Mummy & Moose
clapping, napping and yapping our way through the day

Moose Visits The Hairdresser (and nobody got bitten!)

boy having a haircut
The boy has some sort of Rapunzel gene. 

Moose is 2 years old and has always had lots of hair. He was born with a shock of dark locks and despite my best efforts at home the most I have managed is to keep his fringe in check. He did go to a hairdresser once before when he was a little over a year old but it didn’t go well. 

On that occasion he refused to sit down, refused to sit still and no amount of funky car shaped toddler chair was going to persuade him that letting the (by now) very nervous lady near his head with a pair of scissors was a good idea! We ended up with the hairdresser on the floor with Moose and the result was the trimmest of trims. Really not worth the tantrum. 

Fast forward a year and a bit and his hair really was getting a bit too long and had passed the point of ‘surfer dude’ into “what a pretty little girl” 6 times a day from strangers.

Moose IS pretty but as well as the girl comments I was starting to get a bit hacked off with the world and his wife offering up their opinion on what I should do with my child’s hair. I once counted 14 “Oh you should never cut it off” comments. 14 separate times relative strangers and some acquaintances thought it was a good idea to say this out loud. It wasn’t a good idea. 

On Tuesday I gave Moose a morning bath and while trying to comb through his now past shoulder length locks I decided it was time for a haircut. I called our local salon and crossed my fingers that Moose might just cooperate – I wasn’t hopeful. 

I should have known.

Should have known that as soon as I began warning the hairdresser that he hates getting his haircut and he recoils at the sight of scissors, that he would be the model client just to prove me wrong.

He sat still, he turned his head when asked, he didn’t try to rip his little doggy apron off and he didn’t scream and kick and insist that he needed to be on the floor playing instead of getting his haircut. Result! 

I however had to actively stop myself from getting emotional at seeing the pile of Moose mane on the salon floor..

love

Mummy & Moose

 

The Ordinary Moments

Terrible Twos

I am a hypocrite.

Every single day I am reminded of how much I detest labels and trying to pigeonhole people into being one thing or another. My belief is that it almost always does more harm than good and yet I am just as guilty of it.

A teen, a tween and a toddler. That’s my reply when asked about my kids. But Col is more than a teen, Bess is not just a tween and Moose is so much more than a toddler. 

Terrible two’s? 

I think I hate this term most of all. We bring our child into this world and we dote on them. We feed and nurture them and then the moment they begin to develop their own sense of their little selves? BAM we slap on the label of “terrible two’s”. For what? For acting like a toddler? What were we expecting?

There are articles in loads of parenting magazines telling us how we should “tackle the terrible twos” but maybe we should be looking at things a little differently if we want to do this successfully. I think it should be less about tackling and more about understanding. Them and us. 

Try to think about this from your kid’s perspective. 

Your little darling is throwing himself on the floor in screaming rage because you “broke” their banana (a Moose favourite). It might seem silly to you but to him, it’s a very real and perfectly valid reason to feel upset. He is a tiny person trying to deal with feelings too big still for him to contain let alone understand. 

During a tantrum any parent will tell you that reasoning with the child is not an option. That’s because the fight or flight part of their brain has taken over and they are attacking and defending rather than thinking and listening. With this in mind it is probably a waste of time trying to talk them out of it.

Deal With It. Or Don’t.
  1. I am a big fan of just letting them get on with it (and if it’s safe to do so, moving yourself away while they do) 
  2. If you can sell them the idea that they now have 2 bananas then great! It worked for my daughter, never has for Moose though. 
  3. If you’re in public don’t assume that you are being judged harshly. Most people are probably just trying to sympathise. 
  4. Try to stay calm. Easier said than done, granted, but if you can then it helps. A lot. 
  5. When your kid calms down (and they will, promise) then talk. Validate their feeling and maybe give it a name too. 

boy and legoIt’s not pleasant to have to deal with a tantrum but if you can remember that really they still have so much to learn then I think you are halfway there already.


Add your own tips in the comments below!

Besides, if you think that two’s really are terrible then you my friend have never parented a three year old! 

Love

Mummy & Moose 

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Things to do in February and half term in Cambridgeshire

things to do in cambridgeshire
Here are my top picks of what’s on this February including the half term in Cambridgeshire

There are loads of things to do both indoors and outdoors this February in Cambridgeshire and I have trawled the internet so you don’t have to! You’re welcome!

18th to 26th daily – Half term adventure. Visit Sacrewell Farm where you could build a den, toast a marshmallow or travel back in time in the old mill and learn how to make a bread roll, Victorian style! Usual entry fees apply, check the website for details

19th – WOW! Said the Owl is an acclaimed children’s book by award winning author Tim Hopgood and is brought to life through a blend of beautiful story-telling, puppetry and music. Catch it at Key Theatre this February

20th – Make a bird box at Ferry Meadows. You can take even take it home with you so you will have a nice home for the birds in your Garden.

