153 photos and not a single blog post

So, as I finally came to accept at some point last week, it turns out that it takes a little bit more than a long weekend to get back into the swing of things after seven months apart.  From a fazed first week, to a frustrated second week and an highly emotional charged third week, I feel like I’m finally coming to the end of this particular emotional journey that is “life after tour”.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not a complete nutter / terrible wife / sulky cow after all.  Or at least not full time.  For in the past few days I’ve finally come to embrace the “acceptance” phase and am now proceeding (even with a smile on my face) into the “moving on” chapter family life. 

The lack of posts in recent weeks reflect how unsettled life has become over the past few weeks in a more telling way than probably anything else. 

*Before I continue I just want to put in a side note to say - Please don’t read unsettled in a wholly negative way as it isn’t intended as such.  Yes, there have been occasions where I’ve abandoned the post in favour of post-Alby-bedtime discussions with Mark as we run through the day and highlight all the things we’ll never do again because they were inappropriate / foolish / selfish / ignorant / unnecessary / stupid. But there have also been evenings where I’ve been out (without child and on a school night – woop woop) or snuggled on the sofa with my love love and a glass of wine and, in total honesty, not giving the blog a second thought.

But, regardless of the rollercoaster of the past four weeks, I’ve finally hit that place I’ve written about before where my head has become a bit clearer, my resolve stronger and life is now able to settle down to a nice rhythm once again. 

Whilst my resolve is strong, it is currently gone midnight, we’ve all had a manic few days and tomorrow will be the same as it’s our last day at home before we head off on our much deserve family holiday in the South of France (hurrah!).  And so, my blogging efforts for tonight are reduced to one humble post however I couldn’t head off to France without giving you at least a bit of a snap shot of the last few weeks…

Day out with daddy to the petting farm

Tractor park at the petting farm

Alby (and Percy's) first den

Morning wellie stomp

Boys and cars - naturally

Daddy takes Alby for his first proper hair cut

Play time for Hines - Beebs Snrs

A night out!

Early morning fun with Hines - Beebe Jnrs

Hopefully, one day soon I’ll be able to go into the story behind each of these photos.  I hope that for the time being they are enough to keep your Alby levels restored. Until then, au revoir.  

An active weekend

Alby’s recent teething adventures have left my brain completely drained and so I turned to my new Montessori-themed book for inspiration to while away the hours this weekend with Alby.

The book, Child’s Play: Montessori Games and Activities for your baby and toddler, was just what I needed – simple, easy games which delighted Trouble Monkey.

The first game was called “Sensory Walk”.  I laid pillows, sofa cushions, door mats and a square of bubble wrap on the floor in a line, took off Alby’s shoes and socks and held his hand as he walked over them in turn.  I then sat back and watched Alby run up and down and up and down for a good ten minutes.  The bubble wrap was a particular favourite, that and the sofa cushions which, being firm and large, took a bit of time for my intrepid explorer to master.  Later on, Mark and I sat at opposite ends of the path encouraging, cheering and congratulating Trouble Monkey with every step.  He in return rewarded our passive states with giggles and squeals.

Version one - nappy walk

Version two - nappy free

The second game, which Alby had mixed reactions too, was the sensory road track.  I covered a tray with aluminium foil, marked out a track in playdough and then filled the track with different textures – sandpaper, bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard and rice crispies.  Alby was then unleashed on the track with two of his favourite cars, the idea being that he would learn about the different textures as he drives over them.  Alby quickly ignored the track and just crashed his cars all over it, well that is when he wasn’t stuffing his face with rice crispies!

Finally, we turned to an activity even Percy could enjoy (although truth be told he quite enjoyed clearing up the rice crispies) – Alby’s first den!  In an effort to make changing the sheets more exciting for Alby, the duvet cover was quickly turned into a canopy stretched between the back of the sofa and the radiator.  In went Alby, in went Percy, out came Alby, in stayed Percy.  It was brilliant and will no doubt be making another appearance on Thursday when Alby’s friend Harrison comes to visit. 

Trouble Monkey Den Duo

Amongst all the play we also made it to a local reservoir for a lovely, wet bulldog walk - a busy weekend for a tired mama. 

My boys

Teeth!

It would be quite remiss of me not to give a post dedicated to the heightened emotions, disturbed sleep, tears and finger biting of recent days – all of which have resulted in the appearance of four new teeth, and likely another two to come.  We’ve now got the lateral incisors and a canine on the bottom and one canine on the top.  If his previous teething is anything to go by I’m expecting another two teeth in the next few weeks. They may have already appeared but with Alby resolutely refusing to show his mouth and gums off to me I’ve got no idea what’s really going on in there.  What I know is that he has chomped his way through an impressive amount of frozen grapes and apple juice lollipops in the past few days.

Stupidly, since around February, I had been after new teeth.  I’d been keenly looking in his mouth every week for the tell tale little grey lines of a cut tooth.  Each time he was a bit cranky or had a bit of a bad night’s sleep I hoped it his behaviour would be explained by some new dental development.

