thula mama

Many Tuesday mornings since Janu was three weeks old, I have walked up the road to Helen's house, where she hosts 'Thula Mama', a mums and babes' singing group. She somehow teaches a gaggle of breastfeeding mums 3-part harmonies and melodies from around the world. I reckon we sound like angels (sometimes!) My battery ran out, but here is a snippet.

up before the birds

this is the joyful noise that wakes us, often at 4am, or if we're lucky, 5am. Sometimes I can play with him quietly (!) in bed, other times I stumble downstairs with him to let AA sleep. I guess there is just too much to do in the day - he has to start early. help.

ginger

adrian always invites the local tom in for breakfast. Janu's face, once he noticed this new 'toy', was priceless. It was the first time he giggled out loud without being tickled. still a sound that someone needs to bottle.

auntie c

wonderful day at caroline's, where we made potato print wrapping paper, bounced on her trampoline, ate beetroot and banana (well some of us did), slept happily (for 10 min) on a sheepskin with our tiny friend, ate, drank and were merry. caroline has seven children, a house full of wonderful treasures and painted in all colours, a huge garden with ducks, chooks, rabbits and more, a green house bursting with goodness and a heart bigger than all of it combined. she is a rare treat, a wonderful woman and a sparkling auntie to janu.

a

a bear in there

" uncle barry gave me the softest, warmest, most beautiful suit ever!"

Here he is as Mr Bear, with Mr Bear grandparents who lovingly care for Mr Bear for half a day each week. He loves going to their house, where its warm and cosy and no one tries to feed him parsnip for breakfast. He gets to play in the conservatory and when he's upset he gets bundled into his stroller to be lulled to sleep. lucky little fella!

quack

long lazy saturday afternoon with friends. we also played in the 'shop' - a group have friends have all bought a load of organic bulk produce, and I am dividing it up to save packaging. our own little food coop (plus it means a garage full of dates for me to gorge myself on....)

big boy seat

big day for little man! moved into big boy car seat and loved looking out the window for the first time, instead of the tops of trees and clouds drifting by.

little swinger

I took about 20 photos of him swinging, but he's too quick! So here's him in action!

drying out

Luckily no where round here is far from a pub, so we dried out after our wet adventure in a local. Janu charmed our way in front of roaring fire, and munched on a crust of bread.

holne puddles

Braving stormy weather this weekend, we walked through puddles on dartmoor. Even though we've been here close to two years, we have never done the same walk twice. There are so many tracks, lanes, byways, bridlepaths and cross country routes to explore. This is Holne Woods, where the river was much swollen from days of what felt like monsoonal rain. He was tucked up under a raincoat and so while we got soaked, he was toasty. We saw kyackers spinning down the rapids, and our last kyacking trip in Nepal felt about a million years ago.

sinhala rainbow

he's adept at sinhala (alphabet behind him on the wall) and tamil, which is above his bed. but not so good at english. he's up to egggg haaa and derivitives. Martina knitted this jumper, and even made the buttons. I can just about manage to make the bed.

granny's tiger

Janu's granny & nagyapa brought a real tiger with them when they visited us after their adventures in africa - at least that's what they told him. Looks like he believes them!

There are two different toys that get a smile from Janu no matter how grouchy he is - one is this tiger (jumping out at him from behind things makes him leap in the air!) and the other is a painted wooden parasol, spinning around. Whenever he sees it he stops grumbling and becomes transfixed. Maybe he will grow up to track tigers whilst toting a paper parasol. I like it.

at the zoo

janu was a little sleepy at the zoo, and maybe a little scared of the 100 foot long, thick-as-your-leg snakes. So he snuggled down under his dad's hat and feel asleep. How did we know he was awake? He pulled up his hat to say hello. it is his new cleverest trick.

he also now lifts up his arms when he wants to be picked up & cuddled, and seems to be alot more responsive. If I'm not mistaken he may know his name now, AND he has his 2 top teeth coming down down down. What a lot of action.

Saltram

A National Trust house near

Plymouth, with happy men. There is something odd about visiting the houses of the filthy rich, but somehow the sumptous gardens, rooms and estates (and cream teas) reel us in.

kuan, chompu, somo & janu!

Friends came round last sunday for crumble and tea - Janu really loves other little humans. They are another species to adults, and he is captivated. Everyone was moving so fast (except for fat, solid Janu) that most photos are a big blur. Only afew months until he is as old as Somo (1yr) who was racing around the room insisting on playing with all the things that aren't toys (the books, the plants, the wires, the hot tea)...!

fluffy ears

This is how cold it is! Janu seems to love the cold weather - when we're out walking in sharp wind, he laughs out loud. His cheeks feel as rough as sandpaper from all the wind - I thought all babies felt like that until I felt a friend's daughter's rose petal cheek. I wonder how he'll cope with Australian summer? Now both ears need covering from the icy winds (and I just wanted an excuse to show the funny hat that I made him).

o-boy o-bama!

Janu was so excited when I told him obama had won the US elections. He was truly over the moon. He shed a few tears listening to his acceptance speech. He tried to tell me that the reason he was up all night was because he was too excited about the results. (ha!)

He hummed old american civil rights tunes all day - mmmmmmmmmhhhhhmm I'm gonna lay down my sword and sheild, down by the river side, uh huh huh, down by the river side, I ain't gonna study war no more no more..... we're gonna hold hands the whole world round, down by the river side. and then he just started making up his own words. and then he fell asleep.