School at Home: Week 3

Even though it was spring break this past week, I felt it necessary to do continue with 'home at school' but with an Easter theme. Our week began with an Easter egg hunt with my DC area mom's group. I hadn't planned on going with our busy weekend, but the weather moved the hunt to a better day, and we made a last-minute decision to attend. We are SO glad we did.

I made sure to get over to the library and check out several books on Easter--one about Easter in Sweden (of course), one about an Easter egg tree, a few about bunnies, a few religious ones and even one about Passover (since my grandfather is Jewish and I wanted to give them the basics of a Seder meal.)

Thank God for the Enchanted Learning site which gave me a few worksheets, coloring pages and counting/math activities with Easter-related things included. We finished out the week by coloring eggs, decorating our own Easter tree and baking our traditional Easter bread. So all in all....another good week.

This week, we're moving on to food, nutrition and the food groups.

The Details of Halloween Candy

Halloween candy. It should be so simple. You buy. You give it out. You sneak a few here and there. But Halloween candy seems to be complicated these days and even have its own politics.

When do you buy your candy? The day before or two weeks before?

What do you buy? The good stuff everyone likes or Smarties (gag)?

Where do you store it? In plain view or do you hide it from the kids and the spouse?

How much do you buy? Enough for leftovers?

Do you hand each kid one or let them become greedy by digging in for two fistfuls?

See, it’s not so easy. As I sit here sneaking in the “good candy” (aka Hershey’s Miniatures and Reese Peanut Butter Cups) that my family hasn’t discovered I bought yet, I’ll give you a little tour of my candy politics.

Before I had kids, I bought candy WAY before Halloween. It used to call to me from the Halloween aisle. Buy me. I’m a good price. I may not be here next week. Then I had kids and discovered the candy was gone by Halloween and I was five pounds fatter. And, true to American consumerism practices, Halloween candy is still at Target on Halloween only 50% off because the Christmas stuff is going up next!

So when you’re buying candy, do you buy the good stuff that you can eat afterwards if there’s leftovers that says “I’m a nice neighbor who gives yummy treats.” Or do you buy the really cheap bags of gross candy that any kid would still enjoy in mid-November. Well, I opt for a mix. Mostly junky candy and a few bags of the good stuff for the people I like. How’s that for selective candy distribution.

I make sure to buy just about what I think will be given out. Last year we ran out, so this year I bought about the same. Because Murphy’s Law says that if I bought more, no one would come. This way if kids keep coming, I’ll just shut off the light and risk having my house egged. (Do people do that anymore?)

The candy is usually stored on the top shelf somewhere. But I hear stories about how my husband managed to climb up to the top of a similar shelf one morning and help himself. This year, since I bought the candy late, I risked putting it on our super cool Halloween tin and no one—but me—has touched it.

Oh, and as for handing out or letting kids dig in…I give kid each one piece. Really, must I help support the expanding level of greed of kids these days. Some will tell me they’re allergic to peanuts and ask to pick out something….this I allow. But otherwise, I’m quite turned off by those who come in double fisting it for sweets. [She says as she takes the last bite of candy.]

The "Lego" Fireworks are the Best

I had big plans--for us anyway--for the Fourth. We were going to do our normal routine in the morning, followed up with a family trip to the pool and then off to Herndon for the fireworks, complete with a picnic I had planned (BBQ sandwiches, salad, hotdogs, hummus, etc.) followed by the full display of professional fireworks. Not sure where the day went wrong, but it was somewhere between me yelling at my husband for letting my son burn himself on a smoke bomb and being annoyed at the contractor who put the wrong caulking in the bathtub.

Our afternoon pool trip was cut short by thunder and rain. Our picnic was also rained out (instead we picnicked on the floor in the living room which was fine with the kids). I had then lost my spirit for the Herndon fireworks show since at 6 p.m. it was still raining and we had already eaten. So we opted for family fun and our own display of fireworks in front of the house.

I will have to preface this post with a brief digression on how much I HATE fireworks. Oh yes, it's true. From as early as five I can actually remember being terrified of fireworks in every possible way. I would cry and hide and pretend to be cool about it. To this day, I still hate them. Every year, my husband loads up on sparklers and other silly firecrackers to wow the kids and satisfy his inner pyromaniac self. This year, my kids were ready for the real thing. They couldn't wait. As soon as it was a little dark, we were outside with our load o' explosives. Then out came our neighbor with the ones he picked up in Pennsylvania--the illegal ones, he told us. Alex must have picked up on the new word "illegal" and as we're talking about the fireworks, he asks the neighbors when we would get to see the "Lego fireworks." We couldn't figure out what that meant, until he told us it was the ones Mr. D picked up in Pennsylvania. Oh...."lego" = "illegal." Excellent.

