Getting Riley into Horses early!

On Saturday we went on a girly day out to Badminton Horse Trials, my mum, Riley and me (3 generations). The weather wasn’t amazing but somehow we seemed to find a break in the heavy showers and didn’t get too wet.  The wind was pretty bracing though.  And it struck me that walking the however many miles (mainly with Riley in the back carrier, but she walked a long way) there were children of all ages (even tiny babies) and I didn’t see a single child whingeing.  Basically I think kids brought up around horses are pretty tough and I’m so glad Riley is one of them.

Play Dough - Recipes and Fun

I haven't blogged about 'things to do on a rainy day' for a long time.  I want to highlight this fantastic website:

It's an amazing website they name pretty much sums it up, it's about activities which help kids learn... but it is so much more than that, it's packed full of creative and fun ideas of things to do with your kids.

So I will continue to share ideas from the site as I find them, but for now I'm going to share my mum's recipe for play dough and then a recipe for play dough with a twist from the learning4kids website...

PLAY DOUGH

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup salt

1 tbsp oil

2 tsp cream of tartar

food colouring

1 cup of hot water

Basically just mix it all up and then when it has become a thick dough, kneed it until it is a smooth dough perfect for little hands.

SUPER SOFT PLAY DOUGH

2 Cups Cornflour (corn starch)

1 Cup Hair Conditioner

Food Colouring

*Extra Cornflour to add if mixture is still a little sticky*

 

Place hair conditioner into a medium bowl and mix the food colouring through the conditioner. Add 1 cup of cornflour and stir.  Then add the last cup of cornflour to the mixture. Constantly stir the mixture until it begins to form a thick blob. Turn the play dough out onto a clean surface and knead into a smooth ball with your hands.  Add more cornflour if the play dough is sticky.

When you have your perfect playdough you can add some plastic shape cutters, a rolling pin, dried pasta - all great accompaniments to the fun.  

You can also add glitter and scented oil to the playdough itself, cinnamon is great or maybe lavender...

Enjoy Together :)

Once upon a time there was a little robot called Tim-Tron...

I thought I'd write a bit about a new book which will be available from The Children's Trust (where I work) from next week... it is called Heads Up Tim-Tron and is about a little robot who bangs his head.  The aim is to help explain brain injury to younger children in a colourful and interesting way.

The story was written by my manager Ian and has beautiful illustrations :) there is also an audio read along track by Richard Hammond.  It will be available for just the cost of postage and packing so hopefully it will reach as many families as possible.

You can read more about how Tim-Tron was created in a blog written by Scope:

http://blog.scope.org.uk/2014/01/03/creating-tim-tron-the-robot-with-a-brain-injury/

It is one of 3 publications that The Children's Trust are releasing next week, the second one is a Medi-Kidz comic book which aims to explain acquired brain injury to older children.

There is an epilepsy Medi-Kidz comic already which is available for free from Epilepsy Action (click on the comic to order a copy)...

The final book is a parents handbook which will be packed full of all the most key information about childhood brain injury.

All the books will be available on Monday and I'll post the link to the site when it's up and running :)

Splish Splosh Splash!

Riley loves puddles :) paddling in puddles is a great way to get out and about on a wet day!  All you need is a good pair of wellies (Riley has my old pair from when I was little) and a paddle suit (Riley's was £3.50 at an NCT sale).

Then just find a good puddles and jump!  I think we are very lucky, Riley is a very hardy little person, she just loves the outdoors and so doesn't mind being out in the wind and rain.  Makes the winter months much easier to cope with as you can get out and about just making sure we take lots of warm dry clothes and waterproofs with us :)

Horizon Church Christmas Fun

Yesterday we had our churches Christmas celebrations, my friend Emily organised ‘Muddles’ which is messy church and the hope is to reach out to families on the St.Helier estate.  It was fantastic; Riley went and made a wide range of works of art!  There were a few local families and hopefully they will tell their friends they had a good time and it will grow like that, it can be quite difficult to encourage people into a 'church'...  

Then in the evening we had carols by candlelight, we walked round nativity scenes singing a carol at each, the scenes had been painted and decorated by people at the church.  It had some very amusing moments; it made the nativity more real somehow, more on everyone’s level.  Riley stayed up for it and loved it, she has been up till 9ish a few times recently and seems to stay in a good mood and then just pass out when we put her in her cot!

