Just recently we headed the kids off to Legoland for two days of rides and fun. We had a brilliant time and the weather cooperated in letting us have that good time. The holiday went down like this:
The Good
- The Q-bot - this expensive little gadget had us missing most of the queues in the park and thus kept the kids in much better humour than they would’ve been if they’d had to stand around for hours.
- The double buggy we rented the second day - saved us fighting with a tired L trying to make him walk, plus T was able to sleep in it.
- The suggestion I found online to start in the Traffic area - definitely worth it as you can’t Q-Bot the driving school for 3-5 year olds and the queue for that and the Q-Bot queue for the fire fighter training was massive later in the day.
- Taking our own food for lunch - it looked like it would have been hard to find anything for T to eat plus it was exceptionally expensive to buy food in the park.
- The suggestion I found online to eat lunch as a picnic in front of the Johnny Thunder show - we did this both days, it was a nice place to sit and the kids loved the show.
- Taking Lex on the Viking River ride four times (twice me and twice Moe) - he really enjoyed it and so did we!
- The look of pure joy on L’s face when we went on the Dino Safari and he spotted all the dinosaurs.
- T’s love of the carousel and the duplo train had her riding each of them 4 times.
- That neither of our kids is a nag and we didn’t have to hide from the shops - T was quite taken with a pen with a name on it, pity is wasn’t her name
- That L was incredibly brave on the rollercoaster and is even talking about going on it again next time despite looking terrified throughout the ride.
- That we had the second day free and it was great not having to rush everything on one day.
- The rapt look of attention and excitement on L’s face as he watched Bob the Builder in 4D.
- Taking a diversion through Windsor on the way home - very pretty.
The Meh, Not So Good
- The cost of the dinner in the hotel - kids were free but the adults were fleeced, on a plus note it was a buffet so at least we didn’t have to wait to be served.
- That the hotel wasn’t as good as it could have been - at least the staff were friendly and it wasn’t far from the park.
- The enormous nappy T produced on the first day that was reminicent of her blow-outs as a baby and required a complete change of clothes.
- The hills - we were shattered by the end.
The Rides
Since we’ll probably - definitely! - go again I thought I’d keep a list for myself of all the rides we went on:
- Boating School - Lex, Tilly went twice - they enjoyed looking at everything in the water and trying to race other boats - Lex tried to steer but found it a bit tough and gave up. On the second ride Lex spent the time waiting to disembark saving imaginary baby chimps from the water.
- Driving School - Lex got his driving licence, he drove around the track really well and joined in with the bouncing, clapping and hopping with the other kids as they undertook their ‘test’.
- Fire Academy - Lex and I did this one, hard work!
- Hill Train - saved our legs a bit of a walk, Tilly loved it - it is a train after all.
- Duplo Playtown - fantastic play area, the kids had great fun and it gave Moe and I a bit of a chance to relax and regroup whilst the kids burnt off some energy.
- Duplo Train - just right for Tilly and the queue was never more than a few minutes long.
- Fairy Tale Brook - Tilly and I went on this one, she had fun especially as she had started to get quite grumpy at the rides Lex was going on that she couldn’t.
- Balloon School - all of us went on this one, Tilly wasn’t at all sure about the noise and spent the ride looking a bit worried (she refused to go on at first).
- Orient Expedition - another train, Tilly loved it.
- Desert Chase - the carousel, Tilly’s favourite.
- Aero Nomad - Tilly and Lex both really enjoyed this ferris wheel.
- Loki’s Labyrinth - Lex enjoyed trying to find the centre of the maze and spotting the vikings dotted about.
- Vikings’ River Splash - Moe and my favourite, hence the repeated rides.
- The Dragon - Very impressed at how well Lex handled this rollercoaster - despite the fact he was terrified of the dips and speed.
- Laser Raiders - like playing video games, a bit loud for the kids but Lex did request a second ride, my aim is rubbish.
- Scarab-Bouncers - Lex was quite excited about this until the ride started, we had to be let off as he was hysterical - oops.
- Longboat Invader - another ride that Lex was excited about until it started and started going ’round and ’round, he was very brave though.
- Space Tower - Moe and Lex went on this and Lex loved it.
- Dino Safari - Lex loved this gentle ride.
- Digger Challenge - diggers and Lex, always going to be a hit really.
- Sky Rider - a lovely trip above the park - Lex has no problems with heights and he went twice.
Phew, well that’s that.
