Potty training.

Bless her, Poppy does not like sitting on the potty, or on the toilet!! Just as soon as Christmas finished Emma and Lee decided that the time for potty training had arrived. Not easy to potty train a child who does not like sitting on the potty though so they are trying a rewards programme everytime she sits on it. So far they have had a wee on the sofa, a wee on Daddy and a poo on the rug! They have also had a wee in the potty and a poo, so hopefully they are starting to get somewhere! Perserverance is the order of the day I think, though you do tend to get fed up of hearing yourself say "do you need a wee wee Poppy?" "do you need the potty Poppy?" !!! They even bought her a padded toilet seat, and her potty is the form of a little chair built like a teddy bear so every avenue is covered!
Nappies are so expensive it would be nice not to have to keep on buying them, not like in my day when I used towelling nappies which had to be washed and drying them on a wet day was a nightmare! Disposable nappies were available, though in their infancy 30 years ago, so they were not the best. They did tend to leak a lot so you ended up with clothes wetter than the nappy and I used them only for holidays when trying to wash and dry nappies would have been difficult. Problem was that because they leaked you had to be sure and change them more frequently so as to avoid that problem. Nowadays the disposable nappies are much better than they were.

FATHER CHRISTMAS CAME!

Well he came! Poppy never even noticed when she got up on Christmas morning that there were some presents waiting for her in her bedroom, her Mommy had to tell her they were there!!
The first thing she opened apparently was a new My Little Pony, she then wanted to play with that and not open anything else! That made me smile when Emma told me, goes back to the old saying that they want to play with the box it came in, not the toy itself! She must have been rather overwhelmed, she was a very lucky little girl on Christmas day, infact she had so many presents that some were left over to open on Boxing Day and they finally finished opening them all after tea!
We all had a lovely day together on Christmas Day, Emma very kindly invited us round for our Christmas dinner and worked extremely hard preparing and cooking it all, I don`t think she even sat down! There were seven of us for dinner as Julie and Dave (Lees Mom and step Dad, also known by Poppy as Nanny Seaside) were up from the South coast for the festivities and staying at Emma and Lees house.
Emma, Lee, Poppy, Rachel and Steven arrived at our house late morning as per tradition, to open our presents together so it was all rather chaotic, especially if you add into the mix 4 dogs!! Lots of people, four dogs, piles of wrapping paper and lots of new goodies spread over the lounge meant lots of mess everywhere, though nice mess! Even the dogs got a present each though they did try to swap each others when they thought nobody was looking!
Poppy was resplendent in a beautiful red party dress with a silky flower on the waist band and that tied at the back in a big bow. A small black sparkly bolero cardigan adorned her outfit along with patterned tights and little shiny black party shoes. She looked a picture. Emma did not want to go to the pub this year as we normally do, it is always so crowded and ofcourse little ones just want to play with their new toys on Christmas day so the others headed off to the pub for a quick drink and to meet family and friends while Emma and I headed off to her house to make a start on dinner, but not before making a quick detour to see Jill who is such a great help to me with Poppy throughout the year, and give her a present of a tin of home made shortbread, made by Emma and Poppy as a Christmas gift.
While I played with Poppy and admired her new dolls house, pony castle and other gifts, Emma got started on the roast potatoes wearing her new apron, which we bought for her as a little extra something, to say thanks for feeding us, which sports a picture of poppies (ofcourse!)
Dinner was beautifully cooked and very tasty, and I think it was possibly one of the only times Emma actually sat down that day. Poppy really liked the Christmas crackers, ate a bit of her dinner and was very excited when her little cousins Ruby and Florence arrived with Uncle Gareth. Aunty Bev was working on Christmas afternoon, one of our angels, a nurse, so rather than being at home on their own they all arrived to join in the festive fun.
Rachel and Steven arrived from having dinner with Rachels Dad in the evening by which time Julie and Dave had headed off to visit family, Gareth and the girls had gone home to await Beverleys arrival home and so it was just the seven of us.  Poppy was very tired but even so she did not want to have her pyjamas on and for the day to finish even though she was dropping on her feet! She finally went off to sleep and we all had a lovely evening together before heading off home to bed ourselves, exhausted.
The amount of toys around the place at Emma and Lees house shows that, yes, Father Christmas came!!

Hope she is well for Christmas.

Poppy has yet another cold, she had to go home early from nursery yesterday as she was not too well, a bit chesty and a runny nose. Leaping up and down on the trampoline did not help I suspect, she gets out of breath it seems a lot quicker than other kids and you have to be careful with her, making sure she calms down and has a rest. She had a sleep and apparently was a bit better for it, and when Emma brought her round to visit us when she picked up Lily the dog she was more her old self. Such a shame she was wearing her new party dress for the nursery party, which incidentally she looked very cute in, but missed half of the party being poorly. Hopefully she will make an improvement for Christmas.
As soon as she walked in to our house last night she lost no time getting her Mommy to fetch the bricks out and doing some building together. She also wanted a story and played for a short time with the dolls house but was clearly tired so Emma soon got her coat back on and took her home to get her into her pyjamas, have tea and off to bed for an early night. Waking at 4am is not the best idea, which is what Poppy did the previous night, and the effects the next day after not a lot of sleep were obvious with Poppy yawning and rubbing her face with her snuggly. At least they don`t have to rise early to go to work for the next couple of weeks so everybody can get a rest and enjoy the festive period.
A very happy Christmas everyone, from Poppy`s doting Grandma! xxx

Me, I sank gratefully into a chair!

Poppy arrived yesterday adorned in reindeers, she had her hair tied up in two reindeer hair bobbles and was wearing a beautiful thick winter cardigan with reindeers on it, so not only Christmassy but warm!
She asked for her ponies as soon as she finished breakfast but unfortunately she had left Rainbow Dash and Princess Celestia at home so had to make do with the ones we have here.  We found one on sale for a pound in the charity shop on Tuesday, still boxed and obviously never played with and she was very pleased with it, she also has a large purple one from Asda and another couple we also found in the charity shop, though we could only find one of them. Where the green one has gone is anybodys guess! Poppy has got such an imagination so soon the ponies were dancing in the disco (she brought a torch toy with her that has different coloured lights twinkling) and we were singing Rudolph the rednose reindeer for them to dance to! (Not normally a tune you would dance to but its Christmas!) They also kept falling off the mountain (my footstool) and having to be taken to hospital in the bus.
She was tired by 10am so sat on my lap for a while with her dummy and snuggly watching babytv before deciding to go upstairs and have a sleep in the cot. She is in a bed at home but we have no single bed at the moment so she still uses the cot here, she doesn`t seem to mind and lies down to sleep quite happily. She was soon asleep and did not wake until after 1.30!! Emma did say she would be tired after having a disturbed night.
After lunch we went to the library, Poppy went to the childrens section with Grandad to look at the books and have a go on the wooden train while I attempted to choose some books for myself, with Poppy calling out "Grandma I`m playing on the train", "Grandma, I`m colouring", "Grandma what you doing over there?"  I doubt I have chosen my books quicker!!  I went over to help her choose some books for herself but each one I offered to her she said "no"  In the end it was easier to choose a few I knew she would like as she was looking at one from the book shelves suitable for a child much older, rather than look at the books in the train carraiges! I found one book called `Princess Poppy and the baby twins`, when I showed it to her she said "Thats me", and realised it was her name written on the book which she was excited about.
We had a bit of a problem at the self service booth to check books out as it did not want to let Poppy have hers because she still had 3 overdue at home, so we had to ask the library assistant to help. Hopefully Emma and Lee will be able to locate the overdue books now I have given them the titles!!
We had a text from Lee to say he was home about 4.45 so we could take Poppy and Lily back so once she had finished her tea Grandad strapped her into her car seat with difficulty (I think we need to let the straps out a bit now she is wearing a thick winter coat) and he took them home.
Me, I sank gratefully into a chair!!

Poppy - "Wow, its magic."

Poppy may only be 2 years, 4 months and a bit but she is beginning to understand Christmas. She knows Father Christmas, realises he will bring her some presents, and says she likes reindeers and toys! We were watching Santa Claus the movie yesterday and when the reindeers started to fly after eating the sparkly magic food she pronounced wide eyed "Wow, its magic!" Her face on christmas morning, when she sees all the wrapped presents waiting for her will be a picture I`m sure, certainly one to catch on camera for posterity.

