Playpennies

Time is a strange thing and once we're practised at telling it, we forget what life was life was like before we could tell it and how difficult it was to learn how to tell it.

It's interesting how our concept of time shifts - I tend to get up around 4am so I can fit all the things I need to do each day into as many available hours as possible, but on the odd occasions that I get up later, even 6am can start to feel quite late!

When I was at school half-terms and main holidays seemed to take FOREVER to come round, now it feels as if the kids are always on some sort of school holiday or other.  When we're having fun, time flies; when we're not, or are counting down to a special event, it can really drag.

When you're little and look at the clock and have NO clue what any of it means or when you should be doing things, time is just one big mystery - ENTER the humble Post-It note (other sticky notes are available and will work just as well!).

I came across this on ParentHacks this morning and I think it's a great idea. It's elegant, it's simple and it will help your child to understand the passing of time and how to manage it.

• Click HERE to read the complete hack over at ParentHacks

Simply stick notes around the outside of an analogue clock showing your child when they should start doing something, or when they should stop; genius, at least I think so.

I'm just not great at messy play. I love the idea of it, but seriously, if I could, I would convert the garden shed into a messy play room so that I can just shut the door behind us till next time. If I ever get over that, I think we'll try these. Or maybe in the summer, when we can sit out on the grass and have minimal mess. And a hose down afterwards.

These painted marshmallows do look like fun though. A great alternative to an afternoon of building with Lego!

I don't have an iPad - I've been putting off having one ever since they were released in the futile hope that I'll be less 'must have the newest one' whenever the next gen' one comes out and the price of the previous one goes down.

So here I am, waiting for whenever the release of the iPad 3 is and kidding myself I'll be happy with a 2 when there's a newer (and probably better) version to be had!

My ex-husband has an iPad though; our youngest son very quickly to charge as its main user (this wasn't the intention!) and has loved drawing on it ever since - at least it means we got custody of our iPhones back, DoodleBuddy had a lot to answer for!

If you have an iPad and a child who loves creating works of art on it then you might want to take a look at these five iPad drawing apps - all of them are free, apart from two which are $2 each, hardly bank busting.

• Click HERE to browse through five great iPad drawing apps

Talking of DoodleBuddy, whilst it's a great little app the five listed here do a little bit more than just let you doodle and save to your camera roll.

Your pictures are brought to life and animated in one of them and a couple of the others will teach your young Monet how to draw various animals; my favourite has to be the amusingly named Butt Art app.

Happy iPad drawing! And read about some more iPad 3 rumours here on our sister site, Mobot.net.

I'm not sure whether these are meant to be freebie printable sheets, but they certainly are printable, and if your child likes them you could buy the book with loads more doodles to colour. They're really nicely drawn and would make beautifully colourful pictures!

My teenagers will tell you that I'm not very good at being a 'mummy slave'; I don't see why I should be one and I believe it's not a bad plan to teach your children some basic domestic life skills from early on.

They, of course, will disagree, but they can both sort, wash, dry and iron their own clothes; they can both clean, tidy and vacuum the house (in record time if there's something else they really want to be doing) and both have a pretty impressive repertoire of recipes they can rustle up in the kitchen.  Not bad for a 16 and 17-year-old, if you tune your ears out to the moaning that generally accompanies the performance of these activities.

If you would like your youngster to stop believing in the Laundry fairy and have them sort their own clothes ready for washing, then this very simple ParentHack I stumbled across is for you:

The laundry in my house is divided into four piles: colours, darks, whites and sheets (oh and towel; five piles)

Depending on how you divide your clothes will determine the permanent marker pens you need, but for my laundry I'd need: red and black.

Then I'd simply put a big red spot on the label of all my children's clothes that belong in the colours pile, and a black spot on the labels for dark pile things.  If you do hot and cold loads, you could use red for hot and blue for cold.

Whichever colour system you use doesn't matter, what's important is that it's simple to understand.

I think this is super clever and you can read the original hack HERE.

What a fun idea for a kids party, or even a fussy eater's lunch box? There's no website to link this to, it's simply a Pinterest upload, but I think it's a fabulously simple idea, both for separating snacks, and saving money and the environment with using just one bag instead of two.  And then, it's just really cute!

I've decided you can market just about anything; this PeePee TeePee is what's lead me to that conclusion this morning!

