We are currently (FINALLY!!! Don’t ask — long story) going through the joys of potty training with Reilly. We also just got a puppy. So I recently realized I absolutely cannot live without this product — BAC-OUT Stain and Odor Eliminator from BioKleen.
If you’ve got pee happening where it’s not supposed to, and you’ve got carpets, this is the stuff for you. (more…)
We came across a really lovely memory game made by this company, eeBoo, a company that says they are “about producing beautiful, useful and well-made products for children.”
I think they live up to their intent. Their games are made of nice heavy cardboard, and the illustrations have a wonderful vintage feel that make you think of treasured old childhood books passed from generation to generation. The subjects are fanciful (old fashioned robots, fairy bowers, animal circuses …) and the illustrations are whimsical and marvelous. They have everything from simple games (Bingo, Memory, Dominoes) to sketchbooks and journals. (more…)
If you are hitting the stores early for holiday shopping this year, here’s one not to miss: Childtrek Natural Toys, which opened in Freighthouse Square last summer.
They specialize in “unique, natural and eco-friendly toys for babies and toddlers … made of natural, biodegradable, recyclable, and/or recycled materials.” They have all the great brands — lots of beautiful wooden toys from Haba and Plan toys, as well as a fun new discovery for us … Automoblox cars, which are beautiful little high-performance race cars with interchangeable parts. (All the neighbor kids are getting these from us for birthdays! My husband even got one for his 40th.) They also have my absolute favorite, Barefoot Books! (I love these so much I sell them … see ad at right). (more…)
Every time I come across these puppets, I am smitten. Each one is like a little work of art. They run the gamut from realistic wildlife to amazing and fanciful dragons and dinosaurs.
I love how Reilly interacts with puppets, too. It brings a whole new level of imagination into his play. He has a dragon puppet named “Glide” he brings to us when he wants to talk to it. He hands it over and says, “Here Mom, I want to talk to Glide.” Then he talks to the dragon as if I was not even there, not the one answering his questions … a beautiful state of suspended disbelief, I think. (more…)
We just saw this movie on cable and LOVED it. (Yes, it came out ages ago! We’re assuming other parents are as behind the times on these things as we are.) Reilly did not sit still for the whole thing (he’d seen it before at daycare), but Mike and I were entranced. We made Reilly bring his legos into the living room so we could watch it all the way through. (more…)
I just found out that our favorite pair of pajamas ever, a gift from my mother found in a cool kids boutique in Berkeley, are available online!
They are called Chammies, and they are made by a company called Polar Babies. Looks like they have a whole lot of other great Northwest-wear type fleece items (hats, gloves, coats, etc.) and a line of green-sounding diaper products too (hemp!) which look great, but I have not tried those and can’t vouch for them — anyone who has, please post a comment! (more…)
Since I am on a bit of a mini-kick, one of the greatest investments we have made, by far, is the little wooden table and chairs we got from IKEA for $40. Reilly loves having furniture his own size, and he eats 2 of 3 meals a day at that table and does coloring, play dough and art projects there. It completes our life in the way the yin-yang coffee table did for the main character in Fight Club. (Sorry - geek movie joke.)
It’s large enough that Reilly feels like a big boy with his own table, yet it’s small enough, we shoe-horned it into our very small play room. (more…)
One of our greatest toy finds since Reilly turned into a puzzle maniac has been the tiny matchbox puzzles made by Crocodile Creek. In a box that is literally the size of a matchbox, they have fit 12-piece cardboard puzzles that are just the ticket while waiting for food at restaurants. Best $1.50 I’ve ever spent!
Our first and favorite is an elephant, but there are several other jungle animals and horses. There are some 2-sided dog ones that are a little larger, and a great 100-piece US puzzle that comes in a box about the size of your hand. (more…)
This is a great café (with a fireplace - nice in winter … or in early June …) on the corner of 27th and Proctor that happens to have a paint your own pottery studio in back. I was going to suggest this as a great place for making Father’s Day gifts, but as you can tell by our lack of entries lately, time has gotten away from me!
The good news is it‘s a great place for making gifts for any occasion. Reilly and I made Christmas presents for all of his grandparents here when he was less than a year old by putting different colored hand prints all over mugs, platters and teapots. It was a little hairy when I got overzealous about the number of things we could paint in a session, and there are plenty of breakables all around the place that gave me a heart attack or two when Reilly started getting restless, but overall, a very satisfying experience, and we came out with some really priceless gifts. I think this is just going to get better as he gets older and more into painting, too. (more…)
Thanks to the website Time For Kids, I just learned that it was recently the 50th birthday of the children’s book, “Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss. The article below is full of all sorts of Cat in the Hat and Dr. Seuss facts, like it took Dr. Seuss one-and-half years to write the book. Yikes! Just think about having those rhymes stuck in your head for that long, that’s commitment!
Reilly is a huge fan of the book, and the movie, along with about every other book put out by Dr. Seuss. Thank you Theodore Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) for all the great stories!!
Don’t forget to visit this fun site, caution…it’s flash heavy.
Official Happy Birthday, Cat in the Hat website
and if you’re looking for the book…
Happy Birthday, Cat in the Hat article at TFKs website.
For even more Dr. Seuss facts here’s his official Wikipedia page
Guess I need to read our local paper more often, they covered this story in February…better late then never, if you ask my mom, she’ll confirm I’ve always been horrible at getting birthdays right.