Good morning! It's Saturday and in recognition of that we're off to Aunty Sonya's later this afternoon. We're having a sleep over. It's only the second time we've done this at Aunty Sonya's so it could be a long night! She has two children, older than Mr F, her son's 6 (I think) and her daughter's nearly 4 (I think), or is that 7 and 5? Sorry Sonya, I'm rubbish at remembering ages.
Hey I'm good at the "S" theme for Saturdays aren't I? Second sleep over at Sonya's! Gold stars for me.
This morning when asked what Mr F would like for breakfast, the answer was one of the following:
1 cereals
2 toast
3 cake
4 spaghetti
Often, the answer is actually spaghetti, although I assure you that request is not fulfilled, and I have no idea where it comes from! But this morning the breakfast order was.....cake. Of course, cake. So being a good mummy, I set to work at making cake at 8.00 this morning! Mr F helped, he's quite good at holding the bowl! We made fairy cakes from my favourite Netmums victoria sponge cake recipe, which is the easiest and tastiest and bestest sponge cake recipe ever (in my opinion).
So, by 9.30 we'd had cake for breakfast, yum. It's Saturday, it's allowed.
I've just noticed whilst sat writing this, that there's a large splodge of chocolate smeared on my dining room wall, with several smaller spatterings below. I very much hope it's chocolate, even though I don't remember Mr F eating any yesterday. I'm sure it is. Anyway it's gone now and I don't intend to analyse it!
I'll update you tomorrow on how the sleep over went, ttfn. xx
Saturday 30 June 2012
Friday was a funny sort of day, not the fun funny, just funny. We had to get my husband to a hospital appointment first thing. We just about made it in time. Hospital waiting rooms are great for kids as they nearly always have books, those wonderful wooden bead maze toys and fish. Mr F was delighted. We said hello to the fish. Fish aren't very sociable are they? Then he settled himself at the wooden bead maze table and that's where he stayed.
Daddy went off for his appointment and Mr F stayed happily playing trains with the beads. Of course he did greet anyone entering the waiting room, with "where's Daddy?" which I would accompany with a little shrug and a strained smile, and that 'isn't he sweet' look! When Daddy came back, we said goodbye to the fish (they still weren't in a chatty mood) and off we went with a little chorus of goodbyes from the waiting room.
We went into town and sat in the NY coffee shop (it's the Peter Andre one) for some cappucino's and juice. We go here because they do good cappucino, they're friendly and they have a little play corner for kids, which is the best bit. Mr F knows it well enough now to ask to take his shoes off and then he's away. There's a little people garage and cars (and a fire engine!), some blocks, a couple of little desks and books. It's ideal for a coffee break where you can actually relax and have a half decent conversation as Mr F is playing happily in the corner.
The only time that this doesn't work out (which is quite often) is when another child enters the play area (how dare they?!) as then Mr F turns into a total wimp and creeps past them and slopes over to our table, throwing backward glances all the while. As soon as the conquering child has left the play area, my brave little soldier is straight back in there! We have the same trouble at the playground and the softplay places!
Is it because he's an only child? (though he does go to pre-school and before that he used to go to nursery so he's used to being with and playing with other children) so I'm not going to analyse this behaviour any more. No, no, no. Ok, later I will, probably over a glass of wine!
On the way back to the car we stopped off at the little book stall that's sometimes there and sometime not. And we found 2 new Ladybird books, The Little Blue Tractor and The Forgetful Little Fireman. We've a little collection of The Little Ladybird books. They're great at bedtime.
Not much to say about the afternoon as Mr F had a good long snooze on the sofa thanks to Wimbledon on the tv. I love tennis! xx
Daddy went off for his appointment and Mr F stayed happily playing trains with the beads. Of course he did greet anyone entering the waiting room, with "where's Daddy?" which I would accompany with a little shrug and a strained smile, and that 'isn't he sweet' look! When Daddy came back, we said goodbye to the fish (they still weren't in a chatty mood) and off we went with a little chorus of goodbyes from the waiting room.
