Letting off steam...

Emily is learning at a phenomenal rate. Apparently toddlers learn more in their first four years than in the rest of their lives put together...and this is nearly all done through play. From the moment she wakes up till when eventually she wears herself out, mainly all she justs wants to do is "more playing Mummy...or more playing Daddy". Either that or indulge in her guilty pleasure of "telly". If only we all got to spend the rest of our lives like the first four years. And to think, in years to come she won't remember much about it either.

Supremely happy

All the playing though helps her learn vital skills, whilst having fun and letting off steam at the same time. And given her voracious appetite its important we help her burn off those calories and use up all that energy...otherwise she would never sleep (and neither would we).

The theory of being an on-demand playmate for the supreme being sounds quite delightful. The reality is somewhat more demanding and exhausting. Most nights we sit silent and spent after she is in bed, till we summon up the energy to drag ourselves off to bed too. Weekends are a great way to rejuvenate as we get to take it in turns whilst the other sneaks off for a crafty nap. Fun and play for the wee one equals a pair of worn out old parents!

Emily is a delight though, and we are truly blessed by a daughter who has a lovely nature and a thirst for life. My most recent proud Daddy moment was when she went solo on her balance bike for the first time. As spring comes on I reckon she'll master it and then there'll be no stopping her. Well done to Emily!

Videoclip: Couch jumping...a good way to let off steam

Videoclip: First time solo on balance bike

A warm welcome to 2015...

Double steak pie-tastic

So once more we deposited ourselves on North Berwick to see in the New Year. And we had a lovely, lovely time. The evening started with a traditional scoffing of a steak pie doubler and the kids staying up far too late. This was quickly followed by a wee dram and watching Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham play in 2015; accompanied by the ritual conversation that Scotland really does have much, much better traditional music to offer but for some reason the BBC are contractual obliged to wheel these two out every year.

The next day Daddy decided to brave the loonie dook into the Firth of Forth, under the watchful eye and tutelage of the original Man of Iron and longstanding dooking veteran Big John. Daddy seemed not to disgrace himself in such notable company, managing to successfully dunk his head under, although other parts of his body are only just now reappearing. The afternoon was then followed by some first footing from Ohms and Ciara and their wee posse. But the highlight of New Years Day had to be Emily's first sparkler holding - to which the supreme being seemed to be supremely delighted.

Daddy delighted at breaking his dooking duck

Emily delighted at breaking her sparkler duck

And so followed a few more lovely days of quality family time. Lots of fun, laughter and merriment was had by all. Emily became completed besotted by her big cousins; Gurney's and Rooke's alike enjoyed some competitive Love Letter's (a great family game); lots of tasty food was eaten; all followed by Daddy and Big John blowing the cobwebs away with a jog round North Berwick. Thanks once again to the Gurney's for another lovely New Year, and here's wishing you all a wonderful, wonderful 2015!

Emi completely enthralled by big cousin Abbie

Guess who's who?

The happy couple 10 years on and not looking a day older

A nearly full moon shone over North Berwick

A frosty festive jaunt...

So this was to be Emily's first Christmas where she started to have an understanding of what it was all really about. Yep, after hearing the word repeated by Daddy for the first 2 weeks of December and being forced to look at pictures of Father Christmas, she finally started to get to grips with 'Sanda'. But as is ever thus, things never go quite to plan and the supreme being made sure he was kept at arms length. There were numerous opportunities to see the scary man in red and white...all declined. Indeed the very idea of sprinkling some Santa dust to help him find his way was met with complete disdain. Instead she preferred to keep well away from the funny old man, and enjoyed the rest of what Christmas had to offer instead, particularly all the lights, presents and singing the odd rendition of 'Dindle Bells'. Plus thoroughly enjoying all the edible festive fare that was on offer of course.

The supreme being with festive crown

We had travelled down for Christmas to see my brother, his family and my parents - and they had planned some lovely age-appropriate activities including a trip to the local farm. Emily delighted in feeding and stroking the animals, followed by a slap-up supper of potato hedgehogs. Mummy enjoyed it too as she won the best hedgehog competition. Christmas day saw Emily playing the perfect Santa's helper, dishing out presents to all concerned, followed by a lovely dinner and some wonderful frosty walks over the next few days. Then it was a long drive back up to our temporary abode in Lenzie to recover for a few days, before the festivities were set to continue with our annual New Year invasion of North Berwick.

Eye to eye with the goats

The favourite bit of Xmas - a close encounter with the local horses

The prize winning hedgehog

My brother likes to ham it up at Christmas

As if butter wouldn't melt post-present apocalypse

Grandad and Uncle David try to figure out how on earth the turkey had shrunk

Cousin Chloe provided entertainment on Emily's new ukelele

Exploring the frozen planet

Crunching through the forest

Merry Christmas everyone...

Drama queen...

Daddy: "Emily, who is your favourite Daddy?"
Emily: "Mummy."

Funny. Our daughter is definitely funny. She also does angry, stubborn, happy, crying, sad, thoughtful, pensive, sulky, brave and a whole host of other emotions. She's got them all down to a fine art. RADA awaits. Her acting ability is legion and growing by the week. It's a theatrical delight. The supreme being is truly a drama queen.

 Pensive daughter

  Sad daughter

 Desperately sad daughter

Braveface daughter

De Niro daughter

 Supremely angelic daughter

Toddler Art...

Toddlers love art. And so does Emily. Her birthday easel from Nana and Baba, and her bug-making kit from Grandma and Grandad, all went down a treat. She loves finger-painting, drawing and colouring pictures, pasting and sticking things, folding and ripping paper. In fact anything that generally involves getting messy and creative.

In the artistic zone

Now all this creative mess making might make for a mucky supreme being, but art activities are great for toddlers (and for Dad's too). They help toddlers get used to new textures and learn how paint and paper can be moved and manipulated. They are great for developing fine motor skills and help little ones use their fingers and feet to express thoughts, experiences and ideas. They also help Daddy spend quality time with his daughter in an environment when it really doesn't matter how bad his drawing is. In fact it sometimes makes his art making look positively good. And often all he's only really there for is to hold the pen tops, so it comes well within his artistic skill level. Bonus.

At a young age, children are still learning about shapes and lines. You can ask Emily to draw anything and she will. It just might not quite look like it in a literal representational sense. A tad more abstract perhaps. But rest assured if the supreme being says it’s a tree - then it most definitely is a tree! A woe betide anyone caught doubting the supreme being...

 Painting face and hands

 From left to right: Daddy, Emily and Mummy

(Daddy did the first and last, Emily did herself)

Supremely 2...

So where did that time go? On 2nd November Emily was 2 years old. What an amazing 2 years but boy have they flown in! To celebrate we invited all the family around for what will also be the last bash before we leave our home in Glasgow. (We're going to a hopefully short rent in Lenzie before we move to our final new destination. More of that story in due course.) The Rooke side had a very valid exeat due to extreme distance, but the Gurneys and Gediks arrived in force, complete with hats that were the order of the day from the birthday girl...

 Yep - they're all related

And yep - he's related too

And so the supreme being seemed to enjoy her 2nd birthday. She was excited at the presence of her 'young' cousins, looked a little bemused at all the present opening whilst some of those same cousins got stuck in, and exhibited some 'terrible twos' behaviour right on cue if things got a bit much. Her candle blowing had improved and will hopefully be perfected by the time she is 3. Bless her. It really was a grand old day though, and a fine way to end some lovely memories of Thornwood Terrace.

Videoclip: Supremely 2

 'Scary' Cousin

 'Posh' Cousin

 'Baby' Cousin

 'Ginger' Cousin

 The other one

 Enjoying new birthday easel

Gediks, Gurneys and Rookes: A year on from the last photo like this