#silentsunday

#Win A Dream Genii Girls Cotbed Duvet With Matching Pillow Case

Yesterday we were sent a Gorgeous cotbed quilt and matching pillowcase from Dream Genii.The set is designed for toddlers and is the perfect size for standard toddler and cot beds.

The design is very cute. The boys set is blue and white and features this lovely ocean scene with anchors, whales, boats and pretty embroidery. Its super cosy and warm but still light so will help children remain cosy and warm without overheating. Harley seems to love it and I can see why.

What’s more Dream Genii are selling it 65% lower than its RRP of £39.99 for just £13.99 which I think is excellent value for money and would therefore recommend this highly.

The set is recommended for children aged. 1-5 years and they also offer a very pretty girls set with pretty owl detail in pink.

Dream Genii have been kind enough to send me a girls set to giveaway to one of my readers here on a boy with Aspergers.

Here’s how to win it…

Subscribe to the blog via Feedburner and leave a comment telling me what email you subscribe under and why you should win.

Extra Entries

To gain extra entries do any or all off the following. Remember that for each extra entry you must leave an extra comment to qualify.

Pin the competition onto pinterest then comment with the link.

Tweet: “I want to win a cotbed quit set with @Clairelouise82 and @dreamgenii2 http://bit.ly/ZAg9Zx” Commenting with your twitter handle or direct link to tweet.

Follow @Clairelouise82 on twitter

Follow @dreamgenii2 on twitter

For an extra 2 entries subscribe to my sister site ‘Mummy of Many Talents‘ and leave a comment on any post on that site. Then comment here telling me the email you subscribed with.

Competition will close on the 25th April 2013 and is open to those in the UK only!

T&C: Winner will be selected randomly. Competition closing date is the 25th April 2013 at 11:59pm, entries submitted after this time will not be entered into the draw. Winner has 48hrs to confirm prize and send contact details or the winner may have to be redrawn. Open to those in the UK only! All rules need to be followed for entry to be included in the final prize draw.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this review but did receive the product for the purpose of this review. All comments are honest and that of my own.

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

DINO – THE MONSTER FIGHTING DINOSUAR

Once upon a time, in a little town in London there lived a little boy called Harley.

Every night when Harley goes to bed he’d be joined by his best friend Dino the friendliest, spottiest Dinosaur in town.

Harley had once told his mummy that he didn’t want to go to bed as he was scared the monsters were coming.

Mummy went up stairs and searched all over his bedroom. She looked under his bed, in his wardrobe and behind the curtains…. But she couldn’t find a single monster anywhere.

Mummy explained to Harley that there was no monsters and told him that if he ever felt scared then he could give Dino a big hug! Dino would always protect him and keep him safe.

Dino is a big part of the family his the toddlers companion and a much loved one too. They play by day and sleep by night in each others loving arms.

Dino isn’t a scary dinosaur, his actually kind and gentle and if you ask nicely Harley may even let you pat him.

He does have sharp teeth but I assure you he does not bite. He eats lollipops and likes to watch peppa pig while wrapped in Harley’s duvet.

Whether its a trip to the park or supermarket Dino always comes too

Dino is so much more than a monster fighting Dinosaur! His a friend, family member and Incredibly soft and cuddly one too.

Thank you Dino for the smile you put on my little boys face… We love you.

This is my entry to the Warren Evens Who fights the Monster under your bed competition.

Why I’m not looking forward to my toddler starting school

Who said it was meant to be easy.

They stand in little groups chatting to one another about their wonderful children. They sound as though they are almost in competition, yet desperate to impress one another.

Do I wish I was stood there with them. One of the mums who gets invited around the chief mummy’s house for a cuppa and a biscuit… No, not even for one minute!

Its strange, we see these social gatherings happening when we were at school! Yet some 15 years on its almost the same. Even stranger still is the fact that half of these social gatherings consists of the exact same people only older. They are now mothers themselves yet still raise their snobby little noses just as they did when we where teenagers.

I can’t sit here and label all mothers in this way… After all I know I’m not. And I’ve seen others who give a friendly smile and a node as they walk on by. But on the whole they keep themselves to themselves.

