10 Ways that Recruitment is the Perfect Practice for Parenthood

Posted on August 27, 2014 by katese11

You may not know this about me but, immediately pre-Reuben, I used to be a recruitment consultant. It was fun for a while and – I realised while cooking dinner – just the perfect preparation for parenthood. I’ll explain:

1) Recruitment and parenthood are both hideously competitive. In recruitment, it’s colleagues selling each other out to get a good candidate…in parenthood, it’s neighbours selling each other out to get a good school place.

2) In both cases, the outcome of the competition depends on a third party who is prone to behave unpredictably and generally do the very last thing you want them to. Back then, we called them “candidates”. Now I call them “toddlers”

3) One of these jobs involves 5:30am starts, midnight finishes, weekend and Christmas work and an end to ever having a holiday to really call your own. Then there’s parenthood, which is remarkably similar.

4) After a few months in recruitment, you’ll be able to telephone interview one candidate while writing the CV of a different one entirely. This multi-tasking is good practice for working from home with a toddler on your knee asking for stories and the “Sarah & Duck” DVD on repeat.

5) You know how new mothers find themselves waiting till mid-afternoon before they find time to have lunch? Recruiters are used to that already. And eating with an audience. And the copious amounts of caffeine.

6) Headhunting is all about convincing someone to leave their job. Useful skills for getting a 3-year-old to leave the park.

7) You spend the whole day asking the same few questions over and over again. It used to be “What kind of role are you looking for?”. Now it’s “Have you put your shoes on?”

Not convinced? How about these similarities between life in a recruitment office and life with kids?:

8) Bodily functions are an acceptable topic of conversation.

9) The parties always involve dressing up.

10) You definitely need a drink by Friday night

So, are you a nervous young 20-something considering taking the plunge into parenthood? Take the plunge into recruiting first. Just don’t get used to the money…

Posted in Rants | Tagged parenting, rants, toddlers | Leave a comment

LolliBop 2014 Review!

Posted on August 18, 2014 by katese11

This review might be coming a little too late to be of any use to anyone, but we’ve all had a bit of post-LolliBop fatigue. LolliBopped out indeed. Of course, the wild Saturday preceeding it didn’t help – Nathan and I had been boogying till the late evening at Disco 2000 and the kids were exhausted from dressing like pirates and eating lots of meat at Gravel’s house. All of that might explain the look of us in the photo above, when we arrived in the leafy surrounds of Hatfield House – a bit of a change from Stratford last year. Reuben briefly thought that he’d been conned and that LolliBop was just a big field of cut wheat, but he was reassured by the rainbow arch that led us to the giant inflatable teddy bear.

He was even more reassured by the over-excitable noises coming from the main stage. Children everywhere were being incited to eat sports candy and get fit – yes, LazyTown were in the house and gosh, they had a lot of energy. I guess 8-year-old girls always do have a lot of energy. Eva and Roo did too and joined in all the songs and dances, waving their free Heart FM flags. I’m not entirely sure the Sportacus was the same one as we met last year but he certainly did a good Sportacus impression. With the last ding-a-ding-a-ding we skipped off to one of the Southbank tents, where there was instrument making and storytelling going on. Reuben chose the biggest tube possible and made a drum which I wasn’t too keen on carrying around all day. He joined in the with the storytelling, tapping on his drum when requested, while Eva made a ribbon-decked shaker. Well, I made it under her instruction.

While Reuben wasn’t looking, I decided to jettison his drum. Or maybe just leave it on the buggy. Last year, we never found the buggy park. This year, it was relatively easy. But the strange thing was, ours was the only buggy parked there. All day. Any time I looked over, there was our overladen, clapped out car-buggy under the orange gazebo all by its lonesome. I have no idea why no-one else chose to dump the buggy and let the toddlers roam free, but it certainly was handy as a lace to leave our non-valubles. And the gazebo came in very handy when it started to rain. Which it did, biblically, not long after we’d left the Southbank Tent. We were in the Nintendo area at the time, with Reuben stubbornly refusing to go until he’d had his turn in the one-child ballpit (it was part of a Nintendo challenge). There was some cover but the rain was coming at us horizontally, and Eva probably got the worst of it as her raincoat is sadly lacking a hood…it’s a bit of a design flaw. As soon as Roo had taken his turn, we ran back to the buggy to get the umbrellas, which successfully warded off the rain for the rest of the day, pretty much. You can thank us later.

