Little Owl @ Two and a Half!

Two and a Half!  Isn't that so terribly grown up! 

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl is starting to use the potty completely on her own, occasionally presenting us with a full pot.

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl will climb the stairs on her own to fetch something from her bedroom (believe me, this is a long way and lots of stairs!)

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl has just grown two more molars, only two more milk teeth to go!

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl can swim several meters on her own, but hasn't worked out how to breath while swimming yet!  Little Owl can jump into the water and swim back to the side on her own, without any buoyancy aids.

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl has some concept of past and future, telling us that things can happen "later" "in a minute" "tomorrow" "Tuesday" "Friday" "next week" or if an event has already taken place it happened "yesterday" whether it was this morning or months ago!

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl is convinced that she is a "cheeky monkey" and therefore isn't a "good girl", "clever girl" or indeed any other type of girl.

@ Two and a Half, Little Owl has started asking "why" again but now has better comprehension to follow the conversation too.  "Why has the sun set?" led to a conversation starting with the sun being tired and going to bed, through the Earth rotating on an axis around the sun right up to God creating day and night.  Not sure how much she took in but it was quite fun exploring the subject!

Little Owl, to borrow your words, I love you "all much"!

My Sunday Photo

This cheeky monkey is two and a half!

Isn't that so terribly big?

Love her!

Work Life Parenting Balance

Just over a year ago I made the big decision to leave my permanent job in order to find something more flexible to allow me to parent little owl.

I had a great first year as a supply teacher although I always seemed to be working on Fridays when my mummy friends were off.  But I did manage to pack in lots to the 3 days Little Owl and I would spend together.

However, the money wasn't great, and because I only worked two days a week, it took me nearly the whole year to do my 12 week probation period and for my money to go up to a more reasonable amount.

September came around and the work didn't. Not until October. So now we were really skint. Finally a job came in. It could be a permanent job too if I want it to be (and I guess if they like me).  But its lots of hours.  The money really is great but my weeks aren't.

For the last 3 weeks I have worked for a couple of hours on a Monday lunchtime, Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday & Thursday all day leaving me with only Fridays off.  By the time I have got to Friday on the first week I was shattered and had had a lazy day with Little Owl.  A whole week gone and we'd done nothing special, no little outings, no friends seen, to trips to the swings, no baking or craft at home.

I felt very much like it on the second week too but I had plans, Little Owl and I had a mammoth 6 hour drive to get to Lancashire for the Friends of Sangam Gathering.  I was tired but it was great to spend some quality time with Little Owl and by the time I was driving home, I made the decision that the Monday lunchtimes had to stop.  Its a rush to get from swimming, drop Little Owl with my mum and then get to work.  At first I thought I would have the afternoons to catch up with friends but if I skipped lunch the earliest I could meet people was 2 o'clock.  It really wasn't going to work.

Little Owl is nearly two and a half.  That's two and a half years of fun we have had together.  This time next year I will be filling in her school applications and the following year she will start school.  Our adventures will be even more limited.  I don't want to loose a year of this precious time together.  I might work longer days on the days I am working, but until Little Owl goes to school, I'm not planning on working more than 3 days a week.

I realise that I am in a very lucky position to have that as an option, it has come at a financial cost, but one that we can cope with.  I'm also pleased that I have had these few weeks of working so much, I think it will make me appreciate what time I get with Little Owl.

So now I have plans to make!  Its time to sign Little Owl up for a playgroup or nursery for the days I work.  I think she will love it - just got to find the right one!  And then I need to find some new groups or activities for us to go to on the other days.  Exciting times ahead!

When your child is THAT child

Little Owl was a very easy baby.  She didn't mind where I took her or when, she didn't mind crowds and fireworks, and equally would sit quietly during a church service.  I could walk out of the room at a playgroup and she wouldn't mind, I could take her for lunch and she would sit there for hours.  Hell, I even flew to India with her on my own!

But Little Owl isn't a baby any more.  Little Owl is a two year old.  At first that was fine, but something happened when she turned two-and-a-quarter. It was almost a Kevin the teenager moment, her going to bed one night all sweetness and light, waking up the next morning this fireball of energy!

Little Owl favourite thing to do now is to play with her friends.  The trouble is, they aren't always so excited.  They don't always want kisses, or hugs.  Little Owl doesn't understand this and a hug with a toddler who is trying to get away can result in them both wrestling on the floor.  A subtle turning of the head to avoid a kiss is no challenge for Little Owl who merely grabs the child by both ears enforcing a head turn until the kiss is achieved.  Little Owl's attempt to get a child to play with her on the swings could look to an outsider (or the other child's parent) that she just pushed them over.

