Peter Callum Pan

Kids are such wonderful funny creatures. A few months ago Callum saw Peter Pan for the first time. He spent the next couple weeks going round singing Never Smile At A Crocodile and calling Daz Tinkerbell and me Captain Hook, well untill Daz put him in his place and I (quite rightly) became Tinkerbell. Then leading up to Christmas he became enamoured by Dr Who, mostly down to the fact that his cousin Alex is mad about Dr Who. One day we were in Woolworths and Callum saw a black Dalek costume and asked for it. I suggested he wait a little while until after Christmas and we'd see if it would be in the sale because jeez louise those things are costly! Much to Callum's delight a couple weeks into the New Year and we found one, this time a brown/gold one, in the slaes for £8! Bargain! It seemed that Callum's phase of the builder, policeman, fireman costume had gone to the next level... and the more expensive level. But hey he had fun showing the Dalek to his cousin Alex who has a Cyberman costume and they caused havoc together.

Now we come to Friday just gone. It was the last day of half term and we decided to go and visit Daz at work, from the new house it's a ten minute bus ride and there are plenty of shops in Ilford. Callum was over the moon to be going to see Daddy at work and added bonus that Grandad "Grumps" Steve worked there too. After a while of Callum terrorizing, hell who am I kidding, wooing over more like, the girls at the office I took Callum off to look in Woolworths at the toys. At the top of the escalators, before we get to the cars there are the dress up costumes. Callum asks is we can look and asks for a Power Rangers costume, but he's on a Power Rangers ban at the moment so I said no. Then the two of us at the same time spied the Peter Pan costume. It was a must!!!

Now here is the funny thing about Callum, unless it's a toy car he won't have any interest in the item once it's bought until a day or two later, he isn't one of those that always wants to rush home and put the dress up outfit on. It's like he has to spend a day at least thinking up a cool story/game to go along with the new outfit. So it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that he donned the Peter Pan outfit, except he wasn't Peter Pan he was Peter Callum Pan. And what does every hero need? Yep that's right an arch nemesis which turned out to be Mummy Hook with her gentleman's umbrella (one of those that has the curly hook end). While Daz was out getting beer supplies the battle of all battles was had. Peter Callum vs Mummy Hook (who occasionally became Mummy Wendy so as to refix the costume to Peter Callum). That Peter Callum showed that he was no coward custardly yellow hero but a fighting spirit one. We battled and chased all over the house and until that Daz came home and became Tinker Daddy I was holding my own.

Needless to say lots of exhausting fun was had and I even managed to get Peter Callum Pan to pose for some photos.

Commuter Cam Challenge

Along with others I was set a challenge by Tyler at General Admission to photograph and blog about my commute to work. Seeing as how my job is Full Time Mum I don't really have a commute but I do have a school journey. Alas though that would have a few difficulties as in this day and age in England (and I assume it will most likely be like this elsewhere in the world) you have to be very careful of what or to be more precise whom photos are taken of. It would cause a big problem to take photos on the bus and near Callum's school. On Friday Callum had the day off so I commuterblogged us exploring our new neighbourhood, hey it's still part of my job and I did try as best I can to get in photos of part of our commute to school. Also Tyler Blogs about others commutes that you can read about here and has links to others blogs.

First of we need to get ready to go out. Callum chose his outfit himself so hence the green and blue mixed together. Here he is taking a break from the exhausting work of putting your socks on.





Once dressed it was time to head on out. Next to check the weather as snow was predicted. Even thought it was beautiful blue skies it was freezing cold.



Now we're off... no we're not... yes we are. Those with kids will know how they are, we had to make sure we had the correct toy car with us for our journey.

Our New Home, yep it needs a paint job! Oh and we have a King's Head above our front door, they alternate down the road between Kings and Queens.


Yes and the windows need cleaning. Anyway back to our journey. I don't have a driving licence and if I did we don't have a car so we do lots of walking, using of buses and when I'm brave enough I'll get on to using the trains. Our new road is a long long long road which is a shock to before as we lived in the middle of a town centre five seconds walk from everything. Here is the long long long road.


You'll notice a few road/street signs posted on this commute. That's down to Callum it's his new thing I have to tell him what they all mean and explain it all to him. This one is just down the road from us. Callum also said we had to take a photo of it to show Daz and to explain to him about it all and the usefulness of it.