Slightly soggy and more than a little hungry, what better time to join a queue? When I was planning the day, I’d imagined we’d spend most of the time in the LolliPalladium, which had a mid-day run of pure quality Beebies acts – from Postman Pat straight through to Andy Day. But it wasn’t to be. This year, the tent was cleared between each act, so there was no lingering in the dry and waiting for the next act. Instead, you had to join a queue around 30 minutes before the start of each show, to be guaranteed a seat.

Now, the whole system has generated some controversy and I can see why. Kids aren’t the best of queuing. But it’s a fairer way than letting the same people sit in the best seats for every show (and yes, the LolliPalladium had stadium seating this year, which was a big improvement). It might have been better to have a ticketing system, but really you just had to accept the queuing and be prepared for it. We had our picnic in the queue for Chris and Pui, which Nathan thought was a particularly British thing to do – what could be more British than eating a sausage roll, in a queue in the rain? Well, it was only a light drizzle by this point and we had umbrellas…no need to complain really.

And we got to see Chris and Pui! We’d seen their roadshow before, but there were some subtle differences this year. Pui donned her old Teletubby garb at one point, a gag that was totally lost on the kids, and there were some new songs and sketches. We sat at the side, which meant we couldn’t see one part of the show (Humpty Dumpty) but other than that we had a good view. Eva enjoyed singing “Old MacDonald” and Reuben liked the bit with the monkey. Just as I’d expect him to.

Post Chris and Pui, Reuben threw a small strop. I forget why now, but it was something to do with “wanting some fun”. Apparently, that fun was to be found in the Skylanders tent so he and Nathan went off to investigate that, while Eva and I went to the toddler girl-aimed Baby Annabel tent. I didn’t deliberately gender-stereotype my children, OK? They just came out like this. Anyway, it seemed that Eva had found her spiritual home:

They’d scored some free PomBears as well, by this point which made everything even better. So the boys played video games, while Eva changed her “bebbies”…until she screamed at another girl for touching “mine baby”. We went to find our menfolk, eat some free yoghurt and find some fresh distractions.

We’d hoped to see the Andy Day show at 1:55 but going there 15 minutes early was far too late, as the queue was snaking across the whole field. So, we decided to catch the 5 o’clock show and in the meantime, the Thomas area beckoned and with it another queue. For Eva and Nathan at least. Me and Roo ran off to play in the Little Tikes area and came back when they’d reached the front of the queue for the Thomas photo opportunity. That wasn’t planned, honest.

There were other Thomas-themed activities to do as well – Reuben entered a prize draw by filling in an answer card. He didn’t bother to go and find out what the question was, just wrote “I’m very happy” in the “My answer is…” gap, and signed it Reuben. I don’t think he’ll win.

Having missed out on a play, we thought Eva should have ago in Little Tikes too, so we went back for a second round. There were 4-minute time allocations, which went quite quickly but meant there was never a queue…and sometimes that’s important. I suggested to Reuben that he spend less time fighting with other small boys over who got to be King of the Castle this time, which definitely helped to optimise the play-time.

Time for somewhere without time limits – the ever popular Duplo tent. We spent about half an hour in there, in a bid to a) keep the kids entertained, b) have a sit down on a beanbag and c) avoid Justin’s set. Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad…The Duplo tent had a new feature this year, where you could put your Duplo models in front of a screen and it would bring them to life! Of course, it was all done with preset animations but the kids thought it was genuine magic. Roo spent ages in there, just watching the other kids’ models being animated, before running back to the tent and making more models. He seemed happy.

