Toddler Archives – Mummascribbles

It’s that time of year again. Autumn. Still very mild for mid November but full of fallen leaves and rain. I don’t know about you but there is something quite satisfying about kicking my way through the piles of leaves. I introduced this little pleasure to Zach just last week and he thoroughly enjoyed it too! The pavements are beautiful at the moment, and our garden which has the hugest trees at the end of it, is absolutely full of the deepest reds and ambers. Such a stunning time of year.

Of course along with the beauty comes the mud and puddles and with Zach being a relatively new fan of Peppa Pig, I am envisaging lots of requests coming up for jumping in those muddy puddles!

And so, it is the time of year to be thinking about buying wellies. With Zach’s feet growing as fast as they do, it’s almost guaranteed that we have to buy a new pair every year. He currently has a pair of size 7’s but I know that his feet are now at least a size 8 and so it is time to get him a new pair. I was recently introduced to the website Shoetique who have a selection of gorgeous footwear for the whole family. I popped onto their site to have a little look at their selection and fell instantly in love with their kids selection!

Source: Shoetique

They of course have a girls selection too and I’d have real trouble deciding between these two if I had a girl!

Source: Shoetique

And then of course there is me. I have a pair of wellies that, well, they have a hole in. Several holes. And so are pretty much useless to use in the rain! Being a huge fan of Joules myself, I would have even more trouble choosing between these. I do love stripes but how cute are those robins?

Source: Shoetique

Wellies are the one piece of footwear that you can really go all out on. It doesn’t matter how bright or colourful they are and so it’s always fun buying them. And there is something seriously cute about them running around in them. He always looks super adorable.

This post was written in collaboration with Shoetique.

When I went to Britmums Live back in June, the lovely people from Parragon Books were there with the opportunity to become a Parragon book buddy. I am very pleased to say that I was chosen and so every month I can bring you a review of one their books. I received the August book which is called Spot A Lot: Vehicles Storybook & Jigsaw.

As soon as I saw this, I knew it would be a hit with Zach. He loves vehicles of all sorts whether they be in the air, on tracks or on the road. This book couldn’t be more perfect for him!

The book itself is great. On each page there is a different scene with a different set of modes of transport featured. The main theme is that the delivery truck has broken down and they have to follow the deliveryman on his vehicle adventure.

  

Throughout, it asks questions like ‘how many seagulls can you find?’ and ‘can you find four yellow umbrellas?’. It’s so great and makes you a very proud mummy when they get it right he found all four yellow umbrellas

  

Along with the book comes a gorgeous jigsaw which is full of transport. If there is one thing Zach hasn’t yet been amazing at its jigsaws and whilst I did have to help him a lot with this one, he kept his patience because it was way cool seeing it all put together. Normally he gets bored after a few pieces but with this he did brilliantly.

  

I think this book and jigsaw is absolutely wonderful and it’s a complete hit with Zach. He loves that it also comes with its own carry case and when he gets a bit better at colouring, we will for sure turn the jigsaw over and colour it in – because you can do that

Spot A Lot: Vehicles Storybook and Jigsaw is available at Easons, Matalan, TK Maxx and The Works.

We were sent this book for the purpose of this review but all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I know there are many parents out there preparing themselves for the back to school chaos. Some of you may be completely prepared, some of you may be completely panicked having not yet bought a single pair of grey trousers or a single item of stationery. I remember as a child, the back to school being mega fun. It was a chance to get a brand new school bag, a brand new pair of shoes and brand new stationery. I loved going back to school, although after a week I was always ready for the next set of holidays!

And so, in just a few days, some of you will be waving your children off at the school gate, maybe for the first time! We still have two years until Zach starts school and already I feel a bit emotional at the thought of him being a school pupil. He already asks to go to school. Whenever we pass one he asks what it is and when I tell him, he tells me he wants to go. I then explain that it’s a couple of years away but he says he wants to go now! I think it’s from knowing his cousin goes to school and from seeing the children having fun in the playground in the school behind our house.

So, we are two years away and I did explain this to the lovely people at Get the Label when they asked if I’d like to write a back to school post. It got me thinking though, that we do have a new milestone approaching as Zach will be moving up to the pre-school class in nursery! And with a new classroom move at the start of autumn, brings a need for a new winter coat and new big boy shoes. I mean he needs to make a good impression in his new class doesn’t he?! So when Get the Label offered me a choice of their products to review, these two things are exactly what I chose.

