Kisses and cuddles all round.

Poppy was in a lovely mood yesterday, despite her cold and poorly cough. She told me she had a poorly cough as soon as she walked through the door, not that it stopped her talking! She arrived in pyjamas as Emma had literally plucked her out of bed and brought her round so when she had eaten what little bit of breakfast she was prepared to eat I helped her get dressed, have a wash and clean her teeth. That was an experience! We both nearly got soaked as she decided she wanted to use the sponge, I only just managed to wring it out in time! "I can do it myself Grandma" is a frequent cry, and she does not like you to help her unless she realises for herself she needs help and asks for it!
Poppy wanted to play with the dolls house so I adhered the velcro to it, my idea to keep the door on the front! I bought it second hand and unfortunately the little dowels that kept the door on had long gone meaning that we had to be careful or the door would fall unless propped up correctly so I came up with the idea of velcro strips which I have put on the front of the frame which holds the big door firmly on the house, then there is another strip on the side which holds the door open, and it works! We had bought some very small hinges to hang it but the house is made with mdf and the tiny screws just would not hold properly and kept splitting the wood, so velcro was the best option. Uncle Rich has done a great job of mending the window frames and the door now looks lovely and completes the house so that Poppy is very pleased with it, she loves posting the tiny letters I made through the front door and have the little dolls pick them up and get excited about their "party invitations!"
After a drink and snack, its easier to feed Poppy little and often I have found when she is feeling poorly, trying to tempt her appetite, she lay on the sofa and asked for snuggly and dummy, soon falling asleep. She was tired and obviously needed the rest, having had quite a few nights disturbed because of her cough, she slept for two hours.
Jill arrived just as Poppy had woken up, Poppy was standing in front of me chattering away when she turned round, saw Jill at the window, shouted "Aunty Jill" and shot off to hide, the same routine we go through everytime anyone arrives! I got her a sandwich for lunch and she settled down on the armchair to eat and watch television for a short while, chattering away in between bites!
When Grandad arrived Poppy had to hide again, in the corner by my armchair, the same place that she always hides in! We wrapped up well and off we went to walk the dogs in the woods, Poppy likes to use her imagination and kept telling us she had heard the "cave monster", just after she had made a growling noise and grinning. "Where does the cave monster live Poppy?" Grandad asked.  Silly question Grandad, in a cave ofcourse!!
We had not long arrived back at our house, and Poppy had been playing in the sandpit for ten minutes or so when Daddy arrived to fetch her. She was very pleased to see him and excited to hear that he would take her home on his bike so Grandma and Grandad got kisses and cuddles all round before waving them off.

Its still raining.

Emma staggered through the door yesterday morning, arms laden with clothes, sparkly red shoes, important book, Poppys rucksack, umbrella and a wriggling Poppy!
"Mommy, I need to take my umbrella to Grandmas" she said as they were leaving the house, "and I need to take my sparkly red shoes, and my important book." The important book is the telephone directory, but Poppy has decided it is important, so it is!! "Mommy, I want to go to Grandmas in my pyjamas".  This resulted in Emma, arms full of bags, umbrellas, sparkly shoes and red book, staggering towards the front door then Poppy called, "Mommy, pick me up!!" No wonder Emma looked worn out when she arrived at ten to eight in the morning, staggering through the door and dropping half the stuff on the floor. The day had barely begun and already she was carrying a whole load of stuff around, not easy when you have hardly woken up. Add to that lot a wriggling Poppy who decided she could not walk from the house to the car because she was wearing pyjamas, even though it was her own choice to arrive in pyjamas, not an easy feat carrying everything. In the car on the short journey to our house Poppy had suddenly announced "Mommy, I haven`t got any clothes on" she was very relieved to be told that Mommy had her clothes in a carrier bag ready to put on when she got to Grandmas house. "oh, okay".
I had breakfast ready, she likes fruit and toast. Apparently fruit is her favourite food, especially bananas, strawberries and grapes. Oh and pink milk, she has to have pink milk with breakfast and before she goes to bed at night, if you have no pink milk ready for her, believe me you are in trouble!!
So there she was, umbrella up, out in the garden, wearing pyjamas - at 8 o`clock in the morning!! Luckily I managed to persuade her that it was not a good idea to run around outside in pyjamas at that time in the morning, and that she really should come indoors, have breakfast and get dressed.
One bowl of strawberries and grapes, a slice of toast and some pink milk later and she was dressed ready to go.
"I want to go in the garden Grandma" she said, disappearing out of the kitchen door, umbrella in hand. "Its not raining" she announced, putting her umbrella up.
So there we were, in the garden at 8.30am, playing in the sandpit. I quickly got my thick cardigan on and buttoned Poppy into her coat, a bit chilly to say the least.  We had been outside for about half an hour when even Poppy realised the sky was getting dark and announced she wanted to play inside. I put the brick back on top of the sand table to keep the lid on, wedged the slide over the top to prevent it blowing away and went thankfully indoors. It rained for the rest of the day, infact its still raining now!
We played with the dolls house, by the time Jill arrived we were ready for a drink and a snack, I put the kettle on thankfully while Jill occupied Poppy with a book. It was obvious Poppy was getting tired so I put Peppa Pig on for her to watch and she settled down on the sofa, she kept getting up and chattering, but eventually she lay down, head on cushion and fell asleep.
Poppy woke just after Grandad got in from work, she lay on the sofa for a while chatting away before she got up and decided to play horses. "Here you are Grandma, thats your horse" she said, passing me a brown plastic animal.
"Can I have a horse Poppy?" asked Grandad sitting down on the floor beside her. "No."
We could not go out for our walk in the woods as we usually do, the rain was coming down in buckets, so we played with just about every toy she has until it was time for tea. She managed to eat her pizza and salad, and a whole jam doughnut before Mommy arrived to fetch her causing great excitement as Poppy was very pleased to see her and visa versa.
Its still raining ........