Then we denied him a £3.50 ice cream. He wasn’t happy. Justin was on stage and we were within earshot. We weren’t happy. Drastic action was needed.

Bollywood with a gay cabaret icon? Does that seem drastic enough? Oh yes.

We’d previously encountered Boogaloo Stu in a seedy basement in Soho, playing rude party games. It may have been around 10 years ago. He may even have DJed at our charity clubnight “Dead Man’s Boots”, in a different seedy basement in Soho but where Stu went, decadence and high leg-kicking tended to follow. And here he was, playing Bollywood records for a kids’ dance class while wearing a knitted leotard, which was nicely co-ordinated with his trademark blue quiff. There was still some high leg-kicking but significantly less decadence. Although Reuben made a rocket out of cardboard, which is about as wild as we get nowadays.

Having had a nice dance and rocket-make (both under the same roof, conveniently) we sat down to kill some time before Andy and have some more food. It wasn’t long before Roo and Nathan were lured away by another distraction though – this time a wise-cracking robot by the name of Titan.

He’s awesome. I particularly enjoyed his 4D rendition of “Cry Me a River”. With some robot antics, food and hula-hooping it was pretty much time to queue for Andy’s show. And by that I mean, half an hour before the show started. The copious amounts of free Haribo helped the queuing experience along and when Roo started to get bored, we did a dinosaur quiz. Because Reuben likes dinosaurs. And so does Andy…

The Andy Day Live Show is – I suspect – cut down from a longer show, because it seemed a bit confused, narrative-wise. Andy was clearing out his old room but didn’t spend much time doing that, and spent a lot of time talking about how amazing mums are. I mean, that’s true but I think Reuben would have appreciated more dinosaurs. Eva fell asleep in her seat just before it started, but woke up by the giant cheer as Andy bounded onto the stage in his ever-so-cute T Rex t-shirt (“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your…oh”). We’re big Andy fans (and big fans of Andy’s Dad too) so he can’t do much wrong in our eyes, and it was amazing how much energy he still had at the end of the weekend. He encouraged all the kids to stand up and dance, then we had a “blow your cobwebs away” game, involving balloons. Then there was an inflatable T-Rex to wake up, and lots of audience participation, accompanied by the now-customary Reuben strop because he wasn’t invited on to the stage. Ah well. He managed to save his strop till the very end, and there was much cheering and roaring before that happened. And, actually he didn’t get that hung up on the lack of narrative. Apparently it’s not that important to a 5-year-old.

Oh, and he made a cardboard hat earlier. Tres chic, non?

It was definitely time to go home. LolliBop as ever was a whirligig of fun and excitement, along with the inevitable crashes that happen when small children get over-excited. Eva said she had fun “dancing with Daddy” and Reuben managed to squeeze out a sleepy expression of happiness when we got home. It was definitely a fun day – true, we could have done with less queuing and a bit less rain but the queues were over soon and the sun came out and with any luck we’ve made one of those childhood memories that seem so important. We’ll be back next year.

Disclaimer: I received press tickets to attend and review the event. All opinions remain honest and my own.

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out), Uncategorized | Tagged cbeebies, LolliBop, music, southbank centre, theatre | 4 Comments

The Bucket and Spade List Part 2 – Nancy’s Pantry

Posted on August 9, 2014 by katese11

The Bucket and Spade List is going well. By that, I mean we’re a third of the way through August and we’ve done one a bit of the ten. But it’s a strong start.

Yesterday, the trail led us to Dalston, home of the ironic beard and the unconventional use of crockery. Hipsterville, in other words. We were greeted by a cyclist blatantly running a red on his fixie bike, but luckily that was the last slice of arseishness we’d see all day. The rest would all be cakes, crafts and sunshine.

