Diary of an (ex)London mum

Lately Baby has taken to trying to do everything at the same time.  Maybe he is reflecting what we do- trying to do too much at the same time.  So the pattern goes that he will eat, and try to play with this toys at the same time, and want to have a tablet nearby so he can watch something or play a game at the same time, and so on... Today he decided to keep his eating time as short as possible and was then complaining about being hungry roughly every two hours or so.  We decided enough was enough and to put a stop to this once and for all- we only gave him meals at meal times.  He could have a snack of fruit or something but nothing else- no mince pies, no biscuits, no toast.  Let's see if the behaviour can be changed.

Turkey and Christmas go together.  This year there will only be 3 of us consuming the turkey- my husband's family, who we are spending Christmas with, are mostly vegetarians/meat avoiders.  We would be preparing a Christmas roast for ourselves at some point during the holidays and then joining them for a meal that will be turkey free at another point.  Whenever that happens, it will mean one turkey for 3 people.  The smallest organic, free range turkeys weigh about 4-5 Kg and feed about 10.  That is a fair bit of turkey for 3.  We do end up eating turkey for more than one day, quite a lot of it as sandwich filling over the festive season- the one good thing about having too much roast is that we can take a break from cooking and just veg on the couch.  Turkeys actually sell out pretty quickly, especially if you are looking for a specific kind and/or size.  Sadly, it is not even the end of November and I am looking at placing an order for one, alb...

Everbody says life changes profoundly following the arrival of a child. It happens very gradually; creeps up on you even. Particularly if, like me, you are defiant and insist that life will carry on more or less as before, perhaps with a few enhancements/additions.  Today I caught myself looking at the adverts lining the wall along the escalators at Bond Street station, scanning for shows/exhibitions that Baby might like to see. Nothing wrong with that, you might say. Nothing wrong with that indeed. However, I have not done that for myself at all since Baby arrived. It would seem that I now (at least attempt to) look at the world with eyes for Baby only.

With Christmas comes the inevitable long break.  This year, Baby will spend some time with my husband and then a few days with just me, and the three of us will then spend the rest of the holidays together, popping out to see family over the holiday season.  We would like him to have some proper rest as it has been a long term and he has been very busy at school. The aim would be to allow him to get bored- to just relax and do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. It is just as important to stop and assimilate the things that have happened to us, as it is to keep accumulating experiences.   So this Christmas would be rest time, time to take stock and think about how to move forward. I talked a little about Christmas presents for Baby in my previous post of this series.  For me, Christmas is actually never far from my mind.  I am not a terribly imaginative person and find it difficult to choose presents for people.  To help with this, I take notes wh...

Maybe I said that a little for effect, but there is a lot of truth in that statement.  I have always been a fairly organised individual and pre-smart phones I was heavily dependent on my Filofax to help me keep track of life and all that.  Detailed plans were made as to when everything should happen, and detailed plans were made as to when I would go to do my groceries shopping- and what I need to buy- or go to training, or meet up with friends, or go to the movies, etc.  Life was busy and there was a lot to fit into a day.  Work took up a lot of my time and I was determined to use what's left of it effectively.   My diary was crammed full of such plans and it was actually quite a heavy thing to have to carry around.  I was never a small handbag kind of girl.  Then came the smart phone and digital calendars and my bag got a bit smaller and lighter. Then we had Baby and things were a bit chaotic for a while until we established some kind of r...

Halloween has come and gone, it is time to think about Christmas.  Christmas has been the biggest holiday in the year for as long as I can remember.  We come from a Christian background and, even though theologically Easter should be the bigger festival, we place more focus on the celebration of Christmas.  I suppose part of it has to do with combining the celebration of the end of a year, taking stock and giving thanks for getting through, and winding down after a year of toil. Baby loves Christmas and we have already started our countdown.  Throughout the second half of the year, Baby has been collecting points by doing good deeds, helping out at home, fulfilling tasks better than just at a basic effort level, etc.  Points are also taken off for not doing those things so that by Christmas we will have a numerical tally of how 'good' he has been and then we will allow him to choose an appropriate present.  He is generally not greedy.  Case in point...