The holiday that never was

We should be in Scotland just about now, cuddled up in a log cabin after a day walking around a Loch.

But we’re not, we’re at home, listening to the dulcet tones of the washing machine on a spin cyle…

The afternoon before we were due to start our two day trek to the Highlands (with overnight stop in Glasgow for Sunday lunch with some family friends), Isla suddenly went very quiet and subdued. While I was busy packing for the planned early morning getaway, she sat on the sofa looking a little pale. Next thing, she’s being sick.

I will spare you the gory details but suffice to say there were enough episodes of illness for us to get way too scared about potential children-sick-in-car scenarios and worry whether this was a sickness bug about to sweep through all five of us while we were 500 miles from home.

We debated for a long time about whether to take the gamble, but with Isla sick again in the night, and looking so pale and withdrawn again in the morning we decided to cut our loses and stay at home.

Poor Lilly was really upset and cried when we told her, but we promised her a week of fun at home, including her favourite soft play place, swimming and a Halloween party for tomorrow. We also went to the zoo on Monday which everyone enjoyed, and Isla seemed so much better, walking for miles around the zoo without complaint, despite still looking a bit pasty.

Eve has had a bit of a temperature too for the last few days, but touch wood nobody else has come down with sickness. I guess we could have gone, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. But it was just too much of a gamble!

Today though I took Isla and Lilly swimming as promised. I decided to take them on my own as Eve is a bit grouchy lately, and Tony took her for a walk in her pushchair instead (always a winner with Eve who loves being out and about). I was a little nervous about the logistics of taking the two of them on my own, but I gave them both strict instructions to be good and they were little angels the whole time we were out.

Lilly loves swimming and doesn’t want me to help her in any way while she’s in there, she’s quite happy splishing about with her armbands on. It was funny as Isla was quite nervous of the pool at first – of all the shouting and the sounds, and at first when we got in she was a bit apprehensive of the water itself and wanted to sit on the edge a while kicking her legs and getting acclimatised.

But by the time we were ready to get out, she was stood on the edge of the pool wanting to jump in, again, again, again! So typical of my little monkey.

We’ve had a great day today and we have a little Halloween party planned for tomorrow. So our ‘holiday at home’, hasn’t been so bad, after all.

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More funny things they say

Me to Lilly: “It’s daddy’s birthday soon, what shall we get him?”

L: “We could get him a… Errr… Err….
I can’t really think of anything, all I can think of is girlie things, because I’m a girl…

(suddenly the verbal diahorrea kicks in)
“…All I can think of is a duck with a necklace!
And a pretty dress on!
And it’s cuddly!

… Or, an Easter Kangaroo!
That’s pink!
With an Easter egg!

But that’s not very man-y, is it?”

————

Hail stones were battering our widows one afternoon. Isla comes running to me:
“Muuuum! No like it! Worry, worry!”

————

Isla fell off her scooter in the garden and was crying. I ran over saying: “What happened Isla, what have you hurt??”. She struggled to reply through the tears but eventually wailed: “My hurt my scooter!!”

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Back to the Night Garden

Last weekend, we made a happy return to see our friends the Tombliboos, Makka Pakka, Upsy Daisy and Iggle Piggle.And we rode on the Ninky Nonk for one more time…

Yep, you guessed it, we went to see In the Night Garden Live, when it returned to our neck of the woods (Manchester, to be precise). And no, this is not a sponsored post – I paid £15 per head out of my very own hard earned money…

Lilly and I first went to the show when she was two and a half, in Liverpool. I thought even then that she was getting a little bit big for the TV programme, but she absolutely adored watching it live and genuinely still remembers it and talks about it quite often even now. Isla missed out that first time because she was only about six weeks old (although I had actually bought her a ticket – a touch ambitious, I realised as soon as she was born!)

