Days 118-124 of Project 365

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118-124 of 365

118. Zoom! (We went back to Hotham Park next to Butlin's today, this time taking Laura and her family from Tired Mummy of Two. The Boy had a great time playing with Alison and Elizabeth, especially showing Alison exactly how much fun a zipwire is!)

119. Every Drop Counts (We called into The Vyne, a National Trust venue, on the way home from Butlin's today. More about that in my Country Kids post!)

120. Builders' Yard (I set up another small-world play scene for The Boy today in his water table which he spent quite some time playing with, before we headed off to gymnastics and shopping.)

121. Green Fingers (Wednesday today = first day at work of the week. However, this is not a sleeping photo which is a bonus. The Boy was determined to water the plants in the garden, something tells me this could take some time!)

122. Turning Point (After a good day in work, where I was more than happy to be on playground duty due to the glorious weather – so much so I took my classes out on the playground to do ICT that afternoon – mum and I took The Boy down the pier for an ice-cream and cycle ride. The sun casts such amazing shadows at this time of year. The Boy was having an amazing time racing up and down the pier, until he fell off and ended up with more than fifteen splinters in his right hand!)

123. New Glasses (After picking The Boy up at lunchtime from nursery, we nipped over to a small park in Cardiff Bay which I found a month or two back. It's next to the busy area of the Bay, but because it's behind a high wall and in a residential street, it's usually empty and so we get a chance to play in peace and quiet. I love this snap today for the comedic value.)

124. #22 Explore Inside A Tree! (We went to Tredegar House in Newport for the first time today. I vaguely remember going there once as a child with my parents and sister, but didn't think there would be much for children aside from a play park. It transpires that the National Trust had done a huge amount of work to make it interactive for children and they were also having a launch weekend for the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. We actually spent so much time having fun exploring the house – more on that later – that we almost missed the opportunity to cross off about eight of the fifty things. In the end we saw them and got ideas of how to fulfill them, but we didn't actually do any apart from #22 with the help of daddy.)

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Exploring The Hidden Realm (Country Kids)

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On the way home from our weekend break in Butlin's on Monday, we decided to break up the journey with a visit to a National Trust venue. We picked The Vyne in Basingstoke as it would be a perfectly timed mid-way and mid-day break, and I'd also recently seen MummyMummyMum's post about the new Tolkein-inspired play area; The Hidden Realm.

The Hidden Realm is a new play area, only opened since the beginning of April, and inspired by the well-loved book The Hobbit. Tolkein is thought to have based his tales on the ancient, gold ring on display on site, and so it was an obvious theme for a play area to occupy the once abandoned area of walled garden. Over the past six months, it has been transformed into a unique fantasy landscape for children with elements of jungle, mountain and stream, based on the Middle-Earth landscapes.

When we arrived there were only a couple of other children playing and so we pretty much had free run of the place, the perks of weekday visits! It amazes me how much has been fitted into such a small space, bridges, tunnels (with inter-connecting communication pipes), slides, stepping stones, fireman's pole (very Middle-Earth), and the best bit (for me anyway) was a dammed stream with a standpipe nearby to allow the children to play with the water.

The Hidden Realm at The Vyne, Hampshire

I really hope that the National Trust start building some more of these themed play areas in their venues, such great fun and a joy for both adults and children to enjoy.

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country kids

Snappy Presents

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It's coming up to a busy time of year for us with birthdays; between the months of March and September we have a total of sixteen family birthdays! That might not seem that many to others, but we only have four for the remaining six months of the year, it does mean that when it comes to Christmas time I haven't been completely zapped of all inspiration.

And this is the problem; after a while it gets very difficult to find meaningful and worthwhile presents for certain family members, especially when they are the more senior members of the family. They've reached the point where they have most things and also are able to purchase anything they'd like in between special occasions, whereas the younger family members are still trying to find their feet with their finances and so it's easier to buy them things that they need.

Added to this though is that the children are all growing up and the youngest child (aside from The Boy) is seven years old while the eldest is celebrating her seventeenth birthday in a few months. I'm a little out of touch with what teenage boys and girls like, it's quite some time since I was one and therefore it's making me quit discombobulated. I think probably the easiest thing is to buy an iTunes voucher as all the teenagers have either iPhones or iPods and they can download which ever apps they'd like to use. I'm pretty sure that Angry Birds or Cut The Rope are staple dowloads for everyone including my husband's nephew, and my teenage niece probably spends most of her time on Facebook.

photo

When it comes to  buying presents for the older generation, I find that you can't really go wrong with a photo mug! Practical and easy to create, especially with a photo mugs iPhone app which actually allows the user to snap a photo and instantly upload and edit it, adding any text and then paying straight away. Perfect for finding a present on the go!

