So now I am TWO!

This is just the greatest age to be I reckon. Mostly because I can now eat cake! Birthday cake on Saturdays! I love Saturdays. And I love birthday cake. Mummy and daddy also let me eat chocolate, though I can't pronounce it too well (what an odd word) I sure can gobble it up. Here's a picture of me at my very own Birthday Party.

When I turned one...

…I got to wear these trendy red sandals bought in the Pavilion Shopping Mall in Durban. I loved crawling and climbing, sliding and gliding in my new sandals. But I was itching to walk too – I stood up all by myself on 10 February and the folks tell me I took my very first step on 16 February 2009, at just 12 months’ old. What a day!

In February…
Daddy built me my very first snow man. What a crazy idea, building a man out of snow! I wonder what came over daddy. I kind of felt sorry for him when his snow man started to melt. Daddy brought me to see the snow man and I loved stomping about and making that funny trudge trudge noise in the snow.

In March…
I was walking everywhere! Though people call it toddling, it really is walking and oh boy is it hard work. We all went to visit GG Con again and it was great to show off my walking skills. We also travelled to Wimbledon Village in London which is quite posh you know, and I got to spend fun time with Lou Lou my God-mum and my God-dad Andy too. Daddy’s school friend Nick came to visit us this month too and I met Jack who is a little bit older than me. I just LOVE to go wheee-bump! So we all went to the park.

In April…
Talk about new discoveries. Whoever invented a ball must have been very clever, they are top! And I found very funny objects all over the place. Like mummy’s brightly coloured hair bands (that I liked to call hats)… oh and things like nail files too which were very odd. I also tried new types of food, like apricots which I didn’t like much. But I really didn’t like discovering light bulbs and my hand didn’t like that much either so I got a big bandage that mummy and daddy called my panda hand. They said I was very brave.

In May…
We went to see a fairytale castle called Blenheim Palace. Mummy, daddy and I climbed on board a magical train that whisked us to the entrance of a strange garden called a maze. It really was a-maze-ing. You could get lost in there quite easily.
Back at home I found brand new things to do. Like trying on all of mummy’s shoes, watering the garden, and looking at daddy’s fish – can you believe I could reach the fish tank now!

In June…
Mummy took me to the Cotswold Farm Park. What a place! I fed my carrot to a bunny rabbit, pulled funny faces at the goats (the way they went ‘beh’ was so loud!) and I got to chase a chicken around his coop. I also had fun with our next door neighbours, I got to push little Samuel in his smart push car while his mummy Jane laughed and chatted with mummy.

In July…
Planes, planes and more planes. Big planes. Small planes. Red and blue planes. Mummy, daddy and I went to meet up with my God-dad Andy, Alara and Osman at Fairford Air Tatoo. But they had to keep an eye on me – I managed to get under the blue wire a few times. And every Sunday, like every other month, we would all go to church, Chipping Campden Baptist Church or Trinity Cheltenham where I met Indi and her musical family.

In August…
I met quite a scary horse by the park when we visited Broadway. He was very handsome though, and they do say horses turn all soft when you give them sugar lumps. We visited many other pretty villages this month: Stow on the Wold where Alan and Jackie run the café, Stratford upon Avon and Wyck Rissington. I got to see Anna Mae in London again too. Something tells me I’ll never forget how I discovered ice cream this summer. Now there’s no going back!

In September…
I learned to ring church bells! Mummy, daddy and I went to the Big Show in Moreton-in-Marsh where a kind lady showed me how to pull the string to get the bells ringing. Wow. It was something else. This month was full of my favourite things: pushing my pink pram, wearing my pink welly boots and, most important of all, Lou Lou, who came to stay!

In October…
We had to say good bye home and move back to London. But new things awaited me there. Oh yes! Like pumpkins which I’d never seen or held before. Running in the crinkly Autumn leaves through Cannizaro Park. Or playing on my wonderful, majestic pink piano, my best ever gift to date! One of my very special friendships got even stronger this month – with Mister Elephant.

In November…
I discovered the United States of America. But what was most special about this was meeting beautiful Baelyn and her lovely mummy Kelly and daddy Jeremy. They are a beautiful family. And just as special was meeting lovely Lisa and tall William. William may be bigger and taller than daddy, but he’s not at all scary and is actually very kind. He even let me ride on his tractor in the garden!
I also met Nyla, who lives next door to Baelyn. She taught me to sing ‘the wheels on the bus’ as we all went on the push car down to the playground. I remember Lisa took us all to the bouncy castles – what fun it was to slide down the bouncy slides at super speed!

In December…
Christmas time in London with lights everywhere. We had our very own Christmas tree again, although this one didn’t shake its little pine needles everywhere. I must write a list of all my presents! I discovered painting and play dough and even tried painting with my feet. I also met my new friends Lorna, Geeta, Michelle, Simone, Jean, Pamela, Barbara and Patricia, and all the children at Carmena Christian Day Nursery, “Big Play” mummy used to call it. We all went in the bus to see the Gruffalo in London’s West End. Everyone was hoping it would snow on Christmas Day, but it did a few days before so what’s all the fuss?

