Charlie-Jane

Jaques of London toy review

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, parenting

Disclaimer: these items where gifted in exchange for review. Opinions are my own.

As you’ve probably seen we’ve worked with Jaques before a few times reviewing their lovely games. We absolutely love the quality of their wooden games and their games that can be handed down from generation to generation. We love the quality and they make the perfect gift for children as they can learn through play. Wooden toys mean more imagination then plastic (and a little bit of quiet).

With Elijah growing older I wanted to select some more mature items so I picked their abacus and their let’s play deluxe score 4.

The abacus is used to help with counting and maths which will be helpful for years to come with homework and just practicing our numbers and maths. We’ve used it to count to 100. To add and take away numbers to ten and to count forwards and backwards from 0-20. These are great for teaching the times tables too as you can grab how many you want to times and count them and visualise your maths which is helpful for all ages needing too visualise their maths.

The colours and quality are great the neutral counters means it can go nicely in a room without sticking out too much. The colours are great as you can tell which numbers your counting and move in groups of ten if you need too to do ten times tables.

If you’d like to shop this product click the link here- https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/products/luxury-abacus?_pos=1&_sid=7afbfddd0&_ss=r

As always they’re packaging is beautiful and makes the perfect gift without a need to reward before giving to someone else. The boxes fit the product perfectly as well so they take up less space on your games cupboard.

Secondly we choose the lets play deluxe score 4 which is fantastic as is travel size. The counters are a good size so that it works your fine motor skills as you grab them and drop them in your selected Column hole. The aim of this game is to get four counters in a row horizontally, diagonally or vertically. The winner is whoever who has the first four. As you can tell Elijah likes to cheat a little and continue a game or try to steal my counters back. Elijah and I really enjoyed this games and it’s so compact it’s travel friendly and could take for days out or holidays.

If you’d like to shop this game press then link here – https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/products/lets-play-deluxe-score-4

Jaques sell lots of games, puzzles and more and are fantastic educational toys. You can shop the rest of the range here- https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/collections/educational-toys-for-toddlers

As always Thank-you for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed!

Our trip to chessington world of adventures.

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, parenting

Taking Elijah to his first theme park was something I thought would be hard to do because I was worried how I would entertain him in ques and on the long car journey to get to one of them. But I couldn’t of been more wrong (bar the sick explosion in the car on the way causing a quick run to lakeside for spare clothes and travel sickness tablets). We planned to go term time and last minute so the prices where cheeper the room for three of us (my mum, me and Elijah), breakfast and two days entry to the park was less then two hundred pounds. Which for a hotel on a resort is cheep enough.

We went for chessington because Elijah is obsessed with Julia Donaldson and the gruffalo. The park advertised a gruffalo ride and room and the broom experience too. When we arrived at around 1pm there was no ques. We went straight to the park first as our hotel room wasn’t ready, we got to park in the parks hotel car parking which was a minutes walk to the park. When I’m we went straight to the sealife centre perfect for kids interested in fishes it wasn’t overly big so it isn’t a sealife centre like the others but it’s big enough for five minutes inside! As we came out there was a meet and greet section where we later got to meet the witch from room on the broom. The costumes where fantastic quality and Elijah was thrilled to meet her! The staff where lovely too!

We then walked to have some food as we where hungry, there was a lot of choice but we went for hotdogs and nachos. The food was actiralky really cheep at about 7 pounds for a hotdog with topping and nachos and a drink which is even cheeper then I’d pay at a cinemas so I was impressed. We then went on the elephants which Elijah loved driving up and down and around with my mum. We then went on a few more of the kids rides such as the carousel of animals.

The park also has sea lion shows so we watched one of these then went on to play some shooting games on the temple shooting ride! There is a main stage to watch shows here also! we went on water rides and so many little things for kids. We drove cars and enjoyed our time together playing and doing lots of things.

The park also has a zoo and we went on a safari ride in a car train and went around seeing animals. Elijah loved spotting animals and then seeing them after the safari too. There where lots of play areas for children too stretch and get rid of some of that sugar energy.

We absolutely loved the gruffalo ride the decor throughout the wait was brilliant and got Elijah so excited. The ride is a raft ride where you look around and see bits of the film and book shown by models and more. It was really fun and we all loved it down to the music and getting soaked at the end. The Julia Donaldson shop was fantastic and had lots of bits you can’t buy anywhere else. However some bits where expensive. We did get quite a few bits from a medal and fridge magnet to toys and a teddy of the gruffalo! After the gruffalo we went in the room and the broom experience where it was basically a fun house telling the story again Elijah loved this! I won’t post too many photos of the ride as I don’t want to ruin it for those who go!

