Posts by jo

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09/04/201308/10/2019 by jo

Lulu Guinness at Uniqlo

Uniqlo launched their second Lulu Guinness UT collection yesterday – so today I headed to my local Wandsworth store to see what was on offer. If you like Lulu Guinness’s designs (I am in love with the umbrella on her homepage) or indeed a sucker for spots and stripes (I’m in), then you’ll probably love what’s on offer.

What I like the most about Uniqlo’s various UT ranges is being able to pick up a top which is affordable and still looks good – so I was able to get a spotty t-shirt with sort of fold over cap sleeves (I thought very eighties) for just £12.90.

I’m not a fan of t-shirts with collars, but I have to admit I was close to buying one of the ones in-store – but having thought a bit more about it, there’s only a small number of t-shirts available, so I’m holding on in the hope that maybe there’ll be a second range within this lot announced soon!

This post contains an affiliate link, but all clothes are bought from my own hard-earned cash.

08/04/201302/02/2014 by jo

A Trip to London Zoo

We’ve never been to London Zoo – I’m not sure why, as we’ve lived here for ages so as luck would have it, we were offered a chance to go with Superbreak – and I’m glad we did!

It’s expensive – but there’s a LOT to do there. If you can get to London Zoo (in Regent’s Park) and Whipsnade Zoo (near Luton) more than a couple of times a year then it may be worth taking out membership – which you can do against the price of your ticket for that day. Also, if you’re planning to go then I’ve some advice – go before your child turns 3! That way your child gets in free (rather than paying £17).

When we got there (around lunchtime) the queues were long – fortunately our ticket was pre-booked which meant we could get them converted into tickets for the day super-fast – jumping the queues and getting straight in there (seriously, we’d have been waiting over 30 minutes to get in otherwise and a hungry three year old is a force not to be fought with). Be prepared to spend lots of money once you’re in there – the gift shops are reasonably priced, though I found food expensive. We got seats in the Pavilion Cafe quickly which was good as we arrived at lunchtime – it’s a temporary cafe while a newer one is built, and serves okay-ish coffee (we found the ones near the Aquarium much better) and food.

Also, make sure you plan where you want to go – we did lots of extra walking as we hadn’t planned our route. This wasn’t the end of the world, we just found ourselves walking around the same areas to see things we’d missed.

The most important thing was how tired H would get – we did a lot of walking and she did spend some time on Shaun’s shoulders, but she did a lot. There were plenty of play areas, though easily her favourite bit were the tunnels near the meerkats – we couldn’t get her to come out (there’s three entrances with a dome in the middle so you’re covered in the middle of the meerkat enclosure), as well as areas to sit down and take a break.

London Zoo is a very buggy-friendly place to go – just be prepared to do a lot of walking. The animals are great – penguins, tigers, lions, gorillas, monkeys you can walk right by (they bite though, so don’t get too close), zebras, giraffes, the aquarium, an outback with some emu’s and wallabies and so much more. The easy thing to do is show a few photos – we found nemo (and dory, and marlin) and H spotted many animals she wouldn’t have had a chance to see anywhere else near us (and amazed us with her knowledge!). We’ve since been told the elephants were moved to Whipsnade – fair enough as we’re not sure where they’d have lived!

There were a few rides, though paying up to an additional £2.50 felt a bit steep had we paid for our entry tickets. It would have been nice if things like this were included in the overall price.

The last zoo we went to was the one in Perth, Western Australia when H was fifteen months so she doesn’t remember a thing. I’m glad we’ve had a chance to do this again when she’ll have better memories. Thank you Superbreak!

We received free tickets for our trip. All opinions are our own and honest.

04/04/201327/05/2018 by jo

We Love Books – How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm

‘How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm’ by Mei-Ling Hopgood is a really interesting book. It reads a bit like a textbook, almost – and is quite the eye opener.

