Bike Lights in the Fruit Bowl

Flower pressing...with weeds

One of my favourite activities of the last few weeks has been flower pressing.   It started one sunny day when our patio garden had sprung back into life after the horrible cold winter.  It's a little unloved. Despite it's small size I'm still struggling to properly tame it and make it into an urban oasis.  Yet amongst the chaos flowers were popping up and cascading over the fence from next door.  Little M would have picked every single flower in sight if I'd let her - pressing the flowers seemed like a good diversion to continue the flower based activities without destroying the garden!

Everything we used was grabbed on the spur of the moment - some scrap paper torn into appropriate sizes, a pile of books...and the flowers - that's it.  I had a flower pressing kit when I was young but this rough and ready approach seemed to work just as well. We layered the flowers between pieces of paper - I think we had three layers.  Then we picked a few heavy books - one went on the bottom, then the flowers and then about five more on top.  I popped it on top of a high bookshelf where it would be out of reach and easily forgotten.  I actually expect little M to be pestering to see them every day but the spot I picked was well tucked away and she forgot about them completely I think.

Until one day when we needed something to lighten the mood!  Hey presto - instant sunshine!

 

 

I stepped outside and covered some coloured paper with spray glue - probably not very environmentally friendly but I've had it languishing in the draw for years and this seemed like a good chance to make use of it.  It worked a treat as the fragile flowers could be laid straight onto the paper.

 

The results were slightly chaotic - little M got rather excited by the whole process and stuck nearly all the flowers down in about two minutes! A great two minutes fun though!

I think we should hide flowers on top of the book case more often to whip out when we both need a little cheering up.  I don't think we'll ever quite repeat little M's amazement when she opened up the papers and found the pressed flowers but I'm sure we'll have fun with this many times.

 

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.

 

Time to...

Time, eh?  Life's been feeling a bit hectic recently.  I get to the end of most days with that 'not enough time in the day' feeling.  

Some of the reasons are good.  Great in fact - long cycle rides in the sunshine, picnics, exploring new parks, visiting friends and family, peaceful moments soaking in the last of the evening's sun at the allotment. All valid reasons, in my book, to let a teeny backlog of chores develop.

Some are less good.  Bedtime wrangles and night-time wakings from little people, forced early nights to stave off exhaustion, juggling work diaries with my other half and the inevitable 'split-shift' some days as working in the evening becomes essential after an early nursery pick-up cuts the work day in two. 

And some stuff fits neatly in the middle.  Like holidays (yippee) that prove more expensive and tricky to organise than anticipated (boo hiss).  I have to admit to getting unreasonably grumpy at times this week because the only non-chore activity I've done most evenings has been flailing around the internet for accommodation in New York...for 4th July...in the week when airbnb's legality was questioned. Talk about timing!  We found a corker in the end and I can't wait. 

There's nothing like a hectic life to make me value time that I can truly call my own.  Time to myself, time to give something (like my children for example!) my undivided attention, time to expand horizons beyond day-to-day routines.  And to ponder how happy I am with how I spend my time.  A welcome kick-up the arse disguised as tiredness and stress (I can always find a bright-side to situations if I try hard enough...took quite a while to find this one!). 

I'm giving myself a pat on the back for spending lots more time outdoors, enjoying rambling around our mini-plot with the girls and going on adventures with our new bike trailer.  And accepting (or at least trying to accept) the slight domestic chaos that results.  When Martin was away for a week with work, the bike trailer gave me such freedom to explore with the girls in tow. And we've enjoyed cycling as a family too - 26km on the spur of the moment on a sunny bank hols!  More on that soon, I promise.

But I definitely haven't cracked the eternal conundrum yet.  I'm constantly pondering what can I do quicker, wondering what should I prioritise, trying to figure out how can I create more time for things I enjoy.  And reluctantly thinking about what I have to sigh and admit defeat about (perhaps at least temporarilly) - like the home improvement tasks that languish unloved in various corners of the flat.  I realistically get a couple of childfree hours once every two to three weeks when I could do noisy or messy home improvement stuff.  But actually I'd like a haircut, or to go for a swim, or to go out with my camera - all things that can be hard to achieve in that far too short part of the day when the kids are in bed and the chores are done.

