Dressing a 4 Year Old Boy to Stay Warm and Dry

I was very tardy with getting boy's Winter clothes for Aaron, this year, namely because September was like an Indian Summer (way better than August) driest on record in fact. Some of October was nearly just as good. 

But then some rain came, and then some more, but lucky I was ready with Dickies Water Proofs that I'd had sent for review. We love them, and more importantly they keep Aaron dry! We'd learned the hard way that a normal shower jacket, doesn't have elasticated cuffs, or a drawstring hood, which meant he was miserable when wet. All sorted now though. Since that review we have now tried the hi vis waistcoat which is perfect for our daily #SchoolPedal:

That pic above was taken on the last day of term (I say TERM as there are now six school terms a year, so as much as we call this current very welcome week off "half term" this is technically no longer true). So yes, on Friday 24th October it rained from the HEAVENS, so I even needed to put the water proof trousers on, as you see above. They are a necessity when cycling. You get wet incredibly quickly when the rain is heavy.

So now that he has the right clothes for rain, I needed to deal with warmth. You can see two hoods in the pic above, as the Dickies water proof is a shell, (on a mild day sufficient on its own) so on a cold day I layer. The jacket below is one I picked up for 12 pounds in Primark. I hate to see children in grey, black, navy or brown Winter jackets and have always dressed Aaron colourfully since he was born, hence I was delighted with the tartan detail on the shoulders AND the fact that Aaron's school has no rules regarding outdoor coats, so I can actually be as colourful as I like. The jacket below is aged 7-8 and is not at all big on him. I have a very tall 4 year old (and he only turned 4 in June). Being that he is now fitting into that aged group I have to go to an older boy section of Primark, and the colours are naturally all darker than for the younger ones. Luckily I love the jacket and it is warm. I went there to scoop a bargain, but ended up spending over 50 pounds, as it is HARD to go into PRIMARK for one thing. What I saved on the jacket I ended up spending on a body warmer, as I couldn't resist the large A on it, which I could pretend was for Aaron.

12 pounds in the older boy section of Primark

So Daddy took us to Primark the other day so I could get the Winter jacket above (amongst other things ooops). BUT the other day when we were out shopping as a family once again, I made my "boys" accompany me to TK Maxx where I got the below (top left). (1) The knitwear (I want something like it myself) (2) The Donald Duck long sleeved tee (purely because Aaron says the word CRAZY a LOT and (3) the other long sleeved tee you see there, because it is dead COOOOOOL! Being that it was TK Maxx all of the prices were very reasonable. Shopping as a 3 is great, as when Aaron gets distracted, I can still concentrate with Daddy there as an extra pair of hands. While I picked those 3 TK Maxx bits, Daddy and Aaron were in the toy section.

You can see the body warmer that I mentioned above, in the pics below. You wouldn't know it from the photos, but under the bottom warmer, he is wearing the seasonal cardigan AND the long sleeved tee with the winged "flying" boots. I love layering for staying warm. All of the below were taken on a lovely family day out with Daddy. Luckily he's had some time off in half term which has been GREAT!

Love my gorgeous boy. His Winter wardrobe is building up nicely.

Oh and I bought those blue shoes in H and M over the Summer. For some reason they were only 4.99 GBP and I love them! They're my favourite shops all in one post actually. H and M, Primark and TK Maxx. The places where I get all my favourite bits for Aaron.

Liska xxx

P.S. Here are some individual pics of those three TK Maxx pieces so you can see the detail and the pricing

Whatever happens, my boy, my son, is always dressed better than me:

Welcome Spring. Stay a While!

Today, there is no doubting that Spring has sprung.  We have the FIRST wash of the year on the washing line and it was hung by the husband #faints.  And I have another wash on, ambitiously considering it is now 14:21.  No idea if it will dry this late in the day (especially given it is not finished yet) but walking back from dropping Aaron at nursery I was SO warm I decided to risk putting the wash on.

I stripped down to a T-shirt (no jumper or jacket) it really is WARM today.