In essence, the book covers various cultures and countries and what is perceived as ‘normal’ when bringing up their children. I’m guilty as charged of judging other mums decisions as they’re different to mine and something I wouldn’t necessarily agree with – and this book has made me think a bit. Well, more than a bit.

Actually, there are some really good bits in there which I’m already implementing – trying not to tell H she’s a ‘clever girl’ too often and more a ‘well done’ type of praise, and if she gets frustrated trying to work something out and asks for her, getting her to try one more time and then I’ll help, and already I’m finding she does more for herself. I know I like to think of H as quite an independent child but actually I do help her out with things when I should take a step back.

The great thing about this book is how non-judgemental it is – the author has the way she’s brought up her children – they seem very well-travelled too! There’s also a section on academia and how some countries put education over having fun – as in, find a balance – do fun things with your child to spend time with them rather than more education related activities. I’ve probably put it badly, but I get what she’s saying.

The book starts with them in Buenos Aires where nobody bats an eyelid to see a child out until the early hours, and how accommodating the country is towards babies – and towards the end brings up the case of the Danish actress who left her child outside a restaurant while she dined (which is usual there, I remember vaguely a news article about it) and how people watching were disgusted – this book just brings up many examples of bringing your child up, but from the perspective of someone saying “this is how it’s done here” or “this is what they do” – it’s quite refreshing to read.

I’ve always been a stickler for routine and maybe I need to be a little bit more relaxed about it, and let it sort itself out – especially with a holiday on the horizon too. If H falls asleep at the early evening entertainment, it doesn’t matter (whereas before it might have, and I’d panic).

There are sections on how the French deal with eating, how Kenyans live without pushchairs, how the Chinese potty train early, how Tibetans cherish pregnancy and so much more. I really enjoyed the book, and am glad I had the opportunity to read it – I’d recommend it if you’re interested in seeing how others bring up their children and quite fancy trying out some of the ideas.

I received the book free of charge from PanMacmillan who were offering free copies with Mum Panel. All opinions are my own.

03/04/201302/02/2014 by jo

App Time – Peppa Pig’s Holiday

Peppa Pig has a new game out, based on a few episodes from the latest series – this time she’s on holiday. H is still very Peppa obsessed, and I can’t see an end to it soon. This game follows a similar pattern to previous ones, so anyone familiar will know the kind of thing.

You play games and earn stickers to place on a page within the app. Simple enough – and this time the food creation part is to make a pizza which we all had fun with – you’ve the additional skill of chopping the vegetables for toppings, and the pizza to serve.

H has been getting a bit frustrated with it though – but I think that’s a really good thing, and I’ll explain why. These games have an element of your child having to pay attention – the ‘At The Airport’ section has several bags which pass through the X-Ray machine, and you have to match the right item to each bag – but the item disappears. I like this as I’ve felt like while we’ll play the games they can be repetitive (H doesn’t mind), so having to listen, remember AND get it right appeals to me in a big way. The first part of the game has you placing the bags on the conveyor belt – and you’ll get various commands – “five bags”, “all the green bags”, “three yellow bags” and so on, with the second being the part where you identify the correct items.

In ‘Going to the Beach’ Peppa and George are getting ready for the beach, and need help picking their swimming costumes and beach toys as well as applying the sun cream!

In ‘Ice Cream’ they help Auntie Goat make ice cream – it’s similar to the last ice cream game on the previous app – you create one and pass it on to whoever is next in line.

‘Swimming Race’ is based around the pool at the villa, and can be played with up to four players (or just one) – similar to some of the ones on Sports Day, quick and fun especially if your child is the competitive kind (mine is… sigh).

‘Sky High Song’ is the ‘Big Balloon’ song which features in the holiday episodes – just the video. It’s short but for the Peppa fan that will be possibly all they could ever want.

‘Postcard Sticker Book’ is the section for the stickers – collect them throughout the game and arrange on some postcards – and you’re able to make the stickers bigger or smaller which will help with the pincer grasp if help is needed. That and you can put a gigantic Daddy Pig in the swimming pool too which always amuses H.

