The Health Visitor Assessment

It was just last week I was sat here at this very computer and writing a post that was making my blood boil. Its' a post that I put off publishing, you see it was a post docuenting how I let down I felt by my health visitor following on from Leo's 2 and a half year check. It's a post that I have now posted alongside this one.. Because the contrast of feelings that I have felt change within this time frame are something that I never anticipated.

My health visitor turned my opinion of her completely upside down and she re-gained my trust once again, and in this moment right now... I am so thankful to her.

They say everything happens for a reason, and I have to say I am inclined to agree with them. It has been almost a year since I have had any form of contact from my health visitor despite multiple attempts of phoning her, leaving voicemail's in the hope that I could just speak to any member of their team and follow up THEIR concerns for my little man. No one ever returned my calls and not even a whisper was heard from them, until Granny was at the doctors earlier this week and just by chance ran into our health visitor.

Granny told our health visitor the struggles we have faced in the last year, some of which I haven't even posted on this here blog... Nursery reports putting Leo's speech and development 20 months below where he should be. Concerns over his general being in the social environment and hints and nudges that there may be something else underlying. Of course in my heart of hearts I had my own opinion, and I didn't share the same concerns as the nursery, and at this moment in time, the same concerns the health visitor had potentially shared back in January.

It turns out that our health visitor has been off on sick leave for a substantial amount of time, she hasn't been around. That doesn't excuse why another member of the team couldn't have responded to my calls and my messages. But it does explain the radio silence and lack of action that has been on the air waves...

The outcome from this chance meeting with the health visitor (who was now back at work full time) was that she felt awful for the last year. She had been told how let down I felt, basically how I had felt in the post I had written here. She juggled her schedule around and the very next day I spoke to her on the phone. We arranged a meeting for today (Monday 15th December 14) and she arrived at the house ready to make a referral based on everything that I had told her.

I wanted this referral. I really wanted it. I wanted to be put in front of a professional and be provided with answers that I felt were long over due. Was it just a speech delay? Or was it something more? Had I been walking around with my head in the sand all this time? Or was my gut instinct the right one?

 Leo and I had been sat on the sofa in silence before the health visitors arrival, I didn't want him engrossed in the television or tootling around the lounge with his favourite trains, I wanted him to to show his full attention so that the health visitor could get a real idea of his character and personality. The health visitor arrived armed with her suitcase, and a number of the objects and puzzles that I had watched Leo complete on his 2 and a half year assessment.

 I handed the health visitor the latest nursery report, and the report I had been handed by the lady from a local agency who had come in to observe Leo. She thanked me for these forms, and then told me that she wouldn't be looking at them until she had completed her assessment which I thought was a grand idea. 

For a little while she just sat and observed us, listened to Leo and I talking among ourselves and watched Leo as he played a magnetic fishing game. Leo wasn't phased by her presence in the room, and just carried on chatting away with me as he always would, and this pleased me greatly as it meant that she could hear first hand just how much his speech had come along. She could hear that he could hold a conversation.  

The health visitor had brought a copy of the first assessment that she had conducted back in January, and it was decided that we would focus on the parts of the form that she had labelled with a 'Q' for query. 

Leo was still happily playing his fishing game, but was easily persuaded to demonstrate his drawing skills. We found out the array of colourful crayons and asked him to find the red one, after he had done that and produced some beautiful markings we asked him to find a number of different colours in turn, and that's exactly what he did. The health visitor was pleased with his drawing, pen holding and colour knowledge which pleased me in turn.

As the assessment went on our health visitor surprised me. She told me she had absolutely no concerns. No concerns over his speech, she even went on to say that he was a right little chatter box and wasn't even really behind on that front any more. She told me that she wasn't going to be referring him because there was absolutely no need, and that the Pediatrician would laugh at her for putting Leo forward when he was quite obviously developing and happy.

Then she opened up the reports I had handed her, the one from the outside source that had come into nursery read that Leo didn't give eye contact. That he had poor facial expressions and was ultimately very behind. Her response? Well she pretty much said that they must have seen a different child that day, because the little boy she had just witnessed was switched on and alert.

Then she read the nursery report and was astounded at where they were placing Leo in his developments. In some areas they have Leo 20 months behind, and that is on the most recent report that I received this month. I have just accepted this as fact, everything following the 2 and half year check in January I have just accepted. The concerns, the worries, the urgency... It just seemed to be the path we were on and Leo was behind. Until today when the health visitor told me that Leo was perfectly normal. 

