Covid-19 - Working With The Family Diary - 23rd March 2020

Monday 23^rd March 2020.

Today is the first day we are all working from home. I had three days last week to get used to Simon being at home. God he was a grumpy bastard, now I’ve got a 10 year old and moody 14 year old to “home school” as well. 

The morning passed with me being the resident IT desk support worker. Trying to get power point set up on 10 year old’s computer, getting her an email address – of which she is proud of.   Weird kid

By about lunchtime I managed to get 10yo onto MS Office and she was good to go. The teen seemed to think that he’d done all his work in about half an hour.  I need to check on what he’s doing but at some point my own “paid” employ may notice I actually haven’t managed to do any work all morning.

Finally got some work done this afternoon although at present I know I’m not working at full capacity. I’ve ordered a 2^nd computer screen which I’m sure will help make life easier.

8.30 tonight the country was addressed by the Prime Minister.  I always wondered what it felt like, all sitting in the front room listening to an important announcement by your leader, like the images of families around the wireless when the start of WWII was announced.

We are now officially on lock-down. Only going out for essentials, food and medical needs.  On reflection, personally for me this is a time to be able to press re-set.  It will certainly help cut down on my latte consumption. I may be the only person who comes out of this mess financially better off.

Book Review - All I Ever Wanted by Lucy Dillon

Nancy is four, nearly five. She talks all the time: in the car, on the way to nursery, to her brother, to her collection of bears. And then one day everything changes. Nancy's mum and dad split up, her father moves across the country, and Nancy stops talking.

Eva is forty-four, nearly forty-five. She always knew marrying a much older man meant compromises, but she was sure it was worth it – until Mickey dies suddenly, leaving Eva with only his diaries and a voice in the back of her mind telling her that perhaps she's sacrificed more than she meant to.

The family are trying to negotiate their way around the parents breaking up and having to invade on Aunty Eva for Patrick's bi-weekend visits.  Nancy has stopped talking and can only manage the odd whisper in a safe place whilst Joel is desperate for attention.

From the moment I saw the cover and read the description I knew I wanted to read this book.  I wasn't disappointed.  As soon as I started I was hooked on the characters, 10 year old Joel who can't sit still and has a penchant for musicals, chatterbox 4 year old Nancy and her parents; kooky Caitlin and up tight Patrick. Throw in Eva, Patrick's widowed sister and two adorable pugs Bumble and Bee and you have the recipe for a heart breaking but uplifting story.

The story sensitively deals with a number of issues including selective mutism, bereavement and divorce.  It gently guides the family through the situations with the reader developing a real ache to want to reach out and help.  To be honest by the end of the book I was an emotional wreck.

If you want a book to snuggle onto the sofa with whilst hibernating from the cold, then choose this one, you wont regret it.  Just don't forget to have the tissues ready!

All I Ever Wanted is released on 1st December 2016 and is published by Hodder & Stoughton 

I was kindly provided a free copy from Hodder & Stoughten via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

A Little Light Reading

It's been "revealed" the age at which parents stop reading to their children is:   11

I have one of them and I've stopped reading to him.  I love books, I love reading and getting lost in a story with characters I care about and want to join on whatever part of their journey.  But I don't want to do it reading out loud to someone who's not really that interested, wishing they were playing on their X-box or watching YouTube and keeps asking me inane questions to waste time.

By the time the 11 year old is going to bed it's 9pm. I'm tired and have usually lost patience and the will to live by then.  I've been up since 6am, made packed lunches, done one school run, commuted on trains to work and back and done an 8 hour stint in the office. Meals are made and questions are raised about the homework that should or shouldn't be done.  I've argued with both children about showers and hair washing and wrangled the 6 year old into bed bemoaning the fact the 11 year old has a later bedtime.  

I still read to the 6 year old.  She's too little for me to stop but I bet I wont be by the time she's 11. 

Do you still read to your 11 year old?  

All Aboard The Gaming Bus

I never in a million years expected to find myself at a gaming event, yet that is what happened this weekend.  The 11 year old and I went off to Alexandra Palace in North London and spent a whole day at Legends of Gaming 2016.

I'm not a gamer in any shape or form.  Apart from my recent interest in Pokemon Go. The 11 year old is. From the age of 5 he loved his DS, playing Mario Kart and mini games. He moved onto the Wii where Mr.M and the boy played Mario Kart tournaments, they ski-ed, played tennis, darts, danced and beat up Bowser.  Then 11 year old begged for an X-box.  That was the game changer for him and us. Gone were the family fun games and in came games where he wanted to be on a headset to his friends and shoot people.

