Bike Lights in the Fruit Bowl

Simple pleasures

Today was a good day. And yesterday was a great day. Both packed full of simple pleasures, mini-milestones, and lots of smiles.

Little M’s adventures with her new bike have made me smile most.  Yesterday she got the whole cycling thing.  We got her a bike a month or two ago after much deliberating about the whole balance bike vs sparkly bike with stabilisers thing.  I know in theory kids learn faster by starting of on balance bikes but Little M was so insistent on a ‘proper’ bike and our flat so lacking in storage that we went for the not-very-sparkly-lightweight-one-with-stabilisers compromise that should last her a while. For a few reasons we hadn’t really got going with the bike much, I was starting to wonder if we'd made the wrong call.   We made cautious practice trips last week with little M concentrating very hard on pedaling and steering, and me hovering very close by to head off any rogue maneuvers. 

Then yesterday something changed as she was pedaling along on our way to the mini-plot.  She was singing a song, no longer having to think carefully about pushing each pedal down and nimbly steering her way past the lumps and bumps on the path in the park.  Suddenly I had to jog to keep up and neither of us could keep a smile off our faces!  Fellow cyclists rang their bells at her and she smiled back - she was one of them now!  We had a proper day out and about, post office, shop, mini-plot, and playground with little M cycling all the way. Very exciting! A cycling nursery run is definitely not far off.

We also shared a first - eating home grown carrots fresh from the ground (well, after we gave them a good wash at the stand-pipe).  Little M led the way...after she'd finished off the tiny strawberry harvest.  I can't believe I've never done this before!  Little L, back to form after a horrible bug, wanted to join in, of course, but her teeth weren't really up to it yet.  I know people talk about how childrens' attitudes to food are changed by getting involved in food growing but I've often though that, once they've tasted marshmallows, kids will love getting messy but don't necessarilly get particularly excited by eating the veg.  Little M loves sweets.  And yet she declared the carrots were her favourite thing that day, pipping the strawberries and the rare sweets she'd persuaded me to include in our picnic to the post!  I may have to rethink my skepticism about the benefits of growing our own!

We had another lovely day today, trying out a new art class with friends where little M wrote 'mum' for the first time - she made a set of luggage tags for our upcoming holidays.  She also made a very sensible guess at how to spell her sister's name for her tag. She didn't use all the right letters, but it was phonetically correct - a very proud moment.  Both girls played nicely with other children at a friend's house.  And I got to have a nice chat and a cuppa (not to mention a lovely impromptu lunch). Simple pleasures.

I suspect there are one million and one tasks I was supposed to be doing along-side the art classes, carrot eating and cycle rides. Little L had been ill, I'd been away with work and then off work looking after her.  Probably a good thing I'd accidentally left my mobile at home!

It's good to go with flow sometimes, to slow down and stop worrying about the things you forgot to do and appreciate life's simple pleasures.  I might have been incapable of even writing my "to do list" over the last few days, let alone doing it (falling asleep while trying to read bedtime stories probably tells you enough), but the things we've done should definitely have been on the list.  And probably all the better for the lack of the rest of the "to do list"!

Thank goodness the breakfast was good!

I had a plan yesterday.  We started the weekend with few plans so I'd booked myself a haircut after putting it off for months. I was last minute as ever so could only get a slightly inconvenient 1pm appointment.  I also felt compelled not to waste the opportunity for a bike ride created by the good weather.  I wasn't feeling prepared for a whole day's cycle - no pre-planned route up my sleeve - or inclined to put off the haircut any longer.  I thought, with my cunning plan, that we could get the best of both worlds.

Set out earlyish, cycle to a park a few miles away, and try out a new breakfast spot.  I'd heard good things about the breakfasts in Victoria Park and Springfield Park - both only a few miles away. After some playground fun with the girls we'd then meander back in time for my haircut.  Or I'd head back alone if the others were having so much fun they couldn't tear themselves away.  And that would leave a good chunk of afternoon to play with - pottering with the girls, perhaps a spot of DIY, finish cutting the hedge.  A dose of suburban Sundayness tempered by a mini-adventure in the morning.

It became apparent early in the bike ride that we'd had one of those mouth-disconnected-from-memory-whilst-playing-computer-game type conversations on Saturday night.  The finer points of my plan, which I'm sure had been called "a great idea", clearly hadn't sunk in.  Our exit from the house was a little bumpy, it was later than planned and there was much pedal-dragging when we finally set off.

We cycled in stoney silence for a mile or so until we both saw our exit plan at the same time - The Russet cafe.  There are few places I'd rather be if I have to admit defeat on a bike ride.  And technically, as we'd never eaten breakfast here, and it's next to a park, we were still with the plan!  

We both agreed it was one of the best breakfasts we've ever had - my 'Veggie Pippin' tasted much better than it looks in the picture below!  Our waitress was so lovely too. She negotiated a lack of jam situation with little L (to go with her wholesome looking banana pancakes) with incredible skill!  The place is really well set up for kids.  They have a slightly separate area with sofas and a really good stash of toys, colouring stuff, tiny chairs and proper high chairs, a kids menu of similar food to the main menu and a few trusty packets of squeezy, organic fruit if it's one of those days!

After a few more miles pedalling and a bit more wind through our hair the breakfast might have tasted even better.  Perhaps we'll pop-in on the way back from a morning ride sometime. 

