De Silva Family Blog

Ollie has recently become very communicative. Unfortunately he talks in " Shyriiwook ", the native language of Wookiees from Star Wars. Here's a translation...

Our little Ollie has really started to grow up recently. Having seemingly doubled in size over the last few weeks, he has now started teething, moved to his own room and now rolled over for the first time. Here you see him looking particularly pleased with himself after being showered with praise by his adoring family.

Tom (Mary's brother) has just started the the Red Bull X-Alps , one of the World's toughest adventure races. They've just started out from Salzburg, Austria and will be racing 818km along the Alps to Monaco. They'll be going day and night for about two weeks, either paragliding or hiking (whilst carrying their glider)! Alex Raymont, Tom's team mate, is driving alongside providing the critical support. However, as you can see Tom also has some other supporters along the route, including his parents. You can follow Tom's progress live on the official race site or via Google Earth. So from all your family over here Tom - Good Luck!!!

We opted for the "staycation" this year, as we didn't fancy , so found ourselves at Centre Parcs in Elveden Forest. We shared a 4-bed house with friends Andy, Fiona and their three kids. The house was great and even had its own hot tub, sauna and steam room! Trouble kicked off immediately as the two boys wanted to play with each other's toys but neither wanted to share their own (Alex always has the best toys - even I wanted to play with them). However they managed to work it out in the end and even after the holiday Leo has continued to play well with other children. Centre Parcs is amazing for kids with so many activities on your doorstep. I can't wait until the boys are a little older and we get to do some of the more exciting activities (like the high ropes course). However, when that time comes I'm sure I'll be too old/embarassing and will have to spend the holiday lounging in the hot tub. Looks like this will become a regular holiday for us...

In times of recession entrepreneurship thrives. So as daddy's pay rise disappears down the drain, Leo thought he'd help pay the mortgage. A wise man once said, “Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” Well, Leo has certainly taken these words to heart as he set up his car washing business (the boy loves cars, hosepipes and water). He doesn't do a bad job for a two-year old and at £2 a car it's good value for money. Unfortunately for our mortgage, he insists on being paid with chocolate coins!

Leo loves Fairlands Valley Park. It's got some great climbing frames and slides including this one from when I was a wee lad - "The Big Slide." It's huge, measuring at least 15 metres long. To one with such little legs, it's a veritable mountain. Leo was up and down the thing about 20 times and as he climbed, his mantra was "Climbing like Uncle Tom !" After a while, he could take it no more and plonked himself down on a nearby bench for a coffee break... The poor little thing was so shattered that he fell asleep into his lunch of alphabetti spaghetti!

The process of mummification is a very exact ritual, perfected over centuries and designed to ease the passing of the baby into the Dream World. Whilst in ancient Egypt, the process always began half an urn before sunset (they used water clocks in those days), higher up in the northern hemisphere, where the time of sunset varies considerably during the year, it is necessary to maintain the same time to preserve the baby's internal body clock. Scientists have empirically found 7:14pm to be ideal. It starts with a thorough washing of the baby in warm water (approximately 40°C) scented with a blend of natural oils, including lavender to assist with sleep (Johnson's Bedtime Bath is a suitable alternative). The subject is then clothed in garments of cotton and wrapped tightly in an outer layer to simulate the close environment of the womb. The baby is placed carefully in a wicker basket and surrounded by sacred charms and toys to give good luck to the baby's "Ka...