Why?

We have finally entered the "Why?" phase.  The fact that this didn't happen until Munchkin could talk in full sentences hasn't made it any less frustrating.  My friend's little boy is a month older than Munchkin and she has tended to do things a month or so after him, but not on this occasion.  I was vaguely worried that she was developmentally slow, but secretly pleased I didn't have to deal with it.

I am currently dealing with around seven "whys" a day, excluding the supplementary ones.  I wouldn't mind but I find them so difficult to answer.  The answers I give are often met with a "why?".  We still haven't established why there are big and small roads, and why weeds are so called.

We were driving home from swimming yesterday when Munchkin asked me why we had to drive round the roundabout.  I explained at great length that roundabouts allowed cars to drive onto different roads more easily, otherwise we would never be able to get from the small roads (single carriageways) onto the big roads (dual carriageways).  As a result of this, she asked me why there were big roads and small roads.  I told her that big roads were for getting from one town to another and people usually lived on small roads, but I'm not convinced she was satisfied with that answer.

Image courtesy of iamharin freedigitalphotos.net

I was doing some weeding yesterday, when she asked me what I was doing.  I explained that I was pulling up weeds like Grandpa Pig in Peppa Pig.  This is going to be easy, I thought, I just say what Grandpa Pig did.  Grandpa Pig said that weeds were naughty plants that grew where they weren't meant to.  The next thing I know, I've been asked why Grandpa doesn't like weeds, and why he says "weeds".  After trying to explain that they were called weeds because that was their name, I gave up.  Every time I tried to use a comparison, it resulted in another question.

You would think that as a Business Analyst, who spends my working days asking, "Why", "What", When" and "How", I would welcome this but it's making me use my brain more at home than I do at work.  I'm used to adapting my communication style for the business area or IT but now I'm having to think like a toddler. WHY?

Beds, Water and Monster Munch

Today, Munchkin has mostly been cute.  Her day didn't get off to the best start as she spilt water all over her bed.  When I told her we were going to see her Pops, she said she didn't want to.  She changed her mind when I told her she could take lots of toys, and appeared to ask if she could take her, "Monster Munch" with her.  To my knowledge, Munchkin has never eaten a Monster Munch and we definitely haven't had any in the house since she was born.  I eventually realised that was saying, "instruments", so we packed her toy guitar.

My step-dad -her Pops- is currently incapacitated, so we went to his home in Haywards Heath to keep him company.  He's snapped his Achilles tendon, or Hercules tendon as he prefers to call it!  Munchkin maintained that she didn't want to talk to Pops for most of the journey.  Thankfully she changed her mind but every other person we met in Haywards Heath was subjected to the silent treatment.

Since Pops had another visitor for a couple of hours, we decided to leave them to it for a while and visited Victoria Park.  Not having been to the park for many years, I'd forgotten it had a paddling pool.  There was no way Munchkin was going to stay out of it, so I let her go in in her T-shirt and knickers.  Other than the paddling pool, which I think is technically a splash pad, the playground has a variety of equipment including two slide/climbing frame combo's, a sit-on roundabout, rockers and a selection of swings.  Munchkin loved the roundabout and the minature swing.  In addition to regular swings, Victoria Park has a tiny "big girl swing" which is perfect for toddlers who don't want to be pushed on baby swings.

Munchkin managed to drench her T-shirt in the paddling pool so I took advantage of the fact the park is next to the town centre to buy her a new top.  Luckily it was a hot day, as I was marching around town with a bare-chested toddler.  I bought her a little floral number in JoJo Maman Bebe's sale.  She was so taken by it that she didn't want to take it off tonight and is excited that I've told her she can wear it again tomorrow.

Once she was fully clothed, we returned to the park for an ice cream in Tory's Cafe.  This is a new addition since my days as a Haywards Heath resident.  There's a pleasant outside seating area surrounded by gardens.  In fact, the whole park is more landscaped than I remember.  There is also a skate park for the older ones.  Perhaps skate park is a misnomer, since it was full of scooters and BMX bikes.

