Orchard Toys Review and Giveaway

We were sent a puzzle and game from Orchard Toys this week for Little Miss A to test. Little Miss A has just started getting really interested in doing puzzles, so we were sent the nursery rhyme puzzle set which contains four different puzzles.

Immediately what we liked about the puzzles are the sturdyness of the pieces. The box contains four different puzzles, each of differing sizes, perfect for Little Miss A to associate with the rhymes, and also the fact the pictures were solid and bright enabled her to be able to put the pieces together easily.

Each puzzle is backed with a different colour board making them easy for the child to separate quickly.

At just over three years old Little Miss A was able to complete the puzzles herself. I did find that she got bored before the last one was finished, but that was the beauty of these is that you can choose which to complete.

We also received the game Doodlebugs

To start with I wondered what the game was, but as I read the instructions I realised it’s essentially a game of snap, but you could also use the cards and adapt the game into a memory game for example should you want to.

The game consists of sturdy circular discs with variations of “doodlebugs” on. In nice bright colours, these really caught Little Miss A’s eye when we opened the box. I found getting Little Miss A to only keep her alloted five cards at the beginning to be quite difficult, but as the game went on and she realised she was matching the cards by colour or bug, then she really started to enjoy it.

I found the game lasted quite a long time, but to counteract this for young children you could take out some of the sets of bug cards. Each bug comes in four different colours, so you could vary the game any way you like.

We all really like this game, it’s fun as well as educational, and despite only receiving it a couple of days ago, we have played it a lot and Little Miss A isn’t bored yet.

You can buy both from Orchard Toys.

However I do have some to give away, so if you’d like to win one, please make sure you are following this blog, and also leave me a comment stating which you would like to win, the Nursery Rhyme puzzle or Doodlebugs.

The giveaway will end on Friday 24th September.

For an extra entry, tweet the following message “I am following @mumsurviveguide blog for a chance to win an #orchardtoys game http://bit.ly/cGtPpb”

One entry per person, non followers will be disqualified. Please leave a way to contact you if you win.

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The accidental accident

Have you every swung your toddler by their arms? It’s very easy to do and you probably don’t even realise you’re doing it. When you’re walking along and they refuse to walk anymore and they drop to the ground. What does your instinct do? Pull them back up. You’re holding their hand so you pull their arm.

Walking along with two grownups, each holding a hand of your toddler. Play 1-2-3 wheeee. You’re pulling their arm.

All this is done without thinking of any consequences, which in all honesty can be quite nasty for your child.

Little Miss A was at nursery one Friday when she was approx 20 months old. I picked her up at tea time and she was quite grizzly, which was nothing out of the ordinary for a Friday afternoon, she was tired. I picked her up, not thinking anything of the fact she refused to take her picture from one of the helpers, so I took it instead. Putting her coat on, she was crying more, and she didn’t stop all the way home.

It was when I went to take her out of her car seat that I noticed her arm. It looked limp and floppy. Asking her to bend her arm to remove from the car seat strap, I was met with more screams. (To this day I can’t remember how I put her in the car seat and still feel guilty if I hurt her more by doing so).

Taking her indoors, I noticed that the arm was definitely not being moved, so I tried to give a biscuit to see if she would use the arm at all. No way!

A few minutes later Mr A came home which was great timing as I was getting ready to go back out to A+E.

“Give Daddy a cuddle” I prompted Little Miss A. She reached out with one arm not two. That settled it; off we shot to A+E on a Friday evening with a sad little toddler.

The receptionist at A+E was very abrupt with me and Mr A. “Oh its only nursemaids elbow” she said sternly at us. Inside my head I was screaming back at her “You’re not a doctor, let me see one.” “What the *** is nursemaids elbow?”, but on the outside, I was staying calm for Little Miss A and asked politely how long the wait was.

We saw the doctor fairly quickly who reassured us it was in fact nursemaid’s elbow, which basically means a partial dislocation of the elbow fro its socket. This can happen when a child’s arm is tugged or pulled hard.

Instantly we both felt guilty. Had we done this without realising? Had it happened at nursery? The doctor reassured us it’s very common in children under 5 years old and can happen at any time, in instances like I explained at the beginning.

Thankfully the doctors were able to manipulate Little Miss A’s elbow back into place and other than being a bit sore for a few days, no harm was done. The nursery situation is another blog post that I may go into another time for fear of turning this into a novel, but please Mum’s and Dad’s think before swinging your children by their arms.

hello everyone

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Welcome

As a Mum to two girls, I went through bringing up my first daughter before starting over again as my first daughter almost became a teenager. Starting again brought it’s own new set of challenges and learning curves. Join me as we go from day to day tackling what life has to throw at us.

The Gallery – week 26

This weeks gallery prompt is the first day of school. As all the kids are starting to go back this week, it makes me thankful that Little Miss A will just carry on going to nursery as normal for another year. It did bring back some memories of Teen DD starting school all those years ago.

My Princess Peppa

Enough said!

My wedding dress

My wedding dress arrived yesterday. I have been very nervous about it arriving as I did something I never thought I would do and ordered it from Ebay! It was custom made but coming from Hong Kong. I worried that it wouldn’t fit, be the wrong colour, have a flaw etc etc.

It took nearly eight weeks to arrive which I was aware of, and when it arrived yesterday it was packaged so small I wondered if I had actually ordered a dress at all. I wish I had taken a photo of the package now, but never mind.

When I opened it, it looked like it was the right colour, and there was a complete dress, in the same design as I had chosen. I was still nervous. What if it doesn’t fit?

I quickly tried it on, and am happy to say that my measurements I gave must have been on as it fit almost perfectly. There are some alterations that need to be made, but I can cope with that as my future mother in law is a seamstress, so I will save even more money there.

I ordered from EBay as I am trying to keep the costs down for our wedding, and also because I was told that even when you buy from a boutique they are ordered in from abroad anyway, so that put my mind at rest over the quality.

I actually only spent the bargain price of £99.60 including shipping on my dress, so I reasoned with myself that if it was awful I hadn’t wasted too much money. I was expecting to pay some customs charges when it arrived, but nothing was asked for.

I am going to add my own flair to it with some of my colour co-ordination for the wedding, so it’s going to look slightly different when finished, but my mother in law reasoned that she couldn’t have bought the fabric for that let alone made it, so it was a bargain.

Would you ever take a chance on your wedding dress?