Bigjigs Cutting Fruit Set and Chocolate Party Cake – Review

Well the weather here in not so sunny London is quite frankly dismal and I have been trying to find

When is a Shape Sorter Not a Shape Sorter? – BigJigs

I don’t know if you have heard the rumours but apparently it’s spring! I have decided to take th

Autistic Spectrum Disorder Testing – Psychologist Visit

It would appear that Elliott has finally begun the process of being diagnosed – 6 months later

 

Bigjigs Cutting Fruit Set and Chocolate Party Cake – Review

May 15, 2013 in Uncategorized

Well the weather here in not so sunny London is quite frankly dismal and I have been trying to find ways to at least bring a taste of summer to the boys.

Last week we were sent a Cutting Fruit Set and a Chocolate Party Cake by our friends at Bigjigs Toys and this sparked a plan in my mind and so today we had an indoor teddy bears picnic!

Toys were carefully selected to attend and they were all told to be on their best behaviour, no squabbling or food fights. We had a couple of wobbly moments with Captain Hook and then Elmo had to have a short time out but on the whole they were pretty well-behaved.

The most important job for the boys was to make all the food for the picnic and this is where our Cutting Fruits and Party Cake came into play! The boys took it in turns to cut up the pieces of fruit and slice the cake, it took Sam a little bit to get the hang of getting the knife in the grooves but he concentrated hard on what he was doing and with a little help from his big brother he got there in the end. The pieces were all nice and chunky and easy for even little hands to hold. The fruit is all different shapes so it involves different skills of holding and cutting, there is simple pieces like the apple and the watermelon but then the pear and the orange can be a little more tricky to master with their curves.

Our fruit and cake was shared between the stuffy friends - George the Pig was given some rather preferential treatment from Sammy and got some rather large portions.

Next we set about making paper pizzas. At this point Sam went off to do his own thing but Elliott seemed very engaged painting “sauce” onto his paper and sticking on the paper cheese and pieces of tomato to it, in fact he enjoyed doing it so much he made 2!

Sam did eventually come back and decided to have a short painting session but he wanted to have a bit more freedom of expression in his creative work.

Once lunch was served Elliott busied himself collecting the pieces of fruit and cake back up so he could fit them all back together and cut them up again. The cutting fruit in particular makes simple mini 3D puzzles giving a younger child an opportunity to explore their problem solving skills. I wasnt hugely surprised by how much Elliott enjoyed cutting and slicing the play food as he is a big fan of cutting things with scissors and at least this way he wasnt making a mess of my living room floor or using sharp scissors

The food all had a lovely tactile quality and the Party Cake makes me hungry every time I look at it!

Over the course of the afternoon Elliott and Sam have both been revisiting the cutting fruits and have had a few cake related squabbles. The paint quality on the play food is really good and the velcro holding the pieces together appears sturdy and unlikely to be coming off anytime in the future. The velcro sits within the fruit itself so when it is sliced it will not be sliced off by repeatedly getting caught on the knife.

A couple of Christmas’ ago we purchased a play kitchen for the boys and I am sure that all the play food will be used for years to come in conjunction with that. I also aim to use it when I am cooking to give Sammy something to “chop” whilst I chop the vegetables and keep his little fingers out of harms way.

My only real critic of the products would be the little apron that comes a long with the cutting fruits set. The product itself is aimed at those over the age of 3 years old but the apron was so small that it only just about fit Sam, who is still wearing clothes in 12-18 months. Also although it was easy to put on it needed to be knotted to keep it in place and then when I came to take it off the knots were very difficult to undo and had they have tightened I think we would have needed to cut it off! The other issue we had was that one post play biscuit later and we have a dirty apron needing to be washed and no instructions on how to do it. It is a lovely idea to include the apron with the set but it does need some improvements making to it as it ends up letting the rest of the product down a little.

The final results of these products has been 2 happy and engaged little boys who have been able to practice their problem solving,  turn taking, creative play and sharing as well as learning a new skills without even knowing it and isn’t that what a lot of play is all about.

As for the teddies, well they were so stuffed after their picnic they had to sleep it all off!

 

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When is a Shape Sorter Not a Shape Sorter? – BigJigs

March 30, 2013 in Uncategorized

All Bigjigs Logos

I don’t know if you have heard the rumours but apparently it’s spring! I have decided to take the stand point of I will not believe it until someone proves otherwise no matter what the calendar says. Suspending reality for a moment however spring time is always the perfect time to go down to the farm and check out all the cute baby animals before….well we all know what happens. Back in the real world however it is FREEZING out there and no-one wants to be standing in a muddy field with two frosty moaning kids feeding next months roast dinner so when the BigJigs Farm House Shape sorter landed on our doorstep it certainly bought a little bit of the spring time fun from the outdoors indoors, without the cold or the smell of dung!

