It’s been a while, blogland.

I never know whether to do an update or not when I return from a blog-rest.  It feels a bit rude to just start rambling on about something or other without explaining my absence.  Not that there is an explanation, I just couldn’t be arsed LOL.

Anyway, The boy is still loving nursery.  He had his settling in report before the half term break which was glowing.  Apparently he’s an angel between the hours of 1pm-4pm, Mon-Fri - who’d have thunk it?

I love the “Callum can need reminding to tidy up” part.  Glad to see he’s not just giving me the runaround at tidy up time.  I’d love to be a fly on the wall at nursery for a day.

I’m loving the icy weather we’ve been having, if only for the fact that it means there is less rain and general dampness around.  I’ve not been thoroughly soaked twice a day for at least 2 weeks now.  The walking to nursery and back lark lost it’s appeal quickly, I dread it every day and long to be able to jump in a nice warm car instead.  On the up side, my legs are getting less flabby, as my looser than normal jeans and boots that easily zip up will testify. Still though, a car (or chauffeur, or daily taxi) would be preferable.

Now that Halloween and Bonfire night are over, I’m allowed to talk about Christmas without the humbugs whinging that “It’s only October!” “It’s not even Halloween yet” and “The leaves are still on the trees!”.  I adore Christmas, it’s my favourite time of year, and I’m especially looking forward to this year because we won’t need to travel any considerable distance before and after - meaning I can buy Callum whatever the hell I like without having to think about baggage allowances and bulk.  Last year we were in Australia for Christmas, and the 2 years previous to that we had to go back to Bristol afterwards, so we have always had to curb our present buying.  I’m really looking forward to just being able to buy what I want for him and not have to think if it’ll fit in a suitcase or take me over the blasted 20KG limit.  I’m going late night shopping this evening to make a start on it actually.  I’m buying Callum a Singalong CD player from the ELC, (complete with microphones, one for him and one for me his friend) and they have 20%  off it at the moment, so I may as well buy it early and save myself £7.50. I’m buying my tree and decorations this weekend too, oh it’s all so exciting.  Santa arrives at our  Town Centre on Saturday morning, so we’ll be taking The Boy to watch the grand entrance.  He’s still terrified of Santa, so that will be fun….

Next weekend I have some good friends coming to Glasgow for a girls night out.  We’re going out for a lovely meal, followed by drinks, then we’re all going back to (poor) Kelly’s house for some Singstar and more drinks, and a sleepover.  In addition to the 5 of us who all live in the Glasgow area, we have 2 girls flying up from London, one coming on the train from Dumfries, and one coaching it down from the Highlands.  I’m so looking forward to it, it’s going to be such a great night, I can’t wait to see everyone again, sans kidlets! I’ve been trying to find something new to wear, but it’s proving difficult, so I think I’ll be wearing a dress I already have, and will treat myself to a new bag, and perhaps a coat if I can find one I like.

I think I’m all caught up now, and normal blogging service has resumed, honest!

Oh, how could I forget, I’m going to see TAKE THAT in June, HOW EXCITING.  Watch out Mark Owen, I’m coming to get you!!!!!  <3

This week could do with being rubbed out and drawn in again.

It all started on Monday morning when I awoke at the ungodly hour of 7.15 with the rain pattering against my window.  15 minutes later the “rain” sounded more like a tap, and it dawned on me that it was coming from my bathroom (next to my bedroom). On inspection, I found that there was quite a great deal of water pouring in through my ceiling.  Wonderful.  A couple of nights before my bathroom lights had gone, and I hoped it was just a coincidence that 2 bulbs went at the same time, but no, there had obviously been a leak there for a couple of days.  *sigh*  Anyway, the upshot of it meant I was knocking on my neighbour’s door at 7.15 informing her that the contents of her bathroom pipes were actually in my flat.  Luckily, it was repaired that morning, so there was no lasting damage from the water.  The electrician came about lunchtime to repair the lights, but as it was still damp around the fitting, disconnected them and should hopefully be out tomorrow to re-connect them.

