Most days, as I prepare lunch, Anna gazes out of the French doors, happily watching the activity in the garden. That probably makes it sound more exciting than it actually is especially as the activity normally consists of watching the neighbourhood cat prowling his estate (which, according to the cat, includes our garden), watching our next door neighbours scarecrow swaying in the wind or watching the twirly, whirly, swirly things (I have no idea of their correct name) hanging off our apple tree. However, although it may not sound exciting to us, Anna thinks it is wonderful and this daily routine normally results in Anna chatting away for the whole time that she is doing it. (If I could translate, Anna would probably be saying 'I want to go outside' over and over again as I am finding it increasingly difficult to get her indoors whenever she is outdoors!).
4 weeks ago (it has taken me that long to get round to writing this post!), I was making lunch as normal and Anna was carrying out her stakeout of the garden. Anna was chatting away and we were having a good conversation (I always chat back to Anna) when suddenly, Anna said 'birds' really clearly. I was thrilled but even more excited when I looked up to congratulate her. Not only was Anna saying 'birds' but she was also pointing to 2 fat birds that were sat on our lawn. I rushed over to show my enthusiasm and, probably just for my benefit, Anna pointed to the birds again and said 'birds'!! My little girl could not only say the word 'birds' but also knew what it meant and was using it in context!!
At this point, I picked Anna up and started dancing around the kitchen with her, telling her what a clever girl she was. I was so excited that I even text each of Anna's grandparents and her Daddy, just to tell them how clever she was.
Since then, Anna has also pointed to her shoes and said 'shoes', pointed to trees and said 'trees' and has also pointed to a photograph of her Uncle John and said 'Ug Jo' (which is a good enough attempt so I am counting that one as well!!). Predictably, each time that Anna says the correct word and points to the object, I am still dancing around the house with excitement.
Anna just looks at me, wondering what all the fuss is about!
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Friday, 18 April 2008
Becoming the Norm
After another few days of coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath earlier this week, Anna was admitted into hospital again on Tuesday. This is the second time this year.
Although the medical profession is not able to diagnose Asthma for children under 3 years old, the doctor suggested that it is looking likely that Anna is developing the condition.
Yet again, I am looking for a reason as to why this might be happening. We don't have a smoke-filled house or any pets around. In fact, I won't allow anyone to hold Anna if they have been smoking within the last hour (the midwife suggested 20 minutes exclusion time but I add another 40 minutes to be on the safer side). It is true that I don't dust and polish every single day (where is the time??) but it is also true that our house is not exactly drowning in a sea of dust. I followed all the guidelines during pregnancy. I never ate anything with any trace of nuts (which has been linked to childhood asthma etc) so why has this happened to Anna? The doctors tells me that it is just unlucky and there is nothing else we could do but it doesn't really help. It also doesn't help that, as a matter of procedure because Anna has been in hospital twice this year, they will now send a respiratory specialist nurse to the house in a couple of weeks. They say that it is just a follow-up to make sure that Anna is OK. However, I also have a sneaky suspicion that it is also to check up on us, to make sure that we don't have the smoke-filled house and other environmental issues that might contribute to Anna's health. I know that it is something that they do to everyone so I am trying very hard to not take it personally (but as you would expect from me, I am taking it personally... can't they just tell from looking at me that I am doing everything to try and protect my daughter.) I am also getting some relief from the fact that Anna's little friend called Ethan, from our swimming class, has also been in hospital twice this year with exactly the same thing and, like Anna, Ethan has parents who try to do everything right.
When I kept pestering the doctor to tell me what I could do to stop this happening again, his only comment was 'I'm afraid that you may just have to get used to this uncertainty and the hospital trips' (Ethan's Mum was also told the same thing). So not the greatest news. Again, I questioned whether I should be taking Anna to all of these clubs, groups (I have now started playgroup...hooray!) and classes but everyone seems to be of the same opinion - that I should continue to take her. I think they are all right. For the first time since she started her classes, I actually got to sit on the side and observe Anna at swimming the other day (rather than be the one who holds her and tries very hard to distract her from wriggling out of my grasp and swimming to the other side of the pool!!). I knew that Anna had a constant smile on her face whilst swimming but, until I had a chance to see for myself, I hadn't realised just how excited and happy and animated she becomes whilst in the water. She doesn't stop bouncing up and down with excitement (no wonder I am exhausted by the end of our swimming class on a Friday afternoon). It is exactly the same with Anna's music classes where she doesn't stop dancing for a full 45 minutes. If I did stop her going, it would feel to Anna like she was constantly restricted indoors, like she feels when she is in hospital. Plus, there is nothing to suggest that she might not have caught these viruses (which then travel to her chest, causing the breathing problems) in town or walking to the post office so stopping the clubs would be useless anyway. I have looked into asthma reducing products such as asthma protection covers for mattresses and special hoovers that might to help in reducing asthma attacks. However, the day after we came out of hospital, I read that leading medical research has shown that they have no evidence to suggest that they actually do any good. (I am still debating whether to invest in something though... it can't do any harm!)
