We go way back

LM & I were playing with Lego & I was telling him how I used to play with it when I was little.  He said "And did you say 'Why?' a lot when you were little too?  When you were talking to Daddy?"  It made me smile to think that to him Mummy & Daddy have always been together and whilst he's coming to understand that there was life before he was born, he hasn't quite got his head round how it all hangs together and who's related to whom.

LM has a new name for Daddy which is 'Smelly raspberry, blackberry pie' - no idea where he got it from but it's quite sweet if you don't count the 'smelly' bit.

We are pretty much ready for Christmas and LM is very excited ("only 2 more bedtimes!").  Here's hoping that a usually fairly decent hour riser will stick to it & not get up at the crack of dawn (although I'm quite sure Father Christmas hasn't got anything noisy for the stocking).

Happy Christmas

Question Time

LM, like all children his age, asks a lot of questions but I was a bit perturbed by today's "What do you see if you chop a seagull up?"  My bumbled answer of "well, blood & muscles and stuff"  led to more questions on why do seagulls eat blood and whether we eat blood and why.  Where is this coming from?
Maybe I should get him to send his question to Nina & the Neurones on Cbeebies.  I'd like to see her remain so cheerful answering that one.

One festivity over...another begins

Well the 4th birthday celebrations are over & I can start thinking about Christmas.  LM's Pirate & Mermaid party (he shared with a girl from pre-school) went well.  The entertainer, Elfic the Juggler, went down a storm (unfortunately I can't take the credit for booking him) & was vaguely reminiscent vocally of Mr Maker, which may explain his success with a bunch of 3 & 4 yr olds who I was sure would run riot whilst the poor man tried his best to carry on with the show, but who were instead transfixed & in fits of giggles.  If you ask LM what the best bit of the show was, he will tell you it was Elfic dropping things & standing on the horn.  Slapstick rules!

My cheeky little pirate

And now we are in full preparation mode for the pre-school Nativity where LM has finally accepted that he is not a train (maybe next time the school could do Polar Express?) and has helped choose an outfit & make the crown & gift (cue much glitter everywhere).  He seems to think he has no singing to do, or at least refuses to practice, but we shall see next week if he is going to get into the spirit of the thing or repeat Easter's non-performance.
That's if I see any of it through the tears of a proud mum.

Almost 4

LM will be 4 next week.  I can hardly believe it.  He is turning out to be a lovely, happy (mostly) little boy with a real enthusiasm for life (some things he is enthusiastic about are, admittedly, slightly odd.  For example, when reminded earlier this week that he had a check-up at the dentist's today he said "Fantastic! Can we go now?")
To capitalise on all this eagerness (before the apathy sets in & it will be a chore just to get him out of bed) I signed up to a free trial on Reading Eggs - a website designed to help 3 yrs & up learn to read.  LM  loves it (to the point that he pesters me all the time to do some) & is getting good at some activities.  From a parental point of view it can seem a little repetitive but at this early stage in his reading career, LM doesn't mind & he certainly seems to remember what he's learnt.   Is it good enough to pay for?  I'll see if he keeps it up.

Not only is a birthday looming, but Christmas too and this year LM will be a king in the preschool Nativity.  At least that's what the staff have told me.  If I relied on LM for my information I'd be pulling my hair out trying to come up with a train costume!  He does admit that he is carrying a present though.  I'm hoping that by the day someone will have persuaded him of his regal role (& also that he will take part & not sit & scowl like he did for the Easter show)

Can't write any more as I have been informed that "My tummy is getting very rumbling now" so I must get LM some lunch

Splash & Flash

I've said it before & I'm sure I'll say it again but I am very proud of LM's swimming.  He now has his first swimming badge (well, technically it's not his first, he did get one as a baby but that was more for just turning up & not screaming the place down) and is progressing well.  However, this week I was, shall we say, a little less proud, maybe even mortified.  LM needed a wee so got out of the pool (thankfully) & informed me he didn't need my help.  We (the girls in his class, their mums & the instructor) waited patiently for him to return before resuming the racing and he was back in no time at all...

...with his trunks around his knees.

