Holidays and funny t-shirts

As we're currently on holiday in Spain we do, buy and eat in ways we don't usually do when we're at home. One thing I came across at a market here was a t-shirt based on the film "The Hangover". Anyone who's seen this film will know all about the bearded dufus who walks around with a baby strapped on his stomach.

I didn't pick this up as I had insufficient Euros at the time, but a quick search on the internet and I found a place called Nerdy Shirts that sells the hangover t-shirts!

Having found this shirt, I thought it a good place to hunt for other funny t-shirts, something quirky and nerdy for Emily to wear as well. We usually dress her up at X-mas for the photo on our home-made Christmas card and I found a wonderful Santa t-shirt that (if it's in her size) will be perfect for our x-mas card 2010!

Second birthday celebrations come to a close

So we had a house-warming bbq / birthday party, then my parents looked after Emily on her birthday (petting zoo and soft play!) and this past weekend we had a birthday celebration featuring the extended family and children.

I think it's got to the point where Emily thinks "Happy Birthday" is just another song.

We've taken stock of Em's first two years, especially in light of her visit to the health visitor for her 24 month checkup.

I've noticed she's getting much more responsive and receptive to things she used to dismiss outright. I read her a book tonight and she was quite attentive, whereas before she'd get bored of the photos and try and turn the page. She was SO interested I read it to her three times.

Also, I have an app on my phone called Toddler Lock. Anything she does it makes noises and bright lights... she used to look at it for a few seconds and dismiss it outright. Tonight she was actively playing with it for about 10 minutes.

I don't mean to make it sound like she's uber maturing over night. We played with plasticine tonight and I think I can best sum up her attitude as "confused". It's the first time she's seen or played with the stuff (at least at home) so I'm not expecting her to create an amazing 3D work of art, ready for the stop motion camera... but I can secretly hope a little!

Emily's coming along well. She's just shy of three foot, can say about as many words and I wouldn't change these past two years for anything, as far as she's concerned.

Emily is now two

It's Emily's birthday today. I, for one, can't believe she's already two years old. It was two years ago Sue and I sat (well, I sat and Sue laid out on a bed) on that hospital ward waiting for the next stage of our lives to begin.

When I think I've been in my job almost a year, it feels like yesterday I started. It feels like a lifetime ago Emily was born - and for her it was.

We celebrated her birthday by having a joint housewarming / birthday party yesterday. Mum and dad are looking after her today and we have a family do on Sunday.

It was quite funny this morning singing happy birthday to her, as she really doesn't understand a) the song or b) the concept of a birthday. She was happy to sing, but we could have been singing the theme song to Cbeebie's "In The Night Garden" for all the personal impact she felt.

Jo Frost scared me

I happened to catch a small snippet of some Jo Frost thing on channel 4 tonight and it worried me no end.

In one part there was a obesity experiment to see if kids would keep eating if they were fed ... of course they would. A control group was given one portion, another given two portions. The two portioners would continue eating as parents have no idea how much to feed them.

I worry sometimes about portion control and this just made me think. Apparently up until 2 years old, kids have a good build in "I don't need anymore food" awareness. After that, Fatty McFat-Fat takes over and they'd hoover up McDonald's everyday given the chance.

The second part I saw had what I can only describe as a street walker in training. This 13 year old girl who HAD to have a toned body so she could barely wear anything out to teenage discos. Apparently she wanted to be noticed for her. She'd be noticed alright, but not for any female empowering reasons she'd deluded enough to believe.

I understand parenting is hard, I'm currently doing my tour of duty. It just seems to get harder the older they get. Right now Em doesn't have any (real) friends so there's no peer pressure to do anything. I just hope we're strong enough to steer her right when the big choices do rear their ugly heads.

Watch  Jo in action, if you dare.

Sorting out Emily's birthday present

With Emily's birthday fast approaching - next week she'll be two!!! - I've been on the prowl for some cool stuff to get her as a present.

I stumbled across this site recently which caught my eye. It's a shop in North Carolina called Lou Lou's Corner. I was looking for a few brands like Jellycat toys (Emily LOVES jellycat), Barefoot Dreams blankets and this Norwegian clothing brand I've just discovered called Appaman.

I was probably drawn to the site with the lure of a 10% off coupon for Jellycat stuff.

I'm still not decided on what to get Emily for her birthday, but this shop has made it a lot easier to decide.

Emily's ongoing speech issues

It's no secret that Sue is scared stiff about Emily's speech and lack of progression in said area (I'm taking more of a wait and see attitude, but am getting quietly worried).

While all her friends are able to string words together to make childish sentences, and to point to things they want, Emily does very little. We get the hand pushing something away when she's not interested and the odd word that has to be coaxed out of her.

I found a website called Speech Quest that aims to help people in our situation. After a questionnaire and assessment of a child you're then given activities to coax the inner linguistic genius out of your child. While there's a cost involved, I'm quite eager to do what I can to give Emily a leg up in life (btw, I found a voucher code for 20% off - BVT1015 - valid until end of March).

It's got to the point now that it's not only verbal communication that may be of issue, it's also her physical ability to communicate as I mentioned she only seems to push away things she doesn't want, as opposed to pointing to stuff she does.

Links: Speech Quest

Tonsillitis one day can be chicken pox the next?

Having fed Emily this evening, apart from her puffy collapsed eye, I also noticed some spots her forehead. I figured these must be dirty pore zit type things and proceeded to wash her (perceived) grubby face.

It wasn't until I went to change her nappy that I noticed similar spots "down below". Lifting her onesie, I was slightly horrified to see that her chest was covered in lovely spots.

This discovery has led me to one of two conclusions - she's either allergic to penicillin (I was asked by the pharmacist when I got Emily prescription from this morning's trip to the doctor), or she has chicken pox. The only real positive I'm seeing at the moment is I was right when I thought she didn't have tonsillitis.

I guess we'll tell what's really going on soon enough when her spots either turn cloudy or she goes into anaphelactic shock.

Emily's throat and puffy eye

Emily's been feeling under the weather the last couple of days - streaming nose, red sore bum - which I put down to teething, especially with the amazingly rosy cheeks of late.

Today, however, her illness upped it's game. Emily woke up with a puffy, closed eye more resembling a boxer than my under two year old daughter.

I quickly packed her off to the doctor to see what the dickens was up with her condition and was told that she has tonsillitis. This is probably one of the more unexpected diagnoses I've been delivered of late, especially when all the symptoms - barring the eye - point to teething and that I associate tonsillitis with teenagers in hospital beds getting fat on ice cream.

We were prescribed a couple of different things - neither of which Emily is happily to have administered to her - and hopefully she'll be on the mend soon.

Through it all, apart from not eating, her disposition has been quite upbeat. Long may it continue.