Poppy puts the christmas tree up.

Been a busy weekend. Emma asked if we could have Poppy for the afternoon on Saturday and overnight as they had arranged to visit the German market in Birmingham and then planned a night out. Gray went into work for an hour and a quarter (karate in the community centre on a Saturday morning) and when he got home we popped to the shops for a few bits and pieces that we needed. We had only been home about five minutes when Emma arrived to drop Poppy off almost an hour early as everyone had decided to set off earlier for Birmingham. Good job we got home when we did or she would have found an empty house! We had lunch and then Poppy wanted to play, built some towers with her bricks, made some pictures with her new button board, drew some pictures on her blackboard, played with the dolls house, did some puzzles, you name it, we did it!  She was tired but denied that she was and kept going, occasionally reaching for dummy and snuggly for a cuddle on my lap before sliding down and getting something else out! Grandad took the dogs for a walk but it was getting dark outside and really cold so she was not very pleased that he went without her as she really wanted to go along, she seems to be starting with yet another cold, a permanent hazard during the winter, and it was not a good idea to take her out into the cold, much better that she stayed in the house and kept warm. She ate a good tea and then played for a little while longer, though she was shattered and kept telling me she was tired so I got her ready for bed in her new Peppa Pig sleep suit. We kept asking her if she wanted to go to bed but she kept shaking her head and saying no, though it was obvious she was half asleep so around 8pm grandad took her upstairs and within about five minutes she fell asleep. She was a bit restless though as she kept coughing but she settled eventually. She woke a couple of times when she lost her dummy, and was a bit disturbed by what seemed to be a bad dream but she slept through until just before 7am when she suddenly woke us by calling Grandma in a bit of a panicky voice, I think it was a bit too dark and she was a little unsure of where she was. Grandad got up before I could and brought her into our bedroom where she lay between us for a while asking "whats that noise?" (Barney wagging his tail against the wall) and "wheres my Lily", (she was lying on the end of the bed.) After asking what the noise was several times, and asking where Lily was quite a few times too, then a spirited rendition of Jingle bells courtesy of Poppy, we realised there was no way she was going back to sleep so Grandad decided he would get up with her and take her down for breakfast, very kindly letting me have a lie in! I even got a bacon butty and cup of tea in bed which was nice. When I got downstairs Grandad had got Poppy dressed, even changed her nappy (which he managed to get on the right way round this time) and they had half the toys out all over the place! Emma and Lee arrived to fetch her about 10am and they were so pleased to see her, as she was to see her Mummy and Daddy.  They stopped for a cuppa and a chat for a while then headed off to get Pops christmas present, hoping she would have a sleep in the car because by this time she was tired. I have heard they put the christmas tree up this afternoon and Poppy was so excited so we are going to wait until Poppy is here to put ours up with her. :-)

GRANDADS BIRTHDAY

Poppy was very excited when she arrived yesterday morning, not only was Grandad off work to see her, it was also his birthday! When he asked her to help him open his presents she insisted they were her presents, and that it was her birthday! She did give him a cuddle and kiss and said happy birthday to him.

We decided it would be nice to take her to the garden centre as they have the christmas display on show and we knew she would like the magical wonderland. As we walked to the entrance there was a train all lit up which she stood watching for a while, asking if she could have a ride in the train. Unfortunately it was not the kind you can ride in so we distracted her by pointing out the huge Father Christmas figure standing beside the entrance doorway, not the real one obviously, he is too busy, just a model.
She liked the snowy scene just inside the door, with polar bears, seals and snowmen though she said she was a bit scared of the polar bear. There were Santas galore, reindeers, more polar bears, christmas trees, penquins, robins, you name it, anything you can think of to do with christmas and a few I had never really associated with the festive season before! I pointed out a nice white fluffy owl model but Poppy declared she does not like owls! She was very taken with the penquins and loved some laser lights that were shining on the floor, making different patterns so that she was trying to stamp on the light dots which were jumping around. A model church, all lit up from inside, was admired and she very carefully stroked a large reindeer which was bigger than her.
Then she spotted the fish, I`m talking real fish now, she really really loves fish. She headed towards the tanks, talking ten to the dozen, closely followed by Grandad with me bringing up the rear, by now finding walking rather difficult. I noticed a small, unattended counter so decided to lean on it for a bit of a rest, only to be called over with the cry "Grandma, Grandma, come and look at this fish." I can tell you there were a lot of tanks in the place, and she wanted to peer into every one of them! I had to make a excuse to go to the toilet, mainly because I needed to sit down for a moment!  She saw rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, all real ones this time, before wanting to go back to the fish!!!  I admitted defeat and had the car keys to go and sit in the car, Grandad said he would let her have another look at the fish and then he would bring her out to me. I was so glad to sit down when I reached the car!!
Poppy was not too happy when Grandad arrived back at the car, but I think by then he was also worn out. When we had her strapped safely into the car seat we set off for home, I kept telling her that the dogs wanted to see us as she was not at all pleased to be on the way home, she wanted to go back and see the fish!!
After tea, when Emma arrived to fetch Poppy, we lit the candles in the smallest cake we could find. Gray has been told to diet because his blood pressure is high, and I too am on a diet, so neither wanted to have to many calories! Poppy joined in with the chorus of happy birthday to her Grandad before helping him to blow out the candles then she ate a huge slice of cake which is nice to see, when she is poorly she does not eat much, so when her appetite is good its lovely to see her eating well.
Grandad got an extra big birthday cuddle before she went home.

Grandma, the ponies are going to the spooky woods.

Had a lovely time with Poppy yesterday. She has a vivid imagination, we were playing a game with her ponies. They had to go to the spooky woods through the tunnel(table) as they wanted to find Pippin (dog from a tv programme which she loves!!) No way could I crawl under the table so I was throwing the ponies she gave me under and telling her they needed help as they were lost! They had to look by the lake to see if they could find Pippin and Pippin was scared, as were all the ponies as they did not like the spooky woods! She loves stories and has found out about the spooky woods in a Noddy book she has, she obviously pays attention closely! When I threw a blanket over the table it became a cave and she sat underneath for ages with all the ponies, infact she actually lay down at one point and I thought she was going to go to sleep! She was tired and asked for her dummy and wanted to go to sleep in the cave, so I lay some cushions on the floor for her and covered her with another blanket but she was wriggling about and obviously not comfortable enough to sleep. I took her upstairs for a nap, she was shattered and fast asleep within 5 minutes!
Emma arrived home at lunch time as Poppy had her 2 year check at the clinic so her Mummy arrived to take her. She got on very well, well above average with talking, colours, shapes and lots of other different things. Passed her check up with flying colours. The health visitor says the way Poppy walks may indicate she could have hypermobility syndrome, like me. She is very supple and bendy but we shall have to wait and see. She will be good at gymnastics if she has!

Sleepy Pops.

Poppy was very tired when she arrived yesterday morning, after a disturbed night. Em said she had a bad dream but once she was awake she was chatting for ages! Not what you really want at 4am!  She did not want to even look at her breakfast, she wanted to go to sleep, so she sat on my lap and was soon fast asleep.

Poppy slept for 30 minutes or so on the sofa and when she woke she was very chatty, she knows where we keep her crayons and colouring books and she had them out of the drawer before I could get up from my chair! She ate her fruit and toast while colouring in Dora.

The ponies had a tea party, the dolls house was very busy and we did several puzzles and read quite a few stories before lunch, after which Poppy got tired again and when I asked her if she wanted to go upstairs for a sleep she said no but headed for the stairs. Within 5 minutes she was fast asleep and slept for 3 hours which shows how tired she was to have two sleeps in the same day! It was about 4pm before she stirred then Grandad went up to fetch her, she had him playing upstairs for ages until I heard his voice saying "Poppy, do you want to go and see Grandma"!! Hee hee.

When Em arrived to fetch Poppy she was sitting on my lap, watching Peppa Pig, Grandad seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much! She gave us a lovely cuddle before they headed off home, excited to see Daddy. Bless.

A look of wonder.

Its been a while!

First off all Poppy had a week with her Daddy when he had no work, then we had half term, and so she had the week with her Mummy. Since then I seem to have been so busy, and as a consequence, so tired!

