Running for Henry - The Henry Allen Appeal

This is a little outside my usual blog posts so please bear with me!

A few days ago I had an email request at work to make some name badges for a local charity, this was my first introduction to Henry Allen.  Henry is a 3 year old boy with a very rare form of cancer - Stage 4 High Risk Neuroblastoma.  Sadly the treatment Henry needs is not available in this country so his friends and family are trying to raise £500,000 to make sure they can go where the helps is and give little Henry the best shot at life.  This is being co-ordinated with the charity FAN (Families Against Neuroblastoma)

You can read more about Henry and his story here or the facebook page here

I am very lucky.  Both my children, touch wood, are in good health.  Charlie is pretty much the same age as Henry, they both love Cars and should be starting 'big school' as 'big boys' later this year.  I don't know whether this will be possible for Henry.  I suppose this is why Henry's story has had such an affect on me.  I can't imagine what it must be like to watch my son in pain or wonder if I will get to see him grow up.  I look to the future with Charlie and see all the exciting things he has to look forward to and Henry's parents will just see uncertainty.

Anyway the long and short of it is that my husband and I decided that we would like to do something to help Henry's appeal so we have signed up to do the MK Big Fun Run on the 21st July 2013.  We are taking the boys with us and will be doing it dressed as The Incredibles (tight red spandex, yikes!!!!).  It is 5k so not a massive run but with 2 young children and being 'marginally out of shape' it is still a challenge for us so if you would like to show your support there are details at the bottom of the blog for our Just Giving page and you will have our undying gratitude.  I know there are a lot of worthy charities and causes out there and they all want your support so all we ask is you read Henry's story and if it moves you as much as it has moved me then get involved or donate.  Thanks for reading :)


     or text your donation to 70070 quoting ' JBRA77' followed by the amount you want to donate (e.g - JBRA77 £2)

Fathers son..

So tonight I overhear this conversation between my husband and Charlie as they are reading a bedtime story..

Charlie - No I wanted you to get the tree that is on fire
Daddy - I can't I don't have enough doughnuts

This is clearly a father/son thing!!!

I will never understand men...................and now I want a doughnut as well!!!

Not for the faint hearted..

Apologies for the content of this blog but it was too funny not to share.

Charlie has been potty trained for quite some time now, however he refuses to go for a number two on the toilet, insisting on still using the potty. He has a charming habit of describing his poo to whoever has the misfortune of being within earshot.  Cries of 'It looks just like a sausage' are quite common (and have also put me off sausages quite a bit).

Anyway today Charlie informed me he was off to 'do a poo' and as usual I told him to call me when he was done so I could sort him out.  A few minutes later he yelled 'Mum I am finished, you need to come see this, it looks just like a boat!!  Look look its sailing in all the wee'

And you know what, it kinda did ;)

He's not with me....

I remember when my eldest niece (who is now 11) was 2 and she slapped a lady in the face in Debenhams who had pinched her cheek.  Personally I didn't have too much sympathy for the lady, if someone pinched my cheek I think I would have slapped them too!  My sister in law was mortified however.

One of the things I was always slightly worried about when we decided to have children (alongside the multitude of 'normal' worries you have about parenthood) was how I would feel if any of my kids were to do or say something embarrassing to a stranger when we were out and about.  We have all heard stories about some innocent child loudly asking 'Why is that man so fat?' or 'Why does that lady have a beard?'.  Hilarious when it happens to someone else, not so much when its you!

Charlie has been pretty kind to me on this front and apart from one incident where he called a giant scary looking man a pig at the local park, I thought I had gotten off pretty lightly.  However yesterday in the Post Office he decided to make up for it. We were being served at the counter when an elderly gentleman came up to the counter next to us.  I could see Charlie staring at him and a little alarm bell started ringing in my head....