The game is out now and released by P2 Games – and already is at the top of the charts. Having a Peppa fan in the house, she enjoyed the game a lot. I feel like there’s a lot of repetition in this game from previous ones – although the ‘At The Airport’ section more than makes up for it – I want my girl to concentrate and remember things, and for this alone I’d recommend this app.

Buy Peppa Pig Holiday by P2 Games here
P2 Games

We were given a code to review this app, all opinions are mine. H loves it. This review also contains an affiliate code.

03/04/201302/02/2014 by jo

Losing a Tooth When You’re Three and a Half

H is three and a half, and generally she has really good teeth. However, one day a year or more ago I noticed one of her front teeth was a little darker than the rest – it wasn’t obvious, it was one of those things you notice way before everyone else and they all think you’re going mad (a bit like when I spotted her squint). In December last year when she got chicken pox a mysterious spot appeared on her gum.

Now this bit may be me being overdramatic, but it’s where I feel like a rubbish parent. I work four days a week and only realised the spot hadn’t cleared fairly recently. A bit of a google and we had an answer (of sorts) – that it could be an abscess, which made me feel rotten – how could I not have noticed? There’s nothing quite like parental guilt. Fortunately H has been in no pain at all, but regardless, I got an appointment at the dentist yesterday, where he confirmed it wasn’t an abscess but was something bothering the nerve. The discoloured tooth is also wobbly – not horribly so, but things aren’t right (and could get worse).

H is now being referred to our local hospital to an Orthodontic Nurse who will try to save the tooth, or worst case, extract it. We’ll find out when in the next month or so – and it’ll be a day in hospital as she’s so young and she’ll be knocked out with gas for them to do it.

At some point in the past she’s bumped that area, and has nerve damage. I’d mentioned it to her dentist in the past and we were keeping an eye on it… but missed this.

Right now we have no answers, but in the next month or two we will, all being well. If you’re in a similar position, this is what H’s mouth currently looks like:

Right now I’m looking for as many books as possible about losing teeth – we’ve got ‘Topsy & Tim go to the Dentist’, and Peppa Pig’s ‘Tooth Fairy’ book, if you’re reading this and have any recommendations please let me know!

02/04/201302/02/2014 by jo

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Trail at Polesden Lacey

We’re barely past Easter and already the excellent Polesden Lacey have another trail for kids, running through the holidays.

Almost 3,500 kids went to Polesden to take part in the Cadbury’s Easter Egg Trail (wow.. just think of all those eggs!), and to enjoy all the other activities on offer. The fun keeps on coming with the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party trail running from 10am until 3.30pm daily until Sunday 14th April.

For only £1 (plus grounds admission), you can help the Mad Hatter find his cakes and party hats, enjoy your own special tea party and of course win a prize.

For more information about Polesden including opening times and upcoming events please call 01372 452048 or see www.nationaltrust.org.uk/polesdenlacey

02/04/201319/07/2016 by jo

Messy Me Oilcloth Tablecloth Review

Messy Me have several solutions available to help keep clothes and objects clean – and we were delighted to get a chance to review their Messy Me Oilcloth.

The Messy Me oilcloth is an essential when you have a small person – since H was born we’ve had our table covered – yet time and time again the cloth has lasted a few months and has cracked, spoiled or just had a hole bitten in them (that was H, she chuckled away to herself afterwards too). These days she’s older, much more sensible and we were still in need of a decent tablecloth. I was always too scared to spend more after going through cover after cover every few months – and it was driving me mad as I felt like the money I’d spent would have been better used on a better quality tablecloth – but I didn’t know if maybe this is what the fabric does?

So our Messy Me oilcloth arrived – cut to 140cm wide, we got enough to cover our table with plenty extra on all sides. We’ve been using it for over a month now and I’m really impressed – the cloth wipes really easily and no stains have spoilt it (there is a note with it to avoid tomato stains by wiping quickly) and the cloth can even be put into the washing machine at a low setting – again, impressive – none of our others could do that.