Is my child now that child?  Is my child the one that other children don't want to play with?  Is my child the child that other parents don't want near their children?  Am I about to discover that my new found mummy friends, aren't going to stick about?  Am I going to miss out on seeing them because of they don't want my child there?

I'm usually a quite confident person, but Little Owl's behaviour is making me feel very vulnerable.  If I feel like this, then how do less confident mums feel?  Those who's children are perhaps deliberately hurting other children?

I have tried telling Little Owl off.  It doesn't really work.  She doesn't understand.  She is just having fun.  Sometimes I wonder if I am just saying the words to appease the other parent.  The parent of the toddler who is now crying... And suddenly I'm all insecure again.  What if my friends don't approve of how I am parenting Little Owl?  What if on their secret meet ups they all sit round discussing how terrible Little Owl is and how its all my fault for being a bad parent?

I know some people might read this and say "well they can't really be your friend if they treat you like that" but would you really choose to hang around with someone if you knew their kid was going to make your child cry?

My cheeky monkey!

And how can I stop Little Owl's behaviour?  Helicopter parenting has never been my style, but maybe I should start to prevent others kids getting hurt until Little Owl is past this phase?  I think mixing with bigger kids might help, but apart from sending her to nursery or playgroup, I'm not really sure where to find bigger kids!  And while nursery and/or playgroup are on the cards, I almost feel like this needs sorting first.  She is my child.  Her behaviour is my responsibility.  I can't pass that on to someone else.  I know many do.  I teach their children when they get to secondary school and its hard.  

So while I try to cling on to my friends, old and new, and try to prevent Little Owl from hurting anyone too bad, I have come up with a simple rule that Little Owl does understand: "no touching"

Now someone get me a gin and tonic and make it a large one!

Little Owl @ Two and a Quarter

Little Owl is two-and-a-quarter!  A proper two year old - no more pretending!

Physically, I guess she is a bit taller, she has probably grown out of her size 6 shoes but has been living in sandals so I haven't got her measured in a while. Her hair is growing slowly still but she is beginning to develop lovely curls.

Little Owl's speech and conversational skills are amazing me every day, and her ability to link subjects and understand concepts.  She understands big and small (she is a small girl by the way), and uses the word animals as a collective term.  Also Little Owl's recalls things that happened before she could speak so clearly, suggesting that she picked up the language and stored the words in her head although she couldn't say them at the time, and yet now she says them so clearly. 

She made me laugh one day when she handed me a broken hairband and said quite firmly "tell Grandmadad to fix it".

The dreaded "why?" has started. Seriously - where do kids pick this stuff up from?  "Why Mummy why?"  So far I am treating this as a statement rather than a question and therefore ignoring it - and its working!  Little Owl doesn't seem to expect a response and so I don't waste time explaining things only to be followed by another "why".

Little Owl still adds in the occasional sign.  She'll sign please or thank you if her mouth is too full to speak, and nearly always signs sorry.  And cuddle because she knows I find that hard to refuse.  But she'll also use signs in conversation to emphasis certain words such as 'where' which is always accompanied by the sign.

I was tickling Little Owl's belly and she giggled, then said 'laugh' while signing 'fun', which was followed by a great big belly laugh!

I also find it useful to use signs with her, reminding her to say please and thank you but also when we are in a crowded place where she may not hear me.  We were recently at a playground and there was a fence that I had told her not to climb, I said we would go home if she climbed it again.  As soon as I took my eyes off of her, she was back at the fence and I yelled to get her attention.  Little Owl turned round immediately but I realised I was too far away to do anything other than yell, and if I ran towards her, she would think it was a game.  So I signed 'no' and 'home', Little Owl looked at me for a moment and then went off to play with something else.

Little Owl is out of nappies during the day, and showing signs of being dry at night.  She knows her numbers up to 10 and while she can't recite them in order, if I count with her, she generally knows which number comes next.  

Little Owl's swimming is also coming on.  There was a break through a couple of weeks ago where she was able to swim back to the side from the teacher instead of turning round halfway and grabbing on to the teacher.  The trouble is now she thinks she can swim which makes it pretty hairy when I take her, so we've gone back to putting the float belt on her to give her freedom of movement in the water when she isn't with a teacher.

Little Owl is just an incredible little girl who I am in awe of and love with all of my heart.

She Speaks!

I stopped counting the words Little Owl could say a long time ago, but her words and phrases were still limited.  The words she had were clear, but she wouldn't repeat words being said to her.

On of the cutest phrases Little Owl was saying just after she turned 2 was "yes please mummy!"

Would you like some milk?

Yes Please Mummy!

