One such gift was given to Mr Mirth by a very good friend of mine Gayle, it is the most fantastic fabric book called ‘My Zoo Book‘.

Fabric Books are a definitely a baby’s friend, they can be grabbed easily, they can be chewed, they can be washed and also, very importantly, they don’t hurt when they bump you on the nose or land on your toe. My Zoo Book is a particularly lovely fabric book because in addition to all those features, it is beautifully made and is full of something that children universally love….animals. The story is an adaptation of the children’s classic Dear Zoo and each page depicts a different animal which is revealed when your baba lifts the flap.

The applique animals are really beautiful and the pages are very colourful and tactile.

This book and others in the range are made by Fun To Learn in Newry (Northern Ireland) and are sold via their website and also through www.early-learner.com . Unfortunately neither website (nor indeed my own attempts at photos above) do this book justice so you’ll just have to take my word for how lovely it is. I think it is a really lovely present and thanks to its enduring charm (not to mention its machine-washability!) I am confident that it will be a favourite in our house for some time to come.

Thanks Gayle !!

I had been looking around for some coat hooks for all of the kids’ coats and raingear and I cam across the Happy Hangers Hook set. I was immediately ‘hooked’ (sorry, couldn’t resist!) and ordered a set from www.stylishlife.co.uk where they are currently on sale for £18.72.

These hooks are so gorgeous that its almost a shame to cover them up with coats and scarves, hung on the wall in a row they look like a funky art installation. But they are as much about function as they are about form, they are really sturdy and because each limb can be used, each individual hook can hold lots of items. They come with the wall plugs and screws that you will need to install them.

If my five colourful men aren’t up your street then Stylish Life have a few other funky and unusual hook sets to chose from:

And then we have been knocking them over!

These construction/destruction sessions have been enormous fun and cries of “again! again!” abound.

Four years ago, Santa brought a tiny Mr Moo (then 8 months old) a set of giant building blocks and they have provided hours of fun ever since. This year, Santa brought a second set of these colourful blocks for Mr Mirth meaning that our household is now the proud owner of 64 blocks.

These blocks are really super toys. They are bright and sturdy and yet really lightweight. This means that Mr Mirth does not get hurt if he has a little wobble  and lands on one (he is fairly good at sitting up now but sometimes he loses his balance and slumps over onto his toys) or if a tumbling block accidentally bumps a little person on its way to the floor. Also, their size means that the babas can actually get into the structures that they make, yesterday Lollipop was the princess inside the castle while her brave brother the knight defended the perimeter of their colourful fortress.

But by far, the build it up/knock it down game has been the most popular.

There is a downside though, these blocks are a bit on the expensive side with a set of 16 costing £63Stg and a set of 32 blocks costing £104Stg. While these prices are undoubtedly on the steep side, what I will say is that as toys go, these are keepers. Our original set has been played with continuously over the last four years and Mr Mirth is currently having as much fun with his new set as his almost-five-year-old brother and I am hopeful that they will be used long into the future.

In other news, I am seriously considering a new career in architecture…..check out this tower. Renzo Piano eat your heart out!!

I had been watching one of the myriad of Christmas cookery programmes that are on at the minute when I saw Nigella Lawson making gingerbread Christmas tree decorations with her children. The recipe seemed simple and used things that were already in my cupboard (meaning no frustrating mid-recipe shopping trips to source some random ingredient) so I decided to give it a go.

On Saturday afternoon I made a batch of the gingerbread dough and Mr Moo and I spent a really fun half hour or so rolling out the dough and cutting out various shapes. I baked the shapes for twenty minutes and then, when they had cooled, stowed them safely away from hungry little (and not so little!) mouths. On Sunday afternoon I whipped up a batch of white icing, filled my icing bag and tried to tap into my artistic side (I knew watching all those episodes of Ace of Cakes was not a waste of time…..). We gave Mr Moo and Lollipop a bowl of silver sugar balls each (of which approximately one in every five went onto a decorations, the remainder being sneaked into their grinning mouths) and we had a wonderful time decorating. My Mum also got involved, it turns out that she can get quite intricate with the piping bag.

