The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth

Today we spent a nice morning at the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth. It's free to visit, although donations are welcomed. There were several different enclosures where you could see the donkeys, and you could get really close to them. It was pushchair friendly, which was good as Harry can be a bit of a reluctant walker.

As well as seeing the donkeys we also enjoyed the pushchair accessible maze, Ram took Harry and I took Mia so that we could see who found the way to the centre and out first. Of course, the girls won!

Escot Gardens, Ottery St Mary, Devon

We're currently having a short break at Mazzard Farm in Devon, and having a great time. Today the weather was cold but sunny, and so we went to Escot Gardens, Maze and Forest Adventure which is just down the road.

It was a cold day, but luckily even though it was out of season everything was still open. You can take a trail through the woods, which passes lots of interesting small attractions. The first place that we stopped was the Maze, which we quickly realised was a serious affair. I waited outside with Mia while Ram ventured in with Harry, but he soon found out that bridges were involved, which wasn't going to work with a pushchair. He hadn't got far, but I still had to climb up onto one of the bridges and direct him out. Probably a good job that I did, it wasn't a good place to get stuck for hours with a whingy toddler!

A bit further around we encountered the drop slide, which I was very excited about, having seen some video of it on the website. I must admit that after climbing all the way to the top, when I found myself sitting on a narrow ledge above a steep vertical drop, I very nearly came straight back down again, but I resisted the fact that every fibre of my being was screaming at me not to, and launched myself straight down. Well it was fantastic, and I couldn't wait to go back for another go (and this time I even kept my eyes open!). I probably could have stayed on it all day if I didn't have the family to attend to!

Next we found a big outdoor play area for Harry. Sometimes it surprises me that even though he's quite small and not particularly athletic, he loves climbing on things and can manage pretty well, even on quite high or narrow equipment. Most of the play area was really aimed at older children, but with my help we had a pretty good go at it.

Mia was getting a bit crotchety by this point, so after we'd had a good look around the other outdoor areas we went to the indoor play barn to give her a break from the pushchair. The play barn was a good size, with plenty of equipment for all ages. I know that not all parents are fans, but I've always found soft play areas great for Harry and he loves them. There were a few seats around the edge and vending machines for drinks and snacks. We had brought our own food, and it was a nice warm place to get some lunch inside the little ones.

Mia is growing up so fast, and every day she is interacting with us all, and especially Harry, more and more. They had a great time going down the slide together and he was delighted that she was joining in with something that he was doing.

We had a great time at Escot and would fully recommend it. We spent a morning there, but on a warmer day or with older children you could easily spend longer. I did feel that it was a little pricey for out of season, when there are no special events on and your activities are limited by the weather, but if you live nearby there are season tickets available which would work out to be really good value.

Baby led weaning?

So after my recent blogging about how successfully I was weaning Mia with the purees it happened - she began to refuse the spoon, at almost exactly the same age that Harry did. There is an interesting difference though. Harry not only refused to be spoon-fed, he was just entirely disinterested in food. Dinner became a running buffet - puree, yogurt, cheese, breadsticks, rice cakes, vegetable sticks, pieces of fruit...only for him to just watch each item fall as he dropped it over the side of his highchair. A health visitor marvelled that she had never seen a baby so interested in food, yet refuse to actually eat anything. Of course, with hindsight he was obviously eating all that he needed, but when it's your first you can't help but worry.

Mia is different. Although she refused a spoonful of puree from me, when I dropped some onto her highchair tray by accident, she stuck her fingers in to it, and then stuffed them into her mouth. With some trepidation, I put some more down on the tray, and watched in amazement as she gobbled down the puree that she had refused moments before. A loaded spoon put down on her tray was grabbed and stuffed into her mouth. I couldn't believe it.

I remember with Harry finding a baby led weaning website, a great site, with loads of info. But on the front page there was this summary "You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they like it they eat it and if they don’t they won’t. (But they do, really they do… check out the baby with the pork chop)." The problem that I had with Harry was that he really didn't, and this meant that I never felt comfortable with it, because it felt to me as though he was eating nothing. Now I know that all babies are different, and having seen Mia going for it I can appreciate that it was just that Harry hadn't read the website.

So it looks as though Mia feeding herself is the way forward. There are a couple of huge advantages. I can plop (literally) her dinner down in front of her, and then get on with eating my own dinner. Also, very often she can eat the same as Harry, if not all of us. I'm having a lot of success with macaroni pasta in different sauces, which is Harry's favourite food, and then little pieces of fruit for pudding. She has even shared bowls of (cut) grapes with him. It's amazing, considering that she doesn't even have any teeth yet.

