Zip It and Train Review

Nate and I recently received two lovely books from Little Tiger Press, Zip It and Train.

The first book Nate sat and 'read' was Zip It. Zip It is great for little hands its a board book which contains five different fastenings to play with. Nate found the Zip a little hard at first as it was stiff but after opening and closing it no less than a hundred times he found it a lot easier.

The piggy button works really well, as it does look just like a pig nose.

The only page that I'm not sure about is the hen page which has velcro on it, on our version Nate has only used it a few times and it is already looking a bit worn. 

The best page has to be the last page where it teaches them how to tie shoe laces. 

Next is the book Train, this has been printed as a board book. As I am trying to teach Nate how to read I have really enjoyed reading this book to Nate as there are words that are repeated a lot it has meant I read the story and Nate reads the repeated words. These words have a different coloured background to help with identifying which is great for early readers as it allows them to feel like they are reading a proper story.

Portable North Pole

Christmas is just over a week away and Christmas here is not complete without the lovely video from the Portable North Pole. In the past we have always gone for the free video as Nate was too young to really understand it, although he has always enjoyed it. This year we were offered the chance to review it by receiving the premium service.

The first difference I noticed from the free version was the amount of personalisation which was lovely, for those with siblings there was the option of adding names to the book. There was also the option to upload up to five pictures, there was a spot for uploading a picture of your house.

As part of the premium video package, I could also download the video which is perfect for us as Nate has a habit of asking to watch things especially when there is no internet connection. I have two videos downloaded both the classic which was perfect as a before bed treat and the premium which is slightly longer at 5 minutes 12 seconds over the 2 minutes 22 seconds of the free version. Under the premium video options there are three different videos to choose from, at the minute Nate has only seen the Secret Places one where you see the elves working.

This year PNP also bought out an app which has a children's corner, where there is an advent calendar and the ability for the children to view their videos. Nate has particularly enjoyed the advent calendar as each day gives you a different activity of course his favourite activities are the noisy ones.

To receive 20% off a purchase at Portable North Pole use this code: BLG20BKP.

After seeing the difference between the premium service and the free, next year we will be using the premium as the older Nate gets the more he enjoys the PNP videos.

disclaimer: I was given the premium package in return for this review.

Tomy boon Glo

Recently Nate has started to be a afraid of the dark and with my love of all things gadgets I've been looking for a nightlight.

I found the glo, which looks lovely on a bed side table, or even on the floor next to a cot bed. Where this nightlight is different from others is it has three removable balls. The stems in which these balls sit change colour or can be a static colour. 

              

The balls that sit in the stem glow in the dark for about half an hour after they are removed, this was something that wasn't very clear when I was looking at the website. It said they don't get hot and there are no electrics in the balls but not that they were glow in the dark. The idea of removable balls I think is great as it allowed Nate to take one into bed with him and to hold unto until he fell asleep. However, there is the potential of them to get lost, I haven't found out if you can buy them separately but it would be a good idea if you could.  

Some of the colours it cycles through are brighter than others but for Nate the colours are bright enough. There is also the option of setting it to a static colour so if you would just like the bright white light or the red light then you can. 

This is of the balls glowing in a completely dark room. So when the night light goes off and it's just the balls glowing there is still a bit of light being produced. 

 

Nate really loves this nightlight and he especially loves the balls being removeable as it means he can hold on to the glowing ball and explore under the covers or under the bed, while he searches for aliens.

Nom Nom kids

Late last year I was sent some refillable pouches to review. Nom Nom Kids make refillable pouches which are perfect for weaning or carrying snacks for an older toddler. I have found it holds the perfect amount of custard to satisfy Nate. As Nate is dairy free I end up making a lot of alternatives for him and when we are travelling pots can be bulky and heavy so these are perfect for taking a dessert with us.

As his favourite dessert is custard at the minute I have found myself making custard a lot to put in them. We use Coconut milk (Koko) and Bird's custard powered to make custard for Nate. I find that you need less milk when using coconut milk but sometimes need to use a little more custard powder and you have to keep stirring the custard while it cools or it can become lumpy.

Another favourite here was apple and strawberry puree. One apple to 5 strawberries cooked down for a while and then pureed up.

Washing the pouches was very easy, I ran hot water through the ziplock opening and then through the spout to get rid of the excess food and didn't have to use a bottle brush although I did just to ensure they were clean and then 'hung' them to dry on our washing up dryer. The only negative I found was that sometimes even if you only fill to the max fill line some food can still come out when zipping it up, although I got better at not letting that happen the more I used them. You can find them here at www.nomnomkids.co.uk

We were sent these to review, all opinions are my own.

