You know you are becoming your Mother when...

"Take your coat off or you won't feel the benefit when you go outside".
Every time I find myself saying this, I can hear my mum's voice echoing in my head. I'm sure I remember not paying attention on the many occasions she said this to me when I was growing up. You know what though, it's true!

When I was younger, my parents were uncool and embarrassing, sometimes intentionally so; cue Mum and Dad trying to hold my hand aged 13 when I wanted to cross the road so as not to be seen with him. (Yes I know you did it to get a reaction and a reaction you got!).

The day I came home to find Mum had bought us all pac a macs. You want me to wear that?! (pac a mac: a lightweight weatherproof raincoat with a hood, in a bag- yes 8 year old me was not impressed)

The plastic, sandy cups and Robinsons squash bottle that came with us to the beach, various National Trust locations and appeared at any stop off on a long car journey- the latter accompanied by marmalade sandwiches. Said long car journeys never made without sick bags or towels!

All the times we baked cakes to the age old recipe of 6663 and how it was so annoying that you used a spatula to scrape the bowl so there was hardly any cake mix left to lick.

The way you washed yogurt pots out to keep for paint and pva glue or kept the plastic pizza bases to make a learning clock. These stacked up in piles in the garage along with the numerous ice cream containers, just in case.

When you sometimes had a glass of wine on a school night and Lucy and I would moan at you for doing so.

Well, now I'm a mother myself and I find myself doing Isabella's pac a mac up for Forest School. I curse that I don't have an empty squash bottle or sandy plastic cups for our picnic tomorrow and I get flashbacks whenever I eat marmalade sandwiches. Our journeys are never without a plastic bag and I've instilled a love of baking on Isabella, always to that same recipe, always in ozs and always the same grumble when the spatula comes out.

You know what? I'll hold the girls' hands when they're teenagers and that glass of wine on a Tuesday night?! Show me the bottle!

I'll strive to be that uncool, embarrassing parent, embracing the nose wrinkles of disapproval and I'll papier maché until I'm blue in the face.

And Mum, if I still roll my eyes at you when you triple check your keys or your phone are in your bag... It's only because I do exactly the same!