Eczema, cookies, & nappies - not in any way related to each other!

I felt like blogging again, so here I am. I feel like I should be in bed (Abigail woke me - and Benjamin - at just after 6am this morning, and I'd gone to bed at about half past 12 last night), so not really enough sleep to survive on...especially when I'm pregnant and have a nasty cold/possible sinus infection. Oh well. I did survive through the day, but I think I felt a lot more grumpy/not coping than I might have done had I slept longer.

Anyway, it feels like it's been raining all year, though I know it hasn't. But it's been several weeks since we had any decent weather. I guess I'm noticing it more now that I have two children who want to run around outside and get some energy out. And when it's very cold, windy, and pouring rain...it's just not really very nice for being outside, especially when they've still got slight colds. I think I probably let them outside too soon after their previous colds, when it was rather damp outside, and the colds slightly reappeared. Thankfully nothing too bad, but enough to make me think they should be kept inside where it's warm (well, at least warmer than outside!). Also, Benjamin doesn't have any idea about staying dry outside - so he'll just sit in a puddle or on the wet grass, or pick up some toy/bucket and dump water all over himself, etc. Anyway, the only bad thing about keeping them inside is that they really get fed up after a while - they *need* some way to let some energy out, without climbing the walls! Sooo....today I finally took them somewhere indoors to play! We've got a local place here (well, run in a public hall 4 days a week), just around the corner from our house practically, and the man who runs it actually started it about 1.5 years ago because he realised there wasn't anywhere around for children to go play when it was wet outside. Oh, didn't say what it is! Anyway, there's loads of toys and space for children under 5 to play; they have a bouncy castle, slides, lots of riding toys/trikes, doll house, train set, cars & trucks, toy kitchen, area for tiny babies to play, etc. They also have a snack bar and do cups of tea etc. It did cost me £3.75 admission for the both of them for an hour (time over an hour is at a reduced rate), but I certainly felt it was worth it for them to have a big place to run around and play, where it's warm, safe & dry! :-) I've been there once before (met a lady I'd "met" online there), but it must be nearly a year since I've been, so Benjamin didn't remember it, of course. I guess in the warmer/drier parts of the year, it's nice to be outdoors - but a great idea for Scottish autumn and winter.

The below photo shows Benjamin in his new speciality organic cotton "pyjama leggings" from a company called Cotton Comfort:
I think I've mentioned before that Benjamin has a problem with scratching. I guess we've come to the conclusion that he's got eczema (though certainly not - yet - a severe case of it), and it's not been diagnosed by a doctor either. I'm reluctant to take him to the GP, as I know they'll just give him steroid creams etc (and possibly worse stuff) and I'm yet to hear of anyone being cured by these things. I may well have to take him eventually - but for now, I'd like to see if we can keep it under control by less harmful methods. For months now he's been wearing fleece zip-up sleepsuits (from Carters in USA) and they were great since he couldn't get inside to scratch. But he's recently discovered how to do zips, which means they're useless for scratch prevention! Also I think the elastic around the ankles might have made his feet worse. So, long story short, it was a real blessing when a kind lady from our homeschool support group brought me a catalogue from Cotton Comfort a couple of weeks ago! Her daughter also had/has eczema and we'd talked about Benjamin previously, so she thought of me when she got the catalogue in the mail. And it's full of "secure" pyjamas for children who won't stop scratching. They are quite expensive (as in some sleepsuits being £32 each!!), but I managed to find in their online sale the above photographed ones (minus the shirt underneath) for less than half price, so at £10 each they looked a real bargain when compared with the full price ones! :-) We got him a couple pairs and they look a lot more comfortable, and *are* more secure, though Benjamin seems to find a way to slip his hands into *anything*! I am in need of brainstorming to think of something breathable, yet secure, that I can make for him to wear during the days. He's been wearing tights (under vests/onesies), with trousers & shirt over, but in addition to the fact that that's not good for his skin, he can also slip his hands inside - his nappy at least!

