Gerr-cat Heaven

Tyler has been watching the Big Cat Diary Live shows on BBC1, and is in gerr-cat heaven.

Our little gerr-cat Tiger is still taking antibiotics, and is desperate to get his paws on a tranquiliser gun. To knock us out...

I don't think he'll ever get the idea we are doing this to keep him alive, furry bampot.

Phoebe Jane Laffin

Brief update from Mad Great Aunt Donna;

Tuesday 09/09/08: Agreed to look after Tyler from Tuesday morning. He is 13 months and 2 weeks old, weighs around 10kg and is 83cm tall. How hard could it be? Angela taken to hospital to be induced.

Wednesday 10/09/08: Angela finally induced at 10.30am, after spending 23 highly frustrating hours in hospital and fretting for her little boy.

Tyler decides to compete with the Large Hadron Collider, attempting to set new records for the highest speeds reached by a toddler. Experiment aborted at 12.30pm, 10/09/08 for lunchtime nap. James takes up the challenge, racing between son/wife/work, but neglected to set a timer so there is no data available.

Thursday 11/09/2008: Phoebe Jane Laffin, born 5.35am, weighing in at 6lb 9½oz. At the moment, I think she looks like a character out of a Beryl Cook picture. She dislikes having her picture taken, but is rather fond of a cuddle.

Tyler isn't quite sure what she is, but quite likes her.

Friday 12/09/08: I handed Tyler back on Friday night and spent the next two days recovering from a migraine!

Ignore the Lilypie ticker

Tyler's sibling will be arriving Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how quick the drugs work!

And we are looking after Tyler.

He can only stay if he shares his toys, I've made that quite clear.

Gerr-cats are getting bigger every day

Mum and Tyler were having one of those generation bonding moments in front of the tv. Tyler was pointing at the screen, then clapping.

"Gerr-cat! Gerr-cat!"

Well, nearly. It was a tiger. And jaguars are also gerr-cats, apparently.

Tyler update

Can now walk, and brush his own hair! Better than most of the adults I know...

Six unaided steps on Friday, then he sat down and applauded, just in case we missed the point.

Saturday, he took his mum's hairbrush and wobbled over to the mirror to sort his own hair out. And he doesn't mind having his teeth brushed, all nine of them.

All at 10 months, 3 weeks and 2 days. I've no idea whether this is good progress or not, so I'm just going to be stupidly proud and vaguely pompous about it all.

A conversation with Tyler

We looked after Tyler on Sunday.

While trying to shovel some healthy baby-mush into him, he became fascinated with Tiger. The feeling was mutual, as the baby-mush smelt like a tempting alternative to cat food.

I pointed at Tiger, and said, "Cat."
"Cat!"
"Ginger cat."
"Gerrr cat!"

Not bad, I thought.

So I pointed at Bailey.

"Dog."
"Dat!"

Early days...

Happy Half-Year to TJ

TJ is 6 months old today. He has two teeth, is making furious efforts at crawling on his own, and walking in his baby bouncer. He is a sweet and cheery little soul who smiles at everyone. Grandma Lyn still refuses to let his beautiful little face adorn this blog, so I'm still using the troll photo.

It is my dearest wish to see him dye his hair this colour, and get into serious back-combing.

Baby-sitting

I was conned into baby-sitting young TJ last night.

It's a shame, this child is quite delightful but it was the cheek of the move that did it for me. Just hand him to his great-grandmother, who would walk over broken glass for him, then suggest she brought him to my house for a visit.

Aw, bless... hang on, I'm still hissing fury here...sssssss.....

Still, he tried his best to be entertaining, and I am secretly convinced his first word was 'bananarama' or that daft song from the Muppets Show - was is Manomana?

Full-on charm offensive. I did point out that I was Great Aunt Don, the Mean Old Bag, but he just gurgled a bit and tried to chew his feet.

Even better, it did give me a chance to see how Bailey acted around children.

Dammit, he was good as gold.

Pesky critters, both.

The New Kid on the Block

Little TJ is in the UK on a flying visit. Granny Karen has been in hospital, so Angie brought him over on Friday. James can't come over, not enough holidays accrued. So he's still basking in the sunshine, enjoying the quiet.

TJ is gorgeous, but my big sis Lyn doesn't approve of the idea of posting photos of him on the web so you'll have to take my word for it. She is still undecided as to whether she is a Gran, Granny, Nana or whatever. "Unfortunate Mother of James the Git" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a troll. It's not too far off the truth....

Mad Great Aunt Donna... it's now official

The latest pesky critter has arrived at last.

Tyler James Laffin (or James Tyler Laffin, depending on who you ask) was born at 3.18am local time, Southern Spain on 21 July 2007. His knackered and non-metric father mumbled something about him weighing in at 4000 kilos (ooooowwwwwccccchhhh), but a more sensible friend thought he was more likely 6-7lb. We could wait a long time for the accurate figures!

Apparently he is blond, cute and has his mother's ears. A real blessing, his father has very big ears, with amazingly selective hearing for things that size....