Day Out with Thomas

We have just had a fantastic weekend, mainly due to a little young engine called Thomas!!!

On Saturday, we went to Llangollen where Thomas the Tank Engine was making a special visit to town!! Since Christmas, when Anna received a Thomas the Tank Engine train set from her Uncle Steve and Auntie Carolyne, she has been 'Thomas Mad'!! (Well, almost Thomas mad... she loves pictures, books, the music and anything associated with Thomas except for the programmes which she doesn't show any interest in whatsoever after the theme tune has finished!

Therefore, I thought she might like to see a real-life Thomas. He only visits three times a year so we thought this was a perfect opportunity whilst Anna was still a number 1 Thomas fan. I think James wasn't expecting great things and, although I was keen to see Anna's face, I too was a little apprehensive, wondering whether it would be worth it. (It wasn't the cheapest of attractions).

As soon as we got to the bridge overlooking Llangollen station, we knew it was going to be a great day. Anna took one look at Thomas pulling into the station (we couldn't have timed it better) and a huge beaming smile came on her face as she shouted 'Hello Thomas. PEEP PEEP PEEP' at the top of her voice. Over-excitement then took over and she did not know what to do with herself for the next 10 minutes as she jumped up and down on the spot whilst still shouting 'Hello' to Thomas and waving her little hand very fast! In fact, as we went down the hill towards the station, her little legs were just not long enough to go as fast as she would have liked, in order to get up close to her hero! We then had hysterics when we had to enter the actual station building (in order to buy our tickets). By going into the building, it meant that Thomas was no longer able to be seen on the platform. I tried, in vain, to explain that we would have to go through the station in order to get even closer to Thomas but Anna didn't understand. After scooping her up under my arm as she shouted 'But I need Thomas. Thomas, Thomas, where is Thomas' through the sobs and tears, we emerged on the platform where all noise immediately stopped and Anna just stood in amazement, standing right next to her train buddy!!!

At this point, the excitement got all too much and Anna burst out crying! It has happened on a few different occasions now, where Anna just can't deal with all of the excitement and joy that has suddenly enveloped her so just bursts out crying. Innocent family and friends mistakenly think that it means that she is unhappy or sad about something that they thought would make her happy. In fact, she is VERY happy but, at 2 years old, she just can't deal with all that pure joy!

In this situation, as Thomas continued to stand there smiling and Anna continued to stand there crying, we had to think of something to help Anna focus so James trotted off to get her a balloon, which did the trick instantly as she exclaimed 'A Thomas balloon' as though James had just handed her the entire contents of Toys R Us!!!

We then explained to Anna that the day was about to get even better with a train ride all the way to a little village called Carrog in the Welsh hills. This train ride was going to take 35 minutes on the train called Douglas. Anna thought all her Christmas had come at once!

After Anna insisting that we say 'hello' to Douglas (although the guards kept calling him Blackie so I got a little confused!) and blowing him a kiss to his face, we boarded the train. I was a little nervous as to whether Anna would sit still for 35 minutes, considering that she has never sat that still before (if not being tied in via a car seat etc). However, the happiness she felt at just being on Douglas and in the presence of Thomas meant that she was mesmerised and 35 minutes passed like 2 minutes. It was fantastic to be aboard this old steam train and waving at all the fishermen, canoeists and walkers who all waved back to Anna enthusiastically, with big smiles on their face! (The river runs parallel to the steam railway track, all the way to the village so it is really is a beautifully scenic journey)

I got even more nervous when we entered a very dark tunnel during our journey. Anna used to get frightened when we entered the Mersey Tunnel when travelling to Liverpool and that was light! This was almost black inside each carriage apart from the dim lighting that eventually came on. However, with Douglas being our guide, Anna thought it was wonderful and kept laughing very loudly saying 'More Tunnel. I love the tunnel'.

After a short stay in the village (there was very little to do there without walking boots!!), we travelled back, having a picnic on the train (like most of the passengers). Anna was too excited to eat much and just kept asking 'When is the tunnel again?', which was met with a squeal of delight when we actually entered the tunnel on our return journey.

This photograph shows Douglas/Blackie, who took us on our special train journey.

When arriving back at Lllangollen, we saw Daisy, another train from the Thomas stories.

