Thomas

My little man has been bitten by the Thomas bug and he's got it in a big way! At the moment C-bear eats, sleeps and breathes Thomas. We've had some of the books for a while, we always have a couple in the car - C-bear loves the Percy story and always spends ages looking for the rainbow. We also have a board book where Thomas delivers ice-cream to the children - pretty much two of C's favourite things Thomas AND icecream! And then we got the DVD.... He's had favourite shows before, he loves Baby Jake on CBeebies, but not to the extent of Thomas. The DVD (The Best of Thomas) has a two and half hour's worth of episodes from the slightly scary 1984 originals to present day. We watch it daily whilst we're getting ready for work and nursery and C-bear chatters away with a constant stream of comments about the story 'poor Percy', 'Thomas broken', 'Yay Thomas' etc etc.

We were talking to my parents on skype this weekend and mentioned his Thomas addiction, my Dad went and got a Thomas book he had when he was a boy and C-bear was fascinated as Grandad read a Thomas story to him over the Internet!

The coloured wooden carriages on his train track now all have Thomas and friends names and he loves seeing the ride on Thomas at Sainsburys (we've not actually paid for him to ride on it, so at the moment he thinks it's just a 'statue' to look at). We're even using it to get him to try new food, won't eat his spaghetti bolagnese? "but that's Percy's favourite", won't even try watermelon "Gordon loves watermelon", I'm not sure how long he'll go on believing us, but right now just mentioning those trains means he'll actually try the food being offered (yes he spat the watermelon straight out, but at least he put it in his mouth in the first place).

So we're not sure how long this phase will last, but at the moment it feels like Thomas may be with us for a long time to come!

Our week by Android - week 1

In my last post I celebrated the fact that I'm finally up with the 21st Century and have a new smart phone, the celebrations continue as FINALLY I'm able to join in with Amy @ A Good Life - hello! - with these weekly photo posts.

As I'm a full time working mama I'm not sure if I'll ever remember to get mama and baby pics throughout the week, but will give it a go and see what I come up with. So here's the weekend in smart photos from my brand new Instagram account.

Daddy bear and I baked while C-bear napped, we had apple pie, scones, cheese scones and cheese straws. T's Mum had given us TONS of cheese so we wanted to use some of it up... That scone was DELISH. C-bear agreed.

Daddy and C-bear with a piece of the puzzle. Ultimate railway track/animal play. Running into the Horniman Museum. Feeeeesh in the aquarium. Mesmerised by the jellies. Pointing at magpies on a Horniman Museum bench.

A busy week ahead, the nursery is under new management so I'm going to a drop in session tomorrow morning to discuss. Big meeting coming up at work and have got to write up the plans for autumn and Christmas. Next weekend we've got a toddler birthday party and are meeting up with my family to visit Jane Austen's house and generally have fun with everyone and the boy.

New phone and it's so toddler friendly

After almost a year I've finally got a smartphone that works! Eighteen months ago I got a new hTC which I love love loved for oooh about 3 months and then (on a bumpy river towpath) dropped it, the screen smashed and I had ages left on my contract. Hubbie stepped in with his old phone, but I was suddenly back in the mobile dark ages with an iPhone but no access to the web. Last week I finally got my free upgrade and another hTC phone.

Shiny brand new hTC One S

So, the thing that's come as a bit of a surprise is how many apps there are for my toddler on the phone! My hubs keeps his iPhone hidden from our little one, sticky fingers and possible breakage are enough for him to only get it out when C-bear's not around. However, I've only had the phone for a few days and have stumbled across some gems (and they're all free). See my thoughts below and I'll add more as I find them - if you have an android do let me know your toddler app tips!

Toddler Lock

They say: The perfect app to keep your child entertained. Child lock with colorful graphics and soothing sounds to keep your kids entertained without having to worry about them making calls or starting other apps.

I say: Brilliant, simple and keeps him entertained for at least 5 minutes at a time (which is good, usually he's onto the next thing after a couple of mins). He mastered it super-quick, even working out that you can pull down the blind-like eraser to clear the screen all by himself. I also like the sneaky 'tap each corner clockwise' for me to unlock the lock - I suspect it will be a very long time before he can figure that out!

Toddler Cars

They say: Lots of fun car animation and music to keep your child entertained! Help your toddler learn the names of different vehicles. Tapping on each vehicle shows an animation of it driving by, and plays a fun sound effect along with it.

