Flight Club

Remember the Brad Pitt film called "Fight Club". Well now we have the sequel "Fight Nursery". Yes you guessed it, Joshua had his first little scrap at the Nursery today (having now been there for 3 weeks). Apparently the little ToughGuy tried taking a toy off of another boy and ended up getting bitten for his efforts. So it was time for Dad to sign yet another accident report. Guess we best get his karate gi back on and teach the boy some self defence. One simple way of stopping teeth marks - knock their teeth out (only joking!).

This week Joshua has also had a bit of a hard time with another cold. He has been coughing, sneezing and has had a sore throat. Fingers crossed he is now over the worst and thus after nursery tonight I took him for a nice swim. He had real fun playing with a floating ball in the pool.

Shopping has also started getting easier now. Joshua doesn't seem to mind the trip around Tesco's (probably because he knows Mummy and Daddy always buy him something!). Anyway the reason it is easier is because the little guy now sits happily in the trolley seat and helps fill up the trolley. Check him out below.

Make sure you check into the blog tomorrow for a very special update/announcement.

ToughGuy Vs ToughBaby

Today we drove 3 .5 hours up to Wolves for the annual summer ToughGuy event. We was in two minds whether to take Joshua as it is a long way to sit in the car, and there really isn't a great deal for him to do whilst there. The weather didn't help either since it was extremely hot for racing and extremely hot for Joshua to be outdoors. But the little dude was a real ToughBaby and had a great day cheering his Dad on. Anyway just a short blog update today because after an hour and 45 mins racing in ToughGuy, I am pretty buggered and extremely sore all over!!!!


So this was the ToughBaby part of the course:

Any this was a very small part of the ToughGuy course (take your pick which one you fancy!):

Digger Land

After spending another 3 days in the Czech Republic, I had today off work to make up some lost time with the family. Thanks to my little sister we tagged along to a school trip which she had arranged to Digger Land. This was Joshua's first ever coach trip and he slept all the way there (mind you so did Dad - so like father like son!). The day was great and I think it is safe to say we all had a really good time. The weather was an absolute scorcher. Anyway enjoy the pictures.

The little guy gets to grips with a mini digger.

Unfortunately Joshua was too small to ride on most of the JCB's. However the kind staff at least allowed him to sit on these monster vehicles for a photo to be taken.

During the day we managed to squeeze in some specific activities for Joshua which included the little bouncy castle and the sand pit.

As you can imagine - Bob the Builder features a lot at Digger Land. So here is the little man riding on a Bob the Builder children's ride.

Over 9 Months Already

Can you believe Joshua is over 9 months old now? We only have 3 months to plan the all important first birthday party. The little guy had another good day at nursery today despite some initial crying once I first dropped him off.

For those that haven't seen him lately he is now very mobile!!! He kind of does a crab type crawl dragging one leg underneath him. It seems very effective and he nips around on our laminate flooring very quickly.


As if we didn't all know anyway - Joshua likes his meat. To further prove he will never be a veggie - check out the face he pulled with the taste of a vegetarian sausage:

Finally check out the picture below - do we have the next football superstar on our hands?

Nursery Update

You will be pleased to hear that Joshua is settling into nursery very well and has now lasted 2 full consecutive days without throwing another "sickie"! They even managed to get him to eat lunch today, apparently he woofed down bangers and mash followed by some melon.

I also had the pleasure of signing the first injury report for the little man!!! You see he has developed a habit of climbing over everything instead of going around it. Anyway he climbed over a wooden lorry at the nursery which is about his waist height. Needless to say he toppled over and hit his head on the mat. The treatment given was a cold compress and cuddles. Now I renewed my first aid at work certificate 2 months ago and cuddles were not a treatment which we was told to administer - but it appears to have worked.

So his first week is over and he managed 3 out of 4 days. Tomorrow he has the day off of nursery to spend some quality time with mummy. We have his little report book to read up on, this tells us everything he ate, when he slept, when his nappies were changed (and the contents!) etc.etc.

So lets see if next week he can last a full 4 days.

Nursery Day 2

Does this look the the face of a boy who is sick or someone who just wanted to spend the day at home playing with Daddy? read on...........

Today the roles were reversed and the question wasn't how quickly we would be phoning the nursery to find out how Josh was doing, instead it was the other way around. Within an hour of dropping him off we had a call saying he had projectile vomiting and loose nappies and could we come and pick him up and take him home! So a bit of a disaster all in all.

Having got Joshua home there was no sign of any sickness at all. The nappies are a bit loose but that is because of his teething and the fact that he is drinking more than he is eating at the moment. So the question is: At 9 months old has the little chap all ready figured out how to fake illness to get out of going to school/nursery???? Anyway touch wood he will be OK for tomorrow and will last a bit longer than an hour!

