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2008-06-01 - 1:11 a.m. previous entry next entry
Scary encounter. And millions more photos...
Back, but as briefly as I can manage, as it's already really late!
Thanks so much for the comments on my last entry with all the photos! I still have soooooooo many more photos to post - I will try to post some tonight in a minute. Jemma, I actually wrote the notes about my leg and Matthew's haircut BECAUSE I wasn't planning to write them last entry, hehe! It's not that I forgot to write them! ;) I knew if I wrote a one-liner in that entry, somebody might remind me another time (I knew I did not have time to cover them), or I might scan the entry and be reminded. Heh. I sometimes do that because I know I'm scatty like that :)
As it goes, I don't think I'll have time to write about them properly this entry either. Tsk! I so want to write about all the jumble in my head!
Oh the other one I forgot to leave a reminder for was that Arthur came face-to-face with an adder (or viper) snake at the park! London's vast parks (the wilder ones anyway) do have snakes, and the visitor information at our local one tells us that there are grass snakes and adders there, but that adders are extremely rarely seen. Adders are the UK's only venomous snakes. My mum saw a dead one by a pile of rubbish bins once when she was six, and that was quite a big deal!
Anyway. We don't KNOW that it was an adder, because we didn't see it. Neil took the boys to the park as usual and they were in the ferns and undergrowth leading to some lakes a way off. The boys just roam and roam there. I don't know anybody who has ever seen a snake there - even a grass snake which is much more common compared with the adder. Well Arthur was forging ahead of Neil and Matthew (as usual), and suddenly came running back to Neil, kind of shaken but not scared/crying. He said he saw a snake that "sliddled" into the grass out of sight when it saw him. He seemed a bit like I would feel if I saw any snake (I don't like them!) - they give me the "willies" for want of a better word! He looked like that.
They left that area and when they came home I asked Arthur a lot of questions about the snake. I presumed it must have been a grass snake and I wanted to turn it into a learning experience by looking them up with him online and learning about them, maybe drawing one, etc. I also wanted to be sure that he really HAD seen a snake, having never seen one before. I asked if it might have been a worm, and he gave me a disgusted look and said, indignantly, "No! Worms are small and PINK! This snake was really long and black!" At which point I froze and said, "What colour was it?" and he said, "Black. With sort of orangey bits."
So, he was right there with me in the living room, but I swear my blood ran cold for a moment! I looked up creepy videos and photos on YouTube and other Googled places, and first I showed him grass snakes. Grass snakes in sunshine, grass snakes coiled up in a heap, grass snakes in motion all slithery, etc. I said, "Ah ha! Was THIS what the snake looked like?!" and he said (again with the indignance!), "No Mummy! That snake is BROWN, not black!" So, rather shakily I brought up the photos and video clips of the European viper (adder), and he cheerfully said, "Yes, that's the one!" the moment he saw it.
*shudder*
Now, they are not highly venomous snakes, but they could kill a small child. Arthur said it hissed at him and its tongue "slithelled" at him and he didn't like it, and then it started to "slidder" away so he turned around and ran back to Daddy. We (very over-enthusiastically!) praised him heavily for what he did, and said he did the right thing to turn and run away. We had a good talk about snakes and how to behave around them (ie, RUN AWAY!). I don't want to instill a fear of snakes into the boy, but I DO want to HAVE my boy to grow old with, and I also don't want him to learn the hard way that it's not a good idea to mess with snakes, even a non-venomous one. He doesn't seem upset by the incident at all, but snakes definitely appear to give him the heebie-jeebies. I think I can safely say he's not a fan!
Apart from the HORROR STORY side of the incident (!!), it's actually quite exciting that he saw an adder, as nobody ever sees them - they're so rare! :)
But, yeeeuuuuaaaaahhhrhrhrhrhhh.... I will now change the subject!
My leg and Matthew's haircut will have to wait till next time (again!).
Oh! I almost forgot! I am DESPERATE for an Ergo baby carrier, and obviously can't afford one, but they are good for babies from 5 months old in the back carry. It's the back carry that I want the thing for, so with only a couple of weeks till Nathan turns 5 months old, I'm starting to get itchy for an Ergo! I've been watching second-hand sales lists, but they get snapped up the second they're listed, and it's still too expensive anyway. But a girl can "window-shop", can't she?! I really need one soon as Nathan has almost outgrown the Baby Bjorn, and everything else hurts my back (well, the Bjorn does too, but at least it only lasts the early months while their weight is still relatively low). The Ergo is supposed to be the BEST carrier out there for distributing weight and preventing back pain. I do have a couple of Mei-Tais, but I think he's a bit little for back carries in those, for me anyway.
So, I just found a link to a competition to WIN an Ergo at the January 2008 babies buddy group I read from time to time (having a January 2008 baby, after all!). I went to enter but it says in order to enter, you have to link to the competition in your blog or at a forum you use, etc. It closes at midnight TONIGHT (thankfully not UK time, otherwise I'd have missed it by now, lol!), so quick, here's the link! If you're super quick, you might get in with a chance to win the Ergo yourself! :)
http://www.alongfortheride.biz/contest-s/49.htm
And now I shall go and enter with about fifty million other hopefuls, and very likely NOT win the Ergo, but hey, there's a teensy chance! :)
ETA: Have just discovered that it looks like it's US/Canadian residents only! Poo! No rules that say as such, just won't take my "non-US" entry :( Oh well!
