For a few weeks now The Boy has been asking us to take the stabilisers from his bike. At first I almost ignored him and distracted him with something else to hand. Knowing how tentative he was with the metal balance bike that he used to have, I thought there would be no way he's cope with the weight of a bike. Combine that with his inability to stop looking at everything else around him, apart from the direction in which he should be cycling, I thought there would be no way he'd be able to cycle without stabilisers.
Days 209-215 of Project 365
209. This Is New (We went to Oxwich Bay with my brother and his family for the day. The Boy's aunty is an outdoor adventure instructor working in a variety of fields and she has been trained in 'beach school' education, so was keen to share her knowledge. We had an amazing day finding anemones, urchins, cockles, and crabs!)
210. Perspective (Off to Parc Play, one of our favourite places to go and far better than soft play! Wooden forts, zip wires, slides, sand pits, pirate ships; all outdoors or under cover. We were meeting up with a friend and her little boy who is a year older than The Boy. We haven't seen them in some time and it was interesting to see how The Boy, who was left behind physically last year, was capable of doing things that his friend couldn't. Well he could by the time we'd finished with him!)
211. Friendship (We visited Yeo Valley HQ in the Mendips today with a bunch of other bloggers to see how they are working with the Woodland Trust. It was great to meet up with Jenny and Burton again, and The Boy and he got straight up to mischief with a tempting pipe.)
212. Workspace (We've borrowed a tuff-spot and stand from the nursery at work for the Summer, definitely The Boy's new work space!)
213. David Bellamy (On Tuesday we did a leaf hunt at Yeo Valley and The Boy has been fascinated with finding different leaves ever since; he spotted the silver birch in our garden and ran to get the sheet to identify it.)
214. Focus (Today my special treat to myself arrived: a fixed focus 50mm lens for my dSLR. I have been quite sceptical about it, not really understanding what the difference would be between my 18-55mm and this. Now I get it! The depth of field is far more pronounced with this lens, as you can see from the photo above which was taken in our local nature reserve. We nipped down there to feed the swans and have lunch with my mum. I actually love this lens, and I adore this photo; it's going up on the wall.)
215. Heaven (And we're finally here! I wanted to leave home at 9am to travel down to Coombe Mill but a late night and sleepy heads this morning meant we left late. It took 3.5hrs to do the 2hrs down to Trago Mills, where we had good fun on the rides, steam train and shopping, and then a further 1.5 hours to get here. It then took thirty minutes to wait for our fish and chips before we could actually arrive at Coombe Mill. But oh my, it's all worth it!)
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Diving In! (Country Kids)
As parents one of our jobs is to prevent our children from being afraid of the things we were; to prevent irrational fears.
I always enjoy going to the swimming pool, and I do like swimming, but I have a real fear of water in my face and I can't contemplate swimming underwater or even with the correct head position for front crawl. The minute water splashes up in my face, the fear kicks in that I'm not going to be able to breathe. And just as with every irrational fear, there is something that started it off. For me it was swimming with my dad when I was around eight years old, he left me on the side of the fairly shallowish water while he went and tried out the diving board and plunge pool (he's not the most responsible of people), but unfortunately the pool's wave machine was turned on during that five minutes and I lost my footing and went under. I remember every second vividly and I was petrified that I wouldn't be able to get up again. Obviously I did, but it was one of the scariest moments of my life and accounts for my claustrophobia and fear of putting my face in the water.
I don't want to pass this onto The Boy, and I try really hard to bite my tongue and assess the situation first before rushing forward to him. However sometimes I am aware that a little slips out, and there might be an occasional "let me wipe your face".
So going to a birthday party of a friend whose water confidence is first rate filled me both with terror and hope for The Boy's own confidence.
You can see the difference between the two boys: one has been swimming once since last September due to chronic glue ear in both ears (and even then that was probably only his tenth trip, at a generous guess), and the other boy has been swimming since he was a tiny baby. One has a few drops of water in his face and is rubbing the water out of his eyes, one has water pouring down his face. I'm not criticising my boy, it's just a stark contrast in the ability levels of both boys of the same age.
The Boy happily stayed in the pool for around thirty minutes before getting out to play on the bouncy castle, or with swing ball (playing a leftie is the easiest way of playing this!), and soon wanted to get changed back into his clothes.
Then after dinner, and once all the other party guests had left, both boys returned to play in the garden. Burton quickly stripped down to his pants and went into the pool, The Boy took a further ten minutes before he followed suit.