Farmhouse-Sorter1

The boys were highly interested in the shape sorter when it first arrived with Elliott straight in there trying to show Sammy “what to do” as if, at the age of 23 months, he couldn’t figure it out for himself. The sorter itself is a lovely solid construction in the shape of a barn and the roof can easily be removed and replaced by a young child to take out the shaped pieces – Sam liked this feature as it meant he could cheat and just put the shapes in via the roof when the mood took him. I also liked it as we have previously been using a plastic shape sorter that that was given to Sam and it is like going through the jaws of death just to wrestle the shapes out of it and Sam needs an adult to help him play with it and gets rather frustrated.

The shapes are simple, lovely and solid but at only a centimetre thick Sam did find getting the shapes into the correct position to slot them correctly into the holes a little fiddly and did on occasion just shove them in sideways. This didn’t take anything away from his enjoyment followed by self-praise of “YAY! I did it!”

We have also been using the sorter for other educational functions, animal recognition is one, however I think Sam may get a little bit of a shock when he discovers that sheep don’t actually come in blue. He can pick out a few of the animals but others he understandably is not so familiar with but this is part of the fun and the learning process.

One of my other favourite things to do with Sam is to practice his animal sounds! I think the poor child is probably sick to death of me saying “Sammy what does a duck say? What does a dinosaur say?” (There isn’t a dinosaur included in this set but he makes the cutest “rarrr” noise!) Elliott couldn’t do animal noises at this age and I love that Sammy can and with the farm we can add more to his list, although I am yet to discover what a tree says.

As a child with ASD and having to do a lot of speech therapy and turn taking activities the shape sorter lends itself really well to Elliott as it accommodates both. We can ask him to pick an animal, say what it is, put it in the sorter and then wait while Sam takes his turn – it means he is using language, turn taking and gives him something very important to any task and that is a clear end point, which is when all the animals are in the box. It seems very basic for a 4 year old but it actually is a very important skill for any child to learn and so important to both boys at this stage of their development.

Elliott is also at the stage where we are starting to consider how best to open up the world of reading to him and he is now able to recognize his own name so I do like the fact that on the back of each shape piece there is written very clearly the word of the shape “cat” “horse” “goose” etc. I don’t think it will make Elliott a genius overnight but he has been asking me about what the words say on the shapes and just taking an interest in words is a really good starting point for any child.

I do find the addition of a tree shape a little odd in the mix of all the animals and although I can understand why it is there I would have really liked to have seen it replaced with perhaps a farmer especially as it doesn’t stand up and a farmer would be great addition to something else we have been doing with our shape sorter; using it as a portable farm!

As I said in my title “when is a shape sorter not a shape sorter” and that would appear to be when it is a farm shape sorter. The portable farm has to be my favourite additional use for the sorter. The trouble with toys is that children tire of them and grow out of them and the ones that have longevity are often the ones that children are able to let loose their imaginations on.

We go out for dinner as often as we can afford and whenever we go the boys get bored and impatient and start to want to get down from the table and run around and so we always try to take a couple of toys with us to keep them amused. About 5 minutes after I first gave the boys this shape sorter Sam took hold of the pig in one hand and the cow in the other and immediately started to pretend that they were having a conversation and so the idea of the portable farm came to mind.

In about 2 minutes, as we were running out of the door, I took a piece of green paper and stuck onto it a piece of silver foil in the shape of a pond and then stuck on some foam flower shapes we had in the craft box and a few butterflies. I then folded up the paper and put it inside the box with the shapes. My intention was that when I dropped Elliott off at school I would pop into my supermarket café with Sam and we could have a spot of lunch and test out the portable farm but guess what? Yup he fell asleep! He then proceeded to fall asleep on every school run we did from that day to this, kids!

Instead we headed over to “Granddads” for a visit and we took our portable farm with us. It worked! I got out the farm and Sam played farms with the animals. However it was then subject to an air attack by evil Dr Porkchop and had a barrel of monkeys dropped on it followed by an attack by the Joker in his Giggle Tank knocking the barn over from behind. I don’t quite know what the farmer had done to deserve such an attack but earlier on in the week Sam had selected Robin from a Batman set that he has to be the farmer so maybe there is a whole back story Victoria and Elliott were failing to inform me about. Sam decided that he had enough of these shenanigans and was then going to just revert to playing with the shape sorter as shape sorter and so we had 2 activities in one with very little effort. Being wooden and so tactile I even noticed my 10 year old sister in law having a sneaky turn!