The health visitor told me that Leo is not behind at all, he is catching up and is actually operating in the capacity of a 4 and a half to 5 year old. She said that if the nursery are grading these reports as they are then there is something wrong, either Leo isn't as happy at the school as we think he is, he's shy, or the staff need further training. She made me promise that I wouldn't worry, that she is certain that he is just a normal 3 year old boy who is going to excel at school, he's just getting there in his own time.

Hearing all of this, all of this positivity from the lady who had first expressed her concerns 11 months ago was astounding. I was beaming from ear to ear. She was completely agreeing with me on every front, and my instinct had been the right one. I hadn't been walking around with my head stuck in the sand, I had been listening to my intuition, and it was the right one.

I had been so set on getting Leo the referral I didn't once for a second think that the health visitor was going to come in and go against everything that had initially been said, and against the reports of the nursery, and actually see Leo as I see him everyday.

It's been 11 months since Leo's 2 and a half year check, so much has happened in that time frame. He has grown and developed and done so much growing up. Yes I feel like someone on the health visitor team could have provided the courtesy of calling back and picking up our case, but ultimately Leo was fine just like I knew he would be. And in the end our health visitor came through and helped us.

For that I am very grateful.

The First Nativity

I always envisioned that your very first Nativity Play would be after you started reception, when you were that little bit bigger. As it happened this Christmas you performed in your debut performance and it was such an amazing sight to behold. You had been practicing at nursery for weeks, and I couldn’t help thinking how brave (Crazy?) they were to even attempt such a performance with a cast of pre-schoolers, but it all worked out perfectly.

You had been cast as a shepherd, and on the run up to the big performance I had been set the task of sourcing a costume fit for such a dashing shepherd. On the night I took you into the school that backs onto the nursery (The school in which you will hopefully be attending!) and you looked a little teary. You had been excited about going into school until you discovered you wouldn't actually be attending the nursery.

I dropped you off with your fellow cast members and the nursery leaders got you ready for the lime light, I then made my way out into the audience to find a seat with Daddy, Granny and Granddad Martin. I could hear tears coming from the class room and I hoped with everything that I had that it wasn’t you, thankfully it wasn’t and you soon marched down the aisle right past me holding hands with your friend. You saw me and your little lip started to tremble and I just wanted to give you a big cuddle! They sat you down on the bench near the front and I saw your lip quiver a few more times as some of the other children took to the stage for their roles. I even heard you shout out that you needed the loo, but unfortunately everyone was too busy to hear you. Part of me wanted to run up and run you out before you had to go on stage, but I thought that may upset you in the long run.

It was eventually your turn to go up on stage, and you did exactly as you were supposed to do, you had learnt your role well and were such a little superstar. Your face did tremble every now and then and you didn’t look exceptionally happy about being up there, but you were super!

You got up on stage and lay down pretending to be asleep, and then another child came along tapping you on the head, waking you up. You then made your way over to the corner and sat patiently while the other children did their parts. Towards the end you even took part with some of the songs!

You did so well and although you were completely out of your comfort zone, you gave it your very best shot.

  

Well done little man, you little superstar!

Frustration

This post was written on the 2nd December 2014, and in that time frame from then until publishing a few developments have been made. You can read about our positive experience with our health visitor right here. But for now, this is how I was feeling until these developments were made..

A year ago in January Leo had his 2 and a half year check. It was here that concerns were expressed over his development, particularly in his speech. I left his appointment far from impressed with the way I had been spoken to, but I left with the next steps of what I had to do in order to help Leo. The health visitor had told us that she wanted to see Leo again in two months’ time, she wanted him to repeat the assessment and if she still wasn’t happy then she would refer him onto speech therapy and we would go from there.

The health visitor was supposed to book Leo in for an eye appointment as soon as possible as she had also expressed concerns over a potential squint. The two months came and went with no word from our health visitor and no word of any appointment to get Leo’s eye checked out. I called and called the office where she worked trying to get in touch with her, when that failed I left her a voice mail asking about the eye appointment and also asked her to call me back so that we could arrange the assessment appointment. There was no call back, and absolutely no contact from my health visitor after that. She finally got around to making the eye appointment judging by the fact a week later a letter landed through the door, but I’m sure that’s only because I jogged her memory after she had let us fall through the cracks.

