Saturday 30 August 2014

Clearing Out

I recently spent two days transforming our home office from a junk room back into an office.  I've now moved on to the conservatory which is being changed from an unused and junk filled sitting room into a play room.  This has left me with piles of stuff that I've been trying to sell or give away with varying degrees of success.

A month or two ago, I tried to sell some good quality baby clothes to a local pre-loved shop.  They declined the lot without even looking, telling me that baby clothes didn't sell.  They were interested in one good-as-new toy but I declined the offer as I was sure I could get more on eBay.  The following day, I asked parents on a local Facebook page if they thought it was worth the hassle of trying to sell baby clothes.  Some said no, others advised me to do a nearly-new sale. My current approach is to dispose of what I can through the internet, then assess if I need to do a nearly-new sale.

I've tried various means of selling things online.  I've got mainly kids' things plus a few items of furniture to dispose of.  Facebook selling pages have proven a complete waste of time, though I managed to sell something to a friend via a Facebook status.  Friday-Ad proved brilliant for selling furniture - it went for the asking price, give or take £3 and the ads didn't cost me a penny.

I've put various things - mainly toys and baby equipment on eBay.  Some things haven't generated any interest.  Others have lots of watchers and a few bids.  My most popular item?  Used, slightly bobbled training pants.  Munchkin's old pants have three bids and nine watchers so far!
Would you pay good money for these pants?
There are some things I can't even give away.  I've put Munchkin's old changing mats and changing bag - all clean and perfectly useable, but by no means good-as-new on three Freecycle-type sites and no-one is interested. The problem with the changing bag might be that Boots give them away for free but I can't explain the changing mat thing.  So why do parents want to buy used... and I mean USED... pants when they don't want free changing mats? I don't get it, but those FLIP training pants we didn't get on with will be going on eBay as soon as I have time to take pictures.

Monday 18 August 2014

What's in a name?

The Office of National Statistics announced the top 100 baby names for 2013 last week.  I'm trying to decide how I feel about Munchkin's name slipping out of the top 100.  Part of me is pleased that she has an unusual name.  Part of me is disappointed that others don't share my good taste ;-).  When it comes to names, I don't like anything too popular or too obscure, which is probably why I ended up with a name that was at seventy-something in the chart when I had my baby.  I'm somewhat glad we're not intending to have more children, by the time I've ruled out the above, ignored anything that I consider too old fashioned, any name that was obviously borrowed from a celebrity and anything that I don't think sounds like a "real" first name, there's not much left.  I don't want to offend anyone by saying this, just because I wouldn't chose your child's name for mine or vice versa doesn't mean either of them have "bad" names.

I've been encouraging Munchkin to name her soft toys and dolls - the above rules do not apply when you're two and a half - but this isn't going too well.  She's happy to use the names that certain characters came with such as Peppa Pig and Baby Annabell and also the names that Angmering Daddy and I gave certain toys before she could talk, such as Ronnie the rhino and Alan the dog.   However, when I've asked her to name a toy recently, she's gone for the obvious, dogs are called "Doggy" and rabbits are called, "Bunny".  She won't budge on this one, if I try to come up with other suggestions, she says, "No, Mummy."

Poor Alan - so-named because he came from Ikea, where everything is put together with an Allen key - has been in the wars a bit recently.  He nearly got taken to lost property after Munchkin left him in soft play at a garden centre.  He went in the washing machine at the weekend because he smelt.  Today he's been checked for nits.  I had to check Munchkin's hair because nits are going round her nursery.  I gave her the all-clear, but she in turn checked me, Alan, Princess Peppa and several items of bathroom furnishings.

Apart from names and nits, we've had a relatively quiet week.  We've been to several parks and had a non-spectacular lunch out.  Weather permitting, we might go to the Play Day at Homefield Park on Friday.


Tuesday 12 August 2014

Little Monsters Bash

On Saturday, we went to Little Monsters Bash, at Stanmer Park in Brighton.  This was a festival for young children, arranged in aid of Tree of Hope - a charity that helps sick children.  Someone sent me details a while ago on Facebook but it didn't sound that exciting until I checked out the the line up.  The headline acts were Heaven for the under tens. 

