Halloween.

Emma said that Poppy enjoyed the Halloween party on Friday at the pub, Poppy was dressed as a witch complete with pointy hat, striped tights and slippers with black cats on them! She loved the disco and stood jigging up and down, the DJ took a liking to her and gave her a packet of sweets; green candy floss was on offer though Poppy did not have any, just a bit too mucky!! Face painting was going on though Poppy would not stay still long enough for her face to be painted! Her Nanny from Torquay has been to visit this weekend, I bet she did not want to go back, you miss so much when they are little if you don`t see them virtually every day, she seems to do something new every day now. She has another party this afternoon and then another tomorrow at playgroup with the childminder, at least she will get some wear out of her witch costume!

Three boyfriends!

Emma, Poppy and I have been over to see Michelle, Ian and the boys this morning. When we first arrived Poppy stood for ages just looking around and smiling, she seemed a little overwhelmed! She was soon crawling along, biscuit in hand, trying to mount the stairs! Rhys was very good, each time Poppy headed towards the stairs he became a human stair gate by sitting on the bottom step and waving his arms about! All three boys were very good, they all seem very taken with Poppy and were rewarded for their devotion by some beautiful smiles. She enjoyed quite a few of Michelles biscuits, a few too many actually as she did not want her lunch when we got back! Funnily enough she was able to eat a bit of the jam donut her Mummy got from Gregs on our return journey, and she also managed a bit of my egg custard! Funny that!! The boys wanted to see Poppy walking but she did not oblige this morning, you have to fool her by giving her something to hold in each hand and then she finds it more difficult to crawl and so she will walk, this morning however walking obviously was not getting her to where she wanted to go fast enough and she dropped to her knees and shot off as fast as she could!

I think she may already have three boyfriends!!

The kiss.

Emma and Poppy arrived with Lily at 11am, it was raining and quite miserable weather so it brightened the day to see them. I did Swedish meat balls and pasta with sauce for lunch as Gray is working afternoons this week and it is easier to cook for us all at the same time at lunch time. Poppy ate all her pasta and meat balls and enjoyed her food which is nice as when she has some teeth coming through she goes off her food, so it was nice to see her eating today. I had some Peppa Pig yogurts for her which she enjoyed, when she is in the right mood she will let you feed her, when she is not in the mood to be fed nothing you can do will persuade her! She likes to feed herself and will take the spoon from you fully loaded with food and put it into her mouth, if she doesn`t want anymore though watch out, you are liable to get covered in food when she decides to wave it about! Gray went off to work and Emma and I played with Poppy, she can make her spinning top whizz round now, she likes to play with her dolly and will push her around in the toy pushchair, she thinks its very funny if you wrap her dolly up for her. When it was time for Emma and Poppy to go home, Emma was picking up the toys from the floor and lay full length trying to reach some balls from her ball pool which had rolled under the cot. I said to Poppy "ah look, Mummy is tired" and she patted her Mummy on the face while saying "aaah", sweet. Even sweeter she then bent over and gave her Mummy a kiss.

A fruitful day.

Emma and Poppy arrived mid morning, Gray was cutting down a bush in the garden to get the rubbish ready for the bin men tomorrow so we decided to go out this afternoon as Emma wanted to go to Tesco for a Halloween outfit for Poppy, she is going to a Halloween party on Monday at playgroup with the childminder. There is also a childrens Halloween party at our local pubs, one on Friday and one on Saturday and Poppy has been invited to another party on Sunday so at least her costume should get a bit of wear! Jill popped round not long after Emma and Poppy arrived so we all had a cup of tea together and a natter, then after lunch Emma, Poppy and I headed off to Telford to get her costume while Gray went to work, he is on afternoons this week. Emma bought Poppy a lovely witches costume with a little pointed hat, some striped tights and some slippers with little black cats on! She is going to look well cute! Emma also got a laundry basket to use as a toy box, its what I use and the sides are a softish plastic with rounded edges so she cannot hurt herself, ideal for a toy basket.

On our way home I had to call in at the library as I had finished all my books, Emma and Poppy went into the library with me and while I was choosing my books Emma took Poppy over to the childrens section which has a little train and a box full of babies hard page books which she enjoyed looking through. On the way out Emma asked if Poppy could possibly join the library and they said yes, ofcourse, so she got her a ticket and we went back to the childrens section and chose a few books for her, she likes the ones with texture, a fluffy tummy or another texture for an animal coat, and she can have as many books as she likes, for as long as she wants with no fines to pay if they are late back, and if they are damaged the library understand that this often happens, mind you I think they would have something to say if too many got damaged! All in all a fruitful day.

