Easter alpacas

It is Easter weekend and the local alpaca farm (Toft Alpaca) hosted their usual farm open day today. We introduced M to alpacas during a similar open day the Easter before she turned four, where she became hooked. I don't think we've missed a Toft open day since!

The weather today was awful, starting out grey, drizzling by the time we left he house and gradually worsening to torrential rain by the time we drove home. The addition of a strong wind meant there was no warmth at all, and I suspect this is the reason the farm was quieter than it has been on previous Easter open days. It was still busy, but not heaving with bodies the way it was last time and there was plenty of room to park and the staff were not so stressed due to too many people on a small farm.

Alpaca girls outside the studio.

We decided to join the noon farm tour and while we waited, M explored the site. She loves the pond, examined the daffodils and discovered a huge monkey puzzle tree. The latter is to the side of the studio building and neither Dave nor I have seen such a big example of this curious plant. M couldn't stop looking at it, it was just so odd compared to trees she is familiar with. We looked the rings of scars from previous branches, the way the branches were formed, the leaf structure and speculated as to whether monkeys would live in such a tree.

M with a fallen branch from the monkey puzzle tree.

M picked up a fallen branch and was very taken with it, but we didn't have time to put it in the car as we needed to join the farm tour.

We joined a large crowd braving the weather for a tour by one of the farm's owners, learning a fair bit about alpacas as we went. I'm not sure how much of the talk M listened to, but we trekked up and down steep hills, went into fields with alpacas and tried to avoid the poo!

A herd of ladies.

We made it back to the area outside the studio in time to join the Easter Egg Hunt. In previous years, the hunt has been around the pond, but (last year in particular) the number of children made the terrain dangerous and the hunt was over within a few minutes. This year, they decided to hide the eggs in a small section of managed woodland. We all lined up and waited for the rope to be dropped, then M started to look for eggs. Dave accompanied her at first, then I took over as we had a final sweep for any eggs the others might have missed. M came away with eleven little eggs, which made her happy.

By now the weather was bad and we were cold, so it was time to retreat to the car to eat lunch. Not our favoured option, but we couldn't picnic outside so we made the best of the situation.

For M, the draw of Toft is the chance to walk an alpaca on a halter. Every time we go, she picks out the feistiest animal and off we go. After eating we made our way to the paddock where the farm sets up a small obstacle course to lead the alpacas around. M watched the previous group for a while before declaring she wanted the black alpaca.

For the avoidance of doubt, M informed the man in charge of her choice before we had made it through the gate.

M and Dave with M's chosen alpaca.

This curious chap was watching us as we walked alpacas.

We walked our alpaca, who was reluctant to keep going, round and round and round. I suspect he was fed up with being walked around in circles for no good reason. M was happy, but cold, despite being bundled up against the weather.

We posed, windswept and bedraggled, our alpaca reluctant to be with us.

Our last stop was the cafe for some tea and a chance to warm up. M composed a poem about alpacas and I wrote it down for her.

M's poem, written from the view of the alpaca.

I Am An Alpaca - written by M (age 5)

I am feisty,
Though I am an alpaca,
But I am herd on a lead
And you will know but how to
Lead me on a lead for I am a alpaca. Alpaca. Alpaca.

M illustrated the poem and traced over my writing with a blue pencil, then showed the poem to the lady who took us on the farm tour. She was told it was very good, then skipped off to run around outside.

We finally headed home with a happy M, just as the rain started in earnest. Good timing on our part!

Useful Links:

• Toft Alpaca Farm - http://www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk/

Valentines or Halloween madness

Sunday was Valentine's Day, which started with M rolling out of bed and deciding she had to make another card for me. We had plans to go out, but I didn't mind too much as it allowed me to check the weather forecast while a small person crafted.

Last minute Valentine's Card for Mummy.

Once M was satisfied, cards were exchanged, chocolates were sampled and we were ready to face the day.

Valentine's Day for us involved a trip to Stratford to meet up with friends from Devon. The day was bright, but very cold and we'd decided to visit the MAD Museum. MAD is of course an acronym for Mechanical Art and Design, which meant lots of automata, very complex marble runs and interactive art installations.

Finding the museum took a short while as it is tucked away above another shop, meaning we had to look up. We're not regular visitors to Stratford, indeed the last time I wandered around the town centre was before M was born, which meant we were taking in a new place with many, many fascinating shops. Very distracting shops!

