Our Fabulous Summer Activity Bags

Shortly before S's nursery closed for Summer holidays, S's keyworker L asked me if I'd like a little book bag put together for us to borrow over the holidays. I jumped at the chance - S loves books so much she often cuddles one to sleep!

At the end of term, we were presented with two bags. I had been expecting a couple of books in a bag, but what we actually got was bags stuffed with resources. 

The Dear Zoo bag had the Dear Zoo book, a mask of each animal in the book, stick puppets, play dough mats ("can you make play dough tusks for the elephant?"), a pair-matching game featuring the animals from the book. There was a list of activities, and a list of questions to go with the masks ("can you roar and prowl like a lion?") Oh, and a Dear Zoo cuddly toy - a naughty monkey in a bag marked "Too Naughty!"

The Gruffalo bag had a copy of The Gruffalo, but also a copy of The Gruffalo Touch & Feel book, a Gruffalo peg puzzle, a Gruffalo word mat, a "Gruffalo describing words" sheet (with a picture of the Gruffalo surrounded by adjectives), a woodland background and characters from the Gruffalo to use on it.

Both bags came with a little note pad and pen so that you could write down how you got on.

S really enjoyed playing with the contents of these bags. She enjoyed the Dear Zoo one the most I think, and has asked to play with it several times. She loves to wear the masks and had proper giggles when she realised she could see me through the eye holes. They were mainly used to play Peekabo:

Here are some photos of her playing with the resources:

My favourite photo though, is this one: 

We also played with the Gruffalo bag, but S only seemed interested in the peg puzzle; she did this over and over and over again!

I was so pleased with these resources; S had a great time playing with them. Dear Zoo is her all time favourite book so she really loved all of the extras surrounding the book.

When I looked closely at the resources, the play dough mats and stick puppets etc, all came from Twinkl Resources. I had heard that name before, but I didn't recall when - so I Googled them, and found the sort of website one could get lost in for hours. They don't just do resources for playing with the Gruffalo and Dear Zoo; they have... pretty much anything you could ever want to print out. There are resources for teachers and parents, from S's age right up through the key stages. 

Twinkl say: 

Twinkl Resources is your first choice for easy to use, trusted and high quality teaching materials for educators and parents worldwide - professionally crafted materials with a personal touch.

The website is amazing; I have spent hours going through all the resources lately. One of my favourite parts is the Create page where you can essentially create your own worksheets and flash cards using the templates provided. There's also a great Primary Teaching Forum where you can chat to other users. The forum is split into sections for different subjects or different types of user, for example nursery nurses or childminders. It's a great place to swap ideas and get advice.

Most of the resources on Twinkl are free, however there are paid membership options where you can have access to even more! Gold membership is £24.95 a year, and Platinum membership is £39.59 per year. 

I love the fact most of the resources are free; it means that anyone with a printer can have access to fabulous worksheets, flash cards and games for their children. The paid option is an important one though; without subscribers to the site, they would not be able to continue offering such a wide range of resources. 

I was delighted to be offered a Platinum membership to Twinkl in exchange for writing about my experience and opinion of the site. All opinions are my own.

How Do You Find The Time...

If you've clicked this link looking for clever lifestyle tips or life hacks... you'll probably want to click away now. I don't really have any clever tips. Sorry about that.

I'm a single mother; I work from home; I maintain (what I'd like to think is) a successful blog. People are forever asking me how I have the time to bake biscuits with S - or make a kick ass Easter bonnet for nursery. One person did rather sniffily ask me how I find time for housework.

Here is how I manage to find the time to do the things that matter:

The things that matter come first in this house.

Now, I'm fully aware that what matters can differ from household to household, person to person. In this house, cleaning and tidying are fairly close to the bottom of the list. I believe that when my child grows up, she will remember afternoons spent sitting on the kitchen work surface making biscuits, not how often the bath was cleaned. 

Here are a few things I do that allow me more time to do the fun stuff (and the blogging and the obsessive West Wing watching):

• I only wash up once a day. There are only two of us here, and there are plenty of plates and cups to last us a day, so we pile it neatly next to the sink, and I wash up after S has gone to bed.

• I never read the instruction manual, so I've made an executive decision to just assume my oven is self-cleaning.

• I make piles of things at the bottom and top of the stairs. Every time I go up or down, I take something with me, and put it where it belongs.

• Similarly, I keep my recycling in a pile, and take a little of it down to the bins every time I go out without S (when she's with me, it's just not worth the effort!)

• S has a shower instead of a bath. She enjoys splashing under the water, and I can use the time to potter about on the landing, sorting washing and tidying the toys that are usually left hanging about.

• My housework is done on a "critical mass" basis. Everything is left until it can't possibly be left any more, and then tackled in a massive spree. I'll often have the washing machine and tumble dryer running for 2 days solidly, and then not use it again for a week or so.

• When S has nursery the next morning, as soon as she's in bed I get her clothes ready for the next day. I bring a pair of trousers, two tops and two pairs of socks (so that she can choose what she wears) down to the living room and put them on the side along with a clean nappy and the baby wipes. 

• As soon as S takes her shoes off when we get home from anywhere, I pick them up and put them on the side, out of her reach. She has a tendency to play with footwear, and there are a million places to hide such small shoes, so I keep them where I know they'll still be when we need them in the morning!

• I watch very little TV. I haven't watched any live TV on a regular basis since... I don't even remember. I use the catch-up function on my TV package to browse through what's been on. It cuts down my viewing time considerably, to see that a show I thought might look vaguely interesting is an hour and a half long. In fact, the only show I watch every week without fail is Casualty. And while I'm "watching," I'm blogging and researching. And sorting washing and tidying away some toys, and flicking through magazines for ideas, and scheduling tweets.

• When it comes to blogging, I type very quickly so once I have an idea for a post it doesn't take too long to get it written up. I keep a notepad next to my bed, and make notes on my mobile when I think of ideas.

