A day called Monday

Mami and daddy always talk about different "days".

Its not easy for me to know what day it is.

All I know is:

• Some days I go to nursery

• Other days its just mami and me

• Then it's mami, me and daddy!

Oh, and I also know that I go to sleep when it is dark and wake up when there is light outside. In between I take a nap, but that is only for a short time and mami turns off the lights to make it look dark. But she can't fool me!

After being at home with mami and daddy and after 3 sleeps, it is time to go to nursery again. Mami calls this day Monday, but she says it with a loud groan. Mami doesn't do well on these so-called Mondays.

I tend to sleep in on this day, especially after all the fun I've had with daddy over the past days. Mami wakes up panicking because "we are running late!"

She pulls me out of my crib, says "Little M, you didn't wake me up!" (What does she expect? When I do wake her ups she takes ages to come get me!) and then big rush begins.

Her eyes are puffy and her hair is messy. So funny!

She quickly gets me dressed and brushes my hair with her fingers and yells out "ya, vamos. VAMOS!"

Then before you know it, we are running down the high road to catch the bus.

It's pretty much the same every single Monday. And on top of that, she always forgets something:

"Oh no! I've forgotten my keys"

"Oops! I left my lunch in the fridge"

"Ahhhh, I forgot my Blackberry" (this causes the worst reaction of all!)

Once she even had on mismatched socks! Silly mami.

I don't know how she copes for the rest of her Monday. But as for me, I'm pretty chilled - 12 hours of sleep does wonders!

How are you on Mondays?

Bye bye
Little M

A tiny favour please...

I saw that Cosmopolitan, a magazine for mamas is launching the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards. Not my first reading choice, but I thought it could make mami very happy.

She was looking at the site last week, but she didn't say a word to me about it.

I later went on the computer and thought, "I should put my blog forward for the Lifestyle Category. After all, being a toddler is serious business!"

And because I can't really nominate myself in the fashion or gadget tech categories!

If you like what I write, or have laughed at any of my stories, could you nominate me please?

Just click the logo above, select Lifestyle and that's it! (well, you have a write a few things, but I hope that won't be too difficult)
My promises

I promise to be really really nice to mami. I promise to eat all my food and not throw it around the kitchen. I promise to let her kiss me. I promise to give her more kisses. I promise I won't poop as much (well, sort of)  I promise not to cry right in her ear. I promise to let her wipe my nose. I promise to not  pee pee on the floor. I promise I won't take her makeup brushes and put them in the toilet. I promise to take longer naps. I promise to use my own toothbrush instead of hers.

Phewwww, think that is enough!

Thank you very much lots of hugs and kisses

bye bye

Little M

Mami rocks

Abuelita/grandma is gone bye bye. She left on an aeroplane.

I miss being with her. She reminded me a lot of mami. Sometimes she kind of looked like mami too. Even her laugh was the same. I liked feeling that mami was close by even it wasn't really her.

I can tell mami is extra tired again because she has to wake up early instead of sleeping in. Abuelita would take care of me, and mami is having a very hard time getting back into our routine. Bless her, she does try!

Yesterday, after "resting" all day we went for an afternoon in the park to get back to our old selves.

But I didn't recognise the way.
We went on a new path.

The ground was different.

 I kept looking at it. I had never seen this before. They were all over the place!

What where these little pieces everywhere?

I took a step and my feet made a funny sound. I took another step and felt a something inside my shoe. I stopped to bend over and touch them. I rolled them in my hands and they made a cracking sound. 

Can I eat these?

"What is it?" I wanted to know. It wasn't like anything I had ever touched before. They didn't feel or look like the sand from the sandbox, they were not soft like the grass, they were not sticks.

So what could these be?

I held some out for mami, and said "eh".

She smiled at me and said, "thank you for the rocks mi amor"

"Rocks"

"R-r-r-r-rocks" that's what these are. Rocks"

I piled as many as I could into mami's hands and hid some in the buggy to play with later. It was the best afternoon!

Just mami, me and lots of rocks.

The boy who lived in a box

Wordless Wednesday

Cool, huh?

Mami runs. Part two

My mami is running. And not just after me!

Let me explain. First she is going to run a 5k (or 3.2 miles) in Hyde Park in September and then a half marathon (13 miles) in October.

If memory serves me right, I have seen her run before...but that was back in my baby days. I’m a big boy now!

The excuses

“Shouldn’t you be training for the Royal Parks Half Marathon?” daddy asked mami as she was a about to eat another chocolate reindeer she had in the fridge.

“Arrrrg, yes! I know, but I can’t run now, I’m tired!”

“Well, you have to start soon, otherwise it will be painful”

“Ok! OK! I’ll start this week, I’m just not motivated” and ate the chocolate.

The miracle

Then on Sunday, it happened. Mami went for a run. And not just her, but daddy and I too! I cheered her on from the buggy and held her water bottle. When she needed some I would hand it over to her.

