Biscuiteers

I discovered Biscuiteers a little whole ago and have sent a few of their brilliant biscuit cards. And this Christmas I am planning on buying the decorate your own Christmas Biscuits tin to use as a Christmas Eve activity.




And now I have treated myself (this often happens when I Christmas shop - it costs me a fortune...) to their book.



It arrived yesterday and it is the most deliciously beautiful book ever. If you are into baking and biscuits I would highly recommend it.

I do think that one day I may actually be able to make pretty, and possibly even edible, biscuits.

Warning - Boy Wee

Sorry about all the pants and wee related posts recently. But here's another one.

This morning, Theo's nappy was dry when he woke up. I suggested he might like to go to the loo (normally he bellows from his room first thing and I leap into action, but this morning - with it being Monday and everyone else having to get up - he decided to have a lie in). Of course, with me suggesting he goes to the loo, he wouldn't do it.

It got to 8.30am, he still hadn't been and we needed to leave the house to do the school run. Anxious that we were soon going to be late and that he might not be able to hold on while we dropped Freyja off and then walked to playgroup, I used the old chocolate button trick.

It worked, of course. And he decided he wanted to do a standing up wee. Well, I have never experienced the force of a first-wee-of-the-day boy wee. It went everywhere. Over the seat, on the floor, up the wall and of course all over his shoes, pants and trousers.

He will be sitting down next time, I think.

Big Boy Pants - The Return

I hardly dare write it, because I know exactly what happens when you do, but it seems we are at last a nappy free household - during the day at least. And completely driven by Theo.

On Sunday, Lola, one of Theo's friends, showed him her 'big girl knickers'. On Monday at his child minder, Theo insisted on accompanying the other little boy who is a bit older than him, to the toilet. And doing 'big boy standing up wees', which he showed me how to do when we got home that afternoon. I didn't actually know 2 year old boys could wee into a toilet standing up, but there you go. On Tuesday, as I dressed him for the day, he insisted on 'big boy pants'. Given his previous aversion I seized the moment.

He's fairly good at telling me when he needs to go - which is just as well because he absolutely, flatly refuses to go if I suggest that it might be an idea to have a try. This is slightly stressful when we are about to leave the house and I know we will be out for a while. But I'm just going with it.

Any suggestion that going to the loo may have been my idea is met with a complete refusal to go, even if he does actually need to go. I learned this lesson at Sainsburys when he declared he needed a wee half way to the car with a trolley full of shopping. We dashed back in, got to the loo and then as I lifted him out with a 'let's go for a wee', he promptly went rigid and refused to get out. So we went back to car. But he did at least make it home.

If something goes wrong during the pants down process - usually my freezing cold hands making contact with his warm little body - that is another show stopper and he decides he doesn't want to go after all.

So I am having to tread carefully and use complicated reverse psychological techniques and tricks - these involve never actually asking him if he needs a wee, telling him that I need help going to the toilet, asking if he wants to do a standing up or a sitting down wee, rather than just 'a wee'. Oh, and telling him he can have a chocolate button if he has a wee before we leave the house.

But anyway! He's out of nappies and into Big Boy Pants of his own accord. It's exhausting.

Coloured Mugs

One of my less ambitious aims in life is to get rid of the vast quantity of toddler tableware I have acquired and replace it with bright & pretty cups, bowls and plates for my children. Just to make dishing up the pasta pesto and tackling the daily juice vs water issue that little bit more enjoyable.

I love these colourful melamine cups, from Rockett St George (which is brilliant!):

Beep Beep! Road Safety

Theo's pre-school took part in Beep Beep! Day today, an event run by Brake, which is a charity aimed at improving road safety and awareness, as well as supporting victims of road accidents and their families.

The children were all asked to wear brightly coloured clothes (to emphasise the importance of being visible on the road) and donate £1 towards the charity.

There were lots of activities around road safety and later today Theo informed me that he learned he mustn't cross the road by himself and should always hold his mummy's hand when he wants to cross the road. Not bad for a 2 year old.

Big thumbs up to Brake.

More cupcakes...

...this time from Crumbs and Doilies


Yum, yum, yum. I wish I could be a cupcake maker and decorator!

The Gallery - Black & White

I wasn't sure what to put up for this week's black and white Gallery. Adrian did point out that I could make any of my photos black and white.

But I've just gone for this one, which I had already black and whited and put up on Flickr. It is a rare photo of me and Freyja (rare, that is, in terms of me being in it, not Freyja....!)




It's nothing particularly special - we were just larking about in the garden last summer, during Freyja's 'Waybuloo' phase, with Freyja wearing a DeLi hat from a magazine. I love how we just look so happy.

How to say goodbye

On Monday 1st November we said our final goodbyes to my sister-in-law in a beautiful and moving ceremony that, while it was achingly sad, was also a celebration of her life. The sun peeked through the clouds half way through and I could see a robin outside, which I found very comforting throughout the service.

The crematorium was so packed that people had to stand all along the walls - amazing considering that Anna has lived the last 10 years in Dubai and many of her friends are waiting there for a second, more informal get together.

The ceremony ended with a letter which Anna had written and my brother had found when he was clearing her things away after she had died. It was warm, uplifting and humorous - a final gift from someone who throughout her illness has put everyone else's feelings before her own.

Over and over people kept saying how incredible my brother is, so strong and so capable. As was said in the service, in my brother Anna had found a very strong rock to lean against when she needed it the most.

And yes he is amazing. He has been Anna's rock for 5 and half years and he cared for her in her final weeks, while still looking after their 2 children, doing his job and keeping himself together.

But, at only 36, he has lost his soul mate and the love of his life.