Still she had expressed some real concerns over Leo, she had taken one chilled out Mother and turned her into an emotional wreck. She had insinuated that there was more wrong with Leo, but of course couldn’t go into any details about it. She was that concerned that she just completely forgot about us, and in the long run she has let me and more importantly, she has let Leo down. The way she spoke to us about Leo back in January was worrying and completely negative. When I go over that appointment in my head I don’t re-call anything positive being said at all. But the point is she has taken those concerns and not followed up on any of them, she has left a child who would have benefited from a speech therapy referral 11 months ago drop completely through the net.

Ultimately She hasn’t done her job and she hasn’t supported us through any of this, and the respect I once had for her has diminished. I am actually angry at the way we have been treated by her, or not treated as the case may be. I left that appointment and did everything she advised, maybe if she had held up her end of the arrangement things wouldn't have taken this long to sort out. Maybe the positive improvements I can see in Leo today could have been exceeded further.

Leo has come on so much in the past 11 months, but our health visitor doesn’t know this. Leo could have come on even further had she pulled her finger out and actually done what she was supposed to be doing. I have been lucky in the fact that nursery have been on hand to help, and eventually they referred Leo for speech therapy back in June, a whole 5 months after it could have been originally placed.

Now speech therapy is happening, and they are nice enough people and I am glad that they are on board to help Leo and I, but even they are flakey. They book appointments and then forget they have booked them, they double book them, they book them and forget to tell you they have been made, they turn up late, and don’t really seem to know whether they are coming or going. It was just the other week that I rushed from work in my lunch break to be at an appointment that the speech therapist had forgotten to cancel with me, wasting my time, and wasting Leo’s time when she refused to see us.

We have had outside people from the local children’s centre come in to observe Leo at nursery, and nursery passed back the positive feedback that they didn't think anything was wrong and the observation had been fine. Only for me to then receive a report that read completely differently, it spurred me into calling the doctors and booking into see our GP to try and gain a pediatrician referral. It than transpired that this report was actually a rather old report and that the latest observation was absolutely fine.  I sometimes feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall, one person is telling me that Leo is really behind, another tells me he’s absolutely fine and the spectrum of normal at this age is so varied, and then there are people feeding me old information.

I feel like I have had to jump through hoops to even get to this point, I welcome any help with open arms, but the people who are in a position to help don’t seem to be very forthcoming. The appointment I am sitting with Leo on Friday (Friday 5th December 14) is ultimately me pushing to get Leo in front of a pediatrician. If there is something underlying (which I don’t think there is aside from speech delay) then it will have taken a year or over for someone to actually see us. Now I can’t help feeling really frustrated about that fact, because if there is an additional aspect of needs that hasn't been catered for, that’s an entire year of support that has not been there. Everyone who has seen Leo, I have had to fight to put him there. Surely it shouldn't be so hard to seek an opinion and guidance to help a child? To help my child!

I will go along Friday and see what is said, but I am certain the only issue is speech delay. Everyone is so quick to label a child these days, and speech delay or no speech delay, that boy of mine is happy and never without a smile for long.

Ice Skating at Webbs of Wychbold

2 weeks ago Leo and I hopped into the car on a cold and dark Wednesday evening, and turned up Michael Buble’s catchy Jingle Bells rendition as we started the engine to begin our journey over to Droitwich for the Webb of Wychbold press day.

By the time we arrived we were both full of Christmas cheer and I had one very excited toddler on my hands, he had been so pleased when I had told him about our ice skating adventure, and had told everyone at nursery where we were going. This was to be Leo’s very first ice skating experience and I was un-sure as to how he would react…

Just as we were nearing the end of our journey and pulling off the roundabout, we saw Webbs in all its glory, and it was suffice to say that Christmas had well and truly arrived in all of its spender.  Welcoming us off the roundabout was an abundance of Christmas Trees full of twinkly lights, and with Michael Buble’s ‘White Christmas’ playing in the background, we were certainly ready for a night of festive fun. 