The MAD museum is accessed via very steep stairs, surrounded by a big marble run installation of rolling golf balls inside tubing around the stairwell. There was a lift to take the balls up to the top again, keeping the system going and providing a fascinating entrance way. We stood there, blocking the stairs, for at least five minutes as M watched, working out how the arrangement was put together.

Finally, we made it up the stairs, paid, were given a brief safety talk (press buttons, but do not put your fingers inside the machines) and we were inside.

M takes a turn on a musical typewriter, connected to glasses via piano wires.

Oh my gosh, there were so many marble runs, constructed out of all manner of things. Some out of wire, others from pipes, some from wood, and even household objects such as kitchen implements. Balls were rolled, lifted, bounced and flung, in never ending cycles, triggered by the press of a button. All three of us were hooked.

A 'flying' machine thing.

The museum were holding a competition to design a MAD machine of your own. They will apparently pick one and build it, so M was keen to draw something to submit. After a few inspirational drawings, M came up with a 'Ball Looper', which had a corkscrew lift and a fan blowing the balls into a funnel, after which they travelled down a tube and back to the bottom of the lift. No pics I'm afraid, as I forgot!

M plays with an interactive art installation.

We were in there well over an hour, which for a tiny museum is not too bad at all.

Once we emerged, we ran the gauntlet of shops (I think we need to come back for a proper wander when it is a little warmer) before walking to the rec ground and play equipment. It was bitterly cold, but small people had energy to burn off. There we stayed until the fading light and rapidly dropping temperature, made us hustle back into town for a hot drink at our friends' hotel before going home.

We looked at the artwork in the lounge, studied a collage of jesters with Jack'O'Lanterns entertaining a Tudor banquet, which led to me retelling the tale of Stingy Jack. This was a story that has several versions, but has its roots in folklore, giving the origins of the Hallowe'en tradition of making Jack'O'Lanterns. My tale started with the fact that while the artist may have shown the lantern made from a pumpkin, traditionally the lanterns were made from turnips or swedes. Pumpkins only came later with the discovery of the New World.

I've linked to a version of the Legend of Stingy Jack from Wikipedia, but be aware there are several different versions of the story. The version I told was similar to the one we heard at Mary Arden's Farm last Hallowe'en, but I simplified it to take into account two very tired small people.

Namely:

Richard III

Blogging, or indeed spare time has been short over the last few weeks, mostly due to this chap:-

When the news reached us that Richard III was going to be buried in Leicester, I decided that if possible, we should mark the event. At four, M is too young to appreciate who Richard III was or the significance of a funeral for a medieval king, but I none the less wanted her to get some sense of the man, while also increasing her burgeoning understanding of history.

My problem was, when it came down to it, I just didn't know very much about Richard III, the late medieval period or The War of The Roses. Admittedly, we were unlikely to cover any of these areas in any depth with M at this age, but if she asked me any difficult questions I wanted to have a clue as to how to answer.

I came across a MOOC about Richard III from Leicester University, through the FutureLearn site, so signed up. The course itself is supposed to only take three hours of study a week, but when you are already squeezed on available spare time, that is a lot to fit in. Somehow I did it, I even completed the course yesterday (as M wanted to know the end of the story) doing a 'week's worth of work in one day!

The MOOC incidentally, was very good and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an introduction to life in England during the latter part of The War of The Roses. 

The course lost me a bit during the first week, going through the political intrigues and switching allegiances which marked The War of the Roses. After that however, I was back on more familiar ground looking at culture, life, food, books and ideas around death in the 15th century.

The upshot of the course is that blogging and indeed anything else I'd normally do in my spare time, has taken a back seat for the past few weeks.

While I did hunt around for any further information on the War of the Roses, Richard III or medieval life, I couldn't find much in the way of resources that would have appealed to M. Like most four year olds, M likes castles, but she likes castles because they are old buildings rather than because of knights and princesses. Most of the resources intended for children, seem to focus solely on this aspect. In the end, I went for just talking about Richard III in the context of the Tudors and Shakespeare, who is a recent discovery for M.

We watched the video above and sang along to the Richard III song, sung here by children in Leicester. We browsed the King Richard in Leicester website, which I summarised for M. We watched the videos in the last part of the course together and I answered questions. M was very curious about the whole process of how and why Richard III was killed and speculated on what might have happened if he had lived.

And of course, we headed into Leicestershire to witness the passing of Richard III's funeral cortege. 

After checking the events list, we headed to Market Bosworth as most likely to appeal to M. We parked in a field just outside the town and for the first time ever, the car got stuck in the mud! It had to be pushed onto firmer ground so I could park.

