Lost My Name - Book Review

We review a few children's books on this blog, but I'm going to say that the two books that I have been sent most recently are the most gorgeous and enchanting books that the kids currently own. They are personalised books made by www.lostmy.name and I was lucky enough to get one made for Isla and Noah. They are both the perfect age for the books as Lost My Name say that they are for children between the ages of 2 and 6 years.

The premise of each story is that the little boy or girl in the story has lost his or her name and they go on a journey to find it, collecting letters along the way from all sorts of creatures, some we'd heard of, some we hadn't (the Nabarlek really appealed to Noah!) and finally the child has their name back and better than that - they see their name in a book, in actual print! Which they inevitably love. The whole concept of this book, finding the letters, has come at a very good time for Isla as she's just started in reception and in the last 3 weeks she has begun to sound out letters all the time. She loves it. 

Noah loves his book too, and as I mentioned the Nabarlek is his favourite creature in his book. He asks loads of questions throughout. The other good thing about having a book for each sibling is that we've got to see more creatures through them having different letters in their name, although they both have an Aardvark in their stories. And just because the 'Isla' book is about a girl and the 'Noah' book is about a boy, it makes no difference to the kids, they like to hear each others stories as they have different creatures to read about. I wondered what would happen when one name had two of the same letter and I got to find out when I ordered a book for my friends little girl. Her name had two 'I's' and there were two different illustrations for each I. This got me thinking that there must need to be so many different illustrations for all the letters - in fact I found out that there are over 150 illustrations to cover the 14000 different children's names in the 2011 census. Wow.

Another aspect of the books that I must mention is the ease with which they are made. You go to the site, you type in the name you want, you even get to see a preview of the books online and then you order. Simple! It states on the site that the books will be with you within 10 days and they are. They are a lovely big A4 size, giving the beautiful illustrations enough room on the page to really draw you in to the magical story. 

So there you have it. It's a wonderful concept, a personalised book made by an independent company who have funded everything themselves. I may well have been sent two free copies but I've since bought another copy as a birthday present as I believe the quality and the creativity of these books is unique and special enough to be a gift. I know some people will think £16.99 for a book?! But actually once you've owned one, you will see how individual these books are and the thought and care that has gone into making this whole project a reality. 

We were sent 2 books free of charge in order to review them. All words and opinions are my own.

We Are Polka Theatre Reviewers! First Up: Gorilla!

We've been very lucky to be asked to be reviewers of Polka Theatre productions! I haven't taken the children there before but I remember the theatre from when I was little (yes, a long time ago!) and I cannot wait to revisit. 

Our first review will be of 'Gorilla', and it sounds fabulous! 

Hannah loves gorillas, but she’s never seen a real one.

It’s the night before her birthday and something amazing

is about to happen...

When Hannah’s toy gorilla comes to life, dressed in her

father’s coat and hat, they embark on a thrilling, moonlit

adventure.

Meet the world’s friendliest gorilla this winter as

we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic

award-winning picture book by former Children’s Laureate

Anthony Browne – brought to life with puppetry, music and

a giant sprinkling of Polka magic.

We'll be going along to see the show next weekend and we'll have a review on the blog to give you the low down on what we all thought. 

Check out the details and ticket info for Gorilla here: 

http://www.polkatheatre.com/whats-on/gorilla

Moving Up to a Big Boy Bed

Lots of people ask the question "When does a baby move from a cot to a bed?" and I think the answer is really very dependent on the individual child. I remember when Isla moved from her cot to a toddler bed and it definitely signalled the end of babyhood, she was just past 2 years old. Seeing her in her new bed, she looked so small, yet so grown up at the same time. So the time came recently for Noah to leave his cot and make the leap to a toddler bed and it was again the end of his babyhood, also at 2 years old. But to me it was more than that as he is definitely my last baby and therefore the cot was packed up and given to a friend and I felt a lump in my throat. And so started a new chapter, of training him to not keep getting in and out of bed at bedtime. To be fair to him, he's not been too much a of terror for that, like his sister was. He knows he can get out whenever he wants but in the morning he prefers to sit up in bed and just yell "MUUUUMMMY" until I come running.

He was very pleased with his new bed and it seems like since he's been sleeping in it he's grown even more. He loves the little shelf on the side, for his water beaker and to put his trains that he insists on going up to bed with! The head end of the bed has side panels to help stop him from falling out, which is great while he gets used to sleeping in a bed with no bars. I love the storage boxes that slide under the bed - very useful for a room where the children share. The fact that it's Spiderman also makes it 100% big boy material, but that doesn't stop him from saying he's a baby every time I try to get him to start potty training......


We were sent the Spiderman Toddler Bed free of charge from http://www.bambinodirect.co.uk in exchange for this post. All words are my own.

Halloween on a budget with Aldi

Once the end of the summer arrives I'm always looking to the next thing to celebrate and have fun with, because as the nights start to draw in, things can feel a bit gloomy. So as we move through September, my thoughts always turn to Halloween and Bonfire Night, both wonderfully fun times of the year. It's a great excuse to dress up and decorate the house, we've taken to carving pumpkins every year now and I think we might do a few fun Halloween games this year too.

