What Does Freddie Take To Playgroup

Last year I wrote a post about what Freddie would take to playgroup with him for two 3 hour sessions a week and now a year on, he is doing more hours so I am doing an update!

The first thing Freddie takes is his bag! This is his new Estarer backpack that we recently reviewed! We decided to use this for Freddie due to the fact it has plenty of space inside, plus it has a bottle pocket and a chest clip for then the bag is on his back! Not that the bag is actually ever on Freddie's back! Its either clipped onto the pram with our hook or mummy is carrying it!!

Inside we have two separate bags. One contains full sets of spare clothes (vest, socks, t-shirt, trousers or shorts & a long sleeved top)and the second contains his changing kit of 4 or 5 pull ups, baby wipes and nappy bags.

On a Monday as he is only there for the morning he will also have a bottle of water in the bottle pocket of his bag!

On a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Freddie has his lunch at playgroup so he will take his Blaze and the Monster Machines lunch bag. 

For his lunch he will normally have some gluten free crackers, some vegan cheese, some oat cakes, an oat bar, a flapjack, a fruit bar and some ready salted crisps or some snack a jack rice cakes. He will also take a bottle of water.

Come September he will be in the school nursery so won't need to take as much with him, i.e he wont need to take lunch with him as he will only be there 9-12, but he will still be taking a spare set of clothes and his water bottle!

What does Freddie Takes to Playgroup!

So now that Freddie is at playgroup two afternoons a week for three hours each session, I thought I should do a post on what exactly he takes with him.

The first thing that Freddie takes with him is his Mr Tumble backpack. This hangs on his peg along with his coat!

Inside his back pack we have a wet bag from Poundland and inside this we have: a vest, a t-shirt, a long sleeved top, a pair of joggers and a pair of socks! I always make sure there is a full set of spare clothes in his bag not just in case of him having an accident but the fact he is obsessed with water play and has needed to be completely changed before coming home a few times!! He is completely obsessed with water play and normally heads straight to the water table once he gets into the classroom!

The next thing in his backpack is pull-ups! Now Freddie is nowhere near ready for potty training and wears pull-ups during the day. I always make sure there is at least four in his bag just in case.

Then to go with the pull-ups we have some baby wipes. The ones we use normally use are the Aldi Mamia Fragrance Free. We have used these on Freddie since he was newborn so we know he has no problems or allergies to them. We currently have pampers fragrance free wipes in as it was all I could find when I needed a small packet to go into the bag.

The next thing to go in his bag is some nappy bags. Now these can be used not only for his wet pull up but also to put in his wet clothes. There have been times when he has only needed to have his vest, t-shirt and long sleeved top replaced after playing in the water, so his key worker leaves the dry things in the wet bag and puts the wet clothes into a nappy bag so when I get home I can just rip the bag and put them straight into the washing machine!  

The last thing to go into his bag is his hat. Now this actually only goes in when he is dropped off as it is on his head right up until we get into the cloak room. Over the winter it has been a woolie hat but as it gets into the summer I think it will be a baseball cap!

So this is what my two year old currently takes to playgroup with him, I expect that over the months things will be added and things taken away from his bag as he gets older and of course once he is potty trained. But also once he gets his free 15 hours from turning three, he will be at playgroup longer so will need to take more things!

End of First Term at Playgroup

So Freddie has finished his first term at playgroup and over all I think it has been really good for him! His speech has come on so much and we are hearing new words virtually every day and he is even starting to form little sentences!

He is such a lovely little boy and if we see any of his Playgroup staff when we are out and about or at Sure Start he will yell hiya hiya and wave!

We still have tears when we drop him off, but he is such a happy little boy when he is collected! He is also starting to make little friends which is so cute. On one of the days he is in, the little brother of one of James classmates is in and they are so cute when they see each other other days at the school run! Freddie will babble his head off and his little friend nods along as if he understands everything he is saying!

We have put in his application for the nursery at James school starting in September 2019 when he will be three rising 4, so Freddie will be one of the older ones in his class rather than the actual youngest like James was!

He will also have the younger siblings of some of James classmates in his class which I think will be lovely for him.

