Mia's May Favourites

Books - starting at £4.99

Bananas

Mop and broom - Early Learning Centre £9

Cupcake buggy - early learning centre 

Bubbles - Poundland £1

Baked beans

Mia's 18 month update

Mia is now 18 months old! A year and a half! That seems crazy to say out loud! 

Mia is really good at following instructions now. I've really noticed this month in our classes she will copy what the teacher does and really gets involved. 

She has started to get really interested in climbing now and climbs on all the furniture! 

She has started to wear some 9-12 month tops now although she still wears 6-9 trousers and 6-12 dresses. 

She loves books as well, especially Peppa Pig books. She loves to identify he characters and objects, for example if we are looking at the book and I ask her 'where's peppa?' 'Can you find. Flower?' She loves to point and show me how clever she is! 

She has her first dentist appointment soon so hopefully I can find out how many more teeth she has to come through. 

Toddler BBQ

New potatoes, corn and homemade burger. 

These burgers were made with beef mince, coriander, onion, cumin, pepper and salt. 

Primark Haul May 2014

Toddler canvas shoes £3

Sleeveless vests 9-12 months £3

3 pack of white tights 6-12 months £4

Toddler sunglasses £2

How to: Make a Toddler Book

You can buy make your own toddler books from amazon. You can chose from the traditional board book or a fabric book. I, however decided to make Mia and Adam a book to read together only a few days before Adam's birthday so buying from amazon was out of the question so I thought I would share how I made it. This cost me only around £6 altogether. This was for printing the photos and having the book bound. You could bind it yourself using ribbon to save money. 

You will need:

-A5 paper (you can use any colour you like or cut A4 paper in half to make A5 paper) 

-a selection of photographs that you want to put inside your book. 

-laminating pouches in A5 and a laminator (alternatively most stationers can laminate for you)

-binding machine (again you can pay to have it bound. It cost me only £3.50)

How to make it:

On a computer or by hand you need to do the writing for your book. I wanted each page to be very simple eg 'my daddy takes me to the park.' 

I put my writing at the bottom of each page. 

Next you need to print all your pages and cut them down to A5 if you have used A4 initially. 

Then with glue stick your photographs to each page. 

Next you need to seal your pages with your laminating pouches. You don't have to do this step but because I wanted Mia to be able to read it and look at it, if I hadn't laminated it she would of ended up tearing the pages. 

Finally once you have laminated all the pages bind it together. Either use a proper binding machine or punch two holes in and threat ribbon through, remember to only tie the ribbon losely as it needs to give a little for the book to open properly. 

I would love to hear your crafty ideas for things to make for/with your toddler. 

Weekly snaps

Quick and healthy toddler stir fry

Beef and vegetable stir fry with egg noodles. 

This is so simple and quick and Mia loves it!

Ingredients 

Egg noodles

Bean sprouts

Carrots

Broccoli

Cabbage

Red onion

Beef (you can either use beef that has already been cut into strips or cut your own using sirloin, rump or beef medallions.)

Soy sauce

Garlic

Ginger

Sesame oil

Chilli (this is optional - for Mia she likes a tiny amount

Olive oil

Seems like a lot of ingredients but It's the easiest thing to cook I promise!

Fry a little olive oil in a wok and add your beef strips. Fry until brown. 

Add all your chopped veg. 

Add a little soy sauce. 

Add your noodles. 

Add your garlic, ginger, chilli, sesame oil and more soy sauce. 

Taste before serving. This dish is all about personal preference so you need to try and decide if it needs more garlic, soy sauce etc etc. 

Bon appetit

Our Weekly Activities

I see a lot of people asking for ideas of how to keep a toddler entertained everyday so I thought I would share our weekly activities. Bear in mind that I work Monday-Thursday in the afternoons and all day Saturday so our activities are structured around that. 

Monday 

11am sing and sign. 

This class is a music, movement, singing and baby signing class that we have been attending since Mia was 13 months. We use instruments, sing songs and use baby sign. Although Mia doesn't sign (this is probably partly my fault as I never practise at home with her!) she really loves this class. She understands some of the signs and it has definitely helped with getting Mia to understand the word NO. There are also some lovely songs that we have learnt to go along with signing such as one for using the potty and one for all our colours. 

