When I was in third grade, my two best friends and I collected stickers. Once a month, one of our moms was detailed to drive us “sticker shopping”: trekking around to the local Hallmark where we could peruse the spinning displays for the latest sticker sheets to add to our growing collection. Our jaunts were nothing to scoff at; we took pride in finding our favorites–for me, anything cats or Muppets–and happily smoothing the new sheets into laminated pages of our homemade sticker binders. Today, I have taken my love of all things adhesive and added it to my parenting stash of rainy day goodies and boredom busters. A steamy, hot summer day and tired of the beach/inflatable pool? A sheet of Peanuts Christmas characters [&hellip
Monthly Archive:: July 2011
Kids are not unlike bugs: Sometimes, they are pesky, persistent and just won’t go away when you want them to. (Can you tell we are already a few weeks into summer vacation?) But unlike with actual bugs, there’s no real repellent which, with a simple spray, you can buy yourself some alone time. So for now, we’ll just concentrate on trying to keep those pesky, multi-legged critters at bay. At my house, we go through bug spray like some people go through water. OK, well maybe not that fast, but I wind up buying a few bottles over the course of the spring and summer. I’m more mindful about what products I’m using on my kids these days (yes, even if they bug me, I’m [&hellip
My daughters aren’t big on baby dolls. The 7-year-old cared more about Thomas the Tank Engine than “feeding a fake baby,” while my 3-year-old is too into her stuffed animals to take notice of the neglected Cabbage Patch Doll that Santa brought her last year. (The poor thing hasn’t had a meal in months!). While my girls’ play habits are much to my mother’s chagrin, she is still holding out that the right doll will come along and win one of them over. Could this latest doll that’s a hit in Europe do the trick? We’ve seen our fair share of dolls over the years, but nothing like The Breast Milk Baby. Who knew that a play doll could hit upon a sensitive area of [&hellip
Whenever I need to “take a moment,” I head to my favorite indoor spot (that is, if I can’t make it to the beach): a makeshift window seat in my bedroom that looks out onto a pond. The very combination of the scenery and idea of being able to retreat to a safe haven instantly lowers my blood pressure and returns me to a calmer state of mind. When you’re a baby and the entire world is a source of stimulation, noise and activity, you too sometimes just want to take a breather. The I-feel infant rocker is just what little ones are asking for, if they could tell us what they needed. Smooth, sleek lines on this combo metal/wood seat offer a secure place [&hellip
My 7-year-old is zipping through a bunch of books this summer with a mission in mind: She’s trying to earn enough minutes so she can take advantage of our local library’s summer reading club contest. If she logs enough time, she’ll score tickets to a juggling show. To this 7-year-old, there’s nothing as thrilling as live entertainment…unless, of course, it’s a new Wii game. My hope is that once the show has come and gone, she’ll still be just as excited to keep reading, especially when we head out on vacation. To help keep kids on the go psyched about books, PBS Kids and JetBlue are running a Soar With Reading program that provides traveling families with plenty of incentives for hitting the books. Just [&hellip
Have you ever had a day like this? My family and I were briskly walking the streets of midtown Manhattan when, out of nowhere, the rain came pelting down. The forecast had called for “a chance of showers,” but this was a full-blown soaker. Not only did I forego raincoats for my daughters in favor of sweet cardigans to go along with their summer finery (OK, so they were simple sundresses, but you can feel my pain), but we only had one umbrella between the four of us. While my 7-year-old and I ducked under the umbrella, my husband braved the rain with my 3-year-old strolling along. The only one who didn’t appear to be miserable was the little one, as she closed out the [&hellip
The calendar may say summer, but last week, it was more like the start of the holiday season in NYC. It was then that I had the opportunity to meet with both Disney and LeapFrog to see what’s on tap for this Christmas, and from the looks of things, there will be plenty of toys on the top of Santa’s list this year. For starters, we were excited to see our favorite movie franchises in full form. From Cars 2, boys will surely be all revved up for Bomb Blastin’ Mater, that talks and moves, and Lighting McQueen Alive! that zooms all over the room. Both are available in the fall. Our favorite was the Big Bentley Playset (pictured here), packed with over 700 (!) [&hellip
It was a bear of a hot weekend in NYC this 4th of July, but luckily my family was able to hunker down in the cool A/C while enjoying a delightful performance of “The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters.” Now playing at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, this family-friendly musical is the perfect way to spend a sweltering summer afternoon with little ones needing a break from the pool/beach routine. If your kids are fans of the children’s book series, they are sure to enjoy this well-paced show that brings the fabled characters to life via vignettes highlighting important life lessons, including not talking to strangers, eating healthy and doing your homework. A medley of toe-tapping musical numbers keeps the action moving right [&hellip
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