Mosaic of our day out in Chester

Mosaic of our day out in Chester

Dave, Kendal and m'self went to Chester for the day on Saturday. We took a picnic and ate it by the river. Twas a bee-ootiful day.

Click on the picture for a bigger version.

On the way up

On the way up
Click on the picture for a bigger version.

Dave, on his way up Snowdon - during one of his jaunts with Steven Power.

Swimming

SWIMMING!

Swimming
Originally uploaded by tillymint.

We'd already taken Mini Mint swimming a few times and he LOVED it, but we thought we'd take a leaf out of Lisa's book (one of my online friends) and enrole him in some classes at Waterbabies. He was literally the star of the show, with the other mums asking why we'd bothered paying the exorbitant fees when he was so obviously a natural (/preen). The idea is though that we can teach him to swim as soon as possible - as Tilly Town is surrounded by water in the form of the River Mersey, various canals, ponds, reservoirs etc - I've never been able to swim, and I missed out on so many days out when younger, and don't want that for Mini Mint. Plus, it's an excellent way for him to meet other little 'uns.

Four generations...

Four generations...
Originally uploaded by tillymint.

... of Mint Men in one photo.

Father in law, 'im indoors with Mini Mint - and grandad.

In some photos the likeness between Mini Mint and his grandad is almost
spooky!

My son ...

... the gastronome!

At seven months old, and after just over two months of 'weaning' Mini Mint now has a very developed pallate.

I've been pureeing away - and have a good stock of stuff in the freezer, made mostly from organic ingredients. Bear in mind that he has a milk allergy, so I have to try everything very slowly to prevent the risk of triggering another allergy. (Thank god for the range of 'Pure' Organic dairy free stuff!)

I try to prepare his food with him sitting close to me in the kitchen, sometimes (I know it's naughty) I sit him in his 'Bumbo' seat on the counter and feed him little bits of this and that while I'm chopping. I hope that this will help him develop a healthy attitude to food, seeing how it's prepared etc.

Food he has eaten (all of which he has loved), includes:-

Baby rice (obviously)
Weetabix
Porridge (the adult variety)
Scrambled egg
Toast (little soldiers that he loves to munch on - I think this may be his fave)
Potato
Sweet Potato
Carrot
Swede
Beetroot
Tomato
Butternut squash
Spinach (!!)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Sweetcorn
Courgette
Red pepper
Banana
Apple
Apricot
Peach
Mango
Strawberries
Raspberries
Tricolour Pasta (little Peter Rabbit shaped organic stuff, coloured with beetroot and spinach)
Home made tomato, basil and courgette pasta sauce
Home made roasted red pepper pasta sauce
Cod (with a bit of black pepper and basil)
Baked salmon
Chicken
Lamb
Liver
Beef
and... I just gave him a little scrape of humous, and he nearly hyperventilated, he was so excited by it. He was literally grabbing at the pot!

It warms my heart!

So - anyone have any tips for other things to try him on (bearing in mind the milk allergy...)

A date!! ...

Dave and I had a weekend date! Well, for one night only we left Mini Mint with Dave's parents, and went to Manchester to stay in a rather bloody swanky hotel.

Twas tres romantic. It was fab.

We stayed in an 'Al Fresco Suite' at the Radisson Edwardian, which had a beautiful 'Winter Garden' type patio. We had dinner in their 'Opus One' restaurant, and then had an 'early night' (wink).

After we'd booked in, we went and viewed our room, had a little something from room service (including a bottle of champagne) and then we went out and about in Manchester.

Bear in mind we go to Manchester every other weekend, though for the past six months Mini Mint has been in attendance. It was like a new city to us - on virtually every corner we were saying things like "How long has that been there?" "When did that open?" "I don't remember that!"

The last six months have been all about Mini Mint, and we've mooched around one of our favourite cities with blinkers on - always looking for somewhere 'baby friendly' to feed the little 'un.

We MUST do this more often, if only for a couple of hours.

Camera-ness...

These are probably the last photos that you will see, taken with my First Generation Digital Ixus. I have long been promising myself a new camera, and was almost certain I was going to go with a digital SLR, but I really do like the immediacy of the Canon Ixus - so I went with the new one. The 750. It's luverly. I will be having a play with it over the next few days, and promise that I will TRY not to bombard you with too many piccies of Mini Mint.





The coolest baby ever?