Clearing Out

I recently spent two days transforming our home office from a junk room back into an office.  I've now moved on to the conservatory which is being changed from an unused and junk filled sitting room into a play room.  This has left me with piles of stuff that I've been trying to sell or give away with varying degrees of success.

A month or two ago, I tried to sell some good quality baby clothes to a local pre-loved shop.  They declined the lot without even looking, telling me that baby clothes didn't sell.  They were interested in one good-as-new toy but I declined the offer as I was sure I could get more on eBay.  The following day, I asked parents on a local Facebook page if they thought it was worth the hassle of trying to sell baby clothes.  Some said no, others advised me to do a nearly-new sale. My current approach is to dispose of what I can through the internet, then assess if I need to do a nearly-new sale.

I've tried various means of selling things online.  I've got mainly kids' things plus a few items of furniture to dispose of.  Facebook selling pages have proven a complete waste of time, though I managed to sell something to a friend via a Facebook status.  Friday-Ad proved brilliant for selling furniture - it went for the asking price, give or take £3 and the ads didn't cost me a penny.

I've put various things - mainly toys and baby equipment on eBay.  Some things haven't generated any interest.  Others have lots of watchers and a few bids.  My most popular item?  Used, slightly bobbled training pants.  Munchkin's old pants have three bids and nine watchers so far!

Would you pay good money for these pants?

There are some things I can't even give away.  I've put Munchkin's old changing mats and changing bag - all clean and perfectly useable, but by no means good-as-new on three Freecycle-type sites and no-one is interested. The problem with the changing bag might be that Boots give them away for free but I can't explain the changing mat thing.  So why do parents want to buy used... and I mean USED... pants when they don't want free changing mats? I don't get it, but those FLIP training pants we didn't get on with will be going on eBay as soon as I have time to take pictures.

Little Monsters Bash

On Saturday, we went to Little Monsters Bash, at Stanmer Park in Brighton.  This was a festival for young children, arranged in aid of Tree of Hope - a charity that helps sick children.  Someone sent me details a while ago on Facebook but it didn't sound that exciting until I checked out the the line up.  The headline acts were Heaven for the under tens. 

Munchkin got to meet Peppa and George but she wasn't expecting them to be six feet tall, and was a little scared!  Captain Barnacles and Quasii from The Octonauts were also there, as was Yo Jo Jo (or whatever his name is) from WayBaloo.

George doing a meet and greeet

There were some excellent shows on the main stage - most of which repeated several times, meaning that we had a chance to see what was on elsewhere.  Alex Winters from CBeebies was the compere.  I think it's perhaps the only time he's been able to give a big up to shows from Nick Jr without falling foul of his employer. I really enjoyed Katy Ashworth's band.  I like a bit of live music and they were talented and entertaining.  Munchkin enjoyed watching Go Go Go... or the Go Go People as she prefers to call them.  We didn't bother with all the main acts, since we thought Dick and Dom, and the times table rapper amongst others, were too grown up for her. 

Katy and her band on the main stage

There was much more going on than I have room to mention here.  The only marquee that we  managed to get to was the Story Tent.  The Crafts Tent looked good, as did some of the other activities including Sing and Sign, and a kiddies' disco.  There were various stalls dotted around, the most popular of which sold animal shaped helium balloons. In addition to all the shows and stalls, there were kiddies' favourites such as a bouncy castle and face painting; Munchkin was a happy, busy girl. 

Little Monsters Bash wasn't cheap, it was around £15 a person, even with a Groupon discount.  However, you got a lot for your money.  I believe parking was an additional £5, but we didn't need to pay this.  2014 was  the festival's first year and I hope it continues for many more.  My only criticisms would be some minor logistical ones: although there were plenty of toilets there wasn't enough toilet paper, and there weren't enough children's options on the catering vans.  Given that picnics weren't allowed, an outlet selling sandwiches would probably have gone down well.  I'm also undecided on the merits of a mobile petting zoo.  Do meerkats like spending significant amounts of time in transit, and setting up a temporary home away from their normal territory?

