Day 206 23/1/12 Peterborough

We went to Peterborough today for me to use the fast track service to get my passport renewed. Quite a long drive there which Michael mostly slept through and then a 1 minute interview in the office to be told to please come back a 4 hours later to pick up the new passport. We strolled around the town and went for a some greasy food and drink. This is Michael in the cafe looking after Rocio's juice.



We picked up the passport with no difficulties. This made me feel a little better. My passport is brand new and has a computer chip buried in it. I still feel a bit jealous of Rocio and Michael for having two passports each.
We called in at RNIB central in Peterborough on the way back but there is really nothing there to go and see. We were expecting a shop to go around a inspect all the latest gadgets for blind people but all they could say is if we knew what we wanted from the catalogue they could fetch it from stores for us. What a waste.

We went for a walk at Rutland Waters reservoir on the way home too, though by then it was so damned cold the walk lasted about 5 minutes and we ran back to the car.

Day 206 22/1/12 Swimming Hinrich and Marcia

We got up early today and got ourselves to the swimming baths this time without and major problems. It's the second time at these baths and probably our last but it was great.
For the first time we were for a while on our own in the baths so we took some pictures. We had a good time floating about and letting Michael on his own in the floaty chair.






I've heard that young babies can naturally swim under water without problems but I'm too scared to try Michael with this. He did get a lot of splashing and did get his mouth under for a brief second but that's all.

Getting out Michael had his first shower with Rocio. He seemed to like this just fine and it was no problem.

In the afternoon we went to visit Marcia and Hinrich where Michael was a little star crawling about on the carpet. Mostly crawling backwards but it was still a great achievement from him. He did spend a lot of the time there blowing very wet raspberries but I think he still managed to charm them.

Day 205 21/1/12 Food food food

Michael loves his food now. He often gets upset when he's eating when I don't get the spoons of food to him fast enough and he's always interested in whatever I eat. It's like the game peek-a-boo he wants to know about what I am eating but not what Rocio is eating even if it's the same food.



We went to buy a new camera to take to Peru today. So from now on the blog pictures should be better quality.

Day 204 20/1/12 Drop in Success

Michael was making a funny noise today as I was sat in the living room. A strange growling noise. I ignored it for a bit but he kept comming up to me in the baby walker and bumping my legs. So I finally looked at what he was doing. He was very pleased with himself as he had managed to get Rocio's camera off the table and was happliy chewing it. He didn't want to keep this success to himself so as he was walking about celebrating he was bumping intentionallly into my legs to make me pay attention. We'll have trouble with this one I'm sure of it.



Then we went to the drop in centre group with Michael and he went almost straight away into the play room. I sat with him for a couple of minutes but he was soon distracted by all the activity in there and I snuck out. I think I could have stamped out witha marching band accompymnet for all the notice MIke took. I kept checking on him every 5 minutes or so but he was fine. I saw him playing on the floor and sitting at the table for juice and biscuits and playing with various toys and people. No problem. I think all the socialising he did over CHristmas has done him a world of good. He's much more secure now and happy to play on his own or with a group, even if Rocio and I are not there.

Day 203 19/1/12 Blind Parents Meeting

Today we were invited to the inaugural meeting of a group for blind and partially sighted parents. It's a wonderful idea. There are so many services for visually impaired children, I'm glad to say, but very little for VIPs, visually impaired Parents. It's a pity we won't be around for the next meeting or probably for any others 'cos we'll be on the wrong continent. They had also had some difficulty contacting some o f the other parents and arranging for them to some this time. So in fact there was only one other Mum there a blind woman called Earum, who has a girl aged three. We sat and chatted while Michael played on the floor with some nice toys. He did come up for his usual round of the people in the room.



It was great to meet Earum and we have arranged to see her again before we go. I think she has a whole load of great advice to give another blind mum about looking after toddlers.

