On the bench

Waiting to come on as a sub on Saturday. Comfy chair.

The Eiffel Finger

Chasbo was so impressed with the Eiffel tower, he wanted to take a photo of it to preserve the memory.

 

Much better was his photo of these Rodin sculptures which really captures the three different stages.

 

 

 

Merry Hallowe'en

We had a fun day yesterday for Hallowe'en. Charlie had been looking
forward to our little party for about 2 weeks and hadn't stopped
talking about it. He thought there would be a birthday cake for some
reason!

We had a giant spider, lots of carved pumpkins, a smoke machine and a
"pumpkin hunt" down the street.

I made a spicy pumpkin soup but burnt my fingers while trying to serve
it - "Doh!"

n nbn nzqq

Potty about the potty

Yesterday we started some proper potty training with Charlie, after getting him used to the idea for a week or two. This involved the Gina Ford method where you don't even leave the house for the first 2 days.

Anyway, without getting in to "too much information", Charlie had about 3 accidents yesterday morning, while getting used to the new routine and then he's been perfect ever since! We're hoping that it just took 4 hours in total - he's a quick learner.

Year 2 video montage

I've just uploaded the video compilation I made of Charlie's 2nd year. He changed a lot during the course of that year and also since his 2nd birthday.

Charlie likes watching this video of himself. He shouts out the names of any family and friends he spots during the film and laughs when he tries to hit his mummy (22 seconds). When it comes to the end, he demands to watch it again.

N.B. On 6min 11sec some footage is missing but I haven't got time to re-master the video for the time being!

I golfed it!

Another highlight from our week off was playing 9 holes of golf while
Charlie was in nursery. Both of us seemed to be able to string a few
shots together despite no practice for about 3 years.

Lindz forgot one rule though - you're not supposed to walk off with
the flag in your bag after each hole! :)

Safari, so good

We all enjoyed a return trip to the Midlands Safari park last week. It
was a damp day which resulted in few other visitors. Despite the
changeable weather, the animals seemed to be out in the open and
putting on a good show.

Bonkers for conkers

While out last week, we collected a pocketful of conkers. However, they seem a bit small so perhaps they're chestnuts, although I'm not going to try eating them just in case.

Charlie is sometimes a little confused between conkers. acorns, pine-cones and pumpkins.

Winter is coming

Clocks are changing this weekend which should mean an extra hour in bed for most people. For us, it will probably mean getting up at 5.45 a.m. on Sunday.

Charlie seems to be getting used to the dark mornings and evenings (I'm not!) and enjoys wearing his new hat, scarf & gloves.

Ironbridge

I took Charlie for a day out to Ironbridge last week. After traveling through end to end roadworks for most of the journey, we had a super day with lovely weather. Charlie especially enjoyed the science museum "Enginuity" and seemed to be genuinely excited about going to the Iron bridge itself. Maybe it was the giant lollipop that made his day. I think we'll go back again next year now that I have an annual entry passport for the 10 museums.

Revival of Blog

I'm thinking about restarting my blogging activity shortly. I've just changed mobile phone operator which should give me the opportunity to do some inexpensive blogging on-the-go. Is there anyone out there reading?

I have a new video of Chasbo year 2 which I will try to upload soon.

Test from flickr

P1030054

Originally uploaded by nb-8k

another test

Video of first steps

A video of Charlie's first day of walking, with a few stumbles along the way.

Video compilation of 0-12 Months

I've just finished trawling through 10 hours (120GB) of digital video footage of Charlie's 1st year and managed to condense it all in to this fast-moving 8 minute compilation! I hope you enjoy watching it.

I'm sure his hair-style wasn't as bad in reality as it looks on film!

Walking (unaided)!

This weekend Charlie finally started to walk. He was the last one in his baby group to do it. Over the space of two days he's improved from just a short shuffle to a really long stagger. He's already so confident that he has been kicking footballs too and carrying heavy objects around. As he takes each step, he chants to himself "Walk, walk, walk....,".

[Video footage to follow soon]

Likes & Dislikes at 15 months

Likes:

• Food: Marmite, Shreddies, Shepherds pie & Dipping sauces

• Drink: Tea, juice & more tea

• Hobbies: Flying kites, slides & swings & aeroplane spotting

• Sports: Cycling, swimming & football

• TV & Film: Tikkabilla & Elmo

• Music: Radio 3, Reggae & TERT

• Toys: Sheep puppet & train

• Miscellaneous: Touching the ceiling

Dislikes:

• Food: Green beans & strawberries

• Drink: Appletise

• Hobbies: Jigsaws

• Sports: Motor racing

• TV & Film: The Hoobs

• Toys: Panda (love/hate?)

• Music: Radio 1

• Miscellaneous: Hoover

Chit Chat

Charlie now talks all the time. If other people are talking he just makes a loud screech until he can get a word in. He understands loads of things and imitates many words that we say. Sometimes he says words that we don't know he'd learnt. Such as today, in a furniture shop he suddenly pointed and said "bed".

Here is a list of the most of the words he's said reccently:

Dad-dad (for Grandad), Yiaya (Greek for Grandmother), Bunny, (Fl)ower, (Sh)ower, Bee, Boingy, (Fr)og, DVD, (Cl)ock, (C)at, (S)poon, (Re)mote, Eye, Bath, Birdy, Door, Wall, Look, Milk, Hat, (F)eet, (B)ox, Choo-choo, (D)inner, Bubble, Juice, Bike, Boat & (Ba)nana.

The bits in brackets he doesn't pronounce. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, he'll wake up to practice his vocabulary, much to our amusement at 2a.m.! Another thing he does is to tell the story of his busy day using only the list above.

Catch up

Hmm. It's been a while since I gave any updates.

First I'll start with Charlie's latest stats. He's now 15 months old, still 26 lb, 77cm tall and now has lighter brown hair. He has 8 (and a quarter) teeth which all caused a lot of fuss.

He sleeps pretty well at night although for some reason he likes to get up between 5-5.30am which is very tiring.

Last month he had back-to-back ear infections which was a tough time but he has now been well for a few weeks.

Euro 2008 competition

For Nick's Euro 2008 competition click here to go to www.tert.co.uk/footy.htm

Make sure you add it to your favourites!