I have two boys and one girl. My eldest son was born in the winter and I, very quickly, lost count as to how many times he peed on me when he was small.

It must have had something to do with the change of air temperature seconds after I took his nappies off and the cold air hit, he would start peeing.  This is not so difficult to avoid and contain if it's day time, but when you're changing baby boys in the dead of a chilly winter's night and have kept the lights down low it's a different fountain of pee dodging game altogether.

My youngest son did the same too, he was born in the summer and his free-peeing events were somewhat less than his winter born brother.

I can only imagine the inventor(s) of the PeePee TeePee is/are the parents of a boy and I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when they came up with the idea, created a prototype, tested it and decided it was going to make their fortune out on the baby market.

For £10.95 you get five little reusable soft cotton cones in their own miniature laundry bag, to keep them all together; at nappy changing time you pop a cone over the end of the ever-threatening-to-sprinkle male appendage and save yourself the worry of getting wet!

This is another one of those 'genius or junk' things I can't make up my mind about - what do you think?  One thing I do know - they are pretty cute.

• Click HERE to see the PeePee TeePee

By the way, if you've ever used them or buy some to try - please share your experiences!

They say we 'perceive' love in one of five ways - through gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time and physical affection. If your other half is of the 'words of affirmation' variety, they'll love hearing why you love them.  Click on the image - you'll find a step by step tutorial on how to make these cards.

I'm well and truly stuck on the fence when it comes to the Boon Squirt Spoon - I can't decide whether it's genius or junk!

• Click HERE to take a look at the Boon Squirt Spoon

So, the Boon Squirt Spoon - it's a spoon with a a squeezy reservoir (Boon call it a 'bulb') on the end, which holds 85g of baby food and squirts the right amount onto the spoon bit when you squeeze it.

Apparently, this will make one-handed feeding much easier for parents and saves you having to remember to take a spoon AND container of food with you when you go out.  They come in various funky colours and cost £8.95 each.

My baby weaning days are well and truly over (thank goodness) and I managed to get by perfectly well with a bowl and a little flat plastic spoon.  So on this side of the fence I'd say that the Boon Squirt Spoon is just a seriously overpriced piece of unnecessary baby 'stuff'.  

Not only that, but you'll need to faff around with filling it up, then taking it apart and making sure it's super clean inside ready  for the next time.

But then I remembered all those time when little hands found their way into the food bowls which led to one, some, or all of three outcomes:

1. More food ended up on their faces and in their hair than in their mouths
2. My clothes ended up covered in their food
3. The entire bowl was upended and invariably found its way to the floor

If I'd had a Boon Squirt Spoon then these things wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't have gone out with clothes covered in dried baby food (why do you never notice before you leave the house!?).  So on this side of the fence I'd say it's genius; £8.95 well spent and why on earth did it take someone so long to come up with it?!

So what say you?  The Boon Squirt Spoon - genius or junk?

These Valentines Fruit Hearts strike me as the perfect accompaniment to chocolates and sweet treats on the day of love. And they're easy to prepare too, so getting your toddler or young child involved will be a fun activity. Swap out the yoghurt for something a little sweeter - like a chocolate mousse and you have a healthy and tasty desert option too!

This week PlayPennies loves Tales from the Village.

If, like most of the country, you woke up to snow this morning and have had enough of snowman building and snowball throwing, then might I suggest you defrost with a warm cup of something and take a mooch through Rachel's blog - Tales from the Village.

Rachel's 2011 turned into a bit of a roller coaster ride and saw some unexpected changes; she moved house with her four children, their dog, their car and some tropical fish just before Christmas, is starting a new life and has invited 'us all' to keep her company whilst she does; I will, there's strength in numbers and good company.

If you like looking at photographs, there are some stunning images to please your photographic soul and if you like 'Dear So and So...' posts - which I do, a LOT - then you'll find some peppered through Tales from the Village.

Honesty, an easy read and a glimpse into Rachel's life, musings, ambitions and hopes for the future is what you'll get if you pay her a visit.  Oh, she's also in the process of publishing a book, has a second one in mind and is creating the cast for the third - if you're a wannabe writer but have been too scared to start, perhaps you'll find some inspiration in Rachel.

I've loved reading through the pages and posts of Tales from the Village, I think you will too.

