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.

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

London Fields and Hackney City Farm

Posted on July 6, 2014 by katese11

I’m writing this after a weekend of torrential downpours and intermittent drizzle, (though apparently quite localised because we got some funny looks turning up to church in wellies and coats). If you too have experienced the July showers you may be struggling to remember that 48 hours ago we were in the grip of glorious summer and on Friday Eva and I were heading to that most summery of destinations – Hackney. We were there to see our friend Bob and her baby Boby but first there was the important matter of naming all the colours on the fence of the playground:

“Yeyyow, Wed, Boo, Geen!” said Eva. Once or twice. It’s a long, long fence they have there in London Fields, and a surprisingly big playground. We haven’t had a good play there since Roo was a 2-year-old and East London was being overrun by the EDL. Now, the 2-year-old was Eva and the EDL have largely fallen out of fashion with fascists in favour of Farage. So, it was time to revisit:

There were a couple of slides, which Eva climbed up onto and then decided were “too big” to go down. There was a natural play area:

And the slide that you can watch the trains from – a bonus for any toddler.

But it was time to go and show Boby some animals, so we walked through the park, avoiding the super-fast cyclists on the way and passed another play area:

We didn’t stop and play because we were headed for Hackney City Farm, at the other end of Broadway Market. I’d promised Eva some animals and she would get some. And Boby too, although she’s a little young to know all the words to “Old McDonald”.

We’ve been to a few city farms and are always keen to visit new ones. This was more the size of Vauxhall than Newham but still had donkeys, sheep and chickens in it, as well as some very large pigs, who were enjoying the sunshine and a roll around in the mud.

Eva enjoyed pointing at the sheep and saying “baa” to them but was sad that the donkeys didn’t come close enough to stroke (or maybe I was sad…I don’t remember). She liked the “chicken babies” in the small animals shed and thought the guinea pigs were hilarious for some reason. It wasn’t huge, so you couldn’t spend very long there but it was nice to let our city girls get in touch with nature. Although farm-bred Bob said “it’s not a proper farm cause it’s got no cows.” So now you know…

We’d planned to eat at the cafe, which was nice and roomy, but the mains looked to be around a tenner, which was a bit more than I wanted to spend. So we headed back up Broadway Market and found a lovely little cafe which made fresh smoothies and played the Wonder Stuff. They happily rustled up beans on toast for Eva and welcomed Boby, although there wasn’t a baby change for her (you forget just how often these babies need changing). I think it was called Caffe Villa D’avaeria but I might be wrong. Anyway, it was relatively cheap and very friendly and did some good sandwiches and salads.

Then onto the last Hackney-shaped treat of the day – back to London Fields for a paddle. The queue to the Lido itself was huge, so I’m glad we weren’t going there but we stopped off for a coffee at “Hoxton Beach”. Me and Bob had probably notched up around 8 hours’ sleep between us the night before, so we needed it. Besides, if I’m trying to gain some Hackney-hipster cred, supping a cappuccino in the paddling pool is the way to do it, right? Sadly I can’t quite pull off the bikinis that the other hipster mums were sporting, which would lead to some soggy dress issues later. But I’m skipping ahead.

I was mostly relieved that the paddling pool was open. A post on a local parenting group the day before had suggested it was “closed at the moment” but a quick look at the sign revealed that it was closed on Mondays and Thursdays, so clearly the person involved had just picked an unlucky day. It was very much open, even if the cattle-grid just inside the gates was not conducive to pushing a buggy across. It helped to go at a kind of diagonal, but mainly it was just a matter of getting stuck and having the hipster mums laugh at you.It’s the price you pay for a paddle.

And what a nice paddle. I love a bit of water play on a hot day, and Eva was very pleased to put on her flowery wetsuit and “wower hat” to do a bit of “splish splash”. A word of warning though – the depth of the pool changes quite dramatically and you can’t tell from the surface. It was around my ankles at one corner and up to my knees at the other corner. This was a problem in a few ways – firstly that I got my dress wet and secondly that Eva broke free from my grip when it was at her knee height and wandered off to the deeper part. I followed her but before I could grab her again she slipped over and couldn’t get her head back above water. Luckily, I was there to scoop her out and she didn’t seem too bothered (she was mostly concerned about her hat being wet) but if I’d been sitting on the side assuming it was all the same depth, there might have been trouble. And yes, I’m well versed on secondary drowning, so I kept a close eye on here for the rest of the day just in case. It’s been 48 hours and she seems OK…

Don’t let thoughts of drowning ruin what was a perfectly lovely afternoon – it’s just good to remember that paddling pools can get deeper without warning. Eva recovered very quickly from her unexpected dip and was keen to get back in and carry on playing. Boby also dipped her baby toes in but looked fairly unimpressed. Just as unimpressed as Eva was when I made her get changed to go and pick up Reuben from school. I’m glad we got to enjoy some sunshine before the rain kicked in cause that might just be our lot for the summer…

Posted in Token attempts at fresh air (parks) | Tagged animals, cafes, choo-choo!, coffee, East London, paddling pools, parks, playground, slides, swings | 1 Comment

Octowinner Announced!

Posted on July 5, 2014 by katese11

It was a grey and cloudy afternoon ~~under the ocean~~ in a school playground when LWAT visited random.org. Octonauts to the launch bay…we have a winner!

Before we announce it, a quick word from our sponsor, Mr K. Kitten:

“Ahoy, LWAT readers! Make sure you come and see us at Octonauts live! Unless you get totally distracted by some kind of sea-creature related emergency, which you’ve decided to go off and solve all by yourself while your colleagues are still sitting around talking. That’s the pirate way. Although the pirate way seems to involve getting rescued a lot by those same colleagues because you’ve done something reckless. Yeow!”

