Fun at @Bristol and refusing to sleep!

Saturday was a bitty sort of a day. The morning was taken up with me delivering and setting up a cupcake tower for a wedding. 90 cupcakes and a giant cupcake and not much vanilla in sight - half of them were banoffee cupcakes and the other half vanilla but with chocolate topping. Matt was pleased, as were some of my friends who got to eat the left over cakes. Seem to have made too much caramel so feel a couple of banoffee pies coming up...

Once all was set up we carried on into Bridgnorth as we were nearby. Matt finally got to experience Cinnamon which was the cafe that Tom and I used to frequent prior to gymbabes all that time ago. Food was as good as I remembered AND Tom ate a cheese sandwich - we have lift off - he is English after all. We plodded on down to the station to look at some steam trains before coming back home.

We put Tom to bed as usual tonight, but 20 minutes after putting him in his cot he started to cry. This is the first time in months and months he's done it. Matt and I looked at each other in shock. Went upstairs and he looked a mess. Took some time to calm him down. However, as soon as we closed the door he cried again. Unfortunately I was due out babysitting (we were out again on Friday night) so I had to leave Matt with him. Not sure what the problem was, but I found a HUGE Daddy Longlegs outside his room when we went up the first time, it may have been in his room and scuttled across his ceiling? Who knows? It was certainly big enough to be scary. Anyway, it took Matt until 9pm to settle him and convince him to sleep again - must have been up about 15 times. For once, babysitting Mae was the easier option - she also went to bed at 9pm but didn't cry so was much less stressful.

Sunday was Grandparents day. In honour of Mum's birthday we decided to meet up halfway - in Bristol. The original plan was to have a picnic in a big play park, but the weather didn't look reliable so we decided to go to Bristol Aquarium instead. Unfortunately the southbound carriage of the M5 was closed for 3 junctions on our way down, meaning we were a little late meeting up. We had lunch in a cafe and then went to the aquarium. Tom started to look tired in the aquarium (he didn't sleep in the car on the way down) we started to get worried that we wouldn't have a good time, but Tom suddenly got a second wind and that was it, he was off. Not sure who was more mad - Tom or his Granma, not even sure who was chasing who around the aquarium, but both were giggling and having a good time, so Matt, Dad and I let them carry on! As usual, he wasn't that bothered about colourful fish, finding the silver boring ones more interesting. We got a new word 'Ray'.

We then found that there was a steam engine running down in the docks, so Granma and Pop Pop took Tom on it (just as it started to rain, on open carriages!). Matt and I stayed nice and dry in the adjacent museum, M Shed. Now, when I was living in Bristol, this museum was a housing for lots of rotting machinery, it has had a major overhaul and is now a museum about Bristol, and included a 'Bristol' double decker BUS, a second world war bomb which you could sit in, some motorcyles (to keep Matt's interest) and many other exhibits. Really interesting if you have ever lived in Bristol. A little boy was very excited. After a while and once the rain had stopped we went for a drink and then we discovered the water exhibit, a great play area for toddlers. Luckily I had a complete change of clothes for Tom, so we allowed him to get wet. He had a good water fight with me and his Dad and then played swing with his Granma. There was lots of giggling. We finally parted company around 4pm, Tom fell asleep almost immediately.

Once again when we put Tom to bed he started to cry. We tried all types of approaches, being sympathetic, telling him not to be so silly, letting him cry it out etc etc. In the end he cried it out, but it was 8.30 before he settled.

Monday we decided to go to Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre in Craven Arms. Their mascot is 'Little Tusker' - a mammoth of course and Wilberforce follows her on twitter and said we would visit. We got there at exactly the right time as they were holding 'toddle time' which involved Woodland Bingo where we walked around the immediate countryside spotting various things. Tom as usual wasn't sure at the start, but did manage to walk most of the way round it and enjoy himself. He was no better or worse behaved than others. We then had lunch at the centre (very nice) before heading out to the station to see some trains (if there is a train nearby we have to see it at the moment). Tom once again fell asleep in the car on the way home and refused to go down again when we got back. After a good dinner, he refused again to go to sleep and it took until 8.30pm to get him to sleep again.

Tuesday, Tom went to nursery as usual and went into absolute melt down. He cried in the car all the way to the nursery and then screamed blue murder when we got there. I ended up crying as well and had to just leave him there screaming. Called the nursery an hour later to find that he took 2 minutes to calm down and was quite happy and content. When I went to pick him up he was fine. Brought him back home, he wouldn't nap, but he did stay in his cot for an hour, banging around, but not crying, so that was an improvement. We have moved his furniture round in his room to see if that helps.

