Ben aged nine and three quarters

Ben has been crawling around "Commando-stlye" on his tummy since the beginning of August but in the past week or so has begun to crawl a few steps on all fours. This video clip captures him chasing after his robot, a favourite gift from his cousin Kayla. He's looking cheerful despite being poorly with the inevitable "back to school" cold and fever this week.

One of Ben's other favourite activities at the moment is exploring his "Treasure basket" of everyday household items and other interesting stuff, put together by his Mum.

He's growing up in so many ways - his new winter coat makes him look like a proper little boy - and is just so cute we thought it should have a mention!

Witley Court

Life has stepped up a gear in the last couple of weeks - with Debbie going back to work and Ben being at the childminder three days a week. We have also started leading a "Coaching Group" for some of the young people at church, with about fifteen 13 and 14 year-olds descending on our house every other Wednesday night from now on. We'll mostly be meeting as two separate groups, one for boys and one for girls, but we started off with everyone together this week for a social. Amazingly Ben slept soundly through their wild games - probably due to the Calpol.

Which all means we never put up a post from our visit to Witley Court in Worcestershire with Debbie's parents two weeks ago - on a sunny September Saturday. Witley Court was a very grand stately home which burnt down in the 1930s and has been preserved as a shell by English Heritage - and probably more interesting ("Romantic", in Debbie's eyes) for all that. Pat and Malcolm liked it so much they went back again the following week!

Cyprus

It's been a little while since we returned from our holiday in Cyprus but we have finally got our photos sorted and decided to put a few on the blog. We had a lovely week with all the grandparents in Pissouri, visiting old haunts and discovering some new ones. Here we are having an afternoon drink down at Pissouri Bay.

It was a holiday of firsts for Ben:

Ben's first flight (which wasn't quite as bad as we feared!)...

... Ben's first go on a childrens ride. His face was a picture when the horse started to move up and down!

... Ben's first swim in an outdoor pool, which he did every day of the holiday, with a variety of willing volunteers joining him

... Ben's first swim in the sea

... and Ben's first splash in a paddling pool

Cyprus with a nine-month old was very different from previous trips (including our honeymoon in 2000), but with grandparents always willing to share the load, we managed to snatch some moments of relaxation - like Debbie's blissful sunset swim one evening while others dealt with Ben's tea-time (hooray!)

For our last couple of days we were joined by Ben's Uncle Stephen and Aunty Lucy. Here we all are enjoying our last evening at the 'Bunch of Grapes'. Ben is sleeping soundly in his pushchair at the end of the table, which he did almost every night, to everyone's appreciation!