Raising boys Archives - Mami To Five

You know, that elephant dinosaur!

The one thing that definitely can’t be said about my youngest is that he has a lack of imagination! When his older siblings talk about dreams they have had, he will join in with some wild and wonderful tales about his own dreams. He talks in his sleep so I am well aware of the fact that he does actually have some fantastic dreams, but I often wonder how much he makes up as he goes along.

Being a typical four year old little boy he’s never really been one to sit and read, write or colour. He’s far appier bouncing around being a Power Ranger Transformer, making ships out of pillows, or staring goggle eyed at a TV screen. So every time he shows any interest in sitting and actually drawing I try and take full advantage of it. One of the ways he’s always happy to draw pictures is when we get the chalks out and he goes to town on our living room floor. It’s painted concrete so ideal for using chalks on, and him drawing on it means I then have to actually clean the floor, which is a chore I tend to put off far longer than I should!

Dinosaurs have been a big thing with O this year and when he wanted to get the chalks out this week I wasn’t surprised that they played a big part in his drawings. His story to go around them made me giggle though so I thought I would share them with you!

I would like you all to meet O’s Elephant Dinosaur and before you ask no it isn’t a mammoth silly, can’t you see her spines on her back!?

O says that this Elephant Dinosaur is called “Inmhinw” and she doesn’t live in our world. She lives in a world with lots of other dinosaurs like spinosauruses and T-Rex’s. But she doesn’t fight with them. She has a baby inside her belly (She has quite a few legs herself but her baby seems to be a mutant jellyfish baby dinosaur because it has LOADS of legs!) But the baby has now come out of the Elephant Dinosaur’s Fairy (yes that’s what our family calls it, don’t judge!) and is going away to live on it’s own because baby Elephant Dinosaurs don’t need their Mamis. I made the mistake of saying that there were TWO baby Elephant Dinosaurs, the one inside the tummy and the one on the right hand side, it seems I was very much mistaken and this is a picture that takes us through time all in one image!

I thought that would be all from this little world of his, he disappeared for a bit, but then came back announcing that he’d forgotten someone!

This is ‘human with a snake’ seriously, this kid couldn’t even say Mami until he was two and a half and now he’s calling us Humans!

The snake, which I first mistook for a balloon, is going to be turned into a spoon so Human can eat cereal. I didn’t dare ask what Human was going to put his cereal in. Maybe he was planning to eat it right out of the box?

Human and his spoon snake live in the same world as the elephant dinosaur but they don’t hurt each other. Human can control the elephant dinosaur with the two buttons on his spines. The one makes him go fast and run around, the other does something else.

At this point he got bored and left. I have no idea whether Human managed to turn his snake into a spoon, what that second button does, or what happened to the baby elephant dinosaur. Will it go and find it’s own human? Talk about being left on a cliffhanger!!!

I love listening to the stories he makes up, even ones without pictures to back them up. It makes me wonder if I have a future writer (and illustrator) in the house!

Do your kids have wild imaginations too?

My last baby is starting school and I’m okay with that.

Last week my youngest child, who only turned three in July, started full time in our local Welsh language primary school.

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This might sound unusual to those of you who are currently sending your four and five year olds off to school for the first time. But in our area, all children start full time in the nursery class of their local primary school the September after they turn three. I have no idea why, that’s just the way it has always been. At least it the 13 years since I’ve had school aged kids.

O is the fifth child I’ve sent to this school. The three girls are now pupils in the county’s only Welsh language comprehensive school and LV will be leaving his little brother to join them next September.

But this time around marks the end of an era for me. This is the very last time I will have a child starting school. Of course I thought that with LV, before we decided to have one more, but this is definitely it for sure this time. There’ll be no more babies in this house!

I thought I might have had a bit of a wobble on that first Monday morning and I did feel a bit lost for the first day, but I’ve mostly been quite indifferent to it. I feel a bit guilty that I’m not bothered by it at all. But maybe I’m so at ease because it’s all gone smoothly and he’s taken to it so well. He went in at 9am with barely a glance goodbye. Was more than happy to drink his ‘special milk’ (almond milk) from a cup when everybody else had a bottle of ‘cow milk’, managed to stay awake the whole afternoon and came out at 3.30pm perfectly happy to go back again the next day. He was even disappointed that he wasn’t going on Saturday!