Munchkin's social life seems to be continuing apace over the summer holidays so I'll no doubt be writing more blogs on activities.  It makes a change from potty training, which incidentally is completely done.  She doesn't even wear nappies at night now.  I just need to find a buyer for those expensive cloth training pants.

Resolutions

Yet again, I haven't found much time for writing.  I've just had another birthday so have decided to make some resolutions for my 42nd year.  So far I've got to:

1. Write more
2. Worry less
3. Read more
4. Go to bed earlier
5. Clear out all of our junk

Munchkin is pretty much potty trained.  Until today, she hadn't had an accident for about two weeks.  She's got a tooth coming through and was too busy screaming at me to notice she was desperate for the toilet.  Night times are going really well.  She's said that she wants to wear Peppa Pig pants to bed and I've told her she can if she can show me that she can keep her pull-ups dry.  She's woken up dry every morning since I said that to her last week.

Here's a brief run-down on what we've done since I last blogged, if I can keep to my resolution, I might go back and blog on some of these in more detail:

• Family holiday in North Devon with Sweetpea & Co.  This went really well and we managed to find lots of activities suitable for toddlers, parents and grandparents.  The weather was also kind to us.
• Party at David Lloyd for Munchkin's twin friends' third birthday.  This was really well done.  It was held in the David Lloyd creche, and everything was laid on by the club.  The party was led by one of the creche staff and food was supplied by the club's restaurant.  It was interesting to learn that you don't have to be a member to book a party there.  I would love to join David Lloyd, but don't think I can afford it!
• Visit to Washbrooks Farm.  This was a very good suggestion for a meet-up by our childless friends.  Munchkin got to see animals, ride on a tractor, play outside on a wide selection of equipment including a brand new bouncing pillow, and go to indoor softplay.

Phew, I've blogged... Must try not to leave it so long next time.

To my mother

I've spent a lot of time thinking about my own mother just recently.  The mother of someone I'm close to has just discovered she's seriously ill so is attempting to spend as much time with her grandchildren as possible.  My mum never had that opportunity, her only grandchild was born six years after her death.  I'm really missing her at the moment, and feel guilty that my grief may be detracting from my friend's concerns about his mother.

Munchkin and I were looking at some old photos today, one of my mum when she was a child and two of my mum and me when I was about the age Munchkin is now.  She quickly realised who the little girls were, and that the woman who looked like me was actually Granny.  I've concluded that Munchkin looks like me, but with Granny's hair and Daddy's eyes.  Munchkin understood the concept that I was once a little girl like her, a lot more readily than when I tried to explain why Granny wasn't at Pops' house when she was in lots of photos with him.  She spent five minutes upstairs looking for Granny that day.  I ended up telling her Granny was in Heaven, and hoped it didn't come back to haunt me when we went on holiday to Devon!

Image courtesy of Marin / Freedigitalphotos.net

My mother taught me a lot about parenting, sometimes without realising it.  Here is a brief selection:

1. The only person who could convincingly tell me everything would be all right, no matter how dire it seemed, was my mum.  I think this should be in the Mother's Job Description.  I'm sure I once read a Caitlin Moran column where she said this was the biggest lie a mother ever tells.  Sorry Ms Moran, I disagree.  It's all about perception.  If you believe everything will be all right -I'm starting to sound like Bob Marley now- you'll find a view of the world that enables you to feel this is the case.
2. Never forget you were once a child.  Children need to be played with, and they require empathy.
3. Potty train as early as possible... Nappies are horrible!
4. "I want doesn't get."  Oh Munchkin, how many times have I said that to you?
5. Be careful what you say to your children and never assume they don't understand.  I can still remember things that my mum said when her first marriage was breaking down.  I would only have been three or four at the time.

You may have gathered that I've taken point 3 to heart.  Potty training is going really well.  Munchkin spent last week on holiday with Sweetpea, who has also just started potty training, and they've been running a toilet relay all week.  I've concluded that we get a 5 minute warning for wees and a 30 second warning for poos.  We took Munchkin swimming without a nappy today.  I assumed it would be fine since her swim nappies have always been empty after lessons.  Thankfully she knows when she needs the toilet, or it could have ended in pool closure.  She pooed in her swimsuit just as we got to the loo.  It will be back to nappies for Friday's lesson.