We took a shuttle bus into the village, which amused M - "Mummy, a shuttle bus is a bus which zooms into space!"

We got our bearings, ate lunch, M played with some leaves and we all chatted to re-enactors. 

So much fun to be had in a leaf filled ditch.

M liked these poppets, but the lady's sewing kit was more interesting.

Learning about medieval weapons.

M watching and listening to the man painting standards.

At the craft fair, M regaled a bemused sewer with her own sewing exploits, then we started looking for somewhere to watch Richard III go past.

White roses lined the route of the funeral cortege.

The market square and main streets in and out of the village were packed to the point that I carried M for her own safety, but we couldn't get through and were stuck in the press of people. In the end, we followed a man next to us with a pram which he was used to clear a path through the crowd onto the road itself (while his wife carried their baby). Walking along the middle of the road, surrounded by waiting crowds felt very strange but it was that or stay stuck.

We found a less crowded spot at the end of the road where the cortege would pass us as it left Market Bosworth.

Sitting on a kerb and waiting for Richard III.

I think it is fair to say that while M was caught up in the event, she was underwhelmed by the cortege as it passed. Once the hearse had driven past as we watched in solemn silence, M asked loudly "But where is Richard III?"

The funeral cortege of Richard III.

The honour guard was more to her liking.

The honour guard.

Once the cortege had passed, the crowds began to disperse but M had her first halberd drill before we headed home. 

M is drilled in halberd use.

M insisted on having a go, following the re-enactors onto the field and having to be called off so they could demonstrate safely.

Being the smallest and youngest child on the field presented its own problems as M had difficulty controlling the halberd, which is why Dave accompanied her.  There were issues with the instructions too - take five paces backwards for example... M had no problem doing this, but her little legs covered about 2/3 as much ground as the other children, leaving her on her own and breaking the line.

Concentrating very hard on holding the halberd as she 'knee-bends'.

M was thrilled and could be heard cheerfully correcting the captain who was running the drill, as she took exception to his use of words.

"Right you 'orrible lot..."

"I'm not horrible!"

"One look at your ugly faces..."

"But my face isn't ugly!"

So ended a fabulous day out for all of us and we happily walked back to the bus stop to catch our ride back to the car. After a bit of hesitation, the car moved off the mud, allowing us to go home, tired but happy that we went to witness this historic event.

Useful websites:-

• King Richard in Leicester
• The battle video from the new King Richard III visitor centre
• The King Richard III Society
• The British Monarchy
• The Battlefield Trust
• Richard III at the University of Leicester
• FutureLearn - England in the time of Richard III

Of carols and alpacas

This is the weekend before Christmas and this month seems to have flown by. We've done most of our gift shopping online this year and are still waiting for a few of them to arrive, but this is in the hands of couriers or the postal service so there isn't much we can do about it. Instead, we're settling in to enjoying the festive season proper and that means lots of family time.

Today started slowly as usual, but with plans for some carol singing this morning. We are in the habit of being out of the house fairly promptly on Saturday mornings for M's dance class, even so we were maybe 10 minutes later than I'd have liked for heading out. We were greeted at the local common by the pastor from across the road who was bearing a tray of extremely cold 'hot' non-alcoholic mulled wine and mince pies.

M didn't recognise the mince pies for what they were and helped herself, while I took one sip of the cold mulled wine before handing it over to Dave to finish off. Dave left us too it, so M and I made small talk. I finished M's pie when she discovered the filling was not to her liking and M found a biscuit to eat instead.

Dave still hadn't returned when the singing started, so we muddled through as best we could. M was asked which carol she'd like and duly suggested Jingle Bells, which everyone agreed was a good choice for such a frigid morning. And boy, oh boy was it cold today! We sang along and M joined in, obviously very pleased her suggestion had been taken seriously. M's next suggestion was Away In A Manger, which went well too.

After a while we made our apologies and said thank you, before heading back to the car to try to warm up. Dave was standing by the car, having walked to a local supermarket in search of quiche for our lunch.

We bundled into the car to drive over to Toft Alpaca Farm who were having an open day today. We've been before so knew the format, but excitement was in the air as M anticipated seeing alpacas.

Alpacas outside the cafe and visitor centre at Toft.

We arrived much later than I'd hoped, so decided against going on a walk about the farm, instead choosing to stay close to the cafe. M played outside on the lawn or near the pond, with one of us in close attendance as she did so. Friends of ours showed up. We chatted. Had lunch. I bought some knitting needles. Father Christmas showed up on a tractor which amused M no end, especially when he dropped his bucket of sweets!