Of course there is one disadvantage:

There is a wealth of information out there on baby led weaning, but here are a few tips of my own:

• There will be mess. You need a washable cloth (like an old tablecloth) underneath the highchair, and keep everything (surfaces, walls, tabletops) out of reach of those sticky fingers.
• Buy a highchair which is simple and easily cleaned. We have the Ikea Antilop which is really good and very easy to keep clean (please note, there was a recall on this product in 2012 so do check for information if you have purchased or been given a second hand model). The tray is easy to remove for cleaning once you have the knack, and although it doesn't fold up it has quite a small footprint. It can also be easily taken apart for travel or storage.
• We usually use bibs with long sleeves and elasticated wrists. On smaller babies they also cover a lot of the lap so you can recycle food.
• A lot of websites recommend cutting the food up into stick shapes that the baby can grasp. I've found it works (once baby is about 7-8 months old and developing the pincer grip) to cut the food into small pieces, about 1cm square. Then they can put the whole piece into their mouth to chew.
• Know what to do if baby begins to choke. It can be scary, but don't panic, usually they will dislodge the food themself anyway (or be sick...)
• Do the messiest meal at dinnertime, or just before you usually bath the baby.
• Remember that they do get better at eating and aiming the food towards their mouths. The very messy stage doesn't last forever!
• Baby led weaning is often presented as a total, and possibly controversial, alternative to spoonfeeding. Of course, all babies are going to be eating finger foods, and most people are doing a combination of the two anyway. Just do whatever you and your baby are happiest with, and remember that babies do vary hugely in the actual amounts that they eat!

Those long winter afternoons

When you're at home with young children, I think that mid-afternoon has to be the worst part of the day. There comes a point when lunch is long finished, everyone is suffering from the afternoon slump, it's too late in the day for a nap and yet there's a long long way to go until bedtime. It's worse in winter, when outside it's cold, dark, wet and unappealing. This is a fairly common sight in our household:

Today, the only thing to do was to get out with the scooter and the pushchair. It was a bit of a mission to get everyone fed, changed, to the toilet and dressed up warmly, but it was so worth it.

It was a bit drizzly, so we didn't stay out too long, but it was long enough to blow away some of the cobwebs, and we were all much more chilled out when we got home.

Getting back into running

Before children, I was a bit of a gym bunny. Along with my husband, we were there four times a week. I would swim, I did Body Pump classes, I cycled, I stepped and I Power Plated. Things took a bit of a hit when Harry arrived, with then just a brief recovery period before Mia came along. It was not so much the struggle to fit it in, but the constant tiredness made bed a much more attractive option.

It took me a while to get into running on the treadmill, but since I gave it a go a couple of years ago I've found it to be my favourite form of exercise. It's satisfying, I really feel like I've had a good workout when I finish. I also like being able to adjust the workout to my fitness level. By increasing your time and speed, over just a few weeks you can quickly see your stamina improve.

My target is to get back to being able to run 5k in 30 minutes. That seems like a good amount to me -  30 minutes is long enough for a good workout but not so long that I get bored. I need to take it a little easy as I suffered from separated stomach muscles in pregnancy, but my physiotherapist signed me off several months ago, and was happy for me to begin running again as long as I built up to it.

My method is to spend 30 minutes on the treadmill, alternating between brisk walking and running. Gradually I am increasing the amount of time that I spend running and decreasing the amount of time that I spend walking. In my last session I managed to run for 26 out of the 30 minutes. The next step is to run for the entire 30 minutes, but at a slower speed, then gradually increase the speed so that I can cover 5k.

I'm hoping that in a few weeks time I'll be at my goal!

Listography - Top 5 Biscuits

This week the theme for the Listography at Kate Takes 5 is Top 5 Biscuits. Now this is a list that I won't have a problem compiling.

1 - Bourbon biscuits. When I was pregnant for the second time, if I had a craving this was it. On my working days I would go out at lunchtime, buy a packet and quietly scoff the lot at my desk. Occasionally I would reluctantly offer them around to my colleagues, silently hoping that they were all on diets and would refuse. I also find that they are a very economical snack, as even the cheap value ones are just as tasty.

2 - Chocolate digestives, in particular the dark chocolate ones.

3 - Fox's Shortcake Rounds. These are only purchased when on special offer as they are quite pricy and you don't get many in a pack. They have a very generous chocolate to biscuit ratio, and are absolutely delicious.

4 - Rich Tea Biscuits. Because they are quite plain, I tend to view these as a somewhat healthier alternative to a chocolate biscuit. I don't tend to check calories on things, so I can't confirm if this is indeed the case (I suspect not).

5 - Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers. Once a treat found only at birthday parties, these seem to make their way regularly in to our household by way of special offers. It is very surprising that there seem to be so many in a pack, yet they don't last long at all.

Button Moon Birthday Cake

I have a tip when making Birthday cakes for very little ones. Instead of saying "What would you like for your Birthday cake darling?" instead use a statement like "How would you like an 'x' Birthday cake?" where 'x' is something that you want to or can easily make. I'm not sure up to what age you can get away with this, but it certainly worked very well with Harry, and he was thrilled with his Button Moon cake. In terms of cakes, you really can't get much simpler. A plain Victoria sandwich cake with yellow butter icing and four chocolate buttons in the centre!