I say: C-bear loves it, he loves anything with a vehicle, though a pity there's no trains! It's quite American, the accent, the names of the vehicles and the drawings are all from the states (motorcycle confused C because he's used to motorbike) but the music and the animations are great. Only regret I didn't have this earlier, at 25 months C already knows all the names, so it's not teaching him anything, just let's him have fun.

Toddlers Trifling

They say: Toddlers Trifling is an educational and fun game for a toddler. It teaches basic shapes and colours and is suitable for children from a very young age. No reading or writing skills required.

I say: There's tons of games on here, but our favourite by far is popping bubbles! We actually found this after coming home from blowing real bubbles in the park, but here you don't have to contend with a toddler getting more and more frustrated by the wind blowing the bubbles out of reach.

A day at Rochester Castle

We took the boy to Rochester Castle in Kent. It's a 30 minute drive from us in South London and near to my in-laws house. C-bear loved it, Daddy bought him a foam sword and he ran around the castle waving it and pretending to be a knight (like Mike the Knight, his only reference to knights so far but I can't wait to introduce him to the tales of Camelot when he's older!)

1 - Mummy guiding her brave knight up the stairs
2 - The inside of the castle
3 - The boy running around on the castle lawn
4 - Rochester Castle with lovely blue cloudy sky
5 - C-bear with sword, looking at a model castle
6 - Daddy and C-bear fooling around on the grass

Coldplay Concert

Finally got my camera back, so here's the photos from Coldplay.

Coldplay are one of my husband's favourite bands and I love them too. They remind me of  the first few years of uni, where Tom and I met. We've each got an original single of Yellow from June 2000, we bought them just before the summer vacation after our 1st year of uni together, I played that song constantly throughout that summer! And of course, we danced to Yellow at the wedding. We've seen Coldplay twice before and T bought the tickets to this concert before we'd had the wedding, because we knew it would be our first dance.

So anyway, these boys know how to put on a great concert. We already were expecting the famed wristbands, but not all the other little extravagances

When we arrived we all got to pick out a wristband. There were LOADS of colours, I chose green and pink and Tom chose white and pink (after my teasing he later said he was confused so took the first one he saw!), when these little bands lit up it was incredible, a completely amazing experience. (I later read that the wristbands alone cost the band £400k per show!!!).

The show started with fireworks followed by flashing lights and lasers, then massive confetti blowers throughout the stadium blew up large confetti pieces, they went everywhere, all over the stage and I caught one from our seats.

Then they released balloon/balls which bounced across the fans and all around the stadium:

Then they turned the wristbands on and flashed them in time to the music - simply stunning and so much fun to be part of.

And finally came blow up shapes, with amazing lights and lasers.

Chris Martin:

We had such a fun night, it was nice to go out and act like a couple, knowing C-bear was safe at home with my Aunt and Uncle.

My 25 month old

Charlie, at 25 months you are so much fun!

As your speech has developed you can now get your point across with ease and we have some really funny conversations with you. You love to boss us around:

"No Daddy", "Get up Mummy", "Get off Daddyia", "Stand up Mummy" when we're at the supermarket you say "Go home Mummy".

You've started calling us Daddyia and Mummyia, names you've made up and today you said "I love you Daddy", which made our hearts melt (I immediately got you to say "I love you Mummy and you also said "I love you cake" which ruined it a little!).

You are ADDICTED to Thomas the Tank Engine, today Daddy bought you your first Thomas DVD and you sat on my lap glued to the screen, demanding "More Thomas" whenever an episode ended. Nana and Grandad bought you a set of three T-shirts - Thomas, James and Percy - you ask to wear them everyday, we have to say they're in the wash just to get you to wear anything else.

You are getting a little less fussy about food. You are still a little terror, but I've had some success with different types of pasta and noodles with hidden vegetable sauces. I bought the Annabel Karmel Fussy Eaters' Recipe Book and there's some good recipes you've been happy to eat - homemade pot noodles, oat and raisin cookies, pancakes with berry compote, eggy bread. There was also a great tip about putting food in tiny pots, which believe it or not has worked really well!

You still sleep in your cot, you've not tried to climb out and there's plenty of room so we're happy to keep you there. You sleep in a 24-36 month gro-bag and we've just got you your first pillow, with a lovely yellow pillowcase which you absolutely love. This morning when you saw me strip the pillowcase and put it in the washing machine you burst into tears!

You love playing with the toys you got for your birthday - everything except your bike (you're still a little short to ride it, so haven't learnt how fun it could be yet). However you are into Play D'oh in a big way, as well as your menagerie of schleich animals, jigsaws, sticker books and toy cars.

