It's funny how parents often tell children not to play with their food (me included), when actually playing with food is a great way of exploring and learning about the food that they are eating.  I've been thinking more about this as Ivy is nearly 6 months old and ready to start on solid foods.  All this planning for her has made me realise that I've got into a bit of a rut with Ethan's meals.  He has cereal for breakfast, usually some type of sandwich for lunch and one of only about 10 different dinner options.  It's all a bit boring, and it's time to add some excitement to all of our meals!  So I am starting with lunch, and jumping on the Bento bandwagon!  



I had a few things already, then bought a few more things to make my own little bento starter kit, so far we have:

• Munchkin bento box
• Lego lunch box
• Car shaped snack pots
• Silicone cupcake cakes
• Star shaped moulds
• Vehicle shaped moulds
• Vehicle cupcake picks
• Sandwich cutters

We finally took Ethan and Ivy to their first proper theme park!  We went to Chessington World of Adventures for the day.  I think that I was more excited than Ethan was, he had no idea what he was in for.  He already loves going to a fair, so I was sure that he would enjoy all the rides.  As soon as we got into the park and he saw all of the different rides, he was overwhelmed!  He didn't know where to start, so we went to the bumper cars, which he could sit in with Daddy, to get him started slowly.  He was hooked, and as soon as he got off he was running to the next ride (even though he had no idea what that would be!)  He is a big fan of all vehicles, so obviously any driving rides were a definite favourite.  He loved the ones where he got to be the driver and one of us was the passenger, like the tiny trucks and the old fashioned cars.


My first tip would be to make sure you measure your child's height before you go.  I actually thought that Ethan was taller than one metre, so I thought he would get onto all of the rides that he liked easily, but he's actually just one metre tall exactly.  The first few rides that had a one metre minimum had to check and double check his height, so they recommended that we go to guest services to get him a wristband.  That made it easier and quicker to get on to the next ride.

My second tip is that if you go with two children, one of which is too small to go on many rides (like Ivy is) you can get a parent pass from the same place as the wristbands.  This meant that Daddy could go on a ride with Ethan whilst I waited with Ivy, get our pass signed, then if I wanted to Ethan on again we could just go straight on again (via the exit, and only available for certain rides).  It makes it more fun, then both parents get to see that look of joy on Ethan's face when the ride starts up!


We also went to see the Madagascar show, which Ethan and Ivy both loved, lots of music and entertaining characters!  And we even met the Octonauts!  We didn't tell Ethan where we were going (just in case we missed the time slot) but made it just in time to join the queue before they arrived.  Ethan saw the pictures of the characters, and I even asked him to stand beside the picture of Peso for a photo.  Then he saw Barnacles and Kwazii walk towards us and he was in shock, he was absolutely thrilled!  He was a bit shy at first when it was his turn to meet them, but eventually he did hold their hands and give them cuddles.  It was fantastic to watch.

We had such a great day, and stayed from when the park opened until it shut.  If your little ones aren't too tired it is worth staying until it closes as the lines for the rides are much shorter as many people go home early.  They also have a deal that children eat for free after 3pm, so we gave Ethan his dinner in the park as well, that way we only had to give him a quick bath when we got home.  He was exhausted and went straight to sleep, and we didn't hear a peep out of him all night!  

Ethan is like a little sponge, the way that he can learn new things and retain information is absolutely incredible.  He has an amazing memory, and loves to learn about everything around him.  He has been singing the alphabet song for almost a year now, but just like any other song that he has memorised.  We have plenty of letter puzzles and games around the house, and of course we read books everyday, but I never wanted to force Ethan into anything too early.  Lately he has been showing an interest in letters that he sees, and he's learned to say the letters in his name and to recognise a few letters as well.  So I decided that now would be a good time to start introducing him to the letter sounds, so that when he's ready he can start learning to read.  As a teacher I used a few different systems for teaching phonics, all of which I thought were very good, but the one that I used most extensively, and which I believe is the most commonly used, is Jolly Phonics.


