Twirl

My daughter is the kind of girl who will change outfits three times a day if she has the chance, and will choose a skirt or a dress every time. (No, she didn't get this from me!) 

So when a friend raved about the reversible dresses from Twirly Girl, I knew I had found the perfect gift for the grandparents to give Bea for Christmas.  The construction is impeccable and the colors are outrageous. We're going to have to peel it off of her. 

(And I have to admit, it looks awfully fun to have such a swishy skirt. Wonder if they make adult sizes??)

Pants fit for a hero

My son is only interested in clothing if superheroes (or maybe Star Wars) are involved. I ordered him these custom patchwork pants from Sunshine Salad's shop at Etsy. You get to pick five different patches and the corduroy color. She even does a reverse color on the cuffs so they look cute when they're rolled up. Wish I could show you a photo of Ronan wearing them, but they're a Christmas gift -- sssshhhh, don't tell him!

Sniff

These scented colored pencils are a fantastic stocking stuffer idea. Made from recycled newspaper, each one in the ten-pack is individually packaged. Come to think of it, they'd be great for an advent calendar, too. A pencil a day!

The scents are scrumptious -- my favorites are root beer and cinnamon. There's also a "holiday scents" pack, but they're regular pencils, not colored. I bought mine at Stubby Pencil Studio, but they're available at many online retailers.

McGroovy

If you're at all handy, you can create amazing cardboard sculpture with Mr. McGroovy's Box Rivets. My husband made this pair of robots for Ronan's birthday party. We then let the kids go to town with washable paint and brushes.

If you want to see something truly amazing, check out the castles. Maybe for Bea's third birthday?? He also has advice about where to get boxes for free. 

Because airplane seats are so close together that you can't pick things up off the floor

These markers are brilliant -- the caps stay attached, so there's no chasing them down when you're traveling. And they're six to a pack, an ideal number for a trip. Oh, and washable of course! They're definitely more expensive, but worth it to have a pack or two around, I think.

They're Crayola Flip-Top Markers, and I bought them at TRU.

For General Audiences

As most of us parents know, it's hard to judge a movie by its cover. Just because it's animated doesn't mean it's appropriate or fun for little ones. And I've found that my memory is not necessarily accurate. (Somehow I have no memory of the drunken sidekick and child selling ring in Pete's Dragon. Oops.) 

Since my son seems particularly sensitive to movies,  Common Sense Media has been a huge help. I've found their age ratings to be spot-on for him. And they rate chapter books as well as movies. Now when he's interested in seeing or reading something new, he tells me to go look it up, and we both accept what Common Sense recommends. It's a win-win for our family.

Thanks to Greg Robbins on Flickr for the use of this Creative Commons photo.

Half-full

This book is delightful in so many ways -- the text is charming and the art is wonderfully whimsical (don't miss the rabbit blowing milk bubbles with his straw), but mostly I love it because of a conversation it sparked. But let me backtrack: this book offers interesting definitions of words like "modest," "envy" and "respect."

As my son looked at the page describing "optimist" and "pessimist," which shows a grumpy lady rabbit to the left, and a joyous, baseball-cap-wearing rabbit to the right, both with half a cookie on their plates, my son said, "I don't get it. They both have the same amount of cookie left." And we had a lovely conversation about how even when the situation is the same, two people can perceive things differently.

Don't miss Little Pea, another of our favorites by A. K. Rosenthal. 

A Million Words

Photographer Anita Maya. Love her. She's amazing. Isn't my one-year-old son just dreamy?

I spy with my little eye...

Ronan's Nonna gave him one of these Hide and Seek bags over a year ago, and it's suddenly vaulted into the "favorite car toy" category. It's a fleece pillow that's filled with soft pellets and about 40 little trinkets. You choose an item from the attached laminated list, and then manipulate the insides around until the chosen object appears in the "window."  

Unfortunately, it appears that this particular seller is out of business, but quite a few Etsy   stores have them in stock. Search "I spy bag" or "hide and seek bag".

Familiar Voices

You may remember my earlier post about how my son loves to listen to stories on CD. Well, thanks to our relatives, who are both open to my zany suggestions and fairly technologically capable, we took it one step further. For Christmas this year, they purchased picture books, recorded themselves reading them, and then burned CDs. So now my son has a stack of new books, and he can pop in a CD and hear, for instance, Uncle Mike reading Traction Man Is Here (with Aunt Jamie on sound effects). Since we live across the country from our families, it's a nice way for him to feel connected. My older niece and nephew even did some reading for him!

A few longer books that I think work well are Flat Stanley, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, A Bad Case of Stripes, Eloise, How I Became a Pirate, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Make Way for Ducklings, and Fairy Houses.

I've burned all the individual CDs into iTunes and made one master CD. Sometimes Ronan listens to the whole thing before bed, in the dark, without looking at the books.

With a Mac, it's pretty easy to use GarageBand to record (and put in little sound effects as the page-turning notification). Pretend like you're making a podcast. On a PC, download Audacity (which is free).

I'd love to hear suggestions for longer picture books that would work well, so if you have any in mind, please comment.

Thwack!

As a former high school soccer player, I love the feel of the Oball. It's easy to juggle, and then there's the satisfying sound it makes as it hits the garage door again and again. Lightweight, colorful, and good for all ages. I just saw them at Target, although they only had the smaller size (4.5" diameter) and not the larger (7.5" diameter). Happy thwacking!