An important part of parenting is knowing where the nearest park and playground is. They are a life saver for energetic kids and if it's a quiet day you can always have a go yourself.

Right at the end of the road here is a green gate to the park. We didn't go this day, like I said it was very cold and we were on a mission to find the nearest sweet shop and buy sweets. But we did go the other week and even though it wasn't quiet it didn't stop Joyce my mother-in-law from going down the slide herself, you'd never guess how old she is.






More signs and a very smashed up car, which Callum was convinced we would be allowed to fix ourselves and then keep.




And so our journey continues. People find the strangest of places to park their bikes, more street signs, the park, plus we pass the bus that Daz gets to work, well home too.






Right so what was our mission on this journey? Oh yes, SWEET SHOP!! We found it. Also it turns out it's the Off Licence that Daz has been going to, the reason why? If he times it right he can jump on the bus (photographed above) there and back and cut his journey by ten minutes! I didn't get a great photo of the shop because I had a Callum monkey monster who had had his sweets bought and didn't want to wait around for photos being taken. The shop did however sell Halal sweets which I never really thought about before.




That road is as long as our road and leads all the way down to the High Road, I won't bore you with a million photos of it and I can't show the photo of the personal number plate as just as I clicked someone walked in front of it. No names mentioned.... CALLUM!!! And by that time I was worried the owner might wonder why some strange woman was outside photograhing their car. However I should show a photo of our mode of transport for the day. Spider-Car! And actually I changed my mind and I'll show the personalised numberplate.






Eventually we enter the High Road! To the right we have Seven Kings Railway Station. Next to this station you have a pub called The Joker and over the road you have The Shannon Center but it may be a different name now. As you can probably guess from the names both Irish entertainment hot spots. So much for the love of the Irish these two places were well reknowed for at the end of the evening both spots emptying and huge brawls happening.



A glance through the wooden panels shows the train track. When I worked up London this was the line that I used to get to and from work. Then we spot our bus that we get home, the good old 86 bus, this bus has been on many an occasions a life saver.






And because it's time for me to put dinner on and my backside is aching from sitting on the floor for so long typing this up here is a bunch of the rest of the journey. I'll edit and update this entry later on but for the time being you'll have to just do with the photos.

The Love of a Child

It seems after having a little bit of a rough year in 2007 with Callum and his attitude towards me a new corner has been turned. He still has his moments but he is mostly back to his loving self. If I'm a little bit ill he'll kindly inform me that morning that it is his job to take care of me that day, especially if it's a day that Daz has to go to work. Callum seems to love this new found responsibility and will ask me every five minutes if I'm ok, tell me to sit down and rest and ask if I want a drink or something to eat. My own little boy version of Florence Nightingale. It's nice to have him back, although he is still very much all about Daddy but I've read the book Raising Boys and know this is something that happens with boys.

Sing Me A Lullaby Please Mummy

From day one, as it is with most parents, I've always sang to Callum. When it was those early days and he had terribly awful colic it was soothing to him. Different songs would suit him at different times of the day. If it was mid morning something a bit more rocky would be his taste, actually can you call Busted rocky? Oh well that sort of stuff. But in the evenings it was always lullaby's he liked, most noticeably were Twinkle Twinkle, Rock A Bye Baby and the Mockingbird Song. Also one tune Callum always loved was the little tune played by Baby. Baby is this cute little blue teddy that has a wind up lever on the side and then plays this tune (well it did until Callum broke him). He was bought for Callum by my parents the day he was born and was always being played and I inadvertently would hum along.

Through the years Callum has always looked upon me singing with loving adoring eyes and it warms my heart to see how much he loves me singing, even though I have the worst voice in the whole galaxy, or further! Sometimes he'll join in but at bedtime he'll by lying there and call out to me "Mummy please sing me a song." so I do. How can I resist seeing that look on his face and the little smile of happiness.

I love that little boy of mine so very much.

Spider-Fish!

We have a new member to the White household, his name as the title says is Spider-Fish. Here's what happened.