So when I saw an advert for Legends Of Gaming, I thought to myself. Aha, I know a young man who might enjoy this event and promptly booked general day tickets for £15 each.

When we arrived the queue was huge although moving quite quickly. Luckily we spotted 11 year old's friend with his Dad and we nipped in with them.

Slightly soggy in the queue.

As soon as we got in, the boys wanted to be off and running everywhere, looking at everything. Within half an hour one of the 11 year old's favourite You Tubers, Ali-A. was taking part in a tournament. The boys took their place in front of the main stage whilst the Dad and I waited off to one side. 

The boys were off the scale excited. Ali-A was competing in a Minecraft tournament against Dan-TDM. Neither of them play Minecraft much anymore but to actually see their favourites in "real life" was the equivalent of me seeing Gary Barlow.

The event obviously had lots of stalls from many, many gaming companies, There were banks of screens all over the place for kids (and many adults) to try out new and old games. There was the gaming bus and the gaming van. (available for parties).

ALL ABOARD

By 3pm the Dad and I were shattered, in need of tea and a sit down. We managed to find a quiet corner, where we could re-charge our batteries. (not literally.)

The boys had walked, played, bought expensive Japanese & American candy and overall had a great day. By 4pm we managed to get them out the door.  They had a great time and really enjoyed it.

If you have a young gamer, I'd certainly recommend this event for 2017.

My Thoughts On.... Names

This week, Wayne and Colleen Rooney welcomed their third son into the world.  Whilst the birth of a child is a wonderful thing, it's a serious undertaking. So is naming your child.  Their three sons are Kai, Klay and Kit.  From here on in known as KKK..  as one twitter user succinctly put it:

In the summer of 2013, Katie Hopkins caused absolute uproar because she candidly said she judged parents and children alike because of their names.  She went too far saying she wouldn't let her children play with others whose names she disliked.  But, whether we all like it or not, we judge on looks and names. As adults, if we went to school with someone who wasn't always so nice, we are pre-dispositioned not to necessarily warm to another person of that name immediately.

Choosing a name for your bundle of joy can be a tough experience. If you don't know what gender to expect you have two lots to get it down to.  MrM and I spent hours on names.  With the 10 year old we didn't know gender. We had a book of baby names. Night after night I called out names and we both wrote separate lists of what we liked. then we compared lists and only kept it to names we had on both lists.  That whittled it down to about four. Then it was haggling with our favourites.  I'm pleased to say 10 years on and I'm still happy with it and he seems to quite like it too.

The 6 year old was a lot easier. We started with the list we'd made four years previously. Did we still like those names? Was there any we wanted to add? Did it fit with the rest of the family?  You see; I think that's fairly important. You can't have two children called Bert & Ernie and then another called Hendrix.

Some countries have baby naming laws.  Germany, Sweden & Denmark to name just a few.  Often it's to ensure you can recognise a child's gender by it's name,  that traditional names are kept and that your child is not going to grow up embarrassed having been named after a piece of pottery or fruit.

There's also the question of being able to spell your name.. or can anyone else spell your child's name?

It's Marc with a "c"

I have a coffee shop name.  It makes life easy. I don't have a particularly difficult name but people struggle to say it or spell it right.  I blame it on three vowels in a five letter name.

The top 5 baby names of 2015 in the UK were these:

Are there any surprises in there?  How did you choose your children's names?

Tis The Season....

It's that time of year when....

Christmas songs and carols play on the radio from the 1st of December onwards and you're sick of them by the 10th of December.

TV channels start showing the Christmas movies.

It's not about the Christmas No1 but which company does the best Christmas advert.

You open and eat ALL the advent calendar chocolates on day one.

You forget to open the advent calendar and eat all the chocolates at the end of December.

You wait to see who in the street gets their decorations up first before you do yours. Unless it's the people who put them up on 1st November. They don't count.

The Christmas tree goes up and looks like you've sneezed the decorations over it.

No-one can remember whose turn it is to put the angel on the top of the tree so a fight ensues.

The trusty Argos catalogue returns to the house. It's just not the same on-line and the kids can't put rings around what they want.

The darling children have written their wish lists. You go shopping then convince them they wont get what they want so well  they change their minds.

You are all hot and bothered in the shops trying to track down the last "must have" toy of the year without losing your shit or paying 1500% over the odds on eBay.

Some smug bitch likes to tell everyone they were all shopped and wrapped by August 1st.

You take a picture of the Christmas Radio Times / TV Times next to your highlighter pen.

You record a load of shit and still haven't watched it by Easter.

You run out of sticky tape and/or wrapping paper.

You forget someones Christmas birthday.