I love going to our church, it feels like a true family, it accepts everyone, even if you don’t believe like Rich you are still made to feel so welcome.  My mum sort of summed it up; the people running the church are on a level with everyone else.  It’s not like they are looking down on the people they are helping.

Muddles happens once a month - the next one is Monday 26th January 2014 and is Superhero themed.  So if you fancy some arts and crafts fun come along to Horizon Church, Assembly Walk, Carshalton, SM5 1JH from 4-5.30pm. See you there!

A home for a hedgehog

I haven't done a things to do post in ages and ages, so here goes.  Autumn is great, as the leaves turn they create beautiful colours and although often it is wet and stomping in wet leaves isn't very fun, it only takes a day or so of dry weather to make some fantastic crunchy leaves to stomp in.

Riley and me had great fun the other day stomping in and collecting leaves.  Riley is walking quite a long way now and although it may take a while to get anywhere it gives lots of oppertunities to explore our amazing world.

We took some bright coloured leaves home and with some PVA glue, a sprinkle of glitter and a bit of imagination we made a winter home for our hedgehog!

 So wrap up warm, get out and about in the Autumn leaves and see what you can create :)

I love being a Mummy :)

It's been a little while since I've said how much I love being a mummy :) so I wanted to put up a picture that shows just one reason why being a mum is so fantastic...

Row, row, row your boat...

Riley loves singing songs and she's starting to get really good at the actions too.  Her favourite few are...

Wind the bobbin up
If your happy and you know it
Sleeping Bunnies (if you have never heard it, here's a yout tube video with actions!  All kids seem to love it!)

Sleeping Bunnies

And then there's the old classic, she loves to grab other children's hand and try to play row row row with them even if they don't want too!  Here's some alternative verses to make the constant repetition a little more bareable...

Row row row your boat...

Gently down the stream, merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream
Gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile don't forget to scream
Gently down the river, if you see a polar bear don't forget to shiver
Gently down the creek, if you see a little mouse don't forget to squeak
Gently to the shore, and if you see a lion don't forget to roar
Gently to the land, if you see an octopus always shake his hand
Gently through the cave, if you see a jellyfish don't forget to wave
Gently across the sea, if you see Riley give her a kiss from me
Gently down the Nile, if you see a camel don’t forget to smile
Gently over the lagoon, if you look up to the sky you will see the moon
Gently out to sea, if you see a big blue whale invite him home to tea
Gently in the bath, if you see a tall giraffe, don’t forget to laugh

TV ~ In the Night Garden

Riley doesn't watch much TV.  I'm not obsessive about it, she can watch some TV, but I try to keep her busy with other things and as we like to get out and about so much it's not hard to avoid much TV.  That's another thing about not being able to drive it does tend to take longer to get places and so leaves less time hanging around the house!

One thing Riley does tend to watch is 'In the Night Garden' as it's on Cbeebies just before bedtime and after dinner.  A few days ago Riley was eating dinner a bit late and Cbeebies was on it the lounge.  If you have never watched in the night garden it begins with some twinkly stars with music and then a parent tracing a circle on a child's hand.

Anyway she was sitting eating her dinner when all of a sudden she put down her spoon and started tracing a circle with her finger on her hand.  I wondered what she was upto when I realised 'In the Night Garden' had started and she'd heard the music and started the actions...  maybe she's watched a bit too much of it!!!

But I'm going to put it out there... what if 'In the Night Garden' is a clever way of indoctrinating our children, maybe there's some hidden message in there and the next generation will be programmed like robots by Iggle Piggle, Makka Pakka and Upsy Daisy... or maybe not!!!

Save the Local Bookshop

As many of you know, I am passionate about books!  I may struggle to read many books myself (I'm dyslexic and find taking in what I am reading quite hard so find it hard to get into a book)  but I think all children should be brought up surrounded by books.  It's something parents can share with their children and I just love reading stories with Riley.

That is why I am passionate about librarys and bookshops.  I love going to the library with Riley and picking out books together.  I also always try to buy books from our local bookshop rather than Amazon.  That's why I was so sad when I heard on the news our local bookshop was closing down.

The lady that runs the shop is so lovely and they are always so friendly when you go in there.  They'll have a chat with anyone and Riley always seems happy when we go pop in.