Poppy spent the weekend with us as her Mummy and Daddy went to a wedding to see their friends Sarah and Ryan get married. I would have liked to go to the church to see the ceremony myself, Sarah very kindly invited us to see them married, but unfortunately Grandad had to go to work and so we were unable to attend. Poppy would have liked to see the Princess in her beautiful dress I`m sure.  Rach and Ste also went to the wedding so we took care of Murphy meaning that we had not only Poppy, but four dogs in our house for the weekend. Good job they all get along well together!

Lee dropped Poppy off just before 11am on Saturday morning and so when my sister and brother in law arrived to visit they were very pleased to be able to see her. Rich is doing a job for me so he came to measure up and they stopped for a quick coffee before heading off. 

Emma, Lee, Rach and Ste arrived about noon on Sunday to fetch their child and dogs having had a lovely time at the wedding, at least I got to see some photos of the beautiful bride. Poppy had gone to bed the evening before asking where Mommy and Daddy were. I told her they had gone to a wedding and that they would be here to fetch her when she woke up the next morning and she said "I want them to come this day!" Bless. She was a little unsettled and kept calling Grandma, so I just reassured her we were still there and eventually she went to sleep.

Poppy woke before 7am on the Sunday morning and was pleased to see Grandad who picked her up and brought her into bed with us for a while. She lay down for a bit though she kept wriggling and eventually decided that she really wanted to bounce! Grandad decided to take her downstairs so I asked him to give her some breakfast, adding that she needed her nappy changed. He looked a bit taken aback, but when I went downstairs a little later he had not only changed her nappy, he had got her dressed aswell! It was not until later in the morning, when she needed her nappy changed, that I realised he had somehow managed to get it on backwards!! (Shows how many nappies he has changed!)
Late morning she began asking for Mommy and Daddy and was obviously getting tired so I text Em and told her Poppy had been asking for them, and was missing them.

Poppy arrived on Monday morning, we normally have her on a Thursday but as I have a hospital appointment to see my oncologist on Thursday we changed days with Sallianne the childminder to make it easier. We can often be at the hospital for 2 or 3 hours, not a place for a small child!  I can`t say I want to be there myself to be honest!

Lee text around 2pm to say he was back home, it had been raining all morning so I was not entirely surprised, so we took Poppy and Lily back home. She was very pleased when I said her Daddy was home and had her coat on standing by the door waiting to go within about ten minutes!

Yesterday, when Emma arrived to fetch Poppy, Pops was so pleased and happy to see her Mommy. Emma sat on the sofa and Poppy flung her arms around her neck giving her a huge cuddle, then she looked over to me, a look of pure joy on her face, and pointing to Emma said "its my Mommy, its my Mommy." It was such a touching moment, it made me cry! What a wonderful way to see such a strong bond between mother and daughter, I only wish I had had a camera in my hand to record the look of wonder on Poppys little face. Bless her.

HALLOWEEN DISCO.

As soon as Poppy walked through my front door on Friday with her Mummy the first thing she wanted to do was go upstairs and play with the dolls house. Mummy was dragged upstairs to play with her while I made some sandwiches for lunch. Poppy had just finished nursery and had a lovely morning, she is usually really tired after nursery so I got lunch ready and she reluctantly arrived downstairs making it quite clear she wanted to go back up and play! Emma put Pippin the dog on tv for her and she settled down to watch it and eat her food, when she is tired it is best to have a distraction so that she will sit quietly and eat! Emma had very kindly volunteered, (actually I think she may have been pushed into it by her Dad) to walk all the dogs as Barney and Polly were due at the groomers in the afternoon and it is best for them to have a walk before they go. While Emma took the dogs out I went up with Poppy to play with the dolls house for a while before persuading her to have a lie down, within minutes she was fast asleep, worn out by her busy day!

As Poppy was looking forwards to going to the Halloween disco Emma popped home and got her costume while she was still asleep so that she could have something to eat early and then off to boogie! She slept for 3 hours, obviously worn out having not gone to sleep until later than normal the evening before, and got up ready for the disco. She had some fish to eat before getting dressed as a witch, actually more of a princess witch! Emma picked up Lee and off they all went to the disco which Poppy enjoyed, though she was worn out when it finished and soon in bed!

GOING TO NURSERY WITH MUMMY.

Emma is off work for the week as it is half term so Poppy is having a lovely time with her Mummy. Em took her to school with her on Monday as she wanted to get her classroom ready for next term, and Poppy loved it, especially as Mummy teaches nursery and reception children so there was plenty to keep Poppy occupied! It took Emma double the time to get done what she wanted to, as Poppy wanted to help, though I doubt she minded that.  When they arrived here mid afternoon Poppy was tired having fallen asleep in the car, so Emma lay her on the sofa and she soon fell asleep.  She did not wake until about 5.30 they all had tea here as we knew Poppy would be feeling hungry as soon as she woke up!
They want to potty train Poppy so yesterday morning as soon as she got up she was running around without a nappy on and managed to last from 8am until just before noon until she did a wee! Em said they kept asking her, and she kept saying no, in the end Em sat her on the potty and read a story so Poppy did what she had to while relaxed. Apparently her facial expression was one of surprise, so it is maybe a case of her having to learn when she wants to "go". Em is going to perservere this week then next week when she is back at work Sallianne her childminder and Grandad and I will try to carry on the good work hopefully! She has only just turned 2 though and I daresay she will be ready when she is ready.
Yesterday, when Emma, Lee, Poppy and Lily arrived Poppy seemed quite tired so we all had some lunch and sometime after one o`clock Poppy got her snuggly and dummy saying she wanted to go upstairs to bed. She got a bit side tracked for half an hour playing with the dolls house but eventually she went into her cot though she did object a little, pretending she did not need to sleep by shouting "I love you" a few times down the stairs! She soon went quiet however, and Em nipped upstairs to cover her up and make sure she was warm enough and she had a sleep for a couple of hours.
After Poppy woke up she was playing with her Postman Pat rail and road track with us all which Emma had put together for her while she was asleep, took her awhile but she got there in the end! Tricky if you put one bit of the track in the wrong place!
Today Poppy has been at nursery this morning, Emma was so pleased their half term holiday falls on different weeks as she has the opportunity to take her daughter to nursery and see her in that situation. Poppy went trotting in happily, hardly stopping to take her coat off and was smiling and waving at her friends. When Emma went past the window later she could see her sitting at a table with lots of other children enjoying herself. Bless.
They have gone off visiting this afternoon so Poppy will get an opportunity to play with Finn and maybe Emma will get a cuddle with baby India. :-)

Quite the little homemaker.

Poppy was very excited yesterday morning as I had managed to successfully bid on a toy kitchen and a few other bits and pieces on a local swap site. The lady I had them off very kindly offered to deliver as she was in my area yesterday and they arrived at about 9am. As soon as Poppy saw the kitchen she announced "that my barbie kitchen" and helped me to carry it into the lounge. (Why a barbie kitchen? No idea!) She was equally thrilled with the microwave, washing machine, ironing board and iron. Not a bad bargain, my bargaining skills are quite good now! I thought they would be ideal in the little playhouse I bid for last week, and got at a very good price, which is now resplendant in the garden.

As soon as we shut the front door after thanking the lady who brought the things, Poppy wanted smarties to "cook", she then played for ages, putting the sweets into her little frying pan and cooking them on the cooker then transfering them, one by one, using the little tongues to a plate and bowl. She washed her snuggly in the washing machine then cooked it in the microwave! Quite the little home maker!

Poppy was getting tired about 11.30 and asked for her dummy then settled down to lie on the sofa so I put Baby TV on for her to watch quietly until she dropped off to sleep but she did not get to sleep as Jill knocked on the door. I was not expecting her yesterday as she had things to do and she had popped by to ask me something but ofcourse as soon as Poppy saw her she was up! She managed to stay awake for a while but soon asked to go to bed and so off she went upstairs to sleep in the cot in peace.

Poppy had her lunch late, 2.30, as she slept for 2 hours or so and in the meantime her Daddy texted me to say he was home, due to the rain, so we could take Poppy and Lily home whenever we wanted to. She watched Pippin as usual while she ate her lunch, then discussed the programme with me while I put her coat on. She can talk really well and you can hold quite a conversation with her, she told me Pippin was all messy and had to have a bath. He did not like having a bath. Quite a sentence for a little girl who just turned 2. When I told her we were taking her home to Daddy she was very excited and eagerly put her coat on with my help then was off towards the front door before I could stand up from my chair!