I have nothing against the mother who easily befriends every other child’s mother in their child’s class! However I do have something against the ones who make the business of other mothers their own and everybody else’s for that matter. Worse still they never normally seem to get the gossip quite right, resulting in some top notch bull shit or another flying around the community you live in.

I once read in the paper about two mothers kicking off at the school gates with their children present and of course everyone else’s. One mother was so badly attacked she was hospitalised while the other was taken of to the cells for some cooling off time. Another horrendous story I saw splashed all over the national news was that of a father attacking another father during their children’s Christmas production. The guy actually bit of the other guys finger and spat it out like some sick animal. I only hope they got the children out of sight because that’s the stuff of nightmares.

I’m not worried about having my finger bite of or anything (though that wouldn’t be fun) I’m just expressing my point which is “School playgrounds can be hellish places, not just for the pupils but for that of their parents too!”

So… Why am I banging on about all this now?

It’s simple… I’m already fretting about the day that will come and see my youngest child take that giant leap into education. His now almost 3 years old, and the time so far has just flown by. Before I know it I’ll be there… And again i’ll be stood in the playground with a new group of mums.

my youngest Harley almost 3

As regular readers will already know, When it comes to schools I seem to always have some kind of crappy issue. History is my proof.

I know that my eldest child being on the autism spectrum meant he didn’t fit in with his “Typical” peers and this therefore meant that I as his mother failed to fit in with their “Typical” mothers. Well, lets be honest here… I never overly tried! Friendships just happen and don’t need to be pushed (some need work but these are existing ones). If I don’t instantly click with someone then its 98% chance I never will.

I remember when we’d be stood waiting in the infant playground for the bell to ring indicating the start of the school day. Up in-till that point, little man would be running around like a rabbit with headlights. He’d bump into everything and everyone. Some may think… “And what? Isn’t this what boys do?” And to a certain extent, yes it is! However, little man had no regard for boundaries. He’d just roar into another’s conversation… Speak his mind and therefore say the most inappropriate things (normally stuff I’d actually be thinking but never likely to say aloud). He’d run and grab footballs from the ground while others tried to play a game and many peers therefore saw him as a really big pain in the butt! Me, I’d be dashing about after him like a crazed headless chicken, failing miserably at any attempt to catch him let alone control him. Mothers would stare, some shaking their heads and tutting, others turning to their friends in disgust. Whenever Little man dared attempt to approach their child they’d quickly be dragged away and warned “Don’t play with that child, you hear me?”

I hate it when parents act like my child is some sort of diseased being. They look at him like his some little demon child who could potentially convert their child into something similar. I used to let the ignorant stares upset me and remember that at one stage what others thought meant a big deal to me. But in all honesty you cannot spend each waking day like this. Yes you can advocate for your child but running after every parent who looks at you slightly funny probably means you’ll be spending most of your life running. Yes, I’d be a lot fitter but I don’t fancy it all the same.

So, there you have it! This is one of my many reasons I’m dreading the toddler starting school. I just wished he stay little forever.

Little man just about to melt down.

#Silent Sunday

#Silent Sunday

#Silent Sunday

Easter Crafting for a £1

This year myself and the children have done lots of different craft projects, its all that bit more exciting now Harley is that bit older and therefore able to contribute that bit more. Harley is 2 and seems to be a keen crafter making it one of our favourite afternoon pass times.

In the run up to Easter, I’ve shared one or two reviews on some brilliant creative activities that are fun for all ages and abilities. This week we’ve been doing all sorts of Easter crafting, what with competitions such as designing and making Easter bonnets and cards, its been rather busy in our house.

We were pleased to be sent a cute Easter gift bag containing some found Easter crafts from Poundworld. Within this gift bag were a few things perfect for the activities we had planed. I’ve always loved a good pound shop, these stores are not new to me, though Poundworld is somewhere I’m yet to discover. Here’s what was sent and how we used it, and remember everything is priced at the bargain price of a £1 with one or two deals thrown in for good measure.

A Dozen Decorative Chicks £1

Cute little yellow chicks perfect for any Easter crafting project. These also look great as non edible Easter cake toppers. Myself and the children have been busy making paper mache decorative eggs which we housed in a pretty basket we had decorated with lovely yellow ribbon adding a few of this chicks amongst the eggs made an excellent touch. You can find out how to make your own over on my sister blog “Mummy of many talents” tomorrow.