Of course as I had expected, Leo’s excitement had begun to fade as tiredness set in, and he had already point blank refused the idea of wearing ice skates. When the time came to put his skates on, there was quite a lot of screaming and a few crocodile tears and I worried that he was just quite simply not going to get as far as the ice…

The kids skates were really quite impressive, little ones can keep their own shoes on just like you would with a pair of roller skates, and they are double sided so that they don’t need to worry about balancing on a single blade. They can be adjusted to the size of your child’s feet which means you don’t need to worry about the sizing.

With our skates on and one very un-happy 3 year old in tow I placed him onto the ice, holding his hand tightly… All the while hoping that he would realise just how much fun he could have if he just gave this experience a chance. But he refused to give in, and creating a rather big scene on the ice he decided enough was enough. Luckily there was one more option… A ice skating aid that Leo now refers to as a ‘Ice Boat’. We traded in the ice skates for the skating aid and finally that cheeky smile began to return to Leo’s face, all be it a nervous one to start with…

The skating aid meant that Leo didn’t have to ice skate himself, he sat down on one of the two seats and was perfectly happy with being pushed around the ice. The faster we went, the bigger the smile and he had the best time. The ice rinq is just lovely and this year even boasts a cover over the top so that you can skate whatever the weather, and with the weather being a mixture of drizzle and showers that night, this was a very welcome addition.

The rinq is a great size and with timed sessions going on it was never over crowded with people, this gave us the opportunity to get the most out of the experience. Leo and I decided to really put some speed into our skating and that proved interesting with the skating aid, especially around corners…Although I only crashed a couple of times in the grand scheme of things, and this didn’t bother Leo one little bit. In fact I vaguely re-call him laughing even more when we did crash!

Skating around with Christmas lights all around you on a crisp evening, with your family is exactly what Christmas is all about. It’s magical and memorable and despite Leo’s rocky start, a great time was had by the both of us and we couldn't wait to go back again and take Leo's Daddy, so that's exactly what we did!

I had never been along to Webb’s of Wychbold before and being as local as I am, this is madness. It is such a beautiful place, especially at this time of year. There is so much attention to detail, and they even have Santa around if you want to take the little ones to say hello.

Once you have finished on the ice you can warm up in the café right next door with a hot chocolate and a cake, that’s exactly what we did and it was the absolute perfect end to the perfect evening.

We are already planning on returning in the next week or so, and Leo is so excited to get back on the ice. Maybe this time he will even don a pair of his own ice skates… The jury is still out on this one.

Disclaimer: We were invited along to the Webb’s of Wychbold press day and provided with complimentary entry to the ice rinq, hot chocolate and a cake. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.

41 Months Old

Winter set in and in the blink of an eye Jack Frost had sprinkled his first dusting and you had turned 41 months old. This month has seen you becoming more cheeky, humorous and dare I say it…? More grown up.

Your vocabulary has been coming on and the depths of conversations we can have has been really interesting, and it makes me so proud to hear you really making an effort with your words. This month you have been telling me all sorts.

The one where I won’t put the roof down on the Mini.

Leo: ‘Mummy put the roof down’

Me: ‘Leo it’s far too cold to have the roof down today. It’s freezing outside!’

Leo ‘It’s not freezing Mummy!’

Me: ‘Oh yes it is Leo!’

Leo ‘Oh no it’s not Mummy! You naughty! I call Santa!’

The one where you cancel Christmas for the waitress in Frankie & Benny’s!

Waitress: ‘You make sure you eat all of your dinner up and then we can look at the puddings!’

Leo ‘No Christmas for you! No Santa come your house! No Christmas dinner!’

The one where you think I owe an apology.

Leo: You be nice me Mummy!’

Me: ‘I am being nice to you Leo.’

Leo: You hurt me! You say sorry!’.

We have been carrying on with the speech therapy and working closely with nursery, and I think it is safe to say that we are all seeing you develop. Your such a kind natured little boy, you care about how others are feeling and you always apologise if you accidently hurt someone. I was watching you with Josh just a few weeks ago, and something happened that resulted in Josh crying. I didn’t see exactly what but you took it upon yourself to say ‘Sorry Josh, I give you a kiss’. And that is exactly what you did, you gave him a cuddle and a kiss that was so  lovely to behold. Once upon a time you were the little boy who refused to say sorry point blank, but these days you are just so loving and affectionate.

