September: I Travelled on the Train!

I'm now one month old! I've been more awake for a bit longer now and observing lots of things that are going on around me. For example, I have noticed that my parents have been trying to trick me to go to sleep when they want me to. It's always at seven-thirty in the evening when my Daddy comes home. They put me in the bath, slather me with Oilatum cream, read me the Baby Bright book and then give me milk. I protested of course, I cried a lot, and I knew my Lola Ma wasn't very happy about it because I heard her say so. But they insisted, letting me cry for ten minutes each time before coming back to comfort me and then leaving me again while I carried on crying. For a few days, it went on like that (something called controlled crying they said) until eventually I gave in. It's not easy reasoning with my parents, in the end I thought I might as well just get on with it and sleep when they tell me to. I still woke up a lot of times during the night though so they haven't won completely! Ha!

I Get on the Train

We've also been to a lot of exciting places this month, taking my Lola Ma around the north of Britain so that she can enjoy her holiday. I went on my first train journey and it started off nearly disastrous. It's not easy folding a travel system in the train, not when you don't know where the storage compartment is so we struggled a bit and my Mama got stressed, although that's nothing new. Eventually it got sorted, thanks to my grandma who was far more relaxed and we went on to have a pleasant ride while admiring the views of the countryside from the train window.

Baby's Day Out: York

Our first destination was York, a historic city in Yorkshire that is very popular amongst tourists. It has plenty of notable sights to offer and we had a whole day to explore it. Lola Ma walked along the medieval walls surrounding the city, then we crossed the River Ouse through the Lendal Bridge and had lunch at the Yorkshire Museum Gardens which was packed with other families on a picnic.

We then went to the Jorvic Museum, a very interesting place to experience the Viking history of the city. Lola Ma went in while we wandered outside, Mama promised to take me there someday because I was still too young to appreciate it.

We also saw the York Minster, the second largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It was a spectacular sight, especially from where I was sat. Then we had a short walk to Clifford's Tower, the now ruinous keep of the medieval York Castle. In front was a merry-go-round, we took a photo there too just because Mama wanted a selfie!
On our way back to the train station, we crossed the footbridge which was used in the first Harry Potter film (of which my Mama and a lot of her friends were such a big fan!), where Hagrid gave Harry his ticket for platform 9¾.


Baby's Day Out: Lincoln

This was not the end of our train travels, the next week we went to the very underrated cathedral city of Lincoln on a very rainy day. After just over an hour on a slow train from Sheffield, we walked through the old town, taking a detour to do a river stroll.

The uphill climb was quite steep but we persevered and found ourselves in Castle Square, with the Lincoln Cathedral, reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311-1549) on one side facing Lincoln Castle on the other side. My Lola Ma went on a castle tour, walking along the castle fortification while the very helpful guide gave his talk to a large group of tourists. I would have loved to join them but alas they couldn't take the pram up there. Never mind, I fell asleep halfway through the talk anyway even though it was all very exciting. I still needed a lot of sleep those days.

Because it's been raining the whole day, we decided to go somewhere warm and went in on one of the quaint little tearooms for our afternoon tea. We met some friendly people there who were also visiting, a lady from Venezuela with half-English children who was showing her South American family around. And one of them is also called Isaac! They talked about raising bilingual children (my Mama talks to me in Filipino) and the lady said she also talks to her twins in Spanish.

Baby's Day-out: Weston Park

Of course we also explored Sheffield. One weekday we visited Weston Park and had lunch by the lake before going inside the museum where we admired the life-sized mammoth on permanent display along with a lot of interesting things to look at. There were plenty of families there and I saw some babies crawling on the floor. I couldn't wait to do it too!

Food, Yummy Food

The annual Sheffield Food Festival was on that month and we went to town to see what was on offer. With so many food to choose from, Mama and Lola settled for a Jamaican meal and it was delicious! Talking of food, we have also been out for a curry with the family in Darbaar, our favourite restaurant in Sheffield which happens to be strategically located at the bottom of our road. And we've been to a very middle class Sunday carvery too, at the Beauchief Hotel in Abbeydale Road, a treat from my granddad.

The Great Summer Outdoors

And with the warm British summer feeling somewhat Mediterranean, the city centre has suddenly developed a cafe culture and we've embraced it too. We've been meeting Daddy in town for lunch on Wednesdays when he worked short days and sat outside Cafe Rouge, on chairs that evoke a very Parisian atmosphere. C'est la vie and I loved it!


Weekend Get-aways

On one weekend, we have been out for a river walk along the Porter Valley and picked berries along the way. Lola and Mama made a berry crumble for dessert that night, it was yummy!

On another weekend, we drove off to Castleton in the Peak District, walking around town up to the entrance of the caves and then we driving up to the viewpoint close to Mam Tor to admire the spectacular views of the white and the dark peaks meeting together.

We've also been out shopping with my Auntie Louise and Sophie one Saturday. They took us to the East Midlands Retail Centre where Lola Ma bought plenty of presents to take back to the Philippines and then we went to Ikea in Nottingham afterwards. It's another exciting place for me, it had plenty of things to look at and toys too! Lola Ma took lots of photos of them so that she can make a similar one for me, and she did!


That's Not All

And just when you'd think that's all I've been up to, there's more! I've been to a wedding where my Mama took the photos.
And I've also been to the cinema to watch my first movie (in Filipino) too! So yes, I've certainly been very busy this month and I was not even two months old yet!