“no, we won’t be talking about that any more Thank You!” sort of thing (I’d mentioned I’d heard her singing the new Wiggles song ‘Do The Propellor’ – important stuff)

Then there’s Barry Bloody Scott. There’s a new Cillit Bang advert and she has seen it. She excitedly squealed how Barry now has a car and not an aeroplane, then piped up without any prompting “Bang! And the plane has gone!” (which we thought was hilarious – humour and in the right context too).

I’m about to become an auntie again in the next week and we were talking about babies. H is insistent that babies come from the tummies and right now I’m not going to challenge that too much as she’s only three. Plus she was born by c-section, easily the easiest way to explain to your child how they were born. My sister tells me that H’s cousin (22 months older) now knows that ‘babies come from your foofoo’. Sighhhh. We won’t be far behind, I’m sure.

We’ve been waking her up for night-time wee’s and taking it in turns. She’s definitely a mummy’s girl at the moment, what with her declaring to Shaun one night “DADDY! You BROKE my IDEA.” and screaming and hitting him in her sleep – all he did was sat her on the loo. I get cuddles!

Yesterday she amazed us with her maths skills by telling us there were two minutes to go before it was 8am – it was 7.58 – and she can now spot and read the word ‘sky’ whenever she sees it, thanks to the adverts. I realise this makes it look like we watch a lot of tv, but the reality is she gets five minutes of Ben & Holly every morning we go to work, and even tonight she opted to read her Moshi Monsters sticker book over watching something. Every time we see the Sky adverts on tv she has to say “oh no, SKY. We don’t like them, do we Mummy?” to which I confirm we absolutely do not.

Her reading is improving, so I’ve been making sentences which don’t make sense to take away the guesswork – just simple things like ‘the sky is red’, but we’re slowly getting there. We also recently presented her with the Barefoot Books World Atlas due to no accidents at nursery (as we promised she could have it if she did three months) so she’s been doing lots of learning about the world, and where the sun and the moon go – something she’s currently fascinated with. I suspect we’ll be making some playdough shapes and moving them around soon so she gets the idea of how it all works…

Then all of a sudden it hit me, she’s learning everything from things I’m doing. Blimey. That wasn’t so bad… she may end up with my bad sense of humour, and for that I apologise, but she will have a good joke repertoire.

School.

School. Uniforms. The next three years of H’s life. A new start. New friends. Old friends in a new surrounding. That’s a plus for around here – there are so many primary schools in such a short distance you’re guaranteed to know someone in your class.

But yet I need to know more. I need to get a visual of what I need, I have pieces of paper telling me, a bazillion pieces of paper and yet my head doesn’t really take it all in. So much to think about and less and less time to action it because we’ve been told a vague idea of what’s happening and it’s all on paper in a pile just waiting.

I’m not stressed. It’s the emotional side of it all – our last dance performance at nursery coming soon, her last open morning this weekend, a graduation ceremony for them all soon. I’ll cry. I’ll cry a lot. I’ll try not to but I will. I think I’m actually feeling this all so much more than she is – my baby is moving on soon and it’s getting forever nearer. She’s not my baby any more; just my little girl. It already feels like nursery have let them go, they just need to know when they move on to make plans for the next set of children to move into their room (which of course I can’t say as I don’t know), a production line of children being looked after and taught some brilliant things until the next lot start.

Right now it feels like someone else has the jigsaw I want to put together and they’re giving it to me one piece at a time – and they’re not even pieces which link together.

On the plus side I picked up a leaflet which gives all children free milk until they’re five. Does this mean H will have free milk for her whole first year at school? Bloody excellent if so! Being the youngest in the year has its perks.

Still, two and a half months. Where exactly has this year gone?

Dear Apple,

If you’re going to start sending me emails in the future based on my iTunes purchases, I’d really like to opt-out. The purchases I make are music for my daughter. I don’t need suggestions based on The Wiggles, thank you.

Love,

me

Dear Rdio,

Please stop sending me emails telling me there’s new music from The Fall available. I know this. When I get a chance I’ll be listening, I haven’t forgotten. Though at least you’re getting it right – just stop sending the same email weekly please? Thanks.

Love,

me

Dear Spotify,

You send me too many emails. You also have too many ads on the free version, so I don’t use you as much. Don’t take it personally.

Love,

me

Dear Amazon,

Thank you for sending me emails suggesting music I might like based on my search preferences, however, there’s a problem. I’m often checking on your site for work-related things, so suggesting I’d like the new albums by Deerhunter, Queens of the Stone Age and The National is nice but I already have them – direct from our warehouse. It’s a bit like me sending you an email asking if you’ve heard of free super saver delivery or something.

