Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

We took ourselves off to Womad for the weekend. Yes, it had been raining, and yes it was very muddy. We slept in muddy clothes as there were very limited showering facilities. It's our first camping trip with young Zack and he seemed to cope quite well - it helped that there were lots of children to play with. We joined Dean & Emma Willars and their two girls, and friends of theirs James & Louisa with their 3, Frederick, Ozzy and Harriet. The only challenge was keeping Zack out of the food supplies. He thinks his appetite for fruit is insatiable, but I don't want to push it.

Big smiles as we're off daddy's shoulders. It's such fun running around in the dry mud and eating it!

"OK. So we've eaten our vegetarian lunch, and now I'm tired. I think I'll just nap right here".

Otherwise he is growing every day. He still has a hearty appetite (I think I've already mentioned that), is walking more confidently, expanding his vocabulary, and still biting and pinching out of frustration. He is FINALLY getting over his awful nappy rash. He loves books and The Gruffalo in particular.

Andrew & Geraldine have been visiting us from Sydney, with their two children, so Zack has had mates to play with every day for almost 3 weeks. A challenge for the parents who have to be referees most of the time.

I think it's time to go looking for new shoes. Dem feet, dey grow too quick!

here we go again !

Poor Zack. Now we're teething again and he's been a miserable little blighter. Mostly he's happy, adventurous and delightful, but with these teeth coming through he's suffering with all the side-effects. He has the worst nappy rash I've ever seen on him - welts on his bum - it's just horrid. I'm trying to use the 'fresh air' option as much as possible. But (and it's a big but) it's all about timing. I have to wait until he's poo'd, so that I don't have to clean that up, then it's off with the nappy and running around like a mad thing. Inevitably it ends in him pee'ing on something (the carpet, his toys, the floor), which ends the 'air time' and we're back in our nappy with the welts chaffing.
I thought things were improving yesterday, and then this morning I wanted to weep... they looked just hideously sore. He had more than an hour of fresh air while we picnicked in Greenwich Park this afternoon. That seems to have helped a bit. But he's got slightly upset, acidic poos which are not helping at all. Man Oh Man, what can a mum do ? I'm using barrier-cream at every nappy change, Bepanthen at the moment, as it's a new tube so very viscous. But it doesn't really assist with healing.

Poor little chap. I hope that this'll clear in the next 24 hours.

teething and more WARS

On Saturday we took Zack with us to the Star Wars Celebration Europe (read 'Star Wars convention'). It was such fun. Lots of people in full costume, including this chap who was a member of a polish storm trooper battalion, who we joined on the train. Pretty incredible stuff.

Zack is getting a new tooth. It's all by itself (no friends on either side) so I'm not sure what it is, but it's been sore and he's had a temperature on and off over the weekend. Poor little chap.

Other than that he is continuing to enjoy the freedom of walking by himself - we took him to the farm yesterday, and he just loved being able to go up to the fences and point at the animals. There was a narrow call with a chicken, but we escaped unscathed.

In the wars

** the website will be updated tonight.

Uh Oh...
the doctor wasn't wrong when he said that walking = head injuries. On friday Zack stumbled while pushing his way between two sofas. Whacked his head on a table corner - blood nose, nasty bruising, and a very unhappy boy. He'd scraped his knee on the asphalt on Thursday morning, which means that every time he falls over now (every minute or so), he's miserable because it hurts. AND he's teething again.

Yeeouch. It never stops, does it ?

summer holidays

We've had a glorious two weeks of sunshine in Croatia - 30˚C every day, with clear skies and a light breeze. One or two days of a cloud which is always welcome. Zack travelled well, and was kind to Keith and I yesterday in that he slept all the way home on the airplane, despite having woken at 5am. Blessed respite!

On the holiday we discovered how much we love balls, that ants are always in a hurry and we can squash them with our finger altho' this isn't intentional. Anything we find is good for eating (eeuuuwwww!), but best of all we like ice-cream when it's hot, and preferably all to ourselves. The world is still my best friend. I can now wave at everyone, and say 'bye bye' if I feel like it. I am not walking by myself, this is too much for me, I am only prepared to walk when attached to either mum or dad's finger. I am still biting out of frustration, and wailing when I get told off, or smacked for indulging my frustration by repeating the action. I love my Gruffalo book, and especially the frogs, the butterfly, the wood-pecker and the squirrels.

I am delighted to be home where I can climb all the stairs again, and play with my toys. My teeth have decided that this is the perfect moment to begin erupting, so I'm not sleeping too well at night. Poor mum & dad, they look shattered today !