• When I'm using Facebook, Twitter etc, I'll often compose updates, respond to tweets or comments etc, while I'm queueing in a shop or on my way home from nursery drop off.

• I use apps like Trello, Work Flowy and Asana to keep track of what I'm doing, what I need to do, what I've done.

• Probably the biggest thing I've learned to do is just plain let go. Instead of rushing around, worrying I won't get things done, worrying about this or about that, I just chill out. S and I meander to and from nursery, usually taking a couple of detours. When we go to town she will have a little wander and I will follow along. If I don't stress about being late or missing something or whatever, S doesn't pick up on it. Realistically, there aren't many things in life that absolutely can't wait, and I find that actually, if I'm not stressing about things, I get more done any way.

So there you have it: my secrets for being Wonder Woman/Mum of the Year. Don't go telling anyone!

Learning to Manage my Time

I am a single mother.

I work part time.

On one of my days off, I work in a second job that also takes up a fair amount of time in the evenings.

I am studying for a degree through Open University.

I'm learning to crochet so that I can make S a minion hat for Christmas. 

I maintain this, and another blog.

I spend an offensive amount of time on social media.

Every now and then, I consider the prospect of housework.

Just lately, it's become increasingly clear to me that if I wish to continue with all the frivolities I do outside of motherhood, I'm going to need to be more organised with my time.

I am a champion procrastinator. If there was an award for time wasting, that baby would be mine - but I would put off going to pick it up for a few weeks. Many's the evening I've come downstairs after putting S to bed, just sat down quickly "to check my emails" - and ended up hurriedly doing the washing up at 9pm.

On Saturday morning I was talking to a friend on the phone, and she said, 

you strike me as the sort of person who needs a list each morning in order to achieve what needs to be done...

She was right, and I decided I should probably start doing that. I started right then:

S ended up having a three-hour nap on Saturday morning, and I managed to sort all my washing, and clear everything off the green sofa. I was on a roll! I started clearing other over-crowded surfaces in my living room, and made a to-do list for Sunday:

I was a little more optimistic with this list but I told myself there would be no sitting about faffing on Facebook until I'd completed my list. 

Guess what? S and I went for a long walk in the morning, and spent the afternoon wandering around the Cathedral with my sisters. But by 7pm I had ticked off everything on the list. Well, sort of. What I actually did was clear the dining table and decide to move it across the room to swap places with a different table, throw a load of stuff out, clean the floor under both tables, rearrange a lot of the larger items of S's toys... as well as everything else on the list. 

It turns out, I'm approximately 100% more productive when I actually physically write a list of what I need to do. 

And I feel happier, more relaxed and more... like I've done something with my day - instead of sitting here, surrounded by crap and thinking "tomorrow I really should get on and do this... and this, and this and that..."

From now on, I will be making lists. Lots and lots of lists.

What do you do in order to maintain productivity? How do you keep on top of everything you're aiming to get done by the end of the day? Do you have any clever tips you'd like to pass on?

Summer Holiday Shenanigans #2

Following on from this post about last week, here's what we've been up to this week:

Monday 19 August
Up early and off to Longleat for the day with my friend C and her son H. Fabulous time had by all, including two trips into Postman Pat's village to press buttons and generally run around having fun.
The thing about taking two grumpy 1 year olds out for the day is that if one isn't grumping, teething or due for a nap, the other one will be - so we didn't see all of the park, and missed out a lot of the animals. We drove around the safari, but S was crying for the first half and asleep for the second. It didn't matter though; we all had a fantastic time running around, and C and I had a good old natter at nap time.

Enjoying pressing buttons in Postman Pat's Village

Tuesday 20 August
Lazy day. Didn't make plans because we had to go to the health visitor at lunch time. Now that I'm back at work I can only see her when we're on holidays... A walk in the morning, followed by a nap, then a mad dash to the other side of town... only to find that we had the wrong day, her clinic had been moved to Monday. So we did some pootling around town, then came home and played with the toys and made a mess.

Having a little run around in the bedroom

Wednesday 21 August

Walk in the morning followed by a nap; S is teething pretty badly, so lunch was a bit of a non event. My sister A came round and played with S for a while, building Duplo models and giggling. We went into town to do some shopping and feed the ducks, then came all the way home only to remember we'd not put any money on the electricity key, so we went straight back out for a walk to the shop. Once we were home, S spent a long time running up and down the hall, laughing like a maniac and generally having fun.

Having a little walk together

Thursday 22 August

Another fairly lazy day. A long walk in the morning, followed by a nap, and a visit from my sister A. We went to the Cathedral Close and S spent an hour exploring, wandering around the grass, then along the paths, and into the stones next to the entrance. She enjoyed stepping between the different surfaces and finding her footing on the stone. I had to draw the line when she started rubbing her hands in the stones though, as she was making a bit of a mess and I wasn't entirely sure it was safe. We also spent a fair bit of time walking between the lights that are set into the ground around the cathedral. She loved to stand directly on them, turn around, and then move onto the next one. It's safe to say we'll be going back to the Close again soon!

Sitting on Auntie Af's lap

Friday 23 August

Another long walk in the morning followed by a nap; am trying to get her back into some sort of routine before returning to nursery so we've tried to do the same thing as much as possible where naps are concerned. My sister Z finally had her baby, so in the afternoon we popped up to meet him. You're not really meant to take children onto the ward, and S was not in the mood for sitting still, so we didn't stay long. We left and had a nice long walk along the hospital corridors instead, before catching the bus home. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with as many toys as possible, often at the same time. We played catch with the big yellow sensory ball, read almost all of the books, and practised hanging upside down. S's latest thing is to investigate how things look from a different angle. So she'll lean backwards over the side of the ball pool to see what the TV looks like from that angle, and loves to be dangled upside down by me. Easy win for some giggles!

