Early get ups to find the b****y elf!

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On the fourth day of advent my kiddiewinks brought to me

4 early mornings

3  spectacled reindeer

2 toilet decorations

And a tantrum about the Christmas tree.

Although on the whole we have loved our annual visit from a cheeky elf (until this year known as Sam; this year known as Tink), the first few days this time have involved a very early wake up call from a very excited little man. He is clambering into our bed at stupid o’clock “mummy, can I go and discover where the cheeky elf is, I just can’t wait”. This is all at a time we definitely do not deem morning. Daddy was ready to send the elf back to Santa, never to return. At which little man was adamant it was not his fault he was getting up early, how could he know it wasn’t morning, it was dark in the morning too and he hadn’t got a clock. On mum’s suggestion we told him he couldn’t get up til the radiators were warm, genius idea! No more earlywakings (for now)…

Kiddiewink essentials when staying away overnight! Create Christmas calmness…

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On the sixth day of advent my kiddiewinks brought to me

6 ways to Christmas calmness

5 Christmas lists

4 early mornings

3 spectacled reindeer

2 toilet decorations

And a tantrum around the Christmas tree

Yeah right ! Christmas is many things in my house but Christmas calmness, hmmm  not to sure about that! There may be moments of Christmas calmness in my house; but more likely it is Christmas chaos/carnage/craziness! When staying away with children, for all the loveliness, it can also add lots of stress. Here are my top five kiddiewink essentials for staying away with family during the Christmas season

1)your kiddiewink’s comforter– teddies, blankets, dummies. Without them you’re screwed! Even if you believe your seven year old doesn’t need it, guaranteed they’ll decide they want it when you are miles and miles away from home


2) Firm favourite storybooks– these will help keep the bedtime routine familiar. We usually can’t go wrong with Julia Donaldson, althoug now we need to remember the bigs ones chapter book we are reading. Chances are you wont take the exact one they decide they want that evening (at least you tried)

3) Plenty of snacks and drinks-my kiddiewinks are always hungry and there is nothing worse than hungry  moaning child when you have nothing to give them. I am sure it’s not justmine that turn into monsters when they are hungry! (Please note:Sod’s law they will want some different snack and drink)!

4) A few favourite toys and activities– we generally take pens and paper, figures, my little ponies, DS or the hudl-  the electronic devices are more for nights away without any other children where we are going. Again, once more, even thoughthey chose which toys to take, they generally change the mind. Resulting in either a row with a sibling over their choice of toy; tears over the toy left behind.

5) Gro-anywhere blind this is an absolute life saver and has made a massive impact to our sleep! Before having one, we would often be woken ridiculously early at sleepovers where the curtains were thin, now the children sleep as normal, oblivious to the daylight outside. They fit any window and are so easy to put up and take down! If you haven’t got one and you take your kids to stay in different environments- get one! It may well save you from even more deprivation. To be fair though, this can even be used in your own house for a quick fix to more sleep (well, you can live in hope). We recently moved house, so have been using that on the little ones window (after two very early awakenings it had to be done)! Any product we have got from the gro-company has been brilliant

  
6) Patience and humour– unfortunately I can’t make any suggestions for where you can find some of this, but if you find out, let me know so I can tell my hubby where to find it.

Even reindeers wear glasses…

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On the third day of advent my kiddiewinks sent to me…

  
Three spectacled reindeer

Two Santa decorations

And a tantrum about the Christmas tree…
These lovely reindeer were sent to us by the lovely lady at tomato glasses; the children were really excited to get one each. If anyone’s children need glasses, I cannot recommend the frames highly enough! The kids took to them like ducks to water, comfy, practical and very very cute

For more information visit tomato glasses website 

   
   

Jack Cherry and the Juicer- a review on this resource designed  to boost self-esteem, confidence and resilience.

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‘Jack Cherry’ is a company offering resources and workshops all about a character called Jack. It aims to boost self-esteem, confidence and resilience in children, by helping put them in control of their thoughts. The idea of a juicer is used to help children reframe thinking.


As a family, we were thrilled to see that the main character in the comic wears glasses- my middle kiddiewink was horrified to see him being ridiculed about them and he felt very angry for Jack. Both myself and the children could see the impact on Jack of several negative things happening, and we talked about when they had had a bad day and how it made them feel.

 The comic itself is well illustrated and clear, with the message being about how bad thoughts and feelings, making you feel bad. In essence you have to keep out the bad things, just like you would keep the bad fruits out of a smoothie. We had great fun thinking up alliteration for happy fruits; fitting in perfectly with what my eldest has been doing in literacy this week. Personally, it thought that Jack coming up with the fruit and juicer analogy was powerful, as oppose to an adult sharing it with children. It was also great that he triumphed in the end!

The comic book is currently available free to download.

We were also sent a link to an audio book; I struggle with audiobooks, as I am an excellent storyteller (blowing my own trumpet here, but I really am). Although, I am sure it is very good, but the voice instantly annoyed me, as I know I could have made it sound just as good  (if not better).

The activity book that went with it looks fun, and the kids are keen to complete different aspects; a maze, making posters, games and word searches. Just got to get some ink for my printer first…

The resource as a whole, would be great to use at home and in the classroom as part of PHSCE or as part of an anti-bullying week (although a bit late for this years National anti-bullying week 16th -20th November). I can imagine many school councils would enjoy sharing this resource with their peers and some great activities (music, drama, paper activities and discussion) could be generated from reading the comic as a stimulus.

For more information on using the resource at home or in the classroom click here. There are videos and more information on the excellent resources on offer to boost children’s self-esteem and confidence, including resources to help with the stress of sats.