This week the shape sorter has not just taken on its more obvious roles in our house. Elliott has been very involved in play and found that the sorter made the ideal Pirate prison for those pesky pirates that were trying to steal Batmans treasure!

Having the carry handle meant that Sam found it the ideal shopping basket for pretend shopping – at least that’s what it looked like he was doing, it really is hard to tell.

Elliott also worked out that by taking the roof off it was also the ideal shape and size to be a handy man tool box, although once he had loaded his tools he became distracted by the television and Sam saw his opportunity to swipe it

It would appear that the shape, theme and construction of this shape sorter lends itself to so many different things that it can be anything your childs imagination decides and I am certainly looking forward to findin. g out what they are going to do with it next.

Would I recommend this toy? In a nutshell yes. I think that it makes the ideal gift for a 1to 2 year old and they will get a lot of enjoyment from it as well as being able to work on their problem solving skills. I think that it makes a change from standard shape sorters on the market and with it comes with versatility and the quality craftsmanship means that the day it is no longer played with it will be put away for “the grandchildren” to enjoy.

You can find the shape sorter at http://shop.bigjigstoys.co.uk/p/farm-house-sorter-1

 

 

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Autistic Spectrum Disorder Testing – Psychologist Visit

March 6, 2013 in Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Elliott/

It would appear that Elliott has finally begun the process of being diagnosed – 6 months later than it should have been as his original referral paperwork was lost and it took them 6 months to realise!

He was recently moved to another speech therapist as the new one will form part of the panel that will make the final decision on Elliott’s diagnosis. This new one is very friendly but seems to be under the impression that Elliott has come on so much that he is now fine and was just a bit delayed. She asked me what my concerns at the time were about him and I was very honest and said that he had improved and was doing so well that we didn’t really have any in relation to his home life – then Elliott decided to do something he has done in the past which is to go backwards again and start displaying new behaviours.

Out of the blue we were sent another appointment for him to see a different doctor than his usual one. No explanation came with it just an appointment so it could have been for anything – really not helpful when deciding whether it was something my husband should take time off of work to attend. A telephone call later and I managed to drag it out of appointments that it was in fact to see a psychiatrist but that was like getting blood out of a stone.

Steve did take the day off and we both arrived at the appointment with the 2 children in tow. The appointment duration was an hour and it didn’t go as I had expected. I thought that she may interact with Elliott, ask him to maybe do some tasks or at least play with him but she didn’t she spent the whole time talking to us and occasionally watching the children play.

I have to say that I did not feel positive about this meeting. Someone the day before had said to me that the problem with having a child with issues like Elliott’s is that people always call your parenting into question first. I walked out of there feeling as though her conclusion had been that Elliott was the eldest child and as such I clearly didn’t know what I was doing and therefore that was his problem, I just needed to be a better parent. At the mention of parenting classes I knew I was screwed! – Oh and I don’t think there is anything wrong with parenting classes and I have said on 2 separate occasions that I am MORE than happy to attend them but then they never actually do anything about it! – Now I am saying “I” in this because Steve seemed to come off as NOT needing the classes etc it was just me. Now don’t get me wrong Steve is a really great dad but I wonder if she had negatively read the way Steve and handle these type of meetings. We have 2 very active little boys and Steve, although very articulate and intelligent, prefers to leave the talking to me whenever he possibly can so when we attend something like this my job is to do the talking with Steve interjecting when he feels he needs to and Steve’s job is to watch the children and make sure that they don’t kill themselves or break anything. It also means that we don’t miss something because the children are distracting both of us and we don’t miss something one of the kids does because we are too busy concentrating. It is a system that works for us.

The other thing she seemed to have fixed her sights on was that when Elliott was born he had his cord around his neck – it was not tight and slipped over before his body delivered. After birth he took a little longer to pink up than his brother did 2 years later but he didn’t need any additional assistance. I knew she had got a bee in her bonnet over it after a reference was made to Sam as we were leaving and she commented “well you have to remember he (Sam) didn’t have the traumatic birth Elliott had” – honestly my blood boiled, Elliott did NOT have a traumatic birth and it’s people making ridiculous statements such as that one that leave people with birth fear.

