I loved cooking with my grandparents and my great grandparents when I was younger it’s one of the few skills I’ve been able to bring to adulthood with me. As Elijahs grown older he’s enjoyed gaining more responsibility and learning about how food is prepared. He loves baking cakes but outside of just pushing a spoon around we’ve started doing a lot more.
I want my son to leave home and know how to take care of himself and his future family. Not to expect others to teach them. I’ve taught my husband how to cook now I am slowly teaching our son.
Start with little tasks. Obviously no sharp knifes and heat should be involved in their cooking. So here’s some small tasks I give my little man to help with cooking. He is two and a half!
First of all you can ask your child to pass you items. Elijah loves doing this. He really thinks he is helping. We also pass each other blunt knifes and forks.
He helps butter them bread. I’ll be it is a little holey but he enjoys using the blunt knife and helping. He likes spreading jam and spreading tomato purée on a wrap or pizza base to make pizzas.
Get them to chop with a blunt knife. Elijah likes chopping cheese, bread, sandwiches anything soft.
Help them pour food that is measures into a bowl and get them to help measure out food too.
Help mix cake mixes, salad, anything cold.
Get them to help pour drinks and cereal.
Get them to help place food on a plate ready for dinner and assemble their own packed lunches.
Help set the table. Your child can take their plate and cutlery to the table and then their drink.
As Elijah gets older he will have more responsibilities in the kitchen but for now he’s happy with his little step and his helping hands!
It’s also a great way to teach food hygiene from a young age too!
It’s a funny old thing forgiveness, why should we forgive others for the way they have treated us in the past. Why should we open ourselves up to more pain and suffering.One thing me and my therapist started exploring with me before the corona virus pandemic hit was forgiveness. The ability to forgive not only others but myself too. But to forgive we have to understand why we may be feeling so hurt and against it.
When i was younger i was bullied. Relentlessly, my life became a living hell at times i even thought about taking my own life as a child myself. Because of this i found it easier to hate and hold on to anything said against me. Its why i don’t take compliments well and always see as others having some sort of secret need to take me down again. I turned my pain into anger, my anger into walls, my walls my anxiety and so forth.
Recently i have decided i would give this whole forgiveness thing a shot, thinking first about why it upsets me so much. I thought about why people treated me a certain way, Did previous trauma cause them to act this way? Is it just who the person is and that isn’t anything that will ever change? Can i relate on some level to why they’ve treated me in a certain way and then accept it that bit more?
First of all i decided to forgive people who went silent on me, a easy one. People who where your best friends one day and the next just popped of the planet like you never existed instead of being a adult and explaining why they no longer want to talk. When this happens there is a lot of questions and hurt, What happened? What did i do wrong? But in truth it doesn’t matter the key is accepting this happened and moving on. I thought about why this may have happened. Does the person not like conflict. Did i do something that might of upset them and then i thought i forgive this person because that’s what has happened and we can’t change it. Why hold on to anger that is not needed. Especially to someone who doesn’t speak to you anymore.
I then thought about people currently in my life who cause me pain and suffering not only now but in the past too. I decided to try and think why are people doing this to me. Why are they treating me in a way to cause harm and a reaction. But i decided that i know now that sometimes people are the way they are. Be it there personality or previous trauma which has caused a type of behaviour. We cannot change someone and why hold on to bitter feelings when we should learn and grow from them. Our experiences are to be learned from not obsessed over.
Forgiveness of others does not mean however we keep people in our lives that cause harm. It doesn’t mean we are door mats to stomp feet all over. Instead it mean we are the bigger person silently forgiving. But with forgiveness comes growing i have chosen to forgive certain peoples treatment towards me but decided as i have forgiven them i will move on from this relationship and not speak again to said person or to argue over the same things again. I will not inherit others drama and let it go forgiving and forgetting.
The most important thing about forgiveness however is forgiving yourself. Forgiving yourself for your feelings. Forgiving yourself for how you feel and allowing yourself to grow. For example i felt like i let myself down when i had a c section. I felt like a failure and like my body didn’t work although this was not my fault at all! I felt resentment to myself and also the fact that i put weight on during my pregnancy and i also hated myself because i suffered with post natal depression. I hated myself for previous friendship breakdowns and for who i am as a person. However now i think back and forgive my body for needing a c section and acknowledging depression is not my fault. I forgive myself for how i look,how i feel because i know that i cannot help how i feel about myself. I know that my life is not my fault and that my feelings are just and valid. I forgive myself for feeling a certain way and choose not to feel guilt or disappointment in myself.
