Daddy on the Bus

After listening to various nursery CD's and singing at our various clubs and classes, I think I must have adapted the lyrics of 'Wheels on the Bus' over the years. Basically, the verses that Anna and I sing include

'The driver on the bus goes moan, moan, moan.'
moan, moan, moan.
moan, moan, moan.
The driver on the bus goes moan, moan, moan
all day long!

The Daddy on the bus goes snore, snore, snore.
snore, snore, snore.
snore, snore, snore.
The Daddy on the bus go snore, snore, snore,
all day long!

However, Anna decided to adapt the lyrics a few nights ago.

Anna decided that she didn't want to eat her sweetcorn but, instead of just pushing it to one side of her plate, she elected to throw each piece of sweetcorn on the carpet. After politely reminding Anna that sweetcorn didn't really belong on the carpet and it having no effect, James had to put on his stern voice (not heard very often at all) and tell Anna not to throw her food on the floor.

It did stop her from throwing the sweetcorn on the floor but Anna was determined to have the final word so looked at her Daddy and started to sing her own version of 'Wheels on the Bus'. Instead of 'The driver on the bus goes moan, moan, moan,' Anna started to sing 'Daddy on the bus goes Moan, Moan, Moan all day long!!

James and I couldn't help it but burst out laughing for a long time (bad parents for setting a bad example!), much to Anna's delight! After picking ourselves up off the floor, we then thought about life with Anna the Teenager. That will be interesting!

The Eggciting Outdoors at Easter

Wow! What a busy and eggciting Easter we have had. (I know, I know... I make the same joke about an eggciting and eggcellent Easter every year but I like it! Simple things amuse simple minds!) I really do mean it though. It has been a great Easter.

Good Friday saw us go to the Aquarium. The zoo is not a great hit with Anna at the moment (I intend to write another blog about that at some point, when I get another spare second to myself) so we thought that the Aquarium might excite (eggcite) her more. There was actually method in our madness. She does love fish. Every time that we go to Forest Tots, she always walks past the cafe saying 'Let's go see the fish'. We have only been in the cafe once but she has remembered that there is a huge fish tank in there. Even at the zoo, her favourite attraction was the shabby and run-down aquarium. The exotic animals like the lions and giraffes were ignored but the goldfish got a 'wow' and 'amazing' from Anna. (The aquarium is so run-down and shabby-looking that Chester zoo don't even put it on their map or signposts but Anna loves it!!!). Her Uncle Steve also recently acquired a fish tank and Anna got very excited at visiting Uncle Steve's house, not to see her Uncle and Auntie but to see the fish. Therefore the aquarium should have been a big hit and certain aspects of it really were. Anna's favourite part was when she was allowed to put her hand in the massive fish pool and stroke the Ray's. Unfortunately, she then thought that every other fish tank and pool was fair game and attempted to put her hand in every single one. The Sharks were NOT happy with Anna and neither was Anna too happy when we kept telling her that she couldn't put her hand in with the sharks. Nonetheless, it was a good day albeit a little stressful.

On Saturday, we met up with Anna's Auntie Sally, Auntie Charlotte, Jemma (Sally's half sister) and Niamh (Sally's niece/Jemma's 7 year old daughter). This was to do the final part of the Bridesmaid fitting. Of course, Anna surrounded by Princess dresses was paradise for her so she was very happy. Racing around Monsoon at 100mph, attempting to catch Anna who was on a mission to show the whole of Manchester her Princess dress, was not the best part of the day for me but Anna loved it! Incidentally, I am still having nightmares about the whole bridesmaid thing. I actually thought that having Niamh as a fellow bridesmaid may help Anna but it appears that Anna may not think the same. Niamh was being ever so kind and trying to encourage Anna to practice walking down the aisle by holding Anna's hand. Anna was having none of it and didn't want to hold any body's hand. In fact, she wanted to run in the opposite direction. Sally also told us that each bridesmaid has a bouquet to hold. I just know that Anna's beautiful bouquet will have no flower heads left on it by the time that they reach the top of the aisle. It will just be a bouquet of stalks! The flowers in the hair will also be discarded somewhere amongst the guests before the wedding march is over.

