Top 5 Places You've Visited

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Oh I really like this one, good choice @katetakes5

It's a bit tricky to say which is my favourite so they all have equal weighting. I'm also going to admit to being a bit of a tourist and I don't care. I do the touristy things, yes. If I'm there for 4 days (I can't stand long holidays, I get fearful incase I don't like the place, in which case I'd have to come home straightaway), I like to get quick snapshots of the place. Yes of course I go off the beaten track a bit, but not too far because I'm frightened of getting stolen and sold for spare parts.

1) Prague, Czech Republic

Charles Bridge

We've been here three times and I adore it. The cobbled streets, the gothic architecture, the twee gift shops, the cheap beer and pizzas. Wandering across Charles Bridge and browsing the street-sellers. I completely immerse myself in Prague and love to wander off into the side-streets and the parks. Absolutely stunning. Even the tube stations are beautiful. You think Paris is beautiful? It is Prague's ugly step-sister in comparison!

Gaudi mosaic in Parc Guell

2) Barcelona, Spain

The other stunning super-model sister to Prague. But hotter. We adore Barcelona and again have been here three times. I love Gaudi's work everywhere, from the streetlights shining down on the pavements to the La Sagrada Familia towering overhead. More gawdy than Gaudi, but impressive nonetheless.


3) Las Vegas, United States of America

I know you're groaning, I know you are, but do not knock it until you have tried it! It is absolutely overwhelmingly beautiful in a completely manufactured way. From the top of the half-size Eiffel Tower, you can see the entirety of Vegas. And then you look up a little further and realise that beyond the streetlights, ridiculous helicopter rides along the Strip and rollercoaster rides around hotels is another world. Vegas is in a bowl in the desert surrounded by rugged mountains. Beyond that is the Grand Canyon where we had a champagne picnic 4000ft below the rim. No pictures for this one because it wouldn't do it justice.

Golden Cap

4) Lyme Bay, Dorset, United Kingdom

When my great-aunt was alive (her funeral was 3hrs after The Boy was born) we would go down several times a year and see the rugged coastline in all it's glory, especially in the Winter months. We still go down there every year and stay in self-catering for a week. The Boy loves it, as do we. 

 

5) My home-town, south Wales.

Well why else do I live here?
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A Windy Day

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While it has been a little gusty here in south Wales today, I'm afraid that I am not talking about the meteorological occurrence.

Burps, plain and simple.

The Boy has always struggled with 'letting go of his wind' (as my mother calls it); not normally a problem in this household. At five days old mum turned up at the door with trusty Infacol, determined it would help. It made a small improvement but he still suffered with trapped wind and colic.

Breastfed babies don't get wind? Bollocks!

When he went onto bottles at three and a half weeks (you know that saga), I used the marvellous Tommee Tippee anti-colic bottles. That helped a bit more, but I was quite relieved when he could try gripe water at a month.

I even went to baby massage when he was five months old. That was no use, he'd just learnt to roll over and therefore wouldn't keep still. (To be perfectly frank, the yummy mummies who went all got on my nerves and so I was quite happy to stop going. There was always something up with their babies, one week it was gastric reflux, the next cranial osteopathy. After the sessions, I would go to my parents' & recount the new fads with a mix of glee & disgust. Plus I couldn't keep a straight face when I was supposed to be massaging The Boy's legs chanting "shimmy, shimmy, shimmy")

Weaning sorted it out a bit more but he still has issues now and again. We do have to occasionally open up a bottle of gripe water on a bad night, what a good job I like the smell of dill. But generally he's much better.

So the point of this post…

Tonight I find myself in The Chair with The Boy who is cuddling Oliver Monkey having just finished his bedtime bottle. He cuddled into my shoulder and the following happens,

Me: Have you got a burp for mummy?
Him: Burp!
Me: No, you can't just say it sweetheart. Try again.
(the sound of him blowing raspberries trying to get a burp out)
Me: ok, never mind, cuddle in and close your eyes. Give mummy a kiss now…

… yes you guessed it.

BURP!

—
ShowOff Showcase

New Numbers

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You will have to excuse the self-indulgence in this post; this one is a reminder for me in the future.

I am amazed at all the things that my child learns to do; just how these things happen astound me. How does The Boy know how to hold the crayons? How does he know that by putting his finger on that button, then the balls will drop on his gumball machine? Here's the biggy: how does he know how to talk? I mean, obviously the more you talk to children, the more they hear and can imitate. But I actually mean how does he know how to shape his mouth and move his tongue and manipulate his vocal chords? It is such an amazing feat, children are so clever.

So I was even more impressed yesterday when he started 'counting' *. We had a full "1, 2, 3, 6" from him. Absolutely astounding. Hubby recited the numbers up to ten but he didn't bite, so we left it.

Today he decided to fulfill his role as a performing monkey and bestow upon us the numbers up to ten. Ok ok, we had an ommission of '5' and occasionally '8' but without any prompting The Boy uttered "1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10".  And ok so the pronounciation on a few of the numbers is quite frankly a little bizarre but recognisable (7 is 'zenner').

It just demonstrates how much babies and toddlers absorb from the world around them. Obviously we say or sing nursery rhymes and songs to and with him, but I'm not sure how many of those actually go above five.

There is really only one place I can think of that he's heard this repeatedly. One of the television programmes that he loves is 'Charlie and the Numbers' on BabyTV channel (sky 623). Everyday Charlie plays with a different number and they have a little adventure. Then at the end of the programme there is a little song "One, one two three, one two three four five, six seven eight nine, nine ten, six seven eight nine, nine ten". So you see I think I know a reason why he misses out five, and sometimes four; they're the only two numbers not repeated in the song (long shot theory I know)

The Boy is clearly a mathematical genius – (audio link)

(* As an ex-nursery nurse and a teacher, I have a minor issue with using the word 'counting', The Boy is more appropriately sequencing. Proper counting is when a child associates the numbers with one more item each time; they point to a series of items and can say the relevant number increase each time. Merely reciting the numbers is not counting. I know this but I am not relaying this each time I write the word 'counting'. Plus he's a genius!)