Say Hello to Molly Dolly!

Little Molly in my latest book!

Today marks a magical moment for Adams Cloud as today we're launching a brand new product, it's called the 'Molly Dolly'. So this week I thought I would tell you all about how the Molly Dolly came about.

Molly & Dolly in their pyjamas

As you may know we have a little Molly in our house. She is great fun and goes on all Adam’s Adventures with Robbie and Harry. You may notice in each of the books that Molly has a dolly with her and every time I read the stories to the kids at bed time we play a game to spot Molly’s dolly.

Molly wearing the 'Play' dress

I often thought the idea of a doll would be great and one day, as fate would have it, I was at a show in Donegal and met a woman who designed a beautiful Rag Doll with matching clothes for the doll & the little girls. I was immediately drawn to them and I bought my daughter, Molly, the full set of clothes & the doll. When I gave Molly the doll & clothes her reaction was amazing. That was the day we christened the doll Molly’s Dolly and now Molly and her dolly go everywhere together dressed in matching outfits, including at bedtime.

'Sporty' Molly

Excited by Molly’s reaction to her new doll I simply had to get in touch with the woman who designed them to see if there was something we could do together. It must be something Adam had planned as the reception to my suggestion was very positive. We shook hands and, well the rest is history.

Molly Dolly is here at last and is also illustrated into my new book Adam's Greatest inventions. I most definitely plan to set Molly and her dolly off on their own bedtime adventures in the very near future so watch this space for a new book on this very soon.

'Trendy' Molly & Dolly

I hope you like Molly Dolly and it's a hit with all Adam's little friends, and look forward to more new things next year.

So I guess the moral of this week blog is to always make that phone call if you think you have an idea or can work together with someone. There is nothing to lose in making that first phone call. It worked for me and has given me this week’s Magical Moment.

PS: we only have limited stock so if you think you would like them you can order them on www.adamscloud.com/mollydollies.html

That’s it for this week.

Hugs and Kisses

Benji

More Magical Moment Ideas To Have With The Kids

Robbie & Molly have just seen the tickle monster!

Ok, at last, a little break from telling you all about what’s going on and time for more Magical Moment ideas this week.

When I was writing this week’s blog another thought occurred to me.  Kids need to be taught how to play, be creative, have fun and they learn by example. So what I have concluded is that we as parents have to be as silly, funny and creative as possible and basically make a fool of ourselves to teach them how to have fun with lots of great games right from the start. This has been my parenting style and I have to say I am happy with the results so far with the younger two, Molly & Robbie, who are at this moment, preparing to perform a magic show as I type this blog from my kitchen table.

So here are a couple of tried and tested suggestions to get going with from a young age. As always if you have any suggestions please let me know so I can share them. So here we go…

What’s in your Tummy?                                                                                                                    
This is one that Jackie’s mum used to play with her as a kid and she loved it so much she couldn’t wait to try it out on the kids.  So next time you're all snuggled up with the kids on the couch, bed or anywhere put your hand on their tummy and knowing what you gave them to eat during the day simply tell them what you can feel in their tummy. “Is that an apple in your tummy?” “Did you eat a banana today?” or “I think I feel some toast in your tummy, yum yum!”. Keep going through all the things you gave them to eat during the day and the kids will be amazed at your hidden powers to see inside their tummy.

Tickle monster

The kids go mad for this one and it gets lots of giggles. I can only imagine that every mum or dad does this with the kids but just in case here it is. Put both your hands in front of you and shape them like a claw and tell them the tickle monster is hungry for some tickles. The rest is easy, just get tickling on the tummy ribs under the arms, neck, knees, elbows and anywhere else you can find a tickle. The kids love it.

Staring competition

I love doing this with Molly & Robbie and highly recommend giving it a go. I’m sure you know the drill. Stare into each other eyes and the first one to blink, giggle or twitch loses. I always have fun with this one but the best part is that I always get a magical moment that can’t be explained, when for just a couple of seconds our eyes simply say "I love you so much" to each other, it’s amazing.

