Mothercare and ELC - various items

Two large parcels were delivered the other day, and thankfully not by the courier. Much to Tom’s exasperation I had got a bit carried away and ordered numerous items from both Mothercare and ELC.

First up were some items from Mothercare’s fab vintage range which included a wiggle elephant. I love this elephant and so does Dolly. She wrestles with it, chews it, jangles it’s numerous bells, and fiddles with the little star and horse that dangle from it. It’s attractive, colourful and fun and certainly beats the equivalent that Betty had when she was a baby (a large garish and very ugly lion given by a family member).

After a lot of twisting of Tom’s arm I also ordered Mothercare’s Star Walker which I haven’t been able to try out yet as Dolly is only 4 months old and it is recommended from 6 months. I am very excited about it though as I always wanted to get one for Betty when she was a baby but Tom said we already had enough clutter. He felt it would be one of those things that would get used once and then shoved to the back of the garden shed. I put my foot down this time however, and am convinced that Dolly will love it. It will be particularly useful when I am trying to cook lunch/dinner and she can whiz around the kitchen in it. The product looks good and has a lovely colour scheme. I will keep you posted on this one.

Another product that I am not able to use yet is the Aquapod – again this is from 6 months. I plan to dare to put Dolly into Betty’s room to sleep when she reaches 6 months and at this time I would also like them to share their bath-time. Therefore this product will be ideal because it will support Dolly at one end of the bath and Betty can sit opposite her on the non-slip mat. They can splash and play together – in an ideal world any way. Again I will keep you posted.

For the last four months I have been wearing a rather uncomfortable bra in bed to stop excess milk going every where. When I saw these Mothercare sleep bras I had high hopes for them because they looked really comfortable. However, having tried one on it didn’t feel at all comfortable and barely covered my boobs. I wouldn’t recommend this product unfortunately.

Like a lot of people I know, before I had children I was naively against plastic toys. Since having children I have realised that this is ridiculous. Therefore, when I looked through ELC’s Happyland range I was very excited on Betty’s behalf because I knew that she would love it. I picked the funfair set, the school bus and the playmat which then zips up into a fab storage box to keep all that is Happyland together. Each set comes with a selection of individual little people from little girls holding ice-creams, to clowns, to balding men. Betty has had hours of fun driving the people around on the bus along the roads on the playmat, dropping them off for swim in the pond, taking them to the merry-go-round and then taking them to smell the flowers. She becomes completely immersed in imaginary play and it is lovely to watch. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that the people don’t sit securely in the fair rides and tend to coming flying out when they are in motion. However, Betty finds this hilarious.

I also ordered the Rosebud Farm from ELC which is from their new range. This is a fabulous product and for anyone who sticks to the no plastic toys rule, this is ideal. The farm building is made from wood as are the 10 animals and the farmer and his wife. It is beautifully painted with lovely detail. I love it! I haven’t yet unleashed it on Betty because I fear that she has had toy overload so this may have to wait until her birthday which is coming up shortly. I have absolutely no doubt that she too will love it though.