Some recent pictures

here are some pictures of me, that mum and dad took in the last few weeks. The first one is of me eating an ice lolly because I had been such a good boy at the doctors and took all my medicine. The second shows me dressed in Grandma's cardigan ready to go out and entertain in Shirehampton, in the third you can see me sat on the stairs with my friends, we are on a train if you did not realise, the fourth is after an accident in the kitchen making a cake, not quite sure what happened but daddy says all good cooks make a mess in the kitchen, the last one is sitting with daddy watching videos on the computer.

big kisses to my mum who is currently back home in North Carolina as her sweet daddy and my grandpapa died unexpectedly last sunday.

last few weeks

We have had a very busy few weeks. Alfie decided to get ill just before Christmas and he and mummy took a ride in the ambulance to hospital. We spent a night there and were let out on Christmas Eve night. So we had a Christmas morning at home in Bristol and then travelled up to North Wales for lunch with the rest of the family. Alfie by this time having made a swift recovery. So much so that Johanna and I got to spend a couple of nights away in Chester and we left Alfie with his grandparents and uncle and aunt.

it was very cold, but we did get out every now and then and look for trolls under various bridges around plas Nantglyn. alfie also helped Grandma do some cooking and did some reading and watching TV with Edie and Henry.

Christmas and new Year were very relaxing and it has been back to a lot of work since then. I am now a tenant at my Chambers which is good news and means we can start thinking about buying a house in Bristol. We have seen 7 or 8 already and are beginnning to get an idea of what we would like. Alfie has a new bed and has settled into very nicely, he has not realised that he can get out and into our room yet which is good. He is refusing to have anything to do with the potty or toilet and is quite happy in nappies.

more videos

Here are a selection of videos taken over the past few months. Will try and put some more up shortly and also Christmas photos.

Last Weekend

Aw the holidays..a bit of breathing space and time to get things done... like upload the photos onto the blog. I must ask Bertie to show me how to do video. We have tons of good footage of our boy doing a bit of this and that.

These photos are primarily from last weekend. Bertie and Alf went to the zoo on Saturday while I cooked and got some housework done. On Sunday we met up with some old friends at Westonbirt Arborteum and had a nice walk on a beautiful day. Alf and Lottie in the willow and playing in the explorer park.

The stray photos are
a)Alf making ginger cookies with me a few weeks ago. He was quite good, in spite of a slightly dodgy recipe, just a bit too sticky but the end product was fine and loved by Alfie.
b)Alf doing a bit of DIY with his trusty hammer and golf tees

Alfie turns 2

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.

Half-term Holiday

We just had a half-term holiday. It started on the 24th of October and ends tomorrow, the 6th of November which is fortunate...meant I could stay up ridiculously late to see the election results come in. Yeah, Obama!!!
I took Alf up to see his Gran and Papaw and to spend time with his cousins, Ede and Henry and their parents. We also got a few days with his Auntie Katie and Great Aunt Lucy and second cousin, Maddie. There was a mix up with the court scheduling so Bert managed to come up and join us for a few days. We all had a great time, eventhough it was very cold and damp. We had a day of snow flurries and although it didn't stick where we were, you can see it in a few of the photos. We went to Chester Zoo one day to stave off the stir craziness; we also carved pumpkins and made soup and fairy cakes.
Alf became obsessed with talking about bears while away. We still have endless conversations that go a bit like this:
'Look, bear! Come on! Quick! Run! Hide! Oh no!'
Over and over again.
He has a very active imagination and unfortunately a snotty nose in a a few of the photos.
Needless to say, Alfie is full of things to say and is very clearly not going to get quiet any time soon.