Decorate your own gingerbread man kit

I had a friend visiting for lunch today, so I let Harry choose some biscuits. He went for a decorate your own gingerbread man kit, which was tucked in at the side of the shelf in the supermarket. I've not bought one of these before, I must admit that I'm a bit snobby and see them as cheating (not that I've ever made gingerbread men with Harry, another one for the to do list). However I didn't have time to make any biscuits and I thought it might be a good incentive to get him home without stopping at the (waterlogged) playground on the way back.

I was pleasantly surprised. The icing was in a handy tube which he was able to squeeze out himself (although it was a rather garish shade of yellow which did cause some fingertip and worktop staining) and there were plenty of sweets. He quickly got the hang of what to do, and the biscuits themselves were rather yummy.

If anyone has a link to a tried and tested gingerbreadman recipe, I would love to give it a go!

Trying to persuade the toddler to walk

We never bought a double buggy. It seemed a lot of expense for something that we wouldn't get much use out of. Harry was 2 1/2 when Mia was born, and we thought that it wouldn't be long before he was able to walk further, and we've still got enough pushchairs that they can have one each on a longer day out anyway.

If I'm taking the two of them somewhere that is a bit of a walk, I put Harry in the pushchair and Mia in the baby carrier. For shorter distances Harry walks, or I can put the carseat onto the wheels of the travel system, leaving a small step that Harry can hop on to if he's tired.

It's getting to the stage though where Mia isn't always happy in her carrier, and she's also getting a bit long for it. It's fine when she's asleep, but when she's awake she can be a bit grumpy and wriggly. I'm trying to persuade Harry to walk a bit more often to get him used to it.

So today we went for a nice autumn walk to the playground and to collect acorns. He managed to walk most of the way, just hopping onto the pushchair for the last bit home. Can't believe how lovely the weather has been this autumn!

Dressing like a girl

I recently posted about whether you could dress a girl in her brother's old clothes. I've been thinking about clothes a lot lately because we're having a bit of a clearout and I've been bagging up the baby clothes for the charity shop. Mia is also starting to finally outgrow her 0-3 month clothes (she's nearly 5 months old!) and I've been sorting out clothes for her in the next size up. We've been lucky enough to receive some really lovely little outfits, so I'm making the effort to dress her up properly, rather than just being lazy and popping her in jeans and a top.

Some of her dresses are a bit summery, so I've been layering them up with vests and a cardigan, as well as faffing about with tights. It's a bit undignified though for girls when they are wearing a dress and you put them in the baby carrier, pushchair or car seat with a strap between their legs. Just another one of those things that never crossed my mind with a boy. I imagine that the dresses will cause problems later when she starts to crawl as well.

It won't be long before I need to start thinking about hair bobbles, can't wait!

Southwater Country Park

Another lovely day today, and as we hit the after lunch slump we knew that it was time to get out of the house. We drove up to Southwater, a nice slow drive to provide an opportunity for Harry to have a quick nap. I haven't been to Southwater Country Park for a long time, although I have been quite familiar with it in the past from canoeing with the Scouts, raft building with the Guides and hanging out in the playground as a teenager. It was pretty much how I remembered it (although smaller, isn't that always the way!).

Harry loves playgrounds and this one was perfect for him, with a nice long slide and lots of climbing opportunities.

Mia was very contented in her carseat/wheels combo and didn't make a peep. The path around the lake was nice and smooth, perfect for walking with a pushchair. There is also now a lot more fencing than I remembered. It's good in some ways because it stops little ones hurtling off into the lake, but it did feel a bit claustrophobic. The jetty out into the lake is also now closed off unless you are taking part in watersports, perhaps too many people fell in. We forgot to take bread for the ducks which Harry wasn't very impressed about, something to remember for next time.

I always say it, but we do all feel better for getting out in the fresh air!

Weaning dilemmas

Mia is now four and a half months old. At this age, Harry was on three meals a day, both baby rice and homemade fruit and vegetable purees. We started weaning at 17 weeks because he was sleeping so badly and was grumpy almost constantly. I assumed it was because he was hungry. Of course, weaning didn't make any difference at all to either his sleep or his general demeanor.

I've barely thought about weaning Mia. She doesn't seem ready at all, and I can't believe that I was shoving spoons into Harry's mouth at this age. Looking back I wish that we had waited, I just really thought that it was what he needed, and I was struggling.

The good thing about weaning early was that it meant that we got into a routine. I was tailing off the breastfeeding, so we got into a routine of bottle, breakfast, bottle, lunch, bottle, tea, bottle, bed, then I think two bottles at some point in the night. It meant that I could space the feeds out a bit. I'm still breastfeeding Mia, and she does feed very frequently. Another thing was that I could get him used to the fruit and vegetables before introducing all the other foods that he could have at six months.