Sunday roast.

Had a nice Sunday lunch with Rachel, Steven, Emma, Lee, Poppy and Gray, roast chicken and all the trimmings followed by home made meringues (the rest of which Ste took home with him!) Poppy ate all of her lunch and liked the meringues, she was getting very tired so they have all gone off home. Barney (our dog) really likes Poppy as she tends to give him food, you have to watch him like a hawk or you can give Poppy a biscuit and the next thing she is sitting feeding it to Barney! Emma is on half term this week so Poppy is going to have a lovely week with her Mummy, I daresay we shall be off out somewhere, maybe visit the soft play centre one of the days. I like Sundays when the family comes to visit.

Eye tests.

Poppy had an appointment yesterday at the eye infirmary which she attended with her Daddy. Apparently she did not want anybody to touch her face which would have made the examination a tad difficult as she had to have some tests and things done, however they obviously found a way round the difficulties because she has been discharged from the eye department. She is at the childminders today and I hope having a lovely time, apparently they are going out christmas shopping and out for lunch! Only one thing, aren`t childminders meant to be looking after the children they mind, playing with them and so forth, rather than doing their own thing and going christmas shopping? As long as its not too often. Just an observation.

Poppy is off to the hospital with her Daddy today for her appointment with the opthamologist, as far as I know it is just routine so hopefully will be fine. Her eyes certainly do not seem to be a problem now so hopefully that means the problems she had as a tiny baby are being corrected naturally.

It is half term next week so Poppy will be enjoying a whole week with Mummy, if the weather keeps fine I think a visit to Hoo farm is on the cards and visits to see certain little boys are also planned.

Jill very kindly took Poppy for a walk yesterday in her pushchair which made us realise that she really needs a hat and some mittens now that the weather is changing so Emma is planning some shopping for a few winter warmers. We bought her a sleep suit in a warmer material which she had on for one night but unfortunately her nappy leaked so it had to be washed straight away! A couple of new fleecy sleep suits seem to be on the cards and one or two cardigans or jumpers won`t go amiss.

Grandad and I have been looking round the toy shops at things for Christmas, we are thinking farm, zoo, Noahs Ark, something of that kind as she was playing with a farm at the childminders on Monday and liked putting the animals in the correct place. The choice of toys out there is bewildering, there is so much and they can be so expensive! I want to get her something which will be of benefit to help her learn but also for her to have fun and enjoy playing.

Flop

This last week and the weekend before really took it out of me, I can just about manage 3 days looking after Poppy, but when a weekend is added on aswell inbetween my 3 days each week it can all get a bit too much for me and I tend to flop, or get ill. This weekend I have had a bad throat again which was unexpected as I had a bad throat two weeks ago so I was not expecting another one, I can only think my immune system must be very low and I am catching anything that is going. My chest has been very tight too so I have been puffing on the inhaler like it is going out of business! Now I am attempting to relax today and rest my weary bones because tomorrow it all starts again, Poppy will be here first thing. This week I only have her for 2 days as on Thursday she has to go to the eye infirmary with her Daddy so hopefully I shall be able to cope okay and then five days off will let me recharge my batteries.

Yesterday we were invited to dinner at Emma and Lees house which was nice, roast beef and all the trimmings which for once I did not have to cook! Gray and Lee went to the pub to watch the football match where they met Steven, and Emma was to pick me up only Poppy fell asleep straight after she had lunch so I had to wait until she woke up, though as it happened the men got back from the pub before she woke,so Emma came round and fetched me. Emma said Lee had asked that our dogs also joined the outing so they were rather surprised when ushered into the car, Polly in particular was hanging back not expecting to go with us! Poppy was very pleased to see the dogs, as was Lily, she was sitting on Grandads lap having just woken up. She has a toy which she is very fond of which involves a row of little plastic animals which you push down and then when she pushes, pulls or turns various buttons they pop up. She thinks this is very funny and plays with it for ages. Yesterday she insisted the toy sat on my lap while the animals jumped up and down and it kept her occupied for a good while. She has also taken to playing with her dollies and it is so sweet to see her pushing them around in her little toy pushchair. After dinner Uncle Steven arrived with Murphy who immediately made for the rabbits and guinea pig hutch and would not stop staring at them, Polly had been sitting by the hutch too since she arrived though luckily neither the rabbit nor the guinea pigs seemed bothered! Poppy likes to go out into the garden and see them too so we all ended up out on the lawn in the late October sunshine, yes I said sunshine, it has been warm for this month, which is really nice (and most unusual!!) Poppy has taken a real liking to her Uncle Steven and gave him some lovely smiles:-)

