Being helpful

I like to help Mummy round the house. I often help with the laundry, putting things in the machine or hanging things up, although Mummy says I put clean things in the machine, and hang up dirty things, but I still think I am helpful.

But one of my favourite jobs is hoovering, or vacuuming as Daddy calls it, but I can say 'hoover' and not 'vacuum'.

This is me doing it all by myself. Aren't I clever!

Balloons!

Today I went to the Light Party (an alternative to Halloween) and we had lots of fun doing drawing and playing games and singing, but my favourite bit was the balloons.

I played with a purple one but it burst when I fell on it. I wasn't scared at all, because it only made a loud noise and I wasn't hurt, but I had to find some more, so I got these two and then ran round the room with them. It was fun but Mummy didn't let me bring them home.

I can rock the 70s (part 2)

This is one of my favourite toys right now. It is 'horsie', but I have decided to call him Neigh Neigh now I've learnt what noise horses make. I decided on that name myself. He was Mummy's when she was little, so he is from the 70s (see what I did with the title?).

Here I am on him in my jim-jam-jamas and in my posh new dress.

I can rock the 70s

For those who don't get what 'rock' means in this context, Mummy says it is a fashionista's term meaning 'to wear something with panache'.

So here I am, rocking an original 1970s dress that was Mummy's! Grandma says Mummy never wore it, but I do, and it is fab. I like retro fashion.

My pose is because Mummy told me to put down my prop (a blue colander, a nice colour clash I thought) and just smile.

I can sign a rainbow

At signing class this term we have been doing colours and the rainbow song. I have been asking Mummy what colour things are a lot lately (by pointing and going 'ugh!' which is my usual way of asking things) and she has been telling me and showing me the signs.

I have been practising in secret and today decided to show Mummy and daddy, so this morning I was very excited to see Daddy has put Mummy's tea in a yellow mug. I pointed and went 'ugh!' and Mummy said 'yes, a yellow cup' and I signed yellow. She was so excited!

Then later I got Mummy to sing the rainbow song, and I signed blue. I already sign pink - I started that a week ago as I wear a lot of pink.

Then this evening Daddy asked me which cup I was going to put on the tower next and I signed red to him.

I haven't mastered all of them yet but I'm sure I will soon.

Some pictures

I haven't posted any pictures for a while, so I thought I'd post a few shots from recent months.




This is me in my den. Mummy made it for me out of the laundry airers and a blanket and it is my favourite thing. I love to go in it. I refuse to let Daddy in and got very upset when he got in there without me knowing, although I will kiss him through the walls if he is outside. But Mummy is allowed in. Obviously.

I'm sorry my nappy is on show through my tights. It's a bad angle.











When I went to Grandma's recently, she got out a wooden chair made for Uncle Mark when he was a baby. I loved it! It's perfect for sitting on and is like a throne. I loved getting on it myself and reading a book, as you can see.












This is me with Nanny, having fun. Nanny knitted me a load of cardigans for the winter. I am wearing one in my throne picture. They are very cosy.

Even more teeth

I now have 11 teeth. for some reason I am missing on of my bottom middle ones, but I have all my top ones, four molars, and there are some eye teeth threatening to come through now too.

Mummy says she hopes the teething is over by the time I'm two, but I quite like it beecause I get extra cuddles and to go in bed with Mummy and Daddy.

Even Mummy says I'm walking now

After a few weeks of practising, I now am confident enough to walk rather than crawl, so even Mummy says I'm walking!

I sometimes do crawl a bit, especially when I'm tired, but usually I toddle round the house. It's great fun and means I can get into all kinds of places I couldn't really reach before, so I have found all sorts of new toys to play with in drawers.

I like that I can walk on my own because now even if Mummy doesn't want to go somewhere, I can go on my own! Although Mummy usually comes and fetches me back, like in Waitrose. Humph.

Teeth and yet more teeth

I haven't done a teeth update for a while but though I better had as I now have ten!

I have seven front ones. There are supposed to be eight but one of them at the bottom hasn't come through yet. And I have three molars so far, two top ones and one bottom one. They are very painful when they come through but obviously I do my best to be stoic.

Mummy and Daddy say they think it is as painful for them as it is for me, but I think they are lucky to have me in bed with them when it gets too painful for me - I am very warm and cuddly.

I am a swimming genius. Official.

