Fougasse

We've had a couple of rainy days, and haven't felt much like going out. Isla and I went fishing for a water boatman in a puddle. Evie had a bath which shocked her a bit, then Evie and Isla both had a go at the play gym together. Evie has been smiling and chatting a lot recently which is lovely. Isla has been reading stories to Evie, playing on her friend's 'jumpoline', making boats out of duplo and lighthouses out of cups, and also making a fougasse.

Music time

Everything started again this week. On Monday, we went to Tumble Tots for the first time since July. Evie joined us! Although she didn't know about it as she was asleep in my carrier the whole time. There were lots of new people in our group, including a toddler we hadn't seen since she was a couple of months old. She was apparently expecting to see Mr Tumble, but unfortunately he wasn't there. Isla was happy to go to Tumble Tots and tried out all the equipment, especially the mini trampoline and balancing bean bags on her head whilst turning around. After lunch, we went to the supermarket, which Isla was very unhappy about and would have preferred to stay at home and do some drawings instead. Luckily, the thought of going in a little red ride-on bus spurred her on to walk from the car to the shop.

Isla enjoyed pre-school a lot this week. They all went into the large hall and had music put on for them. Isla was one of the few who danced to the music with some groovy moves! She had been practising dancing at the weekend to Sam's music and picked up a few dancing tips from him and Al so she really enjoyed her dancing at pre-school! 

Also this week, Isla has been transporting her teddy and tigger snugglers around the house in her own little carrier:

And playing some music with her kazoo (which is no longer scary!), her shakers and harmonica to Evie and me:

This morning Evie had her first set of injections to vaccinate against many things and also drops against rotavirus. She didn't particularly enjoy that visit to the doctors. The day before she had her 6-week check, so it feels like we have spent most of our time in waiting rooms the last couple of days! Andrew and Isla had an exciting trip to the DIY shop while Evie and I were getting the jabs done, and Isla came back with a Winnie the Pooh lampshade for her room. While we were waiting for the others to come home, Evie gave me lots of smiles so I don't think she really minded me taking her to the doctors. 

Evie makes lots of cute noises now like goo and does lots of gurgling as well as all her grunting noises. She also follows things with her eyes and can hold her head up a little when she is being held. She likes looking at things more now especially our faces and contrasting colours on clothes.

Evie wore her lovely new cardigan to prepare for a walk outside:

Isla went on the see-saw and found her echo at the top of the slide:

Our weekend away

Last week, Isla received an exciting package of some newly knitted cakes from granny Ilene! She also enjoyed a visit and trip out for lunch with granny Margaret and grandad. Whilst granny Margaret and grandad were visiting, we received a lovely parcel from our relatives Carolyn and John in Scotland with an awesome baby gro and matching toddler t-shirt of scottish highland dancers and some lovely scottish coasters too! A very exciting present from them, Isla wanted to try out the t-shirt straight-away.

Later in the week, we went out to the shops and stopped for lunch in Asda, where Isla got a Hello Kitty backpack to take things on holiday and to pre-school.

We've also been chilling out at home. Isla enjoyed reading our local magazine, especially the page with Evie's birth announcement on it as it had a photo of her holding her baby sister. She was famous when she went to pre-school this week as many people had seen it!

Wednesday and Thursday were very summery days. We went to the park a couple of times and enjoyed a visit from Natalie. At the park, Isla found that if she shouted 'Mummy!' she could hear her voice again and so she had heard an echo. She wanted to find her echo for the rest of the day, but couldn't find it in the garden, or in the house. We drew some drawings to figure out where her echo (or 'gecko' as Isla calls it) had gone! Evie had an extremely unsettled evening on Wednesday with probably lots of wind bothering her, but she eventually settled to sleep well after a few hours. Earlier in the day, we had been for her newborn hearing test and Isla had played in a giant sandpit in the middle of town! We went on a walk to look for animals and came across a combine harvester cutting a nearby field so we watched it for a while. Isla took her own baby doll and buggy on that walk, while I had Evie in her buggy and Natalie came along too.

We drove to meet our friends for a weekend near Gloucester. Our holiday house was in a very pretty valley, with horses across the fence, cows on the hills and sheep baaing outside. There were lots of apple and plum trees with fruit near our house, and Isla enjoyed picking an apple and eating it straight from the tree. We also ate some plums which were very sweet, but Isla was unsure of the taste. On Saturday, we went to Puzzlewood. There were lots of activities aimed at children before getting into the wood itself. The wood has been used to film some scenes from Merlin, Jack the Giant Slayer, Dr Who, Tree Fu Tom and also inspired The Lord of the Rings. The wood was a huge maze covered with ferns, rock formations and trees covered with lichen. We ended up going round in circles several times but eventually found our way out in time to have a pub lunch! Isla made friends with a lurcher called Alfie at the pub and enjoyed playing in the garden doing songs and looking about.