The boy has also been ill this week.  He had his first ever significant temperature which scared the crap out of me, and I ended up having to medicate him, which I really hate doing.  I hate that the thought of giving his wee body drugs that may mask symptoms of something serious, but the thought of febrile convulsions (note to self: don’t google child temperatures again) over-rode my hate of infant suspensions, and I administered baby nurofen type stuff a few times, which brought his temp down a bit.

He’s certainly alot better tonight, but is still milking it for all it’s worth with a “mummy I’m not feeling well, I think I need to sleep in your bed”, which worked of course, for the 4th night running.  He just fell out of my bed around an hour ago and when I went in to pick him up and put him back together again he wasn’t hot at all, so fingers crossed the fever has passed.

Earlier in the week we went to my friend Jen’s house to see her new puppy.  It’s a teeny border collie, only 5 weeks old and just beautiful.  It was a rescued runt from a farmhouse litter, and has a few breed related problems, but my friend is such a softie she decided to save it from certain death instead of taking a “perfect” one.  Well, Callum just adores her.  He would not leave her alone, and made such a fuss over this little ball of fluff.  It was so lovely to watch.  He was carrying her around like a baby (ok, like a bag of spuds, but a very fragile bag of spuds), and taking her over to her water bowl, bringing her toys and trying to put her to bed.  My heart was melting, and as a result I’m thinking that, as lovely as our goldfish is, it’s not really up to much in the pet stakes.  I’m seriously considering a kitten.  I’m giving myself 3 months to think about it, because if I don’t I’ll have one by the weekend, such is my love of cute fluffy things.  Need. To. Be. Sensible.

I don’t think I have much more to report, No nursery yesterday due to strike action (and the award for the worst timed pay-rise related strike goes to…..), no nursery today due to ill child, and no nursery tomorrow due to Scottish September weekend.  We have my best friend’s wee boys 4th birthday party on Saturday afternoon and a christening on Sunday, so a busy weekend ahead.  Please let us have no more illness and some sunshine.

xxx

I’m sitting alone in my house eating my lunch.  It’s quite good.

I dropped The Boy at nursery at 1pm, and he wandered straight in, straight over to the music corner (which seems to be a favourite so far) and that was that.  I went in to say goodbye, got a half-hearted cuddle, he asked where his wee friend Andie was, and went over to find her.  I hope he’s ok.  I’m a bit worried about the toilet situation, as he’s funny about new toilets, and won’t even use the one in his gran’s house.  I hope he doesn’t have an accident, as he can get quite embarrassed about things.  Ah well, he has a spare change of clothes there, and the nursery teachers are used to it…

I can’t wait to pick him up and hear all about his first day on his own. Not quite yet though, I’m enjoying the serenity….

xxx

My little boy had his first day at nursery today.  I had to stay for the first session. (at the nursery’s request, not Callum’s!) It was a shorter session than normal as it was just an introduction, but he had an absolute ball.  They stagger the new starts so there was just Callum and another little girl starting today.  Us parents sat in a corner filling out forms while the kids went and did nursery type things, and quite honestly, I may as well not have been there for all Callum cared.  He disappeared into the music corner, and didn’t look back at me.  I had to physically remove him from the place at home time promising him he could come back tomorrow for a longer time and play more.

It was lovely to watch him play with the other children.  He’s only recently started interacting properly with children of his own age.  He’s always been very good with older children and adults, but has never really been bothered with smaller children, but it’s good to see him with his peers.  I wonder what kind of friendships he’ll form and with who.  There were 2 little boys today who he seemed quite friendly with.  I get the impression Callum could take them or leave them, but they seemed quite taken with him and followed him around the room, and he didn’t seem to mind.  He joined in at song time and did the actions to Old MacDonald and The Wheels on the Bus, he painted a picture, drew me a picture with (horror of horrors) felt tip pens, played with the fire engines, played some musical instruments and had a little play at the sand table.  All that in an hour.  Fun times when you are 3.