At my swimming lesson today, my teacher Anne said I am a swimming genius. OK, she didn't actually use those words, but I'm pretty sure that's what she meant.

I've been going to lessons for nearly a year now, and I'm getting really good - I always kick and I also use my arms, and can swim underwater too.

Today, Anne said that I kick my legs alternately which is something children don't usually do until they are two or two-and-a-half, and I am still only 14 months! Mummy was very proud.

Apparently it means I will be a good swimmer, not that I will win an Olympic medal for it, but you never know!

These feet were made for walking

I have been promising to write about my walking, and after today I just had to!

I've been taking steps for a while now but Mummy says she won't say I am properly walking till it is, and I quote, my 'preferred method of transportation'. Ashton's Mummy says that is quite harsh. I agree.

Anyway, I do like trying to walk and in the last week or so have been taking up to 21 steps on my own around the house, but I can be quite wobbly and I prefer not to do it outside the house.

Or should I say preferred (ooh look I can do tenses!).

Today I had a go at a bit of walking in my signing class, and it went OK, so after a massive 90-minute nap this afternoon I felt refreshed enough to have a go outside in town.

It went really well. I help Mummy's hand, and walked round Falaise Square, and then decided to walk to Waitrose, and I walked all round Waitrose*, and then nearly all the way home, too! Mummy said I walked for nearly two hours!

It was tiring, but lots of fun. I saw loads of things I never notice in the pram, and although it did take a very long time to get home (and in the end Mummy carried me) I was glad I did it.

It was especially nice to hear people walking past saying how cute I looked. Mummy says this is because I am as small as a nine-month-old so I look like a doll or a genius. In fact my trousers today say 3-6 months on the label, so you can tell how petite I am. But perfectly formed, of course.

At least now I have got some good use of my lovely shoes, because they cost £22 - Mummy says this is a lot of money for something I will only wear for six weeks before I outgrow them. I say look at the use I've had out of those trousers!




*Mummy didn't let me buy the things I chose in Waitrose, but if she had, then I would have bought:
a punnet of blackberries
one tomato
a beetroot
some pre-prepared root vegetables
some new potatoes in herbs in a bag
bathroom cleaner
some bread reduced in price

When I am old enough I will buy the things I want to buy, not what Mummy says we need.

New house!

After a long time, lots of praying, and a lot of God's intervention, we have a new home. It is pretty much everything Mummy and Daddy wanted which is brilliant.

It is a flat walk to town (Mummy's wishlist) and has a downstairs toilet (that was on Daddy's), three bedrooms, a big kitchen/diner, a big living room, parking (Daddy again), and a huge 100ft garden.

I am very happy here, as I have loads of space to play and the kitchen is so big I even have my own cupboard full of things I use to help Mummy cook.

It was fun while we got unpacked, because there were no stairgates, so Mummy tried to block my way with boxes and furniture. As you can see from these pictures, that didn't work! I enjoyed escaping upstairs when she was busy, ha ha.



Sneaking through:





I'm going to make it:




Victory!:



And here are some of me in the garden. I know it looks like Escape From Colditz, but honestly, we have bought a mower now and it's not such a jungle. the garden will need a lot of work but it is great right now as it is all grass for me to crawl about on, and test out my walking (see another post).



I also have my own room now, so I (mostly) sleep in there and I love playing in there with my toys and books.

Wa'izda?

Woohoo! At long last I am back online! It has been ages since I posted on here and partly it is because we moved house and Sky couldn't get us connected to the internet for a month, which is mad.

Anyway, I'm back, and I'm going to post various updates, not in date order, starting with this one.

Wa'izda is my new 'thing'. Mummy is very proud because she says it is my first proper sentence. It means 'what is that?' and I tend to ask it while pointing at things. Mummy isn't finding it annoying. Yet.

I am one!

I had a really lovely party for my birthday. We held it in the church hall, and nearly all of my friends were able to make it, which was great. I wore a very pretty dress Mummy had chosen, but even though it was the right size it was too long for me to crawl around in so I ended up with it tucked in my (matching) knickers so that I could move around easily! Not very elegant, but I could hardly just sit in one place the whole time when there were so many people to play with.


Grandma had organised a handmade cake for me with butterflies on it. It was lovely and had my name on as well. I had one candle and Mummy helped me blow it out because I don't really know how to blow yet.



