Shall we go to the swings

Yes Please Mummy!

Let me put your shoes on

Yes Please Mummy!

Can mummy have some of  your icecream?

Yes Please Mummy!

It was unbelievably cute, and she would happily say this in front of strangers making every one smile.

I didn't think it could get any better, but then about two weeks ago Little Owl learnt to say:

"Thank You Mummy"

This was even better as she was no longer saying this as a response to a question but totally of her own will, and each time my heart would melt a little bit more

I'm just going to empty your potty

Thank You Mummy

But this last week, all the words have been coming! Its not a new word every day, more like a new word every hour!

Most are clear, others need some effort to work out, "Tomber" is apparently cucumber!

And then come the songs...

For a while I have been encouraging Little Owl to finish the words on familiar songs, for example Twinkle Twinkle Little ____.

Then came

"Row Row Your boat"

No other words to that one but every now and then she will follow it for a scream for the crocodile!

In the back of the car on the way to Holland we heard "wash your face" repeatedly until it was suddenly finished with "all day long".

I'm really enjoying this stage of development, seeing a little of what thoughts are going through Little Owl's head, her imagination coming out.

Little Owl 2nd Birthday Quiz

I spotted the birthday quiz on Dancing with Dirty Feet and thought it was great.  The idea being that each year on their birthday, you ask your children the same set of questions, while your children grow and change, the questions remain the same.

As Little Owl is, well, little, I have helped her out with some of the questions.

How old are you? 2

What is your favourite colour?  Mummy: no idea!

What is your favourite animal? Bubby Cats!

What is your favourite book? One Mole Digging a Hole

What is your favourites t.v. show? Mummy: anything on CBeebies really.  Favourites include Raa Raa, Granny Murray, Pingu and of course Mr Tumble!

What is your favourite movie? Mummy: we tried a movie once, she didn't have the staying power.  I think it was Nemo, I'll leave it a few months and try again.

What is your favourite song? Anything with actions that Mummy and Daddy join in on!

What is your favourite food? Peas!  Mummy: meat, fruit and most veg are popular too!

What is your favourite drink? Milk!

What is your favourite breakfast food? Hagelslag Mummy: we do try to encourage this to be on toast.  Little Owl has also made up her own sign for hagelslag too which is very similar to the sign for sand.

What is your favourite snack?  Biscuits!

What is your favourite outfit? Mummy: Little Owl has many lovely outfits but her Frugi skirt is perhaps one of my favourites.

What is your favourite game? Anything that makes people laugh

Who is your best friend?  Woo Mummy: Little Owl loves her cousin Woowoo who is 4.

What is your favourite thing to do? Mummy: sing, play with people, forward rolls

What is your favourite thing to do outside? Mummy: go on the slide

What was your favourite holiday? Mummy: Has to be India right?

What do you take to bed with you at night? Milk.  Sometimes a toy, maybe Kitty or Zed bunny.

Where is your favourite place to go? Grandma and Grandmadad's house

What is your favourite restaurant? Mummy: Eat@ThePark, Eat@TheStade and the De La Warr are places we frequent during the day.  Eatos, and all you can eat Chinese is good for the evenings as Little Owl can pick at what she wants.

Where would you like to go on holidays?  Mummy: I have a VERY long list, but I don't think Little Owl minds as long as she is with Daddy and I
What clubs or activities do you go to? Swimming! Mummy: Little Owl swims every Monday morning and I get to sit on the side.  We've just stopped baby signing because, well, Little Owl isn't a baby any more and has a pretty good grasp of words.  We're on the look out for Toddler groups.

What makes you happy? Attention

What makes you sad? Not getting attention

What do you want to be when you grow up? Mummy: I still haven't figured this one out!

What did you do on your birthday? Mummy:The day before Little Owl's birthday, she had a day out at the model railway with her Grandparents and cousin.  Her actual birthday was quite a gentle one spent with her Grandparents again as I was at work.  The day after her birthday was a Saturday so Papa Owl and I took her to the zoo.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this.  Next year Little Owl will be able to answer most of this herself I guess which is a strange feeling!

Birthday Cake

This post has been lurking in my 'to-do' list for the last month, forgive the time delay and enjoy!

So tonight's the night. The night I bake a cake for little owls 2nd birthday.

I have, um, not a lot of experience in the cake baking department but have somehow set my ambitions quite high this year.

I blame pinterest.

If I succeed I will be a cake baker extraordinaire.

If I fail?

I will be quite sad and pop to the supermarket on the way home.

Or get papa owl to bake one.

The cakes I have made have always come out a bit wonky so I thought I would have a go at a hemisphere one from Lakeland.

