: : : Here is the news for November : : :

Sunday 30th November
We went to a special Garden Centre today that had lots of lovely animals in it. I spent a long time looking at all the rabbits and mice and the other furry animals. I even saw some hamsters. I wanted to buy Mum an hamster when we went to the shop on friday. I particularly wanted to buya yellow hamster but Dad wouldn't let me. He said Sainsburys didn't have any left. We ended up buying her some flowers. She seemed to like them but I think she would have preferred a yellow hamster. I saw some fish too and even some tiny tiny frogs.

We had to go to another garden centre inthe afternoon to buy Mum some tiny plants. As a bonus Dad bought me a shiny bean bag frog, which I have called "lovely frog". He's coming to bed with me this evening.

Saturday 29th November
I stuck lots of lovely stickers all over the wooden bit of the mirror when Mum wasn't watching me too closely. She was on the phone for only a few minutes so I had to work quickly. I managed to get 15 stickers stuck before Mum noticed.

I read a few words today. Proper reading mind - no cheating by looking at the picture first. The words were as follows: Egg, Moon, Penguin, Apple, Cat and Fish. I guessed Fish for all of them at first because I was trying to watch the television but when Dad told me to look at the letters more carefully I got them right.

Friday 28th November
I was quite good today so Dad took me shopping with him when he got home from work. We bought all the proper things and I helped with putting everything in the trolley. I know it looks like i'm throwing things over my shoulder into the trolley (and i'm lucky if everything gets into the trolley) but It's actually very carefully planned. Dad doesn't let me put glass things in the trolley though.

Sam came to see us today and I played with her for ages with the stacking cups (old school) but she made them into a rocket which went around the room.

Thursday 27th November
There will be a shortage of news today because I was a little bit mean to Joe today. I'm very sorry though.

Wednesday 26th November
There's not much news today. I have been spelling words on the fridge though. I wrote "kneedot" a few times, sometimes in had 17 letters and numbers and sometimes, if I could squeeze the extra letters onto the edge of the fridge it had 19. 20 if I went around the corner of the fridge. I tend to write it from right to left too, just to confuse matters.

Tuesday 25th November
In answer to yesterday's question about Andrew and his fussing the answer seems to be an emphatic "NO".

At bed time, as well as being given stickers to stick on my ceiling, I am able to award both Mum and Dad a sticker each, but only if they have been very good. After the award ceremony I make dad stick the stickers on my ceiling.

"Mummy, you have been very good today, so you can have a tiny sticker"

Monday 24th November
Will Andrew never stop his eternal fussing?

Anyway - I have got a new puzzle. You have to match words with their pictures. I did reasonably well at it this morning. I wouldn't say that I can actually read, but I can recognise some of the startig letters of words and being able to match puzzle shapes up helps too. It's a very enjoyable way to pass the time too.

Tractor Ted is a good way to pass the time as well.

Sunday 23rd November
We went swimming today. It's been a long time since we went swimming but we did today. I asked Dad to take me on the biggest slide that I've ever seen. After I asked him to take me on it once I asked him to take me on it again. I think we went on it about twenty times in all, and each time was more exciting than the last.

As if swimming wasn't exciting than the last, in the afternoon Dad took me to the fire station where we had a look and several fire engines and an ambulance. The nice fireman let me switch all the lights on in one of the fire engines and I even got to jump off one of the big piles of planks that he had next to the fire engine. All very lovely. Especially the jumping off planks.

I made some gingerbread men with Mum in the early evening and they were marvellously successful, although they sagged a little bit and turned out as kind of fat gingerbread men. They were, however, very very tasty.

Saturday 22nd November
Today I went to Joe's party. There was a bouncy castle and lots of friend were there. Unfortunately due to the suger content on my body and the extreme excitement of the bouncy castle I may have gone slightly over the top. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and fell asleep in the pushchair on the way home. It took Mum and Dad one hour to wake me up.

Thank you Joe.

Friday 21st November
It's taking me ages to go to sleep the last few nights. It was nearly 9.00 before I was ready to go off this evening. I will insist on people being there to help me go to sleep though. I'm sure that they are what's holding me up. If only they could go away and leave me in peace at the same time as staying near me and singing me a song.

I warned Andrew about eating spiders today. Full marks for me.

Thursday 20th November
I played a lovely game of bricks with Dad today when he got home from. We made a castle which I then knocked dow (still the best bit). I made a lovely starfish and a car out of the green bricks.

I did some fabulous artwork at the baby group today - there were twooutstanding pieces which I shall be submitting to dad for the long abandoned gallery page. One is a study in chalks on black paper and one is a picture of some faces. I've been enjoying drawing faces for a few weeks now. As long as they have two eyes and a nose and a mouth they tend to look very realistic.

