It's a little while now since Master C and I met Oliver and Patch in their first adventure. Back in that book Oliver had just moved to a big city and was lonely until he met Patch. They came together and started having some lovely adventures together whilst they looked for Patch's real owner. In The Lost Penguin, Oliver and Patch (and Ruby, Patch's real owner) are back, but this time they're visiting the zoo together. They growl at the tigers, smile at the meerkats and laugh at the funny penguins. But one little penguin catches their eye. Peep is new to the zoo. He's lonely and misses his ... read more
Romeo Explores The City – Alain Greé
Hot on the heels (excuse the pun!) of Romeo's Big Book of Clever Ideas is a second title from Button Books featuring this lovable hound. Romeo Explores The City is targeted at a slightly younger audience (roughly 1 - 3 years old) and is a beautiful series of questions to ask children about what they may see in a city, before they turn the page to explore further. With questions like "where do we go when we want to travel by plane?" or "where do we go when we want to buy toys or clothes" it really gets children thinking and talking to the grown up reading the book. A lovely sharing ... read more
Romeo’s Big Book of Clever Ideas – Alain Greé
Master C is a logical thinker. With him the "why?" stage never quite ended, as he just kept asking why questions, but as his understanding of right world around him developed it just meant that the questions developed too. Now that he's five the questions keep coming thick and fast, but they are now punctuated by him thinking in incredibly detail about things and they are often very, very specific questions. There's absolutely no doubt that it's a wonderful skill for him to have, but as a parent at times it can be so incredibly frustrating when all you want to do is get out of the house on ... read more
Paddington Pop-Up London
There's really not long to go now until Paddington 2 opens in cinemas here in the UK and I'm thrilled that other people can finally see the film as I absolutely loved it. I've already written all about what I thought of it, but there's another special part of the story to tell you about - Paddington Pop-Up London. Just as soon as you've seen Paddington 2 you'll understand why Paddington Pop-Up London is such a key part of the film. I don't want to give away any major spoilers, but the Pop-Up is basically the reason Paddington ends up going to prison. It's a beautiful book that shows off ... read more
Thomas and Friends Smart Tablet
As you will all know by now. Master C is train obsessed. But it's an obsession that I regularly try to use to his advantage when it comes to teaching him things. For ages he wasn't at all interested in holding a pen or doing any sort of "mark making" as it's described in Early Years Foundation Stage documentation. Then he suddenly started wanting to draw trains, in particular drawing on carriage on each separate piece of A4 paper and then sticking them all together. This was swiftly followed by seeing track layout diagrams in some of my OH's model railway magazines and the next thing we knew ... read more
Embracing autumn evenings hygge style with Hunkemoller
I love autumn evenings. I think that by the time they come around I'm ready to snuggle down and get all cosy in an evening with a spot of crochet, a good book or watching something on TV. I guess it may all link into the Danish concept of Hygge that I am rather in love with. A while back I read a book all about A Year of Living Danishly and I found learning all about the country and the way people live there utterly fascinating, but the bit that stood out for me most was this idea of hunkering down in the autumn and winter and just staying at home with family and friends. It's a concept ... read more
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas – Alison Ritchie and Marisa Morea
Christmas picture books are arriving on my doorstep on an almost daily basis right now, with The Twelve Dogs of Christmas one of the most recent, and I'm actually really enjoying starting to get into the Christmas spirit. Master C has already asked how many sleeps there are until Christmas and, for now, seems satisfied with my answer, so I just have to hope that the requests to put up the Christmas tree don't start just yet! The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is a lovely little tale about a puppy's excitement in the lead up to his first Christmas. The lovely rhyming text makes it the perfect sort ... read more
Evil Pea Rules! Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet
It feels a bit weird to think that when I first discovered Sue Hendra Little Miss C was tiny and only just starting to discover picture books, yet now here I am enjoying her books with Master C as he comes to the end of his first half term at "proper school". Where has time gone? Sue Hendra still delights me as much as it does him though, and I still love sharing picture books like hers with the kids. Supertato has become a bit of a star in our household and when I opened up the package containing Evil Pea Rules! there was a shriek of delight from both kids. In this latest book Evil Pea ... read more
Maurice the Unbeastly – Amy Dixon
When you think of a beast, what do you imagine? Probably some ugly creature who roars and stomps around, creating havoc wherever he goes. Maurice could not be further from that image if he tried. Maurice instead is gentle and kind. Sings beautifully and looks incredibly photogenic in pictures. He's also a big fan of organic snacks. Maurice's parents are worried that he needs to learn to be less civilised and so enrol him at the Abominable Academy for Brutish Beasts where they try to teach him to behave improperly. Will they succeed though? Or will they see that being different can be a good ... read more
#EcoverLaundry challenge – the stealth approach
Laundry. I'm pretty sure it breeds in my house. One minute I've got the washing basket empty and then the next time I look it's full again. How is that even possible? I try my best to stay on top of the washing, but at times it is just impossible. At the moment we're living in a tiny little rented flat and whilst it came with a washing machine, we don't have a tumble dryer or even a washer dryer like I used to have in my last house. Luckily the block of flats does have a communal drying area - a square area that is zig-zagged with washing lines and surrounded by high walls. Amazingly it ... read more