I have a lot of photos to post, so I'll get on with that, and then go to bed. Nathan is waking really frequently at the moment. I don't know if it's another growth spurt or what, but he's feeding 2-3 hourly round the clock at least. He pretty much has done that from the start though, and it hasn't changed, but it feels a bit more intense tonight and yesterday - he sometimes isn't making it to 2 hours between feeds. That's okay, but it makes for a very up-and-down night! Thank goodness it's just me and him and a kingsize bed with a cot pushed up against it! He spends the last few hours of the night in with me usually, as I lose the capacity to put him back in his cot by then! ;) This evening he has woken 3 times already. For the FIRST time ever, the last time he woke I picked him up and patted his back and rocked him for a moment. He was SO CROSS with me! ;) I added his dummy to the mix and he went off to sleep peacefully, and settled fine when I put him back in his cot. I think he was a little bit chilly or something. He's used to being put to the breast every time he wakes, day or night, so it's understandable that he's cross when I don't, even if he's not hungry for a big feed yet!
So, photos! :)
When Arthur was tiny (2.5 months, I think), I took a photo of him (just one of many random photos at the time) wearing a white Gap sleepsuit with green stars on it, and he was lying on one of my home-sewn changing mats. When Matthew was about the same age (3 months), I put him in the same outfit and lay him on the same mat and took a photo. It really showed how different they are in body/head shape! So, a few weeks ago, Nathan reached that age (adjusted for his early arrival - he had just turned 4 months old and his adjusted age made him just 3 months old) and I put him in the outfit and lay him on the mat, and took his photo! I have been eager to post all three photos here to compare, but haven't got around to it for a while. So I'll do that first. I'll do them in order of birth - Arthur's photo first, then Matthew, then Nathan:
Arthur:
Matthew:
Nathan:
Matthew and Nathan really are a LOT more similar to each other than Arthur and Nathan (or Arthur and Matthew, for that matter). It's so interesting to compare! Arthur's head-shape and size was quite unique, and still is! Matthew and Nathan have similar heads, but Nathan's is definitely in-between the two boys, even though it looks so similar to Matthew's, because Matthew's head is really tiny for his age and Nathan's has always been bigger in terms of measurements. Arthur's has always been huge! :) Even their measurements at their 21-week scans showed this.
Anyway, onto other photos! Here are some of my little Nathey sweetie pie when the weather was warm and we were about to head out in the garden for some water play (STILL haven't uploaded those photos, but they are the only ones outstanding to upload now):
Nathan next to Mummy's (as yet still enormous) leg, and on the floor mat:
Nathan looking around at interesting things! He is so interested in everything lately. He loves the touchy feely Usborne books, and likes to use his jerky batting movements as best he can to put his hands on the textures on the pages and grab the book, etc. He looks so excited while he looks at those books, and he drools and smiles continually, hehe!
Matthew in the ferns at the park (*shudder*):
Sitting on my tummy as I tried to lie on the floor for a bit, one tiring afternoon (the monkey!)!
Arthur in the ferns at the park (soooo don't think they'll be going to the ferny locations so much after this! There's plenty of flat grass there too):
Showing me a fire engine (very seriously!):
Painting with me one afternoon while the little boys napped. This will be our "school" time as it has been for a long time. Nothing formal planned yet though, we just enjoy crafts and cooking and things right now :) We painted pasta that day which was just for fun, but I noticed how much it really honed in on Arthur's fine motor skills, more so than any other painting we've done so far, so it was great. Then he did handprints, and after that I let him loose with the remains of the paint, on the newspaper covering the table. He has so much imagination right now. He was making different creatures' footprints with the paintbrushes and different colours, and leaving "trails" behind the paint "glasses" (need to buy a palatte of some sort eventually!), and then making up stories and being a detective following the trails! :)
My "monkey" little dude :)
Blurry, fluffy-haired, and self-photographed, but who cares! It's ME and my precious baby BOYYY!! :)
Cheeeeeeese! (why do they always say this, it's never what I want them to do when I point the camera at them?!) - I love Matthew's hair in this! It has NEVER lain flat in his life! The new hairdresser (more next time I hope!) said it needs to grow long on top to have any chance of lying flat, so he's growing it out on top. It's so springy and long there right now, hehe!
Okay, I think that's definitely enough photos for one entry! I have saved my favourites for last, but I will do them in another entry. They're too special to just bung on the end of an over-photo-y entry! They are all of Neil and the boys. I'll post them next time.
Now I am going to brush my teeth and go to bed before Nathan wakes again! Back soon! :)
Recent entries.....
Moving time... - 2009-01-04
Christmas Eve! - 2008-12-24
Long-overdue update, a few Nathey pics and a video clip :) - 2008-12-01
Lots of news! - 2008-11-03
Nathan at 8 months... - 2008-10-12