Wednesday 19th November
I have been very good today. Mum promised me that Dad would take me shopping when he got home and that he would maybe buy me a gingerbread man and some ham. Both of these are my favourite things. Sadly there were no gingerbread men. I did manage to get a mr. man gingerbread lollipop though which is nearly as good - just without arms and legs.

I told Dad that "he was a man" and that "Mummy is a beautiful laaaaadie" when we were in the car. He laughed quite a lot but I'm sure that he agreed with me. After the shops he took me for a drive down the parade so that I could look at the christmas lights. I'm looking forward to having some up around our house too.

Tuesday 18th November
"How many times to I have to ask you to... Peeeeeter!!!!". That's what I have been saying today. I received barely concealed guffaws for my troubles.

I have a new favourite video that I like to watch ALL THE TIME. It's a nursey rhyme video with all my current favourites plus a few more. I watched it several times today. I can now recite some of my favorites although I', not keen on humpty dumpty. He's an egg. Eggs get dropped.

I did a bit of real counting today. I counted the number of slices of bread that we were going to feed to the ducks. There were seven. I counted 8 though. Slices are difficult to keep track of. "So... There are.. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 aaaaand 8"

Monday 17th November
I was very good today. I don't know whether or not it had anything to do with being good but as a special treat I had a gingerbread man. Gingerbread men are great and currently riding high in my all time top ten foods. Dad bought Mum a special Gingerbread man cutter, so I'm looking forward to Mum getting a move on and making me some.

My new special phrase is "that is a tiny tiny bit rubbish" I try to use it as often as I can.

Sunday 16th November
For some reason Dad was allowed to stay in bed for ages and ages today. Eventually I persuaded Mum to let me go and wake him up, which I did. I got him to look at the contents of a shoebox, which I had described to him as "funny". It turned out to be only tissue paper inside, but I wasn't really sure.

I'm a bit fed up about my potty training stuff. I wish people wouldn't keep asking me whether or not I need a wee. I am perfectly capable of getting along with it myself,. If i'm upstairs I can get the step, put the special seat on do what I want to , getoff and even pull my trousers up, which seems to me to be the most complicated operation of them all. Sometimes my bottom catches on the back of my trousers - it can be very annoying.

Saturday 15th November
I'm having a few difficulties with this potty training shennanigans. I'm fine with all the wee bit of the proceedings - it's just the other bit that I have difficulty with. Mum and Dad don't seem too worried though. After all - they don'twear nappies. So I'm sure that when I'm as old as they are I shall be free of them. When I help Mum with Andrew's nappies I always say goodbye to my nappies when I put them in the changing box.

Friday 14th November
I still feel rather coughy and ill. I'm hoping that I don't have to go back to hospital to have either a nut removed from my nose or to be put on a ventilator.

Thursday 13th November
I think my cough might be worse today.

I called Mum Sweetie Pie today and I think she may have been really pleased with me. I also played nicely with Andrew for ages and ages. I have to give Andrew lots of instructions like "Andrew come into the Kitchen" or "Andrew, stay there" or "Andrew, Look at me" and so on. Sometimes he pays attention and does what I want him to do and sometimes he ignores me and does what he wants to do. I've come to expect this behaviour from small babies.

Wednesday 12th November
It's been a very nice day today because I have been helping with Dad's birthday. I delivered all of his presents to him in the morning and even helped him unwrap a few. There didn't seem to be much there that I could play with though, although there was a big barrel of beer that is going to live in the fridge that has a very interesting red button on it that I'm sure I'll manage to press at some point.

We went to a park in the morning and I had a lovely time jumping in some puddles. There were other features in the playground but I most enjoyed jumping in the puddles. I walked on a high wall for a while, but I soon went back to the puddles. After the park we had to go to a shop to buy me some new trousers. The ones that I had on were a little bit wet.

I helped Mum make a cake for Dad yesterday and today I helped her put a bit of icing on it and some tiny weeny dots of sugar. I also decided where the candles should go. They all went in a big circle and I helped Dad blow them out.

Tuesday 11th November
Don't tell Dad but we went shopping today to buy some presents for his birthday which this year, falls on the 12th of November. He tried to question me when he got home from work about where I had been during the day and whether or not I had been into town. I was deliberately evasive and just answered "yes" to all his questions.

I have been doing a little bit of reading today. My favourite page to read is the page of the hungry caterpillar (previously referred to as "the ice cream book"). I like to read the one piece of chocolate cake page in the middle. I can usually remember to read every food item although I sometimes get the salami confused with the lollipop.

Monday 10th November
I was such a good boy today that as a reward I had a gingerbread man. I think the mysterious disappearance of my dummies may have had something to do with my recent bad mood. Maybe I'm starting to get over it today. Maybe I'm not.

I told Andrew that "he was heading for his beautiful beautiful lovely lovely cot" today. Mum thought it was very funny so I tried it out on Dad when he got home. We were practicing making towers with bricks and I told him that HE was heading for MY cot. He thought the joke to be the best he'd heard all day.

