Bathtime-splashtime

Staring:

Me as "The Killjoy" (One who spoils the enthusiasm or fun of others)
My daughter as "Others" (the one full of enthusiasm and fun)

So, ever since my daughter has been able to sit up by herself in the bath she has loved to splash, who wouldn't? It is something that we have merrily encouraged. I often find myself saying "bath time, splash splash splash". But lately she has started splashing with such "enthusiasm" that the whole bathroom is soaked and I end up covered in as much water as she does. I started trying to calm it down with "ok, that's enough now" and quickly ramped it up to "STOOOOOOP NOOOOW!!!" Ok, maybe not that far. I have tried: ignoring her, distracting her with toys, distracting her with songs, distracting her with a pile of bubbles, asking her to kick her legs instead, brushing her teeth, washing her hair, splashing back, telling her to stop, asking her to stop, pleading with her to stop, you get the picture. I am truly stuck as to how to limit this splashing to a more acceptable level (that being one where the room and my clothes are a little dryer, and I can reach in to lift her out without getting a face full of water).
But then I wonder whether I am just being a killjoy, and I should just let her splash away, after all the bathroom is meant to get wet, and my clothes will dry.

Baby Pictures

I have recently been for a session at a portrait studio to get some less blurry photos of my daughter. This isn't the sort of thing I would usually do, and when my husband couldn't come I wasn't too bothered as it meant I didn't have to be in the photos either... I was talked into it at the Baby Show at Earls Court in October, and for a fee of £10 (including a photo in a frame) and a promise that it was a no obligation session I thought "why not?". I was expecting to be talked into buying more photos, but I thought if they were good then it might be worth it. I was prepared for the ridiculous prices, but we all think our children are beautiful, right? I have to say, despite the talk of no obligation, I don't think you could walk away without buying anything.
The session itself was brilliant fun. They were really good at working with a child, and spent over an hour taking pictures in different outfits and with different props. When we had finished we went into a small room with a large TV and watched a slide show of over 120 photos, which an assistant had been compiling whilst the session was happening. I had to decide whether to buy any or all of them there and then. I think they fully expect you to want to buy a CD of all of the photos of the session, but at £295 this did seem a bit expensive. The individual prints are priced at £40, possibly to make the CD seem like the better deal, and don't include the copyright to the images. However, after phoning my husband, we decided to buy 3 prints, and leave it at that. The lady then explained in great detail that "the reason people love us is that we do a CD of all the images, then you can buy your own prints anywhere" and that I could make a calendar for family and friends, or a mug, or a mousemat.. But I stuck to the 3 prints, paid for them and was just about to leave, when she said I could still buy the CD if I change my mind, for £200. Now, the question is, have I changed my mind?...

Amazon Associates

I have decided to join Amazon Associates, as I use Amazon a great deal, and I find it very useful for buying toys, books, DVDs etc. It means that I can make links on my blog to the things that I have bought. If you want to look at them, just click, and if you want to buy them, even better. But if you don't then feel free to ignore them entirely :)
For example, recently we have bought Quack Quack Maisy, which is a buggy book showing different animals on each page, and the sounds they make. My daughter loves it, and now does a cracking horse impression..

Need 5 mins to yourself? Or: I have created a monster!

We recently discovered the "songs" page on the cbeebies website. This was because my daughter was singing parts of the "Hey Monkey" song from Boogie Beebies on a loop, so I thought we might as well find out the words. Little did I know this would mean we had to watch the song on a loop, possibly up to a million times a day. We branched out to Tom's Song and MoMo's song from Show Me Show Me occasionally, and we sometimes watched 3rd & Bird. This gave me the idea of buying a DVD of the programmes and copying them onto my computer, so that we could watch them at any time, and could transfer them to phones/ipad for mobile watching. I might even get 5 minutes to myself for a nice hot cup of tea. I had a look on Amazon, and was surprised but pleased to find a selection of Boogie Beebies DVDs. I choose the one with "Hey Monkey" on, of course, for £2.97. Boogie Beebies - Your Chance To Dance! [DVD] I also decided to get a cbeebies DVD, with a selection of programmes, and found one for £3.99.
The Cbeebies: Discover and Do [DVD] contains the following episodes.
Get Squiggling – Bloodhound
Tikkabilla – Dressing Up & Houses
Teletubbies – Bubble Pictures
Balamory – Treasure Hunt
Charlie and Lola – I wish I could draw exactly like you
Boogie Beebies – Building
Tweenies – Growing Bulbs
Big Cook Little Cook – Explorer
Fimbles – Cardboard Box
I must admit that we hadn't watched Tikkabilla, Tweenies or Fimbles, and that my daughter shows little interest in Charlie and Lola, but I thought there were enough programmes on it that would interest her.

