Spring Bucket List Update

Hi everyone so the past two week we have been having lots of fun! You may of read my Spring bucket list post a few weeks ago, located here . Well this (and last) week we've manage to tick off some of those activities. 

1. learning all about buoyancy (well trying to)  

We did the activity about 2 weeks ago.  I laid out a towel and filled the washing up bowl with luck warm water.  I then got some tin foil and wrapped it in the shape of a boat as well as getting some stones and mega blocks to show David what would float and what would sink. It didn't work that well as athough he was interested at first he soon then had the idea to get his tea cup from his kitchen and started to transfer the water to his kitchen sink.  In a way when I think about it it's quite clever him realising that water needs to be in the sink.  It was however a bit of a pain to clean up thank god I have wooden floors eh?

happy chappy

After a while after that he decided to do something that I never thought he would do......sit in it.  Yep you heard me right....sit in it.  Thank god I put luke warm water in.  He then tried to get ME to sit in.  Nu-uh ain't happening, even if I was skinny as hell that I just had skin and bones I still wouldn't fit in there.

got to love how relaxed he looks lol

2. Feeding the birds

Now sadly I don't have a picture as I forgot to take one but we now have a bird feeder in the garden!  David actually found it one day and I checked it over and it was still in working order (aka it hadn't broken) I gave it a wash and it was good as new, yay recycling!  So after David found it I decided to get some bird seed balls for my local Asda.  I also picked up some Sunflower seeds but we can't plant them in the ground until end of April so I can't wait for that!

3. Making David his own garden

So one day it was really nice weather and I got my green fingers on.  There was a patch in the corner of my garden that the old tenants tried to do something with, it had large stones in it I really don't know what they were trying to achieve.  I decided to make this David's own garden,  I replaced the logs that were the barrier as I brought some last year which was handy.  I threw the old ones out and started to remove the big stones.  I then took out (nearly some are tiny and not worth pulling out just yet) weeds.

After that I dug out a small trench to semi burry the big stones that were already there.  The idea was then it would separate it against the patio. then after a bit more arrange of the hard soil it was finished.

On Thursday I brought David a welcome sign and a windmill for his garden.  I thought he'd pull the windmill out but actually he's just been spinning it which is good :D

4. Nature/bug hunt

During that same day we looked around our garden at nature.  David decided to pick the flower heads off of the yellow headed dandelions joy!  I didn't mind so much as they were weeds but once we've got proper flowers I'll make sure he understands the difference. We also blew a seed head dandelion together which was very cute.  We saw all different types of creatures, ants, spiders, woodlice, worms and a snail.  I only managed to take a picture of the snail as that's the only thing that would stay still for long enough haha.  I gave the snail to David on a leaf he picked it up looked at it then dropped it (poor thing).  He didn't seem that bothered but he seems to LOVE spiders and chasing after them just like mummy.

We've also been painting this week but no pictures of that and it's just a normal activity we do just like play dough nothing to do with our Spring wishlist.  Soon I'll be ordering David a birdhouse we can paint together as well as planting our sunflower seeds soon and baking flower pot cupcakes.  I can't wait!  We also still need to go on our nature collecting day out but we've either been busy or it's been raining.  We'll do it one day though still got lots of time left!

Until next week!  What have you been getting up to with your child during the weeks of Spring?

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Hello Spring/ Spring bucket list fun

Hi everyone so finally Spring is officially upon us however it doesn't men that the rain will stop sadly.  There will still be plenty of Spring showers we can't have sun all the time eh?  So David's now at 22 months and it's getting harder and harder to keep his attention on one thing.  He is distracted very easily so even messy play doesn't keep him entertained for long.  Hopefully this is just a phase which I'm pretty sure it is.  So to try and help keep me sane whilst trying to entertain my son I came across this "Spring bucket list" I thought it was such a great idea!  Some of the ideas are aimed more at girls/older children so I won't be doing all of them but I'm sure I will come up with my own version.  So what have we been getting up to this week well let me show you.

So on Monday I decide to literally paint the windows. I placed some paper infront of David so he could paint.  He didn't show much interest....that was until granddad came round.  Ah the magic of grandparents where a child changes their attitude and becomes a little angel ha ha. Whilst David was painting I painted the window.  I used normal poster paint as I already asked lots of people and they said it just comes out with warm soapy water yay!  On Tuesday after the picture David had made dried I cut out flower shapes and blue-tac them to the stalks. Now even on a rainy day I have a lovely Spring window!