Accompanying us on the Dalston Odyssey was Hackney-native Bob, with the tiddler Boby and our South-London dwelling friends V&O. Our destination was Nancy’s Pantry, #5 on the list. All I knew was that it was a toddler-friendly cafe. I didn’t realise it would be so huge. I mean, look at the size of it:

So, we parked our buggies in the buggy park, took off the kids’ wellies so that they could “feel the grass underfoot” and ordered some coffee. The guy behind the counter looked a little harassed, as he was on his own so we had to pay and then come back a few minutes later. It wasn’t a huge problem though – we had nowhere to be, and there was plenty to entertain the kids. There was a play corner:

Random sensory stuff on the walls:

An OHP with shadow puppets:

And a big arts and crafts area, with a long piece of paper stuck down for drawing on:

There was also a private arts and crafts area, where older kids were taking classes and I think I spotted a party room. It really was quite big – the rents must be extortionate. Fortunately, the prices aren’t – they are pretty standard for Hackney (around £2 for a coffee, £2.50 for a cake). Also standard for Hackney apparently is serving a flat white in a tumbler:

I don’t get it. But my friend Brenda informs me it’s a thing.

We sat happily for an hour or so but when Reuben started complaining that he was hungry, we needed to consider lunch. As Maria knows, we like to lunch early to beat the crowd but that plan wasn’t going to work today. Lunch started being served at 11:30 and by 11:30 exactly, there was already a queue to order. It took us about 20 minutes, during which time Roo and Eva were sitting patiently at the table (I didn’t tell them to…in fact, I told them to go off and play but they are as contrary as ever). Once we’d ordered, the food actually appeared very quickly and the staff were very apologetic about the wait. There’s an extensive kids’ menu, including the interesting sounding “Jenga plate” (chicken goujons and sweet potato fries arranged in a Jenga formation) but the kids went for a sausage sandwich each and a portion of fries to share, which they seemed to enjoy (Roo wanted sausage, beans and chips but I wasn’t about to go off menu…and he was fine once he had it). I had the cheese toasty, which came with a very yummy chutney.

After lunch it had stopped raining and the kids were restless, so we went for a runaround in the outside play area. There isn’t much there – just some bouncy things and a climbing frame – but they spent a good ten minutes or so there before I got bored and wanted to talk to my friends.

There were also some fountains there, which are like a magnet for toddler-naughtiness. Remarkably, she only went in up to the toes of her wellies:

It wasn’t quite the day for water play – muggy yes but not exactly bright and sunshiney. So, we went back inside for a bit, to gather our things and move on to the next adventure. But before I move on too, a word for the toilets.

The disabled toilet = hotel-style luxury:

The main toilets = ironic plumber chic:

Only in Dalston.

Meanwhile, the chocolate muffins that Roo had had his eye on had disappeared (is it just me, or were there far too many “had”s in that sentence?) but I had a plan (oh look, there’s another one!). I had a voucher to spend at the Co-op after throwing a sandwich-related strop so we’d go there and get cakes.

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? With a flake?

Our cake-eating venue of choice was the Dalston Eastern Curve Gardens, right opposite the station. It’s another place I’ve had on my virtual to-do list for ages because I go past on the bus all the day but have never stopped for fear of being trapped by aspiring musicians trying to sell me wheatgerm smoothies in order to crowdsource their record deal. I believe that kind of thing happens all the time in Dalston. Besides, it looked really tiny through the door. but guess what – it wasn’t! There’s loads of space inside and it even has a little cafe (so I felt mildly guilty about bringing our own cake). If you go right to the bottom of the garden, there’s a sandpit with toys and trikes to play on:

There are deckchairs to sit on, but if you’re truly Hackney you’ll sit on the pallettes:

Bob was. She’s been in Hackney way too long. Boby, meanwhile, was lying around and taking it all in. She particularly enjoyed looking at a dead honeysuckle branch. Easily pleased.