We were also entertained by the 'Fat Controller' (Political Correctness seems to have been overlooked by Thomas and Friends... thankfully!!). Each hour, 'The Fat Controller' told us a story (adapted from the stories found in the books) and Thomas would act it out. Anna got to listen to the story where Thomas was very naughty and refused to take any more passengers until it snowed! It was very funny to see Thomas drop his carriages and come rolling into the station. Thomas' driver (who faniced himself as a true actor and was milking it a lot... but who was very funny with it!!!) then informed us that Thomas refused to do any more work until it snowed and that Thomas had told him that he was going to go and sit under the bridge until the Fat Controller made it snow. After lots of huffing and puffing from the 'Fat Controller' and telling Thomas how naughty he was (to which Anna kept shouting 'Don't be naughty Thomas'), all the children then had to shout 'I wish, I wish, I wish for snow', in true pantomime style. After getting louder and louder, the snow came falling from the skies (A giant snow machine had been erected above the footbridge on the station platform) and Thomas came chuffing back with loud cheers from everyone.

We then had a special treat as we boarded Thomas and he took us for a ride in his brake vans, shunting us in and out of the station very fast, which Anna loved.

At one point in the day, Thomas and Diesel were having races out of the station and back again and Anna kept shouting 'I love Thomas' and then jumping up and down as she cheered 'Come on Thomas. Peep Peep Peep'. Every time that the Fat Controller had announced that Thomas had won, Anna cheered and cheered, looking overjoyed at the fact that her hero had won... again! I have to admit to having some tears when I saw how much Anna was loving it all.

(The photograph shows me and Anna with Diesel, when he was having a rest from teasing Thomas!)

We finished the day with a walk by the river, which ran along side the station and every so often, we would hear Thomas shouting 'Peep Peep Peep' to us. It seemed a lovely end to our fantastic day!

When I Wasn't Looking..

Oh... My... God!!

After reading some of my recent blogs and then reflecting on some recent conversations with friends and family, I have had an awful realisation!! Without even recognising that I was doing it, I have turned into one of those mothers who brag about their children and really annoy every single person who has to endure listening to them!

I am so so sorry!!!!

As Anna's mother, I think that she is the most beautiful, clever, intelligent, kind and wonderful girl in the world. I'm not sure I should apologise for that bit because I do actually think that EVERY mother feels exactly the same about their child and this is due to mother nature. When you give birth, those natural feelings emerge too, meaning that you suddenly become very biased and protective towards your beloved little one.

However, most of us recognise that we can be a little biased at times so contain our overwhelming enthusiasm and excitement when their loved one does something (such as wipe their nose!!!) which you consider so special that no child has ever done that in the world before ever. but which actually every child has done!!!

I think I lost sight of that!

So this blog is an apology for turning into one of those mothers and I now intend to return to my former self. This will involve me still thinking that Anna is special, clever, funny, beautiful and gorgeous etc but not being one of 'those'mothers who lose sight of everything else!

And Relax....

Why do I allow myself to get so worried about things that are not worth bothering about????

Anna had her 2 year review today and I'm really not sure why I made such a fuss!!!

It still felt like a test which I resent enormously but we survived!!!

I hardly slept at all last night and I think Anna wondered what had happened when I came into her room this morning, looking fully alert with my hair brushed and my shoes on (I had been ready since half past 6!) .

Anna was in her element from the moment that we arrived at the clinic. There was a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' book on the table and a toy cooker. Life was complete. Unfortunately, due to us arriving 20 minutes early, Anna was rather excitable (after being surrounded by previously unseen toys) so by the time that we got called in, her enthusiasm did seem to take over slightly.

As soon as we entered the room, the HV (Heath Visitor. I will refrain from using other less-endearing terms for her!) immediately said 'Look Anna. Pen and paper. Can you draw a circle please?'. Luckily, Anna obliged before going on to draw a triangle and square!!! Unfortunately, the HV didn't notice the triangle and square because she was too busy ticking boxes and making a note that Anna was left-handed. 'Did you know that she is left-handed?' she asked me. 'Yes', I replied 'She gets it from her Dad I think'. She just looked at me disappointed and said 'Oh well, it must run in the family' as though I had just told her that the Gibson's commit crimes regularly or something equally as terrible!

Anna then noticed a toy post box in the room and excitement reached overload. Only yesterday, she had been watching her favourite programme where Mr Tumble (Clown who teaches sign language) had been posting letters so Anna ran over to the post box at full speed and started posting every available object through the hole. This included cuddly toys, pencil crayons, a stethoscope and some helpful leaflets about teenage support.

