Children | But I Smile Anyway...

Back to Skool

07 Sep 2016 18 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Back to school, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children, Nursery

Oh yes…

Can I just let you youngsters know that us teachers have the same feeling of doom when we come back after a school holiday?

We don’t enjoy torturing you with hard work and assessment… but it’s our job…

You know what, that sounds really negative! It’s not all doom! It is lovely to have that feeling of freedom for a few weeks, not having to be at school before 8am, marking, assessing, effectively labelling children for reporting purposes. that bit is really gloomy.

But personally, when I start a new school year, there is an extra spring in my step.

With Nursery, you are catching those children right at the very beginning of their educational career, and though I don’t know what they’ll be like, I look forward to the challenges that these unknown entities bring!

Last year, my first academic year as a teacher, I started with a true baptism of fire. With language barriers, social skills below expectations, behaviour problems and anger management issues it was a tough year, and that isn’t including the Special Educational Needs children and Children in Care either!

This year, I started on a positive note. I had met all the children already, and there was no one who was flagged up immediately as someone who would possibly be a problem child… ish. (Well there has to be some, doesn’t there!)

So this year we have 3 spaces still, which I am sure will get filled pretty soon.

The remaining lovelies are 26% English , 41% Punjabi speaking and 33% other languages, from Slovak, to Russian, Polish to Greek, Albanian to Kosovan!

One child is partially deaf. One appears to have slight aggression issues, one is a ‘bleeder’ which means if he bleeds, and we can’t stem it, we need an Ambulance ASAP! One with kidney issues, a few who speak NO English, and the odd nappy thrown in too!

A wonderful mix!

Yesterday we had them in with parents for an hour as many have never left their mums or dads, and today was their first day trying to be without their parents, for just an hour again.

3 criers/screamers in the morning. Not bad for 19 kids to be honest! We are down one at the moment, as he is on holiday still!

2 criers in the afternoon, out of 15. Two were unwell (already?!) so hadn’t come in, but that’s to be expected.

And to be honest, most of them were amazing! They independently went about their playing, and exploring, and a few started to get a tiny bit wobbly near the end of the hour, looking for their carers, but on the whole, they did GREAT!

It’s too early to say yet, but all in all, it wasn’t bad.

The only blot on my horizon was that I woke with a pain in my knee (recurring injury from a few years back – thanks Sonu Singh!) which actually got really bad by 9.30am. So much so I was holding on to things to walk because I couldn’t put weight on it!

But I soldiered on, and got to the end of the day!

Honestly, right now, I am looking forward to this year. I have a great team by my side, and we even have a new addition too, who is to be with us every day, so here’s hoping we can give these kids a really great start to their education, and make them enjoy nursery and love learning, so when it’s time for Big School for them next year, they are WAAAAY prepared!

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!

20160825_152309

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!

Anyway, thanks for listening Peeps! I know we just have to deal with it, and I am prepared for many more battles… but still, GRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Playing With Food #fruitart – Lil Man’s Creations!

08 Aug 2016 35 Comments

by Ritu in Art, Children Tags: #fruitart, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Children, instagram

I guess my healthy eating may have rubbed off on at least one member of my family!

For the last few days, straight after lunch, Lil Man has been getting creative with fruit!

Remember when you were younger? When your parents would always tell you off for playing with your food? Well, this is one time, I think I don’t need to say anything.

Check out his creations! And he eats them all up after, along with extra as he is creating!

In fact, if this way of playing encourages kids to eat fruit, I say PLAY MORE!

I Instagrammed (maybe I am getting addicted to this Instagram…) with the hashtags #fruitart #healthykids and we even got the attention of Delmonte! Lil Man was rather chuffed!

He’s Fruit-mous!

Any other Fruity ideas Peeps?

Carrot Cake Anyone?

03 Jul 2016 60 Comments

by Ritu in Children, Foodie Pics, Recipes, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Birthday, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Carrot Cake, Children, Recipe

Well, unless you have been sleeping under a rock the last few days, you will know that my Lil Man’s birthday was a few days ago, and he wasn’t with us. Well, it’s been a few years since I actually baked a cake for him, as time has often been short, but this year, I wanted to do the right thing… and what did he want? No Spidey cakes or Starwars cakes for him this time. Rather a grown up Carrot cake was what he requested!

This is a pretty good recipe that I had found in a newspaper, and had made a few years ago, for my sister-in-law’s birthday initially. It is actually for a 3-tier cake, but that was huge!

This time, I still made the 3 tiers, but used 2 for his cake, and iced the third single one to take into work for my team!

Here are a couple of photos of the 3 tier version (apologies, the photos were a bit rubbish!) and the single one from this time round!

Now, I would be cruel if I left you with drool hanging, and didn’t share the recipe.. I am not that awful, so here it is!

The Best Carrot Cake Ever!

Ingredients

525ml vegetable oil
9 eggs
525g soft dark brown sugar
420g grated carrots
Grated zest of 3 large oranges
525g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1tbsp bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ tbsp. mixed spice
Seeds of one vanilla pod
2 drops vanilla extract
200g icing sugar
40g butter, cubed
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
115g low fat cream cheese, chilled
Handful of pecans or walnuts, toasted to decorate

Equipment

3 x 9inch round baking tins

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit/Gas Mark 4.
Prepare tins by oiling the insides and lining with baking paper.
Put the oil, eggs, sugar, grated carrots and orange zest into a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. The mixture is a lot, you may need to do this in batches.
Mix the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice, then sift into the bowl.
Add the vanilla seeds and lightly mix everything together until the mixture is uniform, but still soft and runny.
Ladle into tins and bake for 40-45 minutes.
The cakes are ready when the sponge springs back up if pushed lightly. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.
Leave to cool for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack, and peel off the baking paper.

For the cream cheese frosting

Mix the icing sugar, butter, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a bowl then whisk well.
Stir in the cream cheese. If the mixture looks runny then put in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden.
When the cakes are cool, take two of them and slice off the domed tops, leaving them flat. Don’t slice the top off the third cake.
Put a dollop of frosting in the middle of a serving plate to stop the cake from sliding.
Take one of the flattened cakes and place it on top. Then pop a big spoonful of frosting and spread it all over, leaving a 2.5cm/1inch gap around the edge.
Place the second flattened cake on top, then repeat.
Put the unsliced cake on top then spread the frosting and decorate.
ENJOY!!!

It was delicious, moist and carroty, with a hint of spice to warm things up! I definitely recommend it! If you get a chance, make it, and let me know what you think!