Have Bed, Will Travel

Up until recently, whenever we stayed overnight anywhere we took a travel cot with us. It was very satisfying having Thurston safely contained! However, the last time I used it was when Alex was in hospital having spinal surgery and I stayed at my mum’s house. I was in a very deep sleep having spent the day at the hospital, so didn’t hear any noise but woke up when I felt a very heavy lump on my legs. I opened one eye and the heavy lump was grinning at me, so that was that! Thurston can now escape the travel cot! He does sleep in a bed at home now so I set about looking for a travel bed too.

Worlds Apart were very kind and sent Thurston a Ready Bed to try. They sent him the Cars 2 model which was obviously an instant hit and he needed no persuading to try it out. We set it up in the lounge straight away and actually struggled to get him out. It was really easy and fast to pump up. In fact, we have had Ready Beds before for the other children, and Worlds Apart have made some really great improvements on the pump and valve since the last time we bought one. It is a much better design and has a quick-release part to the valve which means it deflates in no time at all.

 

We took the Ready Bed with us on an overnight stay at a friend’s house and Thurston settled in it no problem. It was so much easier laying him down in the bed than trying to lean over a cot side to get him in. It looked really comfortable and comes with a light duvet already attached. The Ready Bed looks really appealing and colourful, and the Cars 2 design was brilliant for Thurston who is now very fond of his “Carbed!”. We chose the option of having the Ready Bed suitable from 3 years instead of 2 years so that it would last him longer. The only slight problem is that I think he might still be a bit lightweight for it, as this happened when he rolled over!!!!

 

We did all have a good laugh when we found him though, he didn’t even wake up when he was rolled back!

The Cars 2 Ready bed is a really useful item and makes staying overnight so much simpler. It all packs away really small into a little bag that comes with it, and even fits under the kids’ feet in the car if the boot is jam-packed! I may now need to buy 2 more…..!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

Thurston Loves Peppa & George

All of my kids have been huge Peppa Pig fans when they were little, and Thurston is just the same. In fact it’s on the TV while I type this!! Thurston does a really funny piggy snort and has learned all the animal noises from watching the show. It’s such a sweet and endearing programme that even though my other boys are a little older, they don’t mind watching along with him and often end up in giggles (particularly at Grampy Rabbit!).

Paulton’s Park opened a whole world of Peppa Pig in their theme park in Southampton, and we were incredibly fortunate to be given tickets for our family to have a day out there. The drive was about 3 hours from our house so it was easy to do in a day, we just packed up the car and went on an adventure!

As soon as we arrived at Paulton’s Park, we made a beeline for Peppa Pig World and the kids were mesmerised. Thurston genuinely believed that we were stepping into the little piggy town that you see on the TV. Granny and Grandpa Pig’s house was one of the 1st things he spotted, and then he started to look around at all the rides. All the kids were amazed.

 

We went for the Balloon Ride first of all. There were loads of buggy parks so it was easy to dump that and then hop on a ride. The queues were pretty empty, in fact we didn’t queue for more than 10 minutes for any of the rides, but it was a weekday. As the park is aimed at pre-school children mainly, all the rides are suitable for little ones which meant there was no disappointment. It also meant Louis (8) could ride on a lot of the rides without one of us going with him, which he was very smug about!

Thurston’s favourite ride was Grandpa Pig’s Boat Trip which was a very sweet little roundabout of boats that bobbed about in the water. Louis loved George’s Dinosaur Adventure where you hopped on the back of George’s toy dinosaur and galloped around the scenery where there were lots of statues of Peppa’s friends. Zeke loved Daddy Pig’s car ride where the kids drive the adults around a little motorway! There was also Miss Rabbit’s Helicopter Flight, Grandpa Pig’s Little Train and Windy Castle.