You live on tenterhooks that the 10yo wont tell the 6yo Father Christmas isn't real in a fit of temper.

The kids are getting so excited by the preparations at school they can't sleep for the whole of December.

You hunt down the last King/donkey/sheep/camel/Mary/Joseph costume in the universe.

You go to the School play knowing you can't actually see your child in their costume.

You go to the school Christmas Fayre and spend more than the country's national debt and still come home with a bottle of cola from the tombola and a home-made jar of sweets.

You spend hours trying to remember the names of everyone in the class so the kids can write their Christmas cards... which take weeks. Start in the summer.

You feel like a pariah if you don't put into the teachers collection.

You feel like a pariah if you go rogue and your kids make their own present for the teacher.

You buy stupid amounts of chocolates and biscuits then eat them before Christmas arrives.

When it's over it's a relief, then you look forward to next year!

In Sickness And In Health.

I met MrM in 1998. Our relationship progressed the way these things do. He proposed; I said yes and we married in a beautiful ceremony in 2001.

When we married, I took my vows very seriously. I may have crossed my fingers at the obey bit but overall, I meant what I was saying. Vowing before God and family and friends that I was marrying this man and this was it.

Since then we've had many ups and down. All relationships do and we've always managed to work at it and are still smiling 17 years on.

But, there's one problem. It's MrM.  if he was a dog, he'd have been put down. If he was a horse, he'd be glue or put out to pasture.  There's always something wrong.  I don't mean he's a hypochondriac and luckily he doesn't have anything seriously wrong. It's just a series of things that are never ending.

THIS WAY UP

I've lost count of the amount of operations he's had.  At least two on his ankles, one on his bum sphincterotomy - (only look if you're brave). He's been knocked off his motorbike, breaking his elbow and giving his knee a lovely scar. He had a chest infection and passed out DRIVING THE CAR! Luckily in a park mid morning in the week and no-one was hurt. He was hospitalised with severe food poisoning.  He suffered for years with IBS. Red meat was a factor so we spent a lot of time eating a white meat and fish diet.  Migraines; debilitating migraines until he saw a neurologist and is now on preventable tablets for the rest of his life.  Funnily enough when the migraines got sorted the IBS greatly improved too.  The list goes on.

At the moment Mr.M is sporting a cast on his right hand.  Playing football, a stint in goal and BAM! a fractured thumb, a chipped bone and torn ligaments. It may need surgery, we're waiting to find out.

I'm just hoping that our children don't inherit Daddy's knack for being poorly!

The Judgement Call

This week, Rachel Stevens previously of S Club 7 fame was lambasted for leaving her two children in her car whilst she "ran some errands.  Reports are she left them for 10 minutes.  Her daughters are aged 4 and 18 months. She has been judged from all sides.  Rachel herself has maintained a silent view on her actions.

But haven't we all been there?  Have you NEVER left your child in the car to go and pay for petrol or to go and get the parking ticket to find the machine is out of order and you have to trek to another part of the car park to go and get one?  The two scenario's I just mentioned are something I have frequently done. Why would I remove a child from the safety of a five point harness in a car seat in the rear of the car to drag them into a shop for five minutes so they can see all the sweets and magazines I will no doubt refuse to buy.  Roll on the meltdowns.

Last year I had a similar situation.  I collected the kids from school.  They were in year 5 and Reception respectively.  I needed to go to a pet store and get dog food.  I parked the car in the stores car park. The 5 year old refused to budge.  I can't even remember what the reason was for.  She was having one of her moments and being the stubborn moo that she is, there is no persuading her otherwise. I was fighting a losing battle.  All I wanted was dog food. I didn't need to browse, I just wanted to pop in, grab exactly what I wanted and go.  She was shouting at me, I was shouting at her. The 10 year old and I got out the car and walked into the shop leaving the 5 year old screaming and crying at from the car.  Now I can see a crying 5 year old in a car doesn't look good but by the time I came out, approximately 5-10 minutes later she was sitting with a face like thunder but not crying. It was all over and by the time we were home, all was well with the world.

Or so I thought.

Until around 8pm when a knock at the front door presented us with the Police.  I was upstairs with the 5 year old having finished bath time and she was in her pyjama's ready for bed.  I have a unnatural fear of authority. I don't know why, I've never been in trouble but I have. I'm also a very emotional person who cries at the Andrex puppy adverts.  It doesn't take much to set me off.

I started sobbing and refused to come downstairs. I felt guilty, ashamed and horrified. The 5 year old didn't understand what was happening. The police asked to see her so MrM took the now crying child downstairs. She too thought she was in trouble.