And then we walked an alpaca, the highlight of the visit.

We've done this before, so I'd already primed M with the do's and don'ts. The introductory talk was much the same as usual.

i.e.

• Do not get near the hind quarters or put your hand up the alpaca's bottom. While not aggressive, if surprised alpacas will kick and although unlikely to result in broken bones, it will hurt.
• If your alpaca tries to break free, let go of the lead. Do not try to hold on or you may be dragged off your feet. The area the alpaca is being walked in is fenced in, there is nowhere for the alpaca to go and a staff member will retrieve it for you.
• Do not wave your hand towards the alpaca's head, they don't like it and will shy away. Instead, bring your hand in from the side and under the head to stroke the neck or shoulder. Alpacas like fuss and cuddles, taking lots of them providing you don't startle them.

M chose a small, white alpaca this time; previously she has chosen feisty animals so it was a bit of a relief to get a rather placid one today. We walked and other than stopping to stare at its friends every time we passed the neighbouring field we did OK. When the alpaca froze, I'd give it some fuss and make encouraging sounds which would get it moving again.

Walking an alpaca is the highlight of a visit to one of Toft's open days.

M was ecstatic. Even her hat falling off didn't dampen her spirits, although the poor girl looked frozen after fifteen minutes of leading an alpaca around a field.

We led the way inside towards warmth and a hot chocolate, much to M's approval.

It seems we were not the only home educators present, as we were recognised by one family and I spotted another one, nodding a greeting.

M was very enamoured of the stripy paper straws that came with our hot chocolates, which it has to be said were not that hot but went down very well regardless. The straws reminded M of Humphrey's ("Watch out, watch out, there's a Humphrey about!") and she insisted on taking a straw home with her. The straw was used in a project to build a Humphrey later this afternoon.

We sat and drank our chocolate, making room for another family at our table where we talked about knitting, toys, dinosaurs, Christmas and how much fun we'd had on the farm. M played with some toy horses she'd been carrying in her backpack all day, the horses gaining some admiring comments from the folks we were sharing a table with.

I did a few rows of crochet. It was nice.

At home, an exhausted but mentally buzzing M designed her Humphrey while we brewed tea, then we all finished the afternoon with a piece of home made gingerbread cake that M and I had made yesterday. The cake was yummy, hitting the spot with all of us.

In all, a good if very cold day.

A knit for my baby

Back before M arrived, I had plans for my maternity leave which involved a lot of knitting or crochet. I had this vision of me with a new baby all tucked up in her bassinet beside me while I gazed lovingly at her sleeping form, my needles clicking or my hook hooking, as I made up all manner of woolly goodies for her. I planned accordingly, picking up suitable baby yarn and patterns, in readiness for those first few months...

Of course, as is the case with most new mothers, reality turned out to be a little different to my imaginings. I ended up with a baby who was happiest in my arms and I was happy to oblige, which meant my ability to knit or crochet was severely curtailed.

In fact, while I have crocheted intermittently since M’s arrival I had not picked up knitting needles since her birth until earlier this year! My first knitting project was started at M’s request and was Miss Sophie Bear.

My knitting break has left me with a stash of baby patterns and yarns, but instead of a baby I have an independently minded four year old, who has definite opinions on what she will or will not wear. I was determined to knit some of those baby patterns, with some of that yarn so was delighted to discover the Sirdar patterns I’d bought are actually sized from birth to seven years.

While I may be knitting again, I have to sneak it in around the edges of everything else I do, as spare time is practically non-existent these days. This means it takes a comparatively long time to make anything up and I make mistakes as I don’t have time to concentrate properly. I decided that with only three years to go before M outgrew the patterns, I needed to get started knitting straight away.

I chose the simply named ‘Design E - Striped and Plain Cardigan’ from Sirdar’s Little Stars and Stripes, which is a basic cardi with set in sleeves, a ‘V’ neck and fastened by a single button. A little lace adds interest at the cuffs, bottom, fronts and collar.

The yarn I chose from my stash was a pretty pink, self striping special deal from Aldi in a DK weight. Nothing in the way of natural fibres, but soft, cheap and picked up in a haze of hormones a few years back. It knit up nicely on 4mm needles, to the desired gauge of 22 stitches x 28 rows = 4 inch square.

Here is the result, pre-blocking (link to my Ravelry project - here).

Finished cardigan, before blocking - note the curl of the lace edging...

And here, after some steam had been applied.

Finished cardigan after blocking, curl much improved but still sneaking in.