After the party, we went for lunch with Nana and Granddad at Pizza Express. Here is a nice picture of Nanna making me really laugh with a fun game while we waited for our food.

I have been very busy...

Well, that's my excuse anyway! Also Mummy's computer has gone very slow and it's difficult to get it to work properly to post, so that's why I haven't kept up-to-date, but I'll try and catch up with all my big news now.

I'm now almost a toddler! I can walk really well when holding someone's hands. today I walked from the spare room to the bedroom holding just one of Mummy's hands, and at the weekend I did two steps totally on my own, plus I can stand on my own for about four seconds, but I think it will be a few more weeks before I can walk totally on my own. I'm really excited about it. I love walking. I make Mummy help me as much as possible, because it is so much fun.

I also do a lot of talking now. I love to chat away in my own language. Some of my words are proper ones like Mummy and Daddy's, like 'duck', 'Dada', and 'Mummum', but mostly I make my own up. I also like to sing, and sometimes I dance too!

I now sleep in my own cot because I'm such a big girl. I am still in Mummy and daddy's room until we move house, when I will get my own room, but I have my own cot now and I go in there almost all night!

My other big achievement is that I sign 'no'. I use it a lot to show when I don't want something, and also when I have been told not to do something, to show I understand. It doesn't mean I'll obey though! Sometimes what I'm not allowed to do is just too tempting not to, like climbing the stairs, or going outside on my own.

Daddy says I'm very cheeky, but I prefer to say I am just free-spirited.

More updates to follow!

Is Mummy a chav?

Today Mummy was very naughty. She took me to a place for lunch she said she wouldn't take me to for years. Daddy was very shocked when he heard. It was called McDonalds.

Mummy only really took me there to change my nappy as it was the only place on the estate of shops where she thought she could do it; she didn't think Argos or Hobbycraft would have somewhere.

But once she'd done that I was yelling for food so she realised she couldn't feed me at home. She bought some chicken things, not nuggets, something else, and just gave me the chicken from the middle.

It was very tasty and I ate loads of it.

But Mummy feels bad for taking me there because she says it isn't 'real' food.

I wanted to take a picture to show you but Mummy said she was too ashamed to get the camera out. She said she felt like 'a right chav' just being in there with me. I don't know what a chav is, but I'm sure my Mummy isn't one.

My Daddy. Mine.

Today while Daddy was having a shower, I crawled into the bathroom and told him, "My daddy".

He was very pleased, and said, "Yes, I am your daddy", so I said "My Dad" and he was all smiley.

Mummy wasn't there but later in the day I said "My Daddy" while playing. He was actually upstairs, but he is still mine even when I can't see him.

Mummy says I am very clever saying a sentence. I don't know what a sentence is, but obviously I AM very clever. It goes without saying.

One, two, three, four, five - another tooth comes out alive!

My fifth tooth has finally broken through the gum today! Actually, Daddy thought it had a couple of days ago but Mummy says it's not official until she says it has, so today is the day.

There aren't any more obviously waiting to come through, so I think I'll just concentrate on getting these ones through fully.

Mummy says she is pleased I still haven't bitten her, not since the first tooth when I got really told off. But if I bit her she might not give me Scrummy* any more, and that would be awful!




*Scrummy is my word for breastmilk. Because it is.

May the fourth be with you!

I have a new tooth! I now have four, two at the bottom and two at the top, and there is another one nearly through at the top as well.

Mummy says I am getting to be a proper toddler and not a baby any more. But of course. I have to grow up!

I can do pulling up and cruising!

Today I really really wanted to be able to stand up and see what was on the sofa (sometimes there are the remote controls which I like to chew and use to order Sky Active things, mainly because it makes Mummy and daddy shout 'no! We might have to pay for something! Don't order us porn!', which makes me laugh).

So I pulled myself up without any help from Mummy or Daddy, and then I cruised along the sofa to get to where I wanted. It was great.

Later, I managed to get from on my hands and knees to sitting again, which will be useful.

Next, I plan to do some walking. It might not be for a while though.

Hello from an old friend

Today (see! I am totally up-to-date now!) I was visited by Leanne, who was Mummy's doula and so was present when I was born.

I only remember her a little bit, so it was really nice to see her again.

We played down by the river, and had a lovely time.

I can do standing!

For a few days I have been pulling myself up on Mummy and trying out standing, but yesterday Mummy showed me how to do it on my own. She helped me stand by the TV table, and I stood for five minutes before I had to have a sit down.