We went into town and sat in the NY coffee shop (it's the Peter Andre one) for some cappucino's and juice. We go here because they do good cappucino, they're friendly and they have a little play corner for kids, which is the best bit. Mr F knows it well enough now to ask to take his shoes off and then he's away. There's a little people garage and cars (and a fire engine!), some blocks, a couple of little desks and books. It's ideal for a coffee break where you can actually relax and have a half decent conversation as Mr F is playing happily in the corner.
The only time that this doesn't work out (which is quite often) is when another child enters the play area (how dare they?!) as then Mr F turns into a total wimp and creeps past them and slopes over to our table, throwing backward glances all the while. As soon as the conquering child has left the play area, my brave little soldier is straight back in there! We have the same trouble at the playground and the softplay places!
Is it because he's an only child? (though he does go to pre-school and before that he used to go to nursery so he's used to being with and playing with other children) so I'm not going to analyse this behaviour any more. No, no, no. Ok, later I will, probably over a glass of wine!
On the way back to the car we stopped off at the little book stall that's sometimes there and sometime not. And we found 2 new Ladybird books, The Little Blue Tractor and The Forgetful Little Fireman. We've a little collection of The Little Ladybird books. They're great at bedtime.
Not much to say about the afternoon as Mr F had a good long snooze on the sofa thanks to Wimbledon on the tv. I love tennis! xx
Thursday 28 June 2012
Huge apologies for being absent, I've been making some progress on getting my business up and running, so sorry but that had to take priority for a bit.
But that's yesterdays news and now I can do what I enjoy most which is rambling here about my bonny boy! I'd like to take you back to Monday as Monday was the pre-school outing to Ladyland farm in Horley.
I was very excited and I think Mr F was too. We set off in good time and arrived in the parking field. Wellies on, suncream on, hat on and we were good to go! I must say that my bag with packed lunch, change of clothes, nappies etc looked somewhat larger than most of the other bags I could see, but that won't be a surprise to anyone that knows me as travelling light I do not! I think my friends husbands are always rather alarmed when we visit for a stop over at the size of my suitcase in comparison to the number of nights we are staying! You know who you are!!
Fabulous place Ladyland Farm. I'd never heard of let alone visited before and I thought it was lovely, they call it the living classroom and it really is. Our group was met by Farmer Jen and our first delight was to see, hear all about and hold fluffy yellow baby chicks, very excitedly and very nervously with a 2 and a half year old strangler in tow! The chick survived you'll be relieved to know.
Next were the calves which were a different experience obviously. We gave them some milk, you had to be quick as boy can they guzzle it down rapidly. And we got to stroke their beautiful soft heads, they were adorable. Mr F didn't agree and stood well behind mummy shaking his head and saying quite clearly "no"!
Never mind, next we were off to see little goats and fluffy bunnies, no problem there for my little farmer. Or so I thought. We were allowed to stroke the kid goat who was held by one of the pre-school teachers, but no thanks said Mr F with folded arms and head firmly facing the other way. Fluffy bunnies then? Nope. We tried to get him to stroke a tiny weeny adorable little bundle of fluff with downy soft long ears and Mr Fs arms couldn't have got any further above his head if he'd been Inspector Gadget himself!
Probably not going to be a farmer, or vet then. So might have to rethink future career options.... After the bunnies we got to feed goats and chickens and sheep and guess what? No, see you're wrong, my brave little farmer won through and very steadily held out his hand for the animals to take the food. You could have knocked me over with a feather, astounding. I think the difference being these animals were the other side of the fence, so not a problem. (And I have to say he gets that from me as I love animals but am a total wimp.)
Then the best bit, the grand finale, the moment we'd all been waiting for, or Mr F had, as I'd had to remind him of it several times when he was wimping out asking to go home. It was the TRACTOR RIDE! Yay! Mr F was so excited, he told anyone and everyone we were going on the Big Tractor. And if you were there you'd be laughing at this as it wasn't so much what he said as how he said it, "Biiiig Trat-tor", said very earnestly with eyes as large as saucers.
