2 years old

Nothing like getting your hands dirty

"Kick de bawwwl" is a very over-used phrase in this house

Poorly boy - had mystery infection for 48 hours, temp over 39 and very out-of-sorts poor thing. But doc couldn't see an obvious infection, ears throat etc all OK and no snot, so suspected a urinary infection and cheerily asked us to get a urine sample to check.. hah! Leo was better before we'd managed it. We had his nappy off for a few hours and he straddled the potty a couple of times but nothing came out - the one time he did it I was holding Angharad and not quick enough with the jar, so the carpet got a sprinkle but no sample. Anyway he's all better now.

Alfresco artwork. Banjo had pink flanks for a week after this. Matched his nose.

"Ruuuunnnnnnninng!"

Ballboy

Searching the library catalogue, perhaps for "T-R-A-I-N-S"

"To: ginger@stripytail.com Same time tomorrow night? I'll bring the milk. L"

Below are just a tiny fraction of the photos we have documenting the current obsession - TRAINS. This includes "big train" which is the real one, with endless requests for "on train" wen you ask him what he wants to do today. As you approach the station he says "ticket!" and when he has it in his paw, puts it through the machine before shouting "but-ton" and runs off to press the green button which tells you when the next train is coming. If we're by the level crossing he shouts "train coming! Car baiting [waiting]!" In the picture below you can see him re-enacting this scenario with the model cars waiting at the level crossing and he's carrying out a running commentary, telling them to wait. (He also says ding ding as he puts the gates down, and when the train's passed he tells his cars "bye train, train gone, GO!"

He likes to "make train" and it's (yawn) the first thing he wants to do in the morning, which is about 6.30 am at present. "Mummy, make train!" He builds tracks himself but needs help to get them to loop properly. He constantly wants to "play train." This masseef track going all round the table was built by Daddy. Check it.
The usual dawn session.


He is talking absolutely loads and it's delightful - he's also getting very into his numbers. He recognises numbers 0 - 9 and points them out on gateposts, at the railway station etc. He counts to 10 (to himself, just for the fun of it) and understands the concepts of 2 and 4. (The first time we realised this was recently when I offered him a biscuit and he said "2 bickick!" Since then he'll point things out and say "2 train" etc etc). Understanding 4 really surprised me because we were looking at a page in a book with loads of different farm animals and I asked him what he could see and he thought for a minute and said, "4 duck." This blew me away as there were indeed 4 ducks, but spread all over the page, mixed in with other animals - I guess they stood out because they were bright yellow against the browns of the other animals. Earlier in the same book there was a page with 4 flowers (no number 4 ) and he pointed at it and said "Four" , but I wasn't sure if he was saying "four" or "flower." But then a couple of pages later he saw the 4 ducks so there was no doubt that's what he was saying. This is such a fun time - there's something new every day. He is GORGEOUS.