Shadow/Chiefly

My sister got a dog and called him Chief (Captain Chief Crunchie is his long name, would you believe) in 2008 and he's been a very happy part of my extended family since then. Roman loves Chief but I don't know if Chief loves Roman in the same way ;). Unrequited doggy love, what can you do?

And Roman calls all dogs 'Shadow' after my parents dog but cats, they are just cats ;). After a little time together Roman would shout after Chief saying, "SHADOW! CHIEFY!" and it's very safe to say this boy loves his animals.

Eating Out with a Toddler.

Today my mum took me and Roman for lunch to a local cafe that offers vegan options - you can't really say no to that, can you? We'd been a few weeks previous with my aunt and had been shocked at the great options they had; plus the fact that they were so understanding and 'got' the vegan thing. A plate of olives, hummus, bread and salad arrived and Roman had settled himself very nicely in front of it; ready to eat when it had been intended for me and him to share two dishes between us...well I could think again if that was happening ;). My dish was generous and lets just say that several hours after consuming it I was still fit to burst so I wasn't too unhappy about Roman having a big person's serving all to himself.

He happily chomped through the bread and helped himself to some 'trees' (salad) before he started on the olives. Well he stuck one in his mouth, started to chew and suddenly he began spitting it back out saying, "ew! BOGGING!" as he did so. I would have been embarrassed if the cafe had been busier but as it wasn't I found myself laughing at his reaction. 

If you don't know already 'bogging' is a Scottish word for something horrible. We've also got; hoaching, tinking and 'yeuch' (it's 'yuck' but it's all in the way you say it, usually with your best Scottish accent.) 

So despite the olive incident, all went well. Roman is easy to please plus he'll do what I tell him to for the most part when we're out. If he wants to jump up and down - plus run from corner to corner - around the place then he'll quickly retreat when I tell him that's not how he should be behaving when we're in public. It helps that the place we chose was child friendly and had plenty of toys to hand to keep him entertained between being unleashed from the buggy and our food arriving, toys help. I'd also packed a few light snacks for before eating our lunch so he wasn't in a food grump. It all helps. However I don't think Roman will ever get a taste for olives, he's tried them several times before and each time he'll spit them back out again and that's fine it means more for me ;).

Unrequited Toddler Love.

At this age it's all about unrequited love. Kisses are often not returned, hugs are wriggled out of and 'sorry' isn't a familiar word in their vocabulary...it really is all about them, the way people tell you that it will be and you shrug it off thinking, 'that will never be my child!' Eh, well people fail to mention that this is every toddler and yours will be no exception. Just believe me when I say that ;).

Legacy.

Roman has a great-gran, who is my gran and my mother's mother. She is 81 years young on Sunday and although she told me, when I was 9, that you shouldn't ask a lady her age I'm marking this record for Roman. I also think it's something to celebrate; old age is a gift and something not a lot of people reach either through poor health or circumstance. 

As Roman signed (or drew all over) his great grans card (pictured below) I told him that he was fortunate to have a great gran in his life. My own great gran was killed a month before I was born and I've always felt like it would have been a great thing to meet and know her - to tell people, 'I have a great gran!' and to take pride in this fact. I know that you're only 2 years old, Roman, but I think it's wonderful to have a living legacy and I hope you appreciate this as you grow. 

Engrossed.

We're always so busy (and tired) that sometimes I feel like this project is last on my list of priorities - but it should be somewhere near the top of my priorities. I need to keep reminding myself that I won't get this again, there are no do-overs and the time is now.

Today I spent a rare morning speaking to my sister on the phone for what seemed like ages, playing catch up with her. Throughout the whole phone call Roman pretty much entertained himself with Bryan's computer chair and the many boxes around him. This is why I love toddler hood. While I don't make a habit of this kind of thing he can and will entertain himself, with my supervision. That's how I know babyhood is far behind. And that's a painful excitement. 