November has seen you getting increasingly excited about Christmas, and it really is the first year that you have a proper understanding of what is going on. You can see everyone around you building up for the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, the Christmas lights appearing and capturing your complete attention. You talk about Santa and what you want for Christmas and even know that on Christmas Eve, the man in Red is going to deliver your gifts by sleigh and enter the house by means of the chimney! You have very quickly worked out that the weeks ahead are going to be full of magic and wonder, and at almost 3 and a half, you are in awe of everything.

You even had your very first Costa Hot Chocolate... and Loved it! The next day you put in your demands for a Costa and a Subway!

You are spying adverts on the TV and avidly watching them, and when the advert wraps you tell me ‘I want that! Santa bring it!’. I have had to explain that Santa can’t bring you absolutely everything that you want for Christmas, but he will do his best to make you smile.

A big development for us this month is that you are finally starting to ask questions. This has been one of the language developments we have been waiting for, and now you ask me ‘What’s that?’ about absolutely everything. You have the wording to help you ask what you want to ask, and you take in my answers and store them for next time. Your memory never ceases to amaze me, you can remember things that I thought you would have long forgotten. Down the road from our house each year a man puts up a rather larger Christmas Tree decoration in his front garden. Last year you were so impressed by it and you missed it for months after he had taken it down, and now that it is back up again you have told me ‘not in loft now, out of box!’ and remembered the entire conversation I had with you about what happens to Christmas once everything is finished, and you even remembered the tree.

You are still loving nursery, even if you have decided you don’t like forest school for the moment. When I asked you what you did while the other children were at forest school you told me ‘I have hot chocolate and biscuits!’ – I guess that is why you would prefer to skip forest school!

Naptimes are slowly dwindling but you still get so incredibly tired and grouchy in a afternoon, we have taken to having a sit down and cuddle together and maybe watching a film (currently Christmas films!), but with school creeping ever closer I know that we need to try and leave the naps behind so that you are ready to start school with your peers in 9 months’ time.

You are still doing very well with the toilet and have very few wet accidents, but we are still trying to combat the number 2 issue. You have done 2 on the toilet now, but it’s hit and miss. You hold out for bedtime when you have a nappy and do it within the first 5 minutes of wearing your nappy. I have tried getting you to go before putting your nappy on, I have even resorted to bribery… But somehow we are going to have to get you there. We both know you can do it, and I am sure it’s a confidence issue. But in the New Year we will be trying to tackle nights, which will mean there will be no more nappies!

As we prepare for Christmas I know that your 42^nd month is going to be filled with cheer and magic. There is so much to look forward to and as we embrace the festivities together, I know we are in for a wonderful time.

Home Improvement

Renovating your home is a time filled of excitement and stress. You are excited to see the end result, but you know that for the time it takes to get these changes implemented, you are going to have to work around it in order to get any assemblence of normality. With Christmas coming, the projects being dreamed up now are usually to be actioned in the New Year, and people in the midst of a home improvement project are working against the clock in order to relax and enjoy the fruits of their labor over the festive season.

Painting and Decorating

Whether you are painting and decorating yourself or hiring someone else to put the leg work in on your behalf, there is a lot to consider, colours, textures, emulsion or silk… It’s always best to get a few paint samples first and try them out in the room you are thinking about before committing to a specific colour. It may seem like the best idea since sliced bread… But until you apply that last stroke of paint, or commit the painter to the job. Make sure you are completely happy with the plan before you proceed.

Flooring

How does one decide on the flooring in their home? For me I have to think practically and could only in-vision tiles or laminate flooring in the Kitchen and Bathroom’s. Having a 3 year old who makes a mess in whatever he does (That’s often how it feels!) it just seems silly to consider anything else for those two specific rooms in the house. He will without a shadow of a doubt drop food on the floor when he dines, and he will splash a lot of water out of the bath from time to time. So for us and our little family, those rooms will only ever have flooring that is easy to clean. For the rest of the house I am open to ideas, some rooms I feel just need to be carpeted. There is something so cosy about a room with carpet, but then for the lounge or the hallway I like the idea of lacquered engineered wood flooring, which is one of the most popular flooring choices on the market because of just how easy it is to maintain and care for. This flooring can last for many years without having to have any special treatments applied, another option I have considered is Brushed and Oiled Engineered Oak Wood Flooring but because they need more care I am swaying more towards the Lacquered.

As with any home improvement project, each decision needs to be carefully thought about and planned, from the ideal cleaning solutions right through to the end results. Give yourself a timescale to adhere to and don’t take on to much too soon. Set aside some time to do the initial number crunching, come up with a budget and stick to it.