Needless to say I felt rubbish and on the way to take Elliott to pre-school Steve and I were discussing what we were going to do if Elliott doesn’t get diagnosed as being on the spectrum - now that may sound strange, as if we want Elliott to have autism but it isn’t that simple.

18 months ago Elliott was a very different child and he was struggling in a number of areas that was having a huge impact on his life and his development. With help and support he has been coming on really well and in some areas has nearly caught up. We, as his parents, are greatly concerned that if Elliott is diagnosed as NOT being on the spectrum all the help and support he has been given will be removed and he will once again fall dramatically behind his peers.

After the meeting with the psychologist we took Elliott to pre-school and I had a discussion with the head about the meeting. She made me feel a lot better about the whole thing and has said that she is more than happy to discuss Elliott’s problems with the Psychiatrist and Speech Therapist because regardless of how well Elliott is doing and how much he has improved there are areas that he is very much behind in and there are things they are still having daily battles with him over. She said it has nothing to do with his parenting and that it’s because of Elliott and who he is.

I watched Elliott in the classroom for a while, the way he moved around  the room, the way he played and interacted with others and you could tell by watching him that he was a child with additional needs. It was also reassuring that he was displaying much of the behaviour he does at home in the school environment. If you had heard the psychologist you would think he was a perfect child when out of our hands.

Another part of his assessment is that someone will be attending the pre-school and spending time with Elliott in that environment monitoring his behaviour and the pre-school will have the opportunity to air their concerns about him and back up what we have already said.

I am REALLY unsure at this time about which direction things are going to go for Elliott – I think we have found peace with him getting an autistic diagnosis and understand the impact that will have on the rest of his life but we are certainly unsure about where  things will go if he doesn’t get one.

As always I write these blog posts in the hope that they will help someone else in reading our journey and that maybe when they are standing at the beginning of the ASD diagnosis path they will be armed with a greater understanding of the process than we had.

I will keep you all updated.

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Buyagift Super Mum

March 3, 2013 in Uncategorized

I was asked by Buyagift.com if I wished to nominate myself or my mum for a much needed spa day. I found it very hard to even consider nominating myself when I know Jess.

To tell you about Jess I need to tell you about her 22 month old Aydan

Aydan has Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and West Syndrome, he also has epilepsy. In November he was admitted to his local hospital with a cold. By the time he was given the all clear to go home it was extremely late and it was decided to keep him in for a good sleep.

In the early hours Aydan suffered a massive seizure and by the morning he had suffered a cardiac arrest and 2 collapsed lungs, on more than one occasion Jess and her husband were told in no uncertain terms that Aydan was going to die.

Aydan spent many weeks, including Christmas, in intensive care but he made it out again and is now continuing his recovery on a ward.

Aydan and his machines

In all this time Jess has not only had to balance being with Aydan but she has also been a mum to her other 3 beautiful children.

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Jess has been down the darkest scariest roads a parent can tread but she has still thought of the others and fundraised for Ronald McDonald House.

Jess has a strength that I cannot help but admire and after every piece of bad news she has remained positive and trusted Aydan to defy everything and he has! I don’t think anyone can predict Aydan’s future because Aydan is writing his own script but anyone who knows him will tell you Aydan can fly!

So I would love to nominate Jess because she is an inspiration in her darkest hours.

Beautiful boy!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/HopeForAydanHisFightAgainstTuberousSclerosis?fref=ts

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Sofia The First – Disney Junior

February 25, 2013 in reviews, Uncategorized

Elliott has reached the age where he’s very much a boy and he likes boy things and he is starting to wonder if he should be friends with girls on the grounds that they are not boys.

His superhero of choice is currently Batman, closely followed by Spiderman, he watches Doctor Who and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, he wants to drive a train and operate a digger and his favorite films are Peter Pan, Cars 2 and Cinderella….wait hang on a minute, isn’t that Cinderella a “girls” film?

Oh yes people my son can talk the talk but give him a Disney Princess and he turns to mush in your hands – for the record Sam likes Rupunzel – Elliott is a BIG Cinderella fan, he went through a phase of watching it every day and even asked for a Cinderella doll for his 4th birthday!

At Christmas time – yes it does only seem 5 minutes ago – Disney Junior began advertising a TV movie, Sofia the First Once Upon a Princess, and Elliotts Cinderella radar went off as he saw her appearing in the preview. He bugged me constantly about when it was on because he was just so desperate to see it

wider portrait

The big day came, he settled himself in front of the TV – I wisely hit record on Sky+ – and I don’t think he blinked once! He loved it and as an added bonus so did Sam. It would appear that they were not alone in this with Sofia the First becoming the top rated show ever on Disney Junior UK and with classics like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny under the belt this is no mean feat!