As Ethan is so very musical, I thought that the first step for him would be to learn the Jolly Phonics songs for each letter sound.  The Jolly Songs CD has a different little tune for each of the 42 letter sounds.  The words are their own, but they are sung to the tune of popular nursery rhymes, which makes them easy to learn to sing along to.  Jolly Phonics are done in a specific order, starting with the letter 's'.  The song for 's' (to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell) goes: 

The snake is in the grass,
The snake is in the grass,
s,s,s,s,
The snake is in the grass.

The next resource that we tried is the Jolly Phonics Games CD for the computer.  There are a variety of different games on the CD for varying abilities that teach identifying sounds as well as forming letters.  Ethan is actually quite good on the computer for his age, so he was able to use the mouse to choose the different options.  However I wouldn't say that these games are for beginners, as many include words to read, and we are not at that stage yet. If Ethan were to let me choose the simple games for him we would be fine, but of course he wants to try them all!  I think we'll save this one until he's a bit more confident with his sounds and starting to put words together.


We were also given a wall frieze and some sound strips to put up for Ethan to refer to, and a set of workbooks.  We've put up the sounds around the house to remind Ethan of them, as well as labelling some other household items so that he becomes more familiar with seeing printed words.  We have started looking at the first workbook as well, it has lots of fun activities in it for learning phonics.  As Ethan is still quite young I am not worried about him doing lots of worksheets right away, it's more important for him to be having fun whilst doing activities that he enjoys doing.


* This is a review post, Jolly Learning sent us these resources to use and to write an honest review.

Last month we reviewed the Tigger daysack from Littlelife, and now we're giving one away! You can win a little backpack just like Ethan's (he loves his!)




Enter via the rafflecopter box below. Open to residents of the UK only.  Winner will be chosen at random at the end of the giveaway, and will be contacted by Littlelife directly to receive their prize.

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Which other Disney character could Littlelife make into a Toddler Daysack?

I was looking for a quick and easy craft to do, and a pile of bags in the corner caught my eye.  We get so many of those thin canvas bags that different companies hand out at fairs and events that we never end up using again.  I had a look at one, turned it inside out and found that it had been finished quite nicely, so it looked just as nice the wrong way around.  It was ready to decorate without me having to do any preparation at all!



I set the bag out on the table with some fabric crayons and fabric markers alongside it, and left it for Ethan to discover after his nap.  It didn't take him long to see the bag and crayons and ask what it was.  He was really intrigued by these different crayons that he hasn't used before and the fact that he was able to draw on a bag!  I just let him have free reign and draw as he pleased, although I did suggest that he draw some books on there. 


If I had been more organised I could have found or made him some stencils or stamps to use as well.  I do like the way it has turned out though, it's truly Ethan's work, and now it's the perfect bag to bring with us to the library to carry his books home.

The National Literacy Trust have created a fabulous project called Books About Town. They have made benches shaped like an open book, and painted them based on 50 different books / series' of books. These benches are scattered all around London on 4 different trails that you can follow (maps are available on their website).

It hasn't been long since Ivy learned to roll over, and now she's gone and learned to sit!  It's so funny how children develop at such different paces (and how little it matters in the long run!) but Ethan rolled much earlier and sat much later.  Ivy hasn't even fully mastered rolling yet, she can only roll to the left and still gets stuck on her tummy.  But now that she can sit, it's all that she wants to do!


I am still very grateful for the Galt Playnest as it's easy to pop her in quickly when I need to help Ethan with something, and it's safer than just putting some cushions around her (that someone else might move!) But sitting has opened up a whole new world of play for her!  Toys like stacking rings, shape sorters and stacking cups can be explored when sitting up.  We can also start making Ivy her very own sensory and discovery bins and have her join in with our water play and messy play in the builders tray.  There's a lot of fun in store for her now!

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Ivy has reached an age now where she's really interested in everything around her.  I decided that it was time to put a few things together in a little discovery box for her senses.  I wanted to include some things that were visually interesting, that made sounds, and that had different textures to stimulate all of her senses.



