Alpine Saxon

Yes, it HAS been a long time my saxontologists! Of course, being the full-time, 24 7 international kid that I am, I have been busy. Most recently, I took a little time out from my extremely busy nursery school regime to go to Switzerland.In Switzerland, I rode funny little cars that dangle off of wires called telecabines. I had a telecabine of my very own in the garden of the house where we stayed. Mom says naughty Swiss children go for time outs in telecabines. Lucky for her, I am never naughty.

Good playgrounds in Switzerland too.
Dad had the brilliant idea that we should take a car train from one part of Switzerland to another. We drove the car up on the train and it started up. Seemed interesting....


....but nobody told me we were entering a PITCH BLACK tunnel that went directly through mountains and ran at 80 miles an hour for 40 frightening minutes!!!! Yes, you are looking at two freaked out kids!Lots more hiking and mountain stuff. All very exhausting and as my mom always says, I have two settings:

SAXON "ON" and


Saxon "OFF".And now, back to nursery school I return. No doubt they have been lost without me....

Auntie Kate Visited Me!

Aunt Kate came to visit me from New York and I introduced her to life with the Saxonator in London.

We went walking in Buckinghamshire on Saturday. Well, Kate, mom and dad walked. Trixie rode in the baby carrier. I walked, cried, went boneless and finally (victory!) my dad carried me.

On Monday, we went into the West End and visited Dad's office. Don't I look cool in Dad's hat?

Kate came with Mom to pick me up from nursery school. Unfortunately, she discoverd that I love nursery school soooo much that I am often begging to go back in after I have been enticed (or carried) out the door. Hummm, maybe I can climb back in through the letter box....

Kari was happy to see Kate as well. She spent most of her time sleeping on Kate's bed.

choo choorific!

Mom, Dad, Trixie and I went to the Buckinghamshire Train Centre two weekends ago and, thus far, it is the best thing that I have done since...well, since I was born.

This is a steam train that mom, dad, trixie and I rode. It really DOES say 'choo choo' when the big puffs of smoke come out.

Dad and I rode the miniature train past miniature houses, windmills and animals. We even went through a miniature tunnel and the train said 'peep peep'!

I saw miniature trains that made me feel very BIG.

I saw real trains that made me feel very small.

Just after this photo was taken, I ran off yelling, "bye bye Mommy! bye bye Daddy!" I was ready to live here forever but, sadly, my parents had other ideas. As with many days in the life of a two year old, it all ended in tears.....

...but only until I got into my carseat and it all faded to black.

Another Toddler Mystery Solved and Her Name Is Trixie!

As I have mentioned, in recent months my parents have been speaking in code. They have been using new terms like "sister", "Trixie" and "baby" with abandon and, to be quite honest, I haven't had the faintest idea what they were saying. Wednesday morning, I got the answer. When I woke up to go to nursery school, my dad said that Trixie was downstairs waiting to meet me! I walked into the kitchen to see a large blow up pool full of water (which mom says I get to keep and play in this summer!) and my mom sitting on the couch holding a Teeny Tiny Trixie only 10 minutes old.



When I got back from nursery school, Trixie was waiting for me. I examined her closely and noticed that she has eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth. She says, "wahhhhhh" alot. Then, I went to work on my tool bench....DIY helps me process. (Look closely at my shirt...)



Kari seems to think that perhaps Trixie is HER puppy. She doesn't like it when I get too rowdy near Trixie and growls and disciplines me. I love this new game of wrestle and hope that Trixie is impressed with my gladiator-like poodle taming skills.



Although I am still new to this big brother thing, I am already getting the hang of it. I have discovered that I can now talk with mom and dad even more about my current favorite subjects--crying, diapers, underpants, no-nos and poops--because they all apply to her as well.



Well, I have finally solved the mystery of my parents' coded language and I am pretty happy with the result. Welcome home Beatrix Thelma....I am so excited to be your new big brother.

Snow (!) in London

I learned a new word today...SNOW! I woke up and looked out my window to find the biggest snowstorm in London in 18 years! Of course, for me, it was the biggest snowstorm EVER (that I remember). Mom, Dad and I went out to play in the snow and I got to wear my beloved wellies! (They make me feel invincible!)

I particularly enjoyed walking through the deep snow drifts but occasionally, dada had to pull me out when I yelled, "Dada! Help me! I'm stuck!"

The kids next door built a snowman and I really wanted to steal the carrot nose. Of course, those are the sorts of inappropriate urges that you have when you are 2!

Happy 2009 Saxontologists!

