Holler Blocks

Where to begin...

The beginning of the year has been blustery and cold, and I like love it that way. I really don't want the weather to change. I'm dreading it! DREADING it! I love winter, so much. Summer, I could live without. It's just so STICKY!

...but anyway, it's not even spring yet, I should stop giving myself anxiety over silly stuff. (Which isn't going to happen as we know, but I try, in any case :)) we've been making a lot of cookies, my favourite little guy and I. Osrid Olov's tastebuds somehow seem to have gotten pickier, a bit of a setback, but he loves raw vegetable and seed breads which a mum can't really complain about. At least he makes good choices to be picky with, right? Right. He's like a little me, when I was a girl.

We've invented a new game, that I'll call "holler blocks". Which is exactly how it sounds, really: he has stacking blocks(sent to him from my very own wonderful godmother in fact!), and at some point he's discovered the echo of his voice -a very funny, amusing, exciting thing-as is the echo of mine-and so it became a game, and we have been letting out our excess emotion by hollering back and forth into these blocks, which muffles the sound, and in doing so sounds funny and makes Osrid Olov giggle. Hearing him giggle makes me giggle, and we both feel better, and he starts to stack them all in order...and then take them apart and holler blocks again.

Osrid Olov's great grandfather isn't doing too great, and we're very sad for him, and hoping that he is not in pain. It is so sad to know someone you care about is sick and in pain-sigh-no-one should ever have to lose anyone, I tell you. I just wish him peace.

We're mainly trying to pass the time right now, waiting for a decision on my residency (this is so nerve wracking!!) visa and for Paul's contract, and on a lighter note Osrid Olov's grandad (my Dada) is coming to visit us, for the first time, in March for my birthday! I am so excited, and antsy and nervous and really happy and it keeps bringing weird tears to my eyes because I miss him so much-it's been 4 really long years, REALLY long feeling years and he'll be meeting his grandson for the very first time. I hope they take to each other really well. I keep imagining our meeting in my head and it makes me so emotional. I want it to get here!! I know I am going to be so heartbroken when he leaves, and that makes me so sad, I'm insane thinking so much on this, but really I just wanna see him. :)

We had a really nice day today, too-OO and I walked to the library as we do from time to time to pick out new books to read together. We sat in there for hours, he was having such a fantastic time picking out books and having me read them and reading some to me. The best ones were the ones with cars, and sensory/touchy feely ones, of course, but I also found a really sweet story that I think I are gonna buy to keep at home too. We also had a bath (my tummy was a water drum!)-and so many cuddles and baked a loaf of bread and played a lot, you know, the usual kind of lovely things that I'm blessed with. I also got some great bits of mail... I am SO LUCKY to have this incredible boy in my life! Oh, the things he teaches me!

Counting to 8 and I Like You!

Osrid Olov has a natural love of books-which is incredible to me as I have never "sat him down" to read to him. We simply give him his own books to play with and look at, and he frequently says the word "book" and brings them to me-he will come and sit in my lap while I read a few of the pages (they are mostly one word or one sentence per page, mind you he is only 14 months old) to him. Usually he gets bored after a couple of pages are read and starts flipping through the pages and playing with the book...or sometimes he will walk away, which is fine with me as I know he will develop his own interests at his own page. It is such a delight though, that today he brought a number counting book to me, and sat with me for eight out of ten pages. It's a new record. He was as usual trying to mimic the sounds I was making as I spoke, was pointing out items on the pages. He managed to copy one of the words I read him: "tiger", after I explained there were 3 tigers on the page.

I also heard the lovely words again today "I like you"-directed to me, as he watched me from his Daddy's lap. How very sweet and funny and cute.

He has been doing so well with walking-it is as if he instinctively knows how to be safe, and will stay near by us even when he doesn't want to hold hands. He can now walk about 1/4 of a mile before he gets tired and needs to be picked up! Isn't that amazing(especially considering his parents can't walk too much further before needing to stop. Ha ha)! I am so proud of what my little one is learning. I am so blessed to have this little guy as my son, do I mention that enough? Xx

Oh, books!

Sweet little O.O....
yesterday Paul was going through some things in the room and he plonked a few of O.O.'s hardback storybooks down on the bed. The excitement! He was in my lap and I was playing with him and half-arsedly reading something on my laptop-but immediately he wanted to grab for all of them. I shut down the laptop to read with him but he could not figure out which one he wanted first and ended up drumming on half of them before he decided. I truly think he may be bound to be a drummer, mm hmm!

We ended up reading some counting/picture book with a 3-D caterpillar in it, a Thomas the Tank Engine book with a button that made puffing noises-which O.O. pushed at every opportunity-and about half of The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle, which Osrid was more interested at looking at the cover of.

...and everything has been going quite well with him in general, I would say. He's such a happy, playful, chattery little guy, and we are the two luckiest parents in the world (of course we would think so, but come on! Just look at the little fella :)).