Brrrr.

The wind chill is really rather nippy.  I would have preferred to stay indoors and snuggle on the sofa with a blanket watch the children play and maybe watch the odd cookery programme online.
Alas I needed to go to the bank this morning to pay in a cheque, and as my charge, who was a very subdued little girl yesterday and spent the entire day cuddling on the sofa with me - or crying her heart out if I tried to go into the kitchen to make any food - thank goodness for slings, is clearly feeling much brighter today I knew we had to go out and get some fresh air.

Bundled up children, the wee one on my back, wearing Rye's old babylegs to help keep her legs warm and Ryan on the balance bike and off we ambled down into the village.  Decided to have a nosy in the charity shops and found some great bargains.

 

 Mr Men books, 10p each, can't be bad!  Oh, and I loved Black Beauty as a child and like most little boys Rye is rather fond of Fireman Sam.

 And just look at those fabulous tins!  3 tins inside each other and then an extra oval one.  And I am sooooo chuffed with the large white pots behind; I've been after reasonably large pots or glass jars for ages to put flour in.

 

And some little matchbook cars for Rye, 10p each.

We arrived home as it started to snow; although it was a very tame affair. 

Rye was very funny, he obviously wanted to play with those lovely cars; as did C.   I intervened when he started pushing her away and yelling at her, and suggested he offer her a toy she could play with instead, so what does he do?  He picks up her cup of water and gives her that.  Cheeky monkey.

The last couple of photos were taken yesterday.  My charge wasn't very well yesterday, her poor mum was torn between staying home with the little one, and needing to go into work.  I reassured the mum that I would call if the little girl got worst or simply wouldn't settle.  So yesterday was spent pretty much confined to the sofa with the little 'un laid on me feeling rather sorry for herself.  Using the ring sling, I was able to make an absoluely gorgeous potatoe and leek soup;

And some more gorgeous tassajara bread;

 

And Rye, bless his cotton socks, amused himself with his books;

It was a pretty fraught day, I literally couldn't leave my charge for one moment, othewise she would immediately sob her heart out and wouldn't calm down for ages.  Poor Rye wanted her to play but of course everytime he came close and tried to cuddle her, she was pushing him away and would begin to cry.  Bless him, he just didn't understand that she felt unwell and didn't want to play.  Add on, me cuddling another child for much of the day.

Rather unsuprisingly, once she left for the day, he snuggled close and insisted on having my arms wrapped around him tightly.  

Thank goodness she is much brighter today.

Right time to prepare tea and then the little 'un should be awake, ready to play for half hour or so and then some tea..and by then it will almost be time for pick up :-)    Looking forward to it; this cold weather is making me crave my duvet!

Spring cleaning continued.

Well, that's the downstairs nearly complete; I'll give the oven a clean, maybe tomorrow while the little 'un naps.. but for now I'm shattered and feeling very accomplished - going from this:

and this:

 

to this:

 

  

and a scrubbed floor

I am actually looking forward to getting in there tomorrow and cooking!

Rye has spent many a hour being enthralled with the threading beads:

 

Creating beautiful castles:

The new shelving also means I've brought down most of his books, including the "How things work" and "Cars" etc, it was such a book he was reading here;

 

 Until he heard the camera being turned on and shut the book and protested at me photoing him.  Humph. 

Inspite of the threatening clouds, I togged us both up and outside we went.  Rye had fun racing off ahead on his bike; and I'm finding it great exericse as it's forcing me to walk much faster than my usual slow amble.

The plan is to go out each day, rain or shine for at least a 10 minute walk and for Rye to have a ride on his bike.  In practise this will be relatively easy as I walk down inot the village for various activites during the week with the kids and for me its about a 20 minute walk each way... plus there's the walk to Kidz Planet which is about 25-30 minute walk each way too.

All part of my resolve to eat much much healthier and start listening to my body and stop ignoring the pain my vast weight is putting on my knees in particular, but also my legs in general, ankles and lower back.  

I am NOT going on a diet, nor am I setting myself any goals; instead I want to concentrate on feeling better, feeling more comfortable.  I'm not really fussed what I weigh solong I feel good, and at the moment I don't.

