The Ultimate Guide to Green Parenting - Zion Lights. A review!

When I was offered the chance to read The Ultimate Guide to Green Parenting, I jumped at the chance. Green parenting is what I aim for, it keeps me grounded and sane, and makes me feel like I'm really making a difference, to both my son and the environment. This book lived up to my expectations and then some. It was lovely for me to finally read a parenting book that focuses on the bigger picture, not just sleeping patterns and eating, but on impact both emotionally and environmentally. To have a parenting book that considers the World, not just your house to me feels pretty rare. I felt accepted and inspired, and I'm sure it will have this affect on others.

The book has several chapters each with a different focus on various aspects of parenting. There are sections on the science behind green parenting, diet and nutrition, vaccines, and nappies, to name just a few. Each chapter is split up into easy to manage sections, all scientifically backed up, and links and references are at the end of each one. The end of each chapter also features a really handy summary of what was just written about, which is brilliant for refreshing your memory or if you're short on time.

The book is written simply, with a friendly reassuring tone. You're not made to feel uncomfortable if you're not doing everything suggested, unlike other parenting books that can make you feel like 'you're doing it wrong'. For me this is a real winner, nobody likes to be patronised or spoken down to especially during what can be considered as the most vulnerable time of your life.

I'd definitely recommend buying this book, for yourself and for any expectant friends. A clearly written, scientifically backed up, eco-friendly way of parenting condensed down into a wonderful book.

The Ultimate Guide to Green Parenting is available to buy on Amazon

You would never guess it but...

I have a high needs toddler. Everyone who meets Indy comments on how happy, chatty, and smiley he is. When Indy is around other people he is happy to wander around, talk to people, play by himself, you name it. However, you be a fly on the wall when it's just me and the boy, and it's a completely different story.

Indy is my shadow. Indy clings onto me, onto my leg, onto my chest, onto my head. "Mama, mama, mama, please, mama, mama" is repeated, constantly. He still breastfeeds like a newborn, asking every  half hour, pulling on my top and smacking on my chest. I've started saying no, and we successfully night-weaned him using the Dr Jay Gordon method. I play with him, I reassure him, he gets lots of cuddles and kisses and 'I love yous' and is a very content little boy, he just seems to turn into a completely different child when it's just him and myself.

This is partly the reason why I started this blog. I wanted to show myself and others that I was interacting with him lots, and that we were playing together and his needs were being filled. In a way I feel guilty that he acts like this, Daddy has walked downstairs from work and seen how different Indy acts towards me and he has been shocked. I suffer from anxiety that leaves me fairly housebound, so going to baby and toddler groups has been difficult. I'm persuading myself to try a couple in the next few weeks, to partly relieve some of the pressure off me, and to let Indy be around other people. I know nobody there will believe me when I say I have a high needs toddler, watching my confident little boy strut around independently, making friends and playing, but I'm sure someone else there will know exactly what it's like.

Gelli-Baff

Yesterday, me and my mum (Indy's nanna) went out to do some lovely sunny bank holiday shopping, mostly for wedding things. We went to Dunelm to get some fabric for table cloths, and my mum spotted this awesome PVC!
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/roadmap-pvc-fabric-453377

So naturally we bought a metre of it to use as a messy play mat. I had itchy fingers, so had to try it out this morning with the Gelli-Baff I've been hoarding since I found it in Pound World.

This is all you need to make this wonderfully gloopy stuff;  a nice big bowl, a litre of warm water, and the two packets in the box.

It tells you to add a little at a time as it all of a sudden thickens, and you have to keep stirring. It's a lot like jelly mix (hence Gelli...)

Luuuvly. Looks like a slush puppy. Then the fun begins!

Indy decided this wasn't enough goop and muck for one day, so wanted the Play Sand involved as well. Lots of 'wow' noises and squelching occured! He scooped and plopped and whisked.

All finished off with a great big cheesy grin, and a nap on the sofa :) A successful morning's play I think. Next time, I think I'll go for the green or the blue, and hide things in there like shells, toy animals, and foam letters.

Easter Weekend

So, I thought today was going to be a complete write-off. Indy's sleep was shockingly awful last night, he wakes up the second you attempt to extract yourself from his grasp, so one of us normally ends up sleeping in his bed all crumpled up with a cricked neck. He was waking pretty much every hour, and then had a lovely wakeful period of about 2 hours where all he wanted to do was bounce or have boob. Or bounce whilst on boob - never enjoyable.

I was pleasantly surprised when we all woke up for the day at almost 11, and then proceeded to have an accidentally productive day. You know the type, nothing in particular planned but all of a sudden you've fixed the drawer, mopped the bathroom, and hoovered the cat or something. Today I moved the furniture round in Indy's room, started tidying our laundry roo-- I mean bedroom, cooked a roast dinner, did some gardening, and finally got around to the packing paper nest.

We used a huge cardboard box, packing paper and bubble wrap, and hid little toy ducks (chicks as it's Easter) inside. I showed Indy where some were, and let him do the rest. Play lasted for 10-15 minutes and then turned into him running around shouting 'quack quack'. He liked looking through all the paper, scrunching it and rubbing it on his face. The noises were a combination of rustling paper and bubble wrap, both of which he enjoyed.

Gardening was great fun, spurred on by collecting a free compost bin!

Here it is, all up and running at the back of our garden. We decided to finally plant some vegetable seeds we'd bought from a pound shop last year, and included Indy as much as possible. He ran his fingers through the mud, felt and inspected the seeds, and even helped with watering and patting. Surprisingly, he didn't try eating any mud, I think he's possibly learnt from the last bajillion or so times he's tried it.

No, he's not wearing trousers. He decided against them for most of today. He also helped Daddy with weeding and tending to our very overgrown herb garden. This was an excellent sensory adventure, the feel of the earth and of the different types of plants, the smell of the herbs mingled in with damp soil, the taste of the herbs. I would definitely recommend having a herb garden to enjoy with your smalls, or a potted herb if you don't have access to a garden. There's so much to learn from gardening and cultivating your own food, it is a properly multi-sensory activity and is really enjoyable.