Organix Mighty Soups

As part of our lovely bundle of foods from Organix were some Mighty Soups, the Mighty Soup we tried was Sweetcorn and Noodles. 

At the minute Nate loves sweetcorn so he was really happy to have a soup containing his favourite. As you can see from the picture the soup isn't a smooth soup but one that has bits in, encouraging children to chew. 

It was enjoyed here (I had a little taste and it was nice although a little bland for my adult taste buds) and Nate has his own soup at nursery when the others are having a food he can't have.

Allergy/Intolerance notice

Dairy Free Soups - Tasty Sweetcorn and Noodles

Hearty Root Beans and Veg

Gluten Free

Hearty Root Beans and Veg

None of the soups contain a nut warning although I have not contacted the manufacturer to check they are nut free.

Kindle Fire HDX & Paperwhite

Last week I was invited to an event at Maggie and Rose all about the new Kindles. We had a quick demonstration of the Kindle Fire HDX and Paperwhite. I'm a little bit of a gadget geek (little is very likely an understatement) so I really enjoyed having a look and play with these e-readers.

The Paperwhite is perfect as an e-reader for a family with slightly older children (or just the adults) who can read as it has a section of achievements such as having read for 30 minutes everyday for 5 days. It also has a flashcards section where words that were looked up in a book being read are placed to later test their understanding of the words.

We however, chose to play with the Kindle Fire HDX which I think is the better choice if you have smaller (non-reading) children and want something they can explore. Nate has his own profile on the Kindle and it even say's Nate's Kindle in the top left hand corner when his profile is active. There is the option of having up to 4 child profiles on the Kindle, in managing child profile you have the option of limiting the amount of screen time they have, the apps and even the books they can access.

A new update to the Kindle Fire allows you to set Goals and to specify that the Education goal must be reached before playing with other apps. These goals can be in relation to reading or for the younger children playing with an educational app. Also included in this update is the bedtime feature, you can set the hours in which the kindle can work so it will stop working between the hours of 8pm - 8am for example.

One of the first apps downloaded for Nate was the Lego Duplo Train app which has kept Nate very busy. Thomas & Friends is another, it contains a few puzzles and the option of making it harder or easier (the same puzzle but with either 6 pieces or 12). Although I was quite disappointed that the Cbeebies Playtime app wasn't supported by the Kindle Fire HDX (but it is by the Kindle Fire).

I found setting up the children's profile quite easy, although I should mention that Nate's dad struggled as Kindle FreeTime didn't automatically stand out to him as where he would find the 'other' profiles.

Immink Kids Hoody Review

We were recently sent a lovely hoody to review from Immink Kids. A few things about Immink: they are a British brand (the clothes are dyed and made in Norfolk) and they use 100% organic cotton in their products. Two very good reasons why we were excited to receive this hoody.

The package came beautifully packaged (unfortunately I was so excited to open it there are no pictures) and inside the hoody was so soft.

I love the contrasting colours and they are colours that work with most outfits. The sizing is very generous so will last easily until Nate is 3.

Overall, we love this hoody and it is the perfect thickness for layering up in the winter and having a thin layer over a t-shirt in spring.

Disney's Frozen

Last night we went to a preview of the new Disney film Frozen 3D. First of all a moan about 3D glasses, they are always too big and fall off. Which makes it hard to enjoy a really good film however, I forgot about the uncomfortable glasses as soon as the film started.

The film had all the elements that make a good Disney film. There are jokes and subtexts as always that go over the heads of young children. There are scary bits for both the young and older audience: Nate found the monster very scary, but loved Olaf the Snowman.

There was also a Q&A session after the film however, Nate was ready to leave so we only got to hear the answers to the first two questions.

But the film made enough of an impression on him that he went on about carrots (used for the snowman's nose) all the way home.

I think it's a film we'll be seeing again at the cinema. It's out at cinemas tomorrow (6th December).

Minnies Macaroon Review

We were sent a beautifully crocheted hat from Minnies Macaroon to review. It arrived very quickly, it felt like the next day although I think it was two days and I didn't have to tell Nate who it was for.