On Friday gone (think it was 14th September) Callum and I went to Pets at Home as Toot and Beep our two goldfish needed some oxygen tablets. While there as always we looked at all the other pets there and the fish. Callum then asked if he could have another fish. I said we'd have to check with Daddy, to which he said ok. So yesterday the three of us headed back to Pets At Home. The first thing we decided was that we'd have to think about whether we'd get a new tank for all three fish to go in together, or should we be brave and let Callum have one of those little round ones in his room with the fish? Of course I was silly and asked Callum what he would prefer, yes I know duh dumb question! *laugh* Anyway the next size up tanks were a bit pricey, we would have been looking at around £30 just for the tank and I knew we'd be able to get a little one for under £5 in another shop. After much contemplation we headed of elsewhere to take on the brave option of Callum having a fish in his own room and bought a new tank for £1.99, some pebbles, a little house and all for around £5- £6! By the time we'd done all this though it was too late to head back to the pet shop and so we told Callum and him and I would go this morning.

And that's what we did. Just before lunchtime we took a little stroll over to Pets At Home. While making our way there we talked about what name to give the new fish. Originally Callum suggested Toot two, then it went to Mr Fishy (he's on a bit of a Mr Men thing at the moment) to other names which I can't recall now. By the time we'd reached the pet shop no suitable name had been agreed.

Callum pretty quickly decided which fish he wanted, a pretty yellow/gold fish with white fins and tail and a lively little thing too. Having had the fish caught, bagged and various plants bought we headed back home and had more talk of a name. And that's when Callum decided on Spider-Fish, in his own words, he's just like Spider-man but he's a fish so we'll call him Spider-Fish. Now I'm not sure if Daz and I have the geekiest child ever or the coolest. Maybe I should add that he's also since getting home been going round singing "Spider-Fish, Spider-Fish" to the tune of the Spider-man song. *laugh*

I just hope that Callum shows Daz and I how responsible he can be and that we won't be woken up in the morning to Callum creeping into our bed with instead of Big Brown Bear, Spider-Fish!

Dancing on the Tables

Last night Daz, Callum and I were watching Lord of the Rings Return of the King. It was at the beginning. One scene is Pippin and Merry dancing on a table in a pub with tankards of, well whatever they drink. Callum turned round to Daz and goes:

"Daddy when you and Uncle Martyn go down the pub do you dance on tables?"

Daz laughed and said that they didn't to which Callum replied in a disappointing voice:

"Oh." after a few seconds silence he then asked when he could go down the pub with Daz and Uncle Martyn. He's so desperate to go down the pub with them both.

What Day Is It?

The funny and great things about children is the little games they come up with, or little sayings. The newest one with Callum started last week although I'm sure he's done this before.

It's called "Today is "so and so" day. Last week it was Lets do lots of wees day, which involved Callum having lots to drink and then going to the toilet lots. He found this highly amusing and kept sneeking into the fridge for a drink or helping himself to a cup of water from the kitchen sink. Thankfully it didn't continue through the night. We've had other "days" too. Today though is the best I think... it's Let's Give Lots of Kisses to Mummy day which has involved Callum chasing me round the flat to give me lots of kisses, apparently this too is part of the day.

I wonder what day it will be tomorrow?

Doctor Callum

One game that Callum loves playing is Doctor Mummy/Daddy, Patient Callum although sometimes it's the other way round. Most of the time Callum likes to play this game when (1) He's feeling a bit poorly or he has hurt himself or (2) He's trying to get out of going to sleep.

If he's the patient he'll start off by going "Doctor Mummy I need to talk to you." and then he'll either lie on his bed or one of the sofas. Next he'll tell you what the matter is and you have to listen to his heart, check his knees and look down his throat for all those germs. It's very sweet. You then have to prescribe him his treatment which is usually a plaster on a cut and plenty of keeping still and sleep.

Yesterday morning it was Callum's turn to be Doctor. While I was pottering about in the kitchen I could hear Daz and Callum chatting and laughing in the bedroom. Then Callum came rushing up to me "Mummy Mummy, Daddy isn't well." so I went and saw what the matter was.

Apparently he had diagnosed Daz with... wait for it... Big Belly! Poor Daz! Callum found it highly amusing. The treatment? Daz had to stay in bed all day. He did try to point out to Callum that this wouldn't help the "big belly" but Callum was adamant that was what Daz had to do.

Germs = Germany

That's what Callum thinks.

Last night England played Germany in a friendly football game. Callum asked if he could stay up and watch the game and after (1) telling him there was no blue team (2) telling him which countries were playing and (3) Daz and I being assigned a sofa each for each country (I was England, Daz was Germany) we all sat down to watch the game. It hadn't long been started when Callum turned round to Daz and asked him "Daddy, does Germany have Germs?" *laugh*. He seemed to be under the impression that because Germany contained the word Germs that is why it was called that name. Out of the mouth of babes as they say. Of course (after we stopped laughing) we told him no.

