ねぼけ森

Oki is funny when he's just woken up. Even though he's still half asleep, he talks and talks excitedly, half of it gibberish (a bit like his mother and father first thing in the morning), but always amusing!

The other day, he woke from his nap to tell me that him and his ducky toy Linford were going to look for pine cones in the woods, wearing hats. 「どんなぼうし？」"What kind of hat?" I asked him, to which he replied "Red one. Linford and Oki and mummy and daddy, wearing red hats, looking for pine cones." 「赤いの。LinfordとOkiとママとdaddyと赤い帽子かぶってまつぼっくり探しにいこ。」

I couldn't resist drawing the image he painted in my mind...a family portrait of sorts :)

Point---->

Oki points to things all the time. "LOOK!" 「見て〜！」

Everything is so exciting and new to him. He loves being outdoors and is fascinated by pine cones and worms. Unfortunately, I HATE worms. I can't even bear to look at them. BUT I am trying to overcome my irrational and rather pathetic fear for the sake of my boy. He likes it when daddy lifts up the decking in our garden to reveal all the creepy crawlies hiding underneath. I had to brave it the other day when daddy was at work, and donned a pair of rubber gloves to lift up the plank of wood. Funny how the gloves make me feel invincible, although inside I was still a bit of a nervous wreck >_<

He makes funny observations too, that little boy.

Looking at a duck walking on the ground, he shouted, "Look, he's not wearing any socks!". 

Another day in the park, he shouted, "Look, he's eating a plate!" pointing to a dog with a frisbee in its mouth.

Each day is a new discovery :)

Lovely book :)

My friend brought back this lovely picture book from Japan, which me and Oki have been enjoying lots. It's about a boy and his boat and his adventure as it sails down the river. Simple and sweet and full of imaginative play. I love it so much! Thank you Rie! x

もっと！

We've been enjoying using our new plates. もっと means "more", and is one of the many frequently used words by Oki.

the weekend after

We picked up our plates today, hooray! I'm really pleased with how they turned out, and I think Oki enjoyed eating his lunch off his brand new steeeeeam train plate. So much fun exploring new territory :)

Here is a felt bag I sewed for my friends' little girl who will be turning two in a couple of days. Hopefully they are too busy preparing for her birthday party to be checking in here, so it'll still be a surprise when she unwraps it tomorrow, hee hee!

this weekend

I said goodbye to these two woolly friends this weekend. I hope they get lots of cuddles in their new homes :)

We spent the morning painting plates on Saturday. Ooooh so much fun! Oki helped too, but was soon distracted and left us to it. It kept the big people quiet and amused anyways. Really looking forward to picking them up next weekend!

All aboard!

All aboard the Oki Train, toot toot!

I've had this really long frame for years, but I've never known what picture to put in it, until my little train-loving boy came along...

It's taken ages as I can only do an hour or 2 each day whilst Oki sleeps, but I think it's finally finished, yay! 
I've been staying up extra late these last few days to try and finish it...I'm exhausted but it's been worth it just to hear Oki's excited voice each morning shouting "LOOK!", as he spots another familiar face in the carriage :)

felt fun :D

Tonight I've been having fun cutting out felt. I think I will turn them into bags.

I'm going to pay the price for having these late nights in a row, but at the same, I'm enjoying losing track of time, cutting, looking at colours and creating :) 

mr tortoise, long shadows and sky

Here are some personal pieces I've been working on.
I'm hoping the bottom two will be part of a set, inspired by walks in the lovely little local park with my little boy.

Duck whisperer

A strange and wonderful thing happened the other day. My boy was poorly. He was sick on me (yes, on me) in the morning and wasn't quite his usual chirpy self. He loves being outdoors so we went outside in the garden, when we heard a loud flapping sound above our heads. 

A couple of ducks had landed in our garden!! 

They went about their business as if it was the most normal thing in the world, quacking away, wondering about on the grass, then up onto the decking. I fetched some bread which they polished off, then Mrs Duck took a few sips of my coffee from my cup, quacked to Mr Duck for a bit and then they flew off!

It was such a surreal scene and it felt really special, like they had come over especially to pay our poorly little boy a visit.

Soon after, we went back indoors and my boy was sick on me (yes, on me) again, but he was all fine the next day, and all that was left was the happy memory of the ducks' visit :)