It is so hard to forgive but it is sometimes easier if you just sit and think i forgive you in your head and breath out. Let someone who pops into your head be forgiven and grow from it. There needn’t be any real life conversations but draw a line in the sand sometimes and think i forgive you and myself. Obviously this doesn’t apply to everyone and every case such as serious cases but it’s something that has helped me with my more minor issues. As always stay safe, Charlie x
One thing I struggle to do as a blogger is find new bloggers when I put out a call for other bloggers to be featured in a blog post so others could be featured they where all more than eager to join! So if your looking for new things to read I’ve got a bit of everything here!
One thing I have really noticed since being a mother is how hard it can be. It’s not all sunshine’s and rainbows as people like to portray in their perfect little photos. Now more than ever I will scroll through my Facebook or Instagram and all I see is smiles and happiness when in fact I know full well behind the heavy filters and fake smiles is a kid who screams all day because he just feels like it and a parent at the end of her tether wondering what she ever did wrong to the kid.
I have always aimed to be an honest parent. Not only in my blog but on all social media platforms too. No matter if people judge me for my honesty i do it for the other mums. The mums who like me want to see the truth. Who want to see more photos of mums pouring them self a big glass of wine at the end of the day to try have some sort of happiness on those hard days. I want to see mums talking about their child’s tantrums, about how their child who drives them completely potty.
There is nothing more I hate then these parents who treat everything as a competition. Thinking their child is the best shiny trophy in their hall of fame and no other child will ever be as good. But have I got news for you. Your perfect child is perfect to you as my child is to me but I do not for a second believe my child is this angel because of my opinions or that I need to put my child above others. All children are equal and they all have tantrums at some point. If you’re lucky enough to have a mellow child look out because one day it will come. Until then don’t be an ass and only talk about how great your child is. Also don’t be that braggy and comparing mum.Nobody cares about your child reaching a milestone a day earlier then your friends child.
I want to hear about your sleepless nights, your child throwing their dinner against your white walls and carpet, I want to relate to you. I want to know that your just like me. Like I’m not alone in this world. I want to know that it’s normal to have a sob once a week because your child has relentlessly misbehaved because you perhaps didn’t let them have cake for breakfast or something equally as stupid as jump off a sofa face first.
I want you to know it’s okay to be honest. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to shout sometimes. It’s okay to feel stressed. You are not alone. Every other parent goes through this even if they don’t admit it. You’ve got this mama!
Hang in there because one day when they’ve moved out you might actually get to finish a hot drink or have a conversation that doesn’t relate back to your kids at some point!
Dms are always open for a moan about your kid I’m listening! I know you love your kid and accept that they’re little balls of anger. You are not a bad mum. What you see on the internet is not the whole picture. A second of the days does not compute someone’s whole day and what goes on behind that camera screen.
(Gifted) I was very kindly sent some wax melts to review because as you know I am clearly the candle connoisseur. I think it’s clearly something I need to put on my CV. I absolutely adore candles my house is filled with them and I dare you to come into my house and find a empty table or work space without some sort of candle related item.
I also love wax melts. Why you may ask? Well storage! although candles look cute they take up so much room. I’d rather fill my little box up with goodies then have nowhere to eat my dinner because my obsessions taken over. Also any of my friends reading this. Please stop telling me when candles or melts are on deal as we all know I’m soooo going to panic buy.
So first up we’ve got the presentation. Yes the product is the most important thing but I think the way you present your products is important too. If something is sent looking like a gift I 100 percent love it more. The box was very lovingly wrapped up in tissue paper with stickers. I also got a hand written note and sweet too. Instead of a buisnesses card it was lovely sticker which explained how to burn them to get the best out of the product.
Fun fact I have only once ever had a perfume scented wax melt from another company!Wild right! Because that scent wasn’t the strongest it kind of put me of perfume scents for a while so I was sceptical about how the products would smell and if they would keep there scent! But from just opening this box I new from the smells it was going to be good!
The wax melts come in either an adorable heart shape or in a block with squares. The squares are beautifully coloured and have lots of glitter inside to make it feel that bit more special. Inside the packets we have the little wax melts which come with the most pretty little hearts which have little tangs of different colours in. I love these because they are so space saving and I don’t have to worry about storage!
So let’s dive into each melt as I review them!
So first up we have pomegranate black. This smells quite like a fruity plum mix almost like a fizzy drink with the smell of some sort of wood mix. It smells really, really good and like a fragrance i would like to wear.
Next is lenor golden orchid obviously made to replicate the scent of lenor products. It smells very sweet and like vanilla it’s a nice soft a delicate smell!
Next we have purple rain. And yes I sign it like Prince every time I read it. Now it’s in your head and I’m not even sorry! This smells like the cocktail. The similarity is uncanny and it’s making me miss sitting in a pub garden with my friends a little tipsy of our cocktails at spoons.
