The End Of An Era...

2012 is drawing to a close-

Always a tragic time of year for me; a sort of "postchristmas depression" if you will! I know, there are other things to look forward to, but it is always a bit hard.

So many things have happened-a terribly tragic event on the 14th which, although had nothing to do with me,  was another of many echoes throughout time reminding me of the fragility of life-as if I needed a reminder! What a precious life this is. Between this and the commotion of people believing that the world would end at the turning of the Mayan calendar (what!) on the 21st-I've felt somehow that I needed to get back in touch with things that I had lost sight of. My patience hasn't been as great as it could have been, these days-and it's something I've decided to work on. Including jumping into puddles. All kinds of puddles. With my shoes and socks and favourite trousers on-because that's what my son loves-and even though it's so gross, these moments are so beautiful; his smile is so beautiful, and if I remember the way the mud feels squidging into my toes it will be worth it for the prevalent memory of my laughing son. Our connection has deepened even more than ever, I think; because I feel like I'm understanding things a little bit differently.

O, our autumn/winter has been so beautiful-crunchy leaves and frothy breath before us-December bringing into the most exciting festivities; of course! I've made it so Osrid Olov can get to the counter with me now-and help me bake and things-which is so sweet and special and fun for us both. He is so excited to do this and I am too. What a valuable skill, especially for a boy with food allergies! We've made such nice treats-like cookies and sweet mincemeat pie.

I've also done so much sewing-I made a star for our tree, ornaments, presents for O.O. and more...and acquiring more presents, making spice blends and listening to the sweet music. I just love love love the holiday season! Such a shame it has to end, phuu. I adore these winter days; and am so glad though that we have a couple of months left of truly COLD weather. I want to live where it is winter all of the time, and we can do Christmassy things all of the time!

O.O. has learned a ton of words lately-I knew his vocabulary would begin to develop-but of course, no-one else understands him but me; it would seem. His voice is so incredibly deep-poigniant, deep and beautiful. I have never heard a voice like it. I am just thrilled as could be to understand more and more of what he is telling me. It makes everything so much easier.

My dear son teaches me so much about life-nothing that we feel is too small, or silly or stupid; it is all important-and no matter what anyone says, the things we do together confirm what I've been fighting for all along: love is the only rational act.

Halloween Fun & The Bittersweet End Of One

 

Oh, I haven't posted in ages!

It's nearly the end of October-perhaps my favourite month of the year, for the weather, the ambience, the festivities.

We've been creating a few of our own lovely little family traditions this year, now that we're settled in to our home. We carved a design that O.O. drew into a Jack-O-Lantern, I've made homemade caramels and miniature pumpkin pies, and now I'm working on our Hallowe'en costumes which I'm very excited about. I've no idea what we will end up doing-I suppose it will all depend on O.O.'s mood and the weather. If either of those aren't agreeing with Trick-Or-Treating, we'll stay in and see if any ghoulies come to our door-and hand out some juice boxes! I'll trade any candy O.O. gets for raw chocolate or my home made sweeties due to his food intolerances, of course. On Monday or Tuesday I'll be having a go at homemade candy corn. Everyone at Paul's work will be dressing up so it will be fun to take the little guy there too! Fun stuff!

The one thing that's not so fun for little O.O. is the weather change, as in frost and rains, obscuring the playpark. It gives us an excuse to walk up to visit Daddy at work more, though, and bring on those rain puddles! Woohoo! 

O.O. has designated 2 chairs in the kitchen for story time-and, my heart beams, he wants at least one book every day. He chatters and babbles along with the stories, and sometimes borrows the books too. He's also developing an incredible imagination and likes us to drive "vroom vrooms" with him and wave bye bye as he sets off in his boat (a plastic bin, if you must be so dull ;)).He still has few words but is incredibly creative at communicating nonverbally alongside what he can say. Perhaps he is a kinaesthetic learner. 

