A good old fashioned sink wash

Noah's got the runs. Every time poor Noah trumps, he follows through a little. It's not been much fun for him or mummy. He even pooed on the new rug. Tired of changing nappies and wet wiping a sore bum, mummy decided it would be easier to put Noah into the kitchen sink whilst she got on with making tea.

Cheryl, "I like how fat he looks in the last one."

When talking about these pictures, that's what Cheryl said.

We just wanted to create a post of Noah looking lovely in his cool clothes. Thank you, Asda.

"Singing"

We have a song we sing to Noah. We have sung this song ever since he was tiny. Here are the lyrics (though they change every time it is sung)

Mu-mmeeee
And Da-ddeee

No-aaaaahhhh
And Da-ddeee

He's a tiny boy
And yes, we love him

What a baby boy,
His face it perfect,

Mu-mmeeee
And Da-ddeee

No-aaaaahhhh
And Da-ddeee


Cheryl rightly observed the other day that on most versions of the song (like the one above) Daddy seems to get more mentions than Mummy. We are a very fair household and we have tried to make sure ever since that Mummy and Daddy, on the balance of things, get equal mentions.

Either way, this song must have resonated with Noah because recently he has started joining in.

He only really joins in the Daddy part.

Ouch.

We have been trying to get a good video of Noah singing along but whenever he starts being filmed, he gets camera shy and shuts up. Or screams...

Teeth brushing

We have been brushing Noah's teeth (and gums) since a very early age but now feel it's time to allow Noah to do it by himself. There is nothing like encouraging independence.

We have also started encouraging him to do other things by himself like making a cup of tea; wiring in a faulty light; and chainsawing down the apple tree.

An increasingly clingy boy

Over the past couple of weeks, pretty much since he had his god awful cold, Noah has been a very clingy boy indeed. We had read about, and subsequently prepared for, this time in Noah's first year: the time he develops some attachment issues. So far in his life, we have not had to worry about such issues as he has always been quite independent and happy to be left. Sometimes for days on end in his room. Whatever.

However, now this face is one we are becoming more and more accustomed to:

With that said, Noah spent this morning with Grandma and she reported back that he had been absolutely perfect. Deadly quiet, she said. Turns out she'd spent the morning walking round the cemetery. You know, where all the dead and grieving people are. No wonder he was quiet. He was probably scared to death. He was certainly too scared to nap round there.

I joke of course. Noah loves the cemetery.

He got home and slept for well over two hours. Perfect time for mummy and daddy to kick some ass playing Stupid Zombies on the iPad.

PS, thank you for looking after Noah, mum...

Noah: Daddy's biggest fan

Every Sunday, I go and play football. Usually, when I get back home, Noah is reading the Telegraph and listening to Radio 4, but today he wasn't. Today, when I pulled up, he was against the window, waiting. Waiting for Daddy. This turned out to be one of my favourite pictures ever.

It's childish but...

Man, do we love photo booth.

Split personality Noah

The original Noah was a confused, drunken old man. Our baby Noah has a split personality. Just watch how quickly he goes from laughing to deadly serious. 

Noah the parrot boy

It's amazing to watch Noah progress. He just starts doing stuff one day. For example, Noah has just begun mimicking us. He has already said 'Mamma' and 'Daddy' but now he is copying certain word sounds. This has perhaps been helped by the fact that Noah has done nothing but snot, cough and sneeze for the past week. Despite the fact that our house is entirely godless, Noah's mummy and I instinctively say, "Bless you". All of a sudden, he started mimicking the sound of saying, "Bless you," only without the actual words.

Just you wait until we manage to capture him singing. Yes, he has begun that too. You will shit your bed when you hear it. Anyone who has heard it so far have spontaneously cried (Cheryl and I).

Learning to shut the stairgate

This is a new completely rational fear of ours. Given about three seconds, Noah is at the bottom of the stairs, looking to start climbing. I told him that it would be a very long way for Daddy to fall from the top of the stairs so if he was to fall, it would be like throwing yourself from Beachy Head.

Noah smiled and began to climb.

Coughing daddy and a bare Noah bum

Cheryl's new favourite thing in the world is the fact that she has managed to capture me coughing on video. She does have a point.

At the end of a busy day

This was recorded nearly a couple of weeks ago now but sums up our lovely little household. 

In 2013 anyway.

A busy old morning

Noah keeps himself incredibly busy these days. First of all, he has a good sleep. Then has a nap. You see, though, how prepared he is to get busy doing stuff (notice also, his clear pronunciation of 'Daddy').

Then he continues the day doing his new favourite job: take all the stuff out the drawers:

That, by the way, is not before weeing on mummy and or daddy.

More chatting

It's difficult to make out here, but Noah is reciting some of his favourite lines from Huck Finn. 

No, he wasn't saying any of the racist words.

Getting gobby

Apart from the blip of Noah's illness, he really has been coming on in leaps and bounds recently. He has become something of a little walker; his can climb stairs like Rocky and he is getting much better at speaking. Here he is telling us who is boss.

I can't tell you what he said because it's too rude.

A rough old week

It had finally come to that time when our new little family hard to start settling into some sort of discernible routine. I was back in work at a new school;  Cheryl was back at work after maternity leave; and Noah had begun nursery for the first time. This is the third full week of this arrangement and we have been struck down with a virus. I say 'we' but I really mean, 'Noah'. Cheryl and I have been really quite under the weather but in terms of poorliness, Noah has really left us in his snotty wake.
In the mornings, he has woken up with bright green, oozing gunk from all the none-mouth holes in his face. This has caused his tiny eyes to swell up and close. It's been like walking in on punch drunk Rocky Balboa every morning.

Even after we managed to clean him up a bit, he has never looked so miserable. Our impossibly happy and carefree boy has had his first real run in with illness and it's been hard for us all.

Luckily, today he has started feeling somewhat better and has been less leaky and less moany.

He's all better now. 

HOLY JESUS CHRIST SWEET MARY JOSEPHINE HE CAN WALK!

A bit.

WOOPS!

So this is what happened immediately after Noah took his steps. We tried to get him to do it again. Daddy lost control of the situation...and...

We were quickly forgiven. We popped the National Accident Helpline advert on. Thank you, Brian Blessed.

Stop the clock, Noah has walked.

Noah can now stand by himself. This in itself isn't news to us. He has been standing unaided for about 10 days (not solid). Earlier in the week he took a little step towards his Daddy, but we were reluctant to call it walking. That would have been an overstatement.

About ten minutes ago, however, the boy took three steps entirely unaided to get to my arms. 

We put him back down and he did the same thing again. Our faces went fat and beamed with pride. "Put him down again!" Said Cheryl, excitedly.

"Already on it," quoth I.

Noah fell flat on his back and banged his head on the solid wooden floor. 

Now he'll never walk again (today).

I am Stephen

This was a video we just found from a little while back. We can see where Noah gets his brains...

Shame the prediction wasn't true.