He has flown back to Dubai, the boys are back at school, he is back in the office. He is living between his house and my parents house. He's working his way through the many 'firsts' that he has to do. He tells me it is even worse than he ever imagined it would be. And he has had a long time to think about what it might be like. I can hardly bear to think about how much he is suffering. Except of course I just can't stop thinking about it.

As music often speaks louder than words - certainly than my words - here is the music that my brother chose for the funeral, in the order it was played. Anna and my brother never actually got round to discussing the funeral. There was always other things to do and to talk about and they kept putting it off until tomorrow until it was too late. So he chose himself from songs that he knew Anna loved and that would also be fitting for the occasion. I think he chose well.

The first song was the one we walked into and the last, chosen by one of Anna's best friends, was the one to which Harry and Max, with my brother by their side, placed their homemade paper bouquets onto the coffin and then walked away.

Simple Minds - Alive & Kicking

The Fray - How to Save a Life

Coldplay - Fix You

Natalie Merchant - Kind and Generous

Proud Mum Alert

One thing that I am immensely proud of is the fact that Freyja can swim. She learned when she was not quite 4 and half, while we were on an extended 6 week holiday in Dubai.

Now in Dubai most kids can swim at this age. I was certainly swimming at around that age, because I used to go to swimming club in Kuwait and we left there when I was 5. But here, where there isn't a pool in everyone's garden and the kids don't learn at school from the moment they start, it is less usual to be swimming at 4.

When we came home and started taking Freyja swimming here so she wouldn't forget (incidently, it seems that swimming is one of those things that once you get it, you've got it. We've left it quite a few months between swims at times and she always remembers), people would stop us and ask how old she was and look on impressed as she swam a length of the pool (I know it's probably nauseating reading this but I don't usually brag about my kids, at least not without balancing it with something hideous that they've done).

In September we decided to put her in for swimming lessons. You see, although she was perfectly capable of swimming a full length by herself, she swam vertically in the water - just this little face bobbing along the surface with her body flailing around underneath to propell her through the water. So we thought lessons would go someway to improve her technique - or rather, lack of.

Lessons are done on age not ability, and as she is 4, she went in with the 3-5 group. This group seems to be more about gaining confidence in the water and getting the very early basics of how to swim. The teacher was very good and after a few sessions would get Freyja to do things without the floats, and she also gained confidence in putting her face under the water. So even though she was the only child in the class who could actually swim, I was happy to just let it be, because Freyja enjoyed it. I also have a fear of looking like an overbearing, pushy mum and decided that pointing out that my child could already swim would make me look exactly like that.

But then last week the teacher called us after the class and said Freyja could move up to the over 5s, even though she wasn't quite yet 5. Hurrah!

She had her first lesson on Saturday and slotted happily in at around the middle ability of the class. And now having thought we would just do the one term, I'm quite tempted to keep it going as she really enjoys it, and there is a little girl from her class at school who goes as well.

Double Hurrah.

Very Big Girls Bed

When we moved Theo into his big boys bed - which was Freyja's old cot bed - Freyja moved into a proper single bed.

I ordered it online, having been very pleased to find one that covered everything I wanted, which was both underbed storage and a spare pull out bed. You often get only one or the other. I probably should have realised that having both a spare bed and underbed storage would result in a pretty big bed.



It is so high that - much to Freyja's great satisfaction - Theo cannot climb into it. Even Freyja has a little trouble.

She is like the princess and the pea, reclining on her lofty bed. I am just hoping that she never falls out of it.

Party Time

Theo was invited to two birthday parties yesterday. Yes, that is right - Theo, my second child, was invited to his very own party (x 2) and not just to a party as 'Freyja's sibling'.

The Gallery - Seasons

I was wondering what to put up for the gallery this week. I usually try to choose photos of my children, as they are the main focus of my blog. And then I remembered this photo.



It is my parents house in France, in the early summer when all the poppies come out - apt for both the subject and for the date (well, for tomorrow's date anyway).

It is a place that I visit with my children for glorious holidays. A place I visit with my friends and my family.

It is also the place where my sister-in-law's ashes will be scattered next time my brother goes.

Poo in the loo

Way back when Freyja was still a pre-schooler and we were all still hopeful of a lovely warm summer, I mentioned that I was starting potty training Theo.

We kept at it for 4 weeks. For the first 3 weeks, he was excellent, even wearing pants and trousers at home. In the 4th week he decided he couldn't bear it any longer and cried until he was given his nappy back, where it has remained ever since.

However, in the last few weeks, progress has been made again and he is now consistently pooing in the toilet. Hurrah! He may still insist on wearing a nappy, he may still do all his wees in a nappy, but - for now at least - I am spared the trauma of shitty boy nappies.

Parents Evening

This evening we had our first parents evening at Freyja's school. She had a glowing report, I am pleased to say - she is an all-rounder, keen to learn and to please (a little too keen - it has had to be explained to her that she doesn't get a star for every piece of work she does...!) and very capable.

Her teacher talked about how she had taken time to integrate with the other children and was still keen to do things on her own rather than mix with others - this was something I had feared would happen and must admit that from the little information I get from Freyja each day, I had not picked up on this. But her teacher said he was encouraging her to mingle. When I mentioned that she has always been more comfortable in small groups, and before school had only a small group of close girl friends, he said he would keep an eye on her in January when the next half of the class begins and she is suddenly one of 30 children instead of 15.

He said she was a star and he was lucky to have her in his class, which was of course lovely to hear.

We then went to pick her up from my friend who was looking after her, where she proceeded to burst into tears as soon as she saw us because she didn't want to go home, took offence at some peas and refused to eat any of her dinner, sulked and whined and generally behaved like a brat.

Oh joy.