When I got off the phone - or rather Roman hung up on the call while speaking to his aunt - I watched Roman play. I studied the funny and quirky things he does. I laughed, smiled and inside I praised everything he did. He has his ways and they are uniquely his. He took the wheels off his pirate ship and tried to stuff them into the jigsaw box, this kept him busy for quite some time and I was more than happy to just watch. I didn't tidy, organise or clean or work on anything this morning because I was incredibly busy with my anthropology exercise: watching my son. Soaking in the moment, holding onto this precious time. 

Jesus and Burgers.

I'd like to introduce you to Roman's dinosaurs; Jesus (on the left) and Burgers (on the right.)

Oh that boy. I'd love to see the world through his eyes ;).

Big Boy.

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Walking back from the shops I decided to let Roman out of his buggy so he could tire himself out a little before bed - still battling with getting his sleeping pattern sorted, seems to be settling back down over these past few days, thank goodness.

More on today: it was one of those warm, sunny but not overwhelming days. A toddler and me sharing an afternoon bath; taking turns to dump water on each other's heads. Getting ready to leave. Our afternoon stroll together. Taking a different route to the shops to spice things up a notch - I like to live dangerously ;). I love this little friend of mine; the boy I can communicate with, the one who talks back to me about everything around him, parrots what I say and makes me smile every moment I'm with him. And just today I was reminded what a mirror reflection of Bryan he really is, they're both gorgeous to me.

And here is my little friend looking up at me from the vantage point of his buggy. Comfy in there, son?

Ready for Bed.

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'READY!'

Roman randomly shoved this pajama top onto his head about half an hour before bed time. I think he was tired.

Growth Spurt.

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After a day filled with playing in sand, keeping up with cousins and stuffing his face full of food I decided to have a nice wind down with Roman in the garden - basically letting him loose out there to work off any extra energy he'd have kicking around.

I also really wanted to spend time with him; stealing cuddles and kisses where I could and making my observations. And, as you can well see, he's really stretching into a tall boy.

I can't quite remember what caught his interest here - probably me randomly shouting 'CAT!' at him from behind the camera just so he'd look my way and stand still for five minutes ;).

Changing Faces.

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These are the few faces of Roman ;).

With each time the shutter was released, I got a different pose. This reminds me of a scene I once saw on 'America's Next Top Model' in which the presenter and model, Tyra Banks, said that good models could pull a different look every time the photographer released the shutter. This is definitely the case for my cheeky bundle.

My instructions to him were to smile - and this is what I got. One cheeky grin and one scrunched up little face. These are the days where I'm so thankful for this Project - there is no way I would have got these photos today - it was hot, I was working and busy but I stopped for a good half an hour after Roman's afternoon nap just to enjoy his company, to smell his hair and to kiss his little hands. I am so thankful I paused and I am so thankful for today, for every day, with him and being able to capture it like this.

Saturday: New Pants Edition.

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Being locked in your own home is not much fun. But seeing as we were locked in for the day - with only access to the garden, seeing as Bryan had a Priesthood meeting at church and took the keys. If I had gone out the front I would have locked myself out - I decided to try out the new pants that arrived in the post for Roman. If you want to read about how that went click on 'Read More.'

Dressed.

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He is always awake before we are, has breakfast before us and is always dressed before us.

The life of a toddler is pretty sweet.

I'm Clothin' It.

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He is eating, dancing, walking and singing in this photo.

And, as you can clearly see, balancing on one leg.

Roman is also wearing a Little Lamb cloth nappy. I chose these nappies after a bit of research into what we could afford, what Bryan would fit on Roman and also something I would find easy to change. And if you want to read more about the cloth nappy journey we've taken - press 'read more.'

Hand.

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Everywhere I go, he goes.

Last week, when we went swimming, and he couldn't see me in the changing room (despite being right next to my mum) he shouted out; 'MUH-MEE!' and came running towards me. 

