World Book Day

It is World Book Day so I thought I would share J's favorite book at the moment, seems Father Christmas did not fade away with the holiday season but lives on.  I get asked to read this at least once a day and it is a fabulous counting book so don't mind.  J loves counting all the things that Santa has had to drink and all the toys he has left.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Yesterday was a good day, a day without drama, the most dramatic thing was a small melt down when J didn't want to leave her friends and hey I didn't want to leave either can’t blame her. Yesterday was full of somersaults and beam crossing, sharing snacks with her best friend Seb, tuna pasta bake for lunch.  Yesterday saw a trip to Seb’s house for a play date while mummy went to see “the special” baby doctor (even that was drama free for once).  Yesterday had favorite snacks while mummy waited to get a special shot to keep her and baby healthy (whooping cough vaccination).  Yesterday was fun in the bath tub and a quick nodding of to sleep from both mummy and J.

Today, today was full of drama. The kind of drama that make you wonder when the parenting police are going to show up and inform you that actually you are not good enough to be your child’s parents.  Today was full of NO!, repeated falling over one’s own feet. Today included the poor village of Happy Land People being flooded by a wee in the knickers accident and then only an hour and an antibacterial bath later the same small village was bombarded by a flying tuna fish sandwich and raisins when J was  carrying her lunch “myself”. Today nap was met with tears, today snacks were asked for every 5 minutes but only the unhealthy ones were wanted. Today a 30 minute melt down was survived while driving home from Auntie Debbie’s house because I forgot to let J “do it myself” and lifted her into the car seat instead of letting her climb in herself.  This was followed by a smaller tantrum because rain boots and socks were taken off in the car and in a hurry to get in the house mummy only put the boots on not the socks.  Mummy has now learned it is impossible to climb the stairs into the house with only rain boot and no socks on. Today mummy let J play with an almost empty pack of baby wipes so that she could speak to her mummy for a bit.  Best £.49 I have spent this week.

Tomorrow, tomorrow daddy is home it is always better when daddy is home.  Tomorrow we will go to see Grandma and Grandmas are good.  

Licking the Spatula of Life

You learn when you have a child that you have to give up a lot to make it work but no on told me I would loose my spatula licking privileges.  Oh well it is her birthday cake I guess it is only fair!

Happy Birthday J

I am always in awe of people (especially bloggers) who write lovely letters to their children every year.  I wish I could do that, I see so many amazing things because of J and every day is such an adventure but on the flip side so much of the time I am feel like I am just barley hanging on by my fingernails.  To top it off J has an uncanny ability to do something to drive you to the edge of insanity just before large celebrations or holidays today she decided to pick 75% of the keys off the keyboard while I tried to quickly whip up her birthday cake, I thought she was watching TV.  I am afraid if I tried to write a heart felt birthday letter to her right now it might turn out something like this.

Dear Jocelynne,

Well done on making it completely through your second year of life with out being sent to live in Wales to work in a coal mine.  Special recognition should be given to your mother and father for managing to keep you alive this year even though each day you seemed to wake with a renewed enthusiasm to cut your life short in many different ways.  Commiseration on not being successful in those attempts even though one of them did manage to land you in A&E.  While I won't wish you better luck at your attempts this year I am sure it goes with out saying you will redouble your efforts.

As you enter this the third year of your life might I suggest sleeping through the night be one of your main focuses?  I know that just because some babies sleep through the night at six weeks is no reason to think you should have done it any time before your second birthday but really if you don't start doing it soon I will be waking you up at 3am as a teenager and demanding that you let me sleep in your bed or I will scream at the top of my lungs.  It also wouldn't be the end of the world if you slept past 6am on a regular basis.

Again Happiest Birthday Wishes

Love Mum

Storming America

We are making our way to the US right now but I thought it might be fun to see a few high lights from the last trip almost 18 months ago.

On the way to America snoozing in the sling

Merry Christmas

In infamous pickle debacle on Christmas day

On the way home 

We leave tomorrow for our first big family holiday. J and I travelled to the US for six weeks when she was just 4 1/2 months old.  I have gone back and forth on my own an number of times since I moved over, and Philip came over to meet my family while I was at home arranging my visas but Philip and I have never travelled together.  We have taken a number of short weekend get a ways together but never a long vacation.  I am looking forward to it and to be honest looking forward to the help with J.

While I have researched travelling with toddlers and done my best to set us up for success if there is anything I know for certain about a toddler is nothing is certain. Tomorrow's flight is going to be luck of the draw.  Will she happily take her morning nap in the car on the way to the airport and be bright as a daisy for the rest of the day and what comes?  While she appreciates routine she also loves a little adventure so I am hoping we can find a good balance of both.  Fingers crossed!

Bookstart turns 20!

J and I started attending out local library's story rhyme almost a year ago and I have to say it in one of the activities where I have seen J grow the most. It is a 30 minutes session which includes singing, nursery rhymes, musical instruments, role play and of course a story.  When we started early fall after she turned one she was very clingy, still not sure on her feet, and sat on my lap most of the time.  While she enjoyed taking in all the sensory input, she very rarely joined in. Now as soon as we get get out of the lift to the lower level of the library where the children's section is she if off and when it is time for story rhymes to start to marches over and happily takes a seat on the mat.  She loves singing the hello song they start every session with and is usually warming up her hello hands a minute or two before the song actually start.  I have seen J come out of her shell so much and it amazes me as I have watched her become more interactive, learning the different hand motions for song, following instructions from the ladies who run the group, and now starting to learn the words and actually singing along with the songs.  What amazes me more is seeing how these skill come to play in day to day life. It would be easy to write off J knowing to put her musical shaker behind her back when always asked in story rhyme "hide it" but she will do this pretty much when ever she is ask to hide an object now.  Also seeing her learn to sit through activities like a whole story and actively listening is amazing.

I have only just realize that the story rhyme out our library is funded by Bookstart.  While I knew that Bookstart provided a pack of books to all children at two different times before the age of 4 I didn't know they also provided funding for activities in the community like story rhyme as well.  I can't imagine not going each week and to be honest while there are a million different classes you can sign your toddler up to do most cost between £7-10 for a 30-60 minute session and that isn't something we can afford on a weekly basis.  Story rhyme has been such a benifit to us and I am so happy when found out about it.

Today's story rhyme theme was party to celebrate Bookstarts 20th birthday and there were lots of party games and cookies and juice to celebrate J had a fabulous time. Happy Birthday Bookstart here is hoping for another 20 fabulous years of helping children learn to love books!