And this is what happened…
And then, after another hour or so, we end up with this:
And then the final shred of evidence that he is becoming the swimmer I'd like him to be?
We'll be going swimming this week!
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Exploring The Hidden Realm (Country Kids)
On the way home from our weekend break in Butlin's on Monday, we decided to break up the journey with a visit to a National Trust venue. We picked The Vyne in Basingstoke as it would be a perfectly timed mid-way and mid-day break, and I'd also recently seen MummyMummyMum's post about the new Tolkein-inspired play area; The Hidden Realm.
The Hidden Realm is a new play area, only opened since the beginning of April, and inspired by the well-loved book The Hobbit. Tolkein is thought to have based his tales on the ancient, gold ring on display on site, and so it was an obvious theme for a play area to occupy the once abandoned area of walled garden. Over the past six months, it has been transformed into a unique fantasy landscape for children with elements of jungle, mountain and stream, based on the Middle-Earth landscapes.
When we arrived there were only a couple of other children playing and so we pretty much had free run of the place, the perks of weekday visits! It amazes me how much has been fitted into such a small space, bridges, tunnels (with inter-connecting communication pipes), slides, stepping stones, fireman's pole (very Middle-Earth), and the best bit (for me anyway) was a dammed stream with a standpipe nearby to allow the children to play with the water.
I really hope that the National Trust start building some more of these themed play areas in their venues, such great fun and a joy for both adults and children to enjoy.
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Days 111-117 of Project 365
111. Too busy! (Today was a stay-at-home day and The Boy's cousins came over to play in the morning and stayed for lunch. We spent hours in the garden, them playing, mum supervising and us gardening. The day was so busy that I forgot to take any photos until the evening when we were playing a calming Orchard Toys game before bed.)
112. Bubble Jedi (At 9.05am The Boy requested we go in the garden. And because I wasn't at all awake (although I was dressed, I agreed. I know. We then proceeded to spend two and a half hours in the garden; me pegging out the washing and pottering about with titbits of gardening, him making up games, blowing bubbles and making dams in the water 'future' (feature). We only went in to decide on what to eat for lunch, which was enjoyed al fresco! I love Spring.)
113. #30 (After a very good day together; playing in the garden, making cakes and chilling out nicely, we had a gargantuam parenting fail/threenager situation in the evening. Basically, The Boy took ages to eat his dinner and we both got cross because we were waiting to take him to the park to feed the swans and have a run around before bed. After a temper tantrum from him when he had the audacity to say I was taking ages (!), I put my foot down and said he could feel the swans (I needed the fresh air) but would not be allowed to go to the park. Being a parent is tough sometimes!)
114. Bottoms Up! (A play in the garden after I'd finished school and The Boy has found a new use for the non-slidey slide; it's a part climbing frame and then head first down after the rolling hoops!)
115. Flying Boy (This is his new way of going on the swing, he likes the way it makes him feel like he's flying! We took mum down the beach for an ice-cream after school but she was feeling her age today and didn't want to go for a walk and so we nipped to the park instead.)
116. Back Again! (I know this is a very similar photograph to one I recently had up but there are subtle differences; mainly the lack of coat and a great deal more sunshine. We've come back to Butlin's for the Butlin's Ambassadors weekend with many of the other ambassadors. Keeping my fingers crossed for dry weather and sunshine.)
117. Even Higher! (That was what he called to the attendant on the bungee trampoline he tried out earlier today! He screamed that he didn't want to go on it, and then I couldn't get him off.)
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Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ (The Link-Up)
My childhood garden was large and full of little nooks and crannies (notice you never get a cranny without a nook?) that offered hours of entertainment. Summers were long and balmy, filled with the squeals of laughter of four siblings who would tie each other to trees with their pigtails (thank you brother 1), hold talent contests on the picnic bench, splash around and soak each other with the hose, play badminton in the quiet side road next to the house, race on the go-kart from the side garden and under the archway to the garage into the back garden, and practise tennis or netball against the side wall of the garage. All under the watchful eye of my mum from the living room or kitchen window, both of which were upstairs (weird layout) and commanded a magnificent view over our 'empire'.
The point I am trying to make here is that we spent hours and hours every day outside.
As my siblings grew older, I had less playmates but it didn't affect my desire to get out into the fresh air. Even now, I feel free when outside, it soothes my frazzled nerves and I can feel my spirits lifting.
