A Matter of Choice

A flashback post today, back to early 2015 Leo was 5 and Louka was 2.  It was quite early in the morning and we were having breakfast outside.   That was quite a rare event, and one of the only times in all the years we've been here that we did that, I assume it just seemed like an unnecessary additional effort especially in the high chair days.  There had already been a pre-breakfast playdough session,  I really don't miss days starting that early with things like that! It may be more than 4 years ago but I remember the morning well,  the breakfast went well.  Leo buttered his own bread (sort of)  and no-one cried or moaned or had any drama - this is why I remember it, it was a rare event! I sat and watched the boys play thinking how lovely it all was, the sun was shining the boys were happy and had been playing nicely together so far all day (remember it was breakfast time but you had to celebrate the little th...

February in Cyprus can be an unpredictable month,  it can give us some of the coldest days of the winter but also show us signs of spring and remind us what the weather is supposed to be like here. We've had lots of rain this winter,  I'm sure more than in recent years.  This is good, we need it and apparently the reservoirs are looking good for the year ahead. I haven't minded the rain too much (apart from the time our ceiling leaked) and it's quite a novelty to snuggle up inside while it lashes down outside.   But I know it comes to an end and it's lovely to get our bright blue skies back. This weekend the boys and I went for a walk,  well, I walked they scooted and we all played Pokemon Go along the beach path in Protaras.  It was lovely, I was wearing a t-shirt and fleece, the first time I've not had layers covered with a jumper, and I even took my jacket off for a while (!) but I was still surprised to see people in bikinis sunbathing, no...

When they are not glued to their electronic devices the boys favourite thing to do at home are experiments.  While I do want to do things like this with them it is often a request that I sadly turn down quite frequently,  it makes the days of asking to get the paints out seem much less painful now! The problem is to provide them with an 'experiment' I need to jump on pinterest or google to for ideas (seriously how did people 'parent' without them!)  and then I need to have the stuff at home to do it, the time and of course the will to sort out the aftermath. We've had several failed experiments which usually end up with everyone in a bad mood, but every now and again we strike gold! Our recent 'experiment' was deemed a success in the fact that the boys enjoyed it and it kept them amused for much longer than I expected,  and the clean up was minimal.   As for actual science learnt I'm not sure,  but hey - 'they' say kids learn through play ...

It appears I've accidentally scared my children and given them a dislike of being messy, although you'd never believe it if you saw the state of my floor most days! Although it was never my intention, messy play has never been something that I consider fun and as I realized the boys may be starting to agree with me I decided to get over myself and re-do an activity (one that was messy, but also fairly easy to clean up!)  that I first did with Leo almost three years ago .  It didn't go brilliantly all those years ago but I thought it would be different this time, and it was just not at first! Cornflour and water mixed together becomes a non-newtonian liquid - in other words a liquid which acts like a solid when you hit it.  Cornflour gloop (a much better name for it when you are one or five!)  is so easy to make, in fact I didn't even make it. I measured the flour into two tubs and added a little colouring to the water and handed over to the boys....

Do children have to be taught 'how' to play?, or is it something that evolves naturally? Imagination has never been my strong point and I was forever bugging my Mum by saying I was bored and asking her what I could do. I was never one to play for hours with a box or be creative. I enjoyed my Sindy dolls except after spending an age setting up the house and dressing them all I'd sit staring blankly at them not knowing what they should do next. Leo seems to be heading the same way, at home he is happiest playing the Wii but take him off it and he doesn't seem to know what to do, and I'm struggling to help him. We build tracks but he loses interest as soon as they are built unless I tell him what 'emergencies' are happening or what jobs the engines need to do. He loves to paint but he doesn't know what to paint unless I tell him, He likes to make stuff but unless I see an idea on pinterest I don't know what to suggest, he then wants to watch m...

I always imagined that once I had children I'd be taking them to lots of activities - not in a pushy mother type way you understand, more of a 'How the hell do I keep them occupied' kind of way!  This was back in the day before I ever imagined living in Cyprus and I could see the huge range of activities for them to take part in in England. Little Kickers classes have been running for a while now in Cyprus and I've had my eye on them for Leo for some time, although at first there was no class in our area.  This month however Little Kickers  launched in Paralimni, just down the road from us! Although Leo enjoys playing with a ball, football has never been part of his life as both Aaron and my Dad are not fans themselves so I wasn't sure how excited he would be about the classes. I guessed he would enjoy them as what's not to like about running around with your friends for a hour but I have been surprised just HOW much he is loving it! He's been to thr...

