I have been trying to get our household in order which means sorting out the new room for my son. Since last posting the ideas I had, things have now changed somewhat. I won't be posting the new ideas up here as I'm still not 100% myself - I still have no idea what to do about furniture, but what I have decided on is as follows:
- A car track (like Scalextric) chandelier
- a very pale grey blue on the top 2/3rds of the room
- a 10cm magnetic strip border
- navy paint on the bottom half of the walls with classic cars stencilled out of it
No more mural, no more red but definitely still a car bed. The border should be able to hold die-cast cars but this will have to tested by my husband. Whilst I'm a little disappointed that my son will be getting a "typical" room, it is after all what he absolutely loves and I want a room that will grow with him for a few years. Blue is in no way as aggressive as a red room so this is the safer bet for now. In a bid to cut costs, I have been the one stripping away the walls my father so kindly decorated a mere 3 years ago. Unfortunately it has taken me two nap times to do just one wall but I'm hoping to improve on that. I have also stripped right back to the concrete which is really time consuming but I'm hoping will be well worth it in the end. Photos will follow once things start coming into place a little bit more.
Separately, I have also been trying to keep myself and my son busy doing stuff together. I know that because of anxieties etc I am not able to entertain my son the way he needs to be. It also means that I neglect taking him out on walks etc because I mentally cannot get myself out of the house. Some could view this as a shortcoming but it is one that, if I wasn't struggling I would be able to ignore. That being said, on Saturday morning before the party, my son gave his scooter a whirl for the first time outside (he rides it up and down our hallway sometimes) but he did get bored and run off after a while so we put it back in the house and went for a long walk. My son is a massive fan of Julia Donaldson's Stick Man and so we managed to find many stick men and stick babies over the course of our hour long walk. This is pretty rare, we don't usually do things like this and I am regretful for it so I have set in place a bunch of activities to keep us constantly moving.
I have three days a week alone with my son. Three full days to keep him busy and happy. On Mondays I have now enrolled my son back into swimming classes. His interest and love of water has grown exponentially since our holiday and although he fights me when I try and hold him (because he thinks he can learn to swim "on my own") he loved our first class together. It feels like we're truly bonding as well because I can feel his trust in me when I have to have him lie back in the water. He holds my hand if ever he feels scared which is not often and I can relax too as I love the water. On Tuesdays, we have music classes. My son has started to rebel against the classes by running around during them instead of sitting and listening/copying the teacher so I'm a little concerned as to whether we should continue next term but I am keen for him to be musical. Both my husband and I learnt instruments in school and we were both part of our school choirs and I have rejoined one recently as a hobby. He seems to have an affinity for pianos and keyboards but his concentration span is so short so I need to find something that works for him. Wednesdays is playgroup day, he has an entire hour and half dedicated to toys which are not his own. He can create as much mess as he likes (within reason) and he has access to things we don't have at home like balance bikes. He loves his Wednesdays and it's nice to see him sometimes sharing toys or playing nicely with others. All of these activities force me to get out of the house, I have to do it and therefore my son gets a little more of me and serious bonding time.
I have also been looking at other things we can do together. I would love to take him to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. They have a new gallery for under 7's called Ahoy! which sounds like something he would love.
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| National Maritime Museum (c) Maternity Leave Life |
We have already been on the Gruffalo trail but there is now an app where you can see the characters live and even take a picture of them with your child: https://www.familiesonline.co.uk/life/news/bring-the-gruffalo-characters-to-life-with-gruffalo-spotters so this definitely warrants another trip back.
Not too far from there is also a Stick Man trail which we need to go to:
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| Weald Country Park (c) Essex County Parks |
And finally, I have been meaning to do this with my son, ceramic painting. We did try to go during the half term as I completely forgot it was half term but the shop was fully booked. I intend to take me son here so we can paint him a piggy bank and we can start paying him when he tidies up. He thinks coins are magic so this is perfect although I imagine there will be a lot of putting the coins in and taking them out again initially.
This seems so tame I know but I assure you I have been trying to mentally do these things for at least the last month and none have come to pass. I will let you know when we do though.
~AB~