So this is now our normal.

I can actually do things around the house without having to entertain a small child, stay at the allotment even if it’s raining, pop to the shops without buying snacks to keep said small child from moaning, pee alone, drink hot drinks…while they’re still hot. But perhaps most importantly I now need to decide what I want to be now I’m a grown up!

Do I want to go back and work in a preschool setting? I can and will if needs be. But ideally I will be able to make money at home by writing. I have a few ideas that have been on the back burner for a while and now is the time to set some wheels in motion.

I was asked a little while ago whether I felt guilty about him being in school so young and did I wish he could stay home for another year. And in all honesty? not on your life! Yes I feel like time is flying by at a lightening pace, but the school my kids go to is lovely, the foundation phase means he gets to spend all day playing, learning without even realising it all the while being immersed in a Welsh language environment. I couldn’t ask for a better start to his educational journey!

Do you have a little one starting school this year? How are you feeling about it?

Review~ The Toddlebike2

At the end of last year we were asked ifwe would like to review the Toddlebike2 before it’s launch in November. I have to be honest in that I had never heard of the Toddlebike before but when I looked into it I found that the original version had some fantastic reviews so I jumped at the chance to be able to try the new and updated one out for ourselves!

The Toddler’s Coeliac Disease Test Results

Last year I wrote about O’s tummy troubles and him being put on a dairy, soy and wheat/gluten free diet. At that time he didn’t have a specific diagnosis as we were waiting for blood test results. Eventually, over five months after having bloods taken we were finally given the results (how ridiculous is it to have to wait that long!?!) and a diagnosis…

Sort of…

Two of the blood tests were for coeliac disease. One, a genetic test, the second an antibody test. The genetic test came back as positive, meaning simply, that he has a genetic predisposition to develop Coeliac disease at some point in his life.

HOWEVER

Many people are genetically predisposed but may never actually develop coeliac disease in their entire life.

His antibodies test came back negative. Meaning that his body isn’t creating antibodies to fight the gluten in his system. Meaning they can’t diagnose Coeliac disease.

We were told that he probably has a non-coeliac gluten intolerance alongside the dairy and soya and to keep him off all three for at least a year, when they would then look at slowly introducing each back into his diet one at a time. Obviously by that point he was already not eating gluten so they couldn’t retest but she made it clear that they wouldn’t have anyway.

I left that appointment a bit flumoxed and unsure of what to do next, or what to say when asked why he can’t eat certain foods.

That old saying ‘if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck….’ kept popping into my head.READ MORE »

Book Review ~ Seas of Ramion by Frank Hinks

When this book arrived in the post, my first thought was ‘how beautiful!’ The Seas of Ramion comes as a traditionally bound hardback book in a lovely shade of blue which is embossed with gold to make it really striking. See for yourself:

The second thing which caught my eye was the map inside the cover, I don’t know what it is but I love it when a book has a map. It makes the story much more real to me somehow!

Inside, you will find three stories from the magical ‘Ramion’ series which is filled with witches, dwarves and many other magical creatures. The series is based upon the author, Frank Hinks’ own three children, here is how the books evolved.

The Ramion adventures started with his oldest son Julius giving him the first line of a story at bedtime each night and leaving him to take it over without any idea where it was going. These stories evolved into the books that are now available with his own colour illustrations. He has produced around 500 full page gouache paintings for 16 stories and is now working on story number 17 The Dream Thief in which the boys have to rescue their mother’s dream of being an artist.

The Kingdom of the Deep.

The first story sees Griselda the witch holidaying in Wales, which LV found funny, with plans to eat the three little boys whilst there. Sadly for Griselda things go a little awry and after getting annoyed, she ends up sending the boys to the kingdom of the deep where they meet many creatures.

The Blizzard Wizard

After the Blizzard Wizard gets wrongly freed from prison he turns all of Ramion into ice. The boys have to collect 4 mystical elements whilst trying to avoid some nasty creatures of the forest. When the four elements combine they bind up the Blizzard Wizard and take him back to his cell.

The Body Collector

Griselda’s pet skull Boris misses his body, but can’t remember where he left it! After having a vision, or a dream, he remembers it getting stolen from him by Charlie Stench who collects bodies and turns the heads into evil floating skulls. They visit Stench Castle to get Boris’s body back but of course things don’t go quite as planned!