He stood there, legs akimbo, grinning broadly, waiting for me to sort him out.

Fact.  It is quite hard to pull up wet trunks when you are simultaneously laughing & hanging your head in shame.

Necessity is the mother of...

...I hesitate to use 'invention'.  You'll see why.  Building work has commenced, much to LM's joy.  The back of the house is now an awful mess with mud, rubble & a deep hole .  On the plus side, the digger has kept LM entertained for ages.  Who needs Cbeebies?  (not that I am recommending everyone takes the drastic action of commissioning an extension just for a few hours peace & quiet from their little ones. For a start it's expensive as children's entertainment goes & then the work that keeps LM transfixed tends to be the antithesis of peace & quiet in itself).  But I digress.

The building work has meant that a door, which was formerly an internal one, has now become external and, even boarded up, lets in a bit of draft (especially in this inclement weather).  So today's fun after-preschool activity was making draft excluders.  I hope I can be forgiven for their unsophisticated look but I don't know who got bored first, me or LM.  Still, as long as they do the job.

Half term fun?

Half term is nearing its end and despite the weather we have managed to keep ourselves occupied.  Here are some of our holiday activities:
- cake making (well, muffins).  With LM's current obsession with lemons (he asked for a lemon instead of a banana in his lunchbox last week - imagine the face of the teachers if I'd obliged!) we went with citrus ones
- shovelling woodchip.  We have building work starting next week & we needed a thick layer of woodchip to protect the tree roots.  It fell to LM & I to move it & I must say he was very enthusiastic, if not effective.  I wonder how long I have before requests for help with such chores are met with a begrudging huff or a flat refusal.
-windy walks along the seafront, LM anchored down by Grandad
-my secret rainy day weapon...Nickelodeon Fit for the WII.  Tires LM out in 20 minutes.  Perfect when the weather just won't cooperate. (And no, I haven't been sponsored to say that)
- making a dinosaur island.  It might not pass muster with  Mr Maker (& it certainly wasn't a Minute Make) but LM is very pleased with our volcanic island
And we shall be ending on a high with a trip to a country park with old friends - the weather has even promised to be nice!

Life skill

LM has just informed me he can multi task.
Obviously he didn't use the term 'multi task'.  He said 'I can do things when I do things'.  And unfortunately he didn't mean he could tidy his room whilst getting dressed.  The gist of it was actually that he could mess around whilst getting dressed (which I have known for some time *said through gritted teeth*).
Still, the fact he thinks he can do more that one thing at once is a start.  I just need to work on what those things are.

Born to Boogie

Strictly is back &, although we've missed it so far, LM & I are all geared up to dance along on a Saturday night. It's something of a tradition now.  Ever since he was a baby, when I used to dance him around the living room to soothe his fractiousness, we have enjoyed swinging each other around to the jive, the chachacha & the waltz (yes, we keep the same tempo for all dances).  Anyone who has had the pleasure (misfortune?) to be here at the appointed time, has been roped into LM's dancing.
I am looking forward to this year - LM is currently developing some very unusual dance moves, mainly involving swivelling & throwing himself to the floor.  I am hoping to get video evidence but he has taken to looming close to the lens, saying "Cheeeese!!!" whether it's for a photo or video.  I shall keep trying...watch this space.

A Battle of Wills

Yesterday LM & I  clashed over the thorny issue of who should tidy away his cars (anyone who has been to our house will no doubt think they live permanently spread out over any available floor space).  I maintained that since he played with them then he should put them in the box provided specifically for that purpose, whilst LM claimed that putting them away was "too difficult" and therefore not his responsibility.  There were tears (LM), stifled giggles (me) and time out on his bed but all to no avail - neither of us would budge.

Until, that is, I came up with a compromise:  either LM put them away or I would, the catch being that I would put them in the garage until he could prove to me he was good at tidying up.  And that's where they are as I write.  I had honestly thought he would have baulked at the idea of his beloved cars being locked away but so stubborn is my LM that he refused even then to give in.

