I'm a full-time mummy

I came across this awesome Etsy shop while I was browsing the Internet and was totally supportive of the idea of promoting this newly setup shop as I realised apart from making these awesome looking products, the owner created some diabetes "blue circle" keychains and pendants and they donate $3 from each of these items that sell to Life For A Child (an organizations that helps children get the insulin and medical supplies that they need)

The moment I saw the word 'diabetes' I felt I had to be a part of this, no matter I don't get to review or even host a giveaway of this, no matter I'm promoting her site for free, at least, it's for a good cause. My dad had diabetes and my mum passed away 4 years ago due to total kidney failure caused by diabetes as well. So this touches my heart and makes me want to do something to help out as well.

The owner, Julia Forbes told me her grandfather has type 1 diabetes and her nursing friend's little daughter also has diabetes. In fact, her friend was the one that came to her to see about designing a diabetes bottle cap design.

Anyway, without much delay, below are info about her shop:

"Once Upon a Sugar Tree creates personalized bottle cap and bezel pendants for necklaces or keychains, beaded necklaces, bracelets and much more. We offer jewelry and accessories for your little ones, moms, grandmas, teachers, medical symbols and more. Our beaded necklaces or custom bottle cap necklaces would make the prefect addition to your little ones outfit.

We have designed some diabetes blue circle pendants and for every one of these that sells, we donate money to Life For A Child. This organization helps children around the world gain access to insulin and medical supplies that they need for diabetes.

We also have designed a Starbright Keychain for the Starbright Foundation. This foundation helps rescue abused children. With every sale of the Starbright pendant we donate money to help this foundation.  We love creating custom jewelry, so please tell us what you would like and we will create it for you!

Come check out our site at: www.onceuponasugartree.etsy.com, Like us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Once-Upon-a-Sugar-Tree/153351694722623 and Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/OUaSugartree"

These are pictures of some of her awesome products from her Etsy shop:

What are you waiting for? Go over to her shop and check out AND BUY her products!

Don't you think its great to be doing charitable things like this while looking great at the same time?

Read: Deuteronomy 15:10 (NIV), Proverbs 11:25 (NIV), 2 Corinthians 9:11 (NIV)

It was my turn to bring Ben to his Sunday school recently (hubby and I took turns so that at least one of us get to hear the sermon) as the Sunday schools are conducted in a separate building from the main church hall.

Anyway, when it was time for snacks, I brought Ben to wash his hands and when we came back to the room, I let Ben played with this particular alphabet caterpillar toy while waiting for the other toddlers to come back from their hand washing routine.

After a while, this mother and her son (younger than Ben) came and sat next to us and her son immediately grabbed the toy that Ben was playing with. At first Ben was quiet about it as his hands were still holding onto the string attached to the toy. Suddenly the younger boy yanked it off Ben's hands and decided to play with the toy himself.

And that's when Ben started crying.

I immediately tried to console Ben to share the toy (I read in an article that children under the age of 3 do not understand the concept of sharing) but I  still tried that, well anything I can think of to divert his attention from the toy.

Ben actually paused his crying for a while when he heard me saying the word 'share' and then he tried to touch the toy (he really just wanted to touch the toy) but the younger boy pulled the toy further away from Ben.

And all this happened while the younger boy's mother just looked on and did NOTHING.

I thought of taking back the toy from the younger boy but I don't want to have a younger boy wailing over my actions.  I don't want to take Ben away to a new spot as I feel we have done nothing wrong and we should be the one staying put! Ben's cries got louder as the younger boy continued playing with the toy and suddenly the younger boy's mother rudely pushes back the toy to us (as if we're the one trying to hog the toy!).

Ben ignored the toy that was now in front of us (maybe because he sensed it was not returned sincerely or without any apology? Who knows huh?) and continued crying.

I kept on telling Ben 'It's OK, let the younger boy have the toy. Mummy get you other toys or books OK?' And that's when Ben stop his crying.

Personally, I am not the person who likes to fight back over something. You might think I'm weak for allowing myself (or in this case, my son) to be bullied. Read: 1 Peter 3:14 (NIV), Romans 12:19 (NIV)

I don't want to raise my son to fight over everything and worse, to be a bully. But then, I also don't want my son to grow up being bullied or being walked over by others for the rest of his life.

Now, my question is:

If you are in my shoes, will you accept the situation (let the younger boy play with the toy) or retaliate (taking back the toy or talk to the younger boy's mother about her son's action)?

What do you suggest I should do?

Oh wow! I was pretty excited when I received an email (also posted on their blog) from Montessori Print Shop saying they are looking for bloggers to review their Montessori products. As I read on further, I was telling myself "I have to review this, I HAVE TO!!!!!" and then I read through their requirements and realised they are looking for someone who  love and  uses Montessori materials, but they also asked whether you love to blog and include pictures in your blog posts. 

FYI, we have been looking around (not actively yet...) for some sort of preschool or learning system for Ben to participate in and I've always been intrigued and very much curious with Montessori methods. So I decided to send them an email to try my luck. Never try, never know right?

Fortunately for me, Jennifer De Sousa from Montessori Print Shop replied my email saying "Thank you for contacting us regarding reviewing our products. I have taken a look at your website (very well done!), and even though it is not specifically a Montessori or Preschool Blog, you definitely have a preschooler in the family! I think you'd be a great Reviewer. I hope you and your son find our Montessori-based products educational and fun." 

Oh yeah!! Coolness! I immediately replied with my 3 choices of their Montessori materials which are: Alphabet Cards, Color Books (11 books) and Vehicle Match-Up and Memory Game. Although Montessori Print Shop gave me the 3 materials I requested, I only have to review 1 of them as the other 2 are a bonus for my effort. Woohoo!

Excerpts from the Montessori Print Shop website:

"Montessori Print Shop was founded in January 2004 and is located in Ontario, Canada. Montessori schools, private and public schools, as well as homeschooling families from 6 continents have benefited greatly from the wide range of Montessori materials that we have developed.

Our Montessori materials product line started with the phonetic language materials and branched in to all other areas (math, science, culture, art, classified cards, geography, French) as the demand grew. In 2008 we were approached by several schools who had Montessori Toddler programs but didn't have the materials to support them. We worked with the schools to ensure we were following the needs of the Toddlers and within a few months the basic design outline for our Toddler Montessori materials was complete. We now have over 950 Montessori Materials available (including Teacher Training Manuals).

All our Montessori materials have been designed by an AMI Certified Primary Montessori Teacher who was trained by Renilde Montessori (the granddaughter of Maria Montessori). Our designer has over 17 years of experience; in the Primary Montessori classroom, as a Homeschooling parent, a Montessori Consultant, and as Head Administrator of a Montessori school.

It is our goal to provide top quality Montessori materials for Toddlers, Primary (Casa) and lower Elementary children at affordable prices."

I decided to try the Vehicle Match-Up and Memory Game with Ben since he loves vehicles! I started out by printing out the PDF document using hubby's color printer and decided to glue the match-up sheets onto this hard board I have (recycled) and I cut out the matching vehicles images and kept them into this tiny container. Picture below before I started cutting up the printed lesson...

You can also view the following video which was recorded the moment we started the Montessori lesson. Noticed he takes a longer time to search and understand my instructions hehehe... but don't you think it's pretty awesome for my 2 year old boy to accomplish this in his first attempt? I'm so awfully proud of him!

You can browse through the many selections of Montessori materials right at the Montessori Print Shop website itself! They have a great selection, great customer support, and affordable prices for their materials as well! 

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with some free Montessori materials (selected by myself) in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.