The Verdict

It’s refreshing to find a book aimed at boys which is a fantasy book whereas most are sport based, specifically football. Although the main characters are boys, girls would equally enjoy the stories too. LM had a read through the first story and thought it was enjoyable and quite quirky, even if she thought it a little young for her. She is 12.

I have to be honest that Frank Hinks’ distinctive illustrative style was a bit bright and bold for my liking, but I am 33 and these stories and pictures are aimed at children aged 7+. LV didn’t mind them, although he is colourblind and many of the colours were indistinguishable from each other which meant he missed some aspects of the images.

LV’s favourite story was The Blizzard Wizard. Being a nine year old his attention span is very limited, unless it involves a video game of course. This story was quite fast paced which moved the story along nicely so he never got bored.

If you would like to order a copy of the Seas of Ramion for your child it is available from Amazon for just £9.99.

Our Top Secret Mission: SpyNet Laser Tripwire Review

We were recently invited to take part in a Top Secret Spy Mission by Spynet HQ. When LV found out he was going to play at spy’s he was over the moon and when the box arrived containing the Spynet Laser Tripwire he immediately set about deciding how he was going to set it up to protect his room from the enemy AKA The Big Sisters.

Priced at just £24.99 the Laser Tripwire consists of a transmitter, two mirrors and a receiver. Everything is adjustable so it is easy enough to align the laser, although it can get a little tricky once they are more than a few feet away from each other or when you’re trying to be clever and have all the bits on different levels.

The mirrors do have suction cups on the bottom and you are meant to be able to get them to stick to surfaces like walls and windows. I have to say that although we failed miserably to get them to stick to our walls but this didn’t take away any of the enjoyment at all. It actually meant that he thought of more creative ways to position the mirrors, like tying them to his bed frame! We didn’t attempt them on the windows, I’m pretty sure they would have stuck really well on the shiny surface.

The alarm that goes off once the laser is broken is quite loud and likely to send any would be invaders scarpering.

Being typical teenagers the girls soon got bored of being test subjects to LV’s tricks and so he set about testing if he could stop himself getting past the lasers. This lead to some hilarious limbo moves, think of a not so refined Oceans Twelve!

LV’s final word on the SpyNet Laser Tripwire is that it is really cool and great to trick people with. The only thing that would make it better would be able to reset the alarm by remote control so the receiver doesn’t need to be right next to the exit.

Oh, and to not try attempting a burglary with a two year old!

Do your kids like playing spies?

***Disclaimer: We were sent the Spynet Laser Tripwire to review for the purposes of this post, but all thoughts and opinions are honest and our own.***

Not Quite the Birthday We’d Planned!

Today was LV’s birthday. He finally turned 9! I say finally, he hasn’t actually had to wait any longer than the year that every one else is allotted. But as his birthday is in the summer holidays he has watched all his class mates, bar one, turn 9 before him.

Moving on from Co-Sleeping

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Two weeks ago we bought a bunk bed.

It’s amazing how buying this one simple item of furniture has changed our lives so much.

O is now two and has spent all of his life sleeping in our bed, bar a couple of naps and the few months where he went down in his cot but came in with us a few hours later. His cot has simply been an extra storage space in our room for months!

LV was still sleeping up in the attic with the girls even though the boys room was almost finished. Apart from a little tidy up all that was really needed was some curtains and some bedroom furniture. Everything else will come soon enough, but the bed was an immediate necessity.

Now, LV finally has a real room of his own instead of squatting with his sisters and O? Well he is in his own bed too!

Reflecting on the Past School Year

So we have just come to the end of a very soggy first week to our summer holidays. We are planning to go camping at least a couple of times during the next six weeks so I really hope the weather dries up at least a little! But this post isn’t about the future, instead I wanted to reflect a little on the last school year before we get flung head first into the next.

Summer Days Linky ~ Growing Strong

Welcome back to the Summer Days Linky with myself and Karen from Stopping at Two. You can read more about it HERE. You can link your summery posts at the bottom of this post.

Do you remember the Sunflower and Bean seeds O planted back at the beginning of June? The are now safely planted in Taid’s garden (Taid-Welsh for grandad-is my dad) and are growing strong.

The sunflowers are getting really tall now.