A View from the Playground

Christmas Thoughts

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:46:00 GMT

Five years ago, I would never have pictured myself where we are today. We had been trying for a baby for a while unsuccessfully and trying to sell our ex-council house, unsuccessfully. I did feel miserable, the only way I could make myself feel better was to go to the Liberty shop in London and spend more money than is sensible on a Mui Mui handbag.

Now, I live in a lovely detached house in a nice suburban road. I have two beautiful children and after a hard year health wise I feel better than ever. I have a doting husband and a lovely family. All I want for Christmas is for them to be happy and healthy next year.

For me, Christmas is always retrospective. It's a marker in the year to assess where I am, what I'm doing and what has happened to family, friends and myself.

I think its important to try to explain the meaning of Christmas to the children and that is why we took part in providing the Church Travelling Crib with an overnight stay . I have also been reading the Lion Children's Bible to them at bedtime. I am not sure they understand it all yet, I'm not sure I do. But I hope that its a start in introducing them to the potential benefits that a little bit of faith can bring to life. I want my children to appreciate what they have and how lucky they are compared to others in the world. I think its important to think about the homeless, children who may not have the luxury of both parents and those who are lonely or sick.

However, I do not want them to dwell on this and worry at their age. I want them to feel the excitement and joy that I felt when I was little. Waking up in the middle of the dark night to see a pillowcase of presents at the end of my bed. Feeling desperate to open a tiny unnoticeable crack of wrapping paper, just so I could see what was contained within. Trying to keep one eye open all night long, just so I could see Father Christmas with his delivery.

This is the first Christmas since I was little that I feel really excited about. I know for sure that Toddler boy understands what is going on. The anticipation of watching him open his presents is all too much. Now I understand what all the fuss is about. Christmas is the reward for all the sleepless nights, tantrums, sickness and worry throughout the year. The birth of Jesus helps to place yourself and your life in context and it's the start of another incredible journey.

I hope you all have a lovely, healthy, joyous Christmas!

S'nowthing Like a Bit of Cold Glass

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:53:00 GMT

The first snow in months, little noses pressed against cold glass, a slight fluttering in my tummy; I have so much to do, please, please don't let this snow settle, until Christmas Eve at least. That's the funny thing about snow isn't it? When you are between one and fourteen years old it is THE best thing ever, once you reach that magical age of self-consciousness about falling over, the magic goes. It's a nuisance. Unless you happen to be on a lovely Ski holiday, that is.

Snow fills Toddler boy with great joy, he can remember the last lot of snow. His baby sister wasn't even a month old. I can remember the trip he dragged me on to our local Waitrose, the buggy literally bogged down in the snow stands out very clearly. In fact, most of my adult memories of snow, other than of skiing are of the sort of misery that comes with it. Clearing the snowy ice from the car, slippy sliding places, that special level of cold which chills you to the bone and so forth.

However, deep within the cavernous recesses of my brain lurk childhood snow memories. I can clearly remember building snow men, snowball fights and clearing snow with my dad. These are the sorts of memories that I hope that my children will have. The way they were both bizarrely licking the cold glass in anticipation of getting out in the snow earlier, I think somehow they will. I just need to regain my youthful enthusiasm for all things chilly.

A Working Mummy

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:36:00 GMT

You may have noticed a lack of activity around these parts recently. Well, it's down to the fact that I have returned to work. That went quick! At the moment, we are facing all the usual working mummy issues; poorly children picking up germs here there and everywhere and passing them on, mainly to me, a lack of time to do the housework and general all encompassing tiredness for all. I am told that it will pass. For sure, the first few weeks were the worst and with time, I am getting more and more used to the demands of work and home. I would even go so far as to say that I think it might be doing us all good. The children have definitely benefited from the diversity of activities and the opportunities for socialising that comes with playgroup and being at the childminders. I have moments where I feel like a normal human being, peaceful sips of warm tea are a great tonic for the mummy of two pre-schoolers. However, I do also feel a little bit guilty. Guilty about leaving the children with someone other than their mummy at such a young age and guilty for enjoying some of the peaceful moments without them. Therein lies the quandary of work and motherhood.