Thanks Kwazii, and now for the winner. It’s….

Lesley Shrosbee! Congratulations Lesley!!

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged giveaway, Octonauts | Leave a comment

Friday I’m In…formative

Posted on July 4, 2014 by katese11

Hello lovely readers and a quick post to let you know about some things. User-ful things, as Reuben would say.

Firstly, there’s only a few more hours left to enter the Octonauts Live! giveaway…I’m really excited about the whole thing and hope you will be too. One family ticket to be won for anywhere in country…as long as the show’s going there, of course. If you live in Giggleswick you might be out of luck.

I’ll draw the winner tomorrow, using the ever user-ful random.org, but not sure when because I’ll busy launching the…London With a Toddler Roadshow! You heard that right – this blog is going on the road. It’s a fairly short road, or series of roads, and it’s mainly just the road we live on but still I’m sure there will be crazy tourbus antics (mental note: get a tourbus). It starts tomorrow, at Roo’s school fete and then next week we’re at Highams Park Day. The stall consists of a largely untested play map of London, partially made by my uncraft-y hands out of toothpaste and stuff. No, really. The map looks rough around the edges but it sure smells fresh. Here’s the work in progress:

And here’s the almost finished product:

Come down to Highams Park Day at Vincent Green on Saturday 12th July to have a play and help us rebuild London from the concrete up. With lots of sandpits.

Finally, let’s think ahead a bit. To September, when the summer holidays will be over and Reuben will be safely despatched to Year 1 (I feel both happy and terrified by that). On 13th September, TWO exciting things are happening – one in our old ‘hood, one in our new.

Kennington first and it’s a family fun day at the Oval. If you’ve ever wanted to stride across that hallowed green, this is a good chance to do it and have some fun too. It’s free entry and they’re raising money for St Thomas’ Hospital, where both my kids were born. Look, here’s Reuben at a day old:

I look both young and very tired. I’m now old and very tired. Anyway, it’s a great cause (Tommy’s includes the Evelina Children’s Hospital, where Roo’s BFF was hanging out at the same time as that photo was taken) and you should support it.

On the same day is the 3rd ever Stow Festival up in Walthamstow Town Square (outside the Mall). We went there in 2012 and this year I’ll be singing in it, with the Walthamstow Acoustic Massive Choir. Both exciting and very scary. Come and watch!

That’s the news for today. Watch out tomorrow for the Octo-winner and an exciting post about some pigs in Hackney.

Posted in Facts! And facts are important! | Tagged East London, giveaways, Octonauts, South London | 1 Comment

The Gruffalo’s Birthday – 28/06/14

Posted on June 29, 2014 by katese11

As you probably know, we often have days out which sound great in my mind but turn out a bit rubbish…it’s the parenting way. Children throw tantrums, babies have messy accidents and everyone is kinda relieved when we get back home. But every now and then, you have a day which sounds a bit lame and turns out much better than expected. I’m pleased to report that yesterday was one of those days.

It was all a last-minute plan, following hot on the heels of a cancelled BBQ. Axel Scheffler – of Pip and the ZogTiddffalo fame – was doing a signing in the new Foyles flagship (next door to the old one) and I would take Roo. Just Roo, for a whole load of reasons but the main one being that I didn’t think it would be very rewarding for Eva. In my experience, signings tend to involve long queues and a 10-second audience with the author or artist in question before being booted out onto the street. Not the best toddler activity. So, she stayed home with Nathan and me and Roo picked a very long route around Soho in an attempt to get from TCR tube to Charing Cross Rd (damn you Crossrail!)

And guess what? The signing wasn’t like that at all. Yes, we had to queue for a bit, because Mr Scheffler is a popular chap, but not for too long and when we got to the front, he took the time to draw Reuben a bespoke dragon picture. As requested by Roo, the dragon is reading a book about dragons:

So, that was nice but the real bonus of the day was getting invited to the Gruffalo’s birthday party on the 6th floor afterwards, which I’d thought was sold out. We happily accepted and spent a bit of time wandering around the new store while the Gruffalo got himself ready. In the music department, we found a tiny section of a piano (muted), which shows you how it works:

And in the cafe on the 5th floor, we found not only the toilets but also a big shiny thing:

Then it was time to go to the party and up there we got another unexpected bonus- two Kennington families that I hadn’t seen since we left. It was turning into that kind of day, or maybe some kind of surreal dream. So I had some people to gossip with, while Reuben practised playing Musical Statues. The Gruffalo was held up in traffic, according the exuberant party hostess. So, the kids practising dancing and freezing and getting more and more hyped up until finally…he appeared. And he was rubbish at Musical Statues, which Reuben is still giggling about today. It was lots of fun, and dancing with the Gruffalo was definitely the highlight of Roo’s day.

The Gruffalo also enjoyed a slice of his birthday cake (he’s 15 you know…):

And there was a photo opportunity, which I totally screwed up. Look at this effort. I mean, just look at it:

Still, Roo got to hug the Gruffalo and also got his free goody bag, with activity book and balloon. See what I mean about unexpected bonuses? I probably should have taken Eva after all…

Posted in Creating precious childhood memories or something (days out), Uncategorized | Tagged books, Central London, shopping | 1 Comment

London With a Teenager

Sponsored Post – How to Find the Best Family Entertainment Package

The Bucket and Spade List Part 1

The LWAT Bucket and Spade List Summer 2014

A Break-Up Letter

Kate and Mim-Mim – Coming to CBeebies Soon!

Summer Holidays 2014

A Tribute to Bang

London Fields and Hackney City Farm

Octowinner Announced!

Friday I’m In…formative

The Gruffalo’s Birthday – 28/06/14

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The LWAT Bucket and Spade List Summer 2014

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