During this time, the HV then instructed Anna to do various tasks such as close the post box door and open it again several times for no apparent reason. I know the HV was checking to see if Anna could respond to instructions but Anna couldn't see the point of opening and closing a door for no reason and so turned round and said 'Sorry darling. No more door open'.

I was then asked about pre-school's and whether I had selected one yet, to which I replied that I had. Her next questions was then about Anna's speech and whether I felt it was OK. I replied that I thought it was OK and that some pre-schools had said that Anna was actually a little advanced for her age in terms of speech. The HV just took one look at me and smiled in the most patronising way before saying 'Well... I would say that she was on track for average'. AVERAGE!!! Surely not (said with tongue firmly in cheek!)!!! In Anna's defence, she was not talking as well as she can because she was so excitable and talking so fast that her sentences were a little jumbled at times! It didn't help that there was the HV plus 2 other students in the room so Anna was showing off, which can lead to her talking much faster than what her brain can keep up, hence we get jumbled words! I was also a little miffed because Anna had been talking in sentences in the waiting room and the midwife (who happened to be passing through at that moment) even said 'Wow. Doesn't she talk well'. However, apparently this is perfectly average for Anna's age so I stand corrected and apologise if I misled anyone!!!

Anna's eyesight was mentioned (The HV was just running through the questions on her sheet like a script) and I explained how she had referred Anna to the hospital but they told me her eyesight was normal. 'Great', she replied, 'Mind you, you can see why I thought she might have a squint because she does have a very wide nose'. Anna just looked at me and giggled at the silly woman in the corner with the tick list!

She then asked me if I thought Anna was clumsy. Up until now, nobody had mentioned the bruises so I thought this could be my test. I explained about Anna falling over quite a lot this weekend which resulted in the bruises to which she replied 'Yes, I can see she runs around and is a little ball of energy. Her little legs can't keep up with her enthusiasm'. And that was that!!

Then came the shocker. Anna was weighed and measured for her height. Now, Anna had always been on the 80th centile for her height but her weight has been hovering at the 96th centile since she was 6 months old. (96th centile suggest that there are 4% of babies Anna's age who are heavier than her). If you remember, I was always made to feel slightly guilty about it by the HV herself! Today, Anna is still on the 80th centile for height but her weight is now 70th centile. They say that, at this age, her weight and height should roughly be the same. I therefore thought that I would get the big thumbs up! No!!! Of course not! Instead, I was told that Anna had dropped centiles on the graph and that, if it fell lower in 6 months time, I may have to introduce more pasta and cheese into my meals! I can't win! At this point, I gently enquired as to whether I should be worried. 'Oh No' replied the HV 'It is just I remember Anna being a very chubby baby so it is a surprise to see her weight as good as this'. She was full of compliments today. First, the wide nose and then the chubby baby!! I then stupidly felt as though I had to apologise for having a chubby baby (I am so week... I should have just told her to politely go away!). At which point, she turned round and said 'Oh No, Anna was extremely healthy as a baby. Chubby is good on a baby'!!! That is not what she was saying 18 months ago when she was enquiring as to what I fed her (thinking I would say a diet of chocolate, coke and cheeseburgers!!). In her defence, she then said that it was hardly surprising that Anna had gone down on the graph after all of the running around she does at great pace ( as she was demonstrating for the entire appointment). I pointed out that this was non-stop for the entire time that she was awake during the day and the HV did say that it was a great sign and I just had to make sure that I continued to give her enough food to keep up with her demanding energy levels.

Soon after, the appointment was over and I was free to be released! Unfortunately it still took a further 10 minutes to get out of the room due to the way in which, as I was fishing out the hundred and one objects from the post box, Anna was busy posting them all back through the hole faster!

The session ended on a high when a doctor came walking through, took one look at Anna and said 'Gosh... what a beautiful girl.'. I couldn't help but turn to the HV, give her one of my smug smiles and turned back to the doctor and said 'Thank you'.

As we walked away, Anna then turned round to the HV and said 'Bye darling. See you soon'.
I hope not!

That Sunday Night Feeling

When I was at Primary School, I always used to have 'that' Sunday night feeling. As soon as the 'Ballykissangel' TV theme tune came on, I would get a huge sinking feeling in my tummy and know that it would be quickly followed by my mum saying it was 'time to go to bed ready for school tomorrow'. (Thankfully, I adored High school so never experienced it then and I secretly liked teaching too so never got it much then either.. apart from when Ofsted was in!!)