If I can find the time, I'll blog about our holiday in Devon.  We're off to a birthday party at David Lloyd in Worthing next week, so that might also be worth a mention.

Date Night

Last week's Date Night was much more exciting than anything that's happened this week so I've decided to make it the subject of a blog post.  Angmering  Daddy and I don't go out that often because we're not the type of family with grandparents on the doorstep.  A few months ago, I noticed a bill board advertising a live show by Dave Gorman, one of our favourite comedians.  I looked details up when I got home and found that Dave was doing a series of live shows to test out material for the next season of his TV show, Modern Life is Goodish.  We booked straightaway.  The next challenge would be to find a babysitter.  My lovely step-sister obliged, suggesting that Munchkin joined her five year old daughter for a sleepover.

So Date Night arrived and we took Munchkin over to Lewes to stay with my step-sister.  We set up her Ready Bed in little Flower's room and stayed to play with her and make sure she was settled in.  After about an hour, Munchkin asked us to go home!  It was nice to feel wanted...

Our evening started in Food restaurant in Worthing - somewhere we've wanted to try for ages.  The service was good and the food was superb.  We used the fact that we had time to kill as an excuse for having three courses.  Everything was cooked to perfection.  I had the Calamari, Louisiana Street Food, and Banana Creme Brulee.  AD had Latino Popcorn, Blackened Prawn and Pork Tenderloin, and Cheesecake.  We've been considering going back with Munchkin, but yet again I've been put off by the children's menu.  Why do so many restaurants, even those frequented by "foodies", think that children want chips with everything and assume that the parents are happy with that?

Then we moved on to the main event, Dave Gorman at the Connaught Studio.  I hadn't been to the Studio before so was unaware it was a separate building.  People had to queue outside until the doors opened shortly before the show.  It interesting to learn the Studio used to be The Ritz, which had beem a cinema and a ballroom at different points in the 20th Century.  Dave Gorman was really funny.  The purpose of the live shows is to help him develop scripts.  His audiences have been asked not to post details of the content of these shows online since it would spoil the TV series later in the year, and might make some of the special guests nervous.

It was weird not being woken up by a toddler demanding a cuddle or a cup of milk at 6:30 am the following morning.  Apparently she was well behaved but was too excited to sleep until around 9pm.  Other than decorating her bed with felt-tip and not using the toilet at all, she was the model child.  Since Flower had an inset day, we spent the day in Lewes when I went to pick her up.  She had great fun in the playground at Malling Recreation Ground before we went to lunch at Prezzo, which thankfully had a much better children's menu than some of the independent restaurants I've been to recently.

In potty training news, I still have two Munchkins.  Nursery Munchkin wore pants today and only had one accident.  She then came home, refused to go to the bathroom to get ready for bed, and peed her pants.  I think the next two days at nursery will be fine, but I'm dreading pant wearing on Friday.

Potty Training Week 2

It's as if I have two different children.  Nursery Munchkin is almost potty trained whereas Home Munchkin uses the toilet every now and then.  The Peppa Pig medal for pooing on the toilet has been awarded.  This feat was achieved yesterday... At nursery, of course.  When we arrived to collect Munchkin this evening, we were told that she'd been dry most of the day.  The carers have asked if we want to send her to nursery in knickers next week.  I'll probably send her in the Bambino Mio training pants since she prefers those to the Flip. 

The unworn pairs of Flip pants went back to Lizzie's Real Nappies.  Lizzie commented that they were the best on the market, but the manufacturer hasn't got it quite right yet.  We probably will use the remaining pairs but I was hoping they'd be a substitute for pull-ups and that hasn't been the case.

Peppa Pig Medal

Home Munchkin has been a nightmare.  She has regressed to only using the toilet a couple of times a day and doing everything else in her pull-ups.  And the tantrums... Well, where do I start?  Public screaming fits about going to the toilet and/or wearing nappies, refusing to get dressed, refusing to go to bed... The list goes on... She's been driving me to distraction.  I'm somewhat anxious at the best of times and I just haven't known what to do.

