Sunday 29 December 2013

Entertaining the kids through the holidays


So, Christmas is over. Relatives have been visited, presents have been opened, vast quantities of food have been eaten, and we are left with a mountain of recycling to sort.

There is still a week left until school re-starts so what is everyone up to? We are trying to visit as many soft play centres as we have pre-paid passes for, and then getting through the rest of the day with a combination of playing with toys and watching TV.

Today we managed a walk / cycle around Haldon Forest and took our sandwiches with us, so I'm feeling like a healthy and frugal mum. Only one more week of cheap and active days out to organise!

Send me your ideas for winter holiday fun! x

Friday 27 December 2013

Fed up of eating yet?


Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas! We have had a lovely time with our family and are now trying to get back to work and to tidying. There is so much to do around the house, and I'm trying to keep up with our post-Christmas sales for our business (www.serenity-baby.co.uk)

My cupboard is heaving with gifts of chocolate for us and the kids. As soon as I get them off to bed I shall be sitting down to watch some recorded Christmas telly and working my way through the chocolate mountain.

Our next conversations are how to make the Baha'i festival of Ayyam-i-Ha in February anywhere near as exciting and special as Christmas (for more info check out www.bahai.org). We are thinking of making a pudding with all of our leftover ingredients from the Christmas pud, and perhaps making an advent calendar.

Here is our littlest one enjoying playing with his new kitchen!


Wednesday 25 December 2013

Mummy, can I have a cheese sandwich?

Can I have a cheese sandwich? This was Alabama's question on seeing the Christmas dinner spread!

Although as Baha'is our main festival is Ayyam-i-Ha in February, our kids were lucky enough to get presents from other family members. Their main present was this fab country kitchen - nicer than our adult one...



And Mummy even managed to make some stockings...




Wednesday 18 December 2013

Growing up fast?




She may have turned 5 last week, but my daughter has still stuck a balloon animal on her head to sit and watch TV. And why not? 

Monday 16 December 2013

Can I quit this job now?


Most days I feel like I've done OK. If the children are tucked up in bed, everyone is alive and happy, and maybe a third of my tasks have been completed then that is a good day.

But then there are days like today. Where the day is full of lots of tiny challenges which combine to push you over the edge. So who do I hand in my letter of resignation to? Where do I register a grievance at my treatment? Can I book a day of holiday? Er... no.

Right now peace reigns in our household. The two boys are asleep and my 5 year old daughter is happily practising her handwriting. That brings on the next wave of emotions: guilt. How can I get cross with them when they are so young and sweet. Was I too shouty today?

After a particularly busy day of rushing around, it was bath-time that really did me in. My youngest who is just over a year old came out of the bath first, but it was a bit early for bed, so he roamed free around the upstairs. His game of choice was 'lets find clothes and throw them all in the bathtub or the toilet.' He was then joined by his 2 1/2 yr old brother who decided to play 'lets throw enormous quantities of water out of the bath onto the floor'. There was much tantrum-ing etc when the incorrect pyjamas were offered to said 2 1/2 yr old, but what really took the biscuit was when he ripped apart a brand new box of tissues all over the landing. Yes it doesn't sound that big a deal now, but I was none too pleased at the time.

So, mainly to cheer me up, here are some (old) pictures of them being cute!








Saturday 7 December 2013

Does your home turn into a soft play centre?


Today is definitely a 'choose your battles' day. I have no energy to resist the little ones, and besides they are having so much fun! 

Can you believe that the one on the right is 18 months younger than his brother on the left? Need to cut down on his food I think :-)



Thursday 5 December 2013

Two year old tantrums


This is my lovely middle child who is 2 and a half, snuggling up to his current favourite parent :-)

He is a sweet easy going child, but he is now going through the kinds of tantrums usually associated with his age. I think he is trying hard to control the world around him, and so he always wants a specific person to help him whether it is passing him a tissue, opening a door, or serving him food. He will select the person - either my husband, myself or his older sister - and regardless of who else is offering to help him he will shout and scream unless the chosen one fulfils the required task.

Some recent examples include: he dropped a toy on the floor when sitting at the table and whinged about it until his 4 year old sister felt sorry for him and picked it up. He then promptly threw it on the floor again and said 'I want Mummy to pick it up!'. When he was stuck behind a stairgate and my husband opened the gate for him, he slammed it shut again and waited for me to come and let him out. I went to pick him up from pre-school and he wanted Daddy to get him. He shouted and screamed all the way home. Daddy was at home, but instead of being happy to see Daddy to tried to throw his bag and coat outside and drag Daddy to pre-school so that we could start again!

So what is the best way to tackle this emerging struggle for control? For the time being I have been looking for other opportunities to offer him a choice during his day, ie 'would you like the blue or the grey jumper?', 'which colour plate would you like?', 'do you want to fetch your yoghurt?'

I think I need to take a firmer line on who helps him though. I continue to pick him up from pre-school to offer some consistency when my husband is at work and can't pick him up. But, we have given in a few times and brought in the required parent to offer him food or help him get dressed etc. Maybe leaving him stuck behind the stairgate might have helped him learn that lesson more quickly. Like so many things the little ones do, it was comical at first, so we didn't set any ground rules for dealing with it.

Let me know your tips for helping get through the tantrum years! x