I was impressed with the cleanliness and all the food and drink outlets with different things to try we especially loved our gruffalo cakes and doughnuts.on the second day we caught a show and it was fantastic just like being at a theatre and the gruffalo even turned up! Elijah and lots of other kids smiled their heads of and danced along with the entertainers. As we went in term time we didn’t really wait for anything to go on or to get in anywhere. We had a absolute blast and will defo come again to the park!

One day is easily enough to do everything if you arrive early but if there’s a long drive I certainly recommend staying overnight! I’ll review the hotel next!

Next we have the hotel and when I say I wasn’t expecting much I expected a premier inn style room and a cheep looking hotel but for the price we paid my mind was blown. The hotel looked like something from abroad it was huge and stylish. I felt like I was on holiday in a safari park when I walked through the decor was tasteful and planted on the safari park so you can see the animals from the windows.

The room it’s self was huge and had two separate bedrooms joined by a bathroom which had a bath and shower it was clean and well decorated with two TVs and all the amenities you could need. Elijah was very excited by the bunk bed and tv. The bed pulled out into a three bunk bed! The beds where comfy and their was AIRCON although ours was broken and I was quite warm!

The hotel allows you to use the pool and splash park which Elijah loved he had a smile on his face the whole time and even I enjoyed the splash pool. We then went for dinner after having a shower the food was fantastic I had pizza, my mum a steak and Elijah had fishmongers. We had dinner watching the animals on safari and then went back and watched tv before an early start. We felt like we’d left the Uk the whole time and even the breakfast restaurant had us feeling like we where having breakfast on holiday!

We will definitely come back again! It was the perfect place to take a three year old and is family friendly however the rides are quite short so I would come if not too busy again as I wouldn’t want to que up long for short rides!

Review of orchard toys games

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, parenting

Disclaimer: these games where gifted in exchange for review!

We have long brought and worked with orchard toys. My games cupboard is bursting at the seams with fun games we’ve picked up over the years. I will always say they have been a crucial part of Elijahs learning and development over the years. I’d like to apologise for this taking so long. Moving house in a pandemic and life got in the way so sorry! without further a due on with the review.

So first of all we where sent spotty sausage dogs. It’s a game where you build the sausage dogs up and then you try to match the colours and count using your child’s numeracy and colour co-ordinations skills. Elijah is three and quite advanced at many games so we where sent some harder games to play! Elijah is slowly getting the hang of playing so this is a game that will last us years.

Then we have penalty shoot out. A simple and fun game. You roll the dice pick up the shirt with same number as your dice then you turn over to see how many goals you have. It’s a great counting game and the winner is whoever has the most goals. This is fantastic for counting further then ten whilst you try to count the groups of balls which a lot of children’s games stop at. Elijah likes the colours on this and gets annoyed when he doesn’t get number four as it’s his favourite t shirt of the game 😂

And finally we have Dino-snore-us (I do love a pun) this game is Elijahs first proper board game and he loves it. It’s quick so it doesn’t drag on and Elijah doesn’t get bored. The aim of the game is to collect as many eggs as you can and not wake the dinosaur. He gets really excited when the dinosaur wakes up and I have to admit he is quite the cheat at this game!

Thankyou so much to orchard toys for sending us some lovely toys.

If you wish to find your own you can buy on their website or many retailers. Sometimes they’re in the special buy isle at aldi so keep those eyes peeled! The games are always affordable too!

Here’s there website with a link to the game ! https://www.orchardtoys.com/buy/dino-snore-us-game_492.htm

Upgrading our dining room with photowall Sweden

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in Home Stuff, lifestyle

Disclaimer: the wallpaper was gifted in exchange for review.

Moving house is a lot of fun because of the chance you get to make it your own! I was really struggling to put my ideas into reality but when I saw this wallpaper I knew I had to have it. I wanted our dining room to be different. I didn’t want to have the same wallpaper as everybody else or copy everyone else. I love plants and there’s nothing more I love them nature so this wallpaper print was perfect.

The ordering process is really easy you just measure your room and a little bit on and it is printed to your exact measurements they arrived within 48 hours with tracking and messages along the way to make sure you would be in.