What on earth are you doing writing a blog I hear you ask.  I've asked myself the same question a few times recently.  Well.  I enjoy writing the blog, the different mental space it takes me to, the new inspiration I've discovered through bloggy connections I've made, and how it encourages me to take a step back and think about how I spend my time.  I'll admit that, now I'm back at work, extra screen-time doesn't always sit well - I very rarely blog after a day in the office even if I do have time. But after a day scrambling around the floor with children it's a welcome retreat.  A reminder to make some time for me.

So I'm going to stick with it.

As time, including time I spend blogging, is precious I'm going to do my best to blog about the things I care about most.  In my mind I'm a fanatical foodie, a DIY goddess, an avid edible-gardner, a charity-shop bargain finding queen, a slow-travelling adventurer, a dazzlingly brilliant make-do-and-mender, jam-maker extrordinaire, living in a social whirl with an amazing musical soundtrack and changing the world by working three days a week.   Oh...and a mother with endless patience who simultaneously inspires and comforts my brood.   I might be all of those things if I had five times as much time on my hands!   I'm doing quite well at jam making.

The things I really, really love are good food, cycling, travelling, spending time outdoors, learning new things, and quirky back street cafes.  And having a career I'm passionate about...saving world and all that jazz. 

I'll be doing my best to combine those with that small mothering thing! And seeing more of my friends and family.  So I now need to work out how far the cycle ride is to see all my friends and family, and where the best places are to get food along the way.  You think I'm joking? Only half perhaps!

That lot should give me plenty to write about.  I might occassionally divert into recycled craftiness, or posts about squishing domestic chores back in their box and sustainable living ideas that don't use up too much precious time.

I'm planning to post a few highlights of the last few weeks in the next few days...mostly bike rides.  

And will do my best to make this the last time I ramble away about lack of sleep or time.   Life's too short.

 

Vegful feasts: pimp your meatballs

I promised at the end of our veggie month to start a series of posts of vegful feasts - great meals that are either vegetarian, or have loads of extra veg tucked inside to make the meat go further, without sacrifising on taste.  So here's my first one.   And it's a corker (even if I do say so myself).  

One of my favourite recipes of all time is Nigel Slater's lamb and beetroot meatballs.  Coming from someone that only started eating meat and beetroot - both slightly reluctantly - a couple of years ago that's a pretty big compliment!  They're one of the most flavourful, succulent things I've ever tasted.  Along with the lamb and beetroot they contain a good garlic punch, fresh dill and parsley, and bulgar wheat (and a few other store cupboard bits and bobs too). When cooked it's amazing - the additional ingredients seem to enhance the flavour of the meat rather than dilute it.  Having grown up on a traditional meat and two veg diet this truly inspired way of cooking meat that is a revelation to me.

Another current favourite along similar lines are the amazing turkey, courgette and cumin mini-burgers in one of my favourite cookbooks, Jeruselum by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.  They're a delicious mixture of minced turkey, grated courgette, fresh herbs, cumin, spring onions with some cayenne pepper and an egg to bind them together.  The recipe suggests using fresh corriander and mint.  I've actually tried them with various combinations of parsley, corriander and mint and they've all tasted great. I actually added some bulgar wheat to these once too as we had guests coming and the recipe portions are a bit stingy - still lovely.

I'm not including the full recipe here - partly because I don't want to fall foul of copyright law - but mainly because the beauty of this idea is that, following a pretty basic approach you can add whatever amazing veg and flavours you fancy.  

You can pretty much see the basic process in the pictures above:

1. Put your minced meat, grated veg, herbs, cooked carbs (e.g. bulgar wheat or couscous) and spices in a bowl, add an egg (or just some leftover egg white if you have some that needs using up). For 400g to 500g of meat it seems like you can add 200g to 250g of grated veg and around 75g (dried weight) of carbs.

2. Squish everything together with your hands and shape into small patties.

3. Fry the patties until browned on all sides and then finish of in a medium hot oven until cooked through - 10 to 20 mins depending on the size.