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When I was pregnant with my youngest I kept a little journal for him about how far along I was, what he was doing on the inside (he went through a three-day phase of tumbling over and over - it felt as though I had a load of washing going round in my stomach and it made me feel quite queasy!), what was happening in the world and my general thoughts about him and what life might have in store.

I read through it occasionally and it's amazing how many of the little things you forget unless you write them down somewhere.  I love building memory boxes too - I have one for each of the children and it has their birth paper work in it (you know, the forms that midwives fill in and has the Apgar score on etc), their weight measurement cards, locks of first hair and lots of other sentimental things.

I've just come across this Memory Jar idea and I love it!

It's very simple and will be amazing to keep and open up every now and again.  You simply get a big jar and every time something happens that you want to remember, or someone says something funny, or something interesting happens that you want to record - write it down on a piece of paper (I'd date it too) and then put it in the jar.

The original idea (found over on ParentHacks and found from somewhere else - I love that place!) suggests reading all the notes as a family at the end of the year, which I think is a lovely idea.  You could have memory jars for all sorts of things - holidays or pregnancy being a couple of events that spring to mind.

My eldest son leaves home to take up his post in the British Army in a few weeks time and I think I'm going to create a memory jar for his remaining time at home.

I think it's a stunning idea; simple and cheap and will produce something priceless to keep forever.

• Click HERE to read the original post over on ParentHacks

This is a lovely idea for both Valentines day and Shrove Tuesday pancakes, if you're okay with being a little untraditional. It'll probably take some work to get it right, but then the best things usually do, don't they? It's lovely - but may be a bit messy with syrup!

I tend to do the majority of the household laundry at the weekends - it just makes sense as this is when kids' school uniforms are done with for the week.

The rule is that washing needs to be in the utility room on a Friday evening or very early Saturday morning, things brought down on a Sunday afternoon will be turned away and no amount of teenage sulking or begging will persuade me to wash 'just one last thing'.

So, the washing machine is invariably working like a trooper, if it's sunny there will be things billowing on the line otherwise they'll be in the tumble drier or hanging over radiators.  When one washing load is done it will be in the basket waiting to be swapped for clean, dry things.

What to do with the dry bits and pieces that require hanging up, rather than folding, has often been cause for 'muttering' - my tumble drier is in the garage and if I get to the things inside just as they finish I can, sometimes, get away with not ironing too much and THAT can only be a good thing.

However, folding (even lightly) can ruin this crease-free happiness - so I'm rather thrilled by this parent hack (and it's a funny read too) that I've come across and am going to try it!  For things that require instant hanging...PUT THEM ON when you take them out of the tumble drier.

Genius! Sure you're going to look a bit daft (have a look at the pictures in posted by Bewildered Mother - she's the one who came up with the hack - and you'll see what I mean) but if it means less ironing then I don't CARE!

• Click HERE to go over to The Diary of a Bewildered Mother to read her hack and post in full.

UPDATE - please read this response to Sian To from Mummy-Tips

This week PlayPennies Loves Mummy-Tips.

Normally, with PlayPennies Loves posts, I highlight several posts and ramble on about light and fluffy 'things' - I'm not going to do that today.   Today's PlayPennies Loves is difficult; for many of us it will be impossible to imagine (thankfully) but I want you to read just this one post - it's important and it may just save someone's life.

• Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...

Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...is about post-natal depression and attempted suicide.  Suicide that went wrong, which subsequently enabled everything to come right...

I cannot comprehend the despair that comes with post-natal depression; when your hopes of 'happy families' are anything but and you feel there's no way out of the dark.

Despite greater awareness of this terrible illness, too many people are still struggling and suffering in silence - only when people are brave enough to share their stories can we even begin to relieve those silences through greater understanding and early detection.

If you know suspect someone you know may be suffering from post-natal depression, please (as the author of Mummy-Tips says at the end of her Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday post) reach out to them; if you're worried that person is you then p-l-e-a-s-e talk to someone and ask for help.

Years and years ago I remember when stockings and suspenders were considered to be the height of sexiness - maybe they still are, I've just grown out of that particular stereotype.

Sock suspenders for men, always cause plenty of giggling as they are anything but sexy; however, you can't deny their usefulness if you have socks that keep falling down.