The deal is that we will review the situation on Saturday.  The outlook today has been pretty good & the dominoes he was using as substitute cars have all been put away - without me asking.  Which is pretty cool ('Cool' is LM's new word to describe good things & the varying degrees of coolness are expressed thus: 'a little bit cool', 'cool', 'very a bit cool' & 'so cool).

Stand-up Comic

LM has started telling jokes.

I say jokes but they may not be recognisable as such to anyone else.  In fact I only know he's told me one because he always follows with "Was that a funny joke?  Did you laugh?"  And I, of course, obligingly laugh long & hard.  An example of a LM gag: "What did the cow do? ...He rushed down the hill and back up again!" Delivery includes much eye-rolling, loud laughter and bouncing up & down.

It seems to be a bit of an obsession with LM at the moment to make me laugh (I must be looking miserable, or old, or both).  Everything he does is accompanied by the question "Is that funny?"  Little does he know that he makes me laugh just by being him; from the Ministry of Funny Walks that he's developed to the funny little words he makes up - the other day he called me a 'hottie' and whilst I was flattered I soon realised that to him it was just a silly word and not a comment on how great I was looking : (

In praise of chickens

But please don't mention "roast"!
We have 6 chickens - ex-battery hens that are hopefully having a better quality of life in their retirement.  I'm sure they appreciate the space to roam & dig about even if it means putting up with LM wanting them to play.
I have got very used to a steady supply of eggs (not 6 every day, they are retired you know, but more than enough) and am grateful to our girls for their contribution to my culinary repertoire.  I am never without the wherewithal to throw together a quick lunch, I am ready to bake a cake at the drop of a hat and am slowly becoming the queen of the mini quiche (the perfect size for LM & ideal freezer stand-by for picnics & packed lunches).  The girls' contributions don't end there - I have an extremely steady supply of manure for the veggie garden & shells for creating little cress-haired people-but most important of all are the lessons for LM.  He knows where eggs come from, he understands a little of the dangers of the fox (we lost 2) and is learning slowly the responsibilities of looking after them.  Of course, if you asked him, he'd say the best bit was playing with them (although I'm not sure the girls would agree).

Listen! Can your hear it?

That sweet sound of ... nothing.  No  racing car noises, no random questions, no sulky refusals to co-operate.  Just peace & quiet.
We have survived the summer holidays and LM is back at preschool and very excited to be there too (he is desperate to show his friends his new roly-poly skills).  And whilst this calm is very welcome, I must admit the holidays weren't too bad.  Yes, we developed a slight attitude problem when it came to tidying our toys away but all in all we had fun and 6 weeks actually flew by.  So much so we didn't get to do some of the things I had planned.  Of course, the weather wasn't as perfect as I would have liked but when is it ever?  I'm sure LM has happy memories of walking in the woods, going out on Pop's boat, climbing hills, (and let's not forget playing hide and seek) so I think it was an overall success.
With LM now at preschool 4 times a week I had grand resolutions of making the most of the time being productive - however I've already failed on that score by sitting down at the computer.  This term's report will read "Must do better"  - for me!

Hide & Seek - A Cautionary Tale

There's nothing LM likes more than a game of Hide & Seek and now he's learnt to keep quiet & not jump out, shouting "Here I am!", the game lasts a bit longer.  This weekend he was playing a variation on the theme with his older cousins: they took turns to hide LM for the other to find.  One particularly inspired hiding place was the laundry basket in the bathroom. LM just fit and was quietly awaiting discovery when his father decided to use the bathroom for, shall we say, a sit down.
To his credit LM stayed quiet for some time, then his father heard a little voice from the basket informing him "I am hiding".  In other circumstances I would have loved to see the look on his face on hearing LM.

Anyway, when hiding in the bathroom, particularly if it's a good spot, always make sure those not playing are aware of it.  It might just save you from a fatal inhalation

The facts of life

We went to the little animal park yesterday with some other parents & kids (first day of holidays & we already were meeting up for mutual support).  There were some very cute fluffy chicks which reminded me of something funny LM said a few days ago on the subject.  We must have seen some chicks somewhere as he turned round to me and said "Our chickens won't have chicks will they?  We need a cockatoo for that"  It made me smile and, on reflection, he could be on to something - a cockerel that actually says "Cock-a-doodle-doo" instead of crowing at some ungodly hour of the morning!