4. Serve with a tangy yoghurty dressing of some sort - the turkey burgers below have a zesty sauce with added sumac.

The two combinations I mention are definitely worth seeking out.  They're going to stay on our menu as firm favourites.  Little M is a particular fan (although we've toned the garlic down a bit for her) and even the fussy little M has braved the lamb ones.  I'm also looking forward to experimenting a bit.  Top tips for new combos welcome!

My garden is a bit lacking in herbs at the moment so I usually have to buy big buches from the shops for recipes like these.  Fresh pesto is a great way to use up the leftovers.  I tried out a new recipe for coriander pesto that I discovered in The Simple Things magazine (well worth a read) after making the turkey patties.  Very zingy and morish - it didn't last long!

I really do have enough great cookbooks but I'm quite tempted by this one - a whole host more meatball inspiration!

 

Child-friendly, sustainable hotel...next to a beach...by train.

"Look! The sea's waving!" said little M, as we sped down to Cornwall via the beautiful coastal train line last March.  It was so cute that I was almost in tears in the middle of the carriage - I'll blame pregnancy hormones and lost sleep because of an offspring-breathing-difficulties-hospital-drama a couple of days prior.  To say I was looking forward to a few days at Bedruthan Hotel & Spa, a child-friendly, sustainable, luxury (in my view!) hotel, five minutes walk from a beach  - a treat for my first week of maternity leave before little L arrived - was an understatement.  And seeing little M start to get excited about a change of scene was the icing on the cake.  I wasn't disappointed and have been plotting a return trip ever since.  My birthday weekend, the bank holiday weekend just gone, seemed like a great excuse!

I have to admit our return visit didn't start off well.  Fretting about negotiating rush hour public transport with children and luggage to catch our 10am train, we opted for a taxi to Paddington station...and missed our train.  It was a HUGE relief when I realised our tickets, booked a couple of months earlier and promptly erased from my memory, were flexible (valuable lessons in there somewhere!).  We caught a later train, still feeling chuffed that we hadn't had to buy new tickets, and things started looking up after that.  

Bedruthan is in an amazing location on the North Cornish coast, with beautiful sea views and steps winding directly down to lovely sandy beach.  It's a great place to escape to for fresh air, good food, fun for the kids and some rare quality time together for mum and dad too.  When we first visited, I was almost 8 months pregnant and really wanted the easy option - maximum holiday fun with minimum effort.  Swimming pool, indoor adventure playground, lots of outdoor play areas, a spa, free childrens club, and a baby-monitor service so you can enjoy a leisurely child-free dinner in one of the hotel's two restaurants - no brainer really.  I was slightly lighter on my feet this time but still appreciated having all the ingredients of a great holiday a stone's throw away - a great car-free family break.

We started our holiday, after a quick family swim and kids tea-time, with an adults only dinner in the hotel's Herring restaurant whilst relaxing to the sound of a very talented accoustic guitar player and watching a beautiful sunset over the sea. I had some great sustainably sourced scallops, and pan-fried monkfish (I think - although I might be getting confused with the following night, which was also lovely) with unsual and very tasty fennel and licorice aacompaniments.  Despite a couple of trips downstairs to check on activity from little L the evening seemed to drift by gently - not something I've experienced for a while. We ate in the Wild Cafe other nights and had some very tasty food and sunset views there too, if not quite the repeat of the ambience of the first night.

On the Saturday we booked the children into The Beehive, the onsite children's club, for a couple of hours (free of charge!).  We knew little M would love it - she kept asking to go back last time - but surprisingly, little L who had take quite a while to relax properly at nursery, also took to it like a duck to water - a testement to the staff and a sign that little L is growing up!  I used the break to indulge in a birthday treat massage and facial - bliss - and Martin relaxed in the spa.     

The rest of our time was spent pinging between the beach, the swimming pool, the outdoor and indoor play areas.  The beach was a massive highlight since we were blessed with gorgeous weather.  Little L had her first paddle in the sea, we all had a go at flying our kite, and it was great to see little M meandering around the beach enjoying a vastly different horizon to her usual city streets.  The girls both loved the ball pools in the indoor play area - I thought little L would be a bit young for most of the equipment just a few weeks after her first birthday but she loved it, and pretty much shunned the separate baby area full of soft things to climb on in favour of the big girls toys!  