Needless to say, the tractor ride was a great hit. We, the passengers, were stood in the back of an open trailer holding onto the side rails for dear life, being bumped along and around a muddy field. But I'm sure if he could Mr F would tell you a very different story! Awesome!
Fab day, will definitely go again. xx
But that's yesterdays news and now I can do what I enjoy most which is rambling here about my bonny boy! I'd like to take you back to Monday as Monday was the pre-school outing to Ladyland farm in Horley.
I was very excited and I think Mr F was too. We set off in good time and arrived in the parking field. Wellies on, suncream on, hat on and we were good to go! I must say that my bag with packed lunch, change of clothes, nappies etc looked somewhat larger than most of the other bags I could see, but that won't be a surprise to anyone that knows me as travelling light I do not! I think my friends husbands are always rather alarmed when we visit for a stop over at the size of my suitcase in comparison to the number of nights we are staying! You know who you are!!
Fabulous place Ladyland Farm. I'd never heard of let alone visited before and I thought it was lovely, they call it the living classroom and it really is. Our group was met by Farmer Jen and our first delight was to see, hear all about and hold fluffy yellow baby chicks, very excitedly and very nervously with a 2 and a half year old strangler in tow! The chick survived you'll be relieved to know.
Next were the calves which were a different experience obviously. We gave them some milk, you had to be quick as boy can they guzzle it down rapidly. And we got to stroke their beautiful soft heads, they were adorable. Mr F didn't agree and stood well behind mummy shaking his head and saying quite clearly "no"!
Never mind, next we were off to see little goats and fluffy bunnies, no problem there for my little farmer. Or so I thought. We were allowed to stroke the kid goat who was held by one of the pre-school teachers, but no thanks said Mr F with folded arms and head firmly facing the other way. Fluffy bunnies then? Nope. We tried to get him to stroke a tiny weeny adorable little bundle of fluff with downy soft long ears and Mr Fs arms couldn't have got any further above his head if he'd been Inspector Gadget himself!
Probably not going to be a farmer, or vet then. So might have to rethink future career options.... After the bunnies we got to feed goats and chickens and sheep and guess what? No, see you're wrong, my brave little farmer won through and very steadily held out his hand for the animals to take the food. You could have knocked me over with a feather, astounding. I think the difference being these animals were the other side of the fence, so not a problem. (And I have to say he gets that from me as I love animals but am a total wimp.)
Then the best bit, the grand finale, the moment we'd all been waiting for, or Mr F had, as I'd had to remind him of it several times when he was wimping out asking to go home. It was the TRACTOR RIDE! Yay! Mr F was so excited, he told anyone and everyone we were going on the Big Tractor. And if you were there you'd be laughing at this as it wasn't so much what he said as how he said it, "Biiiig Trat-tor", said very earnestly with eyes as large as saucers.
Needless to say, the tractor ride was a great hit. We, the passengers, were stood in the back of an open trailer holding onto the side rails for dear life, being bumped along and around a muddy field. But I'm sure if he could Mr F would tell you a very different story! Awesome!
Fab day, will definitely go again. xx
Tuesday 26 June 2012
On Sunday we all went to Grandad's house for Sunday lunch. Grandad makes the best Sunday lunch, which is borne out by the fact that both my husband and my son nearly always clear their plates of food which is a rarity in my house! We had roast beef and all the trimmings and it was lovely, thanks Dad.
Mr F also enjoys it at Grandad's as there are different toys there, so half the fun is going into the cupboard in the spare room and getting the toys out. We've an old oval shaped train track which an old friend from work gave us and Mr F loves this. It has a road track in the centre so both trains and cars can come out to play. I think Grandad got a bit fed up of us using his wine bottle holder as a bridge, it's a very nice arch shape and makes a perfect bridge over the tracks. So on Sunday he had a lovely surprise for Mr F as he'd made him a special bridge out of wood and duck tape. Fantastic!
