Saturday, 28 January 2012

Absent

 Proud Milo wearing his rucksack, waiting for Daddy to come pick him up

Today my little sausage (as I like to fondly call my Milo) left to go on holiday with his dad for a week. I'd love to say that these stretches apart are getting easier but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems that the more he grows and develops, the stronger our bond becomes and therefore the more torn I am when he's not around. 

It's one of the realities of shared parenting that can be both a blessing and a horror. On the one hand I appreciate the chance to get some solid time to work, visit friends, do up Milo's bedroom, work on the apartment etc etc but on the other hand I won't get to kiss his chubby cheeks, cuddle up to him on the sofa or dance with him in the kitchen after dinner (a new addition to our routine of late).

This is the 3rd time that Milo's been away from me for a longer length of time now and I am getting more used to the drill of what to do. I generally keep his door closed because otherwise just looking at his empty bed saddens me. I keep myself super busy and fill my days with work, errands, meeting people and the like and I make the most of my evenings by going out to whatever possible. At least this time around I actually have a bit of money to go out with!

Fellow single parents out there, what do you do in times like this? 

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Friday, 27 January 2012

Imitation - The Sincerest Form of Flattery?!

 Milo, rocking the Mickey Mouse Pyjamas

Yesterday morning, 2 hours after dropping Milo off at nursery, I received a phone call informing me that Milo seemed to be under the weather and they recommended that I come pick him up. I needed a bit of time as I was heavy in to a jewellery making session, which involves large amounts of beads, wires, chains, boxes, tools and the like to be scattered all over my sofa, so I needed to clear all that up before a toddler's roaming hands came near the sofa area! Off I trundled to nursery to be met by a rather cheerful and exuberant child. Now I do believe that he's not 100% well as he isn't eating as much as usual plus he's taken naps at home which have been unheard of in the last months but he is certainly full of beans and is far from the ill little thing he was made out to be. Nonetheless I've actually rather enjoyed having some solid time with him which doesn't happen all that often and I have especially been making the most of it as as of tomorrow afternoon, I will be Milo-less for 6 days with him taking a trip with his dad and his dad's girlfriend.

 Breakfast at the local Turkish Cafe 'Zimt & Mehl'

The last two days with Milo have actually been very pleasant. We've played, we've 'stickered' (I don't know when this became a verb to me but somehow it has), we've watched 'Cars 2' (twice) and we even searched for red squirrels at the playground this morning at a rather unpleasant -1 degrees. Milo was seemingly unbothered whereas I was very bothered by the temperature! Along with the extra time and cuddles and kisses of the last days I have also gotten to witness some very funny behaviour from my little sausage. He's in two strong phases right now. The first being a ''yes, no'' phase in which he constantly changes his mind when you ask him what he wants. For example:

Me ''Milo, would you like some orange juice?''
Milo: ''yes''
I motion to hand him the orange juice...
Milo ''I don't want orange juice''
I motion to take the orange juice away
Milo ''oooorrrraaaannnnggge jjjjuuuuuiiiiicccceeee!''
Me ''you just said you don't want the orange juice! Do you want the orange juice?''
Milo ''no''

etc etc

Of course I have had to get very strict with this. I now give him a max of 3 chances and that's it. Should it continue, I will lower the chances until his first answer is final. We'll see how that goes down!

 Playground 'fun' in -1 degrees!

The other phase is imitation. Now, we've been through the whole fake phone calls and finger wagging whilst telling me off kind of thing. Loved both of those! Today however it's gone in to a new form and now he's playing my roll of making sure I do things properly. For example, whilst at the dinner table, Milo kept getting down from his seat, coming over to where I was sat and saying ''pass auf Mama. Nicht unter fallen Mama!!'' (''watch out mummy, don't fall down mummy!!'') and then pushing my glass to a 'safer' position on the table. This comes from Milo's tendancy to want to have his glass placed as close to the edge of the table as possible and me (and his dad and the nursery) constantly telling him to move his glass to somewhere safer so it won't get spilled. It was so cute. He did it about 4 times or so and each time he looked very serious and concerned and placed his hand up, palm facing me when he said ''watch out!''. He also announces very loudly when he's off to go get something from his room or the living room and tells me over and over to wait for him and that he'll be right back. All these little behaviours melt my heart! It's so cute! I remember how much I was looking forward to his speech coming along so that we could converse and although it has taken a little longer to get there I am absolutely loving it and making the most of each and every chance at a conversation. Precious!

Here are some articles on children's learning my imitation of parents for those of you curious to read more about it. The first is more of an in-depth psycological study, the others are more general observations on the subject:



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Thursday, 26 January 2012

My Things to Do Before I Turn 30 Bucket List

Whilst bored and looking through Facebook at random links (it was a Milo-free day), I came across a 'What to Do Before You Hit 30 list'. It came from the head tattooist of Miami Ink (you can read it here if you're curious) and mentioned some interesting and some downright unlikely things to do. My fave's of the bunch were:
  • Get a tattoo - well of course I like this one and course I have done this many times over already
  • Drive your dream car - this one sounds like fun but considering I'm a bit of a pauper and I can't drive, don't think this one's for me!
  • Swim with Sharks - again, one I'd like to partake of but not likely before I hit 30 due to forsaid pauper status
The list did get me thinking though as I have seen a few going around and being in my 29th year I have thought about whether or not to do one myself. I figure why not?!

