The past month has been pretty relaxed and we have really enjoyed each other’s company.
Wriggly (7 months)
• Your first tooth peeked through when you turned six months. You now have two teeth.
• Since you were looking at food longingly, I started the weaning process, but you have not been impressed by the taste or texture of carrot, sweet potato, cucumber, pear or apple so far.
• I gave up with solids when you were diagnosed with laryngitis and conjunctivitis just before Christmas. You were too unwell for about ten days but you are on the mend now. You have had about a spoonful of carrot or pear purée every day this week.
• You are starting to sit straight.
• You absolutely love The Very Hungry Caterpillar teething toy we got you for Christmas.
• You are incredibly sociable. You smile and laugh all the time.
• You sleep less and less.
• You are making “ba ba” and “ma ma” sounds.
• You wave at us.
Jumpy (2 years 2 months)
• You are in your element at playgroup. You do your own thing and you love anything with wheels, especially large plastic cars and tricycles.
• You are starting to show an interest in doodling, painting and sticking.
• You are really off your food at the moment. One look at your plate is generally followed by a dismissive “Yuck!” and refusal to eat.
• You can scream louder than anyone else I know.
• You love going to the toilet and flushing.
• You were not too keen on opening presents on Christmas day.
Beanie (4 years 3 months)
• Your colouring is really neat and precise and your paintings incredibly colourful. You mix colours to achieve the desired shade and can give a lot of detail when describing what you have painted.
• You were the cutest snowflake at your Christmas concert!
• On Monday morning, you started school in France. You will be in Maternelle for the next couple of weeks.
• You had your first late night with us and your big brother. A few days after Christmas, we had a cinema party in the living room all together. You were really pleased to be up with all the adults and to watch Maleficent with us.
• Do you really have to eat everything smothered in ketchup? I simply do not get that. It hides the flavour of the food you are eating and it makes it all taste samey. Why would you do that?
Crevette (6 years 5 months)
• The boiler at school was broken one Tuesday morning, and you ended up spending the day with the girls and I. You loved going back to the playgroup of your toddler years but moaned quite a bit about our picnic in the freezing park.
• You were brilliant as a sheep in your nativity. You remembered all your lines and were really confident in acting them.
• Your sister received a Science kit for Christmas, and you were really keen to try the experiments with her.
• You are in CP (Year 2) for the next two weeks. When we were packing back home, you were surprised I was not taking your uniform. When I said you could wear your casual clothes, you could not believe your ears! The day before you started school in France, you packed your bag and were very excited to have a pencil case, colouring pencils, a rubber and biro. Your only worry was whether you would have someone to play with at break time.
Us
• We had a lovely Christmas in France.
• We did nothing but catch up with family and friends, taking it easy, eating, playing board games.
• Hubby went back home on his own on Saturday and he is now back at work.
• Monday morning was foggy and icy here in the North-East of France. My brother left for work at 6 a.m. but he did not manage to get to work on time. Instead, he ended up in the middle of a field with his car on the roof, windscreen smashed to pieces. His car has been written off, but he is fine.
J’aime beaucoup quand t’écris à propos de ta famille ! J’en suis sûre qu’ils vont adoré lire ça plus tard ! Je regrette, j’aurais du faire un petit carnet des enfants !
Il n’est pas trop tard. Tu pourrais commencer un petit carnet maintenant! Avant d’avoir mon blog, j’écrivais tout sur mon journal, mais j’aime bien me concentrer sur chacun d’entre eux individuellement plutôt que d’écrire ce qu’on a fait dans le mois de manière chronologique.
Glad to hear that your brother is OK, it sounds like a scary accident.
I love these updates because little bits of each of your children reminds me of mine at some stage of their life. Joshy loves playing with cars and you trains just like Jumpy, and the other day I gave him some dinner and he announced that it was “disgusting”. He also prefers everything covered in ketchup, in he past he asked for it on his cereal, I called his bluff and put some on and he still ate it. I’m hoping he’ll grow out of it at some stage.
It sounds like you had s lovely christmas. Enjoy your time in France x
She has never suggested having ketchup on her porridge, but I am sure she would love it. I once caught her eating (drinking) it out of the bottle. Yuck!
Sounds like you had a really great Xmas Mel! So pleased you’re getting an extended break in France. Really hope Wriggly’s sleep improves – my little man has gotten worse and worse so it’s time to wean him off the boob at night, hopefully it’ll do the trick (going to attempt it tomorrow, wish me luck!) xx
Good luck my lovely! Wriggly usually sleeps well between 2 and 11 a.m. with a feed around 7 a.m., but she does not nap at any other time. Tough! I am really enjoying my time in France. x
So glad to hear your brother is OK, sounds like a pretty scary ordeal for him. Wriggly is so cute and doing so well. xx
Thanks Julie, I saw him today and it was nice to give him a big hug!
So sorry to hear about your brother’s car but glad he’s OK. Loved seeing the kids’ pictures (such beauties like their Mummy), so wonderful Christmas was a relaxed affair, it was the same here and felt oh so good. I’ve really missed you so wanted to pop over to say hello and wish you a Happy New Year, much love Mel xx
Thank you so much my lovely. I has been great switching off completely for a bit and enjoying being together. Happy New Year to you, too! xxx
I love your family updates. so glad you had a lovely Christmas in France; sorry to hear about your brother’s car but glad he is fine. Glad that Wriggly is on the mend and how lovely that she is starting to wave. Jumpy’s reaction to Christmas presents sounds very similar to how Jessica was the Christmas after her 2nd birthday. Glad Beanie enjoyed the cinema night and hope that she and Crevette have been enjoying going to school in France x
Crevette has really loved going to school here, but Beanie finds it all a bit too much I think. She has been struggling, but she will get there. xx
What a busy little family and it looks like they’ve all been developing and finding their own personalities, likes and dislikes and growing up fast. Interesting that Jumpy wasn’t too keen on opening her Xmas presents; Little Mister had a similar reaction saying he only wanted one present…maybe we should listen to him next year & save ourselves some money! Gosh, your bother’s accident sounds pretty scary. Glad to hear he’s ok although he must’ve been a little shaken. Glad you had a lovely festive break xx
They have really different personalities and I love their own individual quirky traits of character. I am so glad my little brother is fine. xx
A gorgeous look at your two growing up. I don’t get the ketchup thing either!
He he!
Goodness what happened to your brother? Glad he is okay.
Lovely to see everyone doing well and I still cant believe Wriggly is 7months old now!!!! #magicmoments
The roads were incredibly icy on Monday last week. I am so glad he is OK.
Lovely updates! Sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas in France.
It seems like so long ago!
Yay for the tooth. I hope teething isn’t too painful though. And wow look at that tree. I would probably knock it over about 4 times…probably more!
The tree was knocked over the day before my mum put it away. Wriggly is now teething a lot, poor little baba!
Hello there, I am so glad to hear your brother is OK. I really enjoyed reading your post, it’s just lovely and so glad you have been able to spend some lovely quality time together. Oh and I made our little man take his slippers to nursery today after reading your blog last week and he didn’t take them off once-so thank you for the tip! x
Having some time to really catch up with family is precious. Slippers rock!
They totally do-I sent him to his other pre-school with him wearing them today-why did I not think of this sooner?! x
I might do it too when we get home!
Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear about your brother’s car, but so glad he’s okay. I love the way this post was written – a lovely snippet for each child! I hope the ketchup phase doesn’t last too long- yuck!
I might have to ban kitchen at home. If it is not there, she will probably forget about it.