Nate has recently decided that he doesn't want to wear a hat and as it is slowly getting colder we have been wondering how can we encourage (make) him to wear a hat. I hadn't thought of a novelty hat, as soon as his froggy hat was unwrapped Nate was happy to wear it and go outside, the hat stayed on all day. When he is picked up from nursery he asks for his froggy and happily wears it. The yarn of the hat is soft and the details of the hat don't affect the wearing of it.

The hat is beautifully soft and I adore the detail that has gone into it. Minnies Macaroon stock lots of different character hats and the sizes range from baby all the way up to adult, which is perfect as Nate has nearly lost his hat to an aunty. 

Have a look at their website as there are lots of other nice bits to look at. I have my eye on a hat for myself but secretly wish they made the Mickey Mouse hat in an adult size.

Free Birds Movie

Last weekend we attended a screening of Free Birds. The film is about Thanksgiving and how one turkey who's very different from the rest decides (with the help of a friend) to get turkey off the Thanksgiving meal. There were lots of bits that made Nate jump and he was a little scared of parts of the film (not that they were traditionally scary).

We saw Free Birds in 3D but I can't really remember much of the 3D, not sure if that means the 3D element was subtle but good or non-existent. Nate as normal watched all but the first few minutes without the 3D glasses.

After the film there was a meal laid out of the new Thanksgiving foods that the turkey's introduced, I have to admit it took me a little while to work this out. There were also a few great activities to do with the children, there were make your own chick, making a turkey, having your picture taken and an entertainer. The entertainer was great she was dressed up as a farmer and had the children spinning plates and other great things, Nate was most interested when she started to make ballon objects (dogs, swords, butterflies etc). He waited patiently right in front of the lady and when she asked who's next he put his little hand up but was one of the last to get a ballon sword. It was great to see him waiting so patiently and involved while being one of the smallest in the room.

"I'm not doing it don't try and make me"

I'd recommend going to see Free Birds, there are lots of mentions of Thanksgiving and the traditions surrounding Thanksgiving at the beginning but it doesn't spoil the film if you know nothing of those traditions. Free Birds is out 29th November, it's great fun.

Tiddler Review

Last week Julia Donaldson visited our local bookshop. We have many of her books, What the Ladybird Heard being Nate's favourite at the moment (or was his favourite). Nate had the option of any of her books to buy and get signed, he chose Tiddler.

He loves the sea, and fish so we happily bought him Tiddler. It's a lovely sing song book, with the repetition that Julia Donaldson does so well. There is a surprise guest from a previous Julia Donaldson book (The Gruffalo) which to me illustrates the fun in this book.

Just today alone we have read the book three times, Nate loves it. He loves the refrain and really enjoys giving Tiddlers reasons for being late. And as a sign of his growing, for the first time Nathaniel is joining in with the story. Aided by its repetition, he'll say "Tiddler? Tiddler? Tiddler's late!"

So as with her other books, Tiddler comes highly recommended by Nate. and his Dad and Mum, who have all enjoyed reading it.

Bedtime Story

London Aquarium & Octonauts

The Octonauts have been at the London Aquarium (sea life) for the last week, so we decided to take a visit there while we were in London. The last time I went to the Aquarium was when I was pregnant with Nate so it's changed a bit. They have penguins now which Nate loved. We arrived at the penguin tank at feeding time, but the penguins weren't that interested in feeding. We were told the penguins liked playing and would play with visitors if they waved a piece of paper about in front of the tank, Nate had a go and loved 'playing' with the penguin but then decided the penguin wasn't allowed to steal his paper so tried to tell this to the penguin.

Sorry for the blurry picture but two moving things are hard to catch.

At set times Peso & Captain Barnacles were appearing in the activity centre and you were able to have pictures with them. Also in the activity centre there were a few Octonaut toys to play with, two huge floor puzzles and colouring in pages. Nate happily spent an hour playing in the activity centre and waiting for Peso to arrive.

Working on the second puzzle

Meeting Peso

Nate is quite a big fan of the Octonauts which was why we visited when we did but I was very surprised but happy when he correctly identified the Lion-fish which was thanks to the Octonauts. In fact he got lots of enjoyment from going to the Aquarium because of the Octonauts episodes he had watched. He knew exactly what he wanted to see, the turtles (because of a previous sea life visit), Sea horse, jellyfish, Octopus (we didn't see one) & a Shark. However, he wanted to look at all of the fish there and wanted to know what they were/their names.

The little Octonauts signs with facts and questions on kept Nate entertained but in places confused us slightly in one instance the Octopus sign was someone where I couldn't see/find an octopus. He'd go up to each sign and ask for me to read it and knew the fish on the sign (not sure if that's a good thing, may be a sign of too much TV watching).