Grandad's pretty good at that sort of thing as he's a carpenter by trade and well, I feel it's my duty to help him keep his hand in with such a worthy skill and I can assure you that on a regular basis he is kept busy with little projects for me and Mr F. When I eventually find the missing wheel to the big white limousine Mr F has broken, then Grandad'll fix it!
After a great afternoon, it was time to go. This is most definitely not the fun bit. Mr F is fascinated by Grandad's pond in the front garden especially as it has water snails in it, and to get to the car we have to pass nearby the pond. It's a tiny pond but still holds a dread for anyone watching when Mr F goes running over to it shouting "Tails" (interpret = snails). There's always a chorus of "stop", "slow down", "mind the pond", and various others. I don't think he'd fall in as he's done that in our pond at home and that's a whole other horror story (but obviously one with a good ending).
Having seen "tails" in the pond, we then pry him away. I wish I could say he trots over to the car, gives Grandad a big hug and kiss and sits amiably in his car seat, I wish! We forcibly extract him from the garden and deposit him in the chair whilst bribing him with a milk bottle in order to get him buckled up. He then ignores Grandad and sulks tearfully and noisily in the car seat. Eventually he gives Grandad a kiss and that special look of don't make me go home with these people. On that note, we depart.
No sooner have I parked the car at home then Mr F throws up, yep all over himself, the car seat and the car. Of course my first thought was yuk that's all over my car, no just kidding my first thought was yuk the car seat, no just kidding again, really my first thought was has he finished, get him out of the bl@@dy car quick!
He was fine 5 minutes afterwards, we went indoors and stripped off the yukky clothes and he played happily on the floor with his trains as if nothing had happened. Resilient little things toddlers! No stresses at bedtime either as Daddy put him to bed (only because I had an important phone call to make, believe me it's not usual and especially not when illness is involved!)
The rest of my evening was spent relaxing and enjoying the pleasant summer idyl of a lazy Sunday evening. In my dreams. My evening consisted of stripping off the car seat covers and seat belt straps and getting them washed and put on radiators to dry before the morning as we had a pre-school outing to get to for 10am! Argh! I do so enjoy our relaxing weekends together........
xx
Mr F also enjoys it at Grandad's as there are different toys there, so half the fun is going into the cupboard in the spare room and getting the toys out. We've an old oval shaped train track which an old friend from work gave us and Mr F loves this. It has a road track in the centre so both trains and cars can come out to play. I think Grandad got a bit fed up of us using his wine bottle holder as a bridge, it's a very nice arch shape and makes a perfect bridge over the tracks. So on Sunday he had a lovely surprise for Mr F as he'd made him a special bridge out of wood and duck tape. Fantastic!
Grandad's pretty good at that sort of thing as he's a carpenter by trade and well, I feel it's my duty to help him keep his hand in with such a worthy skill and I can assure you that on a regular basis he is kept busy with little projects for me and Mr F. When I eventually find the missing wheel to the big white limousine Mr F has broken, then Grandad'll fix it!
After a great afternoon, it was time to go. This is most definitely not the fun bit. Mr F is fascinated by Grandad's pond in the front garden especially as it has water snails in it, and to get to the car we have to pass nearby the pond. It's a tiny pond but still holds a dread for anyone watching when Mr F goes running over to it shouting "Tails" (interpret = snails). There's always a chorus of "stop", "slow down", "mind the pond", and various others. I don't think he'd fall in as he's done that in our pond at home and that's a whole other horror story (but obviously one with a good ending).
Having seen "tails" in the pond, we then pry him away. I wish I could say he trots over to the car, gives Grandad a big hug and kiss and sits amiably in his car seat, I wish! We forcibly extract him from the garden and deposit him in the chair whilst bribing him with a milk bottle in order to get him buckled up. He then ignores Grandad and sulks tearfully and noisily in the car seat. Eventually he gives Grandad a kiss and that special look of don't make me go home with these people. On that note, we depart.
