Happy Bonfire Night! It’s Tuesday, so it’s time for a blog, and incidentally, it’s also 8 years since Nathan and I got engaged!

Anyway, another week has passed and we’ve hit some more milestones. We now have a 2 month old (hooray!) and on Friday, Aidan had his jabs (boo). Not boo really. I’m very pro vaccine. Nevertheless, the look on his little face was of utter heartbreak! Thankfully, though, he was asleep before we even left the doctors. He then had a very snoozy and snuggly 24 hours, which was lovely and meant we could all go to the cinema on Saturday morning and see a full length film without hearing a peep out of Aidan.

Some other places we have been are Tappy Toes Halloween party, breastfeeding support group party, various shops, the park, our new Lullababy class and two nursery pickups that involved just me with both Aidan and Sophia.

I’ve been doing more on my own because Nathan is, once again, on crutches. It all began back in May last year when he tripped on the stairs and bust his foot. Three or four times since he’s had the same pain and ended up sporting a huge boot thing, crutches, and for two memorable holidays, a mobility scooter! Anyway, we’re not at the scooter stage right now, but we are at the crutches and boot stage. It means he can’t drive or carry Aidan anywhere and is generally in a lot of pain. Thankfully, he’s been referred for an Xray so things should be getting sorted, but it’s been a tough old week for all of us!

Other observations/things of note:

I have invented a game called Launrdy Toss. This needs to be spoken like you’re narrating X Factor and you’ll really hype up your toddler and trick them into helping you with housework.

Basically, Sophia and I hoover the landing together (she has a toy hoover) and I then put all of the laundry from the airing cupboard into a big pile in the middle of the floor. Sophia loves this because she flings herself onto the ‘hill’ of washing. As I don’t iron unless there’s a wedding, ordination or funeral, this doesn’t matter.

We then work through the pile of clothes by throwing them into smaller piles outside the various bedrooms. We continue to use the X Factor booming voice. ‘Aidan vest… Sophia top… Mummy sock… Sophia cardi… Mummy breastpad… DADDY PANTS!’ – she’s allowed to shout ‘Daddy pants’ as loudly as she likes.

I’ve been quite proud of inventing this game for a few weeks now. It’s silly and fun, it gets a job done, it helps Sophia understand something about housework and that things don’t just appear in her drawers by magic. But even better, this week, Aidan was sitting in his bouncer watching us, and he gave Soph the biggest smile! Hooray for Laundry Toss!

I’m missing the What Sophia said section of the Weekly Check-ins, so I’ve decided to bring it back. Here is something lovely from Saturday morning while I was sitting in bed feeding the baby:

‘Mummy’

‘Yes Sophia’

‘Can I have salami for breakfast?’ (Salami is one of her favourite breakfasts, and she developed a taste for it when we were in Germany).

‘Yes, if you like.’

‘Would you like some?’

‘Er… yes please, I think I will. Just let me finish feeding Aidan and I’ll come downstairs’

‘I can do it myself’ – as she heads out of the door.

A few minutes pass.

‘Here you go Mummy, one big bowl and one little bowl’.

‘Wow, thanks Soph!’

She had opened the fridge, pulled up a chair, found the salami, got two plastic bowls out of her little cupboard, and got us both a portion of salami. It’s a long way off pancakes and a cuppa on a tray with a flower in a vase, but I am very impressed and grateful that my daughter brought me breakfast in bed!

More next week x