And I some how got it into my head that it would be really pretty if I baked a rainbow cake.

You know - those really pretty ones you see on pinterest?  Those tricky looking cakes...

Now the idea with pinterest is that people share tutorials on all these wonderful ideas, but for a novice like me, I was a bit scared to look, what if they were too hard?

So I buried my head in the sand and sailed up that famous river in Egypt.

But last weekend I realised I would be sad if I didn't at least try so I quickly ordered myself some pretty food colourings from and started seeking advice from my friends on facebook.

The cake tin said it needed a 6 egg recipe.  I have been told that you double the value for eggs and that gives you the ounces for butter self raising flour and caster sugar.  This is very much like a D grade maths GCSE question.

My plan is to make up a mixture for each egg, add the food colouring and then start again with the next mixture. 6 eggs = 6 colours, 7 in a rainbow but who can tell the difference between indigo and violet anyhow!

I'm a bit worried it won't fit but I've measure the tin and know it holds 3 pints so I'm going to check that the mixture for 1 egg is less than 1/2 a pint (been told also to aim for 2/3s full as cake should rise - haha!)

Wish me luck!

Recipe

1 egg

2oz flour

(1/2 teaspoon of baking powder)

2 oz sugar

2 oz butter

 

 Don't the colours look fab!  And the best bit is - they were going to fit in the mixing bowl!

 

 So now it was time to put it in the oven and wait... it felt like such a long wait...

 

I was pretty please with the result, it looked like the colours had merged, they weren't the straight lines I was hoping for,  but it did appear to still have some variance in its colours, so all was not lost, and besides - I'm a novice - I'm just pleased there was cake that looks like it was edible.  I covered it in chocolate, sprinkles, silver balls and a lion - Little Owl's favourite things - at least the shape wasn't a failure!

But then... when I cut into the cake and found....

Isn't this the best cake you have EVER seen?!!!!  And it tasted amazing too!  I'm chalking this one up as a success!

A Gentle Approach to Toilet Training

Toilet training or potty training is something you see come up on facebook and twitter time and time again.  Its like its a magic art, and no one knows quite how its going to work out for them and so they keep asking questions until they come out on the other side.

Apparently there are books you can buy on the topic, strangely by people who haven't had kids.  And the general consensus is that you wait until some magic time, usually after their 3rd birthday, cancel all plans for the week and just take their nappies off.  If they have too many accidents (an unquantified amount), you go back to what you were doing before and try again in another month or two.

I'm writing this post because I would like parents to know there is another way, in fact I suspect there are many different approaches, this is ours.  Through out the whole process, we let Little Owl guide us, and show us when she was ready for the next stage.

I have been told that my Grandma used to sit me on a potty on her lap and read stories to me from a very young age.  And a friend's mum told me that (in her opinion) if you waited until a child could walk, you had left it too late!

Armed with this information, I introduced Little Owl to the potty at around 6 months.  Nothing major, I would just sit her on it when I did a nappy change, while I was tidying stuff away before putting the clean nappy on.  Not every time, just when I was at home and had time.  And more often then not, something would happen.

Little Owl is lucky enough to have a sink in her bedroom, and for a long long time that is where we used to bath her.  So I used to sit her on the potty next to the sink while I brushed her teeth and filled the sink.  Regularly we would have a potty to empty and so this became part of our night time 'routine' before putting her pjs on.  As we used cloth nappies, it really did make a difference to us!

This had become a habit by the time Little Owl turned one.  Shortly afterwards we spent the evening at my brothers house. His children are older and were past the potty stage but did have a toilet seat. With nothing to loose we put Little Owl on the toilet and, well she did what she needed to do!

Brilliant! We could cut out the middle man and pop Little Owl straight on the toilet! We rushed out and bought a toilet seat the very next day!

And that was it.  Little Owl was pretty much clean from that day, it helped that she had just learnt the sign for nappy and could tell us if she wanted to 'go' at another time.  We would have the odd 'accident' in her nappy, about once a month and this was usually linked in with teething.

The last accident happened when we were in India.  We were out shopping one evening, buying saris, and Little Owl became very distressed on my back.  I got her down from the sling and she was all hot and sweaty and obviously upset but I couldn't work out what was wrong.  It wasn't until we got home that night, after dinner, that I realised what had happened.  The poor little thing had been too embarrassed to tell me she had a full nappy.  She hasn't had an accident since.

Little Owl showed signs of being dry last summer too, but as a bum shuffler, I wasn't prepared to let her go nappy free - can you imagine the carpet burn?!!!