I think we just have to get on with our lives and continue to enjoy it. I must try to stop continuously worrying about when the next virus may strike and, if and when these blips do come along, we will deal with them, pick ourselves up and try to get on with the fun again. There is a small silver lining in that most children grow out of it by the age of 5 year old. So only 4 years to go!
Although the medical profession is not able to diagnose Asthma for children under 3 years old, the doctor suggested that it is looking likely that Anna is developing the condition.
Yet again, I am looking for a reason as to why this might be happening. We don't have a smoke-filled house or any pets around. In fact, I won't allow anyone to hold Anna if they have been smoking within the last hour (the midwife suggested 20 minutes exclusion time but I add another 40 minutes to be on the safer side). It is true that I don't dust and polish every single day (where is the time??) but it is also true that our house is not exactly drowning in a sea of dust. I followed all the guidelines during pregnancy. I never ate anything with any trace of nuts (which has been linked to childhood asthma etc) so why has this happened to Anna? The doctors tells me that it is just unlucky and there is nothing else we could do but it doesn't really help. It also doesn't help that, as a matter of procedure because Anna has been in hospital twice this year, they will now send a respiratory specialist nurse to the house in a couple of weeks. They say that it is just a follow-up to make sure that Anna is OK. However, I also have a sneaky suspicion that it is also to check up on us, to make sure that we don't have the smoke-filled house and other environmental issues that might contribute to Anna's health. I know that it is something that they do to everyone so I am trying very hard to not take it personally (but as you would expect from me, I am taking it personally... can't they just tell from looking at me that I am doing everything to try and protect my daughter.) I am also getting some relief from the fact that Anna's little friend called Ethan, from our swimming class, has also been in hospital twice this year with exactly the same thing and, like Anna, Ethan has parents who try to do everything right.
When I kept pestering the doctor to tell me what I could do to stop this happening again, his only comment was 'I'm afraid that you may just have to get used to this uncertainty and the hospital trips' (Ethan's Mum was also told the same thing). So not the greatest news. Again, I questioned whether I should be taking Anna to all of these clubs, groups (I have now started playgroup...hooray!) and classes but everyone seems to be of the same opinion - that I should continue to take her. I think they are all right. For the first time since she started her classes, I actually got to sit on the side and observe Anna at swimming the other day (rather than be the one who holds her and tries very hard to distract her from wriggling out of my grasp and swimming to the other side of the pool!!). I knew that Anna had a constant smile on her face whilst swimming but, until I had a chance to see for myself, I hadn't realised just how excited and happy and animated she becomes whilst in the water. She doesn't stop bouncing up and down with excitement (no wonder I am exhausted by the end of our swimming class on a Friday afternoon). It is exactly the same with Anna's music classes where she doesn't stop dancing for a full 45 minutes. If I did stop her going, it would feel to Anna like she was constantly restricted indoors, like she feels when she is in hospital. Plus, there is nothing to suggest that she might not have caught these viruses (which then travel to her chest, causing the breathing problems) in town or walking to the post office so stopping the clubs would be useless anyway. I have looked into asthma reducing products such as asthma protection covers for mattresses and special hoovers that might to help in reducing asthma attacks. However, the day after we came out of hospital, I read that leading medical research has shown that they have no evidence to suggest that they actually do any good. (I am still debating whether to invest in something though... it can't do any harm!)
I think we just have to get on with our lives and continue to enjoy it. I must try to stop continuously worrying about when the next virus may strike and, if and when these blips do come along, we will deal with them, pick ourselves up and try to get on with the fun again. There is a small silver lining in that most children grow out of it by the age of 5 year old. So only 4 years to go!
Monday, 7 April 2008
Counting Sheep
Anna is starting to show a real awareness of things around her. For quite a while now, she has been able to retrieve a number of toys if you ask her to. For example, if you say to her 'Anna, where is Rosie [Anna's favourite doll]?', Anna would be able to go and get it from the toy box and bring it back to you. She can also do the same with her Night Garden cuddly toys (Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, the Ninky Nonk and Makka Pakka), her red cube, her milk cup, her water cup, her toy hoover and, worryingly, the remote control. We still don't have the TV on during the day except for the 30 minute Night Garden programme (if we happen to be indoors and not busy) but Anna has become quite attached to the buttons on the remote control!
We were playing the very same game on Saturday as I said 'Anna, where is the remote control?' Anna then scanned the room, saw it on the coffee table and walked over to get it before bringing it back to me (I am not using my daughter to go and fetch me things.... honest!! The TV wasn't even on!) We did this with a number of her toys (as mentioned above) before I thought I would try some trickier objects, not even thinking that she would be able to do it. The first one that I said was 'Anna, can you get me the toy pig?' Anna has a toy farm with accompanying animals but they had actually got mixed up with her zoo animals so it was an even more difficult challenge for her! At first, I thought she wasn't going to find it but she then noticed the pile of animals and started rummaging through them. To my absolute amazement, she found the pig and brought it to me! I thought it must have been luck so I tried with the horse and she did exactly the same thing, bringing me back the horse (followed by lots of hugs and excitement from me, much to Anna's amusement!). Anna also successfully found the cow, the chicken and the farmer as I asked for each one in turn. I don't have a clue how she has learnt the animal names. Admittedly, we do play with the farm quite a lot and she also has quite a lot of books with farmyard animals so I suppose it is a shining example of how children learn through play and own discovery.
