You may remember me mentioning a few months ago that potty training was not going to plan. I’m happy to report that we now seem to be over that hurdle, and that Inaaya is using the toilet. In the end she absolutely refused to sit on the potty, wanting to go straight onto the toilet, which was easy for me and the staff at the nursery as it meant no mess and no puddles!

When I first did away with the nappies we moved on to pull ups, these really helped because Inaaya understood that if she needed to go toilet, but couldn’t make it in time, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Although they’ve been great, I’m happy to say that we now use them only at night, and that Inaaya wears normal underwear during the day. She loves this and runs around in her knickers and vest reminding me that she’s a ‘big girl’ and that she ‘hates nappies’. I love it too because we’re saving so much money not having to buy nappies!

Inaaya also loves going to the toilet, I think she sees it as a special treat because she gets to wash her hands and play in the water. It’s all about the playing in the water! Don’t get me wrong we still have the odd accident, which Inaaya finds upsetting, but it’s nothing that can’t be sorted out with a kiss and a cuddle.

Inaaya showing off her new favourite knickers and vest combo: 

This year, having thought that I’d put university well and truly behind me, I made the decision to go back to my studies and applied to do a PGCE Course in Art and Design for Secondary Education. Before I knew it I’d left work in August and started the course in September. Going back to university was a huge step and initially I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing. However, because this will benefit Inaaya too I’m convinced that it is a good idea. My little girl will be three on her next birthday, which means she’ll be starting school part time, when I’m teaching I’ll be able to work around school holidays much more easily.

But it’s not all plain sailing, the first few weeks have been very stressful and there’s still eight months to go! Making the transition from spending lots of time with Inaaya, to hardly seeing her, has been really difficult. I guess this is just something we’ll have to get used to… And it will be worth it once I have finished. To make up for it I’ve decided that I’m going to avoid doing any uni work at the weekends, meaning we’ll be able to concentrate on spending quality family time together! Last weekend I managed to kill two birds with one stone though when I took Inaaya to the Big Draw at the Ikon Gallery in the Mailbox, Birmingham…

The Big Draw is a national campaign to encourage people to get involved with arts and crafts. At our local event there was an exhibition of a life-sized whale made from fabric, and an opportunity to get creative at a drop-in workshop. Inaaya didn’t seem very impressed with the whale, perhaps it was a bit too big and she was scared of it! She did love being able to draw whatever she wanted though, and it was great to see her having so much fun scribbling, drawing and sticking away. It was also nice to see the staff from the gallery helping out.

In fact Inayaa enjoyed herself so much that she didn’t want to leave. This was great for me as I took the opportunity to carry out some research and do some sketches for university. I also discovered that the gallery hold a parent and child workshop on the first Saturday of every month so we’ll definitely be going back.

Inaaya and I getting creative:

Inaaya engrossed in her work:

A member of gallery staff lends a hand:

Why choose one when you can have them all? Inaaya finds herself spoilt for choice with all of the materials on offer:

We have had such a blast this summer, playing outside and having cheeky days off from nursery, but recently the weather has been awful. Our little walks and play sessions in the park have had to stop.

There is only so much sticking and painting we can do before boredom strikes, so after endless days of rain I knew I had to come up with some new form of entertainment. I decided that we had to get out of the house for a few hours – I had no idea where, just out…

I’d heard that there was a new Indoor Play Area opening at the Fort Shopping Centre, but I had no idea when. I took a chance to see if it had opened and it had… Yippee – Inaaya could have some fun and I could keep my sanity. Scallywags here we come!!! We spent two and a half hours there, and whilst Inaaya played I had something to eat.

It was some nice to see Inaaya running around going crazy. She was having so much fun and even made some new friends.

Inaaya in the Wacky Car

Inaaya letting off steam

The school holidays are now in full swing…  Last year Inaaya won a competition in our local newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, she was the Bonniest Baby for 2007and one of her prizes was a week at Pontins.

As daddy had to work we invited my niece Amain and my big sister. We decided to take our break at a beautiful place called Brean Sands, it was so nice to be near the sea.

There was plenty for the kids to do, Inaaya met Postman Pat, she went dancing with the Blue Coats, we went horse riding on the beach and every morning we went to the swimming pool. Inaaya has become very independent recently and this really showed. She wanted to go down the slide on her own and float around in the pool on her own. I guess it's all the Sunday swimming that she does with daddy. She also loved the swings and the slide area so we spent most evenings there. I have attached some photos and videos to show what fun we had!

Horse riding at the beach:

Meeting Postman Pat:

On the swings:

Dancing with the blue coats:

We had a big celebration this weekend because my sister Anisha got engaged. It was very hectic as there were lots of mouths to feed and loads of organising to be done.

The party was all a bit overwhelming for Inaaya. She’s not really used to being around a lot of people, especially when so many of them are new faces, so I was interested to see how she handled it. I’m from a very large family, so am used to being around big crowds, and love meeting new people. My hubby's family is also very big, in fact I haven’t even met them all yet! With that in mind it’s really important to me that Inaaya feels comfortable around new people and gets to meet all of the family while she’s still young.

The party went perfectly, not a hiccup in sight, thank goodness. Inaaya was really well behaved and I think she had a lovely day.

Me and Inaaya with the happy couple: