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Sunday Fun in the English Countryside

27 Jun

On Sunday, we put on our Sunday best and headed to Essex County for the christening of Baby Elizabeth. Mommy’s the godmother, so it was obviously a big day. The service was held in this centuries-old church in the middle of the rolling hills and fields of eastern England. It was a beautiful ceremony… or so I’m told. You see, Mommy sat at the front of the church, since she was in the ceremony, while Daddy and Nyan stayed at the back with a few other young’uns. As Daddy kind of feared, we weren’t three minutes in before Nyan got wiggly and restless. “Mommy! Mommy!” he called out. Totally expected, but not all that appropriate. So we went outside and played in the car and wandered around the church cemetery. Ah well.

Immediately afterwards, people were milling about outside the church, chit-chatting and whatnot. And Nyan, well, he thought Mommy needed a flower:

Then the party moved to Elizabeth’s country estate for food and festivities. It was pretty crowded but Nyan didn’t mind, as he kept busy playing with balloons and wandering around:

And was there a big purple ball to play with? Why yes, yes there was:

 

 
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Posted by on June 27, 2013 in Video

 

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Airports and Planes (pictures)

22 Jun

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We’ve always been impressed (and pleased) at how well Nyan travels. (Talking here about plane travel only, though on the few longish (4 hour) drives he’s done, he’s done pretty well there too.) Our recent trip to Iowa was no exception. The trips were fairly long both coming and going – something like 16 hours door to door on the way home, and a bit more than that going out – but he handled it like a trooper – napping, playing, looking at people, and generally staying in a good and chipper mood the whole time.

Here are a handful of pictures from our travels (click on any to make it big and start a slideshow). Mostly from the waits at airport gates, but a few from the plane itself.

 
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Posted by on June 22, 2013 in Photos

 

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Bus! (Pictures and video)

16 Jun

Nyan got a bus on Saturday.

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He loves buses, just like he loves helicopters, tractors, cars, trains, planes… But this is a special bus: it came from Uncle Jeff, who — with apologies to all the other uncles out there — has, for now at least, taken the title of Favorite Uncle, I think it’s safe to say.

Daddy’s cousin Jeff lives in Austin, Texas, USA with his wife Michelle. They came to Paris for an anniversary trip and came up to London for the day, as you do. It was of course great to see them – it had been several years – and I think it’s fair to say that Nyan had a blast Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on June 16, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Playtime in Iowa

11 Jun

Playing soccer in the backyard with Meema… going down the slide with Daddy… on the swing with Mommy…. tea time… drawing…. yes, our recent trip to the heartland was full of play for young Nyan Thomas. Here’s a nice selection of photos from various play sessions. (Click on any photo to make it bigger and start a slideshow)

 
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Posted by on June 11, 2013 in Photos

 

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Monday Morning Dance Party (pictures)

10 Jun

You know how some days you wake up just bursting with energy and joy? Yeah, us neither. Joy, yes; energy, not so much. I blame the 22-month-old in our midst. 

Speaking of that 22-month-old, he certainly was full of energy and joy this morning. Spurred on, perhaps, by Daddy singing silly songs, Nyan could hardly keep still while Daddy was trying to dress him; he just wanted to giggle and dance. Later, while Daddy was finishing getting dressed himself, Nyan decided it was time to dance, so while Daddy clapped out a beat and made silly music noises, he spun, kicked and shook his groove thang all over the bedroom. See pictures below.

A few minutes later, while Daddy was loading up the stroller for the ride to school, Nyan found his sunglasses and put them on the front of his toy tractor – and then laughed and clapped and whooped loudly at the brilliance of it all.

Finally we made it to school, and after he gave Sophie a big hug, his pal James came up to him, and the two of them proceeded to dance in place, quickly moving their feet up and down and laughing.

It’s good to be a baby some days! Here are some pictures from the Monday Morning Dance Party; click on any photo to make it bigger and start a slideshow.

