That was certainly a lot of rain!!!

Before Poppy would sit in her highchair for breakfast yesterday morning she had to fetch her toy horses to sit on her tray! There is not a lot of room with one large and two small toy horses, a bowl of cereal and a cup of juice!
Shortly after she had finished her breakfast the sky started to darken and darken, enough for me to put on the light, it was like nightime and very strange. Then the rain came down in torrents, the road turned into a river and Poppy climbed onto the sofa to look out through the window, fascinated by the water running down the glass, she even tried to wipe it off. Then she had an idea, she got off the sofa, walked over to me and said "hand", then with her other hand on her pram in which her dolly was asleep she pushed the pram and led me to the door. "Walk Grandma"!! The rain outside was coming down in buckets and Poppy decides she wants to go out for a walk, I told her it was raining very much and we would get very wet, I had to distract her with smarties! Gray rang to say the community centre was sporting several leaks and that the church next door also had lots of leaks and had to cancel the pensioners lunch that is usually held there on a Thursday. I can`t remember ever seeing rain like it before, the water was up to the kerb stones and lapping over the pavements, Gray said a fire engine was down by the petrol station pumping out the water from the road and the underpass was full of water!

When Gray came home from work he said there were floods in quite a few places and I was worried about Emma and Lees house knowing their road often has excess water and that the water had been up to their front door in the past. Luckily when she did get home she said the house was fine, same with Rachel and Stevens, though at work Rachel said the car showroom roof had caved in under the pressure! Scary.

Gray took Poppy out for a walk in the afternoon with her dolly in her pram, wearing her summer dress and brightly coloured wellington boots! She was very pleased to be going out with Grandad and after 2 circuits round the block she still did not want to return! He wanted a drink though as despite the earlier rain it was warm and muggy, and when Poppy did come in she proved she needed a drink too by finishing off the juice in her cup.

Emma arrived to fetch Poppy and take her to visit her cousin Ruby who had her 3rd birthday yesterday. Poppy had been singing happy birthday to Ruby all day, wonder if she sang it when she saw her!

YUMMY YUM, PIGS BUM!!!

Poppy was thrilled to bits when she arrived this morning to find not one, not two but three horses waiting for her. We got her a set of two from Asda, a large one and a small one with a long mane and tail so she can brush them. The larger one is the Mummy horse and the small one the baby horse. Yesterday we found a large soft horse in the charity shop for the bargain sum of 95p so that was standing beside the other two when she walked into the lounge. She was very excited and immediately tried to pick all three up which was a bit of a problem for her. Emma persuaded her to have her breakfast by saying the horses could sit on her tray while she ate, the tray was a little crowded to say the least! She ate her sugar puffs and some of her grapes then wanted to get out of her chair so we went to play in the lounge. She handed the horses to me one by one, "baby horse", "Mommy horse", yes Poppy I said, baby horse, Mommy horse. Then she handed me the big soft one, "Grandma horse".!!
Jill arrived mid morning and fortunately the rain had stopped so she very kindly took her for a walk to feed the ducks. When they came back Poppy told me she had seen the ducks, swans and geese. She was tired so had an early lunch and was soon asleep, sleeping for 2 hours.
Grandad took her for a walk this afternoon on her reigns pushing her dolly in her pram. They walked twice round the block and Poppy still did not want to come in for tea! She soon changed her mind, after having a little cry, when I put CBBC on for her to watch while she ate. She was eating the rice pudding I had cooked when she looked at me and said yum yum. I smiled at her and said, pleased (because I had made it) "you like it, yummy, yummy" and Poppy came back at me "yummy yum, pigs bum"!!! I wondered if I had heard her right, then I discovered from Emma that she has not got it from her Dad as we presumed, but from her childminder!Cheeky! LOL x

