Loving the little things 5

Oh Matilda you just get better and better.

I love your little Welsh sounding 'oh nooooo'.
I love that you say 'scoosme' (excuse me) when you need to get past.
I love your kisses and hugs, and the leg-clinging you've started to do.

Over the past few weeks your language has just blossomed, you're saying so many more words and are so chatty.

I've loved watching you get braver on the slides, you can now do it all by yourself, and you get very annoyed if mummy or daddy try to help!

I love how much you love your yellow wellies, especially putting them on all by yourself.

Not loving the tantrums that much, but hey ho!

Weekend

Oh what a lovely weekend.

On Saturday Matt had to sort out some stuff with our car (an ongoing hassle thanks to unscrupulous car salesmen - who'd a thunk it, eh?) so Matilda and I went to rhyme time at Woolwich Library. Unfortunately she was more interested in running around the shelves and pressing her face up against the floor length windows than she was in singing. 

Once we were done there was still no word from Matt so we jumped on a bus up to the Maryon Wilson animal park and saw some pigs, ducks and deer. We also picked some blackberries! Yum! 

On Sunday we went to see Matt's friend and his family, they have two little girls, one is two and the other eight weeks. So cute! I loved watching Matilda and Iona play together, repeatedly kissing and falling into peals of hysterical laughter. Iona doing the wiggle dance and shouting at Matilda to 'come on! Wiggle!!'was very funny. We had a lovely Sunday lunch out before driving home. 

Perfect!

Loving the little things 4

My little Matilda. 

I love the way you say 'poo poo' when you've done a poo (sometimes), and tap your little bottom. 

I love when you do heads shoulders knees and toes.

I love how affectionate you are with me and your daddy and with other children, seeing you hug and kiss the other children at the childminder's makes me melt.

I'm torn between loving how much you love your daddy and hating that you sometimes push me away so you can cuddle with just him...but he is pretty awesome and cuddly so I'll forgive you!

Moving house with a toddler in tow

I have no advice.

Just count yourself lucky if your toddler does not have vomiting and diarrhoea the week you move.

Loving the little things 3

Little piggle, these are the things that I've loved seeing you do recently:

• Eating half your weetabix, then running off to the other room and bringing back dolly, then insisting dolly get fed every mouthful before you polish it off.
• Opening your mouth wide so that we will copy you then sticking your hands in.
• Clenching your little fists and seething in rage when you can't have a snack/keys/whatever.
• Blowing kisses.
• Running across the room to give us kisses.

I love you my pig! xxx

Loving the little things 2

This week I've loved watching Matilda start to blow kisses.

She's still tickling everyone and going "ticky ticky ticky". It makes my heart melt.

She lets you know she wants to sing heads shoulders knees and toes by touching her head and saying 'heaaa', and row row row your boat by sitting rocking back and forth and babbling in the rhythm of the song.

She now insists on feeding herself with the spoon. I like this less as I have a bit of a phobia about food mess, but I guess it's good really!

She's still obsessed with being read to, the same books over and over again.

Loving the little things

Matilda does so many things that delight me on a daily basis, I'm so worried I'll forget them. I'm sure there are loads I've forgotten already. To that end I'll be listing them here as a record. Sappy, me?

Things Matilda's done that have made me melt this week:

• tickling her dolly's toes, saying 'ticky ticky ticky'
• when I say 'where's your nose?' she touches my nose
• her big wet open mouthed kisses
• her delight when her daddy and I hold her hands and swing her up in the air when out on a walk
• her obsession with being swung around by the hands
• her pretending to reach over to pull out the DVDs but checking to see I'm watching first
• her obsession with her "When I was born" book
• sticking her tongue out and going 'lalala'

I'm aware all this stuff is pretty standard, but it's what makes parenting wonderful and I don't want to forget it.

Of course there have also been times when I've wanted to scream with frustration, but let's forget those times eh? Who could scream at this face?

More thoughts on post-baby working

I'm a few months into being a part-time working mummy now, and I have to say it is still working out pretty well for me.

The 2.5 days a week seems to perfectly suit our family. I get two full days a week at work, two days where I get to dress up in my nice clothes (those that fit me post-baby!), drink coffee uninterrupted, have adult conversations, and do my job, which I really enjoy.

I don't feel like I am totally back up to speed with work, due to a lack of sleep and getting used to managing my time when I'm only there 2.5 days a week, but I'm getting there and thankfully my manager has been fantastic about letting me ease back into work slowly. I envisage things would be different if I worked in a high-pressure corporate position, but I work as a librarian in a children's charity, so it's pretty nice.

I also get two full days just me and my pig, which is awesome. Unless it is a day like today when she is a grumpy little madam of course, in which case I'd rather be at work, but MOSTLY.

2.5 days to me seems like the best of both worlds, it's just fantastic, a great work-mummy balance.

Thoughts on returning to work after maternity leave

I'm not going to lie, I was dreading going back to work after maternity leave. DREADING it. I finished up at the start of November 2012, and returned at the end of November 2013, so just over a year 'off'. It's a long time to potter about the house on your own with a baby.

Things I worried about:

• leaving my preshus baby at the evil nursery
• not being able to do my job after a year of singing nursery rhymes
• not being able to do my job because of lack of sleep/illness

But you know what? I actually really like the balance. I do 2.5 days a week which works perfectly for us, Matilda is in nursery two days a week and on the third day my husband and I split the childcare. She loves nursery, and although my fears about getting back into the swing of things and being affected by sleep/illness haven't proved entirely unfounded, they aren't insurmountable, and that's what matters. I feel a lot more motivated than I have in months.

I don't know how people who go back full time cope though. I'd definitely need a cleaner!

Positive thinking

One of my new years resolutions for 2014 was to think more positively, inspired by my lovely squirrel friend Katie. I am a pessimist by nature, but I believe we can change the way we think about the situations we find ourselves in, making ourselves happier, and healthier in the long run.

Part of this 'thinking positively' lark is starting this blog. I find it easier to live positively if I think someone is watching me. Even if I'm just santering away to myself in my corner of the web, the thought that maybe, just maybe, someone is looking, is enough of a kick up the arse for me to get up, go out and cheer the fuck up.

I'm a part time working mummy to a delicious little ginger pig called Matilda who is 13 months old.

We live in London, although we are soon to make the scary move from North to South, so I'll be documenting life in London with a baby, exploring a whole new world south of the river, and moving house with a toddler in tow.