You've got a massive wardrobe at the moment, both 18-24 and 2-3 years fit you. Favourite items (obviously the Thomas stuff), a blue & yellow polo shirt from Gap, dark blue jeans with a yellow belt I got from primark ages ago and they still fit, green and navy blue gap socks, red hooded gilet and a red fleecy top with black cars both from Sainsburys.

You can walk and run with ease and are just learning to jump down steps and skip whilst holding my hand. You love going on public transport, trains are your favourite, but you still say "yay" when I say we're going to get a bus.

Above all you are turning into such a beautiful, well mannered little boy. When prompted you say please and thanks you and "pardon Mummy".

Why I blog - Fill in the blank Fridays

Yes, I'm two days late with this, but Lauren @thelittlethingswedo has changed the rules slightly, and something that would normally take a quick 10 mins, has proven to take a little longer. Here's my answer to this week's Fill in the Blank Friday question:

I enjoy it, if I didn't this blog would have a lot less posts. I started blogging back in 2009 when I put together a fun little blog, The Ginger Prince, about our new kitten Oliver, but I got a little bored with that and so started my current blog under the name of The Battersea Booklover, it was a blog about books, my first post was pretty terrible, a book review of Anna Karenina. When my son was born in 2010 my blog took a new twist, a new name, The London Mama, and it became something far more important to me then an occasional hobby.

Through blogging I have found so much advice for raising my son. I read a lot of parenting books and parenting pages but it's been reading other mamas blogs that has really helped me to see the importance of motherhood. I've watched other babies across the world grow at the same time as my own and even though I've never met them, the opportunity to share their lives has been immense.

Ultimately though I blog for myself and for keeping a diary of life as a new mother. I want to look back at this little blog in many years time and smile at the trials and tribulations, the successes and failures and (to be honest) the photos of my little family.

More?

London - A Jubilicious Weekend

We've been making the most of the Diamond Jubilee and our special four day weekend. I'm kicking myself because I've left my camera at the in-laws, so only have a few photos for this post from my old camera. I'll do another photo-dump post once I've got the camera back.

So, Charlie's jubilee weekend started on Friday with a Jubilee party at nursery. He came home wearing a crown:

He'd made it himself, and delighted in pulling as many of the sequins onto my freshly vacuumed floor as he could! He was also waving a union jack coloured by his own fair hand.



On Saturday Daddy bear and I had tickets to the Coldplay Concert at the Emirates Stadium. Yellow, is "our song", we chose it for our first dance at our wedding, so it was great to see them live again and hear them sing 'our song', and a really nice treat for me from my husband. I have tons more to write about, but will wait until I've got my camera back so I can include photos.

My Auntie, Uncle and Cousin came over after lunch on Saturday to spend the day with us and to babysit C-bear in the evening. We had a lovely walk in Crystal Palace Park and blew bubbles for C. He was as good as gold, he doesn't know my Auntie and co too well but went to bed for them with no fuss! I'd emailed my Aunt with our bedtime routine and she'd even learnt the Cbeebies bedtime song to sing to him before bed!

On Sunday we had a home day, I was pretty tired from getting to bed at midnight after the Coldplay concert and then getting up with C-bear at 6am. We watched the Thames River Pageant on TV and it felt like a very good idea not to have gone into London, the rain was horrendous!

Image from the official Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant website

The flotilla started just near our old flat at Battersea and made it's way along 7 miles of river to Tower Bridge, it was nice to see our old neighbourhood on the TV! If we still lived there we'd have taken Charlie down to see the boats. Charlie and I ventured out into the park for an afternoon stroll, we found a golf ball and then got rained out and hurried home, running from tree to tree for shelter.

On Monday we took the boy out for another adventure. We drove down to Rochester Castle and had fun pretending to be knights and jumping down stairs (more on this once my camera returns). We popped into Bluewater to get some bits - a birthday present for C-bear's girlfriend, fixing of a watch strap for Daddy Bear and some new jubilee inspired red, white and blue PJs for me. We went onto Nana and Grandad's house to spend the afternoon with them. We gave Nana her birthday present and she cooked us a lovely dinner with her homemade special chips.

Today, the final day of our lovely 4 day holiday, C-bear and I had a playpark playdate with his friend little T. We made sandcastles, a sand tunnel (expert engineering from T's Mama) and both boys slid down the big helterskelter slide (can't believe how grownup they're getting!). We fed the ducks (and pigeons and geese) the crusts from the posh sandwiches T and his Mama had made for their own jubilee celebrations yesterday:

And in the park cafe we shared a Jubilee lemon cupcake with a cup of tea/juice.