The Police explained to MrM that ultimately it wasn't safe to leave a child in a car alone. She could have taken the handbrake off, she could have got out and got run over, she could have been abducted. There are any number of scenario's. They asked him to make sure I understood and left without taking any further action.

Have I done it since?  Yes.  Not because I want to flout the rules of authority but because sometimes, she asks if she can stay in the car. Usually if I'm popping into Tesco Express to get a loaf of bread. I tell her not to touch anything, I lock the doors. I'm in and out.  Anything longer than a couple of minutes then she's with me.

I'm not a bad Mum and probably like Rachel Stevens, just doing my best.

The One Where The Boys Went Away.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook at all; you may not have failed to notice my posts about the 10 year old going away with the school for PGL (Parents Get Lost).  Did you see Mr.M was going with them? Silly man.  A week with a group of hyper 10 year olds. Good luck!

You may also have occasionally noticed how I mentioned the 5 year old mini Kim Jong-Un and the 10 year old fight like Tom & Jerry,

So I was wondering how this week would go. Would the 5 year old break down sobbing that she missed her big brother? Or would she run rampant around the house and steal his larger bedroom?

Well it's been a bit of 50/50 to be honest.  The first thing she did was claim the big bedroom. She's in a box room and still in a toddler bed (just). So she's practically moved right on in. Her duvet, pillows and  moo-moo have all moved in. The doll babies and night time teddies have all been given places. The clothes will no doubt be coming soon!  The first two nights she joined me around 4am but last night slept the whole night through. I had the whole bed to myself. Well, I share it with silly dog and for a small dog he takes up loads of room!

If you ask her if she's missing the boys she says she's missing Daddy but not the brother. Today is MIL's birthday so MrM & 10 year old called to wish her happy birthday. 5 year old jumped right on the phone to tell him she was missing him.  I've died of shock.


The surprising thing I have noticed is this.  She's playing more. Without anyone at home to distract her, and with no TV as I just don't often turn it on when we get home, she's really been using her imagination to play.  She's been on a bug hunt in the garden, played Vets with silly dog, Doctors with me and her babies, had the old hot wheels box out and the Lego.   These last few days have been lovely watching her imagination at it's best. She's been really happy and totally not deserving of the Dictatorship moniker I bestowed upon her.

It's almost a shame the boys have to come back!

This Week I Will Be Mostly..... week 2

Listening to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off"

Not by choice.

It's not that I don't like it or Miss Swift's world takeover - there are far worse role models our youngsters can idolise and she's an extremely talented young lady. It's a problem because my 5 year old loves it. And plays it over and over again.

It's not even the Taylor Swift original but a cover version.  The 5 year old has found a Bieberesque type boy who sings & vlogs. It's called MattyBRaps and she is ever so slightly obsessed.

Thank God she's too young for twitter and facebook.

Matty can be found here MattyBRaps

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

When I was 10, I was a precocious thing. A know-it-all with a penchant for back-chat.  Until I was firmly put in my place by my parents.

I have a 10 year old. Now they're not precocious; they're "TWEENS".  Moody, mouthy and with no respect for people or property.

This week, the 10 year old came home from school in a shirt and a pair of shorts.  This is not what he was wearing when I dropped him off in the morning.  It turns out after blindly dumping his bag on the playground floor in what turned out to be a steaming pile of fox poo. He picked up said bag, slung it over his shoulder and slung poo all over his clothes.  The school changed his clothes and put the dirty stuff in a bag for me to find later in the bottom of his school bag.

Both my children come home covered in pen.  Every. Day.  I keep all washing powders, washing up liquid and ASDA in business the amount I spend on trying to get rid of the pen and buying new polo shirts.  This day however; I noticed on the 10 year old it wasn't just the odd mark made by mad colouring in but a perfectly formed squiggle.   I asked him what it was and his reply.

"Oh I couldn't get my pen to work"

If you could just imagine the double take you see in cartoons.... that was me.

"Pardon? Did I hear you right? You couldn't get your pen to work so you just decide to draw on your clothes?"

"Yes, it's alright, it's not my top"

This is the point I got a bit "bug-eyed" and decided that he needed to appreciate how to respect things like property and drawing willy nilly on clothes was unacceptable.  So I told him he has to pay for a new polo shirt to give to the school.

We moved onto homework.  You may have seen my post last week about Homework Hell. This week took us to new limits.

He had 15 (yes 15!) new spellings to learn.  To start with I give him the spellings book alongside a dictionary. All he has to do is find the word. He has it written in front of him, he knows his alphabet. Apparently it's too hard.  We had tears, almost every word wasn't in there he declared. It's an Oxford English Dictionary... I checked. The words were in there.

