Just a quick blog this evening as I’ve got loads to do before another week gets underway.

After a pretty dodgy looking weather forecast, this weekend has turned out rather wonderful – hot and sunny, meaning lots of outside time for Family Agar.

But Alex and I started the weekend indoors with a long awaited trip to see The Elephantom performed by the National Theatre.  We went with my friend Katie and her son Jake on their final days before they emigrate to Australia next week!  Alex was super excited about seeing ghost elephants – and he wasn’t disappointed.  It was am impressive performance, beautifully choreographed – probably a bit too long for our fidgety duo, but they seemed to enjoy it, especially when the elephants were being naughty!

The boys had clearly behaved and sat still for too long, so when we left the theatre, they went a bit crazy as we headed off for Borough Market with Jake’s family.

Pretty much the only time they stopped running, screaming and giggling was when they found a fabulous, old organ decorating a restaurant wall in Covent Garden.  Random but cute:

We took a bus along the river to Borough Market, and Alex passed a little milestone rather quietly.  We grown ups were chatting, while Alex and Jake were engaged in a pretty surreal conversation, when suddenly Alex told Jake that the seats they were sitting on said “bus” – and sure enough, he’d managed to read a word himself and share it with his friend.   Small steps, but the start of the journey to reading books!  We’ve been trying not to push him with reading and writing, but it’s nice to see its beginning to go in.  He almost wrote his name the other day (he’s struggling with the letter “e”!).

We met Sophie and Matt at Borough and had a quick lunch while the boys explored The Golden Hinde “pirate ship”.  After bidding a sad farewell to the Cox family, we headed home for a quieter afternoon involving a family bike ride to Dulwich Village for some children’s shoe shopping and a trip to the park.

Today we stayed very local, visiting the Horniman Museum after our Sunday swim.  We loved the live music and dance that were part of their Curious Tea Party weekend  – and particularly enjoyed a fleeting visit by my old friend, Eve, who was visiting Forest Hill for the weekend.  After not seeing her for a couple of years, we managed to fit in lots of catching up into an hour!  Fingers crossed she comes back soon with her family…

This afternoon, Alex made a complete mess making ice creams with his beloved play doh (not sure I’ve every forgiven my brother for giving him so much!).  He made some impressive ice cream sundays, and alarmingly tried to eat them

The highlight of the afternoon came at the park when Alex continued to improve his cycling skills – and this time I captured it on camera.  He may not be able to entirely write his name, but my boy can ride:

I still can’t believe my baby can do this:

Already feeling excited about next weekend – it’s the social event of the South London calendar – the Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park.  And to make things even more exciting, I’m hoping we’ll be joined by Katharine and baby Emilia for a weekend visit.  Expect photos galore…