However, we did have trouble with the sheep. Anna brought me back a giraffe, polar bear and lion but no sheep. It is strange as Anna has seen more sheep than any other real farmyard animal (although she has also met cows and chickens before at Auntie Eileen's farm). She has been introduced to the sheep on Nan Barwell's (Goo Goo's) farm on several occasions. In fact, on
Sunday, she came up close and personal with a week old lamb that her Great-Uncle Phil was holding so that Anna could say 'Hello' (Thank you for taking the time to show the lambs to Anna, Uncle Phil. It was fantastic!). We also saw lots of sheep when we went to Chirk Castle at Easter. I'm not sure that she is linking the real animals that she has seen to her toy farm animals though. She probably hasn't figured out what sheep are yet as she spends most of the time, when we are playing with her toy farm, chewing the sheep's wool off his head! I am just thankful that she didn't try that with the real lamb that we met on Sunday!
Thursday, 3 April 2008
A Future Career?
It is strange what conversations you find yourself having in these baby classes. For example, Freya's mum and I were speculating on what Freya and Anna may choose as a career when they are older, based on the traits that they have now. (I am aware that this speculation will probably change a million times between now and Anna's interview with her careers advisor!)
Apparently, according to the mum's in our music group, Anna is displaying all of the signs of becoming a music teacher!! Why?
Well, Anna has a worrying tendency to place herself at the front of the class at the beginning of each lesson. In fact if Sue, the music teacher, isn't quick enough, Anna will even attempt to sit on the teacher's chair. Throughout the whole lesson, Anna will then face her class full of children and demonstrate how to play the instruments while dancing extremely enthusiastically to the music. This career conclusion was discussed without me mentioning that I was a teacher myself. However, I couldn't stay quiet for long as one of the fellow mum's asked what I did for a living. 'I'm a Teacher' I mumbled under my breath. The decision was confirmed. 'Anna must have the teaching gene passed down from you' they all cried. 'I hope not' was the only thing that I could reply. (I don't think teaching is bad but I'm not sure it is the best career option for stress-free living!)
Without realising that we had the career conversation, Sue, the music teacher, approached me at the end of the lesson and said 'I wouldn't be surprised if Anna starts playing an instrument when she is old enough. I think it may come easily to her'. I was rather surprised as, although both James and I love music (it is always playing in our house and in the car), neither of us would find it easy to pl;ay an instrument. However, the teacher went on to say that Anna is already displaying an awareness of rhythm and beat and that she always taps her foot, nods her head or claps her hands whenever a piece of music is played, even without realising that she is doing it. Apparently, these are all signs that 'music is in her blood' and that all musicians have this sub-conscious reaction to music. (There used to be a teacher who I worked with who was also a fantastic drummer. He would always tap his foot in staff meetings and when I asked him why, he said that he could always hear music in his head and he was just tapping the drum beat with his foot. It also helped the rather dull staff meetings to go a little quicker if you could hear Led Zeppelin in your head!)
However, evidence has now been found that casts doubt on these predictions of Anna becoming a
music teacher! Anna has a new found interest and it looks like hairdressing might be the chosen career path. Whenever Anna sees a hairbrush, she soon has it in her hand and is trying to find her next unsuspecting 'client' to practice her hair styling skills on. It isn't long before Anna is 'brushing' your hair and yanking at the roots. Unfortunately, she doesn't always get the right side of the hairbrush and so you have a giant whack on the head as the back of the hairbrush comes down on top of your head. I think Anna may need some practice with the 'customer care' element of the job before she can start applying for jobs!
Apparently, according to the mum's in our music group, Anna is displaying all of the signs of becoming a music teacher!! Why?
Well, Anna has a worrying tendency to place herself at the front of the class at the beginning of each lesson. In fact if Sue, the music teacher, isn't quick enough, Anna will even attempt to sit on the teacher's chair. Throughout the whole lesson, Anna will then face her class full of children and demonstrate how to play the instruments while dancing extremely enthusiastically to the music. This career conclusion was discussed without me mentioning that I was a teacher myself. However, I couldn't stay quiet for long as one of the fellow mum's asked what I did for a living. 'I'm a Teacher' I mumbled under my breath. The decision was confirmed. 'Anna must have the teaching gene passed down from you' they all cried. 'I hope not' was the only thing that I could reply. (I don't think teaching is bad but I'm not sure it is the best career option for stress-free living!)
