Through the eyes of a child

As an adult I don't find shopping all that exciting. Once upon a time I used to shop for fun but now I try to avoid it as much as possible. I think there are probably a lot of other things in life that I used to find fun as a child but now as a grumpy, cynical, eternally busy grown up I rarely take time to see the fun and the beauty in simple everyday things.

Today I went shopping with my 11 month old son. We spent an hour in one department store and bought nothing but we had a great time. While hubby browsed the coffee machines and kitchen gadgets, we smelt lots of different scented candles and talked about their colours. Next we headed for the furniture section where J had great fun banging on a big metal coffee table that looked  like a giant steel drum. We tested out sofas and pulled funny faces in mirrors and opened drawers to see what was inside. While hubby and I looked at towels and bedding, J crawled around and tried to get under the beds. At one point he crawled into a gap under a couple of display tables and started using it as a den!

J sat in a rocking chair for the first time and grinned and giggled as he rocked back and forth. Then he climbed down and crawled off into the soft furnishings section where he found lots of cushions with different textures to feel. From his point of view the store was like a giant sensory adventure playground. Thinking about it now it probably was a really good learning experience - chance to use his different senses, develop his spacial awareness and grow in confidence as he explores new surroundings.

Why not try taking some time out today to do something just for fun and try to see life through the eyes of your childish self again?

2ft 3inches of pure chaos!

When your little one learns to move around the difference to your life is HUGE. Suddenly our baby bear is into everything - nothing is safe from his chubby little hands and he leaves chaos in his wake wherever he goes. One minute he's scattering our DVD collection across the floor and the next minute I'm telling him to STOP LICKING THE TELEVISION! 

This morning after he'd finished having his morning feed in our bed he just climbed down out of our bed all on his own and started exploring our room. When he was done it  looked like a bomb had hit it with papers and clothes and shoes and books strewn all across the floor.

We can't put drinks down any more cos he just picks them up and helps himself. I'm not sure whether to be proud he's learnt to drink out of a proper cup or annoyed that he keeps drinking my drinks! He also loves to help himself to other people's food. The other day I was having sausage and chips for lunch. Once Josiah had spotted the food it took him only a matter of seconds to climb up on the sofa, lean over and swipe my sausage and then climb back down and start eating it. 

Last week we were at a party with lots of nice food. The lady next to Josiah had a yummy looking fruit salad so he leaned over and helped himself to a handful despite having never met her before! He's lucky he's cute enough to get away with it!

Yesterday we were in town and decided to let Josiah go for a little crawl while we browsed Next cos he was getting a bit fed up in the buggy. He quickly spotted another little boy crawling around the store and began chasing him. He kept stroking the kids hair, patting his face, climbing on him and generally terrorising the poor kid. Thankfully the boy's parents found it highly amusing.

Josiah's Diary - August 1st

This afternoon was fun. I went into town with mummy and daddy and went to play in the new play area in the shopping centre. There is funny fake grass and footballs and building blocks. I tried to play with the blocks but Daddy kept taking them so he could build a tower so I decided to go exploring. I spotted Costa Coffee and started crawling that way but mummy grabbed me and told me I'm too young to go for coffee. I seem to be too young for all the good stuff.

Mummy said I'm not allowed to go off on my own in the shopping centre but she let me hold her hands and go for a walk together. I love being able to move around and go where I want. I'm so glad I made the effort to learn to crawl. This week I learnt to climb the stairs too and as mummy and I were walking around I saw the coolest thing - moving stairs!! As soon as I saw them I headed straight for them, dragging mummy behind me. Some people were laughing at me and I didn't understand why. Mummy explained it was because I was trying to run up the 'down' stairs whatever that means. Mummy picked me up and carried me up the correct stairs instead. When we got to the top mummy put me down so I could walk again so where do you think I went? - straight towards the other moving stairs. Mummy still wouldn't let me ride the stairs alone. She says I'm not allowed until I'm big enough to hold the rail. What if I never grow that big?! But it was still fun riding down as mummy carried me. When we got to the bottom I tried to run up the other moving stairs again but mummy said that was quite enough of that game so we went to play in the toy section in Mothercare instead.