Antonia

Activities

With her friends, Antonia enjoys doing some activities such as:

Going to the Park

Click images for 600x800 copy. Words followed by (vid) are links to videos.

Local Playground

In March, I bravely took Antonia and Ali to a nearby park on my own, with Erin along as well. At first Ali was a bit reluctant, so Antonia took her by the hand (vid) and gently coaxed her along. Ali was more interested in Antonia's hat.

I wasn't quite sure where I was going, having some inkling there was a park in the area, but not having been there directly from home or on foot. It took us about half an hour to walk to the park which should be about 5 minutes away.

Once they were there, they set right to climbing and sliding (vid) (Gotta love that little bit of "encouragement" down the slide from Antonia.) and Sliding (vid) some more. Of course, they also enjoyed the swings and other play equipment.

Just as we were leaving, Ali caught her finger in the gate and bled quite a lot. She didn't cry at all, though. Antonia refused to hold Ali's hand any more, so I put Antonia's mitts on her. That ended quite quickly and they again held hands while walking home (vid), taking a short break to balance on a wall (vid).

Vicarage Park

Several times we've met Phoebe and her mum, Andrea, at the park that is about halfway between our houses. It is a pleasant walk, about 10 minutes down mostly quiet back roads. The park itself is located right next to an old train viaduct, but I don't know how old it is. It's also next to the river.

It's a well maintained park with a bowling green, simple mini-golf, tennis courts, guinea pigs and rabbits, tropical birds, a small shop, some small lawns and gardens, and a playground. Phoebe and Antonia spend most of their time in the playground, of course.

Antonia enjoys the climber, swing, slide, and see-saw. This park has a tall slide which she finds more exciting. Sometimes we take a picnic and sometimes Tona and Phoebe just like to sit and chill out for a while.

Usually Erin comes with us, last time spending some of the trip being pulled in a wagon by her big sister. Sometimes Ian and/or Kendra come as well.

Paddling Pool Park

On hot days, and occasionally other times, we head to the park with the paddling pool. The kids love to play in the shallow pool as well as on the swings and slides there. On the second May bank holiday, we all went to a car boot sale where the kids got their faces painted, then to the paddling pool park. I took a picture of the kids painted faces before they got messed up in the water. I thought they were very well done.

Marbury Park

A pleasant 40 minute walk or 20 minute bike ride from here is Marbury Country Park. It has walking paths, a lake, an outdoor swimming pool (well kept secret), adventure playground, picnic areas, etc. We have gone there for picnics on several occasions. Recently we went with Andrea who showed me some paths down to a lake I didn't know was there.

Toddler Groups

Antonia enjoys a variety of toddler groups and activities now to fill her week. Ian always did Tuesdays, but the rest became too much for me, so now I do Mondays and Wednesdays and he does Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am very happy with this arrangement.

Monday

Anderton: Several months ago, Andrea, a lady from my church, offered to take me and Antonia to a mums & tots group the following day. We went to that one at Anderton village hall. Antonia really enjoyed herself, but I found it difficult. It was very busy and hardly anyone talked to me. We still go to it most weeks, but it's not my favourite place to be.

Tuesday

Out with Dad: On Tuesday mornings Ian often takes Antonia out. They used to start with breakfast and some errands immediately after taking Kendra to school, thus giving me a whole morning off. Now they tend to go quite a bit later and skip ELC altogether.

Early Learning Centre (ELC): A shop that sells mostly educational and high quality toys has an open play time on Tuesday mornings. Sometimes they play with Brio style trains, but most of the time they do some sort of craft.

Story Time: Following ELC and anything else they may be doing, Ian takes Antonia to story time at the library. She has been going regularly since they started about a year ago and is learning to sit down and listen while she is read to. Antonia loves story times at home before bed as well.

Wednesday

Pram Service: My church has what they call "Pram Service", which is basically a mothers and toddlers group, twice a month. I first started that group when we started going to the church nearly two years ago. I took time off for college and had trouble getting back into it this year, but now we go most times it's on. The kids sing a couple of songs (which we usually miss because we're always late), listen to a story, and do a craft. Then the parents and kids have biscuits and drinks. It's very structured, very simple, usually quiet, and suits me quite well.

Little Rainbows: After Andrea's help to get me started with mums & tots groups, I have been able to investigate a few more without her. One we found a very good ad for at the Anderton group. They were held in Barnton, which is not near me, but sort of near the Anderton group and I knew there was a good bus service from town. Rather than having one group with everything happening, they had three sessions per week: Messy Mondays for crafts and other messy play, Playaway Wednesdays for the usual toys and songs, and Physical Fridays with larger play equipment such as slide and ball pool. That one sounded quite good, but Andrea was busy on home decorations, so Antonia, Erin and I went on our own on a Wednesday. The group was very small and is run by Pentecostals (not my style) and the "Physical Fridays", which we were most interested in, has been cancelled.

Bethel: When we first moved to this area over 2 years ago, I saw on a local church's sign that they had a mothers and toddlers group. I went to their website to investigate and then e-mailed them. They said that the group was full and there was a waiting list, but that I was welcome to come in and play one time and get on the list for when there's a space. Well, I never got around to doing that and then college got in the way anyway. A few months ago I e-mailed again and received a very similar response. Again, I couldn't seem to make myself go. But as with the Little Rainbows group, having got started on the mums & tots thing, I was finally able to go. It was far and away the best mums & tots group I've been to, including the ones I went to when Kendra was little. We are on the waiting list now, but it's quite long. I so wish I'd got on it back when I first enquired.

Thursday

Jo Jingles: That Thursday, Andrea took us to a music group which I was quite interested in doing. I had taken her to a group from the same franchise over a year previous while visiting a friend. I had looked for baby music groups in this area, but been unable to make the phone calls and uncertain if I could get to where they were held. Jo Jingles, the music class, is kind of in the middle of nowhere, but Andrea takes us. Antonia was very reluctant to participate at first, but now she does nearly all the actions to all the songs. The one thing she still will not do is to hug the Jo doll at the end.

Jo Crow's: Jo Jingles is held in a play centre with ball pools, climbers and whatnot. The fee for the class includes a play in the playstacks area. Antonia loves this part (vid). Phoebe is less independent about climbing and sliding, so Andrea has to spend a lot of time in there helping her.

Friday

I'm still looking into Friday groups. I heard about some possibilities at the group at Bethel Church.

After a busy day, Antonia has difficulty staying awake (vid) until bedtime.

Updates

July 17, 2003

October 8, Antonia's Birthday

Following Kendra's birthday was Antonia's on October 8. I didn't know until about a week beforehand that we weren't going to be in the middle of moving that day, so the planning was a bit haphazard. Again, on her actual birthday Ian's parents came over for dinner. We didn't think they'd be able to make it for the intended party date of Sunday, Oct. 12 because Ian's dad normally works Sundays. We had waffles made with the new waffle iron I had just acquired. My cooking went over very well and there were about 2 dozen waffles left over for freezing.

October 17, 2003

Since the last update of this site Antonia has settled down a lot, become more communicative and deliberate in her behaviour.

June 27, 2004

Antonia is doing very well. She is busy with several mothers & toddlers groups each week as well as playing outside, playing with her sisters, and just keeping herself busy around the house.

Antonia's vocabulary is now in excess of 300 words. She is also big for her age and tells people she's 3.