 
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Posted by on June 10, 2013 in Photos

 

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A Month of Sundays (pics and videos)

09 Jun

Sundays are fun. Here’s a look back, through video and photographs, at three recent ones.

Last Sunday, Aunt Zuzu and Uncle Iain came to visit. It was a lovely warm sunny Sunday, so we headed down to the high street for a Sunday lunch at a pub. We’re quite happy to report that our boy ate very well (in fact, touch wood but he’s been eating very well for several weeks now – a great change from his tendency in the past to just not eat very much. Here’s hoping he keeps it up). Some photos from the pub:

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On the walk back, Emerald pushed the stroller, and Nyan demanded that someone hold not just one of his hands, but both of them. We were all happy to obliged, of course. Spoiled much?

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Later in the afternoon, Nyan showed off his latest dance moves, busting a rug to one of his favorite tunes:

Emerald and Iain stayed over and kept Nyan out of school on Monday, instead taking him on numerous strolls around the neighborhood, the back yard, etc. He had a blast, but by early afternoon he was completely tuckered out – so much so that he just passed out on top of his buddy Yum Yum, the stuffed elephant.

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A week earlier, young Nyan Thomas took a Sunday afternoon walk around the ‘hood with Mommy and Daddy from a week before:

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And was there a cat on the street? There was:

Finally, a video from just today – it was a cloudy, lazy Sunday, and Nyan spent part of it by hanging out with his books, listening to some tunes. Not a bad way to spend the day.

 
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Posted by on June 9, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Car! (Pics and videos)

08 Jun

On our recent trip to Iowa, we learned that one of Nyan’s favorite things to do is to sit in the driver’s seat of a car and fiddle around with the steering wheel, the lights, the horn, the radio, you name it. We shouldn’t be surprised; he’s got an engineer’s mind and loves all things mechanical. Nevertheless, several times a day during our stay, he’d toddle down to the kitchen and shout “Red car! Red car!” which was his way of saying ‘Let me out into the garage, I want to sit in Grandma’s red car and play.” Cousin Meema was more than happy to indulge him, as you can see in these photos:

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He also clambered into Grandpa’s car and somehow managed to turn the radio on, even though the keys were nowhere near. “I didn’t know you could turn it on without the keys,” said Grandpa. Here’s a fun video of the boy, rocking out and showing his dance moves to the car radio:

And some bonuses videos of Nyan, strapped into his car seat with Mommy next to him and Daddy behind the wheel, cruising down the highways of Iowa on our way to some event or other. Of course he’s pointing out each and every truck he sees on the road, and otherwise just happily babbling away.

 
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Posted by on June 8, 2013 in Photos, Video

 

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Shades

03 Jun

Soon, dear reader, we’ll start posting a whole treasure trove of photos, videos and stories from our recent sojourn to the heartland of the U.S. But for now, please enjoy this quickie, a  photo from school a few weeks back. Just Nyan being Nyan. He sure loves to vamp it up for the camera!

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(Click it to make it big!)

 
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Posted by on June 3, 2013 in Photos

 

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Throwing Things (Video)

29 May

We’ve been teaching Nyan how to throw and catch a ball lately. This is a good thing; he needs the work! Here we can see his throwing skills, such as they are, a couple weeks back.

(Of course, Nyan being Nyan, he also wants to show off his skills at throwing his toys and other things. So clearly we need to teach him some limits as well…)

 
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Posted by on May 29, 2013 in Video

 

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Jet Lag? What’s That? (Video)

26 May

We’re back in London after a week-plus in America; more on that later. Nyan was, as always, a great flyer, and even managed about three hours of sleep on the redeye flight, which was three hours more than either Mommy or Daddy got. So we all passed out when we got home, sleeping from about 9:30 until 3:30 or 4. This evening, Mommy and Daddy are dragging. Our boy’s asleep at the moment, but earlier, he was certainly not showing any signs of fatigue or jet lag. See here:

We’ll see what happens overnight, of course; chances are good he’ll wake up at 2am, or 4am, or god knows when…

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2013 in Video

 

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