So the breakfast was a resounding success, the playground action was OK, I did manage to get a haircut, and we fitted in a good bit of pottering.  And the bike ride?  I'll mark that one down as recognaissance for the local child-friendly cafes and parks cycling route I have forming in my head.

I have fallen in love with this great Hackney Cafe Crawl poster that was on sale at the Russet - as soon as I can figure out where to put it I'll be nipping back on my bike to get one...and I might just find room for another breakfast too.

 

Feeling lighter on our feet (and wheels)

Spring is in the air, little M has a spring in her step and we've got new wheels.  Suddenly, getting out and about with the family seems a whole lot easier.  It feels like the city is our oyster and bigger adventures are around the corner.  

Me and the girls had a great trip to the Natural History Museum on Friday to see the obligatory dinosaurs and catch the amazing Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition before it finished.  With just a sling for little L and a small bag of essentials we hopped on the bus, skipped down to the tube and whizzed across town in what seemed like a strangley simple journey.  It's the first time I've braved a day trip into town with two children and no wheels!  Little M - who is almost 3 and a half - has always been reluctant to walk far unless there's something really exciting happening to keep her interest.  And even then she's prone to stopping and moaning that she's tired.  The stalemate that is a small person refusing to walk but unwilling to be carried can be funny...but mostly it's not so we've rarely gone far without our trusty buggy and buggy board-seat combo.  Until the last few weeks!

I had tried a few tactics to get little M walking more.  Like occasionally "forgetting" to take the buggy board-seat when I collected her from nursery.  A cunning ploy that did backfire spectacularly on the odd occasion - it once took me 45 minutes to cajol and carry her (kicking and screaming) the 10 minute walk home.  I  also suggested walking to nursery on mornings when the mood was good hoping that fresh legs would increase our odds of a stress-free journey (that and bribery).  And we did a few times.  We even popped to a playground on the way there one sunny morning.  And did an impromptu alphabet scavenger hunt another.  But leaving the house without wheels for little M still mostly felt like a big gamble.  Then this week, sensing she was on good form and full of energy, I didn't ask whether she wanted to walk.  I just put the buggy board-seat away.  I didn't mention it.  And we left without it for nursery everyday.  Not a stale-mate in sight!  And even more amazingly, when I pushed my luck with our museum trip, we made it all the way to the museum, around it, and home with only one or two minor wobbles.  Woohoo!

It feels so good to finally be able to go out walking with little M by my side. On Sunday she came trotting along to the local park, sneakily grabbing a handful of rosemary from a neighbour's garden and sprinkling it as fairy dust all the way to the park. "Is this a daffodil" she kept asking, helpfully spotting signs of spring to make me feel even more happy that winter seems to be finally waning.  And little L is enjoying being snug in her new sling and part of the action.  She looks out the bus window with amazement and does a cute little wriggle-jig to show how pleased she is with her new improved view - much better than being stuck in the pushchair looking at the backs of people's legs.

I'd like to think it was my cunning tactics that made the difference to get little M walking. Actually, she's growing, she's getting bigger and stronger and she's in better health than she has been for ages.  Looking back, I think we perhaps underestimated how much impact repeated bouts of wheezing illness, since just before little L was born, had on her energy levels.  I had often been too tired to relish the prospect of carrying little L in a sling too.  Fingers crossed things will keep looking rosy.  

Our other good news is that we got a bike trailer that can carry both girls this week.  Getting set up for our first trip with it was a bit of a faff and, unless it gets a lots quicker to set up, it's probably not going to be the nursery run solution we need.  I'm really excited about the prospect of peddaling around the backstreets and parks of London this summer with the girls and a picnic towing behind me.  I've already discovered a new partly off-road cycle route. 

And little L is becoming a bit more independent.  It seems like a small thing, but being more confident in leaving her with Martin, has made it possible to have some rare one on one time with little M.  The two of us nipped up to the indoor adventure playground and to check the state of our slightly neglected mini-allotment on Sunday morning.  We went by bike, with our trusty old bike seat (not the new trailer) that has barely been used since little L arrived on the scene.  Wow!  I'd forgotten how quick that journey can be when you're not pushing two children up hill!  Perhaps the veggies will get a bit more attention this year.

This week it feels like lots of options have opened up.  There will always be some faffing, and some paraphernalia that goes with little children.  But I feel like we've taken a step forwards and am hoping we'll keep a spring our steps right through the summer and beyond.  

Alphabet scavenger hunt

I was feeling pretty chipper one day last week, despite it being the start of a five day stint without Martin.  Inspired by this lovely scavengar hunt on Sleep is for the Weak blog, I decided me and the girls would have our own mini-local adventure.  I wasn't organised enough to prepare it the night before, and somehow in the morning it morphed into an alphabet scavenger hunt, probably because little M was watching the Alphablocks on TV whilst I was trying simultaneously to get my act together and interest her in the day's activities.  Between us we accidentally concocted a fun and educational activity to do in the fresh air!

Here's how to do it:

1. Hastily scribble a few words in big letters on some pieces of paper, adding tick boxes underneath them.  We chose our names, including Rara,'s - little M's toy rabbit.

2. Stuff the pieces of paper somewhere you can easily grab them whilst you're out and about (or if you haven't rather foolishly decluttered your old clip-board which you haven't used for 10 years two weeks earlier, you could use a clip-board).

3. Ramble around your local area spotting letters, taking pictures of them and ticking them off as you go.  (Occasionally pointing to one at the end of the street so you don't spend 20 minutes looking at car number plates within 50 meters of your house!)