And yes, they were quite illegal. We had our own private fireworks display and my kids oooed and ahhhhed about the fact that they finally got to see the fireworks in the sky. Nevermind the fact that we were all standing under umbrellas to view them. Yes, it continued raining into the evening. Both kids stayed up until 10 p.m. and will likely be up at 6 a.m.

Summertime Friends

I'm totally into summer mode now. I actually think I'm starting to love it. I do believe I was tainted by summer from living in Austin and then in Qatar. No place should be over 100 for more than a few days. Ugh.

Besides the pool, popsicles, and carefree days, the other thing that summer brings is new friends. Do you remember summertime friends when we were kids? The kids who didn't go to your school. The ones you met at camp. The ones you met at the pool everyday. The ones that you never wanted to 'be seen with' at school. The ones who were either too old or too young. Summer brings a whole new crop of people to get to know who are out of your normal routine and off your regular path.

You know what? It's the same when you're all grown up! I had no idea how the kids' school schedule limited us from certain friends in my circle. With kids in school three days a week at one school, I hardly get to see some of the ladies that I really enjoy spending time with. Some have kids with different nap schedules and some just have lots of kids to get out the door. Summer gives us the flexibility to see more people more often in different settings. They're the ones that live across town, who have new babies or older kids in school.

We're going to take full advantage of our changed routine to catch up and meet with some summertime friends--for both me and the kids.

And, yes, I know all too well that when fall comes again, we'll go back to our routine of school, and the summer friends may fade back into distance until the next summer.

The Next Birthday

So after the whole "keeping it simple" for Alex's birthday, I decided to try a little harder to keep it simple for Anna's birthday, which is in exactly one month. Yikes! How did that creep up on me?

I had all along decided we'd do Anna's party at Frying Pan Park. She is crazy about the farm and I was sure a small party there would be perfect. Well, after I figured in possible heat, heat, heat in mid-July I scratched that idea. After Alex's party in March at the playground, complete with costumes, Anna declared she wanted the same party and the same playground. While that playground is very shaded during the day, it may not be enough for the July heat + humidity.

But my friend Amy did it perfectly with her pool party. After we attended her son's birthday on the hottest day so far this year, I decided this was my safest choice. Pool to keep cool. Cake for everyone. It was easy to reconvince Anna that this would be the 'best' thing. I mean, c'mon, she's only three. She agreed the pool party was fabulous, and she, too, wanted one. I love how we're able to redirect kids at that age.

So a pool party it is! Just think of how easy party favors will be.

With each birthday party I host, I learn new things. So while it was so fun to have all of Alex's class at his party, I think we're going to opt for a smaller party this time, with just her closest friends (Read: four little girls). The only issue I have is the party will be held at the neighborhood pool. My solution: enough cake for our good neighbor friends who happen to be there at the same time.

Stay tuned as I'm sure more birthday party politics will arise.

Birthday Party Politics: Continued

So we wrapped up Alex's birthday and continued on with three more the following week. We are officially birthday partied out. They were three very different parties. One held at a playground, one was a joint crafting type party and one was a full on outdoor safari, complete with adult beverages and a full lunch for the moms!

All the preschool-aged parties came with their own stress (weather, invites, unaccompanied children, etc.), but each had one thing in common--no presents were opened.

Since Alex's first birthday, we knew this was the protocol. But why? At a younger age, he enthusiasm in gift opening would wane as the party went on. He was tired and just getting him worked up over presents would be a bad idea. But for some kids, the presents are where it's at. This year, was the first year, Alex opened each gifts after the party and showed general excitement about the gift. He would open it, talk about it and play with it. Instead of the usual tossing aside to get to the next. I was sad that he wasn't able to open it in front of his guests--many whom I know probably helped pick out the present.

So, my question is, at what age is it OK to move on to opening presents at a party? Can I plan for this next year? I think when they get to be this age and my kids are actually helping to pick out the present, they want to see their friends actually open it as well.

Please.....tell me what the protocol is on this.