After at least half an hour of crying, moaning, shouting (me) and general grumpiness he was flicking through the dictionary with such bad grace he ripped out a page.  I managed to point out he will now need to replace that alongside the school shirt.

Let's just say it didn't go down too well.  But how else will he learn that I don't have a bottomless purse and can replace everything that gets lost, ruined or broken?

It might teach him a little respect.

A Kind Word Can Go A Long Way

Once upon a time there was a Mummy a Daddy and two children.  One child was 5, the other was a few months old.

It had been a miserable day weather wise, the Mummy was on maternity leave and thought the five year old needed to get out and spend some of his energy running about. What's more fun that a soft play on a wet day?

The 5 year old was having a lovely time running around.  The baby however wasn't.  She was fractious and tired.  The baby needed to sleep, she was screaming and crying. The Mummy was rocking the buggy but the baby never slept in the buggy, life was far too interesting.

The Mummy rocked, she tried feeding the baby, she checked the baby's nappy. She did everything she could think of.  People were staring.  People were glaring. And tutting. The baby continued to scream, not a quiet cry. Huge racking screams.

Beneath the glares of other parents, there was no sympathy. Just looks of condemnation. "How can she let that baby cry for so long? Why doesn't she do something?"  Not one person who looked over as if to say "hey, we're all parents, we've all been there". No concern apart from one elderly gentleman, possibly a Grandparent who just said "It gets easier".

At the back of the soft play, the Mummy cried, She gathered up her happy 5 year old, the screaming baby and left. She cried all the way home.

Sometimes we all need a gentle word or even a kind look.  Just a half smile to acknowledge you recognise what someone else is going through.

A kind word can go a long way.

The Dawn of Responsibility.

I'm sure as a child I was walking to school on my own by the age of 7-8.  I was certainly left in the care of my older brother (2 years 9 months older to be exact).  All day in the summer holidays we were out. We lived in a ground floor flat and my Mum used to leave packed lunches for my brother and I on the balcony so we didn't have to go indoors. At the age of 5 I went camping to the Forest of Dean with the local youth club, sans parents (or older brother).

Things are so different now to when I was a child in the 70's and 80's.  These days we seem to be molly coddling our children until  BAM! they are  teenagers demanding to be more grown up than they really are and often left to their own devices.

Mr.M and I are giving the 10 year old some more responsibility.  We've started letting him walk to and from school on his own.  It's about 10 minutes, there's no major roads but a few busy ones especially with parents trying to find parking spaces and zooming about in their bloody great four x fours that are needed for the wild suburban Surrey streets.

I've started letting him pop up to our local Tesco Express for milk & bread essentials - and letting him keep the change. He's walking the dog around the block, ensuring he has poo bags and doesn't let the dog off his lead.

I've also been leaving him for a short while too.  I make him promise not to open the door to anyone. Any of us who need to be in the house have keys. A list of important phone numbers written down and the telephone.  I'm not talking hours on end, usually only about half an hour or so. I take the 5 year old with me of course.

I didn't realise there was no "legal" age on leaving children. Although you cannot leave them if they may be at risk.  I found this link here.

It's so hard trying to find the right balance of letting your babies grow up and start to spread their wings.  

Loving London Zoo

As I only have one day off a week, during the summer holidays I like to try and actually "do something" with the kids on this day.  However cost is also an issue.  I decided to take the tiddlers to ZSL London Zoo.  I checked on their website for the prices.  As non-members it would cost us £62.50 for one adult and two children.  As luck would have it I've been saving my Tesco Clubcard vouchers. If you didn't know you can boost your vouchers up to 4 times their value. So £15 of vouchers gave me £60 to spend.

I hadn't been there since the 10 year old was a toddler in the buggy, he doesn't remember going and the 5 year old has never been. It's a bit of an epic journey for us on public transport. There is a car park at the zoo which costs about £14 a day and is outside the congestion charging zone but I decided to chance the public transport. The kids were very excited as we drove to the train station, got the overground train, then a tube, then a bus! All we needed was an aeroplane and we've have the full set.

We arrived at the zoo, surprisingly there weren't any queues. Using the vouchers was easy and I was happy paying just £2.50 in cash for our entry.

As soon as you get in you are greeted by a photo opportunity of a great brass statue of Guy the Gorilla. The 10year old asked me why he was famous. I didn't have a clue, just that he was when I was a child. There's also plenty of toilets near the entrance which is great when you've been travelling a while.  We dumped our bags down and set about the map deciding which way we wanted to go.