Anyway after a slightly stressful journey whereby we went the wrong direction on the motorway and then couldn’t find our way around the Trafford Centre’s network of different car parks to find the illusive one that we needed we arrived just as the show was starting and dashed to our seats as the opening music began.

I was a little bit nervous about how Isla would react to the whole thing – having never been to a show of this kind before, and the fact that she can sometimes get so sensitive about things, it could have been an unmitigated disaster.

But thankfully, she loved it!

We went right to the back so it didn’t matter if the girls wanted to stand up and dance along as they weren’t blocking anyone’s view. And Isla loved listening to all the familiar songs and waving to the characters on stage. Her absolute favourite was Upsy Daisy, and she got really quite excited whenever she came on stage.

The highlight was the part where the characters all dance under the magical gazebo – always Isla’s favourite part in the programme. And we were showered with paper flowers at that point too.

All in all it was another lovely experience – and Lilly – who by now is DEFINITELY too big for the Night Garden, loved every second of it yet again.

So, another thumbs up to the Night Garden Live – and I wonder if I will be blogging about it for a third time in two years from now when Eve is big enough to go along?!

 

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…Starting nursery

It has been a busy few weeks in our household. Tony has started a new job, I am back after maternity leave. Lilly has finished nursery and we’ve been getting ready for the start of school. Eve is still waking in the night, and we’ve started weaning. We’ve organised and held a Christening. And Isla and Eve have started at nursery.

With all three girls I had a pretty similar amount of maternity leave – six months, give or take a few weeks. It was a little more with Isla and a little less with Eve, because of the various time of the year / financial circumstances.

Lilly started nursery at six months old, and was never really a problem, although she would never sleep in there. Isla started about seven months and never really settled. She didn’t sleep and she was a lot more distressed when you left her than Lilly ever was. She was ok, but we never thought she enjoyed it. She stayed at nursery until she was about 14 months and then Tony was made redundant and became a stay at home dad for a while instead.

Isla loved being at home with her daddy. But now he is back at work, and she is two years old, and for so many reasons we feel that now she really needs to get used to spending time away from us and enjoying the company of other children her own age. Watching Lilly so confidently looking forward to school is the clincher – nursery has helped make her a confident and outgoing child who cannot wait for the chance to make more friends, and we want the same for Isla in two years time.

We were not expecting this transition to be easy. I arranged with nursery that Isla would do four settling in sessions before her start date. The first one, I took her and stayed with her for the whole time. She wasn’t very sure when we walked in and asked a few times to go home. She wouldn’t acknowledge the other children, and got upset when they crowded round her to see the new girl. She liked painting but had a complete meltdown when one of the staff suggested she wear an apron! I could tell she liked the look of the slide and the cosy coupe car in the playground, but she refused to actually go on them. BUT… coming away from nursery she talked positively about the experience, told everybody who would listen about her painting and agreed to go back again the next week.

During the second session, I took Eve to the baby room at the same time. I reckoned that Eve would be absolutely fine, so we all spent a bit of time in the baby room before I took Isla next door. Then, I spent the hour going between the rooms to see both of them. Eve was absolutely fine, Isla cried and got upset everytime I went next door, although the amount of upset reduced noticeably each time, and I kept asking her: “Can mummy go next door to see Eve now?” and she would always agree, even if it was reluctantly.

So, on the third session, I dropped them off and left them for a full hour. My mum and I took Lilly to a cafe and we all talked about how weird it was to just be the three of us!

I left my mum and Lilly at the park and went back to get the two little ones. As I walked past the open window of the baby room, I heard a familiar high-pitched screaming… surely it couldn’t be?? She wasn’t due a bottle, or a sleep, or anything!

But yes, it was Eve, screaming, red faced and hysterical! The staff were trying in vain to calm her with a bottle, a dummy, anything!

Apparently, she had been fine, but then they had brought Isla in to visit her, because Isla was a bit upset. Seeing her baby sister seemed to work for Isla, and she calmed down. But it upset Eve and she had been screaming for the 20 minutes since!

