Little Ambitions

George has several big ambitions ready for when he is older, like the shark doctor one, but he also has some little ambitions for just now. He would like to be able to blow up a balloon, and he would like to be able to whistle.

He's getting close on the whistling one, but as these pictures show, there's still some way to go with the balloons yet. The bruise on his head is from the seesaw incident earlier in the week.....

Carrots and bumps

George informed me today that he likes carrots if they are soft. I already know that he likes carrots as I hide them in his mashed potato and have done ever since he started refusing to eat them. I hide broccoli too, and he's never seemed to notice if his potato is orange or green. I am pleased that he has finally realised that he does like them. It must be something in the air as his equally fussy friend E has started eating peas this week.

He also came home from nursery bursting to tell me that he knew how to say Happy New Year in Chinese. He's just like a little sponge soaking up information.

George banged his head today because he was on the seesaw with his friend B who is a good eight inches taller than him and weighs a good deal more. She made him go up in the air and he just slid off and bumped his head. I've told him that it is a better idea if he only goes on the seesaw with people who are the same size as him. Apparently B was distraught because she'd hurt one of her best friends. Unfortunately George makes the same noise if he is cut and bleeding, or just slighly damaged, so I understand why the poor girl was so upset.

4AM

It's 4am in the morning as I glance blearily at my bedside clock. A voice is shouting "Mummy". I wait a little while as George is a sleep talker. The shouts get louder, so reluctantly I climb out of bed and go upstairs. The shouts have changed now to "Ouch, ouch, mummy OUCH!!!!".

When I arrive at his bedside I ask him what's the problem. He tells me that he has a sore eye. I suspect it's just an eyelash, and given the amateur dramatics taking place in front of me, it will be cried out soon. Sure enough, five minutes later I am sitting beside his bed, looking at him. He is looking at me, as I'm holding his hand. Then, "So mummy, how's it going?" he asked. It's one of his favourite questions just now - it makes him feel like he's looking after me while his daddy is away.

"Not that good just now George" was my answer. Well it was 4:10am! I suggested that he switch his musical nightlight on and go back to sleep. He rolled over and that was that. At 5:10am I was still awake. No wonder I'm always tired. If you asked him if he was awake in the night he would tell you he was fast asleep all night.....

Questions, questions

In two months time give or take a week or so, we will find out what school George will be going to. It's hard to believe that my little baby from this picture has grown up enough to be going to school in just over seven months. It's just as well though. I'm starting to think that I should have a black chair like on Mastermind as day after day I am called to answer question after question. I am ashamed to say that I have occasionally told him that he will have to wait and ask his daddy when he comes home. This week he wanted to know (amongst other things) could he have a baby sister, why winter lasts for so long, and how it gets dark when the sun goes down. It will be so good to share the question answering with his teacher when the time comes.

Best Friends in the World

Tonight when I was kissing him goodnight, George told me that "My best friends in the world are daddy and you mummy". I hope that as his parents we don't ever do anything to change his view of us. In return, I promised him that I would love him "forever and always".

Good advice?

I was having a bath tonight, when a small serious face appeared round the door.
"Do you know mummy" he said "you should always take a boat with you when you go near any water".
I will try to remember to take a boat with me in the bath in future, in case of any unforseen happenings.

His nan is going to Australia at the end of this month. George has warned her to watch out for sharks. What a thoughtful boy!

Chuff Chart

For the past two weeks George has been crossing off the days on a chuff chart that I made him to show when his daddy would be home. I didn't know exactly what date he would be home, but I guessed and overestimated a bit so that George wouldn't be disappointed. George insists on crossing the squares off himself, and is enjoying watching the uncrossed squares becoming fewer and fewer.

Hopefully we now have only 5 weeks before we go to the airport to collect him. With five weeks to go, George is excited already. When I was pregnant, one of my aunties said that George would forget who his daddy was because he would be away for so long. Before he was born, George would kick and kick when he heard his daddy's voice, and go very quiet when his daddy was away. His first smile was for his daddy (and most of the ones after that for the first couple of months, I didn't get a look in).

