Tag: toddler

Baby

3 Simple Tips for Moving House With Babies & Toddlers

Jayne3 Comments

Proudly brought to you by Brisbane’s #1Removalist Platinum Furniture Removals

Months of sleepless nights, tantrums that leave you questioning how such a creature came from your own body, finding inexplicably sticky objects everywhere you go – if you’ve got kids under five, there’s no doubt that these things have made you fairly accustomed to dealing with a certain level of stress.

Now, take those day-to-day dramas and add moving house to the equation – an event that’s been rated more stressful than death and divorce. Feel your cortisol rising yet?

Relocating your home with little kids in tow can be tough, but there are three simple steps you can take to mitigate the stress your family experiences.

1. Maintain Sleeping & Eating Schedules

While your normal schedule might be up in the air from house hunting, packing and time taken off work, it’s important that your kids’ routines stay the same.

Make sure that your kids are sticking to their regular schedule of meals, naps and bedtimes as much as possible before, during and after the big move.

And, while it’s a good idea to get them out of the house on moving day, don’t forget to give your kids an opportunity to say goodbye to their old room before they go. A sudden relocation without any warning can cause a huge sense of loss in young children.

2. Don’t Redecorate Rooms Straight Away
It’s tempting to take a two-birds-one-stone approach to redecorating and moving. After all, why not avoid double handling and just swap out old stuff you no longer want with new items for your new home on the same day?

Kids crave normalcy and having familiar furniture and objects around while they learn the layout of your new home is crucial to reducing their stress.

Young children have a genuine fear of being alone, and this can be heightened if you’re moving into a larger house where it’s more difficult for them to find you when you’re in another room.

If you find your kids getting particularly clingy during the first few weeks at the new house, don’t admonish them. Their anxiety is natural, and it will pass as they get more and more used to their surroundings.

3. Take Care of Yourself
No matter how much you try to hide it, when you’re feeling stressed out your children are bound to pick up on it!

Practicing self-care is particularly vital while moving house. A few pointers for keeping yourself (and your children) emotionally balanced during this time include:

Rely on routine and planning: Help yourself relax by budgeting for your move early (with a financial buffer for unanticipated expenses), making checklists with realistic deadlines and having a backup plan in case things don’t go as expected.

Get support: Seek help from family, friends and even organisations early and often. Whether it’s financial, physical or emotional support you’re after, find out who you can count on to be there for you before you start to feel like you need help.

Be kind to yourself: Remind yourself that you are doing your best. Stop the cycle of continually feeling like you can be doing more by planning out your days in advance and talking about your worries with friends and family.

For more info and tips please visit our website and blog
http://www.platinumfurnitureremovalistsbrisbane.com.au/removals-blog/

Platinum Furniture Removals
Level 6/140 Creek st, Brisbane, QLD, 4000
0477 775 935

Baby · Family · Parenting

When Your Last Baby is No Longer a Baby

Jayne2 Comments

Burrito Baby is growing up. For many people, January is a time of new beginnings, however I always feel like September is that time for me. Summer is over and we move into a new school year and a new season of cooling weather and falling leaves. I always start September feeling inspired to do more, and my creativity seems to rekindle itself in Autumn for some reason. This September has been no different, and a lot has been happening in our house. Husband and I have both had new projects at work, Sausage went into Year 5 and 11+ prep, but perhaps the biggest change is BB starting nursery.

I’ve been adamant for months that nursery was the right thing for BB as she has some shyness that she needs to get over as well as some attachment issues, but it’s been a lot tougher than I anticipated. She was fine for the first two days of her settling-in week, then had tears on the Friday. The next week was hard too, with tears on Monday, culminating in almost-hysterics on the Wednesday which led to me taking her home early. The following week, she got tonsillitis so missed a whole week of sessions, and she even said to us that she was glad she felt ill because it meant she didn’t have to go to nursery. To say it was breaking my heart is an understatement.

For us, it’s a really fine line between getting her used to being away from us in preparation for school and traumatising her when she’s barely ever been away from us. Helping her confidence to flourish is a big part of the growing process. However, I also don’t want to give her the idea that she can have a tantrum and get out of ever doing anything outside of her comfort zone, and the point about her getting prepared for school still very much stands.

When Sausage started nursery, she was always quite happy to go, so leaving her was a lot easier;  it was only by the time she got to Reception that she started to hate it, and by then it was compulsory, so I didn’t have the option to just take her home again. Nursery isn’t compulsory, and I can’t shake the feeling that I’m losing out on precious time with BB which I won’t have the option to have back once she’s at school next year.

