I'm your number one fan

Is it normal for 18 month old boys to form mini-obsessions on older boys they meet? Felix does! Quite often if we're out somewhere and there's a boy there between the ages of 6 and 9, Felix will follow him round, squeal excitedly and basically become like a little shadow. The older boy seems to find it quite endearing, and encourages it to an extent, then starts to get a bit freaked out when Felix won't leave them alone.

He's quite over-friendly generally and will give hugs to most people, smile sweetly at waitresses and cashiers, and bat his eyelashes at old ladies, but it's almost like he gets a little crush on these older boys. Funny, but a little strange. Is my son just weird?

The Beach

Had a surprising burst of energy yesterday afternoon and a desire to go out and do something, the likes of which I haven't seen since before getting pregnant. Felix was napping though so I knew by the time he woke up it would be getting on a bit. Decided we'd take a walk down to the beach, which is about a half an hour walk away. We don't go down there often enough considering we live so close and it's a nice thing to do any day of the year I think. The winter breeze and crisp air as just as enjoyable as a warm summer's day in it's own way.

Felix got very excited when we saw the sea and as soon as he got out of his pushchair went dashing down towards it to try and chase the seagulls. Unfortunately they were further off than they looked and it got pretty wet and gloopy before we got to them. He still enjoyed pointing and imitating them though. We had a nice play and a bit of a sit down while we both gazed out to sea. Felix got his faraway look on a few times but I genuinely think he was enjoying the view, having a think rather than just looking blank. After a while we left the beach and wandered along the seafront a bit more before heading home. I'm really feeling achey from all the walking today but it was well worth it.

Boys in Jamas

Just a few pics from yesterday. Kester and Felix had a bath and were looking particularly handsome and dapper in their pyjamas and dressing gowns:








Then here we have Felix with his little chum the hamster. It was a silly stocking filler I picked up from a novelty shop for Christmas but he still loves it. He gets quite upset when it runs out of batteries and needs to have a sleep. It drives me a bit mad.






And finally a couple of him doing a puzzle. He's really into this at the moment and brings it over saying 'puddle, puddle'. He can do it in about 5 minutes, normally without any help, which is pretty impressive I think!

Sometimes they surprise you

Felix was in a very destructive mood today. Before midday he had:

* picked up a glass of water and poured it over the bed
* emptied his cereal over the table
* thrown a ball at a glass of orange juice, knocking it all over
* thrown a ball at the washing up, thus smashing a wine glass
* had a paddy when I wouldn't let him pick up the smashed wine glass
* got into a barney with Dinger because he cornered her and was shouting at her, so she scratched him
* Emptied his toys everywhere. Well, thrown them, to be honest.

I knew it couldn't continue after lunch and naptime, if only for the sake of my own sanity, so attempted to keep him a bit more occupied with puzzles and the like. We were sitting on the floor with him on my knee and completely spontaneously, with no encouragement from me, he turned to me and gave me the cutest little kiss, then carried on with what he was doing. It nearly made me cry but I thought that probably wouldn't be the best reaction. It's funny how someone can be at once a rampaging monster and an adorable softy. Aw.

Worried Life Blues

It's been a pretty grim few days round here. Felix and Kester have both had pretty grotty colds, and I've been feeling exhausted. Unfortunately (or perhaps this is a good thing really) Felix hasn't really been sick much in his short life, just a few colds here and there so he doesn't get that rest and relaxation really does help. He's been determined not to nap and it's been driving me a bit potty. Then on top of that I've had the most dreadful pregnancy hormone bonkersness. I think it's partly the tiredness too, but I seem to be getting upset at the stupidest thing (such as a dish breaking yesterday) and have been really snappy with Felix, which then makes me feel really guilty because he hasn't done anything wrong. Add to that a feeling that I'm making a really bad job of it all at the moment and concern that I'm not going to be able to cope with two and... well... it's been a lot of fun.

Thankfully Mum came round on her normal Wednesday visit yesterday, and as there's nothing more Felix likes than seeing his Nanny, it took the pressure off a lot. They had a good play, even though he was completely exhausted, and I got to just sit there and zone out for a bit.