Day 202 18/1/12 Doctor's

We woke up early and rushed to the Doctor's this morning for an appointment fro Michael. For the past few days He has had something floating around on this right eye. At fisrst I thought it was just a bit of sleep but it has stayed it seems for days so we had to have it checjked out. Long story short, it was a bit of sleep or various bits on various days all happening to be in his right eye and looking similar and signifying nothing. So that's alright then. I did feel a but foolish but I'd rather that than ignore a problem with Mike and anyway we took the opportunity to ask the doctor about immunisations or whatever for Michael going to Peru So now we have another appointment for all the family to check us all out.

Strangely we nearly had to return to the doctor's later when Michael tried to swallow a sweeping brush.

Day 201 17/1/12 Bought the tickets

This morning we bought our tickets fro going to Peru. This was a long long process of course. HOurs on the interbnet checking different search engines and webdites of airlines, different options of airports and dates etc. It takes so long but you can save hundreds of ppunds by searching about. ANyway in the end we bought tickets for 3rd Feb from Heathrow London via Madrid Spain to Lima......Peru !
Later we had a knock on the door and a parcel to sign for, Rocio's British passport. Just when we had filled in teh ticket information using her Peruvian one but who cares?
Now both Rocio and Michael have both passports and it only remains to renew mine and we will be all set.


I hope Michael enjoys the journey because he is not always a happy traveller. Here he is in the car seat.

Day 200 16/1/12 Privilege

On our way back to Nottingham today we called in a t Auntie Andrea's to have a look at the storage space there for our things when we are in Peru. She made us lovely food and Michael ate a huge amount of mash potato, often his favourite food. Then he fell asleep in Andrea's arms, quite a privilege he's never fallen asleep with anyone except his parents before as far as we can remember.

Day 199 15/1/12 Birthdays

We always sleep well at Mum's and Michael seems to too. He woke us up this morning in fine form. He's still a morning person and well ready for silliness and games as soon as he can get us to join in. Peek-a-boo (The classic game not the play group this time) is a real favourite right now. We start off with the proper version where I hide my face and suddenly jump out at him but pretty soon this gets him into such a giggly mood that all I have to do is glance at him and say peek-a-boo for him to carry on squealing with laughter. What is even funnier than this is when Rocio does the same Michael just ignores it. Nothing, not a smile or anything. He is a very generous soul though. Any kind of silliness is good for him in the mornings and he can give as good as he gets. At the moment he particularly likes grabbing my head and doing strange, sloppy, very loud things to my ear.
Michael loved the party for my, Bob's and Sharron's birthdays. We went to eat at a pub near Sharron's house and Michael did us proud. Firstly he loved the mushroom stroganoff that I was eating and he ate a lot of it just as fast as I could get the spoon to his mouth. Then he went off around the guests visiting everyone there as far as I could see. I think he gets a little dissapointed these days if we are in a group with some people and they don't spend at least a little time holding him. If I am talking to someone and holding him I can feel him pulling towards the other person. He is wanting to be passed to them.

Here he is with Annie and Bob at Sharron's in the evening.



and at bed time playing with the camera in bed

Day 198 14/1/12 Power Games

We spent all day trying to get a move on today and made it it Mum's house in the afternoon ready for the big do tomorrow. Michael has decided he doesn't like to be in his car seat. He prefers rolling about the car and bouncing on Rocio. In fact in general he seems to think he is in charge these days and will try to get his own way by crying. He does the same with his cot when he doesn't want to be in there. So he caused a great fuss most of the way to Mum's, except when Rocio took him out of the chair for feeding. I'm not sure if he was really hungry or he has just worked out this as a 'pick me up' tactic. We can't let him win these power games but it is hard to let him cry, especially when driving on the motorway with a headache.
All was magically better of course when we got there. Despite how upset he looks when he's not getting his way he changes instantly when the situation changes.
Here he is demonstrating his baby walker skills. Slowed down a lot from his normal self by the carpet.

Day 197 13/1/12 Passport Appointment

Today was Rocio's appointment in Derby for her interview to check that she really is the person she said she was on the passport application form. Hopefully this will be the last final ultimate hurdle to jump before she gets her passport. Unless of course there are more wierd things the government want from her that we don't know of yet.
So we got up early and grumpy (well I was anyway) and off to get stuck in rush hour traffic out of Nottingham and more traffic into Derby and a quick run across Derby city centre 'cos we were nearly late and into the interview office just about on time.
They were friendly in there and we seemed to be the only customers of the day. Michael and I sat and played with plastic bags whilst Rocio went for her interview. They asked her lots of daft questions for about 10 minutes and then it was over. It must have gone well as they told her she could expect the passport throught he post in the next few days. We'll see.
Then off back to Notts to get ready for work.