4. Stop for a wiggle-wiggle-woo dance

5. Do some more letter spotting, picture taking and ticking off until you've bagged almost all your letters.  Then the grown up needs to do the last few as the 3 year old makes a bee-line for the park.

6. Download your pictures onto your computer and create some personalised street art for your children (OK, so we haven't actually done this bit.  To be honest, my pictures aren't up to that much - as you can see - but we did spend a fun few minutes flicking through them on the computer together).

Little M is only just three so hasn't got her alphabet down quite yet - although she's very keen - but we had a great time.  I think this really helped her remember a few more letters, and recognise the ones she's really familiar with (like 'M') written in a range of different ways - not just Alphablock font.  It was actually quite hard to find lower case letters.  This helped little M start to learn a few capitals, which she's much less familiar with.

Number spotting is also good fun, and easy to do with no preparation.  Little M learnt her numbers mostly from car number plates after developing an unhealthy obsession with looking for the number 2 everywhere, which I put down to her falling in love with an "I am 2" T-shirt from a bag of hand-me-downs.

You never know, perhaps one night when you're stumbling back from the pub (remember those days?) you might indulge in a spot of rude word alphabet hunting! One day!

What's your favourite type of scavenger hunt?

Super-magic porridge {and other emergency meals}

It's definitely porridge time of year.  Little M will eat nothing else for breakfast right now (apart from borrowing whatever I'm having, tasting it, realising she doesn't have room for two breakfasts after all, and returning it - minus nibble marks).  And little L has recently started to join in our porridge habit. 

Porridge isn't something I ate as child.  In fact the first time I had it, I was 17 and flinging myself around the Derbyshire countryside trying to get selected for a gap year expedition.  Apparently, the organisers could tell whether we were suitable expedition fodder by seeing if we could survive the weekend by concocting something edible from a handful of root veg, a bag of oats and some sugar...cooked and eaten using an open fire and home-made utensils.  Amazingly this is where I learnt to love porridge!

Possibly because compared to root vegetables partially boiled in sugary water, the watery porridge tasted amazing!  The things you do in pursuit of life enhancing experiences! It's sometimes surprising where you develop your eating habits - I distinctly remember going home and making porridge for breakfast after this!

I make porridge much better than that now, you know, with milk and stuff! I've always found it difficult to resist adding extra stuff to porridge. Dried or fresh fruit usually. But 'super-magic' porridge - basically porridge with ground almonds and lots of fruit mixed in - was officially invented one cold, dark night when we arrived home very close to little M's bedtime having been (slightly) naughty parents rambling round London with her whilst she should have been tucking into her dinner. Snacks had, no doubt, been refused, and I've a feeling there was some sort of public transport kerfuffle.  Grumpy, tired little one = need for nutritious, quick supper that's a pretty safe bet...but just to be sure we felt it required a jazzy sales pitch too.  What child (who normally likes porridge admittedly) could resist 'super-magic' porridge.

It's a pretty flexible feast.  The best super-magic porridge was made when we had a frozen stash of blackberries from an afternoon's foraging with Martin's mum.  Grated ripe pear is pretty good second.  But the back of your cupboard or the bottom of your fruit bowl is your oyster really (aside from the bike lights that is).  There are some simple rules of thumb about when to put things into the mix for best results, but it's porridge, not rocket science.

1. Dried fruit is best put in during the cooking to get nice and soft
2. Frozen fruit, if quite small, can be put in after you've made the porridge.  It should be melted by the time the porridge is cool enough to eat and works a treat to speed up cooling time to minimise the tantrum window. Bigger frozen fruit - like supermarket blackberries - will need cooking a bit to defrost.
3. Fresh fruit can be put in whenever you like.  I like chunks of apple cooked but grated apple and pear is a speedy option if you don't want to spend time doing this.
4. The ground almonds can be stirred in at any point although I suspect they might maintain a bit more nutrition if they're not cooked. 

I'm not going to tell you how to make porridge as I'm by no means a connoisseur.  Sometimes I use a microwave, sometimes pan on the stove.  Sometimes I use all milk, sometimes part milk and part water, and sometimes I throw a bit of non-dairy milk, such as rice milk, into the mix. 

We've actually resorted to super-magic porridge for breakfast a bit recently as none of us are feeling on top form.  A few extra vitamins definitely won't go amiss.  I would never dream of calling it by its proper name though, except for in proper emergencies, otherwise the magic wears off.  I hope we'll have call to use it in proper circumstances, after an adventure that has skirted a little too close to bedtime, soon.  

Our other favourite emergency meals are meal-in-an-omelette and cheesy buns.  Both seriously in need of their own sales pitches, but tasty all the same.  

Meal-in-an-omelette is...you've guessed it!  Pretty much any left overs can be mixed with egg, and ideally a little cheese for extra flavour, and turned into a tasty meal.  This one has mostly been used when little M has ended up asleep at a meal-time and you know that there was a pretty slim chance she'd eat what you had cooked fresh, and not a chance it will get eaten as reheated left overs.  Christmas dinner when she was about 15 months was a classic example.  She missed the main event, but was very happy with her Christmas dinner omelette.  I have also discovered that, if you peel it, raw grated courgette cannot be detected in a cheese omelette by a toddler.