Home improvement doesn’t have to be a sorry state of affairs, things have to change in order for things to grow.

Disclaimer: This is a featured post

Christmas 2014 - Kids Gift Guide

Spoiling our little one’s at Christmas is what makes the day so magical for us grown-ups. Seeing the look of pure innocence and wonder on their face when they see that Father Christmas has flown through the night and done his very best to fulfil that bustling Christmas List. Christmas 2014 is sneaking closer every day, and as I am a little bit behind on the Christmas Shopping front,  I have been sourcing inspiration and having a look at the toys that are set to storm Christmas this year.

Stocking Filler Ideas…

Stocking fillers are always an aspect that stumps me, I can never really think of anything that will fit nicely inside. Or decide on exactly how many stocking fillers to include. These are just a few ideas that came to mind when thinking about kid’s stockings on a whole:

The first thing that springs to mind when I dream up stocking filler ideas is chocolate, and in true Christmas spirit Toblerone (£1.00-£3.00) and Chocolate Orange (£2.00 - £3.00) are the ones that I would be noting down for the man in red. There are a wide variety of different flavours available, but my personal favourites have to be the Milk Chocolate Toblerone with Honey and Almond Nougat, and of course the Popping Candy Chocolate Orange.

Kids have many questions and it is only natural for them to be curious about the big wide world and what the grown ups of the world do. Mairi Mclellan is the author of a series of books entitled What Do The Grown Ups Do? and they would make lovely stocking fillers this Christmas for older children who want to know more about the big wide world of work, and what certain jobs entail. 

We were sent two of the series to have a read of, the first one was Richard the Vet. This is the fifth book of the series 'What do the grown-ups do?'. It's based in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, and the series aims to teach children aged 5-10 years about different jobs. The story is narrated through the eyes of the children, and the tone is kept light and fun while being informative. The story of Richard the Vet follows three local children who meet real workers and hear full accounts of the jobs that they do

. Richard is a large animal vet. Specialised in equine (horses), he spends most of his time between farms and stables. His hours are long but he loves his job. On their adventure, the children learn how Richard helps farmers to manage their prize bulls, how horses' teeth never stop growing, how to remove rotten teeth and how to avoid getting kicked!

The second book we have been sent from the series is Fiona the doctor. This story shows the children and the equipment in the doctor's bag that is used to help diagnose a patient's problem: the stethoscope, the otoscope, the oximeter.  They learn about the differences between blood pressure,  pulse, systolic and diastolic, GPs and specialists, and even why people get smelly feet! They also learn that doctors have their own jokes!

It is a lovely series of books that is sure to gain children's attention and maybe even get them thinking about their own hopes and dreams for the future.

The books retail at £7.99 and can be purchased from Amazon.

Boris and the DumbSkulls book is a traditional fantasy adventure for children 7+. The clever story and quirky humour makes it a great read not just for children but big kids (Mummy and Daddy) too! It's a a the perfect  read at bedtime, and what a story it is. It's the kind of book that's just filled to the brim with child eating witches, dead members of the aristocracy who come back to life to dance at the sound of music and a floating skull with a punk rock band made up of dwarves. The illustrations within the book will keep kids captivated with just how bold and colourful they are.

Boris and the Dumb Skulls retails at £7.77.

What’s not to love about a robotic pet that you aren’t going to end up looking after? A pet that if you forget to feed it (Which they will…) won’t pop it’s clogs!  The Pirate Robo Fish is exactly that, and priced at £12.00 it makes a very attractive stocking filler this year. The Pirate Robo Fish is the latest addition to the Robo Fish collection, with 6 new designs to collect! The fish are water activated, which means as soon as they are placed in the water they begin to move.  Each Robo Fish comes with a plastic Display Stand and two sets of batteries to keep the fun going longer!

For the older kids who enjoy a computer game or two, The Sims 4 may be a great addition. As a child myself the Sims was one of my favourite games, and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t given the name game a run through its paces. The Sims really has grown up in 2014, the level of detail that you can apply to a Sim when you create and customise them is incredible. Do you want them to have freckles? Give them Green skin? Make them marginally obese on top and incredibly skinny on the bottom? It’s all possible.  I can’t help but see how far this game has come from the very original, and it is lovely to see my younger sister enjoying a game I once loved. The Sims 4 retails from £46.32 for the standard edition up to £59.99.

