Daniel's nineth week

Another week has flown by and Daniel continues to grow and develop at a similar pace. He has started enjoying some of the toys we have for him. He concentrates very hard on his einstein shapes with their bold designs, the swinging musical fishy chair keeps him happy for ages but most of all he loves interacting with a smiling and talking face.

Tropical Forest

Last friday we joined some friends for a day out at the Tropical Forest. The fun started and ended with the train journey there and back. It was amusing listening to the kids discuss whether the red and blue train was Thomas or James. As we arrived we were greeted by a giant tortoise and soon afterwards we met all her tiny children. At the toddler's session the kids got to hold, touch and feed animals like: a bunch of bouncy bunnies, something that looked like a bunny with a cat's tail, a wise old owl, a baby crocodile, khaki dragon lizards that ate grasshoppers, green dragon lizards that ate worms and two scary but affectionate snakes. After a lovely picnic lunch on the lawn we witnessed the feeding frenzy in the rainforest part of the zoo. All in all it was a fun educational outing for all of us!

Out of character

We had a play date at our house yesterday. In addition to Claire and Phillipa we were joined by Kailash and her adorable baby girl Ishvari who is definitely a mini Shyam. She just laughed and giggled all the time so she is clearly a happy baby. It's hard to imagine that Daniel is only 3 weeks younger than her.
I did something totally out of character and invited virutal strangers over as well. Even though we don't know each other very well our paths frequently cross and we have something very important in common: we all have 2 kids born more or less at the same time. I really enjoyed their company and the kids had loads of fun together so I hope to see more of them in the future.

Zach, Phillipa, Nicholas and Freddie

Alex&Lawrence, Amy&Olivia and Daniel&I

Fantasy in the forest

Nicholas' imagination is going wild at the moment. I love listening to him weave stories out of all the weird and wonderful threads dangling around in his head. It's great to see how his imagination is fed by the books we read, programs we watch, places we visit, people we meet, things we see - anything and everything he encounters has an effect on him - it's also amazing how his memory is developing.

The other day we went for a lovely walk with Claire and Phillipa in Putney Heath. We found an awesome clearing in the forest that provided the perfect setting for some imaginative and fantasy play.

Knight Nicholas and Princess Phillipa fighting the dragon

Seeking refuge from the shark

Hiding from the big bad wolf

Getting ready to fly

And they all lived happily ever after ...

Arsenal Fans!?

Passport photo

We're just about to submit the application for Daniel's passport! Which photo should we use?

Incidentally this is Nicholas' passport photo! Do they look similar?

Catch up

I finally managed to catch up on photos from our holiday to South Africa in December and January. Since there were so many happy memories I put them on our old website. Follow the links to check them out.

Month 25

Month 26

Also featuring our trip to Mauritius.

Daniel's eighth week

Hanging out with Dad!

Want to fight?

Or rather dance?

Chilling

Wiped out
Napping

Stretching

Fun in the sun

We took advantage of one of the few sunny days we had lately and met some friends in Bishops Park. The kids had an absolutely ball in the splash pool. Hopefully there will be more sunny days like that before the end of summer.

Oh deer!

Last sunday in Richmond Park