When we went to Nymans for the National Trust event earlier this Spring, David Bond (marketing director for Nature!) asked us whether our happy place was inside or outside. The split was about half and half, which is very different to most families. Most adults (and children) now have an indoors happy place. It is therefore, hardly surprising that children in the UK are the most depressed in the natural world; they don't know about the joy of feeling the wind through their hair and tingling their senses, the sun caressing the skin, the sense of achievement when they climb a tree or jump the brook, skim the stone or make a den.
Last year I blogged about the 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ campaign by the National Trust. I set us a goal of 5 Things To Do Before You're 3 and we attempted four of these things (the waterfall was always going to be ambitious!). In the past year we've ticked off a few more of these (mostly easy to achieve) targets and are making steady progress, mainly thanks to the Country Kids linky over on Coombe Mill.
Climb a tree(04/11/12)Roll down a really big hill- Camp out in the wild
Build a den- Skim a stone
Run around in the rainFly a kiteCatch a fish with a net(25/07/14)Eat an apple straight from a treePlay conkers- Go on a really long bike ride
- Make a trail with sticks
Make a mud pie- Dam a stream
Play in the snow- Make a daisy chain
- Set up a snail race
Create some wild art(21/07/13)Play Pooh sticksJump over wavesEat blackberries growing in the wildExplore inside a treeVisit a farm
Go on a walk barefoot- Make a grass trumpet
- Hunt for fossils and bones
Go star gazing- Climb a huge hill
Explore a caveHold a scary beast
Hunt for bugsFind some frogspawnCatch a falling leafTrack wild animalsDiscover what's in a pondMake a home for a wild animalCheck out the crazy creatures in a rock pool- Bring up a butterfly
Catch a crab(25/07/14)Go on a nature walk at nightPlant it, grow it, eat itGo swimming in the seaBuild a raft(05/08/13)Go bird watchingFind your way with a map and compass- Try rock climbing
Cook on a campfire- Learn to ride a horse
Find a geocache- Canoe down a river
I've decided to write this post for me so that we can cross off the other targets as and when we meet them. And because it's more a of a reference bank for me, I also thought I'd open it up as a permanent linky until… well The Boy is 11&¾ quite frankly. Either that or until he does them all!
I'd love it if you joined in with your posts or photos (Instagrams/twitpics) showing your children fulfilling one of their Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11&¾.
Days 69-75 of Project 365
69: Which will win? (We went to Techniquest in Cardiff Bay for Mother's Day and had great fun exploring scientific concepts. Here The Boy is racing the bubbles through the thick gloop)
70: Going up! (When we were at Techniquestwe discovered a lovely little park in Cardiff Bay which seemed to be hardly used. We popped back on Monday to explore all the equipment and I was really impressed to see The Boy climb across a cargo net from one eight foot high tower to the other with minimal interaction. No photos of that because I was too busy watching him!)
71: Bump! (After a foul morning we went down to the local country parks for some outdoor play and to tick a few more things of our 50 Things list. We discovered that The Boy's outdoor play suit makes him zoom down the slide really fast!)
72: Special Delivery Service! (The Jenny Craig boxes are excellent for making cars!)
73: Mountaineer (Another day, another park, what can I say? Last Summer he wouldn't try this climbing wall at all)
74: Doing something funny (All dressed up in odd clothes for nursery, not too odd though or mummy's OCD can't handle it!)
75: What's your name? (We had to go into Cardiff to take my dead Samsung Galaxy S3 into the T-Mobile shop to be sent away for repair. While we were in there we wandered over to the Museum and looked at the sculptures in the nearby gardens.)
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50 Things: #1, #4 & #34 (Country Kids)
Children in the UK are the unhappiest kids in the western world.
Really?! Here in the UK?
Sadly, I'm not surprised. As a teacher I'm privy to a great deal of information about the interventions which have to be put into place for vulnerable or depressed children. Depression in children is on the increase, and I think as parent we need to ask ourselves why? Personally I believe that it's because they are more aware of the world around them, they're told of too many problems that exist before they're emotionally capable of dealing with them, and because society is too busy for their needs.
When was the last time you went screen-free for any substantial amount of time and simply played?
