Living Arrows 41/52

Week 41 already and only 11 weeks until the end of the year! I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone but at the same time, last Christmas, when Toby was only 6 months old, seems like it was forever ago.

It’s been a fairly ordinary week…except that Toby has started walking! Only a few steps at a time (and I’ve not managed to catch it on camera yet) but it’s very exciting! Unfortunately the week as ended with him having another cold, teething again (canines this time) and to top it all off he’s got conjunctivitis too! I feel so sorry for him (and for us when he’s awake for the fourth time in a night) but I suppose at least he’s building up his immune system and we should be thankful he hasn’t had anything more serious. And apart from the waking up in the night it doesn’t seem to be affecting him too much.

It’s been another busy weekend though – after a visit from my mum last week, Barry’s mum came to stay this weekend and Toby thoroughly enjoyed another weekend of being doted on by his Nana. (We’ve got Grandma and Nana here, but two Grandads – what do your kids call their grandparents?). It does feel like we haven’t really had any time to relax lately though. We’re all really looking forward to our trip to Yorkshire and then Butlins next week!

Anyway, this week’s photo is just a quick one grabbed while Toby was having his breakfast yesterday. It’s about the only time he’s still for more than two seconds these days!

41_52

living arrows

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (September 2014)

OK, so I think we’ve had what you might call a fail with this month’s Me & Mine photo – not only is it a week late, it’s also quite a rubbish picture, grabbed in the half hour between getting home from work and putting Toby to bed. And I had to give Toby my phone to play with to get him to sit still for 30 seconds! I suppose though it does capture what September has been about for us – not a lot of family time, but just enjoying being together in the short time we do have together, especially during the week.

Toby is still enjoying nursery, and his napping is getting a bit better too. He’s got so clever this month, learning how to do lots of new things like shape sorting, stacking blocks and cups, peg puzzles and generally just figuring out what things are for. At almost 15 months he’s still not walking – he’s getting closer every day. Hopefully by the time I do our October post he’ll actually have managed it!

I’ve been busy with work and being in a musical this month – I’m definitely looking forward to the school holidays in a couple of weeks! And Barry has been busy being a super-dad whilst I’ve been off gallivanting on stage!

So, without further ado here’s our September Me & Mine family portrait (even if it was taken in October!)

September

Living Arrows 40/52

It’s been another incredibly busy week here – I’ve been appearing on stage every night in Aida (the musical, not the opera) and so have had to leave bedtimes to Daddy every night. I’ve had a brilliant time rehearsing and being in the show but I have to admit I’m quite glad it’s over and so life can calm down a little bit!

My mum has been up to visit this weekend too and yesterday we took Toby’s Smart Trike (and Toby of course!) to the park for a ride around. We bought the trike for Toby’s birthday back in July but with one thing and another we’ve not really had much chance to use it. It doesn’t help that round where we live the pavements slope down to the road making it really hard to push the trike without it almost tipping over. I’m sure we’ll still get plenty of use out of it, especially when he gets a bit bigger.

40_52_1

The other big news this week is that Toby has started to walk with his walker and when you hold his hands (if he feels like it!). Although he’s been standing confidently for ages he just hasn’t been bothered about walking before so this is a big step forward – hopefully he’ll get the hang of it quickly and start walking on his own soon.

40_52_2

living arrows

Living Arrows 39/52

This week didn’t start off too well with Toby only napping for about half an hour at nursery on Monday meaning he was then up four times in the night! But things improved as the week went on and both Wednesday and Thursday he managed two good naps and pretty much slept through. On Friday though he was sick at nursery so I had to collect him early. He was sick again in bed in the afternoon but thankfully that seems to have been the end of it.

Toby is still loving to play and practising his new skills – he managed to stack his building blocks six high this week, all by himself too! He also loves anything with buttons to press and dancing along to anything that makes a tune (his dancing looks like he is conducting an orchestra – it’s so cute!).