Get the Label is a website that sells discount designer clothing for adults and children and right now they have a whole back to school section. They are currently running a competition to win a back to school goody pack worth up to £200 that is ending real soon so get in quick! Winners are announced on Wednesday 2nd September. To enter, click here.

Firstly, I was incredibly impressed with their delivery. They offer it for free with a code if you spend over £40 and my package was sent next day delivery which only costs £1.

Obviously with ordering online, you can’t see exactly what they look like but upon opening, I wasn’t disappointed and the other half was dead impressed too!

The Bench infant boys Able jacket is absolutely gorgeous! With its grey stitching, printed logo on the front and back, fully fleece lined inside and an all important hood, it is a perfect winter coat.

I went for a slightly larger size of 3-4 as he won’t need it until the autumn but it already fits really well with room to grow. Really impressed and he thinks he looks super cool!

Then onto the footwear. I love Kickers, I wore kickers to school myself and when I saw these beauties, I had to get them!

Now, boots as we all know aren’t the easiest thing to get on a toddlers feet – especially mine. I remember him being in tears when we tried to get wellies on him and unfortunately this happened with these! It’ll be fine though, he’ll get used to it and they’ll loosen up a bit to make it easier! They are completely elasticated too which is great. Despite the tears, they are gorgeous.

I got them in a size 9 so he could grow into them for the winter and they’ll be perfect for it! We just have to get him used to getting them on without crying!

I am so impressed with these items and there are so many other gorgeous products to choose from to make your little one look as cool as this in the playground!

Disclaimer: We were sent these items from Get the Label for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

We initially started our toilet training journey a while ago. We bought Zach a potty, we explained what it was for and he used it a few of times but quickly became disinterested. I think it was more feeling the pressure of having to perform. Then we received some potty training aids for review and whilst they were good, we were still getting nowhere. Whilst the potty has remained in place since, I put the full training to a halt, just asking him if he wanted to go to the toilet at bedtime or when I was changing his pull ups. No pressure if he didn’t. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn’t.

We started to find that he much preferred using the actual toilet and luckily we’d bought a potty that had a detachable seat so could easily pop it on for him to sit on. The main base of the potty simply became a step.

Fast forward to about a month ago and he decided he wanted to try and pee like Daddy, standing up and aiming into the loo. This was progress and he started doing it more and more. Again, there was no pressure on him, if he decided that he no longer wanted to, I wasn’t going to force him because that is the worst thing you can do.

A week last Thursday, I ended up taking the day off work because he had Impetigo and wasn’t allowed in nursery. I used this day as an opportunity and I put him in pants. I’d bought them a while ago and I just went for it. We sat down and read the Potty Training book I’d been sent and he was really involved and seemed to be taking it all in. I repeated two things to him several times:

1. If you need a wee or a poo, you tell mummy or daddy or nannie
2. You don’t go to the toilet in your pants

After the repetition, I questioned him on it.

Me: What do you do if you need a wee or a poo?

Zach: Tell mummy or daddy or nannie.

Me: And what do you not do?

Zach: Go in my pants.

Again, I asked these questions a few times and by then I was certain that he’d taken it in.

So, in pants he was. I asked him every half an hour if he needed the toilet. He would often say no and so I made it into something fun or made it involve what he wanted to do next. I’d race him to the toilet. I’d be going myself and therefore would he like to go too, and when he said for example, can I go on the trampoline, I said yes but he needed to do a wee first.

It started working. He was going regularly. He was getting his sticker rewards and he was oh so proud.

We had to go to the Doctor’s for some treatment for the Impetigo and I risked it. I left him in pants! I couldn’t believe I was doing it but he’d done so well, I didn’t on that day really want to put him back into pull ups. I knew that the doctors had a toilet and I knew that the shopping centre just over the road where the pharmacy is also had one.

Of course, the doctor was running late, 25 minutes in fact and after around half an hour, I noticed Zach jiggling a bit. I asked him if he wanted to go to the toilet before we saw the doc and he said yes. So off we went and he did a wee. YES!!

