Alfie turned 2 years old on the 17th of November. We celebrated on the weekend before, Bert's parents came to Bristol to visit. We had cake and a great time hanging out together. On the Monday, Alfie slept through the snack time so didn't have his cake at school until the Tuesday. It was a very long birthday celebration! Alfie certainly got used to the cake and the attention.
He is talking incessantly and is particularly concerned about crocodiles, wolves and trolls. Bertie and i, along with Alfie's toys, are constantly being told to hurry and run and hide, quick or risk being something by these creatures. Alfie doesn't specify but one can easily interpret their naughtiness.
On the subject of naughtiness...Alfie is cranking it up a bit of late. He had his first laying down in a store crying tantrum over the weekend...in ASDA (our Wal-Mart). Amazingly, given that Bristol is such a large place and that we have only lived here 4 years and some and don't know that many people, an acquaintance happened upon us..Alfie wailing and me crouching next to him, fearful that he might get run over by a frantic Christmas shopper. It's so cliche that it's painful, but the lady said no her child never had done that and told me what she would do. I smiled and nodded and thought of killing her and then peeled my son off of the floor and frog marched him off to find his dad.
The staff at Alf's nursery asked me yesterday if we had a lot of crying at home. I said it had just begun and they said that at school he has started crying for more food. They give more food out if there is any when the children are eating but that Alf is crying even when they show him that there simply is no more food. I assured them that Alfie's father and I feed him and are not concerned by his shedding of tears.
Twice this week, I have had to use the phone in the evening when we get back from nursery but before Bert arrives home from work. The first time, I was speaking to a customer service rep at a company trying to sort a Christmas order mix-up. Predictably, Alf did not appreciate his mom's attention being directed away from him or her use of the phone (an object he is seriously interested in but not allowed to use), so, he expressed his displeasure by screaming, not as if he was in pain but in short intervals, at different pitches and following me around until I had to surrender and hang up the phone after making many apologies. Today he did it again when I was speaking to a friend. She was very understanding, having a small child herself but I did tell Alf off ( he said sorry) and told him that next time he'd have to go sit in time out on the steps for a couple of minutes. I can only imagine how that is going to go.
He's still a wonderful, funny, smart little boy and if you haven't seen him recently, you'd be amazed at how fast he's growing up. Bert and i certainly are and we see him every day.
