Aw My lovely 'valentines day is nothing but a lot of commercial rubbish!' husband is (still) a big romantic softie after all I unashamedly inhaled the entire box in one go. mmm yummy!
Inspired by Henry's recent mention of maple syrup I decided to use what was left of my birthday voucher for Marks and Spencer to buy a bottle of maple syrup for some pancakes. I don't normally buy it as it's so expensive (£5 a bottle!) but it's so much yummier than plain old caster sugar. I'm not sure how the Canadian's make their pancakes, but I think it might be the other kind as they go much better with runny maple syrup! The fluffy spongy drop-scone type of pancakes absorb all the syrup, unlike the crepe type of pancakes, which go much better with sugar and lemon. Still yummy though Christopher had one too, and had his first taste of maple syrup (I think he liked it...he was reaching up and grabbing it off his highchair, cramming it into his mouth before I'd even had the chance to lift him up into his seat!)
I took Christopher to the local library this morning. I was going to take him to a sing along 'rhyme time' social group thing they have there, I am never usually organised or have the money to take him to these baby/toddler groups! Never much liked these group participation things anyway, I always seem to be the one standing around awkwardly while all the other mums have really intimate and chummy chats about their kids. I know it would be good for Christopher to be around other kids though, so I thought I'd drag us both along to one today (the only free one I could find!). It wasn't on today as it turned out though! (phew )
My parents invited us over for lunch today, and my lovely mum made me a fantastic 'leaf birthday' feast of lasagne, with stuffed vine leaves, antipasti type nibbles and leeks vinaigrette. It was really great, like Christmas dinner all over again but even better!
We had peach melba for pudding and I got some birthday ferrero rocher with candles in them instead of a cake. They gave us a voucher at Christmas for me and my husband to have afternoon tea at Loopy Lorna's, which I've been saving for my birthday cakey treat on Wednesday
Christopher enjoyed a lovely lunch of my mum's home made pesto pasta, and was thankfully a lovely happy little boy the whole time we were there (despite recent days of teething related grumpiness!)
My first ever lovely (and only!) house plant of my very own when I bought it from Ikea back in 2009... Still going strong in December 2011...(no longer the focus of my attentions though as you can see!) What it looks like now after I forgot to water it for the whole of December and most of January... Woopsy Is there anything that can be done to save a plant like this? It's leaves have all fallen off and it looks very sad indeed! Poor plant! I'm sorry I forgot to feed you!! I'm not even sure what kind of plant it was, I think it was maybe a ficus. I had hoped to keep it alive and look after it forever and ever, but alas it had the same fate as my poor rosemary, chives, parsley and oregano (only the thyme survived the arrival of Christopher!). It seems that I am not very good with plants! Or maybe I just can't manage to look after both a baby/toddler as well as plants...at least I don't forget to feed Christopher!
Today Christopher discovered the joys of running through puddles...next time we go out for a walk though I must remember to take his wellies!! By the time I wrestled him back into his buggy his shoes, socks and trousers were completely soaked!
I took these photos on the way home from the museum with Christopher at about half four this afternoon. The castle was looking beautiful, silhouetted against the sky. I love the silhouette of winter trees too!
We took Christopher for a visit to a little 'farm' in the middle of the city on Friday morning. It was his first encounter with farm animals, having only ever seen a few cats and dogs so far.
He was scared of the pigs, because they kept rattling/chewing on the chains and snorting their loud piggy noises. The horse was scary too because it was so big (although I'm scared of horses too for the same reason!). Cows, chickens and sheep were acceptable, but his favourite part of the farm was definitely the big red tractor!
We took Christopher to the beach today. It was quite a nice day and for once not pouring with rain or howling a gale, so after lunch we set off towards Portobello on foot, with Chris having his afternoon nap in the buggy on the way there. It took us about an hour and a quarter to get there, and we walked the whole length of the promenade while waiting for Chris to wake up to see the sea! He hasn't been there since we took him for a visit one day last summer so we thought it was about time for a second encounter.
When he eventually woke up he seemed quite impressed with the view, but refused to go anywhere near the sand after taking a few tentative steps on it and deciding that it was not to his liking! He walked all the way back along the promenade with us before being wrestled back into his buggy (due to his irresistible urge to inspect and touch every parked car we pass!) to be taken up the road to catch a bus back into town.
It was lovely and quiet at the beach today, I like beaches in the winter! No annoying noisy summer crowds, just a few hardy dog and toddler walkers Our camera ran out of battery power almost as soon as we arrived though, so I had to use my mobile phone to take a few pictures instead.
Christopher keeping a nice safe distance from that messy lumpy gritty stuff!
My lovely 'valentines day is nothing but a lot of commercial rubbish!' husband is (still) a big romantic softie after all 
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January 2012March 2012
My Opera
