Why people with kids stop hanging out with their kid-less friends

We’ve all been there. A friend has a kid, you go and see the little bundle of joy a couple of times, and then you never hear from your friend again. Sound familiar?

Don’t worry, it’s not you. You haven’t done anything wrong. Us moms don’t suddenly hate you, or think we have nothing in common anymore just because you haven’t yet spawned.  It’s not even us. It’s the kid(s). 

At first, it’s fine. The tiny infant is portable. He sleeps in his pram/baby capsule/portable bassinet where ever we go without any fuss.  Just give him some boob or bottle (which ever you prefer, I’m not judging here), then BANG, he’s out cold in a milk induced coma. We can meet our friends at a cafe, the shops, their house, wherever. We can chat while the baby sleeps, then our friend(s) can hold him and pinch his adorable little cheeks and talk to him in that annoying baby voice when he is awake. Easy.

When the baby starts sitting, we can still catch up with our baby-less friends. Maybe at their houses instead of a cafe or the like because now the baby wants to sit up all of his waking hours. Sitting up is obviously super awesome.  Whilst practicing awesome sitting, baby also wants to be amused, mostly by us, but also by some toys. So we need to have a blanket for baby to sit on, and a bunch of toys. That could get messy at a cafe, plus some unobservant patron could accidentally trod on our little bundles of joy.

Then the baby starts crawling. Just think back a little bit. Is this the stage you stopped hearing from your mother friend? Probably. The cafe is out. Imagine baby sitting in a high chair/pram/our lap whilst we attempt to have a conversation with our friend. Baby doesn’t want to be sitting. Duh. That is so 2 months ago. Now it’s all about crawling! Baby screams due to being restrained in a chair/pram/lap until we put him on the floor for his crawling leisure. He crawls like a mad man towards other patrons, goes under a table and tries to eat their shoes. Seriously, that is what they do.

Ok, so maybe we can go to our friends house. Seems plausible, right? Wrong. Child-less friends do not have child-proof houses. We could go over there, but instead of having a nice catch up, we’d be spending the entire time keeping our cheeky crawlers from pulling all of our friends books off the shelves and ripping them to pieces, banging his head on the corner of the coffee table as he crawls past, opening all of the kitchen cupboards and breaking all of the dishes, eating the toilet brush in the bathroom, pulling all of the DVD’s out of their cases, checking if Swarovski crystals bounce, etc. Not to mention baby-less friends don’t think about small objects that babies can choke on and hazards are everywhere in a non baby-proof house. This, of course, stresses us out, we don’t get to talk to our friends at all, and our crawling babies get annoyed that we keep taking him away from all of the breakable delights he has his eyes set on.

He will pull all of your things off of you shelves and attempt to eat them.

Maybe our friend is super awesome, and they put everything they don’t want to get ruined on a higher shelf that crawling baby can’t reach, just so that we can come over. So that works. For a while.

But then baby starts walking. Now even more stuff is within babies chubby grasp. Baby is way more coordinated and determined, and our friend can’t possibly walking baby-proof her house just so we can come over. We are too embarrassed to tell our friends that our rambunctious toddlers will tear her house apart unless we have our eyes on him every single second, coupled with many “no, you can’t play with that’s” and lots of tantrums. There is no point of going to our friends house because we won’t be able to have a conversation anyway.

Oh, and there’s the nap times too. Going anywhere more than 15 minutes or so away and actually being able to stay for a while messes with nap time. Did I say nap time? I meant mommy’s sanity time. Seriously, you don’t want to mess with that. You might think “oh, it’s just one little nap time, it can’t hurt, right?” Yes, it can. You’re not the one who will be trying to comfort a screaming child who is throwing himself backwards or banging his head on the floor and won’t calm down for anything at 5 pm when we’re trying to make dinner because he is over tired.

Our child-less friends often invite us out at night time, when the kids are asleep, but we don’t really want to be out late because babies/toddlers don’t know about weekends. They haven’t yet discovered the joy of sleeping in. Nor do they let us enjoy it. Ever. Plus, by the end of the day, we just want to sit on the couch and enjoy a moment’s peace, not drag ourselves out to some loud place where we will spend the whole time trying not to fall asleep.

So we kind of just lose touch. By the time the kids are old enough not to destroy everything in site and do as they’re told, we feel extremely silly calling our childless friends again because it’s been so long and we kind of feel like an ass.

