Silent Sunday

School of Parenting

The Boy is two years and nine months now and steadily becoming more and more independent which makes me proud, petrified and tired. He’s never really been one for temper tantrums but he is a stubborn one and knows his own mind. Overall though he is a very good child and I think the Man and I have had it fairly easy (cue payback with impending number 2): he never really touched anything he shouldn’t, never got into kitchen cupboards, never climbed the stairs when our backs were turned, never runs off, doesn’t hit or bite.

In the Night Garden Live

Last week we went to In the Night Garden Live with the Boy and his friend (J) at Old Deer Park in Richmond. Arriving at the event was a bit like entering a spacecraft as it was held in a purpose made theatre which looked like a giant bubble. With a huge INTG balloon swaying outside the Boy and J found a sudden burst of energy and peeled towards the door.

Millets Farm and Maize Maze

We have just returned from a lovely day out at Millets Farm and Maize Maze. I am knackered and content as the Boy is in bed after saying “I have a fun time today” and I am going to treat myself to my weekly glass of wine and go to bed early. But first, the key details:

Caring Cat

Just so you know, I didn’t decide to write this post after seeing Rosie Scribbles top tips for Bloggers – honestly! No really, I have been wanting to post this video for a while as it just makes me chuckle but I have only just managed to get the video file off my blackberry (its a work phone and they block everything but as I am leaving today, yay, I’ve got a new phone and I managed to swap the memory card, learn some new techy skills and hey presto!)

Toyjeanius review – Haba threading beads

I was delighted to be picked as a Toyjeanius reviewer recently, I think Jean and I have a lot in common as she says she is “A Mum of 3 who had so much fun playing with her own kids and their toys, she opened a toy shop!” I can understand that feeling, sometimes I think I have more fun with his toys than the Boy does. We received our first toy, the Moo and Baa bambini threading beads by Haba, a few weeks ago and have been road testing it since. 

Silent Sunday

Rainy day activities with a toddler

A few months ago it was one of those horrid rainy days where you don’t want to leave the house. Staying in with a toddler is challenging for us and boring for them. When I decided to stay in I googled “things to do with toddlers inside” and came up with very few results. I did find lots of craft activities but most of them were aimed at older children and not really things my Boy could get involved in as much. So if, like me, you don’t enjoy the pangs of parental guilt when you put a film on yet again then I hope these ideas help you to do something new and fun with your toddler:

1. Fill up a washing up bowl with soapy water and get lots of different kitchen bits to play with – cups, spoons, measuring jugs etc. I put them all in the water and the Boy had to find them, then we washed them up and poured water from one container to the other. In the end he actually got in to the washing up bowl and had a fab time making a royal mess (make sure you put lots of towels down underneath the bowl)
2. Build a fort – use cushions and blankets to build a secret fort which you and your toddler can hide in. We had great fun with a torch inside the fort turning it on and off and making funny shadows.
3. Biscuit decorating – bake biscuits (either with your child or without, I did them without so it was quicker!) and set out lots of different bits for decorating them – we used icing for sticking stuff on, chocolate chips, hundreds and thousands, popping candy, jelly sweets and edible glitter. You could also use healthier stuff like raisins, dried fruit, chopped nuts; although they might not get involved with such gusto!                                                                                                                       
   
4. Messy painting – this is a real struggle for me as I cannot stand all the mess but the great thing about doing it in your own house is that you can wear old clothes (or even just underwear) and get stuck in. Masking tape lots of art paper to the floor (it needs to be quite thick so normal paper won’t do) and use paints to decorate it. The Boy suffers from OCD so he won’t touch finger paints (“Mummy wipe, Mummy wiiiipe”) so we use brushes and pots. I use a marker to draw pictures for him to colour in, and I cannot draw so it is usually a square car with wheels or a rocket ship or stars but he is impressed.
5. And last but probably one of the easiest and funnest that we like is taking all the cushions off the couch and the Boy hurls himself off in varying styles – jumping, rolling, falling – to land on soft cushions below and giggle like crazy

I hope this post is of use to you and your toddler and if you have fun trying any of them out please come back and let me know!

Silent Sunday

Holiday dreams

On Saturday I am going on HOLIDAY – I am so darn excited I can barely contain myself from skipping down the streets with delight. But of course, its not all plain sailing and rocking up to the holiday without so much as a second thought a la HelloitsGemma. Oh I wish I could but I am too controlling for that. The Man however, has managed to wangle himself 3 days in Barcelona with work arriving back home 12 hours before we depart so I am left doing all the blardy packing for the three of us and in case you can’t take on board my annoyance and frustration at this over a blog post, let me tell you, my keyboard is feeling the brunt of my anger right now!!

And breathe, and remember the reason for the horrendous packing job (and don’t even think about the unpacking/repacking/unpacking thereafter). We are going to the Martinhal Resort in Portugal and to give me hope between tonight and Saturday morning, during which time I might tear my hair out in suitcase sized clumps or kill my husband the minute he walks through the door all chirpy with not so much as a Toblerone for me, this is what I am looking forward to about our holiday:

• Swimming – I love it, splashing, dunking, lilo-ing, jumping in, handstands underwater – I just hope this year the Boy is up for it before our last day
• Sunbathing – I think its my Indian blood because I love lying in the sun feeling the rays penetrate my skin and leaving me with a lovely glow
• Eating – I love eating, well usually I do (when I’m not pregnant) and I cannot wait to eat fresh seafood – prawns, sardines, lobster and churros and having an ice cream EVERY DAY
• The Beach – sandcastles, wave jumping, bat and ball
• Reading my book – or should I say books as I usually get through a fair few
• The first (non-alcoholic for me) beer after putting the Boy to bed, that is hoping he goes to bed this year
• Playing cards with the Man after dinner
• Not watching TV or going on my blackberry or laptop (well, only very occasionally and for a few minutes)

And best of all I get to do this with my two favourite people (when I finally forgive the Man for making me do all the packing)

What do you love about holiday?