I've tried ignoring her, the "broken record" technique of repeating myself continuously until she gives in, negotiating and letting her do what she wants.  Nothing seems to work very well.  Angmering Daddy thinks negotiation is the way forward but I'm not convinced.  I think she behaves worse for me because she picks up on my anxiety.  She's made me cry twice this week.  I'm trying to find some mindfulness training to help with my anxiety and have also reserved ToddlerCalm by Sarah Ockwell-Smith from the library.  However, AD is really annoyed with me.  He says that you learn to be a parent by being a parent and books are pointless.  I'm still going to read it though!

Hopefully my next blog will be about something more exciting than toilets.  Munchkin had her first sleepover at the weekend when AD and I went on a date, and we've also been to Ferring Country Centre, which has had an upgrade since our last visit, so there's plenty to tell if only I can find the time.

Potty Training Week 1: Lessons Learned

Well, potty training has definitely had its ups and downs over the past few days.  Here is a list of lessons learned so far:

1. Flip training pant inserts have a girls' way and a boys' way.  My daughter was wearing them the boys' way.
2. Munchkin views going to the loo as a recreational activity. She'll only go if she's near a bathroom and/or someone else wants to go.  When she does something on the toilet, she gets very excited.  Most of the time she goes in her pants because it's quicker.
3. Flip training pants are not as absorbent as disposable pull ups, unless you use multiple inserts.  If you do this, the pants become so bulky, most self respecting toddlers don't want to wear them.
4. Like several other toddlers I know, Munchkin doesn't much care if she's a bit wet.  She was no more keen to get out of soggy training pants than she would have been to get out of an absorbent nappy.
5. The inserts in Flip training pants bunch up in the middle, meaning it's difficult to get the absorbent bit where it's really needed.
6. Our plans to keep Munchkin home all weekend so she could get used to fabric pants backfired.  She got stir crazy and started to regress.
7. Potty training can be really stressful if you don't approach it in a way that works for you and your child.  The last time I felt as bad as I did yesterday, I had post natal depression.
8. Pull ups aren't so bad after all.  I had a long chat with Munchkin and she agreed to wear them.  They've meant we can leave the house, and she can use the toilet whenever she fancies.
9. Portable toilet seats are a godsend.  We have a Toodaloo.  It folds to the size of a couple of nappies and means that Munchkin can sit on any toilet without my having to hold her.
10. My child has a sprinkler attachment.  I have to wipe down her toilet seat after she's finished.

Pants!

Munchkin and I have been too grumpy and busy for blogging recently so you've missed out on two epic tantrums and a family trip to Fisher's Farm.  We'll be going back to Fisher's Farm so I'll blog about that another time.  The least said about the tantrums, the better, though I would like to thank the helpful stranger who got us moved to a later swimming lesson when Munchkin's pool tantrum finally ended.

Munchkin is getting closer and closer to being potty trained.  She doesn't like nappies very much and hates pull-ups but my attempt to put her in standard training pants ended in a puddle, partly because they weren't absorbent enough but mainly because they didn't fit snugly around the legs.  There was no way I could put her straight into knickers, since she was doing half her wees and all her poos in nappies.  I still felt cloth training pants were the answer, but I needed to find the right brand.

I didn't have much idea where to look.  Luckily, Laura from Worthing Nappy Library came to my rescue.  She very kindly contacted other nappy libraries to get recommendations for absorbent training pants.  Two American brands, Super Undies and Bumgenius Flip, were recommended.  Super Undies were out of stock everywhere, which was a shame because they were cheaper and more slimline.  I therefore invested in some Bumgenius.  These pants are adjustable so one size fits age 18 months to 4 years.  They have removable inserts which can be changed if the child has only done a wee.  I initially bought three pairs when they were on offer at The Nappy Lady.  The offer price was £21.49, or thereabouts, for a pair of pants and three inserts.  I wish I'd bought more since I've just paid the full price of £27.99 for additional pairs.  I got the additional pairs from Lizzies Real Nappies because they had a better range of designs, in my opinion.  There seems to be a market for second-hand real nappies so I'm hoping to recoup some of my money when she moves on from these pants.

