Evolution

Being the playful thing I am, I have a few favourite games but my favourite is any variation of Hide and Seek. 

As a child I nailed 40:40, the game where you all run and hide from the scout and try to creep back to base. I was a demon  Sardines player, packing myself into spaces no one else dared. I stalked, crept, pounced and camouflaged. I loved getting lost and that feeling that no one knew where I was at that particular moment. 

As a teenager I lamented the loss of these games as my awkwardness meant I wished for nothing better than to hide. I transferred the game into hiding my inner self, going up to London, alone and uncontactable with nothing but the promise of being home for dinner. 

Today I am the world's best and worst hermit. I like to retreat and console myself with quiet bliss at home. This happens more and more since the arrival of Playful Babe. We hide together: long meandering nap time walks, baking sessions with the phone switched off or ignored and a quiet defence of unanswered mail or messages. 

Yet there is this blog, the podcast, Twitter and Ravelry. A whole part of the Internet that I skipped across playfully and made friends. What of those places when I'm going through one of the biggest Hide and Seek phases I've ever encountered?

They become quiet. Still. Unused. 

They are hidden and I'm not sure how long I will count for. Almost certainly until I figure out my new words and identity. I have a complete metamorphosis occurring and like when I was a teenager, struggling to learn who I was, I feel the same way now: lay low and watch for signs of emergence. 

I'm skulking, keeping an eye on base though. I have ideas and thoughts. I'll share them when I next make a streak for base so don't drop your guard ok?

Till next time.... X

Just Keep Swimming

New games we currently enjoy?

Dropping things from a high chair. Things drop! Wow! Now look at mummy crawling around underneath picking things up? This is brilliant!

Raspberries. Blowing raspberries is perfection itself.

Pee-boh! Peekaboo! 

All those bottles on the side of the bath? They don't belong there. Let me crash them all into the bath then squeal with delight as I look at my destruction!

Rolling on and off of Daddy. Daddy makes a good climbing frame. 

Women

At some point in our lives, we are suddenly hit by the realisation that we are adults. Big grown up adults who face adversity, commitment and responsibility. While I love to find playful things in life, life sometimes offers challenges that are huge. What really hit home this week is that women often face more. 

Women in my life are facing great adversity right now. They are doing so with dignity and strength that quite frankly, humbles me. I too am now facing a life altering decision that many women face as loving members of a family. We do these things. 

For no particular reason other than I'm so overwhelmed by things going on right now and how women are solving things, I wanted to say it out loud. Women, you are amazingly. 

And the Winner is.....

... random number 1, Fruitful Fusion! You said in your comment, 'I'm such a beginner when it comes to socks, I'd definitely start with the basic toe up in that cute little baby size and then work my way up to the other lovely patterns!'

(c) Cooperative Press

Please get in contact for your digital copy of Tiny Treads  that features 12 sock patterns for infants and children

If you weren't lucky this time, you can always purchase your copy here or simply check out more of the fab designs in this book. Stay tuned for another fab giveaway later in the week!

Our Current Favourite

It's been a while since I talked food and recipes and my gluttony for good food. 6 months of a certain little lady will do that to you. Finding time to eat let alone cook has been near impossible and with so much off the menu while my little girl's tummy was so sensitive, food just became an exhausting exercise.

Just as I felt it would never end however, this happened:

Shortly followed by this:

Where has my baby gone?? Now we share meals with her excitedly whacking her high chair, supported by cushions and covered in a smock bib. Wow this weaning thing is one glorious mess isn't it?

I knew I would be baby led. I breast fed exclusively on demand and it just made sense to leave her in control of what she was eating. With so much negative association with food so young thanks to chronic reflux, I also felt the exploration would be fun. It turns out she loves it and letting her set the pace has shown me just what she's capable of. She's amazing quite frankly. Pears, bananas, crusts of bread, carrots and cucumber are destroyed, gummed and delighted in. I can't wait to start cooking for her. We just have to take things a little slow as she's not quite 6 months and her reflux needs careful monitoring. Still, she's setting the pace so I'm learning from her this way.

In anticipation of this event, my mum bought me a copy of River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook. It's my new favourite cookbook. We have a weekly veg box delivery and a great local green grocers, fishmonger and butcher so we eat seasonally and as locally as possible. I have long been a fan of Hugh's team and publications so I knew I'd love this. It's a whole food philosophy that we totally believe in too.

The book starts with helpful advice about how to wean, how to feed your growing baby healthily and is encouraging and non judgemental. I have found the early section of very early weaning extremely handy already as I check how best to prep some fruit etc.

It does contain purée recipes if you are so inclined which I think I'll use for exploration and with dippers such as pitta or lollipops of broccoli. The nice touch is each recipe explains how to make it safe for tiny babies but also appropriate for adults. The idea of meal sharing is very much a part if the giant and I's philosophy.

This book is a great compliment to the Baby Led Weaning books. I'd actually say that I preferred it in terms of explaining the practicalities and making me feel excited about this new world.

And with that its time I went and pressure washed the ceiling. More soon!