Christmas Activity Gifts…

As Christmas is the perfect opportunity to get together as a family, why not indulge in some chocolate crafting? For starters the Chocolate Sweet Creatures Set (£12.77) comes with 6 animal moulds and a selection of colourful foil wrappers. It comes with instructions so that you can get the most out of the set, and explains how to melt down the chocolate and carefully spoon it into the moulds. Or if you fancy something a little more elaborate, how about  the Chocolate Candy Cottage Set? (£13.15) It comes with everything you need to build a masterpiece of a chocolate house, and makes a great alternative to the traditional Gingerbread house. The kit boasts structure moulds and sugar dough embellishments. You simply have to melt the chocolate down and pour it into the included moulds and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. Once you have created the walls and roof to your chocolate house, the fun begins and it is all about putting it together in the tastiest way possible using melted chocolate as the cement!

What’s In Santa’s Sack?

Cuddly toys are a must at Christmas, and Dinosaur plush toys are even better. The Tobar Snuggleasaurs is a soft huggable plush toy that can let out a real roar by pressing the button on its belly. It is covered in felt details including teeth, spine and claws. 

My little guy is slightly in love with trains and locomotives, so when I saw this I knew that it would make an ideal Christmas gift. The brightly coloured Tobar Bump N Go Bubble Train moves along and blows bubbles out of its chimney. When you activate the train it begins to roll forward and even makes a chugging noise if those bubbles aren’t enough to capture little one’s attention. This gift is perfect for a young train lover, or even for little one’s as an alternative to a traditional bubble machine. It retails at £14.99.

Building a den is a right of passage, growing up I was lucky enough to live in a home that backed onto woodland, and building (attempting) tree houses was something I thoroughly enjoyed as a child. I would love for Leo to have those same kinds of memories one day, to look back on a childhood full of adventure and smile. The Eden Project have the perfect den kit available that will provide children with hours upon hours of playtime, and memories to boot! The Eden Project Build a Den retails at £35.00 and comes equipped with:

- Tarpaulin

- Groundsheet

- Handmade mallet

- Tent pegs in a peg bag

- 10m rope

- Metal mug

- Camouflage face paint

- Camouflage haversack

As seen on BBC One’s ‘High Street Dreams’, this play house is great for outdoor adventures in the garden or as a fun indoors rainy day activity for kids. The absolute beauty about this gift is that the den can be absolutely anything that they want it to be, a secret hide out or just an adventure waiting to happen!

Now this next gift idea would have made me one happy little girl back in the day, The Barbie Glamtastic Change Bag is something a little bit special. Now part of me wishes my own bag had the capabilities this little beauty does.. and that is because this bag can change its colour in order to match any outfit. All you have to do is hold the Barbie handbag up against whatever you want to match it to, press the heart shaped button and watch it change colour before your eyes! In all it can match up to 100+ different colours and has a great selection of clip on accessories that really will make this bag the perfect choice for many Barbie fans out there this Christmas. The Barbie Glamtastic Change Bag retails at £29.99 but is currently on offer at Argos for £22.49.

Baby Annabell Brother Baby George Doll will be joining the families of many over Christmas 2014, named after the Royal Prince he is set to be on many a Christmas List. George is just like a real baby (46cm in length), he has realistic sounds and movements, he babbles, gurgles and sucks on his very own dummy. This little guy can even be fed from his bottle, and while he drinks he makes sounds while his mouth moves. If you lay Baby George down on the floor and touch his forehead, the little guy will let out a big yawn and drift off to sleep. Just like any baby, Baby George has moments where he is far from happy… And when he cries, he can cry real tears! This baby doll has so many different features that really does make it stand out from the rest, and come Christmas Day there will be many houses waking up to a new addition!

Baby Annabell Brother Baby George Doll retails at £47.99.

Now for the ultimate boy’s toy that I know my 3 year old would just go barmy over – The Fisher Price Imaginext Super Nova Battle Rover, the absolute ultimate outer space experience for your little one to enjoy right here with their feet firmly on the ground! The Battle Rover is a very generously sized play set, and vehicle all in one that boasts it’s own removable space shuttle! This one play set includes projectiles, disk launchers, an alien detecting chamber that lights up, 19 lights and over 200 unique sound effects and phrases!