 

Apart from the lovely rides, there was lots of other things to do and see. Thurston was so happy that you could actually go inside Peppa’s house, where there were big models of the family performing a scene from the Pancakes episode. There was a really lovely playground, Mr Potato’s Playground where it was really good for the kids to run off some energy. We were very happy to find a big Gaston the ladybird from Ben & Holly to perch on in the playground! There was a huge indoor play area called George’s Spaceship Playzone. I am not a fan of soft play areas and find them quite stressful, usually because Thurston climbs up things and I have to rescue him in my socks! The Peppa Pig play area was no exception and I had to hike myself up a load of soft play obstacles to retrieve Thurston as he was frozen to the spot! The older children could have easily played all day in there if we had let them though!

 

 

Thurston was really exciting when Peppa and George came out to meet all the children and he stroked both of them and shook their hands, and couldn’t stop beaming with smiles while they danced around!

 

The highlight of the day for Thurston and us was the wet playground Muddy Puddles. I had heard about the wet play before I went and so I had packed a 2nd set of clothes for each kid because I know how carried away Thurston gets with water play! I had still underestimated the wet area though and was expecting a light sprinkling of water. I was wrong! It was a tidal wave of water being bombarded at the kids, with extra inches of water on the ground to splash about in. Thurston is not shy when it comes to water and was utterly drenched within seconds. It was all worth it for the blissful grin on his face!

Peppa Pig World is really geared around very small toddlers and children which actually makes it ideal for children with Autism. All of the playgrounds are self contained so the children are easy to keep a watchful eye on. None of the rides are scary at all, and for some of them I didn’t even have to have Thurston on my lap which he was really pleased about. Whilst the Peppa Pig music on the loud speakers may get on your nerves, the repetitive and recognisable songs from the show were really reassuring for Thurston and kept him calm. All of the rides were fairly short which meant that the queues were also fairly short.

Our whole family had an amazing time at Peppa Pig World and we were really lucky to get the chance to go. It’s a really brilliant park!

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

 

Soft and Silver

The weather is ridiculously unpredictable at the moment and it is really affecting Thurston’s sleep. He is really disturbed by the heat, but he doesn’t like to sleep without pyjamas or a blanket. He has always been hypersensitive to clothing as well, and hates any waistbands that are too tight, or any label that rubs against his skin. His skin is very sensitive and he does have outbreaks of Eczema when he becomes very stressed and uncomfortable.

I found this lovely website online www.silversense.co.uk, whose clothing is made of cotton-rich knitted fabrics blended with natural silver fibre. The silver has a calming effect on itchy skin which is brilliant for children who struggle with Eczema.

The best thing about Silver Sense clothing is that it is thermo-regulating meaning that it keeps kids cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter. I was so pleased to find some proper pyjamas that Thurston could wear while it was so hot.

Silver Sense very kindly sent me a pair of Sidney the Spider’s jammies, along with a matching dribble bib and a Regal Albert dribble bib. The bibs were ideal for Thurston as they tied on at the back which means they will grow with him. That is really useful for older children who still dribble.

The pyjamas and bibs are incredibly soft and comfortable and Thurston was really relaxed wearing them. Even in humid sticky weather (although he still woke at night) he wasn’t distressed by his clothing or pulling at it at all, which is really surprising.

The pyjamas are really lovely quality and came out of the wash the exact same colour and shape as they went in. The envelope-style neck often stretches on other pyjamas but it has stayed perfect on the Silver Sense ones.

I will definitely be ordering more stuff from Silver Sense as anything that helps Autistic children get to sleep comfortably is fantastic. I’ve got my eye on Jeffrey the Monkey’s jammies next!

Thanks for reading!

Hanj x

Missing being Mary Poppins

Thurston has been awake since 2am, and has just fallen asleep at 9.30am. I would normally take advantage of this and lay on the sofa watching TV, but my 5 year old is off school for a teacher training day and is watching The Muppets Take Manhattan. I have that horrible hot, overtired feeling and I don’t know how to shake it off. I’m not just tired from last night’s lack of sleep, I’m tired from the last couple of weeks. Ever since Thurston’s birthday, he has been a little wrecking ball of mayhem. His current favourite TV show is “Ooglies” on the CBBC channel (or as Thurston pronounces it ‘the CBCB channel’). For those who haven’t watched it, it’s an animated series about a collection of fruit, vegetables, kitchen implements, stationery etc which are all alive and have ‘googlie eyes’. Thurston is enamoured with it and has set about collecting all the ‘characters’ from the show. This basically involves him looting fruit and veg from around the house and playing “Ooglies” then hiding the oranges, bananas etc in various places around the lounge for his next game. It’s a risky game in this hot & humid weather and I am now constantly on the lookout for rogue fresh produce. He is particularly keen to get his mitts on my box of eggs and will go to any length to get them, regardless of how dangerous it is. It feels similar to when your baby learns to crawl for the 1st time, and you are suddenly ultra-aware that nothing is safe anymore. I have to be constantly vigilant around him and to be honest, at 4 years old, I’m really irritated by it!

