Thank you cards

I posted after Christmas about sending out thank you cards, we weren't very good at it then. I wanted to be better prepared for Kit's birthday. I want him to be really grateful for any gifts and not expect them. He loves making cards. He often asks me to give him bits to make a card and occasionally we post them to people. I was contemplating what to do for thank you cards, but he obviously had decided already as he designed them himself (although I suggested the addition of googly eyes).

He's really into drawing faces with legs at the moment, they never have arms for some reason, although one of the later cards he introduced ears.

Party Bags (eco-friendly'ish')

This was the first time Kit has had a proper party for his birthday, so it was also the first time I'd considered party bags. He has received quite a few, the contents has ranged greatly. It's all about the cake really isn't it. I didn't feel that pressured as to what we put in, but at the same time I didn't want to go and buy a bunch of cheap plastic items and sweets, because that isn't who I am. We shared party bags with the other family so all the kids got the same bag. My contribution to the contents (was probably the boring part!).

Re-cycled crayons

Cress-head kits (cress seeds, cotton wool, googly eyes, instructions)

Knitted chickens



I also printed off some of the fold up cars to colour in, and some stickers.

What do all of you guys put in party bags?

Fancy dress

I used to love fancy dress. I had a fancy dress for my 18th birthday (and dressed as Mildred from the Worst Witch - that is the level of geek I am!). Kit loves to dress up. He had a joint party this year with a friend who was born the day after him. I didn't want to tell people that they had to dress up for his party because I know not all kids like to dress up, and noone really wants to have to get a costume together for a 3-year olds party. I thought I'd give a subtle offering of dressing up for the kids that came and crafted an assortment of head-dresses for them to pick from. (I didn't get a chance to take any photos at the party, and I don't generally like to post photos of anyone elses kids (unless I've specifically asked) so I got Kit to do a show for you.

I'd also made Kit a Gruffalo costume, which I haven't managed to get a photo of him in yet (I will aim to get it up for the weekend). And I made the other birthday girl a mermaid tail, as she loves The Little Mermaid.

Happy 3rd Birthday Kit!

It's Kit's birthday today.

3. Is that officially out of the baby/toddler stage? In the past few weeks we've gone from nappies to pants (24/7), and Kit has developed the attitude of a teenager so it definitely feels like we are out of the baby-stage now.

We had a party for him on Saturday, he's at 'school' today (although I'm picking him up early to go to a cafe for tea). I'll share some of the bits I did for his party over the next few days.

NB The cake also had a cardboard rocket with a plastic dinosaur driving it leaning against it, but I didn't get a photo of both together - it was Kit's request that his cake had a dinosaur in a rocket on it?!

Mosaic sticking

I bought some craft packs from The Pound Shop. They are awesome, mainly you get a bunch of offcuts of paper and random leftover pieces but you also get some of the non-offcut parts of the paper (if that makes sense). In one of the packs we got a bunch of cat shaped cards, some flower shapes, some sheets of handmade-looking paper and some squares of plain paper. The other also had some squares of paper, and had some card offcuts of various shapes, with some of the shapes not having been taken out (I have plans for these sheets I'll show once we've done it), a few envelopes, some felt deer, an embossed sheet of Christmas images and the leftovers of a sheet of sparkly foam letters, with some letters still attached. You also get a bag of beads and a piece of ribbon with them. Definitely worth the £1 and also I'm guessing, very eco-friendly, as they are essentially made of the cutting room floor waste.

As Kit is getting more mischevious everyday I struggle to keep him from destroying our flat getting bored, while I am trying to get ready or cooking the dinner, or anything really that doesn't involve me paying 100% of my attension to him. Sometimes he is great and plays on his own happily, but that is never when I actually need him too. I've been trying to think of easy things that he can do himself that are novel enough for him to engage with them, but that are safe for him to do unattended (safe for the flat as well as the child!). He likes sticking, but just randomly sticking stickers on paper can be a bit boring so I thought I'd make it a bit more focused and constructive.

I basically cut up the offcut leftovers of sparkly foam from the alphabet stickers and left them out with a colouring page and suggested he colour the picture with the stickers. I put it out ready and it kept him entertained for the 15 mins that I needed to get ready this morning. I'd also, unintentionally, left a cup by the set-up which he then spent another 5-mins tipping the leftover stickers from the plate to the cup and back. Now I just have to think of something for every other morning.

Dr Who - knitted Tardis phone-cover

I've been experimenting to knit a phone cover. I think I've managed to nail the right size, I'll let you decide if I've nailed the design, for a tardis phone-cover.

Sorry for the bad quality photos I'm being lazy doing them via my phone in really bad lighting.

What do you think?

Simple Wedding Congratulations Card

When I get the chance I think it is much nicer to make cards to celebrate special events, rather than buying them. Our friends got married last week, I fashioned a really simple card to celebrate the occasion.

Normally I let Kit loose on all our cards, but he was busy doing important toddler stuff in his toy hospital so he didn't contribute.

All the card was, is a piece of folded one side coloured card folded, with a luggage tag tied around the fold and secured with washi tape. I just wrote of the luggage tag, and wrote the names on the back, and decorated with stickers.

Trendy Toddler Tuesday

I'm coining this 'chimney sweep chic'. We were off to a wedding party so I suggested Kit wore a shirt - the button-less and too-small waistcoat, 3D glasses, miffy bag and hat were his own choice.

And he insisted on wearing his very well-worn Toms (because I was wearing mine).

All the clothes were thrifted, but originally the shirt was M&S, waistcoat Monsoon and shorts Fat Face

Where we were for the Diamond Jubilee.

We went to London Bridge and Kit ended up watching it on TV in my friends bed.

While we enjoyed a very English beverage while watching it in the other room (and some strawberries and cream).

We caught the live reenactment in lego...

Although I don't recall the boat crashing into London Bridge on the TV!

And then we experienced a taste of things to come with London public transport - 

I am not looking forward to my every-other-daily commute to work during the olympics!

Are single parents happy?

I was perusing my stats the other day and saw that a few people had found us by searching 'are single parents happy'. It made me sit back and think about the general questions that we ask.

I have a friend who is pregnant at the moment and when I talk to her about life after baby it really makes me think about how things will be for her than they were for me. Hindsight is a great thing, but my experience isn't really going to tell you what your life will be like. Everyone's lives are different.

I really struggled with the decision to leave Kit's father (yup, I don't know if I've said that on here before - I left Kit's dad). I left him when I was pregnant. And then towards the end of my pregnancy I asked if we could move in together to work it out because I wanted Kit to have the best possible for him and I thought that meant having a full-time Dad. Six months in, utterly depressed, I left him again. I still haven't come to terms with removing Kit from his father. I moved back to down the road from where his Dad bought a house so he could see Kit more and I invest far too much time and effort into trying to facilitate that. My only advice on single parenting is, generally on the bigger issues, what is best for your child is what makes you happy. A happy mummy = happy child.

If I could go back and do it again, would I do it different? Would I have stayed single and followed my gut when I was pregnant. Not have paniced about 'breaking' my childs home and wanting to do what was best for my baby by sacrificing my happiness? Probably not. Time travel is great and all that, but I'd still have been the same person in that of time. And anyone reading this is who they are. I can't tell you if you'll be happy or not.

Am I happy now I'm single? Most of the time yes. I'm exhausted, frustrated, lonely, and tired. But when I hear the words 'Mummy, I love you lots and lots and lots' I think, I don't need anything more than this. And you know what, my kid is alright. He's happy too.