Leaning over the ball pit to see the TV from a different angle

Summer Holiday Shenanigans #1

As you may already know, I am currently on a 2 week holiday from work. S's nursery closes for 2 weeks, so I have no choice but to take that time off work.

As I mentioned in this post, I had been a bit worried that, after 3 months of her being entertained at nursery, S might be bored by just boring old me. I was worried that, since she has grown and developed so much over those 3 months, I might have forgotten how to spend time with her.

Actually, it turns out we're having quite a lot of fun. I thought it might be fun to make some posts about what we've been up to...

Monday 12 August

Went for a walk into town; bought some things for messy play, walked in and out of the M&S automatic doors about 50 times.

Had fantastic fun with messy play cake dough (which you can read about on Edspire); also made cakes and played with that silly soap stuff. S was not impressed with that though.

Went for a long walk with my 2 sisters and the trike.

S had tea and then the world's shortest bath before zonking out 10 minutes before bed time. Successful day!

Tuesday 13 August

Despite going to bed early, S had not slept well and was rather tired. We didn't go for a walk in the morning; instead she played on the mats for a while, then had a rather long nap.

Both of my sisters came round for a while, and iced yesterday's cakes while we went out to visit my cousin, who lives on the other side of town.

Once S had gotten used to seeing different faces, she had a fabulous time. She made friends with the giant Newfoundland dog, poked at the rabbits, almost allowed the guinea pigs to escape, and spent a good half hour just running up and down the garden.

When we came home S was a little cranky, so she sat on the work surface next to me and played with some bits while I made tea.

S had trouble sleeping again, so I put a dvd on for her; but she fell asleep really quickly, and slept through til 7 the next morning!

Wednesday 14 August

Out for a walk in the morning; I have learned this is the best way to guarantee a good nap! In and out of M&S automatic doors several times, but a meltdown when I introduced S to the escalator, and another when I allowed her to climb the stairs in Boots (holding my hands) but not to immediately go back down and do it again. We did spend 10 minutes in the downstairs window of Boots waving at passing cars though.

After S had had a nap and lunch, we went to soft play with both of my sisters.

We had never been to soft play before; it was fun, and S enjoyed herself; but I did not enjoy the lack of supervision of the older children, and the number of rude, obnoxious children who came into the baby/toddler area and jumped around or threw things so that it wasn't particularly safe for the younger ones. I got really angry to be honest, and in the end we gave up and left. S had a fabulous time though, and thoroughly enjoyed going down the slide!

Super messy tea (not on purpose), then bath and bed. Out like a light again! 

Thursday 15 August

Off to Bournemouth with my sister A, to visit the Oceanarium. We timed it with genius precision, so that S slept for almost the entire bus journey down there. Fabulous time had by all in the Oceanarium, slight rain situation did nothing to dampen our moods and we had a lovely toddle through the gardens before catching the bus home. Lovely day.

Friday 16 August

We had no plans, but we'd had a reasonably busy week so decided to have a quiet one. Accidentally went puddle splashing in the morning, when we nipped out for some bits and it started peeing down. S was happily splashing about in her rain coat; I was trying to be patient in my white top and no coat!

S had a massively long nap over lunch time, then we played a bit more, made cakes, and went back out for another wander. A nice lazy day!

You can read about our second week off here!

How has Motherhood Changed Me?

Photo by Chris Meany Photography

Just lately, with Katie Hill's #BodyLove campaign on Twitter, I've been thinking about how becoming a mum has changed me. Here's a list. I love lists!

• Until I was 30, I hated my body. I always considered myself to be too fat, too wobbly, too ugly, "don't take my photo from that angle, you'll show my chins!" At one point, I was going to the gym 8 or 9 times a week. I was quite fit. I ran a half marathon and was lifting heavier weights than most of the boys in the gym at 6:30am. But I still had no body confidence. Now my body has produced a baby, I'm much more relaxed about everything. Yes, I've got stretch marks, yes my thighs wobble and I have bingo wings, yes my boobs are a bit saggy. But look at what I made! Also, to experience my body a few days post-birth, and then find that actually, it's gone back to "normal" fairly quickly, was pleasantly surprising. 

• Before, even though I lifted heavy weights and ran in races and all the rest of it, I had no mental strength. I once ran a gruelling 10 mile race around the hilly outskirts of Salisbury by staying behind the man in front of me, and basically using his mental strength to get my through. Experiencing a 10 and a half hour labour has made me realise that actually, my body's capable of a lot more than I ever thought. I tend to think to myself  "come on, you've been through childbirth; this is piss easy in comparison!"

• I am less tolerant of a lot of things these days. I won't settle for a man treating me like crap, I won't put up with people letting me down, I won't have people smoke or drink near my child. Before, I used to put up with all these things and more, biting my tongue and silently seething.

• On the other hand, I'm more  tolerant of other things. People who walk too slowly down the pavement, children asking awkward questions or just generally being precocious, screaming babies in Sainsbury's. I used to tut and think, "Gawd, control your kid!" but now I just smile and think how lucky I am it's not me! People apologise for being in the way and I tell them not to worry about it. Life is too short!

• I have more fun these days. I'm not afraid to go outside and splash in puddles, or spend half an hour pulling faces at S as I push her on the swing. I push her along in the buggy, happily chattering away to her and making silly noises (the latest favourite is a pretend sneeze) and I don't care what you think of me. Stare all you want; I'm the one with a smile on my face!

• These days, I am much more aware of my mental health, and its precarious stability. Before, it didn't matter if I had a bad couple of weeks, drank too much, didn't go into work, didn't wash up. Now I need to take steps at the first sign of trouble, to stop anything nasty from creeping in. I can't afford to be reckless with myself, now that I have someone else who relies on me for food and cuddles.

• I'm a lot more careful crossing roads. I'll stand at a crossing, press the button, and wait for the little green man, while those around me will make a run for it in front of a reasonably slow car. My child is too precious for me to risk her life, and since she relies on me, I can't afford to risk getting myself run over.