Childless people, there is an easy solution to this problem: Go to your mother-friend’s house for a catch up. Call her, and tell her you know it’s hard to get out for a catch up, but you’d love to see her, so even if you have to drive for an hour, you’re happy to come over. Mothers off babies/toddlers are usually happy to have company that can wipe their own butts and speak in proper sentences. Especially if they bring lunch.

Then when the kids are older, we can go out to cafe’s and stuff again. Just bear with us, parenting is hard.

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

Only the best

This blog gets a whole lot of traffic from search engines, and Top Mommy Blogs. But let’s face it, not all posts are created equal. And if these google searchers land on a post that is not as good as my usual posts, they might not want to sit down and stay a while. Not to mention, I have over 3 years worth of posts, and navigating around that much stuff can be a bit hard. So I want to make a page that has a list of all my best posts. I will call it something like “best of” and let the words sit right on top of my Mommy Adventures cartoon banner, next to all of my other pages (like “me,” “Daniel,” “Hannah,” etc.).

My question for you is, of course, which posts do you really, really like? Which posts should be on the page? Please comment!

Thanks, you guys rock.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

Weekend with The Jess

I know, I haven’t written much on the blog lately. Sigh. But I had a good reason. The Jess (aka The Sister-in-law) was here. If you remember, she moved to Adelaide over 3 months ago and I haven’t seen her since. Until Wednesday when I picked her up from the airport at almost 9pm.

Speaking of which, when I was there, in that little car park that gives you 10 minutes for free, I saw a woman wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe walking around looking for people. Clearly she was there to pick them up, but come on, is it that hard to put clothes on? I wonder at what point/what age you think “Hmm… I’m picking someone up from the airport. Eh, I’ll just wear my bathrobe,” and that seems perfectly ok and reasonable. Or maybe she is just a huge prankster and thought it would be hilarious.

The 10 minute car park seems like a good idea, but I got there a bit too early (I left myself some getting lost time. I may be prone to such things…) and didn’t really want to drive the entire airport loop while I waited for The Jess’ flight to come in. I didn’t want to get lost after I somehow managed to find the tiny car park entrance in the first place. Needless to say, I had to pay for my parking spot. I was there for about 15 minutes. They used to give you 15 minutes free. Sigh.

Usually on Thursdays, I clean the house and go to the gym while Hannah is at preschool and Daniel is at daycare. But you know, that would be kind of rude while I have a guest. So I took the day off. We went to the shopping centre (where I applied for my Australian passport!!!), went out to lunch, tried on some clothes, got a few groceries. We were done by 12:30.

“What do you want to do now?” The Jess asked me.

“Um…I have no idea.” Spoken like a true mom who rarely gets spare time. We were thinking of going to see a movie, but they are so expensive these days (and I’m cheap frugal) and it was such a beautiful day, we didn’t want to waste it being shut in a giant room with no windows. “I just want to enjoy the sunshine.”

We ended up going to Grandma’s house, filling up the kiddie pool, and reading books in the sun as we ate ice blocks and dangled our feet in the pool. It was awesome.

She stayed for 3 short days and then flew home again. I miss her, and can’t wait until next month, when the kids and I fly to Adelaide for a visit! Ok, I can’t wait for the visiting part, the flying with 2 kids by myself part…. Not so much.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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The top 5 things to do on a rainy day in Sydney

Whenever it rains, I’m like “oh crap, what are we going to do all afternoon???????” Well, today’s sponsored guest post will give you some inspiration:

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day! Or is it really that big a deal? Sydney looks so
spectacular in the sunshine that we often forget that there are many fun things to do on a rainy
day. No the harbour doesn’t look as amazing but hey so what. The sun will shine another day
and Sydney will sparkle again. Now’s the time to head indoors and see some of the substance
behind Sydney’s dazzling smile.

Visit a Museum
Oh my there are so many options for this category I hardly know where to begin…

• Museum of Sydney – located on the site of the first ever Government House this museum
looks at Sydney’s past, present and future
• Powerhouse Museum – a science and design museum with lots of interactive displays
• Art Gallery of NSW – a fabulous museum housing the largest permanent collection of
Aboriginal Art in the world (among other things). Better still, it’s FREE!
• The Australian Museum – fabulous natural history collection and some really big dinosaurs!
• The Museum of Contemporary Art – a wonderful selection of Australian and international
contemporary art exhibits. Entry is FREE!
• Australian National Maritime Museum – for all things nautical.

