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.