This evening, he cried as soon as Matt left the room, he went in a couple of times, and then told him in no uncertain terms that he was going to have to cry it out as it was obvious he was trying it on. He settled in about 10 minutes and was asleep by 7.10pm a huge improvement, but today is the first day he hasn't had a daytime nap. We will see what happens for the rest of the week. I'm quite concerned that he may now have dropped his afternoon nap, not good for my cake business, means I lose 10 hours a week caking time. Guess I shouldn't take more than 2 cake bookings a week for a while.

So that's us.

Success!

As Nik alluded to in her last post, I made it my mission this week to get Tom to say "Tom". And tonight, he finally did it. It's taken quite a lot of practice, but he must have said it a good 10 times this evening while I was reading him his bedtime story.

We now need to make sure he doesn't forget it - more practice required....

More Wabbit!

On Saturday we decided to go to meet up with Auntie Jude and visit Park Hall Farm, a farm attraction near to Oswestry.

We all had a good time, first stop in the farm was the small animals; one of Tom's new words is 'wabbit' so he was very happy, plus they allowed us to pet them. Tom was quite happy to sit next to Matt & me and stroke the rabbit which was ace (lovely soft fur - I want one now!)

Next stop was to see the horses, these were a little too big for Tom, who would only go so far before quivering. One of the extra big horses came out, I tried to get Tom to stroke him, but he was adamant he wasn't going too, and there was no point in forcing him.

We then found an indoor play area, which was good for Tom, and a room full of classic motorbikes, which was good for Matt. After a clamber around the soft play area we got the first tractor ride around the farm. We thought Tom would be mega excited to be on a tractor (well a tractor trailer anyway) but he took it in his stride and didn't really show any excitement at all - didn't even want to stand up. Oh well, we tried.

Next stop was the pig racing, we thought there was no way we were going to see pigs run of their own free will and that there would be bribes involved, but no, a group of 5 big pigs came thundering down the race track. I of course backed the losing pig (Pepper)!

Then lunch, a stroll round the maize maze which we didn't really understand and anyway, Tom just cheated, refusing to follow any of the tracks. Next was the cow milking (too scary for Tom), and then a walk to see some ducks, donkeys and highland moos. Needless to say, Tom slept almost all the way home.

Sunday was sunny so we decided to go for a ride on the bikes. We drove to Gnosall and joined cycle path 55 along the old railway line to Stafford, where we had a picnic in the main square before cycling back again. It was 14 miles altogether, but quite easy as more or less flat (although I couldn't keep up with Tom and Matt)

Tom's speaking is getting better and better, although he still refuses to say his name - saying either Mummy / Daddy / me / when you ask him. Matt is determined this week to get him to say it - it's not as if it is a hard name to say. We will see what happens.

Oh, almost forgot to mention - Tom had his 3rd haircut on Friday and didn't cry. I'm not saying he was very well behaved, and I still had to cuddle him and Matt had to distract him with photos on his iPhone, however, he didn't cry and that was a huge step forward. Matt has visions of having Father / Son haircuts together - we've got a step further.

Oh, and we went out for dinner on Friday night, to a tapas bar in Bridgnorth which was WONDERFUL, definitely will go back. We are going out quite a bit at the moment as our babysitter is 8 months pregnant - she wants to fit in as much going out as possible before the new baby arrives, we aren't arguing. Will be interesting to see how long it takes before babysitting starts up again after baby arrives.

Big hugs with my girlfriend

This is slightly out of date order, but Tom met up with his 'girlfriend' last Friday, they hadn't seen each other for 3 weeks and were very excited to see each other. This is their greeting to each other - how cute!

Ouch and even more ouch

A busy weekend. Auntie Vera came to stay for the weekend and Tom took to her straight away which was fab, in fact I think he is missing her now - he was so solemn when she left!

So, whilst we were waiting for Vera on Saturday morning we decided to do our usual bike ride (we haven't done it since before going to London for one reason or another). We immediately realised how much fitness we have lost, as it seemed much harder than it should have done :0(.

We then waited and waited for Vera. We were expecting her around 11.30, but she appeared at 1.00, just as we were giving up and going out for lunch. She literally saved herself by a couple of minutes - I was drawing her a map of where to find us as she arrived. So we took her to 'Tom's Club' for lunch - Matt and I couldn't get past the calzones as usual (mine was full of goats' cheese this time which was really very yummy). When we got home, Tom and Vera went for their afternoon naps after which we went to David Austin Roses, so that Tom could run round and Vera look at the flowers. Tom was in an extremely good mood and ran all over the place. It was obviously a good day for gliders as they were being towed up into the sky every 5 or so minutes which was added interest for Tom - 'Plane...Wow plane'!

