Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken

Or is it a rooster? How do you tell the sex of poultry? Do only males have those reddish flappy bits of skin (I really must work on my poor fowl-related terminology) on top of their heads?

My sudden interest in this animal springs from Sunday's visit to a childrens' petting farm (hmm...is that the correct title these days?!). Farm is taking it much too far. There were a handful of enclosures with various types of chickens, goats, sheep, a pony, two donkeys and two lamas. But that was enough excitement for an 18 month year old. Elaine was surprisingly but sensibly wary of the goats and other animals bigger than her but the chickens were inspected with some intensity.

"Hmm..should I make a grab for it...?"

 

When it's spring again...

...I'll bring again, tulips from Amsterdam...well, from the salon downstairs. It was too hot for them down there so I rescued a few to draw before they wilted completely.

 

We have now had two days of warmth and sunshine! A real shock to the system. Last week, however it was still cold and miserable so, with my parents in tow, I took Elaine to a large indoor play centre. In theory she's still too small for a lot of the apparatus but she didn't let her size stop her. She was on the big slides, in the ball pit, on the electronic cars and on the bouncy castle and trampolines:

Apologies for the rubbish photo. Not used to dealing with bright sunshine anymore!

Another sketchbook completed!

Ever so gradually I'm getting through my various half-filled sketchbooks. This book was completed in (for me) record time - I started it in September last year. Hmm...6 months...ok, that's not actually that impressive. However, my uncompleted Moleskine, which I'd left accidentally at my parents' house, has been on the go since 2009 and is still not done. Pitiful. Anyhoo, here are the last pages:

Toddler + curiosity + mother trying to deny it's time to get up = 

 

The weather has been continually cold and miserable so we've been forced to invent some indoor activities (because everyone needs a short break from pure destruction):

I attatched a long cardboard tube to the stair bannister for Elaine to put plastic eggs down. A kind of seasonal, non-choking hazard marble run.

The completed sketchbook