After Eve was mainly calm, I carried her next door to find Isla. We spotted her before she spotted us – she was playing but her face was red and she was still gulping back sobs, trying to be brave. As soon as she saw us she exploded into tears – which set Eve off again screaming and screaming in my other arm!

Ah yes, it was definitely “one of those moments” – I’m sure any mum of more than one knows what I mean!

But, as we walked away from nursery, the sobs just about abated, Isla announced very loudly “We LOVE nursery!” which made all the staff laugh!

And, I’m happy to say that the fourth and final settling in session was a marked improvement. Isla didn’t cry at all, after the initial upset of me leaving. And Eve was happy and relaxed, even drifting off to sleep in her keyworker’s arms.

This was two weeks ago and things are still going fairly well. Eve has been absolutely fine, sleeping ok and never upset. Isla gets upset everytime I leave, but I am assured that she gets over it and has even started playing with some of the other children, a little tiny bit. Her favourite thing is the play kitchen and she spends a lot of her time there.

I don’t know whether Isla will ever be as enthusiastic about nursery as her big sister, or whether she will always have that little wobble knowing that we are about to leave her there. But Tony and I feel so strongly that this will be good for her in the long run, and it has to be done. We’ve been reading her all the ‘starting nursery’ books we can get our hands on and even Lilly has been roped in to tell Isla how great nursery is!

Hopefully this is the start of a very happy relationship, for both of them.

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Birthday celebrations

Last weekend was a hectic and busy one full of birthday celebrations for Isla, who has now turned two!

On her birthday Lilly woke up at the crack of dawn (not unusual for her), very excited because it was Isla’s birthday. Isla however, played it cool and slept in for another hour and a half, until about 6.30am. Lilly was very impatient and wanted to go and wake her up!

We had put up birthday banners and balloons, and left Isla’s birthday presents out for her to find, and her cards on the mat.

I had had a little word with Lilly before Isla got up, about letting Isla open her birthday presents and not snatching them off her to do it for her – because, afterall, Isla is a big girl now!

Well, Lilly was very good, and held herself back from ripping all the paper off the presents, but she was keen for Isla to open her presents QUICK QUICK because she couldn’t wait to find out what they all were. Isla was much more laid back about everything and wanted to take her time, very carefully tearing back the paper and wanting to examine the presents and start to play with them before moving onto the next one.

We were really pleased with her reaction to the presents – she seemed genuinely pleased with them all, and has actually played with them all since. Usually there is at least one or two that don’t seem to go down too well. She was very lucky and got lots of books, a My Little Pony train (probably the biggest hit), a Baby Jake tractor, a Thomas train and the main present, A SkuttleBug trike.

Unfortunately, the arguing started quite soon after all the presents were open, mainly over who was going on the Skuttlebug or pressing the button on the My Little Pony train. In fact, we were refereeing over the presents all weekend…. grrrr!

Later on, we decided, as it was raining, to go to Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port. It wasn’t our brightest idea – we have been there before, a long time ago, and weren’t too impressed. But we thought we’d give it another go. But we soon remembered why we weren’t keen before – it is very expensive – luckily Isla was just short enough to still be free but we still paid £42 for 2 adults and one child – if we’d had to pay for Isla it would’ve been £52! Inside is ok, but nowhere near good enough to justify that price, in my opinion. Going through at a pre-school pace (e.g. quite quick), you can see everything in about half an hour. The playground (too small for the place) was packed with boisterous big kids on a school trip, and the cafe (selling overpriced rubbish food – £6.70 for a rollover hotdog meal ‘deal’) was a bit grotty, the tables not very clean and the microwave to warm baby food /milk was dirty.

To cap it all off, Isla decided a short while into the trip that she was scared of fish. So she spent a lot of the time running past all the tanks shouting: “My don’t like it!!”

So, not particularly successful.