We went in there today, I wanted to get a book and indeed they did have it.  But they were also looking for people to buy a share in the shop to make it a community book shop and we wanted to buy Riley a share.  It turns out that they have had someone offer to buy the shop to make it into a cafe and the bookshop will be at the back.  It'll make it even better, you can pop in for coffee and a good chat and then grab a book :)

I am so pleased, there is something special about going into a bookshop, you can browse, read a snippet and just get an idea of a book before you buy it, you might even stumble upon a great book you never even knew existed.  You just don't get that on Amazon.

So have a look on the website and if you're around the area it's well worth popping in :)

http://www.bansteadhistory.com/The%20Ibis%20Bookshop/index.html

Nana Dog ~ Riley's a Fan

Nana Dog...

As I am sure everyone knows, Riley loves dogs... Dog was her first world and is still the word that she can say most clearly.

When she sees the ipad she points and say 'dog' and this is the main reason why... (it's amazing!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8FfNQ_E0l0

You can find out more about Nana here:

http://www.useyourclicker.com/index.html
 

Words for Life

I just wanted to share a website that I think is fab. It's basically a book website which revolves around the importance of developing a child's language skills.  It is split into milestones and then ways in which you can encourage development for each age group.  Basically full of exciting ideas to keep you busy and help your baby develop :)

While doing some market research for my work I came across a few parent blogs that I thought were great.  This one reviews books (going along with my belief that reading to your child is really important) but on top of that she makes "book bites"... food based on the books she reads!  It's such a good idea and something I will definately be doing with Riley when she's a bit bigger and wants to help cook rather than just want the food and just doesn't understand why it has to be cooked first!

Children's Books For Grown Ups

Riley's summer... so far

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything!  Very disorganised of me, time just seems to have flown by and with spending the whole day on the computer at work I haven’t wanted to spend much time on the computer at home, especially when the sun is shining as it has been for the last few weeks.

We have had some very busy weekends recently, been to the open east festival, which was amazing, the Olympic park has a fantastic water and sand area as well as a huge adventure playground, definitely worth a visit.  We’ve seen lots of friends, at BBQs and visiting exciting places like Wealde and Downland museum, which was amazing, Riley loved the fish and ducks fighting for the bread in the pond!  

Riley is growing up so fast, she hasn’t started walking yet but is a super fast crawler and has learnt to get up and down stairs and was climbing up the steps in the playground and going down the slide on her own!  I will share some pictures of our summer so far, which shows just how big she is getting.

And to finish a family photo! (Wealde and Downland Museum is fab)

We're going to the Open East Festival ~ Very Exciting

Very excited... we are going to the Open East Festival on 28th July :) it's the opening of the olympic park and marks a year from the opening of the Olympic games.  Very exciting and we got given the tickets through Epilepsy Action as a thank you for the volunteering which is lovely.

"The weekend-long celebration will include live international music, the Real Food Festival, and The House of Fairy Tales which will present a Mini-Travelling Art Circus featuring theatre, magic, music and games. East London artists will be signing their work at the Art Car Boot Fair. Caught By The River share their passion for literature, angling, music and beer with the Park as they host celebrated authors and musicians performing for audiences, whilst Eco Design Fair will curate an arts & fashion market showcasing the best up-cycled, vintage & contemporary design London has to offer. There will also be interactive family storytelling and hands-on arts & crafts workshops with the Discover Children’s Story Centre, plus performances and workshops from Theatre Royal Stratford East, Boy Blue Entertainment and Ida Barr, promenade musical performances, pop up theatre, family trails, picnics along the riverbanks and more."

Out and About ~ Your rights to discounted Travel

Standing at bus stops in the rain can be pretty depressing but in this glorious sunshine it's great to get out and about :) I just wanted to post about the rights to transport that people with Epilepsy have as the bus costs an arm and a leg and I couldn't imagine sitting at home all day, I have to be out and about.


Firstly you are entitled to a disabled rail card, it costs £20 and you get 1/3 off rail travel for you and one other person (you can also add it directly onto an Oyster card):

(Click image for link)

If you live in a London Borough you are entitled to a freedom pass which will give you free transport on almost all of London's transport:

www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/freedompass/

We live a couple of miles outside Sutton so are not eligable for a freedom card, which is very annoying!  But you are entitled to free bus travel at all times, you need to contact your local council to find out how to do this as each is different, but this is what they look like:

To find your local council go to:

http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/Start.do?mode=1

I know that when you have a young baby you just want to get out and about and most people have a car to do that.  Getting public transport just takes a bit more planning, but it is possible so get out there and have fun in the sun :)

Switzerland ~ a wonderful weekend away

So we went to Switzerland on Thursday and got back on Tuesday.  It was a fantastic few days away and we really enjoyed ourselves.