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I had just about got to the point where my house is how I want it to be. It’s not astonishingly neat & tidy, but everything had its’ place and it was easy to clean up and put things away throughout the day. However, Thurston is now so chaotic and unpredictable that within the 1st hour of the day, he has usually hidden marmite toast down the back of the sofa, done some colouring on the fridge, poured formula in his cars toy box, stolen all the fruit from the bowl and scattered it throughout the lounge, and put the iPod touch in the recycling bin. It’s impossible to keep on top of it all and keep the place looking nice.

When I had 2 children, I was so particular about everything. We lived in a little 2 bedroom flat above a shop, and everything was immaculate. The children would play and make their mess, then when the eldest went to nursery and the youngest napped, I would clear everything away and it would look good as new again. I would do activities with them and talk to them all the time, bake with them, take them to the park. It was all very Mary Poppins! It should be possible with 3 children, and of course it is possible, but it seems to take so much more time and energy because of Thurston. I’ve had to completely rethink my standards. Their outfits do not co ordinate anymore. I only attempt to cook with them if there is another adult in the house to be on ‘oven-watch’. I tidy up constantly throughout the day, but I definitely don’t clean it all every day. I have enough trouble keeping on top of the surface dirt of mud, spilt drinks and felt tip, let alone getting out the floor cleaner and furniture polish. I do still hoover everyday but that is only because by the time Thurston has eaten lunch, the floor looks like someone has stamped an entire meal into it and crumbled what ever was left over the top (that’s because that’s exactly what he has done!). I do a big proper clean about once a week so it is clean still, but it’s just not how I’d like it. I’ve had to learn to let go a little bit. If it’s a choice between cleaning behind the sofa or going for a walk along the beach, then I will get out of the house, no question.

It’s not just the house that’s taken a battering lately, but I’ve also learned to accept being permanently embarrassed. We took the kids on a day trip to London at the weekend. We’ve taken them to London before but for various reasons, it was the 1st time we had taken all 3 at the same time. For some reason, it just didn’t work. The older boys were stroppy and whiney, and Thurston was just a complete and utter terror from start to finish. He hated the train, he hated being in the buggy. Despite being knackered, I thought it was fair enough that he didn’t want to be in the buggy and got him out for a walk once we got past Westminster Abbey. This did nothing to help his mood, he got very cross that I tried to hold hands with him, and then became really stressed by the crowds and decided the only option was to take a lie-down in the middle of the pavement which wasn’t exactly ideal. I hoisted him up and he walked a few more metres before lying down again, this time right in front of a horse and guard shouting “Mind out for Thurston!”. I agree, it sounds pretty funny now. I picked him up and he started to shout again, this time he shouted “mummy hurting me” which is a classic he likes to throw out there when there are strangers watching, thanks Thurst!

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Obviously as on any family day out, it poured down with rain. I had brought raincoats for everyone except me naturally and so I was hot, embarrassed and now drenched. We finally made it to St James’ Park and let Thurston roam free which was just what he needed. Due to the rain, there were some incredibly large puddles in the park which were irresistable to Thurston. Once he had stepped in that 1st muddy puddle, there was no going back. He wasn’t dressed appropriately, he was wearing his lovely Clarks shoes instead of wellies, and jeans not waterproofs, but for the 1st time that day he looked genuinely happy. Alex and I let him be, and enjoyed watching him splosh around getting soaked. Some tourists were actually shocked and horrified that we were letting him get so wet but I can honestly say I didn’t care. There was a time when I would’ve cared and probably would have stopped him as soon as his foot hit the water, but I’ve realised that even if you have spent £65 on a train fayre to look at the sights of London, if they end up being happiest when splashing in a colossal puddle, then that is still money well spent. After all, the point of having a family day out is for kids to enjoy themselves. We were probably unprepared for the fact that the final puddle was the puddle to end all puddles and actually Thurston was now up to his knees in grubby park water. We couldn’t even get him out because the puddle was so deep that our shoes would’ve been destroyed. He stayed in that puddle for as long as he wanted to, and I know that he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