Once the icing was dry, I threaded some thin red cord onto each decoration and we hung them on some small silver branches which we out into a vase.  While the decorations themselves won’t be winning any beauty contests, they taste great and we had lots of fun making them. The finished product looks really Christmassy and I am really proud of them actually! I think that this might just have to be a new Christmas tradition in our house.

Go on, give them a go !

These Lamaze toys are super, they have lots of tactile surfaces and vibrant fabrics to keep little hands busy and little minds stimulated. Plus they are a real go-anywhere toy as they can be clipped to a car seat, high chair, playmat etc,

‘Discovery Blocks’ are really lovely baby sized blocks, each one has a little surprise inside (a rattle, a mirror, a bell). The blocks are made of hard wood and finished with completely non-toxic, child-friendly paints and finishes.

I reckon it is some sort of Toy-law that every child must own a shape sorter. This Pintoy version is a classic.

If more elaborate shape sorters are more your baba’s style, then this Noah’s Ark from the Early Learning Centre might be a winner.

Bathtime is always more fun with some little friends to play with. With TubFun from Edushape your baba’s imagination can run wild creating lots of strange new animals and  turning your bathroom into a menagerie. These foam pieces  stick to the side of your bath or to your tiles during bathtime then can easily be removed and stowed away (so you don’t have to look at a chicken with an elephant’s head while you are having a soak in that well deserved bubble bath!).

I love pull along toys and I think that this dachshund from Brio is gorgeous. This design has truly stood the test of time  (he has been around since 1953!) When you pull him, his head moves from side to side , he wags his tail and wiggles his ears……how can you resist?

A toy that helps your baba with their spelling and reading ( that well known parental trick of education disguised as fun!)…..what’s not to love? This Melissa and Doug See & Spell is a winner in my books. 

Melissa and Doug are also the makers of this wooden slicing food. Lollipop has a set of these for her kitchen and she loves them. The wooden pieces are attached using velcro which can then be ‘sliced’ using the wooden knife creating a very satisfying crunching sound. Perfect for your budding little chef.

We now have the perfect space to put it, the den. We can make a place for it in there that we won’t paint in the future so all our little height marks can remain intact. Now all that remains is for me to choose the perfect one…..easier said than done, the range available is staggering. Here are a few of my personal favourites (click on the images to go to the relevant sites):

PS: I think these would make really great Christmas gifts for any children/families on your Christmas list.

This is a beautifully illustrated tale of a little termite who learns that although others may be better than you at certain things, everyone is especially good at something, you just have to find out what that something is. In our house, each page is poured over to identify all of the various insects and little creatures who are taking part in the ‘Great Insect Games’.  A lovely message and a lovely book.

This is the story of an accident prone little owl who gets lost. However, with the help of rabbit and frog, I’m glad to report that he is ultimately reunited with his mum. The illustrations in this book are really interesting, not your typical cartoon-ish drawings in primary colours. I really like this one.

Once you get your head (and mouth) around the various dinosaur names, this is a really fantastic book with an almost hypnotic rhyming text. Dinosaurumpus introduces us to all of the different types of dinosaurs who are on their way to what might be accurately described as a great big dinosaur disco. Its lots of fun to read and was a huge hit when Mr Moo brought it into creche earlier this year.

Bertie is a small boy with a long list of very dirty habits! This book will make you and your baba laugh as you follow Bertie through his day which involves some of the most disgusting childhood activities you can imagine! Your children will love his horrendous antics and will adore his horrified family’s response to each one…..”No Bertie, that’s dirty Bertie”.