Daddy was very pleased to see Poppy and she was equally pleased to see her Daddy, we got back into our car with Poppy waving and calling "bye Grandma, bye Grandad" from the doorway. Bless.

OH TO BE A CHILD AGAIN!

Poppy arrived in her pyjamas and dressing gown yesterday morning as Mummy had to get her out of bed, she had no choice and could not wait any longer for her to wake as she had to get to work. I had her breakfast ready, she ate every scrap which was lovely, and then I got her dressed.
We had some visitors, Jill, Sarah and Georgia mid morning and Poppy did some drawing with Georgia for a while though by 11am she was flagging and everyone could see how tired she was. I knew she obviously would not get to sleep on the sofa as she often does, with everybody there, so I asked if she wanted to go upstairs to bed. She was by the stairgate immediately and waved goodbye to everyone as she mounted the stairs with me behind her making sure she did not fall. Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. She must have been tired, it was almost 2.30pm before she woke up!
She was eating a rather late lunch when Grandad arrived, but so engrossed in Pippin the dog on tv that she did not notice him until he put his head in front of the screen! She ate all her lunch, it is lovely to see her with her appetite back, when she gets ill with her chest her appetite goes and it can be a problem to get her to eat anything at all, so when she is eating well it is a relief!
As soon as she finished eating Grandad was pressed into service playing the train game which involves running round and round the coffee table calling choo choo and waving at me and the dogs as she passes! Grandad keeps on trying to sit down and have a rest but he has no chance!
We asked her if she would like to go out for a walk but she was too engrossed in playing with her farm and dolls house. Oh to be a child again.

WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR?

I can barely walk my back hurts so much but on the bright side we have had a lovely time with Poppy! Chat, chat, chat, all the time! She has been building with big lego, making aeroplanes with the nut and bolt set, drawing on her board, riding her horsey, took her baby for a walk in the pram into the other room telling me she was going for some bread, dancing to the music on her little keyboard, done some jigsaws, played with her My little pony horses, ran round the table calling "choo choo" and waving to me at each circuit, in general she has been very busy!! She ate her lunch and I could see she was shattered, she agreed straight away when I asked if she wanted to go to bed and off we went up the stairs. She lay down and I said I was going to the bathroom, when I peeped in a few minutes later she was fast asleep! She slept for 3 hours, so you can see she was worn out! So was Grandma!!
That was just the morning!!
Most of the afternoon was taken up with Poppy running in and out of the rooms waving at us and calling "hello" or "bye" depending on which way she was headed! Grandad was in one room I was in the other, and everytime she reached me she threw her arms around me and gave me a cuddle! What more can you ask for?

CHOO CHOO

Although Poppy has a poorly chest at the moment, and her breathing is a bit rattly, she was in good form yesterday and full of beans. She was not eating a lot but had quite a bit of strawberry milk so at least she was getting her nutrients. I don`t think she stopped talking from the time she arrived at 7.30am until she dropped off to sleep on the sofa about 11am and then slept for 2 hours. I don`t know how she managed to stop on the sofa, she was wriggling around and turning upside down while still asleep, or half asleep, and even on a couple of occassions she opened her eyes for a few minutes but seemed dazed and was soon fast asleep again! When she woke after 1pm she had a few cheesy nibbles and a bit of tomatoe but left the bread and turkey, though she did manage half a yogurt. She never eats a great deal when she has a bad chest so I was glad she was getting the milk down her.
She was riding her car round the lounge and decided to phone Daddy, "hello, its Mr Poppy"!!  When Grandad arrived home she was very excited and immediately wanted him to play choo choo which involves running round the table in the centre of the lounge pretending to be a train, waving at me and the dogs as she goes! He hardly had time to hang his coat up before she was pulling his hand calling "Come on Grandad, choo choo!!" She makes us laugh so much! After a few turns round the table Grandad was worn out and in need of a sit down so Poppy decided she needed a rest too. She was out of breath so it was a good idea when she sat down saying she was tired.  In an attempt to get her to play a bit more quietly I asked if she wanted to colour so out came her crayons and colouring book and she started to colour in a My little pony, inviting Grandad to help her.  She then decided she had to ride her horsey and told Grandad he was too big to ride it!
Poppy did not eat a great deal of her tea, but managed a little ravioli and some more milk, then she did some colouring until her Mommy arrived to fetch her. As usual she was very pleased and excited to see Mommy and she immediately made her play choo choo!!
She took Tazzy, her toy monster, to show Daddy and off they went home, leaving an exhausted Grandma and Grandad to recover!

COME ON GRANDMA, FOLLOW ME!

Just before 11am yesterday Poppy fell asleep, she was showing signs of tiredness and when she asked for her snuggly and dummy I realised she was not going to last until after lunch as she usually does. She lay down on the sofa and was soon fast asleep so I covered her over with a light blanket to keep her warm. She slept for about 2 hours and woke up full of beans. We both had a sandwich then when Grandad suggested a visit to my sister Poppy had her coat on and was standing by the front door ready to go, eager to see Aunty Marg! Marg as usual was pleased to see us and immediately got the toys out which she keeps for a visit from Poppy, a tower was soon built out of the huge lego type bricks and Poppy played with the house and the little people before she shut the house all up, stood up and grabbed hold of the handle then announced it was time to go home! We had only been there for 10 minutes so I asked why she wanted to go home and it turned out she needed a change! After chasing her we managed to get her sorted out and she was happier to play. She soon had Marg walking up the garden then came back into the house to fetch me "come on Grandma, follow me, we go in garden"!! Marg has a large stone garden ornament of a goose in the corner and Poppy spotted it, I`m sure she thought it was a real one, she went over towards it walking very carefully and stroked its head saying "hello goose", when we said we needed to be quiet and go back inside the house (it was getting chilly) she said goodbye to the goose and went inside willingly, not wanting to scare it! She was getting hungry so we got Poppy to put her coat on, and we said goodbye to Aunty Marg and headed for the car, she did not want to sit in the car seat though and Grandad had a bit of a problem getting her to sit down properly. Its not easy to seat a child when they throw themselves backwards and won`t bend in the middle! I won`t stand any nonsense but Grandad is a bit of a softy and she knows it!
She just finished her lasagne and was eating her ice cream cone when Mommy arrived to fetch her. Emma had a chat for a while and when the time came for Emma to take Poppy home she decided she did not want to go, she was enjoying playing so she had to be chased to get her coat on, 3 times! (She kept taking it off again!) She is usually very good but can be a little rascal when she gets tired and she did not have

Poppy the pirate.

We have not really seen a great deal of Poppy over the weekend, everybody has been very busy.
We went out on Saturday as I have decided that the time has come for me to have another mobility scooter. My walking ability has got less and less, despite trying to keep going, the pain is too much,so I have struggled with the knowledge and given the situation a lot of thought and realised that really, I have little choice. It is either stop in the house most of the time, only going out in the car, to places I can manage, or do something about it. So we were looking round at the options. We decided to drop in to the local pub for tea, and had a rapturous welcome from Poppy who saw us as we walked in and ran to me, throwing her arms round my legs with the cry "Grandma" before breaking off and giving Grandad the same lovely welcome! She must have decided that Grandad was there to take her to the park as she then headed for the door saying "go to the park" with Grandad in hot pursuit before she reached it! Lee then took her out for a play on the swings and a go on the slide while we ordered our tea.
Poppy was invited to a pirates and princesses party yesterday afternoon to celebrate Evans birthday. She went dressed as a pirate, complete with a false tattoo or two and a beard! Emma said she had a lovely time, and wore herself out. She was a bit too little to appreciate pass the parcel and did not want to pass it on, and she kept getting up every time the music played to dance! She preferred to colour and managed to fit in eating quite a lot of cake I am told! Emma said she was drooping with tiredness by the end of the party, but determined to keep on going until they left!

Ah bless, they grow up too fast!

Hyper Poppy visited us yesterday, she is not naughty at all, she just never stops, on the go all the while she is awake! Not long after 7.30am found us "playing" keyboard and xylophone, singing to our "music" with Poppy breaking off from her playing from time to time to dance with a huge grin on her face. She just loves to sing and dance, I wonder if she will be on X Factor in about 14 years time, or whichever show is around at that time!
She is loving nursery and I have noticed signs that it is teaching her something already, she was tidying up one toy before she got another out yesterday! She was eating tea with Emma on Monday and they were doing high fives throughout the meal to say well done for eating, when she finished she high fived her Mummy again and called out "high five Mummy, teamwork"!! Emma said she nearly fell off the chair! We are presuming she has got that from nursery! She did it to me yesterday after finishing her breakfast! Bless. Reports back from nursery teachers say that Poppy has settled in well and joins in with nursery activities. She now insists she is a big girl and Emma is hopeful of breaking off the dummy at bedtime habit when Poppy described the dummy as "babies dummy". When asked whether she was a baby she said "no,Poppy a big girl"!! Ah bless, they grow up to fast.