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Once we had walked over to Buckingham Palace, Thurston did actually start to get quite distressed that he was so wet and cold. In the past, if it had been one of my other children, I would have looked for a loo or a cafe to sort him out in private. He was screaming and miserable and I have stopped caring what strangers think of me! He stripped off right outside the palace and I can honestly say i wasn’t that fussed. By that point, I just wanted him to be warm and dry and comfortable. By some foresight, I actually had brought some pyjamas with me so I managed to sort him out no problem.

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As for the rest of the week, he has thrown admission forms into someone’s garden and left me foraging in their bushes to find them. He has tried to cut off a Physiotherapist’s finger. He referred to a therapist (persistently) as Nanny. He slapped his new teacher and new teaching assistant round the face for trying to convince him to sit on a carpet. He’s pulled my top down in front of my friends, and he threw my iPhone (which I just had replaced for the 2nd time because of him) into the road. I do sometimes think about the situations he makes me end up in, and I often think to myself “i would only do this for you Thurston”, and it’s really true. I may not be a Mary Poppins-type anymore, but having a child like Thurston has taught me some really valuable life-lessons:

1: Dusting the top of the TV can wait until tomorrow. Build a Mega-Bloks tower instead.

2: It really doesn’t matter if strangers are staring at you. You will never see them again.

3: The kids’ outifts do not need to co ordinate, they just need to withstand stains, falling over and going on the slide.

4: I do still need to pack spare clothes for my child, even though he is 4!

5: Never make firm plans, go with the flow and everyone will be more relaxed.

6: Get out of the house as much as possible. Even if it’s a disaster, you will end up laughing about it. You will never regret going out, but I *often* regret staying in.

7: If your child prefers splashing in muddy puddles/looking at the trees in the breeze/playing a kissing game to going to expensive attractions, don’t be disappointed, be pleased that they are so easily pleased and embrace it. The simple things in life are often the most rewarding!

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Thanks for reading.

Hanj x

Adorable

I want to share this amazing company with everyone who likes unusual kidswear. Olive & Moss make completely gorgeous kids clothing and I am in love with their entire range! The quality of the clothes is brilliant and they fit like a dream. All of their items feature one of their delightful animal characters. When I saw Douglas the Dog, I knew he would be perfect for Thurston as he wears a little bandana bib just like him!

Thurston was so happy with his t-shirt and wore it when we went away last weekend and he looked absolutely adorable!!!

The next thing I have my eye on from Olive & Moss is the Louis the Lion Hooded Sweatshirt, and when I have another littl’un I will definitely be ordering the Crispin the Crab outfit!

www.oliveandmoss.co.uk @OliveandMoss (Twitter)

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

Anything But Biscuits!

I have told you all before that my son does not like to allow me to have a night’s sleep. Unfortunately, since he is the youngest of 3, I don’t have the option of sitting in my Pjs watching New Girl all day, and instead I have to drag myself up and out of the house to various different schools and nurseries pretending to be human.

Until recently, the way I coped was by replacing sleep with copious amounts of custard creams, digestives, hob nobs and bourbons. While my little biscuit friends helped me to feel wide awake for the following 20 minutes, I was still really tired and felt really sluggish and run down. I still firmly believe that if you are severely sleep-deprived then you will need to keep grazing on snacks throughout the day to keep your energy levels up, but if you replace them with nutritious but still delicious snacks instead then you are onto a winner. You will get a lovely pick me up and none of the guilt. Here are 3 of my current favourite healthy snacks!