He didn't quite make it to half time before falling asleep all cuddled up with me but he did see the England goal and shout "Yeahhhhhhh!!". And this morning... I had to tell him England lost, which he didn't believe. I think he has a long way to go with being an English Football Fan but he's getting there, just needs to learn that yes England do loose... and a lot.

Oh also the rules for Callum cheering and scoring:

England - Yeaaahhh!!! Goooaaaaalll!!!

Germany - Boooo, but we still love you Uncle Pip.

Run Run As Fast As You Can...

Run Run As Fast As You Can
You Can't Catch Me I'm The Gingerbread Man

I don't know when Callum started going round telling us this little saying but for as long as I can remember that boy of mine has loved Gingerbread Men! He especially loves the ones that have smarties as the buttons and if there is a choice of colours at the bakers it will always be the blue smarties buttons that gets chosen. I myself am not too keen on them, I think it's the ginger flavour.

But the story? Yes that's good and a grand lesson you learn... don't be a little twerp in life and you won't be eaten up be a clever fox. I'm actually quite glad when The Gingerbread Man gets gobbled up, I know I'm wicked, but when he comes down to the basics isn't that what a Gingerbread Man is for... and surely he does get his just desserts. I remember reading earlier this year and article in Junior magazine about Fairy Tales and how some parents change the endings, of the "horrible" bits in them. It reminded me of an episode of Desperate Housewives when Lynn joins in helping out with the school production, I can't remember at the moment which Tale it was, and the head Mum wanted to change part of it ... aah I think it may have been Hansel and Gretal, and there was no pushing of the Witch into the stove. Lynn didn't think they should change the end and says about how will children learn things in life if parents go around making everything charming and smelling of roses. It's a good point I think. Children are amazing in their ability to understand things and they have a completely different outlook on things than us adults do. A child needs to learn the lessons in life and at the end of the day Fairy Tales/Fables are about those things. There are sometimes when you do feel there is an undertone that is not child suitable but that's the adult way of looking at it and a child will in most cases look at it in a different way. An example I'll give is Snow White (and here comes my comic book geekness reference). For those that don't know there is an amazingly awesome comic called Fables, written by Bill Wittingham (I hope I spelt that right), it takes all the "Fables" characters and tells a story but with a twist and a clever one. A spin off from this ongoing series was a Hardback story called 1001 Nights of Snowfall. It's a parody (is that the right word to use I wonder) of 1001 Arabian Nights and the main character (one of my favourites) is Snow White. Like the original story she tells her tales and one of them is about her and Prince Charming and the Seven Dwarfs. I will warn you if you read this you will find it hard to see those cute little Disney Seven Dwarfs in the same light, but it is in its own way a good story. Now I'm not going to go and read this to Callum but I would still read him the Disney version of Snow White and he would I bet not see any of the undertones that are hinted at in the 1001 Nights of Snowfall (somehow that all makes sense in my head, hopefully it does written down).

However I think sometimes you do have to draw a line. I remember a couple years ago reading Callum the Kippling Jungle Book I'd bought for a bargain price in Woolworths. The film is Daz' favourite so I thought it was time to introduce the story to Callum. The Jungle Book story itself is fine but afterwards in the book it has some other short stories. One of these was called something like Little Seal/White Seal. It started off OK and then as it progressed it slowly went into detail about seal clubbing. To say I was shocked is an understatement. There I was reading this story and the next line to be read was about a seal being clubbed to death and how the white snow turned red. So yeah definitely some stories aren't for reading to children.

In the end I think it's up to the parents judgment and what they feel comfortable with. Personally I don't mind The Gingerbread Man being eaten or the Witch being pushed into the stove, but I do draw the line at seal clubbing.

Also I have to add... because this is what started off this post... when Callum and I went out today he asked if he could have a Gingerbread Man from the bakers. I said as long as he was good when we went to get his school uniform he could... so you can imagine how disappointed he was when we went to the first bakers and they had none... and then when we went to the second one they still had none. Not even the offer of going to Asda's and buying the box of mini ones or making some ourselves turned that frown to a smile. So I have to now remember to ask Daz if there are any Smarties Gingerbread Men near where he works. How can you run out of Gingerbread Men?!?!?

