Potty training and dry nights - our top tips

I was in Wizz Kids in Queensferry today when my lovely little 2 1/2 year old daughter had an accident on the slide, whilst carrying out the rescue mission in the toilet we met a very nice lady that shared some very useful tips that so inspired me that I am now writing this post.

Please find listed my top tips for potty training and getting dry in the night.
                                                                               

POTTY TRAINING


 1. Purchase a potty a couple of months before taking the plunge and talk to your child about what it's for, make positive  associations with your own visits to the loo.

2. Purchase lots of light weight secondhand clothing so that when your little one has an accident you can change them many times before running out of clothes.

3.The best time to train is in summer when clothing is lighter and there is less chance of getting sore legs. You can also let them run around with no clothes, which most small children love.

4. Look out for cues, my little one fidgets for England so I knew when she stopped moving that it was likely she needed the potty or toilet.

5. Try not to use potty training pants for too long as they prolong the potty training period, in the 1960's the average age of a child becoming dry was 2 1/2 years this has lengthened to 3 1/2 today.

6. Praise - kids love to be told how wonderful they are and will be more willing to cooperate if you are full of positive comments.


IN THE NIGHT

1. Get used to taking your little one to the toilet before bed and slightly restrict their fluid intake so they do not get a full bladder early in the night.

2. Buy lots of bedding and secondhand night wear.

3.If you don't have a tumble dryer invest in a good clothes airer. Or try to wait for warmer weather so you can hang your washing outside.

4. ADH is a hormone that helps children stay dry in the night, if your child is not staying dry despite your best efforts and they are regularly wetting the bed it could be that they have a an ADH deficiency, this is very common for younger children and become less common up to the age of 7.

5. Bedwetting can also be caused by a stressful event such as a birth of a sibling or starting a new school.

5. Use potty training pads (Dry Like Me) and bed liners.

6 Always have plan of action and hopefully this will make training a less stressful experience.

I hope you have found this post useful and we welcome comments If you have any tips or would like to share your experiences with us.

Halloween ideas

Halloween is a big occassion these days, my children certainly have a great time calling on

neighbourhood doors and coming home with an enormous bag of goodies but what can you do if your children cannot go knocking on doors or it simply isn't an option for you, you may have preschoolers or a child with special needs.

There are a couple of options, we have designed a  trail for a 15 month old's Halloween party, with the use of a washing line we will be hanging glow sticks and various decorations to guide the children along, we are also using pumpkins and battery powered tea lights to create a trail which will have lots of prizes and treats that the children have to find. The treats include chocolate mice, candy string and any other halloween based sweets, For older children you can put craft items in the pumpkins and they can complete the crafts when they have finished the trail.

At the end of the trail we have decorated a room where a party will take place although you can just have the kitchen table as a focus for the crafts.

The other option is to have a craft party, we had several crafts at our art club special at The Light Cinema, the activities included bunting creating and decorating, with pumpkin circles, bats with black card and ghosts, we whole punched a whole in the top of the card and placed household string through the wholes. We also had treat bag decorating, masks, face painting and colouring. Other activities include spider pompoms using wool and card, for instructions see Kidspot .

We hope you have a lovely halloween, if you would like to find out about our local events on the Wirral, in Chester and Liverpool, please check out Bluey & Baloo's  website.

2012 is declared a success!

 
What a year, at the start of 2012 I had just come off maternity leave, one of my first goals was to get a new website and thank goodness I did. It only took a month after my lovely friend Jan Kiermasz (Morning Mums) at JK design did my website that I began to get lots of  enquiries and since May have been experiencing lots of bookings. I have also made lots of  contacts at Morning Mums that has resulted in contracts with Ness Gardens, the Enchanted Cake School and I am also providing a creche for Hayley Lundy's bootcamp in Heswall.

We have also been able to buy lots of new toys for our parties and creches and now have another table, 5 happy hopperz, new play tents and also have added lots of fun activities for our Enchanted Cake school parties such as cupcake and cookie decorating and fabric crafts.
2013 will be even better, we are employing a new apprentice who will be available for flexible childcare.
we are already planning new services and equipment and already have more bookings for next year than ever before.