Sunday saw us go to visit Grandad Flob and Lynn. They are very fortunate that they live only 5 minutes away from Formby beach, which is lovely. So, while Lynn was slaving away over a gorgeous Roast Lamb (I did feel guilty!), we all sat on the beach in glorious sunshine. Well, 'sat on the beach' is not exactly the truth. Grandad Flob and James sat on the beach while I ran after Anna as she legged it to the sea at every opportunity. Unfortunately, while racing towards Anna on one such occasion, a piece of seaweed managed to get in my way and, by the time that I had reached the edge of the water, Anna was already knee high, complete with brand new shoes on, her nice tights and a fancy dress (bought out especially for Easter Sunday!). I had no choice but to wade in after her so my shoes were quickly filled with water as well as my jeans being soaked. I squelched back up the beach with a giggling Anna! Of course, by then, all caution was thrown to the wind and, after stripping Anna of her shoes and tights, hitching her dress up and rolling my jeans up to my knees, we both headed back to the sea and went paddling for the next hour! (Just for the record, it was freezing). Despite returning from the beach looking very grubby with shoes, socks and a car filled with sand. We did have a wonderful time and the Easter dinner was gorgeous. (Anna refused to have any due to the fact that she managed to eat her massive slice of cake, my massive slice of cake and her dad's massive slice of cake before we even went to the beach)

On Monday, we went to Chirk Castle and took part in the Easter egg hunt. For those of you with good memory, you will remember that we also did this last year. However, due to blizzard conditions (no exaggeration), we had to abandon the egg hunt before finding the very last clue. I had already warned James and Anna that this year was not going to be a repeat performance. We were going to stay there until all 12 clues were found, even if it took us to midnight! Thankfully, Anna loved every second of it and, with James seeing my competitive nature at it's peak, he helped too so we did actually manage to accomplish the task and were rewarded with a very well-earned chocolate egg (The egg hunt wasn't easy!). Chocolate always tastes so much nicer when you know that you have earned it by running around for the last 4 hours! During our egg hunt, Anna also learnt how to do sideways rolls. After sitting down in the gardens, soaking up the gorgeous sunshine and feeling the warmth on our face, Anna sat quietly watching 4 children doing sideways rolls down the bank. It wasn't very long however until Anna was strolling over to them to join in. Unfortunately, her co-ordination isn't quite as advanced as a group of 8 year olds so she thought she was doing it perfectly correct as she shuffled down the bank on her bottom. It was very cute to watch but Anna soon twigged that she wasn't doing it quite right so looked at her Daddy for help. Cue James who then demonstrated how to do sideways rolls down the bank. Doing it once wouldn't have attracted a crowd of on-lookers. Doing sideways rolls again and again and again while shouting 'wheeeeee' as he rolled down the bank was always going to attract some attention. Anna just thought her Daddy was really funny!

Although our Easter was very hectic and busy, it was also very wonderful and we enjoyed every second. Anna enjoyed the chocolate too... very very very much!!! Well... it was Easter!

Getting Ready for Summer

Anna is going to be rather busy this summer with some major family events occurring this year!

In May, Anna is bridesmaid for the first time. Yes... that's right... she is a very lucky girl because she has been asked to be a bridesmaid twice this summer. Having already been asked to be bridesmaid for her Uncle Steve and Auntie Carolyne, Anna has now been asked by her Auntie Sally. The wedding is less than 6 weeks away!! Oh.. my...god! My nightmares have already begun about how on earth I am going to get Anna to walk up the aisle gracefully and calmly without running, showing off or doing her 'gallops' (ballet dance moves where she looks like she is about to mount a horse and go riding into the sunset at very fast speed). Not only that but I am also on a mission to try and persuade her that hair clips are not the worst thing in the whole world and that her princess dress (Bridesmaid dress) does not have to be shown off to every person in a 50 mile radius. In the dress shop, Anna ran straight out of the dressing room and ran to each and every person in the shop saying 'look, my princess dress. curtsy to the princess' before running out of the shop and down the street, still wearing the dress and shouting 'curtsy, curtsy' to everyone! Just to get over any potential embarrassment or stress caused by Anna playing such an important role, we have booked to go on holiday the day after for a week. It will probably be needed!!