A Few Toddler Activity Ideas

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:33:00 GMT

One of the things that I have been struggling with recently is simply entertaining the kids. With winter well and truly on its way, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and I find myself unable to open the patio doors and let the kids run free. Its all too tempting to turn the television on. However, I'm trying really hard not to do this, especially after recent local NCT discussions on just how bad television can be for them. We have been doing the usual things; colouring, playdough and painting. However, after a while these get a bit boring, so I have been trying to do a few more unusual craft activities. You might like to have a go at the following;

Making spiders webs out of spagetti, PVA glue or selloptape
Making replica fireworks
Making paperchains- this has proved really popular
Potato printing- a classic activity which is often forgotten
Bubble printing- put washing up liquid in a bowl with some food dye and plenty of water. get your toddler to blow down the straw into the water to create lots of bubbles and put the paper on top
Creating plays from sock puppets

If you have any more ideas please share them in the comments section.

The Winter of my Discontent

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Storm clouds have been brewing over St Albans all day, don't you think? Anyway, the bloke up the road reckons that snow will be due this week as his boiler has broken down. I was clearly rather surprised. Well, somewhere in England anyhow was the crestfallen reply. I met him on my return from the doctors, my three week coldy fluey thing finally requiring antibiotics- or so I thought.
Anyway, I waited my turn, braving plaque, norovirus, small pox and the elderly need for a chat. My diagnosis? You have a cold. MMM thanks, I thought that, but they don't normally last this long. Still, I was vindicated as the acute conjunctivitis which is apparently part and parcel of a cold was requiring of antibiotic drops, perhaps I should drink the fluid instead.
Pondering all this, I wandered past St Albans Abbey to get my prescription from big brand pharmacy. (I feel a bit embarrassed constantly going to local pharmacy for drugs, they might think I'm always ill.) There I was alone, except for baby and red coat when a teenager came up to me. It, ( I cant tell the sex these days ) said, This is the Winter of My Discontent and walked off just as enigmatically. Two thoughts crossed my mind, firstly, I bet you are a public school pupil and secondly, just wait till you have kids...

I'm Still Waiting for Dinner

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:35:00 GMT

Twitter chums will know that by last Friday I had just about had enough and the last thing I could be bothered to do was to cook a dinner. It had been a demading few weeks. I decided that my plan of action would be to walk up to meet hubby, with the kids in the pushchair and splash out on a dinner out. Hooray! A Friday night treat, a rare and endangered thing of such awesome specialness that I cannot tell you how much it is appreciated. Sort of like winning the lottery in an attainable way. Twitter friends helped by pointing me in the direction of some money saving vouchers, wahey! A plan, now to convince the hubby, I had no worries on that front, for he is after all, a man that does as he is told.

The usual pre- pushchair outing checks; change bag full, spare clothes, food, dummies. Voucher. Umbrella. Coats on kids. Appropriate comforters. Handbag. Lights on, television off. Baby Fifi strapped into the Phil & Teds, Toddler Boy strapped into the Phil & Teds. Yep, that's it, all set to go.

THEN. Bleeurgghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A cold sweat came over me. I considered briefly, just running away and leaving home. After all, I could still have my dinner. Yes, that's right Toddler boy, projectile vomited, in a scene reminiscent of Exorcist, all over the brand new, hard fought over Phil & Teds Pushchair seat. I must say, though, at this moment the key benefit of having this type of pushchair was demonstrated. In a tandem buggy, both would have been covered head to foot in the foul juice of Beelzebub.

One of the dilemmas of having two children was then illustrated graphically to me. What do you do first? Save baby Fifi from the potentially drip, drip, drip of sick coming at her through the pushchair? Remove Toddler boy from the sick and clean him up? I opted for the later, hoping that the material had a little bit of sick resistance. Once Toddler boy was reasonably clean, I then removed Fifi to the safety of the play pen and set about cleaning the buggy, and cleaning and cleaning. I can't tell you how hard this was for me, as I am not the household sick monitor. Mainly due to the fact that sick seems to induce a natural sick retching reflux in myself which is hard to suppress.