After the docs, we went across the road to the shopping centre and this is where stupid mummy made a mistake. You see, toilet training isn’t just training the mind of the toddler in learning to control the bladder. It is also the training for the parent to remember that they are not wearing pull ups and therefore need taking the toilet regularly. I forgot. Instead of heading straight to the toilets, we went to get his prescription and as we stood in Boots, my little man looked at me and said “mummy, I’ve done a wee”. I felt so bad. I felt awful. He had done so well and I had forgotten. It was only a small amount but enough that I sadly had to put him into the pull up I’d taken with us in case we needed it. But, he wasn’t in it for long. As soon as we got home, he was straight out of it and back into pants where he continued to pee regularly, on the toilet for the remainder of the day. I was one proud mumma!

This day was a major breakthrough and so it’s been all systems go since. Last week was really the start of the serious training. He is still going between pull ups and pants depending on the circumstance at that time. At home and at mum’s he’s mostly in pants, wearing pull ups only for car journeys and if we are out and about. Because he needs a lot of reminding, we can’t just move straight to full time pants! I don’t want him to have regular accidents in case it starts making him feel bad about the whole thing. He definitely started improving though and has been pleased as punch with himself, just like he was in this photo when we first put him in pants!

This week has had even more major breakthroughs. He has started asking to go to the toilet. Yes, really, he has. I am so bloody proud of him. Not only that, but he has also been telling us when he needs a poo, but not just right as he’s doing it, it’s been with fair warning. He doesn’t always go on the toilet. If he’s feeling adverse to it, I just let him do it in his pull up (it’s been in the evening and in the morning when he hasn’t yet made it into pants. I’m still against forcing him to go on the toilet because I don’t want him to turn against it. It has to be his decision to go, we can just encourage him to do so.

On Friday morning, we were upstairs while I was getting ready, only at that point I was reading him a story, and he told me he needed a poo. I wasn’t wholly convinced that it wasn’t just a ploy to get downstairs (where our bathroom is), but he was insistent so I took him down. The other half was just about to get in the shower so we disturbed him and Zach popped himself onto the loo. He did a wee, sat there for a while and then suddenly…plop! He did one. I was so proud that even though he was in a nappy, he still told me and he did it in enough time to get to the toilet. He was so happy with himself. I then spoke to my mum who’d had him in pants all day except when they went to the shops and he’d done brilliantly with just one accident. He even did another poo on the toilet

I have no doubt that this is going to be a lengthy process. He has quite a regular bladder and still is a little iffy about whether he wants to use the toilet. But, we have made a serious start. Progress has been made and most importantly, he is very proud of himself every time! We do need nursery to get on board with us a bit more as every person we tell seems to fail to pass on the message. However, he is spending more time in the pre-school class now as they are getting him ready to move up next month (I’m not ready to talk about that yet!) and they ask the kids in there a lot more if they want to go to the toilet. And he has often told them yes! I’m going to drop the manager an email to pass on so that everyone knows we are at this stage. I need everyone who spends their days with him to be on board with us.

I am now a complete advocate of waiting until they are ready. When we tried months ago, he was not ready. He has shown us now that he is ready. He has done it in his own time and no pressure has been put on him to get trained. I am so, so proud of how well he has done these last couple of weeks.

There are moments in a day where everything is wonderful and there are those that are less so. This is generally the case in life but when you have a child, things can go from purely wonderful to absolutely shite and back to purely wonderful in the space of ten minutes!

Last night when I picked Zach up from nursery he was in the best mood. All the way home he was talking to me, asking me questions, discussing what he would eat when we got there.

“Mummy, can I have a breadstick when we get home”.

When I mentioned that I was hungry…

“Mummy, maybe you can have some toast. Can I have some toast, with jam on?”.

“Mummy can I have the toast and then can I have a breadstick. And some milk?”.

It was one of those moments where he speaks with such clarity, when he knows what he wants and gets it across how he wants it. Where at some words he stumbles and takes a few seconds to work out how to say what he means and out it comes. And it’s a moment that always makes my heart swell with pride and love.

Once home, we spent an hour chilling out while he ate his toast and breadstick and drank his milk. He watched an episode of Sooty, we spoke to daddy and I ran his bath.

Bath-time was its usual fun self apart from the hair washing which always pees him off.

“No mummy, I don’t have bubbles in my hair”.

Then it was time to get out so I could get him to bed at a reasonable time. Out he came, we had a big cuddle on the sofa while he was drying and it was all lovely. There had been several heart swelling moments throughout the hour where I couldn’t help but look at him with complete and utter adoration.

And then? Then he turned. He did that thing where he turned from an angelic little man to an absolute devil! Literally within seconds.