Tuesday of this week saw the day going pear-shaped before it had even really started. I was groggy and grumpy, the drone of the fridge, washing machine, dehumidifier and even the turned-off Sky box was getting to me. I stood on one side of the stairgate looking at my screaming and sobbing child stood on the other side, wondering where my rational brain had gone and why I was having an argument with him.
Twenty minutes later.
We had pulled into the car park of the country park with my head still buzzing from the electricity. Having donned our wellies and grabbed our bag of bread for the swans and ducks, we set off in search of the important stuff; fun and happiness. Encircled by hungry swans trying to take bread directly from the bag, I shared the provisions out while The Boy fed the white ducks directly from his hand.
He was cycling around the edge of the lake and towards the park when we found some tracks in the mud.
This is how we ended up in the woods above, practising our tree climbing. We tracked the horse into the woods, where the ground turned harder and the leaves covered the tracks, however there was a magnificent sweeping bough begging to be straddled! And yes, I climbed the trees to, and it was liberating.
Despite not being able to find any spruce branches, we still managed to build a cracking den, putting into practise the wonderful advice from Rob Cowen of the Natural Childhood campaign. I'm not sure that The Boy understands the concept of twigs though.
I can't have my child ending up as one of the unhappiest, I just can't. This is why we've signed the pledge to spend as much time outdoors as we do in front of the screen with Project Wild Thing.
Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11 & ¾
- #1 – Climb a tree
- #4 – Build a den
- #34 – Track an animal
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Days 62-68 of Project 365
62. Shoot! (These are the seeds we planted a week ago in our gardening play table. They've really shot up, which means that I now have to find somewhere to move them to so they can acclimatise to the outside temperature. However, look to the back, the middle seed label was written by The Boy.)
63. The Sands of Time (We went for a long walk and cycle along Cardiff Bay Barrage today and played in the pirate play park there. We were the only people in the park for quite some time, which meant that The Boy had free rein over the sandy, sunken, pirate ship.)
64. Lick! (The first ice-cream of the year down the beach! The Boy had an eye-test today and he was meant to have eyedrops to test for a stigmatism, however because he held so still and was compliant during the test, he didn't need the drops which I was very relieved about. As a result it meant we were able to nip down to the beach and enjoy an ice-cream on the pier with nana.)
65. Bed Fellows (The Boy looked so peaceful when I went to check on him at midnight, so calm and serene. Oliver Monkey is never far away, and the week wouldn't be complete without a sleeping photo!)
66. Bubbles at Bathtime! (We had an extra long bathtime tonight where we had the bubble machine out, a pot of bubbles and the underwater light – all to remember a special little girl who loved bubbles.)
67. Catch The Pigeon! (Remember the Wacky Races song? Our weekly cycle ride along the pier was just like a scene from that today. The pier was deserted aside from a few elderly couples having their 'daily constitutional' and one or two brave pigeons. I say brave because once The Boy saw them he was determined to scare them away, something that made the grannies and grandads chuckle at!)
68.Splat! (We've been to Nymans for a National Trust event today as we are helping to promote the 50 Things To Do Before You're 11 and ¾ campaign. More to follow on this, and I've had to add this photo in at the last minute so please forgive any editing errors in this post!)
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Days 55-61 of Project 365
55. 'Hello! Anyone there?' (We went exploring in the woods and had a great time squelching through the mud and finding our echo.)
56. 'Spiderman' (This cargo net is always the first thing he heads for in a local park, it's a bit of an ongoing challenge for him as it is designed for infants and juniors, having different size nets as well as different sized ladders. He likes to measure his progress by how easily he can get over the bigger gaps, but has yet to attempt climbing up the sail of the 'boat'.)
57. 'Can' (He's been using a Reading Eggs app called 'Tap The Cat' to practise his reading, spelling and writing, and under my site's host's recommendation I bought this pen for him to use with the iPad. He's finding it so much easier to overwrite and it's better than finger tracing for the development of his writing skills.)
58. 'New teeth' (He finally got stuck into the chocolate Gruffalo we bought him for Christmas and relished eating various parts of him to make him less scary!)
59. 'Underwater lights' (Kara from Innocent Charmer recently recommended this underwater bath light to me, which arrived this week, and has brought a whole new level of fun to bathtime!)
60. 'National Pride' (St. David's Day!)
61. 'Lean' (We've been exploring Caerphilly Castle today in the most gorgeous Spring sunshine, and in one half of this photograph you can see the leaning south east tower of the castle. More on that in this weekend's Country Kids post.)
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