Over the hill?

Well, it happened I can't believe it! I am now 40! How time has flown it does not seem like 5 minutes that I was at the infant school my little boy is at now. When we are young we felt as if we would never grow up and get big! Summers seemed to last forever and the weather even seemed better. Maybe we look at things through rose tinted glasses with the past but it is nice to remember sometimes.

I would have loved another baby if Louis had been a girl but a little boy is more than enough sometimes. He is so adventurous and into every mischief he can find. Not sure I would like another baby at 40 though as starting again seems very daunting to me. It was hard enough getting Louis Adam to this age of 6 and a half (as he puts it). Lego mad and playing with his toy cars all over the furniture but still he is worth it.

The other day he wanted my car keys so he could drive us somewhere. He was most put out when I told him he had to wait quite a few more years and became very upset with me.

What happens without Sleep!

Well it has been a while I know but I have been a busy little bunny!

I have also been a tired little bunny, which has caused me to do some very strange things! The other night I was so tired as my little boy was having trouble sleeping as well as nightmares. I was in a bit of a hurry and did not look at the label on some medicine I was taking myself. I intended to take cough medicine but had a spoonful of childrens paracetamol! I thought it tasted bettter than usual, and then realised that I had made a little mistake! When I give him medicine I am always extremely cautious and even keep them in a separate place but was so busy thinking about him that I obviously picked up the wrong bottle! At least it was a nice taste! Amazong what a lack of sleep can do to you and your actions. Sleep deprivation can be one of the biggest causes of accidents in the home with parents! To make matters worse we close our shop on a Wednesday and yesterday I was absolutely convinced it was a Wednesday. I did not find out until the end of lunchtime so ended up having 2 days off work! Not intended I assure you but again I had had a bad night with my little boy!

Problem is where is the line drawn? So many parents are feeling constantly tired and make silly mistakes and can get very clumsy. I have not only seen this with myself but also with other parents also suffering from sleep deprivation.

Also, I have been concentrating on a few new books. I am hoping to aim my main book to children of around 13 upwards but will have to see how it goes. I am also busy writing other childrens stories at the moment as well as working and looking after a very clingy little boy! At present he is having a bad time at school and not finding some aspects easy. I think bullying happens a lot due to parents talking and children overhearing conversations which they should never be privy to and can cause aggrevation between children. Another problem is that he is the youngest in his class and now in year 2 even though he was only 6 on the 24th August. I think when they start school they do feel it and no doubt will for the next 3 years or so!

Anyone else have sleep problems with their children like this which makes them so tired they get clumsy? I am sure lots of parents do!

Good or Bad Writers!

I recently started writing childrens stories. I started a series and also wrote a Christmas story. I was advised by several friends and also some acquaintances to enter a literary competition for short stories. The results were finally announced yesterday and it was so obvious how much of a novice I am as all of the winners have already had books published. I mistakenly thought that the competition was only open to non-published writers and therefore decided to enter. Had I realised that published writers (even the likes of Steven King) could enter I never would have done so! I know I am just learning but it is a real wake up as to how bad I really am.

I think there should be more literary competitions aimed at new writers whom have never had any work published. But, who am I to question but how is a new writer to get started? Any ideas anyone?

Whilst many parents enjoyed reading the stories to their children maybe I aimed the story I entered to the wrong market. Or, maybe childrens stories were not wanted in the competition and I should aim to a much more mature and boring age. Not that adult literature and books are boring, anything but though they do not have the excitement and fun a childrens story has do they?

I now need more people to read my stories I think to see what a wider audience think of them before even considering doing anything more with the stories. Or, maybe I should just give up and forget about it as a bad job and being hopeless at it. Have to think about that one.

It is difficult for someone like me writing a story as unless you can get a publisher to sit up and take notice (I am definately no Steven King or Dean Koontz) I would have to self-publish. But considering this can cost anything up to £1,000 I do not have much hope of that for a very long time.

I can see I am going to have to really think about it At least my little boy Louis Adam seems to enjoy them so I know I am doing something right for him anyway!

Any ideas anyone?

Little Drivers!

I went to see about a new car at the garage yesterday and had to take my little boy which, I must say was not the best idea in the world! He has a real thing about cars. Is it just boys thing or are girls often the same? I wonder! He loves his toy cars and doesn't just say his car but it is  a"toy" car!  Anyway, straight away he ran, I thought he was going to the lego which was there when I bought my current car 3 years ago but how wrong could I be?

Yes, that's right he went straight to a lovely shiney, new car and climbed in the drivers seat. Next thing I saw were the lights flashing. Thankfully the salesman in the garage at Bristol Street Motors in Sunderland was laughing about it, me I was mortified and wished a hole would open up below me to swallow me up. Unfortunately it did not!