Charlie (quite loudly) - Mum look at that old granddad
Me (quietly) Charlie that is rude, help me with the post
Charlie (louder) - No but Mum look how old he is
Me  - Charlie it is rude to call someone old
Charlie (in a voice to raise the dead) - But mum he is really really old, he has old hair and an old face..
Me -  Charlie stop being rude and help me with the post!
Charlie - But mum!!
Me - Charlie!
Charlie then grabs my face turns it towards the man and in a voice that could be heard in space yells - LOOK AT THE OLD GRANDDAD, HE IS REALLY REALLY REALLY OLD

I exited red faced leaving a baffled old man, a cashier in stitches and Charlie utterly confused as to why I was in such a rush.

Brotherly love

Since having Chicken Pox Charlie has been really funny about getting changed or having a bath, he wants to keep the spots covered up all the time which has been a bit of a challenge as they are everywhere!!  Today we found out the reason why though...

Charlie (after being to the loo) - HELP MUMMY I NEED TO PULL MY TROUSERS UP REALLY QUICKLY!!
Me - Why?
Charlie - I need to pull them up before Alex sees my spots. I am very worried about him
Me - Ok. But why are you worried about him?
Charlie - Because if Alex sees my spots then he will get spots too and he will be poorly and I will feel sad

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

Charitable donations

I have had enough.  The situation has become unbearable and action must be taken.  What am I talking about?  The absolutely ridiculous amount of toys the boys have accrued in the last few years!  They are everywhere!  I put my shoes on and there is a car in them, I go to the loo and Lego men are watching me from the sink, every time I go to take my purse out of my bag plastic food or crayons come out instead...

As Charlie has got to stay off nursery for the week due to his recent Chicken 'pops' I thought I would try and get him involved in the mass clear out I am intending on doing...

Me: Charlie, shall we go through your toys and take all the ones you don't play with somewhere other children can play with them

Charlie:  Why?

Me:  Because you have a lot of toys you don't play with and some children don't have any toys and it would make them really happy if you were to give them some of yours.

Charlie:  No that is not a good idea

Me: Why not?

Charlie:  Those children don't have any toys because Santa doesn't think they are good

Me: No that is not true.  There are lots of reasons they might not have toys like their parents not having much money or because they are poorly.

Charlie:  Oh well ok

Me:  So we can give them some of your toys?

Charlie: No (thinks for a minute)..do they have any cats?

Me:  I don't know

Charlie:  We will give them the cat, they will like that

They might, not sure the cat would be too thrilled though!!  Looks like I will be doing the clear out by myself next week when he is back at nursery!! 

Chicken Pops

Well sods law has struck again! We are spending the bank holiday weekend at my parents and Charlie has come down with Chicken pox..or chicken pops as he calls it. Poor thing is covered in spots and has been sick overnight. We have managed to get out and about and enjoy some sunshine though so not all bad. Charlie was however mortified when we explained to him he had chicken pox. "I DO NOT HAVE CHICKEN POPS, I HAVE NEVER EVEN EATEN A CHICKEN POP' :) Guess we didnt explain that too well then!!

Just a man..

Sorry quick blog this morning..

Charlie just walked out of his bedroom carrying a toy saucepan and a foam sword wearing his new sunglasses, looked at me very seriously and said;

'I'm just a man with a sword and a pan'

then turned and walked away.  I nearly choked on my tea! I have no idea what was behind that one!!

One for the mums

This has been doing the rounds on Facebook and it made me chuckle so thought I would share it here!


THE MUMMY TEST

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up
something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. 
"Why?" my daughter asked.
... "Because it's been laying outside, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty and probably has germs" I replied.
At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Wow! How do you know all this stuff?"
"Uh," ...I was thinking quickly,"All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mummy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mummy."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.
"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you don't pass the test you have to be the daddy"
"Exactly" I replied back with a big smile on my face and joy in my heart.

When you're finished laughing, SHARE this with a Mum.

Invisible man

Charlie has been going to nursery for about 18 months now.   Every time I pick him up I ask him about his day and I get the same response 'I just played'.  If I ask who with he says 'a little girl' or 'some children' or some equally vague answer, it is very rare that he will mention another child by name.  He also insists on calling all the staff 'Nursery' which I find quite embarrassing but they find hilarious!!  The staff have told me that there are a couple of children that he really gets on with and they always play together but he will never talk about them outside of nursery.