Part of the healthy eating will be to up the amount of raw food we consume and to explore new ways of cooking and to reduce even further refined foods, like white flour, pasta and white rice.  A procedure already much in progress, once the white flour I do have in the pantry is gone, it won't be replaced, I've now started purchasing wholewheat pasta and a 500g bag at a time.  I use to stock up on the 3kg bags, but I found because I had so much I was really over estimating how much to cook and ending up with masses of pasta and of course I would sit and eat it all.  And I'm finding a 500g bag is plenty for myself and the two kids for the week, sometimes longer.

I've changed my Riverford order so I receive salad veggies weekly, rather than fortnightly, and I've added a bit extra fruit to compliment the fortnightly fruit box I order; mainly so I can do some juicing too.

I'll be engaging my witchypooness too :-)  I've avoided using my magic after a spectacular mishap when I was a young 'un in the Craft - I wrote a spell to make me thin and I didn't really think it through... I found myself unable to eat AT ALL.  That was one spell that got de-constructed quick smart. 

It's not spells I need anyway, it's reconstructing how I view food, attitudes I have and working through a few left over issues from my childhood, which actually will kinda compliment my ongoing self work regarding my temper.  I guess 2010 is the year where I really try to become much more balanced.

And I have been getting nudges from the Universe too and really I can't ignore my body any longer, at this rate I'll be a cripple by the time I'm 40.

So it would appear I'm spring cleaning ME as well this year :-)

Lemony Shortbread Buscuits (Recipe)

2 2/3 level cups of plain flour
1 cup of room temp unsalted butter (I reckon this is about 3/4 of a 250g pack)
1 large lemon
pinch of salt
2/3 cup of icing sugar.

Cream the sugar and butter and salt together.  Then add the flour and zest of the lemon and combine, if a bit too dry use the juice from the lemon to bind.

Either pat into a tin at about 1/2 cm thickness, or roll out to said thickness and use cutters to make shortbread buscuits.

My oven is fierce, so I had it set at 160 and these cooked in 8mins.  For a normal oven probably about 180 for a similar time.

Yum

Soothing Baking.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh how I love a bit of baking to sooth tense shoulder muscles and calm a fraught mind.
Today has been tough.  Both kids have been whirled from being overly boisterious and nosiy to whingy, snatching stuff off each other, pushing and generally being little so and so's.

The little 'un is teething, fairly evident from the explosive nappies, chomping on anything and everything and a few attempts at biting - and did I mention the whinging?   Rye, I discovered later, was brewing a cold which is now making it's presence known.  Once the little 'un was in bed for her nap, I confess I put on cbeebies on the laptop and escaped to the kitchen to bake.  Earlier I'd seen the beautiful photos of scones on Hannah's blog; Home Baked. and I was inspired.  I decided to use the dinosaur cutters too.  A bit small for scones, well for me, just the right size for the kids.  The rising of the scones did distort the dinosaur shape quite a bit, so I made some lemon shortbread buscuits - omg, they are delicious, melt in the mouth lemony goodness. Hmmm, I could scoff the lot! lol.

The next photo is from yesterday; I love it though; you can't see but my little charge is playing too and Rye was being so sweet, giving her counters to "feed" to the "hungry giraffe".

 

And yeah, he's wearing dinosaur pj's, refused to take them off until I pointed out he couldn't go to Kidz Planet like that! Amazing how quickly he stripped then.

Musings.

I've been musing about boys and attitudes towards boys.  In part this is prompted by a few daft groups that have been set up on Facebook and common phrases like, "that's men for you".  I remember being told too that I have a great responsibility to ensure my boy grew up to be a decent man because there are so few in the world.

I laughingly told a dear friend a few nights ago that men aren't great at communication.  Afterwards I felt annoyed with myself.  Utter tosh, men can communicate, they can express themselves, otherwise we wouldn't have the fantastic artists, writers, inventors etc that we do have, and have had. I began to wonder if its the expectation that they can't that stunts the ability in some men?  Or, perhaps we haven't learned to listen in the way men need to be listened to.  I think one of the greatest inequalities of the ideal of equal opportunities is that it's taboo to admit there are differences between the sexes.  Although when it comes to expressing emotions and expressing needs culture has a lot to answer for; "big boys don't cry,", I've found this phrase nearly parting my lips occasionally and had to bite it back. 

