A Day of Two Halves

Disappointment this morning as nursery was closed when we arrived there - meaning that Mummy's long overdue efforts in fixing her bicycle were rather wasted as she couldn't go to work on it. But it did at least provide George with some entertainment first thing - a new track for his trains.

To compensate for being stuck inside we did some baking - Mummy weighed the flour, sugar and butter, George broke the eggs, and the mixer did the hard work. We got them into the oven just before nursery called to say they were opening for a few hours this afternoon, so the fun of decorating the cakes had to wait until George got home this evening. And that left us with just enough time to eat one before bed!

A Snowy Day ... In London Town

Today we woke up to about 6 inches of snow, which is quite unheard of in these parts. Consequently the whole city pretty much ground to a halt, but George and I were determined not to let the weather spoil our plans for the day.

So this morning we put on lots of layers of fleeciness and waterproofness, and set off through the snow to Conker Club. The journey normally takes about 20 minutes with me pushing George in the pushchair, but as we don't have an "all-terrain buggy" today George had to walk - and it took 45 minutes. He was very good, managing to walk most of the way there despite it being partly uphill. On the way back he was less keen on the walking and rather more a fan of being carried - and since the return journey is also partly uphill, by the time we got home we were both exhausted.

This afternoon we had a birthday party to go to, and neither of us had the energy to repeat the walking/carrying experience, so instead we struggled with the pushchair, mostly walking in the road where cars had flattened the snow somewhat.

I think we will both sleep well tonight!

NB: George's hands look slightly odd because we could only find one of his mittens this morning, so he is wearing a pair of my gloves - and we weren't responsible for building the snowman, just admiring it!

Yo! Sushi

We took a trip into town today, with no particular purpose in mind, so we ended up with our usual stroll along the South Bank. George wasn't very impressed by Tate Modern, especially now they have filled in the crack, and it was a bit too chilly to stay out for very long.

But the trip was made worthwhile by a visit to Yo! Sushi with 40% off. It's not quite George's first sushi experience, but last time he was really quite small and just about nibbled on a few beans. This time he enjoyed all sorts of goodies - especially our favourite katsu pumpkin and the custard-filled pancakes. He was very well-behaved around the belt and resisted the temptation to sweep it all to the floor, and amused himself instead by watching the chef in front of us cutting up a very large piece of salmon, and doing the sign for "fish".

Expanding Vocabulary

George is slowly adding words and signs to his vocabulary - and not all of them the most obvious ones. New arrivals are: garden, park (with sign), wheel (with sign), zip, off (oof), light (sign only), bowl, carousel (sign only), ball, seahorse, wall, Paul, Grandma and signing (sign only).

And just to add a bit of colour, here is what we made today, a wet and windy Monday!

Down the East End

Our first visit to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green - I am sure we will go again sometime when George is a bit older. For now what he mostly wanted to do was to run around, and watch the train set (luckily there were plenty of other people around who were feeding it with twenty pence pieces to make the trains go!)

Afterwards we walked back to London Bridge (not the most direct route I suspect). It was freezing cold but George slept most of the way.

Two Years Old, Two Birthday Parties!

Today George celebrated his birthday with a few young friends at home - five about his age plus a couple of younger ones. It was more than a little manic at times.


The point of this post is really to show off the little cakes I made, which were very popular with the little ones, though I say so myself:



And since this is supposed to be about George, here he is showing off his collection of "I Am Two" badges...

Happy Birthday Two You!

Do you see what I did there?


I really am going to have to stop calling him "baby" now I suppose, especially as he is so tall - and spends so much time reminding us of his name and the fact that everything belongs to him.


This year I caught him awake for his "birth time" photo - the first picture below - check back on the blog entry for last year's birthday for the comparison pics.


In the afternoon we managed to rustle up a few other children (and parents/grandparents) for an impromptu birthday party, where George's birthday present from us - a little kitchen with play food - was a great hit.


George blew out the candle on his cake much more easily than I expected, and couldn't wait for daddy to bring a knife from the kitchen before tucking in!


I think he had a fun birthday - he was certainly very cheery all afternoon, played nicely with the older children, and even kissed all the grown ups goodbye when it was time for us to set out towards London once more.