Celebrating 9 years of Brush Baby

It is about 5 years since Lara and Holly first started using Brush Baby products; their innovative chewable toothbrush for babies and toddlers was Holly's first ever introduction to a toothbrush. This year Brush Baby are celebrating their 9th birthday and they invited us to take a look back on our Brush Baby years.

Brush Baby early years toothcare is a journey designed to help your little ones practice good dental care from the day their teeth start to form. Soft dental wipes for sensitive gums were the start of Holly's journey, quickly followed by the chewable toothbrush. At the time we were having big problems trying to get Lara to clean her teeth and I'm convinced that introducing a toothbrush from such a young age with Holly helped to create a routine - we've never had the same sort of resistance from Holly.

As my girls have grown up they've learned good tooth-brushing habits. Holly still needs help to brush her teeth and we'll continue to help her with co-ordination when brushing for another few years to make sure she learns to look after her teeth as best she can; brushing twice a day with a gentle children's toothbrush. These days Brush Baby have a wide range of tooth brushes for the early years including a sonic toothbrush to different age ranges which really makes toothrushing time fun.

The KidzSonic Electric Toothbrush is available for children aged 3-6 and 6+. It is a battery-operated electric toothbrush with a small head designed for brushing and flossing in between small teeth. Apart from the bright colours, the thing which really engages both Lara and Holly is the timer - a disco-timer! To encourage your child to brush for the full 2 minutes the toothbrush lights up your face with bright disco colours while you brush. They LOVE this and the usually-impatient Holly has taken to brushing for much longer since starting to use the KidzSonic brush.

Our dentist recommends that children under 7 continue to use a traditional manual brush regularly, even if they are also using an electric toothbrush because she feels that it is important to learn the co-ordination skills and practice needed to get your teeth clean. We're using the Brush Baby floss brush for Holly; it has both short bristles for teeth surfaces and long bristles to get between the teeth at this age when children can't yet floss themselves. Combined with the brush-baby toothpaste, Holly seems very happy at toothbrushing time these days so I'm confident that both my girls are now building good dental habits that should set them off well for life.

Thank you Brush Baby - and happy birthday!

Clearing up the Christmas Chaos with Vax

So that's it. Christmas is over. The decorations have come down and now the house is feeling a bit bare. Although it seems a bit of a shame that all the Christmassy-ness has gone, I do quite like the feeling of being able to reclaim my home and I always find the new year to be a great opportunity for a bit of a clear-out and clear-up. This year Vax have set me up with one of their Cordless SlimVac which has been a bit of a godsend while we were taking down the Christmas Decorations.

Trying to clear a house of baubles, tinsel and Christmas Tree pine needles while there are two over-excited children whizzing around the place is no mean feat. You need a tool that can be quickly lifted out, whizzed around the living room to pick up all the needles and tinsel remnants and then very quickly put away again. Enter the Vax Cordless Slimline Vacuum which doesn't even need to be plugged in. Point it at the needles, pull the trigger and hey presto, the room is back to looking like a living room again!

Clearing up after the pine needles

It isn't the most powerful vacuum I've ever owned but these days I don't need to be able to hoover up finger-food debris or vast quantities of cat hair; I just need to keep on top of things. One of the niftiest things I liked about this hand-held cordless vacuum was that while I could use it with the long nozzle to pick the Christmas tree needles from the floor but I also got Mr. B. to remove the long nozzle and just use the hand-held vacuum with a different nozzle to furtle in behind the table where the Christmas tree had been without having to faff about with moving furniture. Long or short, its your choice.

Its also your choice whether you use it on hard surfaces or soft - a switchable brush head helps here. Swirly brush thing, or no swirly brush thing, it's your choice. Because this Vax is cordless, its so lightweight and easy to use that I could even ask Lara to use it without fear of her getting tangled up in it, or having to worry about plug sockets. The charge on the battery lasts about 20 minutes which for me is more than enough vacuuming for one sitting!

We managed to remove the tree, clear up the debris and set the living room back to rights in record time leaving us lots of time to play family games together over the weekend.  Hurrah. And we've managed to find a home for the new Vax in the cupboard inside our utility room (this isn't a photo of our utility room, it's a Vax library picture) - it is incredibly compact and comes with a wall mount should you want to use it.

Image credit : Vax

#Win - See Babe, The Sheep-Pig live on stage in 2017

Happy new year people! I'm celebrating the start of 2017 by offering you the chance to see Babe, The Sheep-Pig live on stage in 2017.

Adapted from Dick King-Smith’s much-loved children’s novel which inspired the Oscar-winning 1995 film, Babe, The Sheep-Pig is arriving on stage in 2017 in a major UK Tour. Featuring stunning puppetry, an original score and an utterly charming ‘baa-ber sheep’ quartet, it tells the story of the lovable Babe in a heart-warming tale of friendship, adventure and bravery.

Photo credit: David Montieth-Hodge

Mellow Mummy is giving you the chance to win a family ticket to see the production at the venue of your choice, included the opportunity to meet Babe and the cast after the performance!

To enter all you have to do is to leave me a comment below with the name of the farmyard animal that the small person in your life most likes to see. You'll find more ways to enter in the raflecopter below. The competition will close on the 17th January.

Photo credit: David Montieth-Hodge

To see where Babe, The Sheep-Pig will be performing, visit www.BabeThePigLive.com. There are venues all over the UK from now until mid-September so there are lots of chances to see the show.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. The promoter is: Mellow Mummy
2. Entry is via a blog comment and registration through a rafflecopter widget.
3. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
4. Route to entry for the competition and details of how to enter are via www.mellowmummy.co.uk
5. Closing date for entry is 17th January 2017. After this date the no further entries to the competition will be permitted.
6. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
7. The rules of the competition and the prize for each winner are as follows: a family theatre ticket for 4 or 5 people to see Babe, The Sheep Pig
8. The promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter.
9. The promoter is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this competition.
10. No cash alternative to the prizes will be offered. The prizes are not transferable. Prizes are subject to availability and we reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
11. Winners will be drawn at random by Mellow Mummy.
12. The winner will be notified by email within 28 days of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or does not claim the prize within 14 days of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
13. The winner will be asked by the promoter to provide their name, postal address and mobile contact number which will be passed on to the prize supplier.
14. The promoter’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
15. By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
16. The competition and these terms and conditions will be governed by English law and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
17. Any personal data relating to the winner or any other entrants will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.