June is looking fairly quiet at the moment although things could change!

In July, Anna will be a bridesmaid for her Uncle Steve and Auntie Carolyne's wedding. There will be 150 guests in the church, witnessing my daughter's trip up the aisle. I have decided that bribery is the only way that I am going to prevent her from turning round at the top of the aisle, facing the biggest audience that she has ever seen (and she will think they are all there to see her despite us telling her otherwise!) and launching into her own rendition of The Tings Tings' or 'The Saturdays' ('Just Can't Get Enough' is her favourite song at the moment and, worryingly, she knows most of the words and can sing them!!)

In August, Anna is due to meet her very first cousin!!! Anna doesn't have any cousins at the moment but that will change when her Auntie Sally and Ben have a baby at the end of August. It is very exciting and I'm sure Anna can't wait to be a cousin!

In September, we fly to Finland for Ulriikka and Matthew's wedding. Anna will be required to sit still for at least 2 and a half hours on the flight. I have no idea how that is going to work at the moment. I fear that I will be leaving the aircraft suffering a nervous breakdown. Either that or every other passenger on that flight will be leaving the aeroplane with a nervous breakdown having to listen to Anna's protests for the entire duration of the flight!

All of this and Anna starts pre-school in September too!

It is shaping up to be a very interesting summer 2009!

An Irish Jig and a Tasty Pig

Last night saw us go to a surprise party. It was Anna's Grandad Flob who had the surprise sprung on him, to celebrate him turning 60 years old... exactly double my age (Just to make him feel an even older OAP)!!

We were unsure about whether to take Anna, due to it being an evening do, the fact that there would be lots of rigorous dancing and a live band. However, Anna's Uncle Matthew and Ulriikka would be there and Anna talks about them so much that it would be a shame if she didn't see them (They were on a very very quick visit from Finland). Every time that we see any female relative, Anna asks if Ulriikka or her Auntie Carolyne are there too!! After James insisting that Anna should celebrate her Grandad's birthday, we took her. We are so glad that we did.

Anna adored every second!!! The live band mesmerised her as she watched them play some amazing Irish Folk. I have to admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of Irish folk but this band were brilliant and sounded fantastic. Anna certainly thought so!!! As soon as she had a clear run of the dance floor, she was dancing non-stop!

Due to it being an Irish Folk band, the party goers were also encouraged to dance a ceilidh. Due to the dancing being very fast and a little complicated at times (Right arm in, left arm in, turn anti-clockwise, turn upside down etc), Anna was unable to take part in that! That didn't stop her trying though and we had to physically hold her back. Eventually she decided that it wasn't worth trying to break free on the dance floor while the ceilidh was happening so just stood on the edge unable to stop her feet and arms from flapping wildly.

Anna wasn't the greatest fan of the Hog Roast but her Mummy thought it was delicious so while Anna downed her first drink ever from a licensed bar (a cup of water with a groovy pink straw!!!), while her mum tucked into some tasty pig!!!!

When we arrived at the party, James had reminded me that we may only be able to stay for a little while due to Anna getting tired. At 20 to midnight, Anna was the only one left on the dance floor, cutting some shapes (Isn't that what the teenagers say nowadays or do I just sound old???) and doing the Irish jig while others were making their way home!! She was encouraged further when her Grandad Flob came up to join her and, together, they were running around the dance floor chasing each other. Unfortunately, due to being in popular demand (and after needing a sit down from all that running), Grandad Flob had to go and mingle after a while but Anna still tried dragging him back!

It was so wonderful to hear so many people saying such nice things about our daughter and I'm not sure anyone could believe what energy she had, along with a permanent smile attached to her face ALL night (with absolutely no sign of any tantrum... just 100% gorgeousness. She also lived up to her diva-like status and James pointed out just how many people were taking her photograph when she was strutting her funky stuff on the dance floor!! She must have felt like she had found her rightful home on that dance floor.

