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.