It's likely we'll be back, with a towel and a swimsuit next time.  Munchkin's day went pretty well.  At bedtime, she said, "Mummy I want to keep you."
"Where do you want to keep me?" I asked.
"In my bed," came the reply.

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.

Trails and Thomas

We've been out and about for a big chunk of the Easter weekend.  On Good Friday, we did the Easter Egg Trail at Petworth House.  We signed up as National Trust members a couple of years ago and aren't exactly making the most of our membership. The trail cost £4 per child. As members, we got free parking and admission to the house, though we didn't look round on this occasion.  Munchkin was given a goodie bag which contained all the bits she'd need to make an Easter chick. We followed a trail around the park, which led us to instructions on how to make our chick. At the end of the trail, you present your chick and are given an Easter egg as a reward.  We really enjoyed it, but get the impression they might do the same thing every Easter, so we'll have to try somewhere different next year.

This is the chick we made.  The poor thing has been dismantled twice and is currently awaiting surgery.

On Saturday, we went to see Thomas... Toot Toot! Thomas the Tank Engine is a firm favourite of Munchkin's so we were disappointed to hear he wouldn't be making an appearance at our local Bluebell Railway this year.  However, a web search revealed that he would be at the Watercress Line in Hampshire over the Easter Weekend.  At £18 per adult and £12 for a child over 2, it wasn't cheap but you got a lot for your money.  Family tickets are available for two adults and two children for £54.  Had we booked in advance and used the promotional code 'NICK' on the Days Out With Thomas website, we could have got a 10% discount but we chose to just turn up on the day.  Thomas will be back at the Watercress Line from 9th to 17th August.

This was a really good day out.  The railway had clearly done this before and had an efficient parking system (the only drawback being that the disabled parking was a bit of a hike from Ropley station) and had shipped in additional toilets and baby changing facilities.  Parking at Ropley was free, but you had to pay & display at the other stations.  The railway meets the mainline at Alton if travelling by train suits you better than driving.

We saw a lot more than just Thomas.  Many of the trains and brake vans had faces on them.  We rode on Thomas's train -I don't think he had Annie and Clarabelle with him though- and in the cab on a "Friend of Diesel's", in addition to having a couple of standard steam train rides between stations.  The lady giving commentaries at Ropley station, where Thomas was, was excellent.  She presented the whole thing as if she was talking to Thomas.

Munchkin went on her first ever tea cup ride and loved it.  There was also a giant inflatable slide for older children.  We spent some time in the Imagination Station at Arlesford station, where she enjoyed playing with wooden trains and bricks, and acquired two temporary tattoos; one of Thomas and one of Percy.  We also met the Fat Controller, Bulgy the Bus and George the Steam Roller.  There was so much to do elsewhere that we never made it to Alton station.

I discovered that there is a train in the Thomas series with the same name as Munchkin and Googled it for more information.  It turns out there is a Thomas wiki.  I found it highly amusing that the wiki is used by train geeks who argue over the statistics of fictional engines!

Little Ladies that Lunch

We've been for several meals out with Munchkin and her cousins recently.  The first one was a Mothers' Day meal when we were staying in the Midlands, and a total disaster because Munchkin threw up everywhere.  Luckily she's now back to her usual self and eating everything in sight.

This weekend, we went out for two meals.  On Saturday, we visited my step-dad and went to The Sergison Arms in Haywards Heath.  The Serg is a pub that I know well; it was originally called The Sergison Arms, then changed its name to The Dophin after a refurb and image change.  It's recently changed its name back to The Sergison.  Irrelevant fact = dolphins are in the Sergison family's coat of arms.

