Visit to Edinburgh

Potty

Vera has taken an interest in the potty of late. She whips of her nappy and happily sits on the potty for "number ones". We've not pushed her at all, it's all at her own pace and she initiates it by taking her trousers and nappy off. With all the moving and change of late, and more to come, we wanted her to be ready for it. In the last couple of days, she's done the same at nursery, so we may start proper potty training. Just need to invest in a bunch of "big girl knickers" and bring in spare clothes! Any tips from you mums out there, please share! Vera continues to be obsessed by the Gruffalo and we read the Gruffalo's Child every night. She's also really into jig saws and colouring with crayons. And trying out her new balance bike of course! Last Sunday we went to Graves Park, a few kilometres from here: http://www.gravesparksheffield.info/ It's a council run park, with an animal farm, mainly chickens, rabbits, but also pigs, deer, a few llamas and some very nosy ostriches. It's the perfect place for an hour or so, and great that it is all free and council run. Vera was very taken with the rabbits and guinea pigs! This weekend we're off to our old home town Edinburgh to see uncle Joe and uncle Barry and to celebrate Joe's birthday! Vera is also excited about meeting Ellie (and Kirsten). Vera wants to bring Ellie to "her" moon! :-)

Mamma's been away...

Dad has done an amazing job!

Meeting a police man (shame they both have their eyes closed!)

Yesterday the nursery had a visit by a Police Man. He said hello to all the children and they all got to try on his Police Man's hat. Apparently Vera had been super excited when he talked into his radio. He even got his colleagues at the control centre to say hello to all the children, which had been very popular! I think it's great that they are arranging these visits and that the children get familiar with the Police, the Fire Service and so on. Now it's Friday and very blustery outside, but we are looking forward to a nice pub meal together.

Health Visitor

I've said it before, but I think the NHS (National Health Service) is brilliant. All visits to the doctor are free and all medication for children also free. A couple of weeks ago we got a letter through the post, from the local Health Visiting team. As we were new to the area, they wanted to do a home visit and welcome us as explain all the services. This morning, the health visitor Fiona came for her scheduled visit. Vera was in great form and "cooked" food and served Fiona, including sausages, pasta, olives and chocolate cake, all made from play doh and cooked up on Vera's cooker! Fiona asked what we did, explained their services and support, asked about our "life-style choices" (use of alcohol, drugs etc,) gave us information on local toddler groups and suport for parents and also gave Vera a two-year check up. She weighs 15.9 kgs, but unfortunately she couldn't measure her height (she hadn't brought her measuring stuff as it was an unplanned check up). In any case, Vera is developing as she should (not that we were particilarily worried) and Fiona was impressed by her drawing, pretend play and her language skills. So that's all good! I guess it's good for the Health Visitors to see families in their home environment, but in any case, a great service!

Concentration

Weekend

Why, What, Who?

Vera is in a questioning phase, everything is why, what or who? Last week on the bus with Mark, she was on the upper deck and asking Mark "who's that", "who's that dada" and then pointing to one beardy gentleman: "who's that dada, is that the Gruffalo"? (we've spent a lot of time reading the Gruffalo of late!) Yesterday, in a very middle class moment when Vera was eating carrots she said "mamma, where's the homous"? I explained that we don's have any, to which responded "why not?". Ehhh. Nusery is going well and she's been fine the last couple of mornings and been busy. The last couple of weeks have been busy. Last week I drove down to suprise Ana with a mini hen night, all organised by her friend Louella who was over from Dubai. I drove down on Wednesday morning and on Wednesday evening Junko and I surprised Ana with a bottle of champagne at the Varsity Hotel's hotel bar. It was a but chilly, but so lovely to have some time together in the midst of all the changes and wedding madness for Ana's sake. Afterwards we went to Las Iguanas and had Brazilian foid and a fair few cocktails! I drove back up to Sheffield on Thursday night and then on Saturday morning we set off again, back down to Cambridgeshire, but this time to the lovely Sheene Mill in Melbourn. It was a beautiful and sunny day and Ana and Mark both looked stunning and so happy! We had some beautiful food and a bit of dancing :-) and a catching up with old friends. After a huge and lovely breakfast and a catch up with Mr & Mrs Hopley, we went to the Shepreth Wildlife Park and saw some tigers, chinchillas, monkeys, crocodiles among other things, and Vera's favourite, a giant cuddly bunny rabbit which Vera stroked and fed grass. It was 20 degress and we had such a lovely time in the sunshine! For old time's sake we went to Gog Magog for lunch, before Vera and I went back to Sheffield. Mark had to go to Sanger for some work and got back last night.

So Where Were We

The days seem to go so quickly and days turn into weeks… Since our visit to the hospital Vera has also had her first ever hair cut, I had to call it going to the hair doctor, in order for her to sit still. But she was ever so good and sat in my lap! We’ve just taken 5-7 centimeters or so off the length, so that it’s easier to wash and brush. We’ve also had some wonderful visits to the Peak District and really enjoy having these places so close. The weekend before last we had a lovely visit by Fiona, Dan and the gorgeous Robbie, marred only by Vera getting stung by a wasp! On that Sunday we went to the nearby Abbeydale mini railway and enjoyed a train ride in the scorching autumn sun - £1 for the ride, what a bargain! Then we went on a big train to Hathersage (10 mins or so) where we walked around and enjoyed a coffee and juice in the sun. This weekend just gone, we took the bus into the town centre, takes 15 minutes or so. Parts of Sheffield are fairly rough and ugly and others are surprisingly nice. There’s been a lot of re-generation money spent on the city centre with parks, the Wintergarden, museums, squares and fountains. We spent some time in the Peace garden, which, as it is next to the town hall, was full of newlywed couples taking photos, so lovely in the sunshine! They also had an outdoor screen for families to watch animated films. Vera is settling in well at nursery, but some mornings she is a bit hesitant to walk into the breakfast room. Most of the children are older than her and it is still a new environment. But after that she throws herself into all the activities, including drama, dancing, messy play, playing outside and is making friends. She is always happy when I come to collect her, so that makes me happy. She is a very funny little girl! Since the IKEA incident, she has been practicing saying her full name and states that she is Vera Collins and she is “two ears” old – at this stage she points to her two ears. Mark is Daddy Collis, but I’m not allowed to be a Collins. I guess the concept of a shared surname is a lot to take in! She loves singing and we sing her favorite “Happy Birthday” a lot. We sing for Vera, Mark and then for Ana, Mark and Ariane. Ariance has made such an impression on Vera even though it was many weeks since we met her. Most days she will point out a building or a house which belongs to Ariane! If I say something like “when we get home Vera, we can have a snack” she will reply “Don’t worry mamma, don’t you worry” . Her latest thing is to pretend to whistle. We will whistle and she will mimic the sound with a high pitched tone/sound, very funny. She’s recently become a proper Peppa Pig addict and loves watching it on TV and reading books about Peppa. We’re also s lucky when it comes to bed time (I knock on woods as I write this as I don’t want to jinx it!). She’ll have a bath around seven then go downstairs in her pyjamas and drink “new lelle” (warm milk in a new cow mug). Then, around 7:30, she usually declares “I need to go to sleep” and we take her upstairs, brush teeth, read a book and then just say night night. On the odd occasion when she doesn’t declare it’s bed time, we’ll just say, time to go to bed now Vera and she’ll say, ok, gives Mark a kiss and walks upstairs shouting come on mamma, come on! We’re very lucky and hopefully it will continue!