We did have a nice time this morning though. We needed some bread from the shop so took a walk round the corner. It's a five minute walk but we spent nearly an hour doing it because I thought it might be nice for Felix to get out a bit (we haven't done much recently), as well as getting him nice and worn out for his nap (ha, like that worked). He splashed in puddles, balanced along walls (thought I'm wondering if I really should have introduced him to that as he wanted to walk along everyone we came to), looked at pieces of rubbish he found. Ah, lovely. Oh, and for some reason he seems convinced that Nanny lives in the house on the corner. Strange boy.











So despite Felix taking forever to get to sleep and driving me to tears, again. I'm actually feeling somewhat better now, thanks to Kester. Although I'm still a bit glum. Gah, and now Neighbours is really sad, just to add to my horrible pregnancy hormonal imbalance.

Little Miss Ford wants to say hello

Had our 3D ultrasound today and it was great. She didn't want to comply at first and was snuggling up to the placenta. Had to eat some chocolate and drink some orange juice then she got going. Funnily enough Felix was the same and spent the first half of the scan we had with him with his hand over his face. She's looking good and apparently weighs around 2lbs 9oz.



And some video clips:

Felix on art

Emily got Felix a book for Christmas called 'Art for Babies'. It's full of black and white images of well-known prints, I imagine aimed especially at newborns who apparently prefer that sort of thing. Anyway, it looks really nice and came with a frieze of the pictures in the book to put on the wall. I thought it would be a nice way to cover up the crayon marks from where Felix decided to get artistic a couple of months ago, and he seems to love them. We spent a good long while pointing to all the pictures, naming them ("Dot dot dot", "zig zag", "duck" etc.) and pointing out our favourites. Felix then went to fetch his easel and have a go at creating his own masterpiece. He has a little way to go yet, I think, but those swirly-whirly marks are looking pretty good. And they stayed on the paper this time too.



Felix was actually in a really good mood today and kept himself entertained all morning while I got some work done, which was great as it then left the afternoon free for us to play. The morning was spent on a happy rampage, it seemed like he played with every single toy, and particularly enjoyed climbing in and out of his toy box.



However, I seem to have inadvertedly created a tidiness monster (despite what the above pictures might suggest). One of his latest obsessions is 'uff. He likes to pick up pieces of fluff from the floor and bring them to me with a slightly worried look on his face saying ''Uff! Uff!". Erm, thanks Felix.

Surprisingly good fun.

We went to B&Q earlier, which for those not in the UK is a big hardware/DIY/home maintenance/decorating shop. Kester went off to get what we needed, while Felix and I spent a fun half an hour wandering round the lighting section, with him oohing and ahhing at all the lights, pointing out his favourites, running excitedly to see what delights awaited us round the next corner etc. It was surprisingly good fun and made me realise that sometimes it doesn't take much to keep a toddler entertained. I wonder what he could get up to in the piano shop round the corner or the antique shop down the road...

Turn to the left

We've decided to give this cloth nappy lark a go with number two, though to be honest it's all a bit baffling. I bought a couple of covers from ebay though, mainly to get a feel of what we'd be working with! So here we have the ultra-stylish Kester and Felix modelling the latest in... um... cloth nappy covers. I don't think they quite have it right though.

Got some of the bits through from the other ebay orders too and they are delightfully girly and cute. So tiny too, though this hat that Felix is modelling is supposed to be for a newborn. Felix has a fairly small head, but still, this would surely swamp a newborn?



I was feeling exhausted again today, thankully Kester was working from home and took over this afternoon so that I could have a rest, and Felix was in a pretty good mood most of the day. He entertained himself by playing with his toys, trying to steal my drink, climbing into a box of toys etc. Despite his good mood, every other word at the moment is 'no'. 'Would you like a drink Felix?' 'No', 'Is it time for bed?' 'No'. Even things he likes get the answer 'No', or if he really means it 'no no no!'. It's quite cute, but I'm looking forward to this negative phase being over. Though Kester pointed out that when it does it will probably be replaced with 'why?'. I may be foolish, but I'm kind of looking forward to that phase.




And to finish, just a few pics that I thought were cute, if a bit serious. I'm sure he gets more adorable by the day, though obviously I'm rather biased. We discovered yesterday that he's actually a short-arse though. We measured his height on Sunday when he turned 18 months and he's about 80cm which apparently puts him in the 25th percentile. I'm not too worried as apparently at this age they can grow an inch overnight during a growth spurt, and 2cm more would put him in the 50th, but it was still a surprise, especially considering he was in the 91st percentile when he was born. Ah well, I'm sure his cheeky smile will get him far, even if he's only wee.