I forsee a lot more of this in my future!
I’M no good at playing toys with my kid.
I can do activities all right. Going to the library, feeding the ducks, kitchen discos, baking, reading books together, arts and crafts.
Those things I do often and do well. But actual ‘down on the floor’ playing, not so much.
Particularly imagination games – the ones where I have to be the shopkeeper, or the space ranger, or the cowboy (though I’m not allowed to wear the cowboy hat), or one of the PJ Masks.
I’m particularly bad at being Thomas the Tank Engine, especially when the script is dictated to me and I dare not deviate from it.
More and more I find myself leaving the actual playing to Yer Man and making excuses to The Beast when he asks me to play. Even though I know the benefits of play and of one-on-one time with a parent and I know how important it is for a little person’s development, I find myself running in the opposite direction when the toy box comes out.
That sounds really terrible, I know it does. I just don’t enjoy it, playing bores me. I do it, I do try, but I suffer through it and gratefully escape once any opportunity arises. (On days where I’ve spent a full hour pretending to be Shimmer and Shine complete with genie dancing I’d actual welcome Jehovah’s Witnesses to the door. I’d invite them in. They wouldn’t be able to leave!)
I can’t help feeling though that it shouldn’t be this hard. I enjoyed playing myself when I was a kid. I had Barbie dolls and teddies and cash registers and a Fashion Wheel and all of that and I would play away. And my two best friends and I played elaborate outdoor games where we’d put on singing and dancing shows, or we’d follow innocent neighbours who looked ‘suspicious’ and we’d look for clues like the Secret Seven. We played rounders and kick the can and hide-and-seek and paths and the whole works, the same as most of you reading.
So why do I have such a hard time with it now – why can’t I play with my kid? I don’t know is the answer. I guess I’m not a kid anymore myself so there’s that. And also as a parent I’ve other things to do in the day so playing would be further down the list. Chances are though, that perhaps I’m just out of practice.
Maybe I need to just force myself to do it and eventually it’ll get easier and I’ll start to enjoy it? The way insufferable bores exercise fanatics say it happens for them. At first they don’t want to go out and do it, but before you know it they’re skipping along doing 10ks and push ups and lunges all over the place. Perhaps after all these years I’ve lost the art of playing, it’s a skill I no longer have. But maybe like riding a bike, if you try, it’s something you never forget?
So what I’m going to do is set myself a challenge. For Lent. Instead of giving something up, I’m going to commit to actively playing with my boy for an hour every day. No excuses, no pawning him off on unsuspecting passers-by. Just me and my boy in the sitting room or the garden, playing with his toys together.
And maybe by Easter Sunday I’ll have gotten so used to it that I won’t want to stop doing it. Just like how I no longer take milk in my tea or put sugar on my cornflakes, after giving them up when I was ten. Thirty years later and I’m still going strong on those!
So, we’ll see. Bagsie I the cowboy hat!
Skirt John Rocha. Top Tesco. Shoes Dunnes
SO yesterday I stepped completely out of my comfort zone and put on some fake tan so I could bare [a bit of] my legs in a denim skirt and polka dot top for my Colour Me Happy challenge.
Those who know me know I never wear fake tan. I didn’t even slap some on for my wedding. I don’t like the smell of it and I’m so pale that even the lightest shade looks orange on me. So I usually leave well enough alone.
But yesterday I decided to just go for it and dug out an old tube of Rimmel instant tan that was languishing in the back of my drawers (Ooh Matron!).
Big kiss!
I was mean with it though, I applied literally a hint of it, just enough to turn me from milk blue, to ghost white. So in the pictures you can’t even see it but in real life there was the tiniest hint of warmth. I swear! No YOU shut up!
Mellow yellow Aileen rocking those stripes
Annmarie experimented with her eye make-up for this stunning look.
Dervla’s ‘Rocket Lolly’ nails
The ladies getting involved in this challenge have been hard at work getting their colour on and I hope you have been too.
Pink lady Emma with her beautiful babies
Penney’s finest for Christina who took an office selfie for the cause!
Laura looking springtime fresh!
Don’t forget you can join in by commenting here or following me on twitter @beatingblog or following the hashtag #colourmehappy
The wearing of the green for Michelle
Mary looking fab in crimson
Bright red jeans for Karen
Our Wedding Day – April 2011
THREE years ago today I married the love of my life. I have wonderful memories of a really brilliant day that I’ll never forget.
It marked the end of one part of my life and the beginning of a new chapter. So what better day than my wedding anniversary to start another new chapter?
Specifically I’m talking about leaving behind my insecurities and hang ups about my figure and body and stepping a little bit out of my comfort zone.
Like many of us, I’m inclined to stick to the same ‘uniform’ of clothes and even more so the same palette of colours. Mainly black. Being plumptious I hide behind black a LOT convinced it makes me look three stone lighter, when of course it doesn’t.
You know what, though? I’m sick of it. It’s spring now, coming in to summer, the days are longer, hopefully the sun will make an appearance and I’m sick of wearing dull clothes and covering up.
I need to lose some weight and I’m doing so slowly by following the Slimming World plan but while I’m losing weight, I want to wear nice clothes. I deserve to wear nice clothes. And that means colour and patterns and florals and stripes and polka dots and anything else I fancy.
Trousers – Yours Clothing. Top – Tesco. Shoes – Heatons
Rimmel Wake me Up Foundation, Chanel Eyeshadow, Estee Lauder lipstick
I spoke a bit about this last week in my post about wearing stripes, something I had been afraid to do before as I thought they made me look fat(ter). I enjoyed dressing up and wearing a bold pattern so much that I thought I’d extend it to a week long challenge for myself.
So I’ve decided just to go for it for the next seven days and have a bit of fun with it and embrace fashion and colour and pattern and to hell with size and the ‘rules’ for what you can and can’t wear if you’re a larger person. To hell with it.
Lady in Red – Laura
Aoife’s stunning blue nails
Sara in her new pink scarf
I enjoyed my last challenge a lot and friends and readers got on board with it so much that this time I’ll also be including pictures of other women, of all sizes, who all want to break out of their comfort zones and add a bit of colour to their wardrobes. I’m hoping at the end of the seven days people will have enjoyed it so much that they’ll permanently retire their dull wardrobes.
Sharon’s fabulous statement jewellery and minty nails
Wendy looking fab in her bright pink dress and statement clutch bag
If you’d like to take part, please do join in, the rules are simple: Wear some colour every day, or a bold print/pattern you wouldn’t have worn before. That’s it. You don’t have to buy new clothes, even bright rainbow coloured nails count. A statement necklace, a vibrant scarf, anything. Just wear some colour every day.
You can comment here or follow me on @beatingblog and use the hashtag #colourmehappy to take part. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Enjoy it.