Goodnight, God bless Poppy. xxx

Yesterday was my beautiful daughters birthday, I can sometimes hardly believe that I am mother to two children over the age of 30! What happened? Where did all that time go??!
We popped round in the morning to take Emmas present and as soon as we walked into the house Poppy slid off the sofa and ran up to me with a big grin on her face, throwing her arms around my legs. "Grandma." Ah bless, what it is to be loved, to see her little face light up is a joy. I have found that the love between a grandchild and grandmother is a wonderful thing.
She was tired, though she managed to chatter away and kept bringing me various things, her daddys trainers "Daddy shoes", her Mums high heels, "Mummys shoes". Some dogs toys "Lily toys." It was as though she had to show me all the things in the room! Grandad sat and smiled as my lap, and the floor nearby, started to pile up with the things she brought me. Eventually she got tired and went to sit on the sofa next to her Daddy where she gradually fell asleep, cuddling her snuggly. Emma carried her carefully upstairs and put her in her cot to rest.
We went back later on as Emma and Lee wanted to go out to the pub to watch the football together as they did in the olden days, as Emma said when she texted me! I think she meant when they were courting, do you say courting nowadays?!!
Poppy was already in her pyjamas when we arrived and Emma was just getting her bedtime bottle. She uses a cup throughout the day but at bedtime she likes her bottle of milk. She chattered and had a game with Grandad for a while but when she finished her bottle she was ready for bed.
"Bye" she said when Emma picked her up to take her upstairs before they went out. Everybody got a kiss and off they went. I never heard a peep out of her, when I crept upstairs a short while after they left the house she was fast asleep. Goodnight, God bless Poppy. xxx

Large pink horse.

Graham has had this week off so when Poppy came to visit yesterday we took her to soft play at the garden centre. Only half was open when we arrived, unfortunately the half that was still closed contained the slide which Poppy wanted to go on. We tried to interest her in the ball pool and the few things available to play with in the open half but she kept making a bid for escape and running over to the closed half calling "slide, slide". She was far from happy to be denied the slide as were a few of the other children in there. Surely the cleaning should be done before the children go in, there was a basket of cleaning stuff next to the equipment which must be against the health and safety everybody is so keen on nowadays!! We purposely went early so that there would not be many children there as when the place gets fuller, and when a good few of the children are a year or two older, the little ones don`t really get a look in. Eventually the slides were opened but ofcourse by then the older kids had arrived and got there before Poppy who had been one of the first to arrive. One little lad decided to climb through the tunnel and then sit at the other side, stopping those who went after him from going through, one of them being Poppy. Grandad had to climb up to rescue her as she was getting upset and his parent was obviously not watching as nobody said a word to him. You can sometimes really dislike other peoples kids can`t you?! We did not stop for too long after that as the place was getting packed and Poppy was tired so we lured her away by saying she could see the pretty flowers. She had a go on the toy tractor at the exit, actually she had two goes, and did not want to get off but we only had two 50p pieces to put into the slot! She fell asleep on the way home and we managed to lay her carefully on the sofa where she slept for an hour and a half or so.
The afternoon brought more rain so we could not take Poppy to the playground and as she was getting tired we decided on a ride in the car as she usually manages to fall asleep on the journey. We went to Asda and picked up a horse toy for her, a large pink horse with a smaller one, both with long manes and tails for her to brush. She was thrilled to bits with her new toys, she really loves horses. When Em dropped the dog off this morning she said the horses had been everywhere with her since! She is hoping her obsession with horses fades when she gets older as the hobby could get very expensive!!

ALL SMILES.

Poppy was all smiles when she arrived this morning and found Grandad at home. He has a week off from work.
She has been poorly over the weekend, problems with her asthma, not eating a great deal, being sick, poor little soul, she doesn`t deserve to be poorly so often. Emma stayed off work with her yesterday and took her to the doctors who gave her antibiotics, he said her chest sounded clear but he was playing safe incase she develops a chest infection. Apparently she HATES taking her medicine, and it is a real problem getting it down her. They have told her it is banana milk shake and banana ice cream, all to no avail!!
I used to hate taking medicine when I was a child, I always had to have a sweet in my hand, ready to thrust into my mouth as soon as I had gulped it down!
She certainly made up for not eating this morning when she had two bowls of sugar puffs, a bit of toast and some grapes!
Grandad took her for a walk in the pushchair to feed the ducks and then to see the horses, but they only got to feed the ducks as she fell asleep before they even got to the horses! Luckily Lee came to pick her up on his bike after work and took her round with some pieces of apple to give to the horses. She slept for just over an hour this morning so we decided to pop and see my sister Marg. As soon as we arrived Poppy was grinning, "Aunty Marg" she said as she climbed up the front door step. Marg soon had some toys out for her which she keeps especially for Poppys visits! Bless.
We got back for lunch and she managed toast with spaghetti then she played in the garden with Grandad with her sand. When her nappy was changed I noticed a rash on her tummy so I did the glass test just incase and it was okay. She was not very pleased when I pressed a cold glass to her skin, but needs must! I think the rash is probably the virus or maybe a reaction to the antibiotic. She is a lot better today and it is good to see her eating a bit better, she could do with putting a little weight on.
This morning Poppy was able to meet the new baby next door. Baby Isabelle is the brand new granddaughter of my friend Anne, she is 7 weeks old and absolutely beautiful with a lot of dark brown hair. I saw Helena walking over the road heading for the shops so I called her to see if Poppy could see the baby, Poppy was thrilled and all smiles as soon as she saw the baby and we had to keep picking her up to see in the pram! She was sad when we had to come away and started to cry because she wanted to stay with the baby! I daresay she will see a lot of her in the future, so she has made a new little friend next door.
On the subject of babies, Emma was telling me that when she is at her childminders she sees a baby boy and when he arrives she walks into the playroom to fetch some toys for him! Ah bless Poppy, how kind.