A Most Memorable Day

Happy Birthday to my boy! I can't even believe he is four. Last night after we said goodnight to the three-year old, Andrew and I sat down to look at the scrapbooks (can you believe there is more than one!) of his first year. We can't believe how grown up he is. Now he is four!

When he started to fuss about something today, he stopped himself and said, "No I'm not going to get upset about silly things anymore because I'm four." And what self knowledge and awareness....the day of his birthday he was so tired after a long trip to the doctor, he decided he was tired and took a nap. Then later that evening when he still had more presents to open, he decided he would open one more and then open the rest in the morning because he was tired. Man, he's better than I would be.

After a most awesome birthday party (the weather did hold out for us), we chanced a trip to our favorite restaurant Euro Bistro with my parents and brother/sister in law. The kids were angels through the late dinner and even slept in for us this morning.

Easter Wants Its Own Traditions

Easter is a difficult one for me. Back in my more Catholic days--can you believe I taught CCD classes once upon a time--Easter trumped Christmas, by far. But since it falls during different months and doesn't have the whole commercial build up, it often gets left behind in the dust as a real holiday. But I love Easter. Easter means daffodils and the reemergence of pastels for spring couture (as if anyone in this house uses the word couture). Easter means an excuse to eat lots of ham and eggs. Oh, so many eggs!

But it's been hard to establish some family traditions with Easter. My husband and I have been married for almost eight years, this May. I have celebrated Easter in three different countries, one of them that didn't celebrate Easter and one which celebrated it with witches. The second year we were married, Easter was part of my own mourning of a lost pregnancy and the fourth year we were married with was a week after the birth of our first child. Some years we have been with family and others all alone. We have hunted real eggs and fake eggs. Bunnies have been part of the gig some years and not others. Some years I make the traditional Easter bread and some years, like this one, I just don't have it in me. Some times I crave Swedish Easter treats and others I want ham--but when you're in a Muslim country....there is no ham. Oh, except for the ham we smuggled in. We had 12 people over for that Easter all begging for more more more ham!

Sometimes the Easter bunny brings chocolate, sometimes he brings toys, sometimes he brings things my kids need.

Sometimes we dye eggs, except the year Alex was born and even one year I used onion skins and natural ingredients--like red cabbage to dye the eggs. On Easter anything seems to go.

But I really think Easter, in our house, needs its own traditions. I just haven't gotten there yet.

Happy Easter! Cross posted on DC Metro Moms.

Birthday Party Politics: Part 2

So I had meant to come back and write a follow up post on birthday party favors, but I was sidetracked this week by this controversial blog posting. In fact, for 24 hours it was almost all I thought about and talked about until my husband finally told me 'enough' and to get over it.

But I started thinking about children's parties and how ridiculous they can become for the mom and the invited moms. How I long for the day when we can just drop kids off at the party and come back in two hours!

I chose to have Alex's party on a weekday for many reasons. I won't bore you with those details. So I decided to have the party on a Friday afternoon, which might be odd for some, I know. Since it was at a playground I knew that hosting the siblings would be OK since space wasn't an issue.

Then the guest list started to eat at me. This was the first year Alex had an opinion. I asked about his class and who he wanted to invite. He gave me the names and left out quite a few. Would that get me in trouble later on? Would those moms feel left out? If I were to invited them, it would mean double since they all came with siblings.

Then my mind moved onto the goody bags. I had planned to have all these kids, but now they came in pairs (aka younger brother or sister). Was I expected to give them goody bags too? Wow, that's a lot of people then. Luckily, I found a solution that saved me, but man, so much to think about. That's why next year, I'm inviting 5 of his closest friends and calling it good.

Simplifing Birthdays: Part 1

I'm never sure why kids' birthday parties always have to be such a big deal. The kids are little and all they really want is cake and presents. We were fortunate enough to be overseas for the first half of Alex's life and therefore weren't sucked into the American birthday craziness. This first birthday was held at a little park in Qatar. He was really too young for the playground, but we had older kids coming and they had nice big field to roam free on. For his second, we had it at home in Sweden with playground and neighbor moms and kids. It was perfect, crazy, but perfect. Anna is fortnate to have a summer birthday so both of hers were outside. Her first party was my pride and joy. It was a pink party. Everything was pink, the food, the invitations, the drinks and everyone even wore pink to celebrate.

Then we moved back to the USA, where birthdays cost more than a dinner party. Moonbounces, gyms, party planners, clowns....what is this madness? It's for a three-year old? So we went back to having Alex's at home. It was chaotic and too many people, but he loved it.

