All posts filed under: Children

Water

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Water is a wonderful thing and now that the sun is making a meaningful appearance, my daughter is enjoying the delights of water play.  Almost every day she strips off and insists I give her a bucket of water to sit in.  Occasionally we treat her to the paddling pool but she seems just as happy with a selection of buckets and bowls to squeeze into. This weekend she got to enjoy water play with her friend Ethan.  And what a shocker, she kept her clothes on.  Hooray for sprinklers! Playing with water is such simple fun for children, and it’s actually an incredible privilege.  Nearly two million children a year die for want of clean water.  Put another way, dirty water kills 5,000 children a day. If that makes you want to burst into tears, go to http://www.wateraid.org and give the gift of water.

Please don’t…

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I am breaking my blogging silence for words that really haven’t been said (see title of my blog site), but they have been simmering under my breath for quite some time now.  The following is to all you mums, young and old, who come across the path of me and my little ones during our days together.  It’s a little harsh but frankly, so are you! When I am standing in your shop, at your till, buying whatever essential item your shop sells that my family needs to go on with its week and my son begins to cry because he hates shopping and can’t stand being stationary, strapped into his pushchair….please don’t stop what you’re doing to tell me he’s crying, to tell him he looks tired and suggest he perhaps needs to go to sleep.  Instead carry on with your job, sell me the item, take my money and you will see, the moment I get to push him out of your shop the crying will stop, he will be quiet, peace will …

Jackson is 1

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A year ago today I met the second Cowles man I have fallen in love with.  We celebrated his first birthday in quite a low key fashion, learning from the traumas of an overwhelmed one year old daughter 18 months ago.  This is the diary of Jackson’s first birthday. I got up at my usual time this morning and shouted until my mum came for me, as I usually do.  In she came and wished me a happy birthday.  We then went downstairs and I checked out my presents. Before I/Minnie could open my presents I had my breakfast. The first present was a keyboard (thank you Gran and Grandpa).  I played on that while Minnie unwrapped all of the rest. After that I put on my new jacket (thank you Uncle Gordon and Aunty Rhiannon) and looked through my cards. We went out to the toy library to get even more toys (these weren’t all for me, the pink pram is Minnie’s), then it was home for lunch with mum. After lunch I had …

Snowman in June

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Minnie and I had a delightful 10 minutes (seriously couldn’t do any longer with no wellies and no gloves) making a snowman – her first ever. The snow is perfect, really sticky.  So sticky in fact that once we had got in, cleaned up and got into dry clothes I realised my wedding ring must be somewhere in the snowman! Don’t worry any of you who know I wear my great Grandma’s engagement ring, that is currently being valued at a jewelers for our new contents insurance, phew.  However this means until the snow melts and I can get out there to dissect the snowman I have nothing on my ring finger – very disconcerting! We’re trapped in the house for the afternoon now – have no idea how I’m going to keep us all sane until dinner time – please Jackson have a REALLY long lunchtime nap…

Contents of his nappy

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As many friends and family will know, due to a slow moving bowel in my youngest, I am unusually interested in the contents of his nappy. I am delighted when a poo comes out of its own accord.  I love a good soft easy one. Tonight’s nappy looked like it might have smarted on the way out. There were five puzzle pieces and two bites of cheese on toast.  Thankfully these had only travelled down the back of his vest and into his nappy.  The crazy thing is, they had been down there for about an hour and he’d sat in a car seat with them making an impression on his bum and lower back – no complaints. As I was putting him to bed tonight he was trying to shove a card down his back so I am looking forward to nappy checking being far more interesting in the next few weeks.

Ethan’s Beach

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Ethan's Beach

Minnie’s best friend in New Zealand is without a doubt Ethan, who is most certainly a good choice for a best friend – he’s gorgeous and a very good influence on my little madam. On top of that he lives near the beach so this Sunday we went for a walk on the sand.

What this photo does not show you is about two minutes after this was taken me and the littlies got soaked by a rogue wave unexpectedly chasing us away. I took it the worst – I really find beaches too messy for my OCD tendencies and am not a fan of sand in my toes.

But I will learn to love the beach because I know my children will and this is part of our life here in Christchurch. I am posting this photo to remind me of the good times before the damp walk back to dry land.

Return to normal

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I realise that “normal” is generally an unquantifiable entity in that, what is normal when life changes all the time?  But today, after two weeks of upset and sickness, I saw a glimpse of my son’s normal self. Again it’s difficult to say what is normal for a one year old baby as they still aren’t developed enough to really know what their personality is.  There are far too many other factors that alter them (teething, injections, moods of older siblings, moving countries, inability to move) and make them appear to be a certain way (moody, sad, scared, unsettled, frustrated).  Put it this way, I wouldn’t want to describe Jackson’s personality based on the last two weeks – he has not looked good! So this afternoon, when there seemed to be no discomfort or pain effecting him, my boy was cheeky, bold and happy.  He also pooed in his potty, ate some food and played with his toys – normal.  I really do hope this lasts for a while – I am shattered. 12 hours …

I miss cooking for adults

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Seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year I plan a menu that includes home cooked meals, using fresh ingredients for me and my family to eat.  Five days out of each week my dinners suffer some form of rejection and/or abuse. Take today for instance, while my children are sleeping I have prepared a dinner of steamed green beans and roasted cherry toms, marinated then grilled chicken breast, home made wedge potato chips and red cabbage coleslaw.  I am pretty sure we will have to bribe Minnie to finish half of her plate and Jackson won’t even let the majority of it anywhere near his mouth, then I will give up passing things to him and he will spend the rest of dinner time throwing food from either side of his high chair – that is the only point in the meal when he looks like he is really enjoying my food. Weaning both my children has been a heartbreaking experience for this mum-who-likes-to-cook.  I am pretty sure my children have the smallest …