I could be a dentist

So apparently I could be a dentist. Thanks to an episode of Peppa Pig (the one where George has his 1st visit to the dentist) we are now having to role play going to the dentist to clean our teeth. I have to go through an imaginary group of people in the waiting room (the couch).Then I have to call for Callum, to which he replies "yipee". I then have to ask him to enter my office. I have to pump up the chair (weeee) and ask him to open wide while I use an imaginary mirror to check his teeth. Then the teeth cleaning begins - bottom, top and front. Afterwards we have to gargle and spit and the visit finishes with a "see you next time". It's a fun way to get the teeth clean unless there is a huge crowd in the waiting room (some 10 people ahead of Callum this morning!) :)

What time do you call this then??

Friday is garbage collection day. Today is Friday. Every Friday Callum MUST watch the garbage bins being emptied, it has become his Friday morning routine. We are not allowed to go to Daycare until he has seen the truck/s. Today is the 2 bin day - rubbish and recycling. The rubbish truck came at the normal time - sometime before 7am. Usually the recycling truck follows a short time after. Usually we are leaving for Daycare/work by about 7.15am. Today the recycling truck has only just arrived at 9am! This is OK while I'm on holidays, but I'm back at work in two weeks - work starts at 8:20am. Let's hope today was a one off. I don't like the idea of starting my weekends with a meltdown because the truck didn't get here on time :(

It's the little things

Last night Callum decided that he would ride his bikes in the driveway. By ride, I mean actually pedal. Callum has always enjoyed bikes but would never use the pedals. He was always happy to push along with his feet, this has served him well, even on the big taxi bike at Daycare, lugging another child around. But he decided that he would pedal. First the trike and then his bike that he got for his birthday. I asked him if he wanted to go out onto the road as there was more room to ride than just the driveway. Yes please was the response, so we got his helmet and his sandals ready, got to the open gate and no - tomorrow he would go. I waited a while incase he was processing it all and would change his mind (does often happen like that). A car went speeding down the street and that was the end of that, he would go tomorrow. So first thing this morning, he was off! I had to use the play of I needed him to help me get dressed so he wouldn't be off out the gate before I had a chance to get somewhat respectable. Next time I have to wear my sneakers! He went full throttle down the hill (I thought he would be cautious, silly me). For someone who hasn't been riding long he is very good at it. We went along until we found a footpath, at which I was happy to let him go full throttle. He stopped at the first playground, had a play and then got back on his bike and off he went. I didn't realise they had completed so much more of the footpath (there is a new housing estate behind where we live) since we were last at that playground. In fact, there is another playground further along. So Callum kept riding until he got to that one. And yet the path kept going. We finally were able to stop where some inconsiderate builder (in Callum's eyes, Mum was thankful) had parked across the footpath. Callum ws tired and wanted to walk, there were a lot of hills on that footpath, so I ended up walking the bike most of the way. He did however get on the bike so he could ride through a puddle and send a photo to Daddy. He wasn't happy with the first go, so we had to do it again :) It's such a little thing, but it was so much fun to watch him confidently riding, all the conversations we were having about noises he could hear, asking what things were as he spotted them, pretending he was a train engine and I was in the carriage behind him. I wish these professionals who assess Callum and say that he doesn't have imaginative play or storytelling language would accept a home video - then I wouldn't look like a lunatic making it up trying to make her son sound better than their testing shows :(

Safety Message overload

Happy New Year everyone! What a quiet night we had - Callum in bed by 7:30pm and the fireworks did not wake him. We have been out jumping on his new trampoline that he got for Christmas. It's 15ft and a great improvment on his first one. The first trampoline was a Christmas gift when Callum was one. It wasn't recommended for his age (and neither is the new one just quietly) but he had definitely outgrown it. Callum couldn't even lay across it. He is loving the space on this tramp and is becoming very confident with jumping which is fabulous to watch. The safety message for the tramp however is in overkill mode. It is A4 size and has a list of recommendations such as "no bouncing on your head" and "not to be used with alcohol or drugs". There are two on the mat, one on the padding, one on the door and one on every leg of the tramp - there are 6 of them. Every couple of minutes we have to stop and go and read these important messages. Then Callum procedes to bounce his head on the mat. Thank goodness he is happy to just read the one on the mat and I don't have to keep getting in and out to read all the ones on the legs. Callum may be tall and need a 15ft trampoline for space, but I need a step ladder to get in there!