Watching Space Walking for the first time on the iPad, when all was calm...

So far today we have watched Balamory 20 times (mostly to about 2 minutes in), and the intro to most of the other episodes. From the Boogie Beebies DVD we have watched each dance once, and the Ocean Motion dance around 30 times (no interest in Hey Monkey anymore..). But, I think I have created a monster, she now stands at the iPad shouting "ory" (for Balamory) or FISH (For Ocean Motion) repeatedly... I have not had a cup of tea...

Wacky Warehouse

It feels like we have been stuck inside, except for very brisk dog walking, for weeks, with all the snow, cold weather and colds. Today I thought I would take my daughter to the Wacky Warehouse that we are always driving past in Colliers Wood. I had a look on their website, and it looked quite inviting. There was a promise of coffee, magazines and newspapers in a "coffee corner" (this costs an extra 50p, compared to one which doesn't have the coffee lounge). The website also states that "there's a safe toddler area with squishy, squashy shapes for little-ones" what more could you want? We ate our breakfast, had a few quick rounds of singing along with the songs on the cbeebies website, dressed for action and set out on our journey.
When we arrived it looked like the play area was upstairs (via one very dirty lift), so up we went. The lady behind the counter was very friendly. There weren't any arts and crafts on, but there was going to be a Christmas party at 12 which she asked if we would like to be part of, but I didn't think we would last that long as it was only 10am. The price of entry was £3, which included a drink & biscuit, and was valid until 3pm. The coffee turned out to be a serve yourself sachet of Kenco (decaf!! but drinkable) and there were indeed biscuits, and 2 kinds of squash. So far so good. I thought I would save my coffee for later, and get on with some play time.
The toddler area was about 3meters x 8meters, a third of which was a ball pool with a slide, and 2 thirds was just empty space. The squshy squashy shapes were in the form of a large padded rocking lion and frog. There was also a mirror. Oh! I thought, how are we going to make this last for more than 10 minutes? There were about 8 other children in the play centre, which was lucky, as it meant the ball pool was mostly empty, I think we managed about 15 minutes, of sitting on the lion and playing in the ball pool before going for a coffee and squash break (and yes a small biscuit...). Fueled up on E numbers, we went back for round two, another 10 mins in the ball pool, before other children started jumping in, which made the balls move around like a tide overwhelming my daughter a little (what do I know, it was both of our first times in a ball pool) anxious not to be too overprotective I let her ride it our  for a short while before climbing back out with her. We then broke the rules by going into the (empty) over-5 area, which had far more squishy squashy shapes, making me wonder whether the over-5 part was actually in the levels above our heads.
All in all, I would give it 3 out of 5. Most of those points are because my daughter clearly had an excellent time. The lost points are for a) size and b) size (you really wouldn't want to be there when it was busy). I think we will try Eddie Catz next time to compare.

In the ball pool.

Nice things: Moccis

I recently bought my daughter some little slippers from Twist in Balham, which I have had my eye on since they moved into their new shop. She was getting cold feet in just socks, but I didn't want her wearing her shoes all of the time, as they aren't really suitable for indoor play. They cost £18, so I was more than slightly nervous as to whether they would actually stay on (seeing as she pulls socks off all of the time). But, I can safely say that, after 2 weeks, she has only pulled one of them off once, and her feet are lovely and warm! She has even learnt to say slipper, and penguin (they have cute penguins on the toes). It seems we bought them at just the right time to beat the recent cold snap. They are from a company called Moccis, I have put a link on the right. I was even more excited today to discover that they do adult sizes, and my slippers have got holes in the back... Very tempting.. They are basically thick socks in a variety of designs with washable leather stitched on to make the soles, like moccasins. The leather means that they don't slip, so my daughter is able to walk (and run..) around like usual. I was not surprised to read on their website that they had been designed by the mummy of a toddler! Anyway, we find them the perfect answer to cold toddler feet this winter.

Still able to cause mayhem in new slippers

Good news

The good news is: that is all of the difficult aspects of my pregnancy and my daughter's reflux blogged about. Now I can write about all of the good things!

In the 13 life-changing months since my daughter was born, we have had fun: moving to London, making great new friends, walking the dog on Tooting Bec, Streatham and Wimbledon commons, going on holiday to Malta, France and Barcelona, joining a weekly Monkey Music class, visiting the Natural History Museum, the Tate Modern and the baby show at Earls Court, and drinking an awful lot of coffee.

More to come x