On his second last day of term he went running in with no tears! Mummy was so proud of him!

Over all I think putting Freddie into playgroup has been the best decision we could have made and I'm so glad we did it!

Adventure Belt

When we are out and about, Freddie is normally in the pushchair or on his reins, which is a nightmare as he pulls and runs in the opposite direction to where we actually want to go. We do use reins for him, but he runs so fast sometimes it pulls out of your hands!

So when the people at Adventure Belt got in touch with us we were thrilled! 

Freddie has just started playgroup, which is actually based at James school so the place where the pushchairs have to be parked is actually part of the school yard where the kids play! As this is the case, We have decided that it would be easier to just walk Freddie up for his start time and then bring the pushchair up when he finishes as it is not long before James finishes school. To be honest I think he will be shattered so won't want to hang around or go for a walk before we pick up James!

The belt is made up of two parts, one part goes around the parent/carer and the other part around the child! The part that goes around the child has a little pouch on it which you can actually keep the parent belt and the attachment cord in when you are not using the product. 

We have been using this since Freddie started playgroup at the start of the month and it has been absolutely brilliant! Freddie was able to walk alongside me and I did not have to worry about him tripping up on the reins! 

The cord that connects the parent belt to the child belt is made of elastic and I loved that! It meant I could stand still and Freddie could run, but he couldn't get too far away!

The first time we went to put it on Freddie he was quite confused as I think he was expecting me to put his reins on to walk up, but the adventure belt is actually a lot easier to use than his reins as I just unclip it from around his waist, where as with his reins I have to either lift them over his head or he has to step out of them! He now comes up to have it on when we are going to playgroup as it is so much easier than his normal reins!

 


Over all this is a fantastic product and and we will definitely keep on using it with Freddie!

**We were sent the Adventure Belt free of charge in exchange for this review. All views and photos are our own**

Living Arrows 2018 5/53

Welcome to week five of Living Arrows 2018!
This week as been a pretty boring week as James has been in school all five days, Freddie had his two playgroup sessions and then his normal Sure Start group. 

These photos of James were taken after school one night. We had some toys to review and he was so thrilled to get them!! Most of the things we have done via here lately have all been aimed at Freddie, So to get an opportunity that is aimed at James, then it is brilliant!

Freddie has been so full of beans this week, but he does like his down time when he snuggles up with his blanket and watches Peppa Pig via Netflix on the sofa! This week at Sure Start Freddie has had to say goodbye to two of his best pals who he has known since he was a few weeks old as they were moving house. He's really going to miss them at our group! Freddie has been playing with some of James old toys this week. He has taking a real liking to the playtime bus with phonics! He loves putting it onto the music setting and dancing to all the nursery rhymes!

 

Playgroup Day Daily Routine

Now that Freddie has started two playgroup sessions a week, our daily routine on Tuesdays and Wednesdays has changed.

On a playgroup day, we are normally up by 7am. Mummy or daddy will have a shower while the other gets Freddie breakfast. James gets up around 7 for school and he gets dressed before his breakfast. 

Once boys are fed, mummy and daddy tackle any washing up along with a cuppa and then our breakfast. We have started making overnight oats to make sure we both eat in the morning as mummy is terrible for not doing this and then not eating till lunch time!

By half past eight Freddie is in the pushchair and James has his coat, shoes and bag on ready to leave. The walk to school normally takes about five minutes and the doors are opened at about ten to nine so mummy and Freddie are normally back home in the warm with a hot cuppa by nine at the latest. 

First thing mummy does once back is any washing up that is in the sink and put stuff away that is on the draining board. Then it's onto checking the washing machine and dryer. After that it's time to put Freddie's lunch together for playgroup. He's been taking mini sausage rolls, along with cheese and crackers, fruit drops and raisins. Then it's time to check his bag. There is always a full spare set of clothes in a wet bag plus two pull ups, nappy bags and some wipes. I always send a full set of clothes right down to socks as Freddie loves the water tray and likes to completely soak himself!

By the time all that is done it is normally around ten or half ten, so mummy has another cup of tea and sits down to watch some TV. 