In two weeks, Alex will turn four. Last year he chose the theme and this year, I asked him to do the same. He wanted a Halloween party since my kids LOVE Halloween and costumes. I agree he could do costumes. Ok, done. Now I had to find a venue. When I asked for the guest list, it was long. And after last year, I was certain we weren't doing home.

We finally settled on a playground party. Cake, playground, costumes, done! Now, March can be iffy in terms of weather here in Northern Virginia. My genious husband recommended doing a rain date two days later. So, we have the party scheduled, the invites sent out and a raindate scheduled as back up. I even have a friend making the cake.

Now I wasn't able to pick just any playground. I had to pick one that was close enough to a bathroom, one that had some covering in case it started to rain, one that was old enough to keep the older kids busy and one with some little kid areas as well. See, when you invited four-year olds, almost all come with their younger siblings so you have to include them in your numbers and activities.

More to come on party favors.....

Christmas blessings

Every year, I like reflecting on all I have been blessed with during the year and this year I have many Christmas blessings and things to be thankful for:

1. How lucky to be able to spend Christmas with both my parents and my inlaws. It's fun for the kids to see both sets of grandparents.

2. I feel blessed that my mother is doing better this month and hopefully something miraculous will come about in the new year. She has one more chemo treatment and then will be granted a three-month reprieve.

3. I am blessed that my children have finally come around to liking each other and will often play on their own.

4. My husband has taken some time off during the days leading up to Christmas and all next week so we will all be able to spend time as a family.

5. Lastly, a book agent has found our book idea interesting, and we plan to sign a contract with her this next week. And, hopefully, in two months or so, we will have a book deal. How cool is that??

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sometimes I just need a little Christmas

I looked around the room at my daughter’s preschool last week and savored all the simply-made Christmas decorations by two-year olds. The room was fully donned in green and red. As we were preparing for her Christmas party, we danced to the tunes playing on the CD player. Thanks to one mom, we planned a great party around the kids complete with cookie decorating, card and ornament making, gift bow halos and shaving cream finger painting. One mom even tried her cake decorating skill with a very lavish cake looking like a present. It was one of the best school Christmas parties I’ve been too. Maybe it was because Anna doesn’t eat the cookies with such greed as Alex does. Maybe it was because I only had one child to look after. Or maybe it was because it was 100% Christmas.

We commented on how nice it was to have a Christmas party for a change. Granted, she does go to a Christian preschool so that lends itself to embracing the reason for the season.

With all the Happy Holidays these days, sometimes I just need a little Merry Christmas.

The season of chocolate

My son, especially, has a terrible sweet tooth. I attribute it to the one-a-day chocolate muffins I ate when I was pregnant with him. Probably why my blood sugar was borderline gestational diabetes and I had to cut out all sugar. Apparently, we can mess up our kids before they pop out. Alex will eat an ungodly amount of chocolate and sugar without so much as taking a breath. He will wake up in the morning, with his eyes not even opened, and start bargaining for whatever sweets we might have in the house—hidden or not. He always know where they are.

My solution since I have absolutely no self-control (my friends will admit to this) when it comes to sweets, wine or chips is to not have this stuff around. OK, except for the wine. Everyone needs their vice, right? You don’t find cookies, brownies, chocolate, candy or anything even resembling that at my house unless I’m baking for an event.

The Halloween candy was gone long before we started running into Christmas holidays because of this. Halloween was on Wednesday this year and the candy was either thrown out or sent to work with my husband by the following Monday. I had put on five pounds from all the yummies that didn’t get taken by kids. You think I’m kidding? I’m not.

Somehow close to Thanksgiving, our house started filling up with chocolate and by Thanksgiving day we had pounds, quite literally, of chocolate in our house. Not to mention the giant pecan pie and cake from dinner.

Now into December, the chocolate has multiplied threefold, and we have the chocolate Advent calendars. Very traditional for our family, but so annoying for the chocoholics in my house. Again, before Alex even gets down the stairs he’s talking about opening door # (insert day of December). How did he know this morning it was December 2. After eating it he was already asking about #3. Then he asked about the cookies in the freezer. What about the candy Uncle Dave bought? He remembers seeing some chocolate turkeys somewhere, what about those? And, hey, what happened to the candy cane Santa gave him yesterday?

So I groaned back at him: For the goodness sakes, go to the bathroom, wake up, eat your breakfast THEN we’ll start negotiating on sweets. Mommy cannot do negotiating without coffee in the morning.

So you see what has happened to our house. The chocolate has turned my son into a little greedy sugar monster and me into a fat one. Anna is apparently the only one with self control. She only eats a nibble of it. Please, please stop sending us chocolate.

Christmas trees: It's just our place

Seems every year, people speak of their place for getting a Christmas tree. This morning we were trying to figure out the best place to journey for our tree shopping experience. Every year we go to the same place, but this year I thought we needed more—Santa visit, music, hot cider—you know festivities for the kids. I looked in the paper and online and finally when the question came up: where are we going? My response was simple: We’ll go back to Krop’s Crops.

On the way there, we passed by several Christmas tree shops, and my kids are crying out “Mom, stop, there are Christmas trees.” But we keep driving. My parents, who were visiting, wanted to know the reason behind my loyalty to Krop’s Crops. The answer is simple. It’s local, it’s small and it’s tradition. Krop’s Crops in Great Falls, Virginia, is very small shop nursery. There are no frills to this outfit though—it’s pretty plain and simple with a few extras for the kids. They have a cast-iron stove inside to warm up, refreshments to purchase, chickens and goats to feed and dried corn for the kids to play in.

And every year, despite the fact that neighboring and competing farms offer more, we still go here to get our tree and every year it looks more perfect. While the trees aren’t cheap, the service is amazing and I love the idea of support small local establishments. Today, Santa was helping load trees on the cars—after taking Christmas present requests and handing out candy canes. That was really the highlight for my kids. Nothing beats having Santa talk about his elves while strapping the tree onto your car.

Every year the tree selection is beautiful and fresh. In fact, we’ve had trees last well into mid-January and still be alive and well six weeks after we bought them. In addition to the cut Christmas trees, they have a “cut-your-own” option as well. Also available, of course, are beautiful wreaths and spectacular poinsettias.

I'm curious about your favorite place for Christmas trees and what makes it special for you.

Making Christmas memories with salad

Part of my renewed commitment to enjoying the holidays is to make a few memories with the kids. I wanted to take them one evening during the week to look at Christmas lights. While sitting in the car to gaze at lights used to be a pastime of mine, I wanted the kids to get outside since the chilly air temp has a lot to do with creating Christmas memories for me.

So we headed to Reston Town Center. Not the most unique set up, but it was close by and free. So if the plan went bad we had an easy escape plan. The kids were floored by the lights. All the trees were fully wrapped in white lights from top to bottom. Anna ooed at the big Christmas tree. Alex stood fascinated by the ice skaters. It was a mini wintery wonderland for preschoolers. Done, I thought! What an easy outing. It was well past dinnertime and since everyone was happy, I decided to stop in for dinner at Panera. I pitched a ham sandwich for dinner and both kids’ faces lit up. But when I walked to the door and saw they were “temporary closed” for cleaning I was sorely disappointed.

Now as every mom knows this is a tricky situation. Do I repitch a new dinner idea? Find something with the same theme to console those saddened by the disappointment? Or abandon the whole trip and go home? Now, a smart, experienced mom would say a kink in the plan means a chance that the rest of the outing will go south so choice C (go home) is your best bet. Did we do C? Nope, we found someplace sandwichy to go instead. Live and learn and follow gut next time, I say in hindsight.

I’m guessing since you’re still reading you’re curious about dinner. Well, we walked to the La Madeline across the street. As we walk in, the man entering in front of us lets the door slam on me, my son and the stroller once . . . and then again. Grumbling mom of two small kids enters. Menu reads ham sandwich, perfect. Done. We wait in a very, very long line of customers. (Go home, my brain says. Stay or else you’ll have meltdowns, my heart says.) We wait. The kids are surprisingly good. Just as the guy says “next in line,” Alex asks a question. I must have missed the next “next in line” and the lady behind me says, “EXCUSE me” in that nasty tone, and I shoot her a dirty look. Hey, lady, lighten up. Do you see me struggling here?

We move through the line and my kids are starting to lose patience. I have a tray with food on it, a stroller and another child. People are passing by me at rapid speed. I’m wondering how I will get to a table with everyone since the woman behind me keeps sighing at my pokiness. Finally, the guy comes with our food, while I’m in still in line and just stands there. No offer to help. Just stands there staring at me. (Note to self: Next time ask for help.) We finally find one of the last tables left that seats more than two people. It hasn’t been cleaned yet and the man is standing drinking his coffee with his dirties on the table. He offers the table. We grab it. He stands and talks to my kids, while I bus his table. Meanwhile, I have to go grab our tray from the cash register area. (I had to leave it to get kids settled.) I get them set up with food. The man is still yakking away. I go back and get forks/spoons for the kids. I get everyone settled, get coats off, split the sandwich and breathe a sigh of relief.