Open daily – Hamerton Zoo. A massive outdoor play area and loads of animals including Tigers and Giant Tortoises! 

18th and 19th – Come and explore the gardens in winter at Peckover House in Wisbech. 

Have we missed something going on near you? Feel free to contact me to add your event! tasha@mummyandmoose.co.uk

 

Feeling All Blanket-ish

I hate feeling poorly. Hate hate hate it.

I spent Saturday with a bit of a headache and by Sunday this had evolved into a full-blown hide under a blanket on the sofa poorly head cold! I was just a groaning ball of symptoms, you name it I had it.

This is not ideal when they are things to be done and children to entertain. Not ideal at all. Usually I can manage, I pop a pill and just get on with it. As you Mums (and a few of you Dads) know it has to be done.                                                                                                               This time the pills weren’t touching it. I admitted defeat and bundled myself up for the day. MrG was on duty and did a good job of keeping the troupes inline – aside from us having to order pizza because of a lack of instant MrG friendly food in the fridge.

I found some herbal raspberry teabags in the cupboard which were <cough> only six months outside of their best before date so made myself a cuppa and added a big squeeze of honey to sooth my decidedly painful throat and some citrus to cut through the gross amount of mucus.

Nurse Moose

I snoozed for the best part of the day and in between naps, Moose did a very good job of playing nurse. He tucked my blanket in, gave me lots of hugs and brought me teddy bears and tissues as and when the need arose (it was a lot)

Admittedly I am still feeling rough today but I can’t sit on my hands any longer. Moose must go to preschool and I have work to do so I am dosed up and back to the daily grind. There is no doubt I will be off to bed early tonight but for now I will leave you with a few home remedies to try as recommended by some blog friends;

Always hot orange squash with a spoonful of manuka honey in it. That and vocalzone pastilles have seen me through many a performance with a horrendous cold! Maddy – The Speed Bump

Chicken noodle soup! I swear that stuff has magic powers when you’re sick… Kirsty – Life With Boys 

Hot water with honey & lemon juice! That, and sleep!! Sarah – Whimsical Mumblings

Hot Ribena! Fixes everything! Jon – The Money Shed

Manuka honey! Katie – Living Life Our Way

Rub vicks on your feet, socks on, works every time! Laura – Five Little Doves

A slice of potato on the inside of your socks To Reduce temperature whilst sleeping. It’s used commonly in Peru (we have friends there) and really does work Victoria – Mummy Times Two

Hot water, whisky and honey, if it doesn’t help get rid of the cold it helps me sleep through it
Kate – Modern Mum

Love 

Mummy & Moose

Making An Easy Lunch With Moose

We had an easy-ish morning.

As easy as it gets with a 2 year old anyway. Moose and I were bored so we decided to go for a walk around the local shops to kill some time. He always asks to sit in the ride on Noo-Noo outside the shop – luckily he has never seen it in action so as far as he knows it does nothing. I am not going to volunteer any information to the contrary until I absolutely have to and I am pretty sure it’s going to save me around a million pounds?

Back home

It was time for lunch. If you know Moose then you probably know that he SERIOUSLY dislikes vegetables. Of course I understand that small Humans generally lean toward white or beige food but Moose is my 3rd and the first 2 lulled me into a false sense of security. I thought I had it nailed, they would eat ANYTHING. I was naive to say the least.

He likes the following at the moment; ham, pasta, peas, sweetcorn, ketchup, cheese, bread, mashed potato, chips (of course) and eggs. Luckily he loves fruit. That does not help with Veg situation though. 

We are trying to buy less and most importantly waste less food, I remembered that I had some tomatoes in the cupboard. One thing Moose and I both love is PIZZA so I thought I might try and whip up something Pizza-esque. We cut up some bread we had going a bit stale in the larder and Moose spread some Cirio Pizza Sauce on to the slices. Then he added a couple of baby spinach leaves (which mummy had chopped) and then a sprinkle of cheese and a slice of ham – I was also going to cut this up but when I tried to remove it from Moose’ vice like grip he screamed and I thought better of it.

As you can see, Moose was very pleased with his lunchtime adventure. I was very pleased with him eating tomatoes AND spinach! HE ATE TOMATOES!! Not out of a ketchup bottle! 

It was also really nice to get him in the kitchen and helping. He loved cooking and we had a really fun time putting it all together – it really didn’t take long either!

I do like a happy ending

love  

Mummy & Moose

Disclosure: We were sent the above products for the purpose of this review however all opinions are my own.