All in all a good day out, the Octonauts are at London Aquarium until 16th November if you are around London and have a Octonauts fan.

Organix Fruit Gummies

We were recently sent a box of goodies from Organix to review.

Too many for one review

The fruit gummies come in a little packet which is perfect for keeping in pockets or having a couple in your bag. There are two flavours Strawberry & Apple and Mango & Apple a packet costs 59p and are currently on offer in Tesco and ASDA (Tesco- 3 for 2, ASDA 4 for £2) 

The gummies are the perfect size for little fingers, I haven't had a chance to taste one for myself as Nate loves them and gobbles them up as soon as he sees a packet. There are five ingredients: Apple Juice, Apple puree, Strawberry puree, Pectin and Rice Flour. There isn't any information on the website as to whether they are guaranteed gluten free but there is no dairy and no warnings about them maybe containing dairy.

These are definitely a snack staple in our house, we have been out and bought several packets mainly of the Strawberry & Apple flavour as the Mango & Apple seems to be harder to get hold of. 

Mumsnet Bedtime Stories

We were recently sent the Mumsnet Bedtime stories book which contains 10 stories written by Mumsnetters.

Nate hasn't had all of the stories read to him yet but mainly that is because he keeps choosing the same two to be read to him.

The Dancing Bear is one of the stories that Nate keeps choosing. We (the adults) liked the beginning of the story which is written beautifully however the story comes to a rather abrupt end. The story is poetically more than narratively pleasing.

We all liked the underlying moral of not to judge by appearances in Allie to the Rescue, especially pleasing considering Nate's mixed race background.

The stories were more for a slightly older age group than Nate, but this didn't effect his enjoyment of the stories, and think he'll enjoy some of the other stories when he's older himself.

All in all there is the feeling of the old stories I used to have read to me before going to bed as a child, and that same soothing atmosphere within the Book of Bedtime Stories should appeal to both mums, dads and their children.

We were sent the book in exchange of a review.

Nonabox

Nonabox is a new subscription box company for pregnancy and toddlers.

This is our second box, I subscribed straight away on launch day and waited patiently for our box to arrive. It finally arrived in the middle of September, a bit late no problem with that. 

However, we were sent bright pink things for Nate. As shown in the picture above, we also received teething things which weren't that appropriate but they may come in useful in the future. 

Now the second box arrived. 

Opening this months box

Bursting with 'goodies'. Our box contained: 

A sample pack to water wipes

Halos n horns moisturising lotion

Zoo biscuits 

Cloud-B Burp cloths

Pasito a pasito rattle

Two teapigs tea bags

Two pebble uk foot files

Ella's kitchen Thai curry

Cloud-b sleep sheep 

The rattle is very pretty but I'm not sure it's suitable for a 2 year old or a nearly 2 year old.

Nate loves the Cloud-B sheep we already have to this one will sit nicely on his bed, although the heartbeat sound is rather odd it sounds very fake, and isn't as nice as his mobiles heartbeat sounds. Although the rain sounds are very nice, we normally use rain sounds or heartbeat as they seem to keep him calm.

We used to use Halos N Horns after swimming and still use Waterwipes now so waterwipes are always welcome here just wish it was a full size packet.

I'm not sure why we got sent two foot files, although we were promised something extra in this box so that maybe why.

The zoo biscuits we were sent contain butter so aren't any good for us but I'm sure we'll find someone who would like some biscuits. 

All in all I'm not sure about this box, if Nate was a newborn I'd probably be a lot happier with it. 

H is for Hummus

H is for Hummus is an alphabet book for modern parenting.

We found this in our local bookshop and had a quick look through. I thought it was rather funny so it came home with us. 

There are a few mentions for mumsnet: m is for mumsnet and u is for unreasonable. 

The illustrations are simple but effective at conveying the message across. It's a very funny take on modern parenting. If you'd like a giggle it is a book to pick up. Nate thinks it's a story book for him and we have read him the book a couple of times while giggling but the jokes (obviously) go over his head.

Tree Fu Tom

We were very kindly sent a goody bag full of Tree Fu Tom goodies.

Nate sat down to watch the new DVD which is due to be released on 28th October while I started to look at the Christmas gift guide. There are lots of gift ideas ranging in price from £1.99 to £29.99 at the bottom you have posters and art materials to a Ready Bed. 