No sooner have I parked the car at home then Mr F throws up, yep all over himself, the car seat and the car. Of course my first thought was yuk that's all over my car, no just kidding my first thought was yuk the car seat, no just kidding again, really my first thought was has he finished, get him out of the bl@@dy car quick!
He was fine 5 minutes afterwards, we went indoors and stripped off the yukky clothes and he played happily on the floor with his trains as if nothing had happened. Resilient little things toddlers! No stresses at bedtime either as Daddy put him to bed (only because I had an important phone call to make, believe me it's not usual and especially not when illness is involved!)
The rest of my evening was spent relaxing and enjoying the pleasant summer idyl of a lazy Sunday evening. In my dreams. My evening consisted of stripping off the car seat covers and seat belt straps and getting them washed and put on radiators to dry before the morning as we had a pre-school outing to get to for 10am! Argh! I do so enjoy our relaxing weekends together........
xx
Sunday 24 June 2012
Saturdays are for shopping, Socatots, swimming, or something else beginning with S!
Yesterday was a Socatots Saturday, so we were up early, although when are we never up early? Actually this morning, Mr F somehow managed to open the child gate that is at his bedroom door and came pitter pattering into Mummy and Daddy's room. OMG! How on earth did he do that? His bedroom door doesn't shut properly and if it did he wouldn't be able to open it (or would he?) as it has an old fashioned latch not a handle, so instead we have a child gate (stair gate), to keep him safe you understand. It's one that you have to pinch in the sides of the handle whilst lifting it up at the same time, tricky enough for parents and supposedly not possible for a small child. Child genius???
Once dressed in bright yellow and blue footie kit Mr F was ready for the Socatots challenge. Basically what happens is for about 45 minutes, Mr F runs around doing mostly as he pleases whilst I try to get him to show case his incredible footballing skills (wishful thinking). Mostly he does the opposite of what Mummy says and then behaves beautifully for the instructor, perfectly mirroring her football skills and displaying an acute understanding of everything she says!
Once back home, we have a snack and we go into town with Daddy. We had BurgerKing for lunch and for the very first time Mr F sat at the table with his cardboard crown on, cute. After dragging him around countless shops, my husband does like to shop, and I'm not joking, we went into TK Maxx. I love this shop, not especially for women's clothes, shoes, bags which are all good, but because I can leave my husband to browse in the menswear whilst me and Mr F cruise the toys and books aisles, yay! We found a couple of great books and a lovely floor puzzle of "things that go", which is my picture for today as sadly, there was no time for artistry with all the S stuff going on!
When we got home, Mr F was fast asleep from the car journey (all 20 minutes of it!) and so we put him on the sofa for him to wake up slowly. In a nutshell, he didn't. He slept and slept, it's been a busy week. So by 7pm there was no sign of wanting to wake or eat, so we shrugged him into a clean nappy and PJs and went up to bed. We did our new stories for bed time, construction vehicles (would send me off to sleep anyway!), and he turned over and slept, bless and goodnight sweetie. xx
Yesterday was a Socatots Saturday, so we were up early, although when are we never up early? Actually this morning, Mr F somehow managed to open the child gate that is at his bedroom door and came pitter pattering into Mummy and Daddy's room. OMG! How on earth did he do that? His bedroom door doesn't shut properly and if it did he wouldn't be able to open it (or would he?) as it has an old fashioned latch not a handle, so instead we have a child gate (stair gate), to keep him safe you understand. It's one that you have to pinch in the sides of the handle whilst lifting it up at the same time, tricky enough for parents and supposedly not possible for a small child. Child genius???
Once dressed in bright yellow and blue footie kit Mr F was ready for the Socatots challenge. Basically what happens is for about 45 minutes, Mr F runs around doing mostly as he pleases whilst I try to get him to show case his incredible footballing skills (wishful thinking). Mostly he does the opposite of what Mummy says and then behaves beautifully for the instructor, perfectly mirroring her football skills and displaying an acute understanding of everything she says!