• I'm still the world's messiest person, but that mess is confined to "my" side of the living room. The play mats are kept clean, S's toys are tidied and put away as often as possible. Meanwhile, the rubble next to me on the sofa has recently reached epic proportions, and I'm wondering whether I can get away with just chucking it all in a black bag and starting again.

What about you? Has becoming a parent changed you in ways you didn't expect?

The Nursery Debate

Tomorrow, S will start going to nursery an extra day a week.

S at nursery, eating custard.

I need the extra time to work on my studying, which I've just not managed to do properly since I went back to work. And I really need to start doing some proper housework.

It will be the first time I will have had regular time to myself, to do as I please, since... well, that depends on whether you count my pregnancy as having had my own free will really. But a long time.

I'm looking forward to going for a run.

But I also feel incredibly guilty.

As if I'm dumping her in nursery when I'm not even at work, because I'm just too lazy to look after my own child. A bad parent. The kind of person who doesn't value time spent with their child. I already leave her there 3 days a week so that I can go to work; surely I would want to spend those precious 2 days in the middle of the week with her, catching up with what we've missed about each other?

Well, yes. I love our two days mid-week more than the days we have at the weekend. There are fewer people about, we can go to parks and the beach and swimming and the library and wherever else we want to go, without it being too crowded. If I could, I'd have someone take S for a day on the weekend so that I could catch up on my studying and general "me" time. But the nursery is not open on weekends, and there is nobody else I can rely on to have her on a regular basis.

Realistically, if I was going to leave her with anyone while I got on with my bits and bobs, nursery is the best place. I know she has fun there. She loves the staff, the other children, the toys. They do all sorts of things that we don't do at home. The past two afternoons she's spent splashing about in a paddling pool outside, wearing just her nappy, and I have neither an outside nor a paddling pool.

I know S will be safe and happy at nursery.

But I still feel awful for planning to leave my precious child with someone else for the day, when I'm not even going to work!

This post is updated here.

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The Steep Learning Curve

The One Where I Have a Fabulous Idea

Between sickness bugs and teething and colds and more sickness, S has been fairly poorly and clingy lately. She's wanted to spend a lot of time either watching TV with me, or playing with me, or reading with me - or doing anything really, so long as it involved sitting on my lap, usually holding one or both of my hands.

Sometimes climbing on my lap is also required

Today, as I sat on the play mats demonstrating the noise benefits of a toy drum for the umpteenth time, I thought to myself, "wow, I have a million things to be doing... there must be something I can get done while I sit here on the mats..." 

And then, in a stroke of genius, I thought, "Yes! That's it!! I'll sit here and think of all the things you can do while your child is playing on your lap, and then I'll write a fabulous blog post about how to be super productive."

So I set myself to thinking. You could... or... well... uh...

And that's when the real stroke of genius hit me. My gorgeous daughter is 13 months old. Those 13 months have already gone far too quickly; in the blink of an eye she will be 13 years old, and the times of her wanting to sit on my lap and hold my hands will be long gone. Perhaps the most productive use of my time is just to sit here and play with her, while I can. Perhaps I should just be a bit more... zen about the whole thing, and sit and enjoy the moment.

And so I abandoned all thought of housework and blog posts, and gave in to banging the toy drum and blowing raspberries. Which is why this blog post is rather short.

PS: This is my 200th post! Congratulate me by following my blog (over there ←), or perhaps by tweeting this post (down there ↓). At least leave me a comment and show me some love! You know you want to!

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The Steep Learning Curve

S has been at nursery for a month now, and already she's learning things...

• She's learned to eat off a plate/from a bowl without giving in to the urge to turn it over and launch her food across the room.

• She can now turn individual pages in a book, and will sit and read through her books, one page at a time.

• She can now take several steps unaided - has started doing it without me holding my arms out... or even watching her (that she knows of)

• She can, on occasion, take a drink from her cup without immediately spitting it all down her front.

• She will now let an adult wipe her nose, rather than covering her face with her hands and opting instead to wipe the snot on the nearest available leg.

• She points to things. A lot.

• She says "Hi" and "Bye" a lot more than she did before, and waves at every available opportunity.

• When she is eating, she has learned to put her hand to her mouth to push errant bits of food in, rather than just moving her head to try and catch what was trying to escape.

• She has learned to eat all sorts of new and exciting foods she wouldn't have had at home.

• She's learned to go to sleep without me, and sleep for a reasonable amount of time, on a regular basis. In fact, I think she now sleeps better at nursery than at home.

• She says "ta" when you give her something

• She appears to have learned that when I leave her, I'm coming back.

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Toys That Are Not Toys

This post is all about how children don't need fancy, plastic, singing and dancing toys from the shops. Some of S's favourite toys are things most of us would throw away...

Empty Boxes and Bags:

You know that old joke that you can buy a toy for a child, and they'll have more fun playing with the box it came in? That fun is not limited to the packaging for toys.

Drinks Bottles

In this post I wrote about two empty bottles I'd filled with various things. We started with a couple of bottles filled with coloured water; now we have bottles with shiny craft materials, bottles with jelly and glitter, bottles with cous cous. The cous cous is a big hit; every single day S will sit and shake it for a good ten minutes, transferring it from hand to hand, looking at me to see how impressed I am by the noise she's making.

Remote Controls

S loves buttons. And things she's not allowed. Imagine the excitement when she gets her hands on a remote control!! Suddenly the TV is turned up very loud, we're watching a channel I didn't know existed, and the stereo is playing BBC Asia! (if I'm feeling awake and with it, I'll take one of the batteries out of the remote and just let her play with it for a little while)

Kitchen Utensils

In the end, I admitted defeat, drew a smiley face on one of my wooden spoons and gave it to S. It doesn't even go near the kitchen any more. The same with the posh pastry brush with blue silicone fronds. There are also spoons lurking on the play mats somewhere. For while she had commandeered a fish slice, but I needed it for my dinner the other day so I stole it back.