A while ago I saw this great alternative play dough over on MumCentral .  It looked easy enough to make and even better a nice cheap activity! We collected some sand on our recent beach trip  and we had the other ingredients in the cupboard already. You need: 3 cups of sand 3/4 cup water 2 cups of flour (I found we needed more at the end as it was a bit too sticky) 1/2 tablespoon white glue How to make it - Mix the flour and water to form a sticky dough, Add the sand gradually, ( at this point I gave up trying to mix it and just tipped it all out and kneaded it together.  I then realised it might have been better to make it outside as I covered my kitchen in sand!) Mix in the glue (I made a dip in the dough and just kneaded it through)  and knead until the dough becomes the texture of rough feeling playdough. Leo loved the playdough and spent much longer playing with it than he has with any other playdough before, not only that but he was quite h...

One of Leo's favourite books over the summer was 'a Winne the Pooh one  - Where does the rain puddle go'.  We read it every day for weeks and he kept asking to put his welly boots on and go jumping in the rain puddles.  He was quite disappointed that it wasn't going to rain for several months! We've had a few odd days of rain now so he was very excited to finally get to do it. We only went over to the bit of wasteland next to our apartment but he had a great time.  It was brilliant to see how much fun he was having as we'd never done it before!  He was a bit concerned by how deep it was in places, as when it rains here it rains a lot! We were out for almost an hour while he stomped up and down through them all,  he was quite interested by the snails everywhere but the highlight seemed to be finding an orange had fallen off the tree to kick through the water! Linking up to Country Kids

Apart from the beach and pools there are very few good places to take little ones here in Cyprus. Parks are very few and far between and are usually not all that good and play areas are often a little bit worse for wear - usually sun-damaged and sometimes the toys can be quite dangerous.  So we were quite excited this year when an established restaurant in nearby Kapparis opened up a play area.  Initially we were disappointed that it didn't open until 6pm but realised it would be just too hot to go there during the day.   It costs €6 euro per child to enter and they can stay as long as they wish. We've been twice now in the last month, first for a 'Mum's and Kids' meet up arranged via Facebook for anyone who fancied joining us, and then again on Friday to celebrate my birthday (You know you're getting old when you pick somewhere like this!)  The play area has the best bouncy castle I've ever seen, and a huge inflatable bouncy slide, alon...

Leo loves to learn and seems to have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge!  We conquered numbers a long time ago, closely followed by the alphabet and one of his favourite things at the moment is spelling! I think this came about by playing  'I-Spy' in the car to keep him entertained, it took a while but he's finally got the idea that you have to be able to see the thing you are 'spying' - (no Leo we cannot see a snake....  well we'd better not be able to see one!)   From the back of this he now asks how everything is spelt  - and I mean EVERYTHING, I feel like I'm living in some kind of spelling competition, I'm not complaining obviously, its a good thing he is so interested but it can be tiring! He always asks what things spell or what the letters are when he sees a sign or writing on anything, my usual response is 'I don't know, you tell me what letters you can see'   When he tells me the letters I then tell he what it spells.   This wor...

One of the presents Leo got for his birthday was a great little number puzzle, there are two parts to it, the first is very simple and Leo did it with no problems - numbers on one side and pictures on the other. The second is simple maths, for example    3 + 2 = 5  and   9 - 3 = 6  The addition was not too bad but   he was a bit confused by the subtraction as he wanted to count up the pictures and then match the total number and he got quite annoyed when I tried to explain,  so in a fit of inspiration  (as he didn't want to put it away either)   I opened a pack of dolly mixtures and showed him with the sweets..... If you Mummy has 7 sweets and she eats 2, then how many are left? He thought it was hilarious that I ate them and counted what was left, came up with the right answer and matched the puzzle piece.  I got him to do the next one and he ate the sweets this time,  laughing his head off all the while - and getting them...

This weeks Gallery prompt is Action ,  and what else could I use but a photo of a very energetic toddler! This was taken a couple of weeks ago in our local park, it's not the best park in the world but it's a very good one for Cyprus! It has a small playground - a slide that Leo cannot climb up on his own, a couple of rocking toys and a see-saw,  a cage with some birds in it (not very good conditions for the birds but Leo like to have a look at it each time as he doesn't realise this!)  and several paths and sections which are great fun for a toddler to explore. The park is only a few minutes walk from our apartment which is nice and we've often met up with other Mums and kids for a picnic there.  It's nice for him to have a place to run around in, and the novelty of grass to play on which none of our friends have in their gardens!

A cardboard tube can be many thing but they will now always be known as a 'tootin' tube'.... that is a tube for tootin'!   Just like Thomas..... 'Toot TOOT'