Welcome to the Adventures of Adam blog.
Play activities that don’t cost the earth but will mean the world to your little one.
Tell us a little about yourself
You would think that writing the bit about yourself on a blog would be the easiest part. I spend 100% of my time with myself so the words should be flowing. But they are not!
Let’s start with the basics. I am Emma – Adam’s mum – or Mum-mum as I’m called. We live in Norfolk and I’m a trained Primary School Teacher.
In 2008 I met my husband (known as Dad-dad on the blog) whilst teaching at the same school. In October 2010 we got married in Rome.
I fell pregnant soon after but sadly had a missed miscarriage that was discovered at the 13 week scan.
In August 2011 I fell pregnant again with Adam. My pregnancy was extremely difficult to say the least! I suffered from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), a debilitating form of pregnancy sickness. I could be sick up to 40 times a day. I required hospitalisation due to dehydration and was bed bound for the whole nine months. You can find out more about my pregnancy here.
On May 2nd 2012 after a four day induction, 20 hour labour I wish I could say Adam entered the world screaming. Unfortunately Adam wasn’t breathing and had to be whisked off to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
He spent 15 hours there before Dad-dad could have his first cuddle.
Tell us about Adam
Adam is an amazing little boy – although all parents are biased! He has always been physically advanced – from lifting his head at one day old, crawling at 5 months old and taking his first steps at 8 months. He always wants to get places in the quickest way possible and never stops.
Unfortunately Adam gets ill – a lot! He is intolerant to cows milk and is dairy free. He suffers from other yet undiagnosed allergies, is treated for asthma and is prone to chest infections.
How did you first get into the 30 day toddler play challenge?
It was one dreary wet October afternoon that I stumbled across the 30 day play challenge on The Imagination Tree website. We hadn’t been out for a few days because of the weather and were both bored. The 30 day play challenge idea was simple – spend 15 minutes uninterrupted minutes playing with your child. My immediate reaction was to think that I am always playing with Adam. He has countless toys that are left out all of the time and that we use throughout the day. But the more I thought about our day I realised that whenever Adam is deeply involved in an activity I use that opportunity to get a job done. I don’t use that opportunity to spend time with Adam and just focus in that one moment with him.
I’d mistakenly thought that he was too young to really play. What was the point of making activities for him if he didn’t know what to do with them? However, I was inspired by Lisa Purdey, a fellow HG sufferer, who would post photos of what activities she was doing with her 2 year old on her Facebook page. These were activities I would naturally be doing with my 4-5 year olds in class. I realised age doesn’t matter. It is the opportunities you give them and the designated time in a busy lifestyle. So we gave it a go for 30 days and by day 5 we were hooked. 30 days turned into a 100 day challenge and I can’t imagine stopping now.
So why write a blog?
Originally I would put my photos of our daily activity on my own Facebook page. That meant I had to take photos of the activity and gave me an extra incentive not to cheat and miss out a day! After our first 30 day challenge I set up Adam’s own Facebook page so as not to bore my friends who weren’t interested in toddler play activities. However, I realised that without Facebook I didn’t really have a record of our activities to show Adam when he is older. Furthermore, many people asked how I made certain activities or where they could buy the equipment. Instead of telling people individually I decided to write it all in a blog. I also thank my Mum and good friend Kate Johnson for encouraging me.
Why did you call the blog Adventures of Adam?
Every night, since Adam was born, the last thing I say as I kiss him goodnight is “have a wonderful sleep and I will see you tomorrow for another adventure. Love you.” Throughout my pregnancy as I lay there being ill I would think about the adventures Adam and I would have together. I made a promise to myself that once the Hyperemesis was over I would value each day.
Why have you grouped activities based on preparation and adult input?
As part of volunteering for the Pregnancy Sickness Support charity I administer their Forum for Hyperemesis sufferers. One of the concerns of a women suffering from Hyperemesis a second time is how do you entertain another child whilst you are so ill? The guilt they feel is immense and nine months is such a long time. I wanted a way that women could quickly access play activities which didn’t need any preparation and that the child could play with independently. These activities could also be used for women post pregnancy during feeding time to entertain their older child. Just look for the HG friendly logo:
So pick an activity and enjoy those precious childhood years.
