toddlers Archives – Emma Reed

let's talk potty training... or not written across the floor of a bathroom

Why We Won’t Be Potty ‘Training’

Posted on August 13, 2020November 20, 2024 by Emma Reed

When I was a first time Mum, I went along to quite a few baby groups, I listened to other parents advice, I watched how they did things and I mostly followed suit. So, when I saw them insisting that at the age of 2 we should be potty training, I just copied. I thought this was the way it was done. I very, very quickly realised that this was wrong. Jake wasn’t ready and after several attempts and lots of wet clothing later, I stopped pushing this challenge on him and left him to enjoy being a toddler.

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William my crazy toddler who is making me grey smiling at the camera very cheekily!

7 Reasons Why My Crazy Toddler Is Making Me Grey!!

Posted on May 1, 2019May 11, 2026 by Emma Reed

When I had Jake I was shocked at how active and busy he was as a toddler. I mean I would go to these baby groups and watch the little girls sit and play quietly with toys, play acting, smiling sweetly at their Mums and then I’d look at Jake… That’s if I could find him! He was usually just gone. I mean he could walk at 10 months so what did I expect, eh? He had watched and learnt and decided that he wanted to walk before he could crawl (true story) and that is exactly what he did. Most of the time I’d find him at the door trying to escape from these playgroups which is why I stopped going to them. He liked the outdoors, he liked to run free and he knew his mind.

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Nursing Box Ideas To Keep Your Toddler Entertained

Posted on December 16, 2017November 14, 2024 by Emma Reed

*Affiliate Links

Preparing to bring a new arrival home from hospital is an important task and one area I have been thinking about is something that will help to make Jake feel included and entertained whilst I am nursing his baby brother; a nursing box. This will be a special box that he can go to at any time for when he is feeling bored or possibly left out and will keep him happily occupied whilst I am otherwise engaged. I know he will have a good understanding at his age but it will all still be very strange and new to him and as he has been the only child for 4 years I want him to feel as though his needs are also being thought about.

So, I have had a little hunt around on the internet to find items that will suit his needs and these are what have grabbed my attention and are going on my wishlist.

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From Nursery To Toddler Room In A Few Simple Steps

Posted on August 21, 2017March 6, 2026 by Emma Reed

*Gifted Product

With a new baby on the way we felt it was time to put some focus onto Jake. We decided the best way to do this was to update his bedroom before we begin on the new nursery. His room has been kept almost the same since he was born and as he will be four this year we felt it was time for it to shift from nursery to toddler room. This is how we achieved it in a few simple steps…

BEFORE:

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Making Learning Fun with Little House of Science

Posted on May 14, 2017April 22, 2025 by Emma Reed

*Collaborative Post

Back in the day, when I was at school, you were there to learn and this meant the classes were usually pretty serious. I always did well in the interactive classes– Music, Science, English– but I struggled with Maths from the start. For me, it was always explained in a very complicated way. If I can relate information I am given to practical situations and it seems logical to me I can take it all in and learn and perhaps if it had all been made more fun I may have been much more engaged. It wasn’t until I failed my Maths GCSE and had to re-do a year at college that I found a teacher who finally made it all ‘click’.

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pre school days across 3 pictures of boy by door

Our New Routine: The Start of Pre-School

Posted on February 5, 2017April 17, 2026 by Emma Reed

You may remember how just over a month ago I was upset at the thought of losing my little guy to pre-school for 12.5 hours a week and I wrote a tongue in cheek post about childcare to make light of it all. Well, here we are in the first week of February and I thought I would give you an update on how we are all coping with the changes and how the start of pre-school has affected us both…

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How We Have Been Tackling Bedtime With Belightful Music

Posted on January 23, 2017December 12, 2024 by Emma Reed

*Gifted Product

As you are probably aware by now, Jake does not sleep well. The issues vary from refusing to go to bed, getting up several times once we have put him to bed to waking up at a variety times during the night. There is no rhyme or reason, the health visitor could not solve the issue by changing meal times, varying his food or by introducing a gro-clock and as he doesn’t do it at the same time every night so it isn’t a habitual issue. I have tried every trick in the book, even resorting to

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