Freddie the Terrific Toddler

You may have noticed Freddie’s lack of attention to his online communications over recent months. That’s because he’s been busy chewing the fat over the phone. He’s also been a bit of a tinkerer, and converted a number of common household implements into serviceable appliances Alexander Bell would have been chuffed with.

So click on the image to view some cracking shots of Freddie talking turkey on his telephones to all manner of friends.

On the Phone

Picture him jabbering away ten to the dozen - heyo? heyo? woosh, woosh, washer wee??’ then listening intently to the sound coming out of the TV remote. Hah! It’s a riot. He gets such a surprise when the phone rings mid-conversation as well. It’s like he’s getting busted for making out he’s popular when there’s really no-one there. But as this article from the Sydney Morning Herald contends it’s the choice of a generation:

90 per cent of young people admit they have faked a call. Often they are trying to cope with social anxiety by showing they have someone to talk to, or just want to be called away from an awkward situation…but some are so determined to show off that they pretend to wrap up Hollywood deals in front of their friends.

We can’t wait for him to announce his Oscar nomination!

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I finally found some time to edit and upload some footage of our gregarious wee fellow running down the hall, switching off a light, and exhibiting a smile and an obscure chortle type noise. So here you are, press the ‘play’ button to view:

Freddie’s Personality

Freddie Walking

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Heh, Zac sent us a christmas card with a photo of Jamie and his good self at the beach. Freddie was instantly intrigued at these depictions of relations from afar and excitedly rattled off their names whilst dreaming of sandpits and castles. So here he is shortly before bed last week going over and over his christmas card from Auckland…

Isn’t that sweet?

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It’s been a hectic few months. I’ve had little time to devote to Freddie’s blog while designing a websites for a group of Thai Therapy & Massage Spas in London and a pond and water feature landscape architect in Kent. I hope to make amends now however and provide you with Freddie’s achievements since our last post.

A fortnight ago, he turned one. Around three weeks before that, there he was wobbling on two feet and took a few steps alone before before landing on his butt. Is a three inch traverse of the kitchen floor walking? Perhaps not, but by his birthday he was stumbling forward with abandon. He generally lands on his hands but sometimes trips up.

His vocal repertoire has also grown from his first strains of ‘duck’ (more like an excited squealing of ‘DA! DA! DA!’ upon his duck appearing in the bath) in August to a small vocabulary consisting of ‘duck’, ‘teddy’, ‘daddy’, ‘mumma’ and ‘night night’. Then yesterday evening we’re sure he said ‘Night Night Daddy’. It’s always hard to tell, he might just be repeating my ‘night night Freddie’ since he’s unable to pronounce an ‘F’ yet but damn the facts, I nearly burst into tears it was so sweet.

He’s finding joy in the smallest things, too. Putting valuables through a hole in the floorboards is one source of endless delight -so far Mary’s keys found their way and we had to pull them up, fish the keys and a million other things out, glue a bit of wood to block the hole then bang the boards back in. Another source of constant amusement are switches. Alert him to the presence of one by turning a light on, for instance, and bingo, Freddie’s right behind you ready to turn it off. A true energy conserver which is hard for even me to deal with when the nights are so long.

And his birthday party? It was more for the grown-ups, who guzzled a case of New Zealand sparkling wine in the course of an afternoon while we as parents felt awfully proud. We never imagined the first year would be so ridden with obstacles and pleasure.

He’s now learnt another word. ‘Zac’, the name of his first cousin in Aucland. We even snaffled some video footage of him pointing at a picture and saying ‘Zac’. Coming soon to a home theatre near you… Tune in again soon.

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We’ve just returned from a wonderful fortnight in Ireland, a week spent with Mary’s brothers, sisters, mother, nieces and nephews in Clashbrack near Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.

Freddie received some splendid toys and clothes from all his relatives, and had many a chortle with his cousins. I went running pretty regularly through the narrow windy country roads the region is riddled with and Mary tried to relax since Freddie was getting up 4-6 times throughout the night.