Finished cardigan after blocking, curl much improved but still sneaking in.

Oh how that lace edging taunted me… It curls horribly at the cuffs and needed some seriously blocking to sort it out, but since I was working with a ‘baby’ yarn (code for acrylic), I was very timid when it came to blocking as it is so easy to over do the steam and kill the fabric. I did steam block this, but not heavily due to the acrylic fibre and although it was improved by blocking, that lace edging still has a slight curl to it, particularly at the sleeve cuffs.

Close up of the lace edging (after blocking).

When it came to the front edges and collar, i decided I didn’t like the suggested border or the way it was worked in two pieces and joined at the back of the neck. I decided to add a crochet edging instead, worked on a 3mm hook as follows:-

• Lay down a foundation row of dc (repeat of 4 + 1)
• 5tr shell around, 5dc-ch for the button hole

If I make this cardigan again, I will probably skip the suggested lace altogether and crochet a shell edging instead. I worked the edging (both the suggested lace on the cuffs and bottom, and the crochet edging) in a white baby DK from my stash. This contrasted nicely with the pink self striping.

I added a single lilac button from my button tin, which immediately decided it was a complementary shade of pink once I had sewn it on.

I am very pleased with how this turned out. I haven’t knitted many cardigan’s and due to the long break, this project represented a lot or re-learning old skills. I tried to stick to the pattern, but couldn't resist doing my own thing when the lace edging didn't behave, which was why I substituted with a far more civilised and far less scary crochet edging.

The finished cardigan, modelled by my 'baby'.

M likes the cardigan too. However I have a problem. She took a great deal of interest in how this project developed and has discovered my Ravelry queue which she has now co-opted. Rather than another cardi from my baby knits list, M has insisted my next knitting project should be a cat.

A Sunday trip to the park

It has been another scorcher of a day here in Coventry so we decided to make the most of it and headed to a local park. Sadly we don't have any nice parks within easy walking distance, the few we have tried are small, prone to dog poo, vandalism (sometimes involving dog poo), have poor play equipment or attract the wrong kind of visitor. This means that to find what we consider a nice park we have to get in the car so when I say local, I mean in or near Coventry.

A little cannibalism

We had this year's first sighting of ladybird larvae yesterday morning as we were preparing to head out to Astley Castle with a picnic. The forsythia next to our front door was quite literally crawling with them in varying sizes and stages of development.

M was very excited, declaring them caterpillars... Which had us explaining they were indeed similar but were baby ladybirds not baby butterflies. M wasn't to be deterred though and insisted they were caterpillars. M likes caterpillars.

She was particularly excited to see this pair...

One ladybird larva eating another one that had started to pupate

You are looking at a photo of one very large larva, actively engaged in eating one of its fellows that had started to pupate and was therefore defenceless.

Lovely. We're very tempted to move a few of them round the back where they might find more aphids to chomp on!

A mercy mission

Next door's cat has taken to stalking birds. Dave intervened to get him to drop a young thrush on Saturday. Once the cat had been forced to retreat, we stepped in to see what we could do for the poor bird, but alas it was very young, in severe shock and sadly, it died.

Imagine our surprise on Sunday when our neighbours knocked on the door to report their cat had done it again. There was a bird in their kitchen and they expected Dave to do something about it!

Dave (bless him), tried to pass the responsibility back to them by handing them a shoe box.

A few minutes later, they knocked again and gave the shoe box back, complete with a bird inside.

I'm not sure when it became our responsibility to take care of baby birds brought in by their cat, but when faced with someone thrusting a hurt bird at you, it is hard to know how to react. So it was, we acquired our second bird in less than 24 hours courtesy of the neighbour's cat.

This one looked ruffled, missing a few feathers and appeared to be a bit stunned, but was older so we hoped it might be OK. We made a tentative identification as a chiffchaff and then put it in a covered cat carrier with some drinking water and waited to see if it would perk up.

A couple of hours later, it looked considerably brighter, was responding to our presence and trying to perch. Heartened that it might survive, we checked again, posted a pic on a Facebook wildlife page and discovered this was a blackcap.

Young blackcap, found in our neighbour's kitchen

We added some twigs and blueberries, then had the dilemma of what to do with it. Wild birds are just that, wild... And we had no desire to keep one captive, not to mention that having two cats of our own, our house would undoubtedly be a stressful environment for our unexpected guest.

