Toddlebike Trials 2014 - 6 Weeks On

For the past month C has been taking part in the 2014 Toddlebike Trials.  Our trial period is nearly over therefore I took C out this week so I could document her progress.  We hadn't been out for over a week so I was not sure how competent she would be.

Silly Mummy for doubting my daughter!
C was a pro!
Gliding along, up and down hills that I thought she would protest at.  In fact she insisted she rode her bike for the best part of a mile, despite me reiterating we could stop for a rest whenever she needed.  It was brilliant to see her really enjoying herself and full of smiles!

Deciding When to Stop Breastfeeding

I stopped breastfeeding C at 13 months old.

It was always my intention to breastfeed until 12 months if possible and then her impending hernia surgery prompted me to continue a little longer.
Being is hospital with a baby is so much more flexible if you are breastfeeding.  The "null by mouth" time is reduced, as breast milk is softer on the stomach, meaning you are dealing will a hungry baby for less time.  Also the hospital are obliged to feed breastfeeding mothers, which meant no having to dash to the canteen for food.
Finally C turned 13 months in the spring.  The bug season was coming to an end and I felt brave enough to let her immune system take over on its own.

Dinosaur Rhyme Time - A Review

Our second book from Faber and Faber has arrived for review!

Our first, Hog in the Fog, is still a firm favourite in our house and I can recite most of it by memory... helpful when you are stuck in a traffic jam on a long car journey!

This next book is aimed at slightly younger readers, which is perfect now B is getting of an age to enjoy books too.

Dinosaur Rhyme Time is a collection of your favourite nursery rhymes and well known songs, illustrated with lovely soft illustrations of cute and cuddly dinosaurs in character.  Many of my friends have toddlers who are mad about dinosaurs therefore this is sure to be a hit with many families.

Toddlebike Trials 2014 - Getting Started

This week we have finally been able to get out and test drive our Toddlebike.  We were luckily enough to be selected for the Toddlebike Trials 2014 and C's bike arrived 3 weeks ago.

The first week the weather was awful therefore our test driving was restricted to up and down the hallway at home.
The following week C was ill. In fact I've never see her poorly for so long. It was horrible! 
This week has been half term and the weather has been lovely so we couldn't wait to get out of the house and get started!

We went to Leeds Castle on Saturday as a family and gave C her first proper extended go.  I knew it would be an interesting experience. At 31 months, C is at the older end of the spectrum for a toddlebike however she lacks confidence in situations like this therefore her age advantage did not guarantee success.

Up and Away! - Walking at 10 Months

B was a big baby at 9lb 10oz.
He was also 10 days overdue.
Every since his birth I feel he has been in a rush to grow up.
To catch up on those 10 missed days... and a few more!
He was in 0-3 months clothes from the start.
By 6 months he was in 12-18 months clothes.
I wondered if his size would hinder his movement but instead it has brought him superior strength.
At just turned 7 months he started to crawl, and before he was 8 months he was walking round the furniture!
My baby was not a little baby for long.

National Baking Week

This week is National Baking Week and today sees the launch of my good friend Baked Potato Mummy's new #LittleChefs linky.

As her blog name suggests, Lucy loves to bake and this new linky is all about having fun in the kitchen with your little ones.

With two under 3, I have little time for baking and my continuing drive to lose the baby weight has made me shy away from making anything remotely unhealthy that I might be tempted to eat.
With hubby away who do you think is going to eat 10 out of the dozen cupcakes or biscuits we bake? You guessed it... Moi!

Lucy then pointed out that I didn't need to actually "bake" anything.  Just getting out one or two digestive biscuits and having fun icing them was a great activity in itself.
Stupidly, this option had never even crossed my mind!  And of course she was right.

OctoAlert at The National Sealife Centre

On Saturday we got up bright and early to travel up to Birmingham.

We had been invited up to the National Sealife Centre to embark on their latest Octonauts mission which runs until the end of November.  It was particularly exciting because this was our first visit to the Centre and my first visit to a Sealife Centre since I was 12 years old!

7 Easily Forgotten Holiday Essentials for Babies and Toddlers

This is our 3rd or 4th self catering holiday since we became parents and although I like to think I am getting more organised, there are things (often the same things) that I nearly always forget. Some of them are because I am genuinely surprised the cottage doesn't supply them and others because they are things I forget we even use!

After this time around, I have decided to write myself a list so I can refer back to it when packing for our next holiday.