So tomorrow he goes off for a full session without me.  What will I do with my time?  EEK.  I feel a relaxing visit to Starbucks with a magazine and a Mocha may be in order.  Bliss!

Here he is in all his grown up nursery going glory. (He’s pulling a funny face, he doesn’t normally look that silly!)

My son is sleeping in his big boy’s bed for the first time ever tonight. On. His. Own. I am a complete bag of nerves. If he stays asleep until I go to bed then he’ll be there until morning, and this is what troubles me greatly. Suddenly his bedroom is full of hidden dangers that almost inevitably mean he’ll kill himself in the few seconds it takes to get out of his bed and into my room when he wakes up. He wasn’t meant to go to into that bed until Saturday night, as we’re going to Ikea to get a new blind, rug, nightlight and other bits to help the transition to being a big boy more exciting for him. Tonight he just was not up for going into his cot, he was overtired, so to avoid a meltdown I put him in the big bed and crawled in beside him until he fell asleep (it took about 3 minutes for him to zonk, the one benefit of no afternoon nap) The main dangers I am panicking about are 1 - The blind. It’s a horrid bamboo thing that is controlled by 2 loops of rope holding the rest of the blind in a roll. Anyone with children knows that loops are just bad news on window blinds, so this distresses me. 2 - The cupboard. We have a large walk in “junk cupboard” in his room that I currently store old PC stuff, the hoover, and random boxes of other stuff that I shouldn’t really have brought when I moved house. I have a lock for this cupboard and the plan was to attach it on Saturday when we do his room. Hoovers have wires. Wires = almost as bad as loops on window blinds. And finally 3 - Wardrobe. Everyone has heard a horror story about a friend of a friend who’s little girl/boy was killed by pulling a wardrobe on top of themselves. The wardrobe in his room is solid, heavy with 3 drawers and double doors. I have visions of him trying to climb on it and the whole thing toppling down on top of him. Again, I have a strap that will attach it to the wall, that job was also pencilled in for Saturday.

So it looks like I’ll either be up all night checking on him, worrying myself silly about countless untold horrors awaiting my precious boy on his awakening, or I’ll be spending my first night in a big boy’s bed too.

I’ve had no internet for a few days due to a dodgy modem. Thank god for my idiot neighbours who are too dim to protect their wireless network and let all and sundry use it. I managed to get on a few times using their wireless, but it was a bit sketchy, and I could only get on for any length of time if I sat my laptop on the windowsill. Hardly inconspicuous when it’s pitch black outside and I have the lights on.

Anyway, I have a new modem and it’s all fine now, so all is well with the world. I really missed not having the internet, my level of addiction is quite alarming. I didn’t know what to do with myself when I was in the house. I had my mobile so could facebook/twitter from that, and also check my forums on my opera mini browser, but it was so slow. I missed catching up my ever expanding blog feedlist, being able to check my email every 5 minutes. (I have a compulsion to click the send/receive button every 5 minutes exactly, it’s not funny), being able to check my online banking, ebaying, window shopping, and the list goes on…and on…and on. And on.

We had a quiet weekend this week. On Friday I went shopping with my mum, then we went for an Italian for Dinner. They had an offer where you got half a pizza and some pasta for x amount. So I ordered linguini carbonara, and a bacon and mushroom pizza. Only when it arrived did I realise what I had done. DOH. Hmmm bacon and mushroom pasta and bacon and mushroom pizza, I’m all about the variety… Anyway it was lovely and I had a nice beer to wash it down. Callum was an angel and ate some pasta and his bodyweight in garlic bread as usual. Friday night I drank far too much wine… and paid for it on the Saturday. I felt so dodgy all day, I only started to come alive about 7pm, then ate like a pig until bedtime. Today we went to my mum’s for dinner. It was a nice chilled day. We drank coffee and ate biscuits while Callum dug up her garden looking for wiggly worms. We had delicious steak, then I vegged ont he sofa while Callum played on the floor with his gran. Perfect Sunday really.