The product arrived with its own paste and in two rolls. We hired a professional to put ours up as I don’t trust myself to do it but it looks so easy to apply and they did a big room in a few hours!

The quality is fantastic and doesn’t reflect the sunlight. It’s stemless and you can barely tell it is wallpaper! We now have that absolute wow factor. We had some of their wallpaper in our last house and I almost cried having to leave it. They have so many different styles to choose from and I was tempted to do Elijahs room in a jungle mural but I decided we get the treat first.

I do love how it compliments the table and the patio doors too. I can’t wait to find matching curtains now! I know that this style will last for years and you can tell by the quality we will have no problems! Go bold or go home!

If you’d like to use my discount code then use this code for 25 percent off! lifewiththehazelwoods2021

To browse their beautiful products click this link! https://www.photowall.co.uk/?utm_source=charliehazelwood&utm_medium=influencers

Review of Jaques of London toys.

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, Home Stuff, lifestyle, parenting

Disclaimer these toys have been gifted in exchange for review.

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll probably know how much we love jaques of London toys as this is the second time we have collaborated with them. We have some beautiful products from them and they are such fantastic quality so I jumped at chance to work with them again.

With it being spring I wanted to choose toys that would be suitable to play outside. Despite it being sunny then snowing three hours later we still try to get out as much as we can to play!

First of all I choose the the nine pin quoits game. It’s a game I can play with Elijah and Elijah can play with anybody who comes round to play it’s a simple game of tossing a hoop onto the quoits in the hope of getting the most points and winning. Elijah however likes to cheat and puts them on himself when he thinks I’m not watching! It comes beautifully packaged and comes with a bag so you can take it wherever you go. You can take it to the beach or to a friends house the world is your oyster with this game! Click the link below to find it directly! You can the. use my link at the bottom of this post to get a 15 % discount.

https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/products/new-nine-pin-quoits-garden-game

We also choose a biscuit set. No they cannot be eaten they are wooden! Elijah loves all the different varieties of biscuits his favourite is the gingerbread man. Which means a singalong every time he sees it. We have a a lot of pretend afternoon tea party’s and picnics in the garden or indoors so it’s great for all weather! They are made of wood so a toy that will last for years and years to come . You can find them on link below and if you wish to purchase use my link for 15 percent of you can find at the bottom of this post!

https://www.jaqueslondon.co.uk/products/lets-pretend-biscuit-tin

Overall we adore their toys and will continue to buy them for gifts as they are so beautifully wrapped! all their toys are high quality so can be passed down from generation to generation.

Use this link for 15 percent off!

https://jaques.games/15off

Moving house in a pandemic

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, Home Stuff, Uncategorized

I’ve been of the grid for a little while over here on my little blog. But for good reason. As you may remember a while back I spoke about how we’re moving, well we’ve finally moved. It was a long 6 long months filled with tears and stress but in the end everything worked out okay.

Moving is stressful. But then there is the element of having a toddler oh and being in a global pandemic. Why does being in a pandemic change things you may ask? Well for a start lenders for mortgages are way more strict, the lending criteria has completely changed and self employed are penalised which James is. The time frame of everything being completed is push back after pushback with the excuse of covid. Less people working and more push backs caused months and months of delays. Vendors wanting to have less viewings because of covid. Viewing houses in face masks unable to smell as well. Sounds weird but how else can you smell mould exetera. Valuations are often done remotely and applications take ages. The new build our buyers where going too was delayed over and over because of covid restrictions and materials being delivered for them. It was just delay after delay. Every life insurance plan and document had some question or other about covid. Then there’s obviously limited childcare and support to move because of this. You can’t go out to distress you have to stay at home living in boxes. You can’t go and stay at someone else’s to move and make it easier. It was just made so much harder. But it happened despite all this covid drama.

So we’ve moved from a terraced house with no parking in a not great area to a detached house with garage and drive in a nice area near my family and James’s family. The difference has been incredible. We hired a firm to help us move as we didn’t want to lift everything ourself and I would do it in a heartbeat again they where quick and helped with so much. Next time I might even pay for the packing as packing is absolute hell. I hate packing with a passion. Packing with a toddler and keeping them away from boxes and trying to help them understand they’re moving is hard too.