POPPY AND ROSIE THE PONY.

Poppy arrived yesterday morning announcing she was hungry and wanted a biscuit and a cake! Nice to see her with an appetite after she had been a bit under the weather at the weekend. She certainly made up for it yesterday! We made some cakes together, actually quite a bit of the mixture ended up on me when Poppy got a bit over enthusiastic while mixing! She was very pleased when they came out of the oven and had two! Over the course of the day she managed to get through 4 of the fairy cakes we had made!
She had a busy morning getting most of the toys out and she told me she was tired a couple of times though did not want to go to sleep. She loved nursery the day before, and had been very excited going in. She had her lunch and then told me she was tired again so I asked her if she needed to go to sleep and she said yes while grabbing her snuggly. She must have been more tired than I even realised, she slept for 3 hours! Evidentally nursery had worn her out more than I had known.
Grandad had a lovely surprise for Poppy when she woke up, he had arranged for her to go and visit Rosie, the pony. Becky who Grandad works with, and her daughter Briony, let Poppy visit Rosie and so we headed out in the car with one very very excited little girl in the back. After going to the wrong place we found the correct location just along the road and Poppy went with Grandad, Becky and Briony to fetch Rosie, when they came back to where I was waiting Poppy was helping to lead Rosie along, she looked so pleased and proud walking down the lane holding the long lead with the beautiful Rosie walking sedately. Poppy got to stroke Rosie, and even brushed her before she noticed some other horses in the field nearby and went to make their aquaintance. In one field there was a lovely shetland pony which ofcourse Poppy thought was a baby horse, which was only just a bit bigger than she was! She was laughing as it ran across the field towards us, and when it pushed its nose towards her she was giggling away. She had a lovely time, and did not want to leave but Mummy was on her way home to fetch her. I know she would love to see Rosie again, it was very kind to let her visit.

POPPY STARTED NURSERY. AH BLESS.

Poppy had a bit of a cold when she arrived to see us yesterday so she was not eating much, she rarely does when she is feeling poorly, and she wanted lots of cuddles, not that I am complaining. I don`t mind having cuddles!
I had some flavoured milk so made sure she had that to drink so that at least if she was not having much food she would be getting the goodness from the milk. We watched quite a lot of episodes of Come Outside, she kept asking for Pippin, and although we don`t normally let her watch tv all the time when she is feeling a bit poorly she just wants to sit on a convenient lap and have a cuddle while watching her favourite dog!
Just before lunch she went to lay on the sofa and within a few minutes she was asleep! I covered her over and pushed the dogs into the other room so that they would not wake her if they barked.
Poppy slept for about an hour and a half and woke in a better frame of mind, wanting to play. She did not eat a great deal of her lunch but I managed to get some yoghurt down her and some more milk, then she asked for a biscuit so her appetite was clearly improving, just quite slowly.
Rachel and Steven arrived mid afternoon to fetch Murphy, who has been here for the weekend while they were away for a few days so Steven got talked into doing some magic painting with Poppy before she showed her ponies and colouring book to Aunty Rach.
She never stopped talking all the while they were here which caused me to remark that she is just like her mother, Emma never stops talking either! Steven agreed! She waved Murphy off, and Aunty Rach and Uncle Steven ofcourse, then went back to playing going shopping. She would put her little basket over her arm, walk towards the day calling "bye then", turning back to wave, then walked into the hall where she would turn round calling "What? Whats the matter?" She then dragged Grandad outside with her to look at the flowers, ladybirds, bumblebees etc., until tea time.
Poppy started nursery this morning, I hear that she was excited and went in okay and was sitting with the other children when Salli sneaked a peek through the window on her way out. Bless. Two hours is a long time with lots of new people when you are only 2 years old.
Just had a text from Salli, the lovely lady who looks after Poppy while Emma is at work, she says Poppy was absolutely fine, loved it. No tears all day, she was like an old hand! Bless. I bet she is tired now, maybe Salli is in for a quiet afternoon if her charges all have a sleep for an hour or two.
Thankyou Sallianne. xx

WE WOKE UP TO HEAR POPPY SINGING!

We woke up this morning to the sound of Poppy singing! What a beautiful way to wake up in the morning.
She had stopped here with us last night while her Mummy and Daddy attended Liz and Neils wedding and she was as good as gold. She was getting rather tired around 6.30pm so she had her nappy changed and got ready for bed, wearing a Peppa Pig pink nighty (try saying that quickly when you have had a drink!!) and a pink and white fluffy dressing gown with a hood sporting ears, very cute. She was sitting on my lap, drinking some warm milk, when my sister Marg and brother in law Rich arrived to visit as a nice surprise. Well ofcourse as soon as Poppy saw them she was off my lap and soon chattering away to them, asking Marg to see her baby in the dolls pram. Marg was wrapping the doll up for her and Poppy was cuddling and rocking it, so sweet. She played and chatted for a while then you could see her getting tired again and wanted to sit on my lap and watch Pippin. Come Outside, featuring Pippin and Aunty Mabel is one of her favourites and the series is actually quite old, having started first of all in 1993 but is obviously still very popular as it is on tv everyday and Poppy sits watching enthralled.
Marg and Rich stopped for about an hour and as soon as they left Poppy was ready to go up to bed, even though she was pretending she was not tired, it was obvious by the staring glazed look in her eyes that she was! Grandad carried her upstairs and lay her down, I would have read a bedtime story but she was already too far gone to listen and lay down as soon as she got into the bed, almost asleep straight away! Within about 10 minutes she was fast and only stirred a couple of times when she lost her dummy and when the covers had been kicked off and she may have been a little chilly, other than that she slept right through until 7.20am! We realised she was awake when we heard her singing. We played all sorts this morning, the plastic animals had a party when they all had to wear a necklace each to attend the party(Grandmas hair bobbles which are kept in a treasure chest! Its a box Emma bought me back from a holiday in Egypt, but Poppy has called it the Treasure Chest. No idea where she has that from!)
Poppy did some colouring, she can now draw a circle and she drew a circle then jabbed the crayon onto the paper inside the circle she had drawn. "Whats that?" I asked her, and she told me it was Daddy and they were his eyes! She then started to jab the crayon down at the other side of the paper and told me it was the rain! So Daddy has green hair and is rather wet! I have always liked to paint and draw so Poppy obviously takes after me in that respect, she soon gets the colouring books out and wants her crayons as soon as she arrives!
Emma arrived to fetch her about 10.45am and by then I think Poppy had almost all the toys out and my house looked like a bomb had dropped! We had lunch and Emma left with Poppy about 2pm to meet Jo to celebrate Jo`s birthday.
We had a lovely time together, Grandma is now officially worn out!!

CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE GRANDMA?

Emma, Poppy and Lily arrived before 10 this morning as Emma is helping to look after a dog for a family member and as she was taking Poppy to see Sallianne this morning she wanted to let the dog out before they went over there. Poppy was not very pleased when they came in as she wanted to see her friends Harry and Imogen but I soon distracted her with the plane which Sarah very kindly brought over for her yesterday and then she did not want to leave! She waves at the planes which fly over our garden as she thinks Aunty Mable and Pippin are inside (from the tv programme Come Outside!)
They went off on their visit and arrived back here before lunch when Poppy made a bee line for the plane again. The Sylvanian family hedgehog had to fly it and Poppy was beaming from ear to ear to see it flying around the room, courtesy of Mummy!
We had our lunch, and were very pleased to see Poppy ate all of her pasta and toast, she was obviously hungry after her busy morning. We played for a bit longer and then she was getting tired so Emma took her upstairs to bed.
Poppy had two hours sleep and when Emma brought her back downstairs she brought the play shoes with her so she was tottering around in pink high heels. She then decided I had to wear the purple ones, unfortunately they only just about fitted on to my big toe!
Poppy likes to take the clothes off her Sylvanian families rabbits and hedgehogs, she was handing them to me saying "Can you help me please Grandma". When I asked why I had to take their clothes off she said they had to go in the bath! She won`t let you help to get the clothes back on and gets frustrated so they get pushed aside and left in the nude!
I had the paralympics on the television and the dressage came on, Poppy was mesmerized by the horses, she really does love horses, I think Emma and Lee may have to start saving!