I’m so pleased we set up the play area for Toby in our living room – he really likes it and we’re happy because we know there’s only a limited amount of chaos he can cause in there! And I love how bright and colourful it is… Toby’s almost camouflaged in this week’s Living Arrows picture!!
39_52

living arrows

Living Arrows 38/52

There’s not a huge amount to report for this week’s Living Arrows post. I have been back at work and Toby has still been enjoying nursery (even though he’s still hardly having any naps while he’s there). His cold is much better this week too which is a relief – he seems to have had it forever! We’ve certainly been getting plenty of smiles and giggles this week, as you can see here…

38_52 1

I know I keep saying this but Toby seems to be getting cleverer by the day! He has really started actually playing with his toys and this week he has worked out how to stack his blocks and stacking cups. And then he knocks it down and gives himself a round of applause! I love the look of concentration on his face in this picture..

38_52 2

living arrows

Living Arrows 37/52

It’s week 37 of the I Heart Snapping Living Arrows project which must mean another week has gone by. I was still off work for most of the week but my police check came through on Thursday so I was back in school on Friday (although happily we only have a half day on a Friday!).

Toby has still been going to nursery although a couple of days I kept him at home until after his morning nap to make sure he got some sleep and to try and help him get over his cold. Naps are a bit hit and miss at nursery – at home he still has two long naps (up to three hours sometimes!) but at nursery we’re lucky if he gets two 45 minute naps. I’m glad he is at least getting some daytime sleep but it really isn’t as much as he needs.

Anyway, his cold does seem to be improving which is a relief – he seems to have had it forever! We’ve had more developments this week too. Toby now waves and says ‘hiya’ when he sees us (which is adorable!) and today he managed to get himself stood up without holding on to anything (which I missed because I was out at rehearsals). Still no walking though, but he will now sometimes walk if we hold his hands which he’s never done before.

And so, to this week’s photos… I’m going to share a little series of pictures this week – when it comes to weaning we’ve done a mixture of baby led and traditional weaning (you can read about it here if you’re interested) but I will admit that for my own sanity we have tended to spoon feed Toby anything he can’t pick up without making tons of mess. At 14 months though I think it’s probably time he starts learning how to use a spoon himself so seeing as he was getting a bath straight after tea tonight I let him have a go with his yoghurt (admittedly I only gave him the pot and spoon once it was nearly empty!). As you can see he didn’t quite get it right straight away but he figured it out pretty quickly. Honestly, I am amazed every day at the moment at how clever Toby is and just how quickly he picks things up. I just can’t wait to see what he gets up to this week…

37_52 1

 

37_52 2

 

37_52 3

 

living arrows

Living Arrows 36/52

Last week was a strange week – on Monday morning I was sent home from school when the HR department realised I was working when they hadn’t had my updated police check (the school hadn’t realised I shouldn’t have started work without it. And now I’m not allowed to go back until it comes through, which means I was off work for the rest of the week and might be off for all of this week too! I didn’t want to disrupt Toby’s nursery routine seeing as he seems to have settled in so well so I’ve still been taking him, although not quite as early as I have to when I’m at work.

Toby seems to have developed even more quickly than normal during his three weeks at nursery – he has been pulling himself up to standing since we were on holiday at the beginning of June, but this week has been the first time he’s actually let go and stood on his own for more than about half a second! He’s also started trying to cruise round the furniture more. He still won’t even entertain the idea of trying to walk if we hold his hands though, he just sits down if we even try!

We’ve also been getting much more babbling that is more of an actual effort to communicate – Toby has started saying ‘diss’ when he picks something up and I’m convinced he is trying to say ‘this’  He suddenly seems to understand so much more too – if you hold your hand out and say ‘ta’ he’ll give you whatever he’s got (or even tries to put something in your hand when he isn’t actually holding anything!), he definitely understands ‘no’ and is starting to remember and learn when he’s not allowed to touch something. He’s also been working out what to do with his shape sorter this week, and a few other puzzles too. My favourite one this week has got to have been when I was getting him dressed the other morning – his socks were next to him and he picked one up and put it on his foot! Alright, he didn’t actually put the sock on but he put it on top of his foot and he clearly knew what it was and where it was supposed to go.

