Toddlers and Waddlers

At the weekend I took Ellie and Ben to Edinburgh Zoo. The king penguins were all gathered near the edge of their enclosure, taking a look at Exhibit 1, Homo sapiens.

Trip to Edinburgh

We went to Edinburgh last weekend. It was a lovely warm day (last of this summer?)

Ellie insisted on drinking Jana's hot chocolate. Ben insisted on chewing the lid of my coffee.

Landmarks

It's been a busy time recently. Kids' illnesses and plenty of visitors are guaranteed to throw any routine out of line.

But it's settled down a bit now and given me a chance to reflect on a couple of important milestones.

On 22 August it was Ben's first birthday. His grandparents were up for the occasion. Ben himself was a little overwhelmed by all the attention and the new toys. Like most one year olds he was more interested in exploring the wrapping paper and boxes that things came in.

But that's him firmly set on the path from babyhood to toddlerhood. It can't be long now until he starts walking.

The other recent milestone was that Ellie has started at nursery. She attends the nursery attached to the local primary school and goes every afternoon. She loves it. I was quite prepared for tantrums and/or clinginess when we first took her there but quite the opposite - she didn't want to leave! It did feel a little odd leaving her in the care of other adults but we're getting used to it now too.

Getting ready to Crawl

Ben is starting to lift his body onto his knees. He wants to crawl - now he just needs to figure out how!

Ben Pushing Himself up onto All Fours
[9 April 2013]

Teething

Ben now has his first tooth! It's one of his bottom front teeth and it's clearly showing. The tooth next to it is starting to poke through as well.

It's almost impossible to get a picture but I'll post one if I do.

The teething pains are bothering him constantly and I can see this going on for some time. It wakes him up several times most nights.

We've tried a few things, like Calpol obviously and teething gel. But the product I'd have to recommend is Teetha Teething Powder. It's basically a small sachet of powder that you just pour into your baby's mouth and he grimaces a little bit but it seems to give him almost instant relief. The only problem as with everything is you can't use this constantly.

Edit 12th April:

Finally got a (slightly blurry) picture of Ben's teeth. So tiny!

Ben's First Teeth
[April 2013]

Kitchen Project: Day One

We are making some major changes to our house. Our project to move the kitchen downstairs and create a large open-plan kitchen and living space has begun.

Jana, Ellie and Ben have flown out to see their Czech family for three and a half weeks. I'm left here alone to keep an eye on things. We've got builders in to do the work.

Nothing can go wrong, surely?

Today was the first day of the work. This was the downstairs at the start of the day:

Our House Downstairs
[24 February 2013]

And this is how it looks now, after a full day's work on it:

Our House Downstairs
[25 February 2013]

We're also getting the stairs boxed off and a doorway put in:

Our House Stairway
[25 February 2013]

Exercise

Since we had Ben I haven't done any regular exercise. The running I had started last year came to a grinding halt when he was born. I didn't really mind at the time, because I'd been struggling with strains and aches in my legs and I thought they could do with a good, prolonged rest to heal properly.

This year, however, I decided to get things going again and thought I'd at least commit to going for one run per week to start with.

The good news is I've kept this up so far.

The bad news is those aches and pains are back. It's a bit worrisome. This isn't just a bit of muscle fatigue. I've had that before and recovered within 48 hours max. This feels like my whole lower leg is bruised and the feeling doesn't subside much, even though I'm not running hard and I'm only running once a week.

The only explanation I can come up with is that my legs aren't coping well with the high impact. I run on tarmac and concrete mainly. I've recently invested in a proper pair of running shoes but the damage might already be done. I'll try contacting a physio but in the meantime I'm thinking I should try another form of activity.

So, I've decided to look at this positively and see it as an opportunity to try something new.

I really don't fancy going to a gym, so I'm looking for a new, low impact form of exercise that I can do on my own. So far I've come up with swimming and cycling, and either might be feasible to fit into my current work/life routine.

The main thing is I need to get fit again!

First Meal

Today we started weaning Ben. Here he is having his first ever meal.

Ben's First Meal
[10 February 2013]

He had about 10 small spoonfuls of mashed carrot. About half an hour later he had a full bottle of formula milk.

Ben is definitely teething. We can't feel a tooth poking through but he's taken to chewing anything within reach and his cheeks regularly glow bright red. Poor thing!

A New Year

Today was my second day back at work since the New Year. What an odd, odd time of the year this is. A whole mix of emotions caused by the end of the bubble that is Christmas-time and the shock of being back into the daily slog with nothing immediate to look forward to. A real uncertainty about whether the year ahead is going to hard, fulfilling, memorable, forgettable, or ... who knows what?

Yet it's also a time of year where renewal and opportunity are undeniably in the air.

By a quirk of the Christian calendar, Christmas and New Year come in quick succession meaning a prolonged period of festivities and indulgence come to an abrupt end once January arrives. The mere fact of seeing a new year documented on the calendar, "2013," feels strange and new. Midwinter has just passed and it won't be long before the first signs of new life start to emerge from the winter.

For me, 2013 is going to be the first full year of having a family of four. I'll watch Ben going through the same stages I watched Ellie go through two and half years before. Just today I saw him reach out and grab one of his feet for the first time, something I still clearly remember Ellie doing.

Ellie Grabbing Her Foot
(June 2010)

Ellie herself will be growing up too. My Dad said that one of his friends told him that 3 years old was the age that children really started interacting with you and while I'm not sure I agree with this I can certainly see that Ellie's general awareness and also speech have come on leaps and bounds very recently.  In August, Ellie will start nursery.

For myself, I'm hoping to keep up my new found love for blogging and I've also made a commitment (oh, alright then, a New Year's Resolution) to learn at last one new Czech word every day.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas from the whole Hopton family.  This picture is actually from 24 December, because that's when the Czechs have their main Christmas celebration.

This is also the first ever picture of all four of us :)

The Hoptons
(December 2012)

Getting Ready for Christmas

It's three days until Christmas. I've genuinely not enjoyed this time of the year so much in a long long while.  Ellie is at the right age to start appreciating Christmas properly.  I've had a week off work already so I'm winding down and in the right mood for it all.  We're not traveling anywhere or hosting any visitors.

Ellie and Ben have both come down sick, however.  Ellie has got a vomiting bug of some kind.  She won't eat much, is always tired and whine-y, and is occasionally sick.  I'm writing this having just put her back to bed and cleared up another batch of vomit.

Ben has got an eye infection (a recurrence from a couple of weeks ago) and a stuffed nose which keeps waking him up.  We also think he's started teething.  Jana and I are sleep-deprived and shattered.

The thing with kids is how they bounce back.  Even during the day, most of the time you wouldn't know either of them is unwell.  Ellie helped decorate the tree.  She enjoys taking several baubles off at once, wandering around with them strung from her fingers, and then placing them back in a little cluster.  We bought Christmas crackers today so she's been placing them on the tree too.

Mum and Charlie visited recently.  In Edinburgh we heard Christmas pop music so my mum bought us a CD and Ellie keeps demanding it be played.  I recorded a video of her dancing and sent it back to my mum.

Jana is taking the opportunity of having me around helping with the kids by spending more time in the kitchen, cooking and baking to her heart's content.  We are eating our main meals at midday.  In the evening, we're eating Stilton and drinking port (well I am.)

By and large, give or take, this is what I imagined (and hoped) the run up to Christmas would feel like once I had my own family.