The clear skies this morning caused a lot of thinking about what on earth to do today. We considered heading to the beach - perhaps to one of those an hour or so north. Neither Moe nor I could summon up much enthusiasm, however, the thought of all the other people with the same idea and trying to find parking and packing all the required equipment (towels, extra clothes etc.) was a bit daunting.
It was at this point that I remembered a place recommended to me by a workmate - the RHS gardens at Hyde Hall. Of course when I was a child a visit to the botanical gardens wasn’t viewed with much enthusiasm but now, despite my woeful knowledge of plants, it was a pleasant way to pass the day.
We spotted numerous butterflies, ladybirds and even a pondful of fish. Lex ran, danced and rolled on the lawns (which Moe and I coveted very much). Tilly got worryingly close to the pond, copied her brother’s lawn antics and hid in sunhouses and gazebos.
Perhaps I shouldn’t confine my blogging to the hour or so between getting the kids to bed and sending myself up. I seem to struggle to write much even though there’s loads to say. I’m now going to head off randomly to talk about each kid and how they’re doing.
Lex is still recovering from tonsillitis, it hit him rather hard and he still gets tired of walking a lot sooner than he used to. Trying to curb the whining and moaning has been difficult but we do finally seem to be getting there. Poor kid was dragged to A&E a week ago because what I thought was an ear infection (he wouldn’t let me put the in-ear thermometer into his right ear and much screaming ensued if it was even touched) and which turned out to be tonsillitis. Weirdly the kid never complained of a sore throat at all - go figure. At least it wasn’t pig flu. Hopefully within the next few days he’ll be a more consistently cheery chap rather than the sensitive, cranky, just wants to watch Playhouse Disney for hours at a time thing we have been living with.
Of course his sister has been having plenty of fun baiting her sensitive brother. Tilly has a cute but infuriating habit of doing something very naughty whilst giving a broad, cheeky grin in the direction of the person she is attempting to annoy. That said she did greet her brother with an ultra clear ‘Good morning’ this morning, clever thing. Now if we could just get her to grow - we’ve eliminated tomatoes, potatoes and their relations from her diet but she’s still stalled at about 80cm and just under 25lb. Her next appointment with paediatrics is in September so we’ll see how she’s doing then - while she’s otherwise healthy being a bit short doesn’t seem too bad.
Tomorrow I’m off to work, the kids are off to nursery and Moe gets to sit about the house doing nothing. A few days of that and then we head off to Legoland - here’s hoping that Lex wants to go on as many rides as his mother does. Tilly won’t be happy - my little daredevil won’t get to go on many of the rides she’d most enjoy because she’s still 10cm short of the height limit.
Having noticed that there was a bug and butterfly hunt walk organised at a local park this weekend, we shoved ourselves and the kids out the door and arrived just in time for the start of the walk.
The details I had seen weren’t particularly clear on what exactly the walk entailed, we were, erm, slightly (i.e. not at all) prepared for 2 hours of walking. Not bringing a sling for Tilly was probably the biggest oops. At least the kids had wellies on - no nettle stings for us.
Despite Lex’s misery at not being able to catch a grasshopper of his very own, the walk was tiring but interesting. We saw lots of butterflies, damsels, grasshoppers, ladybirds, a few caterpillars and a bumble-bee. We left slightly before the end as the kids were getting cranky.
If Lex keeps up with the bug obsession we will probably end up on many more of these walks lugging nets and collecting jars. Tilly’s a geologist - she’s most interested in playing in the dirt.
The boy is not well - he appears to have man-flu. He’d been a bit snotty all day and a bit subdued - despite running around Grandma’s house like a complete nutter at points he wasn’t really on form. When we put him into the bath he turned a lovely shade of mottled pink and started moaning about it all being a bit cold - since Tilly was fine we were a little confused. Then he got out of the bath, cried that it hurt when I lifted him and started shivering. He didn’t stop shivering even whilst cuddled up in his lovely warm bathrobe (thank you Uncle Peter). So the medised was unleashed and Lex didn’t even manage to stay awake until Daddy had left the room.
So, tomorrow he might be fine or he might not. We might be going swimming - and he loves his new ‘big boy’ (ages 3-5) swimming lessons - or we might not. Lex was unconvinced before bed, apparently he’d like to stay home tomorrow. We’ll just have to see.
I am a bad blogger. In my defence I am a much better twitterer - I suppose it is just that writing 140 characters seems doable but a whole post a lot of effort.