Now that we really have been through teething I realise how foolish I was to ever wish teething on me, Alby or anybody else in the world.  It is just nasty.  Thankfully baby Nurofen and Teetha have been at hand as the Beebe family’s new bestfriends helping to make a horrible situation tolerable.  That and Daddy with plenty of hugs to comfort a grumpy face.

Alby sends you a big "Hi ya!"

There really are no words for what you are about to see however, before you start viewing there are two things I feel need to be explained:

• Firstly, no coercion took place in the making of this video.  Alby is as Alby was found.
• Secondly, that is not a noose on the left of the screen, it is a dog lead.  Promise.

All that is left for me to say is enjoy…

Outdoors Alby

Mark renamed Alby within just a few days of coming home.

Whereas the early days of his life saw Alby referred to as “Alber’ the Bear”, toddling Trouble Monkey is now known as “Outdoors Alby”.

 

You just can’t keep the Little Man inside.  Ever since he mastered walking down the back step we keep losing him – regardless of how clothed or otherwise he is, he spends his days walking up and down and up and down and up and down the garden.  Shoes on, shoes off, nappy on, nappy off he does not care.  There’s stones to be thrown, soil to be poked, petals to be ripped, grassed to be bashed and, often, a bulldog to antagonise. 

This afternoon Outdoors Alby offered a lovely bit of comedy as he walked out of the back door completely naked, wandered to the end of the path, peed and then gave a nice loud “uh oh” whilst pointing at the wet patch on the path.  What a lad!

I am a bit of a city girl at heart and there is a part of me which mourns living so far from London, however in recent days I’ve appreciated my countryside lifestyle like nothing before.  Last weekend Mark and Alby spent three hours in the garden together.  Three hours solid. He pottered about, helped with a bit of gardening and then played with a piece of string for an hour straight.  Whilst Alby is very good at being left to play by himself, you’d never get that level of concentration and amusement in the house.  What’s more, you’d never catch me sitting in a park for three hours solid.  After half an hour I’d be searching for something to do or pushing on home to crack on with some chores.  Here, I can busy about in the kitchen and keep an eye on my Little Man – it’s the best of both worlds.

I love seeing him outside.  I’m not naïve – I appreciate that there is no way now of ensuring I don’t end up with a stroppy teenager addicted to computer games, but the future will be is out of my hands.  For now, there is something lovely and wholesome about it and I’m just enjoying it and encouraging it for as long as I can.

Post for the master

There’s nothing better to highlight what a growing young lad my Trouble Monkey is than a letter through the post specifically for him.  And what a letter it was.  Later this month Master Albert Beebe is due in Thirsk for his second ever appointment with the dentist.  Ohh la la, the boy is off for a teeth shine.

They say that it’s the simple things in life which keep us happy.  Well in a world where life often seems just a little bit too crazy, this provided some good grounding.  Well done Alby, you’ve got a dental record we can but admire.  And with his first canine tooth cut on Tuesday he’s now got 6 new teeth to show off to Dentist Lara.  I’m sure she’ll be as impressed with him as I was the letter from her office.

Taking the rap

I was expecting all sorts of things for when Mark came home.  Almost none of them have been realised and instead I’ve been faced by all sorts of different surprises.  Some have been most welcome and warming, others not so much (and no doubt judging from the range of emotions and frustrations recently on display by me I’m sure Mark has his own list to add to the latter).  

One of the things I wasn’t really expecting was having to claim responsibility for my boys’ misdemeanors.  A week after Mark got home we were out doing the weekly grocery shopping.  As I went round, list in hand, trolley at my side, Alby and Mark ran around doing what they could to introduce a bit of chaos into an otherwise mundane day.  They succeeded.  Just as I told Mark not to turn his back on Trouble Monkey, Alby grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the bottom shelf and dropped it on the floor.  Of course it was a glass bottle and, of course, it smashed everywhere. And of course, responsibility for finding the Store Manager and claiming responsibility for the accident lay with me too:  “I’m terribly sorry, I just smashed a bottle. You probably want to send someone to clear it up.”

Little did I know that the very next day I’d be once again dealing with broken glass.  And once again asking for somebody else's help to fix it.  And, most importantly, once again I was not the person responsible for the broken glass. Far from it. Oh no on this special occasion it was the fault of the grey squirrel who dared to eat peanuts from the bird feeder. For had the squirrel not been flaunting his greed in front of the kitchen window whilst Mark did the washing up, Mark wouldn’t have regarded him as cocky. And he wouldn’t have wanted to teach him a lesson. Which means he wouldn’t have reached for his sling shot. And if all of that never happened, plus Mark’s hand didn’t jog / his sight didn’t go / his sense didn’t fail…

…I wouldn’t have a hole in my kitchen window.

I think there are only two things left for us to conclude:

1. Thank goodness my duck figurine wasn’t decapitated

2. How did someone who is that bad a shot manage to stay alive for seven months in a war zone?