I even moved around a little bit! Mummy says I am super-clever.

Look at how clever I am:

Visiting Droitwich

Droitwich is where my Grandma and Granddad and Nanny and Granddad live, although not in the same house. For the bank holiday weekend (see, I am nearly caught up on my blog!) we all went to visit them. we stayed with Grandma and spent a day at Nanny's.

I did lots of fun things, and had lots of stories read to me and people playing with me, which was fun. I also saw Uncle Martin and Auntie Cheryl.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.



With Granddad Hawes and Eeyore.



With Nanny.



With Granddad Taylor.

Playing with Niamh and Conor

Niamh and Conor are two of my bestest friends. Conor is three and he is keen on me. He brings me toys and builds towers for me to knock down.



Niamh is my inspiring friend - I watch her crawl and cruise to see how it's done, so I can try it myself. Sometimes she is a bit rough with me but Mummy says to fight back, so I do.



These pictures are from when I went to Niamh's house and played in the garden with her tent and tunnels. Conor joined in too. It was really fun.

Visit from my friend

I had a visit from my friend Kian the other day, with his Mummy Emma. My Mummy knows her from her antenatal classes, which apparently happened before I was born - I didn't know things could happen before I was born.



Kian and I had lunch together in our garden, and then we went to the river where he had his first ice-cream. It was really fun and I hope I see him again soon.

Strawberries

I love strawberries. They're sooooo yummy! I had some in the park the other day and they were lovely.
Mummy and Daddy decided to take picutres because they think the way I eat them is funny.
I just hold one and then bite, bite, bite till I can push the last bit in my mouth. OK, the juice runs down my chin, but I don't see why it's so funny.
Anyway, these are the pictures so you can see what you think.




Just checking it over before I begin.
















A testing bite.

















Getting stuck in.













Another inspection.







More chomping.








This one apparently shows what a big mouth I have. How rude.

Going visiting

I am still very behind on telling you all my news. This post is about when I went to see Mummy's friend George in her new flat. George came to visit me when I was very little, and I have visited her in her old house, so it was nice to see her again.


She gave me lovely cuddles and also some snacks which was great because Mummy had forgotten to take my snacks with her!

George has two cats, and although they hid when I first got there, and kept running away from me, I was able to have a stroke with George helping me, although Chicken doesn't look too happy about it.



I love cats so it was very exciting to be able to stroke Chicken. I did try and play with her but she kept walking round the edges of the room so she was as far away from me as possible. I don't know why. All I would do is pull her fur - surely that's not so bad?

Books and boinging to sleep

I have two pictures to share on this post. Mummy says I can call it 'random'.




This one is me enjoying a book. I am very relaxed and really getting into the story.










This one is me after I woke up very, very early one day. Daddy took me downstairs and put me in my Jumperoo but all the boinging made me sleepy and I had to have a little nap. Daddy took this photo before he got me out and took me back to bed.

Playtime with Samuel and Elijah

Last Friday Mummy met up with Nikki and Elijah, and Clare and Samuel, and we all went to the river for the afternoon.


Elijah is too little to play yet, but Samuel and I had lots of fun with all our toys.

We were sitting near a tent, where lots of people were, and Mummy found out later that some man called Steve Redgrave was there. She was a bit cross she hadn't gone over and got a picture of me with him, but I don't care because I don't know who he is.

Visit from Grandma and Granddad

I have got quite behind on my blog because I've been very busy, but I'm trying to catch up now and so this is all about over a week ago when Grandma and Granddad came to visit and we went out for lunch.

We went to the Bottle and Glass in Binfield which was nice. I tried everyone's food but really didn't like the smoked salmon Daddy had - it was all slimy and weird in my mouth.

Afterwards we went home and Grandma read books to me, which was lovely. I like books and being read to a lot. I have a shelf of books and I climb all over Mummy and Daddy so that I can get to them. Grandma read me one of my favourite stories and I concentrated very hard on the pictures and words, as you can see.

I gave everyone lots of kisses because I'd had such a nice time.

Here are some pictures of the day.

All fall down

Today Mummy and I had a fall. Mummy slipped on the steps after swimming and fell and hurt ourselves. I banged my head hard and Mummy took me to hospital but they said I was fine. I had a bit of a headache but am OK. It was scary though. But the good thing was Mummy let me eat as many blueberries as I wanted to make me feel better. I liked that.

