Birthday party

Tristan's party - terrible weather but fortunately we all just about managed to fit (minus the furniture!).

Note the badge (and birthday shirt) this badge lasted about 30 seconds and we have no idea where it is now (the shirt lasted about another 60 seconds before being dirtied!)!

There was a lot of inflating balloons - this one was hellium - lets just say I think Manu will prefer it when Tristan is 2 when I make him walk this particularly shaped balloon home from town!

The calm before the storm (and before the chili, pizzas and sandwiches artrive)

The song and cake moment

The other cake moment (this is one to bring out when he's 21!)!

Passing the parcel 1

Passing the parcel 2

...and 3

Birthday

Tristan has turned 1! I know people said how fast it all goes but I never fully believed them.

He had a lovely day with us both going swimming, music class and lunch in town (he likes a mango frappaccino from Costas!).

He immediately understood the unwrapping present concept (I think we'll be having fun at Christmas!)

He's learning so much and you can really tell he's in the middle of a big burst of development. As soon as he got this telephone (thanks uncle - its his very favourite toy) he picked it up and said 'aho' and has been getting praise for this party trick ever since!. He has also learnt to make clip-clop donkey noises and while we were blowing up the balloons he grabbed one (inflated though) and started blowing on it - he's come a long way from that helpless little orange baby we had a year ago!

Birthday prep

Lots of prep for Tristan's birthday. Many firsts in additon to his 12 months: first cake made (chocolate), first icing and first decoration were some of the highlights! It has been a bit of a military operation with party stuff taking up pretty much all evenings as soon as he goes to bed - that and tidying as the house is on the market!

The invite:

Making the cake (do not disturb on pain of death)

The final product (Tristan had just smudged the 'A' on the red block but I redid for the party)

The cupcakes just incase the master cake wasn't so good (plus they went in the party bags)

We've now decided to only do parties every 2 years (or possibly pretend his birthday is on the 29th Feb so we only have to do them every 4 years!).

Creche

Tristan has been at creche now for 3 weeks (yes that means I've been back at work for the same time). The first week we had tears each morning and more upsettingly the evening as well (he would so happy he would burst into tears!).

They let him have his sucky blanket 'do-do' (shown here) all the time so now he has taken to carrying it around with him whenever possible (we've had to get mami and papi to find another one - no. 3 - Just In Case!). He's settled in much more now and seems to be doing quite well - we've had quite a few things coming home (including bisuits and pictures), and he's found a few new things he likes: arctic roll, ovaltine and curry (!). He also got bitten this week (came home with a sticker saying he required first aid poor thing) although it sounds terrible he was partly to blame as he had stuck his finger in another babies mouth!

Work is ok but I struggle being sat down after a year of charging around and also struggle to seem enthusiastic in what people are talking about. In a way it feels like I've never been away but in another way everything has changed and there are many more acronyms and faces/names to learn. Watch this space...

Hallowe'en

We went to a Hallowe'en party in the town square on Saturday. Most people had made a huge effort in dressing up but we hadn't and had to rely on our natural scariness to fit in!

Some of the pumpkins were really impressive (there was a competition). Ours is still sat downstairs uncarved which shows the level of our organisation - wonder if it will last until next year?

Tristan loved the music and kept dancing (or was it wriggling to escape us?) there were even a few headbanging movements which I hope are no indicatio of future taste.

Sleeping

Tristan in his first pair of pjs.

The men having a mid morning nap after all that watching football on the tele.

Tristan is still not a great sleeper. He sleeps from 7pm until about 4.30 and then cries until he gets milk and manages a further 2 hours. He's not that keen at sleeping during the day either and now that he is cutting down on milk I can be seen driving around most mornings humming manically!