However, Isla DID enjoy dancing to some of the atmospheric “fishy” music, running under all the roped off queueing areas outside, climbing on a log and pressing the button in the lift. Lilly liked running around, and LOVED the travelator walkway through the tunnel under the big tank. And Eve seemed to like looking at the fish. So all was not lost. (Except the 42 quid, unfortunately!)

Off to Blue Planet

But birthday girl mainly liked the non-fish related activity!

But no worries. We all came home and enjoyed a cupcake birthday treat ahead of Isla’s main birthday cake, which was going to be for her birthday party on Sunday. I made the cakes the day before and Lilly and I iced them that morning while Isla was napping. We chose the best ones to spell out I-S-L-A all the way round the stand, with a 2 on the top. I wasn’t too happy when Daddy wandered in just before we were going to put the candles on and start singing, and helped himself to one of the cakes without thinking – leaving us with just “I-S-L”….. don’t worry, his ‘mistake’ was soon pointed out… and luckily we had iced some spares!

Isla surprised us all by being very good at blowing out the candles – although we had to relight them three times because Lilly kept blowing them out – she just couldn’t help herself!

On Saturday Lilly and I had a huge baking / cleaning session ahead of the family party on Sunday, while Tony took Isla and Eve to his parents. We made biscuits in the shape of 2s, and Lilly iced them. We also made a chocolate fudge cake, and decorated it with smarties and maltesers. We got a start on the buffet food for the next day. And then we cleaned and hoovered (well, I did, while Lilly pretended to join in!)

At the party on Sunday we had close family round, there were lots more presents, including a keyboard and Chad Valley CD player from her nanna and grandad and aunty Laura, and clothes, a drum and sticker books from her Grannie, other aunty and uncle. We had a buffet of Isla’s favourite food – pizza, garlic bread, hot dogs, nachos (ok, not Isla’s favourite, but it had crisps and cheese), cheese on sticks, crisps, cucumber and carrot sticks (also not Isla’s favourite, but definitely Lilly’s) etc etc.

My mum brought round two strawberry flans (one with and one without jelly as Lilly hates it, but loves strawberries) so we did well on the pudding front too.

We played pass the parcel and musical statues, and then Isla blew out the candles on her cake – Lilly had to clamp her hands over her mouth to stop her from giving into the temptation to blow them out too!

All in all, we had a lovely, but very tiring weekend! It struck me that, now we have three children, we have to do THREE BIRTHDAYS A YEAR. And then I had to sit down and have a glass of wine or ten  – that’s a lot of parties!

So, there you have it. Our middle baby is, as she now tells us quite often, not a baby anymore. She’s a big two year old. Wow!

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Happy 2nd birthday Isla!

My middle baby is two today… Happy Birthday Isla!

If I really think about it I cannot believe how quickly time has passed that already my little baby has gone from this:

to this:

So quickly!

But at the same time, it seems so long ago - Isla is already a big sister!  And a very good one, at that.

So, happy birthday darling Isla, you really are a ray of sunshine every day, with your cheeky grin and infectious giggles. Always in mischief and still such a sensitive soul at times.

We love you so very, very much. xxxxxxxx

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Lilly at 3

My first little baby girl is now 3!

She is a bubbly, funny, energetic, fiesty and bossy little madame who brings so much joy and happiness to us each and every day.

I may be biased, but she is a really bright and intelligent little girl. Her vocabulary is really impressive, there is nothing she doesn’t understand and very few things she can’t express in words. We are currently teaching her letters of the alphabet and hopefully by this time next year she’ll be reading!

She loves her little sister and has adjusted brilliantly to Isla’s arrival. She is always kissing and hugging Isla, calling her “darling” and telling her she loves her. She absolutely loves making Isla smile and giggle and she can’t wait for Isla to get a bit bigger so they can play together properly. She is already a brilliant, affectionate and protective big sister.