There is an alarm set on mummy's phone for eleven twenty. This is so mummy can change Freddie's pull up and start putting his coat on and mummy can get herself ready. 

We would normally leave the house at about eleven thirty or eleven thirty five to walk up to playgroup. Once we are there it's coat and bag hung up and into the room ready to start!

Once mummy is home, the first thing done is have lunch and then cook the evenings dinner. This is always done by 1pm so then the laptop is out and blogging work starts, emails are checked and replied to. Posts are scheduled on blog and on Facebook. Instagram and Twitter are checked. Normally there is a bit of down time to just catch up on BBC iPlayer or Netflix before the alarm goes off at twenty past two to get ready to pick up Freddie.

Once the pick up alarm has gone off, mummy will nip to toilet put on boots, coat, hat and scarf! Its then time to grab the pushchair and walk up to the school! Mummy always takes the pushchair up to collect Freddie as he finishes at two forty five and we then have a half hour wait till James finishes school!

Once we have James at three fifteen we head home and watch Cbeebies. Freddie is normally exhausted after playgroup so he will be wanting to eat his tea by quarter past four. Hes then ready for his milk and bed by five pm. Mummy tries to keep him up as long as possible but he is normally in bed and asleep by quarter to six at the lastest.

James will either have his tea when Freddie does or he will eat with mummy once Freddie is in bed. Daddy then gets home from work at about quarter to seven and James will put his pjs on while daddy has his tea. Then Daddy will take James to bed between seven and half past, while mummy will then get out the laptop and makes sure everything is up to date for the next day.

So this is our routine on a playgroup day! Its much different to a normal day when Freddie is at home!

The First Week Of Playgroup!

So Freddie has completed his first week of playgroup and he absolutely loved it! He only does two sessions a week of three hours a time so he's only away from me for six hours a week.

The playgroup is based at James school and it has its own little playground fenced off from the main playground of the school! The windows face into the main school yard so Freddie has a chance of seeing James when he is outside playing!

Its only a short walk up and as Freddie starts at 1145 he has to take a pack lunch!! As we have not been able to get a lunch bag for him yet that we like he is actually borrowing one from James! He's not a fan of sandwiches so hes taking mini sausage rolls, cheese cubes, sliced cocktail sausages, plus mini breadsticks, fruit drops and raisins! I would rather he has too much food than too little!

Our first walk up to the playgroup was so much fun as we were using our Adventure Belt (review coming soon!). Once the door was open Freddie ran straight in and mummy took of his coat and hung it up with his bag! He then went straight into the playgroup room and didn't look back at mummy! At one pm the phone rang and it was the playgroup! Freddie was having a major meltdown and was screaming! They asked me to go up and collect him at half past one which was fine by me as I was actually missing him! Once I got up there the little monkey had settled down and was happily playing in the water tray! So the staff suggested leaving him till his finish time at quarter to three so I came back home!

When I picked him up he was in such a happy mood and wasn't too keen on climbing into his pushchair, but when he saw mummy had put Iggle Piggle in and also his blanket was there he soon got in! We then went for a short walk before heading back to pick up James! While waiting for James, Freddie decided to pass out as he was so tired! He only had a short cat nap and was awake by twenty past three when we got home with James!

On his second day again we walked up ready for him to start at quarter to twelve! When we got there we found that Freddie now had his own peg so we hung up his coat and bag ready to go in. Then when it was time to go in he had a melt down and started crying and screaming. My heart was in my mouth as I hate hearing my little boy screaming like that, but it was exactly the same scream that he does when we get home from taking James to school or if I leave him to nip to the shop. The staff took him straight off to the water table which is his favourite thing to do. When I picked him up the staff said he only cried for fifteen minutes after I left. But once he had his coat on to come home he started crying again as he saw other children leaving, But as soon as he saw me he stopped crying and started chatting away! 

He finishes at two forty five so since we walk up, I take the pushchair when I go to collect him as I then have to hang around or go for a walk before I collect James at three fifteen. There is literally no point or time to walk home to walk straight back!

Over all I think the first week has gone ok, especially as he has his normal sure start group on a thursday morning! There will be an update in a few weeks at the end of the half term as to how my baby boy is doing in his first steps towards school!