BBQ

Emma arrived with Poppy yesterday just in time for lunch. Poppy was a bit tired so Emma wanted to make sure she had something to eat before having a sleep. Poppy though had other ideas, although she had been looking sleepy in the car on the way here, she livened up virtually as soon as she entered the house and started chattering away! She can have quite a conversation with you now, we catch most things she says but sometimes we are stumped and she has such an expectant look on her face, expecting you to know what she has said to you and answer accordingly! Eventually, after a ham bap, crisps, some jelly and custard and a drink we could see she was getting really tired, she goes into a kind of trance and if there is something she is interested in on the tv she will stare at the screen, hardly blinking! She lay on the sofa for a little while but it was obvious she was not going to get to sleep as she kept getting up and chatting so Emma took her up to lay her in the cot for a while. She called out to her Mummy a couple of times but soon all went quiet and she was fast asleep very quickly. Emma was able to get on with some work on the computer and I headed off outside to make up my hanging baskets with the pansies we bought the other day. Poppy slept for 2 hours! Lee arrived to fetch them and she had just woken so he went up to fetch her, she had woken in lovely mood and was very pleased to see her Daddy. As she came into the room she announced "I was a bit tired", bless. Grandad came in from the garden where he had been doing some weeding to see her for a little while before they headed home for a bbq.

LOVELY NANNY SEASIDE.

Poppy and her Mummy and Daddy returned from Devon on Saturday having had a lovely holiday visiting Nanny Seaside.
After getting a few loads of washing done the whole family arrived to see us late afternoon, luckily we had bought two pizzas that very morning so they stayed for a bite to eat with us.
Even during the course of a week Poppy seems to have come on more with her talking, chattering away to us, telling us about her holiday.
Emma said the beaming smile on Poppys face when she sat on a donkey was worth the rather high price of a very very short ride!
Poppy went on some of the fairground rides and particularly enjoyed the carousel horses which Daddy took her on.
Poppy had her Mummys heart in her mouth when they were on the boat to Brixham, Nanny and Mommy both asking Lee anxiously to hold on tight to Poppy. Poppy wanted to wear her Mums sunglasses and was leaning over the side of the boat, watching the water wearing them for most of the journey. Emma said she fully expected her sunglasses to become victims to the sea but no, Poppy managed to keep them on until they got to the landing stage and on the way off the boat she promptly dropped them! They were just about to go down the gap between the boat and dry land when the man helping them off the boat managed to swoop down and grab them! She was very lucky!
They had a cream tea in Cockington Village, a very pretty place full of cottages with thatched roofs which attracts lots of visitors, especially during the summer. Scones with clotted cream and jam, yum.
So they all had a great time visiting Lovely Nanny Seaside.

Poppy the film star.

A few Poppy videos on Youtube.

http://youtu.be/ZCwEHowbgAU 
http://youtu.be/I0cA6Jv3hN8
http://youtu.be/kHI-kSodgiQ
http://youtu.be/ZYOyktfxInM
http://youtu.be/YiRfrpfEfz0
http://youtu.be/7XK0r2baCpE
http://youtu.be/J9Cq8FH8u0g
http://youtu.be/MzGhADNOEe4
http://youtu.be/JvV_EhRNJUQ
http://youtu.be/l7d3-Y0J3Jw

Poppy on holiday.

Poppy is on holiday in Torquay at the moment with her Mommy and Daddy, visiting Nanny Seaside (Daddys Mum)
They are having a lovely time, the weather is beautiful and they have been out and about. They have been on the beach building sandcastles and Poppy has been in the sea with Daddy, apparently she was in up to her neck and even got her hair wet, not that it bothered her much. Mummy has been paddling and reports that the sea is quite warm.
Yesterday they visited Brixham by boat and Emma almost missed the boat when some people in the queue went past her as she was folding the pushchair up. She had to point out that her daughter and whole family was already on the boat as the man had just said "only two more" so luckily he let her on! It was a good thing he did, she had no money with her and Lee was holding her ticket!
Today Poppy has had a go on a donkey, Emma sent me a photograph of her sitting on the donkey with a huge smile on her face. (Poppy, not the donkey!) Lee later sent me a video as Poppy has been on a huge inflatable slide, which Emma did not think she would manage to climb, but she did. Unfortunately I cannot get the video to download, instead I get pages full of gobbledegook computer speak so I shall have to see that when they return. She also went on an old fashioned carousel ride with Lee.
So they are all having a lovely holiday, Lily too, as she is stopping with her friend Oscar the dog belonging to Nanny seaside. Lily loves to visit friends.

HIGH FIVE GRANDMA!

Gray and I went to have a look round Wightwick Manor gardens this morning and had our lunch in the new tea rooms. We headed home after lunch and Emma, Poppy and Lily arrived to see us. Poppy had a huge grin on her face as soon as she came in, Em said she had been wanting to see Grandma and Grandad! Ah bless. The dolls house immediately came out and the little hedgehogs and rabbits who live there were soon divested of their clothes! They all had a bath, one by one, in the dolls house bathroom. Poppy was doing her best to put the trousers back on one rabbit but it was a bit fiddly for her to do. She then decided to take her doll for a walk in the pram and kept calling "bye" as she trotted off into the other room, closing the door behind her. She would then knock on the door and come in, telling us she had been to the shops, before turning round and going back out again to do it all over again!
As it is, for a change, sunny today I asked Poppy if she wanted to play on the slide in the garden and so off we went outside, she played on the slide for a while then wanted to make sandcastles in the seaside.
When Em was painting her own nails at the weekend in the tent whilst camping Poppy kept putting her hands towards her Mommy, wanting her nails painted pink too so Em put a little varnish on for her which she immediately wiped off, telling her Mommy it was broken! She showed us her nails when she came in today and when we were out in the garden a plane flew overhead, she was waving her hands in the air shouting "Look at my nails Pippin" (Poppy loves the tv series Come Outside, featuring Pippin the dog and Aunty Mabel who go for adventures in a plane!)
Poppy was making us laugh doing "high fives" with her Mummy, "high five, down below, you`re too slow", she thinks it very funny when she snatches her hand away and says "you`re too slow!" She thought it was very funny when she realised that Barney the dog can do "high fives"!!

CAMPING TRIP.

Poppy has been camping with her Mummy and Daddy this weekend so the Poppy Chronicles are courtesy of Emma today, via text message!
They had a lovely day yesterday, had a trip on the Severn Valley steam railway to Bewdley and Poppy loved the train though she was so worn out on the return journey she missed the whole thing, sleeping all the way!
Poppy went fishing with Daddy but apparently they both found it a bit boring, but then again not the best activity for a 2 year old! Rivers and little kids don`t always mix! 
In the evening they went to the pub by the site to see if they could catch some of the athletics and to Poppys delight there was a disco on so she danced the night away, almost dancing herself to sleep! Emma said they were back in the tent by 9pm, Lee lay down with Poppy for her to get to sleep while Emma went back a little way to clear up after Lily, and when she got back to the tent Poppy, Lee and Lily were all fast asleep!!
Some annoying fellow campers, who had no consideration for anybody else on the site, kept everybody awake until about 5.30am so Emma said they were pretty tired this morning, all except Pops who thankfully slept through it all! They just managed to get the car packed up and as they finished the rain was starting, I think a shower and a sleep was in order when they arrived home!

POPPY GOES CAMPING!

