Children | But I Smile Anyway...

That Time Of Year Again

04 Oct 2016 74 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Family, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Posts, Blogger, Blogging, Blue, Colds, Ill, kids, Medicines, Sick

It’s October…

The temperatures are still rather erratic here, we get seasonal showers, that feel monsoon-like with the warmth, then the temperature drops all of a sudden, and you feel the arctic breeze, followed by blazing sunshine.

One of the biggest problems is that you really don’t know what to wear. I end up with half my wardrobe in my car, lightweight cardigans and chunky knits, and rain coats, with a thick coat and woolly hat, just in case!

But that still won’t help.

The other big issue is health.

These colds and viruses are going to attack, no matter what.

It always starts with the kids. That Lil Princess is a cold magnet! And when she is unwell, the world knows about it!

So the weekend started with her getting soaked at football training, and a small sniffle becoming a larger one. The cough followed shortly after, then the temperature.

Sunday, she was determined to be well… the dog was still around and she didn’t want to miss out.

Sunday night the coughing started in the night from both junior bedrooms, and Lil Man awoke on Monday with the same cough, and temperature.

But both wanted to go to school. So we dosed them up on Calpol and sent them on their ways.

I popped into the pharmacy on the way home, to stock up on cough and cold remedies, and was sure my mother in law would have tried her Indian remedies on the kids too. and I hoped to get my flu vaccination. It is another important thing for me to get, as I work with little germ machines in nursery!

But the registered pharmacist was not in so the vaccination had to wait…

All stocked up!

I got to my in-laws house to find two children wrapped up in blankets on the sofas, with various poultices around them to get them better, and a teary Lil Princess, and a red-nosed Lil Man.

After drugging the children up, I hoped for a slightly better night’s sleep, but it wasn’t to be. Lil Man woke at 3am with a headache and a temperature so high I could fry an egg on him!

So the meds came out again, and once I settled him in my bed, I went off to book appointments for his parents evening. What else would you do at 3.20am? I was wide awake so thought it would be good to be productive!

Lil Princess stayed home today, even though she’d had a good sleep, and I told my son to do the same, but he hopped out of bed and said he wanted to go to school. Really? Your mum just offered you a sick day at home, and you refused? Strange boy!

I was surprised that I still felt ok. But as the day wore on, I started to feel the sniffles…

After school, and a rather long staff meeting, I got my vaccination done (hence the sore arm). Lil Princess was still coughing but generally better. Lil Man was still not well, with his cough, cold and temperature. I hope he listens to me this time in the morning when I say it’s a good idea to stay at home!

But I am sat here with the sore arm, as mentioned above, and a sore throat… Nooooooo!!!!!!

At least I am prepared with plenty of medicines!

That Big Boy Of Mine

07 Sep 2016 32 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Big Brother, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children, First Week, Lil Man, Proud Mum, Secondary school

I feel bad calling him Lil Man, but in stature he still is, so I guess I can carry on using the moniker!

Anyway, as you all know, he embarked on the next stage of his educational journey on Monday, starting BIG SCHOOL or secondary school.

I was so nervous. Much more nervous than him, or if he was, he did a great job of hiding his nerves!

But we walked in together, and he disappeared off…

He used his new mobile to text me at break, to say everything was ok, and let me know when he had lunch.

His grandad was there at the gate, waiting to pick him and they walked home with a few of the other boys he knows already, and their respective carers.

So my baby got home in one piece, with a big grin on his face!

And over the last 2 days, he has surpassed himself, in my eyes, anyway. He has come home with achievement points each day (one was an Ethos Award and the other a Star of the Class Award!), no forgetting anything, rudeness or bad behaviour, that would result in behaviour points, and 100% attendance, to all his classes.

How do I know?

Well, nowadays there is this whole system that is like Big Brother for schools!

His school sends all parents a special login to a service where we can see a child’s timetable, and each subject teacher registers them every lesson so you can make sure there is no truancy happening.

If you are like me and you worry, but don’t want to be too obvious, this site is perfect. If he forgets to text to say he arrived (which he has forgotten every day so far!) I can check to make sure he was registered initially.

I can see if there are any positive/negative points awarded, so they can’t hide that detention…!

Even their homework is on there so we know when things are set, and due. A good idea so you can give them gentle reminders to make sure they don’t forget. (forgotten homework is a behaviour point or even detention!)

We know when they have PE, so can make sure they always have the relevant kit in school. Sadly they don’t have lockers or even coat hooks, so this all has to be carried around on the day, along with the relevant subject books for that day.

And all his academic progress will be on there as they get assessed, for us to see.