Guess what I’m drawing on your tummy.

Again another way to have simple relaxed fun with the kids and as the name suggests simply draw a picture, letter or shape on their tummy and ask them to guess what it is. Of course all the answers will always be right it’s not mastermind so you will be able to give lots of those all-important hugs of praise for all the correct answers.

Sock puppet show

We're all into puppets in our house and have puppet pigs, sheep, birds and vampires which are brilliant fun and I highly recommend having some in your house for some creative fun. But when the moment catches you either after dinner at the kitchen table, on the couch or in bed with the kids, grab a sock put it over your hand and slowly creep it up in front of the kids face when they are least expecting it and simply make it say “Hello!”. The reaction is great maybe you should have a camera ready for this one.

Here's a clip of Robbie & Molly performing a puppet show for me:

That’s it for this week more magical moments on the way but something new coming next week I can't wait to tell you about!

Bye for now.

Benji

The Creation of Adam's Greatest Inventions

Adam's 6th book, 'Adam's Greatest Inventions'

Well you may have already heard my new book is out so I thought I would give you a back stage pass to tell you how it all came together.

 Over the past couple of years I have chosen to publish Adam’s Adventure books either on Adam’s Anniversary in August or on his Birthday in June. But with so much going on this year I thought it best to release a little bit pressure and take a bit longer on this one to make sure it is 100%. I am very happy to say that I think this was a good decision because I am delighted with the end product and I hope you and your family enjoy it.

In trying to come up with another great fun idea for Adam’s next adventure a simple thought occurred to me as I played with a great little gadget I got for the house.  The question arose as to what the best invention through history is and “Eureka” the next mission was created.

Robbie & Molly snuggling up before bedtime

So armed with a simple idea of Adam having to decide on what the best invention throughout history was, the next step was to decide on which inventions should be included. I turned to all you guys on Facebook and got some great suggestions and then hopped on Google to try and pick out some faves.

After deciding which inventions to go with next I had to figure out how to include Adam’s important message, and create an affectionate expression of love from the parent to the child at the end of the book. As always this bit ws easy as I just thought of Adam and the answer came quick enough.

Now the plot was set, all I had to do was write the book and get the rhyming and rhythm sorted. Well, this did not get off to a good start as I haven’t written a book in over a year and needed to get into the ‘zone’.

Before & After 1

It took two 12-hour days to write the first line. With 24 words that was an impressive 1 word per hour! It’s fair to say I was getting a little worried that I wasn’t going to have another book in me, but on day 3 I simply closed my eyes and went to a happy place with Adam where he simply started to write the book for me.

Thinking of how mischievous and funny Adam was, the sound of his voice, his giggle and his pure happiness and zest for fun helped me zone in on the magic that is Adam. This combined with thoughts of Molly and Robbie, (Laurel and Hardy mixed with Tom and Jerry), who are now at a magical age where giggles and complete craziness are in full swing, helped set the recipe for something really special. With these thoughts in my head, once I got going the rest simply flowed out and in no time the first draft was done. 

Before & After 2

Next step was getting illustration brief to your favourite illustrator Roxanne, who I can only say was truly inspired on this book and did an amazing job. With recent observations of Molly, Robbie and Harry fresh in my mind I simply tried to recreate some of the wonderful mayhem that is part of my daily life with the kids, into the illustrations. Watching the black and white images come in for approval and then the full colour arriving shortly after really is the best part of publishing  the books and is great to see Adam develop further with each illustration.

Now that the difficult job of publishing the book is complete, the endless job of promoting the book begins so I hope you give it a like and share on Facebook, etc.

Well time to go and earn a crust and get selling. I hope you enjoy Adams latest adventure and get lots of extra hugs and kisses from all your wonderful little bunnies.

Till next time,

Benji.