The creator (Simon Benn) also does workshops to schools which amazingly, are either free or funded and I certainly intend to book him in for next years Anti-Bullying Week.

House of Twits app -review

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Being huge Roald Dahl fans, we were excited to be invited to try the new app, all based on ‘The Twits’ (Hubby’s all time favourite). We jumped at the chance, and over the last twenty four hours, we have all had a go at playing tricks on Mrs Twit.

The illustrations are awesome, and the sound effects and background music add to the whole feel of the app.

How it works

Work your way around the different rooms playing tricks on Mrs Twit, to generate points and eventually unlock more rooms and Mr Twit. We haven’t got that far yet, but the kids have loved feeding Mrs Twit maggots and mouldy cornflakes, hiding buckets of water and wasps nests in cupboards, and spotting upside down monkeys.

image.pngIt took my 7 year old a little while and little help from me to figure out what to do, but her eleven year old cousin mastered it easily (he felt it was a bit young for him).

The recommended age 6-11 but any app savvy fun loving primary school child could have a good go.

We can’t wait to work our way through more of the app and it is a perfect addition for any Roald Dahl lover. Excellent value at £2.99 too!

In case I haven’t convinced you, you can watch the trailer below.

It can be purchased fm the App Store http://m.onelink.me/d7038c19

Enjoy!

Patching Traumas

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Little man finished patching about 18 months ago, but we were told at his last appointment to try it again for Just an hour a day, but not to worry if he becomes distressed. Although,last time, he disliked having it on,our not giving in attitude worked and we wore it every single day, for a spell he even managed 8 hours a day. Now he is five, he is somewhat more wilful and we are having a real battle! Fortunately, his school are amazing and have offered to help, so he now has the choice, if he doesn’t wear it after school, he has to wear it at school the next day. Initially, wearing at school was not an option, he inside it had to be at home, but after several evenings of resistance, he has chosen to wear it a school today, hmmmm we will see at pick up how it went….

A kind lady on the kids in specs Facebook page has sent us a selection of patches with different designs so I am hoping when he sees them this evening it might increase his motivation as he was totally bored of the designs.IMG_2215

How the children cope when designs are not available, I have no idea, I am just grateful that our hospital provides patterned ones.

For all those parents with  children currently patching, my thoughts are with you!

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Although as a rule I prefer photographs of the children playing and just being themselves. I do admit, I like to get a ‘posed photograph’ of our brood together every so often and it is always a challenge to get them looking the same  way, never mind all looking beautiful and pristine. 

One gets distracted; one has their eyes closed, one get distracted; one is grimacing; one can’t be seen; one runs away; one moves and is blurry,  

                   

Children’s Book Review- Mr Cleghorn’s Seal by Judith Kerr

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We were so excited to be sent the new Judith Kerr book to review, among and the Tiger who came to tea are firm favourites in our house, daddy in particular loves them!

This new book did not fail to disappoint. A lovely hardback book, delightfully illustrated. It was somewhat longer than I anticipated and definitely aimed at a slightly older audience, so our main argument was whether daddy or I got to read it to the kiddiewinks, with it being a book to read over several nights, we wanted the reader to be the same, I won and by paragraph one my eldest two kiddiewinks and I were hooked.

For me, I loved the way the name Mr Cleghorn rolled off the tongue and the scene was set beautifully. The book prompted some interesting discussions about the past, as both recognised it wasn’t set in modern day Britain, they were fascinated by the use of horses!

The book provoked a wide range of emotions while reading it – one minute the kids were giggling, then they expressed borrow and empathy. They were still talking about it when cleaning their teeth, horrified that the seal may have been ‘killed’.

The book reads well all the way through with a great attention to detail, really helping th children picture the scenes as they unfolded. We would all wholeheartedly recommend this book, but it definitely takes longer to read, so set aside a week of bedtime stories to really savour it. My kiddiewinks are only 4 and 7, so I imagine a slightly older child would enjoy reading it to themself.

It would make a perfect Christmas present for the book loving family to enjoy together.

 

 

Review- The New Diary of A Wimpy Kid- Old School.

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  At the start of the summer holidays we were sent a digital extract from this book to review, and my daughter and I both loved it. The only disappointment being , the complete book is not available to buy until November. What surprised me the most, is how you do not need to have read the other Wimpy Kid books in order to enjoy it! Despite my class of Year three children loving The Wimpy Kid series, it is something I have not yet tried with my seven year old. We were hooked… They style it is written in is highly entertaining and you can really relate to the characters and what they are doing. We both could really hear the character speaking, as the casual style works so effectively. This book will bring back fond memories for many adults, as a child I remember setting up a lemonade and perfume stall on my road, and I know my eldest has always fancied doing it too. The illustrations are simple and effective and break up the amount of text perfectly, meaning it suits my seven year old as too much text in one hit, overwhelms her a little still. The book is the type of book, both daddy and I will enjoy reading with her, as it had me chuckling out loud. Give it a year,and Kiddiewink 1 will happily read it independently, she is not quite fluent enough to at the minute, so reading it with an adult, ensures then our is not lost.

We tried out the lemonade recipe too, and two of my three kiddiewinks loved it. My eldest has a things for lemons so she drank it extremely quickly, although she said it wasn’t ‘real lemonade’, my littlest loved it too, but my middle child spat it out, declaring it was ‘too spicy’. My hubby and I enjoyed it and it was easy peasy too make. 

My daughter and I, wholeheartedly recommend the book, and will most definitely be trying out the rest of the series, while waiting for this book to be released. 

You can pre order it here, we will certainly be pre ordering it.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-School-Diary-Wimpy-book/dp/0141364726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438764837&sr=8-1&keywords=diary+of+a+wimpy+kid+old+school