And cheesy buns?  Actually are vegetable and cheese muffins.  They're a great stand-by to have in, ready to take out for little one's lunches when you've got an unexpected social engagement (I wish!) or trip to the doctors (far too many of late) over lunchtime.   They're pretty nutritious and can't be smeared all over your chosen destination. Always a bonus!  You can take them straight from the freezer and they'll be defrosted by the time you get where you're going. One or two of these and a banana makes a pretty good lunch I reckon!

Here's the simple version of the recipe we use:

The dry stuff:  

•  250g self-raising flour
• 125g grated cheese (we use cheddar usually but I'm sure others would work fine)
• 140g grated veg - sweet potato and carrot is a good combo but loads of others work fine.
• Optional extras: salt, pepper and spice such as cumin (depending on what veg you're using)

The wet stuff: 

• 1 egg
• 185ml milk
• 110ml vegetable oil or 90g of melted butter

Mix all the dry stuff together.  Mix all the wet stuff together.  Mix the wet and the dry stuff together - not too much - it will be quite roughly textured.  Bake for 25 mins at 180 degrees / gas mark 4.  Makes about 16 muffins in fairy cake sized cases. Make sure you don't over cook them as they go a bit dry and crumbly.

So there you have it...what we eat when we're not sitting around pretending to be the family from the advert for a well known brand of gravy browning.

More fun please

I had planned to post an update on this month's packaging waste challenge. I promise to post on this soon, including my pizza adventures! But (as may be just a little bit evident from my last post) I've been finding life a bit tough recently.  And, as you might imagine, I've been struggling with the fun part of the double challenge I set myself when I started this blog.  I've been thinking about how I can change that, looking at missed opportunities to enjoy life and thinking about ways to eke out more me time - even some small moments - to keep me sane.  Our current night time habits (I'm averaging 4-5 hours of broken sleep a night and each week I spend several evenings resettling little L to sleep multiple times throughout the evening - not great) is just a phase (hopefully a shortlived one) but there are no doubt going to be other challenges ahead.  I desperately need to learn some new tricks!

We actually had a (mostly) lovely day today.  Martin had the day off work.  I got a very, very rare 5 hours unbroken sleep last night and a lie in until 8.30am - a treat indeed.  Perfectly poached eggs and a spot of folk music over breakfast cemented a good start to the day.  During the morning we made some progress piecing our flat back together after building work.  With all the obvious stuff already stashed I've been finding it tricky with a very foggy, sleep deprived brain to think through where to put things. I'm trying to avoid the situation we had before when, four years after we moved in, there were still things perched in temporary homes where we'd hurriedly put them before our flat warming party. But I also want everything unpacked and put away, like, yesterday. More sleep and an extra pair of hands helps! There's still plenty left to do but we'd done enough to assuage any guilt about taking a trip out.  We had a speedy lunch on the South Bank and visited the London Sealife Centre - a first for me despite 8 years in London.

We were having a lovely time until it became apparent that, unfortunately I had made the wrong call about little L's meal time, and I found myself stuck halfway through the turtle tunnel with a hungry baby.  I've never been in a museum or attraction with such a dearth of seating!  I hunted for ages for somewhere to stop and feed her until, feeling pretty flustered by this stage, I stumbled into the lobby near the shop - still no sign of a seat - visit over.  I was kicking myself. I eventually fed little L, squatting in the outside seating area of a popular fast food restaurant and then spent the next half hour killing time in the shop and showing little L, item by item, everything in my bag in a desperate attempt to keep her entertained.

Martin said later "there was a treasure chest you could have perched upon".  I had indeed been eyeing up many different perches, including a quiet patch on the floor, myself, but something held me back from perching.  I wasn't really in the mood for disapproving glances you tend to get from noisy-kerfuffle-with-baby-and-boob-in-slightly-inappropriate-public-place.   I now wish I'd been less sensitive.  It saddened me a bit at bedtime, talking to little M about the day when she said "were you there?".  It didn't take much prompting for her to remember that in fact I had been there for half of the aquarium.  But she'd accidently made a very good point - I wasn't really in on all the action!

So lesson one: always take a cup of milk out for little L in future. She's not mad keen on milk from cups or bottles but I reckon it would distract her enough to avoid having to bail out in of similar situations in future. She's getting increasingly hard to feed out and about anyway as she finds everything fascinating so keeps popping off the have a look!  And, lesson two: stop and think before bailing out of something fun - easy to say with hind-sight but I'll give it a shot!

I've also enjoyed finding moments to reconnect a bit with London this week, going (a little) beyond the usual well worn paths I tread, and feeling a little bit more of the city vibe that makes London what it is.  I deliberately went to a different charity shop this week with the latest batch of clutter so that I could drop in here on my way back and finally spend a gift voucher from last Christmas on non-maternity clothes.  I also walked along a new street - much quieter and prettier than my usual route - and sampled a new food from a Jamaican bakery nearby.  And on (yet another) charity shop run I took a few minutes to look around the shop and found myself a lovely new scarf. Tiny things but all made me feel more human.

The southbank trip felt like a reconnection too - something we've not done for ages.  It started me thinking about all the interesting places that little M would enjoy more now she's a tiny bit older, and that seem more doable now I'm getting more relaxed about going out with the two girls (although it's always more relaxing with Martin too). Markets, museums, just soaking up the atmosphere...we almost didn't go to the Sealife Centre today as  we were having great fun just rambling around the South Bank.  Lots out there for us to share!