Happy walls

On a whim this weekend, we finally started putting up these wall decals we bought for Ronan's room almost a year ago. They look fantastic! I'm so thrilled with how easy they were to apply (well, and also thrilled because my husband actually did the applying). We used the regular ones, so you can remove them easily, but not re-stick them.

They really look like they're painted on, and I love the sense of color and whimsy they add to the room. We also put some on his closet doors.

And yes, that's a Delta frequent flyer card JP is using to smooth them on. It was issued to Ronan when he was one. We declined the American Express card, however!

Bilibo!

As an adult, you're probably asking, what is a Bilibo, and what the heck would you do with this thing? Have no fear -- your kids will know what to do!

Watch the movie here if you're still not convinced.

Available from many online retailers, including Fat Brain Toys.

An all-purpose essential

Before Christmas, I was lucky enough to get into a toy co-op that included a gorgeous German brand: Grimm's Spiel and Holz. I think my favorite item so far is the beautiful wooden nesting boxes. They're big, and they just have so many possibilities: little houses, garages, towers, pots for cooking.

S&H puzzles are also drool-worthy. Not all of their items are readily available in the U.S., unfortunately, but Three Sisters Toys carries some (check the Stacking & Nesting and Games & Puzzles links for the selection).

Wow-Wii!

I assume that many of you out there are anti-video games. This post is not for you. Given that my husband worked for a video game company, I never had any illusions that I would be shielding my children from them. Up until now, I've been pretty hands-off about it; Ronan and JP play Nintendo 64 games on the weekends, whatever.

Then, in September, my husband mentioned that there was a Wii available online and we should get it for Christmas. I thought he was crazy, but agreed.

Whoah. This is seriously fun. Who knew that I would really enjoy a game called Excite Truck? And it's perfect for Ronan, because not only do you get to pick your truck color (black, of course) but you get to finish the race, even if you're in last place.

JP and I are already uber-competitive about Wii Tennis. Uh-oh.

And in case you're wondering, we restrict video games to when Daddy is home, which seems to be working pretty well so far.

Note: The image comes from the Creative Commons pool at Flickr. Click the photo to be taken to the photographer's photostream.

Super-cool trucks

I'm finding it more difficult to wow my son as he gets older. He really likes character-based toys (Cars, Buzz Lightyear, Batman) and weapons. Not my favorites. He's not always immediately thrilled with my picks, although they often prove their worth in the long run.

When I saw these Fagus wooden trucks, I was cautiously optimistic. Both sets of grandparents were kind enough to buy one. Now, he's the proud owner of the Unimog truck with conveyor belt and the car transporter.

The photo is of Ronan sending the fish up the conveyor belt and into the Unimog's box.

Fagus trucks are handmade in Germany and are the recipient of many "Spiel Gut" toy awards (more on that later). They're pricey, but the kind of play they inspire, and the amazing quality of them, makes them worth it to our family.

I'd love to know if there are any American craftspeople making these kind of wooden vehicles. Let me know if you have any leads.

To Playmobil

I was so excited when my son turned four, all because of you. Sure, we had delved into the 1-2-3 line, and it's great. But oh, the big kid sets. Castles, pirates, construction vehicles, submarines and so much more! The level of detail is amazing, and the workmanship is fantastic. I love the ka-chunk, ka-chunk sound as my son rolls up the drawbridge on his new castle.

I'm glad we didn't jump the gun, though, as frustration can come easily to a little one who can't quite make the ATV guy's hands clip on to the handlebars.

The fact that your line is mostly still produced in Europe is fantastic in these lead-fearing days.

Now I just need to get a bunch of bins to hold the numerous, tiny accessories. And then head back to eavesdrop outside my son's door: "Dragon, you need to wait until everyone has their swords to attack." Thanks for making such nice, polite dragons!

My Neighbor Totoro

This is by far my favorite animated film. (Okay, I do have a soft spot for Mulan, too.) The story is fanciful, even bordering on the bizarre if you take the cat bus into account. Two sisters, ages 4 and 11, are living in the country in 1950s Japan. Their mother is in the hospital with TB, and their father is a professor. The sisters develop a relationship with the local forest spirits, or totoro, who come to their aid when things go wrong.

Written and directed by Japanese legend Hayao Miyazaki, the character design and animation are breathtaking. Mai's character is imbued with the essence of little girl as she busily investigates her new house.

There are some tense bits to this movie, mostly when Mai (the four-year-old) gets lost. But everything ends happily; watch the beginning of the credits to see mom arriving home from the hospital.

Adults should also check out Spirited Away, and Kiki's Delivery Service is great for six and up.

Finally, for .25 a pop you can pick up a bushel of wooden acorns from Casey's Wood to make little tied-up packages just like Totoro's. I was going to make them as stocking stuffers but decided the acorns are a little small for my still-mouthy one-year-old.

Kick it, funky snowman!

This selection of goofy poems is one of our favorite reads. Calef Brown has a knack for the ridiculous.

Ronan's favorite part? When the polkabats drop polkaturds on a bystander's unsuspecting head.

Calef has a few other books of poetry, but this one remains at the top of our list.

Why I love Hanna

Andersson, that is. This photo shows my son wearing his new deck pants in May 2006. He also wore them today, and it's late November 2007. They're above his knees now, but still fit.

HA uses a lot of organic cotton, and their styles are colorful and classic. Also, I've found that stains are much more likely to come out than in other brands.

Hanna can be expensive, but if you get on their email list for sales, you can catch good deals. And even if you don't live near one of their outlet stores, you can call them. Tell them you're looking for deck pants or playdresses or whatever, and they'll tell you what colors they have in stock and ship them to you.