Nursery Rhyme Bingo

I have been meaning to blog about my experiences of being responsible for taking Bea and picking her up every day from the childminder’s, which has been hectic at times and an absolute treat at others. Either way, an hour or so in the car means a lot of time to fill, especially when she tends not to have a nap 90% of the time!

I’ve managed to eke out ‘Wheels on the Bus’ for over ten minutes, and repeated songs over and over on request (the shout of ‘More!’ from the car seat in the back is hard to resist!), and improvised more things than I care to imagine! Occasionally, we just stick on a bit of music for Ra-ra to dance to as she shakes him up and down whilst bobbing her head. I need to get the CD player fixed so I can move onto audio books and save my voice!

Anyway, I had an idea for this ticking over in my head. Feel free to play along, or just see if you relate to any of the bingo targets on the card below (either now or in the past!). No hard and fast rules, but I bet you’ll tick off at least one without even thinking. Feel free to share it around as well – apologies for the budget presentation, it was churned out on MS Word as quickly as possible!

 

The Beactionary

The last half of 2017 wasn’t the best for the blog. I’m hoping 2018 is a bit more productive, and there has been so much to write about that has already been and gone!

I thought I’d use this first post to catch some important things before they slip away…

#ParentingIsAwesome

Ok, in my last post I mentioned that I would explain the meaning behind the hashtag that sits under the title of my blog page. Originally, the strapline was ‘a (relatively) positive look at parenting’ as I felt a lot of what I’d heard about parenting was pretty negative – focused heavily on logistics, lack of sleep and how your life isn’t your own any more.

Milestone Moment: She’s crawling!

I’m going to be honest. The last couple of months have been full of ‘Milestone moments‘ in our family life so far. I’ll see if I can retrospectively remember them all in other posts, but the idea of these posts is to mark the occasions I know I’d otherwise forget!

Bea has always been pretty headstrong when it comes to getting about. She has been attempting to walk for what feels like a couple of months now, and gets incredibly frustrated if our backs are caving in and we take a break to stop holding her hands whilst she legs it round the house, giggling maniacally. However, rolling and crawling haven’t really been part of her agenda till recently.

It was a bit of a surprise to get a message of ‘So, she’s crawling’ on Thursday lunchtime (day #303 by the way)!

More importantly, Beatrice was very happy to show off her skills when I got home!

#gamechanger

She’s not quite going at the pace I read recently (a quarter of a mile in the time it takes to make a cup of tea…really?!), so we’ve got a bit of time to adjust to her newly-discovered talent! More on that later…

Beacember Advent Calendar Day #21

Like I mentioned on Day 20, this post is a bit like what happens on radio or telly at this time of year. They record something way in advance and spend the time celebrating! This, sadly, was not way in advance. However, day 21 of December is my wedding anniversary, and as such I plan on spending it away from the blog!

Yesterday’s sneak peek was of this gorgeous card made by my mum. She is a keen cardmaker and we always look forward to seeing her creations at special occasions!

If today has gone to plan, Lucy has received and liked her anniversary gift too…

Anyway, it’s a bit weird writing this ahead of time, so I’m going to crack on and show you the teaser for day 22. I think it’s a tradition I can certainly get used to in the years to come. Hope you’ve all enjoyed your Wednesday and see you Thursday!

 

Beacember Advent Calendar Day #18

Yesterday, we finally put up our tree in time for Christmas! Before Beatrice, this would be an evening in with Home Alone/Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, some wine and nibbles. This year, the film was on, but no wine/nibbles! Beatrice had seen the tree minus all the decs, but got them in all their glory with the lights on this evening- she couldn’t take her eyes off of it! Occasionally she’d look in surprise to me or Lucy as if to say ‘How cool is this?’

Our tree, as is everyone’s, is full of memorable decorations – we’ve got ones from our honeymoon, our travels, and the wedding favours (one of which is pictured ). There are also a couple of ones you may recognise below.

Here is the tree in all its glory…

It’s so hard to take a decent photo on an actual camera (in about 5 minutes and without a tripod)…I daresay an iPhone would’ve smashed that, so sorry!

Today we went off to visit family for our first dose of Christmas cheer (with lots of people to meet up with, our Christmas festivities get extended, yay!). We had a great day with Nanny and Grandad, and Beatrice got to play with her cousins. She also proved to be a dab hand with opening her presents (well, she’s good at gripping stuff!), though I think we’d still be going till next Christmas if she did it all by herself! All that practice with the cushion obviously paid off…

It was a really nice day and we can’t wait for what lies ahead!

