Visit to Gilbert White's house and garden

Oliver, Pip and I took at trip today to Gilbert White's house in Selbourne. Our lovely neighbours Vicky and Hal were good enough to join us to explore. The gardens are beautiful and we had fun crossing the ha ha and the kids didn't want to leave the 'conical mount'. We emptied the posh tea parlour and demolished fantastic cream teas in no time at all.

Good times.

www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk

Classic Oliver quote

Wow. That's an amazing train track. That's so impressable [sic].
Pause
And then. Disaster struck.
Oliver on his new train track.

Pip's current obsessions

Pip is currently obsessed with the following (in no particular order, think all day, every day):

1. Cleaning.
He cleans anywhere with wipes, tissues and cloths.

2. Sticking his hand down his nappy.
No comment.

3. Refusing to admit that socks aren't shoes.
You cannot persuade him otherwise.

4. Saying byebye and waving.
He sees Dada go to his bag and presumes he's off to work, says byebye; walking out of the room, says byebye; going to bed, says byebye. You get the picture.

5. Eating stones.
With stones in our front and back yard, Pip has a good supply of small stones to suck and, every so often, regurgitate. Like any good addict, he always has a fistful of his addiction even if he has a mouthful already.

6. Killing off his brain cells.
By falling over and drawing blood on a daily basis. He currently has a bitten lip, grazed forehead and scabby nose due to various pavement interactions.

7. Climbing.
He can often be found standing on top of the laundry basket. He will attempt to climb anything, including an extension cord (?).

Oliver's current obsessions

Again, in no particular order. Imagine that this is ongoing. All the time.

1. Time.
"What's the time Mama?" "Is it 1 o'clock?". It's always 1 o'clock in Oliver's world.

2. Distance.
"Are we far away from home Mama?" "Is Jules and Lucas's far away?". We are never near anything in Oliver's world.

3. Growing up.
"When I get bigger and bigger I will [insert as appropriate]". He really wants to touch the sky and be as big as Dada and Big G.

4. Perfectionism
He wants everything to be 'just so'. For example, he wanted a breadstick and I had the temerity to offer a breadstick with a chip off it. After we'd all recovered from the ensuing tantrum, he would only be consoled with a picture perfect breadstick. This also applies to his Weetabix, should you dare to mush them up or even put a spoon in them. I wonder where he got this obsessive complusive nature from?

Jules and Oliver at Birdworld

Izzy may be pushed out the picture if this relationship blossoms any further.

Our little kicker

Classic Oliver quotes

"I just don't want something"
in middle of tantrum. We're having a tough week of half term.

Izzy update

'My girl' is still very much on the scene - Oliver always talks about her when he's telling me how his day was at school - although I haven't been able to get Oliver to actually speak to her or her to acknowledge his existence. Early stages then....

Oliver's big night out

After a fantastic roast dinner at Nonna and Big G's, Oliver announces he's not going home after his bath, but he's staying at Nonna and Big G's. So he does.

A milestone for all of us. Him, not being bothered about staying the night away; us, trying to get used to having just one ankle biter again; and Nonna and Big G, getting reacquainted with the early starts.