I chose the olive grey Messy Me oilcloth as it’s a nice neutral colour, it feels nice and thick with the coating being easy for wiping – I need something which cleans easily and this does exactly that. Also, it is certified to meet Oeko-Tex Standard 100 – offering reassurance to customers that the cloth does not contain chemicals or components harmful to health.

So far we’ve made cakes, meringues, done plenty of stickering (it’s really good when your stickers get stuck on there by mistake – they peel off easily!), painting, more messy things, and of course eating. This weekend just gone there were seven of us around the table – the cloth was clean and shows no signs of wearing out which means this gets a HUGE thumbs up from me – anything that makes my life easier is a very good thing!

After this long and having got by on cheaper cloths, I wish I’d just gone ahead and bought this – it’s tough and it looks fab. Head over to Messy Me to see their full range – they have almost anything you could possibly want in their fabulous wipe clean fabrics!

We were sent the Messy Me oilcloth for the purpose of review.

update – October 2014. The oilcloth is still going strong. I think it’s safe to say, pay more and get better quality. There are a few marks on it as you’d expect with a five year old, but overall this is brilliant value for money
update April 2016. The oilcloth is still going strong! There are a few stains which are our fault (from indian takeaways, for example), but again, still brilliant value and definitely worth splashing out on.

01/04/201326/03/2018 by jo

A Cheaper London – an Easter Edition

We had a busy Easter Sunday, and in keeping with my nature of trying not to spend money, we found several things to do….

Easter Island Moai at the British Museum

We started out by heading up to the British Museum – which I found a little bit claustrophobic (disclaimer – I’ve been getting weird dizzy spells, and the light and dark didn’t help, so I felt a bit wobbly), until we headed out into the main area with the roof by Norman Foster – a marvellous sight too and a good place to clear your head. We found the mummy of a Cleopatra (not THE Cleopatra) although I couldn’t help finding it a bit odd… you die and end up in a museum? I know it’s ridiculously old and all that.. but.. I found it odd. We saw the Rosetta Stone too which was interesting, though a bit like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – you can’t get that close thanks to the crowds!

British Museum

Fortunately the museum is free so we can go back – their canteen was good, and had a deal giving you a free children’s meal if you bought hot food. We wanted sandwiches so didn’t take it up, but keep an eye out as you get there.

Covent Garden Easter Egg trail

We headed down to Covent Garden where they had various easter eggs dotted around, as well as a man dressed as the Fat Controller by the Thomas one, and a large Moshi Monsters bus (which was closed, phew!). We intended to go to the London Transport Museum, but it’s pricey (edited to add – Sharon pointed out you can get 2 for 1 vouchers – check here – we’ll definitely do that in the future!)- it stays open later on a Sunday but even then it was £15 each for two hours (as that’s the time that was left) – though just going into the shop to browse was good enough for the two little ones. We popped upstairs for a coffee to be greeted with this….

EDITED TO ADD – the £15 is an annual price, so actually it’s a fantastic deal – you can go back several times over the course of a year which makes the London Transport Museum fantastic value – thanks for clarifying LTM! (see comments below)

roundel-cappucino

Being in Covent Garden meant I’d have to pop in the Moomin Shop – be prepared to walk upstairs, as it’s unavoidable (so not buggy-friendly), but there are tons of Moomins things to buy, we picked up two books for just over £10.

A walk over the Thames always brings good views, and you can have fun spotting things as well as newer additions to the skyline. On the South Bank is the Royal Festival Hall – and views in the warm.

Thames

I popped into Foyle’s by the river, so caught up with everyone else inside the hall – my sister told me they were on the sixth floor, so on arriving at the RFH found the lifts by the entrance don’t go up that far. I walked further down to the next lift, and stepped into the Singing Lift which is possibly the best thing EVER. It goes higher for the top floors with a “Level siiixxxx” for that, and lower for the bottom with a “Level onnnnnnne” and big smiles from everyone who gets in.

