There is potential for randomness......

Morning/afternoon/evening for whatever time you are reading this. For me I am writing on a Thursday morning on half term week, which means that I am almost done with another school holiday and have managed to survive with only one wall covered in pen and no trips to A&E (so far). Ok single life over the last 5 months hasn't been half as scary as I thought it was going to be.  Every day is an adventure and for every obstacle overcome I gain a little more self respect and faith in myself. Having said that, as I hurtle towards the first of the kids birthdays as a single mum, I have found myself questioning lots of decisions.  Humf is turning 3 a week today and its been a rollercoaster for this little man so far in his three little years.  He's been through and faced possibly the worst time in his mothers life and just had to cope right from the day he was born. With this in mind I may have gone slightly overboard in trying to make his birthday special and I'll just have to try to find party bag fillers for 30 preschoolers and cater for these extremely demanding party food connoisseurs.  I am employing specialized disagreement mediators in case there are any arguments and bouncers in case we get gatecrashers or possible escapees. At least I'm not doing it all at home.  

Had a falling out with a facebook "friend" this week.  I don't know about you, but I try to be non judgemental when reading other people statuses even if i don't agree with the post.  I had received a speeding fine through the mail and had a little moan about the fact that Northants Police were very quick to charge me on doing 36 in a 30 zone but are taking nearly 6 months to deal with another far more serious matter.  Anyway this "friend" decided to start berating me for "speeding" and even when it was explained that I am a good driver and that it is well known that the police are only ever there as a money making exercises because no one has been run over in the town let alone just that one road, she still felt it necessary to lambaste me. In the end I politely asked her to delete me as she clearly wasn't prepared to listen and take on aboard anything that I or other people were saying and therefore I didn't want her to be part of my life.  She kindly obliged.  What I don't understand is why she felt is necessary to not only upset me with her comments and accusations but also the other people who were posting comments as well.  Its not as if she has to deal with these people personally on a day to day basis or even with them at all, what did she possibly have to gain by intentionally putting peoples backs up?

I think I know why they teaches us geometry in school. Its so when we have kids of our own and they come to us for help we can stare at them with wild panic in our eyes and have to admit to them that we just don't know everything.  They can then feel superior and so start the teenage process as it means to go on, them going round with a mildly over inflated ego and you tearing your hair out. This came to a head the other day when mooki moo brought her maths homework to me with a whine of "help me".  She handed me a piece of paper with various shapes, formulas and questions on volume, I had not a clue and as I went to open my mouth got told, there's no point as I obviously don't understand it and how is this possible when you are an accountant.  I then tried to explain that there is very little geometry in accounting but she'd already walked out in a huff by then. Somewhere the Gods of maths are sitting around chuckling at me I'm sure of it.  

Anyway I am sure you have had enough of my ramblings and its a lovely day so I suppose I should get us all ready and take us somewhere educational and fun. Speak to you soon you lovely lovely people xxx

My All Grow'd Up Cup from Happy HollyDaisy Ltd

About a week ago I was very excited to recieve in the "My All Grow'd Up Cup" in the post.  It came in a smart  brown box with a big clear panel showing its exciting contents inside.  With 4 different colours to choose from I had chosen the unisex lime green for Humf my 2 and 3/4 old.

At first I was a little confused as to what the concept of the cup actually was and why was it different from other toddler beakers, but upon reading the packaging I discovered it was a learning system to try to teach toddlers not to leave their drinks lying around with the potential accidents, spillages or cries of where's my juice.

Eager to give it a test run we opened it up and while I was intially disappointed that the beaker itself wasn't very big but I was pleased that they had been thoughtful enough to provide batteries.

So the basic concept is this, the beaker holder has suction cups that can be attatched to any flat surface, you insert the batteries in to this part and switch it on, you then give your child their juice and encourage them to put the beaker in the holder when they are finished drinking, this action then rewards them by allowing them to hear the elephant trumpet with their success.

As with all things with children the novelty of hearing the elephant trumpet wore off pretty quickly and he ended up having more fun playing with the holder sticking it on and pulling it off various surfaces.  I can see where this beaker would be an excellent addition to the travel kit as their juice would be within easy reach for them on car journeys and it would not be rolling around the floor spilling everywhere (aslong as they put it back in the holder).

I believe as a product this makes an excellent present for toddlers and mums but I don't believe it would be something one would buy for oneself.  Its is well designed and in attractive packaging, the cup is sturdy and the holder is kid proof and it makes a lovely unusaul present maybe for a 1st or 2nd birthday. It would definitly be something I would consider purchasing my friends and familys kids.  

http://www.happyhollydaisy.com/

Won't be doing that again in a hurry

Seriously disappointed. Ninja has been watching the adverts (that are on incessantly) for Legoland and has been busting to go. So week 3 in to the holidays we decided to take them. To start with it was a 2 hour journey that become 3, given that extra hour thanks to me doggedly following the stupid satnav. Fine, the kids were perfectly behaved and all the traffic queues were moderate, so we managed to get there for 11am (opens at 10). Lots of excited anticipation coming from the kids, got to the kiosk 2 adults and 2 children (one under 3 so free haha !!) £105 yes you read it right £105. I'm sure if we were prepared to cause a scene hubbie and I would have just asked for our money back there and then and gone home. As we didn't we both went pale, felt sick and continued in to the park. Word of warning there is almost nothing, really nothing for a toddler there !! Humf and I spent the next 8 hours basically waiting for hubbie and ninja to go on to rides and then queue up again and go on another. The most exciting parts of the day for humf were watching the trains go round the model village and playing with some lego for an hour while the other 2 queued for one ride. Being 2cm's under the required height restrictions, which was applied ridiculously to every ride in the park (even the toddler train !!) we just spent the day watching rather than participating and by the end of it I had been hit, bitten and kicked in shear frustration as humf watched his big brother do things that really and truly he could have as well. All things considered, the extreme long waiting times and general bad organisation of everything Ninja was well behaved but it wasn't until after 4pm that he got to enjoy himself. He went on more things and had more fun in the last hour of the park being open than he had in the whole day. I think the most fun he had was on the bungee trampoline (which cost us an extra £5). He went sooo god damn high, the man set it to as high as possible and still Ninja was loving it, he must have been jumping 30-40 ft in the air and every time the man bounced him my stomach landed in my mouth. All in all I would not reccommend Legoland on any counts, and I shall be trying to persuade hubbie to take us to Drayton Manor (Thomas Land) for the little one before the end of the summer hols. DON'T GO, Thorpe Park is much better !!