So....my brain is a bit overloaded at the moment with trying to sort him out! Not to mention the fact that we thought maybe we should try to omit cows milk from his diet for a little while to see if the itching dies down at all. So it was interesting trying to find alternative stuff in Tesco today! We managed to get goat's milk, some Greek Feta cheese (which is from goats/ewes milk), some dairy-free chocolate buttons (yes, he *must* have some chocolate! LOL), and some soya "yoghurt". The cheese amazingly was approved of by Benjamin, and the goat's milk too (at least with some choc Nesquick added - tho I think he'll be fine with it on it's own too)...but the soya yoghurt....well, let's just say he preferred to feed it to his daddy & Abigail! We'll try it again tomorrow, but I think he's not keen on it. And unfortunately, dairy products seem to be high up on his list of must-haves. I did realise later in the day that I didn't have *any* dairy-free snacks/cookies for him, so thanks to Google, I managed to find a recipe for some oatmeal raisin cookies. I have to say - I think the recipe is great - they taste better (in my opinion) than ones full of butter and lots more sugar, eggs, etc. Here's a link in case anyone wants to give them a try - they use very little ingredients too: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1710,157166-239206,00.html

Well, I feel like I've already written a book here - and not even got past very many of the photos I uploaded - though I don't think they are very interesting really.

Benjamin, fully clothed, in a bath without water (thankfully!). He likes to hurry as fast as he can and dive into the bath tub - ouch!

Playing with their (Benjamin's) train set - actually in the sunshine too! But I'll bet you it was raining again before the hour was over! ;-) We keep getting bursts of sunshine where you'd think it was going to clear & be lovely...but before you can even get ready to go outside or something, the dark clouds arrive, and with them, rain!

All tucked up in his cot, with his new duvet set! I found it at Lidl last week - half price, and Benjamin fell in love with all the trucks and diggers. I thought it was a single bed size (so we'd get it for when he moved into a bigger bed) but turns out it was cot size! So, he's pleased with his new bedding.

Last week, making some "M & M Cookies" with Smarties (well, Tesco's version of them!). Something to occupy them when it's wet outside.

Without any prompting, or even anyone's example (which is actually rare for me), Benjamin took the big wooden spoon from the bowl and started eating the dough off! LOL

Nappies! :-) I've been having fun with Dylon dye. I bought some size 1 Little Lamb nappies (shaped/fitted terry ones) from someone a couple of months back and thought I'd give them a facelift, instead of 17 boring white nappies. So we got yellow, purple (tho much brighter than the photo shows) and bright orange. I realise it's rather a while before the baby arrives, but better to have them ready early, right?! ;-)

OK, I'm off now - goodnight!

Cars, Colds, Potty Training, & anything else!

I've felt like saying something here for days (nothing in particular, just thought I'd blog) but time has got away from me, as usual. It doesn't help that I've been full of a miserable cold for the past 10 days. Peter had it first, then Abigail, and then Benjamin. It lasted about 2.5 weeks with each of them - the horrible hacking cough being worst of all (I think I mentioned about Benjamin having it last time). Anyway, so now it's my turn. Just hope it goes away soon - the wheezing sounds from my breathing are really annoying! LOL

This post will be unusual in that there are *only* 5 photos! Guess I haven't been using my camera very much lately.

Here's Benjamin with a couple of small cars (which actually, happen to be Peter's from when he was a child!!). Anyway, cars (and buses) are Benjamin's passion at the moment (not to mention chocolate & cheese - hmm - cars, choc, & cheese all start with C!). Anyway, he shouts "cars, cars" whenever he sees some and he just has to hold a couple all day long (even when he's having a feed to go to sleep)! In a similar way that some children would cuddle a favourite teddy, it's metal cars for Benjamin! :) He's learning colours from the cars too. He can correctly identify which car is red, blue, orange and white. But orange is his favourite. The other night he was about to go up the stairs to bed and he started shouting out "orange! orange!" and ran back to get a orange car! It's really fun to watch him learn so many new things each day - and at the same time it makes me realise that he really isn't a baby anymore. Where does the time go? He's already 19 months old.

Speaking of growing up, I think Abigail looks very grown up in this photo! :) She'll be 3 years old in less than a month - wow!

Thanks to Abigail, she's just about potty trained!! Yay - no worries that I'll be washing nappies for 3 children come April! LOL Anyway, about 2 weeks ago Abigail woke up one morning and insisted that she wanted to wear big girl pants. I wasn't feeling very energetic that morning (perhaps it wasn't much past 6am!) and I told her no, she needed to wear a nappy, else we'd end up with lots of puddles in the carpet (as happened the previous few occasions when she wanted to wear pants). Well, she was really determined that she didn't want a nappy, so I gave in. And I must say, that we had far more in the potty than we had in the floor on that first day, and things have only improved with time! We didn't have *any* accidents yesterday, and that even included going to church in the morning (tho she was in a "side-snapping pocket nappy" which pulls up & down like pants, just in case!). I have had 1 or 2 days were we seemed to get several accidents in a row and I wondered what went wrong - but it never lasted long, thankfully. So at last, she's got her reward of big girl pants with Dora the Explorer - and I also found her some with Lola (as in, Charlie & Lola) who she really likes. I'm really pleased with her progress and the fact that she was determined to do it herself (I was feeling too tired with pregnancy to want to do potty training) but she obviously knew better what needed to be done. :)