The Sergison is owned by Vintage Inns - one of the better pub/restaurant chains in my opinion.  There was something for everyone on the menu, which is no mean feat; Angmering Daddy has adventurous food tastes, mine are moderately adventurous, my step-dad's are conservative and very British, whilst Munchkin will have a go at anything put in front of her.  It ticks all my boxes for a child friendly hostelry... apart from there being a number of steps for small people to negotiate.  High chairs are available, though we don't use one any more, and there's an easily accessible baby change area.  The children's menu includes quite a lot of variety, including mini versions of some of the main menu dishes.  Munchkin had BBQ Chicken followed by Churros.  It was £6.95 for two courses and a drink, which I thought was reasonably good value.  She scoffed the lot!  I was pleased that the chicken was served with baby potatoes rather than chips.  Vintage Inns provide children with a paper activity menu and a jar of crayons.  The only drawback with this is that Munchkin drew on Daddy's menu.

On Sunday, we went to an old favourite of mine, Montagues Tex Mex in Worthing, with my step-sisters and their families.  It was the first time we'd been there since Munchkin was born.  There were nine of us, including Munchkin and her cousin, Flower.  As always, the food was brilliant.  Montagues offers children under 10 a free two course meal and drink if they are accompanied by an adult who orders a main costing at least £10, so it was free lunch for Munchkin and Flower.  Like The Sergison, it has an activity menu and provides crayons, though Munchkin managed not to draw on any grown up menus this time.  Munchkin had the Loaded Shells and Flower had the Quarter Back Rack.  Both girls had Marshmallow Dream for dessert.  Daddy helped Munchkin finish her marshmallows but I'm not sure she needed any help!  The staff are friendly and very helpful.  There's even a gluten free menu should you need it.  Booster chairs are available.  Unfortunately there's no baby change table.  I changed Muchkin standing up in the ladies' but I wouldn't want to change a young baby in there.

We're going to The Bull in Ditchling this weekend, so I'll add a review if I remember.

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.

Zoo Poo

We'd fancied going to Whipsnade Zoo ever since we'd seen it on the Sing & Sign DVD that Munchkin's addicted to.  Along with Sweetpea's parents, we'd saved up a load of Tesco Days Out vouchers and were looking forward to our day out, even if it was half term -busy- and Munchkin and I were a bit under the weather.

It's around a two hour journey from Angmering to Whipsnade, but we didn't care... We love zoos!  Munchkin kept talking about animals and seemed to be looking forward to it despite having a sick day from nursery the day before.

We arrived to massive traffic queues.  You have a choice of free parking or taking your car in the zoo for £20.  We initially decided to park for free, then changed our minds, meaning that we unintentionally jumped half the queue to drive into the park.

Upon arriving, we were unsure where to go.  The sign posting wasn't great and we needed to find Sweetpea's family.  We parked up and went to meet them, thinking there would be made up footpaths suitable for buggies.  Whilst there were some paths meeting this description, many were waterlogged or non existent.  We didn't see the giraffes because it was too muddy.

The zoo is large and really spread out.  It would be a challenge to get round it without a car.  There are narrow roads without pavements going round it.  It's important to point out that Whipsnade is not a safari park, you don't see much whilst driving in your car.  Most zoos we've been to have had a programme of keepers' talks, we didn't see a keeper during our day at Whipsnade.

My sister-in-law was even less impressed.  She was underwhelmed by the number of baby change tables, and felt the service in the cafe we went to was abysmal.  Had it not been for the Tesco vouchers, admission plus the car -which wasn't covered by Tesco vouchers- would have been around £130 for four adults and a child -Munchkin is under 3 and therefore free- ZSL might do some good conservation work but a day at Whipsnade Zoo is a waste of time.  It's neither a zoo nor a safari park but the worst of both worlds.

