Crash!

Whatever continent he's on, Asher's favourite activities remain the same. The only difference is that, here, fewer clothes are required. He's been mountaineering on the stairs (only when we go out though - there aren't any in the house!), grabbing and chewing on hair and glasses, enjoying attention from everybody, throwing everything off the table, chasing cats, eating lots of fruit and, of course, emptying the kitchen cupboards. He settled into Floridian time pretty much straight away and has so far slept fairly well (for Asher!) though he is definitely avoiding naps. Oh, and yesterday morning he learned out of nowhere to clap his hands. So far I'd say he's having an excellent time!

Arrived!

That was quite a journey. Door to door it took us about 36 hours to get here. But we've arrived in Gainesville at last! Via a delayed flight, a missed connection, a free hotel room with the hugest bed you have ever seen and an unexpected transfer via the world's busiest airport. Asher was amazing. He stayed happy most of the time. We had lots of wandering the aisles on our transatlantic flight; for the other three, much shorter, flights he did a lot of napping (they were fortuitously timed) and smiled charmingly at the other passengers. Only a little bit of complainy crying, mostly when he had to stay on my knee for take offs and landings. He was very interested in the plane window (looking out of it a bit, but lots of interest in the window itself) and in the carpet of the first plane, which had a flecked pattern that looked a bit like pieces of rice. He kept trying to eat them. 

We got here yesterday afternoon. After an early dinner (at Taco Bell - where else?) me and Ash had a very early night and got up about 5:30 this morning. 

Today is Christmas II! We've had more stockings and presents and will soon be enjoying our second Christmas dinner. I hope Asher manages to stay awake!

Soft Play

Asher enjoys enjoying the soft play at Heathrow!

Christmas!

I only got a few blurry photos this morning. But we've had a lovely day! Asher quite enjoyed his first ever stocking. Here's his reaction to his presents.

I don't know if it's because I prayed about it last night, but I was surprised how much Asher seemed to enjoy his day. He had fun playing with his presents - especially his tent, shape sorter castle, toy iPhone (!) and wooden cat. He's got some lovely new books too, which will be employed to distract him on the long flight tomorrow. Did I mention we're off to Florida first thing in the morning?

Better go to bed!

Doing The Laundry

Asher is loving his walker at the moment.

He's finally figured out that he can use it to get wherever he wants to go. Usually this is the cat's bowl, or the toilet. But sometimes he likes to do things like this...

Thanks for making a fun game for me, Mum!

Portland in December

Me and Asher have been on holiday! For the last few days we've been staying, along with Katy and baby Ellen, in a little cottage on the island of Portland. We had a wonderful time (and I had hot chocolate nearly every day... yum).

Asher and Ellen seemed to quite enjoy each other's company. I was surprised - when they've met before they haven't really seemed to notice each other very much, being far more interested in their respective mummies, milk and food. But now they seem just about old enough to interact a bit, which was lovely to see. There was a lot of waving, particularly over the dinner table. A little peekaboo, also usually over the dinner table. And they even invented a game whereby Ellen would give a toy to Asher, who would hold it for a second before giving it back to Ellen... very sweet.

Asher also spent a lot of time reaching out to Ellen, patting her head, poking her in the eye, all the things he does to me to show that he loves me! In return Ellen spent the week attempting to poke her fingers into Asher's mouth; had she succeeded I don't think she would have found the experience as rewarding as she anticipated. Ash's teeth are both plentiful and sharp.

On our first day we had a lovely walk along the coast path. It was absolutely gorgeous weather - sunny, quite warm really, and surprisingly calm. The babies both napped en route (at different times) and we had chips for lunch before walking back.

Look how blue the sea is!!

It hardly felt like December at all. Although all the lovely Christmas lights on the houses in Easton helped to make things feel more seasonal.

Asher hadn't been on the swings for ages (mostly because it gets dark so early in the afternoons when we used to go to the park). He still seemed to like it but wasn't as thrilled as before and was more interested in walking around the playground. We had a little go on the climbing frame and slide too - but what he really wanted to do was chase the man with the leaf blower. He also kept walking over to the vans parked beside the playground and saying something that sounded suspiciously like 'car'. He's been saying "dog" this week too (in context!) and "duck" (for rubber ducks, a wooden duck, pictures of ducks - and for birds in general). "Cat" is employed for the cat, pictures of cats, and other things that Asher finds exciting. (Ellen, for example).

On our last day we had a trip to Weymouth and took the babies to the (pebble) beach. Although Ash has been to the seaside before, that was in Florida. It was so hot that he had to stay in his pushchair, shaded with muslins, and in any case I think he stayed asleep for the entire experience. So really this was his first proper beach trip. Can anybody guess what he did?

Correct!

This is why we didn't go to the sandy part of the beach ;)

After he'd finished tasting the stones, Asher decided to crawl towards the sea.

He did it again...

and again...

and again. Poor boy. Each time I went to pick him up just before he got to the wet stones. When I put him back up the beach he just turned around and headed straight back for the sea. Was I a mean mama not to let him get wet? It was colder than it looks in the photos and I really didn't want a soggy baby on the half-hour bus ride home! But he wanted it so much... he had a bit of a screaming fit when it was time to go and kept arching his back, refusing to go in the sling. Happy enough once we were walking, though, and he saw a dog. "Dog!"

We had a lovely time. Thanks, Katy and Ellen!

November

I know... it's December.

We seem to have spent most of November being poorly. I think we've had about five illnesses between the three of us. Grr!

