Horsin' around

We took Austin to the Freightliners Farm in Islington on Saturday. It's a cute little farm not far from Islington/Highbury station. It's free to enter (woohoo) and has a heap of different animal displays. I have a sneaky feeling that as summer gets closer there will be more on display but even in the middle of winter there was still lots to oggle. 

Austin led the way (as he does) charging from one area to the next. Ducks. Hens. Cows. Goats. And the cat. This was by far the most interesting (according to his reactions). There were no horses (sorry people, my blog title is a bit misleading), but plenty of birds, sheep and rabbits rounded out the animal displays nicely.

Babycinos and cake before we left made for one happy little boy at the cafe. But with no card facilities and a decent walk to the closest ATM it's probs best to bring cash (yep, wish we had the heads up on that one). 

Things that make my toddler cry #everything

Ok, these photos are totally not crying photos, because Austin has been waaaay better behaved this week. And also, when he is mid-tantrum it is stress-city people, so I’m not all jumping for the camera.

But for anyone with a toddler you’ll know that the smallest of smallest of things can lead to a full-blown ‘category A’ meltdown. Oh no.

Which leads me to this, a list of things that make my toddler cry:

1.     That he’s tired

2.     That he’s tired but doesn’t want to go to sleep

3.     That he does want to go to sleep but he can’t get to sleep

4.     Because he doesn’t want to get dressed (specifically):

a.     Putting on his jacket (it’s 3 degrees out in the morning peeps we need the jackets on!)

b.     Putting on his shoes. Full. Blown. Meltdown.

c.      Putting on his naaaaaapyyyyy…. but at least this one causes a laughing toddler running around the house getting chased. What a nice change from the TANTRUMATOR.

5.     Because he’s hungry (but doesn’t want anything I offer, and can’t tell me what he wants. Actually, that does sound pretty frustrating).

6.     Because he’s hankering for his bottle of milk like a crack addict looking for a hit (he wants it REALLLLLLLL bad). Oh gawd. We really gotta wean him off that.

7.     Because he doesn’t want to get in the pram.

8.     Because… well…. because I’m not even sure he knows half the time.

9.     Because he feels like it?

Pretty please, let this phase be done and dusted (overly optimistic? Don’t burst my bubble people!).

Sleepless in South Bank

I always give advice to get out the door first thing in the morning when sightseeing. But it can be a bit hard to take your own advice when your kid wakes up at 5am every day. 

The positive side of our late departure on our sightseeing adventure (aside from the much needed extra sleep we all got) was that Austin fell asleep on the way there (wooo) which meant we could have a lovely lunch at The Green Room. Burger + glass of wine + chats without simultaneously entertaining a child = it was pretty damn good (double woo).

The downside to getting out the door about 4 hours after we intended was that everywhere was soooo crowded. We wanted to walk around and check out the street art but found out pretty quickly that the majority is in the skate park. Literally, in it. So probably not the best place to go for a walk with a sleeping baby. You know, on account of the teenagers riding the bikes, and skateboards directly at you.

So we just cruised around anyway. There's a heap in this little spot, and if it wasn’t so cold we would’ve stuck around longer. Views of Big Ben, The Eye right next door, a cute as little merry go round (weeee), an adventure park for the kids and the shops and restaurants of the Southbank Centre. I’d say we’d go back in summer but really if it was this packed when it was freezing its gonna be all sorts of hell busy in summer. So thank you very muchly and see ya later South Bank. 

The seven BIG TIME risks we take as parents

There are SO many risks we take as parents, but here are my top seven (enjoy):

1. Putting a blanket on a sleeping baby. You KNOW this is a risk. And yet you can't stop yourself from doing it (what if they get cold?) Mama’s gonna keep this baby warm! And 3, 2, 1, WAAAAH.
2. Doing ‘no nappy time’ before 12 noon. Or any time. MASSIVE risk. Hello poopville. 
3. Using chocolate as a bribe… it’s a slippery slope to chocolate meals all day long… oh GAWD.
4. Getting the nail scissors out to cut fingernails. You would think having a sharp object near a wiggling child would be a bad idea. And yet here we go again, every two weeks.
5. Putting your kid in bed with you at his 4am wake up for a desperate attempt at some extra sleep ("you should be careful, you know, this could become a habit, you know" yes, yes, we KNOW).
6. That one last glass of champagne on your night off because 'you deserve it'. Because, like, everyone feels awesome at 5am in the morning after a few champers. WOOO. 
7. The old move the baby from the car seat to pram trick. SO RISKY. But when it pays off it is literally the best high five moment. 