We stayed in a 'standard villa' - an ensuite room with a childrens' sleeping area divided off by a cupboard and a blind.  The best feature was the sea view and the patio opening on the main childrens' play area.  While little L napped, Martin and I sat in the sun watching little M hanging with her crew of older girls in the playground.  There was a slightly amusing moment when the boys were playing football and the girls all sat on the grass verge watching!! A reminder of how strong social norms can be even at age 3! We also had a tiny kitchen with microwave, handy for heating up milk, just a few meters down the corridor.

I didn't do much detective work on the hotel's sustainability credentials whilst I was there - I was too busy holidaying.  There's info on their website here.  Lots of things they do are clear to see - plenty of local, seasonal food and sustainable fish on all the hotel menus, the standard hotel policies on waiting to replace towels etc. until asked, and more unique touches like the organic, locally made, shampoo bars (as in bar of soap) they provide for guests.  And a treat if you turn up without a car - ten percent off our first night last time and a bottle of prosecco this time (well almost - we ended up with the price of the bottle discounted after a bit of confusion - still a lovely touch though).  The hotel is still run by the daughters of the original owners and I'm pretty sure they genuinely care about doing the right thing.  The whole place has a lovely vibe.  The staff are also very friendly and very...err...human, you know - not like they've had to be trained to be hospitable.    

There were one or two minor quibbles - an under-whelming, custard-like "bitter chocolate" desert, one or two incandenscent light bulbs spotted in the cafe, slightly slow service in the cafe on one occasion, and internet that was pretty patchy in our room - the last one on the corridor. But like I said - they're minor and didn't detract from a great holiday.

I was wondering if Cornwall was too far for a long weekend.   We had such a lovely time that I won't have doubts again - I'm thinking of making it an annual birthday treat.  We all felt properly refreshed by our break - amazing given little L's monkey business at night, which was worse than usual on account of a new tooth on the way (only 13 more to go:-( ).   The train journeys there and back seemed to whizz by - the lovely views definitely help.  Little M keeps asking "When can we go back to the hotel?" and excitedly blurting out "swimming pool", "ball pool" "hotel" to friends she's bumped into since the weekend.  I feel like we've discovered a little gem that we'll return to for a little pick-me up once a year at least (budget permitting!).

The transport low down: We travelled from London Paddington to Bodmin Parkway which took approx 3 hrs 45mins and cost around £150 for the whole family (two adult and one child tickets with a family rail card). A taxi from Bodmin Parkway to the hotel is around £40.  The hotel booked a local biotaxi for us.

P.S. We paid for our holiday at Bedruthan - I don't do sponsored reviews (although I might have made an exception to go here!) on my blog.

Mummy, can I feed the worms?

Finally, a  few frost free weeks!  I am really, really enjoying the sunshine.  It's much, much more relaxing spending time outdoors with the girls when it's not freezing cold or tipping it down with rain.   And so we've finally started thinking about growing things again.  Our estate is modest - a large raised bed around the edge of our patio garden and a small (about the size of a single bed) plot in the grounds of a local climbing centre - but I intend to make the most of our tiny taste of rural life in the city!

Through the long winter our resident worms remind us that, one day the sun will shine and we'll be able to get growing, whiling away the hours with dirt between our fingers.  We invested in a wormery a couple of years ago.  It seemed ridiculous to be sending our vegetable scraps off to be composted by the local council, only to then find it a big hassle to find, and transport, the bags of peat-free compost we wanted for growing a few veggies.  Making our own compost makes a lot of sense practically and is a great environmental education tool.  I had no idea it would be such a hit with little M.  She loves it.  

Little M often asks "Mummy, can I feed the worms" please.  We bought a 'Worm Cafe' kit complete with some 'worm treat' to keep the worms healthy.  It really captured her imagination and she has developed a near obsession for dishing out the worm treat.  She'll happily sit tearing up egg boxes for them and always reminds me to save some scraps for the worms when we're cooking together.  The first time a nursery pal came around for a play-date she was proudly taken outside to help feed the worms.  Let's not dwell so much on the time that little M threatened to feed Dee Dee Dragon, little L's favourite toy, to the worms in a moment of  sibbling jealously!

