In the wars

You'd never really know by seeing him here, but Toby has been in the wars.
Yesterday, he slipped whilst trying to crawl over a book and fell face first onto the carpet, his teeth biting through his top lip.
And today, he launched himself off our bed, head first, which he has been desperate to do for at least 3 months now...somehow I've always managed to catch him, but not today.
The silent intake of breath after he hit the ground seemed to last for minutes, before his enormous mouth, fully stretched, let out the most almighty roar.
He is left with a sore head and a carpet burn on his forehead, poor little man.

As I sit at the computer writing this, Toby is kneeling behind my chair, poking his little hands through the holes in the back of my chair and tickling my back with his fingers, and chuckling to himself as he does so. He is so funny sometimes.

Watching TV

He's into anything and everything. The CD's, the DVD's, his Daddy's vinyl, anything on the coffee table, the microwave, any drawer he can open, the broom, and of course the remote controls...
He can locate the TV control and turn on the TV as quick as a flash. And that is just what he'd done when I took these photos. Sitting back, just chillaxing, watching a show...

Hard at work

on his Daddy's laptop.

Look what happens.....

when the little monster is left to his own devices for a few minutes.


Just 3 minutes to take a shower, and the little man has opened and helped himself to my scarf drawer. Trying them on, wrapping them (or at least attempting to) around his head, and then checking himself out in the mirror.
Now that he has finally found his knees, he can open all the drawers in the house, stand at the side of the bath and throw his toys in, just to watch them fall and he spends hours at the coffee table, playing with the remote controls and throwing everything he can lay his hands on onto the floor. He's also using anything he can to try and stand up. Including the vacuum cleaner...


What fun he thinks it all is!

Dorian Gray

He's a bit big for his gym now, but sometimes he still sneeks into it and has a little play. And of course, he just can't resist the sight of himself in the red mirror.
The most beautiful boy that ever there was.

The Zoo

Toby had his first outing to the zoo last weekend.
We have joined the Friends of the Zoo programme, so we can visit as often as we like for a year. It's so close to home it will be perfect for us.
Toby pretty much fell asleep as soon as we arrived (typical!) but he awoke in time to see the orangutans, the elephants, zebras, giraffes etc. He was not particularly fussed by any of these big animals, we didn't get much reaction from him at all.



Until he saw the lions.



He loved the lions!
He screamed and shouted at them, demanding their attention and getting upset whenever they walked out of his vision. We spent a long time watching them.

Doing what Toby does best

Saturday afternoon, and Toby was doing what he does best...
Blowing raspberries....


He has many variations on the raspberry - long ones, short ones, really dribbly ones, trumpet like ones, soft ones and loud ones, its like his very own language. He does them when he wants something, when he's excited, when he's cross, when he's had enough to eat, when he's bored, he does them ALL the time.

Emptying the DVD's off the shelf.....


Reading/ripping the newspapers.....


And looking handsome with his Dad....


A typical and perfect Saturday afternoon.

Standing

On Friday morning just after speaking at length to Toby's Granny in England, about how he's not really understanding what his knees are for, and not showing much desire to pull himself up off the ground, something magical happened.
I was sitting on the sofa, drinking a cup of tea and watching the little man wriggling along the floor. He suddenly spotted his favourite book on the coffee table, way out of reach, and something must have just clicked for him. He wriggled over to the table, put his two little hands on the edge, and after a lot of effort (but no tears, a miracle!) he pulled himself up to stand.

I clapped with joy, and he smiled back at me, giggling with pride.

The far away bear

Toby is far away today, he has a bad case of the stares....


All through breakfast, he kept pausing with a far away look in his eyes.

Later,when we were both up in my studio, he kept going all quiet. I'd look around to see what mischief he was up to, and find him just staring, completely lost in thought, looking through the window.


But what could be more delicious, than for me to see him pulling himself up on my sewing machine, so he can get a better view out of the window?

Little monster, little boy...

My little baby is turning into a little boy.

He looks so big and chunky and cheeky these days. I always notice it most on the change table, I can still remember him being so tiny on there, and now he is as long as the table itself. And as quick as I can put his nappy on, he starts trying to take it off, peeling back the velcro tabs and pulling at it.

He asks for banana when he sees one or if he feels like one, "anana", as he calls them.

He insists on drinking his water from a white china cup at breakfast time. And if I don't do it, then I can't drink my own tea in peace, he screams and grunts until I get him his own mug.

He copies animal noises when I make them, when reading a story. So far, his favourites are a bee, (buzzing was the first animal noise he ever copied, that was a few months ago now) a cow, a cat and ducks. Only his quack quack sounds more like da-da. Very funny.

And today I taught him how to hi-5, he found it hilarious! We must have hi-5'd each other a 100 times today, each time with raucous laughter.

We had a lovely surprise today though, when the postman came. A little box arrived all the way from England....

What could it be? We'll have to open it and see....



We were both delighted at the contents, a vintage Fisher Price mini bus complete with passengers. Just like the one I used to have!


I loved that toy, and it was clear that Toby loved it too. He played with it all day. Taking the little people out of the bus, having a little chew on them, and then putting them all back in again. Its lovely to think that he will love that toy as much as I used to.