14 months old

What?! Monthly update time again?!  Geez that went fast!
But here you go...
We are all off to the Isle of Man tomorrow and I haven't packed yet, so this might be a short one... but I wanted to get it out before we left.

First up, side by side pics:

13 months old

14 months old

So, what have we been up to?  Well, Finn had his first (of many, I'm sure) bout of pink eye (conjunctivitis).

It.
Was.
Horrible.

Not only disgusting - but having to put all those drops in his eyes?  Torture.
All better now though.
Finn also got a vomiting stomach bug.  This was also disgusting.  There's nothing quite like clutching a puking kid close to you because you know that it will be easier to wash your clothes than the carpet.  Oh, the glories of motherhood.
All better now though.

We've talked to lots of family over Thanksgiving.  A couple times I tried to change Finn while we talked - but he preferred the 'talking' over the 'changing.'

James brought him home some huge cardboard boxes to play in - the boy does like his boxes!  It was an awful lot of fun... but it took up most of our living room! So that didn't last more than a couple days before I threw them out (James says I'm a mean mother).

Speaking of boxes- as promised, I managed to get a picture of him and a tiny box (or basket as the case may be)!  So funny!

And we've been very arty this month.  Finn helped us to design some original one-of-a-kind Christmas cards:

And as a reward for being extra Christmasy he got to have his first ever Mince Pie!

We also attempted a couple projects.  If you've ever heard of Pinterest, it is an excellent thing on the internet.  It is basically a place for inspiration and projects and instructions and recipes - that sort of thing.  I make a lot of projects off of pinterest, I love it.  Some of them work out really well... some of them do not!  I tried a couple recently that most certainly did not work out!

One of them was this idea:

I love the idea - do a footprint each year on their birthday to see how they grow and have an ongoing artwork.  We did a nice one on canvas when he was born,

so it was time to do the next one.  This was the result:

Turns out a one year old is much harder to get a footprint of then a one day old.  We gave up - that particular artwork is not happening.

Move on to inspiration number two.  This lovely photo:

I got everything all set up and was ready to take gorgeous photos of Finn playing with Christmas lights.  He had other ideas.  He wanted to eat them.

So that didn't work either.

Luckily there was one crafty thing that DID work though.  I made Finn a lovely hat to match his cousins.  It worked out just fine and he seems to like it!

Happy Christmas everyone! 

Finn's life at nursery

It has been a while since we were allowed to take it home for a few days (about a month ago, actually), but I'm sure that many might like to see what's being recorded by the nursery inside the pages of this book:

It is a wonderful thing, with lots of lovely pictures of Finn having fun playing, discovering and making friends at nursery, even from day one... (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

I LOVED this page -  Finn head-to-toe in waterproof clothes so he can splash combined with him naked and painting.  This is why nursery is excellent - there's no way we can do this sort of thing at home...

This is another of his favourite things to do - the sand.  However, as much as Finn loves it, I. Hate. Sand.  It goes everywhere!  Unfolding his cuffs when we get home looks like he's brought half the beach with him.  Ah well.  I do love that they don't stop them playing the way they want just because they'll get wet or dirty or something.  So I appreciate that if Finn wants to make full body snow-angels, that's what Finn gets to do.  But still.  The sand!

So far we're only up to September - so in these pictures he had only been in nursery for about a month or so.  But look how happy he is already!  Particularly the one at the top, banging on a tin and the one at the bottom (in the sand again, of course!).  He has so much fun there!
And that's him with Sharon, his keyworker.  We love Sharon.  She is brilliant.  Some of the workers there are a bit too chirppy-cheery-baby-talky but not our Sharon.  She's great with the kids but doesn't talk down to them and is really matter of fact but in a kind and caring way.  And she has a fantastic London accent!  We're hoping Finn can pick up a few phrases :)