Bon bons is up next. This scent is quite obviously based on the perfume bonbon. It smells quite uncanny and I love the scent. It’s made me want to go out and buy the perfume to wear it! This is a fruity sweet scent.
Next we have daisy again inspired by the daisy perfume. This is a soft flowery smell and smelly much like the perfume! look at how beautifully presented this is with all the glitter and the packaging!
La vie is last with obviously being somewhat a dupe of the Lancôme la vie. It has a vanilla, fruit and floral concoction to it which smells Devine!Very similar to the perfume if not stronger!! I love the glitter and little ribbon sequins inside!
The burn time is long and the scent fills my whole house. I will defiantly be buying again! a very firm favourite in this house now even my husband and son are interested and my 2 year old says it smells nice!
All of these stunning wax melts are very affordable. They won’t break the bank so you can get lots. The bars are around £2.30 and the heart melts around 2.99! Absolute bargain considering the quality of the products! You can also buy a single sample for only 50p which is great if you like me are fussy about your smell choice! They even do customised wax melts which could perhaps spell your name. They even sells burners, diffusers, sprays and carpet freshness so go and check them out!
Well there is a sentence i never thought i would say. Following on from recent government advice to wear face coverings where social distancing may not be possible for example in hospitals, shops and public transport i have decided to wear face masks. Obviously they are not overly protective they protect you better than nothing at all. Also we wear the face masks not to only protect ourselves but others. Wearing a mask can prevent your droplets escaping into the air around us as much and protects the general public if we where carriers of the virus and had no idea.
I am not seeing enough people wearing them in public and when i see others that do people just stare almost as though they think they look stupid. There is nothing stupid about trying to safeguard your health and others around you. The issue is however people who wear them in a car by themselves, on a walk or wear the medical grade filtered ones that the nhs so desperately need.
I advice you to buy or try to make your own face mask. There are instructions on how to make one online and many small businesses make handmaid ones. However do not buy the proper medical grades ones that medical professional needs. Your risk of getting the virus is low when out and about socially distancing but a nhs staff member touching covid patients requires it far more. Lets support others who wears a mask and wear one when we need to for the safety of us and others. This is especially important now that lock down is slowly being lifted.
Reading is so important and with so little resources readily available at the moment such as bookshops and libraries it’s hard to think of new ways to both entertain and educate your child. Elijah has always been interested in learning through play. He’s always loved stories and learning activities and without access to shops to find more we have had to adapt. We where very lucky when the people at reading eggs asked us to collaborate with them gifting us a chance to trial their reading app.
This app enables your child to not only learn to read, but also to write and puzzle solve. There are so many varied activities for many different ages from two upwards. Elijah loves that the app is interactive. He likes to be able to touch the screen on an app and also to be able to hear an activities noise too. The apps are super colourful and age appropriate.Elijah is enjoying identifying the alphabet that bit more better and learning about words. We are currently trying the handwriting app and he seems to be getting the hang of it. He doesn’t get bored of it like most apps trying to close it and move on but stays engaged and completes each activity before wanting to move on to the next. This is something that i’ve really enjoyed about this app because anything that can keep a child’s focus is amazing in my eyes.
My favourite thing about this app is that it talks your child through the activity as well as praising their good work. The app is available on many platforms and app stores but we love using it on the chromebook because of the bigger screen and not having to hold the tablet. We will certainly be using this app for years to come and it is a app that he will grow with. The app is also perfect for homeschooling too!
When Boris says this is all over and life finally returns to normal there’s a few things I want to do. So I thought why not make a post about all the things I want to do! So here goes…
Go to the national history musuem. Why this random place? Well my son is OBSESSED with andys dinosaur and prehistoric adventures and he loves dressing up as Andy. So after a google the other night we found out that andys clock is at the musuem and I think Elijah would love running around the musuem and seeing all the dinosaurs and animals too. He loves our local musuem so he’ll love that too.
We will go to the zoo. Elijahs favourite place to go is the zoo. He’s asked almost everyday since being in lockdown and every time we get in the car he thinks we’re going to see the animals and I have to break his heart and say it’s closed over and over again.
Celebrate our anniversary. We will go away for the night to a hotel without Elijah somewhere as that was our plan that got cancelled.
Go for a meal. To have that restaurant vibe where there is no clean up. Just food brought to us and be socialising.
See our friends and go out together in groups. We’ve missed our friends and so has Elijah so we’ll be having lots of days out with friends.
Go to our family’s and see everyone inside. We’ll go see all our family we haven’t seen in a while!
