Ada's first professional haircut

Although we have been cutting Ada's bangs for some time, she has never had the rest of her hair cut. It had been getting increasingly difficult to brush and looking a bit straggly, so we decided it was time.

We only seem to have one "kids" hair salon place any where near us, and it's in Bristol, which seemed a bit too far to go. So I booked an appointment at the hair salon at the hotel/club/spa around the corner from us, which listed "children's hair cut" as one of its services.

I booked myself in too, so Ada could see it done before she had to do it. Ada was fantastic. She was very patient while I had my hair cut and then when it was her turn, she followed all instructions without any problems and was very patient then, too. I think it helped that another older kid was having his hair cut when we walked in and she saw that at the end of it, he got a lollipop. She was very excited about this.

We documented it all, including before and after photos. The cut wasn't very severe, and they only just slightly trimmed her bangs, so it doesn't look like a huge change. But she seems to be happy with it, it's easier to brush, and most importantly, we've been through the process and she knows what to expect.

Daily Arthur: 6 October 2014

Arthur after his bath.

Daily Arthur: Arthur loves his chair (October 2014)

Arthur sits in his BabyBjorn chair a lot and really seems to like it. More than his swing or his "jungle." He's just starting to make contact with the toy bar that we sometimes put on, but whether it's there or not, he just likes hanging out.

Is this a legal manoeuvre at 8 weeks?

On Friday, Arthur was having some tummy time when he surprised Mark and me by doing this:

He did it once and we were surprised, and we thought it was a fluke. Then he did it again. And then we got out the video camera and he did it one more time for posterity.

Daily Arthur: 24 September 2014

Two milestones for Ada, of a sort

Ada has been asserting her independence a lot lately and we generally let her, especially when we're at home. On Saturday, she was buzzing around, playing here and there while Mark and I were in the living room. I heard her go into the kitchen, then the tell tale sound of her scooting one of the chairs to the counter so she could reach something. Then some rustling and a new sound - the toaster! I ran in to find that she had got a bagel out of the package (which had been in the bread bin), pulled the two halves apart (they are pre-split), and put it into the toaster. She was adjusting the dial and just pushing the lever down as I entered. I was the normal parental mix of fright (in case she burned herself) and pride, and a little bit impressed. I gave her a little speech about not reaching down into the toaster and letting an adult get the bagel out of the toaster. We'll see if any of that sunk in.

Later that evening, we all went to the park around the corner from our house before dinner. Ada was playing as usual when all of a sudden she grabbed herself and declared, "I'm peeing." Although this makes it sound like it's too late, usually we have about a 30 second countdown from this point to get her to a toilet. There aren't any at this park, but it is a little bit 'wild' around the edges, so we ran to the side where no one would walk and Ada had her first outdoor pee. She was delighted and has been talking about "peeing on the grass" for the past few days. John and Christopher would be proud.

She's definitely growing up!

Nanny's roof - update for Pa

For those of you who don't know, Mark's mum Kate needs a new roof and she's taking the opportunity to extend and change the top floor of her house. The plans have been in the works for some time and a couple of weekends ago it finally all started.

Our next door neighbor also has scaffolding up at the moment, so Ada has been very interested in construction projects. She and Mark paid a visit last weekend to Nanny's house to check out progress (and help with some wallpaper stripping).

(Apparently all the demolition part is done, and this week they start on building things up again. The whole project is supposed to take six weeks.)