For such a little boy, David manages to get himself into a lot of trouble! On each page of this book we see David getting up to something he shouldn’t be while his poor mum is constantly chastising him. Happily, in the last pages we see David repent for his naughty deeds and are reassured that even a naughty boy’s mum loves him very much. This book contains very few words, in fact for the most part the text is comprised of the two words “No, David!”, but the illustrations speak volumes and provide all the story that your babas will need. Mr Moo and Lollipop love pretending to be David’s mum and shouting “No, David” at each page.

Ben receives Penguin as a gift but, initially at least, Penguin doesn’t live up to Ben’s expectations. Then Penguin shows his true colours and they are worth waiting for. This book is both funny and heart warming, a real winner in my book.

The heroine of this book has come to tell us what will happen if we don’t eat our greens……bits of our body will start to fall off and will need to be stuck back on using vegetable glue. A truly cautionary tale! This book is illustrated in an oddly old fashioned but very endearing way, we love this story and always eat our vegetables !

This over-sized book is simply jammed full of fantastically illustrated animals and birds. The creatures are arranged into unusual groupings like ‘Underground’, ‘In the trees’ and ‘Horned’. You and your babas could happily spend hours peering at the huge almost encyclopedia-like pages of this book.

This is a visually beautiful book which combines art with fun. On each page there is an abstract design and hidden in each one is a person, an animal or a bird, all you have to do is ‘Spot It!”. We have a lot of fun with this book as we each race to be the first to point out the hidden creatures.

This is a fun pop-up book which follows a chatty wide-mouthed frog as he hops around meeting various other animals and asking them what they like to eat. Its all going well until he meets a crocodile who likes to eat wide-mouthed frogs and our hero suddenly becomes a little less talkative. The pop-ups in this book are fun and the huge one on the last page always makes for a happy ending.

]]> http://bababooty.com/2011/11/10-books-for-christmas/feed/ 0 http://bababooty.com/2011/11/mebby-cocoon-portable-baby-bath/ http://bababooty.com/2011/11/mebby-cocoon-portable-baby-bath/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:48:31 +0000 Paula http://bababooty.com/?p=2117 So Little Mr Mirth arrived on July 15th and he has been lighting up our lives ever since. So far, he has been the closest thing to a perfect baby that I could have asked for (hope I haven’t just jinxed myself by saying that…….damn that innate Irish superstition!). The most wonderful thing about him is that he is constantly smiling, it’s like his default emotion is utter delight and he’s always ready to be happy with the world. But not not only is Mr Mirth a source of enormous joy to me, he is also an excuse to shop for fab baby stuff! As baby number three there was not much I ‘needed’ to buy for Little Mr Mirth but when I saw the Mebby Cocoon bath I just couldn’t resist it.

Yes we already had a baby bath but it was the traditional reclining kind and I’d always wanted to give the tub-type bath a go. Boy was I glad I did, this bath rocks! Little Mr Mirth absolutely loves it. From the minute I put him in it the first time, I knew this bath was worth the money. It makes so much sense when I think of it now but how much nicer is it to be sitting up to your neck in lovely warm water rather than lying back in just a inch or two of water? It is just so cosy and warm in there. Mr Mirth absolutely adores his daily dip, chuckling constantly and happily splashing about.

The bath comes with a removeable seat (recommended for small or premature babies) and a handy jug which can hang on the side of the bath when not being used.  There is also a thermometer sticker inside the bath which helps you ensure that the water temperature is just right. Plus, the reduced surface area of the water in this bath means that the water stays warmer for longer so your baba can have a lovely long soak.

Before I tried it, I was worried that it would be very fiddly to try and support Mr Mirth while shampooing/washing him but it wasn’t. The shape of the bath means that it supports your baba in a secure fetal position which allows you to easily give him a shampoo your hairdresser would be proud of and to wash all those tiny limbs without any fear of giving him an unexpected dunk!

The bath has a wide base which makes it very stable and it has a really sturdy feel. The beauty of a portable bath like this is that you can use it anywhere and this feature is enhanced by the fact that this bath is lightweight and easy to carry and move when it is full.