OH ******

Callum was funny today. I could hear him muttering in our bedroom earlier today and it sounded like he was saying "Bugger". I didn't draw any attention to it and after a little while he came back into the front room. I asked him if he had been talking to me and he said:

"No, I was swearing Mummy. I was saying bugger which is naughty as it's swearing." all the time with his huge cheeky grin on.

I reply saying: "Yes it is swearing so we shouldn't say it really."

To which he replys: "I know. Bugger. Bugger. Bugger."

He's lucky he's so darn cute!

Busy like a Buzzing Bee.

What a busy last few days we've had. In short here is how they have been.

Friday - Callum and I went over Hainault Forest, we were over there for a good few hours and attempted to feed the crazy geese, walked round the lake, looked for the Teddy Bear's Picnic in the woods (but I think we were too noisy and scared them off), looked at and stroked the animals in the little farm section, had ice-cream and ran down hills. Very exhausting but wonderful.

Saturday - Daz, Callum and I met up with my sister Emma, Bro-in-law Martyn and Eloise and Alex. We went over to Harold Wood Park which then leads on to Pages Wood. It was a gloriously hot sunny day. We had fun in the playground, sat and had a picnic in which we're not sure may have been a golf practice area, went for a walk around Pages Wood, played Pooh Sticks, found a nice little area that was alongside the river where nobody else was where we played football and Frisbee and chilled out. It was a lovely afternoon although Daz and I are feeling a bit sore from our sunburn, we didn't realise just how hot it was.

Sunday - As my parents are away for my Dad's, Eleanor's and mines birthdays we had a little family thing yesterday for us to swap presents. It was a fantastic day full of sunshine, wine, food (and BBQ food at that!), presents, water fights, cake, and lots of laughter. It made me remember what a fabulous family I have.

So today I've been busy going through all the photos from these last few days. It seems I may have been a bit too click happy as there around 300 photos. Yes you did read that right, it averages out about 100 per day! Jeez maybe I need therapy.

When I've sorted through for some of my favourite photos I'll update here with them.

Teddy Bear's Picnic

If you go out in the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go out in the woods today
You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

It's amazing how a bed sheet, a blanket, some cushions and dining chairs can spark a few hours of fun but that's what happened today, not that we don't normally have fun in our home.

Now firstly they are some very important items needed. Here's the list that Callum told me and how they were important.

1. Two chairs (or if you have the room four chairs). These need to be placed a certain distance from each other so that there is enough room for at least one child and if that child is feeling generous one Mummy to fit through. Also you have to have them so that the backs are facing awasy from each other, very important! Another important thing to do if you don't use four chairs is make sure you have the chairs placed near some other piece of furniture so that can also be used in the tent making. Oh and another alternative to the chair tent is using your dining table. Move all the chairs out and drape sheets/blankets etc over the top of it and hanging down the sides, we usually call this the tentcave as it's move like that.

2. A large bed sheet. This needs to be drapped over the backs of the above mentioned chairs and if you are only using two dining chairs drap the sheet over the other piece of furniture used, so that you have enough room that when you are sitting inside the tent you are covered overhead.

3. A comfy blanket. This is to put on the ground in the tent so you have something cosy to snuggle up to.

4. Plenty of cushions. These are placed on top of the the blanket on the ground so it's even more comfortable to sit on. It's up to you how many cushions you use, sometimes it's one for each person/teddy bear.



5. Teddy Bears! Now the tent is built you need the next important thing, I mean you can't have a teddy bears picnic without the Teddy Bears can you?!? Depending on the size of the Teddy Bears, the size of the tent and anyone else coming on the picnic depends on how many Teddy Bears.

6. Books. Everyone knows that Teddy Bears like a good story read to them, so make sure you have a good selection of fun stories close by. Warning: No books and the Teddy Bears will eat all the cake!



7. Football. Sport is good for you.

8. Food and Drink. Anything that is easy to eat, transport and not messy is good. Today we had cucumber slices, carrot sticks, cocktail sausages, crisps, various fruits (apples, grapes and raisins are popular). Cartons of drinks are useful or a large bottle of water with long straws.

9. Bag for Rubbish. Everytime we have a picnic be it indoors or outside Callum always makes sure we have a little carrier bag to put all the rubbish in. You can not litter the countryside, it doesn't look nice but it's also dangerous to wild animals.



10. Fun! Enough said.

I'm sure I'm missing stuff out and I'm bound to be reprimanded in years to come by Callum when he reads this of things I missed off.