Love,

me

Dear Play.com

Thank you for only sending me emails with offers, it’s SO refreshing. You never suggest things I might like, I like this, it’s like we’re courting, you don’t know anything about me, and you’re being aloof.  Keep it up, I actually read your emails to the end.

Lots of love,

me x

The downside of this was realising that the front bedroom she temporarily slept in is actually a better room for her, and that she’ll probably end up moving in there in the coming months. Uuh.

So, her bed was moved back in, Shaun worked out where everything should go, and I did as much covering of her shelves as my back would allow before it was time to get dressed and ready for our local carnival.

We’ve lived in Carshalton/Wallington since 2007 – which is mad to see written down… six years now. Every year we go to the Carshalton Carnival or watch the parade (which comes past our house) – and I’ve always been impressed. These days H could become a Carshalton Cheerleader from September, so a lot of today was watching their routines (they’re amazing – the amount of trust you have to have in the other girls you’re working with is incredible – you need to know they’ll be there to catch you as you’re being thrown up into the air) – this is a photo I took back in 2007, so you get the idea

Talk about brave. Amazing. H seems keen “as long as they don’t throw me in the air” – I told her that won’t happen for a while so she’ll be okay. She still seems keen… this is a good thing.

So we wandered around the carnival, bought things, tried things, talked to people – the Club Secretary from Carshalton Athletic gave me two complimentary tickets for an adult and child for a game next season (which is amazing! We’ve always wanted to go!) – how good?

H got to go on every ride she could (or that we could afford) and won a mermaid (tacky, but good). I love the carnival, though yet as I get to know more people here we still didn’t bump into anyone we knew – though I know this will change from September, I’m sure.

The Cheerleading seed has been sown, maybe in ten years time this will be H…. and as I said to my friend Eileen, I’m dying to wear one of the t-shirts… oh yes.

I tried not to laugh too much and kept telling her to shush, but she really really wanted to know. Sigh. I told her she’d find out in enough time.

Anyway, swimming – things are progressing amazingly. She got her badges and certificates and is being moved up a class, and while the computers at the pool say there’s no spaces, our excellent teacher says she knows she has one in her group, which means we should be able to move up AND keep our teacher which makes us both really happy. Even better, it’s a little bit later which fits in with school now that’s on the horizon. I’m very happy.

Today in class they practised more swimming ‘like a frog’ – doing the legs for breast stroke – I can see how well H listens and does what she’s meant to which is great – she’s currently showing Shaun what she did in her lesson in our bath… seriously, I couldn’t be happier with how it’s all going. Things feel great at the moment, and that makes me happy. I’m so glad we started H early with swimming – her attention is really good and I’m convinced it’s due to her doing it for so long.

So in the morning they had a lazy time, before heading out to the cinema (Brixton Ritzy no less!) and watching ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ (which she loved) before heading home via the park, doing some scooting around, playing tag and hide and seek (already I feel woefully inadequate as a parent as we never play like that, sob!), heading home via the shops for pizza so they could have a movie night watching Aladdin (where H spent the entire film asking questions).

There’s another one of those coming up when BritMums is on, how can he possibly top that? I’ve already got a busy Sunday planned for next weekend, but in the meantime there’s an important matter of getting H’s room reorganised and repainted and revamped as part of the MoneySupermarket challenge – we’re running late so are out of the running for the main prize, but just having a chance to do a challenge like this is something which has kicked us up the backside – if only my back wasn’t hurting so much. Boo.

Firstly, watch the video. You will see several small child funny things. A cannonball (“look mummy! A cannonball!!” – falls over laughing as it’s so funny). Kim Deal underwater singing or air bubbles coming from her mouth or blowing a whistle (“ooh mummy, the lady is good at putting her face underwater too like I do in swimming!”). Kim doing her “Wahooooooo-errrr” bits (“this is fun to dance to!”) and Josephine’s bouncy bassline (“LOOK MUMMY! I’m JUMPING!”). H is a fully paid up member of The Breeders fanclub, thanks to one song. Good job really as her mummy and daddy already are.

Exhibit B : Anything on Yo Gabba Gabba

Make a song, add all the YGG characters and a crazy backdrop and you’re onto a winner. As soon as H could talk in more than three words her favourite band was The Flaming Lips (thanks to ‘I Can Be a Frog’), she’d insist on watching the video several times in a row. We have not yet moved onto ‘She Don’t Use Jelly’ though it won’t be far off…

Exhibit C : See also Sesame Street

I’m not a Feist fan, but do like her ’1-2-3-4′ on there. Our most favourite of all is Tilly and the Wall doing the ‘ABC’ song, complete with tapdancing (as that’s what they do) which would be on repeat even more than The Flaming Lips. There’s also a charming little song which counts up to twelve which we still often sing. There’s a faster lite-punked up one that goes up to twenty as well. Having chosen The Muppets over Sesame Street when I was of that age it’s a new world for me too.

