Beachcomber

The day started with my bedroom door being flung open, after several failed attempts, and The Boy running in to my open arms shouting "mummy, mummy, mummy". This is a usual occurence on the weekends. Hubby is kind and has the good sense to let me sleep in 'til 9am both days, when he helps The Boy to wake me up in my favourite way. I'm quite grateful for his failed attempts at opening the door, it means that I have time to turn over, grab my phone (which is on charge on the bedside table), fling it under the pillow (otherwise he plays with it and it's my phone) and stretch my arms out. My eyes are not open during any of this. He then gets lifted up for a huge hug, and my eyes slowly work themselves open.

Today was more special than others; The Boy was 20 months old today. That's 1 year and two-thirds. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed! Where has my little squiggly ball of flailing arms and legs gone? Bizarrely, he has a new game at the moment; he crawls around and says "baby". I'm hoping it's a game anyway, and that he's not regressing for some reason!

After various naps had happened (both boys tottering back off for a 2hr nap) and lunch had been administered, we decided to head off to a local beach, not my nearest but The Boy doesn't move easily on pebbles at the moment.

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Ladies and gentleman, this is no ordinary beach, this is Barry Island! Yes, that's right I said Barry Island. The one on 'Gavin and Stacey'. Yes there are slot machines, and yes 'Marco's Cafe' is real, but Butlins has long gone (now an expensive housing estate) and the funfair is seriously lacking in both 'fun' and 'fairness'. However it does have a rather fabulous sandy beach which has been awarded a Blue Flag in the past few years.

Wellies on, bucket and spade swinging in our gloved hands, hats on (it may be sunny but it's still February); off we marched. Paddling first, so pleased we wore the wellies. I had secretly been worried that the rubber had perished on the joins and that I would literally be paddling in my wellies, it hadn't. We splashed, splished and paddled to our hearts content. Hubby didn't lift The Boy up in time and he got soaked by the 7th wave (hubby grew up in the middle of England and doesn't believe me about these things). I ranted for a little bit but it's only water and I am a sensible mummy and always have spare clothes. Then the boys made sandcastles with the rakes and spades while I wrote messages in the sand. It was absolutely gorgeous there, definitely the first of many trips before the end of the year.

It was a lazy Saturday and I didn't want to cook so we popped into a local restaurant for our tea. As we were packing up in the restaurant, the background music changed to (and I absolutely kid you not) 'Fantastic Day' by Nick Heyward & Haircut 100.


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24 hours

24 hours is a variable time. I know that seems daft, but just think about it. 24 hours of labour seems to last forever; every second punctuated by yet another contraction. Yet 24 hours on a weekend absolutely flies by!

When Tara set the challenge of  a theme of 24 Hours, it was going to take some careful planning otherwise we'd end up with some wasted hours of sleep (don't you think that sleep is a waste of time?). It had to be a day in your life: "Any day… share 24 hours of your life with us."

So my 24 hours spans from 6pm on Saturday evening to 7pm on Sunday evening. Yes I know that's 25 hours, but it's called artistic license and it's my blog! The start and end location is the same: my parents' house. In between we fit in a variety of activities, some will be obvious, some you'll have to work out. Either way, it was our weekend.

And we had, in the words of The Boy, fun.


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Wee-waa, wee-waa!

One of The Boy's current favourite toys is a wooden fire engine he received from hubby's parents for Christmas. When he was little, I used to demand that his toys were not bright plastic with flashing noises and lights. I wanted him to have quality wooden or material toys. Easier said than done: a) it's difficult to find quality, attractive and interesting wooden toys; and b) actually they're quite pricey!

So I completely understand how easy it is to fall into the plastic trap; batteries are good, lights and sounds make The Boy happy! Happy Boy = Happy Mummy! I do try and limit the environmental (and financial) impact of all these toys by buying them from my local baby and toddler group Nearly New Sales. Luckily, we normally comes up trumps and I can spend £15 and come home with over £100's worth of toys. Money for mummies, new toys for the Boy, good for the environment.

I've digressed haven't I? How unusual for me…

We are fortunate that hubby's parents always manage to produce the goods when it comes to finding really good quality wooden toys for their grandson. They have an independent toy store locally whose stock they are working their way through. I'd love to plug them, but I've forgotten their name. Bless them, they bought him a fabric Noah's Ark which was really adaptable, but he's never been that interested in squishy toys. However, the latest addition to his toyshop collection is this:

It's called an I'm Toy Fire Engine Work Bench and is fabulous. If we're going to someone's house for a visit (e.g. my parents' or sister's) it's the toy we take with us. There are so many 'bits' to it that it can keep him amused for ages. And it's going to last him for a good while yet because while he thinks the nuts and bolts are fab, he can't co-ordinate them at the moment. He gets the idea of how to use the screwdriver and spanner but he just points them at the nuts and bolts and thinks that makes them work. The hammer is extremely popular! Any hammer is extremely popular, which is why we're not showing him where we keep the key to the shed! He's completely got the idea of sorting the shapes through the holes and inserting the pegs into the holes.

Look at the concentration!

It is an excellent 'Boy's Toy' and if you've got a baby boy, I thoroughly recommend getting it. I've got to say that the range of toys available from I'm Toy are fantastic, quality toys that last. You can find a comprehensive range of I'm Toy erm, toys available through @Toyjeanius. What's pretty fab about her toy-shop is that she's a mum to 3 children who had so much fun playing with her children's toys that she decided to open up her own shop! How cool is that? Her rather gorgeous shop can be found here.

I have a special discount code for ToyJeanius which gives you 10% off your purchases! Simply type in TheBoyandMe at the checkout.

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