My favourite things

 

My first week

Mummy, daddy, Granny Lu and lots of sleep

 

My second week
Daddy and Grandpops went to register the day I came into the world and came home with my ever-so-colourful baby gym, my first ever present from Grandpops. I just loved playtime in my own new world! On 30 January I had my first bath which I didn't like much - but it turned out to be a favourite thing later...


My third week
I didn't think much of all these strange little objects but I did love music. I listened to Louis Armstrong singing It's a Wonderful World and classical music too. Mummy would sing to me all the time, though her voice might not be Barbara Streisand it sounded good to me.

Next month
I met my God-mum Lou Lou, I just love her hair and big smile! I got to know all my new soft friends too: my white bear Mugsie (from Uncle Mark), my little green dragon and multi coloured parrot (from Granny), my Winnie The Pooh in the air playing a merry tune (from Grandma) and my ginger moggie (from Aunt Cheryl). Uncle Steve had also sent me a very comfy oh-so-soft blanket so I could be wrapped up snug.
I made so many new pals, like Aunty Dana who brought me a moo cow, Aunty Wendy who brought me a cute pair of dungarees and Aunty Steph who mummy and daddy met in Uganda, she said a special prayer for me. I also met my little friend Ana Mae for the first time too, and her mummy Tanya. And I met pretty Aunty Karen, my God-dad Andy, Aunty Michelle with the big big laugh and Aunty Theresa with the wide smile and twinkly eyes.

My third month
Oh how I laughed in my red baby rocker. It could go fast and slow and sometimes I had such a nice time I'd even fall asleep and dream of milk bubbles. I also slept in my very own room on 26 April, in my very comfy cot with duckling pictures and my own snug sleeping bag with hedgehogs. This month I met Aunty Lynne and Uncle Dermot who gave me a magnificent butterfly mobile in all different colours.

My fourth month

I went in the car with mummy and daddy to go and meet my old GG Con (Great Gran for those-not-in-the-know) she smiled at me a lot and even sang to me! Then she gave me a very smart purple and blue polka dot dress, maybe because her mummy was called 'Dot' or maybe because she's a little bit dotty, or maybe a bit of both.

My fifth month
I just went crazy for my big play mat that mummy and daddy got me...

My sixth month
I discovered lots of things this month. Like my amazing gadget that mummy and daddy called my Baby Einstein (so I can get brainy I guess) but also my high chair (because I liked to chew) but most of all I discovered how yummy my toes are (and also because I liked to chew)...

My seventh month
It was still lovely and warm this month so mummy took me to discover another crazy thing, grass! It's so bright and tufty but you can't eat it :( Grandma brought me a colourful bus which was quite something - it had a pig that could squeal, a dog that could woof and a cat that could miaow, plus a little man who would pop out of a hole on top!
My eighth month
This was when I was christened at St Mary's where mummy and daddy went to church before we moved to the Cotswolds. My friend Steve Edwards gave me a book he'd written called The Twinkling Star which was so special mummy almost cried. I met a funny creature this month too, a real cat! Mummy and daddy felt sorry for him so they would leave him some milk. I'd crawl everywhere and saw many new things that way!

My ninth month

My mouth and gums kind of hurt a lot this month, so I think what I liked most was chewing anything that was really chewable. Like velcro bits on books. I also loved my little pink candy striped bear and I'd chew the end of his hat, until I discovered my elephant's trunk of course.

My tenth month

How I loved my bouncy bear from GG Con!! Ok mummy and daddy weren't meant to open it until I was two, so I'm not really meant to be telling you this, but I'm glad they did and I'm glad I can. So there!

 

My eleventh month

South Africa! I discovered so much this month. The sunny, warm loveliness of a place called Durban, where mummy was born. I also discovered swimming in Grandpops' pool in the garden. I met the handsome Uncles Boneses: Uncle Mark and Uncle Steven, and a sweet girl called Candice too. 

I met my new friends Caitlyn and Nicole, and their mummy and daddy Dee and Gary. 

I dipped my feet in the Indian Ocean and discovered what mummy and daddy call sea sand. But they didn't like it much when I tried to eat it a few times. This was my first Christmas too and I loved my book about Baby Jesus. I got so many presents, gosh! A musical telephone from Mark and Candice, a little blue and white dog from Granny Lu, my Noah's Ark from Grandma Mary and my doll collection from GG Con. Unlce Mark showed me how to play the banjo. 

Oh and I will never forget Uncle Steve's monkey dance. It was so funny, I laughed myself silly.

 

My twelfth month

I turned one! Wow birthdays are great. Daddy got me a big pink balloon that floated!  Aunty Karen and her friends made me a fantastical ginger bread house with Hansel and Gretal. God-mum Lou Lou gave me my favourite doll who I called Lou Lou too. God-dad Andy gave me a great book all about ducks that I'd read for ages and shake too. Aunty Lynne gave me my first wooden animal shape set which was so colourful.