First day of school

Charlie's started school, he's no longer a preschooler he's a schoolboy! His first day was Thursday 4th September 2014 from 9am - 11.15am.

He's in squirrel class and already loves his teacher Miss M and support assistant Miss K. He was excited and scared on his first day, complaining of a stomach ache and when I said it was probably butterflies in his stomach he said "the butterflies are biting my tummy Mummy!". As soon as we got to school and he saw all the different toys his tummy was fine. Eve and I stayed with him for 10 minutes, we found his peg and hung up his bag and book bag and went round the activity tables as he chose to play with a toy farm and a little people train track, he gave the Lego a glance but settled at the farm.

On collection he was still excited but noticeably tired. I brought some apples and grapes for him to eat on the way home and he told me about his day. That he'd answered his name at register but couldn't remember his teacher's name, that they'd played a game - throwing a ball and saying their names - and he was 4th to get the ball and that they'd been out in the playground.

The next day he got a special sticker because he counted to 100 in front of the class with his teacher - he (and we) were so proud!

Nursery Graduation Day

Last week Charlie graduated from nursery. Tom took a half day and I kept C home in the morning to enjoy some more mama/son time before baby arrives. The three of us walked over to the nursery in time for the ceremony, it was a hot hot day with a brilliant blue sky and a few wispy white clouds.

The graduation was a little OTT, they are only 4! But lots of effort had been made to make it as much fun for the kids as possible. The temperature didn't help, with a lot of people sitting on child size chairs in a hot marquee, but otherwise it was a lovely afternoon.

It started off with the nursery choir singing some songs, then each child was called up by his/her key carer to 'graduate' and collect their goodies - certificate, teddy bear, photo of them in a cap and gown and a medal. After we'd got through all the kids, they all went up to the front to sing a special song - it was the goodnight song from CBeebies, but with the words changed to say 'The time has come to say goodbye...' Then it was time to release some balloons and a general melee at kids and parents were released from the hot marquee!

Charlie is actually staying on at nursery until school starts in September. We felt it best to keep his routine as similar as possible with the new baby arriving, as we didn't want to hit him with leaving his friends at nursery (only 3 are going to his primary school and he doesn't play with any of them...), new baby AND new school in just one month. Some of his friends with older siblings on holiday have now left so this last week he's been having fun helping out with the new 3 year olds who have joined the class! I'm also taking him out of nursery at least one day a week to spend some time with him before the baby arrives.

- Drinking Daddy's water in the hot marquee
- C&T with graduation pic
- Proud boy with his medal
- Collecting his medal from carer Daisy (and nursery manager Mandy). Another carer, Ana is on the left and the little girl on the left is his very best friend from nursery, little miss M.
- Admiring his medal and teddy bear
- Released balloons

Flashback 4 years

Looking back at the boy on 21st June for the last 4 years...

2010 - sleepy boy in moses basket

2011 - Lying down for a drink

2012 - Nap time

2013 - New hat

2014 - First time in the new paddling pool

Charlie on the beach

Beachy gems from the last 4 years...

Aug 2010 - 3 months - Lyme Regis

July 2011 - 1 yr, 2 mnths - Selsey

July 2012 - 2 yrs, 2 mnths - Isle of Wight

Aug 2012 - 2 yrs, 3 mnths - Greatstone

July 2013 - 3 yrs, 2 mnths - Pagham

June 2014 - 4 yrs, 1mnth - Broadstairs

Charlie at 4 years

4 year olds are fun... and full of beans, highly strung, argumentative... I could go on. C knows his own mind and lets us know. The best days are ones where we've given him plenty of time to run around and burn off all his excess energy. He is very loving, giving hugs and kisses unprompted and will most times say please and thank you without prompting.

He loves his friends, little miss M and little master B at nursery are his best friends and it's lovely watching the three of them play together. There's lots of hugs, kisses and chasing round and round.