FATHERS DAY WEEKEND.

Fathers day turned into fathers weekend!
Saturday night saw us out with Rachel and Steven to enjoy a curry then some quality time together afterwards in the pub. Nice to have a chat, put the world to rights and a good laugh too. Thanks for a lovely evening x
Sunday lunch time saw us out with Emma, Lee and Poppy to have the traditional roast beef, yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings. We even left some room for pudding, after all they were buy one get one free so you can hardly refuse! Thanks for a lovely lunch x
Poppy is still not too well. She is very chesty and is coughing quite a bit, needing her inhalers regularly. She was sick again last night and so spent part of the night in her mum and dads bed. When she is not well she does not eat a great deal, worrying as she is only a little thing and certainly does not need to loose any weight. Hopefully she will improve soon and start eating again properly, you can offer food to a child but cannot force it on them.
Poppy was very good when we were out for lunch, she sat on Lees lap for ages colouring on the special childrens menu which has a picture on the back to colour in. She managed a few vegetables, a little bit of meat and some yorkshire pudding but sadly not a lot. She wanted some ice cream when the puddings arrived and managed a tiny bit but again not a lot. She then wanted to get down and accompanied Daddy to the gambling machine in the corner where she likes the lights and to press the buttons! In the pub we visited she likes to go into the corridor where the facilities are (okay, toilets) and run up and down, banging the wall at either end shouting "bosher"!! This has been taught to her by her Daddy! (Those of you who know him won`t be surprised!) She grabbed Lee by the hand and led him over, then they could both be seen running up and down! It made us laugh anyway, maybe you had to be there!!
Its been a lovely weekend, thanks Guys. xxx

SWEET DREAMS POPPY.

Emma, Lee and Poppy arrived mid afternoon having been to a birthday party. Ollie was 3 years old today, and he had a party with all his friends.

Poppy had not been too well overnight, she was coughing a lot yesterday at Sallis house and Emma had to give her an inhaler when she got her home. Later on she was burning up and moaning then unfortunately was sick so Emma decided to put her into bed with her. The medication to bring down her temperature had kicked in later and Poppy wanted to high five at 1.30am!! She did not eat much at the party Emma said, so I mentioned that there was a milky bar in the kitchen when they arrived here and she had that, some of her mommys cake and a drink of juice. She had been drinking from a proper cup at the party, much to Emmas amazement, so she decided she would not drink from the baby cup when she arrived here. We bought a cup with her name on it ages ago in preparation for this day so I found it in the cupboard and she was very careful and did not spill a drop, even carrying it carefully from kitchen to lounge! Well done Pops x
We were all laughing as Poppy wanted to play hide and seek and was hiding from Grandad behind the door, with her finger to her lips saying shhh, then when he came through the door she popped out and pronounced that she was hiding!!
She decided she wanted to play some music so she got her drum out and handed the trumpet to Mummy. When I asked what she was going to sing, she announced baa baa black sheep which we all had to join in with! Looks like she may be musical like her Mum.
Poppy was very tired, Emma was too having been up half the night with her, so they headed off home for an early night. Emma just rang to tell us the arrangements for the fathers day meal tomorrow and said Poppy would not eat her tea, even though quiche is something she normally enjoys. You can always tell when a child is under the weather when they refuse to eat. Unfortunately it happens a lot more often with Poppy than we would wish so we all tend to try and feed her up when she is well. Hopefully they will have a better night tonight.
Sweet dreams Poppy.

GROWING UP TOO FAST!

Yesterday Poppy arrived wearing a sleeveless summer dress, leggings, sandals with sparkling butterflies on and a straw hat with a yellow ribbon tied in a bow round it! Luckily she also had her coat with her as the day did not match up to expectations! Its to be hoped she is dressed warmly today and has waterproof clothing with her as it is pouring with rain outside, apparently we are to get a storm which will give us a months worth of rain in 5 days! Looking outside my window now I am thinking it may have been a good idea to make an ark!
So there we were, yesterday morning, Poppy and I, playing with her plastic toy animals. They were all arranged on the table, standing around the two apples she had gone to fetch from my fruit bowl telling me horsey likes apples. She looked at me and said party and starting singing happy birthday! First it was the horses birthday, then the tiger, then the lion, the pig ......... you get the picture, I think most of them had a birthday in the end!! I would not be at all surprised if Poppy ends up working with animals in some way when she is older, maybe a vet, she really loves animals, any animal, it does not matter what it is! She even sang happy birthday crocodile, not that she even has a plastic crocodile!!
Poppy had obviously had enough of playing with her inside toys by about 10am and grabbing my hand, makes me smile how she says "hand" when she wants to hold your hand, she waited until I stood up and then said "seaside"!! Which meant she wanted to go outside and play with the sand and water table. On went the coat, and my cardigan, and thankfully the weather yesterday was a little more kind than the weather today! Not particularly warm, but warm enough if you wore a coat!
Jill arrived just before 11am and offered to take Poppy for a walk to see the ducks and feed them some bread. Not being able to walk so far I am very grateful for these outings, and Poppy loves to go and feed the ducks! She can now say `Aunty Jill` which pleases Jill enormously, as she has been trying to teach her to say it for some time! Poppy already had her coat on so she just had to be strapped securely into her pushchair, a couple of slices of bread was found, and off they went, Poppy waving and calling "bye bye Grandma, bye bye". Bless.
Poppy was fast asleep in the pushchair on their return and continued to sleep for not quite two hours so she had a late lunch. It was not long before Grandad arrived back from work, Pops had been waiting for him and kept telling me she was going to "window", there was great excitement when Grandad finally arrived, she climbed onto the sofa and waved at him through the window, then she climbed off and did a little dance before running to the door when he came through it. Noone can say she is not pleased to see him when he comes home!
He was hardly through the door before she was saying "Grandad play Poppy, Grandad play Poppy". He does not even get time to sit down before he is pulled on to the floor to play with her farm or her plastic animals! They did play outside for a little while, but it was Poppy who came back into the house saying "cold", surely the summer should arrive soon?!!
She started playing a new game then which made us laugh, we have a baby gate on the door to the dining room so we can shut the dogs in there when we want to and also to prevent Poppy from going into the kitchen if there is hot food about. We were in the dining room as we had all been colouring (I had been trying to have a rest in a comfortable chair but Poppy had other ideas and decided Grandma had to join in!!) She got down from the chair and walked through the baby gate pronouncing "work", and after a couple of minutes she appeared in the doorway again having returned from "work." That game lasted a while before she decided to play hide and seek, when she hides she usually goes under the table or behind the door and calls out hiding so that you can find her! When it is Grandads turn she stands with her hands in front of her face counting up to ten, then she will call something like "coming ready or not" (it does not always sound quite like that) and then thinks it is very funny when she finds you.
Bless her, she is growing up so fast, she is only just over 22 months so has not even had her 2nd birthday yet, but she is doing so well having caught up with her prematurity and doing so very well.

SPORTS DAY.

Emma just popped in to fetch the dog and was telling us how good Poppy was this when she went with her childminder Salli to the sports day of another of her charges. Poppy sat on Sallis lap for ages, and when Harry ran his races she stood and cheered for him to win. She was sitting with another little girl who is her friend at Sallis, and they were both so good by all accounts. She sat on the grass when she got fed up of sitting on Sallis lap and picked daisys which she handed to Salli. Poppy does not always like sitting still so Salli was expecting her to want to run with the other children, or imagined her in the middle of the running track before she could get to her, so she was very pleased with her behaviour. Well done Pops xxx Bless.