So. Many. Risks. Just call us mama's (and dad's) modern day warriors. 

Two of a kind

What do you get when you visit two museums in one day with over two hours travel time and on a hang over? You get a bad cold and have to put up with being sick all week. BUT before that happens you have a pretty awesome day.

Museum 1: V&A Museum where the entry is free, the courtyard is beautiful and there are loads of exhibits. We had lunch in the 'oldest museum cafe in the world' which was a combination of damn fancy and new and classy (not bad eh?). And then caught a quick glimpse of some of the exhibits on the way out. Basically we saw very little here and we were SO tempted to stick around but after travelling for an hour and ten minutes to get to this part of town we had our eyes on the prize..... the Science Museum!

Which brings us to... museum 2: The Science Museum. Two minutes inside and Austin spotted a car on the roof so we trekked up two flights of stairs to stare at it, and stare at it and stare at it. Then there were a whole heap of ho-hum exhibits, probably just that itsy bit too old for Austin. Just as we were starting to give up hope of anything good appearing we found the tractor exhibit BOO-YA, which was followed by cars, engines, planes and space ships.... WOOOO. Austin LOVED it. Love seeing his little hands fly like crazy when he is SUPER excited. 

Small note to self for next time, maybe chill out on the two museums in one day thing. Was just a tad crazy and really, it's pretty hard to get the most out of them when you're rushing around like a madman. Phew. Do love squeezing every bit of fun out of the day though. Consider this day well squeezed. 

Baby banksy

So here we've been trekking half way across the city every weekend to visit the sights when there's a whole shipload of amazing street art right on our doorstep. Ok, this is probably the case all over London but we actually decided to open our eyes to it this weekend and our walk to the art shop became a mini street art tour. 

We had a little moment in front of this Egyptian work by Zabou. And i don't mean just a photo moment. Let's just say mummy should remember to put the pram on lock when not using it. There was a bit of a rollaway situation (don't stress, the kid wasn't in the pram). So that provided a nice bit of drama for our walk. The pram rolling away, Pat diving to grab it before it rolled on to the road, and thank god there were no cars going past at the moment because we might have given someone a heart attack (pram on the road, pram on the ROAAAADDDD!)

There's a heap of other artworks down Essex road too, including a banksy and a stack by bambi. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon stroll. 

Homeboy

So when you have plans to sightsee the whole god damn town... what happens? BOOM toddler flu. Bye bye London Museum, bye bye old London wall and HELLOOOO a weekend at home watching Paw Patrol on repeat, nutella toast all day long and general spoiling of the sickly one. Jumping on the bed YES, doona forts YES, pancakes YES (well for us, not Austin, no matter how hard we tried to convince him they weren't poison pies he wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole.)

Hey and you know, it was pretty fun. The last time Austin fell asleep sitting on my lap was about a year ago, probs longer, aww the kid melts my heart. And it didn't last too long, he's already back to his old self, pretty much running around flatstick all day long (the kid is BANANA's, B-A-N-A-N-A'-S... you get the idea). 

Top 3 tourist spots with your under two's

Ok, so I’m not going to even pretend that I’m some sort of travel expert. Just want to be straight up and get that out first. We’ve probably seen about 10% of what London has to offer (there is soooo much to do and we’re limited by the travel time that a toddler can cope with). BUT based on all of the places we’ve been so far… da da da daaaaa, I present to you ‘Mega's Top Three Tourist Spots To Visit With Your Under Two’s’ (ok, I feel like that line could’ve been a bit punchier but we ran out of coffee pods this morning so my brain is probably at quarter capacity right now).

1.     London Transport Museum

The London transport museum was pretty much Austin’s idea of HEAVEN. They have over three levels of full size buses, trains and horse drawn carts. And on top of that pretty much the whole museum is designed with little kiddy’s in mind, from stamp sheets for each exhibit to the amazing kids play area. And because it’s in Covent Garden you don’t have to trek half away across the city to get there. Yippee!

