Miss Independent

Now that Baby E.M isn't really a baby anymore but actually a toddler, she's beginning to show a lot more independence. Even if she can't work something out, or lacks the skill to perform a task she'll still try.

And generally she doesn't give up.

That is, of course unless she knows how to ask me for help!

She has baby signs for Open, More, Drink, Food, Down and Finished.

For example, when she wants something opened, whether it's a door or a toy, she'll say "Mummy, dat dat!" (knocking motion with both hands).

And that's how we communicate now.

I began to teach her baby signs since I sometimes find it hard to understand her myself, and we have to go through a whole process of elimination to find out "What baby wants?"

Well...

This post was supposed to be Saturday In Pictures, but ironically i'm having trouble uploading the pictures due to an 'internal error'. Whatever that means.

Tis a shame but i'll see if I can get it to work later on this week! :)

When Is Enough....Enough?

Today we spent just over £60 on clothes and shoes for the girls.

Ok, i've said 'we'..... I mean 'I'.

If it were up to Daddy, it wouldn't be this much.

He says "They don't need new clothes..."

But he doesn't understand.

Girls need to be fashionable... and accessorized.

Taking Photos Of Your Little'Uns

Have you ever rooted around in the photo box trying to find some 'good shots' of your children?

Only to find you have lots of duplicates of the same pose but none that actually capture the real spirit of your little one?

If you have you'll know how frustrating it can be to just not have the 'perfect' picture. Ok, ok, so i'm not claiming to be a top photographer here, but here's a few tips on taking some really good shots.

I take photos more-or-less everyday and this works for me.

• Make sure you're in good light. I know you've probably heard this hundreds of times, but it's true.

• Get down to your childs level and see the world from their point of view. This may mean getting down on your knees or even laying front-first on the carpet.

• Don't call your child to get him/her to look at the camera. Constantly calling their name just confuses them, remember they don't understand the importance in what you're trying to do!

• Take multiple shots, even if they don't seem to be going the way you want, review them later, you'd be surprised how much better photos look when they're blown up on the computer screen.

This Was The Scene At Our House Tonight...

Shocking isn't it.

"How could you neglect your motherly duty of cooking a nice wholesome dinner for your daughters?!" I hear you cry.

One word: Migraine.

Now, I don't get headaches as often as other people. In fact, I barely get them at all. But this morning I had so much pounding pressure on my head I felt like crawling into a dark cupboard and staying there all day.

Alas, this was just not possible, so I went about the day as usual and by 4pm it was so bad there was no way I was going to cook dinner. So I paid for it instead.

And hey, don't think it was easy! I actually had a difficult time reading the menu and ordering online...*light too bright* >.<

What a horrible muggy day...

It's totally grey outside, not summery at all, i've got the heating on and am seriously considering a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows.

Even J.R got out of bed and said "Mummy, it's rainy and cloudy and chilly!" (You have to imagine this accompanied by shivering actions)

Good old blighty, I knew the weather wouldn't let me down.

More indoor play again today then.

And i'm beginning to wish J.R hadn't peed in her welly boots last week, then at least we could go out even if it did rain.

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

Actions speak louder than words. And this week and it's Daddy's turn, in Tuesday's Fly On The Wall...

J.R eating her dinner, knocks her cup and spills her entire drink.

The water works it's way quickly to the two £20 notes sitting in the middle of the table.

Mummy (snatching her money from water) "Nooo!"

Daddy "I'll get it!"

Daddy reaches over and starts frantically dabbing at the water.

Mummy "Are you using a wet wipe to mop up water?"

Daddy (slightly embarassed) "It was there at the time...."

He has successfully spread an even layer of water across the table top.

Mummy cleverly puts the bank notes on top of the radiator to dry out.

Less than a minute later, Daddy walks past and knocks them onto the floor, he tuts....

And throws them back onto the table. The wet table.

Making The Most Of The Weather...

We've found ourselves in the back garden this afternoon.

The weather is fine even though the sky is constantly switching from clear to overcast and back again.

J.R is counting snails. And seems rather concerned about the large one trailing it's way slowly along the fence...

So concerned in fact, that it was the first thing she said to Daddy when he got in from work. Not "Hello" but "Daddy, Daddy is a snail, go see! Is a big snail, is yucky!"

Standing at the kitchen sink I can see the neighbours children from the house opposite ours.

I'm watching in disbelief as they climb the garden walls and sit on their shed roof. They lay about doing nothing, and clamber all over the roof-top as if it were normal. Even perching on the edge of the roof to chat to their brothers and sisters from their bedroom windows.

And they've been doing this for as long as I can remember.

I can't believe how irresponsible those people are, letting their children treat the shed and walls as a climbing frame...

One day, one of those kids will fall and break something.