Something I do want to do when I get time is to get some trees made. I've got a roll of lining wallpaper which I'm thinking I'll cut out tree shapes from, paint and hang on string or something from the ceiling or stick to the wall (not quite sure yet) so it does look like we're having a picnic in the woods.

So there's our lunchtime fun.

PS You Rock My World

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All Aboard the Duck Train

I just thought I'd share we you all something Callum did yesterday afternoon. He told me while describing it that the sun is sad because it's raining and that the gate is to stop anyone going onto the train track (the pencils laid out) so that they don't get run over by the duck train. The stars are part of a car, which is broken. I just love hearing how children interpret a picture and explain it to you.

Here's the picture.

Happy Birthday My Special Little Four Year Old Boy

It's Saturday the day before your Fourth Birthday and I'm sitting here while you and Daddy have gone out shopping for your birthday cake and I'm thinking back to four years ago when a very special thing happened in Daddy and mines life. I just wanted to let you know my darling how special and important to Mummy and Daddy you are. Sure you've bought us a lot of heartache and tears and annoyance but more importantly you have bought us the biggest joy in the whole wide world and we love you so very much. I don't think any other little boy could give the bestest of cuddles to match yours or the cheekiest of smiles to beat yours. You have this beautiful passion for life and fun which I hope you keep all your life and everyone you meet is drawn into your love for life and falls in love with you. It's been wonderful to see you grow up over these four years and see you go from this tiny little baby to this fun, loving, clever imaginative boy who has such a huge passion for cars and wants to be either a mechanic or policeman when he grows up, although you've told us you won't be a policeman that wears a hat as you don't like wearing hats all the time. This next year is going to have so much happening in it with you going to Big Boys School and us maybe moving home and I'm looking forward to taking this next step in life with you.

I wonder what cake you're trying to persuade Daddy to buy you. *laugh* You've been telling us all week that you would like a Dr Who one but I wonder if you see the Lightning McQueen one or if they have a Transformers one if you'll change your mind.

So will you remember this day when you're older I wonder. I suppose in case you don't I should comment on the big day. Last night Nanny Mary, Grandad Steve, Aunties Katie, Els and Frankie came round to give you your presents which once you got over your shyness (which I never understand!) you delved into with your typical lust for things. You had a good time and wanted to play with everything all at once. Then after they all went Daddy bathed you and I read you two stories (Dig Dig Digging and Choo-Choo Clickety Clack) and then you went off to sleep cuddling the Optimus Prime that Nanny Mary and Grandad Steve had got you. It was so adorable to see you asleep all cuddled up with it and I couldn't resist taking a photo of that precious moment.



This morning Daddy and I allowed you, in our family tradition of birthdays, to have a present early. It was a double Transformers set of (hang on I have to go and double check the names) Ultra Magnus and Skywarp. Transformers are you current thing at the moment, you've been watching the cartoons and playing with the Transformers you already have and any you didn't you named your normal cars after them. It's been fascinating to watch you do this and funny to hear your little stories. You have such a brilliant imagination. Daddy showed you how they both transformed (they aren't meant for a five year old child but we know you'll be clever enough to work out how they transform properly) and you both had fun flying and driving them around the flat and making "doooo" noises, I assume that is how the word is spelt. Tonight Daddy is going to show me how to transform them so that I can help you during the week when you have trouble. Should be fun and I promise to not break them.

This afternoon we have arranged if it doesn't rain to meet up over Hylands Park (you call it the park near playschool) with some of your friends to have fun and eat fairy cakes, hopefully also to sing Happy Birthday to you and maybe play some football. I'm really hoping the weather stays nice as we don't want you to be disappointed in not being able to go. The last few years when we've tried to do something on your birthday something has happened to allow it not to happen. Fingers crossed this year is different.

Well I've just spoken to Daddy who tells me you've picked out a Darlek Dr Who cake and he is just about to buy fairy cakes and be on his way home so I should go and iron your t-shirt you've picked out to where today.

