Macy

While I was taking some photos of the cat,  Macy walked in and asked me to take some of her.

I couldn't not post this one as it just has her personality shining through!

Little Dish Go Gos

What Little Dish have to say about their New Go Gos:

Little Dish Go Gos are yummy mini oat biscuits made with wholegrain oats, flax and chia seeds and protein, created in partnership with our nutritionist. These natural and nutritious ingredients all help to deliver slow release energy and nourishment to your little one. Each little bag of Go Gos provides a source of fibre and 3g of protein, which is important for the growth of healthy muscles and bones. And they’re made from a wheat and dairy-free recipe*.  That’s what we call Good Energy.
*Go Gos have been made in a kitchen that uses wheat and milk for other recipes, so there is always a chance they may contain traces of wheat or milk.

Macy isn't a fan of anything overly sweet, I think it's what she is used to.  She has been brought up on fruit, veg and healthier snacks, I used to make her cheese biscuits when she was younger.  It is difficult to find a healthy snack, we obviously use fruit as snacks but it's nice to have something else as well.  So when I saw the opportunity to test these I thought it suited us well!

The box was well presented and I love the fun branding.  Our first opportunity was to take a pack for a snack after swimming, we used the Go Gos drawstring bag to take Macy's towel and costume too!  Macy is always hungry after swimming and we usually take a piece of fruit with us, but she tends to have a lot of fruit during the day anyway.  We tried the Vanilla Go Gos and they went down a treat with lots of nom noms!

Macy also loved the ginger, I was surprised she liked the ginger but it was a nice delicate flavour rather than being over powering, you can really taste the oats and just a hint of flavour. She didn't like the raspberry flavour, said they were a bit sweet - I didn't think they were overly so but because they contain real pieces of raspberry the flavour was a bit stronger than the delicate vanilla and ginger ones.  What Macy really loves in life at the moment is a sticker! What did we find on these little packets - a sticker - great idea to reseal the packs for little ones who can't manage them all and when you have finished they can stick it on their top, really cute stickers.

Little Dish don't shy aware from the 'no added sugar' they are honest and tell you that they have added molasses and honey, however when you compare the amount of sugar to a leading well known brand, they still have less sugar.  Guidelines are maximum daily free sugar intake of 19g or 5 teaspoons for 4-6 year olds.  For 2-3 year olds, no more than 14g or 3.5 teaspoons per day*. *based on population average energy requirements (SACN 2011 DRVs for Energy, EAR population averages).  A pack of Go Gos contains 4g of sugar.

Typical Values 100g	Vanilla Go Gos	Heinz Banana Biscotti
Energy	462kcal	422kcal
Fat	15.5g	9.5g
- Of which saturates	2.0g	4.1g
Carbohydrates	65.4g	71.7g
- Of which sugars	16.0g	22.0g
Fibre	6.0g	5.0g
Protein	12.1g	10.0g
Salt	0.3g	0.50g

I really like these snacks, the bags are a decent 25g size, they are a healthier alternative to other snacks on the market and the best of all Macy loves them!  We will always take fruit out with us but these are something I can keep in the cupboard or in the car for when we run out or when she has already had enough fruit during the day which she quite often has had.

I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.

Active Childhood

I want Macy to experience as much as possible to find out what she enjoys and what she excels at. I also don't want a child that sits in front of a television or a computer all day. I want her to develop confidence and give anything a go!

So an unexpected day off and these were the activities!

Vtech Toot-Toot Drivers

For Macy's first birthday she had lots of Vtech TootToot Drivers.  When I was a child I used to love my car garage and cars so that's initially what I was looking for.  The Vtech garage looked the best as there is a ramp, a lift, a helipad, barriers to lift up and down and it is interactive.  It seemed to have the most features out of all the garages on the market.  Then I discovered the rest of the range and decided that was the way I wanted to go as it is nice that she can add things to it.

So we now have the garage, some track which connects up to a fire station, traffic lights, service station, deluxe crash launcher, play mat and transporter.  I love the smart points on the track such as when you run a car up to the traffic lights it says 'hello fire engine.'  When she first had the set she enjoyed running the cars up and down the garage ramp and in and out of the transporter.  Now she is a bit older she can put the track together and run the cars round the track.  The pieces fit together really easily and we have taught her colours as well with the track.  There are so many different vehicles available too - police cars, racing cars, helicopters, tractors and more.

They also do an animals range as well which looks just as good, this came out just after we had got Macy the drivers set so we haven't had any animals.  For more info on the range click here.

Strider Bike Race Birmingham

Part of the reason for choosing the Strider Balance Bike was to join the Strider Community, it seemed that Strider really encourage the children to be active and hold events and races for the children to take part in.  They are huge in America and it looked like it could be really popular in this country also.  So we jumped at the chance to take part in the first Strider racing in Birmingham.

We checked in and all of the children received a number plate for their bike along with a little strider bell.  All children had to wear knee and elbow pads as well as a helmet for safety.  The races were split by ages, 2 year olds, 3 year olds etc.  The 2 year olds race was the first on however all of the children were allowed to practice first.  I personally felt this was a bit much as the track was quite narrow and for my not quite 2 year old she found it a bit scary with some of the older children who were flying round the track.  A better way to do it would have been to have 20mins / half an hour practice for each of the age groups before their races so that it doesn’t get quite as manic.

Macy didn’t end up racing as she found it too much – she struggled to get up the hills on the track, she hadn’t quite got the strength and the older children flying behind her and having to stop while she got up a hill really put her off and upset her. It was a shame as she looked fab in all her gear and hopefully next year when she is a bit bigger she can withstand the boisterousness of the older children.  The older children did have a whale of a time and it was a great atmosphere, I think all the children that took part got a medal.