Then we jumped into our rented Fiesta and headed over to Kenmare:

It’s a charming spot nestled between the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara - two scenic routes that circle the respective peninsulas. We spent six nights in a cute thatched cottage with half-doors and two open fires. It was really isolated, and the warm fire was comforting under the constant rain. We did manage to venture out each day, and there are some great photos of us doing just that - click on the image for a slide show:

It wouldn’t be right not to have a video of McGillicuddy Reeks:

We headed back via Cafe Paradiso in Cork where they make the most amazing vegetarian tucker. Mary had a borlotti bean, kale & roasted squash stew in an almond, jalapeno chilli & chocolate sauce, with grilled polenta and coriander soured cream whilst I enjoyed a gratin of leeks, roasted roots & hazelnuts with a Gabriel cheese & chive sauce and lemon borlotti. The chef, Denis Cotter, used to cook in JBC’s and Cullens in Hamilton.

We managed to arrive back safely last Wednesday from whence it’s been all go, hundreds of emails to catch up on between us and many an engagement.

And Freddie’s frequent night wakenings? On Thursday night we stealed ourselves for a scream-ridden evening of not feeding Freddie each time he awoke crying. The first time he woke up - 11pm - he cried himself back to sleep within 15 minutes and the next time - 4am - he let out an almighty holler when he first realised Mama wasn’t going to feed him, but had settled back to his dozey self within 20 minutes. Since then it’s been a bit erratic, but last night he only woke at 4am and 6am, both times settling back to sleep within seconds of being put on his back.

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Freddie’s got himself a new playpen. Thanks to Grandpa for the suggestion. We set it up in the bay window in the lounge and it’s proving popular since he’s just started crawling. Anyhow, almost as soon as we’d put him in it, he’d figured out how to pull himself up to standing. Here’s some footage of about the third time he did it:

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We got back from our weekend break from Estonia a few weeks ago. We left London on the Friday afternoon, got on the 6pm flight, then, just before it was to take off an attendant from the gate asked for our tickets, we didn’t have (under booking details and terms and conditions on our email confirmation was the text ‘ticket collection’ with an address - I’d not read this far), so we were taken off the plane and spent the night in a Gatwick hotel. They reissued the tickets the following morning and we arrived at 3pm. Unable to catch the bus as planned, we rented a car which I promptly ploughed into a bollard.

These two events wound up costing us an unexpected £1000.00, but whatever. Once we settled into Padaste Manor I’d determined to enjoy ourselves. Apart from the lack of menu selection for vegetarians in the restaurant, the aroma of sewage and the exorbitant fees for using the spa/sauna/dinghy/hot tub (£50.00 for using the sauna? You’re having a laugh!) we had a very pleasant stay, the rooms were delightful, breakfast was delicious, the weather was perfect and the isolation was very endearing to us Londoners.

I took some video! I think there’s still a few things I need to learn on the editing front, it’s all a bit mashed up sound-wise, and the quality is nowhere near as good as it ought to be. Anyhow, if you can be bothered here’s some mashed up footage of our trip:

After staying three nights there, we headed into Tallinn’s old town, a gorgeous few acres of rickety streets, cobblestone houses, old church spires, souvenir shops, stag party pubs, and swarms of tourists being guided about.

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Too proud to spend every feed in his parent’s lap, Freddie insisted we get him a chair so he can eat at the table with us. So it was off to eBay to find the absolute best in quality highchairs available. Lo and behold, a super slick Mamas and Papas Prima Pappa high chair was on offer, and we snapped it up with Auction Sniper for a song. A week later a smelly, food encrusted chair arrived with a few bits falling off but after a good clean and some fix it solutions it was brand spanking new. Freddie knew it was for him as soon as he saw it and let out squeals of delight when we popped him in it. Here he his babbling away in his new highchair:

Ever since then he’s always been keen to get up to adult height, and tucks into his grub like there’s no tomorrow.

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Freddie was most surprised by the weather in this, his first summer. In the middle of July I was cut off from a delivering training to US colleagues by a storm over London and when I got home the pavement was covered in hail, with receding clouds looking very ominous as they’d dumped their heavy load on the streets.

Mary had just made it inside before the heaven broke, and here’s some footage she took in the fifteen minute pelting:

Wow!

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