This week I’ve chosen a photograph for our trip yesterday to Delamere Forest and the stick man trail. The boy has just learnt that if you rub two sticks together fast they can make fire. (I know it’s more complicated than that!) So yesterday he spent a large part of the trail trying to start his own fire. I’m not sure what he thought he was going to do with it should he have started one! Everyone knows that fire in forests is dangerous on dry days!
We had a fabulous day, walking the trail and then going on a bike ride around the forest as a family. I love family days out.
We can not wait to attend Geronimo this year, having never been before every time I read a new announcement it makes me more excited!
This week Geronimo have announced that as well as all the children’s favourite already announced you will also be able to look out for Luke & Emma, Clangers and My Little Pony who will be joining in the fun at the festival. This is alongside children favourites Mr Bloom, Andy Day, Alex Winters and Cook & Line from Swashbuckle! Geronimo is shaping up to be a fabulous family even aimed at children aged under 12 and tickets are on sale now priced £25. Children under the age of two go free!
To find out further information and buy tickets visit the Geronimo website by clicking here but if you want to enter to win a family ticket for Tatton Park on 30th May enter below. Good luck!
T&C’s: The competition closes on 29/04/16. We have one family pass to giveaway. Each pass admits 4 people, one person in the group must be aged over 18 (NB children under the age of 2 years do not require a ticket). The winning family can attend May 30th (Tatton Park). Travel and accommodation are not included. The prize is non-refundable and no cash alternative will be offered. The prize is non transferable and ID will be required at time of collecting the ticket wristband upon arrival. The prize includes all events and activities at Geronimo but not food and drink from any stalls or bar. Winner chosen at random.
Traditional boys toys consist of cars, construction and weapons. Walk down the aisles of the toy store and there will always be a sea of blue and a sea of pink. Where did these colours come from? Originally who decided that these will be boy and girl colours?
I’ve always been an advocate of gentle parenting, I try my best to use positive language around my boys, trying very hard to give them boundaries by talking them through things they can do rather than things they can’t. My boys are chalk and cheese with their personalities, the eldest is very emotional, gentle, a worrier. The youngest so far has seemed much more confident, nowhere near as risk averse, I’d go as far as to say he’s a bit of a risk taker. He’s never seemed to attach to anything toy wise until very recently when he’s started understanding the concept of ‘mine’. A new word in his vocabulary has meant that he’s been going to bed with a whole host of random house items that he considers to be his. Last night we had a bed full of items which we later (once he was asleep) sneak into remove, things that included a kitchen spatula, a book, a metal car and his toothbrush which was not leaving his tight little hand no matter what! And as I fancied an easy bedtime I thought the best course of action was to just go back later and retrieve them.
So when we were asked if we’d like to take part in ‘National Baby Day’ on May 2nd and give some more traditional girls toys a try I thought it might be something my youngest would love and I wasn’t wrong. I have never censored the toys they have to play with I’m not at all bothered if they don’t want to play with boys toys, two of the most played with items in our house is a pink tea set and the wooden kitchen. The tea set was the choice of my eldest when he was two years old, since then they have both enjoyed playing with it. This tea set was clearly aimed at the girl market with its vivid pink and purple cups, tea-pot, spoons and sugar bowl.
The other day we were excited to receive a ‘My Little Baby Born’ (Supersoft) and stroller by Zapf to test out which aren’t traditionally thought to be boys toys.
Along with ‘mine’ he also knows the word ‘open’. I hardly had chance to open the wrapping before he was pulling at the packaging to get the baby out. We set the stroller up very quickly in just one click and he was away!
The doll itself is 32cm tall and is aimed at ages 1+
It comes with a dummy attached to a ribbon which is then attached to it’s outfit so that it can’t come off, and given the amount of tugging and pulling both the boys have done with it I can safely say it’s stuck on there! From the moment he wrapped his arms around the baby to give it a cuddle he hasn’t let it go. Baby has gone everywhere, in or out of the stroller.
He’s not bothered that it’s pink, or that it’s aimed at girls, all he’s bothered about is that baby is with him all the time! Baby has even gone to bed tonight!
Now I know the stroller is only meant for dolls but when you walk out of the room and walk back in a few moments later to find the 2 year old sat in the stroller giving loving cuddles to the baby I couldn’t bear to tell him it was wrong!
I want my boys to grow into caring adults, if they chose to have children are gentle parents, who are loving and kind, with patience and understanding. I don’t believe in the gender stereotypes and I hope I can teach them that they are free to choose anything in life that interests them and that they enjoy. The dude absolutely loves the doll and stroller from Zapf and I’m grateful for now that he’s enjoying something that he can call his own……..’mine!’
We are fast heading towards the UK’s EU referendum and unless you never read the news or go on the internet you’ll prob be aware that it’s a straight forward leave or remain vote. There are two choices stay as part of the European Union (EU) or leave the EU. The question on the ballot paper will apparently be worded as “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
So you’d think having just a 50/50 choice I’d be some way to making a decision. I am not.
I am struggling with finding unbiased answers to my questions. The information that I have been given has been provided (and funded) by one camp or the other and feels very much to me like worst case scenario situations.