It was also lovely to hear her name mentioned, along with James, Matthew and Henry of course, in Lynn's speech when she said that Flob was a very proud dad of his 3 sons and that 'the gorgeous Anna could charm Flob incredibly easy when she called him 'Grandad' which made him a very proud Grandad too (Lynn - Thank you for mentioning Anna in your speech. It was very kind).

The whole party was fantastic and it had such a lovely atmosphere, with old friends and family reacquainting, sharing memories and just generally having great fun, celebrating Flob!!! I'm so pleased that Anna got to celebrate too because she is very lucky to have a Grandad Flob in her life!

Tantrum Trouble

It has been a while since I was last sat here, writing this blog. There is a reason for that. I have basically been too tired after each long day, trying to work out how to do this parenting lark!

I now know what it means when they say 'the 'Terrible Two's'. In fact, I would say that 'terrible' was an understatement.

In the past couple of weeks, my normally sweet, angelic little girl has turned into a tantrum terror. Our classes and clubs used to involve me being the proud Mummy as I saw Mum's whisper to each other 'Isn't Anna so sweet and gorgeous'. I now see Mum's backing away from Anna and silently disapproving as Anna decides to do the exact opposite of what she is meant to be doing.

Just take this week as an example...

Saturday saw us go to the zoo as James met up with an old University friend who had come 'up North' with his children. Anna , despite being surrounded by exotic and wild animals, decides that she would much rather try to pull all the flowers out of the flower beds. When we quickly pointed out that the flowers looked much prettier in the garden, she decides to lie on the ground and become one of the star attractions by doing something which looked like a tribal dance (lots of stomping the feet and shouting!)

Sunday was Mothers Day and we decide to celebrate by having a country stroll through the deer Park at Dunham Massey, where Anna can run to her hearts content and we imagined a lovely peaceful, idyllic Mothers Day. Anna decides that she doesn't fancy that much. Instead, Anna wants to get up close and personal to the Deer so we calmly explain that we are not allowed to get too near the deer because it will be dangerous and might scare them. Anna then waits until we are walking in the opposite direction before turning round very quickly and running straight at the poor Deer, shouting 'Hello Deer, are you scared?' while they run for their lives.

Monday was playgroup. The craft activity saw the children making Mothers Day cards (The day after Mothers Day but that is typical of our completely disorganised and mad playgroup leader!!!). Anna decides that it will be a great idea to get the child-proof scissors and start trying to cut her hair. I tell her that her hair looks beautiful as it is and when that fails, attempt to take the scissors off her. Cue lots of screaming and stomping from Anna while all of the other mums gently encourage their children to continue making them beautiful cards to cherish and not look at the wailing Anna in the corner.

Tuesday saw us at Jo Jingles. In fact, we had lovely and gorgeous Anna back. I think, because Anna has been going since she was 6 months old, she knows the routines very clearly so we had a nice day.

On Wednesday, we went to Forest Tots and Anna decided that, instead of creating a rainy picture using glitter, cotton wool, ribbon and glue, she would go round every table seeing how many glitter pots she could steal before throwing all the glitter on the floor.

Thursday saw Anna attempting to be 'leader' of her rebellious gang. During her dance lesson, Anna thought it would be great fun to run into one of the back offices and try pressing buttons on the photocopier. Unfortunately, 2 other girls decided to follow her. However, their mum's quickly called their names and they dutifully came back looking all sheepish. If they could talk, they would have probably said 'Anna made me do it' and I even heard one mum say 'Don't follow Anna because she obviously doesn't know the rules'. I tried calling Anna back and she looked at me and laughed before racing off further into the office to try pulling the leaflets off the shelf.

