Dee: (The) Mama Blog

"Mummy, Matty is sad!" He made his face into a sad face. "Oh no, why is Matty sad?" "Matty sad, mummy" "What happened? Why is Matty sad?"

Have you ever found yourself when your child is maybe a newborn, or 1 year old, and you're looking at baby clothes that are bigger than their age and ever thought 'When are they gonna fit in this?' because for me, I found the clothes to look so huge... but then all of a sudden they fit into the clothes. I can't be the only mum that does this? Then when they've grown out of the clothes, you go back to their baby clothes and go 'Oh my goodness, I can't believe that they were this small?!' Is there something wrong with me? Haha I don't know.. I guess it's just the fascination that this little person grew inside of us.. and just watching them grow into a young person is just crazy-- and it's right before our eyes. I look at my 4 year old and I look at his baby clothes and look like 'You fit into this??!' It's a beautiful thing to watch, honestly. To watch a child grow and mature, it's truly a blessing.

I captured another moment where Jeremiah came to tell me that 'Matty' was sad. It was so unexpected-- and what made this moment so significant is that he said it so clearly and confidently. I then asked him 'Is Matty sad?' and he said 'Matty is sad" and then I went "Why is matty sad?" I waited, but he didn't reply. My point is.. he is getting so much better with communicating, and he is understanding emotions a lot more than before. I was previously speaking with his speech and language therapist about working with him on understanding and using 'expressive' language in his everyday conversation. The other day when it was bath time, he said to me 'Mummy, I not happy' and crossed his arms. I was actually astounded and went "Oh.. well it's ok to not be happy!" And in my head I was like 'I've never heard him say that. He's understanding more!' and I was quietly rejoicing in my spirit. Now.. this may not b...

"So tell me what he eats in a day" "He eats his maize porridge for breakfast, with the calcium supplement he's been prescribed-- the snack would be a hotdog cut up, or crackers. Lunch would either be spaghetti or rice with tomato stew. Dinner would be the same.." "Ok, and his weight is getting better, he is on the up on the weight chart. Keep doing what you are doing." "It would be advisable now to put him on a calcium liquid so he can meet his daily calcium intake. With all of his allergies, I know it's hard for him to take in calcium in other ways." "Ok that's fine. I can do that."

When did you decide to name your child? and why did you pick that name for your child? With my first, his name dropped in my mind one day and I just clicked with it instantly. I just loved it. I don't even know where it came from; maybe I saw it somewhere and it just kind of stayed at the back of my mind.. whatever the reason, the name dropped when it did and that was it lol. So Jeremiah means "Yahweh will raise" or "God will raise" and this name is a perfect fit for my son. From when he was conceived and was in my womb.. God was always with him, honestly. My entire pregnancy with Jeremiah was so funny.. unless I told people, no one knew I was pregnant! Well.. until literally the very very end of my pregnancy, and it was really entertaining. I felt like God was hiding my pregnancy for a reason; I didn't experience any symptoms, no vomiting... just tired all the time-- I got the odd craving here and there but it was a pretty smooth pregnancy until the end.. w...

So about a week back I wrote a short story about my experience of my youngest, Matthew basically almost walking into the road. lol. Would you believe that he didn't walk until 17 months? (1 yr, 5 months) Was I concerned? Yes? Did I think something was wrong with my child? Yes and no Despite him not walking, he was still making some kind of movement: shuffling with one leg. He was cruising, and doing all of those other good things.. but the walking happened much later. Can you also believe he skipped crawling altogether? It was when he started to walk, that's when he decided he wanted to crawl as well. I tell you... kids are such amazing little human beings-- and this is why we can't restrict their growth and development based on theories and books. It can definitely be used as a guide, but it should not be used as crutch to tell someone's child that 'there's something wrong with them' or 'they are delayed'  Obviously if there are other characteristic...

She lies in the darkness, listening to the rhythmic snoring from her two boys who drove her up the wall many hours before. She stares at the two of them, looking so peaceful as they sleep. She strokes their cheeks, then puts her hands in their hair. Little smiles creep up on their small chubby faces, then disappear.  She turns on her back and stares at the ceiling. She sighs, reaches for her phone from under her pillow and scrolls.

So I was just scrolling on Instagram-- looking at all the mama insta posts; and a lot of mama's are working from home with their kids... And the time we're in is so hard, because of the pandemic, some parents don't want to take their kids to nursery; some of the parents have kids who are in primary school, so they have to be at home; virtual learning/homeschooling… it's all just a lot. How do you now have to balance work/mummy time/spending time with the kids/being a wife/ and all of the other hats that we have to wear as women? Primarily, when it comes to the kids-- how can you fit in time; like designated time for them when there is so much to do in the day? How do you get that balance in? Because as much as you are at home, you're working, or you're cleaning, or you're doing something where your attention is deviated. Our kids always want to do something with us, or tell us something-- how do you fit in that attention time? It was just a thought-- it must...

Children will go through particular regressions... the most common one that I'm aware of is sleep regression.. but that is due to probably a growth spurt, or a sudden change in the house.. Either way.. what I'm particularly relating regression to is nursery. Jeremiah didn't go to nursery for nearly a month because of the fact that his brother had a bad cold.. so basically he didn't go in the last week of term, and then it was Christmas holidays. So when he came back, it was like we had to start all over-- when he was first settling in, he was having a hard time entering the nursery; he would have tantrums, be shouting and screaming.. and this took a couple of weeks. Literally maybe last week it has improved.. but it didn't register that he was gone for nearly a month; and just after a month he regressed? Isn't Easter Holidays about 2 and a half weeks? I hope it doesn't happen again? Have you had this experience with your child where maybe you've had to k...

      "Do not walk ahead of us please!" "Ok mummy!" He skips along the pavement, taking every chance he can to put his foot in all of the puddles that he sees. "Stop!" She freezes with her eldest son holding her hand. "Did you not see the car that was coming! I keep telling you to not walk so far! You need to sit in the buggy now. Ok?" He starts to cry.

It is a big task to go for your weekly or monthly shop with 2 little kiddies thinking the supermarket is a big playground where they can run around, slide, slide their toy car, shout-- and touch everything on the shelves. lol. But my thing is; when other people see this, do they think that we can't handle our children? or, that they're being 'naughty'? or misbehaving? I went for a quick shop to my local Tesco with my two boys and they were running through every aisle of the shop, (and this is the HUGE Tesco, not the Tesco express!) they really thought it was a playground. I'm shouting their names because they're running so far ahead of me; one is saying 'Mummy that way!' and that way being the way where the toys are. And I went to Tesco quite early in the morning, so there wasn't a lot of people in the shop; and here's me shouting down the place at my kids. Oh Lord. One lady did stop me and go "Is it two boys you have?" I went 'Yes...

I had a very teachable moment the other day when I was out with youngest, Matthew. I was taking Jeremiah to nursery, and that day it was particularly cold, probably like 0 degrees, no lie. He was sitting in the buggy and was telling me "Mummy, warm!" And he kept saying it over and over and over-- and I did not have ANY idea what he meant.  I was like 'Are you hot?" and he went "No!" "Mummy, warm!" And we were going back and forth as I was walking back to the bus stop. When we got on the bus, I put him on my lap, he held out his hand and went "Mummy, warm!" and started to cry. The lightbulb went PING in my head and I went "Oh!! Your hands are cold!"  He nodded his head. So I put his hands in mine to keep them warm and told him that we'd get his gloves when we get home. When we got home and we got the gloves I didn't hear "Mummy warm!" again. There are times where I really don't get what they say, but it...