So thank you to everyone that has either booked or helped Bluey & Baloo and we would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year

Great websites for parents and kids

I am constantly surfing the web for ideas and inspiration, for parenting tips and what's on locally, so I thought I would list a few sites that I use and a few that are very helpful. If you have any recommendations please message me at michelle@blueyandbaloo.co.uk and I will include them here.

Monster Mummies for parenting tips and feel good posts.

Netmums for everything you can think of, I post news, promotions and events and use the nearly new pages.

Kidsguide Is great for local business and news and group listings, they also have a useful newsletter.

DLTK crafts Is a great resource for printable activities and decent colouring pages.

Business Plus baby is a great site if you are a business mum and have a young family, as a mum to 3, the youngest of which is 1, I find this site very helpful.

Mumsnet Is great for parenting tips and product reviews and has an excellent forum.

Lastly don't forget to like Bluey & Baloo's Facebook Page as I include tips, offers and local events.

Party Checklist

It's the big day of the party,  you have hired the hall, organised the food and entertainment, what happens on the day is not a foregone conclusion and we have produced a checklist that will help you approach the celebration with less panic and more organisation!
There is so much thought that goes into planning an event that it is always helpful to have a list of actions and items that are necessary if you want your party to run smoothly. We hope that you find the following list helpful.

1.A couple of days before the event ring your venue to check everything is ok and make sure that you have all relevant contact details of caretaker and emergency numbers.
2. Do you have enough plates, bowls, paper lunch bags and cutlery.
3. Have you worked out a menu rather than going to the supermarket and just filling the trolley.
4. Who will be in charge of decorating both internally and externally.
5. Your activities will dictate the layout of the room, how many tables do you need and how much space will you need for entertainment.
6. Have you brought napkins or bags for the cake to be taken home in.
8. Birthday candles.
9. Party bags,
10. Money in envelopes for caterers or entertainment.
11. Bin bags and other cleaning items.

Don't forget to enjoy the party if you can and don't pressure yourself to have the party of the century as children are often most impressed with the simple things and won't be expecting their own private fairground.
If I have missed anything out please do leave a comment and thank you for reading.

Celebration! A guide to planning the perfect party

It's one of the most stressful events of our lives up there with moving house and financial management but with our guide we hope to take the mystery out of planning a celebration and save you time and money.

Please find listed a few pointers on what to consider when planning a party.

• Venue - Recommendations are very important, always look around before you book and don't be scared to haggle. Make sure that you are confident that your booking is for the right date and that you have the contact details of the person that will open up the hall if it not staffed full time. Check for fire exits and first aid kits. 

• Food - Work out a price per head and if you are planning a wedding or a high standard celebration and are hiring caterers or using on site catering make sure you are offered a tasting session. Delegate a member of your family to help prepare or collect if you are self catering.  

•  Cake - Are you buying from a local baker, or from a supermarket or making one yourself, what is your budget and can they send samples, get recommendations.

•  Entertainment - Are you hiring a DJ or a children's entertainer or will you be doing some activities yourself, the old favourites such as pass the parcel and musical bumps are great for children 4 years plus and younger children love a few balloons and toys, be creative and do some research to see what other people have done, sites such as Pinterest are great for ideas. Make sure you book early as the most popular entertainers are booked well in advance.

• Venue decoration and themes - Would you like a jungle party or an over the rainbow celebration, there are lots of organisations that can transform a space, or you could attempt at doing the decoration yourselves, remember to use your printer, there are lots of free printable resources, Disney printables has a good site.

• Party bags - There are lots of shops that offer party supplies, from pound shops to department stores and there are lots of options, a popular favourite at our parties is a bottle of bubbles,lots of sweets and a balloon animal.  Prices start from £1 upwards depending on how exclusive you want your party to be, we offer personalised fabric back packs at the top end.

• Finishing touches - Are you going to hire a chocolate fountain or a caricaturist or will you  be having a candy buffet, there is lots on offer to make your party very special.

Good luck with your celebration and if you have any tips or idea's then please leave a comment.