I have even resorted to introducing the naughty step today after Anna decided to take all the books from the shelf and throw them at me. After giving her 2 clear warnings to no avail, I attempted to follow the Supernanny approach. So far, it hasn't worked. I can't remember what Supernanny does when the child refuses to sit down for more than 5 seconds despite continiously returning them to the 'naughty step' for an hour!!! I think Anna is probably too young... either that or I am making excuses. At the end of it, Anna was still kicking and screaming and the tantrum had just got worse. Anna has got the tantrum technique down to a fine art!!

I blame myself! This all started a couple of weeks ago in Tesco. Normally, Anna loves supermarket shopping as it gives her an opportunity to talk to every single shopper for a very long time. Being the mean Mummy that I am, I don't normally buy 'treats' so there is nothing that really makes Anna tempted to ask for it (I always give her fruit before arriving at the supermarket so she isn't hungry). However, because we were doing Nanny's shopping, my mum put some Hot Cross Buns in the trolley. Anna loves Hot Cross buns so immediately started asking for one. Now, I am one of those parents who cannot bear to see children eating things from the trolley before they have even been paid for (apologies to anyone that does do this but it is just one of my 'things'). Therefore, I was determined not to give in. It wasn't long before Anna was using all her strength (and there is a lot of it!) to haul herself out of the trolley. With two thirds of her body tangling precariously over the edge of the trolley, I had no choice but to get her out. At this point, Anna then makes a run for it to find the aisle containing her beloved Hot Cross Buns. If Mummy won't give me one, I will find them myself. After failing to locate her treasured goods, Anna then decides to change tactics and head straight for the front door, with her Mummy in hot pursuit. Obviously, I catch her before she gets to the road and I decide to take a screaming, flailing Anna back to the trolley. My mum could hear us coming from 20 aisles away! Anna is now VERY red, her eyes have become bloodshot, she is going blue around the mouth and her legs and arms are kicking and thrashing about as though she is having a fit. When arriving back at the trolley, I attempt to put her in again but fail as she becomes as rigid as a plank of wood so, after my muscles begin to burn, I have to put her on the floor again. Of course, Anna runs off again but this time, decides that she doesn't want her Mummy anywhere near her so keeps trying to push me back. 'No Mummy, GO AWAY' she screams although her voice has now become hoarse through all the shouting so she actually sounds like some alien from another planet. When she realises that I am continuing to follow her, Anna falls to the floor in most spectacular fashion and looks at me with pure rage in her eyes. I now know what they mean when they say a red mist is all they can see. Anna wasn't looking at me with anything other than out-of-control rage and anger. When I just let her lie there for a few seconds, she then decided that the only way that I will react is if she starts head butting the concrete floor while swiping all of the washing up liquid off the shelf at the same time. At this point, I have quite an audience consisting of old ladies helpfully telling me that she needs a good slap, others just tutting under their breath and one lovely lady who said 'Don't worry... we have all been there' (I could have hugged her if I didn't have a raging 2 year old to deal with at that second!!!)

So, with Anna under my arm, holding her like a rugby ball as she screams and screams and screams, I take her back to the trolley and, this is where I make the fatal mistake. I am ashamed to say that I gave in and she got a hot cross bun. I know that you all reading this, shaking your head slowly and thinking I am very weak!! It is true, I was weak for a split second and I now fear that it is haunting me. Anna thinks that throwing a tantrum like this on an almost daily basis will get her what she wants or mean that she doesn't have to stop doing whatever it is that I consider too dangerous.

So, I am sat here now after a long and stressful day. I feel like a failure because the 'Naughty step' was a complete disaster and I'm sure Anna went to bed thinking that she had a pretty horrible day too after all that crying and screaming! I have visions of the poorly behaved children that I have ever taught and fear that will be Anna one day!!! I confess to always having little sympathy with the parents (unless the child was medically diagnosed with behaviour issues which is completely different), thinking that their parenting skills may have contributed to the fact that young 'Tyson' was behaving like he did. Now I am one of those parents and I don't know what I have done wrong! I just have this fear of sitting outside Anna's headteachers office one day, waiting to be summoned in to discuss Anna's behaviour. I realise that I am being very melodramatic and paranoid by doing that but that is how it feels at the moment!

