25 Months

George is 25 months old today!

Passing out after a busy day of running around

Lunch at Ikea--little greedy guts George ate a kid's cheese sandwich, a yogurt, and he nicked some of my meatballs!

At the end of June, we had the University's staff festival--George was fascinated by the ferris wheel, but when we got to the front of the queue he chickened out. I went ahead and rode anyway, and I'm glad he didn't join me after all, because it went really high & surprisingly fast!

They also had this awesome miniature railway with a real steam engine, which was much more kid-friendly

George has been loving his birthday presents--Janette, Luca & Emilio sent this brilliant DIY Janod truck

And he loves his Harvey the Harvester from Ruth!

On 4th of July, George's class did a red-white-and-blue paint activity with star stamps--so cute!

We went to dinner at Chicago Rib Shack to celebrate Independence Day properly with BBQ. George pretended the food pager was a phone and kept saying "hello"!

He's crazy about his trains these days

George got this gorgeous hand-knitted sweater from Carly

One weekend the Keighley Worth Valley Railway was hosting a model railway show

 

George loves the vintage steam trains

At the park in Ilkley one Sunday after church--he's still a little hesitant about slides

On campus

Playing with oat biscuits

Picnic at Golden Acre Park

Hydrangeas on campus

George had his six month dental check-up--he was very good and cooperative, and he held onto his Thomas board book the whole time. Our dentist said his teeth looked great and she gave him a sticker :)

Playing on his John Deere Buck

We celebrated Bastille Day with a lovely dinner--boeuf bourguignon, dauphinoise potatoes and one of the wines we brought back from France

The lavender is in bloom, so we went out to Wolds Way Lavender farm

George loved the bees--they were all over the lavender!

George was crazy about their miniature railway

Once we were actually on the train, though, he got all serious & looked worried in every picture...

I promise he did actually enjoy it

The playground was great, too!

In the tea room, we had lavender scones with clotted cream and strawberry-lavender jam. Sometimes these floral foods can be a bit sickly, but these were nice and subtle. The jam was really good! We bought a jar of their blackberry-lavender jam to take home, too.

At the Otley Food Festival, George was really excited about the strawberry stall ("Strawdada!") and he ate most of a big bowl of strawberries and cream.

Hamster cheeks!

We went to Costco one day and had pizza for lunch after shopping--I love being able to do things like Ikea and Costco with George, now that I can drive!

Last weekend we went to the North Leeds Food Festival at Roundhay Park

I held a sweet little 3-day old chick and George pet it very gently, with one finger, like we tell him to do with Biscuit (we were too busy worrying about keeping it safe to take pictures!)

George spotted this Thomas train ride from across the park and was thrilled--until we actually got on and it scared him!

Poor little guy!

They had this gorgeous 1959 ice cream truck at the festival--so fun!

Shopping at Debenhams

Rainy day walk

George has been 2 for a whole month! This summer has been lovely so far--very relaxed and fun, with little day trips and nothing too complicated, just parks, steam railways and food festivals!

George seemed to have a growth spurt--he's been a little dustbin, eating everything we give him, and asking to share our food, too! He still loves strawberries, cheese (even strong cheeses like mature cheddar, blue & comte) and lately he's been into all sorts of bread, too--brioche, toast, pita bread & tortillas. His sleep has still been pretty bad, waking up once most nights (1 or 2am) and then waking up for the day quite early (5:30 or 6am). His speech is great--at home, he hardly stops talking! He tells us all about his trains, cars, construction vehicles, etc. He's a lot of fun these days--he pulls silly faces in the mirror and makes himself laugh, and he says things that he knows are funny, like "Oh dear!", to make us laugh. He still loves reading and brings us books to read to him. At the moment, his favourites are all train-related: The Little Train, Thomas board books and The Little Engine That Could.

Firsts this month:

First tabletots sale--we had a good clear out to make room for all of the lovely new books, toys and clothes he got for his birthday! 

First miniature railway ride (x2!)

First lavender farm