Day 196 12/1/12 Crawl baby crawl !

It's always the same I know. I really want Michael to learn things and I get too anxious about it. Michael is having a great time every day in his baby walker. He potters about the house grabbing things and sucking on them. He loves to be in the kitchen watching the washing machine and he loves to run across the living room to bother my feet. But he's not making much progress at crawling. He is great a t rolling about on the floor but he absolutely refuses to put his feet or even his knees on the floor to help him get around. So he hasn't found out yet how he can use his strong little legs to get around. I worry that because he gets about so well in the walker he won't bother to crawl. You can try to force him into crawling position on the floor but he won't stay, as soon as you let him go he arches his back and springs back into he normal belly down position.

He does love his inflatable 'learn to crawl' toy but he mostly likes to lie on his back and bite it.






As usual I don't know what is normal, I have no idea at what age babies start crawling so it may well be that he's on schedule and I'm expecting too much. At worst he'll never crawl and will go straight to holding on to furniture and walking. That would be fine.

Thursday is volunteer day. Rocio Michael and Mandy went shopping and bought iced buns. Michael is still recovering from his cold and diodn't really enjoy himself but he did like the buns by the time I got home there were none left.

Day 195 11/1/12 Swimming at home

We had such a good time with Michael in the swimming pool in the funny floating chair that we thought we would buy him one to use in Peru. So I found one on Ebay that evening and it arrived this morning! We couldn't resist having a go with it in the living room and Mike didn't see to mind. He's fully recovered from his cold now and back to bouncing health.



We did think of filling the bath and floating him in it but the bath isn't big enough so we put him on it in the play pen and he climbed about on it getting himself into funny positions and grumbling and laughing.

Day 194 10/1/12 Juicy Drink

We went out this morning to post off the daisy player and to pick up Rocio's new CD player. Nothing will replace the Daisy in her affections I think but the new player is good.
Michael was grumbling at me this morning in the kitchen as I was drinking juice, so I gave him some. He's not speaking words yet but he does intentionally communicate with his voice. Something more than expressing him self with cries and laughs. He loved his juice but still won't drink it himself without someone holding the bottle up for him. I think he doesn't want to drink it on his own, he's not a daft lad but he just won't hold the bottle at the right angle to get the juice out. He like it when I hold it and then he drinks it all very happily.

Day 193 9/1/12 The Hobby

We're still tyring to find a replacement for Rocio's Christmas CD player. We went out again this morning looking for something and even found one she liked only to be told it was out of stock. We've been into all the major companies ont he trdasinf estates and still been disapointed. We think we have on on order for tomorrow. By now Michael must think thst it's a past time of ours looking at CD players and trying them out with Rocio's iPod. Perhaps it was tiring for him as he slept and slept all afternoon.

Day 192 8/1/12 Swimming at last

We made it at last. We finally went swimming with Michael. After a couple of false starts, like I forgot the swimmies and I could find the pool etc. We eventually got to the swimming baths recommended by the mums at Bumps and Babies. It's a very small pool and shallow but this is great. It's no fun for teenagers and no room for serious swimmers to do lengths so it's much more relaxing for us and the other parents with their babies or young children. We caused our usual confusion and panic amongst the staff who never know how to deal with the combination of foreigner, blind lady and baby. We're not that difficult to please though so once we found a changing room to fit us all in everything was fine.

Michael was a bit unsure about being in the water at first but soon decided it was fun. This time the temperature was fine and there were even lots of floaty toys in the water for us to play with. Floating islands to put Michael on and a wonderful floating chair, much like his baby walker but inflatable. I loved seeing him in this with his funny legs paddling away underneath, tyring to walk. We were probally in for about half an hour and then Michael seemed a bit tired so was got out. All together a successful outing though and we'll try to go again before we leave NOttingham.

