An afternoon with daddy at the cinema

T has been asking to see The Muppets: Most Wanted ever since he saw the trailer and since I am a big fan of The Muppets I thought why not. He had been to the cinema before with my other half to see Mr Peabody and Sherman and I was told he was good through most of the showing. Anyway I should have known he had other plans today when just as we were leaving home he said, ‘yes I am going to go to the cinema and the man there will give me a big bag of popcorn’. We got to the cinema and sure enough he asked for and got popcorn. The rest of our time in the cinema was then spent concentrating on the overpriced popcorn and half-watching the movie. Other than when Miss Piggy performed the Macarena which he actually got up and danced to, he was like whatever, eating loudly and yapping away the whole time. He only really seemed to go quiet and pay attention to the movie whenever there was a loud bang or when Miss Piggy was on screen.  Big Miss Piggy fan like me then I think.  The movie was actually very good and I enjoyed it very much by the way. As we left the cinema, T pointed to a poster of Rio 2. He thinks he is going back to the cinema again next week to see it. However I think he can wait until it comes out on DVD. If he wants popcorn I will gladly buy it for him at the local supermarket for a fraction of what they sell it for at the cinema.

Question!

Why is it that when I am folding clothes after doing laundry around T, I feel like a matador? What is it about toddlers that just makes them want to run all up in clean clothes or jump up and down in them. Grrr not impressed!

Funny moment: Candice Vs. candies

In a case of what I said vs what he heard, I was in the kitchen getting breakfast ready muttering away to myself when T walked in. 

'Daddy who are you talking to? He asked.

My invisible friends. I answered with a shrug.

Looking puzzled, he asked: 'Huh, what is an invisible friend'?

Friends of mine that I can see but you can't see. I have loads of them and their name all starts with the letter C. Like Cassandra!

'I don't like Cassandra', he retorted.

Chloe?

'I don't like her'!

Clarissa?

'I don't like her'!

Chandra?

'I don't like her'!

Candice?

'Huh'?

Candice?

'Candies'?!!! His eyes lit up. 'Oh I like her, she can stay'. 

A new reward chart

Everyone who follows my updates on this blog will know by how now how much of a hard time I have sometimes trying to get T to eat. Last night, I made him what I perceived to be his favourite meal, cous-cous only to have him turn up his nose at it saying he was not hungry. He wanted the pop-corn he had spotted in the kitchen earlier of course instead but didn't dare say it. Anyway I didn't say a word, I simply put his food in a takeaway plate and put him to bed almost soon afterwards. Around 11pm he woke up and was screaming his head off for no apparent reason. When I asked what was wrong, he wouldn't say so I had no option but to tell him to go back to sleep and stop fussing. About 30 mins afterwards he settled down and went back to sleep so I went to bed. Moments later, he was up and crying again and the worst part was he wasn't saying what was wrong so had no option but to wait it out till he settled. The trend continued for the most part of the night until at 3:45AM when he woke up crying again, I had an eureka moment. I fetched the food I had put away earlier, told him to sit eat in bed and surprise, surprise he started chowing down. When he was done, he went back to sleep, never to wake until 8AM. As I laid back down to sleep after the whole drama, I started thinking of what to do. By morning I had come up with an idea of a reward chart that incorporates good eating habits with good behaviour.  Everytime he eats a decent portion of his meal, he gets 2 stars in his favourite colour, yellow. When he is good he gets a green star. When he is horrid or naughty or doesn't eat a decent portion of his meal, he gets a star in the colour he is least keen on, orange. At the end of the end, the amount of stars he has amassed in each category is totaled and the figure from the subtraction of the orange stars from yellow and green stars determine if he receives his favorite treat of "Haribo" or not the next day at lunch time. A total of +5 and above in favour of good behaviour equals a whole Haribo mini-bag; anything between +1 and +4 equals that number in single Haribo gummies; and anything below 0 means a good talking to at bedtime and no Haribo gummies. In addition to learning the life lesson of rewarding good behaviour, I hope having him present while we count and add up his numbers at night will aid his number and counting skills. Just yesterday I was sitting watching him play with a peg board and I was stunned when he counted each peg as he picked it up to stick in the board up to 15. He is remarkably clever and ever since I explained the reward chart to him this morning, has been on his best behaviour. He is on 4 yellow and 1 green star so far, and no oranges so fingers crossed.

Trip to Warks and the Black Country

T has his first proper trip in the UK this week. As part of the trip, we took in Warwick, Royal Lemington Spa and the West Midlands Safari park. We also had quite the drive around the UK's second largest city, Birmingham, and the towns of Stourbridge, Hagley and Kidderminster, thanks to not having Sat-Nav and getting lost at the interchange between the M40 and the M42 on the journey westwards. All in all we had a great time. I was particularly in awe of the striking dissimilarities between  the architecture in Royal Lemington Spa and Warwick, and I loved the Safari Park tour. T on the other hand preferred his time chilling in the hotel and was quite keen to get the Safari tour ended so he could head straight to the rides at the Safari theme park. Certainly can't wait for our next trip.

New gadgets

Goodbye running to the fridge to fill T's water bottle with water from the filter jug. Goodbye running to the store to pick up bottled water when we are out and about, and run out. Hello 'Bobble', and the ability to fill up from municipal drinking water anywhere: it's nice to meet you!

And it doesn't stop there. I just got myself a new electric toothbrush so it is only right T wants and gets one too.

He made himself a ring

T and I woke up this morning and soon as we walked into the living room, he spotted a piece of his DIY tool kit and some left over foami piece on the floor. Almost immediately he sat down and got busy with them while I went to the kitchen and started making breakfast. Moments later, I got a tap on my thigh. Look I made myself a ring, he said, showing off his creation. I love it!

See ya later Winter

I want to say it has been a long dark winter but I cannot remember waking up in the morning to any snow or icy frost this winter; all I remember is there was a lot of rain. Anyways, over the last few days the sun has been making a much welcome and needed appearance and oh boy am I glad. At some point yesterday the temperature on my phone was indicating 20 degrees... in March!!! Well that wass just fantastic and we made sure we made the most of it by spending a good part of the afternoon in the park. Hopefully the sunny weather is here to stay because Lord knows we have had enough rain and staying indoors this year already. I will be keeping my fingers very crossed indeed.

Happy Pancake day

Hope yours was delicious and scrumptious because ours definitely was!