Once back home, we have a snack and we go into town with Daddy. We had BurgerKing for lunch and for the very first time Mr F sat at the table with his cardboard crown on, cute. After dragging him around countless shops, my husband does like to shop, and I'm not joking, we went into TK Maxx. I love this shop, not especially for women's clothes, shoes, bags which are all good, but because I can leave my husband to browse in the menswear whilst me and Mr F cruise the toys and books aisles, yay! We found a couple of great books and a lovely floor puzzle of "things that go", which is my picture for today as sadly, there was no time for artistry with all the S stuff going on!
When we got home, Mr F was fast asleep from the car journey (all 20 minutes of it!) and so we put him on the sofa for him to wake up slowly. In a nutshell, he didn't. He slept and slept, it's been a busy week. So by 7pm there was no sign of wanting to wake or eat, so we shrugged him into a clean nappy and PJs and went up to bed. We did our new stories for bed time, construction vehicles (would send me off to sleep anyway!), and he turned over and slept, bless and goodnight sweetie. xx
Friday 22 June 2012
Today, where to start? I decided that as it's Friday, it should be a fun day, a Mr F day and so that's where it started. After all, Friday is our day together as he doesn't go to pre-school, so it should be fun, right?
We spent the morning watching some Alphablocks on TV, playing with cars and trains and the Thomas the Tank Engine playmat (after a quick sticky tape repair, and a "That should do it!" from Mr F it's as good as new now!). And of course we did some drawing. Ah yes, there's no let up even though it's not a school day for my little man and the masterpiece produced today was of Daddy! So you'll now get to see the sheer brilliance that is Daddy's portrait, and it rather neatly follows on from yesterday's Mummy portrait completing the family portfolio.
After the obligatory battle to get Mr F dressed we managed to get out of the house around 2pm! That's not good going I know, but it's not awful either.
We went to the bank first as due to the Nat West banking problems I'd been unable to do some online transfers, sorry that's very dull but true. Whilst this sounds like a simple enough task, believe me it's literally an uphill struggle to get from the car walking nicely and holding hands all the way to the Bank. But in fairness to my little treasure he did pretty well today, so thank you little man.
From here we went to a soft play coffee shop. It may come as a shock to hear this, but today was the first time I've done this! OMG. I hope that's not gasps of horror that I've deprived my son of his rightful soft play entitlement, more gasps of pity that I've now been sucked into the hell-hole that is the soft play coffee shop! Don't get me wrong there's nothing bad about it other than the fact that you cannot enjoy a cup of coffee when a dozen or so kids are running about the place screaming and yelling and your little one is somewhere in amongst it, and there's some air compressor thing making an almighty din and a soft ball shooting gun being fired every few seconds. Or maybe it's just me? Perhaps I should now frequent this place in order to acclimatise to it and dull my senses? It's a thought........NO!
Anyway, Mr F had a fantastic time, he was brilliant and he loved it. Of course he didn't want to leave and I had to get in there and get him out, but I guess that was to be expected. Bless. Maybe we'll go again...........
xx
PS Best not to analyse or interpret the Daddy picture too much!
We spent the morning watching some Alphablocks on TV, playing with cars and trains and the Thomas the Tank Engine playmat (after a quick sticky tape repair, and a "That should do it!" from Mr F it's as good as new now!). And of course we did some drawing. Ah yes, there's no let up even though it's not a school day for my little man and the masterpiece produced today was of Daddy! So you'll now get to see the sheer brilliance that is Daddy's portrait, and it rather neatly follows on from yesterday's Mummy portrait completing the family portfolio.
After the obligatory battle to get Mr F dressed we managed to get out of the house around 2pm! That's not good going I know, but it's not awful either.
We went to the bank first as due to the Nat West banking problems I'd been unable to do some online transfers, sorry that's very dull but true. Whilst this sounds like a simple enough task, believe me it's literally an uphill struggle to get from the car walking nicely and holding hands all the way to the Bank. But in fairness to my little treasure he did pretty well today, so thank you little man.