But I did invest in some TotsBots training pants.  I've read many comments on Facebook saying that training pants are not worth it and you should go straight to pants, and I agree for disposables as they are just as absorbent as normal disposables and so the only difference for the child is that you can pull them up.  However with cloth training pants they are much smaller than a nappy and only just hold one wee, meaning the child knows if they've gone and the parent does too.  I would use them at home if I was having a lazy day and could do regular potty stops. I took them camping last summer, and I took them to India to save me using too many disposables.  While in India, I noticed that, more often than not, they were dry, and Little Owl was using the toilet.

TotsBots training pants

So at half term, aged 21 months, we stopped using nappies at home during the day.  The potty has become very useful as Little Owl doesn't like to stop the activity she is doing to visit the toilet.   With only one or two accidents over the following 6 weeks, and reports from Little Owl's Grandparents that her nappies were always dry, I decided the Easter Holidays was the time to venture out without nappies.

It did mean that I needed a slightly bigger bag again as I now needed to take a toilet seat (I have a foldable one), spare pants and a pair of leggings with me - its not a lot really and it does fit in my handbag!

That was a month ago, we've only had one accident while not at home which I think it pretty good going.  Already Little Owl is happy to use a public toilet without a toilet seat, so my bag has got smaller again!  She even did her first alfresco wee this week as we were on the beach and a mile from the nearest loo!

The whole process has felt very natural for us.  It hasn't been stressful.  Little Owl hasn't had to 'learn' what to do, as she has always stayed one (or more) steps ahead of me.  She's still wearing nappies at night and currently there isn't sign of that stopping anytime soon, but I'm so glad that she is sleeping, that I don't want to risk that anyhow!

Swimming Solo

Way back in October, I posted about my Water Baby as Little Owl had just started swimming with a float belt and didn't need me to hold on to her any more.  It was a great leap forward and her excitement about going in the pool kept me motivated through the winter, even enticing me into the freezing cold pool in India!

Little Owl swimming in India

Over this time we have slowly decreased the number of floats on Little Owl's belt and introduced her to a woggle.  Eventually, we stopped using the belt, encouraging Little Owl to rely on the woggle.  She thinks its hilarious when she lets go and sinks under the water!  I have been learning not to catch her but instead making sure the woggle was within reach for her to come back up to.

I've survived the winter of cold changing rooms, cold pools and bundles and bundle of clothes to stuff into lockers and I'm feeling quite proud but here comes the best bit - Little Owl has moved into the next class and is now going into the pool WITHOUT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was very nervous the first week - but it was great!  I took Little Owl to the pool side where the mums and kids were all waiting - the others were all over 3 so Little Owl did look tiny!  The lesson starts with the kids sat on the top step and it was only as I turned to walk away and heard "mummy" that I realised Little Owl wasn't used to me leaving her anywhere other than with family.  Gulp!  I had to go back through the changing rooms to join the other mums to watch the lesson.  By the time I got round there, Little Owl was happily swimming lengths with the other kids.

The swimming teacher is brilliant.  People often comment "how do you do it" when I tell them I teach teenagers, but although there is often 30 in a room, and I try to keep my eye on them all of the time, they're not going to drown if I don't!  The skill it takes for the swimming teacher to keep her eye on 6 pre-schoolers, one of which had only been in a pool a few times before, another more confident one who kept putting his feet down and walking, and Little Owl who thinks its hilarious to let go of her float and sink, is just impressive!

All of the kids had a great time, and the parents all sat together watching and clapped each of them when they took in turns to jump in and swim a little without their floats!

Can't wait for next week!

Little Owl @ 2 years

Little Owl is TWO!!!  My wonderful, beautiful little girl is 2 years old.  There has been so many changes and developments over the past month that its going to take several posts to catch you all up!

Teeth

Still waiting for those last four pesky molars.  There's more dribble than we have ever seen, lots of poking of forefinger to the back of the mouth, lots of coughing in her sleep and yet still no sign of them!

Words and Signs

So many words and signs!  Before Little Owl's health visitor check we were making a list of her words and got to 50ish, since then there has been plenty more helped along by a new book One Mole Digging a Hole.  Little Owl is now happy with saying mole, hole and a whole host more!   The longest sentence so far has been "no that's my daddy's hat". 

What's New

Little Owl sleeps!  In her own bed!  All night!  Its a miracle! 

Honestly, after nearly 2 years of at least partial co-sleeping every night it was like someone just flicked the switch and one night she just slept through, and then she did the same the next night, and then the next!

The other huge change this month has been the switch to pants during the day!  Only one or two accidents over the last month so the nappy wash has shrunk considerably! 

So that's my Little Owl at two, the next year is going to see plenty more changes and I can't wait!