Here is my top 7 things (i couldn't think of 10) most easily forgotten when packing for a self catering holiday with a baby and/or toddler:

Potty Training - Three Weeks On

It has now been three weeks since we started potty training.

In the first few days since my last post we didn't seem to be making much improvement.
C seemed to have a problem emptying her whole bladder in one go which meant we were up and down from the potty every 10 minutes doing a trickle at the time.  This was making her resistant to sitting of the potty, which in turn was resulting in accidents because she did not want to sit on it.
At this rate I could see us not being able to leave the house for the foreseeable future!
I am assuming this is all part of them learning to control their bladder however it was a problem I had not foreseen.

Potty Training - Day 3

So here we are 3 days into potty training.
No major tantrums, no disasters, just plodding along making slow but steady progress.

I didn't post an update yesterday as, to be honest, there wasn't really a lot to say.
Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far and we spent most the time nappy free in the garden, particularly the paddling pool.
I can't guarantee therefore that we caught every wee but she did tell me she needed to go and we did have results.
All in all another positive day, if hard to measure.

Today the weather was not as good and we were limited to being indoors.... a whole new ball game!
I put a Dry Nites bed mat on the sofa (just in case) and put the potty in pride of place in the centre of the room.
The first time this morning, we weren't quite quick enough.
After that though she really seemed to get it.  Sometimes we were a little late getting on the potty but we always managed to get something in there.
I'm really pleased with her!
More importantly she seems to be really pleased with herself as I want this to be a positive experience for her and not traumatic.

Things to work on over the coming days:

• Encouraging her to recognise slightly earlier that she needs to go.
• Encouraging her to get to the potty on her own (rather than freezing and me having to grab her and run)
• Encouraging her to do a no.2 on the potty - I've heard this can be a whole new challenge!

Bring on tomorrow!

Potty Training - Day 1

I have been planning for weeks to begin potty training on 21st July.  That day marked the first day of the Summer Holidays and the end of our weekly commitments such as Nursery and Toddler Classes.

For the past 2 weeks I have been getting organised; buying numerous pairs of knickers, Huggies Dry Nites bed mats, Dry Like Me training pads, and the all important reward stickers... Thomas The Tank Engine of course!

Today started like any normal Thursday with my parents arriving to help out with the childcare.  My mum then offered to take C into the garden with"pants and potty" to see how she got on.  This wrong footed me slightly.  Did I really want to start today?  I have always said that once I start I would see it through to the end, no going back to nappies on odd days if it was more convenient. 
I wobbled for a minute...
On the plus side, the weather was going to be good for the next few days, she could spend the majority of time in the garden.  There was no guarantee the weather would be so good next week.  Also having my parents on hand on day 1 would be a huge help!

We therefore started today.

By lunchtime we had got through numerous pairs of knickers and had had no wees on the potty despite numerous sitting attempts.  On the plus side, C was aware she was wetting herself and informing us.... although slightly late.  I was actually really pleased.

In the afternoon C seemed to be up and down from the potty every few minutes.  She was getting stressed which meant so was Mummy.  It would appear she hadn't yet understood how to empty her bladder fully which was resulting in trickles every few minutes.

Eventually we had our first success, followed by lots of praise from Mummy!  C seemed pleased with herself and especially pleased on her Thomas sticker!
I think in total we had four successes on the potty which I am so impressed about!
More importantly she is recognising when she needs to go and informing us.  As her bladder control improves hopefully she can give us more warning.

I had concerns that her lack of speech may prove a barrier to potty training however she has had no problem communicating when she needed to go. 
Her speech today has been brilliant.  Saying "Get Up Please" when she wanted to get off the potty.  The first 3 word sentence I have ever heard her say!

I am slightly apprehensive of what tomorrow will bring, especially as I will be on my own but all in all I am feeling very positive.  Today went better than I expected!

Potty Training Preparations

C is coming up for 2 1/2 years old.

As the summer holidays approach I feel it is the perfect time to start potty training.

Many of her friends are potty trained already, but I was determined to wait until the summer holidays when we were not also trying to juggle nursery and other toddler classes so we could really focus of the task in hand.

I also have been acutely aware of C’s struggles to communicate and am concerned that this will bring its own additional challenges.

I have spent the last few weeks researching how to potty training children with Verbal Dyspraxia.  Although this is not yet a confirmed diagnosis for C, as they are unwilling to pigeon hole them so young, my Mummy’s hunch is this is what closely matches her symptoms.

