The New Mary Poppins

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Recently, I've been thinking back over the past decade. In a month's time I will have been married for ten years, but further to this I have been teaching for the same amount of time.

Prior to my teaching degree, I trained to be a nursery nurse and during that time, I had a post in a private nursery, but I also had a nannying job. Let me tell you now, nannying is an incredibly hard career and I take my hat off to anyone who does it. Imagine looking after one or two children nearly each and every day, in their own home, nurturing and caring for them, but they aren't your children. Knowing to step back the moment their parents come into the house is an important skill, and being able to keep the little ones close but not etched too deeply in your heart is nigh on impossible. The rewards though in being involved in a little person's life are incredible, and sometimes so is the relief at being able to go home at the end of the day!

An online friend of mine is a nanny, and I can imagine that she is magnificent at it. Caring, friendly, loving and giving, I know that she adores her charges and they her. If I was to employ a nanny, then she would be the one that I trust with The Boy. I heard from her the other day that the family's circumstances have changed and she will be finishing with them in a month or so. I can't imagine how difficult a transition that will be for both her and her charges. And not only that, but she is going to have to find a new job, this side of Christmas.

Nanny jobs are becoming increasingly popular, as mothers' guilt increases. Often torn at the idea of putting their child into a nursery, a nanny provides the easier solution: your child is cared for in your home with your rules and on a (normally) one-one basis. I was chatting with someone who is returning to work and they are taking a nanny on as it is cheaper than putting their two children into a nursery.

Maybe this friend of mine will fancy a career change? Maybe it's time to try something new? Maybe she'll want to find another family? Either way, a good place online to look for part time work is the wide-ranging site, Gumtree.com. You want a house or a new pair of shoes? What about a band for a wedding or a double pushchair? Gumtree's popularity is increasing, with good reason.

Toy Genius: Djeco Lacing Doudous

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We've been sent a few items from ToyJeanius recently from the Djeco range. Now the lovely Jean behind the company knows that I am a fan of the toys from this French company, especially their wooden toys, so I was really pleased to receive this set of 'lacing doudous' for The Boy to play with.

Cuddly Lacing Doudous is a fun lacing and threading toy from Djeco. The set includes four chunky wooden animals, four vibrant lacing cords and two funky buttons for children to add to their creations. The cuddly animals are very colourful and are a good size for small children to hold while they learn to thread the laces through the holes. On two of the animals (the rabbit and the bear) there are areas to lace these buttons onto, but this is quite a tricky thing for The Boy to manage at the moment.

I'm very fond of Djeco toys for various reasons; they are FSC certified and are fun whilst being highly educational. These lacing boards are great for developing The Boy's hand to eye co-ordination, and the pincer grip; all pre-writing skills. It also helps to promote problem-solving (like when he doesn't go through the hole from the right side!) and spatial awareness. Most importantly for me though, these six inch figures and fun and attractive. The Boy has great fun analysing which hole to thread through next, and very quickly cottoned onto the need to go through the next hole on the same side that he's just come up through.

This is a lovely, long-lasting toy with beautiful illustrations in a hard-wearing storage box. There are four laces included in the pack, which have long plastic-encased ends which are great for little fingers. Of course, it's an idea to tie a knot in one of the ends, otherwise the board will fall on the floor!

Watch The Boy having a go:


 

Don't forget that you can get a 10% discount on this, and any other product, from ToyJeanius by entering the code 'TheBoyandMe' at the checkout!


I'm a Toyjeanius toy genius

Scooting around!

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The Boy is becoming more and more grown-up, the toddler is most definitely disappearing fast, even though he'll always be my baby. With this new-found freedom, independence and physical capability comes a desire to explore his world and test his boundaries. When we went to a friend's recently, I saw that her son (who is eight months older than The Boy) has a mini micro-scooter. I'm not a very big fan of scooters, more rooted in my inability to stay upright and not fall on my derriere than anything else. However, I started thinking that maybe it was something that could be interesting to keep an eye on in the future.

The next week I received an e-mail asking me if I'd like to review one.

I'm impressed.

