Swimming

We just had a lovely day visit from Mum, Kris and Nan. They said they would be over bright and breezy so, being bryants got here not long before midday. Not a problem as Thai new meds for her cancer are making her a little incontinent and she had had a particularly bad night so I had a lot of cleaning up to do. Having sat about a bit while waiting for the monster to wake up Nathan gave an improtue concert with his three backing singers/percussionists and I then quickly cooked chicken fajitas for lunch (unfortunately Nan was briefly ill - didn't stop her finishing her lunch though). We then headed to the pool where Nate used any excuse to play with his Aunty (forcing her to sing "twinkle twinkle" over and over) and nan, Mum and I nattered about this and that. Nathan is so much more stable on his feet in the pool now and can walk right to the deep edge now and still keep his head above water. He was so good (despite an accident on the changing room floor) that I let him have £1 for the bob the builder ride. (Mum and kris took photos but I forgot).

We then headed back to mine and Nate had some of my leftover failed Sheperds pie for his tea which he managed a few bites from me and then insisted on sitting on his aunties lap to eat the rest and was treated to her best train impression (he has recently started doing woo-woo noises and actions for trains so Kris was kept amused too). After tea Nate acted as a money courier between me and Mum and Kris to settle up after swimming and was very chuffed when I gave him two 1p's for helping. Nan then showed him how to put them in his pocket (after he popped them in his potty) and gave him 2p and Nanny chipped in with another 1p. All of them went in his pocket and were taken out and were very carefully put back one by one and then taken out ad nauseum for the rest of the afternoon... All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend the day..

His poor Daddy however has had metting all afternoon and will be late home but I will keep the boy up to see his daddy if he isn't too late.

Jasmine's Birthday

Today was Jasmine's third birthday so Nate and I headed to essex for her party. It was held at monkey Bizness in Hockley and as we pulled up so did Mandy and Dave.

Nathan at first wanted to go in with the big boys playing football but, being teeny kept on getting accidently knocked so I persuade that the under 4's area would be better for him, particularly as they had his favorite cars. Unfortunately little sticky fingers have made the pictures quite blurry.



Jasmines joined Nathan for a bit, though she really preferred the larger area



After a while Nate ventured out to the wendy house/kitchen area. Where Ashley and Nathan took turns to hide in the cupboard (unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Ashley, only Nate, who became quite obsessed and continued playing long after Ashley (who played beautifully with Nate) had lost interest and gone back to the big boys...

he was also very chuffed that there was a seat that was just low enough for him to get on so kept hoping up and down and playing with the puzzle that he carefully collected



Soon the kids were all called into a seperate room for food. The girls had princess hats and wands and the boys had pirate has and cutlasses. Nate sat beside Ashley and they promptly started to use their cutlasses to saw each others heads off... Jasmine had a secial chair to sit on too and a lovely Pepper Pig cake.



Once the kids were full (and the adults had grazed on the remains) we headed off. I had intended to go back to Dave and Mandys for a cuppa (and, if I am honest, a nose round the new house) however, when I got there I went to get Nate out of the car and he was fast asleep so fought me off with his eyes still shut and went straight back to sleep. So I only saw the outside which was really nice (lovely position too, nice and quiet) handed over the presents and hurried off as Luke (who had slept the whole time) had woken up and was hungry. I was disappointed but as it was it was lucky we left when we did - the journey up had taken just under 2 hours but it took nearly 4 to get home due to clipping the start of the rush hour combined with road works etc. Nate was exhausted from all the fun he had had so slept most of the way home but the last hour he sobbed his heart out and there was no where to stop so I couldn't do anything about it - poor poppet.

A spoiled boy spends a day at his grandparents...

Today we went to see Mum, Dad and Kris. Mum has been car booting so Nate was spoilt rotten. Firstly, a new Rory the racing car trike... Unfortunately the photos are a little blurry, due to sticky little fingers on the lense.



Nate then went for a ride with Nanny...



... while Aunty Kristy cooked pancakes. Nate and I had already had breakfast so we did the decent thing and had another...



While eating I took my eyes off Nate and he dabbled his fingers in the tin of golden syrup and the whinged cos he didn't like sticky fingers. I told him to put his fingers in his mouth and he complied by puttin ghis fingers on his forehead and sliding his fingers down until they got to his mouth. After hosing him down, we popped him down for a quick nap and in the meantime filled his second pressie with water. As anyone could have guessed things got silly and we all got wet so we then sat in the sun to dry off until Nate got up.



Once he woke he headed straight for his tent and tunnel. It was so hot by now he stayed semi naked.



Son Aunty Kristy tempted himself over to the pool (meanwhile I started photoing so stuff for mum for ebay). Being a poor role model it wasn't long before her and Nate were soaked...



He then descovered the joy of pushing his trike around...



John was working from home today so we set off earlyish to get home before rush hour to spend the evening with daddy. Nathan slept pretty much from the end of mum's road all the way home...