Despite little M's enthusiam, our worms have been a tiny bit neglected, hidden behind kitchen remnants and builders rubble during our refurbishment work last autumn and then just on the receiving end the horribly long winter we've just had.  But quite a lot of them are still working away so we had a lovely crop of compost ready to harvest to give the veggies we've been planting this week a good start.  Little M was delighted to dig out a carrier bag full to take up to the mini-plot, pretty pleased with the results of all her months of feeding the worms.

The girls and I spent a lovely day this week pottering around the garden and (after a slightly fraught trip to the garden centre) finally getting a few things planted in our mini-plot.  It felt idyllic.  We shared a picnic in the sunshine and had fun spotting tadpoles in the wildlife pond that's tucked away in a hidden corner.  Two over-excited small children and a pond left no hands free for snapping a picture - little L really wanted to dive in and was wrigglier than the tadpoles - but I have a picture etched in my mind of four tiny hands reaching to touch the tadpoles with the sun glinting on the water.

The only things left living in the plot were a couple of strawberry plants and a few forgotten onions.  One onion provide a welcome decoy for an enthusiastic little L who spent long enough dipping it in and out of the watering can for little M and I to get a few plants and seeds into their new homes. We've got plenty of seeds left to get going at home - great entertainment for a spare half hour on a weekday.  Little L wants to be outside all the time.  I don't blame her - you can see in her face how excited she is by her first ever experiences of independent exploring in the sunshine.  I think we'll be spending lots of time in our very modest 'garden' this summer.  Kids instinctively know what the good things in life are!

Real nappies at nursery

It's Real Nappy Week - time for a nappy update!  I've used real nappies for quite a while - a nappy laundry service to start with for little M and more recently washing little L's myself at home.  We'll be using them for the next year or so (unless little L's slightly unnerving attempts to potty train herself this week continue).  Little L, who has just turned 1, now goes to a day nursery 3 days a week as I'm back at work.  Seems like a good time to share my experiences of using real nappies when your little one is at nursery.

We actually have a pretty simple system. We take enough nappies for the day into the nursery each morning in a small wet-bag.  We tend to leave them a few extra inserts (the absorbent bits that go inside a coloured, waterproof cover) and a roll of liners to make up extra nappies if they need to and one or two disposables as back-up.  The carers happily use the nappies and then give us the wet bag back at the end of the day full of dirty nappies.   It seems to work fine.  You could easily take a bigger batch in at the start of the week - nurseries are usually acustomed to storing big packs of disposables.  We find it more manageable to take small amounts each day as we're travelling by bike (post coming soon on this!)

I've found some differences to using nappies at home.  At home I would rinse a nappy cover that had only had a tiny bit of wee on it and use it once or twice more throughout the day.  The nursery staff don't do this as they have nowhere handy to dry them.  I tend to make up the nappies for the day and they just use them as they would a pile of disposables.  This does mean it's handy to have a few extra covers as by the end of the day, even if they have only been used once, the covers are not really in a fit state to rinse and re-use.

I guess the first step we took was to ask the nursery if they're happy to use the nappies.  Ours was completely fine with it, as were others we visited when we were first choosing which one to send little M to.  Our nursery actually had the large nappy bin from the laundry service on site for a while when one family found it more convenient to have the nappy collection from the nursery rather than their home.  Whilst it feels polite to ask the nursery staff...really there's very little for them to get stressed about.  The system we use means that little L has a nice neat basket of nappies, wipes, cream etc. just the same as all the other children.  Modern washable nappies are pretty easy to use.  AND nurseries pay to get rid of your kid's dirty nappies - if more parents use real nappies, they might be able to trim down their waste collection bills.  I think, you should assume it's fine - it's a completely reasonable thing to expect that you can continue using real nappies at nursery. 

