back home, for a little while

Owen and I are looking forward to going back South tomorrow. No great news in the meantime, we have all just been enjoying family time together. Here's a little bit of news on what Owen has been up to.

Last week, I was running his bath and he was pottering around the bathroom. I heard him behind me, going 'num, num, num' and I turned around to find him eating soap. With bubbles coming out of his mouth! He was really enjoying it, too. I kept the soap to show Alex when he got home, it had teeth marks in it.

He finally learned to clap yesterday, I tried to teach him for a while, but he didn't do it. I used to say hooray, and clap my hands to get him to copy me. Then I gave up, and then he just did it, for no good reason. I was saying 'hooray' about something, and he looked thoughtful, and then clapped his hands. Now I have hope that he might one day start waving goodbye. Michaela is so advanced at that, that she starts saying 'ta ta' and waving if she is bored of having you around!

We all went out for dinner yesterday. It was to celebrate the anniversary of his due date, his 'should have been' birthday. I promised Alex we would go out since he missed Owen's real birthday party. We went to our favourite Indian restaurant and Owen really enjoyed it. He sat in an ordinary seat and thought he was very big and smart. He enjoyed a taste of poppadom, and loved our veggie and lamb kormas. When the naan bread came, he shouted 'nan, nan' which he says all the time, but it was good timing and he looked very clever. He didn't get to eat all of this poppadom!

Here he is walking around the house. He goes round all the walls, and doesn't fancy walking without having something to lean on. He did just start standing still without holding on today, but only for a little bit until he realised, and grabbed something. It used to be that you went out the room to do something and he cried on the floor until you came back. Now he follows you, using walls and doors and whatever he can to get there.

He saw Austin feeding himself when we were down, and he has decided that he is big enough to do it too. (Austin has given up, because he gets more by being fed, but Owen hasn't figured that out yet.) He makes a huge mess, and his favourite is to lift the bowl over his head and round onto the floor. It takes concentration!

It was eleven o'clocks today, and we went to Michaela's, taking some baking and stuff with us. When we came to go home, we realised Owen didn't have his coat, so he got Michaela's bright pink one. He didn't seem to mind wearing a girl's coat, but that is maybe because he had a ginger oatcake in his mouth.

Final photo from when we were south and Owen was eating out. The jars we use for travelling are great, because the lid doubles as a toy!

Sorry this is so late...

OK, so a broken foot shouldn't affect my typing ability, but it has been a strange time lately. I am getting pretty good at walking now, though, as long as I don't have to go far or fast.
After the accident happened, Grandma very kindly stayed on for an extra weeks "holiday" looking after me and Owen. As you can see, he got pretty comfortable with having her around!



Then it was Gran and Di's turn to look after us for two weeks. Lucky them! highlights from their house include:

getting stuck in to his first pizza..


and being told 'no' (to playing with the sockets behind us)..


Being South also gave Owen the chance to spend time with his Cousins too, which he really enjoyed. Our favourite day out was East Links farm park, with loads of great things for the kids to do.

Big cousin Toby beating his Dad and Di on the go-karts.

Owen tried out lots of new ways to travel..

And Owen and little cousin Austin enjoy the swing.



Having technical problems tonight, so that is it for now, except I would like to say thank you to the very many people who have helped us out over the past few weeks. It really has been appreciated. More soon!