I recently ‘met’ Denise from www.maxieandteddy.com on a internet forum for Mums in Business.   Denise came up with the idea of creating wipe-able books to record a baby or child’s intake of milk/food and also a medicine diary. 

When my children were newborn babies I used to have a scrap of a paper that I would use to note down how long they fed and from which breast so I knew which side to feed them on next.  It was particularly important with Mara as she was very slow to gain weight, it was essential that I monitored when and how well she fed.  In the early days she was jaundiced and wouldn’t wake to feed unless I woke her myself.  A Maxie and Teddy diary would have come in very handy for us.

 Here is a little more information about the diaries:

• Keep track of medicines, milk feeds, and introduction of new foods, by type, amount and time. 
• Track their routine, suitable for one child, siblings and even twins or triplets.
• Great for the Child Minder, the Nanny, the Grandparents and even Dad!
• Very handy in the middle of the night!
• Great help for allergies and food intolerances.
• Reduce the risk of errors relating to dosage and frequency of medication.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy of the two food diaries pictured above click here to visit our competition page where you will find an entry form.  You’ll need to put the answer to this simple question onto the form:

The Baby Signing Store stocks a book that would be particularly useful at Meal Times, who illustrates this book?

The competition closes at midnight on 16^th December.  Further rules can be found on our main competition page.

I was in the kitchen today making lunch and shouted through to my two eldest to ask if they needed a drink.

I popped my head round the door to see Mara stood looking at Finn signing milk with both hands. He hadn’t noticed she was there as he was engrossed in the Cbeebies website.

This was her way of asking him if he wanted a drink. Weeks ago she did sign ‘drink’ but like my other two children did, she now uses the ‘milk’ sign to mean both drink and milk.

Have you seen The Tweenies episode where they sign about bananas? As I type I have that song stuck in my head, ‘I like bananas……’, having children really has puddle my brain!

Yesterday Mara slept through lunchtime then we were rushing to take her sister to a Birthday party at 1pm. We had to wake her to get her into the car so I sat and fed her a banana as my husband drove us to the party venue. I put a chunk into her mouth as I was trying to save on mess then carried on chatting. I turned round to find her signing banana.

To an adult the sign for banana is quite straightforward, you simply mime peeling a banana but I think it is quite a fiddly sign for a baby.

Having an older brother and sister who are rather keen on chocolate she now has a taste for it too. She attempts to say chocolate but it sounds more like chotchet and now uses the sign.

She is trying really hard to talk. She will pick up a book then sit down in her bouncer chair making noises as though she is reading the story, very cute!

A customer contacted me today with the following question:

‘I have a profoundly Deaf granddaughter who is 1 years old. Her Mum and Dad are Deaf too. I would like to buy some children books and DVDs so they can sign along to. Would the Mr tumble DVDs be suitable?’

Mr Tumble uses Makaton signs and symbols.  These  tend to be used by people who have communication and learning difficulties rather than Deaf people. Makaton was developed in the 1970s to help people with learning disability to communicate. It is now widely used with a variety of children with communication difficulties. Deaf people use Bristish Sign Language.

The Tinytalk and BabySigners (Joseph Garcia) DVDs use British Sign Language. I’ve not watched either DVD so I can’t comment on which is best.

The Child’s Play books are lovely, my own children have several. They are thick board books so nice and strong for babies to handle.

The Cath Smith Let’s Sign products are ideal too. I’d say these are more reference books for adults rather than for young children. The flashcards are handy as you can then stick the cards round the house in relevant places to remind you of the signs.

If you require information about any products then feel free to contact us by email.

Last week we were on holiday so rather than being in bed by 7pm Mara was out watching the children’s entertainment and dancing.

Now we are back home she is struggling to get into a routine again.  Normally she’d be in bed by now but instead she is sat on my knee watching the fish.  She is signing fish and repeating ‘ish, ish’.  The little monkey has no intentions of going to sleep anytime soon!