DADDY BIKE HORSES.

Hello Grandma, Grandad called Poppy when Emma brought her round this morning. With a big grin on her face she trotted into the house and immediately reached up to the bowl of grapes I had prepared for her arrival, popping a couple into her mouth so that her mouth was full to bursting.
"Yum" she said as she finished chewing and reached for some more!
In between grapes she announced "Daddy, bike, horses".
Emma said its the first thing she says when she gets up in the morning, and she repeats it at regular intervals throughout the day! She really, really loves to go with Daddy on his bike to feed the horses! She then said "apples, horses" before eating some more grapes.
The first thing she heads for, from her toy collection I have here for her, is her plastic animals. She has a  large basket full now, not just farm animals but tigers, lions, elephants and a rhino. I was not surprised when she threw all the other animals on the floor and dug out the horses. "Horsey," she announced handing me one. "Baby horsey." The horses all then had to gallop about "clip clop, clip clop" she shouted, banging them up and down on my knee, "neigh neigh"!! She looked up at me, "Grandma do it" she said!!
She seems, somehow, to have gathered together a small collection of 6 plastic horses from various places, the farm from the charity shop had two with it, another she had free with a childrens magazine, not that it was really free when the magazine was about £1.99! The others were in a bag of plastic animals we got from Hootys, a warehouse of a place which sells all sorts of things. One is actually a donkey, she calls it a donkey horse and will tell you it says "hee haw", and another is a zebra, but to Poppy it is a zebra horsey. It is from the horse family after all, so I suppose she is right!
She placed them all on the table, around the bowl which still had a couple of grapes in and told me they were having a party!

Jill arrived just ten minutes after Poppy had fallen asleep. Jill had intended to take her for a walk in the pushchair to feed the ducks and had brought the bread for them. Poppy only slept for about 40 minutes though, and woke with a smile on her face when she saw Jill. She was soon sitting in the pushchair when Jill told her she had bread to feed the ducks, ready for the off.

Lee arrived on his bike to fetch Poppy just as she was eating an ice cream, he had already let me know that if he was finished early enough he would pick her up to go and see the horses. Poppy was very excited to see her Daddy and could hardly wait to finish off her ice cream. She ate it all though! As soon as she saw the bike outside she got very enthusiastic and started to skip up and down, then she turned round and said "bye Grandma, bye Grandad" to us while waving and smiling! Gray cut an apple up for them to feed the horses, Lee put her coat on for her, strapped her onto the bike and off they went, with Lily in hot pursuit! Bless.

BIRTHDAY LUNCH.

Had a busy day today, first we went out for lunch with family for my brother in laws birthday. Tomorrow he officially becomes a pensioner, 65 years young. At some point in the not too distant future you will have to wait until you are 66, 67, 68 or maybe even older before you can claim the status of pensioner!

We were very kindly given some beautiful cup cakes, courtesy of the birthday boy, and some to take back to family members who were unable to attend the meal, and so on the way home we popped in to deliver them. Poppy ofcourse, wanted her cake straight away, and as it was a little large for her Emma cut it in half so she has half for today and half for tomorrow. "Yum" was her verdict!

Poppy was very excited to see us, she has been away for the weekend with her Mummy visiting friends in Hereford and had a lovely time. Mummy had just mowed through the lawn mower cable when we arrived so Lee was putting it back together! Poppy led us into the house, keen to get her hands on her cup cake, packed into an individual little box and placed in a small bag with her name on! Poppy could not stop smiling, so pleased she was to see us. She was chattering away, happy and contented as always. We had not been there long when the ice cream man arrived, Poppy had been waiting for him all afternoon as Em had promised her an ice cream for being good. Well we all had to have one didn`t we, as he was over the road it was a shame not to! (I can`t resist a whippy!!)

Poppy did not want us to leave but our dogs had been on their own since noon so we thought we had better get home to let them out and feed them. Hopefully she was not too sad and we shall see her very soon.

VISITING.

Yesterday we had arranged to go over and visit my niece and her three lively lads. Em picked me up in the afternoon, a bit later than planned but Poppy had a sleep for a little longer than expected. The rain has been dreadful this week, such a shame as the kids are on school holidays and unable to get outdoors to play. My sister had dropped off a box of stuff for car boot sales which Rhys had been looking at, so when we arrived this is what he looked like!

Ryan loves playing with Poppy. He looks after her and makes sure she is okay.

Rhys, cheeky monkey!

Ryan let Poppy have a go on his recorder

Owen having a laugh with his Mum

POPPY LOVES GOING ON BIKE RIDES WITH DADDY.

Emma rang to say that Poppy had a lovely time yesterday morning at the childminders event at the community centre, until the time when a bigger lad accidentally knocked her over. He was mortified and kept apologising, but these things happen, she is a little dot and he never saw he standing there, dancing away. I know Em is not a childminder, but as Poppy normally goes to see Salli on a Wednesday she said it would be fine for Poppy to join in with the other kids, shame for her to miss out because her Mummy is on holiday. Em said she had a wonderful time. She fell asleep on the way home and slept for a long time, a little worrying when she fell backwards and banged the back of her head, but thankfully she was fine when she woke up, her normal, cheerful self. Her first words on waking were "where Grandad" as the last person she saw before falling asleep was her Grandad, who works at the community centre, and who was able to give her a cuddle when she was crying after her fall.

Em took her to play with Abbey and Maisie in the afternoon, as it was raining they were unable to play outside in the garden, although Maisie and Poppy did make a break for freedom when Maisie dressed herself in wellies and raincoat and went out through the back door, closely followed by Poppy, who promptly slipped on the wet decking, before anybody could grab her, getting a wet bottom in the process! Poppy had obviously remembered the lovely play house in the garden which she played in with the girls on her last visit, when the weather was a little more kind!

We popped out, inbetween heavy showers, to buy a few bits we needed from the shops and on our return Emma and Poppy had arrived at our house to fetch Lily. When we walked in Poppy was occupied getting the entire contents of her toys out and spreading them around the lounge! She is very good now at doing her wooden puzzles and as soon as I sat down she put the puzzle on my lap, handing me the pieces to hold with the cry "hand Grandma" so I would put my hand out to hold on to them until she was ready to put them back in the correct places! 9 times!
We all had a cuppa together, well Poppy had apple juice, then a piece of cake which was handed back to me with the words "no Grandma, cake" then she had a sandwich out of which she only ate the filling! Apparently she had a late lunch of pizza, which she ate two slices of, so she probably was not very hungry when it came to tea time. Funnily enough she did manage to get a couple of squares of chocolate down her though! Rascal.

She was very excited when Emma said should they go home and see Daddy. Apparently she has become `Daddys girl` over the weekend as he keeps taking her on the bike to see the horses. She wouldn`t let Em push her on Tuesday when they went to the fun day, she kept saying "no, Daddy push"!! Em says she will get her back to being a Mummys girl this week as she is off work and they can spend some precious time together!

Poppy loves going on the bike on her special seat with Daddy. She loves visiting the horses in the field near Grandma`s house. Em is hoping she won`t want a horse as she gets older, could prove rather expensive!!

CROCODILE.

Emma, Lee and Poppy nipped by for an hour after having a meal out. Poppy does not want to sit in a highchair when she is out now, preferring to sit on a dining chair at the table with her Mummy and Daddy. She did some colouring and then wanted to get down, however her Mummy and Daddy had other ideas and did not want her to run around the pub, so they told her there was a crocodile "round there". Round eyed she queried "crocodile", funnily enough it kept her sitting on her chair, colouring! Bless. She was very good apparently, and enjoyed her scampi, peas and chips!

She is getting very good at doing simple jigsaw puzzles now, she brought her shapes one over to me and proceeded to take all the shapes out and hand them to me. Rectangle Grandma. Star Grandma. Square Grandma............  She put them all back in their places. Then started all over again. Must have been 6 or 7 times before she got fed up of doing that one!

Poppy loves to dance, she goes mad when the Hotdog dance comes on at the end of the Mickey Mouse club on tv, so I have just downloaded it from Itunes for her and some of her other favourites and put them onto a CD. Moves like Jagger is another favourite, she even sings along! I have done a little compilation for her!