I have survivied . . . .

We have returned from our holidays in one piece: tired but having enjoyed the majority of the experience.

I have to confess that the resort that we booked was awful, it is not a place I would recommend for families travelling with younger children (I can share the review I left on trip advisor if anyone is interested) but travelling with the children was an experience that I will not look to repeat until they are older. I accepted that it would be hard as the flights were not the kindest times and we were lucky that one both flights they both slept for the majority of the time and they also slept on the coach transfer between airport and resort. But the bits where they were awake they were over giddy, they hated the necessary waiting in all the booking in and security checks and nothing we brought to entertain them was sufficient, The travel home was even worse as oldest had broken his trunki meaning that he could no longer sit on it and ride about (a source of much fun on the way out).

Over the first week we learnt the hard way that the flexibility we have around meal times was not as great as we hoped. By week 2 we were feeding the children in the hotel room before we went out for evening and then giving them the choice to eat or not when we ate. Sometimes the did and sometimes they didn't but it did save a lot of stress. We also realised that all the changes were very unsettling regardless of the fun. During the fun bits everything was great but during the bits between - the showering after swimming and getting ready for the evening, the waiting for food in restaurants and the walking between things. These bits were hard work, much harder than at home. The whinging and whining got on everyone's nerves towards the end as did their inability to stop and listen to reason for even a moment before launching into a full scale paddy.

What we did find was that the children enjoyed the experiences of a new language, the were amazing at trying new foods and fascinated by the differences they could see around them in the homes, the roads and even people driving on the wrong side of the car! The did struggle with the heat at points, especially when we asked them to walk anywhere (more because they wanted to be in the pool than anything else) but the swimming was a huge highlight. I think we swam on all but 2 days of our holiday either in the pool at the resort or in the sea. Both children have gained so much confidence in the water and even youngest decided she no longer needed her noodle because she can swim without it. She did really well, I was really proud of her and I am hoping that once we get back into our weekly swimming habit she will grow further in confidence. They even had my going down the big slide, a most undignified experience but I enjoyed every second.

We did spend 2 days on boat trips that allowed us to swim in the sea (from the boat) and both children were exceptionally adventurous especially oldest jumping from the back of the boat from a height that would have concerned me! the looked for fish using snorkel masks and oldest climbed on the rocks in the cove to see what else he could find.

Next task is to prepare for the return to school as a Y1 and the start of school in reception.

We're all going on our summer holidays,

We're all going on our summer holidays,

no more worries for a week or 2.

fun and laughter on our summer holidays

where all our dreams come true.

Hopefully.

We are so close to our holiday that the cases are out and there are things in them. Not so near as printing boarding passes but slowly getting there. I am realty excited and we were doing really well until last night when smallest decided that she is now afraid of the dark. Bummer.

It came to that time - that time where I said pyjamas. The fuss started. From refusal to change, go to the toilet, brush her teeth and have a wash. I managed the bribe my way through these with stories - audio and read by me. Once all that was completed and it was time for kisses and cuddles before sleep she went bonkers. Crying, screaming, chasing us when we tried to leave the room, begging to sleep with us, for the lights to be on, for us to move her bed - she tried everything. We tried to, gently, return her to bed each time but after 40 minutes of disturbing youngest I placed her back in bed and sat on her bedroom floor with my back to her. She calmed down. Until I tried to move when her eyes popped open and the crying started again. Eventually she calmed enough to allow me to sit just outside her door with the door open. After a little while of this I tried to pull her door to. Big mistake and we started again. After nearly 2 hours she did go to sleep.

But only for a little while. Around 11pm she climbed into bed with us. We returned her a few times, took her to the toilet. we even tried to get her to settle with us but nothing worked. The next screaming fit was for a drink - water found she wanted juice. She settled for about 5 minutes and then had a paddy because we had removed the half full glass from her room. It felt like hours later she went back to sleep. It might only have been 30 minutes.

I am not sure how I am going to manage bed time tonight - I can not feel anything but absolute dread in case last night is repeated. I can plan the same calm down activities we always do before bed, stories, kisses and cuddles and the usual routine. I then have options. I can leave her door open. I tend to pull it to because she sings and keeps oldest awake. I could put a night light on in her bed room. I really don't want to get her into the habit that she needs someone in the room before she can sleep but letting her get distressed is not the answer either. My other option is to leave the curtains open a little bit more and hoping that the morning sunlight will not wake her too early.

I am hoping that this is just a phase and that she will grow out of it.

Rules of Survival - Supermarket Sweep

1) Do it on your own!