That's all so far - as I mentioned we haven't brought it home in a while, so it only goes up to the end of September.  I'll have to have a look and see what's in there now and update you. 
It's obvious that nursery is going really really well though.  He's happy to be dropped off now and doesn't cry when he's left (as long as James does it - when I drop him off I think he gets a bit confused because it's not the routine.  I'm the one that takes him HOME.  So when I walk away he gets upset).  I love picking him up now - so great to have a peep before I come in and see him playing away.  He's got proper friends as well!  Which I think is funny - they seem too little to have friends!  But he's got Abbas who is also an early-morning arriver and they always have big grins when they see each other.  And when I pick him up he's usually playing with Conrad who is a bit older and very quiet - but they seem to really like doing activities together.  There's loads of older children that really enjoy Finn as well.  Sharon (his keyworker) says it's because Finn is so quick to smile and laugh.  So the older children think it's lots of fun to find Finn and be silly so that he laughs at them. And I can confirm that's true - anywhere we go be it the pool, the store, the bus - and Finn will just stare at the other children and laugh at them as soon as they give him a smile or a look.  And the other children have come to recognise me so when I arrive they think it's good fun to take me to Finn.  I think they forget that adults are a lot taller and I can usually SEE him - but I'll pretend that I don't know where he is so they can go find him and then shout "he's here! Over here!" which is always funny.

Overall they are such a happy fun group of kids and adults and it just does me good to know that Finn is in such a warm caring place.  So much so that when we started looking for a new place to live (we're still ok in our current place - but it won't be long where we really really need Finn to have a separate room, so we're looking at two bedrooms) we were adamant that we had to stay close enough that Finn could stay in this nursery.  I'm sure there are many lovely nurseries around but I feel like this one is just such a good fit that I wouldn't dream of putting Finn anywhere else.

Because the posting of Finn's nursery book was so late in coming (and thereby out-of-date), perhaps having the most up-to-date week of daily reports will make up for it, and a very nice week it is too:

Monday 26^th November

Finn helped to make a birthday cake for Roman and Jacob’s birthday. He also enjoyed playing the drums, banging on them with a stick.

Tuesday 27^th

Finn enjoyed exploring paints with his hands. He made some marks in the paints using cars and dinosaurs.

Wednesday 28^th

Finn enjoyed an activity of pushing along large vehicles. He also joined the toddlers’ activity of dancing to music.

Thursday 29^th

Finn enjoyed exploring sand using shovels, containers and sand wheels. He enjoyed watching the sand flow through the wheel.

Friday 30^th

Finn really enjoyed climbing and sitting inside large cardboard boxes. He also had fun dancing with staff and peers.

 
And I'll leave you with a picture that's not in his book but I love it!  At the end of the day they put the pictures up from what they did that day - but this one got enlarged and laminated and put out in the reception area (which is why it's not the best quality because it's a phone-picture of a picture...).  It's when they got to explore making marks with flour.  And I love it because it sums Finn up so perfectly.  Note all the other children sitting around the activity, making marks with their fingers... and then there's Finn.  Sprawled smack bang in the middle making as big a mess as possible and loving every second :)

13 Months Old

Whew!  Long time coming... but here it is - the monthly update!
Finn is now 13 months old.  Here are his pictures side-by-side:

12 months old

13 months old

I know it's pretty awful, but I've been working the weekends a lot and so after I did it on the 2nd as normal and then saw that they weren't very good I never really found the time to re-take them until it was too late.  Which is a shame, because it's getting easier to take his picture, since climbing in and out of chairs is his new favourite thing ever! (although it does mean he's always moving and therefore never in focus, but ah well!)

I don't know what he weighs or should weigh ... I'll figure it out and update soon...

I do know that he's tall though! We're often amazed these days at what he can reach.  The other day he managed to get my coffee cup down off the table.  And not just swipe it and knock it down.  He reached up, took it by the handle and lifted it down without spilling it (there was only a mouthful left... a mouthful which he promptly gulped before I could stop him!).  He's certainly getting a lot longer and leaner - so much of his chubby baby fat is gone!  I miss it a little bit :)  Every now and then he gives me a look and I don't see baby - I see definite little boy.

So what's new this month?

Well, he's talking a LOT now - no more new words really but a lot of very interesting and complex babbling.  Actually, he kind of has new words - he still says uh-oh a lot and has got that down pat.  But every now and then he will also attempt 'hello' - only it sounds a bit like 'Huh-oh' and is easily confused with uh-oh (as you can imagine)!  He also says 'up' but it usually comes out as uh-pa-pa-pa-pa. And he says 'no' but it usually comes out as ni-ni-ni-ni-ni.  So he's definitely getting more wordy, but I certainly wouldn't say he's talking!

He's also not walking yet, but nursery reports that he's standing up unaided a bit longer these days - 5 seconds today! So maybe soon...