Without realising that we had the career conversation, Sue, the music teacher, approached me at the end of the lesson and said 'I wouldn't be surprised if Anna starts playing an instrument when she is old enough. I think it may come easily to her'. I was rather surprised as, although both James and I love music (it is always playing in our house and in the car), neither of us would find it easy to pl;ay an instrument. However, the teacher went on to say that Anna is already displaying an awareness of rhythm and beat and that she always taps her foot, nods her head or claps her hands whenever a piece of music is played, even without realising that she is doing it. Apparently, these are all signs that 'music is in her blood' and that all musicians have this sub-conscious reaction to music. (There used to be a teacher who I worked with who was also a fantastic drummer. He would always tap his foot in staff meetings and when I asked him why, he said that he could always hear music in his head and he was just tapping the drum beat with his foot. It also helped the rather dull staff meetings to go a little quicker if you could hear Led Zeppelin in your head!)
However, evidence has now been found that casts doubt on these predictions of Anna becoming a
music teacher! Anna has a new found interest and it looks like hairdressing might be the chosen career path. Whenever Anna sees a hairbrush, she soon has it in her hand and is trying to find her next unsuspecting 'client' to practice her hair styling skills on. It isn't long before Anna is 'brushing' your hair and yanking at the roots. Unfortunately, she doesn't always get the right side of the hairbrush and so you have a giant whack on the head as the back of the hairbrush comes down on top of your head. I think Anna may need some practice with the 'customer care' element of the job before she can start applying for jobs!
Monday, 31 March 2008
More!
Hooray! I am finally able to say that the 'Sing and Sign' classes are starting to pay off. Ever since last October, Anna has been attending sign language classes, specifically designed for babies. I suppose I was a little naive at the beginning and thought that, within a week of starting, Anna and I would be having conversations about the meaning of life, conducted entirely by sign language. Not quite! 4 months on and Anna was still looking at me as though I was an alien from outer space when I started waving my hands around with accompanying facial gestures (the facial gestures are not part of the signing but I was just trying to inject some enthusiasm into it!).
However, all that hard work, is now starting to reap the rewards. Anna is now doing the signs for 'duck', 'bird', 'all gone/finished', 'drink', 'hello/goodbye' (which is just waving really) and 'more'. It is wonderful to see Anna being able to communicate to me and actually being able to understand what she wants to say.
However, it is the sign for 'more' which has made the biggest difference as it is definitely keeping me busy! Whenever I read a book, Anna asks for 'more' at the end. Whenever I sing (badly!) a song to Anna , Anna asks for 'more'. Whenever I make a silly noise to make her giggle, Anna asks for 'more'. The problem is that Anna isn't just asking for 'more' one more time. She asks for the same thing over and over and over again so you end up singing Twinkle Twinkle a thousand times and Anna is still asking for 'more'!!
There does come a point when I think 'Right, I will make this one the last one and explain that there will be no more' but then Anna asks for 'more' and has that look of excited anticipation in her face with those big blue eyes and those fluttering eyelashes (think of the face of 'Puss in Boots' in the Shrek films and you have the idea). I cannot help but give in and continue to sing the song for another hundred times.
I am such a soft touch when it comes to my daughter! The worrying thing is that I think Anna knows it too!!
However, all that hard work, is now starting to reap the rewards. Anna is now doing the signs for 'duck', 'bird', 'all gone/finished', 'drink', 'hello/goodbye' (which is just waving really) and 'more'. It is wonderful to see Anna being able to communicate to me and actually being able to understand what she wants to say.
However, it is the sign for 'more' which has made the biggest difference as it is definitely keeping me busy! Whenever I read a book, Anna asks for 'more' at the end. Whenever I sing (badly!) a song to Anna , Anna asks for 'more'. Whenever I make a silly noise to make her giggle, Anna asks for 'more'. The problem is that Anna isn't just asking for 'more' one more time. She asks for the same thing over and over and over again so you end up singing Twinkle Twinkle a thousand times and Anna is still asking for 'more'!!
There does come a point when I think 'Right, I will make this one the last one and explain that there will be no more' but then Anna asks for 'more' and has that look of excited anticipation in her face with those big blue eyes and those fluttering eyelashes (think of the face of 'Puss in Boots' in the Shrek films and you have the idea). I cannot help but give in and continue to sing the song for another hundred times.
I am such a soft touch when it comes to my daughter! The worrying thing is that I think Anna knows it too!!
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Is It That Time Already?
Yesterday morning, I received a letter addressed to 'The Parents of Miss A Gibson'. In this letter, it notified me that, from her 3rd birthday, Anna was eligible for 5 free morning/afternoon sessions at nursery school and that attending would mean great educational benefits and gaining of vital social skills. It also helpfully informed me that I should start looking at possible pre-schools/nurseries now as I would have to decide in the next few months, due to over-subscription of popular places.