Bryan ran some errands this afternoon so it was me and Roman by ourselves. He kept chasing me around the house and making his following ways into a game. I know he feels more secure around me or B and while that's the way it should be, it does make picture taking difficult ;). If I want to catch him being busy then he needs to be doing something that requires him to concentrate. Like drawing or eating. And even at that he'll pick up the paper, crayons, bowl of food or whatever and will follow me. 

Today he wanted me to take his hand while we scouted round the place, the only time he let up was when he stopped to admire his cheeky reflection in the hall mirror.

He's been hard work today. I know I worked up a sweat with the things he was doing; pushing over the TV (yep), slapping me and B (double yep. And I am not happy about this) and the worst thing he did to me; clawed the skin near my eyes, making me look like I'd been beaten up due to the hives developing round the area. 

There are some days I wish we had a room full of padding and a ball pit so he could work out the energy there, rather than on one of us.

Baf.

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'Bafs' and 'bubbos' make his day complete. 

Especially 'bubbos' smeared all across his face.

And yes, don't you just want eyelashes like that?

Three Years of Love.

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I had wondered how I'd capture today; the 20th of February, our wedding anniversary - and marking three years since we pledged our lives to one another (among the many other promises we've made.)

We made plans to go out tonight. The usual grab a bite to eat, watch a film and in the time I got ready I had my make-up consultant on hand - although at some point he thought it would be a good idea to squirt a whole tub of lip gloss all over his hands and rub hand cream into his hair.

He loves to 'check' people's bags, but especially loves my make-up bag with all its extra goodies to explore. I'll just need to watch him carefully in future ;).

P.S: This is us, three years and several stone (lbs/kgs) ago. 

Me in a dress and B in a skirt ;).

I really felt like a doll that day - with a permanent smile on.

Twue wuve. 

The image quality is so bad because I pulled this from Facebook. My photographer gave us two albums full of photos plus a disc of all the photos...I just thought the disc was somewhere it wasn't and by the time we got back from our anniversary meal tonight well I didn't want to go hunting for it ;).

Innocence.

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His independent streak has always been very prominent but there is still this baby-ness to my little boy. I sometimes think; 'is he like other two year olds?' and I follow that up with thinking 'Oh, but there's so much he's doing that most two year old's don't do. Don't worry.'

His speech and diction are very clear for a boy of his age. His awareness startles me at times - he copies everything. He hears a word once and remembers it forever. He'll say words that we haven't even used around the house but that I'm sure he's picked up from outside - he'll randomly tell me what things are and I haven't even told him what they are. He counts to 10 and will count off to 5 using his fingers. 

He's learned a lot of colours this week because he's been allowed let loose with crayons, chalks and paints. Today, when he returned back from the supermarket with a Peppa Pig mask he kept saying 'pink' over and over - at first we thought it was 'pig', but it didn't sound like pig. Then we realised he was pointing to Peppa's skin colour. 'Pink.'

I don't want to predict or write the future here, that's not my job, but I feel like we have the makings of a little brain box on our hands. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But with an intelligent husband who seems to follow the same pattern of learning as Roman it wouldn't be too far fetched to assume Ro Ro might follow the same path.

I don't want to push him into anything, or to 'be' anything but himself. And right now he's a ball of innocence. My two year old who learns something new every single day and me, his mother, who stands by his side and learns even more just by being with him here.

Somersaulting Baby.

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Doing somersaults amongst the mess he's created, wearing a cheeky grin and there's me, soaking up these little moments, just observing this little boy and the things he does. 

My little guy. My small boy. My sweet, sweet two year old 'baby.'

Waiting: Dinner Time.

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If you knew this boy and knew nothing else about him you'd know that he loves food, with a passion. And yes, passion is the correct word. 

He was getting very excited about dinner this evening, not because it was anything special, but because it was food.

Woof Woof.

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My sister came to visit today with her dog, Chief, in tow. I think it may have been a case of Roman loving Chief but Chief not necessarily enjoying the extra attention from this little two year old ;).

Roman found the dog fascinating; when he yawned, whined, barked or did something Roman was like a broody parent around a new baby ;).