Day 191 7/1/12 The Saturday rounds

This morning Rocio packed away her talking CD player, her Daisy player. She has had this on loan from the Social Services for almost four years now and has grown to really love it but now we are going to Peru and not comming back to Nottingham when we retrun so it needs to go back to Notts Social Servicces. It's a sad day.
It was another big Saturday shopping in town day. Michael almost always likes these. He loves seeing ever thing and takes every opportunity to meet people. Michael even charmed the geeky boy staff in Maplins which is probably no easy to do. We made a tour of all the hi-fi shops looking at gadgets for me and iPod docking stations for Rocio. We went to visit our Spanish friend Eli who runs a cafe in town to show off how big Michael is now and they had a nice chat in Spanish and Michael helped me eat a muffin and had the froth off the top of Rocio's hot chocolate which he is starting to see as his right.

Day 190 6/1/12 Fussy Boy

Another "Guess what Michael likes" day. He was not happy with the baby walker or the playpen or being with Dad or being with Mum or sleeping or dancing about or anything until we tried his old bouncy chair. We haven't used it at all since before Christmas. It's got a little bit forgotten now he loves the walker so much. As soon as he was in the bouncy chair he was happy again, squealing with joy about any toy we gave him and chortling away at the funny faces I pull for him across the room. I'm glad I went to get it back out of the car where it got left behind at Christmas. He is a man of mystery. I've no idea why this was so good for him when everything else was terrible.

Day 189 5/1/12 Learning to crawl, not yet

We've been trying out Michael's inflatable toy meant to help him to learn to crawl. We think he's meant to lean his front end on it and move along with his legs but it's not going very well so far. I wonder if the baby walker is so much fun for him at the moment that he doesn't want to crawl. What ever it is he refuses to bend in the middle and ends up sliding on his stomach with his legs in the air. Even if we fold him up so his knees are on the floor he immediately springs back to belly down, legs up position. I think he enjoyed the game but he didn't do any crawling.

Day 188 4/1/12 Dancing cure

Michael is starting to get better now. I'm still full of coughs and sneezes but he seems to be on the mend and that's more important. Rocio spent the afternoon with him dancing round the house without music. It must be just what they needed to feel better and she says Michael started laughing again which is to say he came back to his normal self.

Day 187 3/1/12 Like a baby

Michael was really bored today. Nothing was fun for him. Not his baby buggy, not his videos, not playing with Dad, not his play pen full of toys. The only thing that kept him happy this afternoon was Rocio walking up and down stairs and round and round the patio with him. Just like when he was little. I guess the cold is getting him down now, poor thing.

Day 186 2/1/12 Fingers Jenkins

We are all full of cold in this house. Taking it in turns to sneeze and Michael's breathing sounds like snoring. Still he seems quite happy.

Michael can go backward in his car now. It hasn't taken him long to get teh hang of it at all. He is busy exploring the house as he has never been able to before. He can take himself to all round the livingroom and out to the hall and kithchen and can get his little hands on all sorts of things he has never got to before, like the knittling machine and Rocio's sweing box. He can even empty thing out of the washing machine and he loves to chew on a tasty dirty tea towel. He's so happy with his new adventures.

Day 185 1/1/12 New Years Day

We messed about in the house all day today. We spent ages with Michael having a good look at all the presents from Christmas.



He's getting very fast in his baby walker too!

Video Extra

In the shop today Sandy was showing off his new iPhone.

Day 184 31/12/11 New Year's Eve

We went to take Rocio's stereo back to the shop today. We are so disappointed that it doesn't work with her iPod. The woman in the shop was happy to take it back and said that it was good to see Michael again! She remembered him from when we went to buy the stereo but was happier this time as last time he was asleep in the manta. This time she got to hold him whist we were looking at replacement stereos.

Later in ASDA we bumped into a Peruvian woman called Jasmin, who spotted Rocio as a countrywoman of hers by her hair. It was good to talk to her and I think she must be the mystery Peruvian who we heard rumours of when we were living in West Bridgford. It's funny that we found her now, after we have moved away and so shortly before we return to Peru.