Oh and we’ve decided we are going on a wee holiday in a couple of months. We haven’t decided where yet though, although we’re swaying towards the Balaerics or the Greek Islands. As long as there is sun/pool/beach and restaurants we’ll be happy. I can’t wait to get back to the beach, I think I was a fish in a former life, I just feel at peace when I’m near the sea. Also can’t wait to get The Boy back into his swimming. It’s been bloomin’ freezing since we got back from Oz, so this will get my ass back into gear, and set him up for the summer.

My mother came in the other week with this geektastic old school long sleeved T-shirt for the boy.

I was, of course overjoyed with it, and he loved it as it had numbers on. Where did she buy this gem i hear you ask? Only old ladies shop BHS of all places! Excuse the state of it in this photo, I had to fish it out of the un-ironed mountain in my bedroom.

Anyway, today we were out shopping, and ventured into Zara kids. I was in heaven!!! It’s a very well kept secret that I am a bit partial to films that are remakes of comics, cult 80’s TV shows and the like. You cannot imagine my glee when I found this beauty amongst the pink polo shirts and woolen tanktops!

Of course it had to be mine….er his. With the boy only being 2 years old, he has no idea what it is all about, but he’s quite excited that he has a “tanformer” on his new top. I got some really cool black baggy combats and a gorgeous black and white striped hoody to match it, and am just waiting on his feet to take a big stretch (they haven’t grown since October!) so I can invest in some Converse Allstars for the spring. Since his mother is now over 30, and resigned to the respectability of heels and handbags, she’ll have to live her secret geeky life through her son.

I’ve always quietly kept track of where the boy should be developmentally, compared to his peers thanks to bounty/babycenter monthly newsletters dropping into my mailbox to remind me, but all in all, I think I’m pretty relaxed about things where he is concerned. He was slow at sitting on his own, and walked at around 14 months. He’s never been ahead physically, although once he learns to do something there is no stopping him. Nowadays he’s a boisterous 2 year old, and while timid initially when trying new things, he’s usually the first to climb to the highest point in the soft play, or the first to take a running jump into the swimming pool without a thought for what’s going to happen when he gets there.

His speech has always been pretty good for his age, and I’d say he’s been pretty much on track if not slightly ahead of his recommended milestones where that’s concerned. But he will not tell me colours. I think he actually knows what I’m on about, but just can’t be bothered, or see the point in referring to something’s colour. I hear about all these other 2 year olds differentiating between sky blue and turquoise, and I’m hard pushed to get The Boy to tell me that Postman’s Pat van is red. It’s not worrying, but frustrating. I’m just so sure he understands. He can differentiate between on, in, under, behind, he knows when something is upside down etc, but still blanks me with the colours!

Anyway, I was thinking earlier about these milestones, as I was reading a blog where someones little girl will now answer with her name when people ask her it. The Boy, however, likes to play with your mind when you ask him his name.

This afternoon:

Me - “What’s your name?”
Boy - *looks at me as if I’m daft*
Boy - Sigh and says (usually with hand on hip) “Pocoyo?”
Me - “is your name Pocoyo?”
Boy - Looks at me as if I’m daft “No mummyyyyyyyy, not Pocoyo, you’re funny” (well actually it’s “funnty”, he puts an extra “t” in)
Me - “What’s your name then?”
The Boy - “Pato!” *walks away*.

Always it’s a version of this conversation, sometimes going through every character in Pocoyo, but usually ending with him definitely being Pato.

He can say his full name though, as I usually call it out as a warning when he’s misbehaving. I also call him Trouble P***** (his surname), and he substitutes his name with Trouble in one of the songs I made up about him when he was a baby. No wonder the boy has an identity crisis.