A day with the models!

At the weekend we donned our family anorak and took ourselves to Exeter to the 'Garden Railway' show. This was a show encompassing all things model railways, some that ran on steam, some electric, some that ran in gardens, some belonging in the archetypal hobby attic - whichever category they fell into the enthusiasm of the creators was infectious, the attention to detail incredible. Amos was absolutely fascinated (as was my husband who has since enthused about building one of his own!) We were there for most of the day and although Amos was not at liberty to touch the models or play with them they provided enough entertainment to keep him happy for the majority of the day.

There seem to be a good number of 'garden railway' groups around the country and they often have fundraising events, I highly recommend it as a wonderful day out for your little ones......although toddlers in particular will need to understand that looking is done with the eyes!!:)

Fossils and Mummies

Hands up those of you who thought museums were dusty, cold places full of musty dinosaur bones and moth eaten clothes from a bygone era. If your hand is up you are refreshingly wrong! I took Amos to the Plymouth museum (partly because it was cold outside and partly because I'd run out of other places to take him) and what a revelation, it is a fairly small museum but kitted out for people of all ages. Amos had a wonderful time. In the natural history room there were drawers at his height that he could pull out and view pinned butterflies, insects, plants and other items of interest. In another room there were African musical instruments that he could play on. One room was given over to looking at the history of Plymouth and there were endless maps with lights operated by buttons that Amos could press. It was a really good afternoon out. I discovered that there is also a group for under 5s that meets one morning a week, unfortunately it was oversubscribed so I couldn't get Amos in but I'm sure it's worth a try for the future.
The moral of this story is: don't underestimate your local museum, it's a lovely day out and for a stay at home mum or dad it's a place you can revisit as often as necessary.

Anyone for tea?

It's not just American politics that has a monopoly on the good ol' tea party, Amos' pre-school have also been preparing for one. I believe that some of the children baked fairy cakes, some iced them and Amos was amongst the fortunate group who got to sprinkle the hundreds and thousands over them - and apparently siphon them up off the table in the aftermath!!  Sadly Amos was not in the pre-school session where they actually had the tea party but he brought two cakes home. I didn't want him to miss out and so in the absence of anyone else we invited the toys to an afternoon tea party. We made orange juice, chopped up apples and of course had the precious fairy cakes for Amos to offer to his guests. He chose some of his cuddly toys and off we went into the garden. Amos had a great time and was a remarkably good host pouring orange juice for all the toys and allowing them to nibble the fairy cakes, he helped them out, of course, by finishing them off!

We had a really lovely, fun afternoon and it was all so simple....Amos thought it was hilarious that his toys were joining him for a tea party.

A little tea set would have been ideal in this situation and I think we will buy one for Amos because it was obvious that this kind of play is really enjoyable and important. Click here for a tea set that is great for boys and girls.

Separation Anxiety All Round!

This week Amos and I have hit a serious milestone in our relationship - we were separated for more than 10 minutes! Yes Amos has started pre-school. We actually started pre-school at the beginning of September, I say we because I was called back on his first day due to his mild hysteria showing absolutely no sign of abating. After that I attended pre-school too. I started leaving the room for 5 or 10 minutes at a time to get him used to the idea of me going and then coming back, I increased the time until this week I left him for the duration of his session. He gets so excited now when it is pre-school day, he loves his time there and constantly chatters about his friends and key worker.

And me....well I am suffering from separation anxiety due to missing pre-school! During the weeks of my incarceration I grew to love this strange parallel world where you could find a giraffe (small boy dressed up as a....) sitting on your knee one moment and the next be perching on an extremely small seat drinking a cup of air tea and eating plastic pizza - completely calorie free.

Ah well, those were the days, oh to be two again!

Seriously under the weather!

Last week in our household we were struck down with a terrible virus. Amos had it first but no sooner had he recovered than both my husband and I came down with it! It's a long time since I'd felt so ill but typically as I went down Amos perked right up and was as bright as a button! What do you do all day with a 2 year old when you really can't move off the sofa?

I played lots of fetching games where I said 'I know, why don't you find me a ......' hoping desperately that it would take him so long that I could have a little nap. Obviously I should have sent him for something that was not in existence because he seemed to know where everything was and returned with requested object in next to no time. Then I managed to put up his train track, but he wanted me to be constantly involved in his game. Eventually I resorted to a Little Einsteins dvd - at least it's a bit educational.

Please let me know how you've dealt with this in the past, hopefully it won't happen again but just in case..... I need some serious help!