Many on Verbal Dyspraxia forums have stressed that waiting until the child is 3-4 years old provides better results.  They may prove to be right but I feel I would be doing my daughter a disservice by not using this opportunity to try at the same time as her peers.

We are embarking on this challenge alongside Dry Like Me’s #PottyTrainingLive campaign.  

Come back over the next 4 weeks to see how we are progressing and for competitions and reviews of Dry Like Me products.

#PottyTrainingLive runs for 4 weeks starting on the 14^th July. You can sign up for weekly advice, tips and offers here...

Not a Good Day

Today is not turning out to be a good day.
The culmination of a week of no sleep due to baby B still being really congested from his cold last week is taking its toll.
I am exhausted.
I have no energy for parenting.
I am being a rubbish mummy.

The Little Railways of Mid Wales

Last week we spent 8 days on the west coast of Wales.
5 days on a farm near Cardigan and then 3 days on the southern tip of Snowdonia.
This is a post about those last 3 days, I will blog about the first 5 later.

The Animal Tamer

My #CountryKids post for this week is more of a watch than a read.
I'm so pleased we had a phone with us to be able to capture the moment on camera.

Growing up around animals, C (26 months) has never had any fear of them.
I find this both wonderful and slightly alarming at the same time.
Her confidence around animals is at a complete contrast to the rest of her life where she is timid and quiet. 
A friend recently called her the little animal whisperer as it is the only time she appears totally at ease.

Our new animal enclosure was built with the children in mind, to allow them to safely interact with the animals at a level not possible before.

It seems to be working as today, at feeding time, C caught DH and me totally off guard by doing this...

It was hilarious to watch and not something I have ever actively taught or encouraged her to do.
Obviously she has seen us handle the chickens but until today has not shown the slightest interest in doing it herself.
For me it is wonderful to watch my vision of countrylife with kids turning into a reality.

[no chickens were harmed in the making of this video ;-)]

I'm linking this post up with Coombe Mill #CountryKids.

Book of The Week - Week 2

This week's book is The Big Animal Mix-Up by Gareth Edwards and Kanako Usai

I first saw The Big Animal Mix-Up on CBeebies Bedtime Hour.
It is not often that a story read on there jumps out at me but this one did.
Even hubby looked up from his computer to follow the story.
It is just so cleverly written!
C was not paying much attention to the television therefore I decided to order the book in from our local library so we could read it together at home.

Our First Easter Egg Hunt

2 years old. The perfect age for her first Easter Egg hunt.
I had been planning on doing one just for her but when a couple of friends expressed an interest in doing one for their toddlers too, we decided to combine forces.

I purchased a large number of plastic eggs from eBay and filled them with a mixture of Milkybar buttons, Dolly Mixtures and a few small plastic toys.
Not too many sweets in each egg, just enough to keep their interest up.

On the day, while C was down for her lunchtime nap, I hurried off into the garden with my filled eggs.
Now came the next challenge....
How to make them obvious enough that they could be found but again not too easy that it would all be over too quickly?

Book of the Week - Week 1

This is a new feature I am going to run every Wednesday if I can.

Every week C goes to the local library with my parents and chooses a handful of books to bring home for that week.  Some are good, some are pretty awful and some are little gems that I would never have come across otherwise.  I wanted to take this opportunity to briefly share some of them with you.  Some of them you may already know but I hope to also bring some new ones to your attention.

This weeks book is The Gobble Gooble Moooooo Tractor Book by Jez Alborough.

Upcoming Surgery

We received the date for C's eye surgery last week.
OK, so surgery is not strictly the correct word.  I think the correct term in "procedure".
She is going to undergo a procedure to unblock her tear ducts which have been blocked in both eyes since she has been born.
The result is her tears cannot drain away properly, which leaves her eyes either constantly weeping or crusted up.
Not only is this unattractive, it is obviously uncomfortable and leaves her prone to conjunctivitis.
The procedure needs to be carried out under general anaesthetic and involves sticking a probe through the tear duct and into the nasal cavity to push through any blockage, and then stretching the duct to allow it to drain easier.

Sibling Love

Today has been a rainy day.  Our first for a while.
Stuck indoors I was worried that the 3 of us might be climbing the walls but we have actually had a really good day.
Baby B is really starting to take an interest in C.  He adores her and his face lights up whenever she comes near.
As a direct result, C is becoming more interested in him.  She goes out of her way to get smiles from him and she enjoys trying to entertain him with toys.
Today they have been particularly loving towards each other.
It melted my heart.