Archives for May 2012

Get up stand up

Mushroom has started to let go…

For months now, he has been standing holding on – to the furniture, to my hands, to the wall… Just this week, he has started to let go. For just a few seconds to begin with but he now stands for longer periods with increasing confidence. Each time he stands for any length, he claps himself. I do love the way he celebrates his achievements even when he’s the only one there (or so he thinks).

Here at Mushroom Mansions (ha!) we are all very excited by this new development. Now that he is gaining confidence, and balance, we know it won’t be too much longer before he will start walking unaided. He has been cruising around the furniture and walking holding on for a while now so its only a matter of time…

While all these new skills are great, and of course inevitable – after all, children do tend to grow up – it does make me a bit nostalgic for his babyhood. I was warned, when he was younger and I was eager for him to start eating, crawling, walking and talking, that I should enjoy this time. ‘They don’t stay babies for long!’ was something I heard, and still hear, often. Only I didn’t really get it until now. Now, as Mushroom is starting to look and act more like a little boy and less like a baby, I am hanging on to those things about him that remain babyish, for want of a better word. His pre bathtime bottle – which he still insists I hold, our late night cuddles… These have taken on a new importance now that I realise it won’t be long before he grows out of these and I’ll miss them.

I know all the things Mushroom grows out of will be replaced by exciting new ones that I will become just as fond of but for now, I am going to make sure I enjoy the rest of his babyhood as much as possible. Before he really does ‘let go.’

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Mushrooms perspective

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Today Mushroom and I went for a walk round the block. Just from our house to the corner shop – usually a five minute dash to pick up milk, with him in the buggy. Now that he’s almost walking, however, I thought it would be a nice short walk for him to practice letting go of my hands.

So, we set off after snack time on this ‘short’ walk. His little hands in mine, walking at what I consider to be quite a reasonable pace, considering. At the end of our road he stopped ‘De?’ He asked, pointing at the floor. For some reason part of the road he was pointing at had been replaced by bricks. Until today, I hadn’t even noticed it was different. A little further along he stopped again ‘Mumum?’ he asked again, pointing at a stray leaf. ‘That looks like it came off a rose bush.’ I said, looking around for one and not finding any. I tried to move on – but Mushroom wasn’t having it ‘De! De!’ He shouted, pointing above his head, just behind us. There was the rose bush. Fiery yellow and red streaked roses were just opening. They were beautiful, and I had just walked straight past it. I lifted Mushroom up so he could take a closer look. He grinned up at me and chatted away. I’ve no idea what he was saying but he was happy.

For the rest of our walk I paid more attention to his questions (considering he has yet to say more than a couple of – barely recognisable – words, he already asks a LOT of questions) and tried to answer them as best I could…

‘That’s a tree. Do you want to touch it?’ He did.
‘A feather, it comes from a bird.’
‘Wow, what a big bird.’ It was massive, and I only noticed it when Mushroom pointed it out.

The five minute walk took us about 40 minutes in the end and I forgot what I went to the shop for but it didn’t matter. Walking with Mushroom, instead of pushing him around in his buggy, made me really stop and look at the world. He made me pay attention, something I’ve been forgetting to do lately.

I think sometimes, its possible to get so wrapped up in teaching our children things – how to walk and talk, to eat nicely, to say please and thank you – that we forget to appreciate what they can teach us.

What have you learned from your children this week…?

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A week in tweets – #beenalongweek

So, this week I thought I’d take part in Slummy Single Mummy’s ‘A week in tweets’ again. If you didn’t see my last post, where I ‘tweeted’ as Mushroom for a week, you can read it here.

So, here’s where I let Mushroom take over my laptop and fill us in on his week (he really did type this himself. Honest)*

Monday
Nursery today. Was ok this morning but now? Tummy hurts. Head hurts.  Teeth hurt. Mummy put me to bed early. Was grateful. #gonnabealongweek

Tuesday
Felt MUCH better. Got some shapes in the right holes in those stupid wooden things. No one clapped. So I clapped myself #gonnabealongweek

Wednesday
Clinic 2day. One toy. One! And no other babies. I asked about it but Health Visitor (that’s a name?) just said I was cute. #gonnabealongweek

Thursday
Finally some fun! Singing at Musical Minis. Then a playdate. So happy I kissed my friend. He wasn’t impressed. So I hugged his Mum. She was.

Friday
Stayed in ALL day. Tried to play with oven, told ‘No’ a million times. Take me out then! It’s just a bit of rain. You’re ill? Mums can’t be.

Saturday
Played with building blocks -knocking down Mummy’s towers! Crazy. Mum’s friend came with us to the park. She was so much fun, I kissed her.

Sunday
Went shopping. Oh fun. NOT. But got to sit on the conveyor belt while we waited for the tills 2 open. It’s the little things. #beenalongweek

*Ok, maybe I am lying. Just a bit.

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