It all started when I tried to dry his hair. He hates that. Then I had to cream him. Anyone who has a child that suffers with dry skin or eczema will have a rigorous creaming procedure in place. He has been creamed almost every day for the past couple of years, and still he despises it.

“No mummy, don’t cream me”.

It set off a tantrum. It set off him tugging his limbs away from me. It set of screams and tears. And after that, I have to try and get his nappy on. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get a nappy on a fully moisturised toddler but when that toddler is writhing around and thrashing his legs about to make it impossible for you to get the damn nappy on, patience is non existent. In these moments, I have to pin his legs down with mine. He is blimmin strong and it is blimmin hard. In case you are thinking, blimey that’s a bit extreme, why doesn’t she just give him a couple of minutes then try again? I’ve tried that…it doesn’t work and is generally even harder second time around!

So, nappy finally battled into and then it’s pyjama time. At this point he has made himself go limp to make it once again almost impossible to complete required task. I will never let him win though so I struggle him into them and that’s it, done. In my mood, I’d told him that there would be no bedtime story. That he would brush his teeth and go straight to bed. I asked him where he wanted to brush his teeth and he chose upstairs (our bathroom is downstairs), and so we went on up. He asked to brush his own teeth but we have currently conquered tooth brushing and I can do it far better than he does. He asked for a story, so politely that I couldn’t refuse. “Let’s make a deal”, I said. “You let mummy brush your teeth and we can read a story”.

We chose a story, I brushed his teeth and he then sat there like a little angel whilst I read a story to him. He couldn’t have been any different to the previous ten minutes of being a bloody nightmare!

How they can change moods in such a short time is beyond me. I dislike it very much though when we’ve had such a wonderful little evening together and then I have to deal with a little tantrum like that which for a small period of time, overshadows those beautiful moments we’ve had together.

Of course, it’s so easily forgotten. This morning when he woke up he wanted a cuddle and I got the biggest squishes from him when I left him with nannie! A bit like the one below from yesterday and the other from a few days ago! My boy is finally getting to be a little cuddle monster. Sometimes a stroppy cuddle monster but that will never stop me adoring him!

Here I am again with another roundup of the funny things my toddler has said. It’s a bit of a bumper edition, there has been so many!

I was recently getting Zach to eat his dinner by telling him that the rest of the peas and carrots needed to be eaten because they wanted to join their friends in his tummy. Everytime he then took a mouthful, I’d leave it a couple of seconds and then cheer, saying that I could hear them celebrating. After the third round of this, he swallowed them down, looked all serious, farted and said, “they’re talking out of my bum”. 

We were reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and he said… “One shiny wet nose, two big furry ears, two big goggly eyes, it’s a Mummy”.

His new favourite thing is doing a standing up wee over the toilet (which is great!). Now he stands there and just as the wee is about to come out he says, “fire”.

He woke up recently complaining of a sore throat and he said to me, “how did I get my sore throat, I laid in bed and it just came”.

We were watching that epic tennis match between our girl and Serena Williams and I’d got excited that she’d broken her Serena’s serve. Zach got very concerned about it and said “mummy, she broke herself. She needs to put herself back together”.

We were on our way home from nursery recently and he said the following in quick succession:

“Have we got pancakes at home? Have they gone out of date? What’s the date on them? Do they needed be toasted (because they’d gone out of date)? I don’t want to eat pancakes that have got mould on them!”

He was with my mum (as usual) and she said to him that he was going on holiday soon. He pointed at her and said “are you coming with me”? When she said no, he said, “are you going to be at nannie’s house”?

Mum was cooking dinner and he went out to the kitchen  and with a big sigh said, “not chicken again, soon we’ll be clucking”. Something my mum had said to me a couple of days before!

When they were in music class the other day, when they’d got there it was raining. At the end of class, he took my mum’s mobile phone over to her and said “look at the weather nannie, see if the rain has stopped”!

He was given a couple of toy cars from our next door neighbour who had seen them at the market over the road and thought he’d like them. When we were indoors and he’d seen them properly, he said “they’re gorgeous, I love them”.

  

And finally, a new mispronunciation. He was given a little mini water pistol at a birthday party recently. He calls it a whistlepizzle!

  
What funnies have your kiddies come out with recently?