I blame it all on the Two TT's

Things have been a bit trying round here recently, and it's mainly down to the TT's; Terrible Twos and Tommee Tippee, that is.  Munchkin has been testing boundaries, which is nice.  She is having to learn the hard way, that if you scream for 20 minutes solidly, it doesn't get you what you want.  On Sunday, she insisted that the only thing she wanted for tea was a chocolate chip biscuit.  Daddy told her she could only have one if she ate her sandwich.  She refused, and spent 20 minutes screaming, "Want a biscuit."  Daddy won.  She eventually ate her sandwich -amazingly, she ate it without deconstructing it in her usual manner- and had a biscuit afterwards.  Dummies have been the cause of many screaming fits.  At some point in the next year, dummies will be doing a disappearing act.  For now, we've told her dummies are for sleeping, and she's still allowed a dummy in the car seat... If she asks for one - I've noticed that she sometimes forgets that she needs one.  However, she's been screaming for her dummy at times when she's not allowed to have it.  The screaming fits always end with Mummy and Daddy winning and Munchkin turning back into a sweet little girl, but they're not pleasant.  I've got a perforated eardrum at the moment and all this screaming isn't helping it...

The Terrible Twos are also causing Munchkin to tell me she doesn't like me from time to time - usually alongside a screaming fit.  I don't think this is unusual behaviour as I believe my late mum told me I did this at the age of two.  All the same, it's quite disheartening to be told that your only child doesn't like you, even if she has said she loves you and every other family member at another point on the same day.

I've come to the conclusion that Tommee Tippee -other brands of infant feeding equipment are available- has a lot to answer for.  My daughter has been coming back from nursery with food round her neck for months.  I always blamed the nursery but I now know what the problem is... Tommee Tippee bibs.  The bibs we'd been using until recently fitted snugly around the neck.  We replaced them with Tommee Tippees -the brand that nursery use, only to discover that they're too loose, even when done up on the tightest hole. 

Tommee Tippee struck again when it came to getting Munchkin to drink from a normal cup.  I tried giving her a TT sippy cup with no lid.  This worked fine for a few weeks but now she insists on having the lid on just because she knows it exists.  I need to buy some child-sized beakers with no lids so that she thinks she's drinking from a "Big Girl Cup".  Tommee Tippee will be reserved for her one cup of milk a day, which Angmering Daddy wants to phase out anyway.  When I say "beaker", I mean a plastic cup with no handles.  I just thought I should be clear since Mrs Bucket and my mother-in-law -who are in no way related- seem to think a beaker is a ceramic cup with a handle.  Now, that's what I call a "mug"!

I'm really hoping Munchkin can make it to her swimming lesson this Friday, for the first time this term.  We both had ear infections last week -I think I've still got mine- so swimming was out of the question.  This weekend, we're off to her cousin, Sweetpea's, birthday party.  Sweetpea will be three and I bet her parents are rejoicing that she'll no longer be a TT!

Not the best of weeks....

I think it can safely be said that there have been better weeks in the Angmering Mummy and Daddy household.  Munchkin has basically been unwell since she turned two.  First it was chicken pox, then it was teeth with a bit of a cold.  Around the middle of this week, I noticed that her ear smelt and she had spots around her eye.  It turns out that she has a bacterial infection which has also spread to the back of her hand.  Well the good news is she's not allergic to penicillin, she's been taking it for three days without any issues (apart from loose bowels... ugh).

Until Saturday I was despairing, Munchkin had decided that she only loved Daddy.  All other family members were to be avoided, particularly me.  Every time she was mildly upset, she screamed, "Cuddle Daddy" and even told me that she didn't like me.  To add insult to injury, some members of Angmering Daddy's family told me it was normal in their family for little girls to love their Daddies and ignore their Mummies.  What kind of a culture had I married into?  I was getting rather upset, particularly when friends were writing on social networks that sometimes your little one just needs a cuddle from Mummy...  However, since the antibiotics have kicked in, she's started turning back into my little girl.  Today she was more interested in cuddling Mummy than Daddy.

Our search to find a Saturday morning group to replace the brilliant Sing and Sign continues. We tried a music and movement group called Boogie Beat twice but won't be trying a third time.  The main issue was that the class just seemed too advanced for a child of two, even though it's meant to be suitable for age two plus.  Munchkin didn't want to know.  She wouldn't join in anything apart from playing with the parachute, and then she was disappointed that nobody would give her a ball to hold.  Some parents were encouraging their children to join in by carrying them as they did the dance moves themselves.  Neither Angmering Daddy nor I have the strength to do that for long.  Munchkin is heavy and I still haven't fully recovered from my fall down the stairs.  Boogie Beat also seemed to be a misnomer; there was nothing that could be described as boogying and not much of a discernible beat.  It seemed odd that most of the songs were sung without any backing track.  This was made worse by the fact that the instructor's singing abilities were similar to mine, and I won't be auditioning for a choir any time soon.