So. I resolve to fight for my right to be included in the fun, no more bailing out.  I resolve to find tiny new experiences amongst the day-to-day routine - it's what London is all about! And I resolve to treat myself more.  Saying yes a bit more often is OK - lets face it, I'm never going to be the world's worst shop-a-holic!  And I resolve to remember what I - yes I - like doing and share some of those things with my family.  It's definitely my turn to go on the top deck of the bus next time!

 

La pajara pinta

I feel that slowly, slowly we're emerging from a hectic and chaotic summer.   This week I starting thinking about fun new activities to do with the girls and checking out the new schedules for the many, many classes for kids round here.  Yesterday we tried something new - La Pajara Pinta - a group where children learn Spanish by being exposed to the language through singing, dancing, games and more (an activity from the family club at GoFit Gym in Gillet Square, Dalston).   It grabbed my attention when a flier was pushed into my hand last week as something we might all enjoy.  

Little M is quite interested in languages - she loves The Lingo Show, makes up her own languages and takes great pleasure in learning a few words to say to family and friends who speak different languages.  I used to speak passable Spanish, learnt mainly when I went WWOOFing around southern spain in my mid 20s, but it's beyond rusty right now.  I hoped this class might gently awake a part of my brain that hasn't been used for a while and help me reconnect with some fond memories.

We all had a lovely time.  We were a tiny bit late because of last minute phone calls about flooring (the last major task of our refurb that needs sorting) but were immediately welcomed into the friendly group.  Everything was in Spanish, and quite a lot, but not all, of the other people were native Spanish speakers.  Maria, who lead the singing, was so expressive and lively that it didn't really matter that we didn't understand most of what was being said and sung - little M and little L both picked up on the happy vibe and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  The words for all the songs were projected onto the wall which I found really helpful - I could actually follow some of the songs and join in a bit.  The way the session was planned, the song choice and the activities with different birds and animals worked pretty well to keep the children involved and allow them to focus on a few repeated words that they might actually be able to take away with them.  Afterwards little L very conveniently fell asleep so little M and I treated ourselves to lunch in a cafe. A successful morning!

I think we all got a buzz out of doing something new.  Little L especially was pleased to be among people and have new entertainment as she's reached a stage where she easily gets bored.  Little M keeps asking me to sing the songs and gets very excited at the few lines I can remember - think we'll be going back to learn some more soon. 

It was great to do something that the girls enjoyed and that I got something out of for myself too, something aside from pleasure at seeing them happy.

 

Home away from home

It's fair to say we've had a pretty hectic August and early September travelling around the country to escape the building site that our home had become.  We have a flat with 5 rooms plus a bathroom.  This month, 3 of them have been rearranged including little M's bedroom and the kitchen.   It has been a big upheaval for all of us.  Little M - whose bedroom was first to be knocked down - takes most things in her stride. She's had loads of fun over the last month or so visiting people and places.  Underneath her calm confident exterior however there is a little confusion and anxiety that occasionally bubbles to the surface.  We've done our best to make her feel like she has a home away from home where ever we are, and to maintain some normality when we are in our flat but I've found it tricky to predict exactly how our almost 3 year old is going to react to various aspects of the disruption.  Here are a few of our experiences.

 

We left to go to the in-laws before little M's room was actually knocked down on the first day of the building work. When we briefly stopped back home the following Saturday to regroup before heading to my parents, little M seemed a tiny bit bemused but was pretty pleased with her makeshift 'bedroom' in our bedroom.  I'd put up one of her paintings on the wall in her part of the bedroom which all four of us would be sharing over the coming weeks and made sure her favourite bedding was on her bed - it seemed to do the trick and before there was much chance to dwell on it she was whisked of to visit more people.  Next time we came home she still seemed calm on the surface and the builders were impressed by how she seemed to be taking it in her stride and showing interest in what they were doing.  I thought all was fine. She was being a bit of a handful but that's nothing unusual.  I'm not quite sure what prompted me to press her for a reason why she was being so stubborn and contrary one day - perhaps there was something unfamiliar about her monkeying around, a bit different from usual - anyway, press her I did and suddenly she had a mini-meltdown and tearfully exclaimed "I want my bedroom back!".  I guess she is finding it a bit tougher than I had realised.

 

Aside from the chaos at home, we've also been away a lot and  sleeping in different places every few nights or for a week at the most.  Again, little M is generally happy with her lot - she particularly liked the first "medium sized cottage" we stayed at in Dorset - it had pink bedding, a big rambling garden complete with treehouse and was crammed full of random toys and curiosities.  She said at one point "can we stay here forever?".  It was on holiday that I realised that I  tend to play a bit fast and loose with the word 'home' though, and confuse her.  As adults we get used to interpreting what 'home' means in different circustances.  Little M hasn't mastered that art yet and has been easily thrown by a careless "let's go home now" as we piled into the car after a day out. London...the cottage...Grannie's house? She also occasionally forgets what the home set up is and starts checking small details.  She woke up after a long nap in the car one day on holiday and was clearly a bit rattled that I'd nipped go the shop. To cheer her up when I got back I told her about a few things I'd bought that I knew she was fond of, including pink smoothies, and promised she could have one when we got home as it would be a little while before dinner appeared.  She responded slightly tearfully "but where will I sit to have it?". Momentarily she had forgotten the 'home' set up and couldn't picture the situation she'd be in when she'd be drinking the promised smoothy.