Here's Benjamin wearing some trousers I'd just made him. He loves the helicopters on them! I thought I should do a bit of sewing and use more of my PRR (Painting Red Rhinos) fabric that I'd bought off eBay back in May. And since Benjamin is outgrowing a lot of his trousers, it was a useful way to spend time - or so I think. :) Especially since it's not always easy to find trousers that fit nicely over cloth nappies. The fabric was meant to be a darker green, but for some reason the dye didn't seem to take very well on this occasion - though the pink fabrics I did for Abigail were lovely, as were the small nappies I dyed bright orange!

Riding a lorry in the back garden.

And here's Abigail wearing a skirt that I threw together in 20 minutes or so. It's probably not very straight or neat looking, but I just cut out a wee square of fabric and sewed up a skirt for her to play in. She's also wearing her "new" winter boots that she got the same day. The weather has been so damp & cold lately that one feels it's nearly winter.

Well, I'm now nearly 16 weeks pregnant! Again, I wonder where the time goes - seems the weeks pass so quickly. I'm still feeling lots better, though perhaps slightly more picky about foods than I would be if I weren't pregnant. But it's wonderful not being sick anymore. If only the cold would go away, I think I'd feel just perfect! :)

OK, should get myself to bed. Abigail often wakes up around 6:30 to 7 (somtimes a bit earlier) since she goes to bed before 8pm. I enjoy getting up early in that I get lots more done in the day and am pleased to see what I can accomplish before lunch. But getting to bed too late at night means I'm not all that excited about getting up before 7! :)

Highland Folk Museum etc

Apologies in advance for the huge amount of photos in this post. Most of them are from last Friday when we had a day out at the Highland Folk Museum, though there are a few other unrelated photos too. But anyway, seems I couldn't decide which to leave out, so there are 15 photos in this post!

I'll start by saying thank you for all the kind congratulations that were posted in response to my last post. And I'm pleased to say that I'm feeling remarkably better than I was early last week. In fact, I woke up last Wednesday morning and thought "Wow, I actually feel human again!" and thankfully it's still the same - I'm soooo much better. I won't say that I don't ever have times where I'm feeling a bit sick (mainly if I stay up too late at night or let myself get an empty stomach), but otherwise the awful nausea is gone and I'm back to being able to eat real foods again! For the past 7 days I've been able to eat the same dinner I cook for the rest of my family - no more Rice Krispies for dinner! :)

Abigail and Benjamin both still have their chest colds, though Abigail's doesn't seem to be affecting her very badly. But Benjamin still has a very noisy chest when he breathes and he is coughing a lot at nights (esp tonight). Just hope he gets better soon, as he has to be monitored closely since coughing seems to make him vomit easily.

Benjamin giggling late at night (if you can see his face from behind the blanket), in his cute nightime nappy (a Slinki Minki fleece pocket, stuffed with a bamboo prefold, for anyone who is interested in cloth nappies! LOL) Benjamin usually has *lots* of clothes on (since he has a bad scratching habit) but I had to change his pjs after he was sick one night, so he was having fun crawling round the bed in just his nappy!

Last Friday we spent the day in Newtonmore at the Highland Folk Museum - from about 11am till a bit after 4pm. There was a "home-ed group" going and we thought we'd go along too. It was people connected together through something called NOSHED (North of Scotland Home-Edders) who organised it - it's not a Christian group, just a general way of home educating families connecting with each other and doing educational things together. There must have been 7 other families there with children of all ages and we had a nice day. The museum is certainly well worth visiting - and free admission too - so if anyone wants to come over and see us in Scotland, you'll have to go there too! :) It was interesting to see how local people lived long ago and their ways of survival.

Abigail walking along some sort of bench - not sure what the wood was from or meant for! (Probably the big notice board nearby said, but I don't think I read it!)
Various people from the group - can't remember what this building was either! [blush]

Benjamin on a big tractor! He didn't want to get off it either.

Abigail taking a turn on the tractor.