Munchkin's social life has been a bit pants recently.  She hated the new group and hasn't been to swimming or gym because of my back.  I felt well enough to take her swimming this week but she wasn't allowed to get her ear wet.  Maybe we'll make it into the swimming pool next week!

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!

Am I a negligent parent?

It seems like ages since I last blogged.  Apart from writing something for Worthing Mums, I haven't blogged for two months.  Firstly we went on holiday (again) then everything got a bit stressy, mainly because someone at work mentioned the "R word" to me (i.e. redundancy) so I'm currently waiting to hear if my job is at risk.  Anyway, I've had a blog rattling around in my head for ages so I'll attempt to get it into words.

Let me start by saying that I truly love my daughter and I'd never allow her to do anything that I considered dangerous, but I don't believe in wrapping children in cotton wool.  I've been in a few situations where other parents or carers have leapt to the assistance of my daughter when she and I have been wondering what all the fuss is about.  The most common place for this seems to be the playground.  A few months ago we were at the playground with some friends when Munchkin wobbled on a step.  I didn't bat an eyelid - though I would have moved very quickly if she'd actually fallen.  In the meantime, my friend had moved to catch her as if her life depended on it.  This started me thinking... should I be more careful?  A similar thing happened very recently.  We were in park with Munchkin's big cousin, and she wanted to follow her onto the climbing frame / slide.  I walked along beside her, checking that she could make it and letting her see that she could grab my hand if she needed to.  As the afternoon progressed, she and I became more confident.  Although I was still following her as she progressed along the walkway, I stood back, knowing that I had time to step forward if she needed me.  The next thing I knew, a grandmother was holding her hand and stroking her arm. Since English wasn't the woman's first language, I was unsure whether she was trying to protect this poor abandoned baby or if  in her culture it's acceptable to stroke other people's children.  At this point I made it clear Munchkin was with me and no more was said.

Similar things have happened at gym club.  Another mother held Munchkin's hand when she was walking over some stepping stones and quickly realised she was too steady on her feet to need assistance.  I think part of the problem is that she's so small people conclude she can only be about a year old and therefore assume she hasn't been walking long.  She'll actually be two in two months' time, has been walking for eleven months and has the vocabularly of a slightly older child.  That's another reason why I give her quite a lot of freedom, I know that her communication is sufficiently good for her to understand if I tell her not to do something because she might get hurt and that she'll ask for help if she feels she needs it.

So am I a negligent parent?  I don't think so, but one or two grannies in the playground might have other ideas.

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".

Pains, Painting and Playing

It's Grumpy Central in our house at the moment.  Munchkin is teething... again.  She seems to have been teething almost continuously for a year.  Munchkin does not teeth well.  The only thing that really seems to help when she's at her worst is paracetamol.  She's been really clingy on and off for about two weeks and has cried doing activities that she'd otherwise enjoy.  The worst thing is that she sometimes vomits with teething, usually after eating/drinking dairy products or banana.

We've tried some summer holiday toddler groups in the past few weeks.  Creation Station was a real hit. Munchkin loves painting and drawing and is always asking to do "rawing" so this was an obvious choice.  We went to a couple of one off summer holiday sessions in East Preston.  Unfortunately we can't attend during term time as sessions clash with our swimming and gymnastics classes.  Creation Station sessions begin with a group activity which includes opening a "magic box".  In the first session, this contained paper in different colours and textures.  In the second session, the box contained a brightly coloured parachute which everyone lifted up and the children hid under.  Munchkin is going through a shy, clingy stage and wouldn't join in with this.  Apparently the holiday groups are much bigger than the term time ones and she'd probably find these less daunting.