Looking at the DVD Tree Fu Snow, it has all of the elements we love Tree Fu Tom for, getting kids active not just sitting watching the television although Nate needs a little encouragement to get him to copy the movements. I'm very glad our living room isn't overlooked as both Nate and I were dancing along. As a Dr Who fan Nate's dad enjoyed the fact the Doctor was a voice over (David Tennant) but was equally impressed by the action packed stories.

Tree Fu Tom Magazine issue no 1 there were lots of free gifts on this. The wind up toy Nate needed a little help to wind up, and as always crayons are always welcome on magazines. We try to keep a box of crayons with us when travelling for the colouring pages but there's always a time when you forget. The stickers, Nate's second favourite part of any magazine there were quiet a few of these which is always a good thing however they were a little blurry (I'm told that they are what is known as out of register so it could be an early or late copy) not that Nate seemed to notice. There is one story in the magazine but lots of things to do that Nate enjoyed doing and then sticking his sticker down to say he'd done it. I especially liked the make your own Holopax which then collected stickers as you carried out various activities in the magazine.

We were sent a goody pack to review but all opinions are our own.

Early rider Lite balance bike

We got this bike for Nate for Christmas last year but he has only really been interested in it very recently.

It is a beautiful wooden balance bike. There are no pedals so no distractions from balancing. There are two settings for steering (restricted and unrestricted) we currently have it set to restricted although I think Nate would prefer it to be unrestricted as he spends more time picking the front wheel up to steer than anything else. The faux leather seat is height adjustable to can be raised so it lasts longer.

Nate loves his bike and is always asking to go out on it. He has dropped it a couple of times and there isn't a mark on the bike. I loved the look of this bike which is why I chose it in the first place and I'm glad I did as Nate as has stood on it, dropped it, I've been made to sit on it and its not got a mark on it.

Fast Internet?

As a somewhat techie person I have always tried to ensure we have a fast connection to the internet. We had big issues with a previous provider where all of a sudden the connection was dropping out every hour and they couldn't find out why.

We gave them several opportunities to sort the issue out but instead of dealing with it they blamed us for the issues at every opportunity. Firstly they were reluctant to send out an engineer, when they did they reported the engineer had said the fault was at our end. The engineer had said no such thing and actually went to the exchange found a fault at the exchange and asked them for permission to fix it and they told him no. When we told them we knew that the engineer had found no fault our end they said they needed to commission the fix and that will take some time. The engineer was happy to fix the issue there and then. 

That fix finally took place and we were still having issues; the drop outs stopped for a week and then came back with a vengeance and this is the straw that broke the camels' back. They blamed the drop outs on the fact we used Mac's (the drop outs were noted on the routers logs so not an issue with the software on our computers) so I offered to try one of the other computers on the network. Windows pc same issue, PS3 same issue, Linux partition same issue seeing a pattern? They said ahh you have a complex network that's what the issue is. No, we don't, we have two computers we use regularly but there is a redundant PC sitting in a corner that could be turned on that served two purposes for the test as it runs Windows and Ubuntu. 

This leads me to BT Infinity we ran from our previous provider to BT and also got Infinity. I really cannot complain we get a perfect connection and have had no drop outs (touch wood). Having just done a speed test we are getting 60mbps download speeds and 10mbps upload speeds, I'm always happy with these upload speeds after working at sites that have 0.7 mbps upload speeds but really good download speeds. We have an old style box (they recently brought out new routers) and love the fact it has a the admin and wifi password on a tab that is put inside the router. 

BT on the go, recently we were staying at a hotel and we could have paid £7 for a day for internet or log on to the BT hotspot. We chose the BT hotspot. Nate's dad has an app on his Android phone to log him in to BT hotspots and I'm always amazed at the places where there are hotspots. Most of our family use BT for internet and wouldn't change because we have always received good customer service when we have needed to talk to them (not that often).

me&i Nordic Collection

Me&I launched their new collection a couple of weeks ago in London. Nate and I were lucky enough to get the opportunity to go along and have a look and try some lovely Swedish food.

The children's collection uses lovely simple patterns and images, most of the clothes are unisex which I love. The jeans have double thickness knees which are perfect for little people who always seem to go through the knees of their clothes. Everything is practical from the double thickness knees to the ability to easily size up.

My favourite things in the children's range were the hamsters.

Nate enjoying the balloons

I love this little outfit with the Hamster on the bottom of the trousers matched with the bodysuit and hat which Nate is wearing.

Lovely simple imagery

Check out me&i's website for more details on their range.