Munchkin's first pants... They've got bunnies on :-)

We had a nappy dry run yesterday.  Munchkin liked her pants, and it almost was a dry run too.  In three hours, she only did one small wee in them.  They're not as easy to get up and down as I'd hoped so we might have to try loosening them.  I did also put them on back-to-front initially, though I'm not sure I should admit to that...  At the weekend, we'll start potty training properly.  Hopefully I've bought my last daytime nappies.  Angmering Daddy has told Munchkin she can have a Peppa Pig medal when she poos on the toilet... I look forward to making it for her.

Duck!

We like ducks in the AM household.  "Duck", was Munchkin's first word, well over a year ago now.  We all love feeding the ducks at Mewsbrook Park in Littlehampton.  Despite this, I was somewhat annoyed when Angmering Daddy announced that he'd bought us an annual membership to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.  We'd probably use it once, then the cards would sit at the back of our wallets until the renewal came through and we realised we'd forgotten to cancel it.  Well, that's what happened with English Heritage and National Trust, anyway.

I hate to admit it, but I was wrong.  We've been to the Arundel Centre three times since AD was "conned" into signing up at a local garden centre.  Our membership was £63 and it would have cost us £71.70 if we'd paid on the door each time.  Munchkin goes free until she's four, so we'll make the most of that as well.  We've tended to go for a morning stroll, then stay for lunch in the cafe.

We're not avid bird watchers or serious photographers, we just find it a pleasant place for a day out.  In the past we've made a day of it, and taken a picnic.  We generally take the same route, so we start off in the area where bird feeding is permitted.  -This is something WWT need to be clearer about. Every time we visit, there are people feeding birds where they shouldn't be.- When Munchkin is a bit older, we'll give pond dipping a try.  We take the boat safari towards the end of our visit.  Munchkin usually insists in going to the playground just before we leave.

The Centre puts on family activities from time to time.  We're hoping to try some craft activities, though these tend to be in the school holidays so may be busy.  I need to find out if any mummy friends are members, since it's an easy place to get to for a meet up.

In other news, we are finally potty training... Munchkin does something on the toilet pretty much every time she sits on it.  The trouble is, she still goes in her nappy between toilet visits... Sigh...

Pubs and Puddles

Another weekend, another lunch date for Munchkin...  This time we met up with some former work colleagues.  Since our friends are childless, we always have to pick the venue.  They live in Brighton and don't drive so we generally pick them up and go somewhere in the Brighton or Lewes area.  I stumbled upon a site called Child Friendly Brighton & Hove, which is a godsend for finding Munchkin friendly eateries.

We went to The Half Moon in Plumpton.  The food was really good.  Munchkin and I both had sausage and mash.  We promised to leave some for Daddy to try but it was so nice, we scoffed the lot.  The children's menu was £6 for two courses. The children's dessert was anything you like, as long as it was a scoop of ice cream...  The children's facilities were good, but not as good as we were expecting after the write up on Child Friendly Brighton & Hove, for example there were no crayons and paper on offer.  The play area in the huge garden was great.  Munchkin loved the slide and the sand pits.  However, the pub let itself down on service and we wouldn't rush back for this reason.  Strike 1: Our drinks didn't arrive. It turned out that they'd run out of stout. Rather than telling us, they just forgot our whole drinks order.  Strike 2: The wrong menu had been put out and the dish Angmering Daddy wanted wasn't available.  Strike 3: I couldn't find the baby change promised on CFBH.  The waitress told us they didn't have one so I changed Munchkin on the toilet floor.  I later discovered there was a tiny changing table tucked away in one of the toilet cubicles.