We were in the park today and there were some boys playing football. They accidently kicked the ball near us and Mum went over to kick it back to them. I had no time to beg her not to kick the ball. It was too late. The ball went for miles and miles in the wrong direction which made Mum look a little bit mean. It wasn't her fault though. To cheer ourselves up we went for a play in the playground. The fireman's pole was too wet to go on so Mum and I sat on the swing together instead which is my absolute favourite way to spend an afternoon.

Sunday 9th November
I enjoyed making some pictures with bricks today. I told Dad that when bricks were put together they would make a picture. It was like a revalation to him. He immediately made me a dumper truck. It was rubbish because the wheels were square, but other than that it was ok. I made my own "cubist" dumper truck.

I've been giving "reasons" recently . Some of them don't make too much sense but those that do seem to be accepted by Mum and Dad. Apart from when I just say "yes" as a reason. No one likes that very much.

Saturday 8th November
I have been quite helpful today. I've done a lot of tidying up and a fair bit of mending around. I had a lovely time with the train track in the morning with Dad. He helped me build a fabulous train track and then I helped him mend my electric train. While he was doing the delicate operations with the screwdriver I aided him by hitting the stuff he was holding with a yellow plastic hammer.

I was also very nice to Andrew today, I spent a long time getting him a few toys to play with. I said, "I will give him a toy and maybe a book that I doesn't like" Very generous I think you'll agree.

Friday 7th November
I made a terrible accident happen today. Mum made me a lovely washing line which went inbetween my toy shelves and one of the door knobs that hides the stereo and video player away from my turny turny fingers. I had a lovely time pegging out some pretend washing. Unfortunately I pulled a little bit too hard and the shelves and all the contents were spread over the whole floor. I suppose I was lucky not to get completely crushed. This didn't stop me from trying to show Dad what had happened when he got home by trying to make it happen again though.

Thursday 6th November
Mum took us to the playground with the fireman's pole in it today. Very exciting. Mum was pushing me on the swings, but she kept on going away to see Andrew who although not far away was taking away my means of swing propulsion. I told mum to "not hold off". It's a phrase that I've invented myself.

Wednesday 5th November
I asked Mum to take my socks off today. She said that I could take them off. I had to tell her "but Mummy, your handies are better". She soon came over to my way of thinking and took my socks off.

I took my potty to the park with me today. I shan't go into the details but I was wearing pants and they did get home dry.

Tuesday 4th November
Dad had a sore head and so I said that I would try and fix it. I told him that I would mend his lovely lovely head. He thought that was a lovely idea, but he changed his mind for some reason. It might have been because as I wandered into the kitchen to get the things I would need to mend his head I muttered "now... where's my hammer"...

This has been my third completly dummy free night. I am going "cold chicken". or something. I haven't even complained very much - if at all, although I did have a lot of trouble settling down last night. At least I didn't have a bad dream about You-Know-Whats.

Monday 3rd November
I've got my own set of headphones so that I can listen to the fimbles or a nursery rhyme cd without it being overdubbed with Andrew's grumbling noises. It also means that I can hear whatever I'm listening to in glorious dolby stereo too. Unfortunately I bit my nursery rhyme cd in the afternoon and now it doesn't work. It tasted rubbish.

Sunday 2nd November
I had a lovely day in the garden with Mum today. Dad had taken Andrew out somewhere so it was a meddle free day. I helped Mum plant lots of funny bulbs in the mud. Mum later informed me that when there's mud in a garden it's called soil. Anyway - I'm really looking forward to seeing the flowers that will grow.

I also helped Mum make a trifle today. I ate some of each of the ingredients, and although I had to go to bed before I had the chance to actually taste the finished product, I think I can piece together the entire experience from each of the individual ingredients. I also helped with the washing up. Cold Watery fun. It's the most fun you can have.

Saturday 1st November
I did some lovely painting with Mum today when Dad took Andrew out to the shops. Usually I like to go to the shops, but today I wanted to create some artwork and that is difficult to do with Andrew and his meddling ways. Anyway, I did some lovely stencilling which now adorns the ART wall in the kitchen.

Dad decided to clean the carpet today so Mum took us to the park for ages and ages. We went to all the best places - even the monkey puzzle tree which is my favourite. We also went in to the hot house where some OLDER girls tried to engage me in conversation. I was having none of it though.

When we got back home Dad had rearranged the front room. What he's done makes a lot of sense and has many plus points. He mentioned a few to Mum - hides the fireplace.... blah blah blah, exposes the radiator.... blah blah blah, gets the speaker off the stairs.... blah blah blah, hides the marble plinth that Andrew might bash his face on.... blah blah blah. To me, however, it means that I can now reach every shelf on the cd rack and the shelf where the camera and telephone live- a place that has always been far far out of my reach. It was the first place I went to when I walked into the room. Mum said she would move everything off the shelf.

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