Monday, December 20, 2010

Pre-Christmas catch-up

The evenings have flown by in a snowstorm of Christmas card writing, present ordering, sewing projects getting-on-with-ed-ness, present wrapping and here we are nearly, nearly at Christmas already and I haven’t done any blogging for December.

Back to Tuesday 30th Nov, in the morning, Squidge went down for a nap and Fidget and I made Christmas decorations.20101130_14mths_224I cut out some sticky back felt shapes and we stuck a bit of cotton wool on them then stuck them to some fabric, I cut them out from the fabric and then Fidget decorated them.

The weather had got very icy and cold, so for a walk out to the shops in the afternoon it was time to fish out the cold weather gear.

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Fidget just fits into her sallapettes (sp?) from last year and her Christmas jumper. Squidge fits quite well into a snow suit Fidget had from end 2008/start 2009 http://teamchallis.blogspot.com/2009/02/snow-started-to-fall-yesterday-and.html

Squidge was entirely unimpressed and I didn’t think me taking a photo would help matters, so we only see Fidget’s delight above.

Friday 3rd December, with the cold weather we have been having the fire going in the back room all day when we are in at the weekend or non-nursery days.

Fidget sat down to write her letter to Father Christmas , so we could send it to him by putting it on the fire.

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She dictated her letter to me, then added some notes in the margins.

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I am feeling like Fidget is at a perfect age for Christmas this year. She understands what it is all about, she can get involved in the fun stuff of wrapping presents, decoration the house, baking and so on, but as you can see is not obsessed with what presents she should get. I am really relishing it this year!

As I type I am sat by the fire in the back room, Squidge is napping, and Fidget is curled up next to me. She has asked if she can do some typing so here we go:

annnnnnnnnnnnndrew

faith

super, where was I? Ah yes, moving on to Squidge and hats…

20101203_14mths_206 if the word hat comes up in conversation, Squidge will do the sign for hat (patting her head as seen above) and then do the sign for where, and start wandering around, looking intently for a hat.

Saturday 4th December, after a bad night up with Squidge, M was having a well earned lie-in while I was downstairs playing with the girls. Playing was suddenly made alot easier for me when Squidge hopped on the little car and Fidget decided she would push her.

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While Squidge had her nap we got the Christmas tree up and Fidget and I decorated it. It was great fun, M isn’t usually so fussed on decorating the tree, so it was great to have a willing companion.

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Fidget’s style was definitely that more is more, 6 decorations to a branch being standard. I am open to new ideas, and happy to go with it. I did bring it on myself at one point, by declaring that a particular empty branch looked lonely, only to find it creaking under the weight of decorations minutes later.

20101204_14mths_175Squidge was mildly impressed by the tree when she came down from her nap, but she was more interested in Daddy’s gloves…

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Sunday 5th December, Squidge and Fidget were playing with the big boxes. They wanted to go in, I didn’t just put them in there for a quieter morning – honest!

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After an early lunch we headed across to Chippenham to see Steve, Suzanne and Theo who were hosting a work get together. It was an American supper type thing. We took over chilli and also a gingerbread house, which was ace fun to construct. It was a really lovely afternoon, lots of other children (mainly girls) to play with for Fidget, lovely food, good conversation and even a sing around the piano!

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On Saturday night and Monday night I had been working on a sewing project that will be a Christmas present, so I can’t say too much or show a picture. But I am so hyped up about it, as it involved machine embroidery, which is soooooo cool. If you don’t believe me, remind me to post a picture of what I made in the new year!

Tuesday 7th December was Daddy day, as M and I had swapped for that week. Squidge was 14 mths old on Monday but I hadn’t taken any pictures, so here we go…

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The hoar frost had been developing for a number of days and was spectacular, so M nipped out to get some pictures…

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spectators…

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Saturday 11th December, Fidget had chosen a pair of trousers from the drawer that I had got in the sale ages ago for her, but had been too big. She loved them and kept doing big “wow-eeeees”

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Sunday 12th December, while M had a sleep-in, we played downstairs, and again the big box was a quite a draw…

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Then they both decided to do some chalking…

20101212_14mths_059 It’s really nice how they both play together, Squidge is a very gregarious sole, so is always happy to join in, even if she doesn’t get the rules. Later they had a go on the car together…

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one of my favourite recent pictures of them…

20101212_14mths_055 Fidget has been practicing her writing, and in the afternoon had a go at writing in one of her activity books…

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Good work Fidget!

Squidge playing peek-a-boo…

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Tuesday 14th December we had mummy’s afternoon here…

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When M got home from work, Squidge was playing a great game, hiding tigger, then asking “where” is he and then playing peek-a-boo with him. In the videos below, I caught her saying “peek-a-boo” and signing “where”.

Later that evening I completed another sewing project. I had been looking for a nice stocking for Squidge, and decided to make one for her and then thought what the heck, I’ll make them both stockings. I am really pleased with them, as they are entirely from bits of fabric I had in the house, and buttons from my button box…

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M is also impressed…

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Friday 17th, M was supposed to be working up in Wigan, but given the weather warning, had changed his mind. He did a webconference from home in the morning. Then took a half day. This was the start of our Christmas hols, so we dashed out to Sainsbury’s to get in the Christmas supplies before it got too manic at the snowy weekend.

Saturday 18th December, someone said the word hat…

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