I genuinely thought that there had been some administration error. 'Anna, my baby, has only just turned one' I thought as I glanced up to see Anna attempting to get the Weetabix on her spoon, only to see it catapult across the room and land on the bookshelf at the opposite side of the room (Anna can now feed herself with a knife and fork/spoon although she it sometimes falls off the cutlery before it reaches her mouth! Miss Independent won't let anyone feed her nowadays and you receive a serious dirty look and scowl from Anna if you even dare to attempt to help)
In fact, I was so convinced that there must have been some mistake that I phoned up 'Cheshire Children's Services', just looking for some reassurance that it had been sent far too early. I think the lady on the other end of the phone must have to deal with this quite a lot from mothers like me! 'No, you have been sent it correctly' she said, trying her best to sound reassuring 'It is hard to realise that they are growing up so fast but we do advise that you put Anna down for your choice of nursery school in the next few months'. What!!!! I haven't even decided what Mums and Tots playgroup that I want to take Anna to yet (which is taking months as I devise checklists, data graphs and a clear comparison chart of what resources each playgroup offers!!! Well.... maybe not that much but I am still comparing the two finalists in my list!!) .
So we now face the task of deciding which nursery/pre-school that Anna will go to when she turns 3 years old (I'm still not sure that she will go for all 5 mornings to start with but obviously I do agree that she should go for important social and independent skills). It means that James and I will be taking tours around the chosen finalists (we currently have 4 pre-schools/nurseries on the list). I think James is dreading it, not because of the nurseries themselves but because of me! When I was considering going back to work, we did a tour of day nurseries and after every one, I walked out saying 'No, that is not the right one for Anna'. I have to admit that my reasons were quite lame (Wrong colour carpet, uniforms looked too formal etc). James thinks that I will be exactly the same this time. However, I am reassuring him that this will be different. 'Don't worry', I say 'I know that Anna will only be there for 2 and a half hours each morning and she is so much older and will be desperate to play with lots of other children/toys/books. By 3 years old, Anna will probably want some escape from her mummy too'. Even as I say it, I have a fear that, in my opinion, no nursery will be good enough for her, which is just crazy as lots of them will be. As long as Anna is happy and having fun in a safe and supportive environment, it will be fine. I will just have to keep chanting that to myself when the time comes to choose!
As for when she starts pre-school, James has a clear picture in his head of how it will be. He describes it as one where Anna runs off to play without so much as a backward glance at her Mummy (which is often what she does now at her various clubs and groups). Meanwhile, I will be stood at the gate crying. He is probably right!
I genuinely thought that there had been some administration error. 'Anna, my baby, has only just turned one' I thought as I glanced up to see Anna attempting to get the Weetabix on her spoon, only to see it catapult across the room and land on the bookshelf at the opposite side of the room (Anna can now feed herself with a knife and fork/spoon although she it sometimes falls off the cutlery before it reaches her mouth! Miss Independent won't let anyone feed her nowadays and you receive a serious dirty look and scowl from Anna if you even dare to attempt to help)
In fact, I was so convinced that there must have been some mistake that I phoned up 'Cheshire Children's Services', just looking for some reassurance that it had been sent far too early. I think the lady on the other end of the phone must have to deal with this quite a lot from mothers like me! 'No, you have been sent it correctly' she said, trying her best to sound reassuring 'It is hard to realise that they are growing up so fast but we do advise that you put Anna down for your choice of nursery school in the next few months'. What!!!! I haven't even decided what Mums and Tots playgroup that I want to take Anna to yet (which is taking months as I devise checklists, data graphs and a clear comparison chart of what resources each playgroup offers!!! Well.... maybe not that much but I am still comparing the two finalists in my list!!) .
So we now face the task of deciding which nursery/pre-school that Anna will go to when she turns 3 years old (I'm still not sure that she will go for all 5 mornings to start with but obviously I do agree that she should go for important social and independent skills). It means that James and I will be taking tours around the chosen finalists (we currently have 4 pre-schools/nurseries on the list). I think James is dreading it, not because of the nurseries themselves but because of me! When I was considering going back to work, we did a tour of day nurseries and after every one, I walked out saying 'No, that is not the right one for Anna'. I have to admit that my reasons were quite lame (Wrong colour carpet, uniforms looked too formal etc). James thinks that I will be exactly the same this time. However, I am reassuring him that this will be different. 'Don't worry', I say 'I know that Anna will only be there for 2 and a half hours each morning and she is so much older and will be desperate to play with lots of other children/toys/books. By 3 years old, Anna will probably want some escape from her mummy too'. Even as I say it, I have a fear that, in my opinion, no nursery will be good enough for her, which is just crazy as lots of them will be. As long as Anna is happy and having fun in a safe and supportive environment, it will be fine. I will just have to keep chanting that to myself when the time comes to choose!
As for when she starts pre-school, James has a clear picture in his head of how it will be. He describes it as one where Anna runs off to play without so much as a backward glance at her Mummy (which is often what she does now at her various clubs and groups). Meanwhile, I will be stood at the gate crying. He is probably right!
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
An Eggcelent Easter
What an eggcelent and eggciting Easter!! (Enough of the egg jokes... although they are cracking!!! Ha Ha)
Despite my poor attempt at egg humour, I really mean it when I said that our Easter has been great!