She is a big eater! She’s always loved her food and, although she can have her fussy moments, she is perpetually hungry and eats like a horse. We can’t even go near a cafe without Lilly seizing the opportunity to announce: “I’m really hungry!! My tummy is all rumbly!!” – Which, roughly translated means “I want a cake!”. She loves sausages, pastry, meatballs, scrambled eggs, bananas, … and if she can have a little bit of ketchup on it, even better!

From 2-3 she has gone through many obsessions and phases - from Thomas the Tank Engine to her pink handbag. These obsessions will usually last a few months before being replaced with the next must have item!

She is now fully potty trained – except at night, when she still has a nappy. We started potty training just after Isla was born, when she was two and a half and more than ready, and it was a pretty smooth transition (with the occasional incident!)

Her idea of a great day out is a trip to Ikea, the garden centre, soft play, trip on a train, or to visit my work and swing on my chair!

Lilly loves helping, and a favourite is making cakes with mummy – although she mainly likes eating the mixture, rather than actually helping. While I’ve been off on maternity leave we’ve done plenty of sticking, glueing, drawing and making.

Her favourite TV programmes of the moment are ones with other little children in – it started with Same Smile, then along came programmes like Show Me Show Me…. she also now loves some slightly more “grown up” baby programmes, like Fireman Sam, Zingzillas…. Peppa Pig, which was her obsession until about 2 and a half, has gone out of favour a bit, and In The Night Garden is firmly too babyish… although we did enjoy going to see the live production in July (and she still asks if we can go back!)

Lilly is a really confident, bright little girl, and she makes friends easily, but she also has a cautious side to her personality. If we go to soft play, she isn’t one of those children that will run riot and through themselves down any slide and race through any tunnel. She likes to be sure of what she is about to do, and doesn’t like crawling through tunnels if she isn’t sure what’s on the other side! While I was off work I took her to Tumble Tots, which has improved her agility and confidence loads – she now makes much better use of the equipment in the local playgrounds, climbing nets and walking across wobbly bridges, whereas before she would stick to just the slide and swings. But she is not a physically rowdy type, and when we do go to the soft play places, she is happier playing in the baby area than the “big girls” one – you won’t yet catch her climbing up to the top and sliding backwards down a helter skelter slide! However, when we took her to Thomas Land for her birthday she enjoyed all the rides, even the ones we worried might be a bit too scary for her – and she really wanted to go on the ones we definitely thought too scary for her (although we wouldn’t let her!)  

She has an amazing memory and is really quick to learn – you only have to tell her one thing for it to be firmly lodged in her brain forever. She has an unbelievable sense of smell and taste, and can identify quite specific types of foods in her dinner or from their cooking smells.

Lilly is still a thumb sucker, she has been since a few weeks after she was born. (In fact, before then, we saw her sucking her thumb on her 3d scan). However, she only sucks it when she’s tired. She also uses the soft skin on her arm as a kind of comforter. She goes to sleep with a thumb in her mouth, and the other arm across her face so that she can stroke it with the fingers of the other hand. This is such an important ritual that she can never sleep with long sleeve pyjamas on, unless the sleeves are rolled right up, even on the coldest nights!

Lilly is also a very stubborn and independently minded little girl. She doesn’t easily accept help, she prefers to work things out herself. In doing so she gets easily frustrated when she can’t do it straight away, and can get cross – shouting or throwing the offending item across the room. (Perhaps she might get this trait from me, just a teeny, tiny bit!) 

She sings little songs to herself and has a great imagination. She can now play quite happily acting out little stories with her toys. She is always making pretend plates of food for her cuddly animals. She makes us laugh all the time with some really funny or cute observations or phrases.

At the moment, she’s learning to ride the bike that she got for her birthday. She’s not a girly girl and she refuses to play with dollies, but she loves her cuddly toys and treats them and her toy Roary Cars like babies! Her favourite toys and games are bricks, musical instruments, her scooter and bike, blowing bubbles, trains, colouring, and of course, anything that Isla might want to play with!