Nursery Day 1

Well today was the big day - Joshua's first full day at nursery. Like a proud Dad I had the honour of dropping him off after first taking Tina to work. Things started badly when the little man broke into tears as soon as we walked into the baby room. My macho exterior couldn't hide the tears in my eyes and the lump in my throat at the thought of leaving him there. One of the staff took Joshua and gave him his bottle and then some toast which soon settled him down.

During the morning he was a bit grizzly and therefore I decided to go for a run lunchtime as an excuse to call in and see how things were going. When I arrived he was sat on the floor with another baby playing with some toys. I was told everything was going well and therefore I crept out without Joshua seeing me and went off for my run.

Lunchtime Joshua polished off half a chicken curry followed by half of his ice cream and pears (well impressed they got him to eat off of a spoon as he has only been having finger food from us lately). After lunch he settled down a lot more and they took him outside in the play area to get some fresh air. After this he had an afternoon nap in a bouncer chair which is where I found him when I went to collect him at around 4:20. You would not believe how slow that last hour at work went waiting to go and see how he was.

Overall I would say today went very well for his first day and could have been a lot worse. As to the poll, I suppose you are all wondering how long it was before that first phone call was made - well it was under half an hour!

Learning To Crawl 101

The good news is Joshua seems to be over the worst of his teething and his first bad case of nappy rash (just in time for nursery tomorrow). He is still not eating great, for some reason he doesn't like spoons at the moment so everything has to be finger food.

Anyway ever wanted and ABC Idiots guide to learning to crawl - then look no further.

Stage.1 : Get onto your belly.


Stage.2: Curl your legs up and straighten your arms (oh and don't forget to smile at the camera).


Stage.3: And we are off, one arm, then the next.

Stage.4: Nearly reached the objective.

Stage.5: Damn, the cup has rolled out of my way. Best I get drawling again.


Stage.6: Light at the end of the tunnel, finally the reward for all that effort.

Getting Mobile

No pictures today - just an update on Joshua's progress. This week has been very tough as the little man has been teething really badly, which means no eating and a very interrupted sleep pattern. The frustrating thing is, you can't actually see any new teeth coming though. It looks like after a week he might just be getting over this problem only to run into the next. After 9 months he has his first case of nappy rash. The poor lad has a very sore bum and cries as soon as you touch it when cleaning his bum or even when you pick him up. We have been trying new creams and letting him go commando whilst indoors to try and make things more comfortable for him.

On a positive note Joshua is getting more and more mobile every day. He now gets into a crawl position and takes a few shuffles forward before collapsing on his belly and then commando crawling to where he wants to get. His other new trick is that he has now figured out how to get into a seated position after first rolling on his belly. Last night I checked up on him in his cot and he was sat bolt upright having a cry. Then this morning he had taken that one step further and sat up, then pulled himself up to a standing position whilst he was shouting for attention at 5:45am.

Joshua has also had another 3 induction sessions at nursery this week. The last 2 have not gone well with the little boy pretty much crying for the entire 1.5 hours. Fingers crossed he settles down Monday which will be his first full day. Time to get the cheque book out to pay the extortionate fees for child care.............ouch.

Almost Crawling

Today Joshua almost started crawling. He got onto his hands and knees and took two shuffles forward before collapsing onto his belly. It looks like it is only a matter of time now before he is nipping around here there and everywhere.

For today's picture update here is a nice snap of Joshua sitting in the newly painted garden swing chair. Do you like his little Brazil football kit?

Budweiser

Today Joshua had his first BBQ experience, albeit an indoor one due to the good old British Wimbledon week weather. The little man tried sausages and burger for the first time and seemed to love it. Of course all good burgers need to be washed down with a good beer. In Joshua's defence he is really suffering today with the teething and he seemed to love the fridge cold bottle on his teeth and gums.

This weekend Joshua also got to try some Green & Black dark chocolate for the first time. Judging by his face I would say it is safe to say he enjoyed the treat!

Thorndon Park

Another weigh day today and Joshua has gained a further 9oz. Next time he is weighed I think he will break the 20lb mark. I suspect he might also be having his 6th tooth on its way as the dribble seems to have started again. Tomorrow Joshua has another busy day as he is off for his 2nd induction session at the nursery - will he last a whole hour without mummy and daddy there??

Anyway today's pictures are from last Sunday when we took a nice stroll around Thorndon park with Auntie Lisa and Uncle David. Me and Joshua played at being trolls guarding some of the bridges (take your pick as to which one of us was the troll!).