First of all, I was surprised at how lightweight the Mini Micro-Scooter is. For such a sturdy and robust scooter, it hardly weighs a thing. My friend told me she just loops it through the handlebars of the pushchair if her son has had enough and it doesn't get in the way at all, although she also showed me that the upright part comes off easily enough. The second thing that I am impressed with is how low to the ground it is, it provides a much more stable centre of gravity therefore aiding balance. The third thing I like is that there are three wheels, two at the front and one at the back; again aiding stability. And lastly, the handlebars are at a good height, even for The Boy (although he is tall for his age).

The Boy adores it. He's had a few tries of it, but I need to get him a helmet, knee-pads and elbow-pads for his safety. I was incredibly impressed at how quickly he learnt how to use it, he literally stepped onto it and away we went. This video was when he first used (it was taken on my phone and I have no idea what's happened to the sound, sorry!)

The Mini Micro-Scooter is recommended for ages 3-5 years. I recommend that you get a helmet and protective pads.

We were provided with this scooter for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

The Gallery: Colours

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This is for The Gallery where the theme this week is Colour.  The tremendous Tara asked us to choose:

"Just one colour, whichever one you like, just pick one. There is a whole load of beautiful colours out there just ripe for the snapping."

However, who am I to stop Mother Nature from adding a dash of sunset peach?

This was taken on Saturday when we ate pizza and chips on the pier overlooking the Bristol Channel. Beautiful isn't it?

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Pop over and check out the other entries

Whirlee-Good Fun!

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The Boy loves scooting around on his ride-ons and gets so much pleasure from driving around. The main problem with most of them is the manoeuvrability factor though. Steering of course removes part of this problem but the, often large, wheels can be slow to respond or have too large a turning circle.

We were recently sent a new ride-on for The Boy to try. The Whirlee, designed by Mookie, is a very different type of ride on as it uses four small wheels which turn 360°; think of an office chair! It has a stable wide base and centre of gravity, preventing falls, and a handle at the front for steering cut out of the main bulk. The position of the handle is also very natural for children to hold onto and steer.

As you can see, The Boy finds it so easy to turn whilst scooting around and as it's designed for infants and pre-schoolers then it's at a good height of the ground. I would say that The Boy is tall (90th percentile for height) and therefore his knees are probably a little too bent to benefit from it properly. However for children aged up to three (the average age for his height), they'd have a great time on it, turning and changing direction at the drop of a hat.

The Whirlee would also be great for multiple children, like in a playgroup because they are designed to be stackable and weigh just 865g. The weight make them very easy to take out and about with you.

Available in red or blue, The Whirlee retails from £9.99 (from both Cuthberts and Mothercare) so it would make an affordable and impressive gift for any toddler or confident walker.

We were sent the Whirlee for the purpose of this review. My opinion is both honest and unbiased.

The Sleep Fairy

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I can't remember the last time that The Boy slept through.

It has been at least two months, possibly three, since he went to bed at half past seven and woke up eleven hours later. The two nights when he was comatosed due to a cold don't count because I didn't sleep well through worry.

It's not as bad as it could be because Mr. TheBoyandMe is really kind and does the middle of the night wake-ups. I tend to sit and sob otherwise. However, just because I'm not up with him doesn't mean that I'm asleep.

So I can't work out what the problem is. Just as soon as I thought I'd worked out that it was the night terrors, it was teething that was waking him. In the last few days I've come to the conclusion that it might be a full bladder.

More and more he's calling out in his sleep that he needs to go to the toilet. Last night was the third time in a week that we've lifted him, put him on the potty and he's done an enormous wee.

What do you do? Do you lift your child for a wee halfway through the night?

Then we have the morning wake-ups. He used to wake up anytime between half past six and seven o'clock, but recently it's been getting earlier and earlier and we have no idea why. The six o'clock is just too early when he hasn't stopped buggering around at bedtime until nine, then has a half an hour disturbance at around midnight for a wee. And the clocks are going back in a week or so; that's going to make it five o'clock!

He is exhausted, we are exhausted. And I can't see the wood for the trees. I feel I'm missing something obvious but can't work it out.

Has anyone got any ideas please?