Random Stuff

Anything that is not supposed to be a baby toy, is instantly interesting and fun to play with. Baby wipe packets are a big favourite, because of the noise they make. We also like plastic cups, because you can scrunch them. I have also finally found a use for the rock samples that came with my science OU module - S will sit and play with them!

And so, in conclusion, it is safe to say that my child is easily pleased, and I wasted money on Christmas this year!


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A Day In The Life

I had this awesome idea that I would record what I do over the course of a day, so that I can show... well I'm not sure what I hoped to illustrate. I think I picked a bad day to do it on too, but here is what happened yesterday:

2:30am:  S wakes up to feed. I fall asleep feeding her, as is the norm.
5am: S wakes up to feed. I groan because I fell asleep in an awkward position last time and now my back feels like it may snap.
6 am: S wakes up to feed. Hold my breath and pray she goes back to sleep as 6am is too early to contemplate today.
7am: wake up, S still asleep
7:30: S wakes up later than usual but in a good mood. She's usually in a good mood in the mornings.
7:45 have a bath together. Put S on bed (mattress on floor) in towel while I dry myself. She happily plays with her toys. At the moment she has to have two lots of cream on her arms and legs each morning and night. Apply first lot and wait ten minutes, during which time I dress myself. Just as I'm putting on my bra she decides the digital clock is more interesting than her toys, and launches herself off the bed towards it. Ten minutes spent comforting a screaming baby with a digital clock imprinted on her cheek. Second lot of cream on, clean babygro on, finish dressing myself. Open curtains and check ceiling for leaks.

8:40: downstairs for breakfast. Good morning baby-in-the-mirror, good morning stairs, good morning front door, good morning kitchen, good morning living room, good morning CBeebies... CBeebies?  Virgin Media box not working again, so put a dvd on to keep S entertained. Make porridge with fruit puree for S and a coffee for me. Also 5ml of Calpol for teething/cold, and 0.6ml of vitamin supplement she's been on since leaving hospital. Skip the iron supplement she's meant to have, because she had it yesterday and I don't like to do it every day. Come back to living room to find S has managed to get herself almost completely underneath the unit the TV sits on. Again. Extract her and put her in her high chair. These days she won't go into the chair without something on the tray to play with, so she has a rusk. The rusk never goes anywhere near her mouth. During this meal it is thrown onto the floor only four times. S eats breakfast, refuses to even entertain the idea of the rusk (probably for the best) so I eat it. Back to the play mat to play with her toys, as I make a stab at the housework.

9:10: Thoroughly clean high chair as it's not been done properly in a while. Put a load of washing on. Vacuum downstairs, including underneath the rug. S is rather disgruntled at being left on the play mats, and I have to clean them any way, so I pop her in the ball pit. She watches with an unimpressed look as I move all her toys off the mats to vacuum up the crumbs, then move the ball pit with her in it to vacuum under that. She falls over and gets cross. Stop what I'm doing to play with her for a bit. Apparently the Dr Seuss dvd is just not doing it for her, so we swap it for a Tweenies one so that I can go and do the washing up.

10am: take S upstairs for her nap. Lay down on the bed with her and read a book as I feed her to sleep. Radio on fairly loud to block out the banging from next door. Everything crossed it will work.

10:10am: S asleep, I come downstairs to finish the cleaning. It's a race against the clock. Finish washing up. Clear and clean kitchen sides. Empty bins and take them out with recycling. Clean the kitchen bin. Fill a bucket, on hands and knees and clean kitchen floor, living room floor and hall. Have to scrub at dried-on baby food I've somehow missed when it was dropped. Empty bucket down toilet, fling some bleach in afterwards and make a mental note to do more than just fling bleach down it at some point today. Or tomorrow. Or definitely before next weekend.

10:45: put everything back in its place, sit down, put my feet up to have a little drink and a rest. Find cold coffee and chuck it. Hear S wake up. Short nap today then, possibly caused by next door being extra loud this morning. Go upstairs to fetch her. Thankfully, she's woken in a good mood. Back downstairs, Tweenies dvd back on as TV still not working. Luckily S is happy to sit and play with toys in front of me while I sit on the sofa and sort through the pile of paperwork that's built up on the sofa cushions next to me over the course of the week. As long as I look at her every few seconds and pull a face or chat to her, she seems content to shout at her toys and look up at the Tweenies any time they sing or dance.

11am: start to curse myself for not buying any sensible breakfast or snacky foods in this week's shopping. Feeling a bit squiffy but there's nothing quick to grab to eat. Settle for a can of Coke. Healthy lifestyle at its best. Back to the living room to sort the never-ending pile of washing. Fight hard not to just sit on the floor and cry from the stress of certain personal issues going on right now. Disturbed from my self-pity by a bad smell, and stop to change a nappy. S cries when I cough, and we spend 20 minutes playing and practising walking until she is happy again. She sits and plays with a toy hammer precisely long enough for me to sit back down on the floor with the washing, then starts crying again. Eventually manage to get washing half-sorted, when phone rings. Spend 20 minutes on the phone to my mum, explaining the latest drama with my older sister. Get off the phone, and it's time for lunch.

Midday: lunch time. Sit S in the high chair and distract her with some wotsit-type crisps while I shovel proper food into her mouth. she spreads food and crisps all over newly-cleaned highchair. Half an hour later, I clean her up and make a half-hearted attempt at the highchair. She spends ten minutes on the rug practising crawling and screeching and then we go to the kitchen to make brownies. S sits on the floor while I mix brownies. She gets a chocolatey spoon to play with, and I am glad the floor was at least clean before we started. Brownies made, she pulls at my jeans while I wash up. Then we go back to the living room, where she sits in her ball pit, trying to chew on the inflated sides. It doesn't work so well and she gets quite fed up. Quick trip upstairs to put some washing away, but give up when she is not happy up there either. Come back downstairs and watch some awful CBeebies show with her sitting next to me on the sofa playing with remote controls. This lasts five minutes, before she makes it perfectly clear she wants me to feed her. These days feeding is only done at nap time so usually when she tries to grab my boobs it's because she's tired.

