USE ANYTHING FOR FUN!
This is my coffee table.
I’ll actually call it my tea table because I don’t drink coffee.
But when you tape some paper on it and get out some crayons and markers,
It becomes a map for cars to drive on,
or a picture to create and color,
or a kingdom for action figures to live in.
It doesn’t take much to stimulate a little one’s imagination.
I got a huge pad of this big paper from our local art supply store for $5.00. Priceless!
THE LITTLE HAT GIVEAWAY!
It’s a hot summer here in DC… and humid.
Did I mention humid? Ah, but that’s what DC is known for, right? We’re merely fulfilling destiny and giving people what they want…
But I digress.
Anywhere you are it’s imperative to keep your little kiddies protected from the sun. Sunscreen is essential. I like to use the SPF 50 on my son. My little guy also has 3 pairs of sunglasses and (thankfully) loves to wear them.
But most importantly, it’s good to get the little ones used to wearing hats. My little one loves baseball caps, which are great for shielding little faces from the sun.
However, after a look at the The Little Hat Company website and taking a gander at all their adorable hats for boys and girls, I had to contact them and they’ve graciously agreed to sponsor a contest!
Leave a comment on anything you do to keep your little ones safe from the sun. That’s it.
A winner will be selected at random on July 31st. I’ll then contact the winner by email and you can pick out your favorite hat and the size you want and The Little Hat Company will send it to you.
It’s that easy!
In the meantime, check out The Little Hat Company to look at some adorable hats.
I’m so glad I found out about this company…
Thank You to Andrea’s Recipes for putting them on my radar!
Leave Your Comment!
I’LL GET AN UNINTERRUPTED SHOWER SOMEDAY
Yesterday afternoon, after my son and I had been out-and-about all day long,
I was hot, and sweaty, and dirty.
He was content playing in our office/playroom (every room in our house has become some sort of playroom) just off the kitchen. This room was originally designed to be a spare bedroom (I think) so it has a full bathroom attached to it.
So I did what any good mother would do and told my son while he was playing with his Leapfrog reader and other cool games, that I was going to take a quick shower.
‘This is perfect,’ I thought. I’ll be able to hear him if he needs anything. I won’t be upstairs in the shower. I’ll be right in the attched bathroom.
So I get undressed upstairs quickly, put on a robe and come back down; my son is still playing contently.
I get in the shower;
bathing- done,
shaving my legs- done.
I put a ton of shampoo/conditioner in my hair (the 2-in-1 kind because, after all, us mothers have to be quick taking care of ourselves), no sooner did i do this, that I hear the pitter-patter of little feat into the bathroom…
I heard the toilet seat go up.
“Are you going pee-pee?” I asked.
“No, BM” My son said.
I worked through the stuff on my head at a turbo speed. Okay, I’m rinsing, I have tons of suds in my eyes.
“Mommy, you need to get out of the shower!”
“Why honey?” (I’m stalling while furiously trying to rinse my hair)
“I need you to wipe my bottom”
“Okay, hold on.”
“Mommy, I need you.”
I jumped out of the shower, still a little sudsy, and simultaneously put on my robe, got a Kando wipe, wiped his bottom and helped him pull up his underwear.
“Thanks Mommy.”
“No problem, sweetheart.”
“Mommy, I still see bubbles in your hair. You tell me that I have to rinse off well when I take a bath. I think you better get back in the shower and rinse off better.”
“Thanks… I will.”
And he trots out of the bathroom back to his games; it never occurs to him that I interrupted my shower to wipe BM from his bottom.
ahhhhhhhhhh
Maybe this weekend I’ll get an uninterrupted shower; I can dream can’t I?
CARTOONS DON’T MAKE SENSE!
It’s summer and most of the time my little guy and I are outside, at the pool, or at the park. But running around outside all day is fairly exhausting to me, so my 4-year-old usually needs some down time in the late afternoon.
The other day we turned on WordWorld, a wonderful show that teaches children how to read, plus it’s pretty clever and cute.
So we’re watching it, leaning back on our couch and it occurred to me that the dog on WordWorld is the only animal that can’t talk; the duck can talk, the bear, even the frog and the ant can talk.
An insect can talk but not the poor dog?
And then I thought, “Dogs can never talk on cartoons, they are everybody’s, even other animals’ pets…
Why is that?”
Oswald the Octopus has a pet dog that can’t talk… His friend Daisy can talk and she’s a PLANT!
And I’m not even acknowledging the fact that Oswald lives on land and not in the sea.
Pluto is another dog that can’t talk… and his owner is a mouse,
granted, a very famous mouse, but still, just a mouse.
Poor Pluto, he is also the only cartoon dog to be subjected to being in the same cartoon with
the only dog in cartoon land that can talk and wears clothes– GOOFY!
How must Pluto feel? Why isn’t Goofy a pet?