Seriously, whatever you need to do whether it be going after they are in bed, getting a babysitter or leaving them with your other half in the car (with the windows open, obviously) do it!

2) If you can't do it on your own consider whether they fit in the trolley! Having both running around whilst I am trying to gather enough sustenance for the next meal is much harder than having one sat in the trolley where it can't run off and where the trolley can be parked so nothing can be reached. Once the critical age is reached and they can not longer be squeezed into the trolley extra arms are needed to push the

3) Have a list - have a list for everyone including yourself. Limit your list to the essentials. it is not the time for browsing.

4) At the check out your attention is always elsewhere - packing the shopping, paying for shopping and being pleasant to the check out operator. I have yet to come up with a solution here except when there is an extra person - that means 1 for the shopping and the other for the kids.

5) Once you get home find something that will entertain the kids whilst you put the essentials away. By essentials I mean those items that have to go in the fridge or freezer, everything else can stay in the bags on the kitchen side until later.

I mean it - do it on your own! I had chance a few days ago and it was almost heavenly.

A good night's sleep . . . . .

This weekend was our most recent expedition. We were hopeful. Our 'new' tent over the winter had been returned and refunded and a replacement sought out. The weather report was pretty rubbish but we thought that, after all our experiences, we might have cracked it, A stress free weekend beckoned.

I was, as usual, wrong. Again.

The tent was fab, very easy to put up, good quality and masses of space. I was happy, even in the rain. (Luckily it stopped for an hour whilst we got the tent up and everything situated). As time was getting on and the weather was terrible we bundled the kids into their sleeping stuff and, with a pile of books, settled them in - they were happy because they had stayed up late (only an hour so a nice compromise) but the light was starting to go and with promises that straight to sleep would equal later to bed the next night. Success! 40 minutes later and they were asleep and they stayed that way until just before 7am. I was happy.

Night 2 was when it all went a bit wrong. We let them stay up. Youngest declared just before 10pm that she wanted to go to bed. I complied and got her settled quickly, with minimal fuss and lots of praise. She had, with very few moments been really good all day and, from the colour that her pink jogging bottoms were, she must have had fun. I have never been that filthy and not enjoyed the processed. It might have taken her 30 seconds before she was fast asleep. Might of.

Oldest didn't declare but 15 minutes later his Dad did it for him and brought him to bed. Cue lots of messing about - looking for things, straightening blankets, trying to wake youngest, I think he tried it all. Some time later he fell asleep.

We had hoped the late night might equal a bit of a lie in.

We were wrong and this is where the nightmare started. 5.30am was the time. Oldest decided it was light, it was time to get up and he wasn't being reasoned with. We tried giving him books and asking him to look quietly when asking him to lie down and cuddle his toys didn't work. We tried to bribe him with trips to the park if he would stop whining and shouting. We threatened that he would not be allowed to go places especially if he woke youngest (who, thankfully slept until about 8am) and finally we gave him an ultimatum. Stop trying to wake everyone up and look at books quietly in bed or we were going home. Straight after breakfast.

Nothing worked.

5 minutes later I got, dressed and started packing up. His screaming reached fever pitch. We worked through it. Breakfast was quick and without fuss and he was sat in the car with toy and book whilst we finishing packing the tent away and loaded the car - in the pouring rain. We were less than 15 minutes into our journey before both smalls were sleeping and we enjoyed the peace and quiet. On arriving home we put the TV on and let them relax in front of it but oldest continued to whinge and whine and be generally tired and grumpy with the world.

I think the most frustrating thing was his inability to listen and reason.

He was in bed for 6pm. When I left for work at 7am he was still asleep. Hopefully he woke up in a better mood.

Rules of Survival - Eating Out

I have decided to do a short series entitled Rules of Survival - my top 5 tips for stress free events with small people based on my own experiences.

 

Rules of Survival - Eating Out

1) Choose a child friendly venue.

One with a child friendly menu, food that your child will eat!

There is no point taking your curry hating small person to an Indian restaurant, Or your 'allergic to cheese' monkey for pizza.

You might miss the days when you visited that lovely little bistro with the fancy food but save it for when you have a babysitter!

2) Time your visit

I know that lots of children will eat whenever they want but some children, like mine, have very set meal times and eating outside these (early or late) will cause catastrophic meltdown. Also factor in how long it takes you to order and have food delivered to your table. We made this classic mistake when we entered a well known family family restaurant at lunch time. 40 minutes later when food arrived at our table the kids were past eating it and thus the whole experience included wasted food, unhappy kids and stressed out parents.

I know that some fast food places are not the nicest of places to eat (nor the healthiest) but they can be quick and sometimes speed is of the essence.

