Once Bittern...

Dressing up in Chelmsford museum

We went on a family holiday last week. We cashed in our air miles on a beautiful 14th century cottage in Suffolk.
We broke the journey up by stopping in Chelmsford and visiting the museum there. We had a great time looking and playing with all the stuff. I thought the boys would be interested in the fossil collection as they have recently been asking lots of questions about fossils but it rather passed them by amongst all the other interesting things that caught their eye. It was a really good mix of hands on stuff, artefacts and displays. We even found a worksheet for toddlers that the boys really enjoyed and I was genuinely impressed with its age appropriate questions and tasks. As with all these things though I was glad we worked through it on the second (Bean's third) walk around otherwise we would have missed over half the museum as we would have just focused on what was on the sheet.
I had to feed Plum in the car which was to become a favourite feeding place on our holiday! I also feed her in the play park later, the weather was beautiful all week so we managed lots of outdoor feeds too that weren't too cold.
The cottage was every bit as lovely as it looked. It came complete with a wood fire place, uneven stairs, ceiling and door frames too low for my husband, a stable style back door and a tv that exploded! It was a little cold on arrival but heated up nicely, the bed was particularly comfortable which is really important for me as I do love my sleep sooooo very much :)

The closed castle at Framlington

The next few days we spent out and about. On one particular day we thought maybe Suffolk was entirely closed as we went to visit a castle ...closed, so we moved on to a mill...closed, finally stopping at the 'teapot pottery' place by which time Pumpkin and Plum had both fallen asleep so I took Bean in and we painted egg cups together. In true to himself fashion I had to hold the cup whilst he painted it so he didn't get paint on his hands but this is a move on from not painting at all. Bean painted his brown because it was a rabbit egg cup and rabbits are brown. I painted a blue one for Pumpkin and we wrote their names on them. Bean asked the ladies there lots of questions about what they were doing and how they made things and what the different things in their workshop were. It was great to be able to see their workspace and they were friendly and answered all his questions even bringing things over for him to look at. After this we moved on to an owl sanctuary that also housed birds of prey. A lovely little place, again because we were visiting out of season, there were no flying displays but we watched them exercising the birds which was just as good. They also had a bug hotel so we had a good look at that to give us some ideas for ours. They had a nice little stamp book for when you saw different birds and you got a gift at the end if you'd found them all. A great idea. (Slightly ruined visit by the school party that was there, rude, loud children that at one point surrounded Bean as he was trying to stamp his book, taking the stamp from him and passing it between themselves. Thankfully he just waited patiently for them to move on and seemed none the worse for wear because of it).


We took the boys ice-skating. This was the coldest place that I feed Plum, brrrrrrr. Pumpkin, who by nature is far more out-going, was very apprehensive and only skated for a few minutes at a time around the gate area. Bean, on the other hand, who by nature is a cautious fellow, was skating a few feet unaided by the end of it. He had a couple of falls but picked himself up and carried on. The use of the 'penguins' was excellent. I don't remember seeing them when I was younger. Bean also commented 'are grown-ups learning to ice-skate too mummy, she's very wobbly?' It occurred to me that it was probably a rare thing to witness a grown-up actively learning something and struggling in quite the same as he does.

This same day we visited Norwich Cathedral, which is beautiful but was definitely one of those places that I did not get to explore as much as I would have liked because we had the children with us. It is also worth noting that the acoustics are wonderful in such places but do nothing to improve the cry of a baby!!

And finally, we took the boys to an RSPB site. Bean got his own explorers back pack, we hired binoculars (couldn't fit them in the holiday packing!) and off we trotted. We spent some time in the first hide just watching the bird on the water before finding a picnic bench for lunch. I always feel like we might be spoiling someone's peaceful day out in such places but the group lunching next to us where very happy with our boys running around. We found some good trees to climb and insects to observe with the magnifying glass. We followed this with a walk to another hide situated next to a beach. As soon as we got to the beach Bean went to explore the sand and I took the buggy with Pumpkin and Plum in it towards the hide as I know Plum would want a feed soon. Unfortunately the path took you over a bridge with many uneven steps so I had to turn back and look at the map to find a more accessible route/ hide. We collected Bean and daddy on the way back and walked a long way to get to a hide that according to the map was wheelchair accessible. Well, thank goodness we had a buggy and small children as the hide was in fact 30 feet off the ground! We bowled up here to find excitement in the air amongst the gathered bird watchers. Someone had spotted a Bittern! The bird spent some time just poking its head out of the reeds but proceeded to walk to and fro across the water stretch and the stand in full view whilst fishing for its supper. We felt like complete imposters! But the group were really great about having the children there and came over to ask if we could see what they were looking at and did we know what it was etc. The best thing though for me was watching Bean. He was knelt up on the bench, peering through his binoculars exclaiming most excitedly, 'I can see a bird with a green head, I can see a bird with a green head,' he then proceeded to get out his book of birds from the explorer pack and ask me to help him find it. 'What is it called?' He asked.'It's a mallard.' I replied. When we returned to the cottage I had to ring my dad and tell him about the Bittern, Bean however was still just as excited about his mallard. Watching Bean in this way was by far the best thing about this day.

Plum

Plum is one of my favourite words.

One of my favourite photos of Plum

I have favourite words, not because of their meaning but because of the way they sound or roll around the tongue. Plum was probably the first word I realised I liked because of this reason. Since then the list has grown. 
Our family is also growing and Plum is the beautiful word for our beautiful little girl. She is just 10 weeks old but I can't remember life without her. She is a blessing and a joy.

Plum loves her mummy's milk; gazing into her mother's eyes; watching her big brothers; cuddles with daddy and music. Her brothers adore her and she is never left wanting for kisses and cuddles!


