NT Live, Talking Tots and another Emily & Fin dress #LittleLoves

Wow, I’ve not done one of these for a REALLY long time, so this #LittleLoves post covers pretty much a whole month! It’s been a pretty hectic and busy month and in all honesty, it’s been a bit of an emotional one, so it’s good to take the time to focus on the things that have been good, uplifting and sparked joy. Which is, of course, one of the best reasons why I love taking the time to write these posts. They’re good for the soul.

Whilst away camping, I was really pleased to find the time to actually read. I whizzed through a fairly well known book by Claire Mackingtosh called I Let You Go.* It was quite a riveting read, even though it got really difficult to read in parts. I kept getting angry at one character in particular, and LPD had to listen to me gasp and rant my frustrations! If you’re looking for a book you can’t put down, this is a good one to try – although, it deals with some pretty dark and horrible subject matter so worth doing your research on the book first if child-loss and domestic violence are triggers for you.

Apologies for the HORRIFIC early morning photo… but hey, sometimes you’ve got to share the make-up free, unbrushed hair side of yourself too, right? Poor LPD, this is what he was the (dis)pleasure of waking up to every day – usually with this look of disdain too. But getting a little bit of reading done in the morning was a real treat.

One particular week in July was a fairly cultural affair, starting off with something for Pickle as we watched In the Night Garden Live! at Cannon Hill Park, followed by a date for LPD and I to see an NT Live screening of Angels in America Part One: Millenium Approaches. If you’ve not heard of NT Live screenings before, I can wholeheartedly recommend them, or any of the other live theatre screening programmes.

[epq-quote align=”align-left”]In 1980s America, New Yorkers are walking the line between life and death, as crisis breaks out in the city. America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.[/epq-quote]Angels in America is a play written by Tony Kushner, and it’s just finished a run at the National Theatre in London. It’s a play in two parts, and the first part (which clocks in at an impressive three and a half hours) was broadcast live from stage into cinemas across the country. This means, it’s easier to see the performance without having the travel and expense of a trip to London – perfect for me, as I’d find it a lot more difficult to organise a date to London rather than just driving five minutes down the road. We missed our chance to watch the second part which is a little annoying but on the bright side – that makes me feel like we owe ourselves another date night soon, and maybe we’ll do something where we can actually have a proper chat to each other!

Oh my goodness, I hope this counts as a heard rather than a seen… but this week, one of my NCT Mommy friends sent us all a video of her little one AMAZINGLY saying all the names of the babies in our group. She’s only about six weeks older than Pickle and honestly, it was the most incredible thing I’ve heard. What a clever little monkey, she is! Pickle is definitely a mover rather than a talker, but I’ve started to take him to a Talking Tots class in Redditch so I’m hoping the games and exercises we do in these will really help encourage him to concentrate, listen and ultimately talk a bit better. He seems to be taking to it quite well – and it’s the kind of thing that I can really see will help if we stick to it and keep going.

I don’t know if this should be included in a #LittleLoves post because I didn’t particularly ‘love’ it at the time, but during a recent trip to Hatton Country World, I definitely made myself feel pretty sick going on a children’s teacups ride.

We didn’t really think it through… to try and ensure as many children could get on the ride as possible, Pickle and I as well as Toddler O and her Mommy all squeezed into one teacup. And let me tell you, it really was a squeeze. As the ride was going round, both of us Moms looked at each other and said ‘it’s a bit fast for children, isn’t it!?’ before we realised that none of the other teacups were spinning quite as much as us. I think the extra weight in our teacup meant we were at the mercy of the extra momentum. I felt queasy for AGES afterwards. And poor Toddler O was a bit sick after her lunch. It was good fun though!

If you read my preparing for a first night away post, you’ll know that in mid-July, I ventured off for the weekend to Bath for one of my Mommy friends’ hen do. I can’t quite believe her wedding has now been and gone (oh my, it was marvellous – and you can read my top tips for attending a wedding with a toddler too). My social life at the moment revolves around baby classes, soft play and playdates in the park so I had NO IDEA what to wear for a baby-free night out. On a whim, I bought some floral shorts from H&M in the hope that they looked vaguely fashionable, meant I didn’t need to worry about flashing my pants and would be easy to dance in.

Annoyingly, I didn’t really get a photo of me wearing them and the only photo I have is a big group photo and as I know there are some teachers in the mix – probably not a good idea to plaster them all over the blog! Instead, here’s a photo from the wedding. This is an Emily & Fin dress (I’m pretty much obsessed with their dresses… when you find a style that suits you, why go for anything else?!) and I just love that I can keep adding to my collection with differing prints.

We were sent a huge box of Google Fruit samples a couple of months ago, and I’ve been slowly working my way through them with Pickle. They’re a company hoping to promote ‘lifelong friendships’ with fruit and veg for children. The range features some of the staple baby foods that most ranges offer like carrot corn puffs, but I’ve been particularly impressed with the freeze dried fruit pouches which I’ve not come across before.

Pickle seems to be a fan anyway, and it’s been great to have had lots of little bags of fruit and veg based snacks that I can just throw in the change bag and take around with us. The smell of the freeze-dried stuff is amazing! You can buy them in Waitrose or Superdrug (and even better, they were on offer when I went in to buy more supplies a few weeks ago!). Don’t you just love a baby/toddler snack that you enjoy eating too? I’m not sure who ends up eating more of the packet, me or Pickle!?