Later on that day we did some play dough he's got quite good with it but still every now and then he will go to put it in his mouth. He'll learn the more we play with it.  I put this in his stocking at Christmas (I mean santa did) and this is only his third time playing with it so he'll get there.  At the moment we stamp numbers as he's learning numbers at the moment.  We do phonics in the bath.  I've started introducing colours slowly too saying for example "where's the blue playdough" he doesn't quite understand yet but I'm not going to push him into just teach him through play how it should be done.  Well that's how I feel anyway. Too many mums out there think it's a race to get their child to do this or that first but it really isn't and if you think like that well I believe your child will think like that too and it's unhealthy.  Which reminds me here is quote I found on Facebook which I think says a lot.

We also had some fun with magnets.  I normally have them in the easel board tray with the pens but I decided to get a baking tray and sit on the sofa with David.  We put them in number order from 0 - 9 and also put them in groups of colours explaining what colour each group was.  David noticed straight away and joined in with grouping them which I was very proud of.  He also pointed out numbers two being his favourite of course ha ha.

From Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon David his round his fathers but this means I have him on Sunday which means family time as it's Matthew's day off yay! I decided to tick off one of the Spring Bucket list ideas and go bird watching with David.  I needed to go out shopping anyway to get some crafty bits to make a mothers day present.  We headed to Hanningfield reservoir it's a great place to go for nature and it doesn't cost a penny not even parking yay!  I took some bread so we could feed the ducks.  

A pair of greylag and Canada Geese.

The ducks were on the green near the parking as it was really windy on the lake.  There were plenty of geese and we only saw two ducks which was a shame.  It was still lots of fun though and I kept pointing to them saying "Look David Geese" "look David ducks"  He didn't care much for talking he was far too intrigued in just looking at them.  He got a bit upset though when he threw the bread and it didn't go far so the geese wouldn't eat it ha ha.  We got quite close to them but not too close they seemed to be surprisingly friendly though which was good. 

After we were done I headed to Chelmer Village to go to Hobby Craft to pick up a few bits whilst we were inside it chucked it down with hailstones when we came out it looked like everyone had chucked slush puppies on the floor or something.  Was quite remarkable and very rare.  That didn't put us off though (well Matthew maybe a little bit) and we headed to Pets at Home.  We look at a few pets and David was really intrigued by these small rodents called Degu's.  I am thinking now of getting him 2 females (they have to be in pairs or groups to stay happy) after his birthday but it all depends.  I'd get them a tall standing cage much similar to what a bird or ferret has as they love lots of space and I can give them clean plain sticks (baking them after cleaning you also have to make sure you know what tree it's from) and give them hay for bedding and food.  I've researched it a lot and talked to one of my friends about it who actually knew someone who owned some.  She said I've done very good research and that I know a lot which makes me confident. That's for a different blog though hey.

Degu's!  Ironically Pets At Home didn't give them a lot
of space I wasn't impressed!

Gerbils

Well that's it for this weeks blog,  do you have any pets?  What are your children's favourite?  Until next time byeeeee

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Sunny park fun!

So everyone, I'm pretty sure a lot of you have noticed that it's be quite a successful sunny week here in England!  Especially over here is Essex. Heck yesterday I got to put the suncream on and dress David in shorts it was THAT hot where I live.  We decided to make the most out of the sun this week and spend it outdoors in parks that are all around us.  Even though it was sunny and warm it was still muddy in some areas so we were covered in mud a few times (woops) but it's all in the aid of fun so I didn't care that much. We didn't go too far from home BUT we didn't need to, to have fun for free.

Now I will admit I didn't get photos of all the parks we went to as well, we were having far too much fun.  The first park we went to was Compass Garden in my local town centre.  It's a really nice park and you really get a sense of community from it.  It's got an outdoor gym which is very popular which actually surprises me.  It also has two parks one for older children and the second for toddlers as well as a new and improved skatepark and long fields. For some reason it didn't cross my mind that even though it was sunny it would still be muddy.  I was probably far too busy thinking sun, sun, sun, sun.  David still had lots of fun though walking along the paths and running around in circles chasing after the other children.  He makes friends so easily always has from birth which I'm pleased about.  

The next park we went to during the week was the park literally round the corner.  No seriously it's right around the corner.  We always have lots of fun here and what's even better is that there is no mud :P.  ha ha yay! 

Sunday was the best day of them all though! It was soooo bright and hot.  I got to put David in shorts for the first time this year yay!  We visited the park in Maldon and took David's trike as well.  As expected though it was VERY busy.  We played in the pirate park until lunch time.  Below is a stock photo of the park without people ha ha.  I was far too busy playing with David as well as making sure he was safe.

We then sat down and obviously had lunch, David had rice crackers and raisins.  He was going to have fruit until I noticed it had gone off!  I noticed the sale by date was the 8th of March! I brought it on that day! Shouldn't of even been on the shelves naughty Asda, thankfully I ate one first before David ate any phew!  It was such a nice day and the park was so busy me and Matthew decided it would be a good idea to walk along the seawall to Tesco (we could buy some more fruit for David) where there is another park there.  It was such a beautiful view walking along and we saw lots of great places.  One being a tea room on a boat!  How cool is that!

