5 things to do with pumpkin innards this Halloween
The pumpkin has been carved, the candles have been lit and your little monster is staring in wonder at the finished result. [...]
Read With Me Violet: mum’s best friend
BB has a new pet. She’s called Violet (pictured) and since she landed on our doormat last weekend they’ve been everywhere together. And I mean everywhere. I’ve found Violet perched on top of the toilet, sitting on the open dishwasher door and being ‘fed’ apple juice. I even had to wrestle her from BB’s arms at 9pm on Tuesday night because, despite having switched her off, BB had turned her on again and the pair were chattering away in the darkness to the dulcet tones of Frere Jacques. […]
Heirloom christening gowns aren’t just for royals…
When Prince George made his entrance into the Church of England it got me thinking about BB’s christening in July 2012. [...]
Standing when pregnant…perish the thought!
So the PC brigade have got themselves in a tizz after seven-months-pregnant equalities minister Jo Swinson was ‘forced’ to stand at prime minister’s questions this week because all the seats were taken by (male) backbenchers. ‘None of the MPs sitting just feet away offered her a seat,’ lambasts one report. ‘Really shocking lack of manners and decency,’ says another. Had she actually approached them and asked to sit down I’m sure they’d have readily budged up. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone that the poor woman may have spent the morning chained to her desk, ankles swelling and bum numbing, and may actually have welcomed 30 minutes in which to stand and get her circulation going again. […]
A talking etch a sketch…whatever next?
We’ve come a long way since the days of the etch a sketch. This week BB and I have got our hands on a new toy: LeapFrog’s all-singing, all-dancing scribble and write pad to practise writing letters and numbers (pictured). Think talking etch a sketch with flashing lights and music. My main reason for being keen to review this tool for 3 to 5 year olds is to reinforce BB’s numbers – she can count and recognise numbers 1 to 20 so now seems as good a time as any to start learning how to write them. The pad comes with a keyboard featuring upper and lowercase letters and numbers and a stylus attached to a cord which kids can use to write on the retraceable screen. Once they’ve pressed their chosen letter or number red dots appear under the screen and Mrs LeapFrog talks them through how to write it – ‘start at the top’, ‘draw a curved line’ etcetera. […]
Breastfeeding: the aftermath
I know I promised not to write anymore on the subject, but circumstances have conspired to induce me to take to my laptop once again. It’s now been five months since I stopped breastfeeding BB, and in those months I have felt so under the weather that I hardly remember what it’s like to feel on top of it. It started with an eye infection which took three GPs to diagnose correctly, quickly followed by an ear infection requiring two separate courses of antibiotics. Then there was a tummy bug which lasted a full 4 weeks, forcing me to cancel social events and sending me to bed, twice. Oh, and then there was a nasty mouth ulcer. At first I put the feeling of general malaise down to the ‘fug’ of new motherhood, broken nights that lasted more than a year and running around after a toddler. But surely the fug oughtn’t to last two years. And, on reflection, feeling like I’ve been knocked over the head with a cricket bat by mid afternoon every day isn’t quite right either. […]