This morning we were watching Good Morning Britain before school and there was a short story relating to the referendum. This brought about questions from my 4 year old. He’s a pretty smart 4 year old too. Now it’s harder than you think to explain the concept of the EU to a 4 year old, who is still struggling with the enormity of the UK, world and universe! The best way I could think of to explain it was to tell him the EU is like a gang and our government, of the UK (he knows we live in a place called the United Kingdom) are asking all the grown up’s if we want to stay in the gang or leave the gang. He thought about it for a moment and then returned with the question
“So Mummy, what will happen to us if we leave the gang……and what will happen if we stay?”.
He’s hit the nail on the head! That’s it! I need to know what is really likely to happen if we stay in the EU and what will happen if we leave, I want to know from every angle. How will it affect me as a women, as an NHS employee, as a family, how will it affect our children? I’m struggling to find unbiased clear information so how can I make an informed choice. I need to know cold hard clear facts not opinion to make my choice in the EU referendum and in this case it really makes a difference. All too often facts and opinions get muddled up and easily believed.
If I can’t explain the pros and cons to a 4 year old I definitely can’t make my own informed choice.
This week I’ve chosen a picture that represents my lovely husband. He and I are coffee lovers, him so much more than me. When we moved in together I ‘thought’ I liked coffee but I was drinking instant everyday, 10 years later I’m not actually sure we have an instant in the house! He doesn’t drink or smoke so his guilty pleasure is coffee. He is lusting after a particular bean to cup machine where he can be his very own barista but as he is currently between jobs we are holding out for now. On that note if anyone is looking for a Solutions Architect (thats an IT thing!) let me know please! So in the meantime he is running his own experiments with coffee, this week was a cold brew filter coffee, which once brewed could be heated. I have to say I did try some and it did have a different taste to when you use hot water. I don’t really understand the intricacies of coffee and the art that is brewing it, it’s all about how well roasted the beans are and when they were roasted etc but I know my hubby is very interested in learning about it and I love him for his passion! It’s our 8 year wedding anniversary this week, I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by, but two children and a new house later I am a little older and a little happier each day and am very grateful for everything we have in life.
Once again time has passed very quickly and I can’t believe we are already two terms into reception class year at school. That’s two-thirds of the way through, past the halfway mark and some.
At the start of the year little did I know he’d be starting a new school all over again for term two. He loved his first school very much and I was worried about the change unsettling him all over again but he coped really well. He did a great job of just getting on with it, and is as much a part of the class as any of the other children. Even adjusting to a shirt and tie rather than polo t-shirt was thankfully very easy!
Parents Evening – We had a parent evening at his old school as well as one at his new school very recently. I was such a proud mum when the new teacher explained how well he is doing. All I have ever asked is that he tries his best with all that he does. It doesn’t matter to me if he’s not top of the class, it doesn’t matter where he comes or how long it takes him to complete a task as long as he tries his very best. He is doing really well though with his reading and writing. I used to worry that being an August baby would leave him lagging behind his peer group, I don’t need to worry at the moment. I’m proud that his teacher thinks he’s very ready for year 1 and some much more serious learning. I don’t get thought why the fun and the playing have to stop when they leave reception. I’m sad that he’ll be much more classroom based, he loves learning outdoors, what a shame that the government targets mean that all of a sudden after reception class ends it’s time to sit down all day instead of stepping outside to learn.
As this week a whole new cohort of parents will learn of their child’s school placement, there will inevitably be some tears as well as much happiness I think back to this time last year and can’t believe how far he’s come. Although he will always be my baby he has grown up in so many ways. Ways I hadn’t even thought of. He’s independent and becoming more confident each day. As his teacher pointed out he still struggles with friendships but seems happy playing alone and she thinks it may be that his vocabulary is a little more advanced than his peers so he prefers the company of older children than those of his own age group. If she’s not worried then I’m not either. I’d love for him to have some close friends to grow up with but I’m sure this will come in time.
If I had any advise for those parents that will this week learn of their child’s school it’s to cherish these last few months before school starts. Cherish them as they are now and before they change. Cherish the time that you have with them as once school starts they do change as little people. Little people who grow up all of a sudden very quickly!
So now as we face the start of the summer term, the last term in reception I will probably be sat here this time next year thinking about how once again my little boy has grown and changed. Time once again is speeding by and I will try to cherish every single day.
This week the photo I took was one when I had that very rare thing ‘me time’! The smallest was napping , the boy had gone out with daddy to exchange some of our blu-rays for some Wii games (he’s just got into playing the wii) and so after I had spent some time running around like a crazy women doing a few household chores I decided to get out the sewing machine and make a start on some new bunting for the play room. I’ve had this fabric for ages waiting to make something from it and I love the idea of making bunting (one of my favourite things in the world!) The fabric is form Ikea and I veleive from what I have read that it was designed by Cath Kidston but not sold under her name. I don’t know if thats true though but I just love it!
Thankfully spring is here, I love all the seasons for very different reasons and this week we’ve had some fabulous weather but today in the North West was a bit of a washout! A welly day for sure! So my Sunday photo is a shot of my new ankle wellies in the rain!
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