Sofia’s story begins when her mother Clarissa, a shoe maker, falls in love and marries King Roland throwing Sofia head first into the world of being a Princess. Things don’t go smoothly, of course, but by the end of this music filled special she has bonded with her step siblings, made friends with woodland creatures and received special guidance from Cinderella herself, thanks to a magical amulet that she wears around her neck.

730601_10151532606789994_1845613377_nWe soon were to discover that Sofia was not just going to be just for Christmas but that there was to be a follow-up series and after waiting and waiting for it to start one afternoon we received a very exciting email, would the boys like to go to a VIP screening of the new series?!!!! Well I didn’t need to ask Elliott but after I told him he did run around the room screaming “Sofia, Sofia, Sofia” for 5 minutes; Batman would be so proud!

So on Friday it was off into London we went with the boys in their finest and Elliott literally dressed like a Prince! I also had in tow my friends 14-year-old daughter who is clearly beyond pre-school age but she came to give me a hand with the boys; and I am really grateful that she did because boy do Disney know how to throw a party and keeping the boys in the same place at the same time was a challenge in itself!

After a swash buckling sword fight, crafts with the lovely Lloyd from Art Attack and the best cake pops I have ever seen or tasted (I should have taken a picture but we kept eating them!) it was off for the screening and Elliott was very excited and Disney did not disappoint!

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princess15f-1-webThe series continues with all the same charm and quality of the movie as well as more fantastic musical numbers; it is quite simply just shorter episodes however at 22 minutes a time it is like getting a mini movie in your living room . There is an abundance of charming and colourful characters. Continuing their roles are familiar faces, Flora, Fauna and Meriwether  who are better known as the lovable Fairy Godmothers to Sleeping Beauty. There is someone who all children can relate to, the younger ones will love the talking animals, Sofia shows little girls how to be individuals and that taking on a new life doesn’t mean changing who you are within it. Prince James stands as a good role model for little boys with his kind heart and open mind and Princess Amber is never afraid to admit when she is wrong.

This is a lovely feel good show with great family values and life lessons. Fans of the traditional princess movies will also not be disappointed with Sofia as adjusting to a new life as a member of the Royal family isn’t always going to be easy and Belle, Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty are all set to make their appearance to make sure she has all the support that she needs.

803954_10151532619819994_270297776_nElliott loved the show and was immediately asking for more. Sam watched as much as he could before the need for a cake pop induced coma washed over and as for my friend’s daughter, well in her own words “I shouldn’t like this because I’m 14 but I love it!” she walked out with as big a smile as Elliott did!

This show is going to be a big hit there is no doubt about it and Elliott has already started nagging about when it is going to start, luckily there isn’t long to wait with Sofia the First premiering on Disney Junior on 8th March at 5.25pm!

Mummy, Not Big Milk Thing was invited to attend and review Sofia the First by Disney Junior and we would all like thank them for giving us such a wonderful time….and for the cake pops!

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Apple Cinnamon Flapjacks

February 19, 2013 in Dairy Free, Recipe

dairyfree

In my continued effort to get us all eating healthier I whipped up a batch of Flapjacks today and I thought that I would share the recipe that I created with you all

Flapjacks

  • 115g Butter or dairy free alternative (I used Stork because it was in the fridge)
  • 75g Soft light brown sugar
  • 3tbs Golden syrup
  • 1 large Apple grated
  • 1tsp Cinnamon
  • 250g Porridge oats
  • 150g Raisins

Gas Mark 4 or 180 degrees C

These are so easy to make even my husband could manage them – not that he is going to test that theory of course – and they are lovely

Line and grease a shallow rectangle tin

Mix together your grated apple (you don’t have to remove the skin), cinnamon, porridge oats and raisins.

In a small saucepan melt together the butter, sugar and golden syrup and then remove from the heat.

Pour into your dry mixture and stir until combined

Squash you mixture into your tin – if you don’t squash them together enough they will fall apart when you take them out, which is what happened to me.

Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Make sure you cut them while they are still warm otherwise you could have flapjack pieces in your eye – don’t say I didn’t warn you …. and yes that has happened to me!

Even Mr Picky Pants Elliott likes these and he has no idea that they have fruit in them; shhhh dont tell him. They are delicious warm and  could be served with ice cream as an alternative to apple crumble or, if they do fall to pieces, then as a sort of granola with a bit of natural yogurt – soya yogurt for me naturally.

