Mum In The Madhouse - Parenting without stabilisers

Early on down the journey that is raising children, MadDad and I decided that we wanted to call the boys sexual organs by the correct names, so penis, testicles, Scrotum, it is.  Along the years Willie has nipped in too, but we don;t have pet names for them.  Partly this was down to my experience growing up.  My vagina was called a "frou frou" and my brothers penis was his tail.  For a long time I thought that boys had tails to help them balance like animals and I don't remember when I learned that they urinated out of them, but I do remember the shock at finding that out.

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Both of my boys have eczema, different types and in different parts of their bodies, but it is something that breaks my heart.  Baby's are supposed to have smooth, delectable, heavenly soft skin and Maxi certainly didn't and often doesn't.  He suffers the most out of the two boys and when he is having a flare up we have to wrap his body in cling film to help the medication and to also help prevent him ripping his skin to shreds. Over the years I have tried everything and anything on his skin and after six years are finally settling on a routine and products that work for us.  Intially we were pushed down the oilatum and Diprobase route by our GP, but I have issues with SLS and SLA's they make my skin red raw and the palms of my hands when using these products with him were red, sore and itchy.  So we moved on to products with no parabens and no SLA's in, which has made a vast difference.

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This month the Tot100 blog hop is all about the naughtiest thing your child has done  and the worst (or best) post will win a bundle of cleaning products from Dirt Devil with a value of £200.

The boys now

Now take a look at my two boys, you would think that butter wouldnt melt in their mouths.  That they are adoreable young chaps, but it wasnt always like this. (more...)

Maxi came running home from the green the other week "Mummy, Mini has been teabagged" (more...)

I love toys that encourage outside play and have let the boys lose on our pavements with both chalk and homemade paint before now, so we were happy to review the Crayola 3D pavement chalk. We liked: The chalk is both simple to use and effect and yes it is 3D.  It is very reasonably priced currently under £4 on amazon.co.uk.  It does come off easily after a rain shower or event a watering can of water. We wernt keen: The duel ended chalk we were sent snapped far too easily and with heavy handed boys didn't last any time at all.  Also it is hard to shape the tips of them once they have been worn down and are actually too chunky for little hands to use. Mini couldn't use the 3D glasses with his spectacles on, so he didn't wear his specs, which gave him a headache. Overall I think the 3D effect is something of a gimic and having one child that wears glasses the ones provided are not really suitable for him. I would stick to normal chalk in the future, edspeically as my children are five and six, although older children might get more use out of the 3D aspect.

Disclosure: we were provided with a free pack of the chalks

MadDad had an idyllic and pretty independent childhood.  It was very Enid Blyton, well it would be he lived and grew up on a farm and spent most of the summer holidays returning home only to eat and sleep.  I grew up with a pretty similar upbringing.  We would venture out on our bikes to the nature reserve, the allotment, park or the beach.  I loved it and when I was small we were allowed in certian peoples houses and the back alley.

One of our reasons for returning to our native North East was the fact that we wanted to give our boys a taste of the freedom we grew up with.  Now before anyone starts with the kiddie fidlers and all that.  I am a firm believer that there were such people when I was growing up and I distinctly remember being flashed at the local park, however, I also believe that there are not more of them nowadays, just that we are more aware of the dangers.

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Whenever I am asked what to buy children over the age of 24 Months.  I have two stock responses Playmobil 123 or Lego Duplo.  We have never been fans of megablocks, they seem such a short term solitions, espeically as Lego Duplo is COMPATABLE with Lego (the hint is in the name you know). (more...)

We have had a Playmobil takealong castle in the past and have been really disappointed in it, so I was interested to see if this set withstood the whirlwind that is MIniMad. I love the idea of takealong toys, the fact that you can pack up all the parts in them for safekeeping appeals to the OCD in me, but they have to be workable for play first and formost. The Knights Shield Playset  (4217) £24.99 is a real multi facited play set.  Not only do you have a castle and four knights, a horse and weponds, but you also have a child sized sheild and soft sword, which went down a real treat with Mini. (more...)

Thank you very much for entering my give-away for a Tidybooks bookcase and as a thank you to you all, I have a 20% discount code which will run until Sunday 7 August.  Use the code MTM20 (more...)