If you go down to the woods.....

....you will find a Gruffalo, or not as the case was today.  Macy did search high and low but he was nowhere to be seen so she decided he must have gone to the loo!

Petits Filous Magic Squares & Play Dates!

Macy loves to be outside, she hates being shut indoors therefore when the weather is dry we usually find something exciting to do outdoors. She doesn't sit still for long so we are always looking for something active to do and I also believe if children are active from day dot then they should remain so for the rest of their lives and keep fit and healthy.

So when the sun is shining we got the balance bike out which is a great way to burn off that excess energy!

Or we go for a walk with the dogs and to make it interesting we hunt for the Gruffalo feeding Macy's imagination.

On a rainy day we might visit somewhere like the Sealife centre, Macy loves the film Finding Nemo so we hunted for Nemo on our recent trip there.

If we fancy a lazy day indoors when the weather is awful, Macy likes nothing better than role play games, whether it is having a tea part with her toys or pretending to be Doctor Macy and putting a plaster on Tigger!

Petits Filous Magic Squares

Macy has been off yoghurt for a while so I was a little dubious about this test, she likes to do everything herself - little miss independent!  So I put the pot down on the table and gave her a spoon, to my surprise she actually wanted to try it - whether the pot or the two colours of the yoghurt made it look more inviting?  Anyway she loves them, they come in either strawberry or raspberry and vanilla.  

The yoghurts contain just under 20% of their daily calcium allowance and just under 25% of vitamin D.  However there is 9.9g of sugar per pot, now that seems a lot of sugar, I struggle though because there isn't any clear guidance as to how much sugar a toddler/child should have.  I worry about giving her too much sugar as I don't want her to develop an addiction to sugar and I think it is easily done.  There is 12.4g per 100g which does seem about average for a yoghurt but I think it sounds a lot as they are quite big pots - 80g.  American websites seem to suggest between 12-17g a day max for a toddler so that doesn't leave a lot left over after she has had one of these!  If anyone had a good website for UK nutritional guidance for toddlers please let me know as there just doesn't seem to be anything out there for children.

This post is an entry for BritMums #MagicSquaresPlaydates Linky Challenge, sponsored by Petits Filous

Devon!

We spent a couple of nights at The Grand, Torquay as Mark had to go and sort a repair to a caravan down there so we thought we would have a little bit of a holiday.  With the housebuild we can't afford to go away this year or probably next or the year after at this rate!  So if we can grab a couple of nights away then we're happy!

I love being by the sea, a holiday isn't a holiday without a beach close by, we took Sweep with us to have some fun and to run and play on the beach.  We all loved it and had a fab time.  We also find a little bike track at the back of Goodrington sands which Macy loved on her Strider bike.

We visited the model village in Babbacombe and I was worried Macy would get bored but she loved it and half way round they had a mini golf course too so it gave her something a bit more to do.  Bonus as we could take the dog with us, however we hadn't realised that the car park was pay and display and got a ticket!!  Gutted, we just never thought a tourist attraction would have a pay and display car park so we didn't think to look.

 We've come back feeling refreshed and relaxed :) 

Strider Balance Bike

Macy has been pushing her little Bullyseye pony around for a while now her feet can reach the floor so we started looking at balance bikes.  I had never liked them as they always look a bit nasty but a friend at work bought her son one from Halfords and it looked like a proper bike which I much preferred.  She said he is progressing so much quicker than her daughter who always had a trike as she has never got the hang of balancing.  So that was it and we said that will be her Christmas present.

We had a good look online at what was about and because Macy is quite small, it did narrow our search down.  Quite a few are from ages 2 and up so there were only a few from 18 months up.  I don't like the wooden or plastic ones and we were really taken by the look of the Strider bikes.  After a bit more research we decided that was the way to go.

• Striders are under 3kg in weight against most others which are around 4kg, so easier to handle
• Handlebars are adjustable whereas most others aren't
• Seat and handlebars are adjustable with an easy clamp - no tools required, sport model
• Footrests for when the child is confident, they can put their feet up
• Lower saddle height than any others
• More benefits can be found here: Reasons to Buy a Strider

We decided to go for a yellow bike to look a bit different from the usual girly pink.  We also went for the Sport over the Classic mainly because of the smaller handlebar grips because of her little hands.  Also though because we liked the handlebar pad, the quick release clamps and the fact it came with the longer saddle post too.

We ordered a number, yellow wheel and grips, however a few days before Christmas we saw some photos of multicoloured Striders and decided we wanted to make it look a bit more girly and wanted to pimp it up in pink!  So after speaking to Strider (who have amazing customer service and super speedy delivery) they just said that's fine, just return the yellow bits when you can.  The pink wheels, handlebar grips and saddle arrived the day before Christmas Eve - we expected to have to wait until after Christmas but no, they were here.  The bike went together easily.

Macy unwrapped her bike excitedly.

And she was soon on it!  We held the handlerbars to start as she decided she could do it and it fell over which frightened her a bit but because it is so light, it didn't hurt her.  She was soon back on and flying up and down the lounge.

Today she has been on it this morning and is virtually doing it herself, we are walking behind and just being there to catch it so it doesn't frighten her but it isn't going to be long before she is off on her own as we aren't holding it.

I am amazed that literally after 10 minutes she is virtually balancing on her own and she isn't quite 18 months and also is small for her age.  The bike looks cool and I love being able to customise it so it looks a bit different.

Strider also do the Strider Championship, fun competitions for the children all round the country which looks like great fun for them.  I would really recommend Strider, the product is excellent and their customer service is fantastic :)