My family (dad and siblings) have all escaped back to Texas - with Anna too, of course! Well, they've moved over there - so not exactly an escape. ;-) Anyway, they left on Tuesday of this week, so I no longer have any immediate family here in the UK! :( OK, maybe that's not exactly true - as I have my lovely husband and children here - but I'm sure my readers will know what I'm meaning. Abigail keeps talking about wanting to go to Texas - I'm sure she mentions it several times a day - as well as the fact that she told her daddy the other day she wanted to move to America. A few times she said she wanted us to drive to Texas in our car but I explained that there is a great big ocean to cross, so you *can't* drive there. So tonight as she was going to bed she said "I wanted to drive to Texas in our car but there's an ocean in the way!" Poor Benjamin is really missing them all as well. You'd think he was quite young to understand things like that (as he's not yet 18 months), but whenever you mention any of their names in front of him, he gets really sad, and in a very somber tone of voice says "bye bye, all gone".
Anyway, here's the said Benjamin with his injured eye. It actually happened on the 12th of August, but I had so many pics from the animal park in my last posts that I didn't include anything else.
This photo was taken on the day, but it doesn't actually show how swollen it was above his eye. Poor wee thing - he really scared me. In fact, he scared us enough to take him to the hospital to have it checked out - but thankfully he was OK. He'd run full force into his train table, which has a very sharp edge. His eye is nearly all better (2.5 weeks later) tho now he has a very red nose from a fall on the pavement outside. I think he's just toooo active for his own good! :-)
Here is Benjamin and Abigail modeling their new cardigans which a very dear friend sent to them (a friend of hers made them)! They look lovely & cosy and are a perfect fit. The below photo is rather similar, but I liked the expressions on their faces above! :)
A more sensible pose! :) I think Benjamin looks bigger than his big sister!
Riding their tricycles! We got Benjamin one last week as he was always wanting to ride Abigail's - but I think his legs need to get a big longer before he can get much use out of it.
Here is Abigail, who is now officially a Big Girl! :-) Noooo, she's not potty trained yet - hopefully we'll get there eventually (she has actually done quite well the past 2 days). Anyway, she's a big girl in that she is completely weaned (in the American sense of the word that is, as British people seem to use the word to mean the introduction of solids....which she had at 6 months!). Anyway, since 9 days ago she's not had any drinks from mummy. For several months now the only thing she's had from me is a wee drink to go to sleep at night. But now, not even that. What's more - for 3 nights now she's gone to sleep in her own room, by herself - as simple as that! No, I didn't have to do *anything* extreme, no discipline even - just give her a big cuddle and tell her that it's bedtime and she's meant to stay in bed and go to sleep - and within 5 minutes she's been asleep! Wow - didn't think it could be so easy. She *has* required a small bowl of cereal in bed most nights lately - seems she gets hungry even if she's just had dinner 1.5 hours before. But if it helps her sleep better (and she's certainly not overweight by any stretch of the imagination) then I'm happy to give her a wee snack to help her drop off to sleep. She was a bit more wound up tonight and kept talking a lot to herself before she fell asleep - but amazingly she never got out of bed once. I mean, in other things she's no way this obedient - but for some reason - *so far* - she's got the idea that she's to stay in bed and she calls me if she needs something - which is either a cuddle or a bowl of cereal. I'm sure it won't always be so easy, but for now I'm thankful that the big transition is going so smoothly.
"Up!" - Benjamin is a bit obsessed with the idea of anything "up"! Whether it's a bee flying higher or a neighbour raising his arm to wash his windows, Benjamin seems to notice that something is going UP. :-)
A Peacock Butterfly that we had in the garden today - they seemed to love my marigolds. Benjamin loved to see them too - maybe it's something to do with wings? He kept calling them "butter" - with a real emphasis on the Ts - and he was sad when they flew away.
I had my friend Ruth over this morning, which was really nice. Benjamin enjoyed playing with her little boy, who is the same age as him.
OK, should get myself off to bed soon. Do leave comments if anyone is reading - always nice to hear from you all. :)
6 comments:
Just stopping bye to say hi and send some love!! Hope we don't get blown away here with this hurricane coming in!! xx
Wow, weaning is such a momentous occasion, happy but a little sad too (at least in my mind, LOL). Did you encourage her to wean, or did she do so of her own accord?
Just stopping by to say I'm on leave from the hospital for 2 days now but I haven't slept well due to coming off the lorazepam (like valium - that family) last night.
Hope you're well. Hugs and prayers. Hopefully I'll make the fp prayer meeting tonight but we'll just have to see how tired I am (had like 4 hours sleep in 24 hours - will be fine tonight though).
Write soon. You know how much I enjoy reading your blog.
Blessings.
Jo
Very much enjoy reading your blog, the hustle and bustle of everyday family life- which you can much relate to, having a family too! It will take quite abit of adjusting with the best part of your family back in Texas. Hope you get to see them soon, in the not too distant future.
Lots of love and best wishes
Caroline
Thanks for all the comments - always enjoy hearing from anyone who stops by to read! :)
Sharon: As for weaning, I'm not sure when Abigail would have ever decided on her own to quit! lol At first I'd been telling her for several weeks that she'd be finished on her 3rd birthday. But for various reasons I decided I needed her to wean early. For one, she wasn't going to sleep when she had her bedtime feed - she starting taking ages afterwards before she'd fall asleep. So since I knew she could fall asleep on her own, I felt I could just wean her now. And it didn't seem a problem. She quiet accepted the idea that she's a big girl now. A couple of times in the past week she's acted like she wanted something and said she was "just a little girl" but she got over it quickly. So I don't think she minds now. And I think she was quite privileged anyway - since she was still getting drinks from mummy all through my pregnancy with Benjamin and until he was nearly 18 months old! :)
Jo: Nice to hear from you. Sorry to hear you've not been sleeping well. Hope you'll feel better now you're off the meds.
Caroline: Lovely to hear from you too! I've been meaning to ask if you have a blog yourself? ;) It seems it's by "special permission" to read, so I wasn't able to get to access it. I'd love to read it tho, if you wouldn't mind emailing me the "permission." :)
Elijah also has been in no hurry to wean. LOL I had hoped he would wean himself between three and four, which I had read somewhere was the "average" for children left to wean themselves, but he is nearly four and still going strong. So I decided that we would call it quits on his fourth birthday--we've talked it over and decided that we will have a "weaning party," for which he gets to choose the menu (he's chosen pizza and brownies :p). He seems fine with the whole idea, so I hope it goes as smoothly for us as it has for you and Abigail!
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