I’ve always been keen to get Zach in the swimming pool. How to swim and be safe in water is one of the most important things that we can teach our children. I’ve never been a keen swimmer and still to this day hugely dislike putting my head under water. When my parents first tried to put me into swimming lessons, I had a little trial in my sister’s lesson to see how I’d get on. I can’t remember how old I was but I still remember it now, screaming so much and getting into such a panic that I was removed from the pool. From that, I never did my own swimming lessons and it wasn’t until I was around the age of 11, that my dad would take me to the pool on a Sunday morning and try to teach me, just so I had some knowledge of being safe in water!

I’ve got better over the years, I can now happily tread water, I can swim a fair few lengths of the pool in breaststroke (with my head firmly above the water!), and I show no fear in front of Zach, happily pretending to be a shark and catching him with my legs. It’s because of my own initial fear though, that I am so keen for Zach to be a confident swimmer. Had we have been able to afford it, I would have enrolled him onto a Waterbabies class when he was tiny. Sadly, when you are on statutory maternity pay, such things are simply not possible to do!

We actually left it longer than I wanted to before we first took him swimming. The first time he went in a pool was when we were on holiday two years ago in a holiday home that came with one. He had one of those sit in swimming seats and the first time, absolutely loved it.

The second time however wasn’t as good and he cried a lot. And the third time exactly the same. It wasn’t a great start!

Once we were back, we didn’t really go again until just over a year ago. We started taking him every couple of weeks and every time was painful because he hated being put in the water! He screamed (a bit like I did back in the day only I was way older!) and we’d have to take his dummy in with us to calm him down. Once he was in for a good ten minutes, he’d be fine, spit his dummy out and happily splash around. At that point he didn’t have armbands so we held him and he never wanted to let go. He would cling onto us like an ape, wrapping his arms and legs around us to feel safe. Slowly, as we started going more regular, he got a bit better, we no longer needed the dummy, he’d still cry at the getting in part (sometimes I want to shriek at the coldness of the water!), but it would be over in seconds. Then he got really confident and started wanting to splash around on his own. At that point we introduced armbands and that’s when things really started changing.

First of all he didn’t like the armbands but then were he realised that if he was wearing them, he didn’t need to cling onto us and that he could float and not sink, he loved them. Slowly, the confidence of this boy started to appear.

When we are in the pool, we are always encouraging him to swim, trying to show him how to move his arms and legs in order to get anywhere. At the beginning, it was hard. His little legs didn’t quite have the coordination to make him move anywhere and he had no idea how to make them work for him. We kept helping him and kept showing him in the hope that he would eventually pick it up.

Over the winter, we went less (it’s much harder when it’s cold and raining!), and we picked it back up a few weeks ago when the weather improved. Thankfully, Zach hasn’t forgotten that he enjoyed it and other than the not liking the initial getting in the water and clinging onto daddy whilst he walks him further into the pool, he’s been loving going and asks every week if we can go. Since we started up again, his coordination is far better and yes, my boy can now do doggy paddle. He kicks his legs and moves his arms with such rhythm that he’s actually quite speedy and we are all surprised and elated when he swims half a width to get to the set of ladders he likes to climb out of. He’s like a little fish!

Yesterday we had another breakthrough in our getting him confident in water plan. Daddy had gone for a last minute wee before we got in (after I’d had mine!), and so Zach and I went through to the pool ourselves. I don’t know if he relates getting in the pool to having daddy as safety, but instead of being carried, he held my hand, walked down the steps and straight into the water where he proceeded to jump around like he does once the tears and moaning have faded. The other half was walking behind us and we looked at each other in disbelief!

And the other breakthrough we’ve had is him swimming in his back. Trying to get him to lay on his back has been hard, I completely understand it because it doesn’t feel natural and so it’s a scary feeling. We could not get him to do it up until a couple of weeks ago when suddenly he did it all by himself proclaiming ‘look, I’m on my back’! And yesterday he did it some more, this time kicking his legs and making himself move backwards.

To say I am chuffed with his progress in the pool is an understatement. He has come on in leaps and bounds and I can see that he has the potential to be a really strong swimmer. The next thing we have to conquer is the same fear that I have, of going under water! He’s been under, he’s even asked to be thrown under (which he never asked for again!), but he really does dislike it. I’m sure just like everything else though, with time, he will get there.

In time, I’ll probably sign him up for lessons. He’s definitely not ready yet as he’s still getting his confidence and he’s not great at taking instructions. He’s a bit of a rebel my boy! But once I think he’s ready, it’ll be time to have him guided by the professionals.