The views whilst we were walking were so nice.  A few people were riding their bikes and I don't blame them.  It was such a nice day. It took us a while but it was worth it and it was a beautiful walk.  We popped to Tesco and then headed to the park next to it.  David made some new friends and it was less crowded which was good.  Only problem though is that it was rather muddy.  Next time I'll be taking David's wellys ha ha.  I don't mind us getting muddy though it's all done in great fun.  Plus there is always the washing machine.  Until next week everyone!

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Review | H&A new toddler bubble bath.

Hi guys and gals,  so this week I am reviewing the H&A Thomas & friends bubble bath.  I was unlucky at missing the free sample Tots100 were handing out,  Nevermind I thought I will just go out and buy it as I was told that Asda were "testing" it at the Baby and Toddler Event.  However sadly I couldn't find it.  After asking H&A on their Facebook page if I could purchase it anywhere else I received an email from them.  They told me they would send me their Thomas bubble bath as I couldn't find it.  I felt so honoured and really lucky that they were so kind to send it to me.  I didn't mind Thomas as my son LOVES Thomas and the tank engine.

So you might be wondering 'Hey Rachel why is this post so late'  Well my good friends there is a reason.  Basically when I did my first test I didn't put much water in as I didn't think David was ready for more water in the bath I was so used to only putting a small amount in.  Of course this didn't give much of the bubbles a chance to "activate". However today I put more water in my sons bath (yay!) and the amount of bubbles we got had improved.

bubble fun!

The picture really doesn't do the bubbles justice as my son by this point had already played with them like mad!  I was really shocked about how excited he got as normally he gets in the bath and isn't really that bothered and will only start playing with the bubbles once I start playing with them too.  The bubbles were really light and weren't heavy at all.

The mixture smelt really nice and fresh.  Reminded me of when David was first born.  You know that baby smell?  I miss that but with this I can re-live that smell ah!  Afterwards I was surprised at how smooth David's skin was.  I've used other bubble bath products and they haven't made his skin feel as smooth as this bubble bath did.

A little bit about this bubble bath and H&A

So as well as Nemo and Thomas themed products in the new toddler range.  There is also a Mini Mouse range too.  I think this gives perfect places between all sexes which to be honest I don't see a lot of now days.  There is always girls and boys but not many unisex products (nemo being what I would call unisex, but of course there is nothing wrong with boys liking mini mouse and girls liking Thomas).

mini mouse bubbly bath

Despite being released as the new toddler range these products are safe to use from birth.  Of course like any good bath product it is tear free as well as being hypoallergenic, dermatologically tested and paediatrician approved.  It's not just bubble bath H&A provide though, they also have a great range of shampoo's and fun toys!

Encourage your little ones to read anywhere and everywhere!

H&A's bubble bath costs just £2 (RRP) but most supermarkets I think will do deals so you could probably get it a few pence cheaper.  If you would like to know more about H&A and see more products they have to offer then please visit there website at http://www.handa-uk.com

*Even though I was lucky enough to be sent this product all opinions are my own.  This is part of tots100 ambassador H&A competition....... wish me luck!

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Sensory Activites with my son

 So this week was all about sensory play.  I really want to start doing more activities with my son that promote learning through play.  Although this can be achieved by simply playing with him with his toys I want him to experience new things. There will be times where he will want to play on his own of course.  For the times where he doesn't though I want to be able to do activities with him.

So this was the first sensory "activity" we did.  It wasn't really an activity I suppose but it was still fun to do with David.  As this was a chocking hazard for David I put it in a sandwich bag so he could still feel them to an extent and see them but it was much safer.  We talked about the different colours and how they felt.  He wasn't really interested at first but after a while his interest peaked.

The balls can be found on ebay.  I got 2 for 99p here just soak them in water for 24 hours and wash and drain :D

Next up was his bath,  I normally fill up his bath with lots of bubbles but sadly we had run out and I needed to buy some more (don't worry I've topped up now!).  I got this little dude from Lush it was really cheap too.  can't remember the exact price but around about £1.50

It was quite fun to watch it fizz but sadly it wasn't that blue as I would of liked.  I recommend if you are going to do this add some neon blue food colouring to add to the colour.  It won't stain your bath and is safe for your children :).

Talking about blue food colouring, I decided to make some icecubes for some ice sensory.  I did half white and just a little bit less than half with blue food colouring.  I did this as we STILL haven't had any snow.  This makes me sad as I brought David a sled this year and we haven't been able to use it at all.

Not only did David touch it but he tasted it and we did a bit of colour separation too. Separating the blues from the whites into two different containers.

This next one a lot of parents should be able to do as I'm sure 9/10 of you have megablocks or lego.  What I did was empty the whole carton of Megablocks on the floor and got 4 separate containers.  I then showed David the different colours and put each colour into a different container.