It was an eventful walk to nursery as there was a local professional dog walker walking about 6-8 dogs and behind her an apprentice with only two dogs.  The professional walked ahead and did not realise the other was left straggling with TWO dogs she could NOT control.  One a Doberman and the other a Rottweiller.  They kept heading in two different directions, so Aaron and I held back.  Quite a few times whilst we watched she KICKED them.  Her colleague was so far in the distance she had no idea what was going on.

Hanging back, so that we were safely away from the dogs, cost us 15 minutes. If they were walking at the same speed as us, that would never happen but she had to keep stopping with the dogs (who she clearly had no relationship with) who kept pulling away - at any moment I thought she would lose grasp of them and/or their leads.  We got to nursery at 13:15 instead of 12:55.  I was livid as I have something really important to do today.

I rung 101, but sadly they said it is an issue for the RSPCA.  I said "what if she or a member of the public get bitten. She is after all making those dogs VERY angry" to which they said "we'll deal with it then".  Policing, sadly, like medicine, seems to be about reaction, rather than prevention.

Anyway I am off to grab the pics, to show our Springy afternoon.

My Fab New WARM Winter Parka Jacket - by Uni Qlo

Yesterday Last night I went to a fab Mexican Masterclass, (the link just given is when another blogger reviewed it; I haven't yet as I want to spend quite some time on it, and that won't be today) at Benito's Hat and I got there too early, so decided to have a bit of a meander round some of the shops near Oxford Circus.

I ended up in Uni Qlo and the story of how I bought the below jacket is hilarious.  Well, not funny, as such, but certainly ironic!

I was captivated looking at their Orla Kiely range, but couldn't find anything for me, as being a size 16-18 (currently) patterns tend to make me look bigger...

As I walked out, (not one to keep an opinion to myself) I said to the Sales Assistant: "Why are you charging £49 for those jackets when they are so flimsy; they feel like tissue paper!"

She explained the whole concept to me.  How they are 90% DOWN feathers, and are incredibly lightweight, yet incredibly WARM!  It is a concept known to skiiers but then I have never been skiing - I know, poor me!

Anyway, being so open to the power of suggestion, and having a little time to kill, I went straight over and tried one on. The colour below is the one that grabbed me.  Don't be fooled by the website which says it is "red" - it is more of a raspberry colour! Gorgeous but not for anyone who normally does Winter in black or grey!

I chose the PARKA, but as you can see they do a few types.  I really regretted yesterday only buying one, instore, so today have ordered (online) another one for my Mum (means I paid postage costs - really wish I got her one yesterday).  I'll then have the hassle of posting it to Ireland, (more postage costs) but what the hell, she will absolutely love it! They are currently £49.90, and apparently that is a limited offer; I don't know how long for.  I just described it to her over the phone.  She wanted the shorter one as she does not like hoods, but I insisted on this one as I said it is important to keep your kidneys warm which she found absolutely hilarious!



Anyway, I wore the above (in size XL which is figure hugging for me) to drop Aaron at nursery this morning and all the staff were raving about it. They all said that they want one.  One said it would be perfect for Thorpe Park, and the other, for festivals!

The real amazing thing is it comes with a drawstring bag which means you can easily carry it to the office if you know it will be cold on the way home in the evening.  It won't weigh you down as it is only 206g.  I know I sound like a walking talking advert but I always get a bit evangelical when I love a product.

Let me know what you think.... in the comments please.

Oh and what I didn't say, was after that conversation with the Sales Assistant, when I went back to try one on, there were ladies clamouring to try them on and buy them.  I was intrigued and not being shy I asked them why.  They were in there due to a full page ad in Shortlist magazine.  Not having worked on Oxford Street since 2002, I did not know what that was, but I picked one up and it is quite an interesting read considering it's free - well impressed.  Provided me some great & funny reading material when I got to Benito's Hat STILL too early (more on that when I write about the Masterclass)!

This is the full page ad that is in Shortlist - no wonder it was making people buy:

Liska xxx

Suse's Kinder Baby Wrap Blanket and keeping my baby warm

Hi

I just purchased this blanket, as I am worried about going to Ireland in January and Aaron being warm enough.  Also, the website says that it is perfect to be worn in a sling - one time I went out with Aaron in the sling his feet got so cold even though they had 2 layers on - I hope this prevents that.

It was 24 USD.

Bye for now,

Liska xx