Quite simply, she is an incredible little person who makes us so proud and so happy – and has us exhausted by bedtime each and every day!

Daddy and I love you so very, very much darling xxx

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Birthday outing to Thomas Land

1 Jan, 2010

As part of the many celebrations for Lilly’s third birthday, we took her on a special outing to Thomas Land.

Thomas Land is the home of all things Thomas the Tank Engine, and it’s part of Drayton Manor theme park in Staffordshire. At Christmas time, the main park is closed, but Thomas Land is open for a Winter Wonderland celebration, complete with plenty of Christmas trimmings and guaranteed ‘snow’ three times a day.

We had planned to take Lilly to Thomas Land last year for her birthday, when her obsession with Thomas was at its peak, but we decided against it as Lilly is naturally quite a cautious personality, and we worried that the rides might have been a bit too scary for her.

No such worries now she’s three. Not one phased her, and to say she loved Thomas Land is an understatement. In fact, I loved Thomas Land! Having enjoyed many birthday outings of my own to Thorpe Park when I was younger, this was right up my street. As i’ve got older my idea of a great ride has been toned down slightly, so I’d pretty much say the rides at Thomas Land weren’t only perfect for Lilly, they were just about perfect for me too!

All four of us went so Tony and I took turns going on the rides with Lilly while the other stayed with Isla. That was one of the really great things about Thomas Land, the fact that grown ups can accompany kids on all the rides, so you aren’t left with that awful scenario of watching helplessly as your child goes round and round on a carousel crying their eyes out because they are terrified. Imagine how cruel and bad a parent you would feel if that happened!! (NB this scenario may or may not have happened to us on a trip to Truck Fest in Haydock a year and a half ago. Ahem.)

First up was Diesel, then Classic Cars, followed by rides on Jeremy Jetplane (probably my personal favourite) and Harold the Helicopter. Tony took Lilly on a truly terrifyingly fast pirate ride, which she loved! I tried to take pictures but it was going way too fast, I just kept taking pictures of empty seats! We also enjoyed Bertie the Bus and a traditional carousel. On the day we went, December 27, there were no queues for rides. In fact, on a couple of occasions at the beginning of our visit, we had the rides to ourselves!

And then we watched as the main man, Thomas himself, chuffed into Knapford station as the (fake) snow fell and the Fat Controller and friends entertained us with dancing and singing. Lilly was delighted when Thomas puffed right up to her before turning on his turntable to puff back the other way!

Because it was Christmas themed, all the children visiting the park were able to claim a free gift from Santa’s elves. And when we walked over to collect it, we heard an unexpected “ho ho ho” and turned around to see Santa himself! He was really friendly and chatted to Lilly about Christmas, and asked her if she had been happy with her presents. He also asked her if she remembered him tickling her nose while she was asleep, which made her giggle! She even got to sit on Santa’s knee and have her picture taken (by us, for no extra cost… now you gotta love that!) Afterwards, Lilly collected her gift (a handbag with brushes and combs) from the elves, and Isla got one too – a cuddly rabbit rattle.

It was pretty cold though. Freezing! At one of the rides, the operator said it had got to minus 11 on some days! And, if I was to make a criticism there was nowhere near enough provision for people to have a cuppa and a cake in the warm - there were a couple of burger bar type joints and only one cafe type place open with a totally inadequate number of seats. As Thomas Land didn’t open til 12, and shuts at 5, I thought those people wasting some of their time eating overpriced burgers in crowded restaurants were a bit nuts. Please, Drayton Manor, if you see this, think about more cafes and indoor seating for next year. It would have made a major difference to our day!