On the way home (we were a little late and someone was hungry, tired and grumpy) we had a monster tantrum. I'm trying to get him to walk more, C-bear always wants to be carried and I'm trying to get him to walk for a little while before picking him up. We had fishfingers, waffles, beans and peas for lunch with fresh pineapple and yogurt, and right now C-bear is enjoying a nap, whilst Daddy Bear and I celebrate all things British by watching Miss Marple (the 1980s Joan Hickson verion).

The Baby Elephants' Day Out

Last Monday Charlie and I took the day off (from work and nursery) and went on an adventure. At the last minute C-bear decided the baby elephants from his Duplo set should come too, so we set out, Mama, C-bear and the two baby elephants.

1 - The baby elephants said goodbye to their Mama
2 - and got into the shoes (we then persuaded C-bear to remove the elephants so that his feet could fit in)
3 - Waiting at the station, the elephants were clutched one in each hand. I told C-bear that we were waiting for a green train, so we let all the orange and white ones go past before our green and yellow train came
4 - We went to Battersea Park Children's Zoo and had pasta and juice for lunch, the baby elephants ate leaves from the trees for theirs, C-bear had great fun holding them up so they could eat
5 & 6 - Our favourite animals were the meerkats and the otters
7  &10- but the best thing there was the AMAZING sand and water area, it was huge, with loads of pumps and wheels to transport water around the playground
8 & 11 - the little ele's had fun playing in the daisies
9 - Mama and baby sat under the trees and watched the elephants play :)
12 - The baby elephants come home safe and sound (though a little scratched from being dragged along walls and fences all day) and tell their Mama all about their day

The parts around the wedding

To make the most of my brother's wedding in the Cotswolds we took an extra day off and spent two nights in a hotel. This was the first time C-bear (nearly 25 months) really understood about staying in a hotel, and he loved our mini adventure, particularly as Granny and Grandad were in the room next door and the bride and groom were staying on the floor above. There were also lots of wedding guests we didn't know, but who C-bear won over with his toddler charm.

1 - Trying out the hotel's cot, he loved jumping around in this
2 - The boys outside the hotel
3 - Tiny photo of Daddy bear waving to me from another window in my brother's honeymoon suite (they had it for two nights and we got to have a nose around before the wedding night. C loved that there were 5 interconnecting rooms to run around)
4 - Tewkesbury Abbey, we walked around the grounds to let toddler boy blow off steam before the wedding
5 - C-bear under a large tree in the abbey grounds
6 - Having a cuddle with Mama
7 - Playing with Daddy in the hotel grounds
8 - Dinner in the hotel, we ate with my bro and C-bear got to stay up late
9 - Driving home in the sunshine, with a new addiction to Pom bears

A Weekend Wedding Adventure

Last weekend our little family of three took Friday off and drove to the Cotswolds for a mini adventure (cue, Daddy Bear and I getting the Baby Jake theme tune in our heads "It's time for an adventure, goggy gia"). Saturday was my brother's wedding to his wonderful fiance and Auntie to C-bear and we were all staying in The Hilton Puckrup Hotel near the wedding venue in Worcestershire.

I'll start with the wedding itself, the weather was beautiful, a perfect hot English June day:

1 - Daddy Bear Tom acting as chauffeur for C-bear and me
2 - The bus - wedding guests were picked up from two hotels (we opted to drive as there wasn't a children's seat for Charlie)
3 - Quoits - the lawn had garden games spread across it, C-bear enjoyed picking up the target and running around with it
4 - The venue, Deer Park Hall in Worcestershire
5 - The Bride and Groom sign the register (I was a witness, C-bear had to be taken out after saying "Charlie's Flower" in the just cause or impediments part)
6 - The beautiful cake, made by an old school friend's sister
7 - The Bride and Groom pose with the boy during the meal
8 - C-bear's Uncle A (from Daddy's side) was also at the wedding, as the official photographer, he took some time out to play connect 4 with my boys
9 - In awe of half cousin once removed A and learning to slide down hills. C absolutely loved this, his suit trousers were fine, but when he did it in pyjamas later they got completely covered in grass stains
10 - New favourite, my cousin V, doing stickers in the garden with her
11 - The deer of deer park hall, part of the wedding deal was for them to be lured by carrots to be visible in the neighbouring field. They were very beautiful and came absolutely charging down when the quad bike appeared with their carrots
12 - The view to the Malverns and the sunset - it was the first time C has ever really seen a sunset and he was fascinated, a little scared "where's sun gone?" but ok once we explained.