Easter Sunday started by Anna opening up her presents. Presents? Well... as I am very harsh mother, I am still not allowing Anna to have chocolate (I can almost hear the sharp intake of breath as everyone reads this and thinks 'How cruel') so she got presents instead. I seriously don't think Anna is missing anything by not having any chocolate yet. She doesn't even know what chocolate is and you can't miss what you don't know. I am NOT going to continue banning chocolate when she is old enough to understand but I also hope that, by then, Anna can understand that chocolate is an occasional treat. I should know... I am a self-confessed chocoholic although I have got better in recent years.
So instead of chocolate, Anna had presents instead although I still wanted to keep the 'meaning' of Easter (eggs symbolising new life etc). Therefore, Anna received playdough eggs!!! Basically, it was an egg case (a little like a Kinder Surprise egg case) with playdough inside!! I personally thought that it was rather funky but James was still trying to get his head around the fact that I spent hours wrapping gifts up for Easter, let alone gifts that happened to be playdough eggs. Anyway, Anna was impressed although admittedly she did try to eat the playdough at first! We still haven't got to grips with the fact that you can mould shapes with it as Anna is still at the stage of walking around with it while picking off little bits at a time and treading them into the carpet (James became even less thrilled at the Easter gift idea!).
So after James and I had spent some of Easter morning picking up the luminous pink bits of plasticine off the carpet, we then headed to Grandma Lynn and Grandad Flob's house, remembering to take their personalised Easter egg.
It was a glorious moment when the shop assistant asked what I would like iced on the egg that Anna had chosen for her Grandad. 'Grandad Flob please' I uttered. 'Flob', the shop assistant repeated, talking as though I was hard of hearing just so that the whole shop could hear. At this point, James and Anna had bolted for the door, leaving me with a shop full of customers looking at me with huge grins on their faces as I nodded and confirmed that they all hadn't been hearing things. 'Don't worry' said the shop assistant 'I've been asked to do a lot worse than that' before she then gave a few examples, most of which are too rude to be made public on here! Thankfully, the minor embarrassment I had to suffer was worth it as Grandad Flob and Grandma Lynn seemed thrilled with Anna's Easter gift to them.
James' parents live close to Formby beach (a National Trust site) so we took the opportunity to have a stroll on Formby beach in the morning. Although it was rather windy (to say the least!), it was wonderful. Of course, Anna refused to go in her buggy so walked instead. At one point, we did start to worry that she had walked too far for her little legs to cope and also the wind was rather nippy and strong. Therefore we did put her in the buggy. 2 minutes later, Anna's shouting at the top of her voice told us that we were far too nasty and that a 16 month old Anna was more than capable of walking another mile or two so she came back out again! At one point, Anna even headed for the sea, getting very excited about seeing water and looking determined to take a dip. If she could talk, I'm sure she would have
been shouting to everyone 'Don't worry... I can swim'. Unfortunately for Anna, we didn't allow her to demonstrate on this occasion.
Today (Easter Monday), we went on an Egg Hunt at Chirk Castle (near Wrexham) with the prize being a chocolate egg for everyone that found the Easter hunt answer. It was fantastic. We were a little worried that the staff would judge Anna to be too young for the event (not realising that her Mummy and Daddy were big kids!!) but they didn't bat an eyelid! Basically, our task was to find 6 pairs of lambs (pictures) that were hidden around the castle and gardens. The initial letter of each lamb's name was the clue and once you collected all of the letter clues, it would be an anagram of the answer. For example, the green pair of Lambs were called 'Isabelle' and 'Ian' so the clue was I. Unfortunately, each pair of lambs were not hidden in the same place, which meant that there were 12 hiding spots to find. At first, we thought it was going to be easy after finding the first 3 clues within the first 10 minutes. It was only when we realised that the castle and gardens are rather large that we realised that this may be more difficult than first thought! By 1pm, Anna was asking for her lunch ('Forget the stupid lambs, I'm hungry' thought Anna.) However, by the time we came back outside, the snow was falling fast and within 10 minutes, it was blizzard conditions. Despite being wrapped up warm, the combination of the wind and snow meant that we couldn't see much but we still had 2 lambs to find!!!! However, by this time, we had found at least one lamb from each pair so we knew the answer was 'Spring'. It was just a matter of principle now that made me want to find all 12 clues.
For anyone that knows me, you will know that I am highly competitive and was not going to let 2 lambs, blizzard conditions and gale force winds beat us and, if it had just been James and me, we would have still been there now if we hadn't found those last 2 bloody clues! However, we had Anna to consider and I wasn't going to let her get cold (she did have blanket, fully lined coat, gloves, 2 hats and her rain cover on, over her fully insulated pram but it was freezing cold and all of that may not have been enough protection!!). We agreed that we could look for another 10 minutes but we really would have to stop if the snow hadn't stopped by then. A strategic plan was needed so we went in opposite directions agreeing to meet up in 10 minutes. Unfortunately, we now had to find Anna's hat as well as 2 lambs (Anna had decided that enough was enough and had thrown her hat off at some unknown destination before we actually realised what had happened.)
