15th Jan 2011

(We have a guest contributor for this blog update - you'll know it isn't me as the spelling and grammer is perfect! Thanks Andrew - Ed)

We’ve had a good Xmas and New Year break but have been rudely de-relaxed by the return to busy work-lives and a nasty vomiting bug affecting Sophie.
Christmas was spent in Gilwern with a good 5 day break – delayed by heavy snow, which turned out to be fun for sledging etc.. (Andrew enjoying the sledge he got for his birthday.) Things were a little quieter than usual which seemed to make them more relaxing than usual. Presents were generally only given to those under 5 or over 90 years old, while the rest of us donated the amount we would have spent to charity. Half to a hospice in South Wales and half to Afrox (supporting cancer care in West Africa).

Sophie really warmed to her grandparents during our stay as she is otherwise at the age where ‘stranger awareness’ is developing. She enjoyed cruising around another un-baby-proofed house, and her crawling has reached a speed where she needs a close eye on her at all times as she can disappear around a corner in search of some small inhalable object in the blink of an eye. Occasionally she lets go whilst standing and balances on her feet for a second or so before going plop onto her sturdy and well-padded bottom. There’s also been quite a lot of “bah” and “dah”, the emergence of another tooth or so (currently making 3.5 teeth in total), and ongoing abundant cute smiling. She particularly loves bath time, despite slipping over and becoming submerged quite regularly, and always cries when removed from her watery environment to be dried. Her other recent discoveries are drawing – keenly scribbling with a highlighter, delighted at her work, all over a piece of paper and her hands, clothes, face, William’s face, the carpet, your clothes, etc – and drumming, being particularly keen on xylophone glissandi and beating the dinner table (making quite a marketable band now with her brother and father in accompaniment).


After Christmas we returned to Oxford for the odd day of work before the long new year weekend, whereat we were joined by 66.7% of William’s Godparents: Simon and Clare. A fairly chilled weekend was had by all, although there were a tense few minutes when a sky lantern we launched from the park took off with a rather low trajectory and threatened to raze Headington – or possibly the whole of Oxford – to ashes. Other highlights of the weekend were a brisk NY Day walk along the Thames followed by lunch in a riverside pub we have not frequented enough (the Perch, Binsey) and a recent NYE record of having 4 of 4 adults still awake beyond 2am, where they would usually be amidst a child-wearied coma.



William is currently the main source of child-weariness, requiring much mental and physical activity by day, and a recent habit of staying up ‘til 9 or 10pm at night. He, of course, has lots of cute moments too, being at that age where speech is well developed enough that you can start making up funny stuff to amuse yourself. He’s been rhyming most of his speech for several months now, saying “hello tello”, “Bye Tie”, “Thank you Quank you”, etc. Random chance often leads to accidental rude words which adults have to avoid sniggering at, lest they become a stock phrase. Most names were also rhymed, like “Daddy Pladdy”, until the last few months, when they have become suffixed by various words: “Magpie” until the last week or so, when we are on “Concrete”, as in “Mummy Concrete, can I have a yoghurt ploghurt?” Other than the rhymes and nonsense words, he comes out with some choice phrases, reflecting, perhaps a wild imagination or a bizarre grip on reality, such as: “I am three and a half. My wee is 8 years old.” His counting is also progressing, now being on the verge of counting to 30. A major hurdle however is a self-invented concept that 3.5 is an integer. Counting a half-dozen box of eggs goes: “1, 2, 3, 3-and-a-half, 4, 5!” despite any logical argument for their being 6 eggs that his parents can muster. I’m not sure what recent photos we have of William to add to the blog as he is going through a less photogenic phase than ever before. He has obviously gained some level of knowledge of photography which he enjoys using to have power over the photographer: usually choosing to run away from the camera or poke out a tongue or make another silly face. I guess all kids in the last 100 years or so also learn at some point to fake a smile for cameras, which is never as good as a natural smile. One Williamness we have been unable to capture on camera is the sleeping positions he is developing as he becomes more settled in his big single bed. We’re pretty sure he has developed the instinct not to fall out of it, but he has been found fast asleep spread-eagled with his entire neck and head hanging upside-down off the side of the bed. Another favourite is the ‘pencil’: stretched tall with arms straight by his sides but at perfect right angles to a normal sleeping orientation.


This is taken in our back garden, in December 2010. Note the pile of snow on the barbie!