presents | Mummy of two

Well it’s that time of year again, Christmas is nearly here and I am sure I am not alone in struggling to know what to buy for those pesky little babies! This year I have made Little Miss A and her baby cousin a treasure basket each, however, people have been asking me what she would like for Christmas and I have really struggled to come up with any ideas. As she is the second child she has lots of things that have been handed down to her from Little Mr A and really doesn’t need any more toys!

If you are struggling to find a present for a baby in your life, here are some ideas of things we had for Little Mr A that were really good toys and would make great presents.

Learning Curve Lamaze Puppy Tunes

This is a great colourful toy for babies with a hook so you can attach it to pushchairs, cots etc. Each of the puppy’s legs plays a different note when squeezed and with the puppy you get a leaflet showing you how to play a couple of songs such as Old MacDonald. You play the songs by pressing the appropriate coloured leg. It is also a sensory toy as together with being brightly coloured, the tounge is silky and the ears crinkle.

Little Mr A loved the noise when I squeezed the legs – it really made him giggle!

Usually I would avoid noisy/musical toys as they can get very annoying, however, this is good as it just plays nice notes and is not too loud.

There are no batteries required it just works when you squeeze from the air in the legs.

You can also buy other ‘tune’ animals such as an Octopus and Elephant.

Early Learning Centre Wooden Noah’s Ark

This is currently half price, a bargain at £7.50!

I think this is a great gift for any baby. Although they may be too young to play with it properly, it looks really nice set up in a nursery, plus the animals are big enough for a baby to hold (and put in their mouth!) without being dangerous.

It is excellent quality and, as it is all wooden, is pretty much indestructible, unlike some of the plastic toys around these days!

As well as the Ark you get Noah and his wife and 12 wooden animals. The animals are printed on both sides so you get the front and back of each animal! The Ark also comes with a lift off cabin so that you can get the wooden animals back out again!

As well as being able to use it as a shape sorter, you can also use it to teach your child about animals or play snap.

Little Mr A had lots of fun with this toy for quite some time given all the different things you can do with it.

Prince Lionheart – BACK TO SLEEP Slumber bear

This is actually a gift that Little Miss A has received as an early present from Santa courtesy of Grandma!

What the website says…

The ORIGINAL audio pacifier with actual sounds recorded INSIDE
a mother’s womb!
Recordable function allows parents to create their own soothing
message for Baby!

Invented by a DOCTOR, recommended by midwives. Used successfully with millions of babies in maternity hospitals worldwide since 1978! Back to Sleep Bear’s authentic womb so unds are universally recognized by babies and effective in lulling them to sleep in minutes! Soundbox has a 5 minute auto-shutoff timer to save batteries, with sound and motion sensors that reactivate recording when baby cries orthe bear is moved.

Also includes Silkie™–the Natural Bonding Aid!™ Parents can bond with Baby by transferring their scent to the Silkie. Even when Mom and Dad cannot be with Baby, their scent remains to reassure and comfort Baby. Baby loves the soft and smooth Silkie texture that provides beneficial tactile stimulation!

Soundbox has a 5 minute auto-shutoff timer to save batteries, with sound and motion sensors that reactivate recording when Baby cries or the bear is moved.

What I say…

I was a little sceptical as to whether this would actually work at soothing Little Miss A and helping her sleep, however, I am pleased to say I was wrong! We use the ‘sound box’ attached to her crib at night and play to her the womb sounds and were really surprised when it calmed her and sent her to sleep! We also use the lullaby music sometimes during the day to sooth her if she is a bit grisly.

With the product you get the bear, the soundbox which can either be placed into the bear or taken out and attached with a velcro strap to a cot/pram, and a silkie blanket.

The bear is nice and soft and looks really nice and good quality. At the moment he is just sat in Little Miss A’s crib as we prefer to use the soundbox on it’s own, however, I am sure as she gets older we will put the soundbox back into the bear for her to cuddle with.

The silkie is really nice quality and Little Miss A loves the feel of it. Again, you can either leave it attached to the bear or use it as a separate item.

The soundbox is the main event! It plays various noises such as the womb sound, white noise, lullabies and nature noises. You can even record your own message. It is easy to change what noise you would like, you just press the relevant button on the front of the box. At the side is a volume control. We have found you don’t need to have it on very loud when the box is out of the bear. After 5 minutes the sound will go off, however, if the box is moved or baby starts making noise the sound will come back on again. Little Miss A seems to have worked this out and gives it a ‘bash’ if the sound goes off before she is asleep!

The box takes 2 AAA batteries. There is a notice on the website to say that Duracell batteries are recommended as they fit best, however, we have not had a problem with other batteries. Once the batteries are running out a beeping noise starts (which can be quite annoying in the middle of the night!).

I appreciate this won’t work for every baby but it certainly works for Little Miss A!

I hope that has given you a couple of gift ideas for any babies you have to buy for, there is so much choice out there it is difficult to chose something that is going to be useful and enjoyed for a long time!

Now Little Mr A is getting older he is wanting to watch programs on the more ‘grown up’ children’s channels which means one thing, especially this time of the year, adverts!

How many is too many?

I have lost count of the things he is going to ‘ask Santa’ for! I have tried to explain to him that Santa cannot afford to ‘make’ all of the things he would like. Everything that is advertised looks ‘cool’. Even the girl’s toys he says I can have and he can help me play with them!

We have bought him a couple of things that he has asked for but cannot afford to buy everything he wants. He has so many toys already it is a struggle to know what to get him! I just hope he is not disappointed on Christmas morning when he doesn’t get everything he wants.

Little Mr A got a ridiculous amount of presents for his first Christmas!

It is a shame Christmas has become so commercial (even for 4 year olds!). We all love getting presents but Christmas should be for spending time with family, not having to stress about how many presents we should be buying for our children.