our day in pictures
Tuesday's are a bit of a funny day for us, we have swimming lessons in the morning but not much else planned as theo usually (hopefully) sleeps after, and we just go home, which means a whole afternoon to kill at home.
I've been trying my hardest not to just switch cbeebies on a let that work its magic, because I feel guilty about the amount of tv Theo watches. I, like probably a whole host of people, thought that I would be one of those parents who didn't resort to sticking the telly on for an hour (or two) to be able to get a bit of peace. But I would like to meet an actual real parent of an over 6 month old who doesn't resort to some sort of stimulation like this, be it either watching something on the computer/iphone/ipad/dvd/recorded..because I don't believe one exists! But saying that all the same I am trying to stop the temptation of the easy way out and try and have a bit more of a constructive day at home.
This morning, admittedly Theo did watch some cbeebies whilst I was upstairs getting ready for swimming...otherwise he follows me around clinging to my leg, which when you are trying to get dressed can be a tad annoying!
But we managed to fit in a bit of playing before heading off to swimming. I made a house last night out of a big box from our new cooker (ugh long story) so he had a whale of a time this morning with that and his trains...
Theo decided to fall asleep on the way to swimming, meaning he only had a 20 minute nap today...yikes, so I definitely needed to pull out some magic to entertain him.
When we arrived home we played a little with his train set in his room, well I say we played, but I just sit on the bed and watch and occasionally rebuild the track when squealed at. He is happy to play on his own, I just have to be in the room with him otherwise all hell breaks loose in a matter of seconds.
When we'd finished that, and he (yes he) tidied away all his trains I decided to brave it and try cooking with him for the first time. I didn't expect it to be easy and dreamy, and it wasn't. But it was fun!
We made ginger bread men biscuits, from a packet which was given to us...I wasn't about to start spending time preparing the mixture, that's asking a little too much! He tried to eat the butter as he thought it was "tscheeese", and flung flour everywhere, but he was enjoying himself. But it's bloody hard to try and take photos whilst trying to semi control a toddler whilst using his hands or a spoon with a large glass bowl of mixture, and trying to show him what to do, so forgive me if they aren't the best!
Someone got a little sad when they had to go in the oven! The biscuits got a little bit burnt as I was trying to clean up, whilst rescuing possessions from being put through the car flap...so yeh they aren't the finest...but we dolloped some icing on them, tried to decorate them, have you ever tried to control a toddler armed with a spoon full of icing, and stop him putting the biscuits in the toaster at the same time?
Not a good idea, but here is the end result:
haha!
After this we had a little potter in the garden, before, yes you guessed it, flopping down in front of the telly. We made it to 4.45...that's good right?
if you can believe it, this bastard post has taken me about 3 hours to write, blogger's photo upload was being particularly helpful...anyone else had any problems?
I love his face when they are in the oven, you should tell him 'the gingerbread man' - run run as fast as you can! Come visit so I can spoil him rotten xxxx
ReplyDeletei will try!
DeleteI seriously don't know what people did in the days before Cbeebies and Buzz Lightyear! My sister drops Jack off at half 8am and I cannot cope with being awake before 9am (how lazy am I) so I just plonk him in my bed and put Toy Story 2 which it gives me an extra half an hour to get used to the world outside of my eyelids x
ReplyDeleteIt's about a 6.30am wake time here, so cbeebies is a must as my brain just doesn't function! I'm sure there are lots of parents in similar situations at that time in the morning, I mean who is ready to do crafts or play energetic games at that time....no-one!! That's sweet though that you look after your newphew! Must be a lot of fun (especially when you get to hand him back at the end of the day!)
DeleteJustin Fletcher has Sir staus here ;) A little bit of beebies is fine in my eyes too & it's amazing how helpful it is whilst you cook/clean/wash/tidy for a family of five!
ReplyDeleteI just make sure we are out at least once a day (in addition to school runs!) and we have lots of book & play time in the mix.
Your day looks like it was lovely, but baking? You're a braver mama than me ;)
Lia x
oh good, glad i'm not the only one! yeh can't imagine what it must be like with more than just one!
DeleteI try to justify things like that, that if we've spent all morning at the park or a play group, then it's ok to drag him round a shop, or stick him in front of the telly for an hour whilst I have a moments rest! think we'd all go mad otherwise right?
haha yeh I think i went a litte mad that afternoon, but it wasn't too bad, just a little mixing with fingers, and cutting out (like playdough!) too scared to try anything with liquid or stickyness though! xx
I flop Lil down infront of 'beebies' when I have things to do and I feel the same guilt so this morning we went out for three hours and after that came home and did some arty bits. She's napping now but the TV will probably go on after. I'm trying to do something different every day - I just need to find a big box, the house that you made looks great! (And yes my blogger was being a bitch with photos yesterday too - I had to buy more space). Theo is looking like a proper little boy, I love one sock on and one sock off!
ReplyDeletegood, sounds like we're all normal then! its so hard not to feel guilty though isn't it, especially when Theo becomes like a zombie, slack jaw and glazed eyes when he's watching tv! but yeh, I try and balance out the days by making sure I do something away from the house just for him, or doing something fun and creative at home with no tv (most days if all is going well)
Deletegah who knew it would all be this hard ey?!
I'm impressed - I haven't even thought about cooking with Henry yet - hard enough with a 4 year old!
ReplyDeleteI think I went into guilt over drive and tried to do something really hands on with him! but it was fun and actually not that messy! but might wait a little while before attempting it again! x
DeleteI guess we haven't gotten to the point where W is a toddler so its different and I often totally forget about TV (as you know we dont have it bla bla bla) I think W has watched bits and pieces on my phone a couple of times and I did buy a Henry's Cat DVD and put it on once(although he found it a bit weird I think!) so I would never make a point of saying 'we dont allow TV' I'm hoping my SIL will bring me back some sesame street DVD's also for times in the future when I need to distract him for half an hour! But mostly it is amazing how you completely forget about TV when you dont have one
ReplyDeleteTv is a funny thing really, I totally go through phases of watching it and not. I lived without a tv for about 4 years or so, and I totally get what you mean about forgetting about it. I guess if we didn't have one now we'd get used to it and not notice the absence after a while. As it stands at the moment the only thing that ever really gets watched on the tv is cbeebies, rob and I hardly watch any tv at all! People usually ask oh have you seen this or been watching that, and we honestly haven't! We tend to watch series on catch up, or downloaded (sssh) and get addicted that way (breaking bad, game of thrones, Sherlock, homelands etc!)
DeleteIn terms of letting theo watch tv I think as I and everyone above has said, is that it does have its place, and some of it is actually pretty good and educational, for example mr.tumble using makaton sign, and programmes like the alpha blocks teaching children phonics etc. but I guess it's all in moderation. We always try and balance out the relaxing tv down time with activities outside and in the home. Theo likes to read books too, but I think it's just as important for them to have a chance to sit and relax and be quiet as much as it is for us, and tv works for this purpose. As he gets older we will definitely cut down the amount of tv, and set regular times and periods when he can watch it. But for now tv is a bit of a saving grace, as you might find when Wilf is a little more active and a little more of a terror....!