First of all, I think all mums need a good cuppa. Sometimes if you think you are hungry, you should try making a cup of tea first and often that will take the hunger pangs away. The nicest cup of tea I have enjoyed lately has been from The*Teashed. This gorgeous British company makes really special teabags which come in cute takeaway cups which is also useful if you haven’t quite got around to washing up yet! The Teashed sent me some samples of their variety of teas and I really loved the Pick Me Up At 3 * Tea. This tea is laden with just enough caffeine to give you a boost, and is great for that moment mid-afternoon when you have hit a wall energy-wise. Also, if you are feeling virtuous then I recommend the Skinny Tea which is a really smooth green tea which can help boost your metabolism. The teabags themselves are really luxurious and silky and reminded me of the tea we had in a tiny boutique hotel on our honeymoon in Paris. The Teashed tea is very special and well worth ordering online as a treat. www.the-teashed.co.uk @The_TeaShed (Twitter).

Another important thing to make sure you do when you haven’t slept is eat breakfast. Before now, I would wake up feeling suitably sorry for myself and drown my sorrows in toast with lashings of peanut butter. Not anymore though since I have found Moma breakfasts. I do like a nice bowl of porridge, but often before the school run, things are a bit chaotic to set about making a hot brekkie. Moma sent me some lovely pots of their porridge which is so simple to make that even in my zombie state I can manage it! All you do is add boiling water, stir and pop the lid back on for a few minutes. The porridge is rich in wholegrain and low fat and you really do feel nourished after you have eaten a pot. I was also sent some samples of the lovely Moma Bircher Muesli which is made with wholegrain oats, probiotic yoghurt and fruit. I do struggle to eat yoghurt first thing in the morning and have been eating these as a mid morning snack instead and I have to say I am converted. It’s such an easy snack/breakfast to grab and eat that it will stop you cracking open the biscuit barrell!! These breakfasts are really delicious and well worth a try. www.momafoods.co.uk @Moma (Twitter).

Evening snacking is definitely my weakest area and I really need to work a bit harder on my evening willpower! Something that has really helped is the gourmet popcorn from Propercorn. Propercorn makes really lovely unusual popcorn in 4 different flavours. My favourite was Sweet & Salty, but we were also sent Fiery Worcester Sauce & Sun Dried Tomato, Sour Cream and Chive, and Lightly Sea Salted. They were all completely delicious and left us wanting more! Even if you devour the entire pack by yourself, that is still under 100 calories so you can snack away guilt-free! Popcorn is the ideal evening snack to munch on while you watch tv, and I will also be taking a bag with me to the cinema next time I go as I can’t imagine eating any other kind now!! www.propercorn.com @Propercorn (Twitter)

 

I hope everyone manages to make it to bedtime without succumbing to the evil biscuits!!

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

Buggies for Big Kids

Recently, it has been becoming more and more difficult for Thurston to fit into a buggy. He still needs a buggy for lots of reasons, firstly because he has no sense of road danger. Secondly, because he has hypermobility and low muscle tone, he tends to get bad muscle cramps when he has been running or walking for a long time. Also, if we are having a really busy day, Thurston gets very tired and still likes to take a nap. I’ve been on the lookout for buggies that are suitable for 4 year olds, and also still easy to push. I’ve never been able to make Thurston comfortable in a typical stroller-type pushchair as the seats are not supportive and he has a tendency to sink or slump in them. We have been offered a special needs buggy on the NHS but it is a stroller and so I don’t feel that it really suits Thurston’s needs and have set about finsing something a bit more comfy for him.

Easywalker were incredibly helpful and recommended that the Easywalker Sky would suit our needs as it is very long and wide. They were really kind and sent Thurston his very own one so that he could give it a thorough road-test. The first thing he noticed was its bright Lime green colour, and it has now been renamed “The Kermit Buggy” by him and the whole family. It was really quick and easy to assemble and all 3 kids wanted a go in it straight away!! The first time we took it out was to our local shopping centre. When we go shopping, Thurston tends to stay in the buggy for most of the time as he gets very stressed in crowds, and also tends to run off. The hood on the Sky was fantastic, it is so huge that it really helped Thurston to ‘hide away’ from all the people. Because of the pneumatic tyres and 3 wheel design, the Sky is really easy to manouvre and push, and even though it is so wide it was no problem to steer through the shopping crowds and aisles.