So I did see Poppy this weekend though there were plenty of other people around to look after her and I just got to enjoy the time seeing and playing with her without the responsibility. We came home about 6pm as she was getting tired and was almost ready for a bath so it was best to come away and let Emma and Lee get her settled and ready for bed.

Poppy arrived with Mummy yesterday to fetch Lily, her dog, she had been with Sallianne the childminder all day and had a lovely time. Poppy had been playing with Harry a little lad of about 3 or 4 who is also looked after by Sallianne, they were playing with a farmyard and having a lovely time. Poppy was able to put the animals where they should go with the help of Harry, apparently when they are put in the proper place a sound like the animal is made so the child knows they have placed them correctly. Harry used to say he did not like Poppy as she kept taking his ty

I wish everybody would use reigns for their toddler.

As its Friday today Poppy is at the childminders and I hope she is having a lovely time. Grandma is glad of a rest, she has been hyperbaby this week, climbing on everything in sight, she even climbed over the arm of the sofa the other day and when I turned around she was sitting on the table! Little monkey!!

We went out and bought her some reigns yesterday, it won`t be long before she can walk, I think it is partly that she can get to where she wants to go quicker when she crawls and that she needs a little bit more confidence to give walking a try! She has apparently taken a couple of steps with her Daddy before now, and I saw her take a step towards Mommy a few days back, she will do it when she is ready. I thought that at least if I have some reigns ready I will be able to pop to my friends a few doors away or next door for a visit which is not the easiest thing for me to do at the moment, I cannot carry her very far now, she is too heavy for me and my back goes into spasm so to go anywhere at all, whether it be just a few yards away, I have to take her in the pushchair which can be a pain as by the time I have got it unfolded, put Poppy in it, got it out of the front door and walked to where I want to go I am done in so I tend to stay in my own house and ask everybody to visit me rather than go to all that trouble, it is just easier. Maybe it will be just as difficult when she is walking to get her into the reigns, we shall wait and see! I wish everybody would use reigns for their toddler! Ofcourse as I have so many toys here for her and all the things she needs I find it easier if friends come to visit rather than for me to go to them, and I am not being lazy here, it is just less stress to know she is occupied and that you do not have to rescue somebodys ornaments or stop Poppy from climbing on their furniture! I also bought her some little glittery hair slides as her hair is quite long over her eyes and I keep on pushing it back so that she won`t get it in her eyes all the time. I put a little pink one in for her and she looked well cute! She actually kept it in for about 2 hours until she was crawling along with her head on the floor, a strange thing she thinks is rather funny, and it loosened and started to come out. I put it back in but she immediately tried to grab it and pull it out again, she had obviously not realised it was there the first time! I managed to get her to keep it in till Mommy arrived home from work to see how cute she looked!

Poppy is now understanding more and more, yesterday when I asked her to give her sock to me so that I could replace it on her foot so that she did not get cold she actually went and fetched it, gave it to me and then put her foot in the air so I could put it on! Bless. She now likes to play with her dolly, she will feed her with her bottle and give her a cuddle, she likes me to wrap it up and thinks it is funny when I wrap it in her own cardigan! She gave her some of her biscuit the other day, you have to watch her or she will give her food to the dogs! Not that the dogs mind, they sit by her highchair waiting and hoping that something tasty will drop on their heads, so we have to keep them out of the room when Poppy is having a meal or the dogs would get it all and she would have nothing!

Busy busy busy.

Poppy was fast asleep when Emma had to pick her up to bring her here this morning, minus her pyjama trousers! Lee had changed her nappy and for some reason did not get round to putting her pyjama bottoms back on! So she arrived wrapped in a blanket! After breakfast she was playing with her toys before getting quite tired at 10am, she then slept for two hours, almost unheard of during the day! After lunch she turned into hyperbaby, the sleep obviously did her good and gave her lots and lots of energy, she was climbing on everything and anything, she even ended up climbing over the arm of the sofa and when I turned round she was sitting on the coffee table!