Check out Darling Harbour
You’ll need an umbrella to get yourself there as I can’t think of a way to get to Darling Harbour
undercover. BUT if you can get there then you can easily spend all day there. There’s loads to
do (kid friendly stuff too) and when you are done doing it there are about a gazillion bars and
restaurants you can choose from for a bite to eat.

Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/wagnertc/4799431131/

• Sydney Aquarium – housing over 13,000 animals from 700 different species including the
world’s largest variety of sharks and sting rays, the aquarium is super cool.
• Wild Life World – If you can’t make it out to Taronga Zoo this is a great alternative.
• Madame Tussards – like the original but with an Aussie twist
• IMAX – IMAX Sydney apparently has the world’s biggest screen. I’ve seen it and it’s pretty big.
There is always a 3D show worth seeing here.

Take a Tour of the Opera House

Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmyharris/114537716/

I know you’ve been dazzled by that stunning harbour and the intriguing architecture of the
Opera House. But don’t get so dazed you forget to go in! There is an interesting story about the
construction of this now loved icon.

Go Out for Yum Cha!
You can’t come to Sydney and not head out for Yum Cha. It simply isn’t the done thing. It is
perfect for a rainy day as you can just sit around and leisurely eat your food while having a good
old chit chat. Yum Cha is basically a meal of lots of little dim sum dishes such as dumplings, pork

buns and other such delicacies. Think tapas, just Chinese ones! In my opinion this is Chinese
food at its best.
Some great Sydney options are:
• Sky Phoenix – not in Chinatown but still in the CBD. Has the added bonus of being part of the
new Westfield complex so you can fill in that rainy day with some shopping before and
after.
• Marigold Chinatown- this place is a real crowd pleaser as far as yum cha goes. Get in early!
• Iron Chef Cabramatta – why not make a day of it and get the train from the city out to
Cabramatta to try this Sydney favourite. The restaurant is conveniently located near the
train station.

Go Shopping
• There’s the new fancy pants Westfield Sydney. We’re talking lots of labels and some rather
smashing food court food options.
• Pitt St Mall: even though it’s out in the open there is sufficient coverage to avoid the rain.
• The beautiful Queen Victoria Building (QVB) built in 1898. The building is definitely worth a
look even if you don’t fork over any cash at this one.
• On the lower end of the scale you have Paddy’s Markets in Haymarket. If you are heading
over for Yum Cha as we suggested then you might as well pop in!

Kristy Alexander is a freelance travel writer for HotelClub and mum of three who loves to
holiday in the off-season. When she’s on vacation with the family in Sydney they stay at the
Medina Executive Sydney Central for its ideal location.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Lauren’s wedding

Ok, ok, I know it’s Wednesday and I’ve been home from our weekend away for 3 days now and still haven’t written a blog post. That’s the problem with going away, you have to catch up on so much stuff. There’s the washing, of course. Usually I do a load of washing every single day (ugh), but I can’t really do that when we’re away. I guess I could, but then I’d have to pay to use the coin operated machine and then waste half the day waiting for the washing machine to finish to transfer everything to the dryer. No thanks. Now there is a mound of clean clothes as high as my boobs waiting to be folded and put away. At least I’ve done the first 2 steps. I’ve washed and dried them.

Then there’s the dishes. I should have done the dish pile before leaving on Friday, but we left at 8am and I didn’t really have time. By Sunday, they were smelly and disgusting, and even though I was dead tired, I had to wash them.

Oh, and the unpacking. Not just mine, but the kids’ as well. And when you have little kids, you have to take so much stuff. Even for just 2 nights away. There’s their clothes (extra clothes too, in case they get food all over them, vomit, fall in a puddle, wipe snot everywhere, etc. There is no telling how clothes will get dirty in 2 minutes on a toddler), toys (yes, an whole carry-on sized suitcase full. Gotta entertain them somehow when at the cabin), bedding, blankets (as in, their special take-them-to-bed-and-cuddle-them blankets) sippy cups and little spoons, snacks, no tears shampoo, little kid toothpaste, portable cot (for Daniel), baby monitor, nappy bag full of nappies, wipes, creams, etc.. Yeah, lots of stuff. So unpacking is no easy feat.

I also had to catch up on sleep. Which is hard when you usually go to bed at 9 anyway. Not much wiggle room for those extra z’s. Needless to say, getting a blog post out was just not happening. But now it’s 5am, I’m awake, the kids are asleep, Aaron is out running, so I’m writing. As I usually do at 5.