 

On the penultimate night of our stay (at the place she wanted to stay at forever), little M was struggling to get to sleep with lots of thoughts going round in her head.  She let out big sob and said "I want to go home to London" followed by "I'm really worried about London".  She'd asked earlier "Where will the lounge be?" and had been muttering a bit about the fridge (which was in the corner of the lounge while the kitchen was ripped out). Poor thing was caught in-between a desire to go home and knowledge that home is not familiar either right now.  She didn't take much to calm down, we talked about the coming week, the next holiday cottage and the family wedding we would all be going to - even me and little L who had stayed away from another family wedding earlier in the summer because of chicken pox.  Soon she had a big smile from her and it wasn't long before she nodded off.

 

Things haven't gone too bad really, given the everything that's been happening.  Little M has now settled happily into her new bedroom (completely without furniture, decorations, carpet etc) and is patiently waiting for us to put "the pretty things" in it for her.  I really appreciate having a daughter who is not too easily rattled!  Little L , luckily, hasn't really appeared too bothered by the whole experience apart from being unsurprisingly hard to settle in a travel cot with a skimpy mattress at one cottage (soon remedied by adding the mattress from our travel cot that was fortunately, accidentally packed in the chaos of preparing for holidays).  The last few weeks have definitely been a reminder that it doesn't matter how much they like a new experience - kids can get upskittled by change.

 

Some stability and familiarity is important. But not necessarilly a lot - it doesn't take much to reassure them that every things fine. But it is worth paying attention to some small details that are important to them and sometimes spelling out the obvious - like what you meant that time you said "home"!

 

We often ponder going travelling with the girls before they go to school - or perhaps another time, if life doesn't pan out like that.  I shall try to remember our experiences this month and plan for little injections of familiarity to make sure the a life on the move doesn't become overwhelming.  In many ways a camper van or tent that you always call home may work well. Food for thought!

Visiting by train: how it went...

I'm on holidays now with my little family of four having survived - and actually mostly enjoyed - my various train travels alone with the girls to escape the building work currently tearing apart our flat. So how did the journeys go and what new things have I learnt about travelling with two small children?

I started off all my journeys on my local bus.  I don't live really near a tube but do have direct buses to lots of places, including all the train stations I'd be using during my travels.  Buses are usually a great way to travel with kids as you don't need to negotiation stairs and escalators with a pushchair (although this whizzy new app for tube travelling mums can help you avoid them).  I wasn't feeling quite so happy with the buses when I set off on my first journey to Berkshire.  I waited quite a while for a bus...which then refused to stop for me.  It didn't look full.  I was cursing under my breath as little M was already getting fidgety, asking to go to the shop across the road for something random and little L hadn't fed very well before we set off so I was keen to get onto the train as quickly as possible where it would be (relatively) more practical to feed her again.

Thankfully I didn't have long for another bus and luck seemed to be on my side from then on. I didn't get bumped off the bus for a wheelchair. Technically I should have had to get off, and I have no problem with the rule on London buses that wheelchairs get priority, but am not going to complain that on this occasion, for whatever reason the driver decided not to ask 6 people (us three and another similar family) to leave the bus!  I haven't been totally enamoured by the way corporate sponsorship of the Olympics has been handled but was happy to accept a free strawberry split icecream from a train company - a welcome diversion as we tried to kill 25 minutes in Waterloo station!  We had a 30 minute delay in Kings Cross when heading up north too.  A long time to spend with two small children in a busy train station.

I breathed a little sign of relief everytime we successfully boarded our trains. When my mind wandered to worst case scenarios I'd had visions of little M doing a runner whilst little L screamed and vomited just as we needed to board the train!  Nothing like this happened - although our train from Kings Cross turned up just in time to prevent things from properly unravelling.

The train journeys themselves were a bit of a mixed bag. Little L did scream a bit, I did get an odd strange look for feeding her whilst simultaneously trying to entertain and control little M, I did have to chase around after little M a bit - carefully balancing a desire for her to behave sensibly with not telling her 'no' so many times she got frustrated and had a tantrum. From my fellow passengers I had knowing sympathetic looks, slightly alarmed "how-long-will-that-baby-be-screaming-for" looks,  adoring "I-wish-they-were-my-granddaughters" looks, an odd "what-on-earth-were-you-thinking" look and plenty of slightly surprised "oh, hello, there appears to be a small person staring right at me / touching my knee / under my chair" looks! Both girls, luckilly are really sociable and seem capable of creating their own entertainment by making eyes at people until they chat or play baby games with them. One particular lady who had grandchildren of a similar age was an absolute star on our busy train journey back to London from York and had a knack of distracting little M just at the moment when meltdown threatened a number of times. 

So if you're thinking of travelling on trains with small children do have faith in the good humour and talents of your fellow passengers; do keep calm when things kick-off - which they will - and accept that you can only do your best to smooth the situation; do develop a bit of a thick skin - there will always be someone who disapproves; and do enjoy all the new things a toddler can spot on the way, unrestricted by being strapped into a car seat just below the sightline out of the window!  Little M once exclaimed "look, the sea is waving!"on the beautiful coastal train route to the South West. But be prepared for a fascination with train toilets by bringing plenty of anti-bacterial wipes!  

And do prepare.  Not being overloaded and making sure I had a few new treats and distractions to whip out at opportune moments definitely paid off.  And finally do accept help from people - let friends or family accompany you to the station, let them lend you things at your destination (car seats, travel cots, toys etc) so you can travel light and accept the (almost) universal kindness of strangers to negotiate awkward steps.

