26 Months

George is 26 months old today!

 We started off this month with a visit to Bolsover Castle

It was so lovely to see Ruth & her dog Hugo again! We had a great time catching up!

The view from the Wall Walk around the Little Castle

George was fascinated by this cannon

 George still loves his books and he's started to sit and "read" them on his own

 On the first weekend in August, we went to Lotherton Hall after church

 George loved running around the bird garden

He's started to give us kisses on the cheek now, but they're still a bit rough & wild!

 Visiting the squirrels at Golden Acre Park

 Checking out the gnomes at Asda

We went to Nostell Priory for the first time--it's only about 20 miles away and it was lovely!

We picked up a discarded balloon during our woodland walk--George enjoyed playing with it!

The house was gorgeous--we loved these ceilings, they're so much like Jasperware!

The kitchen had dress-up clothes for kids--George loved the hats

It's getting hard to take a picture of him that's not blurry--he's always on the move!

Loving his toast with peanut butter and bananas!

There was a real ale festival up the road at St. Chad's one weekend--we went early and it was very quiet and kid-friendly. George had a good time, even though we refused to share our drinks with him.

He got this wagon for his birthday from our friends Carly & Jen--he loves to put his cars and trains inside, and sometimes even Biscuit gets in and lets him pull her around!

More shots from Nostell Priory--they had a lovely lakeside walk

Reading to himself

Formby beach--we hadn't been there before, but it's a National Trust park on the West coast, about 15 miles north of Liverpool. The dunes were impressive, but it was so windy! We walked down the beach for as long as we could, but George was miserable. He was much happier when we got back to the forest--it's a nature reserve for red squirrels!

They were really difficult to photograph...this one was very close to me, but I caught it just running out of the shot!

George had a great time running around in the woods

Playing peek-a-boo around the trees

 These feeders up in the trees made the squirrels a bit easier to spot

After Formby, we went to Southport--it's much more of the traditional seaside town, with fish & chip shops, family fun arcades and they had this adorable model railway village!

George loved it--he got all quiet and serious watching the trains

We went out to the end of the pier and they had an awesome penny arcade with vintage machines that used old pennies (you could get the old pennies from a change machine, 10 for £1)

George wasn't thrilled--it was too windy for him

Last weekend we went to a vintage bus event in Leeds--they were running free rides in vintage buses between Thwaite Mills, Middleton Railway and the Armley Industrial Museum.

 

George was thrilled--from the moment we pulled into the parking lot and he spotted the buses, he was shouting "Bus! Bus! Bus!"

Richard got him an adorable little model bus, just like the one we rode on

Holding it up to the one we rode on, for comparison

Too busy looking at his new toy to notice the camera...

Tea at John Lewis

I got him this trapper hat because it's on sale and he's outgrown his old one from last year--this one is a size 3-5 years and it's really not too big on him!

 

We went to Harrogate today to catch one last food festival of the summer

George loved the train ride and hung on to his ticket for most of the afternoon

The Philly Cheesesteak stall had American mustard, so of course I put a generous amount on my sandwich. I tore some of the bun off to share with George but he went right for the mustard--he dipped his finger in and ate it straight, then went back for more! He dipped the bun in the mustard, too. I love that he loves American mustard as much as I do, haha!

Another cute moment: Richard got a Belgian Waffle with ice cream for dessert and George snuggled up to him on the bench and asked for a bite by saying "Nummy, nummy, nummy, nummy!" He's not subtle!

A couple of weeks back, our church had a picnic on the lawn after the service. One of the members was trying out a new DSLR camera and got these lovely pics of George for us!

This month seemed to go by really fast! We've had a lovely summer--probably the best weather I've had in all of my summers here. It feels like especially this month we've gotten out and made the most of it, with lots of day trips and food/drink festivals. George has been really lovely--so talkative and active, very fun to take out & about. He's more of a handful at home, with occasional tantrums and just general naughtiness (throwing things, laughing when we tell him not to do something, etc.) but at least he's well-behaved when we're out of the house. He's a little angel at nursery and his carers tell me that he's really grown in confidence lately--talking more, playing with the other kids, being more active, etc. He loves the "Sleeping Bunnies" song and we've started doing it at home now, too--he asks to sing it for all kinds of animals, and his favourites are monkeys and dinosaurs.

Development-wise, he's been continuing to surprise us with things he knows. We got a development survey in the mail to fill out ahead of his 27-month health review next month, and there were quite a few tasks on there we hadn't tried with him before. We were really impressed with all of the things he was able to do--drawing horizontal and vertical lines, threading pasta on a string, and naming at least 7 body parts (he knows eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hair, head, elbows, knees, hands, feet, toes...). He's really gotten interested in coloring--or at least, in asking us to draw things for him with his crayons. We're getting really good at drawing trains! He requested the Eiffel Tower tonight:

(The two that look like the Eiffel Tower are mine, the others are lines he made with & without help!)

Firsts this month:
First church picnic
First red squirrel sighting (first time for mommy & daddy to see one, too!)
First visit to the Irish Sea
First model railway village
First visit to Harrogate
First taste of mustard