Yesterday was a little dramatic.  Munchkin has finally worked out what the toilet is for so I bought her some training pants.  I've gone for the fabric variety since these are meant to promote quicker potty training.  She had a tantrum and refused to get dressed yesterday morning.  I gave her the choice of a nappy, disposable training pants or the new pants.  She settled on the new ones, but the tantrum didn't subside much.  Five minutes later, I found her standing in a puddle.  Thankfully she'd been thoughtful enough to stay on the changing mat.  Note to self: Training pants hold a small wee, not a torrent.  The morning didn't improve much.  She had a friend round to play and spent the first half hour avoiding her and the second half hour screaming.

Munchkin has a busy Easter weekend ahead of her.  She's going to two Easter egg hunts and may be going on a day trip to Butlins in Bognor and/or a trip to see Thomas the Tank Engine.

Dummies are for dummies

For the third night in a row, Munchkin has gone to bed without a dummy -"a soother" if you're reading this in North America.  Angmering Daddy has been trying to persuade her not to use them for a month or two, with limited success.  I hadn't imagined we'd be at this point so soon since Sweetpea was nearly three when she gave up dummies.  I'm very proud of Munchkin and if this continues, I'll be throwing away all her dummies -she has about ten.

She's been a good girl generally over the past week or so.  Her confidence is coming back after half a term of no gymnastics or swimming.  Last week we managed the gym warm up with no screaming and a small amount of participitation.  Post warm up, she was back to normal and showed off her skills on the big beam - it's lower than a full sized one but there's still room to fall off.  Her late granny, who was a gym coach, would have been really impressed.  She smiled during most of this week's swimming lesson, though she's still lacking confidence and won't do half the things she was doing last term.

I've posted on here about potty training in the past.  These days, Munchkin hates the potty and will only sit on the toilet, using her Peppa Pig toilet seat.  Unforunately she only sits on the toilet, she hasn't done anything on it yet.  Despite repeatedly showing signs of being ready for potty training, we're no closer than we were eight months ago. 

Munchkin's toilet habits have caused me to change nappy brands.  Being environmentally conscious, but wanting an easy life, I've usually opted for eco disposables.  We started out in Beaming Baby, which was great until Munchkin ended up between sizes; their mini nappies leaked but we couldn't do up their midi nappies tightly enough.  I gave up on Beaming Baby and switched to Sainsbury's eco nappies.  These served us well for a year but are now leaking like mad.  I changed from a size 4+ to a 5, which was slightly better but still not great.  I bought some Naty pull-ups, the only other eco brand they sell in Sainsbury's to see what they were like.  They seem much more absorbent so I'll give their regular nappies a go.  I think, until we're really potty training, Munchkin can have a mixture of nappies and pull-ups depending on where we are and what we're doing.  The pull-ups were brilliant yesterday because we went to a family party at a pub with no baby change and they were easy to whip off in the Ladies' without having to lie Munchkin down.

Well, I think that's enough blogging for one week.  I'll try to blog more regularly in future but certain aspects of my writing regularity are just shocking.  I've got three international penfriends whom I haven't written to for almost a year, and a novel in my head that refuses to be put onto paper.

To blog or not to blog...

Ooh, scary, I've left it so long, I'm not sure how to blog any more!  Life just got in the way.  I left blogging for so long, I wasn't sure if there was any point going back to it.  My Christmas went with a bang, quite literally.  I fell down the stairs, went to A&E in an ambulance and spent Christmas so drugged up, I slept through half of it.

Munchkin's grown up a lot in the last couple of months.  She no longer uses a highchair and we took the sides off her cot this evening... Fingers crossed we don't get a 5am wake up call!  We keep being told that she's a brilliant speaker for her age.  We put this down to Sing and Sign.  Despite my high hopes in the summer, she still isn't potty trained.  She seems to have developed an aversion to the potty recently but has agreed that a Peppa Pig toilet training seat would be lovely.

I'm still unsure how my child (who only ever watched CBEEBIES and Disney) developed an obsession with Peppa Pig.  She watched it a handful of times at cousins' houses and there was a Peppa Pig themed charity event at nursery in the summer.  The next thing I know, she wants to watch Peppa every time the TV's switched on!  I can only assume it sends out subliminal messages to all toddlers...

