birthday Archives - Lamb & Bear

March 19, 2015 by lambandbear 16 Comments

My terribly terrific two year old.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but where has the time gone?! I have a two year old?! I can barely even remember my pregnancy and now I have a child who has been in our lives for two whole years. I feel like I’ve jumped from being a neon pink lipstick wearing, Girls Aloud loving, Malibu & Diet Coke drinking teenager (FYI, I still do all of those things) to a Cbeebies watching, coffee inhaling, converse loving mummy! I have to say, as much as I love the neon pink lipstick (you know the one, from Barry M) I’m happy to leave those days behind me to spend a day finding out what’s inside Mr Tumbles spotty bag.

Today is my beautiful boys second birthday. Most parents would reach this milestone with the fear of the ‘terrible twos’ lingering around them, however my terribly terrific toddler is just not giving me those worries. Maybe because I spent the first 16 months of his life in fear of everything from teething to weaning, from being alone all day or out in large groups, I have now built up a tolerance to the tears. Mine and his.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have days where I just want to scream, all parents do right? But I just don’t care when he has a tantrum, I really don’t. Maybe I’ve had my days of meltdowns, maybe it’s someone else’s turn? I’ve done my time with the ‘baby blues’ and now I’m determined to stay positive no matter what my toddler throws at me (literally).

Most of the time Lamb is a pleasure to be around. He has the best sense of humour and we often have days filled with smiles and laughter. We also have days full off cuddles and hand holding. I treasure these days. Lamb has his flaws. He hardly eats anything and is a tad OCD about certain things. Even down to me putting on the wrong pair of socks. I actually want to write a book about the things that trigger tantrums – it would be hilarious! As with any other child, Lamb is unique and I love everything about him. He wouldn’t be my little Lamb if he was any different.

You are now 2 years old, and this is my favourite age so far. You are still little enough for mummy cuddles when you hurt your knee, and cuddles to help you fall asleep. You scream “mummy” when I pick you up from nursery, and still cry when I leave you. But you don’t always need me, and often push my hand away when I’m trying to help you. You’re a big boy now and you are starting to feel like one.

Today has been full of nothing but excitement and joy. Today I felt nothing but overwhelming love for my baby boy. Today I welled up every time Lamb screamed with excitement as he revealed what was under the dinosaur wrapping paper. Today my terribly terrific toddler turned two.

February 4, 2015 by lambandbear 10 Comments

Little Lamb’s 2nd Birthday Wishlist – Toys

Yep, that’s right, I said 2nd birthday. Are you as shocked as me?! I have a 2 year old?! How is this possible?

My little baby is all grown up, but I have to admit, as crazy as it sounds, from the age of 18+ months, this has been my favourite age so far. And it’s only getting better.

Yes, I know, as soon as he turns 2 the tantrums will start. Well, we’ve been having those for a while now and I just sit back and smile and wait until it’s over. I have recently noticed him getting a little pushy too. He doesn’t like other kids playing with his toys and he’s becoming rather bossy. (I wonder where he gets thats from? 😉 )

Actually thats’s not fair. He’s very good at sharing. He even says ‘share’ when he gives you something. Obviously if he’s having an off day (like today) he will shout “No Marnie!” when she picks up something he’s not even playing with because it’s “Jaxsix’s” and not hers. Yes, he calls himself Jaxsix – cutest thing ever.

As much as I miss having my little bundle of joy, I am absolutely loving life with a toddler. He has the best sense of humour you will ever see in a 2 year old. He’s kind and caring, and still a sensitive soul. He loves his grandparents and cousins, and of course, Auntie Teevee (Stevie) and Uncle Dom Dom.

Apologies for the mammoth intro, I know this is just a wish list, but it’s my first post about Lamb turning 2!

Let’s crack on.

It’s taken some convincing, but Daddy Lamb has finally agreed to letting me buy Lamb a kitchen for his birthday. He was a little resistant due to the lack of space we have in our house, but I explained Lamb loves playing with his cousins and the ones at nursery and playgroup, so I finally got him to agree, and we have chosen this one from IKEA. For only £65 I think it’s a bargain and not too big for our little house. They also have lots of accessories to go with it.

Both Mummy Bear and myself are big fans of Melissa and Doug products. Lamb has a had a few things in the past like wooden puzzles and colouring pads. There is a huge selection available on Amazon, I could buy everything!! Here are a couple of things I’ve found that I think Lamb would love for his 2nd Birthday.

With a love for all things dinosaur I obviously have to get him these amazing stamps. Lamb is really into colouring and painting at the mo, but I’m not always in the mood to get the aprons and tablecloths out, so a stamp set would be the perfect compromise. This is something he could do by himself sat at his little table and chairs, rather than in his high chair at the dining room table.

Lamb is obsessed with stickers. I mean really obsessed. You will find stickers everywhere in our house. On Lambs jumper, sometimes on his face. On the carpets, on the bottom of my slippers. Everywhere! But, oh look, I’ve found some reusable stickers for him to play with. Yippee!

Lamb is slowly learning his numbers. He loves to count, but just says 2! So this clock puzzle would be a great tool for us to start teaching him some more numbers. He’s really good at shapes and colours, so I’m hoping we can say things like ‘triangle number 3’ to teach him. Plus when he’s a little older we can start teaching him time!

Anyone else have a toddler who wants to help do the hoovering? So cute, but so annoying! It takes me so long to hoover! Here is my solution. Buy him his own hoover! Of course it has to be this Dyson one. Only the best for my Lamb 😉 He’s had a little cleaning set from ELC before, but he was too young and he wasn’t able to push it. Daddy Lamb decided it was going to charity because it was getting in the way, but I definitely think this one will get some use if we decide to buy it for him.

Lamb has been going to a new toddler group recently, with his 3 best Friends, Baby Bear, Sophia and Joshy. One thing he’s has mastered while there is how to climb and go down the slide by himself, and he loves it! I’m a bit protective over him as he has never been very confident with climbing etc so I’m always there to catch him if he gets a bit wobbly. This slide from Little Tikes is the one we would get. The tall handles at the top of the ladder means he has something sturdy to grab when he’s pulling himself up. It collapses for easy storage too which means it can be put away in the winter and won’t get too grubby.

Little Lamb love the shapes from Mister Maker. He literally screams “shapes!” over and over when he sees them. These squirting bath toys are perfect for him! Not only does he love the bath, but he’s loves squirting toys (you can see our review on his H&A squirting ducks here), and he loves the shapes, so I’ve got a feeling he will be super excited when he opens these.

Like probably every other 2 year old in the world, Lamb loves the Gruffolo. I am trying to do a lot more interactive activities with him, like arts & crafts and baking. This Gruffalo baking set is so cute. It comes with a wipe clean apron and cookie cutters (not dishwasher safe grrrr) and the drawstring bag. It says for ages 4+ years, but I still think he will enjoying using the cutters with a little help from mummy.

I could go on and on with this wish list. Lamb loves so many different characters and activities. We don’t want to make the same mistake as we have for his 1st birthday and Christmases and buy too much. He doesn’t care whether he’s gets one or 100 presents as long as we buy him something we know he will genuinely love! I honestly think if we only bought him the Shapes bath toys he’d be happy.

I’m going to write a clothing wish list too as I have a list as long as my arm of things I want to get him. I’m not too sure about wrapping clothes up for him to open. After what we experienced at Christmas I’ll think it would be better to avoid clothes. Let’s just say there were tears and throwing, and the word ‘more’ a lot.

I still can’t believe Lamb is turning 2 next month. I’m so excited.

You can read about his 1st birthday here.

What did you buy for your little ones 2nd birthday?

Alex x

March 31, 2014 by lambandbear 2 Comments

Little Lamb’s 1st Birthday

Well Little Lamb is 1! And what an amazing birthday he had! He loved all of his pressies, but no surprise, his favourite thing to play with was the balloons!!

We started the day with a trip to Caterpillar Music group with baby bear. Jaxson’s daddy works nights, and was working the night before his birthday, so this gave him a few hours to sleep in the morning.

We then spent the afternoon at Colchester Zoo (using our gold cards, of course), which gave us the opportunity to try out Jaxson’s new Smart Trike! (I’ll be reviewing this in the next few weeks). We then popped to Uncle Dom’s for a snuggle with Indy (my nephew and BFF) and to see Grandad.

I can’t believe how quickly the day went! I think this was because we didn’t start celebrating as a family until daddy woke up at 11:30, then suddently it was 4:30pm and we had to make our way home for dinner.

The evening was spent with Grandma and Grandad (my in-laws), which was lovely as Jaxson loves spending time with them. We sang happy birthday to him and ate his birthday cake (made by mummy).

As his birthday was on a Wednesday we decided to book his party on the following Saturday, so that more friends and family would be able to attend.

Little Lamb and Baby Bear regularly attend Jungle Adventure for some quality time in the soft play area, but not only do the kids enjoy it, so do us mums! So when I realised they hosted birthday parties, I jumped at the chance.

We all thoroughly enjoyed Jaxson’s party, and this has a lot to do with the help from all of the lovely staff at Jungle Adventure, particularly Kaycee who was our personal party host. Kaycee was amazing, she was great with kids and helped set up the party exactly how we wanted it. If I’m honest, I didn’t realise we would have a host, so to have someone completely organise the whole party for us was a bonus!

Each party is given a reserved table in the main seating area, useful for grandparents to sit with a cuppa and a cake. The party starts with lots of energy burning in the soft play and jungle play area. The kids have time to run around building up an appetite ready for the private lunch in one of the party rooms available. When it’s time to eat you are called into the party room (ours was the elephant room), where the table is set up with either kiddy chairs or highchairs, colourful plastic plates, and lots of scrummy food. We went for the hot food buffet, as Little Lamb is a fan of chips at the mo, one of the only things he will eat! But you can also choose a cold food buffet. All of the children are then offered a bowl of ice cream each, followed by birthday cake, after singing to the birthday boy first, of course!

Jaxsons favourite part of his party was meeting his hero, Mickey Mouse! There is a choice of characters for you to choose from to make an appearance at the party, but there was no doubt in my mind we would pick Mickey. I don’t think a day has gone by over the past 2 months where Mickey’s Clubhouse hasn’t been on our tv!!

Jungle adventure offer 5 different party packages, depending on the age of the child. For 1st birthdays, I recommend the Tiny Tots party. But if you have children a little older attending you can opt for the Jungle Play party.

Click here for more info.

After lunch, the kids can go back into the play area for another run around, before crashing ahead of their afternoon nap. Believe me it will be a long nap!

I highly recommend Jungle Adventure for birthday parties. I can’t stress how happy we were with the service, the quality and the cost. I will certainly be booking again in the future!

Jungle Adventure gets a thumbs up from Lamb & Bear!

Love Alex x

P.S If you’re wondering what Little Lamb is wearing, we asked all the kids to dress up as their fave jungle animal… Jaxson was a monkey and Marnie was a Giraffe! They all looked adorable, and got a lot of comments from the staff!