5 o'clock grumbles

the sweet expression on his face belies his five o'clock grumpies. Around this time he decides he actually wants to go to sleep, but not enough to REALLY go to sleep, just enough to grumble about being tired and make me become kind of creative about how to distract him from all-out grumps, and going to be waaay to early to stay happily asleep. So far so good, at a pub by the river where the sound of dogs madly chasing (poor) ducks, small children for some inane reason going INTO the -5 degree water on old tyres, and old devon types swilling thier cider.

(note butterfly shirt sent all the way from australia by jax! you will be very pleased to hear that this was twinned with the infamous red velour shorts. what a guy.)

dartmoor flying

FINALLY the sun comes out. My sis had previously been borrowing all my winter clothes for the scorching english summer. haaaruumph.

So we flew up to the moors, and found Sheeps Tor (a big pile of rocks with sheep, hairy cows and wild ponies all around). Little one slept through most of it, but I'm sure the fresh air, and kicking around on the grass (and sheep poo) and sunshine was just what he craved. Or dreamt of as he was bounced around. We feasted on our baked goods - a fantastic curry and mini quiches. mmmmm.

Oh, and tiny man in the too-small white hat learnt to fly (see the video!).

"YES they are...

... red velour shorts I'm wearing"

The story of the shorts -

Adrian has gotten into the fantastic habit of getting up early when little one starts grunting and fussing too much - this can be as early as 5 but if he's lucky, closer to 6.30am. And then he hangs out with little one while he has breakfast and gets ready for work (not too hard to guess what waking-4-times-in-the-night to feed mama is doing..) And THEN he dresses little man.

The red shorts morning though, he dressed him in all warm clothes, but the sun (after a months holiday where the rain took over all weather duties) decided to come out - so I got to choose what our handsome friend wore. Hence, the classy shorts. So of course we had to go to a cafe and celebrate with cake.

waiting, waiting

He is doing his almost-most-favourite thing - looking out the window (perhaps we should get out more!).


"where IS she? When is my short haired auntie getting here?"

She made it!

At the front door!


All the way from Beijing by train (absent-mindedly missing the Olympics by a couple of weeks), my fave sis arrives on the doorstop.

somebody's coming

I told him that there was a surprise coming. He said 'what - more milk?' I said nooooo,
Catriona's coming! Best Australian Auntie ever is coming! Can you believe it? She's on the train now (just texted it's delayed, and that, amazingly for English public transport, it appears very disorganised!) and she'll be here soon!!

stylish sister-in-law

Best English Auntie ever is teaching him about accessories (note necklace in his lap). He likes these more than horses. He also likes her big cuddles and her stripy picnic blanket (he told me).