I thought Daniel would be screaming and crying, and desperately wanting to escape from his car seat the whole way there. Turns out if I put some cartoons on the iPad (which has a special holder that goes on the back of the front seat headrest), he is happily entertained for hours. I’m sure it would be a different story if he was in my lap rather than restrained in a seat.

Hannah, on the other hand, started with the “are we there yet’s” after only an hour. A little while after that she started making these horrible whinging noises that sounded nearly identical to a fatally wounded elk. What I’d imagine one to sound like anyway. Then she started flapping her arms about whilst making the horrid noise followed by shouts of “I WANT TO GO TO MCDONALD’S!” Which we did. An hour and a half later.

Hi Mom!

She finally smiles for the camera now

Why McDonald’s? Because they have a playground. Essential for little people in the middle of a long drive. Healthy food joints, take note: if you have a playground, they will come.

The kids loved their little food/play stop even though the tunnels leading to the slides smelled like urine. Ick.

Some hours and many canola fields later, we arrived.

See all that yellow? Fields of canola

Lauren’s wedding. Oh. My. Gosh. It was awesome. That girl knows how to put on a wedding. Actually, every time her family have any sort of get together, it is awesome fun. I learned that 11 years ago at my very first family gathering. Nothing has changed. Except all the kids are no longer kids anymore.

All of the other bridesmaids slept at the reception venue the night before the wedding. It was actually at someone’s house (amazing house), but there was a marquee set up in the yard for the reception. I opted to stay with Aaron and the kids and meet the girls at the house at 7:30 in the morning for a lovely breakfast of bircher muesli, fresh fruit, and eggs, spinach and tomato on toast. Oh yes, it was fabulous. Plus I could enjoy it without any little people grasping on to my leg and looking at me with puppy dog eyes until I picked them up.

 

bircher muesli

We started the hair/make up process at 10 or 10:30 or something like that and didn’t finish until after we were supposed to leave for the wedding. We didn’t actually end up leaving until after the wedding was supposed to have started.

Me, all ready to go

If you know Lauren though, you’d know that’s not unusual. I remember in high school she was ALWAYS late. Running out the door whilst brushing her teeth, back pack half on, shoes in hand late. She’d often miss her train and Linda would have to race the train to the next stop to drop Lauren off.

We did finally make it there, some 40 minutes late, but at least we arrived in style. 1920s style. I’ve always wanted to ride in one of those old cars.

The wedding charriot. One of them. (sorry about the crop, it’s from instagram)

The sun was shining, the scenery was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, and everything went as planned.

Except when one of the flower girls got a bug in her skirt. Everyone was busy watching the bride and groom sign the registry, so I’m pretty sure no one noticed as one of the bridesmaids had to fish a weird looking bug from the layers of tulle.

After all the formal photos, and some not so formal ones, we rode in the awesome cars to the reception where everyone cocktail hour was almost over.

A not so formal photo…

There was a nanny in the house, looking after all the kids whilst the parents enjoyed the reception. Brilliant idea! Seriously, little kids would be so bored at a wedding reception, so having toys and a nanny away from all that was absolutely wonderful.

I had so much fun at the reception that I danced and giggled until 12am.

Lozza on the dance floor

Some of us couldn’t help ourselves when we noticed the corrugated iron cow.

Who was molesting the cow? I don’t know, we, I mean they… were clearly incognito

There was even a photo booth. If you are having a wedding, seriously, you need one of these. It was so much fun, and they print 2 copies of the photos, one for you and one to glue in a book that goes to the bride and groom. Awesome. If only I had one at my wedding!

Oh yes, there are dress ups for the photo booth

After the band finished at 12, there was a bus to drop everyone off at their accommodation (it also picked people up). See, they thought of everything. No one had to worry about taxis, no one drove drunk, no one had to worry about parking. Well, Aaron drove, but he left at 7 with the grumpy past-their-bed-time kids. He’s not really one for dancing anyway.

Lauren, you are awesome, and I’m sure you and Ryan will have a great life together ❤

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

Road trip

Today we are embarking on a 4 hour road trip with the kids. Yes, I know, we are slightly crazy. It usually takes 4 hours to get there. For people without kids. We are planning to make it in 6 hours with playground, pee, and lunch stops along the way. Daniel has never been in the car for more than about an hour before, so it could be…interesting.

We are going to Young for a wedding. Not just any wedding. Lauren’s wedding. You may remember Lauren from our Amazing Race Australia season 1 application video.  She was my exchange student in the U.S. almost 13 years ago. Then I was her exchange student over here nearly 12 years ago. I met Aaron through Lauren. Needless to say, there is no way we are missing that wedding, no matter how long it takes to drive there. Plus, I’m a bridesmaid.