For now though, we’ll watch our little fish enjoying every moment in the pool. And with the holiday home we are heading to on Friday having a heated indoor pool, I can see lots of swimming fun happening whilst we are there!

Are your little ones confident in the water? Do you take them regularly to the swimming pool? I’d love to hear your stories.

On the Wednesday of our Eurocamp holiday, we went off to the other halfs second researched place called Dennlys Theme Parc. It was about a 40 minute drive from where we were staying. It was probably my most challenging drive of the holiday – we had to go through tolls, we hit roadworks (apparently in France, the workmen love to lump piles of rubble in the middle of the road for you to weave round), and the road we needed to take was partially closed so we had to divert round. I was a bit panicky by the end of it but we successfully found the theme park…yay me!

I’d been a bit worried about taking Zach to a theme park, especially since he was allowed in for free as he’s under 1m tall. I thought that it may be because there wasn’t a lot to do for him (like how the UK works)’ but the other half had assured me that it was aimed at toddlers and it would be fine. I needn’t have worried…it was amazing. The most perfect place for a toddler. I’d say that out of about 20 different rides, there were only about 4 he couldn’t go on! They had signs by every one that was colour coded. Red meant that below that height you weren’t allowed on, Amber meant they had to be accompanied by an adult and green meant that they were allowed on their own. 

 

There was only one that Zach was allowed to go on on his own which meant me and daddy got to have lots of fun on most of them too! 

The first ride we went on was the swinging boat. What we didn’t realise was, it also spun around! I wasn’t sure how well Zach would take to it mid action but he was fine thank goodness.

Next up was a bumper cars in the water! I didn’t fancy getting splashed so the two of them went alone wifi I stood and took photos.

The ride that Zach went on on his own was a roundabout car ride. As you can see by his face, he loved this!

Next up was the turtle ride? This spun round and round and whilst this isn’t the best photo, it shows Zach’s enjoyment brilliantly!

Then there was the tractor ride that made Zach think he was driving! He loved this and it gave us a decent sit down

We went on the helicopter ride which was a firm favourite. He went on once with me and then once with daddy and then begged for more!

I made them go on the spinning pirate boats alone!

The train ride was another favourite of course! He loved pretending he was driving.

Then there was the horse ride (I liked this one best as it goes round the track and then in parts, goes into a trot!).

And then there was the rollercoaster! Oh yes, my thrill seeker of a toddler went on this…

3 TIMES!!

And as each time it went round twice, he did a total of 6! Unfortunately, the third time we went on, we sat at the back. We should have known, being thrill seekers ourselves, that the ride is very very different when sitting at the back! It was way faster and rockier back there and whilst he didn’t cry, it was a close call! Safe to say, we left that as the last ride of the day! I’m still dead impressed that my not yet three year old loved the big rollercoaster and was desperate to go on the one he wasn’t allowed on!

His most favourite ride of the day though was the bouncing frog ride. He loved this so much that he stayed on for 2 goes with me and then went on once with daddy!

This park is absolutely fantastic for children, from any age (I saw small babies with their mummies on some rides!), up to about 11 we think although there were plenty of adults going on the rides by themselves!

We had a fab day and Zach was absolutely exhausted by the end. He still tells us now that he did love the rollercoaster – but not the back!

Have you been to a similar theme park that is extremely toddler friendly? I’d love to know so we can keep it in mind for this little dude!

Ok, firstly, I don’t normally go near the SAHM mum vs the working mum. Everybody has a reason why they are doing what they are doing, we all need to be supportive of each other even if we are a little jealous!

When I saw this post earlier by Charlotte at Real Girl Ramblings, I agreed with it all, I really did. I have been at home with a baby, I know just how hard it is to look after a child full time. But, being a working mum, especially a full time working mum is bloody hard too. It is hard physically, it is hard mentally and it is hard emotionally.

So here is my response to that fab post. My 10 reasons why being a working mum is blinking hard. Neither one is harder and we all deserve a medal and a bottle of wine!

Make sure you read the fab post up there – then mine will make sense since they are based on the same points!!

1. We sometimes still get covered in puke! There have been several times when I have had to stop the car on the way home from work because Zach is projectile vomiting in the back! He’s a terror for getting a cold, getting all the snot stuck at the back of his throat, coughing until he heaves and then vomming everywhere! And yep, when they are feeling poorly, we still have to ship them off to the childcare. It sucks massively.