Eventually, I sucessfully prised his arms off the car seat and pulled his legs out of the car only for him to dart to this beautiful sporty red car with white stripes. He said to me "mammy, buy this car so I can drive it"! I tried to explain that his feet would not reach the peddles and that he would not see over the steering wheel but like any 5 year old that was way above them literally. He was utterly convinced that he could drive the car away. Thankfully the salesman came back and asked him if he could sit still for 5 minutes (a joke I thought, he has never, ever sat that long) then he would get a surprise. To my sheer surprise he actually did for the first time in his life! Then the man came back with a comic and some crayons which straight away he dropped all over the floor (my little boy is extremely accident prone)! When they were all picked up and he was back on the little seat he had been given he actually started looking at the book and started to colour in! Now this was a first for me as I am not used to seeing him beeing so easy, what was up that was what was on my mind. Hmmm. After about 5 minutes the salesman came back again and asked if he had stayed on the seat. When I told him he had the salesman then produced a little McDonalds toy from Alpha and Omega. To Louis delight I must say! You would have thought he had been given a huge pile of toys or in our case a million pounds (I wish)!

On the way home he played with the little wolf toy and even when he should have been eating his tea. It was hard to prise it away from him for bed but reluctantly he agreed when I promised I would not move it from my chair. He was still playing with it today. Some little toys really please kids yet if I had given it to him it would have definately been a different story!

Yesterday, it was the school trip and what a brilliant idea for a day out for 5 to 6 year olds! They went to the Stadium of Light home of the Black Cats. It cost £4 for entrance and they apparently saw photographs, a changing room and stood at the top seats looking down on the pitch. They then went to the local park (Barnes park) where they can go any day of the week as it is only about 2 miles away from the school! He came home with a really dirty bottom in his shorts right through to the pants. You would have thought he had been rolling around in a mud bath like a hippopotamus! His teacher had been so excited about the trip, I think more so than the kids! I think the best bit of the day was the park for all of the kids so it just shows you that football is not the be all and end all! Thankfully!!!

Anyone else know of anymore exciting trips just like this one which cost £8. What a waste of money!!!

Little Boys & Drama Queens!

Why is it that little boys are such drama queens? I have seen it in my own little boy who is 5 and have also seen it in other little boys around the same age and younger!I did think it was only Louis Adam but I have been watching other little boys and seen them doing the same things, they also seem to throw themselves down on the floor! It is so funny to watch and see compared to little girls who are much more practical.

I also find that little boys get more into cartoons and tend to carry on what they saw in the cartoons. I remember when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were out. I remember seeing little boys running around doing ninja moves and the noises they made. These days they copy characters but not sure if they are quite as violent. From what I have heard that happens however at schools in the yard they have not changed a huge amount. Of course when boys are hurt in some way they like a fuss, a kiss on the hurt or the hurt rubbing better. At the moment Louis Adam is playing dead! No idea where he got that from but I have also recently seen another little boy do the same thing. I am not sure how Louis knows about being dead or who told him about it even though my uncle died recently and we went to see him before hand and for the funeral. However, Louis did not go to the funeral but went to a private nursery for the day so did not see anything that could give him an idea. You should see him he looks a real picture and so funny, it is hard not to bust out laughing!

They also get a lot more exciteable than little girls. I watched him on a trampoline yesterday and could not help but laugh as he wanted to keep bouncing up and down and not do as the coach told him (he has only been 3 times now). I saw another little boy recently doing a similar thing getting a bit carried away!

He is starting drama group for about 4 weeks in an after school club this week and he loves drama as I am sure you can imagine. He has done a workshop before at the Theatre Royal and had a great time but still gets a bit carried away and forgets what he should be doing for a while.

He asked my mum the other week for her eyes! Where do they get the ideas from? They seem to make sense to them at the time but I am not sure about later!

This morning he tried to say he was never a baby. I had been talking about how I used to cradle him as I was carrying him and about how small he was and he looked at me and said " I was not a baby mammy! I was always this size"! I think they forget we were all babies at one time just a little hard to imagine for them even for him to imagine when we show him photographs of him as a cute little baby even though he says that was him! On our new website http://www.welcomebabyhome.co.uk he looks so cute!

Any ideas where they get it all from?

Child Poverty!

Last night I was watching television and was horrified that in 2011 in the UK there is so much child poverty that it was upsetting to watch the documentry. It showed 3 different families with children, one was in Norwich I believe another in Glasgow and I am not sure where the third was from and to see what little these children has was really very upsetting. They  obviously have some bad times and are often sad as some of them are bullied at school as their clothes are torn, worn out or too small and one little boy even had to wear his older sister's blouse for school as his father whom could not get a job could not afford to buy him a school blouse.

Yet, some of those children still smiled and could still be happy and has a little bit of childhood. Many of them had grown up too quickly as they had seen too much too soon. I saw clothes that were so dirty, houses with no carpets, bare floors that were so worn out it was awful. It makes me realise how lucky I was and how lucky my little boy is. It inspired me to try and find ways to help them even though I cannot directly help them myself.

So many of us are lucky that we do not have to worry quite as mauch as they do. However, I am not saying that everyone else has nothing to worry about as we all have worries about money or other things. But, we can only try to help them as much as we can.