We've taken wild animals to the PDSA and RSPCA before, but not been happy as we're fairly sure they've been euthanased, so we decided to look for a local wildlife sanctuary. Our first thought was to call Brandon Marsh to ask for advice, but it being Sunday, no one answered the phone, hence we took to the internet and found the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary.

We sent them an email, then Dave tried the phone and was surprised when someone answered. Even better, yes they were happy to take the suspected Blackcap. Cue a Sunday evening dash to Nuneaton, with M in tow because she insisted she wanted to come too.

We got lost. Horribly lost in that I knew exactly where we were and where we wanted to go, but had no idea how to get there as we were trapped inside Nuneaton's one way system! M was being very patient and singing to the bird (after I explained that I wouldn't put a CD on in case it frightened the bird), her song of choice being Soldier, Soldier. M kept asking if we'd reached Nuneaton yet so I said we were there, but I was a bit lost and I was trying to get us to the wildlife sanctuary. M offered the eminently sensible suggestion that we should go home.

In the end, by pure cunning and stubborn determination I ended up on the correct bit of one way street heading towards the wildlife sanctuary which is based in an unassuming bungalow. Once there, we got the bird out of the car, still in its improvised cage and headed inside (with me hoping they hadn't had a call out in the time it had taken us to get there).

Fortunately, someone came when I rang the bell and in we went to immediately encounter a young deer blocking our path. It was quite literally standing there, being nosy and forcing us to walk around it so it could get a good look at us. M was shorter than the fawn so asked (not unreasonably) if it was a horse. We were shown into a shed where a young fox sat watching in a puppy cage where it apparently sleeps. The shed floor was very springy, so bouncing expert that she is, M started vigorously jumping up and down.

I scooped the excited small person up before she frightened the fox and showed her 'our' bird which was briefly examined before being whisked away to the reptile shed where it is nice and warm. Apparently they had several fledglings there so it would have company while it recovered. M was very concerned that the bird had been taken, but was finally reassured that it was in the best place and that this was an animal hospital. I carefully explained that normally, if we found a baby bird we'd take it back to its mummy and daddy, but since the cat didn't tell us where he found the bird we couldn't do this. That was why we'd brought the bird to a animal hospital and they'd look after it now.

Satisfied M nodded and said she'd like to play. There was a bit of consternation when M asked where the swings were but I pointed out the garden was full of sheds so had no room for a swing, plus it was very late, Daddy would wonder where we were and we had to go home. Which is exactly what we did...

Mission accomplished and I now know where the Nuneaton wildlife sanctuary is although I can't guarantee I wouldn't have similar problems navigating my way there again. Personally though, next time the neighbour's cat brings in a live bird, I intend to hand over their contact details along with a shoebox!

Easter outings in the cold

We’ve had an enjoyable and somewhat packed Easter this year, as we endeavoured to do something despite the freezing weather... For us, as always the challenge was to find suitable days out which held something for us adults and M alike, preferably not too exposed to the elements given that the temperatures have struggled to get more than a degree or two above freezing!

Being Coventry based, we headed to the Transport Museum on Saturday bundled up against persistent snow flurries that swirled around us as we walked along. M isn’t a huge fan of Coventry’s Transport Museum, since the exhibits tend to be for looking at only with no touching. M is more of a hands on kind of a girl, so finds it inexplicable that you should have all these interesting vehicles behind rope barriers and she (nor us) are allowed to climb aboard, sit in them or fiddle with them to our collective hearts content.

The 999 exhibition was on and fortunately they’d had the foresight to include a children’s play area with Little Tikes push along cars and bikes. M decided against the fire engine but was rather taken with the police car which looked a lot like her own Cozy Coupe:-

Little Tikes Police Car

I saw the exhibition in passing as I pushed M around and around and around in this little car, stopping regularly to crouch down to describe or talk about what we were seeing. M still wanted to get on board the exhibits, but accepted my explanation that we were not allowed to do so in good humour even if it made no sense to her at all.

M also tried out a LittleTikes police bike, but the police car was her decided favourite.

The Transport Museum was also playing host to a craft fair but it didn’t have any handy push along toys so while we did drop in it was something of a whistle stop tour as M whisked us around very quickly. I did spot several people selling crochet bags, a few hand knitted baby clothes and simple sewn dolls. I think there might have been jewellery and even cake, but I didn’t get a close enough look to even consider parting with money.

Sunday was a bright but bitterly cold day, so we decided to try to find something with a little bit of shelter. In the end we opted to combine history with baby animals, the latter being a big draw with M. With this in mind, our destination was Mary Arden’s Farm near Stratford. M was a bit reluctant when we first walked in but when she saw her first free ranging chicken she warmed to the idea, following it to a cow shed.