Yes, we may have gone from Level 5 to Level 1, back up to Level 6 and finally Level 2… stopping at most floors. H and G both found it hilarious!

Covent Garden Easter Egg trail

After that we headed home, overall spends were just for food, transport goodies (I got a great 1970-2013 coaster and a kids map of London) and Moomin’s books – so not a bank breaking day at all. We just missed the food market outside the Festival Hall, but I bet it’d be good for bargains…

Oh, and we did plenty of walking – H fell asleep on the tube home and slept well that night – phew!

The Fat Controller at the Covent Garden Easter Trail

01/04/201326/03/2018 by jo

Easter at Polesden Lacey

We love our National Trust membership – I’ll say this a bazillion times as we get so much from it, especially having Polesden Lacey so close (which often makes the Top 10 overall of NT properties and gardens). Last year we went to Claremont for their Easter Egg hunt, but this year we switched.

The National Trust work with Cadburys and do simple trails that two three year olds (and a five year old) get excited about – it’s perfect! They get a sheet with various activities (though it was really too cold), a place to have your photo taken and then the actual trail. It probably took no more than an hour (allowing for a stop in the play area which is conveniently after the second or third clue), and had our three (H, her cousin G and her friend M) running around tracking down each clue.

Polesden Lacey Explorers

My favourite part of Polesden is the tree tunnel (which I’m sure they have a better name for, but we like ours) which had several clues, and leads out to the large grassy area at the front, where the kids had several games of hide and seek, or just rolling down the hill, climbing trees, or sitting on a lion; a stone one that is.

Actually, there was only one gripe – it was a freezing day, and included in the price was face painting. The queue was long and wasn’t moving – so in the end we had to give up, which made the girls sad. On the plus side there’s the free binoculars as you come through the entrance so they could do proper exploring while looking for the clues, so that was fun for them.

Polesden Lacey climbing trees

The Cadburys/National Trust Easter Egg trails have just one more day – today is the last day (Easter Monday) – and there’s loads of trails around the country. Of course, when you finish you get to choose a Cadbury’s Easter Egg at the end, which pleased the three of them a LOT! An excellent day, and it’s all fresh air!

Polesden Lacey Easter Egg trail 2013

30/03/201308/10/2019 by jo

AudioGo Audiobooks – a Review

We’ve held off from reviewing this, mainly as we weren’t sure how H would respond to hearing a story on the stereo – she looked confused the first time “mummy, the tv is switched off?” (oh dear..) – but since we bought the iPad Mini we’ve found that actually putting music onto my iPod Touch is a good thing (and really what it is meant for) – so the audiobooks have made a great addition for long car journeys.

We were approached by AudioGo to see if we’d like to choose some titles to review, so off I went to their site where immediately an absolute corker jumped out – vintage Magic Roundabout! Now, being a child of the seventies, H needs to know about the proper Magic Roundabout – while I’ll happily let her watch the modern one (Flo? Seriously…?!) I do want her to sample parts of my childhood – we’ve already done Bagpuss and Mr Benn and a bit of Rainbow too.

So a vintage Eric Thompson Magic Roundabout album? Oh YES. I chose some Pingu titles too which we’re working our way through.

So – how was it? Well, H fell asleep. I think it’s a different kind of listening – however, Shaun and I LOVED it! We had a proper laugh while driving along – they don’t make programmes like that any more…! I wish they did. I know these audio titles are something we’ll listen to for a long time as well – it isn’t something she’ll grow out of – and I know at her nursery they’re spending more time listening to audiobooks, so we’re picking it up at the right time.

Check out AudioGo – there’s a fantastic selection of titles, and they’re the home of BBC Audiobooks.

We were given an opportunity to review whatever titles we wanted, and I know we chose wisely – I’d highly recommend.

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the things we do, the things we like

Author / jo