Being Superheroes

Recently I keep coming across things that make out parents are in fact superheroes. Juggling family life with with long hours of work as well as raising children and spending hours driving around from club to club dropping off and picking up from their after school obligations. Heroes with invisible capes. With no ability to fly but with powers to juggle and organise and throw a party together in an instant and, mostly, to do it all without much sleep.

It got me wondering about the kind of superheroes we have in our little family of 3. Then it came to me. We would be the Avengers. It’s obvious when you think about it. Really.

First, The Other Half. With his assertion first thing in the morning of “YOU’VE GOT ONE MINUTE!!!” to get us all out of the door for work on time he would have the entire street, understandably, mistakenly believing we are all part of a critical world saving mission. And sporting his one red eye from “a suspected scratch on the cornea” he is only an eye patch and long leather jacket away (oh, and bald head) from being Nick Fury. The leader of the Avengers.

Next you have the toddler. Little Z. With his ever growing defiance and fear of nothing he could only be Tony Stark / Iron Man. His stunts include repeatedly trying to jump off anything with a good height and any kind of berating induces either a fit of toddler anger or just determination to do it again. He prefers not to wear the iron man suit though. Opting instead to do all his own stunts as Tony Stark.

(I know this post is about parent superheroes but he is Tony Stark. He doesn’t care about rules).

And finally me. With my powers of shouting at the other half and stomping around grumpily at everyone over the last week (“You said you’d clean the bathroom!!!”), I instantly rule myself out of being the black widow. Damn. With my stomping, phantom increasing blood pressure, and inability to touch my toes, I fit one of the other Avengers to a tee…

Our poor neighbours.

Maybe next week we will be less superhero and more 1900s silent movie.

(All photo credits to IMDB)

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Project 52 – Week 45 / Silent Sunday

Brush-Baby – A Review

A few months ago I was asked if I’d like to review a chewable toothbrush and some baby / toddler toothpaste. Little Z is a very keen toothbrushing toddler. Every morning as soon as we’re up he’ll about “BASH!” (brush) and he then proceeds to do no brushing whatsoever but enjoys licking the toothpaste off his little blue brush. I thought this would be a fitting and easy review for the both of us. (It wasn’t as easy as I thought. I ended up chasing him around the room!)

So we were sent this…

A little pink brush which is very flexible and perfect for little baby / toddler hands. The “bristles” are different from traditional brushes and provide more a massaging feeling which is ideal for small gums.

I think it’s an excellent concept and I really liked how soft the structure is. It’s ideal for someone who wants to introduce it to their baby as a first toothbrush just to get them used to the whole new world of cleaning their teeth. I particularly liked the the layer brush bristles and the curved shape which makes it really easy to place into a baby’s mouth and get brushing over and done with in a shorter time than a traditional brush.

Little Z is now 22 months and has been using a small traditional brush for just under a year so he couldn’t associate the new “different looking thing” to being a new toothbrush but he did try it out and enjoyed the sensation for a while. So, for him, it was a partial success but I’d highly recommend it to mums trying out brushes on their babies for the first time.

The apple flavoured toothpaste is actually very nice (I wasn’t expecting it to be!). I remember my toddler tasting a traditional mint flavoured toothpaste for the first time and he found it very strong judging by the expression on his face so this is a nice way to introduce them to toothpastes in general.

The other thing that occurred to me is that it would make an excellent teething brush. The bristles and the shape of the brush is just perfect for a teething baby and toddler to chew on. It’s hard enough to be resistant to breaking yet not that hard that it would hurt them. Placing a bit of teething gel or teething powder on it and then letting a baby gnaw on it for a while would be quite soothing I think!

All in all, I’d recommend this to anyone wanting to try a brush on their baby for the first time.

If you’d like more information on Brush-Baby products visit http://www.BrushBaby.co.uk

We were sent the brush and toothpaste for review.