A few minutes later the hubby strolled into Armageddon. He looked as if he might stroll back out, but to his credit he stayed and helped. This weekend we have had a few more sick incidents, including one in the bed. The worse thing though, is that it has not struck me, Fifi or the Hubby. Yet. So, in a way, we are waiting for dinner, just not in the way I had hoped this weekend.

Put Your Name Down Now!

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:28:00 GMT

The realisation that I will have to return to work soon, hit me with a hard blow this week. As I need to do something about childcare, I took it upon myself to weed out the finest nursery's St Albans has to offer, phone them and make appointment to visit them, should they have places. Life can deal you some hard knocks; one by one, I was told that they were full with very long waiting lists. 'Fine', I said. 'Send me your application pack and I'll fill it in anyhow'. On receiving the application packs its appears that most nursery's charge just for putting your name down, prices seem to vary from £35 to £75, this is not refundable. So thats more money down the drain then. There were two nursery's with spaces, one has the worst Ofsted report in St Albans, the other has a good one. Childminders are another option, you are a better peson than me if you can find one with appropriate spaces to keep the pair of them together. Ofsted will only allow a childminder to look after 3 under 5 year olds, most have their own little kids, or are full. So much for choice, looks like I dont have any. The moral of this tale is, if you are pregnant, and considering going back to work look at your childcare options and put your name down, now!

Reflections on Autumn

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 10:06:00 GMT

School is back, there is a distinct feel of autumn in the air. Relative peace has descended on our local park. Now is the time to enjoy brisk walks with the buggy without being buzzed by children on micro-scooters and having to duck flying footballs. The toddler can enjoy the tranquillity of the playground and I can enjoy counting the number of photographers and walkers I see as I perambulate around the lake. The speed upon which autumn has descended has made me feel a bit reflective about life and encouraged me to think back to my childhood. I remember looking at conkers, crunching newly fallen leaves and the excitement of the prospect of fireworks night.
As school is back, I feel that I should try to move our activities on from outdoor water play and kicking the football about. So this week, I have been trying to plan some activities for the toddler around an autumn theme using things we find on our travels. It wont be long before he reaches school age and these precious moments of calm and exploration at this time of year are lost. One of our activities has been to collect leaves so we can paint them and use them as little stamps on paper. The peaceful park has proved a goldmine of different leaves of all shapes, colours and sizes. Back home, our kitchen has slowly turned bright red, green and blue, as little hands seem intent on being wiped everywhere. I can tell you that the best leaves for this sort of project seem to be Sycamore and Oak, the others disintegrate. Regardless of the educational aspect of it all, fun has been had, leaves have been discussed and the toddler has been encouraged to open his eyes to the change that is slowly happening around him.

Stanborough Lakes

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:59:00 GMT

Normal 0

Verulamium Park this time of year is a mishmash of the young and old, football playing and wheelchair and pushchair bound. You never know what you might see and who you will encounter. Baby Fifi enjoys looking at the ducks, whilst the toddler positively wills the men with their remote control boats to appear. They usually do on a few Saturday's each year. However, its nice to do something differnent.

So, this week, we ventured a bit further afield to Stanborough Lakes in Welwyn Garden City. The idea was to try to satisfy the toddlers desire to see row-row boats. This has emerged following our annual holiday seaside holiday. What a nautical delight the place was. Not only were there rowing boats to look at, but a fully fledged sailing club. We stood on the very accessible banks of the lake looking at Toppers and Mirrors racing around the lake. I thought the toddler would explode with happiness and the baby seemed pleased to see all the sparkly colours. Stanborough lakes also seem to attract a large number of fishermen, we saw one man catch a large fish and then put it back into the water. We ate lollipops, ran around the play area and stood about a metre from a Comorant! All in all, well worth a visit.

Dalliances with Dogs

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:58:00 GMT

I think this will result in a lot of debate, but can I make an appeal to dog owners?

Please do not ask my toddler if they would like to stroke your dog. This must happen to us about two or three times a week. I find it a very awkward situation. As a parent, I know that I am not alone in this way of thinking. There are a number of reasons;

Although I do not want my children to be scared of dogs, I also do not want them to feel that they can approach any dog that they see out and about without consideration. I want them to have a healthy respect for animals. We have friends and family members who have dogs. My children can play with those animals to get a bit of confidence around dogs.