This afternoon we went to see her great Aunty Marg, my big sis, she loves visiting as Marg has a few toys ready for when she arrives so she soon made herself at home with toys all over the floor. As she also got some biscuits she was well happy, then her great Uncle Rich arrived home from work and she was trying his hat on! So a busy afternoon and she fell asleep on the way back, though only for half an hour or so.

Eggy bread for tea, she liked omlette the other day so I thought I would try her with it and she liked it. She is getting more difficult with her eating and absolutely refuses to let anybody feed her with a spoon, preferring to hold the spoon and feed herself - what a mess! The other day I even managed to get yogurt in my hair when she was flinging the spoon around! Actually there is a time when she will let you feed her, when it is chocolate! That seems to go into her mouth easily enough!

So thats another day over, she is here with me tomorrow then on Friday she will go to the childminder and then the weekend off, though I wouldn`t be surprised if she turns up with her Mummy and Daddy, they normally do at some point! Rather shattered at the moment!

Adrenalin.

I think it must be the adrenalin that keeps me going when I am looking after Poppy, keeping me awake and my energy levels up so that I can cope, because once her Mummy had fetched her yesterday, when they returned from the wedding, I was shattered and found it hard to keep awake! I was actually ready for bed about 7pm, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake my eyes kept shutting, several times I washed my face in cold water, drank cold water, dabbed cold water on the back of my neck, nothing helped, my eyes shut whatever I did! Now don`t get me wrong, she is so good, she slept through the night for us from 6.30pm until 7am, you can`t ask for more can you? She is on the go all the time she is awake, she is busy, busy, busy! I never would have believed how hard looking after a one year old can be when you are 56, I thought just because I am older does not mean it is any harder. Wrong! When you are 26 you have more energy, you can keep going for longer, and you may not have arthritis really bad which I have at 56. She is still a pleasure to take care of though, I love her so much.

The weekend.

Well the weekend is over, I was a bit worried about how we would cope with four dogs and a baby, especially as one of the dogs has to wear a huge collar around his neck due to an operation on his ear last week to prevent him scratching and perhaps breaking his stitches. Poppys mummy and daddy were attending Jo and Robs wedding in Powys that Rachel and Ste were also attending, hence why we had four dogs and a baby for the weekend! We thought it prudent to keep dogs and baby seperate, especially since she would quite possibly have been hanging off Murphys collar and may have caught his poorly ear, Ste said he had a go at the vet, most unusual, so if Poppy had caught it he may have had a go at her, which would have been quite out of character to say the least. The dogs were all very good, with Barney and Murphy spending a considerable amount of time sitting by the gate, watching what was happening on the other side, which was mostly Poppy sitting watching them in turn! We went out on Saturday afternoon to have a look at a few bits and pieces, ending up buying some clothes for Poppy, some pyjamas, which I think may be a tad large for her as I got 12 to 18 months size, and even though she is 14 months now she is still mostly in clothes 9 to 12 months size so I have a feeling the trousers may just fall down! While we were out I saw a beautiful dolls house, which I would have loved to buy for Christmas for Poppy, and almost did to be honest, until I thought hard about it and realised she is just a bit too young for a dolls house as yet, maybe next year! We got Poppy a little dolls buggy, on special offer at two toys for £8 which we thought a bargain so she had a little dollies care set too. She has been taking her "baby" for a walk across the lounge and feeding her with her little toy bottle which we thought very cute. It just shows that she could walk if she wanted to, the buggy certainly was not holding her up and she was walking across the room with no problem at all. She just needs the confidence to let go and walk by herself, ah well, when she is ready she will do it.

Poppy slept really well, which was very good as for the past few days she has not been sleeping too well due to her cold, she fell asleep at 6.30pm on Grandads lap, was in her cot by 6.45pm, and slept until 7am the next morning! She stirred at 5.30am so I went and got her, carrying her into our bed, and she dropped off again immediately which was very good, I thought she would be waking earlier due to her very early night! I must admit to be shattered now though, not only because I have been caring for a very lively little girl, who is into everything but also because I was awake early and could not get back to sleep again.