I’m pretty sure this is going to be the wedding of the year. I can’t wait. Hopefully the journey there and back will go smoothly. I’ll be tweeting and instagraming on the way there, and whilst I’m there, so you can follow along if you like:

Follow me on Twitter

Find me on Instagram – sherismommyadventures

Otherwise, I’ll tell you all about it when I get back in a few days.

In the mean time, check out the review I did of the  halftee (which you can use to cover your cleavage in a low cut top of dress). If you’d like to buy one, use the code mommyadventures10 for 10% off. See the review here.

Also, there is a new website called the MoDa report (MOmmy DAddy) which gathers awesome posts from mommy and daddy bloggers far and wide. Check it out here.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

Eating out

Before we had kids, Aaron and I used to eat out once per week. Now? Not so much.

Usually when we go out these days, it’s only for special occasions. My birthday, Aaron’s birthday, our anniversary. That’s pretty much it.We have to find a baby sitter (and now our usual baby sitter, aka The Jess/The Sister In Law, moved to Adelaide, so we’ll have to find a new baby sitter. Sigh.), put the kids to bed, sneak out, and then try not to worry about them whilst we are out. Every time we do go out, we always go to the same place. We know the atmosphere, the food, the drinks, and the service are all good. We know that when we go there, we will have a nice time and enjoy our rare night out.

We don’t want to risk paying full price at a new restaurant. What if the food is bad? Or the atmosphere or service?

Luckily you can get amazing discounts at restaurants.  We can try something new for a fraction of the price we pay at our usual place. Maybe next time we’re in Brisbane, we could try out a Brazilian steakhouse. That might be interesting. Rio is, after all, one of the most beautiful places in the world. Maybe that is true for the food too?

Or maybe we could try some Spanish food. I hear they have some pretty good desserts….

*This post is brought to you by Groupon.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

Danger Daniel

I’m not sure if it’s a boy thing, or if it’s just a Daniel thing, but oh my gosh, he is a climber. 

He’s not satisfied with just climbing onto the couch, giggling madly as he stands up on the cushions and runs from one side to the other, narrowly missing the edge many times. He’s not even satisfied with climbing up the arm rest on the couch and attempting to grab the door chain, perching precariously on the edge way too high up and right over the only tiles in the entire apartment.

No, no, that is not enough for Danger Daniel (also known as Daniel the Destroyer). He’s now moved on to bigger, more dangerous climbing things.

First it was Hannah’s bed. Ok, the bed itself is no big deal. She doesn’t even have a full sized single bed. It’s a junior bed. Bigger than a toddler bed, but smaller than a single bed. It has a rail at the front so she doesn’t fall on her face in the middle of the night, but if I took the rail off, it’s a daybed. The back of it is a little curvy, but not too high. Anyway, point being, climbing on her bed is fine. Even if he falls off, it’s not very far down, and with the rail, there is only a small area in which to fall off.

But Danger Daniel decided that the mattress was just not high enough. He wanted to see out the window. He is obsessed with trees (“tree!” He tells me repeatedly whilst pointing at every tree or plant we come across, every single day), and there are two fairly big ones right outside their window. The window that was right above Hannah’s bed. Daniel somehow managed to stand on the back of Hannah’s bed, on the curvy wooden bit, grip the metal runner (you know, the part that holds the window in when you open and close it. Is it called a runner? I have no idea) with his tiny pudgy fingers, and gaze at his beloved trees. Ok, that’s not too bad. I can live with that. But then he started banging on the window first with his hands, and then with his head.

Daniel on the back of Hannah’s bed. I know these photos are all terrible, but they are from my phone, which has a terrible camera.

We live in a slightly dodgy apartment don’t forget. We are on the second and top floor, and the windows are not exactly what you would call child safe. They are not safety glass, nor are they particularly tight. When the wind blows, they rattle. To the point of waking me up when I’m in a deep sleep. Sometimes I get so annoyed with them when it’s windy that I shove folded up pieces of paper between the stationary window, and the one that opens in attempt to prevent the obnoxious rattling.

Needless to say I was a bit terrified of Daniel breaking the window all over himself. Or managing to pull himself up to the windowsill (which seems far-fetched, but her very nearly got there) and then falling out when the dodgy window gives way.

I didn’t waste any time, I took all the books off their bookshelf, got it out of the way, moved the bed all by myself, and rearranged their room. Now her bed is no longer under the window, nor is anything else he might be able to climb up to get to the window. Their beds are perpendicular to each other, and they giggle together every night before going to sleep.