Cow (AKA Ruby)

Now, M has a soft spot for cows and her long standing companion has been Cow (AKA Ruby) who is something of an eccentric bovine, liking swings, climbing, wrapping up against the cold and being pushed around in a pushchair.

Mummy and M crouch down to get a better look at cows (at Mary Arden's Farm)

This was the first time M had ever seen a real cow and she was fascinated although not quite prepared for how large cows are in real life. We crouched down together and talked to the cows, saying hello to each cow in turn just like in Melrose and Croc.

The cows were friendly, sleepy and a bit bemused. One also looked like she was wondering why her obvious attempts to get her nose scritched were failing (M wasn’t up to touching). We visited the cows several times and M was delighted to witness a calf feeding. She stared at it for a few minutes, a huge smile of understanding creeping across her face as she loudly declared:-

“What’s that baby cow doing? He’s having booby!”

M meets ducks (at Mary Arden's Farm)

A bit unsure of what to make of the horse

Mummy explains the importance of sheep and wool

The pigs are curious about Stripy Horse

In addition to the cows, M met ducks, goats, pigs, more chickens, geese (including a feisty trouble maker called Reg) and sheep. All were greeted with a wide grin and much chatter on M’s part. Her companion for the outing was Stripy Horse, who met a real horse who M was a bit uncertain about, possibly because its head was almost as big as she was. Despite her natural cautious inclinations, the horse was the only animal M wanted to touch and she stroked its mane very gently. The horse in turn tried to sniff Stripy Horse which M found funny if a bit disconcerting. The pigs also tried to sniff Stripy Horse, but M had learnt from her experience with the horse and kept Stripy Horse well out of reach.

We went into the main house where there was a cooking demonstration and M noted that the lady was cooking on a fire. She also helpfully pointed out that the lady might need some more sticks.

Exploring the main house at Mary Arden's Farm

We explored upstairs where the solid timber floors sloped in many different directions and the doorways were very low. There were some beds made up including a pullout cot complete with a rag doll tucked under the covers. Stripy Horse saw the doll and wasn’t to be left out, trying out one of the beds himself and a couple of bed rolls.

Stripy Horse tries out a bed

Stripy Horse tries out a bed roll on the floor

He was a very cheeky Stripy Horse.

There was even an adventure playground, complete with a swing which a very cold M thoroughly appreciated. The slide was a bit steeper than anticipated though and a surprised M was launched through the air at the bottom, landing a few feet away! Fortunately, M took this unexpected flight in good spirits, scrambling to her feet and ran off chortling but did say she’d do something else now.

Easter Bank Holiday Monday I was very tempted by the open day at Toft Alpaca Farm, the yarny in me wanted to touch fibre and there was cake, need I say more?

M had a prior engagement and it is still early days for my plan to corrupt her to love all things textile related, so no alpacas for me. Instead I escorted M to a birthday party, where she was introduced to the idea of a bouncy castle.

Bouncy castle!

Bouncy castles and balloons... A good combination which even topped ice cream!

If you can't beat em

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted here!

Life has been trundling on and while I have had the odd thing to post since May last year, I've lacked the fundamental time aspect to do so. I never knew that being a working mum would leave me with so little time to... well, do anything really. Typing or crafting are real problem areas for me these days as M still loves the laptop and believes that she should have a go at anything I'm doing. With computer time at a real premium I'm also very slow to upload photographs since M always tries to take over and is a dab hand at reconfiguring the laptop.  At nearly twenty months, this is impressive to behold and it can take quite a while to figure out what she did with a few swipes of the touchpad and the click of a couple of buttons!

Ahem. Onwards and upwards though.

A week late but, last weekend we had snow overnight on Saturday. This meant we headed outside for the obligatory snow sculpture.

Dave showed us how it was done, rolling huge snow balls around the lawn hoovering up all the sticks, rubble and leaves he could find, to construct his snowman who is largely hardcore.  He topped him off with his ushanka.

M says "HAT! SNOWMAN!"

A week later, while most of the snow is gone this snowman is still standing and a testament to Dave's snowman construction skills.

M and I chose a slightly more sophisticated approach, carefully collecting clean snow and packing it together to form our snowman.  She grew more slowly than Dave's and ended up a lot smaller, but both M and I liked her.

Mummy lends a hand building a snowman.

M chose to decorate the snowman with one of her old beanies.

M adds the finishing touches.