Isla was sent a brilliant dress for Halloween from Aldi. Blood red with lots of bats on the netting, and it was accompanied by a bat necklace, which she loved. In order to make our dress up session all the more authentic I decided to crack open the Snazaroo face paints that I bought well over a year ago and get brave and give her a spooky face to go with the fiendish costume. I don't think it was too bad an effort actually! Noah got in on the act too with his Jake and the Neverland pirates costume! They both love an excuse to dress up and they stayed like this all day! 

It really is worth checking out Aldi if you need to pick up some Halloween costumes or decorations for a party. The prices are so reasonable, probably so much so that they will fly off the shelves, so I'd get there quick if I were you. Noah has a Halloween tea party at nursery, so I will definitely be popping along to see if i can pick up something for him; with the kids outfits starting from £3.99 you can't really go wrong. 

We were sent the outfit Isla is wearing and a couple of accessories that I will be showing in another post soon. All words and opinions are my own. 

Cousins Day Out at Chessington World of Adventures

The week before school started I decided to make use of the last few days of freedom and take Isla to Chessington World of Adventures for the day. We'd been given 4 tickets to the theme park and we went with my sister and Cousin M. The girls love hanging out together and it gave me and my sister a chance to catch up too! The beauty of going to a theme park when most of the kids are at school is that it's very quiet and you get to go on all the rides you want to and see all the animals too! We didn't do that well with the weather, it rained a fair bit but it didn't spoil our fun.

When we got there we took a good look round the animals that are closest to the entry gates. Most impressive were the gorillas and tigers.

Next we decided to go on a couple of rides and the great thing about Chessington is that it does have plenty for 3-4 year olds as long as they're accompanied by an adult. We braved the little pirate ships and then took it easier on the carousel. I was keen too avoid a repeat of the Cranky episode at Thomasland a few weeks back!

Following that we went on Professor Burps Bubbleworks, a ride I remember from new when I used to work at Chessington many moons ago in my summer breaks from University! Unfortunately it broke down while we were on it and Isla did seem a little bit spooked by the fantasy nature of the ride. Cousin M liked it though.

After lunch we caught the Madagascar Live show, which was great! It's an outdoor theatre and the rain held off long enough for us to see the show, I think it lasted half an hour, and then we ran for cover! Isla was dancing along and was desperate to be picked to go up on stage to do limbo! She got over that disappointment quickly though and carried on jumping around!

As it was raining pretty heavily we made our way to Tomb Blaster which is an indoor ride. However Isla decided it was a scary one without even going on it so Cousin M and my sister went on without us and said it was good.

The rain had stopped again so we went to Zufari, a brilliant new Safari-esque adventure! I didn't realise what we were getting into before we entered Zufari, so when we got in the truck and set off on our bumpy 'safari' ride I hadn't realised we were going to get close to the animals. I have a real soft spot for Giraffes and it was so cool getting near them. The girls really liked the Giraffes and pinched their noses together when close to the Rhinos' - boy they ponged! The terrain was really rough and it did feel like off roading, we liked that a lot. In conjunction with the new Zufari ride, Chessington has now employed a 'Birds and the Bees' consultant. She'll be there to explain to the children about animal baby making, which is quite handy indeed when you're a parent like me that gets a bit lost for words when caught on the hop with some of the questions that Isla asks! Isla and Cousin M really enjoyed this whole experience. The only thing I would say is make sure you check the height of your child on entry to Zufari, as there is a minimum height requirement and we did see a little girl turned away, so check to avoid disappointment.

We finished up by watching the end of the penguin feeding presentation (really interesting!) and then a ride on the flying elephants, the jungle bouncers and a couple of goes on Toadie's Crazy Cars in the pouring rain. 

All in all, we had a really great day out. The rain didn't dampen our spirits, we just donned our waterproofs every now and then and took cover when we needed to. We had two very happy and worn out little girls by the end of the day.

We were given 4 tickets to Chessington free of charge. All words and opinions are my own. Thanks for a really great day!

Starting School. It's Emotional.

How did we get to this point so quickly? One minute she was like this:

The next like this:

I'm going to admit to not being a big fan of the baby stage but 12 months onwards is the best in my view! Isla didn't suffer too much from the terrible two's. We had a peak in bad behaviour about 2 months after Noah was born and after that there were some random outbursts but nothing regular. She's always been talkative and happy and social and I hope that these qualities will stand her in good stead for starting school tomorrow. Aargh school!! We've got the uniform, we've bought the shoes, she's been in to school for 1 hour with me by her side and now tomorrow she goes it alone. I feel scared and excited.

I'm excited about this new chapter but I also feel sad about my little girl getting bigger. Sometimes I say to her "I want you to stay little" and very adamantly she says "NO! I WANT TO BE BIGGER!". How ironic that lately I've been thinking myself how I'd love to turn back the hands of time. It's human nature to always want to be one step ahead, always wanting to be older, so you can be tall enough for rides at theme parks, old enough to see a 15 film, drive and drink. It's a shame as younger people we can't know that we should enjoy what's happening at the time.