He soon got the idea and was placing only green megablocks into one container.  It didn't last very long as he soon got bored and filled them up and emptied them.  Still I think this a very good way of introducing colours to your toddler.  After he helped me build and clear them up.  All good fun.

The final thing we did was red spaghetti.  I made it red for valentines day.  I didn't think David would like it that much but he loved it!

He put his hands in it and played with it and even took it over to his kitchen to "cook it" and stir it....and put it in his tea cup...odd child ha ha. I definitely think this is one I will be doing again.  maybe green and blue and orange for Halloween :D

 So there you have it my sensory week.  I do apologise for some camera quality issues.  Some where taken on my phone as I lost my camera (turns out it was hiding in my make-up bag *facepalm*).  I will hopefully be doing a food week with David soon.  I'm planning on making lots of things with him from pizza's to chocolate hearts and more.  I shall take pictures (when my hands are free) and tell you how they went. :)  please feel free to comment with similar blog posts and tell me if you are going to do any of these activities with your child .:)



 

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My London trip with friends

 Westfield Grotto and Christmas Shopping.

Hi everyone! First off I want to apologise for this post being so late.  I didn't have internet so was relying on other peoples internet but great news, I now have my own!  So what I wanted to talk to you about is what I was doing last week.  I went to London to Westfields with my best friend Clare and her adorable daughter Hollie.  Now sadly I don't have any pictures as I left my camera at my boyfriends mums house. Also I was feeling really poorly as the few days prior I had a bad fever.  However I wasn't going to let that stop me!  Oh hell no!

We got to London at about midday, I'm so glad we did as I felt far more comfortable and relaxed, though on the way there I nearly was sick.  When we got there we were all starving, so we decided to head to the food court for something to eat. Clare and her sister got Pizza and me and Matt had ramen (though I didn't get to finish all mine :( ) Then Hollie and David both shared a kids savoly and chips.  I got them a kids meal to share as I feel now a days kids meals are really big.  When we ordered our food we got a black device that would flash and beep to tell us when it was ready.  I thought this was pretty cool as it gave people a chance to find some seating if they didn't already.  That and it meant you didn't have to stand around and could get on with other stuff or just simply chat amongst your friends.

After we finished we had a quick toilet break then it was off to find the grotto.  I kinda knew where it was but was really shocked and surprised there were no signs outside or inside the shopping centre. I would of thought that they would of at least put some sort of signing to help people. I mean it only takes a few removable stickers right?  When we got there we were actually half an hour early as I thought it started at 2pm but infact it didn't start until 2:35pm.  It got worse though, it actually turns out that the tickets I ordered were for the Sheppard's Bush Grotto. I was absolutely devastated, not due to the fact me, Matt or David couldn't go but more so due to the fact Clare and Hollie couldn't go as Hollie had never been to see Santa before and this was my treat to them.  However the staff were VERY friendly and kind and said that if not everyone turned up then we could go in.  As it turned out 3 people didn't turn up.  I asked my friend Clare if she minded taking David with her and Hollie and thankfully she didn't mind. Though I felt guilty afterwards as Hollie and David broke her arms as they did not want to be put down lol.  After they had their pictures taken with Santa I went in and brought a singular photo.  The photo of David wasn't that good as like an idiot I didn't take David's coat off before he went in.  Oh well he already has a photo with the Basildon grotto :).

Afterwards we shopped around and I got David his own personalised stocking with his name on it.  I love it and am very happy with it....though I might have to get a bigger one when he is older haha.  When we were done we headed to the o2 Arena to go see the coca cola truck. When we arrived there were a lot of people there and then I realised it was the Jingle Bell Ball tonight.  I was quite shocked though at the amount of young people there were. I didn't go to my first concert until I was 15.  What made it worse though was the way some of the girls were dressed as if this was a place to hook up.  There was a girl that seemed to be 13 years of age and the dress she had on...well lets just say she would of made less of an impression if she turned up naked (and she might as well of).  Anyway back to the truck.  The truck was very pretty but there was a queue to get your photo taken, a very long one at that.  I wasn't going to waste my time queuing for hours just for one photo when it was cold outside.

So there were a few mishaps during the day but all in all I had a very good time because I spent it with my best friend, her daughter and her sister.  On the way home David opened up his present from the grotto and it was a lovely book.  I am never disappointed with the books they give out. Next year I am going to the grotto again (without making the mistake lol) and I am taking David to Hamleys so for the first time he can pick out his own present.  Though I won't be letting him have it until Christmas Day.  Why bother buying presents for Christmas if they aren't going to open them on Christmas Day.

Until next time.  I don't know what I will blog about as this was late so if you have any suggestions please comment below and if you don't already follow me on blog lovin (the link is with my social buttons)

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