1:50pm take S upstairs for her nap early. Lay down and read a book while I feed her to sleep. Once she is asleep, I go to her bedroom to put away some of her clean washing, and to sort through her next lot of clothes. She's just growing into 9-12 months stuff, so I need to make sure I have enough. These days every time we change her clothes at least one item of clothing has to go into the "outgrown" pile. Bring 9-12 months clothes downstairs to check what we have and put it through the wash. Answer is: not a lot. Better do some shopping. Take more clean washing upstairs and sort it out. Come downstairs and have a brief scroll through Ebay to find some bargains for S. Greeted by a Facebook comment from my older sister informing me my dead father was disappointed in me and my two brothers. Decide S is better off not knowing the bitterness on that side of the family and try my best to remember my father loved me.

2:40: S wakes up, crying. Go upstairs to fetch her but make matters worse when she sees what Mummy looks like when she's been crying. We come downstairs and watch some CBeebies whilst tearing an old Radio Times apart. Then when that gets boring we take a little tour of the house, then sit and play with some other toys.

3:30pm visit from my sister Z and her boyfriend L. A welcome relief; I think S and I are both growing sick of each other's company. Z and L take it in turns to play with S, making her giggle and letting her walk them around the living room.

4pm: tea time. S is tired and less interested in food than I would hope. Manage to sneak in two-thirds of her dinner and a fromage frais. Back to playing with Z and L while I bid for some clothes for her on Ebay.

5:15pm: Z and L leave. Take S for another little wander around the house, pick up PJs and a clean nappy. Wrestle her out of her clothes, and fight to get her cream applied to the relevant areas. Doctor told me to apply a thin layer of first lot, wait ten minutes, apply second lot. It needs to go behind her arm pits and behind her knees. Not the easiest of places on a squirmy, grumpy baby but we do our best. Second lot of cream is not what the doctor prescribed, as that was a steroid. Use coconut oil instead, which is nicer but she doesn't like the smell. Finally manage to get her into vest and babygro ready for bed. More crying. Take her to the kitchen to fetch a Baby Bel, and we sit on the sofa to eat it. She plays with each remote in turn, then throws them on the floor. Ditto for my phone, my iPod, a pair of slippers and a box of tissues. She cries when I put my hands near her face, so we go back to the kitchen to wash the coconut oil off and try again. Marginally more successful; I think she ate about a quarter of the cheese. Everything from the sofa thrown or hidden, including my phone. S still in a grump and clearly showing me she's tired and wants to feed so take her to bed ten minutes early. Good night living room, good night kitchen, good night front door, good night stairs, good night baby-in-the-mirror, good night Mummy.

5:50pm Lay on my bed and read a book as I feed S to sleep. Fast asleep within 15 minutes but I worry how long it will last. Mad dash downstairs to tidy up toys in the living room and get various other bits done, in case she wakes up and I don't have time.

6:40pm: S wakes up, screaming incosolably. No chance of getting her back to sleep, so bring her downstairs and rock her back and forth for twenty minutes, until she does a massive poo and it becomes evident why she was crying. Change nappy and have a stab at getting her back to sleep. Fail miserably. She is clearly picking up on my less than perfect mood. Bring her downstairs and put her in the bouncy chair in the hope she will be tired enough to just fall asleep. May as well hope to win the lottery. Short, uncomfortable visit from HYM with worst possible timing known to man. Entirely not his fault my daughter is upset and irritable and my family has imploded.

Evening spent with S in the bouncy chair, periodically trying to find a toy that will keep her entertained. She shows no signs of tiredness, until she begins crying at 9pm. Suspecting another poonami, I decide to admit defeat and just go to bed. In the time it takes to lock the front door, carry her up the stairs and change her nappy she has become wide awake again. She spends an hour or so playing on a rug on the bedroom floor while I potter about.

10:30: feed S to sleep and fall asleep myself.
1:30am: S wakes up to feed. I have to use every ounce of self control not to cough, because I know this will cause tears and proper wakefulness from both of us. Have a small drink of water, feed S and go back to sleep.
3:30am: awake again. Feed her to sleep and pray this time it lasts longer. Try not to cough.
6am: awake again, but I refuse to accept 6am as a time to be properly awake. Feed her back to sleep, only to find that I can't sleep. Lay in bed and try my hardest, until 6:30 when I get up and play with my mobile instead.
6:45am Mad rush from bedroom, downstairs, into living room, door shut, and finally have a big cough into a cushion so as not to wake S.
7am: S wakes up, and we start it all over again.

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You might find it interesting to read this post I wrote when I returned to work.

Our Week: 26 Nov - 01 Dec

Monday 26 Nov
Up early and out to a mother and toddler group. Had ummed and ahhed about going, but figured I had nothing to lose by just trying it out. Turns out it was great fun, S had a good old shout, and we both really enjoyed song time at the end. It did mess with nap time a little though, meaning S slept for 20 minutes on the way there and 20 minutes on the way home, and had a slightly rushed lunch before we went back out to meet a friend for lunch. Awful experience in Slug & Lettuce (though S enjoyed herself, and I had a good catch-up with said friend) followed by S falling asleep again on the way home. Afternoon spent trying to clear junk from the living room whilst being distracted by a baby who has discovered her ability to squawk like a super-cute pterodactyl.

Tuesday 27 Nov
Morning spent clearing junk out of the living room ready for the floor to be put down tomorrow. Horrifying moment around lunch time when I looked around and realised that I'd removed 80% of the stuff, and the room still looked full. I've a feeling a lot of things will be thrown out rather than coming back into the room once the floor is down. Afternoon spent at a local church's mother and baby group. Lovely people, an invite to their Christmas party, and some strawberries! Walked home with my sister, who helped to move the sofa. And then more stuff-moving, while S resolutely refused to sleep.