The challenge

What pushed mami out the door? A very nice lady from Arthritis Research UK had contacted mami and me that week and said she had seen my blog. She asked if mami would run the Adidas Women’s 5K Challenge on their behalf to let other people know more about juvenile ar-thri-tis.

I really don’t know what that means, and it was really difficult to spell (I cut and paste it!). But after listening mami talk to daddy, I can tell you a little more about it.

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis or JIA is a group of illnesses that share similar symptoms. Idiopathic arthritis is arthritis with no known cause and, just as in adult arthritis; it causes inflammation, pain and swelling in the joints. Ouch!

It is very sad because 1 in 1,000 children in the UK hurt from this and can begin at any age and is more common in girls. But the good news is that JIA doesn't turn into the adult kind of arthritis. There is more information, but I didn’t understand it all.

I will try to blog about her training each week and let you know more information on juvenile arthritis as I learn more along the way.

Mummy to 5K

Oh, and its not just mami running! She was able to get some of my blogging friends out and running too! They started the “Mummy to 5K” hash tag on twitter and Rachael @karamina made a pretty badge for everyone to put on their blogs. I put one up for mami. See it on the side?

Each day other mamas are joining in on the challenge. So far, I see that: @cafebebe @karamina @kahanka @climbingtikes @jennypaulin @ngowers and mami @verybusymama are all set to run! If you want to join in, just click on the Adidas Women’s 5K Challenge Link and register and leave your link below!

And daddy (who is a runner too) says don’t forget to get a good pair of trainers – otherwise it will hurt!

Happy running!

Bye bye!

MotherCare, more like MotherDOESN'TCare

I may be little, but I know when mami is happy and when she is not happy. This week, she has not been very happy.

Before leaving the waters and coming home, mami and daddy had everything ready for me. My bed, my clothes, toys, blankets and nappies. Most or all had been bought at a store called Mothercare. Daddy really liked their selection and would say "they have everything we need!"

In November (mami mentioned the month) before travelling on a plane to visit abuelita, mami said "we need a lightweight stroller, I don't want to take the big one the on the plane" Daddy agreed and said it would be good for nursery too.

And guess where he went to buy me a new pushchair? That's right; he went to our favourite store, Mothercare.

Now its summer time and just the other day the back wheels broke off. I was surprised because we only use it to go to nursery. I have had my other buggy since I was born and nothing has happened to it!

We went to our nearest store, and they said we were past the 6 month guarantee. Mami asked if it could be repaired and they said we would have to pay for it.

But wait! According to an email from customer support:

"If it has a manufacturing fault and you return it after 28 days, we'll repair it. If  we can't repair it, we'll exchange it or give you a refund."

The email went on to say:

“If your pushchair doesn't have a manufacturing fault, has been used and isn't in its original packaging, we don't refund or exchange it.”

Very sneaky! Based on advice provided by email customer support anything that is a “manufacturers fault” should be replaced but in the store they bully you into thinking this coverage only lasts 6 months. So which is it?

Talking to daddy she said, "Either they don't believe their own brand is of good quality with just 6 month warranties or they are trying to pull a fast one."

Daddy and I looked at each other and he said they should rename themselves either MotherDoesn'tCare or CustomerSupportDon’tKnow due to the conflicting messages.

Some of mami's friends on Twitter also said they were unimpressed with Mothercare items and their service and had moved on to other shops for their essentials.

I know mami, when she says something she means it! Says she won't be shopping at Mothercare and wanted me to write about it to let you know to be careful when buying anything from them.

What are your experiences? Is mami right to want them to replace the pushchair after only 8 months of use?

A very secret club

Oh no! I completely forgot to tell you about me and mami's first Secret Post Club experience! See we are part of a very secret club where bloggers exchange gifts every month. Its so much fun!
Last week the doorbell rang and mami panicked because she was still in her jammies - so funny! She quickly put on her jeans and a robe and ran to the door. The mail man handed us a box and after getting the tape off the box, mami handed it over and said "here Little M, this is for you".

Wrapped in pretty colourful paper was a some sort of lip makeup for mami (she loves that stuff!) a cupcake magnet, a pretty notebook, a carrier bag with flowers and a tray to make ice lollies for me! Yessssss! YUMMMMY!

Mami read the card and I couldn't stop clapping with excitement. I love paper and boxes!! She looked over at me and said "Little M, mira/look, our secret friend is Julie from All About Us and Such Like! Lets take a picture to send her to say thank you!"

Opening our presents. Thank you Julie!

Julie made mami and me very happy!

So, today was our turn to send our present to our secret friend. But, shhhh! I don't want to ruin the surprise (but I did help choose the gifts by pointing to what I liked at the shop). I wrote her a special note with my green crayon and I hope she can read my writing!

You can be part of the club too. Just read the directions and promise to follow the rules. And you can be anywhere in the world, not just in the UK. And if you are lucky mami and me will send you a nice present!

Bye bye,

Little M