Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts

Saturday, 12 October 2013

Exploring Exeter

Zachary is now walking fairly confidently and has enjoyed seeing some of what Exeter has to offer since we've been living here.

For some strange reason, Devon is full of random gorillas everywhere you go. Zachary likes the look of them.

Princesshay gorilla

We have made many trips to Exeter Central Library to borrow books, play/read and also to attend a lively baby singing group. Zachary loves reading (more than playing with toys, surprisingly), especially books that have flaps (although we've had to do quite a lot of selotaping recently!). Zachary always needs watching carefully when we're in the library, as he loves running, especially out of the exit!

Zachary's favourite thing to do is to pull all of the books out

Mummy remembers riding on this rocking horse herself when she was about 5 years old

Zachary has visited various playgrounds in Exeter, especially appreciating things he can grab onto.

Playing with Bumble's minded children in Mount Pleasant

This is Zachary's favourite at Belmont Park; it also works well as a play pen to stop him running away!

Peek-a-boo in the train; Zachary shows off his 6 teeth!

Zachary and Mummy often walk (Zachary too!) down to the nearby post office or school (Zachary likes watching the children playing in the playground). Zachary's favourite part of the walk is the shiny 'no cycling' sign which reflects the sunlight. It's always hard to get him to leave the sign and carry on walking home. He seems to love looking at road signs in general too - we often seeing him looking up to see what's on them.

Zachary points out the sign to passing cyclists

 The Tour of Britain cycle race was passing through Exeter a few weeks ago so we went down to watch. There seemed to be a lot more police motorbikes with their sirens going than actual cyclists, but Zachary liked those better anyway. 

Bumble points at the bikes; Zachary looks at the police instead

Zachary has been swimming several times since moving to Exeter. The first time he was very unsure and cried most of the time, grabbing onto Mummy as tightly as possible. The second time he cried as soon as we reached the entrance, as he remembered that this was where the horrible water was. He later settled down and started enjoying it. On subsequent visits he's been enjoying splashng in the water and kicking his legs to swim.

All ready to swim and looking pretty happy

Exeter museum is within walking distance for us, so we visited one weekend and had a look around; it has changed a lot since Mummy last visited. Zachary and Daddy had fun dressing up as Romans.
Zachary is preoccupied by a big shiny necklace

Saturday, 2 February 2013

Swimming and eating!

Zachary had his first trip to a swimming pool this week at The Village Hotel open weekend. It was great to have Vickrum, Beckrum, Bev and Caleb along for the trip too, especially as they looked after Zachary for a bit to allow Mummy and Daddy to enjoy the sauna and jacuzzi - lovely! Zachary's mood at the swimming pool seemed to be a combination of mild enjoyment and indifference, but at least he didn't mind it; he did enjoy eating one of the floats though. He stayed in for about 40 minutes, by which point he was so tired he was nearly dozing off and we took him out.  

Here are a few photos of Zachary preparing for his first swim...

Practising in the bath - he loves splashing


I'm going to be a super (smug) swimmer!

All ready in his swimsuit, looking at his 'I love swimming' book

We enjoyed a delicious meal in the hotel pub afterwards and Zachary had some puréed sweet potato (it's a lot easier to feed him purées when we're out), fed to him by Auntie Bev and Auntie Vickrum and he managed to eat quite a bit.


Feeding times in general are going very well- Zachary is always very enthusiastic about it, grabbing the food as soon as it's put in front of him. His favourite at the moment is broccoli, probably because it's something he can grab onto and keep a hold of, pulling off the tiny pieces into his mouth; the downside is it goes everywhere! He's usually in a good mood when he eats, unless he's particularly tired; when he's tired he constantly rubs his ear with his hand, which doesn't go too well if he has broccoli in it! 


Devouring the broccoli

At tea time, we've been giving Zachary some breast milk porridge in the hope that it might help him sleep through the night. So far, we've seen a little improvement, but not as much as we'd hoped.

Porridge for tea; Daddy likes it too!