They are not too sweet and went down a treat as a healthier snack than a bar of chocolate so thumbs up and I will be making them again.

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Proud to be a “Moron”

February 10, 2013 in Uncategorized

Recently I wrote a post about turning off our TV and trying to stop being a “lazy parent” by relying on it to entertain the children. I am proud to say that we have continued to have no TV time in our house and instead of having to have dedicated specific times to this the boys have reached the point where they no longer notice when it isn’t on and happily turn it off to do something else.

Not having the electronic babysitter has had such a positive impact on the boys and we have been spending a lot more quality time together doing “things”. I have been learning to enjoy my children a lot more than I was and then an article on Parentdish caught my eye entitled “Why Playing with your children can be (whisper it) a bit boring”

I sent it over to my good friend and dedicated Daddy blogger Pauly at Gifts From The Pirates and he summed things up so beautifully in response to it on his blog that I can’t match it so here is the link

I don’t know who the parents are that were quoted in the article but I think I was in danger of becoming one of them. Pauly and his blog has been such and influence on me of late, reading how much he enjoys being with his boys and how much his boys benefit to the time he dedicates to them. He has probably stopped me spiralling into becoming the kind of parent I never wanted to be – For this I will be forever greatful to him.

This weekend we have stayed at home and we have, made gingerbread men – ok that was a bit of a stressful disastor due to unco-operatve rubbish gingerbread but we did it – we have explored the wilderness that is our back garden and Sam discovered his first worm! We have played Batman in the living room and Octonauts in the bath. Sam and I have drawn and created sticker pictures and Elliott has been tickled until he couldnt breathe for laughing. Even in the Supermarket Sam put the shopping in the trolley and then packed his own bag.

We have gained the sight of extra smiles, the sound of joyul laughter and hearing Sam discover he could say new words for the first time.

Maybe the parents from the Parentdish article need to just re-adjust their attitudes and start by just making small changes to help themselves enjoy playing with their children more. Think about the things they enjoyed doing as a children and build from there.

Just doing something alongside your children can essentially be playing with them and they love it. We have been doing a lot of Play-doh lately and I not only discovered I could model a Peppa Pig but I gave myself the confidence to think maybe I could make Sams birthday cake this year.

Learning to play with your children will not only benefit them but its going to benefit you – it’s a win win senario and only a “moron” would turn that down.

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Shepherds Pie – Without The Sheep

February 9, 2013 in Dairy Free, Recipe

In the interests of eating healthier and also going dairy free I thought that I would start to share dairy free recipes with my blog reading pals!

I can not claim to have written this recipe or have any idea where it came from but it is an old family favorite that my mum used to make a lot when I was a child,

My husband is the biggest carnivore and he also the first one to stick his nose up and the meer suggestion of a lentil and even he likes this recipe. I know lentils can be a bit daunting if you don’t normally cook or even eat them but it is recipes like this one that are worth giving them a try to they are cheap too!

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 Onions
  • 3oz Green Lentils
  • 3oz Red Lentils
  • 2 Tins of Chopped tomatoes
  • Mixed Herbs
  • 1lb courgettes
  • Mushrooms (my mother strikes again with not giving me a quantity – this is the same woman who once lost a trifle IN THE FRIDGE)
  • Mashed Potato – make to your own prefered recipe; you will need enough to cover the top of your finished filling.

METHOD

Boil a saucepan of water and add the green lentils, simmer and cook for 20 minutes

Add the red lentils to the pan and boil for a further 20 minutes

At this point you may wish to vacate the kitchen and shut the door because lentils are a bit smelly when they are cooking (but if your kitchen catches fire, your cat eats your goldfish or any other shenanigans occur whilst the door is closed please don’t sue I don’t have any money!)

Drain

In another saucepan fry your onions.

Add the courgettes and mushrooms and continue to fry until they are soft

Next add your tin of tomatoes and add the herbs, to taste.

Once your sauce has begun to bubble add in your lentils.

Transfer the filling to a ovenproof dish and top with mashed potato.

At this point you can then completely cool your dish and then freeze it so it is great for batch cooking!

Cook in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes – adding grated cheese to the top of the mash in the final 20 minutes of cooking is optional to those lucky lucky people who can eat such a thing.

Serve with green veggies and enjoy!

We are having this on Monday (I think) and I will also double it up and make two so that I can put one in the freezer (get me, I’m being rather organised! I wouldn’t get used to it) I will then add a picture once it’s on the plate – otherwise it just looks like a regular shepherds pie and you already know what that looks like! I will also let you know a quantity for the mushrooms.

