The best bits - part 5

I can't believe the twins are now 17 months!  Almost 1 and a half!!!  Time is passing so quickly and there are changes ALL the time at the moment.  They are learning so many things daily and I'm constantly in awe of them.

Here's my latest list of favourite moments:


The cuddles - these are different now - not just given by me but given to me as well.  I just love it when they coorie in to me.

The way they walk - I love listening to their little footsteps and watching them plod plod plod super fast now.

Holding hands, Priya's little fingers wrapped round my finger, god I love it!

Birds and horses - they both love to stand on the windowsill (with me right behind them of course, and there's the sideboard to catch them if they both fell at once!) and look at the horses and birds - constantly pointing in wonder at the world.

Priya is obsessed with bird spotting, she frequently shouts "Bou" (bird) while pointing at birds, in the sky, on the power lines, in the trees, in the field...

Kalyan still loves balloons.  As ever, he is delighted whenever there is a balloon nearby.  Granny and Grampy bought him a new foil helium monkey one recently (the rainbow one from his birthday is STILL going strong, although has finally sunk!) and he loves it.

Words!  Actual words (if you know the context anyway)!

Priya - Bird, Ta Ta Ta (she doesn't say it just once!), Bubbles, Mama, Dada, Yaya (Kalyan).  She started off with the most words but K has fast overtaken!

Kalyan - More, Mama, Dada, Balloon (this is really just Buh), Bebe Bebe (while pointing at the TV = Cbeebies please), Ball, Bowl, Ta, Bird, Yes, Cake, Dirty.
His best and most common word is "More".  Mor Mor Mor, he reminds me of the seagulls from Finding Nemo with their Mine Mine Mine!

Priya showing off her belly!  Ask her where her belly is and she will find the edge of her top, pull it up and reveal her beautiful round belly while patting it proudly!  She loves it if this then turns into a tickle monster escapade!  Major giggles :)  She also loves to search for other people's bellies, particularly Kalyan's or Grampy's.

Spinning - they both love to spin round and round, either standing and then falling down or being picked up and swung.  Again, lots of giggles and so much fun!

There are lots of giggles these days.  I absolutely LOVE it!

Bouncing on the bed - again, they love this and there are again lots of giggles.

Bathtime!  Still a favourite!

Since we bought them their own little table and chairs, they love to sit there for colouring, eating or watching CBeebies.  I love how Priya sits there with her ankles crossed.  They also love playing with their new tea set.

Priya nods her head complete with mouth action.  Her mouth opens and shuts in time with the nodding like she's saying yes, yes, yes but no sound comes out.

Eating yoghurt.  They still love yoghurt and when feeding themselves this becomes quite messy but they clearly love it, licking the spoons and getting it all over their faces.  (Also, feeding each other!)

K running and shrieking when excited.  He also has a happy dance where he jiggles on his feet, little happy stamps with arms to match and a wobbly happy head.  He does this particularly when asking for something and we confirm we've understood him.

P tidying, she loves to pick things up and put them away, into boxes, containers or hand them to me.  They both love to help emptying the dishwasher too, passing up the cutlery one by one.  She'll also take shoes and put them on the door mat if she finds them out of place.

P following instructions - she's so clever and understands SO much, I'm often amazed at what she's picking up already.

K's gobbledegook - constant in evenings

Emptying the dishwasher - still a favourite thing to do!

Generally being funny!

Chocolate!

Still loving books, they both love to choose books for anyone to read to them.

Roly poly twins.  This usually happens after dinner in the evenings.  They both lay on the floor and we say roly poly, they'll roll about, usually crashing into each other which they find hilarious and often end up cuddling.  Heart melting!!

K sweeping - so much joy!  He is absolutely OBSESSED with sweeping, inside and out.  I'll never forget the look on his face when I presented him with his very own mini sweeping brush and mop.  I was far too excited to give it to him after a rare lone shopping trip out while the twins stayed home with Granny and Grampy so I didn't get a photo but I took a few just after.

When you understand Kalyan - he gets so frustrated if you don't understand what he's after but when you do you get happy little dances and shrieks of happiness!

Priya's big grins (particularly when you greet her).