The first port of call was Penguin Beach. where there was to be a talk at 11.30.  There was plenty of viewing action and the kids loved the round window
where one of the penguins enjoyed swimming near them.  We watched the talk and the naughty seagull "Dave" who pinched their food. He obviously knew what time it was!

From there we wandered into Butterfly Paradise. From the outside it's like a giant bouncy castle. Inside it's a humid spectacle full of the most amazing butterflies flitting around. I happened to be wearing a butterfly top and had a couple land on me to the 5 year olds delight.  Inside you can pick up spotters guides to help.  My two were very interested in the cocoons which are kept in a glass case hatching and drying newly emerged butterflies.

After the butterflies we naturally progressed onto the BUG section.  This is an amazing development and the 5 year old did well not to scream and cry her way round the ants, tarantulas and glow in the dark frogs.  In one section you can walk through with real spiders around you.  This part is optional so the 5 year old and I waited outside for the 10 year old to finish his bravery quest.

We followed the paths and went onto Meet The Monkeys and into Animal Adventure - the children's zoo.  This is where the meerkats are and a firm favourite with small children. There are tunnels the children can enter and pop their heads up meerkat style into their territory.  There's also a fun play area here for kids with a splash zone near a small cafe and much needed toilets.

We'd brought a packed lunch so this is where we decided to stop and rest with a well earned sandwich.  Once we re-fuelled we came to Tiger territory. The enclosure is huge with wall to ceiling glass and a high up viewing area. From there we saw the Galapagos Tortoises and then possibly the main attraction, Gorilla Kingdom.

I was quite sad the gorilla's weren't outside as it was a lovely warm day, however they've just had a new baby addition to their troop.  The alpha male silverback - Kumbuka had just woken from an afternoon nap and funnily enough looked rather similar to MrM in the mornings!

By now it was time to have another little rest, there was a children's puppet type show on in the amphitheatre,  and after that the 5year old went on the carousel and then they both went on the large bouncy castle slide. I sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet with a well earned cup of tea.

By now it was mid afternoon and we'd had a full morning. I wanted to see the giraffe's and the 5 year old wanted to see the kangaroos.  To reach giraffe's you have to go via a tunnel to the "Into Africa" area.  Again there are highly raised platforms to view the giraffes but it was very busy so small children might not get such a great view.  The 5 year old was starting to get a bit fractious, probably because her little legs were aching. It's a lot of walking. 

However, the 5 year old was determined to see the kangaroos so we walked back through the tunnel to go to the "Outback". The kangaroos weren't doing too much but the wallaby's had a burst of energy with one finding himself in with the emu's where a bit of a stand off occurred. 

By now it was time to go. As with all places the exit is conveniently located via the gift shop.  I managed to get out spending only £10 and took my tired but happy little monkey's home.

ZSL London Zoo is a lovely place to visit.  There was so much to see and a lot of thought is not only put into the animals enclosures but for the visitors. Plenty of toilets (yay), plenty of things for children to play with and interactive displays for older ones.

The One With The Bumped Head

Grandad.M and Nanny.M live close to a recreation ground which has a very nice and often busy playground. Grandad M will take the 10 year old, the 5 year old and the silly dog.  10 year old will go and play on the football pitch, silly dog sits by the railings and 5 year old and Grandad.M play in the playground.

On Monday morning they'd all been to the park. Grandad.M left the playground via one gate, 5 year old decided to choose another the other side of the playground. Unfortunately the pathway had been very poorly kept, the 5 year old's foot went down a hole and she fell forward and struck her head on the metal gate.

Apparently there was a lot of blood. The 10 year old reached her first and she was holding her head. Grandad.M sprinted over. He scooped her up and carried her all the way home.  She was cleaned up and plaster stuck on.  Then Grandad & Nanny.M called me at work. I thought she'd be alright as long as she wasn't sick or fall asleep.

Later on, Nanny.M posted a picture of the 5 year old. The cut looked deep. I hadn't realised how deep it was. I felt she needed to go to hospital.  I called Mr.M, we left our work and took her up to the hospital.

The children's A&E was busy, mainly with children with bumped heads. 5 year old was triaged and her observations checked. Heart rate, blood pressure, eye reactions.  All seemed fine.  She's odd and does like going to the Doctors and hospital. She was so brave, even when they were cleaning the cut with saline solution. Not a whimper from her at all.  Eventually she was seen by the Doctor. They decided gluing was the best option as it was very neat. So she was laid on a bed with one doctor holding the cut together whilst another glued. Steri strips were put over the top and we were given instructions on what to do if she started to vomit or appear listless or out of character.