I also would like to create a bit of awareness in my children that they should not do what strangers say to them. As not all strangers are acting out of kindness.

Thirdly, I quite often give my children snacks whilst we are out and about. Sometimes I cannot easily wipe their hands after they have stroked your sometimes wet and muddy animal.

To the woman in Verulamium Park who was extremely rude to me when I attempted to request that she didn’t come up to my toddler and virtually demand that he stroke her dog;
My toddler did not have the slightest inclination to stroke your dog, being a shy and quiet little fella he was intimidated by you. Please have some consideration and respect. We were feeding the ducks and playing. We were happy in our own world. Moments like this are rare and precious enough. Although you meant your intrusion as a kindness, it spoiled our moment and my memory of this day will now be tainted by your annoyance with me. I did not ask you to intrude into our world. I did not ask for your opinion or interference. I fear you may have done more damage than good.

Where is the Best Place to Acquire a Bad Mood?

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:33:00 GMT

Normal 0 Today we took a trip to a certain local playground. I had visions of a happy time for my toddler and his friend, playing with other children, enjoying the slide and the swings in the sunshine. So, it’s the school holidays, but, this is a toddler-focussed playground. We should be safe there.
Think again, the toddler and his friend are lucky to escape without injury. We were confronted with hoards of parents sitting at benches chatting to eat other whilst their teenagers and 'older infants' literally terrorised the toddlers. At one point, I looked at my boy smiling innocently enough, then I looked up above him. To my absolute horror there was a child sliding across the roof of the baby slide which is probably at least 8 ft up. I looked around; all I could see was a woman looking at this in a really non-chalant manner. What does one do? As much as toddler boy would like to see the air ambulance, I don't think he would like to experience a ride in it in agony after he is flattened. I could feel my bad mood building. I wasn’t the only one, one mum I spoke to was also getting most annoyed.
We tried the swings, I decided that the toddler slide and climbing frames were far too dangerous with the big kids abusing them. This was traumatic as well, the toddler was happy enough, however, one family thought that it was an acceptable game to let their young teenager ride his scooter behind toddler boy in the few seconds when he was closer to me, than them. I pondered who might come off worse and hoped it was the teenager. Then, a family with yet another young teenager appeared next to us. Apparently, it was acceptable to let the teenager stand on a swing and lean about on it whilst their little one had a go on another swing. Not good, and bad manners when there is a queue of toddlers patiently waiting.
Being British, I restrained myself from saying anything. I just silently fumed. We left early. Funnily enough, as we strolled around the park I saw lots of slightly disappointed toddlers and a lot of parents with strained looks. Summer in the city can be difficult.

Avoiding the Crayons!

clairevictoriathornton@hotmail.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:23:00 GMT

"Uh oh! No!" The toddler has just spotted that the last piece of paper has finally been used up. There are no more scribbling possibilities as doing graffiti on the walls is a banned activity following The Black Crayon Incident. We must venture out. Going outside is a veritable feast of organisation and re-organisation with a toddler and baby. You need a pushchair, a mountain of nappies, wipes and little plastic bags to put them in. Heaven forbid you forget to take the appropriate drinks, snacks and a change of clothes. Just in case.

I’ve been researching the education activities at museums local to St Albans and we are in luck. Mill Green Museum is running a bread-making drop-in session. We love going to Mill Green as it’s a small friendly welcoming place. Perfect for toddlers to run around and enjoy. I can also easily manage to move the baby in the pushchair and park the car. Two of my recent concerns.

When we arrive at Mill Green, there are lots of people standing in the road directing traffic. I assume it’s the gas board or British Telecom doing something, as its such a quiet little place. No, its actually people directing the parking for the bread-making. It appears that between 350 and 500 people regularly attend these sessions. So much for my easy morning.

An hour or so later, the toddler is happily running about the garden at Mill Green eating his freshly made ‘bunny rabbit roll’. The sun is shining and all is right in the world. Yes, there were lots of people, but there was also plenty of space, lots of dough to go around and a general atmosphere of small children having the time of their life. That certainly beats staying in and fighting over the crayons.