I've thought long and hard about this list and it's a tough one. I want to only really include things that are realistic and achieveable otherwise what's the point plus having stupudly only just started this at 29 years and 5 months, I've not got a whole lot of time left to tick each item off.
  • Travel to another city within Germany
  • Write a Children's Book and have sent it around to publisher's
  • Take a dance class (also something that terrifies me but I like to test myself)
  • Bake a cake
  • Have my jewellery featured in a magazine
  • Do a 'Miss Bea wants' photoshoot (of someone else wearing my jewellery, not me!)
  • Eat at 'Nocti Vagus' (the dark restaurant in Berlin where you are completely blind whilst eating)
  • Ride a horse through the Grunewald (Green Forest)
  • Make at least 3 items from my Design Sponge book or their website
How does this list look to you? Seems kind of short to me I guess but I can't think of what else to include. Any ideas?




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Wednesday, 25 January 2012

An Apple A Day...Or a Break?

Once again I've been on a bit of a blog hiatus of late. No need to take it personally, I've been in the main staying away from most of my online ''comitments'' and have pretty much been ignoring Facebook, Twitter and the like. I've been a tad overloaded these days. I spent 3 days as 'Miss Bea' (my jewellery making 'me') at 'Toast & Jam' vintage fair here in Berlin, 3 wonderful but very tiring days. There were some great high points including meeting some fabulous people, recieving heartwarming feedback on my jewellery (always good to hear) and I have had a couple of interesting offers to sell my jewellery in some shops throughout Germany that I am working on right now. Here's a photo from the 'Toast & Jam' homepage, not the most flattering picture but I was really proud to be put on there!


Since the fair finished things haven't exactly calmed down. I had an important meeting with the Job Center to prepare for and get through, lots of online sales to prepare, package and send and I had a group of mums at my place yesterday for a bit of a business networking event. Today I am taking a lazy day though. I've realised I need to slow down for a couple of days after having a couple of nose bleeds, which I get in times of high stress, and I actually had some really bad chest pains the other day which I believe were also related. Today I have ordered myself to slow down. I've spent the morning in bed watching ER (ahhhh bliss), I'm abour to package up the latest sales, will pick up Milo at 3 and we'll have a lazy afternoon together. He's going away with his Dad on Saturday for 6 days so I need to make the most of my little boy before I don't see him for a prolonged peiod!


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Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Tattoo Therapy Part III


I am happy to say that the new tattoo's are finally finished after the first leg of the work was started shortly before Christmas (see previous post here). I am really happy with the results and thought I'd publish the pics for those of you who like tattoo's (I know they're not for everyone). Here goes (please keep in mind, the pics are from the day they were done so of course they are still in the healing process)...

Je ne regrette rien Tattoo




Miss Bea wants and Cherry Blossom Tattoo 
('Miss Bea wants' is the name of my jewellery business by the way in case you are wondering!)






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Monday, 16 January 2012

Meal Planning Monday (16th January 2012)


After a massive failing to manage my time well enough to plan my week's meals ahead, let alone to write about them on the blog, I am working my way back in to the good books with this week's meal plan. I found in the end that the last one I wrote didn't quite add up to enough for the week so this time around I have added in an extra recipe.

In a related note, I read today that, in the UK, new guidlines have been written targeting under fives food consumption with the hope to influence nurseries (daycares) and of course parents, to start their children off on the right (and healthy) foot so to speak. If you want to read more about it check out the article I read here and for those of you who have fussy eaters at home (whether the kids or the adults I guess!), read this for some tips.

Right, back to the point. Here's what I've come up with meals-wise for this week:

So-simple Spaghetti Bolognese recipe here
One pan Summer Eggs recipe here
Sweet Potato & Spinach Bake recipe here
Saucy Sausage Pasta recipe here
Smoke Salmon, Watercress (replacing with Ruccola) & Horseradish Pasta recipe here

Keep an eye out on the 'Workingberlinmum' Facebook page for photo's of the results and any tips I might add for cooking the dishes...Workingberlinmum Facebook Page and don't forget to head on over to the  'At Home with Mrs M' blog (the creator of  'Meal Planning Monday' ) for other great recipe ideas. 

What are you going to be eating this week?

I love to read your comments so please feel free to let me know what you think...

Friday, 13 January 2012

Bedtime Delay Tactics

Along with the other rather unpleasant sides of Milo's current ''phase'' (see my post from Friday 6th Jan if you are new to this blog or haven't read it), Milo is becoming the master of bedtime delay tactics. I've had experiences with this with him before but with a few more months under his belt he is becoming quite the professional and each night is becoming a frustrating battle of wills. He's used every excuse under the sun including:
  • needing a poo - Twice I took him to the toilet and both times he sat on it for a mere second, if that and then announced ''finished''. Haven't fallen for that one again!
  • ''drink'' - this is a regular. He will often suddenly yell drink right at the end of his bedtime routine. Now being prepared for this, I make sure I have a cup with some water in near by just in case and I do offer it to him one time but just one time. Any more then that and I know he's just delaying rather then actually being thirsty.
  • tidy up - sometimes now, when he goes to his bookshelf to choose which book to read before bed, he'll purposely pull out a few and will then say that he has to ''tidy up'' the books before getting in to bed. Saw through that lie pretty quickly!
  • Kisses - this is tonights new one. Usually, once he's lying in bed, I'll sing him a song and then give him a kiss. Tonight he decided that one kiss just wasn't going to be enough and so he wanted many kisses. I got as far as 4 and then told him that's enough. Tomorrow he'll have to put up with just the one. 
I'm sure there have been many other tactics but these are the ones that instantly spring to mind.  Whilst it always feels like a bit of a battle, there is a part of me that sits back and is impressed with the ingenuity of it all! These toddlers really are little geniuses!

For those of you who are going through similar experiences right now or those who have this all ahead of them, here's a few tips from parenting websites to have a read of. Any of you who have some tips of your own you can give, feel free to share in the 'comments' section below.

6 Tips to Get Your Toddler to Bed Fast - Parenting HQ
How to Halt Bedtime Delay Tactics - Parentdish


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