I have to say that I don't think that there is any chance of George forgetting his daddy.

Rock Star

George doesn't like to throw away any of his possessions. Today he came across a set of ID tags with his name on. I bought them for him when we were on holiday and the organisers of a bowling competition thought that it was a good idea to give only the winner of the competition a medal (20 or so other children cried, George just sulked). He now thinks that the ID tags are a medal.

He decided that as he had a medal he could be a Rock Star. We had a good ten minutes of standing on his step, singing random songs. They're never nursery rhymes or anything that sounds familiar, I don't know where his songs come from. I have friends who are convinced that George is going to end up on the stage, and I have to admit that even I am starting to wonder.....

Oh, and the reason that he is wearing his pyjama top is that it was the nearest thing to hand when he announced that he had wee'd on his jumper. I have no idea how he achieved that masterpiece of misdirection!

Cake Day

Every Thursday George goes to his nan's house for two hours in the morning. It's to give me a break while his daddy is away, but I think it's a good idea that the two of them spend time together.

They usually make cakes. George's nan used to work as a cook, so thankfully is able to make cakes and suchlike from scratch. I buy her the basic ingredients and they concoct things together. However, being a typical four year old, George's soul occasionally cries out for something a little more glamorous. Even more occasionally, I take pity on him and supply the goods. Today I let him have a Mr Men cake mix. It was taken in and out of the box at least ten times before he took it to his nan's house, and the figures for the top were all examined in detail. Here is today's crop of junk food.

Visitors and Things

This morning Gerorge announced that he wished the cold would come back as he wanted snow. He said that he was very sad that he hadn't been able to throw a snowball. I feel a bit guilty as I'm actually very happy that it didn't snow here.

We had visitors tonight. George's friend E came for tea with her mum. Both children had eaten potato waffles and beans before they left nursery. At home they both had cheesy potatoes, followed by raisins, followed by a chocolate brownie each. They then raided my emergency stock of cereal bars, and had one of those each. George weighs 30lbs, but never sits still, so I assume that is why he never puts on weight despite the amount of food that he eats.

Missing Daddy

Aww, George said he was missing his daddy today, and couldn't remember what he looks like. He hasn't seen his dad since October the 20th. We looked through the photos that I have on the computer, and George chose a picture of his dad. I printed it for him and we stuck it to George's bedroom wall. George is very pleased with his own little picture gallery. This is the one that he chose......

Talking

I have read in some toddler books that a child will either be a mover or a talker. George didn't walk until he was 16 months old, has never climbed out of his cot or over a safety gate, and can't pedal his bike, but if there's one thing he is good at it's talking.

He starts talking virtually as soon as his eyes open in the morning, and carries on right until the end of the day, when I've put him to bed. As I go downstairs at night, I often hear "Have a nice day" being shouted down to me.

This week George has taken to asking me "So mummy, how's it going then?" a couple of times each day. I have no idea what he is checking for. He has also asked me what I want to be when I grow up. He tells me that he would like to be a shark doctor. For a little person, he certainly has some big ideas.

Playing with a friend

George's friend M came to play today. George absolutely adores her, so this was good news. M is older than George, so they're happy to play on their own, and I was able to get quite a lot done in the house, and some baking too. As long as I hand out food at regular intervals the two of them are happy in their own little world.

Today's game seemed to involve more or less every piece of Playmobil that George has, several small plastic ponies, and an inflatable dolphin that was doing duty as a vacuum cleaner.

There were several points during the day when the living room floor disappeared because of sheer volume of toys, but they did tidy away after themselves. Unfortunately George wasn't keen to stop and eat his dinner while M was here (they'd already had lunch together), so she had to leave at 5.30pm. I had a very wakeful night last night because George didn't eat his evening meal and woke up hungry several times. He is full of lamb and veg stew tonight, so hopefully he will stay asleep.

Kidz A Loud

Today we went to a new soft play that has opened about half an hour away. George loved it. He is quite confident when meeting new children now, and can often be heard telling them his name and asking what they are called.