My kids, however, preferred to disappear into the bushes where there was a large dirtheap for them to play on. But they did spend some time in the sandpit too, fighting T-Rexes with another little boy in there. It’s a very chilled out place to spend an hour or so, and it feels very surreal when you step back onto the main road outside. There was a music class going on while we were there, and I believe they do some arts classes there too. It also has a toilet, which is going to become increasingly important in our lives over the next few weeks. And did i mention the most hipster scarecrow ever?:

So, one item ticked off the list and children entertained for a day. Success!

More information here (official website)

Posted in Cake and the finest wines known to humanity (eating out) | Tagged cafes, cake, coffee, East London, nature (really?!), playground | Leave a comment

Summer Arts and Crafts and Fun

Posted on August 8, 2014 by katese11

Are the holidays starting to drag yet? Or, like me, is it the 5-year-old that you’re dragging around the grotty alleys of Soho? Either way, you could probably do with some more ideas on things to do. So, I’ve ~~seen some stuff on posters~~ done hours of meticulous research and here are some lovely-sounding arts and crafts and fun:

Have you noticed that big spirally red thing at the Olympic Park? It’s called the ArcelorMittal Orbit and this summer they’re hosting arts and crafts activities for children, including Orbit hat making, where you can “Make a hat in the style of the ArcelorMittal Orbit” . Tell me you can resist that. The website is curiously reticent on the subject of ticket prices, but it obviously includes a nice view over London too.

Another East London-y thing I’ve yet to visit is the Craft Cabin in Chingford, which hosts daily craft activities. Also in Chingford this weekend, there’s the Chingford Big Weekender which features Sister Sledge on the Saturday and a fairground on the Sunday. It’s only meant to rain on one of those days, so get yourself down there!

I’m going to get off East London in a minute, honest. But before I do – how adorable is this corner shop made entirely out of felt in Bethnal Green? It’s like a sister of a friend of an imaginary friend that’s done it, so I’m totally involved. Honest.

Right, a moment for the biggies then. Tate Britain is running its “Open Studio” family workshops every Thursday- Sunday during the summer – it’s free, it’s drop-in and there’s a patchwork theme this summer. Also running family workshops is the Royal Academy, with one today and then next Wednesday. Their exhibitions are often quite fun for kids too. Don’t forget the Southbank’s Festival of Love, with such eclectic highlights as a kids’ beatboxing workshop with Shlomo (finishes today!) and the annual fake beach. If you’re really desperate for ideas, have a look at our Bucket and Spade List to see what we’re doing…

Of course, if none of that appeals, just strip off and run jump in a paddling pool naked. And then let the kids do the same…

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged Central London, crafts, East London | 2 Comments

The Bucket and Spade List Part 1

Posted on August 6, 2014 by katese11

You’ve heard of the Bucket List, right? Starting off as a list of things to do before you die, it’s become a generic term for a list of cool stuff you want to do. So, we’ve hijacked that for our list of not-so-cool stuff we want to do before the end of the summer. In a moment of hilariousness, I’ve called it “The Bucket and Spade List”. More excitingly, we’ve already started on one of the items. We are all over this.

So, here it is…

The LWAT Bucket and Spade List Summer 2014

1) Go to Leytonstone

Let’s start with this one and it can only get more glamourous. It’s been five months since we moved to East London and Leytonstone is still as unknown to me as the logic behind the TfL bus schedule. Everyone tells me there’s not much there, but there has to be something….right?

2) Spend some time on the Met Line

Another piece of London that is almost entirely unknown to us and therefore should be explored at some point. Maybe we’ll go to Pinner and learn to make amazing papercuts. Or maybe we’ll just go to Pinner…

3) Find a softplay with decent coffee and wifi

This one’s self-explanatory. It’s also like the Holy Grail. Not being extortionately expensive would help too.

4) Go on a boat of some kind

I love how open-ended this one is. Pedalo? HMS Belfast? Thames Clipper? It looks to be an easy win, which means we almost certainly won’t get round to doing it. But what’s more summery than a boat trip, hey?

