Birthday at the Farm

Our wee boy is three! As usual with parenting moments like this, it feels like ages and yet no time at all since he was in an incubator in Royal Glamorgan Hospital having surprised us all by arriving 2 months before his due date. It's fair to say he hasn't stopped since, with the fading remains of a black eye appearing in all his birthday pictures as evidence of how he throws himself full tilt at the world (the injury occurred during nap time for goodness' sake!). This year he had a party at his Granny and Grandpa's farm, with a tractor and lambs in the field next door, a straw bale fort to play in and just the right amount of sunshine for a lovely day. Despite a nasty bout of tonsillitis during the previous week I somehow managed to pull off the 'Combine Harvester' cake I'd been planning so I felt I did my bit, but it was a host of wonderful family and friends who really made his day.

At the Farm

What could be better than a day at your Grandparents' farm? A day at your Grandparents' farm with your best little pal alongside you, checking out the tractor, feeding the lambs and playing in the trees.

Breathe

Lots of people seemed to say last week was a long one for some reason, and ours was no exception. The weekend then seemed to go really fast, but nevertheless there have been some chances to just breathe. I have mixed feelings about finishing the knitting part of the blanket I'm working on. Although I'm enjoying the challenge of edging it in some leftover Liberty print cotton (I've even managed mitred corners! Thank you, YouTube!) I miss the calming effect of chugging across those garter stitch rows- breathe in, breathe out.
The farm on Sunday was full of Springtime- daffodils, newly mown lawn for P to drive a re-found tractor (one very careful owner 20 something years ago apparently!) on and lambs all over! Things are looking more hopeful that our little boy will have more space to run in at home soon, but in the meantime, isn't he lucky to have so much space when he goes to see Granny and Grandpa?

Farm

It's a lucky boy whose Granny and Grandpa live on a farm, so that he gets to sit in the cab of a big tractor just like in his books and meet the new mums and babies. Looks like Granny is doing a great job in her SCBU...

Boys and their toys

I've written before about the way that genetics seem to prove their own existence when it comes to the relationship between my little boy and all things mechanical. Despite being surrounded on a daily basis by a lot of cookery and craft and spending a lot of time out walking among woods and hills, he is fascinated by everything involving wheels, moving parts, buttons, switches and generally how things work. Okay, so his Daddy spends a lot of time on his bike, but actually he doesn't get to see that very often- yet he is delighted by the sight of cyclists and bicycles. Whether it's nature or nurture, he also has very good fine motor skills and is unphased by small buttons, different fastenings and unfamiliar lids- it doesn't take him long to work them out so I have to be pretty vigilant!
This weekend held a treat for my mini-engineer (and his bigger engineer Daddy) when we went to the farm to see a bridge being pulled down...diggers and lorries and cranes oh my! For more information on why it was happening, see my MIL's blog Town Mouse to Country House, but suffice to say that a certain small boy loved running up and down a dual carriageway closed to traffic, pointing at all the big machines, watching the sparks as steelwork was cut down and waving at all the men in high-vis jackets.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth

For some reason, P decided that today was a day for a loooong lunchtime nap. I could have taken a picture of him sleeping- it is the most beautiful sight, for so many reasons- but that would probably have been tempting fate. Instead, as I'm on my own with him this weekend I stuck 'Big Bang Theory' Season 2 on the DVD and finished off cutting out the squares for the quilt. I even had time to have a try at laying out some possible combinations- three episodes make the time spent count up to five hours. I'm really please with how it's looking, but now I can hear some squeaking on the baby listener so I think 'mummy's quiet time' is over. We're off to the farm where I'll hopefully get some work done on my knitting instead.

Baby it's cold outside

We've had a great festive season. This included some time spent at the farm, which thanks to an impromptu blogging session you can now read about here. The festive weather continues and although there hasn't been any snow it's still very chilly. The pics, then, are to try and engender a cosy feeling. We found this pattern book when tidying up today- I made the men's sweater for him indoors a few years back (minus the bobbles!) and in pure wool it's a warm up and a workout in one to wear! Meanwhile, I'm back on the Fairisle again, having forgiven myself for the misread pattern debacle.