2. I may get to go to the toilet in peace but some of of my greatest cuddles with Zach have been while I’m having a wee. Even longer ones if I’m doing a number 2! I’d much rather have those cuddles and pee with an audience than do it in the office toilets where some gross person has left a giant turd down the toilet (you wouldn’t believe how many times this happens), or half a sanitary towel hanging out of the bin!

3. I got more of a lunch break when I was on maternity leave! I already cut my lunch break down to half an hour each day so I can leave early to pick Zach up, most of the time I eat at my desk and when I do go out, by the time  I’ve got my food, it’s time to be back at my desk again!

4. I would far prefer those days of cluster feeding, when Zach would fall asleep on the boob and I’d have an hour of gorgeous milk drunk cuddles. Instead I have to hope that if I’m having a chat with the MD, that he’s not ogling my boobs rather than taking me seriously!

Milk drunk!

5. I don’t know about stimulate my mind. Maybe it would be easier if I did something far more cool (like Charlie did before she became a mummy!), but most of the day I’m sat at my desk dealing with the annoyances of people who don’t get information back to me, to venues who want me to sign the bloody contract when I’m not ready to and dealing with their tedious reminder emails and threats. Give me Justin’s House any day!

6. After work drinks…really?! In the 7 months of being in my current job, I have been to one after work drinks and that was because it was essential as we were meeting our new colleagues who are joining us. Do you know the organisation that has to go into after work drinks? I either have to get my poor mum to take Zach home for me, after she’s just looked after him for ten hours, or if it’s a nursery day, my other half has to leave work 2 hours early in order to pick him up on time. Also, that couple of hours that I may be out with colleagues could be spent at home with my beautiful boy who I am always desperate to see at the end of the working day. I would definitely give up a couple of glasses of wine in order to see him before he goes to sleep. I just save my boozing for home on a Friday night! Win win!

7. My telephone conversations at work are so mundane that I’d love to have an excuse, such as a demanding screaming child, to be able to put the phone down! The highlight telephone conversation of the day is when I get to call my darling toddler and all he wants to do is ‘press the red button’ – i.e.hang up the phone cause that’s way more fun than talking to mummy! Of course, if it’s a nursery day, I don’t get to phone him at all 😥

8. At work, there are times when I’m having to keep my eyes open because my toddler has been up at 2am, 4am and then the alarm has gone off at 5.45am! There’s convincing them that you are working and then there’s convincing them that you are actually awake. If your parenting duties at home are a little slack through sleepless nights you have a grumpy child, if your work duties are slack because you’ve been up every night for a week, you have a grumpy HR manager and spend time worrying your P45 is on its way in the internal mail!

9. At home, you don’t have to drag a fast asleep toddler out of bed and into the car in the middle of winter in his pj’s. You don’t have to hear him say the words “don’t want to get up, don’t want to go to nursery, want to stay at home”. And you don’t at the end of the day have to try and keep your little one awake so he doesn’t fall asleep in the car on the way home. I dream about those days when he could just do as he pleased without me feeling like such a mean mummy.

I have to wake this up sometimes!

10. Working mums need a cleaner at home, not in the workplace! We simply don’t have time to clean when we want to spend every spare moment we can with our children! Seriously, you should see the state of our house sometimes!

So yep, us working mummy’s may get some adult chat, we may get to drink hot tea, eat cake and wee without a child on our laps, but by god, I would swap places with you in a heartbeat to be at home with my gorgeous boy!

If you are in the predicament as to whether to go back to work or not, if you can afford not to go back, stay at home! It may be hard but it is way better than missing out on your child’s most important years!

It’s when you are out with a child that you see the world for what it is. You see it through their eyes. How the very simplest of things can bring such joy. We think a lot of the time that we need to be doing things that are exciting, that cost money, that is going to give them an incredible experience, but sometimes all they need is something so simple, that wows their brain without being over-stimulating.

On Monday, we took Zach for a walk to get him to nap (how many of you have to do the same?!). Of course we had to let him walk for a while and feed the ducks and it was during this time that the simplest of things gave him the biggest delight.

Dandelions.

We all know how much fun they are when you are a kid and when he spotted one, he went and picked it, put it to his mouth, blew, and the biggest smile appeared on his face.

“I blewed it didn’t I” he said!

He then had to blow many more. The funniest thing he found was when the wind would blow it before he could! Hilarious

The whole time I was just watching him in delight. This little two year old finding the greatest joy in nature.

Beautiful.