Review - Manhattan Toy, Nursing Nina Cat with Kittens

Oh my, my very first review! Everyone was very excited when they heard that Merry of Patch of Puddles was going to send us a toy from her Play Merrily Toy Shop  for us to play with!

I had a lovely time browsing the Play Merrily website, I do find it a nice, pleasant, easy one to use - everything is well laid out and easy to discern, and everything is in a logical place and clearly labelled, always a winner with me!

I ended up choosing something from the Manhattan Toy Range, I rather fell in love with the Nursing Nina Cat with Kittens toy, it just looked so appealing and I thought it was such a great idea.

When the parcel arrived they all fell upon it - I had to be quick to get photos! I didn't have a lot of chance to take pictures after those first few minutes, the cat and kittens all got grabbed and distributed and run off round the house and PLAYED with, believe me they were played with. They were all named, for a start - Mama Marmalade, aka the nursery cat (I think they actually mean 'nursing' cat...), and the kittens are Ginger, Custard and Soot, according to colour.

Really, a lot of thought and care have gone into these cats. The fabric is good quality and soft and tactile, the finish and quality is good - no loose threads or gappy seams here - and while soft and cuddly they are definitely durable (which is just as well in this house). They have pretty coloured ribbons round their necks which are good and secure, and are nice contrasting colours. The hidden magnets work really well - to everyone's delight the kittens really do latch on! The size and shape is really well thought out too - the kittens fit perfectly into a small hand, and the mama cat is a delightfully round, plump shape - she fits perfectly into Dot's arms!

The label indicated 3+ as an age guide but they in fact got played with by my 2yo, 4yo, 6yo and even my 8yo and 11yo joined in! Oh yes, those kittens were all  ninjas with magic powers (bestowed by breast milk?!) and got up to many many adventures - adventures that were punctuated by them being brought back to the mama cat (who has been firmly appropriated by Dot) for frequent nursing.

In short, these cats have been adored by everyone. Although they certainly are beautiful made and instantly loveable, they are more than just another soft toy. They've stimulated lots of interesting discussions about cats, mammals, nursing behaviour in different species, and Petal, who was obsessed with cats a year or so ago, has got all her cat books out again - we've practically been doing a mini project!

The children, after the initial few hours of euphoric novelty wore off, began asking whether the cats were ours to keep - they were over joyed to be reassured that they were here to stay. I keep coming across them being left in interesting positions - extreme nursing, anyone?! (As you can see, those hidden magnets are pretty strong!)

Disclaimer: this toy was provided to us free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are our own.

You can leave your hat on

Please ignore the dirty washing in the background and the weird disembodied pointing fingers, and admire Ellie's knitting :D

I have a little list

 Petal, using the Argos catalogue to make a list of things she would like. I freely admit that I am hopelessly biased but my, she is gorgeous isn't she?!

Dazed & Confused

I should have known, really. Last weekend - the weekend just gone - I took some time on Sunday evening to fill out the calendar for the rest of February and also for March, and dutifully filled in my diary as well and synchronised the two.

The result was a little scary. At least something for every day, if not two, and in some cases, three O.o

I quickly began feeling somewhat overwhelmed.. Then tired, then by Tuesday I was sporting a fetching coldsore :(

Then last night I was over taken by awful nausia, and spent some time in close communion with the toilet. This morning I optimistically got up, just moving was - not fun. Not fun at all. Thank goodness Papacrow was at home and I could just crawl to bed. I was really upset that we had to cancel tennis, and I was supposed to be doing the food shop too - really really upset, out of all proportion to be honest, which I suppose was indicitive that I really wasn't well. Certainly something has been going round. :(

Well I lay in bed with What Katy Did Next and slept for much of the day, the world continued to revolve and I'm feeling somewhat more human now... Headachy, crampy, weak, but more like me!

Well, we've had a busy week (or so) as ever, even though it has been (apparently) half term - in fact that's made it busier, with Saurus having a friend to sleep over on Wednesday, and Wig having a friend (Cousin W in fact) to sleep over last night!

There's been GCSE Maths and english, Toddler group - people came! It was awesome! Snow, park trips, library trips, and lots of Romans.

Yes, Romans are the topic of the month for February, as requested by Roo, Saurus, Wig, and others and we have got masses of books out the library, are watching Neil Oliver's Ancient Britain series (I got it for Christmas), taking full advantage of Horrible History's Rotten Roman's books and slots in the TV series and completing various printouts and colouring sheets.

Lots of chess and Bang! has been played, the magic cards have been brought out again, we've been using the lego and train set, rediscovered the board books, been listening to Dr Who audio books, Dr Elemental's Indifference Engine and a host of other folk and rock music and watching plenty of Super Hero Squad & various other cartoons. New programmes we've been enjoying have been the latest series of Top Gear, How to Grow a Planet and the James May Things you Need To Know series which we think is very well put together - just half an hour, funny, informative and packed with relevant and entertaining graphics.

We also had an awesome meet up today with Jax and another twitter friend (once we'd survived trying to get through Brighton - I hadn't realised that the half marathon was on today) which deserves a blog post all of its own, quite frankly!

Eye of the Storm

It's still pretty cold. No more snow as yet, but blimey it's cold! Last night we had -10 and -15 temperatures down here in the south apparently, for once it was actually warmer up north!

We are having very clear, very starry nights and very blue, clear, sunny, COLD days. There's been heavy frosts that have hung around for most of the day. So today, when I had to drop Roo off at a friend's house for a birthday party, it actually made more sense to walk. The car was all iced up, I had very little petrol anyway, and it wasn't far - about a mile or maybe just over, I would guess. It was nice to have the time with just him, we made it there in good time, it took 20 mins or so.

I was walking back afterwards, and sure, it was noisy, of course - cars going by, a plane droning in the sky, sparrows squabbling about, but it was somehow very still behind it all - in-between the cars, I could just feel it.

The stillness.

Like those seconds after you have exhaled, and just before you inhale.

Eternal.

All encompassing.

Always there, no matter what's going on your life... Because ultimately, I suppose, this life with all it's ups and downs and dramas and disasters is just an illusion, of sorts.

What is real, is that stillness.

Check mate?

So today started with a tax rebate arriving in the post - the universe came through again!

After lunch, we had the first session of our Chess Club - after no-one coming to Toddler Group last week, I wasn't expecting much. It didn't matter, we got the chess sets out, made a pot of hot chocolate, had a plate of flapjack - and then, then my friends, PEOPLE TURNED UP!!!

Oh yes. Three families! Three adults and four children!

It was a bit mad, slightly crowded, and absolutely glorious.  And people enjoyed it! And said they'd come back again!