The inconsistencies in cartoons are maddening;
Maybe not maddening, but definitely annoying.
Seriously, Dora and Diego’s parents let them run all over the place on adventures with monkeys and baby jaguars.
And speaking of parents, where are Max and Ruby’s parents? No wonder Ruby gets so annoyed with Max, she’s basically raising him by herself… and I think she’s supposed to be about 8!
And while we are on the subject, Madam Butterfly (on Oswald the Octopus) is the only main character on that show that has a job,
AND SHE IS A SINGLE MOTHER. She’s always in a good mood too. She has a kind word for anybody and everybody…
Maybe cartoons are more accurate than I first thought.
Or maybe I need a hobby.
Or maybe I need to pick up a book and read it, instead of watching cartoons for 4-year-olds.
After all, I remember thinking when I was a kid how wonderful it would be if I could find the ‘real’ Sesame Street… monsters and all.
‘Come and play, everything’s A, Okay. On my way to where the air… is… clean.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?’
An abbreviated version of this ‘rant’ can be read over at DC Metro Moms.
VERY COOL KARMA
On our way home from a delightful trip to Hershey Park, we stopped at one of the few Roy Rogers I’ve seen.
It was in Thurmont, MD. If you think about going to Hershey Park…Go! It has lots of rides for all age groups and the drive from DC is EASY !!!!!
So we went into Roy Rogers and I ordered for our family as ‘my guys’ sat down. I noticed the teenager who was taking my order was named Nicole.
“My name is Nicole too,” I said.
We both smiled and she asked me if I spell it with an ‘h'; I told her no,
“That’s cool, I hate when people spell it with an ‘h’.”
“Me too.” I laughed.
Then she got out a little milk carton to accompany my son’s kids meal…
I looked at it and said,
“You’re not going to believe this but my last name is CROWLEY.” Just like the milk.
I’m interpreting this as VERY COOL KARMA…
or at least a very cool coincidence…
No, I’m going with the VERY COOL KARMA thing,
Happy Monday!
A POST FOR NEW AND EXPECTANT MOMS…
LOOK OVER HERE at New Mom Central. I’m the guest blogger right now and have written this post entitled,
Listen To Your Baby.
Hope it helps or at least is a good reminder to you about motherhood.
Happy Summer !
It will be up until Friday.
THINK ABOUT IT
“20 YEARS FROM NOW,
you will be more disappointed by the things you DIDN’T DO
than by the ones you did do.”
– Mark Twain
WHAT I LEARNED AT THE BEACH FROM 6 BOYS
We had a beautiful July 4th weekend down at the beach.
Friends of ours invited us down to their Bethany Beach house. They have 5 boys… the last two are ages 2 and 3. Our son is 4. Needless to say, there was always something going on and I was reminded of how important schedules are.
Yes, the mom of these 5 boys is a super woman… and she’s running a half-marathon soon (like she doesn’t every day). I could talk for hours about that,
but I want to share with you what I learned at the beach this past weekend…
from our friends’ 5 sons and our own.
1. When little boys run around the beach all day,
they go to sleep with no problems and sleep very soundly.
2. It’s really nice to share.
3. All boys love chocolate milk… and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
4. No matter the age of the boy, he understands more than you may think.
5. When you pay attention to someone (younger than yourself) for even just a moment and listen to them-
Everyone is happier and
Everyone is the better for it.
And lastly, I learned the amount of orange juice you go through is incredible.
MY LITTLE GREEN EFFORT
In my home office/playroom I have 2 stacks of paper…
one is brand new paper,
the other is paper that I’ve already used on 1 side.
When I’m printing stuff out just for me,
directions or drafts,
recipes or reference numbers-
I use the ‘already used’ paper.
This doesn’t seem huge at first, but the amount of paper and money I’ve saved is pretty incredible!
With all due respect to Kermit the Frog- It is easy being green.
MY SON IS GOING ‘GREEN’…
His lunch was packed, school bag in hand, buckled in his carseat… I drove down the street toward my son’s preschool. We stopped at the first light. There was a Ford Expedition in front of us.
“That’s a Ford, Mommy!” My son gets excited about EVERY make and model of car, van, SUV and truck.
“Ex…pe…di…tion”
“That’s right, sweetpea! That’s a Ford Expedition.” I attribute my son’s reading abilities to sounding out brands of cars. Yes, he’s basically learned to read from traffic. It’s not traditional… but whatever works.
“I don’t see too many of those, Mommy… I don’t think they make those anymore.”
I thought about it. I don’t see too many of those on the street anymore.
I looked at my son in the back seat and said, “They still make them, but you are right, we haven’t seen a lot of those big SUVs on the road. I don’t know how much longer they will be making them.”
Out of the mouths of babes.
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I Was In The 2012 Show !
Check Out …
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Nicole’s Book
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