It was also unfortunate that the zoo was shut the day we went – I’m assuming because of temperatures and snow/ice. We didn’t miss the zoo so much, but we wanted to walk through the zoo to get to the Thomas and Friends exhibition, which we could see on the map but couldn’t figure out how to get to it on foot, other than through the zoo, which was shut. We asked a member of staff but they didn’t really seem to know what we were on about…

The other problem was the M6. Outside of Drayton Manor’s control, I know. It took us the expected hour and a half to get there. But on the way back, the M6 was at a standstill and it ended up taking two and a half hours. Luckily the girls were both really good on the way home. But still, a major drawback.

All in all though I think we will think about going again in the summer, considering how much we all enjoyed it, and how much Lilly loved all the rides. She surprised us with how brave she was, even asking us if she could go on the couple of rides that we still felt were a bit too scary for her.

Tips for you if you think of going too. Book in advance! We saved £8 overall by booking the night before on the internet. Eat before you go, if the park is only opening at 12 (which I would imagine is only the case during winter). And, if you’re going to ride on Thomas, do that first. This was the only thing people queued for, and the queues got longer as the day went on.

All in all though, I’d thoroughly recommend this place, for Thomas Fans of Lilly’s age and up (and for the grown ups, too!)

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Christmas 2010

Each year since we’ve had Lilly, Christmas has got more and more exciting. Her first Christmas, when she was almost one, was a bit of an anti climax because we were all poorly. Lilly enjoyed it but also found it all pretty overwhelming. Last year, at nearly two, Lilly understood a little more and thankfully we were illness free, so a much better time was had by all. This year, at nearly three, Lilly definitely understands Christmas and has been really looking forward to it – as have we!

In fact, Christmas preparations in this house probably started in mid-November, when we spent plenty of days visiting garden centres to admire all the pretty trees, lights and baubles, one of the highlights being the World’s Biggest Santa at Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Southport (above)! We also visited Pleasureland in Southport with Grannie and saw Santa’s reindeers and met the snowqueen too.

As soon as people in the real world started putting up their outdoor lights, we started taking the long way home from nursery to ooh and aah at all the lights on people’s houses.

Because I’ve been off on maternity leave, Lilly and I have been able to indulge in plenty of Christmas arts and crafts, involving lots of glitter and glue. We’ve made Christmas cards for all the close family members, Christmas hats, Christmas decorations, felt Christmas stockings and collages out of last year’s Christmas cards. We’ve also baked yummy Christmas cookies and a victoria sponge based Christmas cake (Tony & Lilly don’t like fruit cake) with a snowman on the top.

Lilly was old enough this year to “help” us put up the Christmas tree, which we did on the last weekend of November as we couldn’t wait! When it came to putting the lights and tinsel (or glitter, as Lilly insists on calling it) on the tree, we were all going round and round it like a maypole! She was surprisingly good at putting on the baubles – but tended to have a four-per-branch policy, with all the best decorations on the bottom couple of branches, where she could
reach!

This year, Lilly had her first chocolate Advent Calender, a Peppa Pig one (and disappointing because it didn’t have any pictures behind the doors – note to self: purchase better calender next year). It turns out “Advent Calender” is one of the very few things Lilly can’t say properly – but she loved her “Alan Callydar”. A few times I caught her lovingly caressing the calender or trying to stick her fingers in one of the doors even though she knew she could only have one a day. But, considering the restraint level of a typical 2/3 year old, I think she did pretty well!

I suppose the recent snow has also been part of the preparations. This is two Christmasses in a row now where we’ve had snow on the ground. Our Christmas walk to Nanna’s house across the snowy fields is almost becoming a tradition! Tony and I were saying that Lilly will take for granted that you get snow at Christmas – if we don’t get it next year she’ll be wondering why not!

We had the usual fun in the snow – made a snowman and had snowball fights, until after a few days the snow got a bit icy and slippy and the novely wore off, of course. It is now December 28 and the snow is finally thawing, so hopefully outside will be a bit more accessible from now on.