3) Food Ordering

We always try to give a choice but we always limit the options to those we know that the children will eat. Yes, there is a a discussion about them trying new things but is a restaurant the place to dump a whole new meal in front of them? Just in case they don't like it. I always let them try what I ham having but their meals are always primarily foods that they like and will enjoy,

I really hate seeing wasted food.

On the other side of that coin if your small person is not eating something that they like ask why and taste their food! Smallest once refused to eat pasta, something she usually eats happily. I worked through everything that could be wrong and, as a last resort, tried it - awful! So bad, in fact, that I sent it back and demanded my money back whilst she ate mine.

4) Entertainment

A bored child is never a funny thing when they are chained to their seat.

Like the best Boy Scout - be prepared. I always take a bag with pencils and paper or colouring books. I have a couple of child friend apps on my mobile phone and tablet which I try to have with me.

Never, ever reply on the child friendly 'we provide a colouring pack' restaurant to actually do so. Too many times they have run out!

I try to avoid I spy - experience says that it can irritate other diners especially if they become the subject of the game. I also try to avoid anything with wheels as they tend to end up either on the floor or being used to scatter everything else on the table onto the floor.

5) Leave when you are done!

You might want to sit and chat, let your dinner go down and enjoy finishing your drinks. Your kids have had enough and want to go and do something else! The only exception to this is those places where a soft play centre is attached and whilst you can allow them to run riot for a bit (praying that projectile vomiting is not going to be result) you do have to supervise them and you may have to enter the abyss.

My experiences include having to close the ball pool down whilst I search for oldest's hearing aid which any child had pulled out of his ear and thrown. Without going into the detail of what I may or may not have come into contact in their I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was one of the most disgusting moments of my existence.

 

No wiser, just older.

Another year older but no wiser this year. Only older.

We had a lovely weekend, the kids had gone to a lot of effort to make me lovely cards and we decided to take advantage of a local farm's open day to have a day out. For the most part it was lovely. The sun was shining but the wind kept it cool (a little too cool at points), we went for a tractor ride, we went potato picking, we watched the sheep shearing (and dancing) show, fed the lambs and generally look at everything there was to look and played with everything there was to play with.

We did, however, have a problem and it is a recurring one. The children don't walk. They run. We get out of the car and set off running. It doesn't seem to matter where you are or what you are there for they refuse to walk anywhere near us and just run. If I am honest it scares me. I can't keep pace with the both - they move at very different speeds. I have lost count of the number of times I have yelled for one of them to stop because they have run so far whilst I am persuading the other to try and catch up. It terrifies me that they would run into the road and an oncoming car, that they might run off and get lost or that, very unlikely I know, but someone might get hold of them.  

I have tried to talk to them both about being sensible. About walking. About staying safe.  So far it hasn't worked and it is not just me that sees this behaviour - they are like this for their dad, both Grandmas and their Aunt. I think this has come to the front of our mind as I look forward to our holiday this summer - 2 weeks in Turkey. I can't wait as we need the break. But it does make me worry about losing them in a foreign country. Horror stories like Ben Needham and Madelaine McCann haunt me. I know they are rare occurrences but I want my children to be safe and so I do worry.

How do I teach them?

We have reins that clip to their backpacks - supposedly for younger children but we may have to go back to using them.
Holding hands is not always the answer - they let go, especially when they are cross or having a paddy.
I am fast running out of ideas. But I have to keep trying.

In other news I have done something very grown up - applied to be a governor at the children's school. It feels like the most grown up thing that I have ever done.

Growth

This last weeks we have looked at both smalls and realised, they are not that small any more. They have grown. Massively.

It is actually scary by how much -

In clothes:
Oldest - was in age 3-4 now wearing age 6-7 (and a 7-8 T-shirt is not ridiculous).
Youngest - was in age 18-24 months is now 4-5 comfortably.

They are both out of their stage 1-2-3 car seats (complete with 5 point harness). Oldest is on his boaster cushion and youngest has a high backed boaster cushion. Neither need a boaster seat to sit to the table for meals and they are remarkable self sufficient from getting dressed and undressed, going to the toilet and brushing their teeth. Tights remain a problem for youngest but as I still struggle I will not hold it against her.

The little things have struck me for example they can both get into the bath without assistance. I can't quite believe that over 2 years has past since we met them and brought them home. Time really does fly when you are not looking and it seems like I have blinked and missed something, I am just not sure what. Crazy as it sounds we are onto round 3 for annual events - birthdays, etc and Christmas will be third time occasion when we get to it. This will be our third summer of camping fun as after that youngest will start in reception - her place was confirmed a few weeks ago.