5) Try Nancy’s Pantry in Dalston

Another self-explanatory one- my hipster parent friends have been raving about this for ages, so it’s time to find an ironic hat and grow a goatee. And also go to Dalston.

6) Order something different at Nandos

Chicken pitta combo with corn and peri-peri chips. It’s been 15 years now. I need to break out a little. Maybe with some coleslaw?

7) Notch up some more city farms

We’ve done Vauxhall, Newham and Hackney…but there are literally some more out there. Reuben was very keen to huggle some sheep on a recent trip to Yorkshire so maybe he’ll get the opportunity.

8) Visit the RAF Museum

This museum has been on my to-visit list for just aaaaagggggeeeesss and now it’s just down the North Circular. Maybe this summer will finally be its time…

9) Find some of those book benches

There are benches all over London, in the shape of books. And that’s the one we’ve actually started on! More on that later…

10) Go to Clissold Park

Like the RAF Museum, this has been a to-do for ever and ever. I’ve heard it’s nice and I’ve heard it’s where “Abney and Teal” is set. I’ll report back.

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged Central London, East London, eating out, museums, North London, parks, summer holidays | 10 Comments

A Break-Up Letter

Posted on July 29, 2014 by katese11

I hesitated for a long time about whether to make this public or not. After all, it’s no way to treat someone you’ve been with since the late 90s. But when that someone screws you over too many times, it’s time to let it all out. If nothing else, maybe I can help others who are in the same position. So, I’m putting it on Twitter. I can only hope the message gets through. Here goes…

Dear Yahoo!

We’re breaking up. Don’t act so surprised – this has been coming for a long time. After all, I’ve been seeing Gmail behind your back for six months now and we want to move in together. That means it’s over between you and me. I mean, I’ll visit from time to time but it can never be exclusive like it used to be.

We’ve just been going in such different directions. I’ve been going in the direction of wanting to be able to reply to e-mails on my phone – you’ve been going in the direction of putting ads at the top of my inbox that look tantalisingly like unread e-mails. Every time I log on and count aloud to 30 while my inbox loads, I get the brief thrill of thinking that someone out there wants to talk to me, wants to connect with me. But as Morrissey says, it’s another false alarm, usually sponsored by Trivago. If I’d been wanting an excuse to leave, you gave me one.

But really, your neediness and insecurity has been laying the foundations for years now – the articles on Yahoo! “News” designed to undermine my faith in Facebook only undermined my faith in you. You need to work on your self-esteem issues. If you just loved yourself just a little bit more, you wouldn’t need to imitate Gmail – you can be your own person! That’s part of the reason I’m moving on – why be with a pale imitation of Gmail when you can be with the real thing? Who would choose Gareth Malone over David Tennant? Except Gareth Malone’s wife maybe.

Sorry, I got really distracted there by thinking about David Tennant. What was I saying? I guess it’s that I can’t stay with you out of nostalgia much longer. I sometimes long for the cutesy interface of the 90s but I’m not a teenager anymore. I need an e-mail account that actually lets me send and receive e-mails and that seems way out of your remit. My friends have mocked me for being with such a relic and I’ve defended you all these years but no more. And it really has been a long time. My boyfriend and I set up our first joint account in 1998, because it never occured to us that we would one day need to e-mail each other. These were frontier times, you have to understand. We were roasting buffalo over the fire as we sat in that IT suite, playing with a Teletubby doll and sending our friends Radiohead guitar tabs. Back in those days, you had quite a harsh mail storage limit so we eventually opened a new account because that was easier than going back through the inbox and actually deleting stuff. Those guitar tabs were some huge attachments.