You can see the (empty) tissue box in the background of this photo! Our bedroom floor is covered in Asher's books and toys because we've had so many afternoons where all we've wanted to do is crawl into bed, so we've tried to entertain the baby there.

He's been ill too - high temperatures - and this morning he woke up covered in a bright red rash which I thought might be chicken pox. But the doctor said it was nothing - just a result of the viral infection he's had. His poor little face is covered in spots.

Here he is a few weeks ago, enjoying reading Penguin. He's really into his books at the moment. Although he likes to turn the pages a bit faster than I can read the words, so it's usually just a quick description of what we can see as the pictures flash by.

He lies on the floor and reads by himself, too. It's pretty cute.

As for the swings... they haven't been such a hit lately!

Finding things to stand up on, though - that's good fun. He can stand without holding on for a couple of seconds, but he doesn't really like to! And although he can manage to walk using the push-along walker, he far prefers to hold my fingers and drag me around the house.

Another favourite game is to pull the half-dry washing off the banisters and throw it down the stairs. (In fact I'm going to have to stop hanging it there). He's also started crawling to the top of the stairs and looking over the edge. We've bought stairgates but haven't installed them yet (I didn't realise when I ordered them that it involves drilling into the walls). We'll have to sort it soon though!

That cheeky smile. And those little curls! Noah wants to give him a haircut. I say no way!

Ka!

Asher has been saying "ka!" a lot. With enthusiasm and excitement, and usually when he can see Marmite. (The pet, not the spread). He seems to be doing it purposefully.

I'm not sure it counts as a word, but it's certainly the closest he's come yet. He did it for the first time on Tuesday - a loud clear "ka!" when the cat came into the room - and Noah and me both stopped in our tracks, wanting to believe it was intentional but not really sure.

We're his adoring parents, so we gave him the benefit of the doubt.



PS Since the last post we've had about five different illnesses between the three of us. We seem to be mostly better today, although Asher has had a high temperature again. I really hope it's not the start of another bug/cold/infection.

Late for swimming?

Why haven't I posted anything for ages?

Try looking at this lovely comic...

It's so true!

I've got five minutes before we leave for swimming - and Asher is already asleep in his pushchair (!) - he's only napping because he woke up at 6:30 this morning, but it gives me a moment to post.

So what's changed? In the last couple of weeks Asher has learned to wave (but will only wave at me, Noah or the cat - any attempt to get him to wave at anybody else results in blank stares from the baby and a warm feeling of parental embarrassment).

He's still wriggling, crawling, climbing, walking (with assistance) and doing his best to get to everywhere he wants to go. (Translation: "everywhere we don't want him to go").

After a couple of nights of screaming when he went in the bath (still don't know why) he is now enjoying them with renewed vigour and will attempt to swim up and down the bathtub.

Letting go is becoming the new skill! He can occasionally hand me an object and release it. Until now he had only been able to deliberately release an object by throwing it. (Part of me thinks his unrelenting, firm grip is nothing to do with fine motor skills... why would he want to let go of such an interesting toy/sock/squished piece of avocado).

He's absolutely lovely. He's getting even more chatty (although still usually just goes with "Ah!" or "ooh!" in conversation, despite making a range of other noises, including a cute little tongue click, when chattering to himself).

I'd better go - don't want to be late for swimming.

Don't worry, Asher - we'll walk quickly!

Water Play

I took these photos some time last week. We had a sunny afternoon and I wanted to keep Asher occupied whilst I hung the washing out. So I got out the giant ice cube (with a plastic duck frozen inside it) that I'd had in the freezer for a while. And a bowl of water, and a wooden spoon.

Although he did investigate the ice a bit initially, Asher's main interest was in the bowl and the spoon. (It would probably have been more effective if I'd just given him a tray of bowls and spoons! Might do that next time...)

Once he'd tipped the water out he was interested in doing a bit of splashing.

And in doing this:

Of course.

He was pretty happy with the water so we'll definitely repeat that some time soon. (In fact he's been doing a good job of recreating the water play himself, in his high chair, by tipping the contents of his cup onto the tray most mealtimes).

He demonstrates an admirable determination to fit any object, small or large, into his mouth in its entirety.

Of course I didn't manage to get the washing hung out... I was too busy playing with Asher, taking photos, and stopping nearby leaves from being eaten.

But we had fun!

October Moments

As it happens, I don't tend to carry my camera very often when I'm just out and about with Asher. (I'm too busy carrying the baby, plus the bag full of nappies, waterproofs, water bottle, emergency change of clothes and whatever books and toys are deemed necessary for that day's entertainment). But I can take photos with my phone. They're not going to win any photography awards, but I love these snaps because they capture day to day life with my baby. Here's what's been happening over the past few weeks:

Bedtime story with Daddy. Asher insists on turning all the pages himself.

Sleepy face in the morning sunshine

Undaunted by the impressive slices of tomato in the salad at Ikea

Banging on windows. A favourite occupation.

Playing with a ball and a big box

... I actually have no idea what was going on here...

Sleeping in the sling

Exploring... and getting slightly stuck!

Playing with ALL of the tupperware boxes whilst Mummy cooks tea

Wait a second... that's not a swing!!

Looking adorable (as always)

Spotting Mummy in the mirror

Ash-man to the rescue!

Enjoying his first experience of soft play

Riding on Mummy's back and looking over her shoulder. Saw lots of dogs. Win.
(Yes. Mummy is terrible at selfies.)

Loving the touch and feel version of Dear Zoo from the library.
(Very curious here about the lion's mouth/hole in page)

And today: a first ever taste of chocolate cake in Thornton's cafe.