TV Troubles

I am feeling incredibly guilty to admit this but I do feel that I have to confess... my daughter has developed an obsession with the TV.

All that effort that I have made since she was born, to ensure that she didn't get exposed to rubbish blaring out of the box in the corner of the room and I go and undo all of it this summer. I am feeling as though membership to the Bad Mummy's club is going to land on the mat any day now!

Up until this summer, we have never had much time for TV so it was fairly easy to keep to the 'only 30 minutes per day of TV ' rule. (The 30 minutes would always be 'In the Night Garden' due to the fact that Anna still adores it, so much so that she can do all the impressions etc). With all our clubs and meets, we were never in the house long enough to watch TV. Mornings would be a mad race around the house, normally involving me holding Anna's shoes in one hand, pouring milk over her cereal in my other hand and trying to grab her coat off the hook using my foot, all while trying to encourage Anna to sit down and not go terrorising the cat in the garden! By the time that we got back form our hectic social occasions, it would be time for lunch. After that, Anna and I would watch 'In the Night Garden' and have dedicated play time together or go for a walk to the park. (I have always insisted that the start of the afternoon is dedicated to Anna's play time or otherwise, I just find myself doing chores all day). After this Anna would have an afternoon nap while I raced around the house again, trying to get the household jobs done, which normally involved me picking up CD's and books off the floor which Anna had decided to browse through while I made lunch, whilst trying to ignore the huge pile of ironing that was taking over the breakfast room. We didn't have time to turn the TV on, let alone watch it.

However, this summer, while the clubs are on a break too, we have had a much more relaxed approach to it all. The TV still hasn't been turned on until 10am every morning but that is more to do with the fact that I can't bear to see smug TV presenters looking like they have just stepped off a catwalk while I look like I have just slept in a cardboard box for several nights. I have lost count of the times that I have opened the front door during these summer mornings to various members of the public (including postmen, decorators, plumbers, a landscape gardener and a parcel delivery men who are never for me but for the rich woman down the street) and then started to wonder why they are looking at me so strangely. I later discover that they are probably scared by the hair that looks like I have just received an electric shock, the way in which Anna's weetabix is smeared across my cheek or the uncanny ability I have to put clothes on back to front!

However, when I finally do turn the TV on, I am ashamed to say that Anna becomes transfixed. I'm not even sure why I feel the need to turn it on. I suppose, because I have been doing the ironing at a more leisurely pace, I felt that I could afford the luxury of glancing up to the TV while doing it. In the end, it just becomes background noise but that is just wrong! Meanwhile, Anna is sat there transfixed. She is fussy though and won't watch any old rubbish. It has to be C Beebies or the one music channel that we have. I have also restrained from having the TV on in the afternoon as I much prefer music or the radio. However, Anna is still watching far too much TV for my liking so it is still wrong.

I didn't even realise how much I was doing it until this morning. For the first time this Summer, we were actually organised so had finished breakfast and cleared away before 10am. I was waiting for the washing machine to stop so sat down and played with Anna. It was brilliant as Anna and I became engrossed in puzzles and jigsaws and we found ourselves having a conversation about Tigger and Piglet and Pooh. After half an hour, I suddenly realised that there were no distractions. No TV or Radio. It was wonderful. It was so lovely that we carried on all morning, playing with the jigsaws and taking her baby doll for a walk in her pushchair around the garden. It was great to see Anna being so loving and maternal towards Polly, her baby doll. That is until Anna decided that she wanted to go and say hello to the neighbours who had just appeared, so promptly threw Polly into the bush and ran off.

It made me realise that I have missed this time during the summer. Anna and I have always had dedicated play time or a walk to the park every afternoon, even throughout this summer, but the majority of the summer mornings has seen us in front of the idiots lantern. How awful is that!

In my defence, I haven't actually been at home very much this summer so it hasn't been every week. In fact, we have spent literally half of the holidays in Hereford for one reason or another and we never have the TV on in Herefordshire as Anna is ALWAYS outdoors in mum's large garden or, if it is raining, sat in the breakfast room watching the tractors (!!) or playing with her toys (there is no TV in the breakfast room).