Make your own Easter Cards Activity pack £1

This was perfect for the children’s entries into the Easter card making competition. Within the pack you get 6 cards and 6 envelopes plus a cute selection of toppers and pretty embellishments for decorating your cards. Alice-Sara had her friend stay over for a sleepover and both had tons of fun making Easter cards. They did empty the crafts box adding additional touches such as glitter and other girlie bits and pieces. These are fantastic value for just a quid.

Easter Bonnet Decorating kit £1

A really good size pack of dressings for your Easter bonnets. Included are some sheets of luxury tissue paper, 6 brightly coloured large pipe cleaners (perfect for creating bunny ears) some ribbon and a good selection of pretty Easter embellishments. Alice used these to decorate her bonnet she had made with card and with what’s left we’ll decorate the straw bonnet supplied by Poundworld (see below) as a competition entry.

Straw Easter Bonnet £1

A really pretty straw Easter Bonnet decorated in pale lemon ribbon. The hats the perfect size for little heads and can be customised if desired. As mentioned we’ll be customising ours for a competition we’re entering.

Easter Poster Art Kit £1

I knew as soon as I saw this that my toddler would claim it and claim it he did. He loves painting and this set came with 4 posters to paint. Each poster consisted of a cute chick design and the quality of the paper was impressive. Sadly the brush fell apart within minutes and the basic water colour pallet was not really visible on the paper, I had to get the toddler to put lots of paper on his brush to get any sort of colour on the paper. Luckily we have poster paints which I took out for the remaining posters.

Easter Egg Hunt Game £1

This set consists of flat-packed Easter Baskets and Easter eggs. These are easily assembled into 3d visions and children can hunt for the eggs around the house and if whether permits, the garden, adding them to their baskets as they go.

As we already have the appropriate supplies for an Easter Hunt game we used these to make a fabulous beaded Easter picture by decorating both the eggs and baskets with the use of thick double sided tape and an assortment of beads, then we mounted the cards to some black paper. (you can find the step by step on my sister blog Mummy of many talents tomorrow) see picture below for finished results.

So… that’s all the crafting done, there was however, a few other surprises in our bag.

Pink Easter Bunny Ears

These cute pink bunny ears are fabulous addition to any Easter costume, costing just £1. Below Alice-Sara kindly models them for you.

Character Chocolate Easter Eggs £1

A couple of chocolate character Easter eggs, costing £1 and currently on offer for 4 for the price of 3. Great value and better priced then many other retailers. The kids reported these were yummy.

Chocolate Easter Bunny

Lastly we have this super chocolately big bunny costing £1. The kids however cannot comment on its yumminess as mother took him to bed and mother never speaks of the secrets of the bedroom, OK! 🙂

All in all, excellent value for money at Poundworld who also sell everything from cleaning products, to books and homeware. Plus you’ll find lots and lots of brands for just a pound… you can’t really grumble at that can you!

Dream location – The Land of Nod

Drip-drip-drip…. The dripping tap that echo’s throughout the otherwise deadly silent house!

 Tick-tock-tick-tock…. The noisy seconds hand on the grandfather clock that drives you completely insane, so much so you jump from your bed removing its batteries!

 Buzzzzzzzzzz….. The dull jarring buzzing you hear coming from the fridge freezer, just as you’ve almost arrived in the land of nod.

 Have any of the above driven you to hold a pillow over your head in the hope of drowning out the annoyance of white noise or maybe even snoring? If you happen to answer “YES” then I envy you, I really do!

 No, the above is not a typo, its true, yes, all of the above are annoying, that I do not deny, but all three of these scenario’s can be easily fixed (even the added addition of somebody’s terrible snoring)! OK, you may lose a weeks food shop by switching off the freezer, but you can do it all the same!

 I however, cannot switch of my children, although I have sometimes wondered why on earth god didn’t make them with batteries? Some nights are better than others, it’s the others that are currently driving me to write this post which I’m guessing consists of nothing more than rambling, the kind that likely makes no sense! Please bear with me, last night was actually one of those nights!

