Bad Nights!

It has been quite a long time since I last wrote on here but it has been quite a busy time. You see my uncle was very ill so we had to travel to Manchester and after he died came home for a week. We then had to go back for the funeral but thankfully my little boy did not seem to understand any of what was happening.

At the hospice they gave him jelly and ice cream and were great with him and the weather was so hot he was able to go into the garden to play. But he would not look at his uncle until he was leaving the hospice the following day. He seemed to know he was so ill and he had trouble recognising him as the man he knew. He always called him Grandad.

One the Sunday morning after he had died he was given jelly and ice cream and a cream egg as it was Easter sunday. He seemed to know there was something really wrong that day and did everything he was told straight away (for a change)!

The following week we did not want to take him to the funeral so thankfully a nursery took him for the day where his younger cousin goes. So this meant he could play all day with him and had a great time.

Thing is how do you explain to a child that the person has died and is not coming back? It is not so easy to do so to a 5 year old. He seemed to understand that his uncle was very poorly and was not going to get any better but last week he took the order of service with his uncle's photograph on from his funeral. He was so proud of his Uncle Colin he had wanted to show his teacher at school! We had looked for it all day and had a feeling he had taken it to school.

The other day he told me that his uncle is better and living next door to his aunty. We have tried to tell him about the angels but he is still struggling with the concept. The problem is that he has been sleeping badly and having nightmares. How much should you really tell children? Should you say that they have gone to the angels or should you say they are on holiday which they could then ask when they will be back? It seems to come down a lot to personal parental choice and the child as to what they can understand and cope with being told. It is not easy to decide as children are so different and unfortunately death is not a thing you can really hide from them totally when a close relation dies.

So we just have to struggle on and see how it goes and hopefully he will realise that his uncle will not be coming back any time soon.

After all children should be allowed to be children and be protected as much as possible from the harsh realities of life!

Ice Skating!

The other night I was watching Dancing on Ice and noticed that many of the jumps and spins have been changed from when I used to ice skate. I skated from the age of 9 until I was 17. Now since Dancing on Ice has been on I have noticed they have been using a lot of American names for jumps and spins as well as part of the ice boots themselves. The sharp points at the front of the blade was called a toe rake but now I see they are calling them toe picks! Waltz jump used to be a cherry flip! What on earth is happening? We are always adopting new names for things which many people who have known the names for yars have to change.

A little while ago during the last school holidays I took my 5 year old little boy to ice skate for the first time. I did not like the ice rink as it was seriously hopeless and the ice boots were more like speed skates which are not suitable for little ones as the ones with toe rakes are safer!

Why can't some things keep to what they used to be when they were better! They always have to change things for the worse!

New to School!

I was on twitter tonight and read about someone wanting to prepare her little boy or girl for school. It made me think about little boy whom is now 5 year old. His birthday was on the 24th August and he had to school only 3 weeks later. He really was still just a baby and definately not read to start school, Reception. I don't believe that children should start Reception until they are 5 years of age and nursery at 4.

When he started school they had been in the yard for playtime and asked to go into lines of girls and boys. My little boy Louis Adam did not know where to go and stood in the middle. The teacher asked him whether he was a boy or a girl and he said that he was a Louis Adam! This made the teachers and classroom assistants laugh and told him that he was a boy and put him in the line for boys.

Later in the afternoon when it was time to collect him the teacher told me about it and all I could do was laugh. Since he was born I have always called him my little baby boy and as he got older I called him my little boy. It was funny really as I had always called him a boy and he did not seem to understand which line he should go in.

Since then he has constantly called himself a boy, boy, boy! That is exactly how he says it. He insists he is a boy and makes sure he tells us at every opportunity. When we talk to someone who knows Louis Adam for example a relation and he tells them he is a boy, boy, boy. We then tell them what he did on his first day at school.

When he is older we will tell him the story and see what he thinks of it. No doubt he will then be very embaressed by it.

These days he loves to rock and roll or as he puts it wock and woll as since he fell at school last year he finds it hard to say his r's! He has an electric style guitar that works by batteries. He knows how to rock and I am sure he has not seen it on television so I really have no idea where he got it from! Kids really do some funny things and they are so innocent!