We came back and introduced Vera to Jambalaya for dinner. It was 8pm before Tom got to bed - naughty boy, latest he's been to bed in a long while.

Sunday we decided to do the Coalbrookdale Watercourses walk - our favourite one for Tom. We had a good time and Tom did really well, walking the whole way round until he stepped in some nettles whilst playing football and then we had tears - understandable, it was his first experience of a nettle sting and he got a few together poor thing. We then took Vera to the Green Wood Centre for lunch which is always a pleasant experience. Then home for a nap for Tom and for Vera and I to make plum jam. Vera had collected a load of windfall damsons from her work and thought she should bring them up to me for jam making (how clever of her - especially as she didn't warn me) I pulled out my plum jam recipe from school and before we knew it had 2lbs of plums on the boil and filled 4 jars full of it.

The afternoon was spent playing with Tom, then a meal of chicken wings before bath and bed (7.30 tonight - still late for Tom!)

Monday morning came too quickly and before we knew it we were saying goodbye to Vera - Tom wasn't very happy, he really enjoyed himself with her. It was pretty well behaved and ate up as usual at lunch and dinner time which was good, as sometimes when we have visitors he likes to show off and not eat. In fact he is eating huge amounts at the moment, his appetite is mammoth and he's eating things that he's turned his nose up at before. The only thing we can't get him to eat is salad vegetables, but I'm sure they will come in time.

Monday afternoon we went to Telford Town Park - wow it was full, never seen so many people there before. Makes me wonder where all the toddlers are during term time though?! Anyway we got to the playground and Tom suddenly burst into tears, for what looked like no reason, so I had a closer look and noticed a black and yellow insect in his hair (a wasp or a hornet). I shooed it away, took a closer look and found a red spot just behind his ear and a sting still in the spot. I pulled it out and called Matt quickly to find out what to do. He did his research and found that vinegar is good so I went to the chip van and asked for some to dab behind his ear. He was incredibly brave, only cried for a minute, which was amazing, the back of his ear blew up, but he didn't show any signs of distress, although he was very quick to show his Dad his wound on his return home. He ate well at dinner time so no there were no ill effects.

Tom's speaking has improved quite a bit this week - not so much with new words, but using the possessive: "Mummy's towel", pointing to things and saying "Mummy's, Daddy's", when we go round the supermarket, he has to tell me for whom everything is i.e. "Daddy's" when we are in the beer aisle, "Mummy's" when I pick up yoghurt etc. He has also started using the indefinite article "a bus, a cat, a train, a juice" and possessive pronouns: "my car, my ball". So we are definitely getting there, his understanding is getting much better as well now. He seems to have matured noticeably recently as well, in the park he walked up the big slide and came down it all by himself when there were lots of big kids around him which would have been unheard of a month ago.

Typical British BBQ in the Freezing Cold!

Another busy weekend. Saturday was grey and miserable, and as Tom had been requesting 'more train' since we got back from London, we decided to take him on a little journey. So we drove to Shifnal station and got the train to Codsall, had lunch in the pub there (on the station platform so you could watch the trains go past) and back again. It wouldn't have been much of an outing 3 years ago, but with an excitable 2 year old who gets very excited around trains it was a lovely day out. He also ate well in the pub which was fab.

Saturday afternoon we walked round to Asda to get some beer for tomorrow. Not very exciting, and normally a toil for me with a stubborn toddler who wants to go by car, not today, today it was very exciting to walk / run to Asda and he pretty much ran the whole way there and back - I wish I could fathom out his mind and be able to work out when he will walk and when he won't!

Sunday Simon, Clare, Jake and Amber came to visit. They haven't been up for 2 years - very bad considering we've been to there's many many times! We had decided to do a bbq as the weather had been so good, and it meant that the kids would be able to run around in the garden. Famous last words! The clouds closed in and the wind blew. With the set up of our house it is quite difficult to have a bbq in the garden to eat in the kitchen, so we decided we would be 'typically British' and sit outside and shiver whilst eating the bbq! It was cold, wet and windy but we stuck it out until we started shivering and decided enough was enough and we would have to go in.

Amber and Tom both had their naps, and then we decided to go for a walk to tire out the kids. We timed it perfectly, as soon as the cloud burst ended we headed out and actually managed to get some sunshine. We did the circular walk around Granville. Jake headed out - he was in full steam ahead mode and once Tom warmed up he was very happy to chase after his cousin. We managed to have a really nice afternoon and Tom and Jake really enjoyed each other's company running around. Amber, though has to get the star medal as the best behaved child - all smiles and although I was told she cried when she was in bed, I didn't hear it!