Parents Evening

Despite knowing that for a 3 1/2  year old, parents evening was never going to be that bad, I still felt apprehensive  sat in front of 2 'teachers' from preschool.  What if they told me LM was a monster with no discipline and that it was ALL MY FAULT!  It didn't help that LM hadn't been that day because he had got really worked up about going (he said that someone hit him but turns out that when he wrestles his BF he doesn't like it as he doesn't come out on top) and I'd left a garbled message on their answer machine.
I should have known they would have nothing but nice things to say about him, not least because it's preschool & how hard can it be for LM to knuckle down & play?  It's not like he's going to fail at that.  Still, being sat in front of a desk was daunting.
What was nice, was getting a sneaky peak at how he is when we're not around.  Their file on LM (how very CIA) was full of photos of him playing happily, with aforementioned BF mostly, and generally taking part in loads of fun activities, including visits from a whole menagerie of animals.  Rocky the Raccoon rocks btw.
Keen to show how good I though preschool was for LM (extra days please!) I mentioned how much more independent & confident he had become since starting as evidenced this evening when instead of his usual "Off! Off!" that constituted his idea of telling someone off, he turned round and said "Come ON Daddy!  You don't have time to mess around!"

Cooking with Mother

LM asks on a regular basis if we are making cakes - he seems to be under the impression that it is a daily occurrence.   "But we made cakes yesterday!" ('Yesterday' being any day in the past up to a few months previously).  From time to time I give in and we do the whole redecorating the kitchen in flour& sugar thing.  This time it was Strawberry & polenta cakes - well, they count as 1 of the 5 a day, don't they?
Patience is not my strong point, particularly in the kitchen, and I have to stop myself from taking over when LM is doing something a) very slowly and /or b) very messily.  To be fair, he does try to clear up after himself - mainly by eating  the mess, be it butter, sugar or even flour.  He finds it hard to believe that something that tastes so good cooked (hopefully), won't taste good when  eaten in its component parts.

Anyway, the aforementioned strawberry cakes may have looked a little 'homespun' but they tasted great.

Attitude

In the last few days LM has started rolling his eyes dramatically if told off or asked to do something he isn't keen on.  It is very hard to keep a straight face.  I fear my chances of getting him to behave are slipping away with each barely suppressed giggle.

On a happy note, the antibiotics he is on are apparently "'licious". Which is good, as he is on them for 2 weeks, 3 times a day.

Waterbaby

Very proud of LM.  Yesterday at his swimming lesson he said he didn't need his armbands.  I insisted, knowing his tendency to stop kicking  but the instructor agreed with him and guess what?  He did it.  He swam unaided for the whole lesson.  The only problem was when he opened his mouth to speak and took a fair bit of pool on board but I was really impressed (and not a little bit shamefaced for not having had faith in his abilities).

I expected him to have tired himself out with all the extra effort but was surprised nonetheless when, on being told we had to make a pit stop at the supermarket, he huffed "Can't you go on your own?"

He has started phrasing all his questions "Do you xxx or don't you?"  As in this weekend's "Do you love me or don't you?"  I was a little put out that he had to ask and even more so when I asked who he loved and he replied  "Grandad with the glasses".  They never appreciate the ones who do everything for them  (I'm tempted to blame it on gender but I'm not sure a daughter wouldn't prove me wrong)

Daddy doesn't live here

LM has become most insistent that our house is where Mummy and LM live but not Daddy.  Daddy, it transpires, lives at work.  He is quite categorical on that point.  When I try to insist that, in actual fact, Daddy does live with us but just works a lot, I get quite a flat "Oh" in response.  It seems the right to call somewhere home is directly related to how much time you spend there and Daddy clearly isn't spending enough time.  This may be because when he is here all LM says to him is "I thought you wanted to play racing cars with me".  Repeatedly. Even if racing cars were played with just 5 minutes before.  LM cannot get enough of Formula One at the moment.  Even aircraft carriers are taking a back seat.

