It’s the third week of the Summer Holidays already!! The weekend wasn’t kind to Little Bean with her chickenpox making her feel utterly miserable. She had spots in just about all the worst places imaginable and struggled to sleep because they were so sore and itchy. It’s such a horrible part of parenting not being able to take your child’s pain away.
Monday
The chickenpox also meant that Little Bean was unable to attend playscheme with her friends from school which really upset her so we had to make the best of the bad situation ourselves and try to make our own fun.
I had been trying to find the pens for the AquaDoodle mat for ages and finally stumbled across them so the boys had lots of fun with this. Does everyone else’s children insist on drinking the water from the pens and paintbrushes too or is it just mine?
Little Bean was driving herself crazy with the itching from her chickenpox so I thought back to my days of PUPP when pregnant with Little Bean and how I played for hours at a time on my Nintendo DS to take my mind off it and to keep my hands busy so that I wouldn’t scratch. The Beans played Mario Kart 8 whilst Jelly Bean was having his morning nap and this managed to get her through an hour or so without scratching or thinking about it too much.
In the afternoon I decided we needed a challenge so I set up some sports activities in the hallway to compete against each other just for fun. The above was our Ping Pong Rally which was so quick and simple to do; we slotted loads of straws together to make our track (bendy straws are great for making twists and turns in the track) then you use one straw each to blow your ping pong ball to the end. We had to do time trials in the end as we all kept banging heads but it was lots of fun.
Next up we had a game of skittles, an egg and spoon race (I had to do it blindfolded) and finally throwing beanbags into a bowl. We had mostly fun and a few tears.
To finish off our day the Beans asked if we could go to the park to play for a little while. Poor Little Bean though hid back out of sight when we first arrived as there were some older girls from her school in the park and she didn’t want them to see her spots. I really felt for her but thankfully they didn’t stay long so she perked up the moment they left.
Tuesday
Beanie Boy went to spend the day with Nanny and Grandad today so whilst Jelly Bean was having his nap, Little Bean and I had a Mega Bloks and Lego session. First off we built her Mega Bloks Barbie Camper Van and then we made a start on her Lego Friends Stables. We ran out of time to finish it so it remains a work in progress for when we have quiet time without the boys around. Being a Lego fan myself it’s so hard to not take over when ‘helping’ them, I just want to get on and build it all myself but I have to kick myself into remembering that she bought them with her own pennies and loves to do them too.
Little Bean said that she wanted some quiet time by herself (she does that quite often at the moment?) and so she took herself off to the playroom in her pink Barbie dress and practised her reading skills with Hot Dots Talking Pen from Learning Resources. When she gets them right she is rewarded with flashing green lights and an audible congratulations, when she gets it wrong she gets a red light. It’s a great little learning tool that you can do together or she can choose to do on her own.
Wednesday
Yes, the inevitable happened! Jelly Bean caught chickenpox too and sadly he had it bad like Little Bean instead of mild like Beanie Boy. My lovely cousin M took pity on us as she wasn’t able to visit and sent us this fabby emergency care package that she put together from Tesco. How lucky were we?!
Thursday
We felt the need to get out of the house again so we popped the scooters into the car along with some stale bread and went for a long walk at Ferry Meadows. I think this must have been Jelly Bean’s first time at feeding the ducks as he totally didn’t get it and never one to waste food he chose to eat his bread rather than throw it to the ducks.
Today was the first day that Little Bean actually seemed to ‘feel’ better. We had a lovely afternoon lazily walking and scooting around the lakes, checking out the flowers, talking to the cows and throwing bread to the ducks.
I had forgotten to take my DSLR on this little jaunt with us but thankfully I have the Nokia Lumia 1020 and so was able to capture our family walk on that. I love it!
Yes, Jelly Bean STILL had his bread and he wasn’t about to give it up for anyone or any duck! Little Bean and Beanie Boy were less than happy that he had chosen to eat his, especially Beanie Boy who then decided “I wish I had eaten mine”.
By the time we reached these ducks we had run out of bread altogether but we just had to stop to say hello to the baby ducks – very cute! I used to have a pet duckling called Precious. My Grandad brought her home for me after he found her sitting at the roadside next to her dead mother.
Beanie Boy had this tiny little caterpillar crawling on his shirt collar so we rehomed him on the picnic table. It was nice to see the smiles (and icecream) on Little Bean’s face. The spots were still there but she looked so much better today.
I hadn’t seen the duck and swan feeding platform at Ferry Meadows before, I just always assumed it was a jetty for the boats but it’s brilliant. It’s a totally secure area where children can feed the birds without any fear of them falling in. The gift shop even has free bags of bird feed (we gave a donation). Poor Beanie Boy though had got so used to feeding goats and sheep on our holiday to Sacrewell Farm that he got the shock of his life when he tried to feed the swans with a flat hand and one bit his fingers. I made the same mistake with a duck when I was little – it hurts A LOT!
We finished our walk at Ferry Meadows watching the train being put away for the night and then checking out the pretty flowers in the nature garden near the gift shop. The Beans love it in there.
Friday
Jelly Bean woke up with the devil on his back on Friday. I left him sitting on the floor playing happily with his siblings and when I came back from making a drink in the kitchen my heart was in my mouth when I found him standing on the toy boxes trying to reach a higher shelf. Then he decided to put on Little Bean’s slipper boots before attacking Beanie Boy. He can be quite the bully and Beanie Boy just takes it when Jelly Bean decides to start hitting him. I told him off and said that he needed to say sorry to BB so he proceeded to give him a kiss, about 7 times!
Whilst the boys were playing, Little Bean had sat quietly in the corner and built a stable for her Lego horses out of MegaBloks.
After Jelly Bean’s climbing shenanigans I decided it was time to have a sort out in the playroom. They really do have too many toys and these are just the start of the toys which will be going on sale soon.
In the afternoon we went to Burghley House for a scoot in the gardens. I had forgotten it was nearly time for the Burghley Horse Trials though so we couldn’t get around as much of the grounds as we would have liked but we had fun nonetheless.
As you can see from the picture below, Jelly Bean really wasn’t feeling good with his chickenpox, he was a very unhappy little boy. I had hoped that the walk in the fresh air would distract him but it didn’t.
Our trip to Burghley House didn’t finish so well when Little Bean climbed higher than I had told her to go and she lost her balance falling out of the tree flat on her front. She ended up with a cut knee, split lip and scrapes to her hands, legs and face.
How have you survived the summer holidays?