He's pretty much grown out of Thomas the Tank Engine, no longer wanting to play with train tracks - a fixture of our living room for the past 2.5 years! But he still loves going on train trips and reading The Little Red Train books. Toys he loves at the moment are - mini plastic dinosaurs, castle, knights and dragons he got last week for his birthday, play house and shop - pouring tea in the tea set, selling toy food through his new toy till and cooking toy food on Mummy's old toy cooker at Granny and Grandad's house, the alien hammer game (like whack'a'mole) and Dino Bite (taking eggs from a dinosaur nest before the dino bites!). Plus scooting on his scooter, he's not got he hang of his bike yet and prefers scooting in the garden or on the way to the park. In the garden he loves having a bowl of water and washing his plastic animals or pebble collection and he adores blowing bubbles for the cat to chase.

He still loves reading, our book choices at the moment are those about having a new baby and starting at school. He also likes Peter Rabbit stories and haunted house books, including Funny Bones and Creepy Castle. On TV his favourite shows are Wooly and Tig, Alphablocks and Peter Rabbit, films he loves are The Frog Princess, Rapunzel and Totoro.

He loves our cat Baxter, it's a love/hate relationship between the two, but it's nice to see the two of them interacting, first thing in the morning Baxter will weave around Charlie's legs as he gives him a nice stroke.

He seems to like the idea of having a baby sister and will kiss and hug my bump. We talk a lot about when the baby get's here and the different type of things we'll do.

He's still a fussy eater but manages to get a balanced diet. Carrots and cucumber are vegetables I know he'll eat, along with apples, grapes, orange and melon. Tomato and cheesy pasta is one of his favourite dishes and he loves a good old ham sandwich with ketchup.

He recognises lots of letters and can say the alphabet, he also recognises some words, his name and 'no' being the main ones. He can count pretty much up to 100 and can do simple additions.

He sleeps from 7pm to 6am and we've just got a sleep trainer clock. He knows that he needs to stay in bed when the stars are showing and that he can get up when the sunshine comes out.

Toilet training is pretty much complete, he has a very occasional accident, but now get's through most days without needing to change his pants.

He can be painfully shy at times, he's fine with his friends at nursery and family,but if there's lots of people in one place (at birthday parties, or the parents coming to the nursery Easter parade) he doesn't like it. He'll become hidey and clingy and stick to me like glue.

Favourite clothes are his turquoise Verbaudet hoodie (it has velcro smiley or sad faces and says 'This is how I feel today' - C loves choosing, but ALWAYS chooses the very happy face :)'. He also has a spiderman hoodie he likes to wear, stripy socks, a pink and a white long sleeved T-shirt and a grey top with dog faces on. He has a pair of cream coloured cargo trousers which say 'Beware the Lions in Africa' which he is crazily attached to! He likes his green dinosaur winter coat and navy blue gilet with grey hood. He has navy blue clarks shoes with flashing red lights and little red trainers with stars on from M&S. He's a shoe size 7.5 and has moved from an F-width to a G.

His memory is excellent, often talking about things I would have expected him to have forgotten.

4 may sometimes be a trying age, but he's still at heart a polite, loving little boy. He has a killer giggle and is happy most of the time.

Kitted out for the wedding

The boys had a mini fashion show to try out their outfits. I'm so pleased with how they look, and C-bear's suit really matches with Daddy's even though they're from completely different shops!

Reben the cat joined in too!

And here's a close up of the Daddy and Baby bear love.

Smart dressed 21 month old at the wedding

Charlie will be almost 22 months old when we get married, it's taken a while but we've almost got his outfit sorted! We've found the cutest suit for him from Monsoon:

Daddy Bear's suit is also grey, so they should match, plus it's not got a collar and the trousers have a stretchy waist so should be super comfy for him.

We've also got a smart black overcoat for him to wear outside, T found it in the M&S sale:

T also got a little navy shirt with pale blue bow tie in the sale, so that's on stand-by in case of spillages on the day :)

I've searched everywhere for a long sleeved toddler bib with a suit or tux design, but can't find one, so we've gone for this Tux bib from Rockabye-Baby on Notonthehighstreet.com (my favourite store for nice, original presents if a little expensive):

We'll get a plain longsleeved bib to go under it, so he doesn't get the Wedding Breakfast down his new suit!

As our page boy, C will also get a mini buttonhole to match his Dad and the rest of the Groomsmen!

