#4 Let's go for a run!

You love to run!  You hardly ever walk anywhere, even in the hallway at home. Your little feet are always pounding the floor as quickly as they can as you tear around at full speed.

When you need to burn some energy we ask "Do you want to go for a run?" and your face lights up, you go straight to the stair gate and start rattling it saying "Run! Run! Run!" and we have to leave right that minute, otherwise you get upset.  We put your shoes and your hat on, open the  front door and you are off.

There is a small park across the road from our house in Castor Bay with a pathway running down the middle.  We let you out of the push chair at the top and you will run the whole length, stopping occasionally to tell us you've seen a bumble bee, or an ant, or a buttercup.  You are in your element, free and running in the sun.

#3 "Read it!"

"Read it, Mummy!" "Read it, Daddy!"

These are requests are heard by us many times a day as you bring us an endless stream of books to read to you. It's lovely that you get so much enjoyment from books.

When I investigate why things have gone quiet you can often be found sat in front of the book case with a book in your lap, turning the pages and looking at the pictures.

You have named each book with your own title and when asked what book you would like to read you'll refer to them by these names:

"The Uh Oh book" = 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt'

"The Piggy book" = 'The Three Little Pigs'

"The Buddha book" = 'The Gingerbread Man'

"The Bunny book" = 'A Bunnies Tale'

And so on!

You are very particular about where the readers fingers are on the page. Even if just a small finger is covering a small animal or leaf at the very edge of the page, the offending finger is quickly, and quite forcefully, removed.

Favourite books are read over and over with with saying "Again!" as soon the last page is turned. I have to confess, because of this, daddy & I have been known to hide the odd book for a while so we don't have to read it for the 50th time that day!

#2 Dancing in the kitchen

The effect music has on you is amazing.  It doesn't matter what it is - nursery rhymes, an advert jingle, a pop song or a rock ballard - your face breaks into the biggest smile and you start to dance, whilst exclaiming "Music!" and "I'm dancing!".

Dancing usually means arms lifted with elbows bent like a chicken impression, swivelling from side to side and hopping from one foot to the other.  If I join in and dance with you, you invariably start giggling.  I guess I'm guilty of 'Mummy Dancing' already!

#1 Watching you sleep

I love watching your beautiful face whilst you sleep. Your features are so relaxed; gone is your cheeky grin and the dimples at the side of your mouth. Your hands and feet twitch occasionally and you are clutching your dummy tightly into your tummy. Soon you will turn over, throw your arm above your head and that dummy will sail across the cot and through the bars to the furthest reaches under the cot, waiting for me to stretch and wriggle, and stretch a bit more, until I can grasp it with my finger tips and rescue it for you. You are so peaceful and still, processing everything you've seen and learnt today, storing energy ready to get up and run non-stop, at full speed, all day tomorrow.

Recording the ordinary moments of our life - a new project

This is an idea I have picked up from some mummy blogs. To make a record of the ordinary moments of life that will be forgotten as time moves on.

The simple things in life are often the sweetest.  While the fancy days out, weekends away or holidays are fun, it's the ordinary moments I will miss when Elise is all grown up.  The snuggling in bed reading a story.  The giggles as she runs down the hallway dripping wet after a bath.  Even the naughty moments!  

So I'll use a photo (or photos) to record these moments.  The simple.  The exciting.  The imperfect.  The Ordinary Moments.