 O.O.'s birthday is creeping around the corner. He will only be 1 for 11 more days (I think that's right...) How incredible and beautiful it has been to watch my baby transform into a little boy. Such a young boy still, I know, and I've many years, but it brings a bittersweet feeling to have a reminder of that much time sailed by so quickly. The ways in which O.O. has transformed are incredible-but I have a feeling we've learned just as much in having this incredible guy in our lives.

YumYUMYUMYUMYUM! Bye bye!

I realised suddenly; it's been ages since I've posted here!

-and yet, so many things have been happening.

O.O. has taken a trip to Newquay with us and his grandparents, has had his very first barefoot walk in the sand, has met some new friends (Home-Ed Mel and family ROCK!) and has been communicating in new and exciting ways.

It is so exciting watching him figure out how to do new things. He has been tidying up his toys, wiping up spills and picking up clothes to put in the washing machine-all without me so much as asking! It's a dream come true! He's also becoming more and more responsive as he develops verbal communication, which has been a very late/slow process for him, but I can see notable improvement. He is getting better at responding when I ask that he do or not do things, and as ever loves to chatter. He loves to say double-words right now, in particularly "yum yum" and "bye bye". It is so cute watching him eat his favourite foods, saying "yumyumyumyumyumyumyummmm!!" the whole time. He really loves the things he loves-I think he is very passionate and so a boy of my own heart! He waves as he says "bye bye", as we leave the store(where Daddy works). It is, strangely, one of his favourite parts of the day. The other day he, appropriately, said "Bye bye Daddy Daddy!" and then, "Bye Bye Mummy Mummy"---but I don't know why he was saying bye to me, I wasn't leaving! Such a funny guy.

He's also sitting on his potty on his own accord-which isn't to say that's where he's going all of the time, but it is fantastic that he's trying and going without help sometimes. He's getting more nappy free time as a result. Still some accidents on the floor, but at least he is more than happy to help wipe them up! Bless him!

Oh, I SO wish the weather would stay warm all year round. It's starting to get cold at nights and I dread it so!
Love my little man! I can't believe how close he's getting to the big 2!
Anyone have any awesome ideas for celebrating his birthday(other than a humongous chocolate zucchini cake)?

Sleepy Bus

It's July already and I'm terrible at keeping up my blog.

I've been keeping busy, having had much to do with an application involving my immigration that has taken up a lot more time than I had expected. It's caused a lot of stress but I'm trying to breathe. Paul has had great news, he's been promoted already to the Customer Service desk which is a contracted permanent position, and in the Union to boot. No payraise yet, unfortunately, but it does imply some degree of stability which we've been looking for a long time. I am so proud of him!

We've been on more adventures lately-the little one had grown a lot and was in desperate need for new shoes, so we headed to Bodmin to meet his Nana who helped him with that-he also got a new outfit from the charity shops because he'd gotten soaked with rain. We also headed to the pond to see the ducks, and O.O. had a laugh running in circles in the health food shoppe. 

This week saw us travelling to Newquay-no good reason other than to get a break in scenery for Paul's day off. The cliffs and beaches are so beautiful that I was ashamed that my camera had ran out of battery. I didn't feel very well as my fibromyalgia decided to flare randomly, and Ozzy slept through both bus rides, but it was still beautiful and we've got some good ideas for future outings. 

We've had such a lovely break in the weather the past couple of days with some sunshine-I have been enjoying it as much as I can, taking Ozzy to the park and playing ball in our teeny backyard. O.O. has such a wonderfully silly sense of humour and giggles when the ball hits his head. 

Little spiders have made cobwebs all over the laundry that I hung up, what, two months ago? I love them and their little webs so much that I've not dared to take the washing in. They can borrow my linens, for now!

Rain-Puddle June

It's nearly the end of June and summer should be in full-bloom...but the rain has hardly let up since the month began!

