A weekend in Durham

We went up to Durham last weekend giving Simon some long overdue time on his allotment and Della some fun time with Ethan (her cousin). They did lots together - mainly eating, looking at the fish and playing on the trike.

everyone wants to touch a fish!

Della gets a baccy

Proper Sundays dinner for Della including yorkshire pudding and roast beef

Della shows off her new pram - she loves putting Gordon in and rocking him to sleep 

Della chatting, laughing and falling asleep

Inspired by the Bluet audio library, here are some sounds from Della a couple of months ago...

BABBLES AND LAUGHING

BATHTIME

TOOTHBRUSHING

SAYING MAMA

MORE BABBLE

ROW ROW THE BOAT

DELLA FALLS ASLEEP - A suprisingly noisy job, with supporting roles from Lambsy and Dolly

Development Update

We are just back from a nice walk into town and drop in at the library. Della is having a little nap and I thought I would give you a development update on the things Della can and cannot do!

So some of the things she can do:

• Brush her hair and teeth
• Dry her hands
• Collect simons slippers as soon as he walks in the door and put them on him
• Hang washing on the dryer (socks are the perfect size for her to out on right)
• Pretend to be a monkey by shaking her arms and making a kinda monkey sound
• Say dog whenever she sees one - this includes pictures of them in a book
• Line up her small animals on her shelf and bring you the one you ask for
• make a sound like a piggy whenever asked
• Very nearly put her shoes on - although this can get frustrating for her (video below)
• Have her milk out of her cup not her bottle (it's a sad time - no more cosy bottle in bed on a morning)
• Use her spoon and eat her food by herself - although it is messy and takes a very long time
• Say a variety of words including Mama, Baba (which is her word for Simon), Dog, row row (to command her favourite song) and apple. Although she mainly say 'Ba' for everything
• Take her coat off if you help her with the first arm
• Tidy up (worringly well!)

Some of the things she can't do:

• Sit down by herself (although she does squat now and can sit down on your knee so that won't be long)
• Stand up (she is showing no signs of being able to do this anytime soon)
• Climb the stairs (she might get this within the next couple of weeks I think)

Here she is trying to put her shoes on:


And here are a few shots of Della mainly putting books away at the library...

Happy Birthday Helen

It was our friend Helen's birthday party this weekend. We had prepared early and got my mam and dad down to babysit to make sure we could have a fun filled evening enjoying a dance and a drink with our friends.

We went a little early and took Della with to say hello to everyone. She helped Andy fill the ice bucket for the beer outside. She took her role very seriously and hand check every piece of ice to make sure it was cold enough.

We didn't get back until very late (especially by our standards!) so we were very thankful that my parents got Della up, gave her breakfast and took her out for a few hours so we could rest and recuperate.

In the afternoon Granda made a paper airplane which entertained Della for a very long time. He threw it, she chased after it and took it back and so it went on. To make sure we all got some fresh air we then went to the park (our favourite one this time) and did some playing - well me and Simon mainly sat down and Grananne and Granda did some playing.

Della has also decided her favourite fruit is either apples picked form our tree or blackberries picked from any bush she can see...

A trip to the park and some bundling

Simon finished early from work one day last week so we decided to make a trip and go to a new park. It wasn't s good as our usual, what kind of park doesn't have baby swings?!, but Della still had fun and was very brave walking a narrow plank

When we got back we did some bundling together...

Happy third wedding anniversary!

So me and Simon have been married three years today! I know, i can't quite believe where the time has gone. On Sunday we started our day at the bootsale, which is where most Sundays begin in our house. We picked up a bargain seat for Della - as featured below - for only £1. While walking around Della fell asleep in the backpack...

Then in true BroCo fashion we went back to 'our' place, Burnsall for the day. We are not the only people to love this village and when we arrived the large stray in the centre of the village was open and the farmer was letting people drive their cars on, park up by the river and play until their hearts were content. We were loaded with a picnic so picked our spot, got the blankets out and settled in for the day.

Where's Della?

Mmm... Chocolate Brownie!

Della enjoyed the water, lots. Although the beach by the river was very pebbly she had appropriate footware meaning she was able to go in and out of the water without the pain her dad faced walking on stones! The river was very cole but along with children, dogs and rubber dingys we all enjoyed a splash around.

Oh, its cold, but fun

Della in her £1 bargain chair

Then after splashing around we went for a stroll along the river bank...

Hundreds of people had the same idea as us!

Ducking to avoid trees

Della leads the way

Saturday Sunshine

At last a weekend of sunshine. We enjoyed a lovely Saturday afternoon playing in the garden and then went to Burnsall on Sunday - more on this to follow.

Della got the chalk out in the garden, you can see her spelling is really coming on!

Then it was even warm enough for some paddling pool time. Fun!!

A couple of videos

Here are a few thing that Della has been up to recently.

Firstly she enjoyed some cleaning in the buff with me. Cleaning is perhaps one of her more favourite things to do. Very very handy.

Also, she definitely has a favourite book now. It is one that Uncle Nick got her and there is a very fun surprise at the end which she finds hilarious! 

At the end of this video you will see that she blinks quite hard. She does this at quite interesting times and I think it is her way of communicating that she is very happy or that she loves us - I think it comes from us winking at her 

Snip snip

This morning Della went for her first haircut. At last! Her hair has been getting in her eyes for quite a while not and it was definitely time.

We had a slow walk to the hairdresser early morning...

Then she was very good and sat in the chair all by herself. She was entertained by all the mirrors in the room and was more than happy to sit and soak up what was happening to her in a very thoughtful manner. 

A windfall

Della loves our apple tree and lucky for her this year it is doing really well and has over 200 apples on it - I got bored of counting after that. So when the first apple fell Della was first in to give it a try - it was yummy. Think we will be freezing quite a few this year for crumbles in the cold winter months! Mmm...

Gran Helens garden 'Chairloom'

Last week Simon visitied his mum to help clear out some space for her. He brought back a very fun little chair for Della. So after Fangfest we came home for a rest and play in the garden.

Della enjoyed the chair very much!

n.b. This is a 'Chairloom' because Simon's gran had the chair originally for William (a big doll) to sit on. He wasn't much smaller than Della so it's a good fit for her. 

And lounge

and relax

Fangfest 2012

Every year in Fangfoss which is a few miles away from us there is a festival. It is organised by the Rocking Horse shop which is where my dad gets all his 'stuff' for making his horses. I have been for many years and remeber queuing in the rain while pregnant for an icecream and breastfeeding Della in a tent there last year. 

This year as a treat our friends (Bert and Claire) had a stand selling their amazing Butterflies Chocolates. We went for a chat with Bert and Della helped out on the stall while with bert popped to the loo. 

Mmm, ice cream!

The biggest rocking horse in the world!