Next up, we took the Easywalker Sky to Peppa Pig World. It does fold fairly compact and fits in the boot of our Skoda Fabia as long as we remove the parcel shelf which is no bother. The basket on the pushchair is huge and easily coped with all of our necessities for a day at the theme park, plus raincoats and a change of clothes for once the kids had splashed in the “Muddy Puddles” area of the park. The bumper bar on the front was great for Thurston to hold on to so that he could sit right forward and look out at everything, and he was really happy and comfy in the supportive seat. He was in and out of the Sky all day and it was really easy to pop him in and out without any backache which you often get with lifting larger toddlers in and out of buggies. During the day, Louis (8) also had a perch on the edge of the buggy, and Zeke (5) had a lovely lay down inside it. It didn’t feel any heavier with Zeke in it than it did with Thurston which means that it will last a really long time.

 

There isn’t much advice available to mums who need a buggy for longer than the standard 3 years which is a shame because it really is a necessity for lots of people. There are fantastic buggies out there, you just need to search a bit harder!

 

I am really impressed with the Easywalker Sky and I think it looks fantastic, is a breeze to push and even copes well with sand. I can’t wait to take it on some more travels with the family!

@EasywalkerNL (Twitter) www.easywalker.nl

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

Eating Away From Home

We already have found a lovely booster seat for when we eat at home. However, it doesn’t have any straps which is fine at home, but when we are out and about, I like to make sure Thurston is ‘contained’ safely. It’s important that he stays safe as I don’t want him to be running away, or touching anything hot as he has no sense of danger. Equally, I don’t want him to get in the way of any waitresses or tripping over people carrying hot drinks. We were really lucky and were sent a Polar Gear Toy Story Toddler Travel Booster Seat.

It is really compact and neat and remarkable easy to set up. You literally just need to open it, strap it onto a chair and adjuct the straps. It’s so small that it is easy to throw in the car, or even put in the pushchair basket. The design is really lovely and bright and the one we were sent is covered in lovely Toy Story characters which made Thurston eager to sit in it.

So far we have used it at relatives’ houses, friends’ houses and outdoors at a cafe. It’s been really reassuring that he is safely strapped in and I’ve been able to relax and enjoy my meal. It can be quite frustrating when a child is too big for a highchair but still needs some kind of support in a seat. The Polar Gear Toddler Travel Booster Seat completely solves this problem, and eating out is so much easier with it.

www.polargear.co.uk

4

Yesterday was Thurston’s birthday and he is now an unbelievable 4 years old already. Birthdays tend to make me very nostalgic and sentimental, so I was planning a misty-eyed tearjerker of a blog. However, he has been an absolute pain in the backside all day and so I have abandoned my complimentary blog in favour of telling the truth! I will however interject with lovely pictures of the week so you can see that he is 99.9% adorable and I love him 100% of the time!!

It has been a particularly busy week and we have been doing lots of things that are different to usual so I am sure that he is just overtired and cranky but he really has been pushing all of my buttons today. Combined with the fact that I have now barely slept for a week and there is no food in the house (I had mozzarella pearls, smoked mackerel and lemon cous cous for lunch, and egg, spinach and lean bacon for dinner!) and I can safely say my patience has left the building.

I have a theory about Thurston and his wacky behaviour though. I think that in general Thurston is approximately 2 years delayed developmentally, which would mean that now at the age of 4, we are finally heading into the terrible 2′s! Looking back on the morning I spent/endured with him, it was very similar to the same bedraggled feeling I had with my other tiny toddlers. It got to 1.30pm when I realised I hadn’t had breakfast or brushed my hair (despite having done 2 school runs, sorry kids). The curtains had been pulled down off the track, the floor was covered in DVDs and the shelves were bare. Marmite toast was stuck down the back of the sofa. I made him a bottle of formula but he didn’t like the colour of the lid and repeatedly screamed “MILK MILK MILK…”. He followed me to the kitchen, saw me tip the formula into an ‘appropriately’ coloured bottle, then screamed again “NO MILK, GO IN KITCHEN”. He then watched as I made an entirely new batch of formula (uncontaminated by the blue-lidded evil bottle). He lay on his pillow, drank the milk and then started all over again “BISCUIT BISCUIT”.

