Busy busy

Everything has suddenly got really busy and I've hardly had time to sit down and check my emails - let alone write a blog! I've got lots of things to do for uni before Christmas so I am trying to work on those in the evenings whenever I can.

We went and got a christmas tree last weekend from Chopwell woods, half way there we realised we didn't have our wellies with us but it wasn't as muddy as last year so our shoes survived. It's funny to have the tree decorated and all before Christmas eve. We had people from church over for mulled wine and some christmas cakes etc yesterday so if it hadn't been for that I would have wanted to wait until next weekend before getting the tree but it was nice to have the tree for everyone to see.

Henrik loves pulling the baubles off the tree, I am yet to discover a successful technique in stopping him so at the moment all the fragile decorations are on the top branches and towards the bottom are the less fragile ones.

Some one brought along a box of chocolates yesterday and had some. His tastebuds have been awakened to the taste of good things now and this morning when I gave him his bowl of porridge he pushed it away saying 'more chocolate, more chocolate'...

Learning to say no

Everything is no at the moment with Henrik.

"would you like a yogurt Henrik?" and the answer is "no" whilst he is climbing to his chair to be ready to eat it.

"would you like to go outside?" and again the answer is "no" whilst he is sitting on the bottom step trying to put his shoes on.

So it's all fun and games - you are wondering did he really mean no or was it a no because he just likes saying no!

He has also learnt to say Jack (the boy next door) this week and couple of other words. I keep being amazed by all these words he can say, mainly because I speak Finnish to him so I haven't even realised that he has heard the word he is saying, let alone learnt to say it.

One of Henrik's favourite books at the moment is Santtu kukkuu, he loves to have it read over and over again. Next time we are in Finland I'll have to get some more for him as he really likes the pictures in them - more than the story at the moment I think!

It's half term this week so I haven't had Rosie to look after and it's been funnily quiet - Henrik has had no one to squabble with about the doll's push chair or his trains. But next week is back to normal - busy and crazy but very enjoyable.

Birthday boy

Henrik had his 2nd birthday the day after we got back from the US. We had a little party for him with just us and Jean (his nanny) on the actual date and then the following weekend we had couple of his little friends over for a party.

The first couple of presents he wasn't too sure what to do with them but by the end of the week he'd got to full swing of opening presents. He got very upset when he wasn't allowed to open a present that we'd got for Andy and Naomi as a good-luck-at-university-thank-you-for-all-the-babysitting-present...

And Henrik definitely approved of cake. Lots of it :) On his real birthday we had a little cake for him and he blew the candles out fine but when we had more people around he was not too sure about what to do as everyone was looking at him and in the end his friend Nathan helped him to blow the candles out.

Holiday snaps

Here are some snaps from our trip to South Carolina. The weather was gorgeous and we spent most of the time on the beach. Henrik absolutely loved it and it was easy entertainment for him as he could run, scream, splash and do whatever he wanted. We discovered that visiting cute little towns with cute little shops and coffee houses is not too popular with him or it's too much effort for us to keep him interested in the above so beach was definitely the place to be with no extra entertainment required!

We did do a one short little town visit to Georgetown, SC. But it was very brief, we had a lovely lunch in a little restaurant that had a huge fishtank by our table that kept Henrik amused :) And then we had a very very brief wander around and saw some signs telling us not to feed the alligators! We didn't see any though :(

So here we are on our stroll in Georgetown

Henrik chilling on the beach

Building a sandcastle with daddy

Feeding mummy a very sandy biscuit

Amicalola falls in Georgia

Southern comforts and miracles

We are back from the sunny South Carolina. We had lovely time catching up with friends, making some new ones and just chilling on the beach. We have tasted all sorts of southern delights ranging from grits for breakfast (a bit like semolina, only grainier, made with milk and butter), fried chicken, pancakes and bacon for breakfast and fried gruper (white fish). The weather was lovely and we spent most of our time on beach just chilling.

When we got back home we were faced with cold weather, dead battery in a car and poor Jean with trapped nerve in her shoulder and possibly having to have 6 weeks off...which in turn would have meant that I would have had to have 6 weeks off. I was so tired after flying over night, not sleeping & time difference that I didn't even have to energy to pray apart from saying to God that I couldn't see a way around, please help-type prayer. And it's all got resolved amazingly - my next door neighbors childminder has resigned leaving her in a pickle so we are going to help each other out, she is going to have Henrik two days a week and I am going to have her two two days a week - how great is that! Yay God!!!