I think the fact that she’s my last baby is having an impact on my mindset. Husband and I agree that two kids are enough for us and that we like the dynamic of our family the way it is, and besides, having the health conditions I have mean it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to have another pregnancy anyway. However, it means that I’m having to deal with the fact that this is the last time I’ll do nursery drop offs, the last time I’ll have a three-and-a-half year old, the last time I’ll do any of this. Our family is growing up and while I love that in many ways, it doesn’t mean I don’t feel slightly sad about it, too.

BB is pretty advanced in a lot of ways and having a big sister means she’s probably growing up a bit faster than Sausage did, so coming to terms with the fact that our last baby isn’t a baby anymore is tougher than I expected. She still loves a snuggle and still holds onto my ear when she’s tired. She still asks for help eating her porridge and putting her shoes on, and still wants company while she’s on the loo. But she also refuses to watch Paw Patrol anymore, because it’s “for babies”, and wants to be a “big girl” all the time. It’s an inbetweeny stage for all of us and she’s charging towards school-age a lot quicker than I ever expected her to.

She went to nursery again today after her week off ill and went in with minimal fuss – I waited around the corner and spied on her after five minutes and she was all smiles. She came out full of beans, having baked a cupcake and made a new friend, so we’re hopeful that this positive experience will help going forward. I guess I need to just enjoy the little remnants of her baby-hood while they last, because I don’t think they’ll be sticking around for too much longer.

Baby · Food · Review

Review: Little Dish – My First Pizza

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Little Dish My First Pizza

Burrito Baby is a really good eater these days and since we’ve discovered that she can now have dairy, she happily eats things with normal cheese without any issues and is a huge fan of pizza. So when Little Dish got in touch and asked if we’d like to be some of the first people to try their brand new range of pizzas, My First Pizza, aimed at toddlers, we jumped at the chance. Here’s the blurb on the new products:

Our new range of My First Pizzas have been created in partnership with our nutritionist to ensure that they are not just yummy, but also nutritionally balanced. These tasty pizzas are made with 100% natural ingredients, contain 35% less salt than the average children’s chilled pizza* and have no added sugar, additives or preservatives. Plus, each mini pizza contains 1 of child’s recommended 5 a day thanks to the yummy toppings and hidden carrot puree into our unique pizza bases.

*35% less salt when compared against the average salt content (per 100g) in all children’s chilled pizza found in UK supermarkets

We were sent all three varieties of pizza; classic margherita, mini meatballs and veg, and pesto chicken and veg. The pizzas by themselves were the perfect size to give to BB for a hearty lunch and because they contained one of her 5 a day, as well as 35% less salt than conventional “kids” pizzas, it didn’t feel like we were giving her something unhealthy.

One of my favourite things about all of the Little Dish meals, not just the pizzas, is that they don’t patronise when it comes to ingredients. There seems to be an accepted wisdom that there are certain things that kids just won’t eat, and while there are plenty of fussy kids in the world, my two are really open to new flavours and textures and BB absolutely loved the butternut squash and spinach on the meatball pizza.

Little Dish My First Pizza

Obviously, there are some days when most toddlers decide to be difficult, which why these pizzas are so great – even the plain margherita contains carrot, peppers, onions and tomatoes, all hidden in the base and sauce, so you have the peace of mind that they’re eating a nutritious meal while they get to exert their toddler will and think they’re getting away with being fussy!

If you wanted to make a larger meal out of the pizzas, I’d wholly recommend serving them with sweet potato fries or wedges, for added calories and nutrition, or some steamed veg such as broccoli. We’ll definitely be buying these pizzas for BB in the future as they went down an absolute storm. Thanks, Little Dish, for sending them to us, along with the adorable little hamper and goodies to go with them.

Baby

Potty Training with Thomas and Friends

Jayne17 Comments

Hey, you. Yes, you over the there. The one with the haunted look in your eye and the bucket of tiddly toddler clothes soaking in your laundry room! Let me tell you a secret:

Potty training does get better!

Seriously. I know it feels like a really daunting prospect to think about beginning the potty training process, or if you’re already in the middle of it all it can feel like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel but for the vast majority of kids, it will just “click” one day.