Beforehand, I felt like my travels in August were going to be a bit of a mission.   Looking back now the overriding memories are a feeling of achievement at having broken out of the small world that I'd started to feel a bit trapped in recently and lots of lovely memories of visiting friends and family that we don't see very often.  I travelled to escape the building work.  I shouldn't wait until I'm forced out of the flat to go travelling again! 

This month I'll mostly be...visiting by train

Each month I attempt a different challenge with a green theme. This month I have been travelling around by train with a toddler and a (nearly) 4 month old baby. I've been toing and froing between London, Berkshire, North Lincolnshire and York to escape from building work that is taking over three out of the five rooms in our flat! Martin, unfortunately, can't take all of August off work so I've been going alone with the kids on most journeys.

A car can seem like the obvious choice for travelling with young children given their legendary need for paraphenalia.  I've known people suddenly end a lifelong love affair with pubic transport the minute they hear the patter of tiny feet. We don't own a car but we do drive hire cars or car club ones occasionally because, well, sometimes the only other option is transforming yourself into a packhorse. I avoid driving a lot because of its environmental impacts but also because I find that plenty of journeys with young children make real sense on public transport - someone else drives while you entertain and feed the children for starters!

I've chosen the train for journeys this month because it's quicker, cheaper (compared to car club fees) and less hassle than driving out of London. That doesn't mean I wasn't a little bit nervous about how the journeys would pan out - little M reminds us she's still in her 'terrible twos' often enough and little L can be a milk munching machine and has definitely started teething - not a great recicpe for relaxing long journeys by whatever means!  

I've travelled a lot by train, including with little M in tow - I think our record was the 8 hour trip from London to Aviemore - so I knew it was worth being prepared to make for a pleasant journey.  My one top tip, given to me by a friend when little M first became our travelling companion, is to buy a family rail card so you can reserve seats for the whole family without being out of pocket.  Technically you don't have to buy tickets for children under five years old but if you want to reserve a seat you'll need to - the railcard discount usually makes the combined fare less that the non-discounted adult fare on its own. I tend to take a car seat on pushchair wheels when I'm visiting family as they all live a short drive from the nearest train station.  The car seat can wedge nicely in your reserved seat whilst the wheels get stashed in the luggage rack. I actually got ushered into the disabled spot by a kindly train conductor on our way up North this month as the train was quiet so didn't need to fold the pushchair or use my reserved seats.  Our train back to London from York was packed with people heading to the Olympics for the weekend so I was glad I booked ahead.

My other tip, something I've learnt the hard way, is that careful packing is essential. Pack light! Seems obvious, I know, but it pays to be realistic about what you can comfortably carry and handle if you need to fold your pushchair. Lots of small bags can be difficult to deal with. I invested in a  new 33 litre rucksack when I stopped cycling a few months before little L was born and found my laptop too awkward to carry in a satchel style bag. I love my new rucksack! I chose it with these type of trips in mind and I've impressed myself - it's brilliant. Never too heavy to be a big strain to carry but alway seems to have space to squeeze something else in!  I managed to get enough kit for about three days (you never need more than this if your destination has washing facilities) for the three of us in it - not bad going I thought.  

I also made sure I was self-sufficient for the journeys.  If you have time to a spot of retail therapy en route, fine, but don't rely on it. Make sure you have plenty of food and entertainment - hunger and boredom don't make for good train journeys!  I put my handbag full of plenty of snacks and entertainment, baby sling (essential kit for travelling!) and nappy changing gear in the bottom of the pushchair, ready to be fished out for use on the journey.

Here's a picture of me ready to set off on the longest journey - smiling but really quite stressed after both girls had last minute scream fits and a torrential downpour started just before we left the house!  To find out how our journeys went come back soon -  did I mention I've been travelling a lot this month (and away from the internet) so am posting our adventures from this month as quickly as I can!

 

Out and about with two

I spent the last weekend on my own with the girls, not a prospect I had relished. But, with a little forethought and by stepping outside my comfort zone it turned out pretty well, boosting my confidence in being out and about, alone with two small children. 

On Friday as I contemplated the weekend ahead I was feeling a bit dejected - very tired after a week of rougher than usual nights and significantly on the back foot as little M had been off nursery ill and the start of our rennovations meant our flat seemed even more chaotic than usual.  I remembered post on a friend's blog about solo-parenting weekends and the challenge I'd set myself - to enjoy myself and my family life a bit more and so decided to put myself decidedly back on the front foot.

I started with a bit of a blitz on Friday night - putting the house back together so I didn't start off the next day tripping over things and constantly saying "no"..."that's not for playing with"..."put that back please".   I set out some activities for little M in an attempt to divert her from her beloved television.   She'd watched quite a lot the preceeding week because she was ill and I found the thought of a weekend filled with television too pretty depressing.  Most importantly, I think, I made ready for a speedy exit in the morning - packed the pushchair with everything we needed including drink and snacks for myself (I sometimes find I have everything for every eventuality for the girls but not so much as a drink of water for myself). It's so easy for leaving the house to turn into a proper kerfuffle if you have to go hunting round for things.  And I made sure I stopped in time to have a relaxing bath - only my third this year and one of those was on midwife's orders to speed up little L's arrival (probably says a lot about how much I need to get a better at relaxing and enjoying myself).

I'm surprised to be writing that we actually had a good day on Saturday, packed with funs things and mini-adventures!  Part planning, part sunshine.