Then their mother will rush them into hospital and scream insults at the staff 'cos they're not moving fast enough, and her "poor little angel" is in pain.

I hate people like that.

Ok, i'm done.

Here's One For You...

What's more disgusting than a baby sneezing whilst eating orange jelly?

Her trying to pick it out of the carpet afterwards! Ewww!!

Real Ice Cream!

On our way to the shops today we had a rare encounter with an ice cream van... (the street we live on is in a walkway, so not being able to see the road from our front door, ice cream vans are very much a heard-but-not-seen thing!)

They stopped ahead of us in a parking space and I just had to get one for J.R. Glowing with pride I snapped her photo on my mobile so that we could show Daddy when he got home. So here she is enjoying her first ever "real ice cream".

Get Busy This Bank Holiday...

You and I both know that bank holiday weather hardly ever turns out great, so here's a few ideas for things to do indoors if the rain does start to fall...

• Hide & Seek: Don't be afraid to turn the living room into a playground! Remember it's only for an hour or two and the kids love it. Stack cushions and drape sheets to create places to hide.

• Chase-a-light: Draw the curtains and get your child to chase the light from a torch. Stop moving it once in a while so they think they can catch it. Shine it on various objects in the room and ask them to name what they see.

• Fun With Paper: Bring out the craft paper, or some old newspaper if you don't have enough. Tear, cut, curl and scrunch paper to your hearts content. My E.D loves this and will happily sit at the table cutting paper with her toddler scissors for hours!

• Kids In The Kitchen: Children love to help out in the kitchen 'cos it makes them feel involved. Ask them to help you prepare the ingredients for a cake or even something simpler like putting a salad together.

• Wacky Workout: Great for getting rid of energy! Ask your child to copy your movements as you put your hands on your head, touch the floor, shake your hands, or sweep your arms over your head. Then let her lead you through her own series of "exercises."

Just Had To Post This!

Daddy has just bluetoothed this to my phone. Looks like Baby E.M! But it's Miss J.R when she was around 6 months old in summer 2006. Stylin' and profilin'!

Eat Your Greens!

Did you know:

96% of our children don't get enough fruit and veg?

Which is disappointing considering there's sooo much to choose from. But if the kids are really not convinced, here's some tips on smuggling some of the good stuff into their meals.

• Try adding finely chopped carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, onions or mushrooms into a spaghetti bolognese sauce.

• Make smoothies. You can use several different fruits in one recipe - so experiment!

• Milkshakes go down well too, simply mash up some ripe bananas/strawberries, pop in a blender, add ice cubes and milk and blend until smooth.

• Mash sweet potatoes, swede, parsnip or carrots into mashed potato.

• And my personal favourite: Make home made pizzas with lots of veg toppings. Sweetcorn, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and onions all work well!

Breakfast & Baby

This morning the girls had cereal and some fresh fruit salad for breakfast.

J.R sat quietly at the table quickly shovelling her cereal. But Baby E.M wouldn't eat at the table. She wouldn't eat sitting on the sofa either. Or the floor. In fact, she would ONLY eat her cereal standing behind the tv....

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

When I opened the gate on the girls' room this morning...

J.R "Oh Mummy, Mummy sweetheart! Happy birthday!"

(I'm guessing she was happy to see me?)

Miss J.R is ill :(

She has a cough. One of those horrible chesty ones which sounds like she's trying to bring up phlegm. Add to that a blocked nose and a temperature which gets worse at night.

Poor mite. We're putting vapour-rub under her nose and giving her Tixylix chesty cough medicine for children.

And i've read that the best thing to do for a chesty cough is to stay warm and keep the room ventilated but not cold or draughty. She's been coughing since saturday, poor thing had such trouble sleeping that eventually we brought her downstairs to watch the Eurovision with us! But today it seems to be at it's peak, so hopefully she wont be ill for much longer.

"Mauk" As In "Milk"

Today Baby E.M asked me for a drink of milk.

And although what she said was "Mauk", I knew exactly what she meant. And it was wonderful. You should've seen her face when she realised I understood what she meant.

According to various sources, at 18months old a toddler should be able to say nouns, names of special people (ie. family members) and a few action words. And on the other hand, be able to understand and carry out simple commands, consisting of 2 tasks. e.g "Go to the kitchen and get your juice."

I'm impressed, Baby E.M seems to be right on target at this point - she's now 20 months old. But I do believe that the more you talk to your baby, properly that is... None of this "coochie coochie coo, gaga boo" nonsense! Then the earlier your baby will start to show signs of understanding and attempt to express themselves vocally too.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

The rain is thrashing down today, it's so depressing. So i've rolled out the lining paper and thrown some crayons down...and it seems to have done the job so far. The girls are quiet and to be honest they haven't really moved. Baby E.M has found a cosy spot on the floor and is watching tv from there. Well, works for her! Plus it gives me some peace and quiet, since the roll is long enough for each girl to have a huge space to herself, there's no screaming and fighting over who's in whose territory.