Sausage was by no means a picnic to potty train, despite being a beautifully well-behaved kid. I remember the hair-tugging frustration at sitting with her in our lounge and watching her stand literally RIGHT NEXT TO her potty and wee on the floor instead. I remember how I’d take her out without a nappy to go on the shortest of walks and ask her a hundred times before we left if she needed to lose the toilet, only to get 100m up the road and hear “uh-oh!” from Sausage, who’d be standing in the street with soaking wet leggings!

Worryingly, Sausage is actually the more compliant of my children. Burrito Baby is firmly in the “NO” stage of her life (yes, we’re calling it a stage and NO, we won’t be mentioning that, at last count, that stage has lasted for approximately a year of her 19 months of life…). When we were asked if we were considering potty training BB, my blood ran cold. However, I’m going into this armed and dangerous!Thomas & Friends Potty Training

We were sent a copy of the Thomas & Friends “My Thomas Potty Book” and “Well Done, Thomas” Activity Book and I’ve been reading the Potty Book to BB almost daily. The whole thing is intended to normalise the process of potty training, which is something I really see the benefit of. As adults, I think we often underestimate how bizarre potty training can be for kids. They go from ranging around and ‘going’ where they please to sitting down and being confined to a potty. I remember, when my youngest nephew was potty training, he took to it like a PRO, using the potty for wee with no bother at all. However, whenever he needed to poop, he’d ask for a nappy to be put back on because he was so used to going whilst standing up!

The thing I love about the “My Thomas Potty Book” is the way it gently introduces potty training paraphernalia, such as potties and pants, and makes the whole thing seem like a big, new, fun adventure. It also has a built-in reward chart which can be used for positive reinforcement when they manage to use the potty and, to be fair, I think my kids love stickers more than they love me, so the inclusion of stickers is a great idea. The activity book is a little advanced for BB at the moment although, at just 19 months, we’re starting the potty training journey quite early and I’m sure the book will come into its own in the next few months.

We’ve actually been lucky enough to be given another set of books to give away to one lucky reader – all you need to do it enter through the Rafflecopter widget below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baby · Review · Toys

We’re VTech Toot Toot Friends Ambassadors!

Jayne1 Comment

A few weeks back, Burrito Baby and I received the awesome news that we’d been chosen to be VTech Toot Toot Friends Ambassadors and would be receiving all of the new range to play with and review. As you can see, BB was over the moon! The smaller characters retail for around £8.99 each, while the Trot and Go Pony is £15.99. The Hospital playset is a very affordable £29.99 and even the Discovery Sounds House, which is the bigger of the two playsets, is only £44.99.

VTech Toot Toot Friends

What we discovered, being Toot-Toot Friends noobs, is that all of the playsets can link together, forming a big town, and each character can be used in all of the different areas. Want to take your horse to the hospital? Go right ahead! These areas are called ‘Magic Points’ and allows kids to use the individual  characters to interact with the play sets. There are also points within the Busy Sounds Discovery Home where characters can sing to one another, something that BB seemed to regard as being akin to magic!

BB has really good gross and fine motor skills for her age (I mean, the kid is NEVER still, even when she’s sleeping!) but all of the elements of the characters and the playsets were solid and easy to hold, even for the tiniest hands. It also feels like it would stand up to a whole lot of toddler punishment, too; BB has developed a habit of throwing things when she’s in a mood but I can’t see even the biggest toddler tantrum being able to do damage to the Toot-Toot Friends! That’s why when buying toys parents should always look at the sturdy toys. Durable gifts for 2 year olds that can endure hits and tantrums is important. Less money wasted, and more time for fun.

I really like the fact that these feel like “next level” toys in more ways than one; in terms of BB’s development, they feel more in-depth than all the other ‘flashing lights, ABC, 123’ toys that she has and they also feel like they incorporate all of the things that babies of this age love with the technological expertise the VTech is famous for. They’re interactive, educational and intuitive, all things which I think are important for development through play.

If I had ONE minor complaint, it’s that the stickers are a little bit fiddly to apply when you’re assembling everything, especially as some of them are located behind or inside certain parts. If you’ve got a steady hand, you’ll be fine, but the best advice I can give you is to assemble everything when you don’t have an excited, slightly tyrannical toddler climbing all over you.

I also think that selling all of the characters and sets separately is a great thing. It means that you can still buy Toot-Toots friends toys even on varying budgets, and if a birthday or Christmas comes around, the playsets can be bought as a main present, while the smaller components can be bought by friends or relatives to build a full and comprehensive collection.

BB and I feel like we’re off to a great start as ambassadors for VTech Toot-Toot Friends – we already love the toys and can seem them being a great source of fun and education for BB in the months to come.