It was so good to see my friend Leti and for Riley to meet her little boy Nico.  They seemed to get on really well and Riley loved watching him as he's 3 and so bigger and cleverer than her!  Leti is one of my closest friends, it's hard being so far appart but we've kept in touch for 4 years now so I think that shows we're pretty close :) Nico is gorgeous and he is so full of energy, very clever and interested in everything that is going on.  I hope Riley grows up to be so full of life.

We were very busy, we had glorious weather all weekend pretty much, temperatures into the high 20s.  So we were outside pretty much the whole time.  We went to the lake twice and Rich swam in it!  Riley stick to the kids pool (and I think picked up conjunctivitis ~ will get to that bit later!)

We climbed up a big hill (to the british probably a mountain...), went to the zoo and explored some of Zurich and the village just outside where my friend lives.

I also visited another friend who I went to junior school with.  She is a nanny for a family in a very nice part of Zurich!  She seems to be really good at her job, the children she looks after are lovely.  Talking to her I came to realise that while we complain about childcare in England, the cost of childcare in Switzerland is huge.  Children come home from school at lunchtime so Mum's can't get a job for the whole school day as they have to be home at lunchtime.

Speaking to my friend who we stayed with, she actually pays more in childcare costs than she earns, she just works to keep up her skills!

They pay £170 a day, makes the £35 a day we pay seem nothing!

Activity of the Week ~ getting outside

Well summer is here and we've got to make the most of it!  Yesterday Riley and me went out looking for amzing wildlife... what might seem an everyday thing that you just walk past can be amazing to a baby...

So we found dandelions :)  they are now at the Dandelion Clock stage and Riley loved watching me blow the little seeds away.

 

Then we listened to the swallows in the barn, their bird song really echoes around in there and is amazing to listen to when everything else is quiet.

Then we did fond something that would be amazing to everyone...  baby Robins in one of the horses stables, they had just fledged but couldn't quite fly over the stable door yet!

So get outside and have some fun in the sun... well maybe not the sun but the outdoors anyway.

And I will just stick on the end something that not every child will have the chance to do, but Riley is very lucky to be able to sit on a very special little pony, Pipe :)

Activity of the Week ~ We love the Outdoors

I know I was focusing the activities inside for rainy days, but the weather has been so great this week (on the whole) that I thought I'd do one for outside...

Mini Beast Hunting

Riley's crawling which is great :) so basically got her out in the garden and let her crawl around, we searched for mini beasts, didn't find many but we searched anyway.  You can try putting down a white sheet and see what creatures you find land on it...  Riley also enjoyed picking the dandelions as she crawled along, after eating one I think she worked out they didn't taste very nice so picked them rather than eating them.

Washing

Then we hung out the washing, that's a great thing to do together (as long as you don't mind a few of your clothes strewn across the lawn!) Riley loves watching the washing going round and helping take all the clothes out the basket.

Basically just enjoy the outdoors, remember don't stay in the sun too long and stick some suncream on them... then enjoy :) 

We love the outdoors, there's so much to do and see... in the words of Billy Connelly...

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing"

Ohhh and we're having a picnic bench delivered this afternoon so we can all eat outside :) will be great for Riley's birthday party (here's hoping for good weather...)

Bookworm...

Riley loves books...

Activity Folder ~ for all the amazing places we've been

We've started an activity folder for Riley, basically we've written a list of all the exciting places there is to go for a day trip.  We've written down all the ones that come up on your things to do websites but they all tend to cost quite a lot of money so we've also found lots of cheaper places, walks and parks to visit.  Everytime we go to one we're going to do an information page for her folder and then we'll have a collection of all the good places to visit :)

Here's a list of a few of the places we've already visited:

Brighton (Aquarium and Pier)
Rottingdene Beach
Tilgate Park
Box Hill
Newlands Corner and Silent Pools (near Guildford)
Morden Hall Park and Dene City Farm
Tandridge, Dorking and Epsom Swimming Pools
Thames Ditton Miniature Railway
Chessington Aquarium
Woodcote Garden Centre
Llama Park (Ashdown Forest)
Lookout Discovery Centre Bracknell
Bird World
Godstone Farm (as shown)
Bocketts Farm
Tulleys Farm (she loves animals thus the strong farm theme!)