I've been thinking just recently that becoming a parent has given me a whole new social life.  Admittedly, it's more difficult to go out as a couple now.  But on the plus side, I've made more friends in the past two years than I did for donkey's years pre-baby.  Last night I met up with some mummy friends and friends of friends for a meal at The Lamb in Angmering.  I highly recommend The Lamb.  It was recently converted into a gastro pub and has a busy bar on one side and a decent restaurant the other side.  The only thing I wasn't so keen on, was that I'm always on the lookout for child friendly pub/restaurants for weekend lunches.  I wasn't impressed with the children's menu since everything appeared to be served with chips.  Not one to add to our list of family favourites!

Well I did it, my blog is resurrected!  I've got another defunct blog out there somewhere and it will have to stay defunct for now because I can't remember the password!

Blackberry Farm

Last weekend Munchkin's cousin Sweetpea (and her parents) came to stay.  The girls really enjoy spending time together, it's particularly nice for Sweetpea as she doesn't get many opportunities to mix with other small children.  There's only 11 months between them and they generally want to do similar things, although it's probably fair to say I have the more adventurous child.

We first went to Blackberry Farm last year when Munchkin was a baby.  She had her first ride on a swing there.  We noted that there was a large play area for toddlers and thought it might be nice to come back with Sweetpea.  Blackberry Farm is in the hamlet of Whitesmith, to the east of Lewes.  Our Sat Nav failed to find it but luckily I knew it was on the main road so carried on driving until I saw a sign post.  It was a  lovely day and we were surprised it wasn't more busy.  I guess this was due to a combination of people preferring the beach and Blackberry Farm not being particularly well known.  We first went there with my step-sister, who lives in Lewes; no-one from outside the Lewes area seems to have heard of it.

Admission wasn't cheap, but there are offers and season tickets available.  I was slightly miffed at having to pay child rate for Munchkin but I guess it's only fair considering how much toddler stuff they have.  During peak times (Mar to Sept inclusive), it's £7.50 for adults and £7.00 for children over one.  We had a pleasant walk around the open farm area.  We've been to a few farms just recently and this is definitely one of the better ones.  It looks as if lots of money has been invested to make it a visitor attraction.  You walk round a circular route, rather than getting to a field or barn and having to turn back as so often happens on open farms.  I enjoyed feeding the ducks and goats.  The girls were vaguely interested in watching me and they did like the birds and animals but were definitely more interested in the play area.

Last time we visited, we had two slightly older children with us.  They both enjoyed the pony rides.  Though the little boy almost didn't get one; it's necessary to book as soon as you arrive.  The play area has things for children of all ages.  We stayed in the toddler area this time.  Last time we were in the main play area which includes monkey swings and a zip wire.  There's a huge "jumping pillow" suitable for all ages.  In the toddler area, there's a range of slides and a trampoline.  Sweetpea enjoyed bouncing on the trampoline.  Munchkin got everyone else to bounce her!  Blackberry Farm also has a cafe, though we didn't use it because we'd brought a picnic.  The picnic area is on the perifery of the play area, which unfortunately meant Munchkin ran off once when we were trying to get her to eat.  We fared better than Sweetpea's parents.  Sweetpea had no interest in eating and just kept running off to check out play equipment.  The playground was a real hit, we had trouble persuading the girls to leave!  I can't imagine us visiting enough to warrant a season ticket (£45 for a child) but I'm sure we'll be back.

Weather permitting, we'll be back in the Lewes area tomorrow.  I'm a member of Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare so we're popping over to see the animals and birds.  There's no admission charge, but I'd feel incredibly mean if I didn't give them a donation.

In other news, potty training has stalled again.  Munchkin has stopped telling me when she's done a poo.  Yesterday she sat on the potty, stood up and pooed on the floor next to it, destroying four Mr Men books in the process.  I guess I should at least be grateful that she's potty aware.  I know of older children who have less interest in the potty than she does.  We went back to swimming and gymnastics this week. Once Munchkin had remembered what it was all about, she started to enjoy them again.  This evening I asked Munchkin what she wanted to do tomorrow.  She simply replied, "Eat".

Poor Munchkin...