Anna starts screaming bloody murder because there's lettuce on her sandwich and it starts to fall apart as she eats it. Ok, problem fixed. I take a bite of my salad, and she insists since it’s on her plate it belongs to her and forbids me to eat the Caesar salad I had been craving. So, my child who NEVER eats salad, eats the whole thing. As I start eating my soup, Alex starts crying that he has to pee right that minute. We put down our forks (Anna cries because she loves her salad) and we run to the bathroom, praying my stuff is still there when we get back. Alex pees, singing the whole time. We come back and sit down. I take a bit of soup. Anna decides she wants some. She takes a bite and loves it and insists on eating it. Alex finishes his water and asks for more. I stall on getting up again,and finally she insists as well. I get more water. I sit down, take a bite of something since most of my dinner was eaten by my daughter, and Anna spills the whole glass of water over the table. No offer from busboy looking on (who still hasn’t bussed the table from before). I groan and mutter profanity under my breath and say, "Hey, guys. We’re out of here." Alex grabs the rest of his sandwich and we walk back to the car.

My memory of what could have been a magical Christmas evening, will forever be the disaster at the Reston La Madeline (not a kid friendly place at 6 p.m.) I will never take my kids back there, except that Anna keeps going on about the salad. Perhaps the memory is not Christmas but that Anna learned to love lettuce!

Thoughts of Thanksgiving

This week I’m putting aside the Christmas cards I started addressing, and the Christmas presents I started shopping for. This week would be what it is: Thanksgiving. This is a very important Thanksgiving for our family. My parents and my brother and his wife will make the trip to my home this year and join our four. In previous years we’ve been abroad or too far away, so this year will be the first that my family comes to my house for Thanksgiving.

It is also a special holiday because of my parents. I don’t use this blog to talk about it, but I feel it warrants mentioning in light of the holiday. I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for my parents being able to make the trip this year, inshallah. (God Willing) My mother had her fourth chemo treatment last week and seems improved—in both body and spirit. I am thankful she has only two more rounds before she is granted a temporary reprieve. I am thankful for my father who is taking care of her during this time. I am thankful he has hobbies and projects to distract him from cancer and chemotherapy. I am thankful that my parents built the bond with my kids very early on and that my son asks about her daily. I am thankful that his favorite place to be is at Grandma’s house. I am thankful for my husband who will lets me drive down to see them at the drop of a hat without the kids to spend time with her or help out when I can. I am thankful for all they still do for us.

I am thankful that this thanksgiving we will all be together.

I want to spend this week remembering this and being thankful for the blessing that I have. I want to take a step back and enjoy the food I make and savor the memories.

Thanks to fellow DC Metro Moms blogger who inspired me to start a new tradition. From their first Thanksgiving as a family, they used an inexpensive table cloth to write down what they were thankful for. And each year that table cloth is used for the dinner. I’m going to spin it a different way with napkins. (Quite honestly because I’m not up for decorating my Damascene table cloth I bought in Syria for my rather large table.) Each member of my family, including the kids, must write what they are thankful for after dinner. And we’ll reuse them year after year until there is no more room.

For Christmas he wants anything . . .

For Christmas this year, Joey wants anything Thomas the Train. And Sally wants anything Dora the Explorer. Ok, I have real issue with this line of thinking. How is it that our children want things, anything, with some character on it: shoes, towels, clothes, dolls, blankets, hats, etc. Is our world so full of commercialized product that we can’t have toys for the sake of learning, exploring and creating?

Someone puts Dora on the Candy Land game and suddenly that is going to make a child want to play it more. Perhaps a parent will choose to buy that since Sally loves Dora, but shouldn’t we be buying toys for a purpose other than to clutter up our homes with more crap. Have we really learned nothing from the year of toy recalls? We are a culture consumed in commercialized products and I’m astonished that by this every time I step into Target. I wanted to find a bike helmet for my son without a character on it. Luckily, a local bike store stocked enough non-Dora/Diego helmets for those of us avoiding the cartoon character takeover of our world. Sometimes a set of colorful blocks can be something to stimulate a child, help them learn and grow. Putting Thomas the Train or Elmo on the blocks does nothing but endorse our need for this type of stuff in the marketplace—mostly, if not all of it, made in China. It’s even on my kid’s diapers. I really don’t need Elmo in my face every time I change her.

