Misplaced

We all know how much I love Christmas. I've mentioned it often. I love preparing for it and having the house decorated. I love the atmosphere, the cold outside and the warmth inside. I love the lights in the streets and the bustling shopping malls (though not because they're bustling, I'll admit that). I love browsing and choosing the perfect gifts for loved ones.

Only, it seems, that this year all the above needs to be switched to the past tense. There is none of that happening. I seem to have misplaced my Christmas Spirit. It's making me feel quite sad.

Has the season been tainted with the insecurity of the move last year? I know my Spirit was more than lacking then too, knowing the big move was coming up on the 17th January. But I kept up the act, I decorated the house for Emily's sake and it was worth it.

But this year... my Christmas boxes are still buried under more boxes. I'm not yet sure where everything, including the tree, will go. Not to mention the house is much bigger so I probably need new stuff anyway and I'm not quite sure where to get it.

The weather is most definitely not cold outside and the houses are not exactly warm. More chance of needing long sleeves indoors half the time.

Atmosphere seems lacking. Perhaps it's because I don't have Rochester High Street on my doorstep any longer. I was more than spoiled there.

ALL gift shopping has been done online this year, because let's face it - I'm not thrilled to be ripped off by shopping in person in most Maltese shops.

Shopping malls are decorated but I'm just not feeling it. I look and don't quite see. I don't feel.

I've become Scrooge.

Where have I left my Christmas Spirit? I am slightly worried that it got stuck in 2011. How on earth am I going to pull it all the way into 2013?!

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Note: I wrote this on Friday (and forgot to post it). On Saturday we went and bought a Christmas tree. The decorations in the shop did pop some Christmassy thoughts into my head, and on Saturday afternoon I was shuffling boxes around to get to the stuff I wanted. The weather even got significantly colder over the weekend! 

This year we will have not one but TWO Christmas trees, so we've set up the smaller one (which I've told Emily is hers and Adam's and she can play with the ornaments on it which she is loving), but things have more or less stopped there. The boxes are open, I'm surrounded by Christmas decorations and yet I feel no real motivation to do anything with them.

On Saturday, walking into that shop, I thought it had done the trick. But I guess it's going to take a bit more than that... and I'm running out of time! 

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Conversations with Emily: Circle Time

We are in the car on the way home from school. Emily is talking about Circle Time.

Me: What's Circle Time?

Emily: It's when we sit in a circle and read books and sing,

and then we get up and we dance the wiggly woo!

Me: Oh wow, that sounds like lots of fun!

Emily: It is!... Don't worry Mummy, you'll do it too when you're older.

o_O

She loves it so much, even her Happyland children get treated to Circle Time ;)

Missing Autumn (Ten Months On)

I think I can finally say the summer heat is over. We've had a "cooler" week. I am at last able to do the school run without being reduced to a puddle. It's a cool 24 degrees.

Needless to say to be saying this sounds and feels ridiculous knowing I celebrated a warm 15 degrees after a cold British winter. Perspective: It's bonkers!

I am missing Autumn and it's beauty quite badly. Many of you already know of my love affair with the season. It just doesn't exist in Malta. And yet from what I gather Autumn is long gone in the UK already and there's talk of snow next month.

I do not miss the snow. Snow was always pretty in the UK for the first hour. Then, by the time the train delays and cancellations, and the deliveries that never make it, and the panic buying and empty milk, bread and everything shelves... once all that hits (within a day of the first snowflake settling on the ground), the love is long gone.

So there's one positive. I am now - almost ten months after we moved away - more able to balance things out. My brain also stopped tricking me somewhere along the way. I no longer think to myself randomly that I should pop into the Deaf Cat later on today for one of their orange and cranberry muffins.... only to then be disappointed when I remember the Deaf Cat is no longer a quick walk down my road. I no longer wake up fancying a stroll into Chatham (yes that's the extent to which I miss it all) or a drive to Bluewater (although, ask anyone, I don't think I'll ever stop missing Bluewater... and I can't bear to hear another person tell me, filled with awe, that The Point is huge...)