When we arrived the seller left a load of stuff which wasn’t great to be welcomed with and have left the house in a state. They clearly didn’t clean. But it’s starting to become more of a home after a week. We’ve treated areas of mould from their dirt and lack of ventilation. We’ve scrubbed the house as much as we can and it looks new again. We’ve redecorated Elijahs room which is a super hero theme and we now await his spiderman wallpaper to be put up and we’ve also decorated the living room which is the best room in the house now. A room we can relax in. The house needs work but I can see this being our forever home now. We really are happy here.

Elijah is adjusting well and is loving his new bedroom. He has asked to go home a few times but he is understanding day by day this is our home now. We prepared him by driving past a lot and talking about it lots so I think he may be taking it a little easier. He’s started the school nursery and loves it so much now!

Here’s to our future and making this house our home.

Something that has finally helped me with my insomnia and my SAD too!

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in lifestyle, Mental health

For a few years I’ve seen the lumie lights advertised and I thought with the fact I’ve basically not had more that 4 hours sleep a night at maximum for a year that I was willing to try everything. If you’ve followed my blog for a while you’ll of seen I used sleep masks, ear plugs, white noise, oils, pills, sedatives, sprays, scents and lots more. Basically you name it I have tried it and it hasn’t worked. In December I had enough with the house move stress that has caused me immense stress and I just couldn’t sleep so I asked for the lumie light alarm clock for my birthday. It’s pretty expensive for a alarm clock but at the end of the day I would pay anything to sleep again. So James brought it for my birthday and I was so excited to try it. I’ve now been using it a few weeks so can give true review now.

So basically the light/ alarm clock is used to create the lighting of a sunset and then a sunrise in the morning with your alarm. You can use the light as a calming light or a bright light in your bedroom too. It goes from white to yellow, orange and red. Or you can turn the light off and have the time only on it. You can personalise the wake up and sunset to you with the brightness you’d like, how long you want it to take to come on or turn down and you can choose your sounds. There is 5 sounds for waking up I choose birds, there is also 5 sounds for sleeping I choose white noise, crickets or thunderstorms. My favourite is crickets.

So I’ve got myself into a routine with it. I always go to bed about ten thirty or I am too awake to try. I set my sunset for half hour and have it go from a bright white to red. The sunrise as it happens makes me feel sleepy and I yawn the crickets sound help send me to sleep too. I normally fall asleep with it or just a few minutes after the sunset is finished and the room is lit a dark warm red. once you’ve set your sunset for the first time all you do then is press a button and it does it every night for you! The same with the alarm. I set it for half an hour so half hour before it slowly fills the room with a sunrise and then at 7:30 plays the sound of birds I wake up with that and the room feels warm and lovely and lit when the room used to be pitch black and dark.

I’ve personally found it has helped me to calm down and although not every night do I fall asleep at the same time as the sunset I am never up as late. The best thing is the sunrise setting has allowed me to wake up in the morning and feel more energised. I start the day on a positive instead of in a dark miserable day. For once I don’t mind a alarm. I also try to set my alarm for ten minutes before Elijahs awake just so I can wake up slowly. My mood has significantly improved since I received this and would recommend to anyone to try. Obviously some things work for others and don’t just like oils work for some people and not me but I can say even if it doesn’t help you sleep the wake up in the morning is so nice and calming and if you wake up in a good mood it’s better then miserable you haven’t slept much and woke to the darkness!

If anyone’s interested this is the clock I have:

It’s a new year…

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in books, family life, lifestyle, Mental health, parenting, Uncategorized

Whilst i wanted to write a blog post talking about the highs and lows of the last year in a reflective manor i couldn’t feel more against it this year. Normally i would set myself a list of unrealistic expectations and then feel sadness when i could not keep simple promises to myself. The simple fact is last year was terrible, Not the sort of year you try to find positives from but a year you shut the book on and perhaps think of burning. To many i am sure the last year had some positives that they could find but for me the only positives to come from the last year has been that i have learnt that i do not need to invest so much time and energy into others and to nurture myself. It is because of this new found self love that i am able to separate myself more before i become victim to my depressive and intrusive thoughts. Last year i became very invested in my phone, like many people had found themselves i realised that i had become addicted. The need to keep up to date with others gave me many expectations on what i should be doing with my life, how i should have myself together, how i should have life that is to be a insta worthy place. I would find more and more that i would question my appearance based on others, I would think does my house look good enough? I would think am i parenting correctly? am i doing enough? I would find myself in the endless scroll that never ended. Though i do not blame myself for becoming attached to my phone as it was my only means of contact to the outside world i still feel that it sucked the life from me. Since discovering my addiction i decided to use my phone less, take breaks and to remember the things that are posted online are often snippets of reality that are only showing the best bits of a persons life…