Kalyan's cheesy grins when he's just really really happy.

Nakedness!

Priya waving from her cot when Daddy puts her to bed.  Nik left the room recently and said goodnight and she just raised her arm up over the side and waved.  They're very good at lying down when Daddy asks them to "lie down and go to sleep", usually before standing up again after and "chatting" to each other while we listen on the monitor!

Priya strolling with her hands behind her back.  This is a funny one, she looks like an old style copper on the beat, strolling around holding her hands at her lower back.  I've yet to capture this on video or photo sadly!

When they go on tip toes.

I know there's food up there!

Priya waves at the TV when a program on CBeebies starts or finishes.  I don't say anything, she just hears the music and waves hello or goodbye!  So cute.

She also has a hand gesture for when something is finished or "all gone", no idea where she picked it up from but she twists her hand round and round.  She also does something similar when we ask her where Kalyan is if she can't see him.  She just holds her hands up shrugging.

Their bond.  This is developing more and more as they get older.  It's so sweet when one of them is crying and the other is all concerned, often going over to offer something or just pat the other.  This is usually Priya offering consolation to Kalyan.  It is also usually her who upsets him in the first place by taking something but if he cries she usually gives it back (or offers an alternative, i.e. a smaller piece of whatever food they have, sneaky girl that she is!)

They also now hold hands if I ask them to and they're all happy about it before Kalyan quickly gets fed up of being tethered to his sister and breaks free!

Their cheeky looks and funny faces.

It was a sour orange!

And just how beautiful they are!

The Buxted Inn - a review by Bex

It's a while since I've published a restaurant review (I don't think I've done one since moving down and having the twins) and I feel I should probably apologise for the excessive twin pictures included but they're just too cute to leave out of the experience.  Although I am of course biased ;)

I've been to The Buxted Inn to eat once before, on Father's day last year with Nik's parents.  This year, they've had a total refurb and we headed back for a Sunday roast with my parents the week before Easter.  It was the BEST meal I've had in a long time! Everything is home made and the staff are welcoming and friendly.  They're also very knowledgeable about the menu which makes such a difference.

We had come prepared with snacks for the twins while we ordered and waited for the food and Kalyan was fascinated with his real cutlery.

While Priya shared her carrot with Daddy.

We all opted for the roast, we got the kid's portion of roast chicken (£7 including a scoop of ice cream and a drink) for the twins, Mum, Dad and Nik chose the beef (£13) and I couldn't decide between the pork (because I love crackling so much!) or beef.  Once I ascertained that the mixed roast (£12) came with some crackling, I went for this option - best of all 3 worlds!

The food arrived pretty quickly, it was piping hot and looked great.  I was thrilled to receive a nice chunky piece of beef, a wee piece of crackling and good sized portions of all three meats.  The Yorkshire puddings looked amazing and I had 3 huge crispy roast potatoes as well as a piece of stuffing with some apple sauce.  Our veg soon followed, I forgot to take a picture of these but there was a good selection with red cabbage, caraway carrots, courgette, broccoli and parsnip.  Unfortunately, the quantity of veg was lacking.  We were asked if we needed any more veg or gravy and I requested some more broccoli but wish I'd asked for some more of other veg too.  I didn't get a bit of parsnip as there were just 4 pieces between the 6 of us despite ordering 5 meals, Kalyan ate most of the red cabbage and Priya almost all of the carrots!  We should have just asked for more as I'm sure they would have brought some.

The roast itself was delicious and very satisfying, although still left us with room for pudding.  The beef was pink, the chicken was juicy and tender and the pork very tasty.  The Yorkshire puds didn't disappoint, they were the perfect combination of crispy and stodgy and nice and big too!  We also had some nice strong horseradish to go with it all and an extra jug of yummy gravy.  I like that they ask if you'd like more gravy, despite there being a good puddle on the plate, as there's nothing worse than just a trickle of gravy on a roast.  We all really enjoyed it, especially Priya!

