alphabet soup

Staring early with their letters. Sarah has lived in Staverton only 3 months, having just arrived from Japan. She is light like a fairy, and has the brightest smile. She introduced Janu to miso soup with seaweed & tofu for lunch. Loved it.

cob

For a few weeks in June, Adrian helped build a cob building up on Dartmoor. We went up this weekend to have a look at it for the owner's birthday (but forgot to take any photos.) Continuing on to the high, beautiful (freezing!) moors, and I realised that even with gorgeous views all around, my eyes were only on one thing: the big fat woolen baby in front of me. He is wearing his dad's hat to keep the icy wind from his ears.

all the better...

... to grab you with! A gorgeous Sunday walk with Frank and Mary and family gave Janu more faces to explore (actually to claw, chew and suck). Mary donated truckloads of baby things to us & Janu bounces, sleeps, rocks, bathes, wears and chews all of Frank & Peter's pre-loved goodies.

hay-pen

A hay-play pen! For a young man who has learnt to sit up! Frabulous day, calooh calay! He has the most delicious spine, all long and tall, and almost edible.

Bea from Moor trees made him this play-pen at Sunday's workday with the charity Moor Trees. A new tree nursery is starting just up the road from us, and on this winter-sunny-day, we weeded around the beds and other (more practically minded) people put up a shed. Moor Trees have said we can also put a couple of our own beds in at the back as an allottment - solving our shady garden problem. I love our garden, but it is perpetually shady throughout the day, with struggling veggies & thriving slugs.

boat house

I met Mike on the Devon lift-share site, where

he offered space in his car (already crowded his family plus more kids going to the local school) for the hour trip to work. So that solved my big belly how to get to work problem - except that Mike rode in from a park&ride lot 15min out of town. Not to be upstaged (!) I used to haul my bigbelly on a bike and cycle into town (at about 8 months he politely said he might cycle on ahead - I was getting too slow!). It felt like a serendipitous meeting, and I really enjoyed the trips.

A few days ago A and I went to visit his lovely family in their amazing boat house down on the river Dart, where they have lived for almost 20 years. Perched just above the river, their dogs and garden and life spill outside onto the Sharpam Estate and the river. Beautiful.

Pack of parents

Beetroot & pear. mmmmm. & celery. (don't tell him about chocolate or cake, just for a while). Even though I get frustrated (that happens alot) he is actually not too bad at eating. I sometimes slip a teaspoon-full in when he's trying to put a toy in his mouth. he doesn't seem to notice, which makes me laugh.

It has suddenly occured to me, last night, as Adrian & I were in the Barrell House pub (we'd helped set up for a benefit for Amnesty International) that I am very glad to be a parent. That feeling has been a long time coming (as some of you know), and it just snuck up on me as I was talking to a mother of five, and she was reflecting on her 25-year-old son. Adrian had Janu in a sling, and he was wide-eyed staring, being happy and quiet amidst the clatter. I felt glad to be part of the big pack of parents out there. I really look forward to him talking, and laughing loud, and being confused. And me trying my best - he will learn early that humans are fallible.

exmouth autumn

windy

, wet ,

cloudy exmouth on Adrian's birthday. Kicking fallen leaves along for the first time this year.

And a big happy backpack.

3-cake 40!

The many cakes of Adrian. Three cakes for his 40th this month. All chocolate, all good. We stretched his b'day over a long weekend, and ate cream tea, went for long walks, ate too well, slept in (sort of, if 5.30am is sleeping in..!) and I think AA is coping with 40.

We discovered little man loves candles - and screamed like anything when they were blown out. (we did it twice to test him!)

4-eyes

Whose eyes are bigger? Pear and pretty much anything is his definite fave. Pear and beetroot even worked - for a few spoons. I'm managing to squash veggies into about 2 meals a day. Yesterday I gave him a runner bean from the garden (the last crop!) and he stuck it in his mouth and crunch! bit off a big chunk. I am getting better at fishing things out of his mouth as well as putting them in. Tomorrow.. broccoli.