2 years old!

Wow, Little Monster Little Man is 2 years old! I think this may well be the longest I have ever written any kind of diary, so I'm quite proud.
And here is a moment I love...


The sheer excitement in Toby when he was told we were having sushi for lunch. Delicious.

Singing

I've started work again, and I feel sad leaving Toby. I miss him during the day.
There are also things that I don't miss.
But one new part of our routine that I love, on the days that I work, is travelling in the car together. I made a special CD for our car journeys, with grown up songs that I thought he might like. And he certainly does. I knows the words to so many of the songs, and he sings along from the back seat. He amazed me this morning, as soon as we got in the car he started saying big fat mama to me, in a kind of demanding way. I had no idea what on earth he was talking about. Until The Kinks Sunny Afternoon started playing, and Toby started shouting, oh mummy, yes! and i heard the lines - Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze, I've got a big fat mama trying to break me...he is so clever. And he pays so much more attention to things than I ever imagine he does.

Pretend family

I love watching him play with his Happyland toys. The little scenarios he makes up, the way he copies things I say, and the sheer pleasure on his face as he plays.
He's been naming his little plastic people for a long time now, but they only get the privilege of a name, if Toby decides they actually look like that person. He got a new set of Happyland for his birthday, and Toby decided one of the new people was to have a name.....
There is no Mummy, or Gra-Pa, but here they are:


L-R: Papa (Rudi), Abu (Paulina), Daddy, Uncle Pablo, Gra-Gra and ......Uncle Phil. In a skirt. All Toby's decision.

And here is the little man himself, having a chat with Gra-Gra.

Try it, I think you'll like it

That's one of the songs from Yo Gabba Gabba.


It certainly worked at the weekend, over breakfast. Me and Luis singing the words over and over, as Toby tried and ate smoked salmon, fish roe and much to my shock, wild rocket! Afterwards we talked about it in the car and Toby said triumphantly, I tried it, and now I like it!

But his absolute obsession with trying to recreate scenes from Yo Gabba doesn't end there.


Trying to recreate the final scene in the Jack Black episode, as he flies away on 'Mini-bike' is an ongoing work in progress. Toby spends at least an hour a day working on it. But I think today he may have got it to a stage where he is finally happy with it.
He was given a DJ Lance Rock hat and glasses for his birthday from Uncle Pablo and Aunty Kiu Kiu. Much as he loved it, he completely refused to have the hat anywhere near his head. (The glasses are a different story, as you've already seen from the last post....) But for some reason, this afternoon he decided to try it, and he very much liked it....


DJ Toby Rocks.

My son the Hipster

With his new DJ Lance Rock glasses that he's addicted to wearing


(Just type hipster into you tube, and you'll see what they really look like)

This is what happens when...

you actually eat the tiger who came to tea....


as Toby did this afternoon.

And this is what happens when you break your arm...


you have to wear a poncho, because wearing a coat is too hard. He looks just like his dad, the very first time he met my parents.

Happy Birthday, little man

I can't believe he's another year older, it has flown by so fast.
He loved opening his presents. As he unveiled his red car from Gra-Gra and Gra-Pa, he shouted out, Surprise! and couldn't wait to climb inside.

We bought him a big wooden fire engine with some wooden firefighters. As he played, making them climb up the big ladder, I could hear him cautioning them, Be careful! with his new favourite phrase. If only he had heeded his own advice...
The rest of my little man's birthday ended in disaster, breaking his arm falling of his seat as he drank his babycino and ate his smartie cookie. Nearly the whole day was spent in emergency, just waiting. He was in such pain, he kept hugging his arm to him, and whimpering, Mummy, broken arm. His second broken arm in the space of 2 months...I felt like crying as we left the hospital his little arm in a sling.

But today was Toby's birthday party, and it was a much happier day.

We had balloons, lots of sweet treats, and of course Toby's birthday cake...based on the book The Tiger Who Came To Tea, and he loved it.

Especially blowing out the candles.

Dancing like Jack Black

To say that Toby is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba is a bit of understatement. Some days I think he would like to watch it all day long. He talks about it, he pretends some of his toys are DJ Lance Rock, and he even has me making little paper hats, so they can be like him.

The episode featuring Jack Black is his absolute favourite, and he spends a lot of time practising his dancing to be the same ( have a little look at it here, Jack Black is the crazy one in orange). I love watching him do this, its so sweet to watch him trying so hard and enjoying himself so much.
And he absolutely insists on wearing that hat whilst dancing.

Words of the week:

Be Careful!

Said by Toby whenever he or one of his toys is about to do something dangerous...

The problem with buying new wellies for Toby, is there is no excuse now for him not to jump in puddles. We went to a music class today, held on a community farm. It was raining, and very muddy and there were plenty of big, dirty puddles. Toby was running through them, throwing stones into them, jumping in them, having a wail of a time. And just as I said Be careful! to him, as he was getting too excited and looking a bit unsteady, splash! Toby fell face down in a giant puddle.He was soaking wet from head to toe, covered in mud, and crying hysterically. With no change of clothes with us, he had to wear one of my pink t-shirts on the way home.

Which he didn't want to take off once we got home....


When we talked about it together later on, Toby said to me, I went swimming, in a puddle!

Nearly Two

Being nearly two, is hard for us both. And sometimes so funny.
We have just spent ages playing with a ball together. I throw it really high, and then dive onto the floor to catch it. Toby thinks this is THE funniest thing he has ever seen, and the sound of his uncontrollable laughter is a delight. And watching him trying to copy me do it, with his uncoordinated limbs is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

So too was watching him with a colander on his head, chanting I am a robot in a special robot voice.
Or when he wears a nappy on his head as a hat...


But its pretty hard when he is throwing things into the toilet, unfolding all the clean towels I have just put away and throwing them around the room, climbing on everything, 'helping' me wash up by throwing water everywhere, and walking the playdough we made this morning from one end of the house to the other....and all whilst screaming Sausage! at me every few minutes.

(I stupidly told him he was having some sausages for dinner, he has never had one before. As sausages are what they have for dinner in his current favourite book, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, he is very excited about the prospect!)

It's been a hard day, maybe tomorrow will be better...