Wednesday 10th August 2011 – 'Spressocino' (222/365)

Before anyone accuses me of giving my child coffee, I would like to explain that that's a caramel creme frappucino = full-fat milk blended with ice and a little caramel syrup. We were on our way back from Folly Farm when I declared that I needed a frappucino. Hubby agreed and The Boy demanded one "I need a spresso-cino" (which is what he calls my favourite drink). He was adamant so I relented. When I came out with ours (espresso added) he looked at it and said "You got a Caramel Coffee Frappucino!"

Do you think I need to have a little variety in my order?

Things The Boy Learnt On Holiday

When we were away on holiday last week, my little treasure learnt a few things!

Hide and Seek

A new catchphrase courtesy of Nana.

Early mark-making

How to do a 24-piece jigsaw

  • Imagination: One night he raced to the door of the conservatory, looked out at the sea which was rough and tipped with Neptune's horses and declared that he could see Iggle-Piggle sailing off to the Night(time) Garden. My heart burst with love and adoration for my clever little boy who had just displayed his first twinge of imagination. I milked it and built on what he could see. We now regularly discuss it.

He walked onto the beach, picked up this pebble and tried to unlock the big rock on the beach, "This is the key mummy!"

  • Role-playing: after visiting Peppa Pig World, one night The Boy started shouting out "Daddy Pig, daddy pig where are you?" He then looked at me and said "you Mummy Pig!", when I asked him who he was, he said "me George!" Love it.

Maybe I was more aware of this because I was spending so much time with him than I normally have a chance to. Maybe it's because other people were having an input to his development. Either way, at the age that he is now, his capabilities are developing day by day. And he is the biggest form of entertainment and wonderment around

A Sticky Situation

We were recently sent the 'First Words' Sticker Activity Book by Top That! to review. I'll admit to opening it and thinking "Really? He's two!" However that opinion quickly changed when I opened it, examined the pages and showed it to The Boy; he was captivated!

My reservations centred around the fact that sticker books often have flimsy pages with a matt finish that mean once the sticker is put down (often in the wrong place the first time), that's it it's stuck there. You can't peel it back off to move it, and if you try the stickers are so thin, they rip and you have a distressed child.

That is not the case with this gorgeous activity book. The pages are thick and glossy which means that stickers can be peeled back off and realigned. The stickers are also a really good quality and easy to hold. The Boy has gone back a few times since he first did one of the pages and rearranged the stickers, well over a week later, with no problem.

'First Words' tells the story of David and Lizzie who live in a house with their mum and dad. The book introduces different aspects of David and Lizzie's homelife from the rooms in their house to their routines. You can dress them, give them their breakfast in the kitchen, follow them on a walk to the park or when they go shopping, when they play with their toys,go to the countryside, and then go to bed. The pages that illustrate each of these everyday occurences are beautifully drawn with bright colours and attractive designs. The additional bit that I like, and I think the first time that I've seen it, is that the colours around each of the stickers matches the section of the page where they are meant to go perfectly. Too often the stickers are surrounded by white which makes them stick out like a sore thumb.

This is part of a series of books from Top That! which is aimed at children three years old and over, other titles included are 'Colours', 'Counting' and 'Shapes', and all four support the Foundation Phase and National Curriculum learning objectives (as a primary school teacher I can see how these would support his learning). One of the features of the book is that the words being introduced are also printed in the book allowing the reader to over-write and practise his/her writing skills. Obviously this is the area where The Boy has not been able to fully enjoy the book, but it's not a problem because in the future he will be able to and it hasn't hampered his enjoyment of the book. There are other lovely activities like dot-dot, tick-lists, drawing areas and colourings.

The Sticker Activity Books normally retails for £4.99 but at the moment they are on offer for £4.49. I shall definitely be popping over and buying the other titles in the series (is it too early to think of Christmas presents?)

Another top-tip (stolen borrowed from Damian Johnson) is to remove the surrounding and unnecessary sticky; it makes it so much easier for their little fingers to get the stickers off.

We were provided with this book free of charge for the purpose of this review. My opinion is, as always, honest.

Anatomy

It was only a matter of time really. And at 26 months I suppose that we're quite lucky that it hasn't happened before now, but he's definitely made up for it this evening.

The Boy has discovered his willy.

Sat in the bath this evening, he started pouring cups of water into his lap (and counting at the same time, thus proving that he can have a fiddle and use his brain simultaneously; a first for mankind) and was asked what he was doing. "Washing my wiwwy away!" Daddy winced and highlighted that it was not a good idea to do that. He then recounted that earlier, The Boy had been sat on the potty, pointed his willy up to his face and declared "You going to do a wee-wee in minute".

After hubby lifted him out of the bath for his usual big-towel cuddle, and laid him down to dry off, he declared "my wiwwy is so much fun!" (The Boy, not daddy. Daddy has learnt not to verbalise such matters). I've just come down stairs to get The Boy's milk and all I can hear is "NO! Leave it alone!" closely followed by "It will never get better!" Just this once, I hope that daddy is referring to the scab on his knee, not his willy!*

*Again, The Boy's not daddy's!

ShowOff ShowCase: The One About The Holiday

As many of you may well be aware, this week we have been on holiday as an extended family to Dorset. It's a usual family jaunt and haunt, as my great-aunt used to live down here. However, this time it's been different. Strained. Tetchy. Awkward. There's been a battle of wills in the house, and I don't mean between The Boy and me. My mum and dad have been at each other's throats all week, while I've been refereeing. Mum and I have been squabbling because I clearly don't know how to care for my own son (this is the difficult bit; she looks after him while I work but she hasn't been able to switch off from that with me here now). As a result, hubby and I haven't been able to relax properly because I've been fraught and he's been irritated.

It's not been the best week and I'm not sure I can do it again. In light of that fact, I am going to set the ShowOff ShowCase theme to be:

The One About The Holiday

I'm sure that we've all got a post about a holiday or day out that we'd like to show off again. So dust down that suitcase, look out the travel-locks, panic about your passpost and link-up your blog-post about a holiday (or day out) below. I'll close the linky at about 10pm on Sunday evening. Please add the html badge to your original post so that people know how to find the others in the linky.

ShowOff ShowCase

 

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