Amidst all this exciting progress though Toby has still got a cold (he’s had it a full two weeks now). Not only is he still very snotty but he’s now got a cough too and has had a temperature all weekend. I kept him home from nursery on Friday and had him checked out at the doctors but his chest and his ears are clear so there’s not much we can do except keep him dosed up on Calpol and ride it out. On top of all that the last of his first molars is still coming through and so that’s been bothering him too! I feel so sorry for him, it must be miserable being ill and not really knowing what’s going on. Fingers crossed he manages to shake it off next week.

Anyway, this has been a bit of a long update for what is supposed to be a photography post so I’ll leave it there and share this milestone photo with you – here’s Toby standing all by himself! (And wearing his first proper shoes too – I know he isn’t walking yet but he kept getting wet feet in the garden at nursery).

36_52

living arrows

Living Arrows 35/52

Another week gone, and the second week at work and nursery for me and Toby. My second week at work wasn’t quite as bad as the first (but I’m still counting down the days to the holidays!) and Toby has settled in so well at nursery. There is one downside to all the fun and freedom he’s having at nursery though – Toby really doesn’t like being in his play pen any more and would much rather be crawling around the living room and kitchen causing chaos! His favourite things at the moment seem to be turning the PlayStation on, pulling all his books off the shelves and trying to get his hands on all the remote controls, phones and anything else with buttons or wires! I love that he’s so inquisitive and always exploring but it isn’t half tiring trying to keep up with him.

I had the camera out for about fifteen minutes the other day and got so many photos of Toby that I couldn’t choose just one, so here’s a few of my favourites…

35_52

35_52 2

35_52 3

living arrows

Me & Mine: A Family Portrait (August 2014)

August has been a month of big changes – two weeks ago I went back to work full time after over 13 months of maternity leave and so Toby started nursery full time. The hardest thing for me (apart from dealing with unruly teenagers!) has to be going from being with Toby all day to only seeing him for about an hour on week days. Luckily he does seem to be enjoying nursery which makes it easier but it’s still not the same as being at home with him all the time. It means as well that we really need to make the most of our family time together at the weekends.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go for a walk along a short section of the Fife Coastal Path near to where we live. It was lovely to get out in the fresh air and have a bit of a change of scenery. At the end of the section of path we walked we came upon the ruin of St Bridget’s Kirk which is where we took this month’s Me & Mine photograph, looking out over the Firth of Forth (you can just catch a glimpse of the famous Forth Rail Bridge in the background). I’ve lived here 11 years now and never walked along this path before but we’re definitely going to try and explore a bit further when we get the chance.

August

Living Arrows 34/52

Last week was my first week back at work and if I’m honest it was pretty awful! I’m going to try and find time to write another post about that though, seeing as this Living Arrows post is supposed to be all about Toby! He has been an absolute star this week; his first full week at nursery. He has coped with being woken up two hours before he normally gets up – he’s going to bed earlier too but has still missed out on a lot of sleep this week. At home he usually still has two naps a day, usually at least an hour each and often over two hours. At nursery the most he has managed is two one hour naps, and there have been a couple of days when he’s only had about half an hour all day! I’m hoping as he gets more used to it he’ll manage to stay asleep a bit longer.

Apart from the sleep thing though he’s doing great. He’s eating really well, doing lots of good playing and despite the fact he’s still teething there have been very few tears all week. He has managed to catch his first nursery cold though so he’s been pretty miserable all weekend with that.

Anyway, what with work and nursery there’s not been much time for photo taking this week so this one is just one Barry took on his phone. Even though he is coming home knackered and is still suffering with his teeth our little bear nearly always manages to find a smile…

34_52

living arrows