I'm scared about the outside world having more influence on my baby. She has been at nursery since she was 9 months old for 2 days a week so she hasn't exactly been sheltered but we have been the ones predominantly responsible for her well being and education up till this point. I worry about whether she's emotionally mature enough for school. She'll be one of the younger ones in the year and that makes me want to protect her. 

I remember my school days at infant school to be very happy and carefree and I hope that Isla experiences the same as I did. Learning will be a new journey and one that I hope she enjoys and excels at in her own way. My heart kind of aches and tears well up when I think about it all too much and I know that tomorrow I won't be able to think straight. But I hope she comes home having enjoyed it and wanting to go back. 

Good luck my gorgeous girl. We love you so much!

Review of King of The Railway - The Movie & Our Visit to Thomasland

Last week we were invited to a special screening of King of the Railway, the new Thomas and Friends film at Thomasland! This was exciting news for the kids, especially Noah who in recent months has been building up a nice collection of trains from Thomas, he can play with trains (and cars) for hours. At the beginning of the summer we went on a Day Out with Thomas, which the kids both loved so I was sure they would have a great day.  In order to make it even more special I booked us a night in a Thomas themed room at Drayton Manor hotel - the kids were blown away.

So on the day of the screening we had a nice big breakfast and then hit the park, we were almost the first ones in. It was a beautiful sunny day - in fact I think it might be the last day we can call summer, now this autumn weather has taken hold. The rides weren't open yet, so we took a look at the animals in the zoo area first. The Meerkats were the clear favourites for my two, particularly as there was a baby one.

Thomasland is an area within Drayton Manor theme park. It is like stepping into the show when you get there. All Noah's favourite trains and characters were there in ride form! First up we went on Winston, he took us all round the park from the air, so we could check everything out and see what rides we wanted to go on next. And at this point, Isla saw the Cranky ride and very determinedly said "I want to go on that one Mummy". I looked at it and I didn't actually think twice, she was very adamant about going on. For those of you who know, Cranky is a crane so it was a ride that took you up and then down, and then up, then down, you get the picture. From the first zoom upwards, there were tears, oh dear, I even had my eyes closed hahaha. I must say now though, it wasn't related to her age, there were children younger than Isla on there who absolutely loved it!! Moral of the story, just check and double check that your little one really wants to go on it. If they still seem sure then don't feel too bad about the tears.....

From that point we went on loads of other rides and the kids really enjoyed everything, the only thing they wouldn't try was The Troublesome trucks rollercoaster. Then at 12pm we made our way to the 4D cinema in the park for the screening of the King of the Railway. We caught up with a few  bloggers that I know and also played with toys from the Thomas range. There were some really great bits, the Mega Bloks Thomas packs looked great and Noah had a good time playing with those, he mentioned Father Christmas afterwards! He's so cheeky! We were also welcomed by The Fat Controller, which was cool. 

We took our seats in the cinema with our popcorn and drinks and settled down for the film. It was great! And I have to say that was my first experience of a 4D cinema, really good fun was the verdict. Bit of a shock for the kids when the seats made their first move but that was all part of the experience. We had bubbles coming out at us, steam and at one point we got squirted full in the face with water (OH missed out on that as he was on the floor picking up all the grapes Isla had dropped!). The film tells the story of the return of the Earl of Sodor to the Island along with a very old steam train called Stephen. All the trains bustle round and take great interest in Stephen and the exciting surprises that the Earl has in store. When Stephen goes missing, Thomas and his friends look all over Sodor for him and there is a nail biting situation where everyone pulls together to prove how useful they really are. There are some really sweet moments in the film. I liked the relationship between Gordon and Spencer, always vying for the title of fastest train, and racing another all over the island. The way that Stephen is respected by all the younger trains is also lovely. There are also some songs in the film, that Noah really likes.

Isla loved the film, she didn't move a muscle from start to finish and being only an hour long, makes it a really great film to show little ones who may not be able to sit through a longer length film. Unfortunately all the running around that Noah did prior to the film meant that he conked out asleep! He saw the first 15 minutes and then it was game over. We rectified this on getting home as the kids got the most fabulous goody bag with a copy of the film on DVD. Noah has watched it loads of times since.  

After the film we went back out to Thomasland and Noah woke up, a bit upset that he'd missed the film but excited to go back and go on the rides. We thoroughly enjoyed our day out to Thomasland and watching King of the Railway. The kids slept all the way home and Isla hasn't stopped talking about the rides she went on that day, including Cranky, who she tells everyone was horrible! Hahahaha. 

The DVD of King of the Railway will be available from 1st September from all good retailers. I think it would make a great stocking filler for Christmas for Thomas obsessed children! 

Follow Thomas’ engine escapades on the Thomas & Friends website: 

http://www.thomasandfriends.com/uk/Thomas.mvc/Home. 

You can also keep track of all the latest Thomas news on Facebook and Twitter

We were invited to Thomasland and to see King of the Railway free of charge. We paid for an overnight stay at Drayton Manor. The children each received a goody bag, filled with Thomas treats!