Capture

That's three presents to go, just need another thirteen! Any ideas?

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Filofax: Back To School (Review)

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It's not often that I am offered things to review that are related to my day job, but when I was approached to receive a sample of the new Filofax 'Back to School' range I jumped at the chance.

Filofax

The 'old skool' soft green cover reminded me straight away of the exercise books that I used to have in secondary school (I think it was the maths books that were that colour), and I loved the soft textured material the cover had been made out of.

Once the elastic band has been popped off, inside it resembles a normal Filofax with the click-shut ringbinder, and the different sections for addresses and diaries. The 'Back to School' range comes with six dividers and to-do lists, coloured lined paper and white squared paper. The diary inserts are available to purchase separately.

It's a great gift and one I'm thinking of getting for one of my colleagues who loves retro products like this. I do wish the diary section was available with it, as it would actually help students using it for school information, but it's a great basic starting kit to engage the younger consumer.

The Filofax 'Back to School' range is available from the Ideas Network for £20.

The New '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾'

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I'm a really big fan of the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. Combine that with 'Country Kids' and it has transformed our weekend activities. That is genuinely no exaggeration; I like completing challenges and blogging about them as part of our lives, if it was the initial motivation for becoming more physically active then I see that as no bad thing.

The '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign has been created to help ensure that our children are having the natural childhood they deserve. With children in the UK being the most depressed in the western world, providing them with a sense of achievement and pride in their accomplishments (while also reconnecting them to nature) is essential. The exhilaration experienced from managing to climb that tricky tree or seeing a kite that you've made soaring through the sky is second to none for a child.

In order to update the list and make it more relevant to children in the UK, the National Trust have made a few changes. Initially I was a little irritated as quite a few things that they've removed were challenges that we'd managed (feed a bird by hand, visit an island, bury someone in the sand, balance on a fallen tree) but upon further examination I realised that they are now far more accessible for all, and realistic to achieve. It's all very well having the challenge of 'getting behind a waterfall' but if you live in the middle of the flattest part of Britain then it's rather tricky to achieve. Likewise for landlocked residents, visiting an island or hunting for treasure on a beach is nigh on impossible. And I can't thank the National Trust enough for changing 'see the sun wake up' to 'go star gazing'; after many years of teaching The Boy to not wake up at the crack of dawn, I wasn't relishing that task!

I've blogged previously about the Fifty Things so am not going to write them all out again, but I would like to highlight the changes:

 

Out

In
11. Throw some snow Go on a really long bike ride
12. Hunt for treasure on a beach Make a trail with sticks
15. Go sledging Play in the snow
16. Bury someone in the sand Make a daisy chain
18. Balance on a fallen tree Create some wild art
19. Swing on a rope swing Play Pooh sticks
20. Make a mud slide Jump over waves
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild Pick blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree Explore inside a tree
23. Visit an island Visit a farm
24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind

Go on a walk barefoot
27. Watch the sun wake up Go star gazing
29. Get behind a waterfall Explore a cave
30. Feed a bird from your hand Hold a scary beast
33. Catch a butterfly in a net Catch a falling leaf
36. Call an owl Make a home for a wild animal
42. Go wild swimming Go swimming in the sea
43. Go rafting Build a raft
44. Light a fire without matches Go bird watching
46. Try bouldering Try rock climbing
48. Try abseiling Learn to ride a horse

 I'd urge parents to sign their children up for a '50 Things' account as it's fun to use and a great record of all the tasks completed, ours shows we've completed 21 of the tasks so far.

50 Things

I have a linky running for anyone who has blogged about their children's '50 Things' challenges, I'd love for you to join in below.



Twinkle, Twinkle, It's Gone Too Far!

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So while I'm in the mood for confessing to parenting fails, take a look at this photo of The Boy's beautiful bedroom and tell me the small issue…

photo

It's a small fail and you might not even register it as one. First look at all the things that are in the picture, work your way around the photo…

  • a soothing colour scheme with a rather lovely tree (even if I do say so myself) stretching over his bed
  • a monitor to hear his lordship if he wakes in the night
  • a fun bedset
  • cuddly toys
  • a bedguard to stop my gorgeous boy from falling out and hurting himself
  • Oliver Monkey
  • a soothing mobile

Which one shouldn't really be there? Which one is the item I feel is a parenting fail?

Some might argue it's the bedguard as apparently children need to learn how to not fall out of bed. Personally I'd rather The Boy do this without breaking his arm or nose, or by ending up with a black eye. Therefore the bedguard stays.