 Anyone would think I was used to it by now, after all Little Man is 11 already and hasn’t ever really slept an entire night, well not properly anyway. Since his been on the slow release Melatonin, his engaged in a lot of sleep walking and talking so his often up and about even when he is a sleep, which is often not in till some point during the early hours anyway.

 Although I try to embrace Little Mans Asperger’s Syndrome, seeing it more as a gift rather than something disabling. Sleep (or lack of it) is most defiantly one of the hardest issues we have had to deal with for as long as I care to remember.

 Generally I deal with the lack of sleep reasonable well, discounting the time I fell asleep queuing in the supermarket (and yes I was standing)! My head, well that’s somewhere else altogether, seriously, I can’t survive forever with my brain functioning as if it belonged to a chimp ! My point is, I guess I’m used to it and although I don’t get the average amount of sleep many manage, I get by with  grabbing hours here and their, well this used to be the case at least!

 Harley is my youngest son, he was 2 in December. I was blessed with a child who slept throughout the night pretty early on. Day time napping was now however out the question, unless their father was around and when he wasn’t I was basically #•@#@• Then something much worse started to happen, Harley started sleeping less, a lot less! This finally came to a head last week when he demonstrated his stamina in withstanding an alnighter… yes, he stayed awake the entire night falling to sleep at an unforgivable 6am, I was broken, no not physically (that comes in later) but emotionally… was it not enough to have the one child sleep in such a crazy manner… but two… come on give us a break! Of course I explained it away to myself as “His coming down with something” but he hasn’t and its been 5 whole long sodding days and nights. Actually as I type this my eyes are partially closed…. God help me if my Mac ends up on the floor.

 I don’t know why the toddler is suddenly like a child on red bull, but me, I don’t like it one little bit! Of course his then hard to wake and this is when tantrums come into play as his over tired and I get tempted to let him just sleep! It’s an extraordinarily difficult situation to be in when your tired and feeling like you’ve been smashed in the face by a double-decker bus! However, I will try my best as I fear it may lead to more nights like that of the night before. To make matters worse regardless of  him becoming extremely tired, often resulting in him falling into an uncontrolled heap between 8-9 pm (which I note is still reasonably late for him) he still somehow manages to wake up before the clock strikes midnight! Oh… and guess what? He only goes and becomes the life and soul of the party. I’m in trouble if Little man than decides to come out his room engaging in some weird activity as for some reason he’ll suddenly acquire a very sudden interest in his brother, the same brother he screams at to get out his room everyday!

 This was what happen Monday Night Tuesday early hours… I wanted to scream, correction… I did scream… Loudly! Closing the bedroom door, I laid Harley done beside me, however sleep wasn’t on his crazy toddler agenda, he had more exciting things planned, like demonstrating how well he can jump on mummy’s bed and the lovely art of body slamming, with myself being his chosen victim (you know, like those over grown and over weight men who pretend to throw each other around a ring).. Worse when your eyes are closed and it completely takes you by surprise… Ouch…

 I pray to the lord that this is some kind of toddler rebelliousness, one that Little man nor their sister luckily never experienced (through little man more than made up for his lack of tantrums by age 7 and continues to today)!

 Now feeling like a sack of crap, I have important business to attend to! Oh, how I wish that business was in the role of a mid mornings nap…. Sadly it’s tending to the cat litter tray, a sink full of dirty cups and with a bit of luck a ten minute soak in the bath (I hope)!

 Quick Note: If anyone has any tips on helping both an 11-year-old boy diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome and that of a toddler of 2, learn the unwritten rules of sleeping and remaining that way, please do comment! Plus I would love to hear from anybody who has a child on the autism spectrum who happens to sleep walk, sleep talk or both (this is as though  they are literally always on the go)! Even more so if such behaviour is happening while taking a slow releasing Melatonin (only this is when the sleep walking and talking increased for Little Man)?

 Thanks for reading my ramblings and I bid you all goodnight… Oops I mean good-bye!

Related articles

• Melatonin. Much More Than Just Sleep! (drbryanwarner.com)
• Fibromyalgia Tip: Get the Sleep You Need Despite Fibromyalgia Pain (theadventuresofarthritisnfibromyalgia.wordpress.com)
• Snoring toddlers ‘more likely to be unruly in later years’ (time4sleep.co.uk)
• Knowing About Childrens Sleeping Problems (after50health.com)

#Win A Beautiful Wooden Miracle Pounding Toy From Toys Naturally

I’m always happy to run the odd competition, god knows I enter enough everywhere else on the web. Given the fact I’ve won a few great prizes, some sensational ones this year, I know how nice it is to win a little something, whether for yourself, children, friend or family member.

