Christmas!!

I know its very early for a Christmas blog but the wonderful Belinda (@WhiteLilyMummy) has set herself a #WLMXmasChallenge on Twitter and I couldn't not join in!  Belinda has set herself a challenge to buy 70% of her Christmas gifts this year from independent British shops which is very impressive.  More information on her blog: http://whitelilymummy.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/wlm-christmas-challenge/

Buying from independent shops is something I also believe quite strongly in (especially when I own one!)  But I do know that it is not easy when most towns in this country are dominated by large chain stores so for Belinda to pledge to buy 70% of her gifts from independents is really very impressive.

I am going to join her in this challenge but with a difference.  I also like to support independent businesses and I too will buy a lot of my Christmas presents from them.  There is a fantastic hashtag #Twitmas run by @soc1albutterfly with a large number of independent brands showcasing their lovely products.  (Which is also a Facebook)  So I will be using this to find some of my Christmas presents.

However, I also feel quite strongly about the amount of waste that Christmas can cause.  I have 2 young children and a lot of family which means they are thoroughly spoilt at Christmas time which is great (and I am as guily as anyone in buying them too much!)  But it often ends up with an enourmous amount of toys, which are very often plastic.  So when my children have finished with these toys they are very likely to end up in landfill (have you seen Toy Story 3?).  Now I do not want my children to miss out just because I am concerned about the environmental impact of their new toys.  So I have decided to buy a lot of their toys second hand!  This will save these toys from ending up in landfill, will give my children some lovely Christmas presents, avoid me visiting the large chain stores in Town and hopefully save me some money!  I will also be selling or donating a lot of their old toys in the run up to Christmas.

This is something I have already started and I will write another blog on the wonderful gifts that I have purchased which includes lots of Playmobil toys for both children, a game and some of my daughter's 4th Birthday present!

If you fancy buying some gorgeous baby clothes which are also organic please check out Organic Tots!

Frugi Clothes

I have recently taken delivery of my very first Frugi delivery - a very proud moment!  I have loved Frugi clothes for a long time, my children have always worn them and now I get to sell them at Organic Tots! 

Frugi are a very well respected brand who create fun and beautiful organic clothes for babies and children.  They were originally called cut4cloth and were formed by Lucy and Kurt in 2004 because there were no ethical clothes on the market for babies who wore cloth nappies.  The brand has developed since then and the name has changed to Frugi (which means fruit of the earth in Latin) and they now create clothes for little ones which will fit both cloth nappies and disposables.  They also create clothes for children up to the age of 8 and breastfeeeding tops.  Their clothes are always bright, fun and stylish.  Plus they are all very well made with incredible attention to detail.  It is important to Frugi that the children will want to wear their clothes so they are always very soft, strong and hard wearing (not scratchy or tight). 

I have now added my order to the website and in doing so I have checked and felt every item.  I like to know exactly how everything looks and feels before I add them to the site and I can honestly say I love it all!  The clothes really are as soft and strong as I describe and they look fabulous!

I also ensure that my children try out some of the clothes so I can genuinely confirm my descriptions of the clothes.

My daughter had great fun trying on her new pyjamas which are huge!  She will be four in November and all of her old pyjamas are getting quite small for her so I gave her a pair in age 4-5 and they have a lot of room for growth!  They are also very very soft and I am reliably informed very snuggly!  She certainly slept well in them!

I also gave her a dress which she adores - again it is still a little big for her (but that did not stop her insisting she wore it 3 days in a row!!)  She wore it at the weekend on a very muddy walk in the woods with her boots.  And not only did she look gorgeous, she was warm and comfortable.

My son wore the orange campervan top which looked great, and I assume by the fact he refused to wear his coat that it too was very warm

There are many more Frugi clothes at Organic Tots.  We offer free delivery on everything.

Baby Signing

When my eldest, A was four months I started looking for things we could do together.  We found a very baby group near by which was lovely and our clinic was very much like a baby group and we would go every week.  However I wanted to do something else with her although I wasn't sure what!  So we tried a couple of baby music and dance groups which were ok but not really what I was looking for and then I came across Tiny Talk, a signing class for babies. 

If I'm honest I almost overlooked it as I didn't really believe it was possible!  We did however give it a go and it is the best decision I ever made!  I decided to give it a go as it was the same price as the other classes we had tried but it also included half an hour of free time (with a coffee!)  So it seemed good value!

3 and a half years later and with another baby we are still going to Tiny Talk and we all love it!  My eldest never signed but the classes were such good fun that we continued to go, she did her first sign at 14 months, the age she also started talking!  (It was bird if you are interested!)  I did see first hand other babies signing to communicate, some very young so I started to believe it was possible even though my daughter didn't sign.

I had my son when my daughter, A was 20 months and by then she was talking really well and we didn't bother signing very much.  But we still went to class though, she was in the toddler class by then which also teaches other valuable skills such as listening and following direction in addition to the signs.

I am very keen for my son, E to be treated the same as A and to be given the same opportunities so we started the baby signing classes in addition to the toddler classes when he was 6 months which was also the same month he did his first sign, milk!  My son really took to signing and absolutely loves to communicate!  He particularly loves all the nursery rhymes with signs in them and could sign the welcome song at 14 months!

I don't know why he took to it more than my daughter, it may be because we were signing a lot more around him at home (my daughter was particularly proud to be able to teach him!), it may be because I actually believed that he could do it or it may be just him and something he is able to do.  He is now 2 years old and has only recently started talking however he has been able to understand me for a long time and he follows instruction really well.  He just struggles with his pronunciation.  I have been incredibly grateful over the past 18 months that he can sign as he can ask me if he needs something and I am sure that this has reduced the number of tantrums that we have (he rarely has them and if he does they do not last long at all).

I cannot recommend signing with babies highly enough and in particular Tiny Talk as not only are the classes fun, they are educational and help babies communicate before they can talk.