Wednesday 28 Nov
A brief reprieve from the floor-laying meant a quiet day at home. D visited in the morning, S had a couple of good naps, things were cool. Didn't leave the house all day; it was bliss. Oh yeah, and I got asked out on a date. Nearly fell off my chair.

Thursday 29 Nov
My brother came to lay the floor, so S and I hibernated upstairs for the morning, playing with toys and mucking about. My sister turned up around lunch time, and we took S into town for a little wander and a spot of Christmas shopping, before coming home for a man from the council to assess the damage to my bedroom ceiling from a persistently leaky roof. Afternoon spent chatting to a lovely friend who doesn't visit often.

Friday 30 Nov
Up reasonably early and off to a Buggyfun class - I'd not been for a while because the class had moved to a place horribly close to the ex's house, but it moved back to its original location this week and I was very excited to get back to it. Nearly killed myself with running and a mini assault course, but had a massive grin on my face walking home. Visit from a friend at lunch time; afternoon spent having a go at putting all the junk back in the living room... Got as far as putting the Christmas tree up...

Saturday 01 Dec
Left S with a babysitter for the first time. Before I've left her with a family member outside of a shop, or left my sister pushing her around town in the buggy while I had my hair done... This morning I went into town for a whole hour, while she stayed at home with my sister A. Afternoon spent baking. S played happily with a wooden spoon, a pastry brush and a silicone oven glove.

10 Ideas for Entertaining Your Baby

1. Old CDs stuck to the side of a cupboard or box next to where baby spends time will reflect light and be endlessly entertaining. In fact, anything shiny is sure to be a winner. Just make sure it’s safe.
2. If you are able to sit and supervise baby, they seem to be quite enthralled with the noise made by the plastic windows in envelopes. This one kept S entertained for over an hour.

3. I read about treasure boxes on The Imagination Tree and made one for S; she loves to rummage through it and pick out random items to explore. The idea is that you use them for heuristic play, so fill them with household items made from materials other than plastic - stuff that reflects or bangs or rattles or feels different in their hands. At the moment it contains:
• a paper plate
• a CD
• a loo roll holder
• a tin lid
• some brightly coloured material
• some metal spoons
• a wooden spoon
• a scrunched up piece of silver foil
• some random rock samples I was sent as part of an OU course

4. Music! I used to think S loved to watch the children’s TV station, until I realised she just liked the music. Now she listens to Radio 3 (more melodious music, usually less talking) and loves it. Sometimes we will put local radio on instead and dance around the living room to some cheesy tunes.
5. Go on a tour of the house. This is a good one to do if you’ve been sitting in the living room for a while and baby is getting a bit grumpy. I take S into the kitchen and we say hello, then to the front door, the stairs, the bedroom, take a look out the window and say hello to the people out there, stop and say hi to her cot mobile, maybe play with a toy on the bed for a little while, say hello to the baby in the mirror, and then head back to the living room, saying hi or bye to the rooms and objects again as we pass.
6. When S was very small, she used to cry whenever I changed her nappy. I read somewhere that babies like high-contrast images, especially simple pictures of faces, and so one evening I got out my pens and some postcards and made up some pictures to stick on the wall next to her changing mat. To be honest, I didn't expect it to work, but until she was about 5 months old, she would happily stare at the pictures on the wall whenever her nappy was changed - though I did change them every month or so to avoid her getting bored.

7. Explore different textures. I went through my old scraps of material, and bought some remnants from a fabric shop, to find different styles and textures of material. I’m sure you’ve already noticed babies love the feel of label tags on everything they touch, but as they get older they will be interested in other textures too, especially if they have different colours or patterns as well.
8.  Plastic bottles! I got this idea from my 2-year-old nephew, who's always had a thing for plastic drinks bottles. I finished a drink the other day and handed S the empty bottle, to see what happened... turns out she's just as enthralled as her cousin. I'd seen a few different variations of things to put into plastic bottles, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Seriously, this one is so easy: you fill the bottle with liquid, and then you put some stuff in it.

§   I used water in mine, but you could pop to Poundland and get some bubble bath instead. If you use water, you can put some glycerine in it - this makes the water more gloopy, so that whatever stuff you put in it moves around more slowly. 

§   I put red food colouring into one of my bottles. I used gel colouring, because it was all I had, and it left a few lumps in there so I guess if you didn't want lumps you could use liquid colour.

§   The other day whilst rummaging through a cupboard I found some of those little silver balls you use to decorate cakes... They were a good six months out of date, so I couldn't really put them on a cake so I used them in this project instead, and put half into each bottle. The silver colour came off of them and floated in the water, and the sugar balls dissolved into the water.

§   I also had some out of date glitter writing icing tubes, so I squeezed them into the bottles too, which made them all glittery and pretty.

§   In an act of selflessness rarely seen before or since, I ate a bunch of chocolate coins, and put the scrunched up wrappers into the red bottle.

§   In the white bottle, I put the beads from two old bracelets.

§   With this sort of project, the world is your oyster. You can use whatever you have lying around - pieces of foam, plastic, glitter, pasta shapes... And it's dirt cheap, so you can make as many different ones as you want and change them over as often as you like. Winner!

9. Peep-o. The old ones really are the best. You can play this game with a baby for as long as you have the patience, either hiding behind something or draping a light cloth or blanket over baby and exclaiming "Where's baby gone?!"
10. One of S's favourite things at the moment is to watch me wave my arms around and pull a face, or simply shaking my head. I get a good workout every afternoon jumping up and down and waving my arms whilst pulling faces at her whilst she giggles away at what an idiot she has for a mother.

I'm sure there are a million other things you can do with a baby that don't involve TV or expensive toys; please feel free to add yours in the comments. 

I may well collect up some more as I go along to make another post on the subject some time in the future.