Prices: Adult 17, concession 14.50, under 18 free
Extra tips: Free buggy park and cloak room on site

2.     The London Eye

So the London eye itself is a pretty short ride (a bit of a splurge for the thirty minutes you get - so no napping on the job people) but we LOVED it! You get an awesome view of all the main city sights and it’s in the perfect location to tag team it with some of London’s best (hello, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey). 

Prices: Adult 23.50, child 17.50, under 4 free
Extra tips: expect to ‘fold down’ your buggy to get on and a decent queue from about 12 noon onwards

3.     Manor house visit

We visited Fenton House and I’ve said it before but yep I’m a big ol dork, so this is right up my alley! I mean really what is London until you’ve visited a fancy pants manor house? We chose this one as it's close to us but there are so many in London so wherever you’re staying there should be one nearby. Just visit the National Trust website to make your pick!

Prices: Adult 7.20 child 3.60
Extra tips: If you have time pack a picnic to eat in the gardens

And on our to do list of places that sound fabulous but we haven’t got to yet is both the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. Ok, now that this is in the open I feel I've made myself somewhat accountable as I've been putting these ones off forever because of the 70 minute travel time, yikes!  But enough is enough it is time to get there!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend out and about.

King of the castle

Ok, I admit it. I am a senior citizen at heart. Well at least when it comes to visiting old houses. I hadn't really noticed until I convinced hubby to go to the Government House open day in Melbourne a few years back. We were literally the only people under 50 years old lining up to get a squiz inside the beautiful old estate. 

So I was pretty excited to realise there was going to be a CHOICE between historic houses to visit on our way back from the weekend in Birmingham. Jackpot! Thinking long and hard about the decision (yes, I am a dork, I know) we decided on Baddesley Clinton because who doesn't love a medieval mansion complete with moat and its own chapel on site?

But despite my extreme excitement the real winner of the day was Austin. Or he would like to think. He's at the stage now where everything is a test. Testing me, testing his limits, testing life in general... Yep and the results are in. He is definitely king of the castle (or at least King of Baddesley Castle). How do I know? Because:

• he can’t walk through a gift store without clutching on to a toy for dear life, using an unbreakable ninja grip until mum pulls out five pound to pay
• he will happily sit and play with the pebbles in the mud and not budge regardless of how many bribes you throw at him (fruit, crackers, biscuits, chocolate… yes, we were pulling out the big guns at the end)
•  he walks over to you for what you think is a cuddle but once ‘up’ points in the direction he would like to be taken (go forth woman! Faster, faster!)
• he smiles at the person standing next to you until they smile back because he’s learnt way too quickly that’s he’s pretty damn cute
•  he has the cheekiest little laugh when he runs away from you because you’ve said its home time
•  he sits in his ‘throne’ (car seat) post castle expedition and snoozes while the grown ups have whispered conversations around him

Not long now until he has all of his toys bowing to the new king!

I said a BRRRRR

Yep it's cold out here! Here I was thinking geez I am owning this winter thing all late November and through December. Heading outside? Sure no probs! Cruising through the park? You betcha! Feeling cold? Eh, no biggie I'm FIIINEEEEEEE. 

Ok, did I mention it was the mildest December in London, EVER? Like, literally the warmest December on record? Ah yep. Ok so that has finished now. And here we are in January. And the weather is pretty consistently -3 to a top of 4. Hello winter!

And I'm not sure if anyone else's toddler is the same but Austin has an extreme aversion to winter clothes! Argh, it is WAY too cold to be cruising around in shorts and a t-shirt kid. The good news is we've upgraded from 'no I won't wear any form of head ware on my cute little head' to 'I will try to be like daddy and wear a flat cap for a minimal amount of time'. I am not going to sneeze at this. I will take this as PROGRESS. Who knows, by the time summer comes around we might have him in cute little bunny beanies, scarves and gloves. And then the next challenge will arrive.... sunglasses and sun hats! Damn, I am a sucker for a kid in accessories though. Oh the joys.