Tonight, I have that Sunday night feeling again!

Tomorrow morning, at 9am, Anna and I have an appointment with our Health Visitor to carry out Anna's 2 year review.

Now, normally, I wouldn't worry about it but recent events have made me more nervous than you can ever believe.


On Thursday night, Anna was walking to the bathroom and suddenly remembered that she had left Kipper in her bedroom so ran back to get him. Unfortunately, I had left the changing mat out (having just got her undressed for the bath!) and she tripped, going head-first into the solid brick wall.

It soon became apparent that it hurt. Firstly, Anna cried quite a lot which she never normally does when falling over. In fact, she is normally a tough cookie, says 'Oh Dear. Up you get and dust down' (copying me!!) and stands up and runs off again. The other indication that it smarted a little was the fact that a lump which was the size of an egg came up on her forehead followed by a very big black bruise spreading over the right side of her face.

Anna calmed down much quicker than I did and before long she was happily playing in the bath with her toy ducks while I sobbed in the corner. I even turned round to James and said 'You watch, the bloody health visitor will tell me I have an appointment tomorrow'!!!

It is called Sods' law because lo and behold, on the mat the following morning, was a letter from our delightful health visitor requesting to see Anna at 9am this Monday - 3 days away! There was no way that Anna's bruise would have gone by then. In fact, at the moment, it has turned a yellowish, grey, green colour which almost looks worse than the black!

Just to add to the injury, despite dancing every single day without any falling over, Anna fell over on Friday afternoon and landed on her wooden toy cot resulting in a cut and bruise above her eye, on the opposite side of the face than the huge bruise she got when hitting the wall. At this point, I became hysterical and phoned James at work to tell him that life wasn't fair. Anna has gone all year blemish-free and then decides to cover herself in bruises 2 days before our meeting with Mrs Doom and Mrs Gloom (My Health Visitor likes to work in pairs with her partner in crime!). In fact, if they had actually been organised and called Anna for her review when she turned 2, it would have all been fine!

By Saturday, I was holding Anna's hand while walking round the house, just to make sure she didn't bump into everything else. Therefore, to stop me having a complete nervous breakdown, James decided to take Anna to a soft play centre, thinking no harm could be done. I have no idea how but Anna came back with bruises up her one leg (We think it was done when someone drove a toy tractor into her leg!) .

Last night, I even woke up in a cold sweat, fearing what the health visitor would say to me. I imagined having to sit in a sparse room with one table and one chair while they leaned over me, banging their fists on the table and telling me they didn't believe me when I told of the incredibly bad luck with Anna becoming clumsy in the last 3 days!

So I sit here now, silently panicking and dreading tomorrow. I thought writing this blog may actually help but I'm not so sure now!

It is not just the bruises. It is the fact that it feels like Anna is being 'tested' and I don't like it!! I don't need any checklist to show me where Anna is on the developmental scale. I have even heard horror stories about little 2 year old's being sat down and shown flashcards and the health visitor ticking or crossing little boxes depending on how many they get right before giving you a result sheet with a score and 'developmental age' dependent on the results.

Don't get me wrong, I do actually think that Anna is spot on for her development and even, dare I say, a little advanced in her speech possibly. However, I just know for a fact that Anna will decide that tomorrow morning will be the first day in her life where she decides to not say a word, become shy and introvert and decide to look like she knows nothing about what is going on. The exact opposite of how she normally is! I couldn't blame her - she will probably pick up on my stress!

It also won't be any good by me saying 'Anna knows her colours, shapes, letters and numbers. She talks in sentences, can spell her name and recognise certain words'. They will just give me one of those sympathetic looks while thinking 'Yes, that is what they all say. All mum's think their child is advanced and just kid themselves'. I will then protest and say 'But she really can do those things' and they just won't believe me!!! Oh Dear!

So that is why I have 'that' Sunday night feeling. Tomorrow morning, I will probably wake up and wish really hard that it isn't Monday morning before opening my eyes and having that sinking feeling as I look at the clock and realise it is time to get up and face the world (or the health visitors from hell in this case!!). I just hope that I make it in one piece and, like those returns from school on a Monday night, I can walk back through the front door, drop my bag in the hallway as I walk past and head straight for the fridge for a deserved treat (Anna can even have an organic oat biscuit too!!)