Go to the cinemas. We are big cinema fans and we go for the social experience. We go twice a month so I’ve certainly missed it.
Go shopping. I want to go for a day shopping in town with no feeling of judgement and looking at different things.
Go to diy stores and buy bits to do the house and garden up too.
Go to a library and book store. I miss books like something fierce and staring into the books selection and picking something new!
Finish signing Elijah up for nursery. so many little things have been out on hold and this is a important one.
Obviously some things will take a while but I can’t wait for normality! Stay safe, Charlie x
Elijah is in a funny old stage again when he is obsessed with me. The stress of being locked in together has caused Elijah to go from this independent child to a child that needs to be around me all the time asking where I’m going if I stand up to leave the room. Although I’m flattered I do need my personal space at times just as he needs his. There is a point when it becomes a bit unhealthy.
Set boundaries:
Toddlers need to be taught boundaries. Obviously they need to learn about them or they will never understand. I make sure I spend time telling Elijah I need some personal space or I’m having five minutes to myself. I explain mummy doesn’t need to be brought toys or snacks to open while I’m on the toilet. I explain I don’t want to be climbed all over like a climbing frame all day either. I explain if I don’t like something too. Elijah has a new habit of using me as a slide I explain all the time I don’t like it and it must stop. He normally gets the memo and walks of but before when I didn’t tell him he couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t turn into a happy little human slide.
Teach through reading:
We have brought a few books about personal space. My favourite his Harrison Spader personal space invader. The book talks about being overly close to people and setting boundaries. It explains that people can get upset by it and we understand why you do it as it’s showing your love!
Spend time sharing the love:
Spend time cuddling and watching films together and lots of time playing together and explain when you want a break so your child understands. Don’t just walk of when they’re playing but tell them mummy’s going to have a little break you continue to play nicely!
Spend some timeapart if you can:
If your self isolating with another adult spend some time away from your child and let the other adult take them for a walk or entertain them while you have some alone time. This way you maintain a bit more calm and your child understands you aren’t constantly at their beck and call and it’s ok to be around others. It’s good for the child to bond with that person too. There should be other relationships formed.
FaceTime other people:
FaceTime others so you can catch up and your child can talk to them too. This reminds them you’re not the only person in the world to them and puts them a bit at ease. They love a FaceTime session as they get to be silly too!
Take a breather:
You can get really stressed out having someone in your face all day and if it was a adult you’d tell them where to go but with a child you can’t do that. So instead if you feel stressed perhaps take a few minutes outside the room have a cup of tea and calm down. When you come back take a calming moment with your child too so they can calm down too. You will feel so much better for it.
Hope my advice sometimes helps, I’m no expert but just a mum. Stay safe, Charlie x
A few weeks ago I was sitting there thinking about how I can I use Elijahs tablet to enable him to learn while having fun. That’s when we where contacted by the people at osmo! We were very fortunate to be gifted a fantastic set from the lovely Osmo in exchange for a review. And what a treat it has been too recieve such amazing items.
First of all the packaging and design of their items is so sleek and also interesting for children at the same time. Elijah could somewhat tell what was inside and was thrilled to open it up! Inside the box sent to us was the stand to be able to use the osmo app, a Mickey Mouse super studio and our favourite the play mat with squiggle magic bits!
It was super easy to download all you do is follow the instructions and your ready to play. Elijah was very excited by something new and was to eager to help set up!
Elijah enjoyed playing with squiggle magic the most. This app teaches children to design with the use of the kit where it is reflected onto the screen where it picks up their designs and brings it to life. He enjoyed matching up the pieces (with a little bit of help) to the design on the pad. We also went rogue and he made his own designs to. He enjoyed the colours and loved listing them and talking about what was happening on the screen to. We also made numbers and letters with the squiggle pieces which is fantastic for learning! He may still be a little young to enjoy the full content of the games but he did absolutely love getting involved and just needed some help from mum. We also love how space saving it is and easy to clean away. It is so handy that the squiggle bits come in a nice little box for storage!
The next product we had to test was the Mickey Mouse super studio. This was a note pad which connects to the device again which gives you activity’s to do. You draw and it appears on the screen like magic. We worked together to complete some of the activities which he enjoyed. He is a little young for this one but he did enjoy all the characters as he’s obsessed with Mickey Mouse clubhouse now! we will be using this when he’s older a lot more and we love that it comes with its own branded items such as pen and wipe and it’s super easy to clean!
Overall we love this product and it’s something we keep getting out and playing. We will explore more and more the older he gets and it’s the perfect toy to grow up and learn with. We also have lots of friends and family with children of all ages which I know will love coming round to play with it! Thankyou osmo we love it!
Life with the Hazelwoods 