Toddler Eating Habits

My daughters eating habits are my current bugbear/ worry. I worry about the lack of variety in her diet and wonder when we will start eating the same things together as a family? I just wrote down in black and white all the things she eats to see if I really should be worried at all. Here goes:

Bread/ Toast
Pasta
Fruit - likes all that she's tried so far
Yoghurt
Jelly
Tinned Spaghetti - with toast
Baked Beans - with toast
Cucumber
Spread Cheese
Porridge
Rice Crispies
Tomato Pasta sauce
Bolognese with beef mince
Biscuits - of course!!

You can see from this list that vegetables are pretty thin on the ground, they are mainly hidden in pasta sauce. Potatoes are also absent from the list, and in my quest to get her to like potatoes I've even offered her chips, but still they get sampled and then chucked on the floor or handed back. I thought, I know I'll try a bit of tomato ketchup on the side to entice her to eat things, but then all she does is eat a spoonful of the yummy red stuff!

When I worry too much about it I only have to look at her to realise that she is not underweight and certainly not malnourished, but I'd just love a meal time to go smoothly without refusal after refusal. At the moment I put a lot of her issues with food down to the fact that at 18 months old she still only has 9 teeth and I'm so eager for the rest to appear so that at least I know she has the nashers to cope with all manner of foods.

What are your tips for getting your little darlings to eat their greens? Is it normal at her age to be so limited in the range of foods she will eat? I'd love to hear your views and tips, it might stop me from worrying and just accept the status quo as it is.

Swim Baby Swim UK - Review

At the weekend we had our 2nd swimming lesson with Anne from Swim Baby Swim and it was brilliant! We came away on a real high and in fact it was the beginning of a really lovely Sunday spent with family and friends!

This week the Hubbie got in the pool with us and joined in which was great as Isla really is in this 'Daddy's girl' phase at the moment! We'd been saying to her all morning that we were going swimming and she knows what that means and once through the changing room doors there's no stopping her getting into the pool.

Firstly the kids were given dive sticks that they were to drop to the bottom of the pool to encourage them to look down into the water. At first it was quite hard to get Isla to drop it but once she did and saw that it meant Daddy had to go under the water to retrieve it she was happy to do it and more importantly she was looking down into the water watching the dive stick sink to the bottom and watching Daddy fetch it.

We also went up and down the pool holding Isla, encouraging her to 'kick, kick, kick!', which she did. This week it was Daddy's turn to swim the length of the pool with Isla holding onto his back, and again she thoroughly enjoyed it.

The best part about the whole lesson though was that she went under the water on 2 or 3 occasions and it didn't phase her. The best one for us being when Anne 'swam' her towards the side with her head just under the surface. Once she reached me at the side and came above the water we clapped her and although she looked a little bit uncertain once she saw the clapping and praise she was getting she started to clap herself. The fact that Anne did this really took the heat off us, because as parents it is really hard to not be fearful and Isla wouldn't have felt any panicky vibes from her. Anne is so calm and patient and that transmits to the children.

The kids in the lesson who are more practiced with their swimming all really trust Anne, so when she's asking them to take a hand off the side of the pool and come to her they know they won't come to any harm, likewise when they jump in the pool from the side. They are confident in the pool. The parents also learn to get their children to focus on them.

The principle with these lessons is that there is no need to use buoyancy aids as these really hamper the natural ability that children possess. They keep the body in un upright position which isn't helpful when eventually the child has to learn to swim in a horizontal position. Anne's lessons teach the importance of breath holding and floating.

For more details on Anne Hawley and Swim Baby Swim, go to:
http://www.annehawley.co.uk/index.html

Isla and I are taking part in the lessons as a trial and they have been provided free of charge for the purposes of the review.

Bump Watch...Week 18

Looking a lot bigger, but then it should do after only eating Italian food all day - Pizza & Spag Bol. Definitely reduces by morning....

Swim Baby Swim UK - Review

Recently I was lucky enough to be asked if Isla and I would like to take a swimming course with Anne Hawley of Swim Baby Swim. Well, I jumped at the chance because Isla really is a little water baby. She absolutely loves the pool and I knew that this was an opportunity too good to miss!

I will be reviewing the course as it goes on over 6 weeks and I'm so pleased to say that lesson 1 went brilliantly!

Anne Hawley is widely recognised as the pioneer and expert of infant swimming and has been in the profession since 1974. Her reputation and lifelong commitment to safely swimming infants has resulted in her distinct, innovative and unique method of swimming babies being copied all over the world.

Anne teaches at locations across London, Surrey and West Sussex. Our lesson took place in Chessington, Surrey which was the most convenient for us and the pool was within a hotel health club, so was really clean, with good facilities and quite a calm setting. The lessons are 30 minutes in length.

We got in the car on Sunday morning, slightly bleary eyed but looking forward to our new weekend activity. Once we were changed and in our cossies, we met Anne and started the lesson. We were in a small group with 3 other children. The exercises we did help to build confidence in the water and ultimately independence.

