Watching my son fall asleep

I'm really pleased to welcome a lovely guest post to the blog today, thanks Ruth!

This is a post from Ruth, who blogs as DorkyMum. Ruth lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and 4-year-old son. She posts about parenting, politics, current affairs and photography, and is a finalist in the Outstanding Blogger category at this year’s MAD Blog Awards. You can always find her for a chat on Twitter or Facebook.

Watching my son fall asleep is my favourite thing to do.

It doesn’t happen so often anymore.

When Tom was just a baby he'd nod off in my arms, or leaning on my shoulder, all the time. I took it completely for granted.

One time my Dad came to visit, and we went out for a walk. As I pushed the pram along, Dad kept skipping ahead to peek into it.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, laughing?

‘Just watching him fall asleep,’ said Dad. ‘It’s one of the loveliest things to see.’

I thought he was a bit mad, and said nothing.

Now Tom is four and he has taken sleep - that most private of things - behind closed doors. He tucks in to bed with only Binky - his manky old hippo - for company. We will hear him sometimes, singing a song or chatting to himself for a few minutes before falling silent. Sometimes he will call me through, bleary eyed in the middle of the night, for a nose blow, a sip of water, or to retrieve Binky from somewhere in the tangled sheets. He'll be in that half sleepy state; will murmur something dreamy that makes no sense to me.

But the actual process of falling asleep, those precarious moments between one world and another, are not something I see very often these days.

When I do - usually on some long journey - I understand what my Dad meant all those years ago. I’m reminded what a sweet and lovely thing it is.

He fights it, first. Bashes his head from side to side as though trying to shake those snoozy sensations right out of there, blinking frantically to ward off sleep. Any small noise or movement will make him jolt and sit straight up with a start.

But eventually, with a sense of resignation, he starts to settle. His eyelids become heavier, and his blinking slows right down, giving me the chance to admire those eyelashes that are longer and thicker and darker than is really decent. He clutches Binky to his face, turning him over and over until he finds the most loved part – his tatty old tail - that he picks at with the pinky nail of his right hand. Pick, pick, pick... No wonder poor Binky has needed so many repair jobs.

Tom’s left hand is saved for the serious business of ‘thumb pie’ which is what he calls sucking his thumb. Gentle, at first, although as he falls deeper and deeper into sleep it becomes more furious and noisy, great slurping noises that make me giggle, until he finally reaches that sleepy place where all is calm, his mouth relaxes, and the thumb is released.

He will nap like that for an hour; soothed by the motion of whatever train or plane we happen to be on. His head will get incredibly warm, and often a tiny bead of sweat will course its way slowly down his pink cheek. He will twitch, sometimes, dreaming of ice cream or buses or whatever other things make little boys happy. If he is lying on me, I will have to shift in my own seat, slowly so as not to wake him, trying to get comfy as his weight becomes heavier and heavier.

And then, when he is done, when the batteries are recharged, he will open his eyes and sit up, his hair a mess, his face crumpled and flushed.

‘Good nap?’ I’ll ask.

‘What nap?’ he’ll say. ‘What are you talking about? I didn’t nap at all.’

‘Oh,’ I’ll say.

‘What a shame,’ I’ll say.

I like it, watching Tom not nap. It’s one of my favourite things.

Five must-see places for Harry Potter fans in the UK

Today I'm delighted to welcome a fantastic guest post from Joanne at Kids Days Out Reviews!

Five must-see places for Harry Potter fans

There is huge demand in the UK for film tourism. People flock to see where famous film actors and actresses once stood to deliver their seminal lines. Possibly the biggest film phenomenon over the last few years has been Harry Potter, and there are several places in the UK you can visit to catch a glimpse of the Potter magic.

Warner Bros Studio Tour, Watford near London

An obvious starting point for any fan of the eight Harry Potter movies is the place they were mostly filmed – the old Leavesden film studios just outside of London. The tour takes you through the sets, props, and costumes of the films, including Diagon Alley, the Griffyndor common room, and all the house robes. You can ride a broomstick on a green screen, walk through the castle bridge, and get carried away in the massive gift shop. A must-do.