So when a newly launched independent online retailer asked if I minded running a competition, I headed over to check the site out.

Yes, I was quite honestly in wooden toy heaven! Anyone who reads this blog, knows I’m a sucker for a wooden toy, I just love how they last the distance and are of a much higher quality than most other toys on the market! My youngest has lots of wooden toys, some we have even featured on youtube. Harley has everything from wooden arks to wooden people, while my daughter has the most stunning three-story wooden dolls house.

Little man (aka a boy with aspergers) isn’t a stranger to the wooden toy neither, he host a rather impressive collection of wooden games, as-well as a great collection of transport models all craved out of wood.

Toys Naturally prides itself on stocking a range of ethically minded, beautifully crafted open-ended wooden toys. The aim is to be sensitive to children, to nurture and develop their growing minds to their fullest potential, to be intelligent, creative, robust and happy. Above all Toys Naturally goodies aim to be enjoyable, FUN and appealing to both child and parent/guardian.

This truly is a site hosting a fine selection of impressive wooden creations, whether your after something for baby, toddler or young child, my guess is you’ll find it here.

With this in mind, I agreed to run a competition for the readers of “A Boy with Asperger’s”

The prize on offer, is this fantastic

Miracle Pounding Toy

Product description

Gross motor skills and hand eye coordination develop exponentially when children reach toddler hood. Miracle pounding encourages toddlers to explore cause and effect and exercise their control over the world. we love this toy!

age guide 2yrs+

size 23cmx8.5cmx17cm.

Plan toys use untreated recycled rubber wood. Green toys from a green company.

The prize is worth £15.50

I really don’t know any little toddler who wouldn’t enjoy pounding some balls with a hammer, I know Harley would be delighted to receive a Miracle Pounding toy to inflicted some good bashing upon.

Please bear in mind that this is a pretty short competition, you therefore will have till midnight on the 27th March to enter, and here’s how…

Complete the compulsory actions, those that don’t will not be entered into the final draw.

Compulsory Action

Follow @toysnaturally on twitter

Comment here on the blog letting me know you have done the compulsory action by leaving your twitter handle, and you’ll be entered into the draw

Additional Entries

Remember, the compulsory action above must be completed in-order to take part in additional entries!

You can complete how many additional entries you desire, however you MUST leave an additional comment for each action taken.

1x Extra Entries: Visit the Toys Naturally site and subscribe to their newsletter (located at the bottom of the page of the toys naturally website, click HERE) Remember to comment informing me of the name you have subscribed under, so we can validate your extra entry adding it to the draw

1x Extra Entry: Tweet the following: “I want to win a miracle pounding wooden toys with @clairelouise82 and @toysnaturally” ensuring you attach the URL to this post and then return to comment to alert me that you have done it, providing a way I can find it (link or twitter handle).

1 Extra Entry: Subscribe to this blog via feedburner, (located, very top right of the sidebar) comment telling me the name you subscribed as.

1 Extra entry Pop over to the Toys Naturally Facebook page letting them know I sent you.

So… What are you guys waiting for? You have just 15 days (27th March 2012) to get yourselves entered and possible bag yourself an awesome prize.

T&C

Competition is for UK residents only, all participants must be aged 18 years or over to enter. Winner will be randomly drawn soon after the closing date and time of the 27th March 2012 at midnight. Remember to leave a valid twitter handle for the compulsory action and a valid contact with all additional entries, this could be twitter or email address. Those who do not complete the compulsory action will not be entered for any of the additional extra entries. Winner has a maximum of 72 hours to reply to the winning notification given by either email or twitter. Winners name and details will be handed over to the brand offering the prize in order to get your miracle pounding toy delivered (note details will not be passed to any 3rd parties)!

Related articles

• Great discoveries at London’s 2012 Toy fair (aspergersinfo.wordpress.com)
• What’s the coolest wooden car? [Question Of The Day] (jalopnik.com)

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions