Sunshine

So,it's been jolly warm here the past week or so, and we've had a lot of fun outside enjoying it. On the down side, our house has been something of an oven, which has meant sleep hasn't been so good (for Naomi in particular). Anyway, part of the fun has been with a water table that Naomi has, and here's a clip of a few minutes with her having a good old play. It's quite nice to watch her having a lot of fun! I quite like that she makes puddles to splash in by herself :)

At the weekend there was a barbecue at the shared house some members of our church live in. During this we gave Naomi an ice lolly, and though she really enjoyed it, she was a bit too enthusiastic, taking big bites of it, leading repeatedly to this expression:

I also thought you might enjoy this "classic" child picture of someone really enjoying their dinner...

Caption

A caption competition for a Wednesday afternoon... we thought it could be "Dolly was experiencing payback after a night on the tiles" - any other suggestions?

We are also quite amused by the fun that can be had with a simple box of breadsticks. which the picture doesn't really do justice to...

Butteries

Not a Naomi-related post at all. For many weeks now I've had something of a longing for one of those great pieces of Scottish (or at least North East Scottish) culture, the buttery. For those who don't know, these delightful beasts are a savoury pastry-like product, designed to be high in calories and salt and not prone to going off, to sustain fishermen out at sea. They are incredibly unhealthy, but rather tasty!

Having discussed butteries at work a couple of weeks ago, I was pushed over the edge, and determined to use the plain flour that's been sitting in our cupboard for as long as I can remember on something worthwhile. A quick bit of googling revealed a recipe:

http://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/butteries.htm

See how much fat there is? That's why they taste good. Unfortunately, though simple, it was time-consuming, so had to wait until the bank holiday for me to do it. (English bank holidays are still taking some getting used to...)

Anyway, here they are about to go in the oven...

Here they are in the oven...

And here's the finished article...

 Of course, the day after these were made, we all had a nasty illness that lasted best part of a week and knocked out appetites for six, so I've only just been able to start eating them. Note to self: make more, they do taste good!

Talking

Naomi has been babbling for a good long while but has been so focussed on walking and climbing (much to the dismay of my blood pressure) that talking has been on a bit of a back burner before now.

Slowly but surely we are getting the hang of talking though, we now have a very definite 2 words.

One is "duck" (although, more often than not it sounds like 'du')

This word is to be used on seeing any bird but also on seeing a rubber duck in the bath or a picture of a duck in a book.

This picture doesn't have any ducks in it, but the day it was taken (I had taken Naomi to the park to splash in puddles, she loved it!) she pointed at every single pigeon in the park, each in turn, looked at me and said "du".  She was adamant!

Her other word is "Cat" - next door has a cat that often walks passed our dining room window so is a source of much entertainment over meal times, yesterday when out for a walk with our good friend Liz, she pointed at one and said Cat!  I think the recent visitation of my friend, Cat, may have confused her but cats are back on track!

Here is another photo of Naomi, just for the fun of it!

Wake up Mummy, I want to PLAY!!!