AUGUST 2006
Callum's Grandma was so proud of Callum this month, because he got his photo in the local paper for the first time. Ok, so he hadn't done anything special, it was a picture of a small group of children from his pre-school accompanying a story about how they had been awarded extra funding by way of a donation from a local firm. But, to Grandma, the reason for the picture didn't matter... it was her little angel in the paper for all to see.
August went from one extreme to another, from not seeing him, to having lots and lots of time to spend with him...
Callum went away for an extended weekend to the caravan with my folks, his Uncle Andy, and his Cousin Luke. I had supposed to be going with them, but I had a lot on at work, so postponed my leave for a week. I missed him terribly. The house is far to quiet without him.
When he came home, we only had a couple of days to go until we set off to go to Wales.
Once again, we all headed off to Plwmp, only this time, Shaun, Callum and me would be staying in a separate cottage (Celyn Bach) because we couldn't have the annex to Glyntawel cottage this time because it was going to be in use by their own family. It was a shame, but hey, they don't normally let anyone stay in the annex, so we should treat last year as a bonus. We were only a mile away, and our cottage was lovely and very comfortable... it just didn't have any grounds for us to enjoy. It did have a lovely view from the balcony/terrace though - a sweeping view of the countryside and Cardigan Bay. Beautiful. The sofa's in our cottage were unbelievably comfy too, we would love to know where they got them from!
The weather wasn't brilliant, but it could have been worse. We just planned all our activities around the weather and everything was ok. The colder evenings meant that we didn't spend as much time at Glyntawel, enjoying the landscape as last year... so it did feel a little less 'together' than last time, being in our own cottage probably didn't help with that either.
We did spend time at each others places though.. we all had a few evening meals at Glyntawel, and several breakfasts at Celyn Bach. We also paid a few visits to the Crown pub in a nearby village... their meals are scrummy.
So, despite the weather, we managed to cram plenty into the week. The theme of the week was pretty much... animals. We went to two farms and an 'animalarium'. Callum had a great time. He got to bottle feed a lamb at the first farm... I say 'lamb', but they were older lambs... more like sheep. Callum thought it was great giving the sheep a bottle of milk. Sheep are now his favourite animals.
At the second farm we went to Callum got to feed 3 calves (or 'baby cows' as he knows them). By the last one, he was so at ease and relaxed he was doing it on his own just using one hand! It was at this farm that they were doing donkey rides and horse rides. After loving the donkeys at Bridlington, Callum was eager to go ride a donkey - but when we got to the paddock it was a different story... he was adamant that he wanted to ride Duke, the HUGE shire horse!!
The farmer asked how good Callum's balance was and asked Shaun to lift Callum up into the saddle so he could look. Immediately, Callum tucked in his knees and held on tightly, he's a natural. So the guy let him stay on provided Shaun walked at the side to keep him steady if needed. Check out the pictures in the photo gallery to see just how big Duke was!
As ever, Callum was like Luke's shadow... they love each other so much. Callum stayed at Glyntawel one of the nights, Luke stayed at Celyn Bach with is a couple of nights too, so they did get plenty of time together.
Throughout August, Callum did go up and down with his appetite, mostly he was ok, but he did have quite a few days where food just didn't seem to interest him. Then he started getting little fretful, so we checked his mouth, and sure enough there was another molar coming through, his top left one was already breaking the gum, and you could see that the top one on the same side was well on it's way too. By next month I reckon he will have all his teeth. Relatively speaking, he has always handled getting his teeth ok... they've not really given him too much trouble, unlike some poor kids who go through hell when they are getting theirs.
Well, as the month ended we were still in Wales, so more about our holidays next month.
Must go, take care.
Amanda xXx
