Poogate and Parties

It's been over a month but I'm finally writing another blog.  In the world of Angmering Mummy, there are three things going on at the moment, Munchkin has taken to saying, "Are we nearly there yet?" in addition to "Why?", Angmering Nanny is very poorly, and we're trying to plan a third birthday party.

Due to Nanny's illness, we've been staying with Sweetpea's family.  This has involved Munchkin and Sweetpea sharing a rather large single bed.  In addition to the usual staying awake at all hours and group trips to the toilet, we've had Poo Gate.  Child A did a poo in her PJ's in the middle of the night, then threw it on the floor.  She said Child B did it.  Child B said Child A did it.  Neither were budging on these stories, however Child A said, "B did a poo in my pyjamas".  To top this off, Child A has a history of pooing her pants, hadn't pooed during the day, and her end of the bed smelt.  The jury is still out on who threw the poo on the floor.

Munchkin is going through a really shy phase at the moment.  When we go to groups, she refuses to join in, even though she claims to enjoy them and wants to go back.  As a result, we decided to arrange a birthday party for her that wouldn't involve group participation.  Soft play seemed the obvious choice so I made enquiries about Amazon Adventure at Worthing Leisure Centre.  They had availability of the right date, and the party package seemed to be what we were looking for - an hour in soft play plus 45 minutes for food in a separate room.  Since we'd never been, Munchkin and I made a trip to check out Amazon Adventure... We will NOT be having a party there.  The equipment has seen better days; it's threadbare in places.  The slide is a nightmare.  If you were there with a group of three year olds, you'd either need to man it to help them get up there, or ban them from using it.  We've considered every other soft play in the area and ruled it out for one reason or another:

Not my choice of a party venue.  That red star definitely looks ready for retirement.

• P.LA.Y. - You're just in soft play with members of the public, then you get called to a small party room.  Although not as run down as Amazon Adventure, it's seen better days.
• Harbour Park - You're just in soft play with members of the public for 45 minutes, then you go to a party room.  Apparently their catering is attrocious.  I've never been, but my friend says the coffee is undrinkable.
• Flying Fortress - As above, you're sharing the softplay.  It's so big, we'd probably lose a toddler along the way.  Might be a viable option next year.
• Wyevale Findon - No party room, you sit in the open plan cafe.
• Old Barn - According to Angmering Daddy, the soft play is smaller than Wyevale's.  No party room, though it's less open plan than Wyevale.

 As a result, we think we've settled on a bouncy castle party at Worthing Leisure Centre.  This has come highly recommended by other parents.  It's £76 for 20 children, plus catering (£3.49/£3.99 a child for cold/hot buffet or £26.50 room hire if you do your own catering).  One of Munchkin's friends has a bouncy castle party in November so we'll be able to check it out then.  In actual fact, she's going to two parties at the Leisure Centre on the same day, with most of the same children.  The other is a soft play party...

 That brings me up to date with our news. Must try harder to blog regularly.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.