Please let me know if you try this dish and what you think. Honestly if I saw this recipe I would probably just pull that “something smells nasty” face and move on but honestly it really is yummy.

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Not the best couple of weeks!

February 7, 2013 in Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Elliott/, Project 365, Sam, Uncategorized

My regular readers will readers will have spotted that I have been absent from the blog for the past couple of weeks and I havent updated my Project 365, although I have been doing it!

It has been a bit of a rough time in our household of late and we have spent far too much time in our local hospital than anyone would care to.

Sam has been suffering with, what is believed to be,  partial seizures and after the last occurrence of one of these it was decided by the A&E doctors to have him admitted to hospital so that he was able to undergo all of the necessary tests he needed to try to get to the bottom of it all. We arrived the next morning and were in the hospital for an hour and a half before the ward doctor decided to discharge him back to outpatients, which is what A&E wanted to avoid. We were at the hospital for 4 hours and all that Sam did in that time was discover that he likes Duplo bricks! As you can imagine I was not a happy camper so a snotty phone call went in to his GP and he is now being transferred to the care of another hospital. This is the same hospital that dealt with Elliott and his night terrors so we know how great they are and although we are not thrilled to be going back there with another child it is a relief that Sam is being investigated there .

Just as we were recovering from the late nights of those days we hit another bump in the road when Sam then became unwell. It started off as just a  high temperature one evening (of course it had to be the evening Steve and I were going to be going out for our anniversary!) by the next day he was warm but better than he had been and I just put it down to teething but then I went to change him and noticed his legs were covered in spots!

We took him to see an out of hours GP who diagnosed him as having a “virus” and he was sent home. By the evening the spots were worse and he was SCREAMING. His appetite had not wavered but he was unable to eat or drink without being in some serious pain, despite regular doses of Calpol and Neurophen. At 2.3oam we took him back to A&E to be looked at again because he was screaming constantly and unable to sleep as his feet thrashed around from irritation.

When we arrived the nurse took one look at him and said he looked as though he had impetigo but when a junior doctor looked at him she said it was a “virus” and to take him home and carry on with him in the state he was in.

Over the next couple of days his pain levels decreased and his spots in some part began to fade but his chin looked terrible. I took him to  pharmacist to see if there was something we could put on it  to at least reduce the itching as he kept picking at it and she said he needed to see another doctor. So back off to the GP we went who said it was IMPETIGO!

Now he is being treated BUT the antibiotics are beyond vile, they are so bitter and NOTHING covers up the vile taste so we just can’t get them down him. We have to pin him down and then he just spits them out and 4 times a day he gets stressed beyond words just to not get anything in him anyway. He is showing some signs of getting better but he still looks pretty horrible with it bless him.

In other events Elliott has discovered dancing and has decided that he wants to be Cosmo Brown in Singing in the Rain! We think that encouraging him to dance would actually be good for him as it would not only give him confidence but also help with areas he needs help like balance, co-ordination and listening to instructions. As he wanted to do conventional dance we started by trying to find him regular dance classes that he could join and I took him along to a couple. This ended up being a disaster, he wanted to go, he would be all excited and then get in there freeze and want to go home!

I tried to talk to him about it and find out the issue but I really don’t think that even he truly knew. I also found that the dance schools were so interested in competitions, exams and shows they really had no desire to help a little boy with ASD find his way in to the dance world.

As a last-ditch attempt I contacted a local Street Dance studio and they invited Elliott to go down. Elliott was hyperactive before the class he was so excited but when he got in there he froze and wanted to go home again. The people at the studio couldn’t have been more helpful, they discussed different strategies to get Elliott involved and in the end he had a 1-1 lesson and at the end of the main class lesson, where they get this big inflatable crash mat out and the kids practice their tricks, Elliott decided he wanted to join in!

He loved it and with much enthusiasm decided he wanted to go again next week and so we have found him a dance class! The plan is that he will have 1-1 classes until he is ready to join the other kids but he will continue to join them for the crash mat session. I can’t begin to say how impressed and pleased I was at how amazing the studio was and how much they wanted to find a way to help Elliott regardless of his problems. When he returned to school after his class the mother of his best friend approached me to ask how he got on and said that because Elliott is going to dance lessons her little boy, who had previously shirked the idea of dancing, has decided that he now wants to go and give it a try also so Elliott is thrilled!

Watch this space to see how he gets on.