Surely the cuddly toys and Oliver Monkey aren't a problem? Every child has cuddly toys on their bed, and while they do tend to take up the bottom third of his bed, he is actually not occupying that space allowing Ludo, Peppa and friends to remain in situ.

I'm pretty sure no-one's going to try and argue with me about the monitor.

You'd be correct if you identified the soothing mobile as the problem. Next month, The Boy will be four and we are still using his cot mobile at night to help him get off to sleep.

I know.

We bought it before he was born and have used it every night since he arrived home. It plays three tunes although I have no recollection of what the first two are, as we have always found the third to be the magic melody; 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'. For some reason it has always had the most soothing effect on him, and I still know all the verses to it from when I used to sing along with it when he was a baby. The mobile comes on holiday with us and for weekends away, to London, Cornwall, Butlin's, you name it and it's been there!

Occasionally we attempt a story CD or a gentle musical collection to try and coax him into the land of nod. 'Guess How Much I Love You' is his favourite, but the problem there is that he lies awake listening to it and then wants to start joining in with the actions. We humour him with it occasionally, hoping that he'll drift off quickly but it never seems to work, and we end up resorting to 'Twinkle'.

The main issue with using 'Twinkle' (aside from the fact that it is intended for babies) is that it runs off batteries, and I can't even begin to tell you how many we've bought over the past (nearly) four years. We've come to the conclusion that the cheap yellow ones from the Scandinavian furniture store are pretty pointless as they last about three days, and this is why we ended up buying some rechargeable batteries last year. They worked very effectively until my mum replaced them, didn't realise they were of the rechargeable variety and threw two of them in the bin.

And so we find ourselves facing the issue of what to do with 'Twinkle'. Do we try and phase her out? He surely can't still listen to her when he's 17?! Aside from anything else, the screws holding the battery compartment shut have no thread left on them and are a nightmare to unscrew.

Tell me; do you use music at bedtime? Does it help?

Please tell me you have a parenting fail?

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Hello, My Name Is TheBoyandMe And I Am A Prude

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"What are they called?"

"Umm, that's mummy's chest."

"Mummy, how did I get in your tummy?"

Thanks to whoever told him it was a special seed; it means I can continue avoiding the question.

And my personal favourite at the moment:

"How did I get out of your tummy?"

"How do you think I got out?"

I have a friend to thank for that answer, completely turns it around and exempts me from having to deal with the situation. Although, said friend actually had a c-section which is a far easier birth to explain to a child.

I'm all for not telling lies to children; I had a loving mother who wrapped up answers in cotton wool to protect me, all done with the best of intentions. However, it now means that I won't have people lie to The Boy; we just water down how much truth we tell him.

The problem is that (in the same as I still have to go to the toilet before meals) I have learnt behaviour resulting in difficulty answering certain questions. Years of not calling body parts their proper names (it was just a front bottom or a back bottom) and of not being comfortable with my own skin, means that my son doesn't really know what I look like underneath my uniform of black. I've never showered in front of him, although he has seen me in underwear when getting changed.

I didn't breastfeed past three weeks and none of my friends have had breastfeeding children since he was under two years old, so he's never seen the female breast in a natural environment. He flobbles me on my cleavage, when he was an older baby he used to tuck one of his hands down my cleavage (in case he forgot where it was, I think), and occasionally he looks down my top to check the unnamed items are still there. I know that I can call them 'breasts' or even 'boobies', but calling them boobies sounds a little Sid James-esque and intrinsically wrong from a three year old boy. Likewise 'breasts' makes him sound like he's about to perform a mammogram.

Hence 'chest'.

But it's the 'how he was birthed' issue which is causing me problems.

As a teacher I know all the theory; only answer enough to satisfy their initial question, then provide a titbit more information each time. When it's your own child, it's a different kettle of fish. DO I present him with the concept of a mysterious orifice which he was squeezed out of? Because I know my son and I know what will come next:

"Can I see it?"

HELP?

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365 #17

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We're at Butlin's again this weekend, having loads of outdoor fun with a few other Butlin's Ambassadors. The weather is beautifully sunny, not surprising for the most sunny place in Britain.

So show me, show me your week!

This linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts via comments. I can't emphasise this enough, it's the whole point of the linky!

Join in by entering the URL of your favourite photograph of the week (either a 52 or a 365 photo) and show some comment love to everyone else in the community. We've got a Facebook group, and now I've created a collaborative Pinterest board (if you'd like to collaborate, let me know and I'll add you).

  1. Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
  2. Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
  3. If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!
365



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