Emma and Poppy arrived on Thursday just after lunch, they had been at Jungle boogie all morning with Bev, Ruby and Florence and had eaten lunch there. It is a new soft play centre in Codsall, Poppy enjoyed herself but at one point she did get stuck and Emma had to climb up the slide to rescue her! Apparently she had climbed all the way up and then come upon a rope type bridge which she did not have the confidence to tackle so she sat down and when Emma went over to see if she was okay or not, Poppy declared "me stuck". Emma looked at the structure Poppy had climbed and did not fancy tackling it so decided the easiest way to rescue her would be to climb up the slide and help her across the bridge! She said she did feel a bit awkward as no other parent was climbing over the apparatus but she had no choice. A lot of the other children were older than Poppy, 3 year old Ruby was quite confident climbing over everything, but some of the things were just a little too big for Pops. Emma said it would be best if we stick to the soft play centre at the garden centre where we usually go as she could not see her Dad climbing up the slide as she did! When Em arrived at our house Poppy was absolutely worn out so she put her straight to bed and she slept for the best part of 2 hours! Gray announced he would take the dogs for a walk, but when Emma said Poppy had enjoyed taking Lily for a walk over the football fields the previous afternoon he decided to wait until she woke up and they all took the dogs together. Emma had to wake her in the end, or she would have been very late to bed that evening, and Gray, Emma and Poppy set off to walk the dogs in the woods, Barney as usual holding his ball in his mouth, ready as always for a game.
At this very moment Emma, Lee, Poppy and Lily are camping in Bridgnorth for the weekend as the sun, for once, has made an appearance. They were to have gone to Torquay to visit Julie, Lees Mum, but Lee has to work this coming week and so they have had to change their plans and are going later on instead. So they decided to go camping for a short break and chose to go somewhere local as at least they could then return home if camping with Poppy and a dog did not work out well. We have the job of feeding the guinea pigs, rabbit and goldfish for a couple of days. Hopefully they will have a good time camping, and Poppy will enjoy running around with Lily in the fresh air.  

"Welcome to Sainsburys" Poppy said!!!

Emma and Poppy were visiting Sallianne this morning and so they arrived here at lunch time, ready to go and see Rhys and his brothers for his 8th birthday today. We had lunch and then Poppy was tired so she had a sleep before we went. We were waiting for Grandad to get back first anyway so he could go with us. I managed to find a play shop till for Poppy on swapshop so on the way we went to fetch it but Emma put it straight into the boot or Pops would have wanted to play with it on the way and it was a bit large for on her lap. When we arrived Rhys and his brothers were very excited, having apparently run their mom ragged all morning, so she was worn out! My sister was already there so we all had a cuppa and the children played outside on the trampoline, Poppy leaping up and down with the lads, holding hands with Ryan! Ah bless. When the lads Grandad and Dad arrived the candles were lit on the cake and we all sang happy birthday before enjoying a slice of chocolate cake. Broke my diet but never mind, it was just a small piece, (and it was lovely)!
As it was getting on for 5pm by this time we decided to head back as Poppy would be wanting her tea so goodbyes were said and off we went. We called in for Lily and Poppys pushchair, which Emma had arrived at our house with this morning, and while the pushchair was being folded up Em put the play shop till on Poppys lap as there was no longer room for it in the boot. Immediately she saw it she leaned forward and put the little mike to her mouth, I wondered what she was going to say "Welcome to Sainsburys"!!! Where on earth had she got that from? Salliannes? Playgroup? She then announced that they had potatoes and crisps so I think she will be having lots of games of shops with her Mummy!

Poppy climbed out of the cot!

I had a bargain today, I managed to get a second hand trampoline for Poppy, just a small one with a handle suitable for a little `un, and it only cost me £2.50! As soon as Gray got home I had my shoes on ready to go out and fetch it, I saw it advertised for sale on the swapshop which is on Facebook and immediately asked to buy it. We took it straight round and as soon as Poppy saw it she could not get her shoes on fast enough to get outside and start jumping about. Her cousin Ruby was visiting so the pair of them were hanging on to the handle, leaping about! We were well pleased.
Emma was telling us that last night Poppy managed to climb out of her cot. They had put her to bed and heard a bump, followed by crying and rushed upstairs when they realised what must have happened to find her crying, lying on the floor. When they had calmed her down she smiled and said "I climbed out!" Within about fifteen minutes Lee had taken the sides off, it is a cot bed, and they tucked her up and said it was time for her to go to sleep. Lily, the dog, jumped on the bed and made herself comfortable so they hoped Poppy might settle down. Off they went downstairs, shutting the stair gate behind them but within a few minutes they heard "Mommy" and she was up! Eventually she settled down and went to sleep, Emma said the funny thing was when she woke up this morning she somehow did not realise that she could get out of her bed and sat in bed calling "Mommy"! I wonder how they are getting on tonight!

GOLD!!

Emma and Poppy arrived mid morning to visit as Lee was at work. We were watching the Olympic games on tv at the time and Gray had not even got dressed as everytime he tried to go upstairs we were in for another Gold medal and he kept sitting down to watch the excitement!
Within about half an hour most of the toys were spread around the room, Poppy certainly likes to make the most of the toys she has at Grandma and Grandads house! I managed to get her some sylvanian families hedgehogs and rabbits from Perton swapshow and she was thrilled with them, she had the dolls house out, and they all sat around the dining table having a tea party, all except for one rabbit and a hedgehog, one went to bed and the other was upstairs in the house looking through the window!
We had lunch, not that Poppy ate a great deal as she had an upset tummy and a little later she was showing signs of tiredness so Emma took her up to bed for a sleep.
Lee arrived and I had put some sausages in the oven for tea, as there were quite a few they stayed for tea and Poppy ate a good amount which was nice to see after her upset tummy of earlier. She managed most of her tea followed by a bowl of strawberries and ice cream.
We were all watching the cycle racing on tv we were excited that they won and Poppy shouted "gold", waved her hands in the air and then gave a round of applause. Ofcourse as we all laughed at her she laughed and kept doing it. As we said the games may not be in our country again in her lifetime, and history is being made, its nice to get her involved, may she will remember!

Please sign petition to save neonatal services for prem babies.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36729
Poppy was born 10 weeks premature weighing just 3 pounds and 4 ounces. She was in hospital for 6 weeks and when she went home she still only weighed 4 pounds and 5 ounces. The neonatal department of Newcross Hospital in Wolverhampton and the neonatal community team were wonderful, and the community team were invaluable when Poppy finally went home. It is scary looking after a tiny baby, and it is very scary looking after such a tiny baby. The neonatal community team is under threat, and their services are so very important. Please please sign the petition to save the neonatal community team. Please share on Facebook, retweet on Twitter, tell everybody you know about these cuts and ask them please to sign. Thankyou so much.
Poppy is now 2 years old, she is a wonderful little girl, without the neonatal team she may not be here.

Visit to the boys.

Emma, Poppy and I went over to visit my niece and her three boys this morning. Poppy, as usual, fell asleep on the way over and was still fast asleep on our arrival. The boys were very excited as usual, they all love Poppy to bits, and ofcourse wanted to see her straight away. She had to wake up properly so sat on her Mommys lap for a while before sliding off to play with the farm set they had very kindly got out for her. She grabbed hold of quite a few of the horses straight away with a big grin on her face, I think she was a little overwhelmed by all the attention and was rather quiet but soon cheered up when the lads put Bruno Mars on for her, she loves his songs and started dancing and singing along which they all joined in with. As it was not raining (well for about 20 minutes anyway) we went outside and Poppy joined the boys on the trampoline, she had a great time leaping up and down, holding Ryans hands. Emma decided it was time for us to leave as it was lunch time and told Poppy we were going, "no" she said carrying on jumping!! She was certainly enjoying herself. She came out of the trampoline net of her own accord a couple of minutes later and was worn out so we said goodbye thinking Poppy might fall asleep in the car. She didn`t but was certainly tired! She managed to stay awake until we got back and after a sandwich and some melon, and a little play with the dolls house she finally gave in when Emma lay her in the cot and slept for almost 2 hours!!

BUDDING PERFORMER.

We had our hair done yesterday at Emmas house, Emma and I first, then Rachel when she arrived back from work. Even Graham got into the act and had his trimmed! Rachael, hairdresser to all the best people, arrived just before 4pm, she is off on holiday this week so we managed to catch her before she heads off to Portugal for the weekend on a hen do. Graham and I had arrived at Emmas before 3.30 to find Poppy fast asleep on the sofa after a busy morning at Lauras house playing with Finn who is 11 days older than Poppy. As the Olympic diving was on tv we were watching it with the sound down so as not to wake Poppy who was sound asleep on the sofa! She woke just before Rachael arrived and was very pleased to find Grandma and Grandad sitting in her lounge! She lay on the sofa for a while until she woke up properly then as soon as she got down she was gathering up her ponies. I was first to get my hair done and Pops thought Grandma with brown dye on her hair, in a twist on top of her head very strange. 
"Grandma funny hair" she pronounced pointing up at me.
I then had to go out into the garden to play at tea parties so I expect I looked rather strange to any neighbours who saw me! Grandad was then called out into the garden too and handed a little red cup of water with the cry "cup a tea".
Poppy decided she was going to sing and dance, she kept singing the same song,though I must admit that on this occassion I could not quite catch what she was singing. We had to clap at the end of each performance and then she sang the same thing again, and again, and again, about 12 times I think!I think we may have a budding performer on our hands!
"What Mommy doing?" she cried when she saw Rachael doing Emmas hair, and she stood fascinated for a while watching until she decided she just had to ride her hobby horse. Then I had to ride the hobby horse .........
It`s a little small for me!
When Lee arrived home he started to cook Poppy her tea while Emma was having her hair finished off so we decided to leave everyone to it and get off home for our own meal.

