Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Thick As Thieves

Louis is back from his holiday and caught up with everyone at Jasmine's house today. As usual, he and Coby were like two mischievous rascals...

Monday, January 29, 2007

Sticky Mitts

The name sums it all up! I took Coby along this morning to try out a new class where the general rule is make as much mess as you like! There were paints, crayons, playdoh, more paint. It was fantastic! Lola and Jasmine joined us for the half hour session and I managed to get some shots of our little artists in action.

"Quite frankly Coby, I think they're masterpieces"

"They call it impressionism, Lola"

"I wonder if the Louvre in Paris will be interested"

"Ooh these crayons taste delightful"

"Hey look Coby, I've got yellow paint everywhere"


Saturday, January 27, 2007

Tiny Changes

You may well notice some minor changes to Teplet. The usual elements remain the same, but we had a mess around with the layout and colour and hey presto! Hope you like the new look and continue to enjoy catching up with little Coby.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Jet Setting Louis

While we enjoy the snow, ice, wind, rain etc, Louis is enjoying many afternoon siestas with Maddy and Justin in Naples, Florida. I think Louis is the most well travelled of Coby's pals - his trip to Florida can now be added to Northern Ireland, Lanzarote and Germany. With family and friends all over the world, Coby has some fantastic trips to look forward to, personally I can see him enjoying an international lifestyle when he becomes a Formula 1 racing driver - what do you think grandpa Les?

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Coby Keeps Fit

Firstly at Tumble Tots today, he had a huge smile on his face after doing roly polys on the sponge rolls and climbing through the rungs of the ladder - clever Coby.

Then in the afternoon we met Olly, Lola and Jasmine at the Angel's Reply, our old faithful place to hang out, where Coby made a new friend in the play area. Two year old Joseph took a shine to Coby and kept stroking his hair and gave him a kiss when they accidentally bumped heads. This led to Michaela and I discussing whether children who display gentle affection are predisposed to behave this way or whether its down to good parenting. What are your thoughts?

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Going, going, gone!

A rare opportunity for a cute baby photo from Coby today as he fell asleep eating his lunch.

Raisin toast with honey was on the menu washed down with apple and cranberry juice, but tiredness prevailed and Coby just couldn't quite manage the last couple of mouthfuls.


Monday, January 22, 2007

Chomping Down

I have tried so hard, folks, to get a picture of Coby's teeth - honest I have. He has 10 now, four at the top, three on the bottom and three coming through on one side. Until two months ago he had none at all, now he's half way there. We've started a regular brushing routine, but obviously, Coby makes a meal of the toothpaste, before any actual cleaning occurs.

Butter wouldn't melt?

This picture was taken during one of my many teeth capturing missions. No success then! I can vouch for their strength though - an affectionate Coby gave me a kiss the other day. The moment those teeth sank into my cheek, I knew the pain of childbirth could be surpassed after all.


Shopping for Shoes

Please be bigger - please, please, please

Wicked! New shoes!!!!

Ways To Keep Mum Busy - No 76

Here's a story for you...this afternoon while the stair gate was open, Coby snuck out with his bouncy ball in tow and started to climb the stairs with it. I followed behind quietly to see how he would fair in his mission. He patiently took his time, pushing the ball up to the step above him, making sure it was balanced before letting go to haul himself up. He continued right to the top and pushed it into the bathroom. The toilet seat was up (Al?) and before I could do anything to stop the inevitable, in went the ball! I took it out and washed it under the shower before returning it to Coby so he could have another go...

How's Coby Doing?

Well, he is now 14 months old, weighs 24lbs 14oz, measures 75.5cm long and his shoe size is 3 and a half! He can do some sign language including "all gone", "milk" and "more". He likes to clap, wave, play peek-a-boo and points at absolutely everything. He can also climb the stairs (not good), open the oven (definately not good), switch the TV on and off (blow the tube why don't you) and brush his teeth, of which he now has 10!!!

His favourite toys are his fire engine, stacking cups and Peppa Pig ball and he absolutely LOVES books. his favourite at the moment is 'Thats Not My Puppy' with the touch and feel textures.

He is progressing well with his food and enjoys porridge for breakfast. He adores Innocent Smoothies and drinks them without pausing for breath. Today he had cous cous and salmon for lunch and ate the lot.

He really enjoys his one afternoon a week at nursery and is continuing to enjoy Tumble Tots, Music Train and Sing & Sign. We're trying out a new class next week - Sticky Mitts, bet you can't guess what happens there?

When I Grow Up I Want To Be A.......

Fireman?

Architect?

Coby loves his new fire engine from the Early Learning Centre. It has nine different sounds, complete with a volume - phew! Flashing lights and three little firemen. Coby has not stopped playing with it all morning - result!

Share & Share Alike

How quickly babies grow out of things eh? I remember when Coby was close to sitting up on his own so we bought him a play ring to help support him while he played with his toys. Not required any more! So we've passed it on to Coby's little pal, Anya.

Four month old Anya - she's a cutie pie!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

Grandma Ann is celebrating her birthday today - hooray! We are visiting at the moment so that she and grandpa can catch up with Coby. Grandma has started art classes and for her birthday we bought her some new watercolour paints. We're going to commission her to paint Coby when she's fully confident!

