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.