Michael is working daily on his baby walker skills. Here he demonstrates how he can get himself into the kitchen to suck the tea towels.




We went to Mat and Jenny's house for New Year's party which was loud and fun with many children and we sang "Summertime". Pity I forgot the camera again.

Day 183 30/12/11 Visiting Phil

We went this morning to visit Rocio's ex boss from when she was a volunteer at Leonard Cheshire care home. This was a nice day out fro Michael but sadly he is still suffering with his cold and mostly cried at Phil's house.

Day 182 29/12/11 Teddy Head

Michael and Rocio missed Mandy the volunteer today. She doesn't come durnig school holidays and they have got used to having her visit on Thursdays. Not much exciting news for today. Michael and Rocio went shopping and Mike was sick on the woman who works i the shop, who happens to be the landlord's wife. Then they got wet in puddles which Michael enjoyed and spent the afternoon dancing to Rocio's Christmas stereo which is very loud.

Michael is slowly starting to enjoy teddys. Here he fell asleep with teddy on his head.

Day 181 28/12/11 Cold in the doze

Michael has a cold. In fact we all have colds in this house.
Michale is far from his normal happy self, he's whingey and not interested in his toys or his food or his new favourite telly programme Pocoyo. He's got his first snotty nose and he refuses to let me clean it for him. All classic stuff I know.

Still we got a nice photo him.

Day 180 27/12/11 OOps

I've getting behind writing the blog and I don't have a photo for 27th either.

So here is a collage for his first six months




Michael is really loving his baby walker and is getting everywhere is the house now. So we have to make sure to keep the toilet door shut as he will get his hands on anything he can reach and we have had to fold the ironing board away to stop him pulling it over onto him.

Day 179 26/12/11 Boxing Day

We woke up at Mum's and after struggling to fit all the wonderful presents into the car set off back to Nottingham.




Michael spent a long time in his baby walker. Mostly sitting where you put him but sometimes getting his feet on the floor and moving around a bit. He loves the noisy toys on the front of it and has worked out how to use all the buttons and the lever. We haven't brought all the toys in from the car yet and I went to work this afternoon with a car full of Christmas.

Day 178 25/12/11 Christmas Day

Today was a great day for us all especially Michael.
Michael is our alarm clock, he woke us up at 7.30 as usual and we had our stockings in bed. This was great fun for Michael and he giggled and rolled around and played with everything. Here he is with Mr Green and Mr Red.



We dressed Michael in his tiger suit for extra fun today. It's always good to have a bit of a laugh at the expense of your baby boy.
As soon as we went for breakfast Mum took Michael and we didn't see him again until we had finished. It was very strange to eat breakfast without him there I don't think that has happened for a long time.

At 11.00 we went to Andrea and Geoff's for the main event. We forgot to take the camera so we don;t have pictures from there. I'm hoping we can have copies of other people's photos. Again once we were there Michael was taken off our hands and I think he must have spent time with everyone there at some point in the day. I was so proud of him. Last time we were there Michael wasn't really happy unless he was with Rocio or me but this time was didn't see him for half an hour at t time and when we found him he was happily bouncing with another relative who he hadn't met before.
We got so many presents that I was burried in them and lost track of who had sent Michael all his wonderful books and toys.
Michael ate lots of the wonderful food made by Geoff. He especially like the mash potato and peas but he tried everything Rocio and I had.
It was a long day for Michael and he didn't really have a proper sleep at any point but he was still giggling and bouncing around in the evening when we were back at Mum's. He really was the most charming boy all day.

Day 177 24/12/11 Christmas Eve

We got up early today and ran around the house getting ready for going to Mum's hosue for Christmas. We did quite well and were out of the house by 2.00 p.m.
We set off and only had to come back to the house once for things we had forgotten. Not bad for us.



Michael had a good tiem at Mum's, playing with the pre-Christams toys she had bough him and having a go in his baby walker. He seemed to instantly like it though his little legs can only just reach the floor and he can't really wlk in it yet. He is still growing though and it won't be long.