For the time that we have been at home on our own, I would love to blame the British weather and say that, due to the constant rain, we had little choice but to turn the TV on but that's not true. I didn't have to turn the TV on, regardless of what the weather was like. I could also say that the lack of clubs and classes means that I can keep up with the ironing and cleaning much more efficiently but I would much rather be able to say that Anna and I get to do exciting activities rather than having a tidy house.

So, as we near the end of the summer holidays, I have learnt some lessons during this holiday period and the TV is being switched off again. I think I will have to make one exception to the rule of '30 minutes per day' of TV though, due to the fact that Anna loves 2 TV programmes now. 'In the Night Garden' is still a firm favourite but Balamory is a very close second. Luckily, Balamory is only shown once a week. I think the Balamory attraction is all the singing and dancing that they do. Either that or she just follows her mummy and has a fondness for men in kilts talking in a Scottish accent (although anyone that has seen Balamory will know that the one man who wears a kilt is no George Clooney or Phillip Schofield!!!)

The photograph has nothing to do with the blog post but I hope you don't mind me not needing an excuse to show a photograph of my daughter looking gorgeous (even more gorgeous than Phillip Schofield!)

Truck, Train and Tractor Spotting

Anna has a new love.. or should that be obsession?

In the past week, Anna has been out train-spotting, tractor-spotting and truck-spotting and now can't stop talking about them! The problem is that we don't get many trains, trucks or tractors passing our house, seeing as though we live in a small suburban street in the middle of Chester, much to Anna's best attempts at spotting them (by gazing out of the window when she heard the dust cart!)

It all started with our visit to Grandma Lynn and Grandad Flob's house. As part of our visit, we went to Southport which features a Miniature Railway Village. Anna adored the trains and, every time that she heard one coming around the track, she would stop and watch it intently until it passed. The only slight problem was that there were lots of trains and so we didn't move 2 or 3 steps before another train could be heard and we would have to stop again. Anna then accompanied the trains by shouting 'choo choo' with lots of enthusiastic jumping around and running after the train (before another came along a few seconds later and we all had to halt again).

Once Anna's legs had become a little tired after all that running for trains, we retired to the cafe where Anna found a Wendy House, which she thought was very good. Even better was the fact that it came complete with little boy inside. Anna has another little obsession for little boys at the moment. Any time that we pass a little girl, Anna will walk past without any comment. If a little boy happens to pass us, Anna will shout 'BOY' at the top of her voice before running after them. When we visited the farm a couple of weeks ago, Anna had found an empty shed and placed herself inside. She then waited until boys walked past (ignoring all the girls who had walked past previously), where she would then lure them inside by talking to them in her sweetest voice! She managed to entice 3 boys into the empty shed and gave each one a cuddle before they ran off. To find a little boy in the Wendy House, with no means of escape (Anna had already blocked the doorway) was her idea of heaven! Unfortunately, Anna soon scared the boy off with her talk of re-decorating and introducing soft furnishings.

The trucks and tractors obsession has come from Hereford. At the end of Nanny and Grandad's house is a gate which looks onto a main road. Ever since Anna has been able to walk, she has loved the outdoors and her Grandad has always found himself leaning on the gate with Anna, watching the vehicles go by. In fact, Anna loves it so much that there really is no rest for her Grandad. As soon as he gets in from work, Anna has picked up his boots (one in each hand) and carried them to her Grandad and placed them down by his feet. All of this happens before her Grandad has got through the door. By the time that he has managed to get inside (in order to put his bag down), Anna is saying 'Outside please' over and over again. They then spend 2 or 3 hours walking around the garden and, for the majority of the time, stood or sat on the gate watching the cars. The only time that she will allow her Grandad to take her back indoors is when it is is just too dark to see anymore!

