 'Nam-ma' for Mum which was great.  On Thursday Tom decided to take Pop Pop and Nam-ma on the South Devon Railway (Buckfastleigh to Totnes).  He was excited as usual - especially as the steam train pulling the coaches was a 'Duck'.  We took a ride down the line and back again, had lunch and then did it again.  Unfortunately we were too far out of season to experience the double decker bus and miniature railway - so we will have to go again in season to try them out.  Anyway, we all had a good time (especially Tom, who discovered various different train toys dotted around the site to amuse him - in the restaurant and the museum (we discovered that you can't interrupt his play for savoury lunch, but you can for CAKE!))

We all got tired out, so Tom and Nam-ma fell asleep on the way back.  Tom went mad on his return to Crapstone, Nam-ma, didn't!

On Friday, Nam-ma and Pop Pop took Tom out for the morning to an adventure park in Plymouth whilst Matt and I had a morning together - trying to sort out the car bump (no luck) and then a quick trip in to Tavistock to try out the pasty shop again (service only slightly better than last time, so still mediocre!)

We then spent the afternoon out in the garden enjoying the sun.

Saturday Matt and I decided to give Mum and Dad a break from Grandparent duties and took Tom into Plymouth.  We popped into a travel agent to pick up some brochures for our holiday in October, and then walked to The Barbican to get the boat round to the old naval base and the rather lovely coffee shop there.  We had the boat to ourselves (a bright red landing craft type vessel)  Tom wasn't 100% sure, but enjoyed himself enough.  We had a good lunch (breakfast bun for Matt and tapas for me with Tom eating a fair share as tends to be the norm these days) before getting the boat back and then the double decker bus back to the park and ride.  A non train day, but still quite exciting for a little boy.

Nik & Tom at Totnes Station

Sunday it was gloomy and overcast so we decided to stay close to home and went to Buckland Abbey for the morning.  Tom seemed to enjoy himself, in the garden and then upstairs in the abbey where there were dressing up clothes, including some Tom's size.  He hated us putting the clothes on him, but once they were on he went loopy and ran round and round giggling.  We then decided to go back to The Dartmoor Diner for lunch (as it has a toy train going round the wall) but it was fully booked so we ended up at The Rock instead, had a good lunch, but the lack of a train could not be made up.

All too quickly it was Monday morning again and time to go home.  We went back home via Sheppy's (got our last ever cases of Tremlett's Bitter as they are discontinuing it :0( ) and Bristol for lunch where he was an absolute angel.  He said he didn't want to sit in a high chair, but on a big boy chair.  We made it very clear that if he got off the big boy chair then he would go in the high chair, he still fidgeted, but he didn't try to get off it.  He also pointed to some pasta on the menu, so I got some for my lunch and he ate at least 50% - so a very well behaved boy.  He then played in the fountain in the middle of the shopping mall before we made our way home.

A nice break.

I can count to 6

Tom's speech has come on a lot in the past few weeks, and we thought you'd like to see this example.
He also managed his first wee in the toilet yesterday, so things are really moving forward.

Bye Bye Jodie

Not a great week for us - they say things happen in threes.  On Sunday / Monday - someone bashed one of our car doors, then the dish washer packed in and then on Monday we had to take Jodie to see the vet for the last time.  Let's hope our luck picks up!

So, back to the weekend, on Saturday we went to Chester to visit the Watsons.  They have 3 girls: Maggie - 7, Tamsin - 5 and Jenny - 21 months.  Tamsin seems to really like Tom, and before too long the two of them were playing as if they were best buddies (Tom took his snake with him, which became a great game - Tamsin holding the front and running, tugging Tom behind her who was holding on to the tail).  This meant that I got the afternoon off, so enjoyed putting my feet up on the sofa and watching them play. They played long and hard, meaning that at bed time, Tom went to sleep easily (after a talking to by his Dad) and we could relax (although poor Cameron was suffering quite badly from jetlag)

Oh - on the way up to Chester, I heard a little voice say 'Baa baa black sheep'.  Typical, every night for months I have sung Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wind the Bobbin Up and The Wheels on the Bus and he comes up with Baa Baa Black Sheep.  Oh well, never mind, it is progress.  Oh and we now have some colours: black, white, yellow, blue and purple.  No red and green yet - but we are working on them.

Jodie has been going down hill for a number of weeks now.  The last week she refused to eat (apart from some duck giblets) and her back legs were getting weaker and weaker.  When we came back from Chester, she could hardly get up and down the stairs and was walking sideways.  Her time had come.  We knew it and she knew it.  We tried to make her last night as comfortable as possible and spent some quality time with her in order to say our goodbyes, including Tom, he spent some nice time with her, stroking her and being gentle with her which was lovely.

On Monday morning, Matt made the dreaded phone call and we all walked over to the vets.  We were all with her when she passed away - she didn't fight at all - the only time in her life when she hasn't shown any malice to the vet - another sure sign she was ready to go.  We left her behind on the table and walked home.  Tom wasn't happy with us - pointing to the vets and shouting 'cat' which was very hard to deal with. 

The house isn't the same without her, we keep looking round to see where she is so we don't trip over her, picking things up so she won't soil them, thinking we are hearing her.  It is very strange and a little eerie.  She was almost 21 so had a good innings, a wonderful friend and pseudo mum to Tom - she was as gentle as anything to him, allowed him to thump her when he was a baby and never retaliated - we think he prolonged her life - she certainly showed more interest in life once he arrived.  Not much of a hunter - think she caught a dead leaf once, a bit cheeky (she climbed into my parents car the first time she met them - much to my mum's surprise) and a good lap cat and purrer.  We will remember her fondly.

As luck would have it, I had arranged to meet up with a friend from twitter on Monday afternoon, so rather than moping around the house, we went to Burntwood to meet up with her.  I call her Kathryn Biker Cake - she has a motorbike and runs her own home based cake business so we have a lot in common.  As it turns out, she is also a really good talker and very welcoming.  She has a 9 year old boy, so got a box of cars for Tom to play with - which he did and we talked and talked and talked.  We then went to a local pub and talked and talked and talked, went back to her place and talked and talked and talked.  We talked until she had to collect her kids and we went home.  Tom was such an angel, hardly needed any interaction - just played by himself the whole day, couldn't have asked for better behavior.