Isla had fun with the floats, body surfing up and down the pool. I also swam the length of the pool with Anne holding Isla on my back, which I think she found amusing, like I was her own personal dolphin. The kids were also encouraged to grip hold of the side on their own. Isla proved that she doesn't mind getting water all over her face, when it was sprinkled over her and finally the most nail biting part from my point of view was when she was submerged. It was Mummy that needed to be brave on that occasion. Anne talked us through what we were going to do. I was to lift Isla up in the air twice, smiling at her the whole time and then on the third lift bring her down just under the surface of the water. I was to then slowly bring her back out of the water. I did exactly as I was told until the part when I had to bring Isla back out of the water and I did what Anne said most parents do the first time they do the exercise, which was panic slightly and bring her out quick! She made a fuss for about 10 seconds and then as soon as she saw a toy in the water was completely fine again. I'm resolved that Mummy will do better next time.

Isla absolutely loved every minute of the lesson and so did I. We hadn't realised that Hubbie could join us in the pool too, so this Sunday he will be bringing his trunks and sharing in the experience. I'm a firm believer that learning to swim is imperative in childhood and from my conversation with Anne, if children are taught to swim from birth they can even be swimming at least 5 metres independently before their 1st birthday! Imagine that? A baby could be swimming before taking their first steps. My Dad took me for swimming lessons when I was a little girl and our plan is to do the same for our little ones.

I'll keep you updated on how our lessons go, I left the pool on Sunday feeling like we'd had a really great bonding session and couldn't wait to get to Isla's Nanny and Granddad's to tell them all about it. To be continued...

For more details on Anne Hawley and Swim Baby Swim, go to:
http://swimbabyswim.info/

Isla and I are taking part in the lessons as a trial and they have been provided free of charge for the purposes of the review.

The Gallery - Children

When I saw that the topic this week for The Gallery was 'Children', the obvious choice was to pick a photo of my gorgeous daughter, but then I thought no, how's about a pic of me, in my favourite Chelsea shirt. I love this photo - the poor colour quality, the groovy 1970's decor and how lovely my nan looks! I also know that my mum would have cut that fringe and later on that day we'd probably have watched 'Metal Mickey' or 'Doctor Who' on the black and white TV.

My sister and I used to spend many a Saturday afternoon at our grandparents house while my mum worked and my Dad was in The Shed end at Stamford Bridge cheering on the blues. I loved wearing this shirt and if I could still have one item of my childhood clothing it would be this.

In the winter we'd spend hours playing board games or cards with my nan and in the summer we'd be having adventures amongst the beanstalks at the end of the garden, more often than not tottering around in my nan's high heeled shoes - we've got the Cine film somewhere of this, must get it out one day!

If you want to check out Tara's blog and all the other Gallery entries go to: Sticky Fingers - there are some brilliant pictures!

Bump Watch...Week 17

Apparently there's a baby the size of a bell pepper in there - why do they always compare babies to fruit and veg?!

Cybermummy 2011 Sponsorship Request...

I am looking for a kind, caring, sharing sponsor to send me to CyberMummy 11 - the UK's number one blogging conference. 

I started blogging in November last year and since then I've become quite addicted to it! I've made some lovely mummy contacts in such a short space of time and they all in their own way add to my parenting experience, from sharing tips and problems to comparing funny anecdotes about our kids. I wanted my blog to reach out to new mums, and mums who are old hands at the job. When I became aware of Cybermummy 11,  I really felt it was something I wanted to be part of as it will help me move things along with my blog. I'd really value the advice and experience I could gain from attending. It takes place on the 25th June 2011 and it's basically the top notch event in the mummy blogging cybersphere! To enable me to go I would love to be sponsored by a business looking to reach out to the parenting world.

About me

I'm a 35 year old mother of 1, a daughter aged 18 months, also expecting baby number 2 in July, so I'll probably be the size of a planet come the 25th June, the day of the conference! I work 4 days a week, which apparently is part time, but feels like full time in my book. Apart from being a mum and employee, I blog and spend as much time as I can with friends and family.

What do I need?

Cybermummy ticket £100 - It's really that simple

And that really is all, as I live in Greater London and already own a season ticket for travel, so no need for accommodation or train fare

What I can offer you:

Announcement blog post and tweets announcing my partnership with your product/ brand

Further mentions in my blog and tweets in the run up to the event - this could be more lucrative for you if I had material to blog about in the form of products you need testing or competitions I could run for you

I Heart Motherhood will happily host an ad on the blog for your product/ brand in a prominent place that will be welcome to stay for 1 year

I will wear a T-shirt with your logo emblazoned across my bump at Cybermummy and believe me by then I will be enormous so you'll have a high profile while I'm there!

In a nutshell I would be a brilliant ambassador for you and your brand/ product, I'd work my little socks off!

I may not have thought of everything, so I'm all ears if there's anything else I may not have mentioned above! If you're interested and think we could work together then drop me a line at
sharon.donnelly@ymail.com or tweet me @iheartmuthahood