Even less sexy, but even MORE practical and useful than men's sock suspenders, are these Bottoms Up trouser suspenders for preggy mums!   Ohhhh how I could have used these when I was pregnant with my children -  they cost $19.75 and are stretchy bands of fabric that attach to the sides of your bra and skirt/shorts/trousers etc keeping them in place and your modesty intact!

• Click HERE to read more about the Bottoms Up trouser suspenders

Back in the early 90s leggings were the maternity wear of choice - the wonderfulness that is the Isabella Oliver maternity range didn't exist - and towards the end it was tough to keep those things from staying put when you bent over or sat down.

And just before my youngest arrived I was wearing pairs of maternity jeans that, whilst were comfy, just didn't stay up unless their adjustable bands were made so tight they became painful within half an hour.

Unless you know someone in the United States who can order these for you, you're going to have to see if you can make your own version because there's no option for international delivery.

That said, you can set up a virtual USA mailing address which allows you to order items that only dispatch within the US and then have them mailed here, I have one and it's VERY useful when it comes to buying things that are half the price they are in the UK - just Google 'set up USA virtual postal address' and you'll have lots of companies offering this service to choose from.

If you've managed to get the crayons out of your heart shaped mould, here's another lovely and easy rice crispy hearts recipe that you can use it for and I'm sure the kids will love. It's going to get messy... but what fun!

I've been known to say that it's never too soon to introduce kids to learning, I'm not sure I'd go as far as starting my child's education whilst they're still in the womb though!

However, lots of people seem to think it's a good idea and have been exposing their unborn offspring to the BabyPlus 'curriculum' - a series of, and I quote, "...naturally derived sounds that resemble a mother's heartbeat."

Naturally derived...?  What does that mean?!  And, erm, babies are already listening to sounds that actually are their mother's heartbeat.

Apparently the whole BabyPlus 'thing' works by introducing your child to a sequential learning process, built upon the natural rhythms of their own environment.

• Click HERE to read more about BabyPlus

BabyPlus also claim that BabyPlus children have an intellectual, developmental, creative, and emotional advantage from the time they are born - talk about Tiger parenting to the per-birth extreme (you can tell I'm not impressed with this, right?).

You should start using it from 18 weeks gestation, and it will set you back $149 but, you know what?  Isn't this just another way to get parents (to be) to spend money on 'stuff'?

I mean, why not take things a step further and play educational sounds to our eggs and sperm to really get in there early!!!

HA!! I've really amused myself now - I see 'educational pants' for men on the pre-conception road, that play various sounds and rhythms; folic acid for women, 'smart pants' for men -  just remember you heard it here first!

These have to be about the coolest version of cake in a mug I've ever seen! My two year old is going through a loving baking stage, and I can just see this going down a real treat. They'd be fun to make together too. (Click on the image for instructions.)

I'm a Mrs M, so I couldn't resist paying another Mrs M a visit - so this week, PlayPennies loves...At Home with Mrs M!

I'm not usually a fan of lots of reviews on blogs, but the first one I came across from Mrs M was one for Just Dance Kids for the Wii - I have kids and I have a Wii and we (well, me and my 16-year-old daughter) love Just Dance 3.  My youngest likes to try and play but it's all just a bit much for him and, having read Mrs M's review, I think it could be just the thing for him; he'll be thrilled.

The next post caught my eye because, quite frankly, the sausages in the image at the top looked A-MAZ-ING!  They're Nigella's Cranberry and Soy Glazed Sausages and if I wasn't back in serious training and eating then I'd be giving them a go!

Food features rather prominently in Mrs M's blog - whether you're looking for one-off or weekly inspiration then the RECIPES category is the place to look.

Mrs M also needs your help...

"Mr M has just turned 40 and my parents have rather generously offered to take care of the children whilst we go away for a week. We're unrestricted on time of year so the world pretty much is our oyster."

The thing is, when the world truly is your oyster - WHERE do you actually go?!  This is Mrs M's dilemma and she's asked for help - where would you go if you were in her shoes?

For my holiday money I'd go somewhere hot, quiet and as I'd be travelling sans kids, I'd have to go somewhere where it was adults only too - oh and there'd need to be the most amazing beach and warm, WARM sea to swim in.

There'd also need to be a beach-side cocktail bar too - I'm rather partial to the odd cocktail now and again, Mrs M is too as evidenced by the cocktail recipes that pop up here and there when you're At Home with Mrs M.

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