Floating drums

Jo was given this cool video camera called a 'flip' for her birthday which makes shooting and uploading videos really easy. This is a little test.

First man standing

Sam is now officially standing. It's been really ricky to get decent photos because I am normally keeping guard a few feet away just in case he falls. It's one of those major life stage things standing isn't it? Sort of like those 'Accent of man' posters that show apes evolving into man. You can tell it's a new sensation for him. He sways back and forth not really knowing what to make of it. It's amazing to watch as he takes a few steps. He's only ten and a half months old which seems pretty early to be doing this sort of thing. It's bound to enrage the competitive Chiswick Gymboree mums (my son, he's sooo advanced etc) whose kids are still on all fours. Which is great, obviously.
We are having an early birthday picnic for him (and about thirty other kids) on Acton Green next weekend, not that he will have much of a clue what's going on. It will be nice for him to see loads of kids his age and for us to see a lot of our mates, killing several stones with one event. It is difficult to describe to anyone without kids how having a baby requires miltary-style planning if you are going to try and see friends. They all have routines (the babies not the friends) and they kind of need to stick as closely as possible to them, at least initially. Even getting a babysitter for an evening doesn't quite cut it sometimes. It's New Parents Lesson number 324: unless your baby is staying away for the night, you'll need to leave dinner before you are ready to get back for the babysitter.
Actually that's really handy if you need an excuse to leave but more often than not we are just hitting our stride when the taxi turns up.