twinkle

he has the occasional sleep over at nuna and grandad's, and they get to read in bed in the dark (he calls out - is it daytime yet - as at 6am it's still pitch black, sigh!).

cornish blue

tickle

how can we not giggle when we're in gweek, cornwall? When Adrian tickles him, it's a whole 'nother level from my probing fingers. now he says 'dad, shave your bristles!'

fish

what to do on a wet windy day on a camping holiday? find indoor fish!

ziiip

there is nothing that brings back summer holiday memories than the sound of zips unfurling on a tent. I almost shuddered with apprehension about being dragged on a walk up a mountain, and then remembered mum and dad weren't with us, and we just had to drag ourselves to the beach! (The cold, windswept, empty cornish beach, I might add!) And we didn't have to walk 20km with the tent and all our food on our backs - look a car to put the kitchen sink in (but we forgot the matches)!

forches

A bit of my work slips in - this is one of the gardens we are supporting through our 'home grown, community owned' project. It's based in a low-income area of North Devon, and has got lots of kids growing food, young people hanging out there, older people raising seedlings on window-ledges ready to be planted out...(the lower pic is a different site - can't claim anything to do with that one!)

trackies

why do I love him more especially when he looks ridiculous?

staverton's dart

Lucky you can't see Adrian or I in these pics, fully clothed in the chill air while we stripped the li'l fella off! think he's got enough insulation? mum says the one of him prancing from the water looks ridiculously like me (30 years ago!) Having probs uploading videos tonight, but check back in a few days and hopefully I can do it later...

huxham woods

it's definately true that if Janu can't see me, he thinks I can't see him. When we play hide and seek, he patiently hides while I count to 10, then runs from his hiding spot as soon as I uncover my eyes - 'here I am' - he shouts! every time. then he covers his eyes and counts randomly (mostly from one to ten, but also variations on the order, which I'm sure is some sort of complex sequence!) and then races off to hide.

kiss

janu says, when I lunge in for a cuddle, 'no mum, you've had a hug already today'.

poorly

poorly boy - sometimes things get too much (now one of his favourite games is playing hospital..)

still there?

just checking..

zea mays

zea mays-zing janu finds the cobs, munches them and gives the rest to the chickens. this saturday a local farmer offered us as much manure as we wanted - many trailer loads later our allotment looks much happier and ready for over-wintering. muck, muck and more muck. we still fill buckets and baskets and bellies with apples whenever we go up. we've taken a few loads to be juiced at local community juicing days, and come away with sticky bottles of fresh, red, sweet juice. janu guzzles it like mamma's milk.

'vana

Ivana and family have been our friends and neighbours since before Janu was born. while we were bumbling round here, they built this house - earth, straw and water, and home school thier two kids, and are generally wonderful people to know..

teignmouth

start (again) point

I think I've posted start point pictures alot, but how can I help it when it looks like this? also a good show-case of what Janu thinks is a winning smile. how can I break it to him? acutally his mum's is not much better..a study of how to smile and frown at the same time. I think you do this too, dad.

swan

janu is deeply suspicious of swans ever since, at a bbq by a lake, a swan pinched a sausage from us. He thinks they are audacious and a bit scary. I do too. so we were trying to feed the runts, avoiding the swans big beak (I'm sure the swan was just out of this picture, about to swoop).

right now lots of canada geese are flying about above, in slightly dyslexic V formations, heading somewhere salubrious.

foot-phone

this is the most direct line to nagapya and granny in australia - the good ole foot phone. Inevitably they tell me to tickle janu, after telling him what they've been up to (admittedly, this does involve alot more boats and grapes than actually fill your days!) Sometimes uncle simon tells Janu about his bikes, or auntie trina gives an update on that HUGE belly of hers. So we're not so far out of touch, after all. this morning we skyped to see that enormous belly on video phone (via a belly button?) - fantastic!

furry teeth

we occasionally remember to brush his little fangs.