I've been changing our diets in an attempt to be healthier, after discovering I most likely suffer from coeliac's disease, an auto-immune condition made worse with gluten consumption. In addition, I suspected an intolerance of my son's as well-sugar-to be on the safe side, all the grains are gone and I've implemented a primal type regime some weeks ago, with plenty of gut-friendly bacteria. O.O. is completely different in his behaviour! He seems much happier; and while these changes aren't easy, that alone is worth staying the course. Suddenly, my picky eater is gobbling down loads of foods: (grain free) zucchini, carrot muffins, coconut, turkey, blueberries, a type of yoghurt which he seems to do ok with, and even a bit of seaweed too. I figured he'd be nursing less when more foods came into his diet, but he must be going through a growth spurt because he seems to need everything he can get in him! He is so strong now, he lifted the watermelon we bought off the floor the other day!

We've been spending lots of time outside, trying to enjoy what very little sunshine we ever have, but the rain too-someone loves splashing in every puddle!

It's been a heck of an adjustment since Paul returned to work, but I'm so glad Ozzie has been handling it in stride. With that said, he brings me his clothes and shoes every morning so that we can go and visit Daddy at  work (and get fresh vegetables)! He absolutely loves the grocery store, he is so calm and happy there for whatever reason-anything that makes him happy!

The latest interest in the world of this fab little scientist is expanding his collections: now not only is he collecting, hoarding and hiding spoons (we've found as many as 15 of our 'missing' spoons hidden under the bed once!), but doing it with small rocks outside too. He loves making piles on the lawn of his favourite ones! I can only imagine what he's discovering about his world as he organises his piles...my lovely little boy, what a joy!

Osrid Olov, 1 1/2 Years Old

Is amazingly good at dancing to a beat (and prefers the wildest, noisiest songs to dance to)
Hums along to his favourite songs
Loves to run around outside in the sun
Spins fastly in circles-and falls over!
Turns his sounds into questions
Loves books (especially to point at the pictures!)
Enjoys nightwalks, especially when being worn or carried by Mummy
...but prefers Daddy to carry him if it's daytime!
Addicted to raw nut and date bars
...and ooba, of course ;)
Wild about pushing buttons, especially on the TV

Plays with, and makes a giant mess out of food
Picky eater
Has 9 teeth
Shakes his arms when sad
Hiding under the sheets is HILARIOUS
...and so is the sound of other children laughing!
LOVES water-splashing, drinking, spilling too!
"Boogie? Okay? Bookie? You go? ME?"
"I need a biggoo bwain!"
One long nap a day and sometimes a short one
Stamps his feet when excited
Puts his foot in his mouth (literally) and tries to do it with ours, too!
Chatters with hands on hips
Has a humongous smile
Every box or bin of appropriate size becomes a boat-of course!
Loves peek-a-boo
Gets into everything! What a little scientist!

Friends, foods and night walks!

We had some great luck in the past couple of weeks and managed to meet with our friends Lucy, David and their adorable son Isaac. Isaac is 10 months younger than O.O., but they still had a great time playing together. Osrid Olov loved showing Isaac his favourite toys, and was very happy when Lucy helped him drink a huge glass of water (and spill it all over the floor, too)! We all had a lot of fun, have plenty in common and can't wait to get the boys together again.

O.O. is in a very 'grabby' phase right now and wants to explore everything-which is making for lots of opportunities to talk about what we're seeing and doing! I am ever amazed by his learning progress.

I think I have discovered O.O.'s favourite food-raw nut and date bars! Wow, does he like them. He is such a picky eater, but I'm glad he likes this healthy treat, since it's one of my favourites too!

We've been going on lots of night walks lately, as Ozzie has going through a nocturnal phase again-throws me off a bit, but he sure is liking night walks. I try and take him out 6 days (or nights!) a week or so for some fresh air, for both of our sakes', as I'm trying to shift into a healthier lifestyle by being more active, drastically increasing my veggie intake and reducing grains and starches(in addition to having eliminated some allergens, like gluten). I am doing so much better for myself, and O.O. loves my increase in energy because it means more walks and play time for us both! I can only hope that things will keep getting better for me physically. I'm not well yet, but I'm moving better than I have been in a long time!