Happy New Year Saxontologists! It has been a very eventful holiday season for your pastor/leader/spiritual guru, i.e. ME. I met a very strange man dressed in a red suit who seemed obsessed with getting me to sit on his lap. In fact, I met him a few times. He just seemed to pop up wherever we went and, to be honest, he looked slightly different each time. Mom and Dad were shockingly agreeable to the bizarre notion that I might want to greet this large, bearded, fashion-challenged individual no matter how I protested. But let's move on to more interesting (and less traumatic) news.
After Christmas, Mom, Dad, Kari and I loaded up the car and drove North to the Lake District. We stayed in a cottage in the countryside surrounded by sheep. I love to say "Sheep!" whenever I see them and I said it very often as I sat in my car seat and we drove around the countryside.
Did you know, dear Saxontologists, that there are ALOT of sheep in England? These are one, two of the sheep outside the cottage. (ps. I like to count now even though it sometimes is with my own made-up numbers.)
In the cottage, I had my own tiny room (and crib). The room was so tiny that my dad had to jam the crib behind the door so I couldn't escape from bed and wander at night....but I could still open the door and yell at them when I was bored!
I quickly found the vaccume cleaner as I had forgotten my own at home.
Here we are walking near Conniston Water.
Did you know that if you yell, "Hey duck!" they do not respond?
Dad and I in front of the Old Man of Conniston (a mountain Dad says that we will climb when I am bigger). As you can tell from my coughing, I was still trying to get over a virus that had been plaguing me.
Mom, Dad, Kari and I went to Ambleside and ambled around. Kari got sick of walking and happily rode in the stroller while I surfed my buggy board.
On New Year's Eve, we drove even further North to the borderlands of Scotland to a town called Carlisle. Carlisle is famous for being the Western outpost of Hadrian's Wall (which was built by these guys called the Romans which really seem to excite my Dad).
Personally, I liked the choo choo exhibit best. Dad says that my strange fascination with choo choos can only be genetic and inherited from Poppy Fred.
Mom said that she was very sorry that these stocks were not available for purchase at the museum giftshop.
We spent New Year's Day near Beatrix Potter's house in Near Sawrey walking. We walked to a pond where I am sure Jeremy Fisher lives (he didn't come out...it was too cold) called Moss Eccles Tarn.
Here I am with Dad at the church in Far Sawrey on the walk.
The next day, we walked near Hawkshead but, I only have this photo because I was too grouchy and insisted on walking BY MYSELF (which, between you and me, sucked).

On our way home, we stopped for a very fast visit to Grandma and Grandad Wainwright in Lincoln but mom didn't take photos because she forgot. (sigh.) What is the point of having an entourage and papparazzi if they forget to take photos, I ask you?

Anyway, I hope that 2009 has begun for you with as much loveliness and joy as I seem to have been fortunate enough to find (when I am not busy having a 2 year old temper tantrum). This year promises to be quite an interesting one...at least that is what my mom and dad keep promising.... As always, I will keep you posted on how it all ACTUALLY works out...no spin, gloss or sugar-coating will be tolerated when you are 2 years old, you know.

Hi Everybody!

Oh NO! (That is my new favorite phrase.) Has it really been so long? Have I really been so negligent in my updates? Well, all I can say is that I 100% unreservedly blame my parents. They are sooooo NEEDY! If it isn't "Saxon, come here and eat" then they are telling me "Saxon, put your coat on, we are going outside to the playground or to see your friends or whatever." Sheesh! Can't a little guy get a minute to himself to cutdown on the blog backlog? In any case, I have much to report (now that I am back home in London) and I promise lots of news soon....well, just as soon as the 'you know whos' take a chill pill.

What To Do With a Mullet?

Imagine this, dear Saxontologists, it is Saturday morning and the Olympics are on television. You and your dad are just hanging out watching some female powerlifting (ooh lala those biceps!) when suddenly your mom appears...holding a pair of TRAUMA SCISSORS! That is right, she has a pair of those huge, nasty, serrated steel shears meant to cut through cloth, plastic and metal equally well. She holds them above my head and announces, "I can hardly see your eyes because your bangs are too long." Despite my protests, she persists in snipping my lovely long locks and five minutes later, I officially have a mullet. (In the interest of preserving any future self-respect, I have declined to provide photographic evidence of my humiliation.)

Luckily, Dad looked up from the Olympics on TV long enough to say, "He looks terrible." He then promptly whisked me away to the barber shop around the corner. And now, I look like...

In the end, I am quite happy with my new hairdo. My mom felt so guilty for defacing my good looks that this morning she let me play with her hair products. It was so fun smearing glue into my hair that when I was finished, I looked like a real British yob (London backslang for uncouth young thug)...just let them try to mess with me on the playground now!

What do you prefer? Hippie surfer dude or British yob?

Devon is Devine!

Take another cyber trip with me, Monsieur Jetset, to a fabulous and exotic locale. This time, my parents decided to book a trip with authentic bragging rights. You might be thinking Thailand or the Amazon or even the Canary Islands. In actuality, my friends, we went to Devon and lived in a caravan for a week.

Now, for some of you readers from the other side of the Atlantic, you might wonder what exactly possessed mom and dad to live in a mobile home (that is American for 'caravan') for a week with a toddler and a geriatric poodle. In fact, this is how many British people vacation and it seems to be a cultural phenomenon unique to this funny island that caravan parks dot the countryside to house vacationers just like us.

In defense of the caravan, I feel obligated to state the very important reasons why a caravan is PERFECT for this toddler and his poodle.

1) The poodle travels too. What could be better?

2) The beach is just outside my door. This is an important consideration when the water is FREEZING (more on this later) and you want to go back inside when you are done to change clothes.

(That's right...the physique is 100% Saxonator..gut and moobs included...admire it, love it, envy it.)

3) I get my own room and I can scream as loud as a want when I don't want to go to bed and the neighbors aren't bothered. Truthfully, however, after all the excitement of the day, I usually screamed a few times for effect and then crashed.

4) Caravans are INDESTRUCTABLE to even my most serious efforts at dismantling.

So, what does a caravan dweller do in Devon? Well, we went to the beach and even though it was cold, I very enthusiastically discovered a love for the water at any temperature.

My mom eventually made me come out when my lips turned blue...but I wasn't happy about it.

We walked in Exmoor National Park many days under various weather conditions.

Ms. Kari came with us on all the walks and seemed to particularly enjoy jumping in the mud.

I discovered my new favorite thing to eat--scones with clotted cream and jam...YUM! See how I can shove an entire scone in my mouth?

I helped my dad do the dishes which, when you love water in all its forms like me, is much more interesting than you might think.

I took my first shower...reluctantly. (Don't ask why but the ladle made me feel better.)

On the way home, we visited Dad's old school and Dad said that after developing such enthusiasm for swimming in Devon, maybe someday I would swim at Millfield as well.