Munchkin isn't a happy bunny at the moment.  She's not really ill, just grumbly and under the weather.  This has been going on for a few days.  I think the main problem is that her molars and pre molars are coming through, all at the same time (or so it seems to us) and she's also got a cough.  She really enjoyed her gymnastics session on Friday but things seemed to go downhill after that.  There were two people we knew at gymnastics this week so it was nice for Munchkin to have some small people closer to her age.

She lost her appetite and ate very little all weekend, turning her nose up at firm favourites like macaroni cheese and ice cream (not served together, though she is partial to eating sweet and savoury at the same time!).  On Sunday we went to Middle Farm with some friends from work.  The adults had lunch whilst Munchkin sat in a highchair and played with some food, then we looked round the farm, where Munchkin just wasn't her usual self.  Normally she'd be very interested in all the animals and birds and would be giving us a running commentary on what we were looking at (or her interpretation: "cockers" are cockerels, cows are quite often horses and the majority of birds are ducks!).  On Sunday she was quite subdued.  The only time she smiled was when she went on a swing, and then she screamed when it was time to come off!  The rest of us enjoyed ourselves!  Middle Farm has a great farm shop.  I bought the best Scotch eggs I've ever tasted and some lovely fudge, as well as free range eggs laid on the farm.  The farm also has a cider shop where you can sample over 100 ciders and perries (and get drunk for free if you're so inclined!) we didn't partake this time, though I am partial to a drop of cider.

Yesterday she spent all morning, including her swimming lesson alternating between happy and screaming.  She cheered up a bit in the afternoon when we went to see her aunty and cousin in Lewes.  Her appetite started to come back and apart from when she fell over, she was quite lively!  My four year old niece (who was also in grouchy mode) offered me some really helpful parenting advice when Caitlin cried because she tried to take her banana away, "Perhaps you should leave her to cry!".  Controlled crying has its place, but that certainly wasn't it!  Said niece is a bit of a character, she recently cut her own hair, just in time for her parents' wedding and now has to wear a hair clip at all times to hide the damage!

Potty training/learning/familiarisation has stalled.  After successful potty use on three out of four mornings, Munchkin is now refusing to use the potty at all.  I think it may be because she had nappy rash, which was aggravated when she went to the loo.  Hopefully it's just a glitch.  I've been encouraging her to sit her toys on the potty if she doesn't want to use it herself.

So Proud!

I'd been wondering what to blog about, then Munchkin achieved a major milestone so problem solved!  She did a poo and a wee on the potty this morning.  Daddy and I are so proud!

We've been familiarising her with the potty for about four months (I don't think you could call it potty training).  She sits on it every night at bedtime and we've recently started getting her to sit on it first thing in the morning.  We give her books to look at to encourage her to stay in one place.  This sometimes backfires (so far not literally) as she wants to sit on our laps bare bottomed to have the books read to her. 

We've had a couple of breakthroughs in the past couple of weeks.  She did a wee on the potty about two weeks ago and then there was today's performance.  I know they're probably lucky accidents, but it's a step in the right direction.  She's not even 18 months yet so I'm really pleased with her progress.

I'm currently reading "Early Start Potty Training" by Linda Sonna.  It's subtitled, "Potty train your child by age two," and that's my intention.  Munchkin and reading don't really mix so it's taking me a long time to get through it, but it's an interesting read.  Apparently children are potty trained much later in the western world, particularly in the author's native USA.  She cites examples of Chinese and African culture where babies are trained to use the potty from as early as three months old.

Dr Sonna claims that research suggesting that children shouldn't be potty trained before age two is all sponsored by disposable nappy manufacturers.  She says that potty training is quicker if cloth nappies are used since they allow children to feel when they're wet.  I'm currently sticking with my compromise of eco disposables (maybe one for another blog, or I'll be here all afternoon) since they're more convenient than real nappies and less absorbent than traditional disposables.

Next stop on the "Potty Train" as Dr Sonna calls it, will be increasing the number of potty sessions.  I can't get the song "Groovy Train" by The Farm out of my head and I blame Linda Sonna!