This week has not been a good week...

It began on Saturday when our much anticipated Summer Fun Day at the Shambles Retail Village in Newent was almost literally washed away by torrential rain!  The Little Man, of course, loved it and spent half an hour running around like a loon, jumping in puddles, standing under the awning of our gazebo and waiting for the cascades of water to splash down on him as it got to heavy for the fabric roof to support. I would have taken pictures so you could share his joy but I was too busy trying to rescue all my stock from the elements (dried lavender pillows and books - neither like getting wet!)

On Sunday I went with the MIL and SIL to the Tewkesbury Medieval Fayre. This amazing event we attend every year (I have blogged about it before, here) but this year the boys stayed at home so we took advantage of the opportunity to shop. I had planned a whole blog about it, artisans and craftspeople using traditional methods and skills to create items of beauty to cherish... My camera however had other ideas. Today was the day my trusty little pocket Yashica joined the great 'Tripod in the Sky' and decided it would open up no more... *sobs - I have NO camera! How will I manage with NO camera?*

Monday was a busy day. I got a lot done and treated myself to a nice Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni meal from local supermarket...
At approx 4am Tuesday morning I threw my guts up. And then again at about 7am...

Have you ever had food poisoning? If you haven't, pray you never do. If you have I sympathise entirely but it's probably not something we will discuss over drinks...
The last three days have taught me several things:

• Parenthood really is the hardest job in the world - I don't care how demanding your job is, if you get sick leave you don't know how lucky you are!
• Three year olds understand more than we give them credit for - LM at 5.30am on Wednesday morning 'Are you still poorly Mummy?' 'yes, baby' 'Ok. I'll go and do some colouring then.'
• Three year olds are also better at entertaining themselves than they lead us to believe...
• My OH is great at coming home from work and getting the LM off to bed AND bringing home things like Lucozade but crap at feeding himself and getting himself out of bed in the morning*
• OH really doesn't do washing up.**
• Lucozade is marvellous stuff - and you can get it in Cherry flavour now!
• I will probably be giving Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni a very wide berth from now on...

So 4 days with little more than a piece of dry toast and half a dozen bottles of Lucozade for sustenance and I am feeling tired, listless and a lot lighter (just over half a stone to be exact - there IS a silver lining!) but my stomach is no longer churning. I am feeling hungry again this morning, although the memory of what happened last time I ate anything lingers. I don't think I'm up for a three course Sunday lunch just yet...

*To be fair I already knew this
**and this...

The artist at work...

Recently the Little Man discovered felt tip pens.
I must admit I was a little nervous. The following equation entered my head -

three year old + felt tip pens = home decor disaster

But he surprised me (he's getting good at that). The other day we set him up at his little table with a Thomas the Tank Engine colouring book and some felt tips (washable ones - allegedly) and he coloured...and coloured...and coloured! He used different colours and tried not to go over the lines (too much)
And two hours later he was still colouring...

He even refused pudding after his tea because, and I quote, 'I have to do colouring, mummy'

Yup - he's a leftie...

So now, finally I have found something he can do at the table while I am crafting, that he can do by himself that doesn't require my constant input/attention. Something that encourages his creativity and fine motor skills (bonus brownie points for that) and something that actually keeps him occupied for more than 30 secs at a time!

It's only taken three years...

Is this what they mean when they say it DOES get easier?

Potty Training (part three) It's all about poo...

Sorry, didn't mean to put you off your cuppa but the last few weeks really have been all about poo :(

As you may have read Potty Training Part One and Part Two we jumped straight into toilet training the Little Man a week or so before his third birthday and for the most part it has been a resounding success. He rarely has a pee accident now, can take himself to the toilet on his own if need be (although still insists on removing his pants completely then running around half naked afterwards coz he can't get them back on properly...) He wears pull-ups at bedtime but is dry most mornings when he wakes up so won't be long before I dispense with those as well.

But frustratingly, annoyingly and somewhat incomprehensibly he is still not using the toilet for a number two..

It's not like he hasn't managed it all - three times (yes I AM counting) whether by luck or good judgement on my part, I have obviously caught him at just the right moment and he has been so proud of himself, to the point of telling everyone he sees that day, with a big beaming grin 'I did a poo on the toilet!'

Getting him to sit still anywhere for more than 30 secs is a challenge but I have managed to get him to stay on the the 'throne' for a few minutes using a combination of story-telling and pulling funny faces only for him to insist that 'there is no poo, mummy', climb off the toilet, pull up his pants and runs off to play again.

Guess what folks, five minutes later there is poo...

Even more puzzling to me (although perhaps this is perfectly normal? I don't know...) is that he doesn't seem to notice he's done it. He will happily carry on with whatever it is that he is doing until my nose picks up the scent. 'Have you done a poo in your pants, Little Man?' Sometimes he will deny it (especially if it means coming in from the garden) but mostly he will nod and be led upstairs to change.

I have been told by many people that it's just a stage he's going through and that he will get over it soon enough but I can't help wondering if there is something I should be doing to help him along. If any of you have any tips or advice I would love to hear it! How did you deal with this, did you have to or did your little one get it straight away?

In the meantime Mummy will be trying to stay calm whilst rinsing out another pair of pooey pants...

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Here's a synopsis of a well known storybook I bought for the Little Man the other day :

'after escaping from a hot oven, our hero runs for his very life, being chased by various villagers and farm animals until he comes to a river. There he is tricked by a wily old fox who carries him across, apparently to safety, before eating him.'

Scary stuff eh? It is, of course, The Gingerbread Man and this particular version is beautifully put together by those fab people at Ladybird. The 'Well-loved Tales' collection were a big part of my childhood reading adventure and I felt it was time to get some traditional stories to balance his current 'Aliens love Underpants' obsession. This little series has been developed for little ones and is aimed at 2+ year olds. I let him choose which stories to start with and as he was already familiar with the 'Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!' line from nursery it was a dead cert he'd pick that story.

What I didn't realise was that he wasn't familiar with the ending...

He woke up around half one this morning, crying his eyes out and babbling about the fox 'eating me all up'! Now I know he's a smart lad with a very active imagination but he is at an age where his understanding of everything is very literal. 'It's only a story' just doesn't wash with him yet. The Gingerbread Man is as real to him as Mummy and Daddy, as is the threat of being eaten up by a sly old fox...

So what do I do? Shield him forever from the horrors of traditional fairy tales? Or explain that as the Gingerbread Man is made of gingerbread and, therefore, meant to be eaten, he was actually being very naughty running away...

It's a dilemma.

I am really not looking forward to explaining the other book he chose - Three Billy Goats Gruff. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it... (pun intended)