Munchkin got to meet Peppa and George but she wasn't expecting them to be six feet tall, and was a little scared!  Captain Barnacles and Quasii from The Octonauts were also there, as was Yo Jo Jo (or whatever his name is) from WayBaloo.
George doing a meet and greeet
There were some excellent shows on the main stage - most of which repeated several times, meaning that we had a chance to see what was on elsewhere.  Alex Winters from CBeebies was the compere.  I think it's perhaps the only time he's been able to give a big up to shows from Nick Jr without falling foul of his employer. I really enjoyed Katy Ashworth's band.  I like a bit of live music and they were talented and entertaining.  Munchkin enjoyed watching Go Go Go... or the Go Go People as she prefers to call them.  We didn't bother with all the main acts, since we thought Dick and Dom, and the times table rapper amongst others, were too grown up for her. 
Katy and her band on the main stage



There was much more going on than I have room to mention here.  The only marquee that we  managed to get to was the Story Tent.  The Crafts Tent looked good, as did some of the other activities including Sing and Sign, and a kiddies' disco.  There were various stalls dotted around, the most popular of which sold animal shaped helium balloons. In addition to all the shows and stalls, there were kiddies' favourites such as a bouncy castle and face painting; Munchkin was a happy, busy girl. 

Little Monsters Bash wasn't cheap, it was around £15 a person, even with a Groupon discount.  However, you got a lot for your money.  I believe parking was an additional £5, but we didn't need to pay this.  2014 was  the festival's first year and I hope it continues for many more.  My only criticisms would be some minor logistical ones: although there were plenty of toilets there wasn't enough toilet paper, and there weren't enough children's options on the catering vans.  Given that picnics weren't allowed, an outlet selling sandwiches would probably have gone down well.  I'm also undecided on the merits of a mobile petting zoo.  Do meerkats like spending significant amounts of time in transit, and setting up a temporary home away from their normal territory?

Munchkin's social life seems to be continuing apace over the summer holidays so I'll no doubt be writing more blogs on activities.  It makes a change from potty training, which incidentally is completely done.  She doesn't even wear nappies at night now.  I just need to find a buyer for those expensive cloth training pants.

Friday 1 August 2014

Beds, Water and Monster Munch

Today, Munchkin has mostly been cute.  Her day didn't get off to the best start as she spilt water all over her bed.  When I told her we were going to see her Pops, she said she didn't want to.  She changed her mind when I told her she could take lots of toys, and appeared to ask if she could take her, "Monster Munch" with her.  To my knowledge, Munchkin has never eaten a Monster Munch and we definitely haven't had any in the house since she was born.  I eventually realised that was saying, "instruments", so we packed her toy guitar.

My step-dad -her Pops- is currently incapacitated, so we went to his home in Haywards Heath to keep him company.  He's snapped his Achilles tendon, or Hercules tendon as he prefers to call it!  Munchkin maintained that she didn't want to talk to Pops for most of the journey.  Thankfully she changed her mind but every other person we met in Haywards Heath was subjected to the silent treatment.

Since Pops had another visitor for a couple of hours, we decided to leave them to it for a while and visited Victoria Park.  Not having been to the park for many years, I'd forgotten it had a paddling pool.  There was no way Munchkin was going to stay out of it, so I let her go in in her T-shirt and knickers.  Other than the paddling pool, which I think is technically a splash pad, the playground has a variety of equipment including two slide/climbing frame combo's, a sit-on roundabout, rockers and a selection of swings.  Munchkin loved the roundabout and the minature swing.  In addition to regular swings, Victoria Park has a tiny "big girl swing" which is perfect for toddlers who don't want to be pushed on baby swings.

Munchkin managed to drench her T-shirt in the paddling pool so I took advantage of the fact the park is next to the town centre to buy her a new top.  Luckily it was a hot day, as I was marching around town with a bare-chested toddler.  I bought her a little floral number in JoJo Maman Bebe's sale.  She was so taken by it that she didn't want to take it off tonight and is excited that I've told her she can wear it again tomorrow.


Once she was fully clothed, we returned to the park for an ice cream in Tory's Cafe.  This is a new addition since my days as a Haywards Heath resident.  There's a pleasant outside seating area surrounded by gardens.  In fact, the whole park is more landscaped than I remember.  There is also a skate park for the older ones.  Perhaps skate park is a misnomer, since it was full of scooters and BMX bikes.

It's likely we'll be back, with a towel and a swimsuit next time.  Munchkin's day went pretty well.  At bedtime, she said, "Mummy I want to keep you."
"Where do you want to keep me?" I asked.
"In my bed," came the reply.