10 minutes later and we regrouped. James had been much more successful than me, finding a clue as well as returning with Anna's hat on his head, albeit covered in mud and snow!! There was one last clue to find. My head was yelling at me to carry on but my Mummy instincts shouted louder and, for the first time in my life and for the sake of Anna not getting cold, I gave up without completing the task!!!
I was still going to try though so, as James went to get two hot steaming cups of coffee, I headed for the prize desk, covered in snow with dripping hair and very muddy wellies. 'We did the Easter trail' I uttered as I walked up to the desk, in my best 'please feel sorry for me' voice. 'We found the lambs from each pair so we know the answer. The clues are an anagram of spring'. I said, feeling like a school girl again. 'Great' said the organiser. 'Can I have your form with all 12 lamb names please?'. I hadn't bargained for this. I thought she was going to be content with the answer. 'Oh' I said as I hesitated to think of a cunning plan.. 'Well, the red pair of lambs were Rose and Richard which is R' and the purple pair of lambs were Gareth and Gemma so that is a G and....' as I thought that baffling her with my waffle might let me off. 'I'll just have your form thanks' said the organiser who was taking the whole thing far too seriously!!! 'But...but...but we didn't find the last clue... the blue girl lamb' I mumbled. I really did feel like the naughty school girl by now so really started to talk uncontrollably!!! 'I know it must start with a P because the boy lamb was Peter so the girl lamb must be called Penny or Petula or Petal or...'. I was also taking this far too seriously now but I had become the mum who was determined for her little girl to get a reward for having to put up with a Mummy and Daddy who do stupid things like go looking for pictures of lambs with stupid names, while it is snowing a blizzard and blowing a gale, all in the name of fun! Thankfully, because we had found one of the pair of blue lambs, knowing that it was a P and spelling the word 'spring' and showing that we had tried very very hard, we received our award after all- a chocolate Easter egg.
All three of us then sat in the car, warming ourselves up, with a gorgeous hot cup of coffee (Anna had warm milk) and the best chocolate Easter egg that you have ever tasted (although it was no different from any other Cadbury Easter egg, this egg had been hard earned and well deserved so tasted so much sweeter!!). The perfect end to a wonderful Easter!!! As for Anna... because she had to put up with a mad Mummy and Daddy... it was only right that she had some chocolate Easter Egg too!!!
P.s: Before any kind relatives start getting any ideas... Anna only had the smallest amount of chocolate imaginable before she fell asleep with a huge smile on her face. She is NOT allowed any more chocolate until next Easter!
Despite my poor attempt at egg humour, I really mean it when I said that our Easter has been great!
Easter Sunday started by Anna opening up her presents. Presents? Well... as I am very harsh mother, I am still not allowing Anna to have chocolate (I can almost hear the sharp intake of breath as everyone reads this and thinks 'How cruel') so she got presents instead. I seriously don't think Anna is missing anything by not having any chocolate yet. She doesn't even know what chocolate is and you can't miss what you don't know. I am NOT going to continue banning chocolate when she is old enough to understand but I also hope that, by then, Anna can understand that chocolate is an occasional treat. I should know... I am a self-confessed chocoholic although I have got better in recent years.
So instead of chocolate, Anna had presents instead although I still wanted to keep the 'meaning' of Easter (eggs symbolising new life etc). Therefore, Anna received playdough eggs!!! Basically, it was an egg case (a little like a Kinder Surprise egg case) with playdough inside!! I personally thought that it was rather funky but James was still trying to get his head around the fact that I spent hours wrapping gifts up for Easter, let alone gifts that happened to be playdough eggs. Anyway, Anna was impressed although admittedly she did try to eat the playdough at first! We still haven't got to grips with the fact that you can mould shapes with it as Anna is still at the stage of walking around with it while picking off little bits at a time and treading them into the carpet (James became even less thrilled at the Easter gift idea!).
So after James and I had spent some of Easter morning picking up the luminous pink bits of plasticine off the carpet, we then headed to Grandma Lynn and Grandad Flob's house, remembering to take their personalised Easter egg.
It was a glorious moment when the shop assistant asked what I would like iced on the egg that Anna had chosen for her Grandad. 'Grandad Flob please' I uttered. 'Flob', the shop assistant repeated, talking as though I was hard of hearing just so that the whole shop could hear. At this point, James and Anna had bolted for the door, leaving me with a shop full of customers looking at me with huge grins on their faces as I nodded and confirmed that they all hadn't been hearing things. 'Don't worry' said the shop assistant 'I've been asked to do a lot worse than that' before she then gave a few examples, most of which are too rude to be made public on here! Thankfully, the minor embarrassment I had to suffer was worth it as Grandad Flob and Grandma Lynn seemed thrilled with Anna's Easter gift to them.
