Days out with baby

The weekends of the last month or so have been jam packed with visitors and days out, which I'm not at all unhappy about but it has required a lot of planning, something of which a year ago I'm sure I wouldn't know where to start.  Thankfully, all of that has changed and hopping from class to class (on Wednesdays) has been a breeze although I'm sure at the Toddler Playgroup they do wonder why I'm turning up in my work out gear! 

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I felt the pressure as mum and that maybe my cleaning obsession wasn't making me fun enough for my son.  Having spoken to another mum since then, she too has refused to do messy play with her son for the same reasons, I'm not crazy.  I read this amazing article which was shared in LinkedIn one afternoon and I felt like a lightbulb had gone off in my head: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bunmi-laditan/im-done-making-my-kids-childhood-magical_b_5062838.html. I have just seen that this was written a couple of years ago now but recently updated and I can't believe I have only just seen this after torturing myself for months.  If you feel as I do as a parent and think it's all your fault, I would definitely tell you to read this article.  I thought about it and my mum didn't do messy play with us.  It would have been torture.  Sure much like me, she read stories to us and created forts and let us have imaginative play with real saucepans rather than the plastic ones but I don't remember a single moment, nor has she ever mentioned to me that we did any form of messy play.  She wouldn't have had the time to clean up after us.  So I'm done with the whole messy play business for now, my son can do it at nursery and in messy play classes if he so wishes but certainly not in our house.  Not at least until he is more controlled.  

Anyway now that I've cleared that up, the one thing I have been doing that the article also mentions is taking my son out on special family days.   I'm very keen to do this as I want the three of us to bond as a family, I don't just want it to be me and my son as he doesn't get much time with my husband as it is.  So here are some of the things we have done so far (I know I have shared one of these links before but I'm sure you don't mind them again!): 

• Discover Centre, Stratford - http://www.discover.org.uk/
• Natural History Museum - http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ 
• Lambourne End Farm - http://www.lambourne-end.org.uk/html/open.htm
• various soft plays in the area 
• various fun days at parks in the area 

Now that my son has also now discovered Thomas the Tank Engine, I have registered to receive the newsletter of this place: http://eorailway.co.uk.  I'm mega excited about it and can't wait to have our first trip there.  There are always special events on and my son will be able to see a real live steam train.  Maybe I'm carrying enough excitement for the both of us.

This weekend coming will be a picnic with friends who have just had their second child.  I know all eyes will be on me and how broody my husband or I will get but I think, let's just focus on the here and now.  I've only just decided not to put so much pressure on myself, why add in another baby to the mix? 

~AB~