Diagon Alley at Warner Bros Studio Tour

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland

Alnwick Castle in Alnwick, Northumberland dates from the late 11th century and is home to the Earl of Northumberland and his family. It has recently been used as a school and a college but is now a popular tourist attraction, not least because both the interior and exterior were used for filming the Harry Potter films. Alnwick Castle is Hogwarts in the film and is set in a most beautiful part of the country, with lots of other places to see.

Goathland train station, North Yorkshire

For scenes at Hogsmeade station in pretty much every Harry Potter film, the real-life train station in the gorgeous village of Goathland in the North Yorkshire Moors was used. Goathland has also been home to the cast of Heartbeat over the last few years too, and it really is a step back in time. You can ride the NYMR steam train while you are here, and have a pint in the Aidensfield Arms.

London Zoo

Remember the scene from the first film where Harry talked to the snake at the zoo, and Dudley fell in to the tank? This was all filmed at London Zoo’s reptile house. The reptile house was built in the 1920s and houses animals including crocodiles, snakes, and frogs.

Kings Cross train station, London

From the moment Harry Potter pushed his trolley through the magic wall to get to platform 9 and three-quarters, fans have been flocking to Kings Cross train station to try and do the same. To help you out, there has been a trolley placed in the wall, so you can don your house scarf and make like a Hogwarts student. If you haven’t got a house scarf, you can buy one at the conveniently placed Harry Potter shop just a few feet away. Great for a bit of magical atmosphere for free.

Written by Joanne Brady – mother of four and writer of Kids Days Out Reviews, a blog featuring great family days out around the UK.

Guest Post from beep beep designs - Fitting in crafting time with small children

Today I have my first guest post written by my sister Anna, who blogs about crafty goodness and family life at beep beep designs. Anna has two young daughters, and yet still manages an impressive creative output, so I asked her to write a post about how she manages to get everything done. Here is what she has to say:
 

Jen asked me to write this post about how I fit in crafting around my small children (Laura is three and a half; Emily is 18 months) as, and I quote, 'you seem to be very good at it'. I'm not sure I do anything very different from anyone else, I just love to craft so I always make sure I fit it in when I can! I mainly knit and crochet, and I've recently started doing a bit of watercolour painting and doodling.

The first, most important thing, is that I have been blessed with good sleepers, and I know once we pack them into bed we won't hear from them until morning. This gives me two or three hours an evening. I do of course have other things to do, housework to catch up on, blogs to read and write, cloakrooms to paint, but I can usually spend at least some of that time on my own projects. The evenings are when I do things that need concentration, like writing patterns, or casting on a sock and working the first few rows. Some things you do need to know that you won't be interrupted.

But once I've set things up in the evening, then I can pick up my knitting and work on it whenever I have five minutes. At the moment I have sock knitting in the living room, a crochet cushion cover under construction in the kitchen/dining room, and my painting stuff is near the kitchen table. If Laura is at pre-school and Emily is playing happily, I can knit a few rows. If Emily is napping and Laura wants to paint or stick at the kitchen table, then I can get out my painting and we work sitting opposite each other. Usually she gets bored before I do and I have to tear myself away but it works for a little while.

The other advantage of your children seeing you craft is of course that they want to be like you! Laura loves to sit and 'knit', to cut and stick, to draw and paint, to thread beads. Hopefully in the future we will have many happy crafting sessions together. But for now I fit things in when I can.

Image credit - Anna at beep beep designs

Some lovely tips, thanks Anna! I think that the answer is that you can always find the time to do the things that you want to, and that multi-tasking is key! You can visit Anna at beep beep designs, or else follow her on Twitter @beepbeepdesigns. You could try asking her how she managed to produce good sleepers, because it certainly isn't genetic!