Last Sunday we took a trip to Reading Museum at Eve and Tess’ request. Tess has been down a bit recently for their Tots Story Time, but Eve hasn’t been for a while. They enjoyed reading the books and looking at the Huntley & Palmers Biscuit Tins (playing the biscuit tin pianos) and looking at the animals. They also enjoyed the replica Bayeux Tapestry, although this did cause some confusion for Eve.

First of all there was the dead king Edward (how did he die? why did he die? why is he in a box?). Then moving around we came to the battle itself: How did Harold die? How did he get “poked” in the eye? Why did he get poked in the eye? Why isn’t he in a box? And so on. Its interesting seeing it through her eyes.

Another classic Eve conversation went:
Eve: is that the school I’m going to?
Becca: hopefully, we have to find out if they have a place for you.
Eve: <thinks> maybe if somebody dies?

Tess has started becoming better at recognising smells. Just the other day Becca was getting her out of the car and she instantly noticed the smell of smoke. She has also started writing her name, and Eve has been very keen in helping her with this, writing the letters for her to write over.

A few pictures and a film (hopefully).

We had a Christmas at home for the first time, with NanAnne and Grandad coming to stay. Eve and Tess we both excited about this and enjoyed making mince pies and getting ready for Father Christmas’ arrival. Christmas day itself started fairly early with stockings. Christmas lunch was enjoyed, but best of all was Christmas pudding with ice cream, which got finished pretty quickly!

NanAnne and Grandad stayed till boxing day, and the day after we went down to Grandma and Grandads to spend a few days there – more presents! Even better than presents was the arrival the day later of their cousins Sam and Ellie (plus parents), and they proceeded to have a great time playing games, in particular Pantomimes from behind the curtains.

After a couple of days at home we then saw Aunty Louisa and Uncle Dom, and the day later, Aunty Frances, Uncle Ashley and cousin Abigail. Both days brought more presents and excitement.

Christmas was a time of great excitement, not only presents, but also seeing people which they both enjoy doing. By the end of it they were exhausted though and ready for a bit of normality.

Snowstorms. Next year, smaller jars, better glue, more glycerine.

Reindeer. This was a spontaneous one, Eve and Tess were playing ‘sleigh’ on the sofa and announced that they needed a some reindeer… Luckily we had some cardboard and gaffer tape.

Tree decorations.

Buying and putting up the Christmas Tree: We bought our tree from the hardware shop nearby and walked it home. Decorating the tree was lots of fun.

Some highlights:

Pomanders. Both Eve and Tess had a go at this, but it was a bit tough for them to get the cloves in. We managed one whole one between us, and two with just a few cloves in which have since rotted unfortunately. The one remaining one is drying out in the airing cupboard and making all the clothes smell Christmassy.

Snowflakes. Cutting through all the thicknesses of paper was a bit difficult for them but they very much enjoyed covering them with glitter.

Wrapping paper. This was a big success. I bought a roll of brown kraft paper and some Christmas stamps and we had great fun with paint, ink stamps and star stickers.

Panto! (oh yes we did). We were a little cautious about this but the nursery were organising a trip and had cheap tickets so we decided to give it a go. Both Eve and Tess seemed to enjoy parts of it, although they were both scared of the villain and it was maybe a bit long. But by the end, Tess was dancing in the aisle.

Christmas lights. On Monday we took the bus to town just before tea-time to buy Anton’s Christmas present from Eve and Tess, and see the lights on Broad Street and down by the Oracle. We then met Anton for a tasty meal out at Zero Degrees.

Biscuits. Yesterday we made stained glass window biscuits for the staff at Nursery.

We’ve also been making Christmas pictures, a feeder for the birds, doing Christmas stickers, watching ‘The Snowman’ and ‘Father Christmas’ (repeatedly) and listening to carols.

Today is halfway and we have a few other exciting (I hope) things planned, including Peppermint Creams, visiting friends, making snowstorms and frosty branches and of course, putting up the Christmas tree.

Is it going to work…

We haven’t been able to take Eve out on her bike as much as we would have liked to, but we did go out and play with a toy rocket (powered by air), which proved to be a great success.

Finally last weekend the nursery had their Christmas fair. We all had some fun and Eve was able to take part in some carol singing. She had been practicing for this over the last few weeks and enjoyed it, but was also very tired having come straight from the party, and halfway through decided she just wanted a cuddle.

For her birthday Eve got a lot of presents. The main one from her parents was a new bike – a proper bike with pedals and no stabilisers. She has taken to this like a duck to water and is able to pedal for quite some way on her own, even going around corners, after only a couple of days.

Tess has also enjoyed her sister’s birthday. She was invited to the party, enjoyed the games and the cakes, and playing with her sister’s toys. She has also been drawing more and they are starting to become more recognisable.

The rest of the trip away was spent playing in the copse, and walking at the beach, including a very enjoyable walk along the cliffs at Burton Bradstock.

Tess has been saying lots of cute things recently. We were trying to get them ready to stay at Grandma and Grandads recently and asked Tess if she would like to go and stay on her own. Tess looked at us, very concerned and more than a bit worried, shook her head and said “But I’d get run over”….

Eve’s writing has come along a lot. She can form a lot of letters and is very able to copy what we have written, and you can tell what she is writing. She also writes her own lists, which include very recognisable letters.

We took the train up to Oxford, which was fun in itself – Eve managing to eat all of the supplies I had brought on the way up! We stopped for lunch at Oxford Castle Unlocked – where Eve found out about an old method of punishment, before heading over to Oxford University Natural History Museum.

The museum was well laid out and had enough to keep us both entertained. Eve was especially taken with the stuffed animals that you could touch – a shetland pony and cheetah were the highlights. This sounds a bit unusual (and not a little bit Victorian), but actually having the tactile element brought an added dimension to it. She also enjoyed the model of the T-Rex, unmovning, but very fierce!

After the museum, we headed back to the train via a cup of tea and slice of cake. Despite this I had to buy some more supplies before the journey home, but then we had had a busy day.

Eve at the Isis

The stocks

Cuddling T-rex

Hiding

And Eve’s view of the world:

People in the stocks

Daddy in the stocks

Halloween Decorations

Out of the window

Last weekend they helped us clear some of the weeds from the garden and prepare the rasied beds for next year. All with butterfly face paint. They wanted to get involved and helped dig and spread compost. We have a number of places now where frogs like to hide, and while digging we found a couple and had a good look. Eve and Tess are interested but wary, and as soon as the frog moves there is a lot of squealing.

Eve has become a lot more interested in her privacy, often asking for some peace and quiet. She has also taken to locking the bathroom door when she goes to the toilet. To try and stop this we have made a “Do not disturb” sign. She is very taken with this and insists on using it. She is also moving up in the car seat world, and is now the proud user of a high-back booster seat. We only got it today (Sunday) but we already know her favourite part of it – the fact that she can get herself out. We have come to an agreement about this…

Tess still needs her sleep, at least every other day. She knows this, and if she has a day without a sleep will often ask to go to bed the next day.She loves to copy her sister and now sings the “Beauty as a boy” song (see last weeks post).

Today we went to Basildon Park where there was a pumpkin trail. They enjoyed finding the pumpkins, but enjoyed the chocolate “treasure” and playing in the leaves even more! They love Autumn.