The tomato thief strikes again

So where were we? Ah yes. Yesterday we had a hectic morning at toddler group because I was helping out but Isla seemed to enjoy herself nevertheless. I was very proud of her entertaining herself. She played with the play kitchen and cooked me some fried bacon and also enjoyed finding a pretend baby bottle and feeding baby dolls. After I had got the mat out for the toddlers to sit on and have snacks and drinks, I went back into the kitchen to help with the sippy cups. I came back in to see Isla the only one sat on the mat patiently waiting for her biscuit and drink! She normally doesn't stay sat on her bottom for snacks very often so I was astounded.

In the afternoon, we went to meet up with our NCT friends at the Egg theatre cafe. It is great in there because they have lots of interesting lights and toys for children to play with. The hot chocolate and carrot cake is pretty good too.

Isla wearing her new shoes and
holding a 'baa baa' at the Egg theatre cafe

This morning we went swimming. It was what is known locally as a 'Big Bathtime' which means there were loads of children about, but on the plus side also lots of animal shaped floats, watering cans and 'bobs'. Bob is what Isla calls boats to play with in the bath because she has a WOW toy called Bob. She also can say Pob now, and sometimes calls Charlie this. He is more commonly called Pop Pop still though. Anyway, swimming was fun. After swimming, we went to 'The Works' and bought some crafty sequin shapes to spread around the lounge later. We also went to Tesco and bought lots of interesting cheap cuts of meat such as lamb neck and oxtail. So oxtail for tea tonight....

While I was putting shopping away and putting some lunch out, Isla snuck into the kitchen and stole a tomato from the dining room table. She ran away with it and hid behind the curtains while munching it! 

Crafty foggy days and some new shoes

We headed to Dyrham park for another toddler trail this week. We held earthworms, looked at snails and built houses for hedgehogs to hibernate in.

Isla collecting sticks for our hedgehog house

Standing in the orchard at the end of the toddler trail

After Isla's nap we did some painting and mixing some purple paint for making an egg box spider. We also bought some new stickers from the local shop which have kept Isla amused for ages.

Slightly foolish to do painting in a carpeted room...

Might need to clean the windows a bit

We collected some acer leaves from the garden and created a brilliant picture using some glitter glue and special gems. Oh and some pom poms.

Isla has started to say 'more' instead of signing it and put it together with another very important word to ask for 'more cake' after dinner tonight. Other new words are 'frog' and 'digger' also 'zebra' and 'hippo'. Not sure if other people understand these words, but Andrew and I understand what she says most of the time. You will have to wait for the next instalment to see Isla's lovely new shoes and also the egg box spider....!

A Foggy Day

Sunday afternoon was very sunny and a great afternoon for a walk. The starlings have started to congregate on the telephone wires around the fields and soon I hope I will have some good photographs of them flocking in the sky. But for the moment, just some photos of blue sky!

One of the local farms had guineafowl amongst their chickens.

What a difference today! Very foggy and a bit spooky listening to the farm machinery and trucks on the road while not being able to see any of them.

Isla nicely snuggled in her buggy along with big puppy,
kitten, small puppy and a plastic farmer too

Afternoon walk

This afternoon we went for a chilly walk to show Isla the horses nearby. She was very excited to be going for a walk, especially since there were lots of autumn leaves around to kick up. The walk to the horses took a little longer than expected because we needed to inspect and pick up a lot of leaves on the way!

Helping in the kitchen and peppa pig

The last few days have been much less hectic than the beginning of the week. We have been doing lots of playing at home and having friends over to join in too.  

Isla plays with her toys in different ways now. She spends much longer playing with her garage and cars and sometimes lines the cars up in a traffic jam. She likes to include her cuddly toys in her games. Puppy has to help put the puzzle pieces away on occasion. Isla is picking up new words every couple of days now. Recently, she has started putting two words together so now talks about apple pie and peppa pig in this way. She is very pleased with herself when she does this! She also says 'Daddy car' when he is driving us somewhere. Signing is still pretty useful for 'drink' and 'cuddle'. She says thank you (crank koo or similar) quite a lot and sometimes signs it too. 

Isla loves to balance things in funny places.

On Saturday, Isla had a lovely morning with just her Daddy as I was off helping hack lots of shrubs back at the community centre. We went to the pub for lunch as a treat.

There are only nine weeks until Christmas so we thought we'd better start on our Christmas pudding making.

Isla helping her daddy to steep the fruits in DELICIOUS Pedro Ximenez sherry. The sultanas and currants (but not the prunes) all had to be tested before going into the sherry. 

On Sunday morning, Isla enjoyed making tractors with play dough and helping make bread. We have pork shoulder for dinner to look forward to later on after we have finished all our hoovering.

The sunset from our loft on Saturday night.

What a hoot

Wow, it has been a whole week since my last post. It's been an action packed week. We have been playing in Jura Lodge most days, as well as enjoying bike riding and many walks in the leaves.

A tractor, a horse and some ducks all in one field: what more could you want!

Part of the amazing den built by Daddy

Pirate Pob

At the beginning of this week, we were lucky enough to have my Uncle John and Aunt Judi staying with us. We all enjoyed having them to stay, and Isla especially liked having some new people to show her toys to. By the end of their stay, Isla could call them Jude and John.

We had a fun morning at Dyrham Park on a toddler trail activity. Amongst other things, they got to look at leaves through magnifying glasses, make leaf crowns, and find different animals such as badgers and hares in a field.

Making Daddy's birthday cake

On Wednesday, it was Andrew's birthday! We went to Bristol Zoo to celebrate. The last time that Isla had visited the zoo had been before the summer when our friend Natalie was visiting. They had just put lots of animatronic dinosaurs around the zoo grounds, which were set to ROAR!! at passers by. This completely freaked Isla out last visit! This time, she was still pretty cautious around the dinosaurs, but many of them had been switched off, I imagine due to scaring the children coming to the zoo. She enjoyed this visit much more. A highlight was seeing the male lion roaring really close to the edge of his enclosure just as we arrived at the zoo. Isla could name a lot of the animals this time: 'Rar rar' for the lions, 'ooh ooh' for the monkeys (gorillas etc too) and signing for crocodiles and hissing for snakes. Also 'rar rar' for sea lions, which is kind of confusing. 

A baby turtle popped his head out to look at Isla.

A chameleon

The crocodile

The crocodile has a big nose

Looking at some HUGE fish

A HUGE fish

How can a fish also be a cat?

The baby lemur riding on his dad's back, and Isla riding on her dad's back too

A penguin

Isla in an egg

Isla hatching from an egg

Looking at the gorillas foraging for food

Entwined tails

Charlie boy......ooops actually a capybara

 Spot the difference!

Isla the baby kangaroo

We had a delicious lunch out at Browns. Yes with dessert

Andrew blowing out his star cake candles

This morning it was the Autumn Party at toddler group. Isla dressed as an owl for the occasion as she is very good at hooting. The bouncy castle and halloween biscuits at the party were great. Now the little owl is napping.

It is difficult to stand still when you are an owl.