He found his way around very quickly, and I didn't see very much of him for the next two hours. He turned up at our table when he was hungry or thirsty. There is a cafe there, which as well as producing fairly expensive food and drink also does childrens portions of chips for £1.00. As this is virtually all that George eats while we are out (he had already decided he didn't want his other favourite which is a cheese sandwich), our dining experience wasn't too traumatic.

During good weather I prefer to be outside - well we do live five minutes away from the beach, but as an indoors substitute in bad weather, I have to say I was impressed. There were plenty of staff available, and there was even somebody sitting up inside the play area supervising the slides. The place was clean, and the staff were pleasant. George has already asked if we can go again, and I think we probably will.

Music Maestro please

This is George with the mouth organ that arrived in his Christmas stocking. He loves it and spends ages playing it. I have to say, for the entertainment value that we've had from it, it was an absolute bargain for 99p. I have been given several singing and music shows with George standing on his step. He always takes a bow at the end too.

If you think I'm mad for buying him a mouth organ, well last Christmas I bought him battery operated bongo drums - and yes, I do replace the batteries when they run out.

Sailing

This picture was taken last time George's daddy was home. We are half owners of a sailing boat that is a class known as a seabird half rater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabird_Half_Rater. Actually, the picture at the top on the wikipedia site is our boat, her name is Sandpiper. She is usually sailed on the Mersey near our home, but sails once a year for a week in Abersoch, and once for a week in Beaumaris. George sailed a race in the Mersey with his daddy in September 2008 and is currently the youngest sailing member of Wallasey Yacht club. He's not the youngest ever, just the youngest that they have at the moment.

The Poor Kids

I don't even like the word "kids", but in certain moments of stress, when our house looks like a bomb has hit and there are toys everywhere, I have more than once found myself telling George that if he doesn't pick his toys up I will give them to the poor kids. George being the person that he is, has asked a few more questions about "poor kids", such as where they live, what they eat, do they have toys and suchlike, but they have not been mentioned for a while.

Two weeks before Christmas, he came in from the hall and asked me "What are we sending the poor kids for Christmas then?". I asked if he had any idea what he wanted to send, but he didn't. I logged on to ActionAid's website, and read some of the items out to him. He chose to send a chicken so that a child could have eggs for breakfast, and he also chose some books for schoolchildren.

ActionAid's website does say that the money can also be used for whatever they see fit, but George has a lovely card of a small person holding a chicken. I am pleased that he thought of people with less than he has, even during the time when he was very excited about what Father Christmas may have been bringing for him. Actually, I was quite touched that he remembered.

Icebreaker

We have had some very cold weather lately. I tried to persuade George to go for a walk but he was having none of it, so I dressed him in his coat, hat and wellie boots and told him that we were going to tidy up the garden.

He had a fabulous time fiddling with all the pots full of ice. He tipped some of it out and set about breaking it up with his plastic golf clubs. It took him ages and he was absolutely engrossed.We were outside for about an hour, and he had a bounce on his trampoline and a ride on his scooter too. When we came back inside I asked him if he'd had a good time. The answer...."No, it was too cold mummy".

Best Friends

These are George's best friends. He has human friends too, but I wouldn't be happy putting another child's photo on the internet without asking their parents if it was alright to do so.


This is Tiptoe. He's a beanie rat, but George thinks that he is a mouse. He often arrives in my bedroom "in the groove" whatever that means at 6am with his friend George.





This is "Toast". A small ginger tabby cat, also named by George. He is quieter and more well behaved than Tiptoe, and very, very snuggly.


Both of these friends sleep in George's bed at night.

Cookery Masterclass

Today we have made a shortbread forest, with shortbread stars and a shortbread moon.





















We also made some chocolate crispy cakes







I blame my friend Aggie for buying him this outfit for Christmas!









We've also made some chocolate lollipops, but they're still setting in the fridge.

Dressing Up

George likes dressing up. As a mermaid, as a Power Ranger, and really anything he can get his hands on. He asked me to take a photo of him in his crocodile costume today, and to send the picture to his daddy because "He won't recognise me dressed up like this". Hmmm, I wonder?