He's also pretty much got the whole feeding himself with a spoon thing down pretty well - we can give him a spoon and a yogurt pot and he'll happily eat it all, but things like milky cereal we still do for him... and he's working on mastering the fork... he thinks it's pretty fun, though some days are better than others!

As I mentioned, he's become a bit obsessed with climbing in and out of chairs - but also in and out of boxes!  Unfortunately I haven't got any pictures of that, but I'll try to soon because it's pretty funny.  James reports that this morning Finn managed to squeeze himself into a box not much bigger than a shoebox!  Only thing is, James wasn't in the room at the time so has NO idea how he managed to do it!! And the box is gone now, so it might never be repeated... He's a bit like a cat though - if he sees a box, he can't resist climbing inside.  He'll take toys or a book with him, of course - but everything seems to be better if you're in a box.  Odd child. Then again, this is also the child who was obsessed with a bowl for a very long time... so maybe he just really likes containers!

Speaking of boxes... he likes to talk on the phone.  Or anything that remotely looks like a phone (like remotes for instance!).  Actually, anything that is vaguely rectangular in shape is immediately put to his ear.

Like so:

But I would say his absolute all time favourite thing to do at the moment, is pointing.

It doesn't matter what else he is doing, he is always always always pointing. And when he points, he says 'dat.'  Half the time he wants you to tell him the name of the thing he's pointing at and the rest of the time he wants to have the thing he's pointing at but the day is continuously riddled with the sound of 'dat.   dat... dat.  DAT!" (we don't really know whether it counts as a word because although it sounds like 'that' we're unsure how he would have picked that up, since we always pointed and said 'this'... curious though).

I think that's mostly it for doing and learning new things - but we've done some fun things as well!

A couple weeks ago we took a walk and visited a city farm to see the animals. (for my rural friends - many city kids have never seen 'normal' animals like cows, sheep, geese, chickens, pigs etc - so city farms are small places (in the city, obviously) that grow foods and keep animals and anyone can go (usually for free) to have a look)  I thought it was a pretty cool place, and quite enjoyed it.  Finn seemed more baffled then amazed...

We tried to carve a pumpkin for Halloween... but Finn wasn't too interested.  He came over to have a peep a couple times, but for the most part was having way more fun elsewhere...

And our local Children's Centre run free activity things like the 'Dads club' that James and Finn go to every other Saturday - breakfast for the Dads, fun things for all the kids, and the Mums get some quiet time - what's not to like!?  They also do a 'garden club' every other Friday from 3:30-5:00.  They've got a huge garden and you can come and do outdoor activities.  Last Friday it was all about leaves - and Finn made (weeeelll - he had some help!) this excellent hat!

When we went to take this picture of him we decided to take a few more.  The best place in our house to take pictures of Finn is the bathroom - because it's got the biggest window and the most light.  It's also great for neutral background pictures - just stick him in the tub and he has a great time standing and banging on the sides!  I'm sure it's a bit odd to stick your kid into the bath tub to get some good pictures, but hey!  The proof is in the pudding! 

(Finn LOVES that little red car!!)

I think that's all!  And I've put SO many pictures in that I don't even have extras to add at the end! 

So instead, I will add a selection of quotes from his nursery daily reports...

Enjoy!

Monday 22^nd October

Finn enjoyed an activity of song and dance. He listened to music and used his whole body moving to the music and laughing.

Wednesday 31^st
Finn enjoyed exploring various mirrors. He was laughing at himself in the mirror and playing peek-a-boo.

Thursday 1^st November
Finn enjoyed exploring bugs in jelly. He used a spoon to move the jelly around and reveal the bugs. Also enjoyed filling and emptying bags with plastic hair rollers.

Friday 2^nd
Finn enjoyed the trip to the library. He looked at various books with staff and peers and enjoyed listening to stories.
He really enjoyed sharing the experience with other children at the library and was smiling at lot at them.

Friday 9^th
Finn helped make a cake for Annie's birthday. He had a turn of mixing with the spoon and enjoyed exploring some of the flour on the table.

Monday 12^th
Finn really enjoyed sitting in the big yellow car outside and turning the steering wheel with his hands. Also had fun exploring in the home corner.

Friday 16^th
Finn enjoyed exploring in the home corner. He played with playfoods and cups and plates and really enjoyed pressing buttons on the till.