I chose a few things that we already had in the house, these were toys of Ethan's or other items from around the house.  A sensory or discovery box needn't be full of new and fancy things, just items that a baby will be able to explore.  I have included:

• a flashing spiky ball - visual (lights) and tactile (bumpy texture)
• a silk scarf - tactile (smooth texture)
• a baby bell - sound (ringing)
• a baby shaker - sound (rattling)
• a Winkel Teether - visual (colourful), tactile (bendable), sound (rattle), taste (teething toy)
• Sophie la Giraffe - visual (spotty), tactile (smooth), sound (squeak), smell (natural rubber), taste (teething toy)

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It's a very big milestone for a certain royal baby today! As you may have noticed, we love to celebrate special occasions around here. So I wasn't really surprised that when I told Ethan that it was Prince George's birthday, the first thing that he asked was "Can we bake him a cake?" Well, how could I say no? So we decided that even though he's not here, we'll have a little party for Prince George!

When Prince George was born last year (or 'the royal baby' as he was known then) we were very excited.  We sat by the television waiting for them to come out of the hospital so that we could have a glimpse of the baby.  Ethan was really into it as well, I read him a royal fairytale  and he excitedly watched on tv, pointing and saying 'the baby, the baby!' Which he then continued to do every time that they replayed those scenes on the news for the next few days.  We even got the Royal Baby Happyland set for him to play with (we haven't yet bought the Happyland Royal Birthday set, but I'm sure that we will pick it up soon).

We took Ethan and Ivy to Monski Mouse's Baby Disco Dance Hall, a retro baby disco yesterday.  It's currently on at the Southbank in London, but tours around to different locations as well.  It's a very unique experience, aimed at children under 5, and it's not your typical baby disco nursery rhymes and pop music.  The DJ (Monski Mouse) and her dancers are dressed in vintage style, and playing music that the parents are much more familiar with than the children!  They throw a few songs that the kiddies love in there (like sleeping bunnies) amongst the ones that are more fun for the adults (like getting the kids to crawl around and meow like kittens to 'Love Cats' by The Cure).



Ethan loves music, so he happily danced and followed along with the actions to the songs.  He even brought Daddy along in a conga line!  There was a baby area with cushions for even the smallest little boogie babies to take part.  Ivy was mesmerised by the lights and the music, she was happy to have her own little dance party on the cushions and being carried by us as well.

The disco is on for a few more shows at the Southbank - 27th July, 24th August and 7th September.  If you'd like to book tickets you can do it directly through the Southbank Centre website.

If you would like to win tickets to one of these shows, you can!  Enter here for our giveaway of a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children under 5) to the baby disco:

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We love books, we love photos, and we really love personalised books, but a personalised book with photos? Wow, that is just perfect for Ethan!  He absolutely loves looking at photos of himself and people he knows.  We were offered the chance to review a book from Love2Read so of course we jumped at the chance.  I chose the book titled My Baby Sister... but there are many different titles to choose from and personalise in different ways.



Ethan was very excited when the book arrived, he couldn't believe that there were photos of him and Ivy in a real book! He loves to sit and look at all the photos together, he even shows them to Ivy and tells her about what they were doing then.  It's so cute and it will be a keepsake for years to come, it's such a terrific idea.

* This is a review post, Love2Read sent us this book to review and write our honest opinion about.  For more about my review process please click here *

We're in the middle of one of those funny London heat waves, that get a bit unbearable because we're just never prepared for it.  We recently moved into a house with a garden, but last summer we were in a flat, which made it even more difficult to keep cool on days like this. 


So, here's a list of our favourite ways to keep babies and toddlers cool on a very hot day, whether you have a lot of space or no space at all.

1. Swimming 



We are lucky enough now to have room for a bigger paddling pool in our garden, which both Ethan and Ivy can sit in, and we can put lots of toys for them to play with in there too.  Last year we went searching for a park paddling pool, found one a bus ride away, but got there to find it was being repainted!  So we had to use a tiny paddling pool that I bought from a pound shop, and I set up in the communal garden on a boiling hot day just to give Ethan a bit of a chance to cool down.  In London there are a lot of parks with paddling pools for the kids, you just have to check your borough's website for more information (but call ahead to make sure it's open!)  Of course you can also go to your local swimming pool for a proper swim.


