January,
the start of another year, and the opportunity to take
some time to play with all the toys and craft activities
that were given to the boys at Christmas. And a challenge
for us to get them to work as well. Matthew had fun
making up a solution of monoammonium phosphate and growing
crystals from it (although it looked a lot like copper
sulphate to me - maybe this stuff is safer if you swallow
some).
You
know you're getting old when your ex-baby sitter has
a baby of her own. Kathrine, who had started looking
after James when he was six months and had become a
regular baby-sitter for both the boys over the years
since, now has her hands full with baby Maggie. She
and Steve popped in and introduced us to the new arrival.
Matthew
loves the woods behind our house, and when friends
come to play he jumps at the chance for a walk. On
this occasion it was Daniel and Megan who came to
tea, and they know the woods even better than Matthew
as they frequently take their dog there for a walk.
Matthew
has now learned the "long route" and took
Grandma and Grandad L on a long trek where they wondered
if he was lost. Lost, me? Pah!
"Don't
play with your food", we were always told when
we were young. Now it seems things are a little different.
Whilst we don't like the boys to actually play with
the food on their plates, that's no reason that food
can't be fun. So one mealtime James created a "stego-burger"
(whilst Matthew made a polar bear version). They were
actually made from a pork chopped minced by our friendly
local butcher.