Our Creation Station Space Picture

Munchkin really enjoyed the creative part of Creation Station.  The first session was sunshine themed and we made a sunshine stamper which we used to make a print on a piece of fabric; Munchkin also got to paint a picture.  The second session was messy, messy, messy.  It was space themed and we made planet shapes to stick on a black background.  The black background had a star effect, achieved by lots of children flicking paint across a giant piece of paper which we then cut pieces from.  Many of the children, including Munchkin, decided to try their hands at face painting... with poster paint!  The children are given overalls to wear, parents aren't so it's best to wear old clothes.  Holiday sessions are aimed at 1 to 5 year olds and cost £5 a child (with a reduction for siblings).

On the Friday in between the two Creation Station sessions, we went to Boogie Bugs at East Preston Children and Family Centre.  This didn't go so well.  It's basically a group music and movement session.  The whole session is similar to the warm up at Munchkin's gym club.  Sometimes she'll do the warm up and other times she doesn't want to know (the coaches accept that this is par for the course with toddlers).  She was more interested in the babies in car seats at the edge of the room than anything else.  When I tried to get her to join in with the group activity, she screamed.  The group is aimed at age 18 months to 5 years.  Munchkin and her peer group (under 2s) all seemed more interested in other things in the room, chiefly the toys in the corner, than 45 minutes of music and movement.  She started asking to go home before the group had even finished!  I'm not saying it was a bad group, it seemed really popular.  It just wasn't for Munchkin.  On the way home, she told me that she had pain in her mouth.  I never got to give her anything for the pain because she fell asleep.  She awoke half an hour later in so much pain she almost had a fit.  It took what felt like forever, but was probably about 5 minutes to get her to open her mouth for pain relief.  Boogie Bugs only cost £1 a session.  It's next on in East Preston on Friday 30th August and is also held regularly at the Wickbourne Children and Family Centre in Littlehampton.

After my park related whinge in my last blog, a friend recommended the Gull Island playground by Splashpoint.  We went this weekend and I'm pleased to report that it has much more for Munchkin's age group than the playground at the other end of the prom.  She loved playing in the sand and also went on the medium sized slide, the baby slide, the roundabout, rockers and the monkey swing (well that's what I call them because I first saw them at Monkey World!).  The only thing this playground seems to be lacking is swings (it just had the one).  Are swings out of vogue with playground designers?  I can assure them they're not out of vogue with toddlers!  There was a fenced off area where either something had been removed and/or something new was being added.  I'm sure we'll go back, so it'll be interesting to see what's going in that space.  If we go again, we'll take a bucket and spade.

Next weekend, Munchkin's cousin Sweetpea is coming to stay, so we'll be going to Blackberry Farm near Lewes.  There's a blog in my head about parenting advice I've been given and would give to other people, so I need to write that at some point... not yet sure if it's one for here or Worthing Mums.

The highs and lows of a day out in Worthing

On Sunday, we spent the day in Worthing.  This isn't something we do often, despite it being on our door step.  The main reason for the visit was that we'd won a Pizza Hut voucher in a raffle at Munchkin's nursery.  We decided to make a day of it rather than just popping in for lunch.

Our visit began with a trip to the beach.  We set up camp near theWaterwise playground.  This playground looks great, if you're aged five to twelve but there's nothing for preschoolers.  Even the one and only rocker (a funky looking seagull) is twice the height of Council playgrounds' usual offerings.  It seemed rather short sighted of the Council to forget the little ones.  I've since looked up the playground on their website and see that they claim it has equipment for children as young as two... I couldn't see anything sufficiently small, not that Munchkin is two yet in any case.

We had a pleasant lunch in Pizza Hut.  The waitress noticed it was taking ages to feed Munchkin, so she arranged for our pizzas to be kept warm whilst Munchkin caught up.  She was obviously a good listener, as she realised Munchkin was saying "drawing" as soon as she handed her some crayons.  (I've been wondering who "Rory" is for weeks!). The children's menu has a good range of options and kids are given an activity booklet to keep them amused.  It's also one of the few restaurants I've been to with two baby change facilities.