2.  Run through the sprinkler



Yet again we are very fortunate this year to have the space, but unfortunately our water hose isn't working!  So we'll have to do some improvising yet again.  But if you do have a working hose, you can get a fairly inexpensive sprinkler and hook it up for hours of fun play.  Last year we went to  a play group and they had their sprinkler going on hot days, so that worked well for us too.

Now that Ethan has started nursery, I've been able to take Ivy to a few different baby classes.  I take her to a lovely music class and to Gymboree.  She absolutely loves both classes, I think that she's just very excited to be going to activities that are just for her, and to be able to see other babies her age.  She's also at such a great age, since learning to roll over she is enjoying tummy time more and she's trying to sit up on her own more as well.  I've picked up lots of great tips, and been reminded of many things that I did with Ethan when he was 5 months old.  When we went to Gymboree for the first time last week Ivy had her longest tummy time session yet, she was so happy to be face to face with all of the other babies and have her senses stimulated by all of the different equipment.



Some of the things, like a large baby safe mirror on the floor or fibre optic lights are fantastic, but not things that are easy to try around the house.  However, one of their brilliant ideas that Ivy loved and that we could easily get to use at home, was to have a foil emergency blanket under the babies on their tummies.  They are very easy to find and quite inexpensive as well.  Ivy loves anything crinkly, so it's perfect for her to happily grab and squeeze noisily while she's on her tummy.  She is completely distracted by it and seems to forget that she's even on her tummy, it's an incredible material (I see future craft projects using it in our future too!) and she just loves to play with it.  Her neck muscles have become so strong, she's much steadier when sitting now as well, I don't think that sitting unaided will be far off!

Obviously this material isn't intended for use by babies, because of safety risks, so please do keep a close eye on your little ones when using it.

* This post contains affiliate links

You know when you get a box and you just can't bear to throw it away (or recycle it) because it's just meant to be something else?  Well, when I saw this box I immediately knew that it had to be a rocket ship.  It's a cylindrical box that lifts open, and I know that Ethan will love opening and closing it to put little people in.  Of course he would have been happy to play with it as it, but I wanted to decorate it.  I knew that I needed to make it quite robust though, so that he could play with it and not worry that bits would be falling off.  



We used lolly sticks / popsicle sticks to go around the rocket ship.  They're colourful and fun, but should also stay on quite securely if we use enough glue.  It's a great exercise for Ethan in spreading the glue along each stick and placing it alongside the other sticks.  It look a great deal of focus and concentration, but he was very committed and patient.




About half way through sticking on the sticks, Ethan suddenly decided that the rocket needed a door!  Why didn't I think of that?  I love that he's really starting to take part in the creating and planning aspect of our projects.  So we looked through our art drawers and decided to make the door out of card and use markers to decorate it.  We drew the window and the handle together, and then he coloured the rest.  When the lolly sticks were all in place, we talked about how to make the top of the rocket.  He said he wanted it to go really high, so looking through our art drawers again, we chose a green foam sheet for the top.  I cut in into a circle shape, then cut a slit halfway up to make a cone shape.  I don't think that it was quite tall enough for Ethan's liking, but it will do.  Then we glued it on together, and Ethan found some stickers to decorate it with.  Maybe not our most impressive looking craft, but I love that Ethan did most of it himself, and that he'll be able to properly play with it now, and fly his toys off to the moon!

The lovely children's story book We're Going on a Bear Hunt is celebrating it's 25th anniversary! 



We're Going on a Bear Hunt is a fantastic story about going on an adventure together as a family, so what better way to read it than to go on our own sensory adventure in our backyard.  If you're not familiar with the book, the characters are going on a bear hunt and have to go through several obstacles to find the bear (then run back through them when they do!) 

While Ethan was napping I set everything up for him, so that the trail would be a bit of a surprise when he woke up.  I set up all the different stations around the back yard, and went through his Happyland people to find ones to represent our family.  There's a Daddy, a Mommy, a little boy (Ethan) and a baby in a pram (Ivy).  Together they go through the grass, the river, the mud, the forest, a snowstorm and a cave.