One by one, my friends drifted away from you but I stayed loyal. I clicked “no” to downloading Yahoo! Mail Beta more times than I can count, and at all times resisted having an account that looked like outlook. That, to me, is a little too much like mixing work and pleasure. An Outlook-like Yahoo! account is like the mullet of e-mail. It doesn’t know whether it’s arranging board meetings or wild parties. And so began the Jekyll and Hyde years, where my inbox would flip between classic and beta with gay abandon. But did you ever ask me whether I wanted to be abandoned so gaily? It was always like a special treat when I logged in to see my classic inbox but these treats became rarer. Like visits from an old friend, I enjoyed them when they happened but accepted that they were dwindling. Eventually, it settled down into the Gmail-parody I see today, with my messages grouped into conversations. Do I want my messages in conversations which blur the lines between talking about someone and talking to them? That’s a big risk for a loose-tongued loose cannon like me.

Then came the phone thing. I said no, I didn’t want to download your app. Nathan had it and it was rubbish so I wasn’t prepared to waste any of my precious phone storage-space on it, just to be told every 5 seconds that Dominos had another alluring pizza offer for me. Or, alternatively, to never be told that I had any e-mails. Ever. So, I carried on using it on the Internet app on my phone, till that stopped working and then used it on the Chrome app for a few more months, limping on until the day came where I could neither receive new e-mails nor send them. At that point, even you have to admit that an e-mail account isn’t serving its purpose.

So, this is it. I’m putting an auto-responder on, linking to this blog post. We’re over. It’s not me, it’s you.

Sign Out

Kate

Posted in Rants | Tagged rants | 4 Comments

Kate and Mim-Mim – Coming to CBeebies Soon!

Posted on July 28, 2014 by katese11

I love exciting packages. This one was waiting for us in a sorting office in Chingford so had to be extra exciting to justify the trip up there after school. But it was! Huge and purple and shiny it contained not only a preview disc of new Beebies show “Kate & Mim-Mim”, but also a large pair of purple rabbit ears and a box of nerds. Nerds were my absolute favourite sweet when I was younger and I haven’t had them in a long, long time so I was overjoyed to see them. And even more overjoyed when Reuben said he didn’t want any.

Please do excuse the look of the very sweaty children in these shots. It was a bit of a hot day today and we’d been rushing about. Just be glad I didn’t post a selfie. Towards the end, i’ll show you the photo of Eva in the rabbit ears and Reuben “looking cool”. But you’ll have to wait for that.

Why? Because we have business to discuss. And that business is the important one of a new Beebies show. When I first heard about “Kate & Mim-Mim”, I was overjoyed that someone had finally made a kids’ TV show about my life, and that of my friend Mim. I was slightly disappointed to realise it was named after the creators’ daughter, but there’s a slight resemblance, no? Here’s the new Kate:

And here’s me at 5:

(Mim insists that she looks nothing like a giant purple rabbit, just so we’re clear)

As you can tell, it’s a technicolour, vividly realised world, designed to look as if it’s been sculpted by a child. Every episode starts with 5-year-old Kate playing with her toy rabbit Mim-Mim, who then comes alive and takes her to a magical world called Mimiloo. There they have lots of amazing adventures – the episode we saw involved a car race, which Reuben liked because “it is fast, like I am” (nb he is never fast when it comes to putting his shoes on or leaving the house) There’s a cast of supporting characters too, from the tiny Lily to gardener Gobble. There are certainly similarities to other shows – a bit of “Everything’s Rosie”, a bit of “Tree Fu Tom” but it stands up on its own as an entertaining and exciting world. The kids wanted to watch more episodes after the first one had finished and when I said we didn’t have any, they chose to watch the same episode again. A few days later, Roo left this message on the fridge:

I think he’s a fan! Kate & Mim-Mim is coming to CBeebies on Monday 4th August at 5:30pm, starting with “Rip Roaring Race”. Make sure you watch it!

Posted in Reviewing the Situation | Tagged cbeebies, review | 1 Comment

Summer Holidays 2014

Posted on July 24, 2014 by katese11

It’s finally happened – School have said that they don’t want to teach Reuben anymore. At least not until he starts Year 1 in September. If you have a similarly set-loose child, you may be wondering how to fill those weeks. Well, wonder no more…. we have some summer highlights for you. For a waaaaaay more comprehensive list, have a look at fellow Walthamstowian Museum Mum’s blog and activity calendar.