Recently the nursery decided they were going to have a party day, they had the normal party foods and games and also a magician.  When I came to pick Charlie up he was very animated and was chattering away about all the things they had done and, in particular, the balloon animals the magician had made.  As he was in a chatty mood I thought I would try broaching the subject of his friends;

Me:  Did your friends enjoy the party?
Charlie:  Yes they got balloon animals too
Me:  Cool, who got what?
Charlie:  They all got balloon animals?
Me (taking different tack):  Did you all play party games?
Charlie:  The other children did but not me
Me:  Why not?
Charlie:   They didn't ask me
Me:  I am sure they did
Charlie:  Nope
Me:  Why not?
Charlie:  They couldn't see me
Me:  Why, were you hiding?
Charlie:  No (whispers conspiratorially) they couldn't see me because I was invisible because they just don't believe in me

Ummm that was not the answer I was expecting!

As a footnote I should add that I did check with the nursery staff the next time he was in and he has been joining in fine with all the games and at no point did he turn invisible..

Hair today, gone tomorrow

We are a family of geeks.  There is no denying it.  The actor Wil Wheaton once said that being a geek is not about the things you love but how you love them and it is very true.  My particular geek love is Lego  I spend ridiculous amounts of money on it, I spend hours sorting bricks into separate piles so I can find any particular brick I need a little quicker,  I have shelves of  Lego castles and buildings (much to my husbands annoyance) and I spend hours on eBay trying to get a bargain on the stuff.  And it would seem that Charlie and Alex are following firmly in my footsteps.

They are still a little young to really build much short of a few very long straight towers but they are crazy about the mini figures so you will often find little Lego men and women hiding in all kinds of strange places in our house.  They have the Lego Clutch Powers film on DVD that came out a few years ago and it is a close second in favourite film status to The Hobbit.  In the film there is a female character who carries around spare hair for when she wants a change of style.  This has led to a little confusion with Charlie;

Charlie - Mum where is your other hair?

Me - What other hair?

Charlie - Your spare hair

Me - What are you talking about?

Charlie - Yesterday you had your other hair on, today you have new hair so where is the other hair?

Me - You mean I had it tied up in a ponytail yesterday

Charlie - Yes where is your ponytail hair

Me - Its the same hair, I have just got it down today

Charlie - No you take it off and swap it for different hair

Me - No I don't honest!

Charlie - Yes you do!

Me -(pick up hair band and tie it back) - You see?

Charlie - Yes (brief pause) ...So is your other hair in the bedroom then?

I gave up then!

What do babies actually see in the womb...

There have been a lot of theories about what babies see and feel in the womb, if anything, but has anyone ever thought to ask the children themselves?  When I was pregnant with Alex, naturally Charlie was very curious and wanted to try and understand what was going on in his own way.  I explained that his brother was very small and had to stay in my tummy until he was big enough and then I would go to the hospital and the doctors would take him out (fortunately he didn't ask too many questions about that bit!)

One night recently as I was settling Alex down to bed I could hear Charlie explaining all this to his Dad 

Charlie - When I was really really little I lived in Mummy's tummy
Daddy - That's right
Charlie - It was a bit scary though
Daddy - Was it?
Charlie - Yes because there were crabs, because Mummy ate crabs....and worms...and a BIG GIANT SHARK!

So there you go, one of the universes many mysteries solved and all we had to do was ask :)

Always the charmer..

Charlie has recently become obsessed with the film The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey.  Since buying it just over a week ago I can now recite most of the script and have learnt all the Dwarves songs.  Charlie spends much of the movie shouting at the Dwarves to ATTACK the Elves and running around waving an imaginary sword. However today he wanted to have a discussion about it, it went a little like this...

Charlie - We are just like the Hobbit film
Me - What do you mean?
Charlie - Well I am like Bilbo Baggins and you are like that funny little monster
Me - Which one?
Charlie - Gollum

Just what every mother wants to hear!!!!