Baby changing brings me on to my next point.  We went for a walk on the pier after lunch, then stopped at Macari's kiosk for an ice cream.  It was then that I realised Munchkin stank! I marched her to the nearest public toilet, only to discover there was no changing table. l asked at the Pavilion Box Office, hoping we could use their facilities, but they directed me to Cafe Nero.  I decided to ignore this advice and took Stinky to Mothercare, knowing that the facilities were clean, on the ground floor and we wouldn't be asked if we were customers.

We then took Munchkin to the "Wilde About Worthing" sandpit at the west end of Warwick Street.  This was an instant hit with us.  Buckets and spades are provided, and it's all free.  There's music playing, a few deck chairs, and those picture postcard things where you stick your face through a hole and someone takes a picture (no idea what they're called!).  I know of the connection between Wilde and Worthing ("A handbag?") but have no idea why it's being plugged so much this year, if anyone can enlighten me, please leave a comment!

In conclusion, Pizza Hut and the "Wilde About Worthing" sandpit are great for small children but baby and pre school facilities were sadly lacking on the parts of the seafront that we visited.  We're off to some summer holiday toddler groups in the next couple of weeks so there should be more reviews coming soon.

Ireland with Munchkin

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things after our family holiday, my 40th birthday and my step-sister's wedding.  Maybe the blogs will be a bit more regular now... Or maybe not!  Munchkin's potty strike is over, though she hasn't done anything other than sit on it recently.  The journey back from Ireland wasn't as bad as expected, normal service has been resumed!  I think part of the problem on the journey there may have been teething.  Munchkin is still teething, but it was molars on the way to Ireland.  Now it's canines and they don't seem to be as bad.

We spent our holiday in County Monaghan in the Irish Midlands.  I got confused, and told everyone we were going to County Meath!  We stayed in self catering accommodation just outside the small town of Ballybay.  We had a great time, though I wouldn't call the area a tourism hot spot.  On the first two days, we visited small tourist attractions where we were the only guests and were given personal tours by the owners!  The Wildlife and Heritage Centre is worth a visit, though I was initially put off going by the emphasis on its collection of stuffed animals.  We managed to avoid most of them and concentrated on the live animals and birds.  The following day we went to Sam More open farm (so small it doesn't even have a web site!) where we saw lots of animals and birds, went on a buggy friendly walk, and Munchkin played on the vast array of bikes, toy cars and toy tractors.

We were close to the border with Northern Ireland and visited the north twice.  There's no form of border crossing and two things gave away that we were in Northern Ireland: the British road signs and fortified Police stations (:-().  We were there in marching season and there had been trouble in Belfast, so we gave it a wide berth.  Thankfully there was no trouble elsewhere (to be honest we weren't expecting any, so the idea of going to Northern Ireland didn't bother us at all).  We made use of our National Trust membership and went to The Argory.  Our walk around the gardens was enjoyable but I don't recommend the house for small children.  Admission is by guided tour only.  The tour is long, and at entirely the wrong pace for a toddler; she was bored and tearful and we eventually asked if we could leave.  It didn't help matters that the guide was a little nervous and forgot what she was saying every time Munchkin cried!  Our other NI visit was to Enniskillen.  This was much more successful.  We took a boat tour departing from Brooke Park, which has the best toddler playground I've ever seen.  The tour took us past Enniskillen Castle and several other sites of interest before stopping off at Devenish Island, where we saw the remains of a monastic site.  We took the first tour of the day, which I would definitely recommend as the later tours appeared to be packed.

There was a brilliant soft play close to where we were staying.  GR8 Entertainment in Castleblayney is free for children under 2 and has special offers for repeat users in the school holidays.  We also took Munchkin to the beach for the first time, at Blackrock near Dundalk.  The beach is sandy and child friendly, but not really suitable for swimming since the tide goes out a really long way.  All in all, it was a successful holiday and we'd like to go to Ireland again.