More Painting

Done some more painting in the girls' bedroom today, it's going surprisingly well :)

Daddy was in charge of the school run again, which obviously gave me more time. I'm feeling a lot better today, more myself shall we say.

Here's a little preview of the new room, a lovely clear sky blue.

I know most little girls given the choice will steer straight towards pink, but I didn't want to do that. Instead i'm putting together a mix of light blue, pink, white and red. So it's girly yeah, but not a great big chunk of nauseating pinkness.

Day 4. It's almost 11am, I haven't eaten yet and i'm feeling tired but better in myself. If you don't know what i'm talking about then you need to read yesterday's post! :D

Important: Some Real Effects Of Red Bull Stimulation Drink

It's Day 3 of the Red Bull trials and I have to say "Eugh."

No really. Let me explain.

It's had a positively BAD effect on both my mood and my sleep.

I'm averaging 4 cans a day, the first sign of addiction. Not good. Plus I read in a certain paper that it can cause high blood pressure and palpitations! That's quite scary. Especially when you look at the number of school kids downing them to and from school like cola, thinking they look big. To be honest, it does work, I do feel very awake. But that's part of the problem, i'm fine mostly but then twice or three times a day i've panicked. About something, anything. Whatever it is i'm doing at the time, and I go from nought to angry in like 10 seconds. Generally it lasts about 5-10 minutes max. But it's really strange.

And the sleep? What sleep?

It's been taking me hours to get to sleep, and my mind racing doesn't help. When i've gotten past that I start tossing and turning and can't get comfortable, for ages!

I'm gonna go cold turkey on these evil drinks and see what happens.

Tuesday's Fly On The Wall

It's 7pm, bedtime is nigh.

Daddy (to J.R) "Look at the clock, what time is it?"

J.R "Is twenty fourteen."

Daddy "Twenty fourteen is bedtime...."

J.R "No, is not twenty fourteen! Is twenty...one, two ones...."

Ok

I'm still knackered, I ain't gonna lie.

I can't post anything for having to sit at the computer for too long thinking and then suddenly...drifting..mmm, sleep.

I hate it. Have bought 2 packs of Red Bull to compensate.

I'm sorry :(

But will be back on the bandwagon soon.

Just A Quick Note...

I've been absolutely shattered the last couple of days.

I go to bed at a reasonable time...10-ish...only to find insomnia kicks in until somewhere around midnight!

Then add to that Baby E.M point blank refuses to sleep, standing in her cot shouting, waking up her sister instead. Then she has the nerve, the nerve to wake up before 7am!! Tired I am. Really really tired.

Today I had the pleasure of starting to decorate the girls' bedroom, since Daddy doesn't work fridays he took J.R to school for me.

I managed to get one wall completely (and thoroughly) done. Finito.

I have to say i'm quite proud of that :)

It's amazing how much better you feel after little more than two hours completely to yourself.

As opposed to no time on your own, ever. J.R started going to pre school more-or-less full time on the 24th april, and though it was nice to have a more stable routine, it didn't grant me any real 'me time', since I still had to look after Baby E.M anyway...

But now the manager there has even started talking about when 'little-un' is going to join them!

Can't wait.

Why!?

J.R's behaviour continues to come across as angry, it's frustrating to say the least!

She's even started growling(?) at her sister.

And to make my day even better, i've returned from the local shops to find that they've shut down the Paypoint where I pay most of my bills AND the only two ATM's in my area.

Note To Self: Must beat addiction to buying more - and more fashionable - clothes for my girls than myself! Sadly enough, I don't think i'll be able to stop anytime soon since summer is round the corner. *sighs* I love this store :)

Suppressed Anger And The "Terrible Two's" Kicks In.

J.R has been acting quite out of character today, but only since she got in from school.

At first I thought it was just me, she's been shouting and ranting constantly and being very rude to me. At first I thought it was just me, until I came downstairs to find her casually tearing her school book apart page by page. Hmm...

I'll ask the school tomorrow if anything went on today, 'cos it's almost as if she's angry about something. God knows what.

Also...Following the dreaded 3 year check on the 30th April - which I never got to post - i've been informed that Baby E.M is in her terrible two's (having sat and moaned at two H.V's for a good 10 minutes relaying all her recent bad behaviour and general dislike for the rules).

Great. That's just what I need.

No internet service for exactly 7 days, again courtesy of Virgin media and a huge difference of £1.02.

If they owed me that money, i'd have to wait a whole month to get it back, and even then i'd get it as "credit". Cheeky b******s.