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What We Did This Week

Monday 12 Nov

Up early and off to the hospital for a physio appointment. Then back into town and out the other side for a GP appointment for S. Then a walk home in the rain, and an afternoon of CBeebies. Evening spent doing OU work. I am living the dream.

Tuesday 13 Nov

Off to town to buy mincemeat supplies and pick up jars from my cousin, then home to mix all the ingredients in a massive bowl. World’s messiest lunch with S, then a visit from the nursery nurse, who ended up staying close to 2 hours while I talked about things completely unrelated to what she was visiting for.

Wednesday 14 Nov

A long walk over a very steep hill to deliver a book to a friend, then a mad rush around town to buy random things. Home to cook the mincemeat, and super messy lunch for S. Seriously, at the moment she’s going through 3 outfits a day.

Thursday 15 Nov

Quick trip to town in the morning to buy… I can’t remember what we bought. Main purpose for the trip was to get S to have a nap. Came home and made a vague attempt at tidying up the house in preparation from visitors. Lovely visit from a friend whose daughter is 3 months older than S; it’s like a taster session for what I have coming soon. Must baby-proof the flat ASAP.

Friday 16 Nov

Morning spent doing such fun stuff as washing and tidying. Little sis came over and painted my Christmas decorations, which was a bit awesome. Then went to cash & carry with a friend to get supplies. More fun than it sounds!

Saturday 17 Nov

Out for a walk with my sis A in the morning, then home. Had big plans to do all sorts, which I scrapped when I realised we were both knackered. Shared a long nap, then made a big old mess with some jelly. Bath and then bed for S, baking for me.

We love books!!

Considering she is only 6 months old and cannot read, S owns a lot of books. Perhaps even too many books, some (illiterate idiots) might say. We also borrow library books on a regular basis.

At the moment she has three cloth books and three board books on her play mats, and we have three library books as well, having recently returned a book we loved so much we kept it for two months!

My favourite book at the moment is called Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus. It’s fairly simple, as you can imagine: the bus driver tells you, “I have to go over there, please can you keep an eye on my bus and don’t let the pigeon drive it…” and then the pigeon spends the whole book trying to persuade you to let him drive the bus. As with all the best children’s books, it’s a completely ridiculous premise that works precisely because it’s so ridiculous. The pigeon tries bargaining, bribing, pleading and trickery to get you to let him drive the bus. At the moment, S is too young to do much other than listen to the words and look at the pictures of the pigeon looking sad, but I can imagine in a year or so it will be one of those books she will get endless enjoyment from, shouting at the pigeon that it can’t drive the bus!

The book we borrowed from the library for a good two-month chunk is possibly the most simple, straightforward book I’ve ever come across: Orange Pear Apple Bear. I used to read it to my ex’s four year old, and never understood why she loved it so much. S also seems completely mesmerised. There are five words in the entire book, repeated in different order. I know children love repetition, but I didn’t realise something so simple could be so enjoyable. An orange, a pear, an apple, a bear. An orange pear. A bear that looks like an apple. And so it goes on, and S sits and watches the pictures go by.

Another library book we kept a little too long was Peace At Last. I chose it mainly for sentimental reasons: I can remember reading this book when I was at school. S seemed to enjoy it though, I think because of the repetition. Mr Bear can’t sleep, and goes from room to room in his search for peace, always ending up saying “Oh no! I can’t stand THIS!” There are lots of opportunities for making silly sounds: Mrs Bear’s snoring, Baby Bear’s aeroplanes, the fridge, the cats outside, the cuckoo clock, and the illustrations are traditional and quite beautiful.

I bought a copy of Yak Yuk on a whim in Waterstones the other day, and immediately fell in love with it. It’s a board book, so I know I can give it to S to play with and look at the pictures without having to worry about parts of it getting torn out (library books are a worry on that front!), and there are very few words – typically two to a page. The story is basically about a yak and his friend, who is a duck and likes to jump in muddy puddles. The pictures are bright and colourful and because the words are so simple you can make the story as complex or straightforward as you like. And then S can sit and use it to practise turning pages and look at the pictures for herself.

When I bought Yak Yuk, I also bought a board book of Each Peach Pear Plum. This was another one I used to read as a child: the original Where’s Wally book. You start off looking for Tom Thumb, and then on the next page a short rhyme tells you who you’re looking for next. At the moment S is not really old enough to do that side of it, but she enjoys looking at the pictures and listening to the rhymes. I’ve always loved the Ahlberg books; the stories are enjoyable and the illustrations adorable and instantly recognisable. It’s hard to believe Each Peach Pear Plum is now 34 years old!

One of my favourite books of all time is a children’s book I owned long before I was even pregnant. I have loved Where The Wild Things Are since I was very young, and always enjoy reading the book. Spike Jonze recently made the book into a movie which, while definitely staying true to the look of Maurice Sendak’s original illustrations, was nowhere near as amazing as the book! It’s about a little boy who is naughty and sent to his room, from where he sails off to a far away land where the wild things are. At the moment I don’t think S is really old enough to understand it, and the pictures are a little dark for her right now, but I can’t wait until she’s old enough to read along with me.

Last, but most definitely not least, is another book that will have to wait until S is a little older. I borrowed Don’t Put Your Finger In The Jelly, Nelly from the library when I was still with S’s father, and would read it to his two youngest children. They loved it and quickly learned the words by heart, shouting them out as I turned the page. In the end I bought them their own copy for Christmas, and would often overhear them reading it to each other – a sure sign of a hit. In my experience any book which allows the reader to interact, with flaps to lift or holes to poke, is a winner with young children, and this book comes out on top of that pile. The first part has a big picture of a jelly and tells you not to put your finger in it. There is of course a hole for you to poke your finger through, and when you turn the page your finger is waggling next to the jellyphant, who is upset. The book goes on like this: don’t put your finger in the cheese Louise, pasta Jocasta etc, until the last one – which I won’t tell you, because I don’t want to spoil the ending for you.

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