Tuesday 20 January 2015

Nice, not slutty, winter style for my daughter, aged 7

My seven year old daughter is very beautiful. I am biased. But she is. She has long straight blonde hair with just a hint of a curl at the ends, big beautiful eyes- just the right shade of blue for her complexion and the most perfect skin. She is very pretty. And kind. And clever. And funny and all the incredible things a seven year old girl should be.

 

What she is not, is a trashy slut. Or a teenager. Or frankly a lap dancer.

What am I talking about? Well, Grace, is very tall for her age. At 135cm she is the average height of a 10 year old. She wears size 10-11 years. And much to my considerable horror and complete frustration, generally, all the clothes aimed at this age group seem far, far too old for a ten year old, let alone a seven year old! Of course Grace is not the only tall girl out there. I cannot be the only parent who faces this battle every shopping trip.

 

I am not going to terrorise anyone with the abominations I find offered, instead, I'm going to show something of my solution.

 

My daughters wear lots of Boden. Lots of Boden. But it does get expensive and as it happens in the last few weeks all my three have had growth spurts & suddenly everyone needed a new wardrobe! So, I found myself looking for alternatives that would be pretty & girly, but practical, not too fussy, at a reasonable price and most importantly, age appropriate.

 

I found many odd pieces but I live in a very rural area, so resort to online shopping almost exclusively and paying a £4 delivery charge for a single item, at say, £10 is far beyond what I am willing to do!

So I found, or should I say, rediscovered, Vertbaudet..

And I managed to find them just as the sale began! These are some of the pieces I bought;

 

 
 

Dress, £11.50

 

Dress, £11.50

 

I also bought a 3 pack of coordinating polo necks that were £8.80! And both dresses happily go with all the blue/tealish greys in the pack. The genius of these dresses is that they are a fairly thick cotton. Therefore they are perfect with long sleeve tops & thick tights in winter but equally, with a chunky cardigan on cooler spring days & even alone in high summer!

 

 

I spent £30 approximately, including delivery(after lots of lovely discounts) and in the parcel was a voucher for £10 off a £30 spend! So of course I went shopping again! This time I bought some tights, a gilet & a couple of tops! All for £35 delivered!

Top,£5.50

Gilet, £18

 

 

So I am happy I've managed to find some pretty, yet practical clothes that don't project some sort of pseudo teenage image on to my daughter!

 

 

 

 

Love Kitty X

 

 

 

 

Monday 19 January 2015

What my son will be refusing to eat this week.

I have the fussiest eater in the world. Fussyeater Supreme. Won't eat anything unless it is dry and crispy.

For the better part of his eating life (3.5 years) I have fought a constant, daily war. Here is this weeks battle;

 

Pinwheel Pizza made with fresh, homemade tomato sauce, fresh peppers & organic cheese. Served with 'Cajun' sweet potato wedges.

Butterbean & chorizo stew. This is my take on a Tana Ramsay original.

Prawns with chilli and cheese.

Fish pie - always fall back to Jamie Oliver's 'Fantastic Fish Pie'

Garlic Bread topped Ratatouille. This is a mix up of an old 'BBC vegetarian magazine' recipe for a sort of Mediterranean bean casserole, topped with herb bread. But my children are not massive bean fans so I am trying it with a simple ratatouille. Not that they like that much either!

'Scooby Pasta'. The one dish my son will eat more than 4 forkfuls of, without threats of bed/no pudding/no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc. providing I take his portion, sprinkle with cheese & put under the grill til nearly burnt & nicely crispy. I should point out this is not that disgusting Heinz tinned crap. No, this is a lovingly made beef ragu, slow braised for 6 hours then served with regular pasta for us, scooby shaped pasta for the fussy one.

Roast lamb.

 

I have to say, I am not expecting him to eat any of this, with the exception of the 'scooby pasta'. But honestly, I have been bending over backwards to make individual, special meals for the little sod & he still never eats it, so my new technique is to give him the exact same as everyone else, and not break a sweat if he refuses to try it, or makes himself sick when it's placed in front of him (he will).

 

 

Wish me luck!