I think this proves my point. I rest my case until something else comes along. That or it was just a lame excuse to mention The Breeders again.

You know what I hate, Landlord? I hate when a rent is increased because that’s what everyone else does. Because you’re charging it to keep well in with what everyone else charges. I know, I know, it’s a business. You have no intention of selling.

Well, you say that.. but our last two landlords who had ‘no intention of selling’ did that. It can really mess up your living arrangements when it’s forced on you, especially if you weren’t aware when you moved in. There’s nothing more irritating than finding out you’re only going to live there until the landlord sells (and I have plenty of horror stories – shortest stay due to this – 2 months, longest stay – 4 months and visits from abusive estate agents who would turn up unannounced letting themselves into my home without notice as they had a key)

Then I read a news article today about shops near Bolton which are empty, vacated by the people who owned them but they’re still in  contract so the big chains keep paying their rent even though it’s empty. Local businesses who are forced to move can’t do it because they can’t match the prices you’ve been charging companies who can.

How about our local high street here? Or up the road? Landlords bumping up rents for businesses which forces them to close or move elsewhere – they don’t look at it and see a local community which people use – they just see it as somewhere their pockets are lined, probably over the odds if they’re a big chain. Our local butchers and grocers have both been forced out due to rent increases in the last six months – in their place are a new grocers and on the horizon a Costa Coffee – on our high street which already has three popular coffee shops.

It makes you happy though doesn’t it landlord? A property which probably costs you next to nothing with a rent which is way over the odds.

Which brings me back to the place I live. We both work – we both work as we have to – to send H to nursery I need to work four days a week. Soon those four days will go up to five though my days will be shorter as she starts school. We don’t have enough money to buy, but then again we don’t want to buy – or at least I don’t. I’d happily live somewhere and make it my home – we’ve got all our own furniture bar the dishwasher and washing machine so what difference does it really make? It’s all just walls and carpets. We’re lucky, we can make that choice.

These aren’t problems for us, we’re lucky – a lot of people aren’t. Shelter are campaigning at the moment to help out tenants who have crappy landlords, ones who don’t declare where their deposits are placed (which is illegal), some who don’t get their deposits back. There’s help out there. There’s also a lot of crappy places to rent out there. They’re pushing into local councils to get support against rogue landlords (and I can see that Sutton Council aren’t listed) – there’s so much to read and it’s worthy of your support. Please head there.

This isn’t a sponsored post, I needed to mouth off about landlords. I’ve probably barely started.

One thing I’ve spotted in her is how she’ll watch something or work on something with me, or we’ll do some spelling or mathematics and she’ll get really cross and frustrated. Fast forward 24 hours and she’s telling me 4+3=7 with great authority or how you spell a certain word. A lot has to be down to her age, but I also see similarities with me. The amount of times that I reply to something quickly and sound ridiculous, where I should have waited 24 hours and been measured about it are too numerous to mention. She hasn’t yet started to steam in without thinking, just saying whatever comes into her head, she doesn’t have that ‘confidence’. Truth be told, I don’t really either.

It’s interesting to watch – right now my little girl is becoming a proper little girl doing little girl things, she already has ideas about what are boys or girls things (and oh, I was cross the other day – on Facebook someone had some Toy Story, Cars and Wall-E “books for boys” for sale, seriously) which I’m trying to stamp out – pointing out her cousin and second cousin who are both boys liked the colour pink. I think she gets it. Actually, I know she’ll get it when she comes back to me about it in a few days time – it’s the thought out thought process again.

I became a proper hypocrite this weekend just gone. I’ve often frowned upon people when I see their young child of a similar age to H sitting in the front seat of a car, thinking they’re irresponsible for doing so. Looking at the law it is legal, so I’m just being judgemental about it. Anyway, we drove to Wickes to pick up a Tuff Spot for some outdoor messy play. Of course it didn’t fit in the car without squashing H, so she had to transfer to the front seat, an adventure she found great while I drove so slowly I really was a Sunday driver. Fortunately the roads were quiet and we picked a good time of day to go, and H happily held onto my bag in the passenger seat with her new sense of responsibility. I’m actually more scared that a child has to be 135cm when they don’t use a booster seat any more – going on H’s rate of growth she’ll probably be five…

Playpennies linked to this today and I like it. I’m up for it – the 52 week saving challenge. Start with £1 and work up to £52, saving about £1378 in the process. A lot depends on childcare costs when H starts school, though I know it will be a lot easier as we’re not paying £45 a day in nursery fees… I reckon it’s do-able. Who’s in?