Fancy trying out some nappies for yourself?  Have a potter around cyber-space as there are few competitions on the go at the moment - try this Real Nappy Week Facebook page or the 'Go Real' site.  Or if you're lucky enough to live in one of the eight London Borough's taking part, you can grab yourself a Real Nappies for London completely free voucher that you can use to buy yourself some nappies or sample a laundry / home delivery service.

I wrote about getting back on the real nappy wagon for my first green challenge when I started this blog - you can find the posts here.  And about night-time real nappy success here.

Probably about time I stopped rambling on about nappies now!

 

Little L is one!

This time last year we were just settling into life as a family of 4 with our new arrival, little L.  Like so many significant life events it seems so recent that I can hardly believe it was her first birthday earlier this week, and at the same time the day she was born feels like an age ago.   I certainly feel like I've known her forever.   I love the tradition of marking birthdays with a letter.  This is my first proper attempt so I'm going to make it short and sweet.  

Dear Lovely Little L,

I love you no matter what you do, and always will, but there are so many things you do that make it so very easy.  

I love your let-me-at-it attitude.  So keen to join in your sister's games, so keen to explore, to try new things.  You dive straight into everything.  Not like a bumbling fool, but like you know, even at your tender age, that life should be lived to the full.  You're often a step ahead of me - you got yourself some old shoes out the cupboard just before you started walking a few weeks ago.  I particularly love it when you rock-out with a little wriggle-jig if you like some music, or anything else that's happening.  Keep on climbing!

I love that you tell it like it is.  You're often quite a handful , very vocal when something's not right which - with troublesome teeth, a very healthy appetite and a big sister who can be over enthusiastically cuddling you one minute then stealing your toys in a fit of jealously the next - can be quite often.  Then when everything's hunky dory you're so delightfully straightforward - you play with toys in the way they supposed to be played with, then experiment a bit with new combinations pleasing yourself with your new discoveries. Keep on being demanding of life.

It is hard not to find your love of food endearing.   You've eaten pretty much anything you can get your hands on since the moment we let you near food (except mushy peas - you have some taste!).  The serious but contented expression on your face as you tuck into your food always makes me smile.  It broke my heart to see you subdued and still when you had a serious stomach bug and fever a few weeks ago.  You so wanted to eat, but your tummy AND your teeth hurt so much. Miserable for most people but I fear it was like torture for you.  Once on the mend you looked so happy after each meal and ate almost every hour to regain lost ground!  Keep on enjoying one of life's greatest pleasures.

I love your determination.  You started walking a few weeks ago and I'm sure it won't be long before you're racing across the park with little M.  Your determination to walk further each day and the grin on you face when you manage a few extra steps is amazing.  Your own excitement is usually the only thing that makes you wobble!  Always keep on trying.

I love your sense of humour.  You started teasing us when you seemed implausibly young, offering us a little of your precious food only to whisk it out of reach with amazing comedy timing.  You find humour in things that should require understanding beyond your years. Keep on pulling our legs!

I love your timing.  After giving us a tougher year that we could have ever imagined in the sleep department, you pulled it out the bag last week, the week I returned to work, and have finally shown us you can sleep through the night.  I really hope it's something you'll grow to love - you'll be rewarded by more frequent appearances of your dad and my sense of humour.  Watch out, before long we'll be teasing you back! 

And I'm so amused that the first clear words you say regularly are "poo poo"!   And you say it so cutely.  There's a story behind this but I'm trying to keep this short...

I constantly fight the urge to compare you to your sister.  It should be no surprise that you're uniquely you.  And whilst you are so very different to little M, you're also so similar.  You'd be the best playmates if we didn't have to constantly supervise to make sure no one gets hurts by your shared exuberance.  I can't wait to see what mischief you both get up as you grow stronger, wiser, and no doubt funnier together.

Gosh - it was hard to keep that short.  You bring so much sunshine into our family, and to other people you meet.  I'm really looking forward to chatting, laughing, eating and exploring with you lots more this year. 

Love

Your mum (Fiona) 

Taming our TV tyranny

Little M absolutely loves TV.  I think most of the programmes on Cbeebies are great and quite like a spot of Holly, Ben et al myself.  But...despite the good programmes, I wasn't feeling great about our TV viewing habits a while ago.  Various illnesses and some very disturbed nights meant that some days both me and little M were both a bit too keen on her screen time.  