Still not sure about shoes, his current ones our brown, but they may have to do, it seems a little OTT to buy smart black ones just for one day!

My 20 month old

At 20 months you're so grown up! You're stringing short sentences together, you're understanding loads and will follow out quite complex instructions. You're learning and remembering lots of family names, aunties, uncles and cousins all feature in our conversations and you remember tiny little details from when you last saw them (cousin Max playing with the ABC abacus etc).

Toys and the boy

Speaking - you string short sentences together, repeating everything we say and also putting them together yourself - Daddy cough, Caitlin's hat, out now, nice sausage etc.

Teeth - You still only have 8, 4 at the top and 4 at the bottom, in the centre of your mouth. You don't have molars so can't chew properly yet.

Food - ooh you're a little monkey, you turn your nose up at a lot of meals (today spicy pork meatballs, you had a few spoonfuls and spit it all out). If anything is lumpy or needs to be chewed a lot you immediately spit it out. You love pasta - lasagne, bolognese, etc, also fish pie, chicken & rice, chicken noodles, sausages, grapes, apples, yoghurts, peas, toast, shreddies, cheerios. You hate porridge and can't be persuaded to try it.

Early in the morning with Mama

Sleep - something you're pretty good at. Bedtime is 7pm sharp and you sleep through until about 6.30pm. Occasionally you wake extra early and won't go to sleep, but that only happens once every couple of months.

Clothes - you're in a mix of 12-18 and 18-24 month old things. Quite a lot of hand-me-downs from Felix and Otto (red fleece, tons of jeans, brown & orange stripy jumper) and new Xmas clothes - stripy blue, red, green tank top, blue and white hand knitted scarf from Aunty Em and robot pyjamas.

Monster gown

Toys - you love your cuddly toy cat, bunny, monkey and elephant. Duplo lego bricks, building towers and playing with the clear blue ice cube blocks. Wooden jigsaws including the retro 50s zoo and transport ones, choo choo trains - wooden with magnets.

Books - So many, we read at least 3-4 a day, favourites include Slinky Malinki Opens the Door (Malinky), The Gruffalo (Gr'lo), Thomas the Tank Engine (Thomas), Big Book of Animals (anmals), Hairy McClary (doggies) and Waybuloo (JoJo).

Nursery - Joyce is still your favourite, but you also like Louise and Jordana and last week you learnt to say Helen (manager who works in the downstair's room). You've made friends with Caitlin, a little girl a month younger then you (today we met up with her and her Mama in the park, you two got on so well, playing together, giggling and running around), and you also have a friend called George.

In the park

Other stuff - you've just started to learn colours, you can identify blue and red, you know most others, but can't yet be prompted to identify them. You love being outside, walking around, playing at the play park, chasing little friends, peepo around trees, visiting the statue and acorn pile in the park.

Family Day

When my Granny died my Grandad married again and my Dad has a half brother and sister 10 or so years younger then him. With Christmas being so busy and full of people we didn't get see this side of the family in the holiday, so this weekend we all met up in Crawley for a late festive family get together.

First of all we stayed over at T's parents and in the morning collected our new car. Daddy, Nana and Grandad went to get it whilst C-bear and I went to the park. It was v cold (very very very cold, brrrrr) and everything was covered in frost. C-bear wasn't so sure about getting frost on his mittens!

Peepo Mama!

It was so nice driving in the Zafira, so much space and so much more power then our little Corsa, we could actually overtake cars whilst going uphill on the motorway! 16 of us got together for our family day. C was most excited by his half-cousins once removed (!) Felix (4) and Otto (3), they are happy, fun, boisterous boys and C was in awe. We had tea, chatted and put together a new corner sofa! The three boys then sat on the sofa with a duvet... for about 5 seconds, before continuing a constant whirl of activity, jumping on the new sofa and sliding on the wooden floor. We did have some quiet time with books:

Had a brilliant lunch, cooked in the aga and including cottage pie, roast chicken, beef stew, jacket potatoes and veggies, and then went for a nice walk around Ifield Green. We ended up at the local play park:

Our little family on the roundabout

On the swing "kicking" Daddy caused many giggles

My beautiful Daddy Bear

The day was a little more eventful by a quick hospital visit on the way home. C caught conjunctivitis (it came on really suddenly) and the chemist couldn't give us the medicine over the counter for an under 2-year old, so they told us to go to the 24hr health centre which was actually the Urgent Treatment Unit of the hospital. They were really good there, we were seen quickly and given drops for C's eye. So a rather lengthy end to a really nice day!