Lilly is no longer scared of Father Christmas (last year, she was terrified – couldn’t even watch him on tv!) and the frst time she bumped into him was in the garden centre with Nanna. Nanna helped her write him a letter, and asked what she wanted: “A yoyo, scissors and a baby toy for Isla”, was the reply. (Yoyo inspired by too much Peppa Pig’s Christmas)! A few days before Christmas, Lilly remembered that what she really wanted wasn’t a yo-yo at all, she wanted a Tin Top. Tin Top, if you don’t know, is a character from Roary the Racing Car, he’s a blue American stock car, and she’s wanted him since she saw a little boy in Asda with one a few months ago. She already has the model Roary, which was one of her big obsessions in 2010. Luckily, Father Christmas was on the ball and his elves had reserved one for her a while back. On Christmas morning, I genuinely think she was only expecting one or two presents. When she opened the first thing in her stocking (a drum), she was really disappointed it wasn’t a Tin Top and said: “Oh. I didn’t want THAT!” Luckily, the second present out was indeed Tin Top, and all was right with the world again!

We spent Christmas morning in our house, ploughing through the presents, which included a play kitchen, lots of Fireman Sam playthings…. for Lilly and shape sorters, baby books, rattly, musical and chewy things for Isla. It was lovely to think that, on Christmas Day last year I felt Isla’s first kick, and this year here she was joining in the celebrations!

In the afternoon we went over to Nanna and Grandad’s house where Tony’s sister and boyfriend announced they had just got engaged! Before we sat down to Christmas dinner and more presents, including a child sized pink guitar for Lilly!!! Isla, predictably, was most interested in chewing on bits of wrapping paper! Mind you, she didn’t get much of a look in with many of her presents, as Lilly wanted to “help” her open them all, and then seemed to like playing with the baby toys more than the ones that were actually for her! 

On Boxing Day my mum, sister and boyfriend came over for some food and MORE presents, including a Thomas bingo set, books and clothes for Isla. Tony and I didn’t do too badly for presents either, my personal highlight being a new camera which I hope will help me take better photographs in 2011 – still studying the instruction manual as we speak!

All in all, a really lovely few days – and now the emphasis turns to birthday celebrations for Lilly on New Year’s Eve…

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Obsessions

I don’t suppose Lilly is alone among toddlers in having a slightly obsessive nature!

These obsessions tend to be with TV programmes, books or characters, and they last for months on end before being suddenly and unceremoniously dumped in favour of another obsession!

So far her obsessions have been as follows:

1. Peppa Pig – from the age of about 8 months until about 2 and a half. She has watched them so many times and, like many toddlers, this programme seemed to have a hypnotic effect on her. Many’s the time we turned to Peppa to help us through a stressful day…

2. Thomas The Tank Engine – At around her second birthday, a Thomas had to come with us, wherever we went. Preferably two Thomases. I had to talk her out of sharing her bed with a Thomas, because she would inevitably end up waking up crying because she was lying on one.

3. Roary The Racing Car – Toy Roary replaced Thomas in Lilly’s heart, and he HAD to come everywhere. Because he wasn’t allowed in bed, he had to sit on the bedside table and wait everynight…

4. Humf – Took over from Peppa in the hypnotic stakes. Was a lovely part of the bedtime routine for about 8 months, but he doesn’t seem to be as popular with L now.

5. Same Smile (CBeebies)- Nisha and her pandas… the first programme Lilly liked because there were other children just like her on it. She has watched every episode SO many times. The only reason the obsession has died down a little lately is because there are only so many episodes and only so many times even a toddler can watch them!

6. Handbag – Her handbag has to go everywhere with her at the moment, containing all Lilly’s most important posessions (and usually other people’s important posessions, like Nanna and Grandad’s house keys…)

7. Maisy Goes to Hospital - Bedtime story. Thankfully a nice short one, Lilly cannot get enough of it and knows all the words!

I’m sure there will be many more to come…

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