Friday 23 December 2011

Ben and his trike

We were given this trike from a family at Tom's school this summer, when it seemed impossibly big for him. It sits in our front porch, and most days as we pass it Ben has to give it a pat.
He can almost reach the pedals and sometimes manages to turn them. Mostly he scoots along, staring at the world, and occasionally making a heart-stopping lunge for the ground. Fun for all! This video is a few weeks old, we go to the woods in a nearby park and Polly can run off-lead while Ben perfects his 'push me, minions!" expressions.

Festive Cheer

I love Christmas. I find the long dark winter so long, dark and wintery that a festival of lights and excess brings me immense joy.  It's not a religious thing, it's a human thing. Give me food, give me music, give me parties and sparkly things, because it is cold and dark and it's going to be cold and dark for a few months' yet... 
So I love the way people decorate their houses here, tacky though it is, I love how our street shines and glows, and I love the Christmas tree and I love a few days of holiday music, and frankly, I'm having a very nice week. I've got a lot of marking to do, so I'm busy and that means I've missed things like today's the zoo trip which makes me incredibly sad. But there are some moments that I got to witness, and Ben seeing the tree for the first time one morning was pretty wonderful. I wish I could have got the first reaction on film, but I was too busy being overloaded with maternal adoration to go and get the camera for quite some time.

Ben at the zoo

Cougar


Ben at the zoo

Ben and fish. He was obsessed


Ben at the zoo

Ben tries to hug a  peacock


Ben at the zoo

Jaguars


Ben at the zoo continued

Ben meets big cats


Ben at the zoo

Making friends with a bear