I do find myself missing Dobbies this time of year. I really fancy having a leisurely walk around our local store picking out some new Christmas decorations and letting Emily, and by now Adam too, drop by to say hello to the fish and the rabbits and chickens, all huddled up in coats and hats and mittens.

I'm not sure why I actually own hats and gloves any longer.We might need them one day in the middle of January when it's a cruel, humid 10 degrees.

I miss many things, still. I'm sure I always will. But ten months on, it's becoming easier to accept, easier to deal with. Although I have to admit, looking up the UK links for this post and dropping by the websites pulled at my heartstrings a little... perhaps still some way to go.

Our Early Halloween

We had an early Halloween party this year. A whole eleven days early. It made no difference to the kids. It only meant decorations were up longer: Adam oohed and aahed at the hanging ones and Emily was convinced it was a party every day. Who was I to argue?

On the 20th October, we opened up our house to thirteen small children and their parents. It was our first event hosted in this house and we loved every bit of it - as did the kids. 

I can't take credit for any of these ideas: Pinterest had a lot to do with the planning behind this party. (1, 2, 3)

I was very annoyed to be missing an old, tatty pair of boots!

Food was split between everyone so these beauties were brought by two other mums:

It all looked fantastic. 

The kids meanwhile, were really great. We'd opened up the kitchen-living, pushed the table up against a wall, and the sofa out of the way to create an open space and access to the toy area. Emily's kitchen went down an absolute treat, and what I'd done earlier that day turned out to have been worth its' weight in gold: I put away all Emily's favourite toys and brought out stuff we had in storage. 

My reasoning was that she wouldn't be too keen to have lots of other kids playing with her beloved stuff (I'm all for her sharing but I think that could be too much for anyone), and I didn't want her screaming the party down in floods of tears. It ended up being handy because it kept her entertained all day, as they were toys she hadn't seen in a few months. And there wasn't a single show-down over a toy during the party. They all played together perfectly. 

I was also surprised (and impressed) that not a single child made any attempt to open a cupboard door. I'd planned to tie handles together temporarily with rubber bands but completely forgot to. All doors remained shut anyway. Good kids.

The orange jelly was a huge success.

(Now have a look at the Halloween pictures from 2011 and check out that first picture again - the one with Emily and her friend James dressed as a spider. It's the same James - he and his parents were visiting us from the UK, which is why we threw the party early!)

Weaning Adam

Adam is now seven months old. He has been eating solids for just over a month. The boy LOVES his grub. And I love how much more relaxed I am this time round.

I knew I'd be doing pretty much exclusively BLW from when I got pregnant this time round. I think some innate part of me knew this boy would be open to it.

He won't have it any other way. If he realises that the food he's eating isn't what's on my plate, he will very specifically tear his food to shreds (never once touching it to his lips) and then throw it on the floor. He will then look at me with a look that's very hard to misinterpret: "Give me your food."

So I give him some of my food and I get squeals of excitement.

He's even gotten better at handling and eating it recently. There's by far less food on the floor than there was two weeks ago. He is even handling gagging much better. I still need to fish things out of his mouth sometimes, but very often, he will sort it out himself.

I only wish I had the time to make better meals the way I used to with Emily. We were so very conscious of everything we ate when we started baby-led weaning with her... but now it seems like quick meals are all I can manage. Because of this, he really loves pasta, pizza* and toast!

He does also love tomatoes, and as he is so fond of toast I take the opportunity to spread anything on that toast. Avocado, bigilla, coconut oil, mashed banana (my nerves just can't take handing him a chunk of banana any longer - far too much mess), anything remotely spreadable that is on my plate.

Whatever I cook, he is happy (read: will demand) to try. So whenever I get my act together and find some more time in the day to cook something different, he won't be fussy about it and refuse to eat it.

There are days when he won't feel like eating, and that's absolutely fine. He's still seven months old and I am fully aware that milk should be his main nutrient until he is around twelve months old. Gone are the Emily days when I tore my hair out because she didn't eat dinner one day here or there.

Everyone did tell me I'd be more relaxed with the second, and I knew it made sense - but I am loving the feeling of being so laid back and just enjoying the weaning experience this time round.

(* home-cooked, and without salt of course)

For more BLW posts, see here.