The space shuttle has transforming capabilities and even includes it’s very own projectile launchers, sounds, kid activated control panel, pull out drill, saw blade and crane, three figures and even a small vehicle. The entire set is just full to bursting and is sure to capture the heart and imagination of every child that comes into contact with it. Leo and I will be posting a full review on this rather epic toy very soon!

The Imaginext Supa Nova Battle Rover retails at £129.99 but is currently on offer at Smyths for £99.99.

Each year Leo will get one main Christmas present, and this is something that we are prepared to spend a little bit more on. This year Leo has asked for a Nintendo DS and after doing some research we decided that the 2DS was the most realistic option. 

The Nintendo 2DS really is the perfect entry level console for a younger child, they are advised for children aged 7 up, but Leo has shown an active interest in playing and has picked up the skills to be able to give it a pretty good go!

I found the 2DS the most attractive option initially because of its one piece design, it  takes out the need for hinges to fold it, and removes the risk of the screen snapping in clumsy little fingers. My only concern with not being able to fold the DS like you would the more traditional models, was that it may be too big and take up more room when taking it out and about, but we haven’t experienced this at all. In actual fact it’s a really nice size, and Leo can hold it happily with two hands while he plays.

You can hold the 2DS like you would a tablet and it boasts twin screens with touch screen controls. This makes it easy for younger players to operate and navigate through the menus and of course the games. Leo like many children is no stranger to touch screen operation, and he has very quickly worked his way around the 2DS, all be it a little through trial and error, but even though he doesn’t read it hasn’t held him back. The 2DS menu screen features words alongside images, which assists pre-schoolers in being able to enjoy.

The Nintendo 2DS with Mario Kart pre-installed can be purschased from GAME for the bargain price of £109.99.

LeapFrog have a number of exciting toys for Christmas that suit a vast age range, proving to be very popular this year is the new LeapPad and the highly anticipated LeapTV. Among the selection we have My Pal Scout, an interactive plush toy that holds many hidden surprises. You can personalise Scout’s content, and he can even say your little one’s name, you can choose the songs he sings from a list rather than just making do. You can choose your little one’s favourite nursery rhymes and watch their face light up with wonder when he calls them by name. Scout has been a firm favourite in our house over the years and it really isn't hard to work out why. Scout retails at £19.99 but you can pick him up from Amazon for £14.53 right now.

The Read with me Scout would make an ideal Christmas gift for children aged between 2-5 years old, and he has been designed to help little one’s with their reading. Read with me Scout is soft, interactive and great fun to play with. He comes with 5 board books and he can read each of the included books aloud to your little one. Each of the books is numbered 1 through to 5, and it couldn’t be easier for little hands to pick a book and to get Scout reading it. All you have to do in order to set Scout up is to choose the book you want him to read, look at the number and pick the corresponding number on Scout’s collar. Read with me Scout retails at £29.99 but is currently on offer at £24.99 at Amazon.

Being small provides you with the god given right to take advantage of the sit and ride vehicles on the market, and this is never as true than at Christmas. Take the Smoby Big Bobby Car Ride On for instance, from and produced in Germany. This ride on is as solid and sturdy as they come and can hold a child up to 50kg (110lbs, 7.8 Stone) so you can rest assured that this is going to last your child for some time. It comes in two colours, Red and Blue and even comes equipped with a horn! It retails at £35.14. Wayfair.co.uk have it on sale at £30.99. 

Got children who don’t respond well to getting up in the morning? How about the Beurer WL30 Wellness DawnSimulator Light to help ease the morning dramas? The Wellness Dawn Simulator Light gradually increases the light intensity, mimicking the sunrise to help you (or the kids) wake up gradually and in a more natural way, especially on dark winter mornings like we are experiencing right now! You can set alarms just in case the light doesn’t wake you up, and what really pleases me about this is that you can have soothing sounds to bring you around gently, rather than a traditional alarm clock making you jump out of your skin the moment it goes off. Maybe it will even help the kids be in a better mood for the return to school after the Christmas break!?

The Wellness Dawn Simulator Light retails at £49.99 but it is currently on offer at Amazon for £49.86

Disclaimer: I was sent the above products for the purpose of this gift guide. Prices correct at time of publishing. All views and opinions expressed are my own.