By 12.15pm, Grandma had arrived to take him to nursery as the weather wasn’t really great for walking. Thurston had ignored his lunch for half an hour because he was too busy making me replay the same episode of “Ooglies” off of the Sky + planner, despite the fact that I bought him an entire “Ooglies” DVD for his birthday yesterday. I decided that he obviously didn’t need lunch and so I tried to get him into his nursery uniform. However, Thurston has a frustrating (yet impressive) party trick of relaxing all of the muscles in his body and going completely floppy. When you add that to the fact that he is double-jointed and bends in whatever direction you move him, it was basically like dressing a fish. Once dressed, he obviously fancied his lunch, which due to his weird mood was a plate of Frazzles, so he went to nursery covered in orange streaks all over his shirt, marvellous. Even as he was leaving, he tried to dump Grandma in favour of going home with one of the neighbours. I am told that all the way to nursery he chanted “Thurston is a nightmare, Thurston is a nightmare”, so maybe I didn’t keep my opinions to myself very well this morning.

He was a beast at nursery too and got in trouble for throwing toys and not sharing. It’s probably unreasonable, but I am always secretly pleased when he plays up for other people because at least then people know I’m not exaggerating! When he got home, he was still pretty grim and spent a good 5 minutes headbutting me in the a**e while I chatted on the phone! That’ll teach me to think I can talk to someone else!! I did manage to briefly cheer him up by letting him sit on the kitchen counter wearing my free sunglasses from Cosmo and a colander as a hat, so I was pleased with that.

Between us, we managed to get some food in him and dunk him in the tub and he did eventually fall asleep, so things are quiet for now. So that was the first day of Thurston being 4. I am keeping everything firmly crossed that he just got out the wrong side of bed this morning (ie. last night) and that tomorrow he will resume to being an adorable little elf!!

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

Robust Stuff for Slow Growers

I am in the unusual position of having children who take forever to grow out of anything. Most people will buy clothes in the next size up for their kids in the hope that they will last that little bit longer. Well, my 8 year old wore size 3-4 shorts to school last week as he is so skinny. My 5 year old wears size 4-5 currently but it’s all a bit on the big size, and Thurston’s clothes that fit him are generally size 18-24 months even though he turns 4 next week!!

Since they all take so long to outgrow anything, if I want their clothes to last, I have to choose really good quality items and I found some amazing stuff on www.welovefrugi.com. Their clothes are made of organic cotton which makes them really soft and thick, and you can tell immediately that they will last for ages and become treasured hand-me-downs. Frugi very kindly sent me one of their Croc and Roll Raglan Tops for Thurston and loved it as soon as it arrived. The shape of the t-shirt is brilliant as I was initially concerned that a size 2-3 years might have swamped him, but it actually looked lovely and he looked adorable wearing it.

He wore his t-shirt to a family lunch at Grandma’s house and looked really smart and comfortable. Despite playing in the garden and eating outside, it stayed looking clean all day which was really surprising.

I was so happy with Thurston’s t-shirt that I decided to order a couple of other bits. I chose the Skate-Oise T-Shirt for Louis and ordered Thurston a Reversible Stripy Sunhat as I often struggle to get hats to fit his head. I received a dispatch notice within 2 hours and the goodies arrived the next morning which is amazing service. I am not a fan of traipsing kids around the shops, and with this kind of delivery service, there is no need to. In our parcel, we also received a free Frugi canvas bag and there was a catalogue and an offer for 15% off the next order and free delivery. I might have to take them up on that offer, and order a little treat for Zeke!

Thanks for reading

Hanj x

www.welovefrugi.com

@Frugi (twitter)