Why I Love Being a Mummy

by 33 Comments

With the approach of Mothers' Day, I have decided to be a little self-indulgent. The role that I have taken on since becoming pregnant is the most important of my entire life, and as schmaltzy as it sounds I absolutely never knew my purpose until I had him.

On that note, I give you the reasons why I love being The Boy's mummy:

  • when he opens our bedroom door (sometimes with daddy's help) first thing in the morning and runs in to my open arms, shouting "mummy, mummy!"
  • when out of the blue he looks at me and says "tiss".
  • his hair.
  • his peachy bum.
  • his beautiful cheeky little smile.
  • his legs, they are stunningly shapely.
  • his beautiful, large, sparkly eyes.
  • the way he frowns and says "baby, cry" if any child under 3 years old is making any noise.
  • his curiosity and desire to learn.
  • how he opens my eyes up to the wonder of the world.
  • the fact that he loves the beach.
  • his exploratory nature in the garden.
  • his 'four-eyebrows' (the expression he pulls when he's concentrating).
  • his laugh.
  • his developing vocabulary; he seems to be learning several new words a day.
  • the fact that he's just looked at me, after I gave him his tippy-cup of milk, and said "cold" doing a shivering action, because I forgot to warm it up!
  • the way that he 'reads' to his toys.
  • the way he shoves his entire hand into the cheese part of the Dairylea Dunker to get every single scrap out.
  • the way he delves his hands into something filthy despite the fact that he hates his hands being dirty.
  • the way he climbs up into the highchair and straps himself in.
  • the way he has always chewed with his mouth closed.
  • the fact that we are friends.
  • the fact that he still loves to cuddle up having a bottle of milk and will reach up to touch my face.
  • having him fall asleep in my arms and feeling his little heart beat against my chest.
  • his little breath against my neck.
  • the way that he looks when he's sleeping.
  • his entire being.

ShowOff Showcase

Review: Happyland Puzzles (ELC)

by 1 Comment

I popped into Mothercare yesterday to buy The Boy a pair of sunglasses (with the band that goes around the back of the head) and ended up spending £56 on toys in the Early Learning Centre department! They've got a brilliant little wheelbarrow at the moment, which he just had to have, and some other things fell into the trolley as I was walking around. (Whoops, don't tell hubby!)

One of the things that I bought is the Happyland Puzzles, which is a set of 6 puzzles for ages 18 months – 3 years.

I'd become very conscious lately that the only puzzles that The Boy ever does is the inlay designs; this is not helping him develop his problem-solving skills that much. I was especially alarmed when a work colleague had told me that her 2½ year old son had just completed a 25-piece jigsaw. I panicked! I don't think that The Boy has managed more than a 2-piece one that I bought him at Christmas and he struggled with then!

[Please note the image shows a tin and the one I bought came in a cardboard box made from 'forest friendly cardboard'. I know which one I prefer]

Why I particularly like this pack is three-fold.

  1. It has 6 jigsaws in it, some are 2-piece, some are 3-piece and some are 4-piece. It doesn't follow suit that the hardest one is the 4-piece; I actually think that the hardest one is the 3-piece one because of the angles that it has to join in at. Therefore they are of differentiated ability and challenge. As a teacher, this pleases me.
  2. The pictures are of the Happyland range, and we have quite a few of them. Seeing his face earlier as he recognised the merry-go-round was classic. He then upped and pulled open his toybox and yanked it out. He looked back at the picture and even tried to press the button on the jigsaw. The other set that we have that features on the jigsaw is the school, and yes, he tried to open the door on the school and press the bell on the tower.
  3. The pieces are nice and chunky, but small enough for little hands. They're also made of FSC mixed sources cardboard.

This jigsaw set is a winner in this household and at only £6 is a bargain as far as I'm concerned.

No, I didn't get the sunglasses, they're not in stock yet.

Census 2011

by 13 Comments

I've seen and heard a lot of comments about the Census 2011 over the last month or so. Some of it positive, a fair amount of it is negative, some of it ridiculous; it is called the Census, not the Concensus you plonker!

I can understand people's scepticism about it, but personally I find it really exciting. As soon as The Boy is asleep (this may take some time, he's currently singing to his daddy upstairs, interspersed with occasionals squeals of glee and shouting), then hubby and I are going to sit down and fill it in in a ceremonial fashion.

The census is such an important way of collecting data; initially because of the impact to local services that it has. It is a crucial piece of data collection to ensure the correct and relevant provision and funding of public services. Health-care, child-care, public transport, schools, etc. How do you think they are able to predict the need for school places in the area if not for the census?

The aim is to get an idea of who is living in the UK on a specific day, and how they live their lives. Yes, some people may find it intrusive, but I find it fascinating and it just goes to highlight the impressive social, cultural and religious diversity that exists in Britain today.

Aside from the impact on today's services, just think about in the future. I've been researching my family tree over the past five years or so, and although I take a break every so often because it can become complex and confusing, whenever I return my first port of call is always the census records! Through the online collation and access of the records from 1911 and before, I have been able to find over 300 members of both my paternal and maternal family tree. I can trace the shift in social standing, find out what jobs they had, ascertain what happened to my great, great, great grandfather's children and where they lived. None of this would happen without the collation of information through the census.

Personally for me, this census is extremely exciting. Last census, I was about to embark on the biggest journey of my life! Ten years ago I was 23 and in my final year of my teaching degree, living at home with my mum and dad, borrowing my mum's car, jobless and in a long-distance relationship with an English bloke. This census I am married to that English bloke, a mother, a teacher, living in my own (ok, mortgaged) home, driving my own car. My world had changed and I can't wait to share that information on the census!

Flashback Friday: Climbing

by 10 Comments

As I'm sure is the case with many of you, we use the 'My Pictures' slideshow as the screensaver on our laptop; seeing photographs and little videos of The Boy at various stages of development and in numerous poses really makes my day. It reminds me how tiny he once was, all the escapades that he's got into, and how funny he is.

The photograph that I've chosen as this week's Flashback Friday popped up on the screen a few days ago and reminded me of the first time I was filled with that first sense of 'I need to babyproof the house!'

The day I discovered that we needed a stairgate!

This was taken about a year ago, The Boy was crawling over the place and thinking about cruising. This was the very first time that he had pulled himself up against anything though, so I whipped my phone out when he was on his way upwards, took a photo and rescued him before he decided to investigate the stairs even further. I popped him into the playpen, sent the MMS to my hubby and phoned my dad. Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door and my father was stood on the door-step with his toolbox. The stairgate was up before The Boy had a chance to try again!

Not quite sure what I'm going to do now, as he's recently worked out how to open it!

I loved those dungarees (another reason for choosing the photo).

—

This was put together for the Flashback Friday linky over at CafeBebe. Please pop over and view the other entries.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...