We had a bit of a scare a couple of weeks ago - took Tilly to be weighed and measured (needed this information if we wanted to get a referral to a paediatrician) and it looked like she basically hadn’t grown much in the past 5/6 months. It looked like she had dropped from the 75th to the 9th centile in height although her weight was holding steady on the 50th - 75th centile. However, when I took her back to the baby clinic the following week and had her weighed and measured by my actual health visitor (HV) who managed to measure the girl a full 3 cm longer than the previous measurement. This still has Tilda on a lower centile line than she was originally but it’s not the dramatic drop that the wrong measurement showed.
We are now waiting on a referral which is thanks, in no small part, to the bad measurement so it was useful in that respect. I am hoping that we’ll be given a bit of advice and guidance in how to deal with Tilly’s food issues. Eliminating tomatoes from her diet has made a dramatic difference but other things are upsetting her still. Eggs we just avoid in any quantity but something else is a problem and we can’t identify it. Tilly has not slept properly for the past three nights, her bum is raw (so many pooey nappies) and I’m having to lather her in moisturiser because she’s getting dry excema-ish patches on her arms. So aargh.
Luckily dairy does not seem to be a problem generally but too much may be. It’s tough policiing the girl at toddler groups where she picks up food other kids have dropped or takes food other toddlers hand her. She’s especially not great on crisps, which we don’t have a lot of but do seem to cause her issues - flavourings or colourants possibly? Am going to have to keep a close eye on her at Christmas, I’ll also probably take down a few pots of plum baby food with us and some quick cook pasta so that I won’t have to worry too much about dinner when we’re not at home.
Apologies for the rambling, in my head I write great blog posts, in reality I am tired.
My little Tilly monster is allergic to tomatoes. It started with a slight rash on her skin but once she had started reacting it got worse each time she had more tomato based food.
The last time she had something with a lot of tomatoes in it her skin was inflamed where she got food on her face, her face became slightly puffy, she seemed congested - snotty nose and chesty and when it passed through she ended up with nappy rash.
So, now we have to figure out how to cook without tomatoes. I should be used to this by now from Tilly - I couldn’t eat cheese or eggs when she was newborn because it made her ill. Luckily she grew out of the cheese intolerance but the egg one remains - no scrambled egg or omelette for my girl.
Perhaps we’ll be fortunate and she’ll grow out of this allergy too but until then we’re a bit restricted in what we can cook and I’ve got to figure out how to replace the passata that I use as a base for so many recipes.
I’m not entirely sure if it’s connected, but since we’ve cut the devil fruit out of her diet Tilly is sleeping infinitely better, fingers crossed that it continues tonight.
For Halloween this year TIlly wore the skeleton outfit that Lex had for his first Halloween. She was very cute - so cute that she won a prize at toddlers. Other than that Halloween pretty much passed her by - she did enjoy the trip to the zoo but wasn’t too keen on being in the pushchair, we swapped over the kids towards the end.
Since we somehow lost Lex’s monster outfit into the depths of the house, this year Lex was a demon policeman. He loves his policeman outfit, so much so he didn’t take it off all day after he wore it to toddlers on Thursday. He wasn’t, however, completely happy with other children being dressed up. At toddlers he was a bit freaked out and stuck close to me for most of it. At the zoo the next day he was fine probably because he was so excited to be with his cousins. We did have one older boy telling him he couldn’t be dressed as a policeman because that wasn’t a Halloween thing. Luckily Lex didn’t get what he was on about and just ignored him.
For two nights in a row there have been no requests for mummy milk from the boy. For a few weeks he’s not been too interested in a nursing at bed time but has still insisted on it. It’s all a bit strange because I always thought that the bedtime feed would be the last that he dropped but instead it’s the first major one gone.
I am somewhat resolved to take a fairly child-led approach to weaning the two bitty monsters but will probably ‘help’ a bit along the way to encourage the boy to drop more feeds. I think now that the morning nursing will be the last he’ll want to drop and the nap time nursing will be the last I’ll want him to drop - it’s so glorious when both kids sleep in the afternoon.
Poor neglected Tilly - Moe almost always sends her off to nursery without anything in her hair. Unfortunately the girl’s hair is constantly in her face without a clip to hold it back. The nursery workers have therefore taken pity on her and have taken it upon themselves to do her hair for her. Today I arranged with them that I would put a little container in her nursery bag with clips and things and they would do the necessary in the morning. Just a pity that I’m normally out the door before TIlly is up or ready to have her hair done.