Lessons Learned

Angmering Daddy and I have learned an important lesson this week: things change!  We're away on our holidays at the moment and we got here by car because we always travel by car.  Our families don't live near us, so we're used to packing up everything but the kitchen sink and driving hundreds of miles.  Whenever we go on a long car journey, Munchkin sleeps, usually for the whole journey.  Um... Well, she used to!  She now sleeps for an hour or two, then wakes up.  And she doesn't just wake up, she screams so loudly that anyone within five miles also wakes up!

We've been travelling by car when we go on holiday because I have an aversion to taking infants on planes.  I've got friends who've done it without any problems, but it's not for me.  I can picture it now: Munchkin is tired but refusing to sleep since she's in a strange place and there might be something interesting going on.  She doesn't want to sit still.  She wants her own seat (the only way she'll get one is if I sit on Daddy's lap).  The clincher is that she's freaked out by her ears popping and screams until we land.

Next year we may have to reconsider.  Hopefully Munchkin aged 2 1/2 will understand if we explain what's going on in the plane.  We'd only do a short flight as I wouldn't want to antagonise her or the other passengers too much.  In the meantime, we need to complete our journey from Ireland to Sussex in three legs, two of which exceed Munchkin's current sleep threshold... Wish me luck!

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.

The social life of a one year old

There's no doubt about it, my daughter has a more active social life than I do!  In addition to her usual Monday morning swimming class and Saturday morning baby signing class, this week she got to spend Monday afternoon with her favourite cousin in Lewes, on Friday morning she went to gymnastics for the first time, on Saturday afternoon she was invited to a garden party (!) and on Sunday she went to Drusillas Zoo for the first time.  However, the trip to the zoo was as much for Mummy and Daddy's benefit as Munchkin's.  We've always loved anything to do with animals and it's great to finally have a child to use as an excuse!

I've been aware of the existence of baby and toddler gymnastics classes since I was pregnant, but this was my first opportunity to find out what it was all about.  There are two clubs in the Worthing area, alllowing parents to take their child to a a class every day if they're so inclined!  We went to Wickers in Lancing, which takes little ones from "competent walker" onwards.  (The other club, Teenie Tigers, takes them from crawling, but only does one under 2s session a week, on a day we can't attend.)  Wickers offers 7 sessions a week for Munchkin's age group; we attended one of the Friday morning sessions.  The sessions are drop in - the first one's free, then it's £3.70 a time.

There are a number of reasons why I want to get Munchkin involved in gymnastics.  First and foremost, I was convinced she'd enjoy it as she's always climbing on things, and loves bouncing on inflatables.  Munchkin's late granny was a gymnastics coach when I was a child, and I think a good way for her to learn more about her grandmother is by doing something that Granny would have liked and helped her with.  I was keen for her to do BG affiliated gymnastics as opposed to a pre school physical activity as this is something she can continue when she's older, if she wants to, of course.  (BG is British Gymnastics, I think it's the same organisation that was known as BAGA when I was a child.)

Wickers is located on Lancing industrial estate.  It's easy to find if you've got the instructions from the website with you, but I left them at home and overshot the entrance!  It's a purpose built gymnastics club within one of the industrial units.  The club has all the equipment you'd expect such as beam, vault, uneven bars (when did they stop being asymetric?) and a large floor work area.  Additionally it has toddler friendly equipment such as a mini trampette and soft play type items.  There's currently a trampoline there, but I understand it's going soon.  There are also lots of pre school toys to keep small people amused.

The session started with a structured warm up.  I was concerned that Munchkin wasn't interested in this, but Emma, one of the coaches advised me that there were always some who joined in and some that didn't.  The warm up was followed by free use of the gym equipment.  Munchkin's favourite was the trampette, though she tried everything the coaches suggested and they taught me how to support her doing forward and backward rolls.

Gymnastics was definitely a hit, and we'll be going back as soon as we can.  Munchkin was the youngest in the class by about a year; I'm trying to encourage some of her friends' parents to give it a go as it would be nice if there were some children closer to her age.