Summer holiday behaviour troubles

My lovely 4 year old is proving quite a challenge this summer holiday. We're taking her on loads of outings and providing art and craft activities as well as challenging activities.Yet we're having a higher than average number of incidents of cheeky behaviour. We've had a fair few tantrums, shouty 'NOOO's' and general rudeness.

Like many parents we spend endless hours discussing theories to explain behaviour. Our current hypothesis is that she is missing the structure and activities provided by her pre-school. She gets up fairly early - usually between 6 and 7 am - and for the first few hours of the day we tend to be getting on with tasks for our business as well as doing housework. By the time we make it out for an activity it is usually around 10 or 11am so maybe she feels neglected during those first few hours.

We have been reasonably strict with giving her time-outs, warning chances and taking toys away. Usually this has worked and we've all been able to get on with our day. We are trying to ensure she gets focused attention such as conversations and story time. But, we also have to ask her to wait whilst her brothers get some attention. She has been getting plenty of exciting treats as we buy school shoes, clothes and accessories. Maybe we need to keep working on how to show gratitude.

Luckily we've also had plenty of nice behaviour and happy times these holidays. Two weeks left...

Camping with a family of 5

So we didn't get on too badly! We spent 4 nights at Baha'i Summer School in Berkshire in our 4 man tent. OK so we wimped out and came home a day early rather than 'enjoy' a fifth night, but all-in-all I'm quite proud of us.

Somewhere amongst those blankets and sleeping bags are 2 little children. The baby slept most of the night in his pushchair and then joined us on a blow-up mattress. Mark and I attempted to share a double sleeping bag, but found that it was really a device for binding you to another person so that if they roll over in the night you are dragged around with them. Not so useful when you have to reach over in the dark to pass bottles of milk to various grizzling children.

The children absolutely loved the experience and even we were reasonably chipper. We're planning to go away again over the bank holiday weekend and enjoy some more of the delights of Devon.

Summer holiday activity - handwriting practice

My 4 year old is starting school in September and is very excited to learn. She keeps wanting to practice reading and writing. I've been giving her lists of names to copy, and she also has a couple of handwriting books which help her trace letters. I found this great website which allows you to create your own handwriting practice sheets and print them out. It's easy to type a few sentences or your child's name. The site is www.worksheetworks.com

Saying goodbye to breastfeeding

Feeding your baby is such a basic thing, but the breast vs bottle debate still rages on with each side feeling that theirs is frowned upon. I respect every mother's right to make their own decisions knowing their own circumstances. I'm going to share my experience, not any political viewpoint :-)

Harrison is my third baby. He is 9 1/2 months old and he has only had breast milk (rather than formula). He's a good eater now and he has also started drinking water in the daytime so his demand for milk is less. I weaned my first child completely at 10 months and my second at 5 months (so I could return to work). I tried to introduce the bottle to Harrison a couple of times around the 6-7 month stage but he wasn't having any of it. I've left it for a while and continued to feed. He particularly likes to feed overnight and would end up sleeping in our bed for the second half of the night and wake every 1-2 hours for more milk.

I've been planning to sort out this situation for a while and felt that moving on to the bottle would hopefully be the best solution to his sleep, but I thought I'd wait a bit as we're off on a camping trip at the weekend. But, when Harrison bit me really hard when he was feeding, I decided enough was enough and went off to make a bottle for him. He refused it, but I persevered throughout the day and to my great surprise by the afternoon he was happily drinking it, he went down at night with a bottle, and after a feed late evening and one more at 1am (which my husband did!!!) he then slept in his own cot until 6.30am! That is one of the longest sleeps of his life, and of mine since he was born.

So we're nearing the end of day two. Harrison seems fine, but I'm a mess. I didn't fully think through the consequences to my body of going 'cold turkey'. As my other children were weaned more gradually there wasn't really any pain, but with this situation my breasts have turned into giant rocks and are seriously sore. I tried expressing a bit of milk but I think it was too late and not much would come out. I'm hoping the pain will ease soon and that it'll all sort itself out. I've been reading about all the remedies (think cabbages) but just having a bit of paracetemol.

In some ways I'm glad of the physical discomfort because it is distracting me from the emotional pain. I didn't know that the early morning feed yesterday would be my last time nursing a lovely baby. I wasn't prepared to let go of that bonding experience and allow my baby to grow up. In many ways I'll be glad to see the back of breastfeeding, but it still feels like the end of an era.

Day out in Haldon Forest

Some good friends suggested a visit to Haldon Forest near to Exeter. Our family spent the afternoon there yesterday and had a fantastic time. The place has no entry fee although there is a car park charge of £3/£4. Haldon Forest has several hiking and cycling trails, adventure activities, children's playgrounds and a cafe. We took the easiest trail of 1.5 miles and found it was easy to push the pushchair through. Our eldest child managed to cycle almost the whole way around, and our 2 year old enjoyed running through the forest with a stick.

The kids also spent time playing in a little playground whilst we enjoyed a visit to the cafe. All in all a great space to enjoy family time with kids of all ages. We'll be back!

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/haldonforestpark

New stock in our shop

Our family business is Serenity Baby selling maternity and baby items online. We've gotten some lovely new stock in the past week which I'm excited to sell. We've got a purple version of our maternity and nursing vest and a grey 3/4 length sleeve top.

  

We also have these great 3 piece cot quilt sets which match other blankets and toys in our shop.

All available to buy at www.serenity-baby.co.uk

Mummy, where did the first person come from?

We took the children to the Natural History Museum last Saturday and had a great time. There was a bit of a queue to get in, aptly summed up by a staff member who stated: "Sorry for the queue folks, but it's the summer holidays and there are dinosaurs inside!"

The dinosaurs sparked an enthusiastic reaction in our 2 eldest children. Sutherland who is 2 jumped up and down and did a little dance when he saw a moving roaring t-rex. Four year old Alabama was quietly cautious of the roaring beast, but has since been asking some thoughtful questions. The most challenging of those was "Mummy, where did the first person come from?"

I had to admit that I wasn't entirely sure, but that scientific discoveries had given us certain clues. We enjoyed a philosophical discussion on the origins of man and then moved on to lighter topics such as whether the extinction of dinosaurs was caused by meteors, dust or other phenomena.

I'm sure many of you will have better answers to the origins of man but when put on the spot I shared some thoughts on the theory of evolution as well as the idea of intelligent design. I also shared how the process of science works so that we look for clues to piece together evidence.

Let me know your tough questions and your clever-mum answers!

Drawing dinosaurs after a visit to the NHM