Piano Man

The boy entertained us for most of the way home in the car yesterday by 'singing' and reciting his favourite books. It's lovely to hear the rhymes and songs that he now knows. He loves being at the piano and we have a book of music for some nursery rhymes that gets played a lot so he now knows which song is which by the pictures and will sit there and sing the songs and sometimes hit a few notes.

Beach and toddler wisdom

The boy and his dad went for a play on the beach this afternoon. Much fun was had even though it's very cold.

And we've a had a couple of lovely toddler statements today.

Whilst snuggled up on the sofa with me this morning and his head against the bump

boy: baby asleep, baby dreaming

me: oh, what does baby dream about?

boy: mummy

and then at dinner tonight

boy: I got a willy, daddy got a willy

daddy: what does mummy have?

boy: fluff

And a very merry Christmas!

It's lovely having the space to put the train track out.

And then this morning there have been hats and scarves while still in his PJs - and strange expressions!

The boy will climb anything.

Decorations.

Presents.

Lots of books to read.

A new wrap for mummy (carrying with a bump is erm interesting!)

And a very friendly and hopeful bear was on hand when the turkey was being carved.

Fun in the snow

Marble run and the fat controller

Well we've made it to a snowy Norfolk and the boy is having fun revisiting the toys that live here and finding new ways to play with the toys we bright with us.

His penchant for traffic jams has hit new highs (thankfully not reliving our trip) and we had gridlock on the sofa arm.

The train set has been set up and the bear presided (and did his share of wrecking) taking his role as Fat Controller seriously.

And then Isaac found the tin of marbles.

I've been looking at wooden marble runs that friends have and love the look of them but figured he was a bit young yet, it's on the list for his next birthday though!

He also did lots of pouring.

The dog as usual was supervising in his own special way.

Snow and chocolate mud

We've had a whole half a cm of snow today. Isaac was enthralled and wanted to go out and play.

As did the bear!

I finished off some chocolate truffles today that will be Christmas gifts. I had messy hands and a bored toddler who could reach the cocoa bowl...

He called the truffles chocolate mud.

Salt paint and train tracks

The boy has been loving using salt paints - he likes squeezing the bottle! It's just salt with some ELC ready mixed paint in and then a bit of water to thin it down. When it dries it has a bit of a glisten from the salt and it is textured. (Note to self: put it to dry on a flat surface though or you get papier mache.)

The train track is growing as the boy is getting a bit of something interesting for it every day in Hanukkah so he's got new bridges, points and tunnels and all sorts of things that make engineering a track more fun.

As usual though the dog is on hand to wreck it just when you've got it how you want it.

The belly is getting bigger!

Finally!!!

After being told that the new play park would be ready by Wimbledon (June!) and work not beginning until the end of July (when I say beginning I mean they took everything away and then did nothing for several months). Today with no fanfare, announcements or anything the new park was open! There are still a couple of bits that are fenced off to allow the grass to bed in (cos putting grass under a slide is such a good idea...) but at least the swings and the climbing frames are open.

So even though it's very cold and the weather's miserable we went for a play.

The other major drawback of the new park is that they've spent a fortune on landscaping but there are no benches. So if parents want to perch anywhere there's the ground or a few rocks... Not so good when you're 6 months pregnant and need to be off your feet.

And even more fun that the swings and everything else was the big puddle in the car park!