She also inserted the arms and added the eyes herself.

A week on and our snowman has taken on the delicate proportions of an Edwardian Lady.

We did of course have snow on the ground throughout December in 2010, but M was only six months old when it melted and so probably doesn't remember it.  She wasn't really mobile back then, so this was her first year of playing out in the snow and I think she enjoyed it.  M had seen snow in books before this and knew what a snowman was.  Indeed her reaction on seeing snow this year was "SNOW! WHITE" and after building the snowmen she was very excited when we came inside to warm up.  She spent a good while running up and down chattering about her "NO MAN".

The snow may have only been around for one day but it certainly impressed one small person.

A rainy bank holiday and a new car seat

Yesterday was the late May Bank Holiday which marked the anniversary of the start of my maternity leave last year, but otherwise was a fairly unremarkable day. Constant rain throughout the day meant our plan for a picnic had to be put on hold and as new parents we're still unsure of our options for a day out with a very small child when the weather isn't co-operating.

So I guess I should start with a quick call out to parents with small children, what do you suggest as a day out when it's raining, blowing a gale or being very cold?

Yesterday aside, we have had some excitement over the past few days, although in the first case it's excitement I could do without. I ended up needing to see the out of hours doctor as I had a serious allergic reaction to a cause unknown. An awful lot of antihistomines later and I'm on the mend, but still no wiser as to the cause and therefore unable to do anything to avoid a repeat performance. Needless to say I'm racking my brain as to the cause, but as of yet can't think of anything I did that was obviously different.

Saturday we drove to Milton Keynes to buy M's new carseat, which we really needed before she outgrew her baby seat. Admitedly we probably had a month or two left before she was in desperate need of a replacement, but it's really not something I wanted to leave until the last moment.

After doing the usual rounds in terms of research I decided I wanted to keep M rear-facing as long as possible, or at least until she's about four which presented a problem since Group 1 carseats on the highstreet seemed to all be forward facing.

The internet came to my rescue and so Saturday found us visiting the In Car Safety Centre which is a specialist carseat place which I found via Child Car Seats and Rear Facing. After spending nearly two hours there, over an hour of which involved trying out carseats in my car and persuading a reluctant M to help check fit we finally settled on a seat that fit the car, fit M and had plenty of growing room in it.

This is a surprisingly tear free M in her new carseat after the drive back to Coventry.

I say tear free because M is a bad traveller; whereas most parents tell me their babies/children enjoy being in a car, M never has. I do what I can to make journeys tolerable for her, providing distractions and breaking up long journeys as much as possible, but my little girl just wasn't born to roam.

The surprise hit of the journey home wasn't the new laptray toy we bought her while we were there, but mirror baby (in the mirror I bought so I can keep an eye on M whilst I drive) who she happily pulled faces at the whole time. Fingers crossed the novelty doesn't wear off and not being cramped in her baby seat will make travelling in the car a little easier on M.

A block a month doesn't sound too difficult

A while back, when M was tiny, I tried to indulge in crochet whilst she was asleep in my arms. This worked well until I was forced to return to work and suddenly found that all time was at a premium meaning there was and is very little for myself which effectively stopped all craft related activity.

I'm sure this ongoing hard slog is not good for me but there is no sign of things letting up. In fact with the recent redundancies at work I suspect things are set to get worse.

In an effort to distract myself, I've been trying to make small projects again and came across a block a month CAL on Ravelry. The idea is to make one block a month throughout the year and after twelve months, join all the blocks together to make a blanket. Block patterns are offered in either six or twelve inch squares and I thought I'd have a go at the six inch ones... Mostly because I really don't have the time available to be ambitious and I wanted a project which is achievable.

Decision made, I started the January block in March with lots of enthusiastic help from M.

Now that I'm back at work I find I have so very little time to spend with my baby girl that I prefer to spend as much of the time that I have got in her company as I can. This means for me to indulge in any hobby type activities I need to be able to do them around her. M wants to be involved in everything I do and so I anticipate her joining in, choosing my yarn accordingly and providing a chunky hook for her to wave. M's natural tendency is to mimic and so she 'll study what I'm doing intently before happily prodding the yarn with the hook.

The January block goes by the name of Smoothfox's Flower Button Granny Square, designed by Donna Mason-Svara AKA Smoothfox.

The pattern itself uses American notation and is very clearly written making it easy to follow. I chose to use two colours rather than the three specified in the pattern working in a standard baby DK on a 5.5mm hook.

In one month I managed to make four squares which is quite an accomplishment for me at the moment!