Through the grass

Through the river

Through the mud

Through the forest

Through the cave

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I have found another brilliant product to help Ivy to sit upright.  She is much happier when sitting, but isn't yet sitting up independently, so she needs a little bit of assistance.  The Galt Playnest is lovely, it serves it's purpose perfectly and is bright and fun at the same time.  It consists of 2 parts, an inner inflatable ring, and a cover that zips over it, leaving a space in the middle for baby to sit.  It's much easier than just surrounding Ivy with pillows until she learns to sit confidently (especially as someone else always comes around and moves the pillows out of the way!)



Ivy was able to sit up in the Playnest straight away, it's snug enough to support her, but big enough of a space inside so that she is doing a lot of the work herself.  I like that I now have somewhere to quickly pop her down when I have to do something for Ethan, but that she can be sitting up.  She's just not happy when I lay her down any more, she's reaching the age when she just wants to look around and see what's going on.  In the Playnest she's able to sit up with support and see what's happening around her at the same time.



The Playnest itself is very bright and colourful, a farm design with different animals all around it.  The horse has a tail that Ivy can grab, the piggy and duck have noses that stick out and make a sound when Ivy squeezes them, and there's a couple of other different textures that can be explored.  Ivy loves anything crinkly, so her favourite toy is the little dog (that she's playing with in the photo above).  We've only had the Playnest for a little while, but it's already become such an asset and I would highly recommend it for babies around Ivy's age.

* This is a review post, we were given the Playnest from Galt Toys so that we could try it out and write an honest review. It also contains affiliate links.  For more about our review process, please click here *

We went to a summer fair last month, and Ethan absolutely loved playing the hook a duck game.  He's been asking to play it ever since, so I decided that we could play hook a duck at home!  I just bought a fishing set and some plastic ducks to go with our builders tray (a paddling pool would work as well) and we were ready to go!  



Ethan was so excited!  It takes quite a lot of skill and coordination to be able to hold the fishing rod and get the hook in the right place to pick up the fish.  Ethan did get frustrated a few times and I had to help him, but eventually he got the hang of it and persevered.  The ducks didn't have hooks on them, but Ethan was in a hurry to play, so I quickly used tape and paper to make loops at the top of each duck.  I was planning on buying some plastic hooks, but actually my quick solution worked just fine.  Ethan had fun playing hook a duck (and some fish!) for ages, and he asks to play it again and again, it's one of our go to games when we're short on time now, it's fantastic!


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Ever since Ivy was born, Ethan has been completely in love with his little sister.  It is wonderful to now see how much Ivy returns that love.  Whenever Ethan comes into the room or comes home, she's the first one who he greets.  When Ivy started to giggle, it was at her big brother's antics.  I love their love, so I've decided to join in with a lovely photo project across a number of different blogs called 'Siblings - A Family Portrait Project', so I can record their monthly moments of playing and learning together.  Even though I don't tend to share photos of their faces, it will be a challenge, so be prepared for lots of kissy faces hiding each other! Here is my photo for July, of Ethan giving Ivy kisses, and playing with her, showing her the toys on her new baby seat.



I'm feeling sad now that I didn't join in on all the months since Ivy was born, so I'm taking a look back at previous months as well...

In February when Ethan first met his new baby sister:





















In March when Ethan decided that wherever Ivy was, he would be too, including on her play gym with her:



In April when Ivy was having some tummy time and Ethan decided to join her, to show her how it's done, and of course to give her a little kiss:




















In May after Ivy went for her first swim, when she fell asleep on the deck chair and Ethan gave her a kiss:



And in June when they were reading a book together:

It's so interesting how two children can differ so much.  Ethan loved laying down on a play mat, but with Ivy she just wants to be upright, so I'm constantly on the lookout for different baby seats for her.  I came across this new baby seat from Fisher Price and was instantly excited, because it was so different from any others that we have.  The Fisher Price Sit Me Up Floor Seat holds a baby upright, similar to another seat that we have, but it looks much more comfortable for Ivy.  It's recommended for babies aged 6 months and older, but as Ivy is very steady and holds her head confidently for a 5 month old I think that she is ready for it.  