The kids all had their dinner when we got back and then all three had a bath together before getting into their PJs and Tom to bed and the other two in the car home. Although lunch was quite cold and shivery we did have a good time.

More pictures!

Just found some more pics from the weekend including some from the Natural History Museum, you will now find them in the last blog post.

More train!

Last weekend was a very exciting week for Tom as he went to London to visit his Grandparents. We picked him up from nursery on Wednesday afternoon and whisked him down south in what was a very smooth journey, helped by the fact he slept for most of it. When we got there Grandpa was home and Tom was surprisingly not shy and got to work in the garden, playing with the wheelbarrow, his tent and a space hopper - more than enough to keep a young lad busy. He was very nervous of the cats though, a hang up we think from the weekend and his war wounds from the pub cat (which he proudly showed his Grandpa). After a good run around during which his Grannie came home, Tom sat up at the table for dinner - tomato pasta - as you can see his hands and his mouth enjoyed the majority of it!

Thursday Pat and Bob took us to Beale Park (near Reading) a park with some animals (birds, sheep, goats, pigs etc) a miniature train, a HUGE sand pit, 2 paddling pools and a 'Little Tykes' play area full of all their play equipment, in short a great place to take a toddler. Tom had a great time and his stamina held up for the day including a side trip to watch trains from Pangbourne station. I couldn't convince him to go for a paddle, but he had a wonderful time in the Little Tykes play area and had two rides on the miniature railway. We were all shattered by the end of the day.

Friday, Matt and Bob took Tom on a double decker red bus to Clapham Junction where he train spotted for a good 40 mins. Apparently he was very well behaved and didn't loose interest once. I took the chance to go to Kingston to get some clothes (as you can see from latest photos of me, I've been getting very scruffy recently) Not my idea of a fun morning, but I managed to get myself some new clothes which fit better than the old clothes. Tom had a long afternoon nap and then spent the afternoon playing in the garden. Tom had his favourite for dinner tonight - curry. It was going well, until he gurgled on his yoghurt and brought the whole lot up again - it was projectile vomit as well and went everywhere! Made a wonderful mess of Grannie and Grandpa's dining room! Just as well it was hot to dry the rug.

Saturday - Matt's birthday - we visited one of Pat's friends in the morning (has a 4 month old kitten whom Tom was scared of) then explored the local playground before lunch, nap and then a ride on a bus and then the underground 'dark!' to South Ken and the Natural History Museum. We thought we would show Tom the dinosaurs and big mammals - see what he thought of them. He loved them: 'roar...Roar...ROAR' was his reaction to the dinosaurs - funny, he doesn't know what a skeleton is, but was able to immediately associate it with an animal. There was a fully animated life size T Rex at the end of the exhibition, we thought that he might be scared of it (seeing as he was scared of a 4 month old kitten earlier) but no, he was absolutely fine with it! How does his mind work?

He also enjoyed the big mammals - especially as there was a good exhibit about mammoths (or was that us that enjoyed that bit?). We met up with one of Matt's friends at the museum, then they went off to meet up with some Japanese translators and Tom and I went home.

Sunday morning saw us in Godalming Crematorium with Jude, John and Shirley for the scattering of Nanny's ashes, then to a nice little tea room nearby which specialises in Welsh Rarebit (fantastic). Next stop was RHS Wisley for a look around the gardens (looking particularly wonderful). Tom was tired by this time, so he had a ride in a pushchair (first time he had been in a pushchair for 6 months) He loved it and made his displeasure known every time we tried to get him to walk! Oh well, so he was king for a day. It was really weird to see Matt with a pushchair, and he said it felt very strange too. We stopped for a drink and a bun before heading back off home (Tom fell asleep in the car). Then a little play, dinner, bath and an exhausted sleep. Matt and I then went out to the Afghan restaurant down the road for a wonderful birthday dinner.

Monday and already it was home time. We walked up to Waitrose to get ourselves a picnic and then headed out. Stopped at Charlecote Mannor (National Trust) to eat it and then carried on home. Anyway a very pleasant week was had by all. Tom certainly knew how to play up to his grandparents (refusing to eat) but also hugs and kisses. He slept really well which was fab, and was in good humour most of the time and the weather was faultless - hardly ever a cloud in the sky, I think we all got a tan.

Words / phrases of the week: Taxi, more train, wow train,

Thanks to Pat and Bob for looking after us so well and to Jude for bringing back everything we forgot (cake, Thomas annuals etc)