Today was her first trip to London, specifically The Natural History Museum. Obviously she slept for most of it! 


It was a spontaneous trip as our good friends were unable to make a visit to our house as originally planned. At 9 o'clock daddy suggested he take the boys out for the day to London but I was feeling well rested and thought that Anna and I might like to go too. No-one was dressed at this point and we had made no travel preparations. By 10.20 we were on a train to London all washed, dressed, packed a lunch and evening meal prepared! Quite the achievement.


This journey saw us moving seats three times, many thanks to Harold the conductor for helping us find seats together where we could also park a buggy on a very busy train. The journey there also consisted of daddy testing out his new app that identifies planes in the sky, brings up a picture of it plus all its details including where it is going. I'm not sure if the boys found this interesting or not but the lady sat next to him was definitely intrigued. The boys had a snack and Plum took a feed. We also took the opportunity to make a decision about what we were actually going to do once we got to London. Bean would have liked to repeat our last trip but that was a long outdoor sightseeing tour which we didn't want to repeat in the rainy weather.


We took a bus to the museum, headed straight for the toilets and then sat in the basement picnic area for some lunch. Randomly bumped into friends of daddy's, also bringing their children out for the day and sitting next to a group of headteachers from Uganda, all wrapped up in their winter woolies and looking rather bemused by the whole thing. 

Bean feeling his ribs.

Putting together the
human skeleton.

The investigate centre was our first port of call. We thought the boys would enjoy the bones display, which they did but they also spent a long time using the microscopes and magnifying glasses and rulers to explore a whole range of other things. Pumpkin was particularly taken with a tray of different skins. He also managed to use the computer system quite easily which surprised me. It took me about 10 seconds to realise that it wasn't touch screen, this is a long time when you're standing there hitting the screen! 


We also took the boys to the mammal exhibition that includes lots of bones as well as the whale. I found a bench and Plum fed again. It was down a dead end and I rather enjoyed watching a large number of people realise they had gone the wrong way and have to turn around to find the way out. 


Everyone was a little tired by now and we had run out of food. As it is officially our holiday we went to a cafe and had muffins and cake before making our way home. The return journey was a little fraught but the boys had some lovely moments playing Pirate Squid Bones with 3 pipe cleaners each. Daddy had made them into people for them. Plum fed again but mostly enjoyed sitting on daddy's lap. Thankfully the slow cooker had been turned on and we had supper ready for when we got home. 


A very tiring day but very worth it.

Love, laughter and lunch

Pumpkin is 3 years old and is full of fun. His days are full of laughter. He's a little bit cheeky and constantly trying to work out what makes other people laugh and how to be funny. His smile is big and is laugh is loud! He thinks most things in life are funny or to be laughed at and has some very comical moves. Equally his cry is cosmic, everything is in life is dramatic and the deep end of the pool is always the best! 

Pumpkin also openly loves his family. Like everything else it is not done by halves. He follows his big brother round and watches him intently. He can't abide those he loves being upset and will do anything to make them happy...even change his mind about what he wants to do. His little sister is never short of hugs and kisses or a hand to hold. 


And lastly, but by no means least is Pumpkin's view, food is a central part of his day. "I'm hungry" must be the most common words he says. Like a Hobbit, a day is not complete without two breakfasts, plus a mid morning snack, followed by lunch. The meals are in no way diminished because of the in between grazing and there is relatively little he wont eat. 

Pumpkin definitely lives by these rules:

 “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, 
Love like you'll never be hurt, 
Sing like there's nobody listening, 
And live like it's heaven on earth.” 

Introducing Bean

Bean is currently 4 3/4 and loves building, stories and asking questions.

In the course of one day he can build: a train track on the living room floor; a city in our conservatory (including road network, car garage, airport and a block of flats;) a fire engine that becomes a flat that becomes the rainforest in his bedroom; a dolls house made of duplo; a tall tower with extra large bricks; a treasure chest and probably a whole host of other things that work their way into the process before reaching the final product. I'm already wondering where this love of building things will lead him and whether it will be a life long passion or, like so many other things, may come to pass. He will use any material available to build whatever comes to mind, my favourite has to be using the grated cheese at mealtime to create a bonfire!


Stories have been a number one favourite since birth, I think. There are days when we can sit and read together  and do little else. A trip to the library is a real highlight and, when asked, 'what would you like to do today?' will often request a library visit. We are very keen that he learns to read in the traditional sense in his own time and I allow him to read anything that he chooses from picture books, to chapter books, information books, the daily newspaper, and other magazines we subscribe to. We deliberately choose not to limit reading to 'age appropriate' material initially to give a more rounded view of what reading was for but more recently have been aware of how much he responds to and inquires about things that we previously wouldn't have introduced him to. In some ways this is probably due to a decade and a half of me teaching Reception age children the same old topics: 'All about me' and 'Mini-beasts' etc. that I have missed the fact that children want to know so much more. 
...I also want my children to have their own love of reading and let this be the springboard for them to learn to read, dare I say especially because they are boys. For a more articulate rational: see Michael Rosen blog 


It is reckoned that the *average* 4 year old asks 500 questions a day! I should try and count them! Mostly Bean is currently asking questions about astronomy, skeletal structure, trains, nature and the great outdoors, babies, death, time and distance. I love nurturing their natural curiosity and am very honest when I don't know the answer...as I often don't but we collectively go to lengths to find the answers so much so that he has started asking, 'mummy, who would know about...?' Am I ready for him to be so autonomous at the age of 4? 


end note: today I have enjoyed reading this article: the benefits of homeschooling