I so wish I could take better photos of you and your brother together as these moments are my favourite. I admit taking photos of one child is a challenge, to get you to together and not moving is near impossible. You still love your brother more than anything, he makes you laugh like crazy and we often have no idea what it is that you find funny. He man handles you, laying things over your head and pushing and pulling you and we tell him to be ‘careful’ and gentle but you are quick to forgive. Thank goodness for your patience and good humour.
Your desire to explore is increasing, you are spending more time moving, energetically rolling around the floor or up and down in your bouncer. Often your brother likes to push you in it like a swing, and you grin back at him. On your play mat you see something you like and you make a bee line for it. You particularly like paper, the sound and texture of it, possibly the taste!? I have no idea quite how you do it, but you can make your way across the living room floor. It’s harder to keep you occupied, and that is taking it’s toll on my spare time but time passes quickly with you.
Evie darling, you are now oficially 6 months old. My goodness how on earth can it be!? You are different to your brother. The most efficiant milk guzzler, fierce finger food eater and a highly vocal voice in this household. We started giving you bits and pieces of food over the last two weeks and you’ve been immediately interested, already doing a good job of grabbing and shoving everything in your mouth. You want to sit and eat with us at the dinner table and sit determined, concentraiting on the best path for food to make it to your mouth as quickly as possible. You take us by surprise, we assume you’re not ready to be sitting in your high chair, but of course you are. You just surprise us every time, like you’ve been doing this stuff for years. You are so young but it’s like you’ve already worked it all out. My guess is you’ll never stop surprising us.
We were particularly fond of Ribbit, which is full of really lovely illustrations, with the story nicely laid out over the pages to build up suspense. Nye always likes books where there is something unexpected, he loves frogs and finds the idea of a pig saying ribbit very amusing. Then there’s the noisy books with interesting sound effects. Snore fits into this category perfectly and we just love the journey of all the animals.
I was asked if I would like to choose some books from 
Disclosure:
As the nights aren’t so dark any more, I caught a lovely shot of you splashing in the bath. We love bath times here, lots of chatter and giggling between you and your brother. It’s an ordinary activity that we will no doubt do thousands of times before you grow big enough to just do it yourself. I can barely imagine those days right now but I know soon I will find myself there, with a little girl and no baby. Already there is talk of weaning, and suddenly I find myself feeling like I’m falling behind on the time scales. Then I look at your ever growing face and realise that it all happens naturally, you have all that learning within you.
I think it every week but you are just growing in every way, so quickly. We say something, you repeat it and then somehow you know it. You can remember it, even call on it at a later date. You have started using more connective words, ‘and’ ‘ has made its first appearance as well as your first “Aneurin”. It kind of seems crazy that it took you 2 years to know your full name. That will serve us right for giving you such an unusual one I guess, but at least you have an interesting story to tell people. You are happy, boisterous, busy and love to make us laugh. Anything you do that raises a smile you do over and over, trying to get the same reaction. Everyone says how happy you are, what a beautiful smile you have and we take it for granted. You are of course difficult in equal measure, because you never do things by halves.
Like most mums I am always on the hunt for a reliable spill proof bottle that I can use while we are out and about. So when I was recently asked if I would like to do a grip ‘n gulp review for Nalgene it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try a new product.
Those curious hands of yours are getting everywhere. You inspect everything with your eyes, then yours hand and then of course your mouth. You are pulling things towards you, wriggling around and kicking madly. I even found you in your cot having turned yourself around 180 degrees the other day, I was quite confused when I went to pick you up. You like all the different textures of things, especially the tickly softness of plants under foot and running through your fingers. You continue to be as cool as a cucumber 99% of the time but have started crying when you are very very tired. It’s a sure fire sign that you’ll be headed off to bed very soon.We’ve had a busy first week of the holiday, crossing off items on the to do list and generally keeping busy as a family of 4. I’m desperately trying to catch up on myself, I know I’ve been neglecting the … Continue reading
Living Arrows 22/52
June 2, 2014 by Jenni Clutten | 3 Comments
Half term saw us back at the lovely Horniman Museum when we realised, once again, what a gem it is for a family day out. You loved the sound garden, bashing the pipes to make a loud ringing sound. We had a picnic outside and then headed in to the aquarium where you enjoyed watching the tidal pool. We attempted potty training this week but decided you weren’t quite ready. You still ask to use it from time to time but we will be waiting a bit longer to try it again but I was so proud when you sat on the big toilet for the first time. You have some amazing moments where you tell me and Evie that we are your ‘best friend’, but this new-found personality is tempered by the times you refuse to do what we are asking. Sometimes it feels like the ‘No’s’ and ‘Why’s’ will last forever! You love to dance and sing and can now sing Baa Baa Black Sheep all the way through! You still love people, you want to talk and play with our neighbours and tell them about yourself and get upset when they have to go. Now if someone asks you ‘what’s your name’ you say ‘NyeRun’ and I love that you have friends at pre school that you talk about every day.
Here you are stealing some beans from your brothers plate, after eating your very first meal out at a restaurant in London. People literally stopped to say hello to you, to see you sitting up in your high chair. They were amazed by you and couldn’t help but stare. You were just concentrating on making your way through chicken, cucumber and beans as if your life depended on it. I am only feeding you 4 times in the day time now and I can feel it won’t be that much longer that you will want your milk. It feels bitter-sweet to see you gaining your independence, grasping these new skills with vigour. Your daddy can’t stand to see you grow up, he wants to cuddle you all day and ensure you’re never a teenager!
Joining in with Living Arrows. Last week I loved this well-loved blanket.
Joining in
Happy Easter everyone! Have you had a good first week of the holiday? We’ve been tackling the spring cleaning here, but that hasn’t stopped us making a bit of a mess in the kitchen.
In your daddy’s arms is where you like to spend your time. He carries you round in the crook of his arm, and even has you sitting on his knee whilst he eats his dinner (one handed.) You two are bestest palls, he knows how to settle you and gives you a thousand kisses a day. When you smile your whole face lights up and your dummy just drops to the floor as every muscle extends into a gummy grin. Your happy disposition amazes us, you rarely fuss or complain you are just contented and we feel so lucky. You are now gently settling into 3 nap times during the day and we are trying to put you down in your cot so you can get used to your own room. Admittedly, at night we miss you when you aren’t snuggled up next to us in bed, but you soon return for your food.
And then I turned my attention to the rest of my seed packets to find that there were more things to plant so I’ve sown some green headed calabrese, white strawberries (wishful thinking I reakon) hollyhocks, and then thought I’d be brave and sow my carott seeds in drills straight into the soil. As a precaution I have planted a row of onions next to them to try and deter the dreaded carott fly that everyone seems to go on about!
Then there’s all those other exciting things, blueberries starting to flower, sweet peas getting bushy, that black hyacinth emerging, and having a go at regrowing celery from the root.