We made drop-scones for breakfast (little M cracks a mean egg!) and then dived into the activities. We took the more meandering route to the play area in the local park - I could feel myself relaxing in the lovely weather and actually enjoying the moment rather than stressing about when little L would wake up, whether little M would run off at an inconvenient moment etc.  We wandered past the stallholders from the Festival of Yoruba Arts setting up whilst great tunes wafted past.  After good dose of playground action we headed back home and made smiley egg faces for lunch (the one pictured is little M's Ben Elf) - a bit improvised but it successfully averted lunchtime stresses.

After an aborted attempt at sunglasses shopping for little M and I we headed back to the park - the festival was livening up.  Little M was getting her groove on and said the music made her wiggle - very refreshing given she more often than not turns the stereo off at home if you attempt the listen to anything other than her Rastamouse CD.  We had a lovely time. And then - shock horror - didn't scurry home.  We carried on to visit my mini-plot.  It was the first time I've braved going to tend my mini-plot with two children in tow.  Actually it was lovely - I'm not sure what I had been worried about.  Little M helped me water the veggies (the few that are left!) and then rambled around picking blackberries and gathering pebbles in flower pots whilst I fed little L.

Saturday was definitely the longest I've stayed out the house with two children and it felt like a significant milestone in increasing my confidence at being out and about.  I still get nervous that little L will need feeding out and about and that little M will decide to leggit whilst I'm sitting on some random bench with my boob out.  But I'm starting to resign myself to the fact that this happens and get better at managing it.

Sunday wasn't quite so much fun - a bit quieter after our busy Saturday and with a bit more grumpiness but on balance a pretty good (if tiring) weekend.  I'll be spending lots of time out and about with the girls over the next month as I escape the rennovations happening to our flat so the weekend's little confidence boost was very timely.

 

Mayhem of olympian proportions

I've had a chaotic few days surrounded by packing boxes and narrowly escaped what would have been a second trip to A&E this week. And I saw the olympic flame relay!

 

Little M had her first 'wheezy episode' shortly before little L was born and has been clocking up about one a month ever since.  Anyone whose children have a similar problem - I'm told it is quite common in toddlers - will know how scary and stressful it can be. Breathing is important stuff!  I got a sinking feeling when I heard little M's tell-tale cough starting whilst enjoying sitting out in a friend's garden on Thursday.  Despite dosing her up with her inhaler overnight little M had clearly gotten worse rather than better by morning and had to have a nebuliser at the GPs to help clear her chest.  I was actually really proud of little M.  The doctor almost didn't bother trying to get her to sit through the fifteen minutes it takes but, sit through it patiently she did and politely requested a butterfly sticker at the end.  We emerged into a torrential downpour.  Great.  Little M desperately wanted to go to 'Maddy's' cafe (aka That Place on the Corner).  I was wavering, not sure whether a bit of fun in the cafe or bouncing off the walls at home was the best plan until...little M has a huge coughing fit and threw up, in the street, in the pouring rain. We weren't having a great day!  So we settled for a quiet afternoon resting in front of the TV.  I was anything but settled.

I find it incredibly stressful judging when to manage things myself and when to put myself in the hands of the NHS professionals.  They give you guidelines but often it's often a tough one to call.  You don't want to overreact and take an unnecessary trip to A&E but neither do you want to underestimate how serious your child's condition is.  I had a very sleepless night on Friday feeding little L, administering little M's inhaler every 4 hours, counting breathing, taking temperatures, looking for warning signs that would indicate we needed to escalate things.

 

By lunchtime on Saturday we were starting to relax a bit about little M's condition and had turned the flat into a bomb site packing up boxes of our belongings ready for some building work we have starting in a few days. So we decided to pop little M in the pushchair so she didn't over-exert herself (usually she only has a buggy board) and head out for a spot of olympic fun.  Hackney One Festival Parade and the Olympic Torch relay were passing really near our house - once in a life time opportunity! The parade was great - little L determinedly slept through wave, after wave of shrill whistles and pounding drums and little M roused herself from her illness induced grump to get really quite excited about the amazing costumes.  An acquaintance we hadn't seen in ages was in the parade, did a double take and commented "Wow, look at you with your proper family"- I felt quite proud.  We did see the Olympic flame pass between two bearers (have to confess I'm not sure who) but both girls decided to have a screaming melt-down about 10 seconds before it arrived. Torch clocked...quick, let's get home! A moment to tell the grandkids about if you omit the screaming melt-down part! 

Little M has held her own through the weekend and is on the mend now.  I'm keeping everything crossed that she's well enough for nursery tomorrow - I really need to get on top of packing and sorting stuff before building work kicks off.  I can hear my Mum's words ringing in my ears "You're doing what?  With two small children!".

As we were packing a few things last night we came across an interiors book sub-titled 'creating beautiful interiors from the things you love' - bought on a whim for me by Martin at some point before we had children.  It's full of tempting colour palettes and strategically placed nic-nacs, lovingly collected by the author.  Martin and I both took one look at the book and our eyes connected.  One of us said "she hasn't got children has she" - not sure who said it but we were both thinking it!  I am excited about the changes ahead (more on that later) and having chance to gather a few new nic-nacs (mostly for storing clutter) but no, I will not be gathering myself a collection of antique scissors or filament light-bulbs to decorate our new look flat with!  Think this book will be included in my charity shop run tomorrow!