Keeping vitamin D levels up!

It can be really hard in winter to keep vitamin D levels up and to make sure little ones get enough exercise in the great outdoors - despite the cold weather my son still needs his twice daily dose of outside time to burn off some of his never-ending energy…here are some ideas of games and activities I’ve gleaned from other parents, the internet and trial and error.

 

Torchlight catch: just like the classic game, except players catch each other with beams of light, instead of hands – once you get outside in the dark and turn the lights on they’ll probably start playing by themselves and already know the rules - make sure children are in a reasonably confined area like a back-garden so they don’t get lost in the dark.

 

Make your own ice-rink: if you’ve got some concrete in your garden and it’s really cold you can make your own ice-rink by spraying water on it overnight and leaving it to freeze – when you wake up in the morning, hey presto, you’ve got your own ice-rink!

 

Make coloured ice balloons: You’ll need balloons; food colouring; water; scissors…Fill balloons with a drop of food colouring and water; tie shut and leave them outside overnight, if it's cold enough, to freeze. When they're frozen solid, cut the balloon off of the frozen ball and there you have it – gorgeous colourful ice sculptures.

 

Running down hills: OK, so you can do this in the hot weather but running down a frosty hill when the ground is slightly harder underfoot is much easier – my toddler spent all morning today running down a hill only stopping to catch his breath and whoop with joy – it was bliss to watch.

 

I’m forever blowing bubbles: Blowing bubbles isn’t just a summer activity – get your bottle of bubbles and head outside with the kids. They’ll be amazed as the bubbles firm up mid-air and land without popping.

 

Have a winter picnic: Not as barmy as it sounds – get a thermos of hot thick soup, some hot chocolate and some tasty biscuits, grab your blanket and warm clothes and find a picturesque spot in the park to enjoy your lunch – I’d recommend running around a bit first to get warm though!

 

And finally once you’ve home and need warming up – when was the last time you made a den with your children? Grab your duvet and some cushions, put the duvet over the kitchen table and sit with a warm mug of cocoa reading stories to your children with a torch – they’ll be in heaven.

 

If it really is too cold to get outside - check out my suggestions for the best places to take kids for hot chocolate in London.

Freezing cold...

Wow, to state the obvious, it's freezing - MLA seems completely oblivious mind, so I guess I can't complain too much...he had a lovely day yesterday with grandparents at the National Gallery - apparently he loved looking at the paintings with horses, dogs and hats in them and then came home and slept for 3 hours - what a winner sounding day!

Today we just bumbled around the park, he is managing to walk or rather run much more confidently now and ran all the way from the top to the bottom of the park, only stopping to catch his breath and scream with delight - watching him I felt like this is how I hoped having a child would be like, sometimes I can't believe how much joy he brings just doing such simple things, it's amazing to be a part of it.

Still haven't made it to the Rain Room at the Barbican, am slightly put-off by the queues, I'm not sure how an 18 month old would cope with a 2 hour queue or, more importantly, how everyone else would cope!

We were meant to be seeing great nanny this weekend but snow has stopped play, she is v. disappointed, as am I, but am hoping the snow near her will melt by next week so hopefully we can go then.

Back at work...

So, after a glorious few weeks off - lazy mornings and relaxed afternoons, I'm now back at work. I miss MLA a lot, not in the physical way I did when I went back to work after maternity leave and was still BF-ing, but more that I actually miss his company - it's amazing how the little man can be so much fun with a vocabulary of less than 20 words, but I guess we've just got used to be being back together again, and now it's hard when I have to leave. Still, I can't complain, work is good and interesting and MLA is very much loved by the people who look after him, so I recognise I just have to get on with it and look forward to my time off...

Talking of which, I really want to check out the Rain Room at the Barbican Centre, it looks awesome, someone told me that if you move too fast in it you can get absolutely soaked, which I didn't realise, I thought it was some kind of clever image of rain, not actual water - apparently the queue is crazy though so I'll have to get up super early or have a very grumpy toddler on my hands.

The other thing which is on my list is the National Trust garden - Nymans, near Haywards Heath, apparently it's open every day in winter and they have a new children's trail which sounds fun - someone told me they'd spotted their first snow drop today, so maybe spring is finally on it's way. I definitely feel like I'm over winter now...