Next Time

Little Z will be turning 2 in December and we are now starting to mull over whether it is “the right time” to have another baby. The answers lie on a very extreme spectrum of “Yes yes it is!” all the way to “No no its not!”.

There are plenty of things we are working through in our heads. Or, rather, things I am pestering the OH about. How will we balance two? Will we manage? What if it’s really hard? What about work? And sleep? And childcare? And sleep? Do we need a bigger house? And what about sleep?

What I DO know is that the second time is slightly easier in some respects because of the experience with the first. I know this because someone on Twitter said so and this is now my 2nd baby mantra. When the time comes I mean.

So, in keeping with my 2nd baby mantra, one day, in the future, these are the things will make it easier next time around:

Next time I know that labour may be long. Very very very long. Very very long.

Next time I will use the buzz thingie on my TENs machine a lot more. I may just keep it on buzz throughout.

Next time I wont be shocked at what meconium looks like. (“But it’s so sticky!!”)

Next Time I will know how to change a nappy and give baby it’s first bath. I won’t hover behind the care assistant nervously.

Next Time I know the baby won’t sleep through at 6 weeks old

Next Time I will be strong enough to tell interfering parenting police to sod off (sort off. Mostly!)

Next Time I may even duck and hide of the parenting police come round to visit. Obviously I need to train Little Z to do this too.

Next Time I will fill my freezers with meals and save myself panicking about “what will we eat?!!!” post baby for the first few weeks

Next Time I will not stress that I am feeding baby all wrong.

Next Time I won’t panic every time the baby cries.

Next Time I will try not to obsess with getting baby “into a routine”. Little Z eventually fell into one.

Next Time I will know it will be a good few weeks before things settle into a new reality.

Next Time I won’t obsess about the baby’s height and weight

Next Time I won’t force myself to baby groups if I don’t feel like going

Next Time I will get through even more box sets during those first few weeks.

Next Time I will not obsess about how little sleep I’ve had.

Next Time things will be a bit easier.

The Rules According To A Toddler

Today I sent out a pondering tweet “Toddlers seem to have their own rules for living don’t they?”

I instantly got a bunch of emphatic replies mostly shouting “Yes!!”

After careful observation of just the one toddler (mine), I think I know what the rules are.

 

1. A Toddler must run everywhere. Walking is forbidden.
2. Standing still for longer than 3 seconds is also forbidden. Run, run. Always run.
3. Holding hands is no fun. Express your contempt if this is requested. Strongly.
4. Eating any food detracts from playing time. Don’t do it.
5. Eating food from the floor is ok though. And is tastier.
6. Stamping on food and then eating makes it even better.
7. Do not let parents clothe you. They are stifling naked freedom. Protest loudly.
8. Do not let parents put clothes on either. Protest loudly.
9. The same applies to all nappy changes. Run like hell.
10. Provide hugs and lots of kisses. Only occasionally on demand if they’ve been good.
11. Say very cute things. It melts adults very quickly and keeps them distracted.
12. Never perform on demand for other people. Watch adults then laugh nervously and declare “they do it at home all the time!”.
13. No fear! Climb everything and try to jump off everything. Fear is for adults.
14. Swoon when protesting. Thrash around too. It makes you wriggly and give the adults a bit of a challenge.
15. Demand everyone joins in a song. Protest if they don’t.
16. Keep waking up the night before the Adult needs to do something important. It ensures they won’t oversleep.
17. Dance to everything in a very cute way.
18. Wave and say hello and bye bye to anyone you pass in the street. Even to the miserable buggers.
19. Demand to hold anything that looks remotely expensive. Protest loudly if you hear the word “No”.
20. The best place to sleep is in between the two Adults. Kick them often in the night to remind them you are there.
21. The iPad is yours. Demand it as soon as the Adult picks it up.
22. Say the word “Noooo!” one regular basis. About 10 times an hour.
23. Talk one day and don’t bother the next. Pointing and shouting is sufficient.
24. Say “Ove you” every so often. See number 11.