My first barbecue

On Saturday we went to a barbecue. It was my very first one so I was quite excited. We went to Anni and Ade's house for it, which is far enough away that I needed a little sleep in the car to pass the time. The house is big and they have three cats, but I didn't see them because they were hiding from all the people.

Mummy said barbecues are outside, but when we got there it wasn't. The cooking thing was, but everyone was inside because it was raining. Mummy said that was probably more like a British barbecue anyway. I don't really know what she meant.

I was the youngest there and got lots of attention which I loved. I did my best smiles and didn't get grumpy at all. There were some other children there who played with me, which was fun.

You can see in this picture that Mummy kept checking I was OK with them, and here I am telling her I am fine and to stop interfering.







Anni is pregnant, which Mummy said means she is growing a baby. That's very exciting, because we can then be friends. It is a boy and will be born in September so I will be 14 months older. Mummy said if I date him he will be my toyboy. But I already have a boyfriend.

This picture is of me and Anni.







We went home in time for me to go to bed, but when we got back Daddy realised he had left his coat and wallet there, so we went back the next day and had lunch. I got to see the cats then, because they weren't so scared, but they wouldn't let me stroke them.

I think I like barbecues. Maybe the next one will actually be outside.

I can do signing

Today at my Sing and Sign class when I saw the toy bird in the toy bag, I used the sign for bird. Mummy was very pleased. I did do it the other day when a bird came on the television, but Mummy thought it might have just been me waving my hands about. Daft Mummy. I know my signs.

So today I did it again and the teacher, Clair, saw and said how clever I am. And I am, aren't I?!

I have been doing the sign for milk for a while now, but I use it just to mean 'give me...food/milk/more/that toy over there', and this is the first time I've used a different sign.

I might do more, I'm not sure. Mummy says I know the bird one because we see the ducks and geese so much and she always signs, but I do know others, I just haven't done them yet. Sometimes it is hard getting my fingers and hands to do the shapes.

Special day out with Daddy

On Friday we had a special day out. We went to the Living Rainforest near Newbury, which has lots of exciting animals. It also has a lot of plants but they are quite boring. I was more interested in the animals, but there were some that Daddy didn't like, called snakes, and one that Mummy didn't like, which was called a spider. I liked them all.

There were some really cool fish there in a tank. Some of them were massive, and black. I liked those.

I've only seen little goldfish before, but these were soooooo big! It was very exciting to see them. Daddy had to hold me very close to the glass so I could get a good look.

I got quite excited when I saw the monkeys they had there. I've read about monkeys in my story books, but I haven't seen any before. These ones were quite small and they ran about a lot which was interesting to watch. I tried to touch them through the glass but it didn't work, so I don't know if they are soft or not. Perhaps one day I will be allowed to touch one.







One of the other things I really liked was the tortoise. It was very big and quite strange. It didn't really move, and just sat under what Mummy said was a heat lamp, but it looked really interesting. I wanted to try and touch it but Mummy held onto me tightly and said I wasn't allowed.
I also liked the ducks they had there. I have seen ducks lots of times, but I do really like them and they are fun to look at. These ducks were a bit different but still ducks. I wanted to touch the duck really badly. You can see how excited I was in this photo. I don't know why no-one will let me touch things. Mummy said something about my eyes not being in my fingers, but I know that. My eyes are in my head. Mummy is silly sometimes.

Here is a picture of me with Mummy and Daddy to show how much we enjoyed ourselves.

Gnocchi are nom

Today Daddy took me and Mummy to Antico, his favourite Italian restaurant.

It was really fun. Mummy ordered me some gnocchi and they came covered in tomato sauce. By the end of it, I was covered too! I ate a whole adult starter portion as well as some of Mummy and Daddy's meals.

I also had cuddles with Valerio, who owns Antico, and with the waiter there. They showed me round the restaurant and were really fun. I liked it there. They even have things on the ceiling so everywhere you look there is something interesting to see. My favourite thing was a brass plate with a picture on it. It was embossed, Mummy says.

I hope we go there again soon. It was very fun. This is me eating my gnocchi.




Here I am covered in tomato. Taaa daaa!





This is me with Valerio



And this is me with the waiter, having a cuddle, and then punching him.







I didn't really punch him. We were playing.