Lego and on having a 20 month old!

This is a post I've been meaning to write since Christmas. Our little man got a lot of Duplo sets and is now addicted to building towers and knocking them down again. He got:

- LEGO Duplo zoo from Mama and Daddy
- LEGO Duplo starter set, also from Mama and Daddy along with
- A random box of LEGO Duplo blocks that came free with the above
- LEGO Duplo farm nursery from Nana and Grandad
- LEGO Duplo large brick box from Nana and Grandad
- LEGO Duplo Big Tractor from Uncle Simon and Aunty Nicki

He loves the stuff, calls it 'tower', 'blocks' or 'lego' and particularly likes it when Daddy builds a big tower and then plays around with him before finally letting him knock it down. Here's some Lego snaps from the last month:

Some other thoughts on having a 20 month old (OMG he's 20 months!!!)
- He's chatty, chatty, chatty, learning and repeating words all the time, over Christmas he started stringing two or three words together. Mostly possessive like 'Grandad's chair', 'Willow's tail', Mama's drink' but also 'hot tea hot', 'more cheese' and 'stop's sore' (when I put Sudocrem on his behind).
- He's running around, but also quite clumsy, the last 3 days he's run into door frames and walls at least 4 times, he now knows to go to the fridge and get 'Mr Bump' our cool pack to put on his head :( I am using Arnica Gel and it's like a magic potion to help the bumps fade away.
- He's quite a fussy eater, he knows what he likes - sausages, cheese, toast, fish pie, lasagna, pasta bake, grapes, apples - but also knows what he doesn't like and completely refuses to try it once he's had it once and not liked it, I constantly give him tomatoes, but he never tries them now, he used to love them but not at the moment.
- Favourite toys - Duplo, choo choo train (wooden train set), garage and cars, Percy (green Thomas the Tank engine train), jigsaws, monkey, elephant, cat, Henry doll (made by Granny), T-rex.
- Favourite books - Slinky Malinki's Christmas Crackers (I'm so sad Christmas is over and we've put the book away for another year), Thomas's Busy Day, Hairy Maclary, The Gruffalo, The Tiger Who Came to Tea (he loves pointing at the Daddy), 100 Animals, Wheels on the Bus and many many more!
- Clothes - now properly fitting the 18-24 month stuff - wears a lot of jeans and rugby tops, long sleeve tops from Gap - green with robots, blue with a dinosaur, black with a polar bear - robot pjs, navy cords and little cardigan.
- He loves going for walks in the park. Running around and deciding where he wants to go. We always have to visit the statue in CPP and the pile of acorns (not sure what he'll do when they disappear, but they've been there since October), he loves play parks and will happily go down the slide, he's ok on easy steps but needs help getting up the wooden ladder ones, loves swings again (went through a stage of not liking swinging at all), quite likes the roundabout and will happily sit on the blue plastic dino and watch the other kids running around.
- Independence - he's got a small stubborn streak and is getting particularly naughty at lying on his back to have his nappy changed. When we put him on the change mat (still have it in the cot to stop him from escaping) he now flips over and curls up in a ball. He can be coaxed out of it after a few minutes but changing him is becoming a long process.
- Mummy's boy, he still absolutely loves me over anyone else, it's lovely and I love all the attention but sometimes he can be v v clingy, and gets so upset if I leave the room.

Memories, Dreams, and Reflections

Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. A look back on my favourite photos from the past year.

I saw this on The Paper Mama and thought it was great, so here's my photo year! If you like the idea  please do post your own and put a link in my comments box.

Me! - picture of yourself (you don't have to show your face). What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2011? Successfully juggling going back to work and raising my boy.