WOW, AMAZING, BALLOONS, BALLOONS!

Emma had a pile of wrapped presents ready for when Poppy got up yesterday morning, with some balloons adorning them. Poppy saw them, said "Wow, amazing" and ran towards them shouting, "balloons, balloons"!!! Its the old saying isn`t it, give a child an expensive present in a large cardboard box, and they will play with the box!

We arrived to join the birthday lunch to find that the others were already there, I put the hedgehog cake that I had made in the kitchen and Poppy spotted it straight away, "Ooh, hedgehog, asleep"! Poppy was very excited as she had received a few My Little Pony toys, and if she has a favourite it is horses! Some of them had arrived all the way from Australia from Aunty Kim and I was immediately handed one of them as soon as I walked in through the door. She could hardly get her words out with excitement, telling me all about them. She was very pleased with them, so thankyou Aunty Kim. x

She opened a couple of presents with her Mommy before turning her attention once again to the balloons, throwing them up in the air and batting them towards everybody, which she thought very funny. Emma was in the kitchen preparing the buffet so I went to see if I could lend a hand, she was almost finished with her preparation so I did the tuna mayo and poured some crisps into bowls. Poppy sat on her booster seat at the table and cousins Connor and Harry sat with her, all chomping happily on pizza, salad and a variety of other things. She could see her hedgehog cake behind her on the kitchen counter and wanted some, so Emma put her candles on it eventually and Lee rushed in with the camera to take photos of her blowing out the candles. We all sang happy birthday to Poppy, with Poppy joining in and singing along happily, Poppy just loves to sing!

When we had finished eating Emma carried on helping Poppy to open her presents, with Poppy stopping every few minutes to play with those balloons again! It took until about 5pm to finish opening everything! She is a very lucky little girl and had a lot of beautiful presents and cards. She was thrilled with the hobby horse which neighs, whinnies and makes galloping noises when you press its ear and was `riding` it around the house. Her ponies all had to sit in a group on the rug and have a tea party with her new tea set and she wanted to read the My Little Pony books the minute she opened them.

We left about 5pm as our dogs had been on their own and we needed to let them out and later on in the evening Lee sent me a photograph of Poppy wearing her new dressing gown and nightdress to keep her cosy and warm following her bath, she was all ready for bed.

Thank you to everybody who sent Poppy birthday wishes, she had some lovely presents which she was very pleased with, and for which her Mummy and Daddy were very grateful, she is a lucky little girl.

BIRTHDAY POEM.

Sitting here waiting anxiously at home,
Cup of coffee grown cold by the phone,
Each time it rings up I jump,
Is this the news, my heart begins to thump,
I stutter as I try to speak,
Legs like jelly they feel so weak,
Waiting, waiting, what can I do,
Can`t bear to think what you`re going through,
My little girl to become a Mum,
The miracle thats about to come,
My heart is full, what can I do,
I feel so helpless to help you,
I want to cry but my eyes are dry,
I urge the big man in the sky,
Help my girls, please God oh please,
If needs be I`m down on my knees,
And then a little after four,
The call comes through we know the score,
The babe is born, she cried at birth,
She took a breath how much thats worth,
She`s very small 10 weeks early,
Our beautiful, beautiful little girlie.

Poppy is 2 years old today, so a very happy birthday to our beautiful granddaughters, Poppy and her Angel sister Emily. xxx

THE SAFARI PARK BIRTHDAY TREAT.

Emma and Lee took Poppy to the safari park today for her pre birthday treat. Lee arrived with Pops this morning on his bike so as to give Lily the dog a walk, then Emma arrived in the car to pick them up and head off to the safari park. The picnic was packed and off they went, with Poppy waving brightly at me.

The sun has been shining all day, which is good, but it has been a bit cooler than the last few days, which is good, for me anyway. I don`t cope well with the heat and the humidity. Graham arrived back from work and after a visit from my sister and brother in law who dropped round with birthday gifts for Poppy we headed off to get some chocolate buttons as I was in the process of making a cake for Poppys birthday. Graham needed some new gardening gloves and in one shop we tried we found a hobby horse for Poppy, an extra present for her birthday! When you press its ear you hear a galloping noise and then a neigh and a winny! Poppy will be thrilled with it tomorrow. It makes a strange shaped parcel now I have wrapped it up!

The cake is cooked and decorated, a chocolate hedgehog. Hopefully Poppy will like it, she loves hedgehogs.

Emma, Lee and Poppy arrived at our house about 6pm to fetch Lily and nipped in for a quick cup of tea, just enough time for Poppy to get virtually all the toys out! We managed to pick up a dolls house in the charity shop yesterday for her to have in her playhouse and she was thrilled to bits with it. She was telling us all about her thrilling day at the safari park, apparently she saw a camel it stuck its head through the car window and licked her hand when she gave it some food. She was flapping her arms about apparently when it did it, but laughing at the same time. She saw an elephant with a big trunk, a rhino with a big bum, a giraffe which was very tall (demonstrated by Poppy standing on tiptoes and extending her arm above her head as far as she could, eyes wide with excitement), and she saw a lion which said "roar"! She was very excited and very chatty about her lovely birthday day out.

Poppy was getting tired after her busy day by almost 7pm so they headed off home, with Em saying she needs an early night as its her big day tomorrow. I don`t know who is more excited, Emma or Poppy! This is the photo Emma put on Facebook of Poppys presents, waiting for her to open in the morning. Gives it away somewhat, don`t you think?!!

BIG GIRL PANTS.

Well done Pops, Mommy text me this morning and said you sat down and did a wee wee in your potty, what a good girl you are! You have been resisting it for quite some time now, asked if you wanted to use the potty brought a resounding "NO", you did manage one on the toilet the other day, well almost, Mommy said you would not sit down but instead had to stand astride the toilet seat so most of it went on the seat and floor but ever since you would not entertain the idea of actually sitting on the potty or toilet seat! You may only be 2 on Sunday but boy are you stubborn! Hopefully this will be the start of `big girl pants` and the end of nappies.

You have a new pink playhouse in the garden, a lovely present off Mommy and Daddy for your birthday, and Mommy tells me you have been having a tea party and a chat with your cousin Ruby this morning, how sweet can you get? Love it.

The big birthday present.

Poppy is fast asleep upstairs at the moment, Emma arrived with her before lunch and we ate in the garden on this beautiful sunny day. Poppy was obviously very tired after she had eaten and so we decided to go indoors as it is a little cooler and I put her programmes on for her. First she sat on her mommys lap and then she decided she would sit on Grandma where she fell asleep, so Em took her up to sleep soundly in her cot where it is a little cooler.

Emma has just nipped out to buy a few things for Poppys birthday, she had a playhouse delivered yesterday and Lee has put it up in the garden, but Emma wanted to get some things for her to open, so as she was asleep, it seemed pointless taking her along when she can sleep more comfortably here.

Grandad will be home any minute to help me when she wakes up and I daresay she will be wanting the paddling pool out as she did on Tuesday. She was playing with her tea set in it and pouring us all cups of tea, as a result my feet got all wet and my slippers had to dry on the washing line! She was playing in the sandpit (seaside) this morning and making sandcastles.

Apparently she was giving Daddy a lot of help while he was trying to put the playhouse together yesterday on his return from work and when she spotted it in place this morning, around 7am, she immediately fetched her wellies to go out and play in it! She is going to have her toy kitchen in it and it already has two little garden chairs in it given to her by Ryan, Rhys and Owen, my great nephews. Em said she will get a little table and is hoping to get a play shop till for her to vary her games. I have been volunteered to make some curtains, and it will be painted pink and cream. So that is Poppys big birthday present!