It doesn't help that every other toddler in every class that we attend seems to be the perfectly behaved child compared to Anna. They all follow instructions first time and does not seem to have selective hearing! Even of they are not perfectly behaved, at least they save their trying times for their own home.

Well... tomorrow is another day! Maybe we will have angelic Anna back. We can hope!

Kipper Power

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Anna is a big fan of Kipper. Ever since Anna started to have a bedtime story at 6 months old, Kipper has been one of her favourite books and, up until this week, Anna's love of Kipper has been purely based on the books, which is often her story choice.

Well, the big fan just got bigger! Much bigger!! In fact, Kipper is a hero in Anna's eyes.

You may remember that Anna's Great-Great Auntie Eileen knitted her a 3ft Kipper for Christmas and, ever since then, Kipper has become Anna's new best friend.

Every night, Kipper has to come and lie on the bed to hear the bedtime story and, after I have read the story (which is a Kipper book 9 times out of 10, as chosen by Anna), Anna then insists that she reads the story to Kipper. Then, while having her bedtime drink, Anna insists that Kipper has his own cup of drink too!!! Finally, after tucking Anna into bed, Anna won't let me leave the room until I have tucked Kipper into bed next to her, given him a kiss and said 'Sweet Dreams Kipper', just like I do with Anna. Last night, I actually forgot Kipper and I soon knew about it when I walked out of the room.

"Mum. Mummy. MUMMY"screeches Anna as I am walking downstairs.

I run upstairs to see what is going on, to be greeted by Anna giving me a very dirty look. "Say sweet dreams Kipper."

Each morning, as soon as Anna wakes up, she no longer bothers with her Mummy. " Good Morning Kipper" she says as she gives him a kiss. I have to wait my turn for my kiss and can only have one after Anna has talked to Kipper about her day ahead.

Once Anna is dressed, Kipper then comes downstairs, carried carefully by Anna, and takes pride of place on the sofa (He even has his own space on the sofa! 'Kipper's chair' Anna says if I start to place my bum anywhere near it!!)
Recently, Anna had been a little poorly (really bad cold and cough but just hoping it did not go to the chest) Therefore, I was a little more relaxed about the TV viewing as we were unable to go to our clubs. However, there is only so many times that we can watch the Night Garden, Balamory and Mr Tumble without going round the twist. I then found out that BT Vision (our Freeview system) allows you to rent Kipper episodes for 50p per 24 hrs.

I cannot begin to describe Anna's face when she saw Kipper moving on the screen. Up until now, she has only seen (and adored) Kipper in the books so, to see her hero moving, singing, talking and basically come to life on the big screen was just magical for her! When she dared to move her eyes from the TV, she gave me a look of complete amazement with her mouth open wide as though she had just seen an alien land from outer space. She then proceeded to run around the living room at 100mph laughing and jumping up and down with joy (she forgot that she felt ill for 10 minutes!!). She was so excited that she couldn't even focus on the TV! After calming down, I did replay the episode and she watched it agog, unable to stop smiling! It was just a shame when it stopped and Anna suddenly looked very sad and crestfallen that Kipper had gone. Luckily, the Kipper cuddly toy came to the rescue as we put on Anna's favourite CD and Kipper started dancing!!

Just to prove how much influence Kipper has, there is one other events which may illustrate it.

Due to Anna feeling really poorly with her cold, sleep had been virtually non-existent. Each night, we attempted to give her some Calpol to help her rest but to no avail. Anna screamed so much at the sight of it that it was not worth seeing her in such a state. We then attempted it again but this time, I pretended to give some Calpol to Kipper first. Anna watched Kipper take his medicine and, before I could say anything, Anna said 'My turn now' and held her mouth open, ready to take it. Without so much as a blink of an eye, she swallowed it and then turned to Kipper and said 'Good boy Kipper' as James and I looked on in amazement!

We are now using Kipper at every available opportunity. For example, when Anna won't eat her vegetables, Kipper is called, where he is a very good dog and eats them all up, quickly followed by Anna eating her vegetables too!!

I may be requiring Kipper's help a lot!!

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!