9th May 1972 - 8th July 1997
8 July 2009
5 July 2009
Here Lego!
Lego played a huge part in my childhood. I remember (through the rose-tinted spectacles of nostalgia) playing with it for weeks on end. Each morning my brother and I would go through the ritual of sharing it out, brick by brick, until we each had the exactly the same amount of Lego to work with. I would always build houses, he would build cars.
Lego was my husband's favourite toy too. His mum often tells the story of how each morning they knew when he was awake because they could hear him rummaging through the lego box.
Now Presley is old enough for Lego (yay!) we bought him this Duplo starter kit.
The box makes a good boat or seat and the lid has been used as some kind of space-mask, but the contents are a new favourite. Presley instinctlively knew what to do with the Lego. He had no trouble putting pieces together. He brings us tall towers for approval. He loves the little car. We made him a phone which he chats into. He holds it to our ears and to Cash's ear too. So sweet.
I'm not sure about the 'new' colours of light green and light blue, but I guess I'm just showing my age!
Do you know what the best thing about it is? Andy and I can't keep our hands off the stuff. It's so wonderful to hold, it fits together beautifully. It brings back memories. Don't tell anyone but I made a house!
The worst thing about Lego? I doesn't half hurt when you tread on it!
3 July 2009
What A Day!
Let me set the scene: it was hot and sticky. The boys wore nothing but their nappies. The windows were open, but there was no breeze. I couldn't leave the doors open as Presley would be out in the garden causing chaos and I couldn't supervise him and cook etc. at the same time. With hindsight we should have all gone outside with factor 50 and the garden hose on spray and not bothered with the cooking. More of that later.
It was a monumental day for ten month old Cash. If was a day of firsts:
- His first tooth finally broke through.
- He crawled for the first time following a week of rocking forwards and collapsing on his tummy.
- He cruised along the sofa for the first time.
- He pulled himself up to standing in his cot for the first time, played with the spinning balls at the end of his cot and laughed at me when I told him he was supposed to be sleeping!
- He gave me a toy when I asked for it for the first time.
All of these moments brought me joy and immense pleasure, but I don't really have a little baby any more. *Sigh*
I hated myself yesterday too. Presley was in a foul mood. He drank so much of his cousin's juice so he didn't want any lunch. He normally only drinks water, why did I let him drink her juice? Too late now! Cash and I were eating sandwiches, so I put Presley in his high chair and he screamed. And screamed. And screamed. I took him up early for his afternoon nap. He slept for two hours he must have needed it.
I took Cash up for a nap, but a combination of the heat (28 degrees in his room) and his new-found skills meant that I was running up and down the stairs trying to settle him. In the end I gave up and brought him back downstairs. When he finally seemed tired I tried again. He slept. And Presley woke up.
This meant I didn't get a break at all yesterday. I'd finally synchronised their naps to give me a bit of time to myself in the day. I didn't get it yesterday. I was tired, hot, fed up and grumpy.
I'm sure Presley picked up on this. Every time I told him off he howled. I don't want to be telling him off all the time and I certainly don't want to make him cry, but he kept doing things that he knows he's not allowed to do. He was banging cupboard doors, pouring his water on the carpet, snatching toys from Cash and, my real bugbear, throwing food on the floor.
I thought 'I want to go home'. Then of course I realised that I am home. I have to admit it got on top of me and I had a little cry. I felt horrible.
How self-indulgent of me.
I pulled myself together and sat down and played with Presley. He asked what colour every crayon was, every time he used it. I didn't mind. We were playing together calmly. The afternoon was definitely improving. I got Cash up and they had a bit of tea. Then they played together. Cash pointed at the TV, Presley turned it on for him. Peace and quiet courtesy of CBeebies!
For a short while I sat and watched my two nappy clad boys. I looked at the backs of their golden heads sat in front of the TV and nearly wept for joy.
I am home. My boys and their Daddy are my life.
***
After a tough day when I wondered 'what were we thinking?' (Well, two under two is hard work). If this wasn't enough Andy and I had been rehearsing for our gig. We were going to perform two songs that we had written at an open mic night in Preston. Again I wondered 'what were we thinking?'
I was nervous, but it was over in a flash and we had a lovely evening. Here it is in all its grainy glory - apologies for the quality of the video!
1 July 2009
For Crying Out Loud!
Is there some kind of Playgroup Etiquette? If there is I didn't get the email!
After my difficult first time at playgroup and the incident when I ruffled my feathers, today I had a new experience.
Presley is a bit under the weather, hopefully just a little cough and cold. He probably caught the bug from playgroup last week, so I decided to take the boys today. The session started well. Presley had a little push of the trolley and opened and closed the Wendy house door at least fifty times that I saw. He then sat down on the mat close to where I was playing with Cash. Cash incidentally can nearly crawl and likes to stand up holding my fingers.
Presley was playing with all the toys that do something. I'll elaborate, the ones where you press a button and a cow pops up or twist a piece of plastic and a cat pops up. He became quite the expert.
I'd noticed a baby crying and saw he was with his grandmother (she looked like a grandmother, although one should never assume), she was trying to get him to push a baby walker. He was having none of it. So she sat on the mat near us. She took one of the toys that do something and tried to interest the crying baby in it. Again, he wasn't having any of it. Presley did what he would have done for Cash, he showed the baby how to get the flamingo (or whatever) to pop up. The grandmother did not like this one bit. She moved the toy away from Presley. Each time she moved it he followed it. This happened three times. Then she said to him 'Nicholas is playing with this'.
Can you feel my hackles rising?
This was not strictly true. Nicholas was crying and he wasn't actually playing with it. She was trying to encourage him to play with it.
Anyway.
I can see that from where she was sitting Presley was playing with the toy she had chosen for Nicholas, but I didn't think he was doing any harm. He hadn't taken it away from Nicholas, in fact he was playing with it upside down, so the baby had the best view of the dragonfly (or whatever).
Children take toys from other children all the time. The grass is always greener. If another child is playing with a toy it must be infinitely more interesting than the hundreds of other toys at playgroup. I encourage sharing and I'm trying to teach Presley (and Cash too) that snatching is wrong.
So was my little boy in the wrong? Should the grandmother have been so possessive over the toy that does something?
I don't think so, but hey, I didn't get the email!
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