In case all that doesn’t convince you, then maybe the environmental angle will hook you…this bath uses way less water than traditional baby baths.

It comes in a couple of different colour options and costs between £25 and £29Stg.

PS : A good companion to this bath is the matching Mebby Bath Toy Store. This is a clever two piece toy storage system which allows you to store and drain your baba’s bath toys in an easy hygenic way.

I can hardly believe that my last post was five months ago, the time seems to have whizzed by. Back at the end of May, I was in the last couple of weeks of  my third pregnancy struggling with back pain while trying to pack up all our worldly possessions ready to move house as soon as our new baby arrived.

Since then we have packed in a lot and have ticked off quite a few significant family milestones;

• I gave birth to a fabulous and gorgeous baby boy who I fondly refer to as Little Mr Mirth (more about him later),
• We moved home to my parents house while we were waiting on our new house to be finished,
• Lollipop was potty trained (this was something she did with remarkable little assistance from anyone else!)
• Mr Moo started school (where did those four and a half years go??)
• Lollipop started a new creche, and
• We moved into our new dream house

Phew, even writing all of that down is exhausting. But I’m happy to say that we are now pretty well settled into our wonderful new life in the country with our very special new little man. Although the time has been hugely busy and I haven’t had a chance (or the technology…..there were a few long weeks there when we didn’t have internet!)  to write over the last couple of months, I have been making a mental list of all the great things that I have come across. So I’m really looking forward to getting back to blogging about clever, useful and beautiful baby/child related paraphernalia. It’s only as I write this that I realise quite how much I’ve missed it. So sit back, relax and enjoy (hopefully) all of the new posts that are coming your way…..

It was Mr Moo’s birthday five weeks ago and I’m ashamed to say that thank you cards for all of his lovely presents have still not been sent. But all of that is about to change now that I’ve bought this pack of cards. The pack contains 20 different card designs, each one needs to be coloured in by its sender. Broadly speaking there are about 10 boy-ish type designs and 10 girl-ish designs though there are a few which could work for either. Each card comes with a bright yellow envelope. I love the idea of being able to send out something easy and yet a little bit personal – I can’t seem to find time to do anything these days so the chances of finding time to hand make the thank-you cards was very slim and most of the ready made thank you cards seem so grown up so these are the perfect (and guilt-reducing) middle ground. A bargain at £5.25!

Find number two is John Emil Cymerman’s Endangered Animal Punch-Out Stencils:

Mr Moo loves animals and really enjoys drawing them. Unfortunately, obviously not wanting to exclude his parents, he generally insists that either Mr McSpendy or I draw him whatever farm animal, dinosaur or random reptile is his current favourite. Mr McSpendy generally makes a pretty decent attempt to replicate the requested creature but some of my attempts have been, ahem, shall we say less than accurate (“…no mammy, I said draw an elephant….what’s that?”). Anyway, this stencil book has improved things no end as now Mr Moo can draw pictures of lots of animals all by himself and if I am asked to produce an armadillo, I can do so with relative ease. The book comes with several pages of animal stencils, you simply have to push out the card in each stencil and you are ready to go. £4.69 is a cheap price to pay to recover your artistic dignity.

My final bargain is Animal Hands: Temporary Tattoos for Talking Hands

When I saw these, I immediately knew that they would be a hit in our house. They are skin stickers (or ‘tattoos’) in the design of various animals which are applied to a child’s hands. They are designed so that when your child moves his/her thumb and index finger, the animal’s mouth opens and closes. They are very easy to put on and are relatively waterproof so they last. You can remove them easily by rubbing them with skin oil. We have had lots of fun with the tiger and the giraffe so far and are looking forward to seeing what the shark and crocodile have to say. These are lots of fun and I think they would go down a storm at a birthday party. There are several different packs to chose from including Dino Hands, Farm Hands and Dragon Hands and at £3.99 a pack, they are a bargain.