In my mind, weaning goes along with stopping breastfeeding, and I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that yet. Unlike Harry, Mia actually seems to like breastfeeding, and I'm managing a lot better with it myself. I must admit that there is some laziness involved. If she's a bit grumpy it's very easy to pop her on for a feed, even though hunger might not be the problem. It's also handy to be able to feed her to sleep, or at least calm her down. I am starting to feel though that the breastfeeding might come to an end soon.

This time round I will probably go for more of a baby led weaning approach, especially as I'm preparing food for Harry that she could eat too. I expect that I'll still be faffing about with the blender and ice cube trays though, as I like to know that something is going in.

So I'm torn between craving that routine (and hopefully a bit more sleep, although I know from experience that is by no means guaranteed even if it does mean help with the night feeds) and doing what I know is best for Mia, which is waiting until she is 6 months old. I'm not sure that we'll last quite that long, but for now I think we'll carry on as we are.

So many toys, and tips on how to organise them

Like most parents, we have a lot of toys. They are so cheap, so plentiful, and we are always being tempted by sales. I do put things aside for Christmas, birthdays and holidays, but with Harry having his birthday in January, we often end up giving him things throughout the year. We haven't actually bought any toys for Mia yet, as we have plenty of Harry's old ones for her age. But it's only a matter of time before a whole new range of toys make their appearance.

I'm a big believer in toy rotation. Harry gets bored very quickly, but if something is always on view, it just doesn't get played with. If I pull out something that he hasn't seen for a while, it's like a new toy. It's also great to have a spare box of toys stashed away, ready to pull out at one of those tricky moments. 

This is how I organise the toys:

• If possible, collect all the toys together in one place.
• Remove any that are broken and either fix them or throw them away.
• Make sure that all the pieces are still there.
• Remove any that are no longer age appropriate and give them away to friends or charity.
• Group like items together. If there are several very similar toys it's another opportunity to consider how many really need to be kept. 
• Divide into three or more boxes.
• The boxes should not be over stuffed with toys, it should be easy to see what is in them and to access what's inside. Keep one box out to be played with and move the others out of sight.
• Rotate the boxes when the toys out are no longer being played with. This might be every week or less often, depending on what else is going on. If it's been a rainy few days this will be more frequently. 
• Repeat these steps from time to time as the children grow up.

I also always try and put away one toy before another comes out, particularly with toys with lots of pieces like Duplo or the train set.

Part of me would love to have a really pared down home with very few toys, something like this. But I just don't think that is particularly realistic. Do other people feel like they are drowning in toys?

Can a little girl wear her big brother's old clothes?

When Harry was born, we had some good friends that passed on their outgrown boys' clothing to us. He had more clothes than he could ever wear, and they were all good quality and in great shape. Being the first, he was also given lots of lovely new clothes as gifts. As a result, we hardly ever had to buy him clothes, and felt rather indulgent when we did.

As he grew out of his clothes, I kept them all, even the ones that he never wore, all bagged up in the loft. You never know whether the future might bring you twin boys!

Mia as a baby wore the same vests and sleepsuits that Harry had. She didn't even need to wear the blue ones, we had enough neutrals to last. We received a few lovely pieces as gifts too. When she got to the age where she couldn't just wear a sleepsuit all day, I went through all the bags to pick out clothes to pass on to her. 

Obviously in theory she could wear all of Harry's old clothes, but I like to dress her so that people know she's a girl. So most of the tops were out, as they were all either blue or had pictures of cars and diggers on. I kept vests for underneath and sleepsuits, and I did keep many of the trousers. I tend to go for less girly girl clothes anyway, so I did find plenty of tops that match with jeans and tracksuit bottoms. There wasn't as much that I could use as I had hoped though.

Havings said that, boys' clothes are definitely easier to pass on to a girl than girls' clothes onto a boy. Girls' clothes all have little embroidered motifs, frills or pink stitching, there is nothing neutral. Even the plain tops that I bought have heart shaped buttons and are gathered in little ruffles around the neckline.

When I went out shopping for new clothes for Mia though, I was completely overwhelmed. Most of our clothes come from the supermarkets, and it's not unusual to find half an aisle of boys' clothes, alongside several aisles of girls' clothes. There are so many different combinations as well for girls, particularly on the bottom - tights, socks, leggings, long skirts, short skirts, dresses, dungarees, playsuits, trousers, shorts...There is even such a wide range of colours and prints that you need to think carefully about which pieces will co-ordinate together. Assembling a wardrobe for a boy was much easier, everything is either blue or brown, and it all matches!

For the moment Mia has far fewer clothes than Harry does. I am certain that this will change as she gets older. And Harry's clothes that I didn't keep? I'm currently keeping the baby boy section in my local charity shop very well stocked!

Mia's a little pirate!