Tuesday

Generally Tuesdays is a random day. In the sense that we have no structured activities planned as yet. From June we will be going to arts and crafts on Tuesday mornings but until then we sometimes visit the park, feed the ducks, play indoors or in the garden. We also sometimes go to our local baby friendly cafe where I can have a coffee with my mummy friends while Mia plays with the toys with her friends. 

Wednesday 

10am song and rhymetime

Song and rhymetime is basically what it says in the title. Songs and rhymes with puppets, props etc. 

10:45am stay and play

This is one of our favourite activities of the week. Stay and play is hosted by our local nursery and is an opportunity for children under the age of 5 to experience what a nursery setting is like without leaving their parent/carer. They have painting, outside space with sand and water play, a role play area, books, building blocks, playdough... Basically everything you would expect to see at a nursery. I have put Mia's name on the wiring list for the nursery for when she turns 3 and would love for her to get a place. Attending the stay and play is brilliant as it gets her used to the setting as well. 

Thursday 

Again Thursday is another free day. Everyone needs a morning of just being indoors don't they?!

Friday

10am Movers 

Movers is a music and movement yoga based class. Mia loves this class as we learn to do handstands, stretches and learn to relax and listen. They use flashing light balls, twinkling stars and a parachute. The children all get rewarded with a soft toy on their chest at the end when they are lying down and calming down and a sticker at the end. 

Saturday 

Saturday is daddy daughter day. Generally Adam will try and take Mia somewhere even if it's just to the park to burn off some energy! 

Sunday 

Sunday is family day. I like to do something just the three of us.  We will have a walk, take Mia on a day out (London, zoo, park, farm etc) and sometimes we will chill out indoors and do housework (boring but won't do itself!!) 

I feel taking Mia to these activities three mornings a week definitely helps her sleep better as we are so active during the day and she has learnt a lot from each class. She follows instructions really well and really loves sharing. I have never seen Mia snatch a toy or push or ht a child. If a child takes a toy from Mia, Mia doesn't react. I do believe that spending a lot of time around other children has helped Mia's social skills. I also believe that Mia coming to work with me and being around older children has developed her socially. She loves sharing and being around other people. 

I'm getting married!

So finally after being engaged for what seems like an eternity we are tying the knot next summer! 

We are doing a lot ourselves and as we start to organise things and put things together such as the flower arrangements, table decorations etc I will do blog posts to share crafty ideas for anyone else looking to throw a DIY wedding/party. 

I have so far decided on the colour scheme which will be cornflower blue and white. I always used to think I would have Cadbury purple but I think I always imagined I would get married in the winter around Christmas as it's my favourite time of year however I have decided on a summer wedding as our venue has lovely outdoor space so it would be lovely to make use of it. 

                      Cornflower blue 

I have also decided on going for a vintage look for the reception and we are going for a wild British flower look. I don't want anything that looks too perfect or too 'dressed' I like the look of frahly

Picked wild flowers that have been placed in jars (this will all make more sense as I show you what we are doing)

Mia will be a flower girl and will wear a white dress with a cornflower blue sash. She's going to look so cute! 

Mia 17 month update

There's not a lot to say this month really. Mia is still in 6-9 or 6-12 month clothing. She's really active and enjoying the warmer weather. I try and take her to the park every week so she can just run around for a bit. 

It's been a tough month in terms of teething. Mia seems to of been teething constantly this month and now has a lot of her milk teeth. She hasn't been letting me brush her teeth easily as it's been hurting her me touching her gums :( 

She is improving with going to bed and staying asleep. I would say that 3 out of 7 nights she stays in her bed until 7am without waking at night. This is a huge breakthrough for us and I hope on her next months update she is sleeping through most nights! That would be amazing!! 

A few snaps from this month. 

Healthy toddler meal

This is my 'lazy shepherds pie.'

Basically we have loads of mash in the freezer for Mia to have with a variety of meals. She loves mash with baked beans  especially. As we had so much mash we needed to use I decided to just buy some mince and veggies and make tomato and mince with vegetables which I can use with the mash as a kind of shepherds pie. Only difference is the mash and mince haven't been cooked together. I can use this mince as a bolognaise with pasta as well.

It is made with:

Lean beef mince

Chopped tomatoes

Carrots

Green beans

Peas

Sweetcorn

Pepper to taste

First I fry the mince with oil until brown. I then add the chopped tomatoes, add the veggies and a little water and let it summer gently for 30-40 minutes until the water has evaporated and the veggies are soft. Easy peasy!