I Love You - picture of your husband, boyfriend, children, pets, etc. 

Still Laughing... - a moment you're still laughing about now...tell us a story.: he was being so naughty, but that little cheeky face just makes me want to laugh and laugh. C-bear now knows he's not allowed to jump on the sofa, but that evening in October was the first time he found out just how fun (and dangerous) it can be!

Winter Wonderland - a picture that reflects Winter.: taken at this time last year, we had tons of snow, so dressed the boy up warm in his little bear suit and went out to enjoy.

Birthday - share a birthday picture (your own or someone you love). C's 1st birthday, last May. We had a picnic in Crystal Palace Park with lots of his baby friends but I only remembered the hats at the end, so these 3 lucky boys got to play with them. Seconds after this photo was taken both C and Theo were in tears, only Toby really liked wearing the hat.

Friends - a picture with friends (this could be your friends or your children with their friends).: We met up with Daisy and her parents for a day out at Hever Castle in November. They actually get on really well, there was some snack jealousy involved in this photo and they're both eyeing the other up over who has the better snack!

I Was Inspired... - could be a picture of your inspiration (person or thing), or inspired by...: Les Mis (both the book and the musical) I love it and we've selected a passage from it for one of our readings at our wedding this Feb (I won't put it here as I'm sure I'll post about it in the next couple of months!)

Spring Fever - a picture that reflects Spring. Taken in CPP last April, I love this little tree, the blossom is beautiful and stands out against the blue blue sky.

Travel or Vacation - a picture taken on vacation or on a recent travel experience...even if it was only a few miles away.: We had our summer holiday in Selsey on the South Coast, our house was just 2 mins from the seafront and this was the view C-bear and I saw on our early morning walks.

Summer Days - a picture that reflects summer: An Indian summer, this was actually taken on 1st October, we had one amazingly hot hot day, so we dressed in T-shirts and had a final fling with the summer before autumn well and truly set in.

A Day In My Life - a picture of a typical day in your life: Up early, messy hair, just Mama and the boy (Daddy having a lie in).

All Smiles - a picture that makes you smile or of smiling faces.

Autumn Harvest - a picture that reflects Autumn/Fall.

Family or Home - a picture of your family or a picture that represents family/home for you.

Celebrate! - a picture that reflects a celebration: this one may need some explanation! I'm here playing Ticket to Ride with my soon to be sister-in-law on Christmas eve eve. We are both quite addicted to the game and this was a new version I'd given her the day before as a late bday pressie, we don't get a lot of time to play it (tons of small pieces so the boy needs to be in bed), and that night celebrated the fact that we could with 5 games in a row!

Let's Do It Again... - a picture of something you'd like to do again soon. : Day out with friends to Hever Castle

I Miss You - a picture of someone or something you really miss.: My Cuztwin, she lives up in Dundee and we only see her a handful of times a year.

Beautiful - a picture of someone or something you find beautiful.: My beautiful boy - it couldn't be anything else!

Dress Up - this might be a picture from Halloween or not...but someone who is all dressed up!

Macro - share your favourite macro or close-up image: baby hands playing with seaweed

Holidays - a picture from the Holiday of your choice.: Christmas!

My Favourite - share your favourite picture or memory from 2011.: so many to choose from, but I love this pic, it shows him at the v start of his independence, walking properly and deciding where he wants to go, rather then being in the buggy or carried by me.

Don't Ever Change - something you love about yourself, someone, or something that you never want to change.: C's excitement over new books. I love reading, books are important to me, I work in the book industry, read a novel a week and love finding a really good story. Over the last few months C-bear has also got really into books, it's an important part of our days, cuddling together over a picture book, listening to the story, pointing at the pictures and repeating what he sees, I hope as he grows C continues to love books as much as I do.

Just Because...So There! - share any picture(s) that you really want to share, but doesn't fit in any other category: Completely random, this is the beetroot tarte tatinFearnley Whittingstall at River Cottage with my work earlier in the year!

Hopes and Dreams - share what you hope to come or dream for 2012. Feel free to share an image of your choice: This is part of the venue we're getting married in on Sat 25th Feb 2012!