With that being said this is why i have often gone missing for chunks of time, i needed to concentrate on me and to take away the expectations put onto myself to create content that would be worthy of reading or seeing. There will no doubt all over the world be new fitness fanatics, artists, dieters and peacekeepers being created as we land on the other side of the chapter of last year creating more pressure for us to perfect our personal flaws. But know this, we do not have to improve ourselves, we are perfect as we are. Creating unrealistic goals and achievements can put extra pressure on us that at a time of such uncertainty that only sets us up for more disappointment. Remember if there are goals you wish to achieve set them for yourself in the mindset that there is no race to achieve them, there is no failure in giving up and it is okay to have no aspirations for this year.

I feel we will still struggle on this year as we all continue to battle the biggest pandemic in our lifetimes that forces us to hide away in our homes to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. The battle has still only just begun but know that you do not need to change yourself in a pandemic because others are, all you need to do is survive. To not only survive but to find your own happiness, to listen to the stresses and thoughts you have and to try and make yourself feel happiness in yourself by doing things you may love and by taking the time for you.

It is a new year and instead of making crappy pointless goals this year how about you make only one to be happy, to look after you first and let everything else fall into place. So watch your favourite films, cry reading books and have so many baths you become a shrivelled mess. But do not think of yourself as a failure or a underachiever. We do not and have never needed to change. May this year be a year that brings you comfort and joy.

The TRUTH about buying a house in the coronavirus pandemic.

Featured by Charlie-Jane, posted in Home Stuff, lifestyle

Buying a house has always been hard, You save all the money you can scrape together then put your hope into a lucky bank you’ve chosen to give you what you need to make your dreams reality. We brought our first house almost 4 years ago now. We gave up holidays and luxury to obtain our goal. It was full of whirlwind of high and lows as we went through the application process and then the actual buying of our house. We Ended up needing a broker after our bank refused to lend to us and went for a house we could afford. Once a bank told us what we could get we had to go for a cheaper house. I thought that would be stress over once our offer was accepted and we found our house. We then spent a long time chasing solicitors and dealing with the drama that comes with buying a house. Also add in the fact i was pregnant and working full time it meant i cried way more then my hormones should of allowed for. I thought once we had moved in that we would never have to do it again, i loved our little fixer upper house but it appears the neighbourhood has gone downhill as new people moved in and we no longer want to live in our own house so we have decided its time to go. So here we are in a pandemic moving house and But this is how it is different now,

First of all obviously with the pandemic going on it means that buying a house is so much harder, Buying a house is counted as a business transaction so viewing houses and all the little bits that come together to enable a house sale is allowed no matter if in a lock down. House viewings are done in face masks. You can only view a house with your bubble at a time so viewings cannot be done as quickly. This means viewings can take days to take place at a time. I once asked to book a viewing for a house and they wanted to book me in ten days later! One issue i had is that a lot of places wanted only online viewings and i personally don’t think i would be comfortable buying a house i have only seen through a screen. This means that i can not see the area around the house, listen to the area around and get a gist of the the neighbours which is why we are leaving so going in blind was not a option when it came to viewing.

Currently the government has a holiday on stamp duty. Which is great and a big saving to many, many people. However this means the market has gone crazy. So many houses are going for sale and buyers are biting up anything that comes up on the market. This panic affected us when buying. A house we liked was a bit too much money for us. Our first broker told us we had the money so we went for it as there was a offer on the house we wanted already so we wanted the house due to its location. We rushed looking around and decided that the house was the one we wanted and put the offer in which was accepted.

This caused a lot of issues for us. Whilst we liked the house as time went on and we viewed again we realised how small the house was in fact. We realised that the house had alot of issues from our soclicitor finding issues with the house which set of very red alerts. As solicitors are completly swamped at the moment taking on so many clients issues take alot longer to move. They promise six weeks to move but we where 8 weeks in when we decided to pull out after our mortgage was rejected.

Our mortgage was rejected due to many points, The main being our broker lied to us and also gave us the wrong figures on what we could get and as well as that he applied with too little information then what was required. Then there was the big issue that is affecting many, many people at the moment…Covid.