Naughty Big Toe

The last couple months we've been decorating the flat ready to put it on the market. This morning while Callum was at playschool I managed to at long last finish painting the floor in our bedroom. Upon returning home from playschool I gave Callum strict instructions not to go in Mummy and Daddy's bedroom and told him it was because I'd painted the area near the doorway. We've been home from playschool for about 1.5 hours and it's taken him that long to at last get paint on him! But of course it isn't his fault, no it's the naughty big toe's fault for making him go into the bedroom. He does make me laugh with his excuses. It's like Callum's latest trick to not go to sleep at nighttime is that there is a Monster in his room that is going to eat me (that's me as in me Sarah, Mummy, not me as in Callum, little monkey monster maker up of excuses not to go to sleep) up. I just make out that I'm talking to the monster and he's just telling me he's trying to tickle me not eat me up.

Mr Spider!

Incy Wincy spider climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
Now Incy Wincy spider went up the spout again!

This morning we were woken up about 6.20am by Callum saying "Quick Quick! There's a spider! It's on the window! You've got to come and see!" After ascertaining that said (smart) spider was on the outside of the window I got out of bed to see it. For those that know our flat you'll remember that we have huge bay windows. Well Mr Spider (that is what Callum has named him, as he's also in a Mr Men/Little Miss stage) has spun his web across one of the side panels and if you catch the light at just the right angle you can see all the intricacies of his web. Fascinating stuff. Also because we're not having much of a summer and it's a bit windy every so often a little gust of wind will come along and blow him about and he stretches as big as he can and all in preparation in case he needs to mend his web.

I wonder how long Mr Spider will be living on our window? I doubt it will be as long as we had Peter Parker living on our fire-escape. He was a cool spider that we had living with us for a couple months when Callum was born. As Daz was still a smoker at the time he'd go outside and sit on the fire-escape, beer in one hand, cigarette in the other and a newspaper on his lap and have a smoke. Peter Parker would ocassionally spin down on a line and have a look at Daz and then slowly make his way up. Also PP would like to try and make me jump when late at night I would be bringing in the washing and quickly spin down just inches about my shoulder. Sadly though one day we woke up after a heavy downpour and PP was longer there. You'd never guess from this post that I have a fear of spiders but the thing is if they are outside my home I don't mind them. They just have to learn to be smart and not enter my home and if they do we'll be fine with each other.

Hopefully Mr Spider will stay smart and for the moment he's keeping Callum entertained.

Slideshow

Since I got my digital camera all those years ago I've become click happy. This of course does have its downfalls... mostly how much space those photos take up on your computer/laptop. I won't tell you the exact amount of photos currently on our laptop but I think it's round about a few thousand. Armed with this thought I have planned to try and upload as many as I can onto the photobucket site that we have so that they (hopefully) won't be lost. While at photobucket I noticed that they have added some cool little features one of them being slideshow.

So here (if it works) is a little sample of one the I created with a couple of my favourite more recent photos of Callum.

Robots in Disguise

Yep Transformers has hit the White House.

True to Callum form the release of the new Transformers movie has him with a new love although one that still encompasses his one true love of cars! The last few weeks Callum has been asking about us taking him to see the movie at the cinema but luckily Daz had some episodes on DVD which Callum has been lapping up, so we may not have a disappointed little boy when we don't take him. Also (as Daz and I... well mostly Daz, are such geeks) we have some Transformers comics. Most mornings Callum will come into our bedroom and bombard Daz with questions about the Transformers, such as "What is the yellow one called Daddy?" (by the way it's Bumblebee and Callum knows this full well, he just likes to ask Daz.) "What's the digger called Daddy?" (I have no idea the answer to this!) and so on and points them out in the comic he has chosen to bring in.

With all this and the cost of the actual toy Transformers costing so much that we haven't bought him any Callum has resorted to the next best thing. We have this huge toy bucket that is full to overflowing with Callum's small toy cars/vehicles. The last few days Callum has been going through this bucket and finding the vehicles that match up with the Transformers, mostly the Autobots, I've yet to hear him name any Decpeticons, and give them the right name. The red lorry he has is Optimus Prime, the green jeep he has is Hound and the yellow beetle car is Bumblebee. He then lines them all up in a row and makes the Transforming noises and pretends that they have transformed. It's so cute and adorable and each one has it's own different voice. Also along with the transforming noises Callum also sings part of the Transformers song. He makes up his own little battle scenes with them and "the other cars" and little stories. I shouldn't be surprised but I'm amazed at how much he has taken the Transformers to his little heart.

Hopefully he won't have outgrown them in a couple weeks as I've asked someone to get him the Transformers Dress Up costume for his birthday. Now that's going to bring on a whole new level of fun and stories.