In other news, LM had a tantrum yesterday when I dropped (& broke) an egg.  He made it quite clear that he wouldn't be happy until I 'unbroke' it.  Whilst I have learnt many skills as a mother (and even though being patient is one of them) I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to painstakingly stick said egg back together again.  I shall always remember it as the 'Humpty Dumpty Tantrum'.

PS For those worried about the fate of broken egg, I kicked it under a bush.  Don't worry, the chickens kindly laid a replacement and normal mood has been resumed ;-)

Boys will be boys

LM is currently sitting watching the Grand Prix in the kitchen while Daddy cooks.  As the weather has been sublime today he is dressed in just pants & T-shirt (the fetching wellies he was also sporting are now off).  I happened to notice him fondling his gentleman's area through aforementioned pants as I walked past and politely asked him to stop.  To which he replied, "I'm just keeping it warm Mummy!"
No answer to that really

What's in a name?

For some as yet unknown reason LM has given his father & I new nicknames.  I have been christened 'Honker Honker' - and I am not, I'll have you know, over-endowed in the nasal department.  Daddy has become 'Panko'.  Neither of us have any idea where these have come from but they are added to the list of amusing things he says now that we hope to embarrass him with in later life.  To wit: 'sniff' for stiff, dropping the first syllable on words that are clearly too long e.g. 'mingo' for flamingo, and 'cupboards' for covers on the bed.  There are countless others but I shall save them for another day

Career planning

Whilst watching a rubbish film (ostensibly for LM's benefit but we carried on watching after he'd gone to bed) LM announced he would like to be a fighter plane driver.  Not a pilot you understand, he was most insistent on that point, but a driver.  Then the plane in question crashed in a ball of fire and he turned round & said "I don't want to drive it, I want to fix it"  (Top marks for putting Health & Safety above glamour).  So aeronautical engineer it is then.

This isn't a new fascination - he is obsessed with Fleet air arm museum and reads (looks at) the guide avidly.  Among his favourite toys is an aircraft carrier and its various jet planes so I guess I should take this ambition seriously....until the next one. 

Eternally Grateful

This morning I feel like I have the hangover from hell but I didn't touch a drop.  Who knew that alternately crying & laughing could have the same effect as a couple of bottles of wine? (Of course staying up way past my bedtime may also have contributed).  Yes, it was Comic Relief 2011 last night and yet again it was brought home to me how incredibly lucky I am.  LM may have his moments but he is healthy and safe and I can afford to give him everything he needs.  We need to be reminded of this every so often

Love your veg

One of LM's favourite jobs is helping to unpack the veg box delivery.  Today he was putting away one of the smaller carrots and exclaimed "A baby carrot!  Ahhh!  Do you want to stroke it?"  Now I love my veg but caressing them is not my thing.  I only hope it's not going to stop him eating them - I don't want to be accused of cruelty to root veg

Regression therapy

I thought we had it licked, the old potty training.  We were even using the toilet on our own.  But just lately little accidents keep occurring (3 or 4 times a day) and I don't know how long my sanity or, indeed, my washing machine can take it. 

We made a deal last night where Little Man (henceforth, LM) agreed to a sticker reward system for dry days on the basis that he could get a prize for 10 stickers.  So now he just doesn't mention his accidents and even had the cheek, when I mentioned he looked a bit wet, to say "DON'T tell me Mummy".  I appreciate his time is just too full on with fun to be bothered with mundane trips to the toilet but how do I explain that the Washing machine/Ironing treadmill I'm on is not my idea of fun?

On the plus side, his tidying up skills are improving.  He wouldn't leave Toddler Group until he'd tidied up every last ball and even just cleared his room.  Long may it last!

Newbie

Having moved to Devon not so long ago & having family & friends living far away, I thought I would start (belatedly) to jot down bits & pieces about my life with a beautiful 3 year old son.  (Also, I'm getting on (as my brother likes to remind me) & my memory's not so good so this is more of an aide-memoire than anything else).

New to actively blogging, I'll try not to make too many etiquette mistakes.  Of course, I have to remember to actually blog too.

PS please excuse the overuse of parentheses