Avert your eyes if you are not a fishy fan.​

Ever since I read about Messy Play for Matilda Mae I have been meaning to have a fishy adventure. I am a big supporter of the Henley family after their tragic loss and was so thrilled when they had a week away at our family place in Southbourne. That was my little way of helping a stranger. ​Roll on June when we won't be strangers anymore.

Kids love getting messy and my boys like anything that is messy and disgusting!​

​I had a bag of sardines in the freezer that really should have been in the bin by now, that were perfect for a fishy adventure.

We collected stones for one half of the water table and sand from the sand pit, for the other.​ We made a sea bed on one side and a river on the other. We had a selection of fishy friends too, to join our frozen ones!

It was lovely to see both the boys unafraid to hold and touch the fish. We talked about their skin and where they live and whilst it wasn't real fishing by the bank of a river, it was our version of an afternoon with fishy friends.​

ps. I slathered the boys after in antibacterial wash so no fear there!​

I'm still harping on about the BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards, you have until the 12th May to vote for your favourites to get into the final. I am shortlisted in Crafts and Photo, feel free to vote HERE, if you'd like to!​

Everything is "lellow" to Ollie.​

I realised that a lot of the learning activities I have posted, are often more geared to Sammy, who is almost 4. ​So we played a game especially for Ollie and his love of "lellow".

The Eat Me Sticks Game!​

I had a packet of coloured lolly sticks left over from Sammy's birthday last year and stamped, with some mini alphabet stamps 'eat me' on the ends.​

I put the left over sticks in a drawstring bag.​

I filled 5 corresponding coloured cake cases from my Bento Babies supplies, with food that matched the colour.​

• Blue - Blueberries
• Green - Broccoli
• Red - Raspberries
• Yellow - Cheese
• ​Orange - Carrot

I stuck the stamped stick in the top and then the boys had to pick a spare stick from the bag, one at a time, and eat something from the correct cake case.​

Whilst we didn't get any new words from Ollie, they did eat some really healthy food and he got to experiment. Such a sweet boy deserves lots more posts.​

Quite a while ago I picked up a load of old fishing nets to use for storage in Sammy's nautical themed bedroom. ​

I finally got round to airing the green one outside, in the glorious sun we had last week.

I originally had thought of storing all his soft teddies, ​that are displayed on the top of his wardrobe, but I was reading about dreamcatchers, and I knew this was a better idea. 

Sammy suffers terribly with nightmares and night terrors. I can count on one hand the number of nights my husband and I have slept all night in the same bed, over the last 18 months. What has become our normal routine is Sammy goes to bed happily early in the evening but by around midnight, he is inconsolable and petrified. Same time, every night. 

We have been lucky and got to about 4am on a few occasions, when we feel like we are getting over this horrible phase and then it goes straight back to midnight. ​The only way he settles, is to snuggle next to me and my husband ends up in the spare room or on the sofa when friends and family stay.

It's the same where ever we go.​

Things we have tried:​

• disturbing his sleep pattern by waking him just before we know he's due to cry
• putting him to bed earlier
• putting him to bed later
• changing his bedroom furniture around
• changing his covers and pillow (he sleeps with one of mine)​
• using a night light
• using a turtle that lights up the ceiling in stars
• having a drink by his bed
• using blankets
• wearing socks at night to stop him getting cold feet
• having a hot water bottle
• sleeping on my dressing gown to have my smell in with him for comfort
• sticking to our rule of no television before bed
• not allowing any scary programs
• letting him cry it out and us not talking
• taking him downstairs to calm down

We are absolutely desperate to help him, he is tired at preschool, ratty in the afternoons and that makes for a ratty Mama.​ 

We have cancelled friends coming to stay as I am worried about him disturbing their little ones.​

When I read that the idea of a dreamcatcher is to let the good dreams float through the net and the ​catch the bad, I thought the old net would be perfect and we added our own twist.

We drew the things that he knows he dreams about, that he finds scary. A witch, ghosts and he drew a monster. He described it in great detail, blue spikes, big mouth, only one hand with three claws, no legs and two horns.

We pegged the bad dreams into the net and hung it by his door. He was very animated during this little ritual and then explained to his Dada, when he came in from work, how the dreamcatcher works. He totally understands and has bought into the idea.​

Fingers crossed. 

If you have any advice we would love to hear it!​

I wrote this last yesterday and here is our morning update:​ Tears at 11.40pm, a cuddle in our bed for 5 minutes and then he slept in his own bed until 6.50am. Progress but still tears. Help!