Benjamin having a go on a real slate. Abigail saw the older children with quill pens, so she decided to dip her "slate marking instrument" in her ink well and made rather a mess!

View of the one room school - with lots of the home ed children (and some parents) sitting at the desks.

A view of part of the museum - the red/white building is the church (can't remember it's name) but I think it's only about 100 years old. It had Gaelic Psalm singing playing inside!

Some of the children all wanting to ride on the digger

Inside one of the houses, from a 1700s period settlement - sitting round the fire (it was nearly too smokey to be able to breathe properly!).

Abigail sweeping her dirt floor - with a broom made from heather.

Playing at the play park at the end of the day - Abigail played there a few times during the day, but Benjamin only got out at the end (as it was really meant for older children) but he had lots of fun in the wee house.

Abigail and Benjamin in one of the high houses together.

This is the way Benjamin makes apple pie - though it looks like he's thinking "oh no!" - he wanted to scatter the apple peelings everywhere and walk around the table! At least it's not quite so bad as having him stand in a chair in the kitchen (which means dishes and water everywhere).

Just to show that he *can* sit nicely and calmly...if he wants to! He seems to enjoy walking across the table and then sitting in his booster seat. In fact, the other day he sat here for a whole *hour*, just looking at books & magazines with Abigail - he wasn't strapped in either. I was surprised when I realised how long he'd been sitting still - but doesn't happen all the time. :)

OK, enough from me - must be a mile long of words and photos - sorry! Will try to be briefer next time. :)

Announcing.......

Baby #3!! :-) As pictured here:

I am 13 weeks pregnant and just had my first scan (ultrasound) this afternoon. I actually thought I was only 12 weeks today, but according to the measurements from the scan, they reckon I'm 13 weeks tomorrow. So my due date has been moved from the 7th of April to the 1st of April. Anyway, time will tell if they are correct or if it's just a big baby. :) I'm inclined to think it's just a big baby (or the ultrasound isn't exactly accurate) as I'm quite sure of my dates. So will be interesting to see when this one comes. With both of my previous pregnancies the scan was within 2 days of what I thought I was, and my children were either born on their due date (Abigail) or only a few days early (Benjamin).

Anyway, the past 8-10 weeks or so have been a bit rough - feeling awfully sick a lot of the time and exhausted too (tho the tiredness was worse earlier on). But for about 6 weeks now I've not had any hot meals - and can't come near vegetables! I've been living on bowls of cereal (not always the most healthy kinds) but I'm eating lots of Fruit & Fibre at the moment - it seems to agree with my stomach and not make me feel too sick, and I do manage a sandwich or something similar at lunch - but I can't tolerate anything besides a light cereal such as rice crispies at dinner time. However, I think things are starting to improve. Which will be good for my blog readers - hopefully you'll not have to hear me moaning to much about feeling miserable, as I've silently endured the past 13 weeks! lol (OK, not entirely silently, but at least most of you haven't known!)

Well, here are two more photos of our dear little baby! I was so surprised to see how active it was - the baby kept moving *all* around, kicking legs and waving it's arms at us - it really looked as if it was waving to say hello to all of us. It was really sweet to see. Benjamin immediately started saying "baby, baby" when he saw it moving around. Both he and Abigail are really excited about the idea of a baby in mummy's tummy. Anyway, unfortunately none of the photos we got included the moving limbs, but they're still nice - or so I think, anyway! :)

Right, really must get myself to bed. It's been a long day and both the children are full of colds. And for Benjamin a cold with chest/nose congestion seems to mean vomiting! Not fun. I have to watch him closely whenever he's sleeping - and we had a batch of being sick just about an hour ago. He's still coughing badly (even tho he's asleep again), so not sure what tonight will be like. The night before last was absolutely sleepless for me - he must have woke up about 20 times and was screaming a lot. He just couldn't cope with not being able to breathe.

Saturday in Rosemarkie

Well, not *quite* 2 weeks has elapsed since I last put a post up - but nearly! I'm sure I thought I'd do a weekly blog when I first started, but I've not been quite so diligent lately. Then again, I think it's just about 1 year exactly since I started this blog, and I've published 56 posts, so not too bad really! :) Anyway, here I am again.

