I walk the line..

Monkey is growing up so much at the moment and really acting more like a little boy than a toddler. He is just playing a lot more, and in so many ways, doing things I remember doing as a child. He has quite a neat and tidy streak and likes things to line up in a row and be neat, and also he does something which I remember doing a lot of as a kid – walking the line.

Be it on the edge of a curb, on a wall, on a line on the pavement, Monkey loves walking on the line and staying on the line. There is a little local shopping centre we go to where this is the most evident. Its quite a run down little centre, there is  Wilkos and a QD, and it also happens to be home to the local library where Monkey goes every Monday for rhyme time with Nanny & Pops. They often have a wander round the shops while they are there too and it is quite nearby so a handy place to pop to, so we go wuite a bit.

In the middle of the open sort of courtyard area there is I guess a drain, but it is a thin silver line which Monkey loves to walk along. He has been doing it for ages, and I am not really sure when it started or who he started doing it with but now if we go there he has to walk the line.

He is so cute and gets massively excited, running off shouting “Walk the Line” which sounds more like ” Walk a Yine, Walk  Yine!” He has to go all the way to the end too.

We popped there in the week and I fianlly managed to (remember to) catch it on camera!

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I just love that he gets so much pleasure out of something so simple! He does it all the time when we are out on walks, if there is a line to be walked on, he will find it and walk on it!

Do your kids do that?

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall
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Playtime at the park & fun with flowers

After Monkey’s little accident this week and an easy day to make sure he didn’t reopen his cuts, he was in desperate need of burning off some energy! Thankfully there are a few parks within walking distance of home and though it was a tad grey I decided to trust the weather forecast and pop out for him to have a run around.

WP_20140829_10_50_04_Pro (2) WP_20140829_10_51_10_ProIt was lovely to see him running about and climbing with such a big smile on his face. The swelling on his face has gone down a lot now so my over-protectiveness has calmed down a little…. though I am a bit more worried than normal about him taking a tumble as I think it wouldn’t take much for his cuts to open up again!

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Thankfully though there was no trips or stumbles or slips and just lots of fun and giggles. We sat together on a spinny thing (no idea what you would actually call it and no photos of us both on it as I was trying to make sure neither of us fell off it) and just hearing him giggle his heart out and shout wee was lovely for the soul. Somehow Monkey hurting himself so badly really made me remember how precious he is and with my preggo hormones at the moment I am being a properly soppy Mummy and it was just lovely seeing him having so much fun!

this is the spinny thing :)

this is the spinny thing 🙂

Our little Monkey loves flowers. Even before he could say any words he would regularly be found picking daisies and dandelions on our walks. This hasn’t changed and he still loves picking up flowers whenever we go out. For a while he called them “Bowers” but his pronunciation is improving so we are now at “fwowers”. As per usual he spent quite a bit of time with flowers at the park. Carrying them around, taking them down the slide with him, and then a couple of daisies made their way into his pocket for the walk home.WP_20140829_10_55_43_Pro WP_20140829_10_59_23_Pro WP_20140829_10_56_40_Pro

It was a lovely little run around at the park and nice to see him so giggly and happy 🙂

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall
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Ten Easy Ideas for Outdoor Play

Regular readers may remember that at the start of the year we put a lot of time and effort into Operation Garden renovation. Turning our junk heap of a garden into a nice place to be. We hoped it would be ready in time for the summer, so that a lot of time could be spent outside enjoying it. With me being pregnant we were particularly keen on this idea as it would mean that there would be days where I could easily occupy Monkey outdoors, without having to go anywhere! The good news is that we managed this and have already been spending a lot of time out there, doing various activities (I will list some of our favourites below).

For Monkey’s birthday in May we bought a second hand climbing frame on ebay complete with swing and slide, to have in the garden. Unfortunately with all of the illness that surrounded his birthday weekend we never actually put it up, and with one thing and another we just hadn’t ever got around to putting it up! This all changed last weekend though and we finally have a lovely climbing frame in use in our garden!

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An ‘Okay’ week

Our word of the week this week is “okay.” Not because it necessarily sums up our week, though it has been an ok week (you can read some of what we have been up to here), but because it is Monkey’s favourite word at the moment. It basically replaces yes.

The funniest thing about it is that he says it with the voice of a bored teenager, like “okaaaaay” if you insist mum, if I have to, if you really want to. Even though I know what he means is Yes! Yes! Yes!

A few examples

Shall we go on the swing? “Okaaaay” while running off clapping his hands

Him: “Chocat” Me: You’d like some chocolate? Him: “okaaay” Me: Sorry but no.

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Learning to Count – 25 months

Monkey's wall stickers

Monkey’s wall stickers

Monkey loves numbers. Loves them. He’s been fascinated by them since he was tiny really. He has some ‘Hungry Caterpillar’ themed wall stickers in his bedroom, which include the numbers 1-5 which are positioned above his bed, and he has found those numbers fascinating since he was very small. He also loves clocks and watches and many times has nearly pulled a relative’s arm off (well maybe not quite off but given it a good tug) to see the numbers on their watch.

 

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Playing with Granny

A few weeks ago we had a little impromptu family BBQ. It was partly to christen out new garden furniture, but mainly just an excuse to have a get together. Not everyone could make it but it was only informal so no big deal.

Monkey always loves having his family around and he always gets loads of attention from his aunts, uncles and grandparents. They all love him to bits and he is so lucky to have that. He had lots of fun with everyone there but I just wanted to share this lovely little moment of fun he had with his Granny. Running around the garden doing aeroplane arms. He loved every second of it and it was very lovely to watch.

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Cardboard Tunnel Fun

Last weekend, we did something very grown up. We *gasp* bought some garden furniture! The set we had previously hubby had inherited from a friend and it was very weather beaten and wobbly. It didn’t really match our lovely new garden. We have had in mind we wanted some for a while but they have all been so expensive. On a trip to our local garden centre however we found a lovely set, heavily reduced in the sale and, well, we snapped it up!

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It took a couple of trips to get it home in the car, and hubby had to tie the table in on the last leg as it didn’t quite fit, but we managed and it is now set up and looking lovely in the back garden. I’m not sure why, I mean we have a house, a toddler and a baby on the way, but for some weird reason, buying garden furniture feels like a very grown up thing to do. And I really don’t feel like a grown up!

Anyway, immaturity was soon restored!

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Monkey’s Speech at 25 months

Monkey is a late talker. I know all kids vary and do things in their own time, but this is one of those areas where Monkey has definitely lagged behind slightly. One of my friends’ little boys started talking at around 10 months, and most of the other toddlers we know started pretty early too.

But, judging by other toddlers at the music class Monkey goes too, and his tumble tots class, I have seen that it really is not that unusual for a toddler to not speak much until they are around the age of 2. Because it is something I once worried about (and therefore talked about a lot) I also know of lots of adults who didn’t speak until they were nearly 3 – and it never meant anything detrimental about their development.

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Moving up a class at Tumbletots

With Monkey turning 2 a few weeks ago, it is now time for him to move up to the 2-3 age group at Tumble Tots! We have loved going to Tumble Tots ever since he started walking, at around 11 months and I have to admit I was a little nervous about making the transition.

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