As for me; well I have taken the plunge and once again given up dairy! I’m lactose intolerant and having had the luxury or pregnancy and breastfeeding has allowed me to eat what I want and lose weight whilst doing it but now Sam has reduced the amount he is feeding my weight is climbing, I feel like rubbish and I need my energy back.

Cutting out dairy is a bit of a nightmare, especially as I LOVE dairy foods, cream and CHEESE and milk and CHEESE and butter and CHEESE and not to mention chocolate…..and CHEESE! I  need to do it though and so far so good. I havent gone all radical with it and have just switched the things I am buying at the supermarket for the dairy free alternatives for me and I am trying to resist the temptation of the dairy rich foods sitting in our cupboards for the children.

I have also decided to try where possible to buy organic but that is a blog post for another day.

For now, this ost has actually taken me 3 days to write, I am going to spend some time with my boys before bathing them and putting – at least Elliott – to bed….hopefully!

 

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Project 365 – Day 19 – Day 22

January 21, 2013 in Uncategorized

I haven’t been able to get these up over the weekend as I’ve just been too grotty to post and I wouldn’t want to inflict you all with my PMT so here are the past few days 365′s

January 18th 2013

Well we had to have some snow related picture really as Friday we finally had a dusting that was snowball, if not snowman, worthy. Elliott was very happy at the end of school to be able to make footprints in the snow – and let’s be honest most grown adults will have been finding their inner child amoungst the white fluffy stuff!

January 19th 2013

No this isn’t another excuse for a snow picture, honest!

It was a bit tough to choose a picture on Saturday as there were 2 big-ish events really, this being the first. Sam walked down the road to the shops for the first time!

Don’t get me wrong despite being rather dinky for his 20 months he has been walking for over a year and has been more than capable of walking the distance for some time, in fact he had a good stroll around Legoland on Elliotts birthday trip. It isn’t however that easy to allow Sam to walk, we don’t live in the most toddler friendly area for walking, very busy fast roads and not a lot of places to visit that he can walk around contribute the most but also having an older brother that needs to be watched when in the street makes it a little harder too.

As we were off to the hairdressers as a family we allowed Sam to walk down, I have to give my little man and his little legs credit as he can go at quite a pace for someone so small. He did enjoy the toddle and found cars and a low wall light particularly interesting to look at. I don’t think he will be out of a buggy in the near future as it just isn’t practical for him to walk doing the kinds of distances I do without a car and also because of the busy roads. However my baby is growing up *sniff*

The other significant event was Elliott getting through a haircut WITHOUT screaming and with only a packet of M&M’s promised as a reward at the end of it, woo hoo!! (That child will do anything for M&M’s)

January 20th 2013

Elliotts new favorite thing in the world is Batman, he loves Batman. It started at around Christmas time with his request for a Batman toy from Father Christmas and it has gone from there. I’m not sure why he has chosen Batman as it looked for a moment that Spiderman may be his superhero of choice but the Webbed Wonder has been pipped at the post.

I don’t Batman too much, all boys love their superheros, and I like that Elliott loves to watch the old 1960′s TV show rather than a cartoon series. I’m sure this will be another passing phase but it is certainly rubbing off on his baby brother who will often be found singing “Batman” to himself and anyone else who will listen!

When Elliott and I went shopping on Sunday we spotted this t-shirt in Asda and he proudly exited the store clutching this and another pair of Batman boxer shorts in his hand - I bought him a pair of the shorts last week but he refused to take them off to be washed so another pair was needed – we did get them off him by the way, he wasnt wearing them for a week!

I guess the days when he wants to wear Handy Manny t-shirts are now gone because he is apparently “a big boy now”. I think the saddest thing about being a parent is that you can’t wait to watch your children grow up but it is just so sad when they do.

January 21st 2013

In December we reviewed Chou Chou Baby Monitor and it is nice to have a chance to revisit this toy because it has been played with a lot – mainly by Sam.

When Elliott was little I wanted to get him a dolly but felt that I was trying to feminise him by doing so – ridiculous that we should gender stereotype a baby -  he is getting to the age now where he is a BOY and he likes BOY things. He does like this doll but he has the attention span of a goldfish with her and will give her 5 minutes of his time here and there.

Sam however loves this toy, he plays with her constantly during the day he cuddles her, gives her a bottle or her dummy. Earlier on he decided to put her to bed by shoving a cardigan on her head and sandwiching her between two cushions - but just in case anyone worried about him being too girly he the proceeded to pick up a car, roll it backwards and forwards over the top of the doll sandwich and shout “nee nah, nee nah” very loudly!

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