A new way of eating!

We have entered a new phase of eating where my little lady prefers to eat the sweeter stuff over dinner. I read an article that suggested that presenting your child with both main and dessert at the same time whilst strange had advantages. One being a healthy attitude to all food and another they will less likely rush dinner to eat.
I was shocked by this theory give them together! My intrigue won me over and I decided to try this new way of eating with the little one.
Did it work?
So far the result has been very good but we are only on day 3 but on day 2 only 1/2 her chocolate pudding was eaten before she chose to start on fish fingers ….this in itself suggests this may work!

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Little Ones first library visit!

Today we took the little one to the library for the first time.

She already has a love of books and loves to both sit and look at the pictures “reading” and share stories listening to mummy as she reads funny voices one of our favourites “The Gruffalo” by Julia Donaldson is a form favourite and we know most of it by heart! 

Well today the little one was too busy exploring the library, there was so much to look at even found “The Gruffalo” The little one then moved onto drawing as there was a colouring table set out and then she enjoyed switching carriages (The book boxes were shaped like a train) 

I signed her up for a library card and she got a little passport which is a all part of the bookstart scheme in encouraging children to read from their early years. After every 6th stamp your child will earn a certificate! 

When daddy and I had chosen the little ones books, she was too busy exploring to make choices we were shown how to checkout! 

The little one enjoyed helping checkout the books it was like using a self scan till at the supermarket, you popped the book onto a big circle and it is able to tell which book it is I found this quiteo clever so I would love to know what the little one thought! 

FYI We are already 1/2 way through the stack! 

 

 

 

Stop and smell the flowers!

 

 

This was a very sweet moment we had had a busy morning and the little one was rather restless whilst we did our boring grown up things. She ran out as we left the council building and straight to the flowerbed outside stopping to smell the flowers so we let her enjoy as we snapped the moment with our phones. Tomorrow we will do something more fun a trip to the park to feed the ducks I think! 🙂

Baby sign…..teach yourself for free!

Before the little one was born I was a nursery nurse working in a day nursery where in the baby room we used sign.

Baby sign is a fantastic tool for communicating with your child and is perfect for the pre-verbal stages and can be started from birth onwards. This method of communicating alleviates many stresses and frustrations felt by both the child and the parents.
At first I was not going to use baby sign but had seen how effective it can be so I thought I would try….problem was I only knew a few phrases.
Finding a class in my local area that wasn’t booked up or costing a small fortune proved fruitless, so I scoured the internet and watched several you-tube videos, drawing pictures of the signs for reference until I had learnt them.
My daughter started to watch a program called “Mr Tumble” on cbeebies who uses makaton which is simple sign for children with special needs which works on a sign or two per episode, there’s also a childrens magazine!

The most important thing to remember if they are just for you and your child’s use who cares if it’s 100% correct.The little one even made her own sign for garden.
Work from your child’s interests slowly adding new signs.
A few suggestions to start: eat, milk, drink, sleep , nappy, please and thank you.
Enjoy signing with your little one 🙂

Lunchtime or how to feed a toddler on the go!

The little one is in my opinion a good eater she likes curry, olives, fajitas, chorizo and all fruit we have come across so far! This dosnt mean on her off days she isn’t stubbornly refusing known favourites she is 2 and like all 2 year old is trying to take control, she will learn that I operate a take it or leave it so she has what she offered if not it’s just fruit/yoghurt.

I have noticed that she has a real interest in what adults have on their plates, she will happily steal “leaves” off my plate for a nibble. I do wonder why when you go out even the so called family friendly places don’t offer better choices for our children I can’t speak for everyone but I wouldn’t want the processed rubbish that’s on offer for kids so at family dinners out its reluctantly brought……and usually left as who wants to the one at the table with the least interesting food? I am not suggesting that these are completly removed off of all menus never to be seen again because we all like the safety net of having a known favourite to offer especially of you are unfortunate enough to have a picky nuggets only child, we’ve all known one maybe were one! 

What i would like to see is more places offering half portions of the normal menu as children are just little people and if started on a good path they are more likely to eat a wider variety of food if this is offered from a young age! Surely we are just adding to the obesity epidemic and setting our kids a poor example? 

Whilst I’m at it why does nowhere have childrens plates or cutlery talk about making meals harder who wants to pack a plate whenever they go out? 

Baa!

The little one loves animals and is able to tell you the sounds several animals make. To list a few snakes, owls, pigs, dogs, cats, monkeys and cows! However the little one has always struggles with sheep answering with “moo” when asked.

I think at last it has sunk in, we spent a morning doing farm themed activities farm themed small world, books and we also made some sheep masks! She really enjoyed this simple activity I let her draw on the mask with felt pens,brave I know as the result usually means her artistic expression moves off the paper and onto her arms and all over!
When the activity was done she was very eager to try out her new mask, unfortunately she was quite generous with the application of glue so the mask was sloppy and had to dry for some time!

The morning ended and she sang for me without prompt “baa,baa” and when asked what sheep say at last she answered “baa”

Exploring!

Today after yet another early start and a morning of a whole lot of nothing I decided that an afternoon trip to the park was in order.

Today at the park the little one headed straight for the zip-line which at 2 she really is too small, I helped her up and explained that she needed to hold on tight as I walked the zip-line so she wouldn’t fall.

She hates he swings she will happily be seated in one and before the first push she wants out so it was to my surprise when another child sat on the swing she decided that she wanted to try it….she decided that swings are good as I buttoned her coat “swing” but I know that game! isn’t it funny the difference being around others can make!

I then on the way back decided to do my own bit of exploring as a new park open last  autumn and we hadn’t yet found it let alone stopped for a play. I found it all of 2 minutes from the park we were playing in funny huh Lol!

🙂

Spring has sprung!

I am over the moon after what felt like a lifetime of rain,it was the wettest winter on record Incase you were unaware of that fact.

To celebrate the beautiful sunshine that has been missed so much I brought a sun-catcher for the little one to decorate, It was just the right activity I feel for a toddler as it required little prep enabling her to start right away and didn’t take so long that it got abandoned and left half finished. I Think next time I might be a bit more creative and use one of these great ideas rather than a preformed shape, certainly would be better for encouraging the little ones creativity.

http://lifestyle.allwomenstalk.com/sweet-diy-sun-catchers-to-make

Climbing high!

This was taken the other day on one of our trips to the local park. As I watched her nimbly climb her way to the top I must say I was quite taken aback at this latest feat!I found this particularly amazing I think as this is a skill that the little one can’t practice at home as we don’t have any stairs.
It made me realize and appreciate how quickly information is absorbed, she watched as I most likely quite clumsily climbed up and she was quite fast in her ascent to the top although one there she did wobble with panic as she was now “stuck”!
She’ll be able to manage that wobbly bridge in no time as soon as she improves her balance enough so she dosn’t fall through the gaps lol
🙂

The bedtime battle!

What I want to know is what happened to the baby girl that came home from the hospital and at the age of 10 weeks started sleeping through the night every night!
We recently have transformed her cot into a bed and she was very happy with her new bed, we did our best to keep her involved in the change letting her watch as daddy took the cot apart to helping make the bed and choose her teddies!
The downside (for us) is this new found freedom to get up when one likes means getting the small one to stay in her bed is a pain and I am quite sure that 6:30 is too early to get up in the morning!