Is it a bird, is it a plane?

On the cusp of two years old, her super powers take hold and Fro-Girl is born!

You're funny, no you're funny, no YOU'RE funny...

He-She

We're trying to work out if Bess can identify gender at the mo. But given that we called her new puppet He-She because we couldn't decide if it was a him or a her, there is not a great deal of precedent for her getting it right. All in good time.

I give you Bess and He-She.

Nearly two and I love you

Despite hosting a Hyde like version of herself every now and again, Bess is still remarkably smitten with James, to the extent that she wakes every morning with the instruction to go and give her beloved 'monkey' to him. The terrible two's are not wholly bad it seems.

Giving her time for her own monkeying around...

Cuddle

Today has been a good day for cuddles.

Light reading

Waxham

Sunny Sunday brought dreams of frolicking on the beach in the sand with the kids. Fa-la-la we sang as we headed out.

Bess: 'To the beach papa....'

But on the other side of the dunes, the end of the world was in full swing with tempest winds, frothing sea, a large barnacled sea monster throwing oil rigs at the shore and sand that sucked your feet into its grainy depths. Needless to say the kids clung on for dear life.

Hauling ourselves, the junior appendages and the obligatory Ikea sacks of 'beach gear' back into a wind free dune we set about playing with very limited resources. Essentially some sand and many hundreds of its inhabitant ants. The cheese sandwich brought for lunch came out after about 8 minutes - an emergency diversion when the refusnik beach comber discovered all new levels of frustration when she couldn't make a sandcastle.

Old school: thermos with sandwich.

Wailing James, terrified by the blustering conditions, finds comfort in the bottle. Kahlua of course.

Bess finally gets her groove on in the dunes. This was taken after I found her face down and pointing downhill on one of the dune slopes. We laughed about it in the end. I then decided that it would be fun to slide down a dune in a more conventional fashion, only to end up with 4kilos of sand backed up in her shorts. Double whoops.

In all a trip that could have gone better.

Jimmy Cho

Boy update:

Remarkably, James has started the rolling process. It feels early but perhaps there is something in the adage that boys are physically more quickly developed than girls in year 1. Its a glimpse into the future and reminds me of the John Shuttleworth song, 'two margerines on the go; it's a, nightmare scenario'. Two under twos on the go.....

He also has a new friend. Meet Mister Owl from Hoo in Kent.

James: 'Hoo do you do?...'

At Grandad's garage.

Wassup, wassup, wassup homies....

Mini milk

'Summer' brings with it the promise of icey delights. The entry level treat is the mini milk.

Bess and new friend Camille, who lives round the corner and is regularly invited by Bess to watch her have tea and a bath. I've promised to make biscuits with her - an incentive for her patience and positive influence on our little hair-ball.

She's a delight...