Gizmo, girl, glasses

Now I like a good gizmo and it helps if it actually works too. When you're the owner of a ball obsessed retriever and throw like a girl (well duh there's a reason for that) the the flinger is the gizmo of choice - and is worth every penny of the £1 it cost!

It also helps the small boy who desperately wants to play but can't throw even like a girl. OK so even with the flinger he only gets it a few metres mostly but it's getting easier for him (it used to go backwards most of the time).

We had lunch again at the Yurt yesterday. Isabel is at the stage where she's interested in everything and can sometimes reach and grab the things she's interested in. Meals are starting to be fun! (We're strongly in the camp of it being purely developmental and not a sign that she's ready to start solids yet though.)

And of course if everyone else is eating then you must too - even if it's your own fist.

It's been hot and the boy never eats well when his daddy is away so he just had a plate of bread and butter and did lots of people watching.

The amount that Matthew travels the house would be full of small bits and bobs if he got presents every time he went away and anyway the free sunglasses from Granny's first class kit makes a great gift anyway.

Hot weekend

It's been a hot weekend and yesterday in particular was one of those too hot to move days. We still went to the park though and I realised I'd forgotten Isabel's hat (not a problem when she's in the buggy but she wanted feeding while we were there) so she ended up with Isaac's spare hat. She didn't seem to mind too much.

The nights have been hot and dry - perfect for moth traps. This is a privet hawk moth.

We didn't brave the beach yesterday as it was so hot but there was a pleasant breeze this morning and we timed it perfectly on the receding tide so that we didn't have to walk too far for a paddle.

We also timed it so that Isabel slept which meant I got to have a relaxing hour paddling with Isaac instead of trying to feed in the sling whilst traipsing around after the toddler.

It's funny how small children go in phases of loving the water and being scared of it. He's definitely in a loving phase!

A new tractor

But first some reading with Danna. It's so lovely seeing Isabel's increasing awareness of things around her. Tonight she got very excited when I sat with her on my lap and opened a book. Isaac loves books and some days we can spend an hour or more reading together. It's great to be able to share the load!

After finding an old Britain's tractor when he was here before (and it becoming a firm favourite despite falling apart) Danna took him to the toy shop to choose a new one. I don't know how long it'll be before he starts pulling bits off this one too but he's loving playing with it.

The boy isn't that interested in food but one thing he will happily eat is eggs. I don't think Danna had bargained on losing most of her quail's eggs last night though. We had lovely salad with various edible flowers in it from the garden. Isaac tried a blue one (borage) and then decided to feed them to me instead.

I can't believe how quickly Isabel is growing up. She's trying to sit herself up (a long way off yet but she's trying anyway) and she's really trying to push herself up when she's on her tummy. I feel a bit like I've missed out on the newborn stage this time as with Isaac it seemed to last an eternity whereas this time round it's gone in a flash.

All creatures great and small

Pensthorpe again

Isaac has been loving watching a small video I took of him feeding the ducks and geese the last time we went to Pensthorpe so it was time for a reprise (only they weren't so hungry today!)

Isabel was fascinated watching the ducks in the water - I don't know how much was the ducks and how much the reflections of light off the water.

There were lots of goslings - some with more feisty parents than others.

Of course there was some balancing.

And we found some feathers.

And had a dance with an oversized grasshopper.

And to the beach once more

As it was already hot at 9 am there was only one thing to do - head to the beach.

There were a lot of star fish that had been marooned.

A small boy with a spade and a lady of advancing years with a pair of binoculars.

And erm... not a lot else. Perfect!

It all got a bit much for lady Isabel.

But the boy is like a Duracell bunny and just keeps going and going.

This is the beach that we found the chair on last summer and once more there was an oddity on the beach.