Mini Micro Scooters Review

Are Mini Micro Scooters suitable for a 2 year old? I had asked myself the same question. About two weeks before Lara's second birthday I saw her using her cousin's scooter and she knew exactly what to do; it brought a great big smile to her face. Mini Micro Scooters are the smallest of the Micro Scooter range and are officially suitable for ages 3-5 but the lovely people at Micro Scooters said that many people give them to 2-year-olds who are confident and tall (Lara is both of these things) so we were really excited when Micro Scooters sent Lara one to try out.

One of Lara's other birthday presents was a safety helmet and arm/knee pads. Together with the limited edition Neon yellow Mini Micro Scooter, Lara really looks the part. One of my worries about giving Lara a scooter at such a young age was that she would have lots of accidents and dent her confidence but actually, the Micro Scooter is so intuitive to use and so light weight that Lara hasn't really had any accidents at all (this may just be because I am hanging over her at all times!)

The Mini Micro Scooter was really easy to put together. It came in two parts which were simple to fix in place. I was thankful that we didn't have to faff about with fitting the wheels or handle bars. Phew.



The Neon Mini Micro Scooter we have is one of a limited edition for this summer only that are inspired by the bright colours of highlighters – we love it because it isn't too girly and because many of the other scooter options for toddlers are branded so they date quickly. The Micro Scooters don't need branding because they are so iconic themselves.

The Mini Micro Scooter has a flexible base which is wider at the front than the back. There are two wheels at the front and one at the back. The wheels are solid, a bit like rollerblade wheels so this means you don't have to worry about punctures. The most innovative thing about the Mini Micro Scooter is that your child can steer by leaning their weight to the left or right, rather than having to twist the handle bars. I think this take a bit of getting used to but Lara seemed to pick it up straight away.

Lara has decorated her scooter with ribbons and a little 'Scoobit' to make it all hers! There are a number of scooter decorations, including bags, which can be bought direct from Micro Scooters.

The Mini Micro Scooter does seem to be suitable for Lara (although Lara is tall for her age and shorter children would definitely struggle with the height of the handle bars). Lara, as a two-year-old, does have the dexterity to use it but I have noticed that she seems reluctant to play on the scooter without me very close by, whereas with the bulkier, chunkier scooter at her cousin's house she is always happy to play alone. I get the impression from her body language that she feels some security in the heaviness and restricted movement of a bulkier scooter. Noticably, when she gets going on the Mini Micro Scooter she does enjoy it more and she squeals with excitement as we go around the pavements outside out house so I think its just a matter of time before she gets the confidence to use the Micro Scooter.



The limited edition mini Micro Scooter costs £59.95 and is available exclusively this summer on www.micro-scooters.co.uk .

Tantrum Time - Tips for Coping With Trantrums

I simply can't believe that nobody out there wanted to share their experiences of coping with tantrums.

I received one lovely entry for this month's carnival from Ellen at In a bun dance. In this post Ellen explains the troubled relationship between her two year old toddler and her 11 year old with Aspergers. Do give it a read, it's a fascinating post about a stage in a toddler's life that is very relevant to me right now.

My own little Lara has recently turned two and her behaviour is, at times, wearing me down. I wrote this piece last month after a particularly eventful trip to Sainsburys.


Next month's blog carnival will be all about Miscarriage (which you may know, happened to me last month). I hope to have a few more entries than this month... please???

The carnival will take place on august 24th so I will need your entries by the 21st please. It can be on any aspect of miscarriage or still birth, I just want to try and encourage others to talk about it and to share their experiences because reading other people's accounts really helped me deal with it. If you have a story you want to tell but would rather not host it on your blog, or would rather remain annonymous then I would be happy to feature your post here on Mellow Mummy.

Email your entries to jumblyMummy@gmail.com or else leave me a link in the comments below.

See you next month.

Emma

New Stage One Organic Baby Food Pouches

Over the past few weeks, my panel of reviewers have been trying and testing a number of brand new organic baby food pouches. Below you will find a review of four different brands of organic baby food pouches for stage one and two of weaning - great for taking out and about or for when you simply haven't the time or inclination to make your own purees.

Baby Zilli

You have to be a pretty brave chef to put your name to a range of pre-prepared baby foods. Aldo Zilli and his celebrity lawyer friend Dean Dunham have 7 children between them so you'd hope they knew a bit about weaning babies! The Baby Zilli range starts from stage one (4-12 months) and features recipes all the way up to stage 4 (toddlers).

We like...
...the combination of flavours sound like things mum and dad would happily sit down and eat. The stage one flavours are Aldo's Fruity Punch (pear, apple and banana) and Tasty Veggie Blend (sweet potato, butternut squash and broccoli).
...the pureed foods actually look and smell quite appealing!

We'd prefer it if...
... the pictures on the packet were of the food rather than the chef. Without larger images of the food it is hard to distinguish from the packaging which flavour is which (or which stage is which).




Plum Baby
The new range of stage one breakfast pouches from Plum Baby are a little different to many others because they offer a mix of both fruit AND cereal while remaining gluten-free which is important for a first weaning puree so as to avoid the risk of allergy. The two new flavours are Banana, Apricot & Oaty Porridge and Prune, Peach & Baby Rice.

We like...
...the mix of cereal and fruit means that you can have an interesting breakfast combination even when away from home.
...carbs for breakfast seems to make baby fuller for longer.
...the cereal (unlike some other baby foods, not mentioned in this post) are naturally sweetened with the fruit alone.

We'd prefer it if...
...there were more flavours on offer.
...the baby rice puree was a little thicker (we love the thickness of Plum's boxes of baby cereals).




Ella's Kitchen
Ella's Kitchen are just launching a new range of stage one baby food pouches that contain nothing but one single fruit to help when you very first start weaning. The first tastes pouches from Ella's Kitchen come in banana, pears, mangoes and apples flavours.


We like...
...the single flavour makes it easy to introduce one new flavour at a time to your weaning baby and can be combined with baby cereals or yoghurts.
...the pouches are really nice and small so are good for taking out and about and mean that there is less waste (tiny tummies don't need much!)

We'd prefer it if...
...there were some savoury single flavours too. When we weaned, we made our own purees for eating at home and lots of the favourites were veggies rather than fruits.





Organix
Organix have launched a range of new stage one savoury pouches.

We like...
...the new recipes such as Sweetcorn, Chicken & Broccoli and Pumpkin, Cheddar & Lentils all sound really tasty and introduce some grown-up tastes.
...the colour of the purees looks brighter and more appealing than many others.
...the packaging is really bright and it is clear what product and ingredients you are getting.

We'd prefer it if...
...the pouches were a bit smaller as we couldn't use them up in one go and it seemed disappointing to offer the same flavours twice in one day.