Anna is now able to name every vehicle that goes past so all we get to hear for the 2 hours whilst stood at the gate is 'Car...car...car...lorry...van...car...tractor...car'. Anna does have trouble with the 4x4's though. She isn't sure whether they are a car, tractor or van so just shakes her head when they go by.

I'm not sure what Anna's favourite mode of transport is, if she had to decide between tractor or truck. My first instinct would be to say tractor. Even without looking, Anna can be sat in her nanny's breakfast room, hear a tractor coming from miles away and shout 'tractor' before running to the nearest adult and asking to be picked up to see it (we can see the road from my mum's breakfast room if Anna stands in the window). She then cheers and claps EVERY time that one passes, which is frequently at the moment, as tractors haul potatoes from the fields to nearby farm (the farm is big in potatoes, being one of the main suppliers for McCain's chip factory in Northern England). I am fully expecting Anna to start naming the tractors soon. I can almost hear Anna saying 'Look Mummy... a green tractor is a John Deere. Look Mummy, a red tractor so that must be a Massey Ferguson'. In fact, after Anna and her Nanny was involved in an in-depth conversation about tractors and potatoes, Anna now even recognises when a tractor is pulling the root vegetable. Imagine my surprise when Anna chirped up 'Look Mummy... tractor with potatoes'. No exaggeration... this is exactly what Anna said to me, where I then proceeded to do goldfish impressions! I will hit the floor when she starts telling me what type of potato they are carrying as well.

However, trucks do have an appeal that tractors don't. For a start, Anna has a lorry/truck named after her. My dad owns several lorries and therefore felt it was only right that his beloved lorry (!!!) be named after his grandchild! There is a red lorry driving through the Herefordshire countryside and beyond with Anna emblazoned on the front of it!! However, Anna is a little too young to understand that yet. For Anna, there is another reason why trucks/lorries are so wonderful. This is because lorries do something that tractors don't. Due to the fact that my dad is in the lorry industry, it means that he knows an awful lot of other lorry drivers. This means that when Anna sits on the gate and waves to these lorry drivers, they wave back and, because they know my dad, the kind lorry drivers will pull out all the stops to impress Anna, who gets to see lorries that flash their lights, beep their horns and even play their musical air horns at her when they go past! Now some adults, let alone toddlers, might be a little taken back by a full blast of air horns as they zoom by. Not Anna! She just thinks it is her entourage on tour as she gives them a royal wave back and giggles loudly!

Writer's Block

I am aware of the fact that I have not posted anything on this blog for quite a while now but I don't want friends and family to start worrying that Anna is back in hospital or likewise. Therefore, I am just posting this to say 'Hello... we are here'.

Anna seems OK at the moment although I am terrified of writing that for fear of tempting fate. We continue to take each day as it comes. It has been 5 weeks now, which is the longest we have gone without going back to hospital, since it all started in March so we are trying to keep hold of the positives.

The summer holidays are going well. It gives Anna and me a good opportunity to not race around at 100 miles per hour and catch up with friends (especially teacher friends), which is brilliant. However, I do have to confess that I am missing our clubs and classes a little. Maybe I am becoming one of those mum's who likes to chat about sleep routines and dirty nappies..... NO, NEVER!!!

The only reason that I can fathom for lack of recent posts is writer's block. I can't seem to find the words or the time or the enthusiasm or a combination of all 3!!! That doesn't mean that I am getting bored of my blog (even if I do wonder if anyone is still reading it apart from me!!). I still love writing this little diary-like blog and I enjoy it even more when I think that writing this blog will result in Anna loving it to read when she is older.

Maybe I am just getting too old and far too sensible so that the bizarre and surreal events, that Anna and I used to find ourselves in regularly, don't occur with such frequency anymore and, therefore, I don't have so much to post on this blog! Dare I say it... Maybe life has just become too 'everyday normal'? Maybe Anna is even enjoying the lack of 'embarrassing mummy moments'? However, this is me that we are talking about. James always says ' I have never known anybody that can find themselves in so many bizarre situations as you'. I am sure that normal blogging service will resume shortly!!!