Coby is also 14 months old today...here he is going for a spin in grandma's laundry basket

Mental Note: No paint near the boy

Guess what happens when you leave a tin of paint lying around for wee ones to find. I particularly like what they did with the TV...an abstract representation of man's struggle to purify and block out the harsh brutality of the media? Nope...just white paint thrown at a TV. Check out the top of the couch on the left...the creme leather couch...awesome brush work hahaha...

Friday, January 12, 2007

Its Good To Be Back

As much as we love Christmas, it has been a relief this week to get back to Coby's classes which we missed over the holiday season. First it was back to Gymbabes, oops sorry, Tumble Tots, which Coby has now graduated to. At the class on Wednesday, Coby received his certificate to confirm he had completed his Gymbabes course and we were also joined by lots of new faces, including Louis and his mum, Maddy.

On Thursday we went back to Music Train and saw the lovely Ros and even more new faces. For me, it was a time to reflect because when Coby first started in April last year, he was one of the youngest babies and was barely even sitting up. The friends he made have now graduated to another stage and Coby is the oldest. The new babies are Alisha, Alfred, Max, Alex, Amelie and two Ella's!

Our favourite class of all though is Sing and Sign and we started the new term this morning with Caroline. You may recall just before Christmas, that Sing and Sign entered a tree for the local Christmas Tree Festival decorated with all of the babies hand prints. The public could vote for their favourite tree of the 50 on display and Caroline announced this morning that Sing and Sign came 3rd!!!! The church reverend came 1st.............hmmmmmmmmm. Well done to Caroline for organising everything and making the tree look like a winner!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Climb Every Staircase

Coby starts his ascent

Making progress

Nearly there

Ta Dah! Daddy greets Coby at the top

The Babies Are Back!

After a few weeks absent from the other babies, we were delighted to all meet up again today and remind ourselves of the chaos that ensues when Coby, Louis, Lola, Alicia, Jasmine and Olly are together. To be fair, they are all delightful and play together tremendously well. It is very entertaining to watch them interact and see any trends or familiar behaviour develop. Coby and Louis always seem to wrestle, Jasmine always seems to observe quietly, Alicia happily plays away the time on her own, Lola crawls to each of them in turn to see who is more exciting to hang out with while Olly just seems happy to be among his buddies and sup contentedly on his bottle. Paula was the lovely hostess today, on hand with carrot cake, ginger cake and healthy cereal bars, which were hardly any calories you know!


"I'll pop some highlights in here for you Ms Morton"


"Don't look now Cobes, but I think we've been caught"

Coby is delighted with the singing reindeer

And so is Jasmine

Hey, its Olly!

Happy to be back with his chums




Somebody is Walking...

One of the babies is walking! But alas, it's not Coby.

See if you can guess. Is it Alicia? Jasmine? Lola? Louis? or Olly?




Its one of the girls!











IT'S ALICIA!
Well done Alicia! Who'll be next?

Are you watching this Coby?

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Bad Blogger

Sorry folks for the lack of Coby pics and updates! All sorts of excuses, one of which is that I've just been plain lazy, and forgetful. The camera, which usually goes everywhere with me, has been 'lost' on a few occasions and when I do get a chance to snap Coby in various degrees of cuteness - he turns his head at the last minute or dashes off in pursuit of the stairs (I 'forget' to close the door gate, Coby has figured out how to climb the stairs, need I say more?).

Anyway, I promise, as of tomorrow, I'll be bringing you some up to date photos and regailing you with funny tales of Coby's adventures in baby world, like peeing through the fire guard onto the pot pourri and throwing the potatoes from the vegetable rack all over the kitchen floor. Tired from the constant tidying? No way..................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZ

I've also broken my toe and since the 'incident' Coby has stood on it twice, thrown a potato on it and slapped it with his hand, you know, the one that looks so small, light and harmless. I also have January Blues, so I'm depressed, need to lose weight, need to hand in my reflexology coursework STILL and need a day at a health spa, well, perhaps a week, or a month. Any how, what I'm trying to say is that while I'm constantly inspired by Coby to blog about him and keep you all ticking over with photos of His Cuteness, I'm flagging a little and feel the need to justify my poor record for blogging over the last couple of weeks.

From tomorrow though, its back to Gymbabes, Music Train, Sing & Sign and, more importantly, our weekly get together with Lola, Louis, Alicia, Jasmine and Olly. I think thats why I've been feeling a little unmotivated - I need our routine and Christmas and New Year had thrown me off course - thanks Santa!!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Little Drummer Boy

Coby has several drums and is often seen making a racket...perhaps this awesome display by Phil Collins, Chester Thompson and Luis Conte will inspire him. Trust me, watch all six minutes until they're all playing together.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Welcome 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF OUR FAMILY & FRIENDS

WE HOPE YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC YEAR AHEAD
FILLED WITH JOY & HAPPINESS

ALL OF OUR LOVE & BEST WISHES

SARAH, AL & THE COBSTER