I can pay online for his school dinners, if he wants them, so he doesn’t have to carry around money. They have their thumbs scanned at the beginning, so when they want to buy food, they scan their thumbs, and the relevant amount is deducted. And, I can check to see what feed items he has bought too, so if lunch is consisting of 3 desserts and chips, we can try and rectify that, because we know… no more fobbing mummy off with “I ate [insert all healthy food followed by a fruit dessert because that’s what mummy wants to hear!}”

We also have the ability to email their teachers directly of we have any worries. I did this today, to clarify a couple of points, and assured them I would not become one of those parents who is constantly on their case! And I got the most amazing reply back from one of his form tutors, telling me what a pleasure our son is to have in class, and how much they love to have him there! I’m not that naive that I would think my boy is something extra special to them. They probably would say the same for all the children, especially so early on in the year, but it still makes us feel so proud of him!

So, all in all, he has settled beautifully! And yes he has his phone, which he spent a few days going crazy on, WhatsApping his friends constantly, but the novelty has worn off now I thing

And yes he has his phone, which he spent a few days going crazy on, WhatsApping his friends constantly, but the novelty has worn off now I think, so it is there for the emergencies that I said he needed it for!

Signing off as a very happy mummy! 🙂

A Little Hiking

26 Aug 2016 57 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Family, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Family Time, Nature, Shorne Woods Country Park, Trails, Walking

A couple of weeks back, we went on a little family hike around a local country park, Shorne Woods Country Park.

The park was once part of the Cobham Hall estate, before being passed on to the local council for use as a country park. There is even an old clay pit which is being reclaimed by nature now!

It’s a wonderful space, full of nature. From wildlife to plants, trees to fishing lakes, there is a lot to see. There are walking trails laid out, from the easy to proper hiking trails, bicycle paths and dog walking areas. You can ride a horse along certain trails, and there is even disabled access, and trails suitable for mobility scooters.

There is a fragrant sensory garden which is neighboured by a small pond that is used for pond dipping.

All around are beautiful wild flowers growing, encouraging the minibeasts to do what they do best, and pollinate! There are many breeds of dragonfly that were endangered, but are breeding well here!

As you walk around, you go through dense forest, as well as large greens. There are quite a few ‘dead’ trees too. Each one looks so intriguing. The kids managed to climb up a few too!

One of my favourite parts of Shorne Woods Country Park is the Fairie Ring. There is a staircase carved into one of the declines, that is around 140 steps down. Note the sign requests no cycling… as if lol!

It is a beautiful little clearing in a glen that we come to where there is a circle of wooden carved tree trunk seats that have been placed there. I have tried looking for the history behind this ring but couldn’t find anything!

And I think that my favourite sign has to be this…

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To climb back up, via the staircase, the way is signposted as Cardiac Hill! And I tell you what, on a warm day, it can feel like you’re going to suffer a heart attack going up!

Another little nugget of history is the Rhododendron Walk, where couples used to come for romantic walks, or rather carriage rides amongst the Rhododendron Bushes! As they started to overtake the woodlands, the Rhododendrons are no longer there, but you can see the carriage pathway.

We spent a few hours there, walking our own trails, hopping from one to another, and there are also children’s play areas set up too, with various activities for the more traditional ‘park’ enthusiasts, with slides, and swings, and climbing frames.

During school time the park also hosts Forest School sessions where children are allowed to learn in nature. They get shown different plants and fungi, taught what is safe, and what is not, then there is a huge clearing which has been furnished with all manner of sticks and logs, and they children can climb and den build. At the end, they have a campfire, and drink hot chocolate, and even toast marshmallows!

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A hand holding a flint tool, which is an homage to Stone Age flint tools that were also found there.

There is a great Eco-friendly Visitor centre there, with cafe and shop, several ice cream places dotted around too! But it is fun to make yourself a picnic and eat out in the open on a beautiful day!

It is a truly great place to visit, with or without kids!

Impromptu Day Trip!

25 Aug 2016 50 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Family, Sonu Singh, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Buffet, Children, Family, London, O2, Overeating, Pets, Sonu Singh

As you may have seen, I have been busy on my exercise bike, this evening, pedalling away furiously, even in all this heat, as I may have overindulged a little today!

It all started quite normally.

A leisurely wake up, appreciating the last few days of the school holidays, and a late breakfast. Followed by reading of posts, and reading on my Kindle, lounging on the sofa, as you do.

Then Hubby Dearest came and asked what we wanted to do today.

While we were sorting the children’s rooms out, we hadn’t had a chance to take them anywhere fun, and the holidays are coming to a close soon enough, so we thought we could pop out for the afternoon.

The kids wanted a trip to the swimming pool, or the paddling pool out, Lil man wanted to go to the Cricket nets (a real fun family day!) but Hubby Dearest suggested visiting a Dog Home!

No, don’t get all excited, we haven’t come home with a Punjabi mutt to match Sonu Singh!

Hubby Dearest would love a dog dearly, but right now it doesn’t feel right. It would be unfair on a new pet to be settling in, and we are all back at school/work, but the children do love animals too, and they are always asking why the local pet shops don’t have cats and dogs.

We could have been sensible and found a place to visit that was in Kent, but we decided to go to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, in London!

So after lunch, we got into the car and off we went!

