TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites: Twenty Four of the Best Baby & Toddler Books
What is your absolute, number one, favourite book to read to a baby or toddler? A few years ago Courtney wrote a post about Marlow's favourite books from 0-3, which I found super helpful as a first time mama. Now, we have compiled the entire Babyccino team's most read and loved books for babies and toddlers. ...
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HOME AND DÉCOR
Tips for decorating a teen girl's bedroom from Bodie and Fou
My friend Karine from Bodie and Fou got in touch last week to share her recent before-and-after renovation project of her daughter, Mila's bedroom. Mila is the same age as my eldest (and she's also really into surfing!) so it's always interesting for me to see the girl version of twelve years old. (I often marvel ...
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THURSDAY THOUGHTS
Do you let your kids walk to school?
Here in Paris not many families own a car, so driving our kids to our local school is not really an option, especially as the traffic is so very bad. We mostly walk, and kids start walking on their own to school from about 8 or 9. My eldest daughter Coco started at 8 as ...
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PREGNANCY
A very big little surprise :)
I am pregnant! The news came as a total surprise, as we weren't planning for another baby at all. In fact, we were very much finished with having more children. I had gone through the emotional period of waving goodbye to the sweet years of having babies. I had come to terms with the fact ...
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BEAUTY
Homemade Lavender Essential Oil
If I had to choose my favorite summer smell it would be the smell of the sea and lavender. Unfortunately I can’t bottle up the first one but I can do that with the lavender! And if only I knew how very easy it is to do it I’d make tens of them every year. ...
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TUESDAY TIPS
A tip for parents of teenagers: don't be afraid to say 'no'
A while ago my cousin and I were talking to the wife of another cousin of mine, who has two children, a boy aged 20 and a girl aged 18. We both have girls who are 12 years old, who are slowly but steadily entering a whole new phase of children's development: that of puberty ...
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PARENTING
What chores do you give your kids?
Growing up, my siblings and I had loads of chores. Beyond the usual daily chores, my dad even assigned bigger project-based chores for us to do, especially in the summer time when we were home from school. He believed we should be kept busy working and helping around the house. We were given chores like ...
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BOOKS
'Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls' -- an inspiring book for girls (and boys!)
I was chatting to a friend over the weekend and she told me she recently read an interesting article about raising girls. The article pointed out that when a young girl is showing signs of being pioneering or dominant or even simply independent, she is called 'bossy', whereas when a boy acts in the same ...
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BOOKS
Starting School by Janet and Allan Ahlberg -- helping with the transition into school
As summer winds down, the beginning of school is on our minds. Not just a new school year, but actually starting school. It is our first child's first step into real school. It feels very big and grown up. Where has my baby girl gone? I started school in the US at 5 and a ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites : Best 12 Summer First Aid Kit Items
Summertime grants permission to let loose, stay up later, run a bit faster, and truly embrace life outdoors without school, schedules, and routine. So if long days are spent running in meadows, hiking in mountains, or swimming at the seaside... then possible scrapes, bug bites, or bruises, are unfortunately inevitable. Because we don't want summer ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites : Seventeen Travel Games
We love games (read our earlier post on favourite family games)! And since it is the season of travelling, we've rounded up seventeen of our team's favourite travel games. Travel games have to tick a few boxes for us -- they need to be lightweight, but worthy of making 'the cut' in suitcases which are short on ...
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HEALTH & CARE
Kit & Kin -- eco friendly skincare
I have recently discovered this wonderful eco-friendly skincare range from Kit & Kin and the whole family have fallen in love with it! The line was co-created by the ever-so talented Emma Bunton after she noticed her little boy was developing excema and she struggled to find a skincare range that wouldn't further irritate his ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites: Sixteen Summertime Stories
August is here (!) and while some people think that summer is nearly over, I think the best is yet to come, and I intend to fully squeeze every ounce out of summer. A glass half full approach. : ) So to celebrate the finale to the season, I wanted to share the team's sixteen ...
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HEALTH & CARE
100% natural mosquito repellent patches from Squitos
It's mosquito season and my kids (and I!) have already been attacked in the middle of the night. So annoying! So I've started the war and have been putting little cups with citronella oil in the bedrooms. I have also been trying Squitos mosquito repellent patches and I really like them! With just citronella oils and eucalytus ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites : The 10 Best Items for Sun Protection
We want to help prepare you for long sunny days and bright blue skies that childhood memories are made of. And we all want those beautiful sun-filled days to be safe and healthy ones too. So in preparation for summer holidays and vacations we have compiled our top 10 items for the best sun protection. ...
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TEAM FAVOURITES
Team Favourites: Twenty Travel Essentials
We have compiled 20 of the best travel essentials just in time for the summer holidays to begin! With lots of travelling under our belts and lots of great discoveries made along the way, this is a post the Babyccino team got really excited about. Hopefully these tried and tested items will soon accompany you ...
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BABY ESSENTIALS
My First Year, a beautiful baby book with a special meaning
The first year of a baby's life is probably the most intense one. So much happens during these first twelve months of human life: that wrinkly, curled-up newborn you welcomed into your arms for the very first time on the day he or she was born, will turn into a smiling, babbling, eating, crawling (or ...
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HEALTH & CARE
Schmidt's: A natural deodorant for the entire family
If you have a little girl around the age of nine, there's a big fat chance that one day you will stand next to her and realise that it's not your own armpits you're smelling, but those of your daughter. Suddenly, that innocent baby of yours will have a first wave of hormones going through ...
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EDUCATION
Lil'Ollo -- introducing a second language to young children
Last week we were camping at the seaside, and the kids and I were playing around with some products the recently launched company Lil'Ollo had sent us: beautifully designed games, posters and flash cards, all aimed at introducing a second language to children at a young age and in a playful, creative and imaginative way. ...
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THURSDAY THOUGHTS
Thursday Thoughts: 'Read the Room' -- advice for kids
I have recently realised that a lot of my parenting philosophies can be synthesised down into a few short phrases or even words. The phrases have changed with the years (I don't seem to be screaming a simple "Stop!" that often anymore). Some phrases, I am sure, have been used since the dawn of time. ...
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TUESDAY TIPS
What to pack in your beach bag
Over the past couple years, we've had the hard task of spending lots of time at the beach. : ) Okay, I joke... but the beach did become a central theme of our travels, especially as we discovered our love of surfing, and we went from being city dwellers to expert beach-goers. (It's a hard ...
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TUESDAY TIPS
Tuesday Tips: some sweet gift ideas for a girl who just got her first period
A little while ago, a reader asked us for some gifting inspiration for the daughter of a friend, who just got her period for the first time. I thought this was such a very sweet and special idea! It's also quite relevant for me, as Sara just turned 12, and it won't be long for her... I ...
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CRAFTS AND DIY
Biology and Beauty -- Hatching Butterflies at Home
While on holiday last month, we received the most exciting parcel in the mail. On the box, it said 'LIVE INSECTS, OPEN IMMEDIATELY!’ And sparked a lot of curiosity and excitement. We opened up the box, a gift sent from our very clever friends, and inside was a cup of caterpillars waiting to become butterflies! ...
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