4.30am and she woke up, she felt sick. This went on for the next two hours, every 10 minutes she'd have a wave of nausea until around 6.30am when the vomiting started.  The hospital had advised if she was sick more than three times to bring her in. By 8.30am we decided to take her back to the hospital.

Once again, she was triaged and vital signs all checked, she seemed alright apart from the vomiting. She continued vomiting until 10am. The nurses checked all her vital signs every half hour. luckily they'd put us in a side room, however there are only so many games of eye spy and rock, paper, scissors you can play before losing the will to live.

If you watch Casualty on TV, you'll know A&E have a four hour turnaround before you "breach" ours was 12.30. As 12.30 arrived, we were taken up to the children's ward.  This way A&E don't look like they've broken the guidelines and we then get another few hours wait for the Paediatric Registrar We needed a change of scenery anyway. Cynical? Me?

Eventually the Doctor arrived around 2pm.  She did a full assessment of the 5 year old, checked all her reflexes and muscles and movement. She was happy to let us go.  I was happy we could go. The 5 year old had stopped vomiting, was like a jumping bean in the room and complaining of being "starving".  Normal service had resumed.

It was a stressful couple of days but I'm pleased she is all in one piece.

The Mis-Adventures of A Silly Dog. 2

Silly dog has hip dysplasia. He's almost two and this was found when he was around 18months old.  He was in excruciating pain.  You can read about it here.

Since then we've been aware of his condition, if he's had a particularly long run one day, it'll be a little less intense the next as he can be quite stiff. We're also mindful of keeping the weight off as he's a greedy little bugger and a typical spaniel; hoovering up whatever might come his way. Edible or not! See the Mis-Adventures of A Silly Dog.1

He' also incredibly spoilt, he is my baby and sleeps on our bed.  I "NEVER" let the children sleep in my bed but the dog.. well that's different. He's fluffy. I'd like to say he doesn't kick, but he does, he takes up all the foot space and snores like a congested walrus.

Last night he sat up, started to have a bit of a scratch and promptly fell off the bed.  He seemed to very confused how one moment he was sitting on the bed and the next he was on a heap in the floor. He looked at me like I'd pushed him off and gave me that disdainful spaniel look before leaping back on the bed, huffing and puffing before taking the warm comfy spot I vacated to check he was alright.

No doubt he'll now use this as an excuse to take up even more space and worm his way up the bed between me and Mr.M.

My Children Need Their Sleep.

The 10yo is not happy with the bedtime arrangements in our house. Admittedly if I was 10 I probably wouldn't be too.  Seeing it from the point of having been "the little sister" I'm on the side of the 5yo on this.

Ever since he was born, he was a great sleeper, all night through by 11 weeks (yes, I am smug). However I paid for that by him waking every day at 5am.  He would have 10 hours sleep, no more, no less.  I despaired of the 5am wake-up call. I would crawl out of bed, slump on the sofa and nod off to endless episodes of Thomas The Tank Engine.

When he started school, he shifted forward to 6am. The Gods smiled, I breathed a sigh of relief and then found out I was pregnant with No. 2.

Luckily when No. 2 arrived I was blessed again with good chunks of sleep and a baby that slept through from 12 weeks. (I am super smug).  Luckily No. 2 didn't have the 5am wake-up call, 6am is so much more civilised.

Roll on 5 years and this is where I'm at.  We have a good bedtime routine, bath/shower, PJ's, teeth brushing, story & bed. This is for both.  The 10yo does everything at the same time as the 5yo, albeit about a 10 minute rollover.  The 5yo is usually settling down for sleep by 8pm.  I personally feel it's late for a 5 yo but I just can't get it any earlier.  The 10yo is usually in bed for 8.30 at the latest.  Here is where his issue is.

None of my friends go to bed this early.

He clearly feels hard done by. Apparently none of his friends have to go to bed at this time. It's practically the afternoon.  Summer evenings when the bedrooms are bathed in sunlight isn't helping. Hearing the neighbours (younger children) still playing in their garden doesn't help. 

If he's playing his xBox with his friends, he often has to be the first to leave the game. I don't care. He needs his sleep.  

I am not saying no for the sake of it or "just because I said so".  We leave the house at 7am. The kids are deposited at their grandparents and MrM and I head off to commute into work. I firmly believe 10 hours helps with his concentration, (his ADHD puts him at a disadvantage in the concentration stakes), helps with keeping him healthy, his body growing strong.

 The 5yo is all about the "fairness" of it all.  Being a highly competitive madam, she can't see why she must go to bed earlier than her big brother.  They are equal. If anything she feels superior to him a fair amount of the time I'm sure.  I remember being the little sister and wanting to do the same things at the same time as my big brother.  Bed-time and pocket money were big issues in our house when I was small.

