Belinda | The Lattimore Acre

The Power of the Wiggles!!!

I am continually amazed at the power the Wiggles has over Benjamin. He loves them. I would not have thought that a one year old could really enjoy television or be able to tell one TV show from another. Well surprise surprise they can. It is no secret that as a Early Childhood Teacher I am not a fan of children watching TV but as a parent I say ‘Bring on the Wiggles’. It has become a 5pm ritual in our house that the ‘Wiggles’ or ‘Play School’ gets put on until it is bath time. What a godsend they are. The past few weeks Ben has been teething and has been terrible at eating his dinner. Tonight in front of the new Wiggles DVD – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, he ate every single bite and was looking for more. The Wiggles have definitely made our lives easier and do I dare say a little more enjoyable. I must also add that I love Play School and Ben is very partial to the DVD – Play School Out of the Box (especially Wednesday). He will get this DVD and pass it to me and say ‘Broooommm, Brooommm’. That is his way of saying Wednesday’s episode as it has a car song. He squeals with delight when you put it on. I never thought I would be a fan of children watching DVD’s but for short periods it is fantastic!!

Wiggles DVD – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

The Beach #2

Well…… pictures paint a thousand words. We will try again!!!

Dummy or not to Dummy?

Before having children I was one of those people who used to think ‘I will never give my child a dummy’. Well……. Benjamin loves his dummy during his day sleeps and more recently I have caved in and given it to him at night as well. We are trying not to use it out of the cot at all. But why why why did I hold out on giving him a dummy at night for so long. I worried about it for months and got up two, three and sometimes four times in the night (especially when teething). I have had the most amazing sleep at night since he has the dummy. The past week he has been sleeping from 7.15pm to 7.15am. We even had a lovely sleep in until 7.45am. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a morning person. So thank you to the dummy and thank you to my little man!! To all those non dummy users out there who are getting up at night…… convert and get some sleep!

Nasty Teething!

I managed to put some Bonjella in Benjamin’s mouth today (he locks his lips tight most of the time) and counted five or six teeth cutting through. Poor little man. But at least they are all coming at once and the pain does not have to be prolonged!!!! Bonjella is wonderful stuff!!!!!!

Books, books and more books…… (and motorbike magazines)

Ben loves books, which we are very happy about as I have a huge collection from being a teacher and have a great love of children’s books. I thought it would be nice to record his favourites from month to month. He knows what he likes. He chooses books himself and will bring them to you to read but will also push a book away if he doesn’t like it. He has a book cupboard which he sits at daily and pulls out books and sits and reads them. We seem to accumulate a small pile of books to read at bedtime and If I try to skip some he digs to find them in the pile. Benjamin and Andrew also like to read the magazine – Australian Motorcycle News.

His favourites at the moment are: “Dig Dig Digging” by Margaret Mayo and Alex Ayliffe, “Mice Squeak-We Speak” by Tomie do Paola (A poem by Arnold L Shapiro) and “Where is the Green Sheep?” by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. He also likes to read “Peek-a-Boo” by InnovativeKids. I have put photos of us in this book and he is beginning to tell me who it is. It is such a joy to read with him.

Eating Out

Tonight we thought it was about time that we started to go out for dinner. So of course it was off to Hoggies! Ben had his first curly fries (as well as his usual veges etc). In hind sight maybe tonight wasn’t that great of a choice as Ben had no afternoon sleep. He didn’t scream the place down or anything but he was demanding and a little grumpy. Although he did flirt with the waitresses. We both remembered eating out used to be much easier. We live in hope that one day it will be again!!!! Ben just needs lots of practise.