I have to say though, pudding was the best bit!  I opted for a proper treat and ordered the Oreo, salted caramel & chocolate chip cheesecake.  Oh.  My.  God.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It was amazing!  It wasn't too sweet, was nice and light and absolutely delicious!  The caramel was drizzled through the filling with a couple of chewy chunky bits and a good few dark chocolate chips and the Oreos made up the base.  Nik also had the same, despite not usually being a fan of cheesecake and he loved it too.  

Dad had the lemon meringue which arrived de-constructed and looked lovely and judging by the appreciative noises he was making, it tasted as good as it looked!

Mum (and a cheeky Kalyan) enjoyed the rhubarb & ginger sponge with rhubarb & vanilla jam and sauce anglaise.  All of the puddings were £6.00 each.

Priya loved her strawberry ice cream too and made a good effort at scooping it herself.  (We usually still had to load the spoon for them at this point, but they've mastered it now!)

When she'd finished it, she was soon checking if there was anything else left for her to sample and enjoyed my berries!  (My cheesecake was long gone!)

We finished with coffees and teas while Priya played with the Jenga bricks and Kalyan snuggled with Granny.  My latte was too strong for my liking, despite being very pretty, so I didn't drink mine but I thoroughly enjoyed my glass of Malbec with dinner!

As for the Inn itself, the refurbishment has made a big difference, it seems much brighter and more spacious than I remember from last year.  The chairs are very comfortable and the twins' high chairs were a very funky, practical design.  They still don't have baby changing facilities in the bar or restaurant so they let us use a room upstairs when we had to change the twins which makes a nice change from balancing things on a pull down table in a toilet.  (And the rooms are lovely too, I'd definitely recommend it as a place to stay.)

Another nice touch is that they grow their own herbs and vegetables by the car park out the back in raised beds, which Kalyan and I had a wander around before the food arrived.  We love that there's a really well run Inn near us which serves great food and drinks (they serve Harvey's, our local beer which Dad and Nik love) and has a really good ethos with home grown and home made food as well as friendly staff.  Not to mention, it's within walking distance of our home!  We'll definitely be going back more often, in fact, I've already got another girl's night booked there, this time with dinner.  (I was there recently for a few drinks with new friends.)  I'm definitely going to indulge in that cheesecake again!

Olive Dragonfly Rating - The Buxted Inn

Food & Drink - 9/10 

Atmosphere - 8/10

Service - 9/10

Overall - 9/10

Pelli Anni Tea Set from Scandinavian Design Center - recommendation by Bex

I often think of things and businesses I'd love to recommend but rarely get round to writing about them these days!  Recently though I bought this gorgeous little tin tea set for the twins and received excellent customer service from Scandinavian Design Center.  They are based in Sweden so shipping is £5 but if you sign up to their newsletter you get a £5 discount!

I've been searching for a cute little tea set for a while but couldn't find one I liked.  So many of them are plastic and/or excessively girly.  A lot of the wooden ones are very expensive and a bit dull.  This metal tea set from Pelli Anni, however, is super cute, colourful and unisex.  Designed by Karin Mannerstål, it was on the more expensive side at £26 but for a good quality, metal, beautifully designed product I was happy to pay a bit more.  I absolutely love the design with the funky animals and bright colours.  It's technically not recommended for under 3s but I'm happy for them to play with it while I'm supervising.

When it arrived I was so excited but when I unpacked it, I noticed the teapot lid handle was sitting squint.  When I looked closer it was due to a dent in the lid so I contacted the company asking for a replacement or partial refund.  I knew it would most likely get a few bashes from the twins anyway but wasn't happy having paid full price for a new product which was damaged.  I was hoping for the second option as I didn't want to have to worry about packing it all up again to return it and wait a long time again for them to receive it back in Sweden and then dispatch another (shipping didn't actually take very long, only around 5 days but I'm rather impatient when I get excited)!

Luckily they responded as I hoped and offered me a discount due to the damage which I happily accepted.  I'm so excited I can finally let them play with it :)

If you're on the hunt for something similar, I highly recommend it.  I also spotted this animal tin tea set by another Swedish designer for £25 on The Kid Who where you can get 10% off your first order by signing up to their email list.  I prefer our tea set but I do love these animal tins by Ingela Arrhenius.

Update:  We had a great time playing with our new tea set in the sunshine!