It looks like history is repeating it self.

What time do your kids go to bed? Is 8.30 early or late for a 10 year old?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Flush The Bloody Toilet!

The 10 year old has been toilet trained for the past seven years, give or take a few months.

For some obscure reason he finds it impossible to remember to flush the toilet.  Or to lift the seat and wash his hands.  It drives me nuts!

I know it's not for effort on my part.  I spend a good part of my day re-directing him back to the bathroom to wipe the seat, flush the toilet and wash his hands. I'm like the toilet police.

Surely it should be like second nature by now? You do something enough you don't even think of doing it, it just happens. Muscle memory. I've driven home from the in-laws or sometimes and have no recollection of the actual journey. I could do it blindfolded. 

So why, oh why, can't he flush the bloody toilet!?

Dear Son

On Monday it will be your 10th birthday.  A decade since you arrived 7 weeks early a scrawny scrap of skin at 4lb 2oz. 

I never experienced labour, I've never had a contraction, you were pulled from me whilst I was asleep. I was so ill I didn't see you for the first few hours of your life. It never stopped my heart opening up to you.  For such a tiny boy you were so strong and long! You still are one of the tallest in your year and will be patting me on the head soon.  You had such a fighting spirit and grew at a great rate of knots. In hospital I used to come down to the Special Care Baby Unit and visit you in the dead of night, holding you, feeding you enjoying the peace. Our time.

At three weeks you came home and my life has never been the same. 

I've experienced the highs of parenting, watching you take your first steps, learn to talk, start school, ride a bike, your first crush.  And the lows. The time you were three and burnt your hand on the iron when I turned my back for a second. 
When you were five and went missing at a Spanish water park for half an hour.  You, my clever boy who found a security guard when you knew you were lost.

Now we're entering a different era. The tweens.  You ask me lots of questions about body changes which I endeavour to answer honestly. I love to make you laugh so when you ask me if you're getting hair under your arms or on your chest; I say I won't check your bum for hair. You're hormonal and shouty and horrible to your little sister.   But I can get past that, when you give me a big cuddle and say you love me. That you've told your friends I'm a brilliant cook (when I'm really not!).  When I see you trying to hide the pride in your face as we're allowing a little more freedom and you can walk home from school on your own.  Inch by inch I'm already letting go. 

In the next ten years you won't be mine. You'll always be my little man, but you may belong to  someone else's heart by then. You wont tell me everything that's happening in your life and I wont be the cleverest person you know. You may have left home, you may even have a child of your own. 

Remember, I love you little man.

Dog Days Out: West Wittering Beach

I have vague memories and the odd photo of us at a beach. I seem to remember it could have been Clacton. I was small and it was hot and sunny.

Me, Dad & Brother, possibly Clacton Circa summer 1975

The only beaches my kids have been to is the ones we have visited abroad on holiday and Bognor Regis as my Aunty lives there.

Now we have the puppy I'm always looking out for somewhere we can take him as well.  He's an important member of our family and deserves days out too!  Someone suggested West Wittering beach. 

They're out there somewhere!

When we arrived, it was a bit chilly and a bit windy but the view was amazing. Huge sandy flats with a low tide.  We'd been in the loft and dug out the buckets and spades, the 5yo, 9yo, MrM and dog were straight off leaving me to fight the wind to get the blanket down and pinned in place with the picnic bag and various shoes.  The 5yo came back, bucket full of shells and soaked up to her bum.  I'd rather hopefully brought a pair of her shorts with me so with a lot of struggling I managed to peel the already tight leggings from her cold, wet legs and replace them.

My dog isn't a water fan. Odd I know. The slightest sniff of rain and he refuses to leave the house. After a long walk you'd think he'd want to dip his paws but not my little pup. However, he was happy to get his paws wet on the beach. He also kept trying to drink the salt water and made himself a little sick. Being the well prepared owner I am, I had remembered to bring his pop-up water bowl and fresh water. 

Sadly the chilly weather had got the better of us. There were lots of people flying kites and having a great time.

We wandered up towards the car park and the beach cafe. MrM and I had a well deserved hot drink and the kids both had huge ice-creams despite being almost blue from being cold and wet!

If you want to visit, it's close to Chichester Harbour, about an hour and twenty minutes drive from where we are on the London/Surrey border.  It's sandy and has year round dog friendly sections.  There's a huge car park which is £8 for a full day at high season weekends with plenty of room for picnics and barbecues.

As soon as summer finally decides to visit us we'll definitely be back.   

For more information about the beach you can click   here