Having a son for a child, is forcing me to look at this cultural influence and sterotypes and challenging my own biases, perhaps even arrogance?  Rye as a 3yr old is emotional, loving, energetic and he expresses his joy and love physically.  He is a big into cuddles, he liks to give and receive kisses, he loves to cuddle in bed nad to sleep with his head resting on my arm.  I think the lady who told me my challenge is to ensure I teach Rye to be decent, was wrong, I think my challenge is provide an environment where he can safely continue to express those emotions, that joy, along with the tears, the shouting, the scowling and huffing.  Where his hugs are received with joy, his kisses with appreciation and his tears, his expressed needs with understanding and love.  And also to combat to some degree the culture influence that "big boys don't cry".

Imbolc, Gifts and DIY

I confess I haven't celebrated Imbolc today; although the cold, wet weather is a move on from the freezing temperatures and snow of January and there is a sense of anticipation of Spring, I've just not had the inclination.  I may well do something at the weekend; Rye may be at his dad's, assuming his dad's back is ok for him to drive.  Would be a good opportunity to meditate and think about the year to come.

This morning the postman brought me wonderful gifts from my dear online friend, Sarah ; fabulous dinosaur buscuit cutters:

Rye is smitten and immediately asked to make buscuits, unfortunately my little charge stuffs everything and anything in her mouth, so I promised Rye we'd bake while C was napping - 'cept he fell asleep.  

There was a lovely colourful drawing from Jenna; Rye thinks its a drawing of a dinosaur and I can certainly see why;

 

He insisted we pegg the drawing on our art string.

Sarah spoilt us even more and included this beautiful book, the illustrations are stunning.

This morning also hearalded trying out my new griddle, I've been after one for ages;

 

Wholemeal pancakes - yum.  So quick now I have a nice large surface to cook them on.

Rye had his with a drizzle of argave syrup and I warmed up some blueberry jam for myself.  Tried my charge with them at snacktime with banana, and she scoffed them greedily this time. :-)

I've broken several of my melanine bowls etc and so decided I could justify in buying a couple of wood bowls for the children and some wooden cutlery.  These are bamboo and simply lovely; that is the kiwi cheese cake I made yesterday.  I had some left for today but unfortunately the kiwi has turned bitter :-(  Poor Rye, he didn't want any last night; and tonight he couldn't have any because it wasn't edible.

 

Mmmm, spicy lentil cottage pie waiting to go in the oven for tea.  I was torn between craving my red lentil cottage pie or lentil dahl - so I decided  on a bit of fusion cooking.  Rye didn't seem that keen; he ate it but only because I fed it to him, but once my charge decided to try it she tucked in with gusto.

Then once my charge had gone home for the day, I'd relaxed with a cuppa and a nosy online, then a sigh and out came the nittygritty comb and teatree oil conditioner.  To my dismay I discovered Rye still had a few lice in his hair, and worst 2 adult ones.  Which means we're back to square one with the combing.  Somewhat frustrated I've cut his hair even shorter so its much easier to look through and comb in sections;

 

It does suite him; but I'm not keen, I guess because it makes him look so grown up.  I don't think he's had his hair this short since he was a baby.

And then once he was in bed, after some protestation, I set too building bookcases.  The pine slatted shelves I've been searching for, were available from Wickes;

The shelving feels a bit dominating in such a small room, I'll get use to it though and actually there's a bit more floor space available now.  The seagrass ottaman trunk did us well, alas my poor charge keeps falling face first into it when she's trying to get to a toy, or the lid falls on her - thankfully its very light but still she's not keen.  It also means I can put toys I simply don't want her chewing on, or are a bit too old for her easily out of reach.  The red london bus has little passengers and as soon as she finds one it's straight in the mouth and they are stick in throat size; so now all out of reach.  Similarly the toppings on the wood pizza she keeps putting in her mouth, and while I don't think she could swallow one of those, she does shove the entire piece in there and chomp, and as I've only just bought them I'd prefer they weren't ruined quite so quickly.

It also means I've been able to empty the bookcase near the kitchen door and instead I'll use that one for my cookery/craft type books, I was getting a little fed up of having to move a mountain of books everytime I wanted to walk into the kitchen.  My little charge likes to just pull them off until she finds the one she wants, this way when she pulls all the books and toys off the shelves, at least they won't be in my way to the kitchen.

It also means I've been able to put books, I prefer weren't used as teething aides, or simply ripped to pieces out of her way but still low enough for Rye to reach.

The plan is to crochet and pick up a few baskets to group toys together a bit more and to make it a look a bit neater too.