From here we went to a soft play coffee shop. It may come as a shock to hear this, but today was the first time I've done this! OMG. I hope that's not gasps of horror that I've deprived my son of his rightful soft play entitlement, more gasps of pity that I've now been sucked into the hell-hole that is the soft play coffee shop! Don't get me wrong there's nothing bad about it other than the fact that you cannot enjoy a cup of coffee when a dozen or so kids are running about the place screaming and yelling and your little one is somewhere in amongst it, and there's some air compressor thing making an almighty din and a soft ball shooting gun being fired every few seconds. Or maybe it's just me? Perhaps I should now frequent this place in order to acclimatise to it and dull my senses? It's a thought........NO!
Anyway, Mr F had a fantastic time, he was brilliant and he loved it. Of course he didn't want to leave and I had to get in there and get him out, but I guess that was to be expected. Bless. Maybe we'll go again...........
xx
PS Best not to analyse or interpret the Daddy picture too much!
I always find Thursdays particularly trying! Yesterday was no different. Maybe it was the weather? It's a very British thing to blame the weather, so that'll do for me as it saves me analysing the real reason (avoidance tactics again?!)
Mr F was in a defiant mood after pre-school. He ran away from me in the car park, and then wouldn't come indoors when we arrived back home. No doubt my behaviour/body language/spoken language played some part in that, but sometimes I think my little treasure is simply being defiant! I did try some usual things that work in these situations, like "let's see how many yellow flowers we can count to the house?", and "oh, an ant, how exciting, let's see if there's some more down this way?", that sort of thing, but oh no, not today mummy!
In the end I resorted to the final "GET INSIDE NOW!" shouting followed by running and grabbing his hand and dragging him inside. That sounds more dramatic than it was I promise!
I should probably explain that I don't have a driveway, so I wasn't just doing the "do as I say" thing, honest! When I park my car at home it's on a residential road, which we then have to cross to walk down a public footpath to our house, our front garden isn't enclosed and the public footpath leads down to a big block of flats, a waste patch of ground and a pretty busy road, breathe...... So there are endless hazards that I see as a parent and countless exciting opportunities that Mr F sees as a toddler, you see my point?
Once indoors, it's all forgotten, especially if Team Umizoomi is on the TV. Not seen it? Lucky you, I've seen it and heard it many times! My son loves it. We had an OK afternoon spent indoors as the weather was rubbish. Mr F was fractious and still in defiant mood, refused to have a nap which would have resolved this easily, so we had a so so sort of afternoon. Finally, after giving in at about 4pm he had a nap, which was both good and bad, as at 4pm it's too late really as of course it impacts on the bed time routine, but by now I'd had enough of "Mummy, what you doing?" when sat in front of him or next to him playing or drawing or whatever, and other little sayings and many little tantrums, I know he's 2 it's what they do!
Good news though, as when he woke up about 40 minutes later he was a new man! Hoorah! Welcome back lovely! My laugh out loud moment was when he ran into the kitchen dressed in only his t-shirt brandishing his toy microphone and rapping into it like a mini Snoop Dog! But without the swearing, I think! Although it's hard to tell as I don't think it was actual words, but then again, I don't understand what rappers say either - now I sound old!
I'll leave you with another stunning piece of artwork to enjoy, this one is entitled "Mummy" and those of you who know me will see that the likeness really is uncanny! xx
Mr F was in a defiant mood after pre-school. He ran away from me in the car park, and then wouldn't come indoors when we arrived back home. No doubt my behaviour/body language/spoken language played some part in that, but sometimes I think my little treasure is simply being defiant! I did try some usual things that work in these situations, like "let's see how many yellow flowers we can count to the house?", and "oh, an ant, how exciting, let's see if there's some more down this way?", that sort of thing, but oh no, not today mummy!
