24/29 laughter

"Eat your beans," I growl. Ben laughs. And eats his beans. "Do it again mummy!" "Grrr! Eat your beans!" Apologies for the mouthful ;-)

Ben is 3 years and 4 months old: 40 months.
And one day.
Charley is one day shy of 3 months old: 13 weeks.
I decided not to bother working out my age in months suffice to say it is (12*31)+4. My head could work it out if it tried but it does not see the point. Ahhh and there you go, head couldn't leave it alone and came to an answer of 376 months old. That doesn't actually sound that bad!!

Had nearly finished the journal entry in a note on my phone while I was stuck on the bed - Charley had decided he wanted to go to sleep on a bed, not in my arms, and then Ben had snuggled up behind me and fallen asleep - and then somehow in between freeing myself and getting downstairs the note had disappeared. I'd been writing this thing for three days, it was a bit of a tribute to Ben, a record of his development kinda thing. I'm all written out now, I can't re-write it! Maybe I'll have another go for his 3 and a half year old blip.

I left off yesterday about to go to the doctors with them for injections. They were so brave. Ben knew what was coming because we'd talked about it before we set off but still I don't think either of us were fully prepared: him for the physical sting, and me for the look he gave me. He had to look at me as I held his elbows with him on my knee, and the look of destroyed trust that he gave me nearly reduced me to tears there and then. He had a quick booby cuddle and was then persuaded to sit on a different chair cuddling Superbear (Charley's Pooh Bear blankie that Ben has taken a real shine to, possibly because it's Charley's) while Charley had his injections.

Ben refused to ride his bike or hold my hand on the way home. His arms hurt and he was not my friend. But, having picked up some chocolate eggs from the shop, his arms were better by the time we got in and he decided we should save the eggs to eat with daddy when he got in!

Ben and I were both delighted when Bella and her children appeared a little later on: Ben immediately took Elizabeth up to play in his bedroom, Yuki discovered stairs, and I had the best excuse to cook more pancakes :D We persuaded her husband to join us for a pancake supper and had a lovely evening!

No more broken windows last night, thankfully.

Today has been a pyjama day for me. Charley got dressed mid morning because he was sick on his pyjamas, and Ben got dressed after lunch because he just decided he wanted to get dressed! I have stayed in pyjamas. Different ones to the ones I wore to bed, but they're comfy. I needed comfy today. Ben and I have painted, I've discovered a new addiction (instagram), I've made scones (it took me ten minutes to make them and get them in the oven which was about eight minutes too long for Charley's liking). Ben has played on the Wii quite a lot, and danced, and played drums, and run around. And eaten! He liked the scone too but it was at that point that Charley wanted to lie down so Ben is now asleep on the bed, Charley is now asleep in the wrap because he only wanted a sleepy feed on the bed, woke up screaming, and would only settle again all wrapped up on me. He took a looong time to settle and keeps crying out intermittantly - I can't decide if he's in physical pain from the injections or psychological. If I decide it's physical I'll give him some calpol before bed I think. Otherwise it's cuddles all night as usual.

We are seeing some distinct demands from Charley. As I've said before, he is quite sure of what he wants, and quite vocal about it until whichever need it is is met. So far we have:

Booby time
Nappy time (he dislikes pooey nappies intensely!)
Playtime (includes talking time, and smiling time)
Bouncy chair time (sucking/chewing on caterpillar's antenna)
Hammer time
Wrap time
Sitting time
Tummy time (only really for photoshoots)
Bath time (although that is so infrequent that he doesn't "ask" for it)
Bedtime

And today we can add to the list,

Standing time.

He has discovered he can weight-bear on his legs. He LOVES it. He likes being propped up onto the back of the sofa so he can see over the top. And it is now an activity that he seems to specifically wants to do.

There. The head/neck control, and the standing, are so far the only ways in which he and Ben are similar ;-)


Now. Time for some dinner for me. Steve is out bowling with work so it's pork pie, scones with cream and raspberries, hot chocolate, and decaf coffee! I so don't do cooking for one but at least it's not cold ravioli straight from the tin!!


PS. They won't all be instagram iPhone photos from now on, don't worry....