It was 2pm so we had two hours to at least get there, and we aren’t far from London…but there is always traffic! And don’t forget the heat! The AC decided to choose today to play up, and even with windows down, we were hot and bothered!

Lil Man was quite excited to pass The Oval Cricket ground on the way too!

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At 3.30pm we pulled into a parking space conveniently close by, and paid for an hour’s parking (£2.50! Exhorbitant!) And our little adventure began…We had around an hour to go and visit both the Cats and Dogs.

Image from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home Website

I was not allowed to take photos inside, but oh, the little faces on the animals there! I think, if we were a little softer, and had we been there a tad longer, we would have been registering ourselves as a rehoming family… and would have ended up with at least 2 dogs and 3 more cats!

The kids where in their element!

They were flabberghasted at the fact that these animals needed homes. I think it was a good life lesson, taking them there, to see that you can’t make certain decisions light heartedly. So many of these animals were left there by people who couldn’t cope… And how stressful for the pet, who is used to their home, and then ends up in a pen, with all these strangers, however nice, looking after them.

We managed to drag ourselves away from there, just about and set off home, at around 4.30pm. And the wonderful bit of technology we call the Sat Nav decided to take us on a scenic route, all the way through the Centre of London!

Past the Houses of Parliament, the Shard and some intriguing ‘men’ climbing up a wall holding instruments!

It was 6.30pm and we had only got as far as Greenwich, near the O2, due to crazy traffic, so Hubby Dearest made a good call to stop there for dinner.

So glad to be out of the sweatbox, I mean car!

We went to Jimmy World Grill and Bar. It’s a huge World Buffet restaurant with Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mexican and American cuisine… hence the manic cycling when we got back!

That’s how much I ate… oops!

And after eating we needed to get back to our real furbaby Sonu Singh, who had been waiting at home patiently…

But I had to take this photo of the masks on display in the restaurant!

I love a good mask!

The sky was starting to get a little duller, and as we walked to the car, Lil Princess spotted the Canary Wharf skyline.. “Look, Daddy! There’s your old work!” Hubby Dearest looked over wistfully… I think even though working from home is a wonderful thing, he is missing life in London too!

(Oh, and £6 parking for 2 hours!What is it with London and crazy parking fees?!)

Canary Wharf

And now we are home, the children are asleep, possibly dreaming of new pets, and they have already mentioned going to the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home branch they ahve in Brands Hatch, closer to us, tomorrow!

But I would hate for our lil furbaby to think we are forgetting him…

Sonu Singh, we love you lots and lots, and you’ll always be our favourite kitty!

Tween-age Angst!

23 Aug 2016 59 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Angst, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children, Frustration, Testing Boundaries, Tween-agers

It feels like only a short few months ago, I was using you, my Peeps as a sounding board, for my frustrations with Lil Princess, with her terrible behaviour, awful sleep patterns, and eating issues.

I would hate myself for thinking it, but I felt like, for the first time in my life as a mother, I had a favourite. I would much rather spend time with Lil Man, and leave Lil Princess to stew. I was a BAD MUM!

But over the last few weeks, there has been a true shift in dynamics.

Lil Man is 11, and has definitely hit that Tween-age time.

He has started to push his boundaries BIG TIME!

I knew it was going to happen. He is due to start Secondary School in less than 2 weeks! Eeeek!

It started with him requesting a mobile phone. He actually does have a handset, an old one of ours, without a SIM card, to use as a mini-tablet on WiFi. But he wanted a SIM as some of his friends had phones, and they were using WhatsApp, to keep in touch with each other.

We will get him a SIM for the phone. Actually, I already have one, but not giving it to him just yet. I know I would feel happier if he had a phone, so I know he got to school ok, of that he got home safely. And if need be, he could call or message to say whether any after school activities had been cancelled. But he needs to earn it.

But over the holidays, he has become so cocky, so full of attitude, and downright mean to his sister, I wonder what happened to that darling boy of mine? Someone has transplanted his personality into Lil Princess, and hers into him!

Ok, so he is still eating perfectly well, and she is still terrible, and he sleeps fine, whereas she can still visit us at around 3am, but it’s the behaviour!

Lil Princess can still be annoying, and downright naughty ( caught her calling her brother a ‘f***ing brother!’ the other day! Where did she learn that!?!) but she has calmed down so much, and seems to have transferred that angst to her Tween-age brother!

I find myself constantly telling him that various things will be taken away from him, or that he can’t go here or there, as he winds me up so much!

The lip on him! I can’t believe that he mutters under his breath at me! And he’s not good at hiding it too, so I know exactly what he said… he’s getting frustrated too, so his limited vocabulary of swear words is getting a good airing!

And to be honest, it hurts even more since we have broken our backs the last 2 weeks to give them their own spaces, their own bedrooms. It feels like we are not appreciated at all, and everything that we do is taken for granted.

I know it is all part of growing up.

At various ages and stages, there are new boundaries that children will try to push. But Jeez, is it frustrating!!!!! And to think… we’ll have to go through it all again soon with Lil Princess!