In the end I resorted to the final "GET INSIDE NOW!" shouting followed by running and grabbing his hand and dragging him inside. That sounds more dramatic than it was I promise!
I should probably explain that I don't have a driveway, so I wasn't just doing the "do as I say" thing, honest! When I park my car at home it's on a residential road, which we then have to cross to walk down a public footpath to our house, our front garden isn't enclosed and the public footpath leads down to a big block of flats, a waste patch of ground and a pretty busy road, breathe...... So there are endless hazards that I see as a parent and countless exciting opportunities that Mr F sees as a toddler, you see my point?
Once indoors, it's all forgotten, especially if Team Umizoomi is on the TV. Not seen it? Lucky you, I've seen it and heard it many times! My son loves it. We had an OK afternoon spent indoors as the weather was rubbish. Mr F was fractious and still in defiant mood, refused to have a nap which would have resolved this easily, so we had a so so sort of afternoon. Finally, after giving in at about 4pm he had a nap, which was both good and bad, as at 4pm it's too late really as of course it impacts on the bed time routine, but by now I'd had enough of "Mummy, what you doing?" when sat in front of him or next to him playing or drawing or whatever, and other little sayings and many little tantrums, I know he's 2 it's what they do!
Good news though, as when he woke up about 40 minutes later he was a new man! Hoorah! Welcome back lovely! My laugh out loud moment was when he ran into the kitchen dressed in only his t-shirt brandishing his toy microphone and rapping into it like a mini Snoop Dog! But without the swearing, I think! Although it's hard to tell as I don't think it was actual words, but then again, I don't understand what rappers say either - now I sound old!
I'll leave you with another stunning piece of artwork to enjoy, this one is entitled "Mummy" and those of you who know me will see that the likeness really is uncanny! xx
Thursday 21 June 2012
I'd like to introduce to you my little treasure. I'll call him Mr F as that's close enough until I get to know you better, and he's just over 2 and half years old now, going on 15 it feels!
Me, I'm one of those mums who thought it would be great to keep a baby book from birth. But never got round to it properly. I started filling it in and in truth, got bored, weight, height, first this, first that, woah! Too much, too soon. But of course now, 2 and a half years on.......I so wish I had done it!
So, I thought I'd start a blog and keep a dialogue of my little treasures daily exploits and also copies of precious art work that seems to be prolifically produced at pre-school! Yes, you too can share the excitement of my child's artistic talents! Yes, artistic, that is spelt correctly! For those cynics amongst you, no of course it's not an excuse for me to throw away said artwork to stop my house from being lost completely in the mountain that it's become, although I am possibly in the line up for the next tv series of hoarders! That aside, I thought it would be nice to share artwork instead of photos, photos, photos.
The other reason for starting this blog, actually there are several including: housework avoidance, ironing avoidance especially, work avoidance, gardening avoidance, bit of a pattern going on! The main reason for starting this blog was the absolute horror I felt a couple of days ago when I asked Mr F to do something, and the reply I got was "I'm busy!". The astute would recognise at once where this came from, but not I. My second horror was that I only realised the enormity of the words when I read one of those article that parents really shouldn't read, called something like "10 things parents shouldn't say". There it was staring me in the face, I say all too often "I'm busy!". OMG, bad, bad mother!
So I resolved there and then that I would stop that behaviour at once, she says sat here typing whilst trying to get Mr F to watch the tv for a few minutes before having to get ready for pre-school! But I am making the effort to change my behaviour as seriously it was a shock.
A little WOW moment for you to show that's it's not all bad here. When I asked Mr F to give me the special word when asking for milk, again perhaps the more astute (or more experienced parents, or both of course) would guess that the answer was of course "abracadabra!", which made me laugh out loud and absolutely agree that it really was a special word although not the one mummy was looking for! Bless!
Hope that's a good enough introduction to me and my treasure, and I'm really looking forward to updating this with new and exciting and perhaps frightening OMG and WOW moments. And of course the all important artwork, and here's the first of many (many, many) pieces for your enjoyment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)