On Saturday we had a get together with the Christian home education group that we go to monthly. Usually it's in Inverness on a Friday (so mainly mums & children that attend), but this time we had a Saturday picnic/outing at the beach in Rosemarkie, and since it wasn't a weekday, it meant more people were able to come, including the dads. We had a large turnout, which was really encouraging. And amazingly, we had absolutely brilliant weather. After nearly a full week (or more!) of rain, I was sure it was going to be a wet day, but it was beautiful sunshine and actually *hot* down at the beach! We all arrived between 11 and 12:15. The children all had lots of fun in the sand and playing/talking with the other youngsters. A hall had been booked as a rainy day alternative, and although we didn't need it because of the weather, it was useful for having our picnic lunch there - especially as there were lots of wasps out at the beach. Anyway, here are my photos from the day:

Some of the people chatting who were along for the get together

Benjamin playing in the sand - please excuse his unusual beach attire! He has a major scratching problem/habit, and although not at all ideal, it seems that tights on his legs are the only way to keep him from destroying the skin on his legs and feet. :-(

Benjamin crawling in the sand - his wee friend (who was born on the same day!) is on the blanket behind him.

Most of the group, in the hall having our lunch

Abigail and her friend Felicity

A group photo, which includes all of the parents who were present (I think!), but about 10-12 of the children/teens are missing from the photo! They'd all gone back to the sand after lunch and some had strayed too far to get them for the photo. So as you can see, quite a good number attended, which was lovely.

By the way, although it was actually hot on Saturday (in the sun anyway) we woke up this morning to find there had been a frost! The first autumn night of the year (last night) and there is already frost. Wonder if this means we'll have a cold winter.

OK, the following photos are unrelated, but they show my little helpers! :-)

Abigail is helping me mix a batch of wholemeal bread rolls and Benjamin decided to climb up on the chair next to her and see what he could find that was interesting!

Of course it didn't take long for him to discover the sink and turn on the taps! :) He grabbed the washing up liquid too - I think he wanted to wash the dishes.

And on another occasion, this is Benjamin sweeping the floor for me. BTW, this is my new kitchen floor! Not sure if I blogged about it before or not, but the sticky vinyl tiles we put down nearly 2 years ago were a bit of a disaster (as anyone who would have seen our kitchen recently will have immediately noticed!). So, we finally got some professionals (or so they're meant to be!) to come and put down some new flooring. Needless to say, I'm very pleased to have a decent kitchen floor again. :)

Well, busy day tomorrow, so must get to bed. Goodnight.

September already - it's nearly autumn!

Well, the first day of autumn isn't until the 21st, but it already feels like summer has gone. We've been having lots of damp and cold days. August was wet enough - but seems we've had even less dry days so far this month. We are occasionally getting a dry and sunny morning, which is lovely - but have to make use of it quickly, as it soon changes. Guess winter will be upon us before long!


I thought this photo was kind of neat - not exactly looking at the camera or anything, but quite crisp, and interesting looking with all the different coloured books behind him!

My dear little girl, who seems so grown up! I was thinking today how nice it is to have such a responsible daughter (no she doesn't exactly tidy up after herself!) but it's not like I have to worry about her getting into things or up to mischief all the time! Benjamin - he's another story (as photo below illustrates) - you *can't* take your eyes off him for a second - he's always into something and does dangerous things too. But Abigail is really quite dependable - she does sometimes get up to things she's not meant to (usually something like dumping her apple juice into containers or various places, or experimenting with crayons on surfaces not meant for them, or putting lots of baby shampoo in the bath) but quite often I can leave her to watch Benjamin for a few minutes and she'll be quick to alert me when he gets up to something. So anyway, it's lovely to experience children growing up and becoming more reponsible. :)

OK, here's the one who's *not* yet learned to be responsible! :-) This is one of his daily stunts - dumping all his books off the small table and climbing up it, then onto the back of the chair etc. He seems to think he's meant to be climbing all day long. Hate to think what he'll think of climbing when he's a bit bigger! ;-)

Daddy's little helpers - moving the compost from one bin to another.

Eating lunch - or rather, coming back for seconds!

Isn't he charming?! I thought this photo was so cute! Often he likes to look quite serious in pics, but I managed to get him to smile for this one.

Best friends! Playing in the drawer of lego together.

"I want to go to Texas to see Uncle Nat"! :-) The other evening Benjamin found a sheet of Air Mail stickers and stuck two of them to his head - one of them was in his fingers by the time I got the camera out. I guess he wants to travel!

Well, I think I'm going to have an early night and head for bed now. Goodnight. :)

Just to say I'm still here...

Afraid this post is full of rather boring and poor quality photos! Sorry!Seems I've not been using my camera very much lately! Anyway, just thought I'd try to update here since it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted.

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. :)