When it arrived I was excited to put it together for Ivy straight away, as she was having a bad teething day and I wanted somewhere nice for her to sit.  I opened up the box, thinking this might be a very bad idea, but I was able to put it together, with Ethan "helping" and Ivy sitting in my lap, in about 5 minutes!  The pieces all snap together so easily, no tools required.  Why can't all toys be this simple to assemble?  Life would be so much easier!

I love that it's made of a soft cloth, so it's nice on her skin and she's still able to wiggle around (and also washable!)  It's bright and colourful, and comes with 2 toys attached to the front (which could be taken off and switched for other toys if you want to put some favourites on there).  Ivy loves the toys it came with, a crinkly butterfly and a flower teether, both keep her busy for ages.  For us it's also really great as it sits quite low to the ground, so it's almost like she's sitting on the floor, which means that she's at the same level as Ethan when he plays.  He can happily play alongside her with his cars, and she's entertained by watching him and feels like she's a part of things.  He can pass her toys and tries to involve her in his games as well, which is very sweet.



I am loving the simplicity of this baby seat, it's really just something to hold Ivy upright until she's strong enough to sit up on her own, and it's exactly what we needed to make her happy.  I would highly recommend this chair, it's not too big, but it does fold down for easy storage and for travel, making it perfect anywhere you go.  It's sells for £39.99 from shops and online, and it is real value for money.  Ivy absolutely loves hers, it's a perfect place for me to quickly put her down when I need to do something, and Ethan loves that she's now at his level for play, so we're all happy!

* This is a review post, Fisher Price sent me the Sit Me Up Floor Seat to try out and to write an honest review.  For more about my review process, please click here *  

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Time for more messy sensory play!  I was very excited to properly be able to make some coloured rice for Ethan and Ivy to play with.  I had tried it before, making the rice with kool aid and playing with it in a small sensory box.  The Kool Aid did make it a vibrant colour, but it always remained a bit sticky, so I had to spend time getting all of the clumps out before playing with it.  This time I looked around at many different blog posts, consulted the experts (on Twitter) with many suggestions of adding vinegar or alcohol or even baking it in the oven to make the colour stick.  But in the end, I decided to just go for the simple option, and just use food colouring!  I made six different colours of rice (so not technically a rainbow, sorry indigo) so I bought 2 large bags of rice and split them into equal portions in smaller sandwich bags.  Then I added a few drops of food colouring, shook it all around and spread each colour out on some greaseproof paper to dry overnight.



By the next day the rice was dry, no colour was coming off on my hands, and while the colour wasn't as vibrant as with the kool aid, it was still nice and bright.  The difficult part was keeping Ethan away from it when he woke up in the morning!  He spotted it on the counter and wanted to play straight away, but I really wanted to pour it out carefully to make a rainbow on our tuff spot (builders tray) outside.  So, truth be told, I may have locked Ethan inside with Daddy so I could set it all up for them, just so that I could have a pretty rainbow for one second before they started to play and mix it all up.



Ethan was so excited to get his hands on that rice, and I was excited that it was something that Ivy could experience as well.  I decided just to put her feet in, as she puts her hands in her mouth a lot, and I wouldn't want her swallowing any of that rice.  So I opened up the door to let Ethan and Ivy outside, but I still made Ethan wait.  We counted to 3 and then they could touch the rice.



First Ethan just moved it around on the tray, mixing it up and running the grains of rice through his fingers.  Ivy swished her feet around and bounced them up and down in the rice.  I think that it will be easier to do activities like this once she's sitting up on her own, then she'll be able to control her play a bit better, not having to be held by someone.  



After we took Ivy out, of course Ethan decided that he wanted to put his feet in as well!  So then he just sat right in the tray, surrounded by colourful rice and swirled it around himself.  I then got some scoops, cups, bowls, a sieve and some other toys that he could use to play with the rice in different ways.  He loved it, and was happy playing with it for ages.  At the end we scooped all the mixed up colourful rice into an airtight container, ready to play with again another day.