Talking of Walthamstow, I’m very sad to be missing the Walthamstow Garden Party on Saturday 26th July because we’re going to Scotland. There’s a feast of music and entertainment going on, from the ukuleles of the Walthamstow Acoustic Massive to the ukuleles of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Obviously, I’m not singing with WAM this time but I will be at the Stow Festival in September. Bring a ukulele. Apparently you can’t enter E17 without one.

Back in the old ‘hood meanwhile, there’s the Southbank Festival of Love. The beach is back, the fountains are back and the giant purple cow is back too, which is always a hit with toddlers, regardless of what’s happening inside. I also hear rumours of an edible bus stop and a slide but that might just be a cunningly constructed ruse to lure us back to South London. On a South London tip, there’s some free art workshops on at the Horniman, as well as huge grounds to run around in (bring a change of clothes if it’s muddy. And shoes.)

There’s also a smattering of events at some of our favourite toddler-friendly cafes this summer. The Dish is currently having a refit but they have a lovely new gazebo outside where you can sit and enjoy a coffee and a people-watch (and Dulwich is just the best for people watching). Then there’s a new cafe, down near Wimbledon, which is running art sessions over the holidays. It’s called CraftedLondon and we haven’t been yet, but will report back soon! The Rabbit Hole has its new menu now – put together by a Michelin chef, not a Mexican one – and is running messy play sessions over the summer, as well as pamper sessions for stressed-out parents. They are also running some special events, which I’ll let Nicci explain:

“We have a Workshop Fun Day on Saturday 23rd August all day to see what local suppliers get up to usually behind the scenes in their workshops! Then on Saturday 30th August there is a workshop, led by an expert, for anyone over 10 years old to learn to crochet an accessory of their choice whether it be a headband, flower or earing. All materials will be provided. Class is from 11am til 1pm with juice and biscuits included for only £9. Lastly in September there is a ‘back to school disco’ for the under three’s.. where parents will be able to make requests for their little ones favorite tracks and their will be a photographer on site to capture and give photographs straight away to parents from a booth. Entry is £3 per person.” See the Rabbit Hole’s Facebook page for more details.

Don’t forget, there’s also LolliBop on at Hatfield House, with an exciting array of CBeebies stars and also Justin. And if you’re heading to Camp Bestival, be sure to say hello to our friends at Big Fish Little Fish!

Of course, if this all seems too much effort, there’s always a local park to go to. I’ve been to a few over the course of this blog – the Google map might be a good place to start, along with the (somewhat outdated) sandpits and paddling pools map.

View London With A Toddler in a larger map

So, enjoy it. We’ll be launching our own little summer project once we’re back from Scotland….keep an eye out for it. In the meantime, if you have any other summer highlights you think we should include here, comment below or on the Facebook page. See you in a week or so…

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged cafes, museums, music, paddling pools, parks, sandpits, southbank centre, summer holidays, ukelele | Leave a comment

A Tribute to Bang

Posted on July 16, 2014 by katese11

This week the LWAT family lost someone special. He was Nathan’s Dad, my Daddy M, Reuben and Eva’s Bang. He was a man of random facts and even more random jokes. A man who loved gadgets and had a sure touch with DIY (something that genetics failed to pass down to Nathan). He had an eye for a picture and most of my favourite photos of the kids are ones that he took, not counting the one where a baby Reuben looked like William Hague. He always had a cheery greeting, a solution to every problem, a ridiculous story for his grandchildren and a new toy to show us, whether that was his telescope, his iPhone or a funny bottle opener.
It would be a disservice to the truth to pretend he wasn’t a silly man but that’s one of the many things we loved about him and he was good company for my equally silly father.
We’ll miss him tremendously.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

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