James' parents live close to Formby beach (a National Trust site) so we took the opportunity to have a stroll on Formby beach in the morning. Although it was rather windy (to say the least!), it was wonderful. Of course, Anna refused to go in her buggy so walked instead. At one point, we did start to worry that she had walked too far for her little legs to cope and also the wind was rather nippy and strong. Therefore we did put her in the buggy. 2 minutes later, Anna's shouting at the top of her voice told us that we were far too nasty and that a 16 month old Anna was more than capable of walking another mile or two so she came back out again! At one point, Anna even headed for the sea, getting very excited about seeing water and looking determined to take a dip. If she could talk, I'm sure she would have
been shouting to everyone 'Don't worry... I can swim'. Unfortunately for Anna, we didn't allow her to demonstrate on this occasion.Today (Easter Monday), we went on an Egg Hunt at Chirk Castle (near Wrexham) with the prize being a chocolate egg for everyone that found the Easter hunt answer. It was fantastic. We were a little worried that the staff would judge Anna to be too young for the event (not realising that her Mummy and Daddy were big kids!!) but they didn't bat an eyelid! Basically, our task was to find 6 pairs of lambs (pictures) that were hidden around the castle and gardens. The initial letter of each lamb's name was the clue and once you collected all of the letter clues, it would be an anagram of the answer. For example, the green pair of Lambs were called 'Isabelle' and 'Ian' so the clue was I. Unfortunately, each pair of lambs were not hidden in the same place, which meant that there were 12 hiding spots to find. At first, we thought it was going to be easy after finding the first 3 clues within the first 10 minutes. It was only when we realised that the castle and gardens are rather large that we realised that this may be more difficult than first thought! By 1pm, Anna was asking for her lunch ('Forget the stupid lambs, I'm hungry' thought Anna.) However, by the time we came back outside, the snow was falling fast and within 10 minutes, it was blizzard conditions. Despite being wrapped up warm, the combination of the wind and snow meant that we couldn't see much but we still had 2 lambs to find!!!! However, by this time, we had found at least one lamb from each pair so we knew the answer was 'Spring'. It was just a matter of principle now that made me want to find all 12 clues.
For anyone that knows me, you will know that I am highly competitive and was not going to let 2 lambs, blizzard conditions and gale force winds beat us and, if it had just been James and me, we would have still been there now if we hadn't found those last 2 bloody clues! However, we had Anna to consider and I wasn't going to let her get cold (she did have blanket, fully lined coat, gloves, 2 hats and her rain cover on, over her fully insulated pram but it was freezing cold and all of that may not have been enough protection!!). We agreed that we could look for another 10 minutes but we really would have to stop if the snow hadn't stopped by then. A strategic plan was needed so we went in opposite directions agreeing to meet up in 10 minutes. Unfortunately, we now had to find Anna's hat as well as 2 lambs (Anna had decided that enough was enough and had thrown her hat off at some unknown destination before we actually realised what had happened.)
10 minutes later and we regrouped. James had been much more successful than me, finding a clue as well as returning with Anna's hat on his head, albeit covered in mud and snow!! There was one last clue to find. My head was yelling at me to carry on but my Mummy instincts shouted louder and, for the first time in my life and for the sake of Anna not getting cold, I gave up without completing the task!!!
I was still going to try though so, as James went to get two hot steaming cups of coffee, I headed for the prize desk, covered in snow with dripping hair and very muddy wellies. 'We did the Easter trail' I uttered as I walked up to the desk, in my best 'please feel sorry for me' voice. 'We found the lambs from each pair so we know the answer. The clues are an anagram of spring'. I said, feeling like a school girl again. 'Great' said the organiser. 'Can I have your form with all 12 lamb names please?'. I hadn't bargained for this. I thought she was going to be content with the answer. 'Oh' I said as I hesitated to think of a cunning plan.. 'Well, the red pair of lambs were Rose and Richard which is R' and the purple pair of lambs were Gareth and Gemma so that is a G and....' as I thought that baffling her with my waffle might let me off. 'I'll just have your form thanks' said the organiser who was taking the whole thing far too seriously!!! 'But...but...but we didn't find the last clue... the blue girl lamb' I mumbled. I really did feel like the naughty school girl by now so really started to talk uncontrollably!!! 'I know it must start with a P because the boy lamb was Peter so the girl lamb must be called Penny or Petula or Petal or...'. I was also taking this far too seriously now but I had become the mum who was determined for her little girl to get a reward for having to put up with a Mummy and Daddy who do stupid things like go looking for pictures of lambs with stupid names, while it is snowing a blizzard and blowing a gale, all in the name of fun! Thankfully, because we had found one of the pair of blue lambs, knowing that it was a P and spelling the word 'spring' and showing that we had tried very very hard, we received our award after all- a chocolate Easter egg.
All three of us then sat in the car, warming ourselves up, with a gorgeous hot cup of coffee (Anna had warm milk) and the best chocolate Easter egg that you have ever tasted (although it was no different from any other Cadbury Easter egg, this egg had been hard earned and well deserved so tasted so much sweeter!!). The perfect end to a wonderful Easter!!! As for Anna... because she had to put up with a mad Mummy and Daddy... it was only right that she had some chocolate Easter Egg too!!!
P.s: Before any kind relatives start getting any ideas... Anna only had the smallest amount of chocolate imaginable before she fell asleep with a huge smile on her face. She is NOT allowed any more chocolate until next Easter!
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