However much TV viewing you think is appropriate, I'm sure you'll be with me when I say I get soooo sick of having to fend off little M's enthusiastic pestering to watch TV.  The effect of the pestering on our conversations seems worse than her watching too much TV!  There are hundreds of other things I'd rather talk to her about. 

We successfully tamed the TV tyranny using a very simple trick - I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.  We set specific times throughout the day when little M is allowed to watch 1 programme.  The programme could be from the catch-up menu we get through our cable TV package, from BBCiplayer on our computer or an episode from the handful of DVDs we have.  We stuck a sign in front of the TV with pictures for little M and words to remind Martin and myself of what they mean.

I'm sure some people set time limits.  I've never tried this because turning a programme off before it (and its full theme tune) has ended sends little M in complete meltdown.  The pick-a-programme approach means I don't have to hover around waiting for precisely the right moment to press the off switch.  I find manageable short bursts of TV at strategically useful times throughout the day a really useful.  Little L, thankfully, has learnt to settle herself to sleep now but trying to get her to sleep with little M rattling around the flat, occasionally popping in to say hello and ask all manner of random questions or requests, was virutally impossible at times.  TV is the only thing that would buy me a 10-15 minute window.  We occasionally swap a time.  For example there's usually a programme while I make dinner but sometimes, if little M has helped or been playing in the kitchen with me, she'll watch a programme after dinner instead.

The last month has been blighted with ill health - little M' had her worst wheezy episode since her first almost exactly a year ago.  Poor little L had a miserable week with the Norovirus. And I had hardly any sleep.  Needless to say the TV viewing (and surprise, surprise, the pestering too) has crept up.  But this week we're all feeling about 90 per cent better so we've been back on the pick-a-programme bandwagon and feeling better for it.  It has taken a few days for the pestering to die down but it always seems to eventually.  A bit of negotiation is fun - constant pestering is not.

The debate about how much TV our kids should or shouldn't be watching is quite heated (interesting new research here).  I don't want to wade too far into that debate but it doesn't take a top child psychologist to work out that life's full of loads of interesting and useful things that small people need to experience, learn and practice. Keeping TV viewing in check is the only way to find time for all this other great stuff too. But I'm pretty sure a good dose of the Octonauts won't do too much harm!

 

Thrifty organic baby oil

I'm quite cautious about what I put on my own and the girls' skin.  We have eczema in the family (me for a start!) and I've spent too much time reading about what effects the cocktail of chemicals in many everyday toiletries can potentially have on our health.  I now view anything other than the simplest products with suspicion!  We got great advice from the hospital doctors when both our girls were born.  Both doctors stressed that most 'baby' lotions and potions in the shops were unnecessary and not great for little ones' skin.  They suggested the simplest products of all were best: water for bathing (after the first week or two), and a little oil occasionally, in bath water or directly massaged into skin, to prevent dryness.  Little M's doctor recommended olive oil.  By the time little L arrived sunflower oil was in favour.  The particular balance of fatty acids in olive oil can occasionally inflame sensitive skin apparently, sunflower oil much less so.

You can buy lovely organic oils for babies, including sunflower oil blends.  Basic organic sunflower is a great, thrifty alternative.  I've just bought a 500ml bottle for less than £3 in my local slightly-over-priced-fancy-organic-stuff shop.  I'm sure it can be found even more cheaply elsewhere.  

I came over a bit bathroom proud and decided to decant mine into something a bit nicer looking - a bottle I was given, filled with tasty elderflower cordial, as a wedding favour last summer.  Any old glass bottle, cleaned and with the label removed would also work.  Little M was saying how lovely this smelt tonight at bathtime so no need to buy the fancy smelling ones on her account!

Fancy treating your own little ones to something a bit special, or want a lovely gift for a new baby?  I can recommend this.  I'd never have thought of describing a baby oil as snuggly but this certainly justifies the name. I was given some of this as a gift once and loved it.  And it's reasonably priced too...as fancy organic baby oils go!

P.S. We do have bubbles in the bath sometimes - life wouldn't be much fun without bubbles would it!