Banks are now being way more strict with their lending criteria. Covid had become a list of questions on many, many forms. All applicants for a mortgage have to prove that they can work through further covid lock-downs. They have to be “covid secure” that means no time off, no loans, no acceptance of government grants and no furlough. I have spoken to many people who are in the same situation right now have been turned down for small loans and mortgages just because they where furloughed or accepted a loan based on the corona-virus. Banks are also trying to process as much deals as they can as so many are buying and selling that this means that they can make money in the long run but need to make sure their selection is for the best. I can understand why but it is not a fair way to decide someone can get a mortgage.

James is self employed and as i no longer work as i became a stay at home mum there is no longer my employed paycheck as a stable salary is now gone. James now makes double our salaries and didn’t have to stop during covid as he works outdoors.However the banks are being really judgemental of those who are self employed which is not right at all. Also only a few banks will give to self employed at the moment and accept this years books so it is SO,SO much harder to get a mortgage being self employed then ever before. With that you also have to prove if you had to isolate you can still keep an income.Which we could as we have insurance and contract work to others. But again it’s another hurdle to jump through.

A mortgage decision can now take months. The survey on the house can also take months and the full connection from searches to solicitors doing their bits and bobs to connect the dots take even longer. My in laws are not moving till January and they sold and brought in September. Selling your house is hard too, you need to keep competitive with others whilst also getting the best deal. We sold and took less so we could get out quickly and get the house we wanted at the time.

So my advice to anyone buying now is look if your covid secure if you are not contact a broker to get advice. Do not look at a house without getting a broker to look at your file to see how much you can get and get accepted for. Also do your research into the best brokers in your area. We went with who we used last and they messed us over big time. We tried another and got a realistic amount we could borrow and we went for a house we loved for less money pulling out of the old deal. Take your time when looking around don’t rush, look at many, many places to get your moneys worth. Before we pulled out we looked around and realised we where paying too much, The house we wanted was a semi with lots of trees and on a hill and the new house is detached, bigger and is quiet and still near family a 3 minute walk from the old house. I wished we didn’t rush into the first house but thankfully some issues came up that meant we had to rethink and i think we’ve got a better deal.

Get a full home buyers survey. Your banks survey is basically a quick run round the house to basically check its there and it’s worth. However we paid for a full report to put our mind at ease so we wouldn’t buy a house that may fall apart the next day. We picked up the need for a new electricity box so we will be getting someone in to test the electrics to check if we need to lower our offer.

We are still awaiting our mortgage to be decided on which has took 4 weeks but we should hear this week. So remember your sale and purchase will take longer and patience is a virtue. You won’t be out in 6 weeks like they promise and it will be pure stress. People are slow on the selling and buying process such as paperwork and helping with querys.

We have decided that houses might fall in value next week so if we do not move we could loose out when buying again. There is also lots of people pulling out because banks are refusing to lend. So if we do not get our mortgage this time we will go into renting until the corona virus calms the housing market a bit but here is to hoping we get our dream house and our mortgage goes through.

Then maybe i might sleep again and not refresh my phone constantly. That and i won’t live in boxes anymore. Good luck to all of you buying and selling houses right now. We all know we all need it!

Doddl cuttlery review.

December 13, 2020December 13, 2020 by Charlie-Jane, posted in family life, lifestyle, parenting

I was recently offered some doddl cuttlery to try on a gifted basis in exchange for this review.

Elijah has always been really good with spoons and forks, I have always offered them at meal times since he started weaning and he can use them very confidentially he will even use a adult fork and spoon if little ones are not available. e.g. most restaurants. The one issue we have always had with elijah using cuttlery is adult cuttlery can be to sharp or too blunt when it comes to knifes so he struggles to cut his food at times and requires our support over his hands to push the knife down. I had seen a few people using doddl knifes and was interested in seeing if this would help his chopping skills so i said yes.

We’ve been using the cutlery for around a month, The small grips are perfect for little hands so make it easier for children to use. Elijah prefers to use his normal fork and spoon but loves the knife. Elijah has been able to work on moving the knife back and forth and to press down to chop food up. The size of the knife enables him to scrap the food to the fork without lots escaping, He is more confident when helping me cook too. He uses his knife to help me when cooking. He helps cut fruit and veg or anything else we are making. Hes able to use both his hands as he prepares food which he normally struggled with as food would move around with his other knife.

I will be giving the spoon and fork to my friend who has a young baby so they can use those but we will keep the knife to help develop his confidence in using a knife! This would be more suitable for younger toddlers but the knife is perfect for those honing their motor skills to chop!

You can shop doddl here!

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