So this is for you Disney, Nick Jr, Sesame Street, Hit Entertainment, Marvel Comics—I am not buying any of your commercialized stuff this year. If my kids want to watch your DVDs, fine, but I don’t need the cast of High School Musical, Big Bird or the Wiggles (no offense Wiggles, cuz we love you) hanging around in my living room, kitchen, playroom, bedroom, bathroom and car.

Preschool Gift Ideas: Toys

So the holiday-buying season is here again. I swear I thought it was just Halloween. There have been a few discussions on my Yahoo mom groups about good gifts to give kids. I thought this might be something to investigate, starting with looking around our house at the toy favorites. My kids are in the two to four range, but many of these were purchased when they were even younger so they ended up being good toy "investments."

By far the number one favorite in my house these days are the Legos--Duplos and big kid Legos. They love them. They don't build big elaborate things, but they love building. Which then led me to think they might like some different kinds of blocks like Bristle Blocks/Krinkles. Do you remember those?

Dress up falls a pretty quick second with my kids. Both of them love to dress up. We have animal, princess, knight, Elmo, dragon and Buzz Lightyear costumes--shoes, hats/crowns, and accessories to boot. They may not do anything in their costumes other than run around the house, pretend to shop, build or eat, but the costumes seem to change the tone of their play. One of the favorite accessories for Anna has become her "clip clap" shoes. Those are the cheap plastic ones with pictures of princesses on them, butterflies or flowers. She loves them. In fact, every girl loves them so much that I bought an extra pair on sale after Halloween to fill our dress up corner for friends who come to play. Alex and Anna both love the foam swords when they're playing dress up. I know weapons in the house are probably not a good idea, but I figured if they were foam would could reduce the rate of injury. I bought ours at Tree Top Toys, but the Lego store in Tyson's had some fun ones.

While we're talking about pretend, both kids love Anna's little tea set. Believe it or not they both will sit down to the table and have tea. How very civilized they look until someone throws the cup at the other. The stroller and shopping cart have become a favorite for Anna. She doesn't necessarily put the doll or food in, pretty much everything goes in it. But in her mind she has a mission and is playing some kind of game with all of it.

We bought our daughter a cash register for her second birthday, and it gets a lot of use by both kids. They have started to combine the play of the cash register in with the shopping cart and play food. Anna just likes to sort the money in it. The one we have has a scanner and a little microphone. It also is a working calculator.

Lately my kids have fallen in love with books on CD. An aunt sent a few Curious George books along with the accompanying CD. My kids love to sit down and listen to the story. For them it's good downtime without the TV.

Musical instruments tend to dominate a noise level in our house--besides the clip clap shoes and screaming. Turn on the music and immediately the drums, xylophone and recorders come out. Last year someone gave Alex a Saxoflute. Great, great gift. Also it's one of the few toys not made in China!

Arts and Crafts are fun for kids of all ages. Anna tends to be my little Picasso and will spend quite a long time crafting and drawing, but Alex still enjoys the process of art time. Last year, we got them a Melissa and Doug easel for Christmas. While it does take up a lot of space on our main living level, they do like to stop and draw on the paper/chalkboard. You can never go wrong with a MagnaDoodle. They are inexpensive and grow with your child. I still love to draw on ours.

Alex is a puzzle pro. Before he was even two years old he was into 24 to 48 piece puzzles. The ones from Melissa and Doug are really our favorites. We have so many of these, and he still enjoys putting them together. Since they're designed for the floor, you need a bit more space, but the cardboard is almost indestructible.

One toy that we're still growing into is the marble run. It's a toy that requires some adult supervision in order to get the marbles to run properly, but both love to watch the marbles and Alex is starting to try to build some of the runs.

Here are a few other suggestions for preschool gift ideas:

Woodkins--I saw these at the toy store and they looked a lot of fun for 3 to 4-year old girls.

Wedgits--I have not seen these, but they look fun as well.

Play kitchen, Play tool bench--We have the tool bench and it's used quite a lot. Not a real favorite, but still fun.

Mr. Potato Head--My daughter really loves this toy.

Stay tuned for more favorites: books, CDs and more.