I love to hear what things other kids do and how funny they are. I am sure every parent has lots of stories of their kids antics!

At the moment though he is building cars and vans with his lego even though they are not the types that meant to make vans etc but he always seems to manage to build the most amazing things! Maybe he will be an architect or an engineer. Just have to wait and see won't we!

Japan!

I can't believe there have been even more earthquakes in Japan!

It seems to be never ending, they must all be in a terrible state and really worried about what might Now it has been announced that there is higher than normal radiation in the food and tap water. this in inself is very worrying. Especially, as if the levels are higher than normal what is the normal level? Is there radiation in the food usually? What are the people of Japan eating? Are there going to be birth defects due to the radiation like Chernobyl? So many tragedies occurred after that and in some areas are still happening. Is there going to be a repeat?  I sincerely hope there will not be as birth defects can be terrible things. It can also cause miscarriage and premature labour and birth. Also, it can also cause babies to be stillborn.

There are enough problems as it is without things getting even worse. What sort of lives would those children lead? Would they be fulfilling and be able to live to an old age? I certainly hope that they are not dangerous levels and are safe enough for the population as they are going through enough as it is without things becoming even worse for them.

All we can do is pray that there are no more earthquakes and the radiation settles down.

Birthdays and non-birthdays!

It was my birthday on Monday and Louis Adam was so excited. On Sunday he said to me "Mammy, your birthday is not until August, mine is tomorrow"! August is when it is his birthday of course!

So on Sunday night we only had 2 hours sleep as he must have been so excited about the next day what I call his non-birthday! We were so exhausted on Monday morning and had our breakfast before I went upstairs to wake him but he was so tired I could not wake him up at all! In the end I did not have the heart to try much more so we telephoned the school and told them what had happened and they agreed to keep him off school for the day (of course I did not mention it was my birthday in case they thought that was why I kept him off school)! We decided to go back to bed so we could go back to sleep as we could not keep our eyes open!

So, at around 10.30am we woke up and Louis Adam was still fast asleep so I had to wake him up. He did not want to get up either until I reminded him about my birthday!

When Louis Adam had eaten his breakfast his grandma reminded him about my birthday and he started to sing Happy Birthday! However, it was very grudging and he started to cry near the end as he thought he was not getting a present. I then gave him his present of a toy helicopter and a card which he absolutely loves. He then gave me the other cards and presents rather less grudgingly.

I then had to go shopping for birthday tea food as I knew he would want a birthday cake. On the afternoon I decided that he was not going to get out of his education altogether that day. I took him to the Ski Slope to the lake with the ducks. On the way there we did a Springwatch like on the Green Balloon Club on Cbeebies. We looked at the buds on the trees, the flowers, and the birds as well as hoof prints and much more! He had a great time and it was a great way of him enjoying his learning. He did not mind that he did not have any bread to feed the ducks as I had forgotton it!

The birthday tea was what I used to have when I was little and Louis Adam loved it! Of course he blew the candles our but he really enjoyed it! He thinks he should have all 4 birthdays and he loves it!

So next time you need to think of something for children to do try a spring watch and look for all of the signs of spring it may just keep them busy!

Meningitus Alert Packs

We are waiting for our first delivery of the Meningitus early alert packs which, should arrive on Monday. We are willing to ship worldwide as it is such a devestating disease!

Please let me know if you would like one as I currently have a waiting list!

Early detection may be able to save a child and I have kept one for my own little boy. If it helps even one child then it is worth buying. Quite often symptoms of meningitus and septecaemia can be missed by GP's and doctors at the hospital but this pack may help to give a more definitive result for faster treatment!

No Added VAT

Well I had not realised it had been so long since I had posted anything new! Things have been quite hectic lately.

I wanted to make sure that you all knew that we NEVER charge VAT on any of our products! This includes every item on our website and in our shop. We believe that we need to keep our prices competitive but also feel that prices are too high for customers. It is so expensive to bring a child up and we try to accomodate for that by ensuring that we do not charge extra to our customers!