I have the day off tomorrow, Poppy is at the child minder, and to be honest I could do with a rest! Bless her, she has been such a good little girl this weekend, a pleasure to look after.

This weekend is going to be interesting!!

When Poppy arrived in the morning yesterday with her Mummy she was overjoyed to see the dogs, she loves them and thankfully they are very gentle towards her. Barney immediately lay on his back, legs in the air tale wagging and Poppy went "ahhhh, Bunky"!!! I daresay from now on he will forevermore be known as Bunky! I wonder if he will answer to it eventually?!!

Poppy was still rather snotty and I seemed to be forever wiping her nose but I think perhaps by the end of the day it seemed to be a little less so hopefully it is drying up. She does not like having her nose wiped and as soon as she sees you approaching her with a tissue she puts her head down so you cannot catch her or crawls away as fast as she can, trying to hide! As Mommy and Daddy are away this weekend at Jo and Robs wedding I hope Poppy will be okay, the venue is about an hour and a half away by car so they could do without an unexpected trip to the hospital, so hopefully the cold will have subsided and her breathing will be fine. Aswell as Poppy for the weekend we have our two dogs,  also Lily and Murphy which normally is not too much of a problem but Murphy has a poorly ear so he is wearing a rather large lamp shade shaped collar following his little operation on Tuesday so he keeps knocking against things and he is rather unhappy about having to wear it. I expect the dogs will find his strange contraption interesting, Lily especially as she loves to play with Murphy, Poppy also will wonder what on earth he has over his head! This weekend is going to be interesting me thinks!!

Hyper Poppy!

Poppy has been both snotty and hyper today!

Hopefully it is not the start of yet another cold or virus, with any luck it means that the horrible rubbish in her lungs and tubes is making its way out of her body and that she can have some respite from it. Please God it will not mean another visit to hospital. I know she has sneezed all day, with unpleasant results, but at least her body is ridding itself of the horrible effects the colds and virus have had on her!

She has also been hyper all day, she cannot quite walk as yet but boy can she climb! She is constantly climbing on the chairs, sofa, toy basket, Grandma! At least she has now learnt how to get safely back down from the chairs and sofas, rather than launching herself off head first as she used to! She turns herself carefully around and gets down feet first now, much more preferable than the leap into the unknown she used to attempt!

Walking is obviously not as fast as crawling for Poppy so, although we encourage her to give it a go and walk, if she wants to get anywhere fast she just gets down on to her hands and knees and heads off! She was standing just in front of me today so Grandad got down on bended knee and tried to encourage her to walk to him, instead she bent forwards as far as she could until she managed to grab his hands! She will do it when she is ready, you don`t see many adults crawling around do you?!

So I am a worn out Grandma today, having been climbed on, sneezed on, jumped all over and generally lead a merry dance! She never stops, except for when she is asleep, a little miracle. Thats what the doctors called her when she was born ten weeks early, thats what she is!

Another smiley happy afternoon.

Poppy has been for the afternoon, Emma is going to a wedding next weekend and wanted to buy an outfit for the occassion so asked if Poppy could come and visit while she went shopping. She was fast asleep in the car when she arrived so Em put her down straight away and she slept for 2 hours, she obviously had a busy morning. After lunch, which she insisted on feeding herself with yogurt (she is quite good though when she has had enough it goes everywhere when she bangs the spoon on the tray, she thinks thats very funny) she played with her toys for a bit, walking very well with the baby walker, (she walked a couple of steps last week for Daddy, and the childminder said she did a couple of steps on Friday) she then went out for a nice walk in the sunshine with her Grandad, well Poppy didn`t walk, she sat in the pushchair. She is a real outdoors girl and likes to be outside playing in the garden, loves riding in her pushchair looking around her, waving at everybody who passes! Emma arrived back from shopping before Poppy and Grandad came back from their walk, they were only 5 minutes later and Poppy was, by that time, fast asleep, the fresh air having obviously worn her out! They had fish fingers and home made chips, followed by home made rice pudding for tea, Poppy enjoyed her pud and managed to eat the whole bowl, feeding herself with the spoon, its best to put the food on the spoon and then hand it to her, rather than put the bowl on the tray, less messy! They have gone home now, Emma to get ready for the hen night and Poppy is stopping in with Daddy, another smiley happy afternoon with our beautiful granddaughter.