Speaking of what lies ahead…day 19 on the horizon!

Beacember Advent Calendar Day #13

I’m looking forward to the weekend now, can’t wait to spend the Christmas run-in with Lucy and Bea. We’re putting the tree up and currently have no other plans, so I can switch off from work completely.

Bathtime is a fun challenge at the moment, well, the ‘afterbath’ is anyway. We basically have to apply 3/4 different creams, at least 2 of which need to be nowhere near her mouth. As I’ve previously mentioned, she’s quite adept at shoving her hands in there at the moment. She also has started recognising her knees, and when lying on her back she will rest her hands on them (like some kind of wise old sage sat on their throne).

Essentially, this means she drags her hands from her knees, right through the steroid cream en route to her mouth. Brilliant.

We’ve been tag-teaming this since we got the cream, but going solo is not recommended!

Imagine, if you will, somehow keeping hold of both of her hands/arms whilst trying to apply the cream, then following that up with the usual nappy routine, all the while panicking that if you/she lets go, she’s going to scoop up a handful of delicious steroid-filled cream and shove it right in her gob. Oh, and she’s hungry and tired and not responding to the usual variety of songs!

Sorry, I know that goes against my usual stance of focusing on the positives – like the way she holds onto my hand with both of hers if I rest it on her tummy, but it was quite a funny (if not a bit stressful) moment this evening! She settled fine after all that though, and the cream is working at least. It’s still easier than the bloody syringe!

Back to the Beacember routine…yesterday’s teaser was of this gorgeous decoration made by a team effort of my nephew and Bea’s Nanna. Yet another reason why I can’t wait to get the tree up!

Time for tomorrow’s sneak preview…

Beacember Advent Calendar Day #11

Day 11.

As you can see, I’ve found an app for pimping some photos…just not the one below! This is of another pair of festive tights (apparently!).

One of the more tenuous ones, I’m going to get back on track I promise!

Today we went out for a nice Sunday lunch, where we were offered a children’s menu for the first time. Somewhat ambitious! We’re not quite at that stage yet, though Beatrice does love gnawing at various blankets and objects at the moment.

It’s also fascinating to see her engage with all kinds of materials at the moment; watching her eyebrows crinkle in concentration as she realises what she is holding is really cool!

One such item will be featuring in a future advent calendar post too!

Day 12 is inside this box, what could it be?

Beacember Advent Calendar Day #10

10 days in, still going strong. Running out of photos, if not items, so need a panic photo shoot tomorrow! Today’s featured photo was taken by my four-year-old nephew when he was let loose with my camera a few weeks ago. He has a good eye for detail!

Today involved an afternoon at the local garden centre for Beatrice to get entranced by the twinkly lights! And, as always, an excuse for tea and cake…

Beatrice also got to watch her first Christmas film. I say watch, she sat nicely on my lap for about 5 minutes then got a bit fidgety. I’m going to reveal which film in another advent calendar post, feel free to guess in the comments though (or make other suggestions for her to watch!). It’s not Die Hard though, she’s a bit young for that!

Here’s day 10’s item…a long-sleeved vest. I think we’ve more or less covered all the possible clothing items barring novelty reindeer hairbands, etc.

The countdown continues with day 11 tomorrow…

I’ve been informed that gingerbread counts as Christmas before you all start correcting me (I was also in two minds about it…).

 

 

Beacember Advent Calendar Day # 7

One of the strange things about doing this advent calendar is that I’ve totally forgotten to have my own! Thankfully at this time of year, being a primary school teacher means that there is no shortage of chocolate in the staff room so I guess it’s slipped down the priority list!

I also learned today that going solo on giving the medication is a definite no-no! Thankfully it was all in the bath (she has a very secure bath seat before people start panicking), so no major mess!

So here’s today’s item, a top from Sainsbury’s that was given to us by a friend who couldn’t resist it on their normal shop run! I always think that on first glance these sorts of clothes will never fit her – I guess in my mind she’s still smaller than she is! They always seem too wide and long. I have no idea if that feeling will ever go away!

She’s currently sleeping in what waits behind door number 8…

See you tomorrow!