He still climbs Hannah’s bed, but at least he can’t get out the window now.

For a couple days, all was well.

Then he figured out that he could climb on Hannah’s desk and reach the kitchen bench (counter as it’s called in the U.S.). Sigh and a half. He could also step from Hannah’s desk to their play kitchen and be even higher up next to the kitchen bench. Knowing him, it wouldn’t be long until he climb onto the bench, which gives me horrible nightmares of him standing up there, giggling with glee and that cheeky look on his face that he gets when he knows he’s being naughty, and then just walking straight off, breaking himself. Or going to sit down without looking where he is plopping his bottom (he never looks where he is sitting, which has seen him fall of the couch, and other not as high up things) and head planting the kitchen floor.

Climbing on the desk

I would like my son to retain all of his brain and not break any bones, so I moved Hannah’s desk.  I put it in the kitchen. Which is gated off with a baby proof fence. Hannah was actually thrilled with the move as now she can draw/play playdoh/colour/paint/paste/cut stuff without Daniel stealing her things, colour on her artwork, or just annoying her in general.

There was extra space where the desk was, so I moved their mirror (don’t worry, it’s a kid specific mirror and not made of glass) in the corner with Daniel’s toy car ramp next to it.

Standing on his car ramp

Until he climbed on the car ramp. Again, trying to get to a window. Sigh.

So I moved the car ramp and put the mirror next to play kitchen.

But he found a way to use the base of the mirror to climb up to the play kitchen. He stood up there proudly and pawed at everything on the kitchen bench. Sigh.

Base of mirror to play kitchen

I moved the mirror back to it’s original spot next to the shelves where he couldn’t use it to climb anything.

And all was well.

For like 2 minutes.

Hannah needed me to wipe her butt after she pooped in her potty (yes, good girl!). I was gone about 30 seconds. When I came back to the living room, guess where Daniel was?

Standing on his play kitchen. With nothing else around it to climb up on. He somehow got up there straight from the floor. And if he can get from floor to play kitchen, he will likely be able to get from play kitchen to actual kitchen bench.

Ok, so I didn’t take a photo of him up there without the mirror, so I cut the mirror out, but you get the idea

I can’t even move the play kitchen because it’s holding the baby proof fence in place that keeps him out of the real kitchen. Besides, the only place I could move it to is the wall where the shelves are, but that’s the wall with the window. Sigh.

 

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

Dinosaurs

I was busy getting breakfast ready when I heard the following conversation:

Aaron: “ROAR! I’m a dinosaur.” He pretends to be animals to make the kids giggle all the time. Usually they make silly noises and run away, straight to me. If they are touching me, I’m bar. They can’t be tickled by the dinosaur/lion/tickle monster when they are touching me (usually by attaching themselves to my leg or sitting in my lap). What? that’s not weird at all.

Hannah: “No Daddy, I’m scared of dinosaurs!”

Aaron: “You don’t need to be scared of dinosaurs, they are extinct. There are no living dinosaurs anymore, only dinosaur bones.”

Hannah (puzzling over this for a moment): “Why do they stink, Daddy?”

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson

UK gears up for energy saving

Energy bills. Sigh. They are getting so expensive!  I think everyone wants to save money on their ridiculously high energy bills. Everyone I know at least.

With that in mind, today’s post is written and sponsored by Anglian home Improvements.

I always try to instil into my kids a sense of the bigger picture. This includes pointing
out that not everyone is lucky enough to have the things that they do when they
have their odd stereotypically childish tantrum, as well as repeatedly explaining why
they need to brush their teeth, and, of course, why they shouldn’t leave the tap
running while they do!

As a mom, environmental issues and energy saving are very much intertwined. I’m
acutely aware that wastage isn’t just bad for the environment, it’s also bad for my
pocket, so where I can I always consider energy saving elements.

I was surfing some British blogs the other day and came across a campaign called
Big Energy Saving Week which promotes energy saving techniques for the home. As
part of the week, lots of retailers seem to be offering discounts on items like double
glazing, insulation, conservatories or new boilers that can help lower bills in the long
term. I think this is a great idea and no doubt I’ll be checking back on the website
during the week itself (October 22nd-27th) to see if they have any good ideas on how
I can involve the little ones in energy saving a bit more. How do you teach your kids
about energy saving and waste? Do you have any tips?

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote.  THANKS!

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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson