But you’ve got this!

I know it feels like day 5 million and 22 of the summer holidays, but keep going, we’re halfway and you haven’t dropped the ball yet! Well done you! You’ve got this!

Yes you may have taken them to the wrong childcare venue on the very first day (no? just me then) and you may have spent more than Boris promised for Brexit on them picking up germs from the various soft play centres you’ve endured because of the weather. But you’ve got this!

You may have lost your mind and thought you heard someone say “mummy” in the middle of the night when there was no one around because you heard it 20 thousand times in the day. But you’ve got this!

You may, like me, have banned slime from the house and put it straight in the bin as soon as you’ve got out of the car, rather than use a whole bottle of carpet cleaner trying to get that purple shit out of your living room rug. But you’ve got this!

The binmen May have thought you’d had a party on Saturday attended by 1000 people judging by the fullness of your bottle bank. But you’ve got this!

Remember that in a couple of weeks, your little darling (that feels like it’s their job to annoy you in the 6 week break) will be going back to school, new classroom, new teacher, all smart in their new uniform and you will watch with pride and a tear in your eye. But, you’ve got this!

Should we really go to Disneyland???

After all your wonderful advice I’ve booked for us to go to Disneyland Paris, I’m so excited I could burst. My 6 year old on the other hand says she’s thrilled to be going to see Mickey and his mates, but the reaction at the car wash yesterday was something else. She literally screamed with delight as the brushes moved towards and up the windscreen. I’ve never heard such enthusiastic squeals come from her not even on a rollercoaster. I think I might cancel the trip to France and just pay a fiver to get my car cleaned every day for a week! 😂😂

Disneyland dream or nightmare?

I’ve got lots of questions for you, Disneyland Paris, do you go for two nights or three nights? With three nights we get probably 3 1/2 days in the park but is that enough? I also wonder will she be able to go on everything, she’s only six and she’s pretty tiny for her age? But actually the big big rides like Space Mountain are a bit grown up for her anyway huh?

Then do we go for lunch with the characters or tea with the princesses? I’d love to have hot dogs with Donald Duck and mickey Mouse, but she’s princess crazy at the mo, if we don’t do it now we never will.

Deciding on accommodation is a nightmare, so many different options we don’t know which way to turn but I am swaying towards the B&B. We get a continental breakfast so we could always load up our pockets with pain au chocolat each morning?!  And the big question, what happens if we get sick of each other? It’s just the 2 of us and she’s 6 we can’t really have the evening doing separate things can we? So many questions, but you know what I’m so excited and nearly in tears thinking of taking my little girl to Disneyland.

Would you back down?

I could’ve gone two ways the other evening when my 6 year old was in meltdown central, I could’ve given in but that may have opened the floodgates to a lifetime of pain for me. As it was I went through 2 1/2 hours of whingeing, screaming, stomping and so much door slamming I honestly thought I had a teenager in the house. And do you know why this was, because I said she had to do her homework before she could watch the tele.

Yes I know she was dog tired, we’d been camping at the weekend and nobody ever sleeps well in a tent but my theory was, a lot of the time I let her off when she’s worn out, but that day I felt quite strong and I thought, no I’m sticking to my guns, she will do as she’s told, kids of got to have parameters that’s what I believe.

There was no reasoning with her, I told her so many times, look it will take you to minutes to complete it and then you can watch the telly, but she was adamant she wasn’t doing it. I stayed calm, I drew on every bit of patience I have and followed through with what I’d said until eventually with much protest she wrote two sentences, got a couple of spellings wrong through her pencil down but it was done. Phew.

I thought that was the end of it, I was wrong. So my six-year-old had finally done her homework as basically as she could, so I did put the TV on for her and after watching one episode of her favourite show Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir I informed her that it was bedtime, this did not go down well. Cue tears and much upset as she announced “I know I’ve missed out on telly because I was crying earlier.” Give me strength…….and a glass of wine.

Would you do anything differently? How much do you let your kids off? Do you have a routine for homework?

Father’s Day with no father

Father’s Day, so how’d you get past that one when she’s never even met him? He’s never said her name, bought her a birthday present or picked her up when she fell. It’s probably the only conversation she starts that I don’t really know where it’s going to finish. She asked me once who I’d been married to “eh? Married? Mummy’s never been married, why do you say that?” “Well you have to be married to have a baby!” At this point I took a deep breath and said “No, you don’t have to be married you just need to be in love mummy was in love and then I had a baby, you!”

I’ve also heard other kids ask her what’s happened to her dad, has he died, has he gone away, she replies rather ‘matter-of-factly’ “I haven’t got dad.” And if I’m honest it breaks my heart. I truly wish I could do something about it but that’s never going to happen.

Coming up to Father’s Day somebody must’ve mentioned it somewhere because when we got in the car she said “I haven’t got a dad have I?” I thought I’d take a different tact this time, she’s growing up and everything “is that okay? “Yeah” “and don’t forget you’ve got Pops and your uncle” then comes the scary “muuuuummmmmyyyyy?” She says with a very inquisitive tone which gives me the fear, what question is next? How am I going to answer? It’s ok calm down, she just wants to know how long it’ll take us to get home. Phew!

She’s 6 1/2 now at which point do you start dropping in that he’s never been around because he’s never wanted to be? And which age do I tell her the real story, the truth? If anybody has any experience of this would love to hear your story. DM me if you don’t want to write it here.

Did you realise LOL’s are religious???

As a treat last night we decided not to read a bedtime story, instead my 6 year old daughter would make one up to tell me, it was a masterpiece and went like this…….

 Once upon a time there was a Merbaby (LOL doll) and she had an invitation to a party in a castle, so she put on her best clothes and some lipstick and went along. There was Lil Soul Baby, Oops Baby, Daring Diva and Surfer Babe (LOL dolls) all dancing at the party, when suddenly there was storm and Jesus came in (Yes the messiah) And he said you must drink my blood and then he went and walked on water. Oh and he said “I’ll die around Easter”

 Now I can’t fault her she’s factually correct, but I just didn’t expect him to pop up in this story with expensive pieces of plastic! But she gave me some dirty looks for cracking up anyway.

Horrible histories hurrah

Last week we went to the beautifully revamped Mayflower theatre in Southampton to see Horrible histories. I did wonder about taking a 6 year old and felt I’d gone the wrong way when she looked petrified before the performance had even begun as an axe went flying across the screen sending blood and guts everywhere.

But when the show got going she was soon laughing aloud at the bum jokes that come thick and fast. When you see one of fantastic shows be prepared for a song or two to get stuck in your head, whether it be the Henry VIII wives song or the Egyptian rap it will be an ear worm for at least a week. Also be aware that you will enjoy it totally and love all the grossness of it, it’s hilarious.

N.b. I did have to explain it was 500 years ago and executions don’t really happen now. 🤦‍♀️

Science fun

Phew the Easter holidays are over, well done for getting through what felt like months of no school! Did you have good days out? The glorious weather helped get the kids out to the park for a run around to wear them out.

On the one day of rain we went along to the Winchester Science centre, what an absolute treat this place is, they spend the whole day learning without realising. The science of sweets show was highly entertaining with all the children in front of the stage, wowed by the experiments going on in front of them, screaming with excitement as they explode hydrogen filled balloons.

The planetarium teaches them all about the solar system with characters that my 6 year old loved. And it’s a comfy recliner seat that gives you a 20 minute rest from being a parent.

As it was rainy lots of people had the same idea for the day, I get through this by remembering that it teaches them to take turns and queue up, and the staff did a fantastic job of keeping an eye on anyone that had been commandeering a certain station for too long and moving them on to another fun experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed it too, get there and get stuck in.

The Cosy Club

We were very lucky to be invited along to the launch of The Cosy Club in Gunwharf Quays last week and I would thoroughly recommend it. The restaurant has a kind of 1920’s feel to it with all the staff dressed in frilly puffy skirts and red lipstick and the paintings on the walls make you feel like you’ve gone back in time.

The food is outstanding and the tapas is perfect for ordering small plates for your little ones to try. They made a fuss over my 6 year old daughter, making her feel very grown up and gave her little activities to do and postcards to write.

This is a fabulous place to go and very instagram-able!

There have to be some perks to being a mum?

Being a mum is pretty much a one way street, kids are very much take, take, take. Food, time and money, those little monkeys will grab whatever you have and still come back for more. So I’ve been looking for a few perks and come up with a list of my favourite 3.

1)      Having had 8 kids birthday parties to go to/buy for over the last couple of months, I think it’s only right that I get something back, so that lovely bit of cake you bought home in a princess napkin, consider it gone and when you ask where it is, accept the distraction.

2)      In exchange for you getting into my bed and fidgeting all night I shall be cuddling up to you and putting my feet on your legs, using you as a hot water bottle.

3)      When feeling ‘tired’ after supping mummy’s drink until late on a Friday/Saturday I shall use her to bring me drinks and snacks direct to the sofa.

Any to add to the list? I’d love to hear them.