These shelves are great though, it means I am able to provide an environment that is suitable for my charge and keep toys I either prefer not to be damaged or simply aren't suitable for her, at least not without very close supervision but also have those toys to hand for Rye to play with when C is napping, or has being picked up.  Frankly, I don't much feel like running upstairs for the pirate ship when Rye wants to play with it, and then having to take it back up every evening.  Then there's the added bonus that OFSTED like toys and equipment to be accessible for children to reach themselves - it's not a requirement; but you know it does count toward receiving that "Good" status. :-)

Um, where's January gone?

Wow this month has flown by, virtually without me noticing!  I've been very busy with the childminding; even had a couple of enquiries but I've just said I've no places.  I will only be offering emergency cover, as I'm happy with just having the one full time minded child.

Rye is loving having company too and misses C on Sunday's when she's not with us.  Part of me does regret a little agreeing to Saturday's because it limits me a bit; but saying that I know mum has cover for Saturday's so I can always ask if not to have C if there was something really pressing I wanted to do with Rye.  I know what it's like though to be a single, fulltime working parent and being reliant on your childminder.  Before I moved to Folkestone, my previous childminder fell pregnant and she couldn't have Rye when she had her midwife appointments etc, and while I understood it did make life very difficult for me.  This all means I prefer to be as reliable as possible for my "mum", she's not having an easy time and I have no intention of adding to her stress.

Anyhoos, off on a tangent there.  Its been a mix bagged month.  Some weeks we've not ventured far at all because of illness; indeed, much of the month has been fairly housebound, hard on the ears.  This past week though, we've been out quite a bit.  And the past few days has been glorious, if very cold;

I snapped this photo yesterday morning, while waiting for C to arrive.  Later we went for a walk around the estate, charge in sling and Rye on his bike.  Its been equally beautiful today, so once the fogginess of dehydration had been sorted a bit (woke up with a thick head and horrible dry mouth), I went out with Rye, down into the village.  That bike was a fab present, Rye asks constantly to go out and play on his "motor bike".  He is excellent at stopping and waiting before crossing roads and, he's starting to really balance on the bike.

 

I did try to get a photo of him lifting his legs up but I kept missing it - this is on the way home, he really was starting to "get" how to balance and using both legs to propell himself along before lifting them up and cruising....
 

There was the odd crash into a wall though - thank goodness this bike has limited steering, I think he'd be ramming into everything otherwise.
 

Straight back on and off down the road again.

I've also stocked up on pulses and spices from the Napelese shops down in the village.  I love these shops, the staff are so friendly and helpful; and bless, in one of the shops the keeper gave Rye a lollipop.  I'm quickly understanding the Napelese love children :-)

I'm not entirely sure if it's cheaper than the supermarket; some bits are definitely - spices for example; nonetheless I prefer supporting local shops to the supermarkets.

I think I must be a bit of an oddity as initially when I first started going in everyone in the shop, i.e. all napalese would stop and look a bit surprised.  I'm guessing not many "white" folk go in, which is crazy, these shops have fantastic foods in there, the people in the shops are soo friendly and helpful and I'm finding more and more Napelese smile and say hello when they see us and they particularly make a fuss of Rye.

Then popped into the coop for a few bits and then homeward bound :-)  Included a stop off at the park;
 

He's getting so brave and more sure of himself.  Just even a few weeks back he would get very nervous and start saying he couldn't do it and cry.  Couldn't keep him off the climbing frame today :-)   Zipping across the rope bridge, sliding down the pole (with help) climbing along the wall (with help), great stuff :-)

And yes, I've cut his hair; I love it longer but when lice are about its easier to comb through shorter hair, and also to do his hair in sections.  I really hope we've got them all now, I'll go through his hair again tonight, and mine too and fingers crossed all clear!

Eating yummy spiced rice pudding.

Had a few parcels arrive too; some clothes from a GP mama, really nice tops, shirts, jumper and cargo trousers and my order from Little Acorns, Mighty Oaks.  I order a couple of bamboo toddler bowls, bamboo forks and spoons, the large Klean Kanteen; I do often take water out with me but alwasy in plastic bottles and if I don't have any handy, then I'll buy when I'm out.  I decided to  buy the waterbottle because the opening is big enough todrop icecubes in, which will be handy in the summer for keeping water a bit cooler, and hopefully save me pennies in the long run.  Lastly, I picked up some natural sun protection, thought if I started buying a tube here and there by the summer I'd have plenty for Rye.