Posts Tagged ‘those darn kids’

« Older Entries

Trying not to forget

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

In December the family took a trip to Disney World and planned to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Unfortunately my two youngest were sick so that just left my oldest and myself heading out to the party. Even with the rain we had a lot of fun, maybe too much fun. Since those attending the party could enter the park before it closed, party goers were given armbands. We went to the party the first night we arrived but my daughter continued to wear her party arm band for the rest of the trip.

We arrived back home and she heads back to school, still wearing her party arm band. Christmas comes and goes and my daughter still wears her arm band. You can see it on her arm during our breakfast with Santa. I was only able to convince her to remove it today. Now it sits on her dressor, so she can daydream about the next time she head’s out to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (hopefully without the rain and with her brother and sister in tow).

disneychristmas

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in fun stuff, just me, those darn kids, traveling | No Comments »

Activewear for Active Kids: Agoo Bigger than Boxing Day Sale

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

agoo12560offEverything Mom had a chance to review Leg Huggers, a line of fashionable and functional baby leg warmers made by Agoo Activewear. But did you know they make clothing for beyond the baby years. At Everything Mom, We’re looking forward to reviewing some of Agoo Activewear’s new clothes for kids when the new season is released. But you can take advantage of a great sale they’re having right now.

Bigger Than Boxing Day Sale: Up to 60% off

From December 26, 2009 until January 31, 2010, you can save up to 60% off all in stock 2009 Fall active wear. From hoodies to shirts, pants and skirts, stock-up now. And if that’s not enough to entice you, all orders over $50 receive free shipping! Hurry, sale ends January 31 or while supplies last.

If you have a little one, be sure to checkout our review on Agoo’s Leg Huggers. We’re also giving away three (3) pairs to three (3) lucky Everything Mom readers. And keep your eyes peeled on Everything Mom for a review and giveaway of Agoo Activewear line for active kids, coming just in time for Spring.

Tags: , ,
Posted in fun stuff, review, those darn kids | No Comments »

A Christmas tradition: Sibling Sleepover

Monday, December 28th, 2009

When we had kids we started developing some Christmas traditions: attending the Santa Clause parade, writing letters to Santa, eating Christmas Eve dinner in Chinatown, the elf tree, but if asked I think my kids would say their favourite tradition is the Sibling Sleepover.

Let me explain. We’re fortunate to have a house large enough that all three of my kids have their own room. I think everyone needs personal space at home (if you can afford it that is). But during Christmas break things change. During the two weeks my kids don’t go to school and therefore are up later and sleep in longer (though not much longer it seems), all three of my kids camp out in their brother’s room. Thus the Sibling Sleepover. My son sleeps in his raised bed and we blow-up two air mattresses for under the bed and on the floor for the two girls. They tell stories and jokes, make plans for the next day, talk about what they did today and just have fun, sometimes for hours after bedtime. And the surprising thing, no fighting.

Let the chatting commence!

Let the chatting commence!

Of course weening the kids from Sibling Sleepover won’t be a lot of fun, but at least they’ll have two fun-filled weeks of silliness. What are some of your Christmas traditions?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in fun stuff, those darn kids | No Comments »

Potty training does have its drawbacks

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

You may remember we’ve been going through potty training with my youngest. We bought her motivational underwear hoping to kick-start her enthusiasm. Then we stopped using pull-ups and dressed her in underwear for the daytime (pull-ups on at night).

As expected, we had a lot of accidents (and a lot of laundry). Then one day it just occurred to me that my daughter wasn’t having as many accidents as when we started and she was actually using the toilet. Sometimes she would tell me she had to go to the bathroom; sometimes I would just take her to the bathroom. But she was actually using the toilet at least for peeing, bowel movements are a whole other issue.

So you’re reading this thinking What’s the problem? I don’t see any drawbacks.

We had the Santa Claus parade come through town the beginning of the month and I knew finding a bathroom near the parade route would be next to impossible and the likelyhood of accidents was high so I had my daughter wear a pull-up. I told her it was just in case she had to go to the bathroom and we couldn’t get to one. So we’re sitting on the side of the road, the parade has just started and my daughter tells me she has to go pee. I explained that there wasn’t a bathroom and to just pee in her pull-up; that it was okay. She got upset and insisted she had to go to the bathroom. After about 5-minutes of whining she became distracted by the parade and we never heard about the bathroom again. When we got home I took the pull-up off and discovered she never went pee. She held out until we got home and she could go on the toilet.

It seems my daughter has developed an aversion to using her pull-up, which I guess is a good thing but can be somewhat inconvenient. On our recent plane ride from Florida, inconvenient became problematic. Using the same rationale as with the parade, I had my daughter wear pull-ups on the plane as well as in Disney World. She would go pee in the bathroom but since she has issues with having a bowel movement in the toilet (usually has an accident in her underwear) she never had a movement the whole time. Four days later, driving home from the airport, my daughter was so upset and complaining her tummy hurt. It wasn’t until I got her home and put on underwear that she went into hiding and … tada… a bowel movement.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad my daughter is preferring to use the toilet over her pull-up, most times. I guess during this interim training stage, where your child uses the bathroom almost as often as having accidents, I thought I could rely on pull-ups as a back-up plan. I guess I never realized how well she would be conditioned to not use her pull-up. Hopefully this interim stage in training will pass quickly and the pull-ups can be tossed out.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in just me, those darn kids | No Comments »

Almost Wordless Wednesday: iPortrait

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
Anybody in there?

Anybody in there?

I love my iPhone. My kids love my iPhone. My son found the camera button and proceeded to take pictures of himself on my iPhone. I now have a new wallpaper image. Can you guess what it is?

Tags: , ,
Posted in fun stuff, those darn kids | No Comments »

Child Labour

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

If you were to ask any parent the best part about having kids, I’m sure you would hear responses like:

  • they give you unconditional love
  • they make you laugh
  • they keep you young
  • they remind you how to be a child

One of my favour things about having kids is the child labour. Why pay someone to do work, like paining, when you can enlist your kids. And if you get your kids involved when they’re young, they’ll actually think it’s fun and next time they’ll offer to help out of the blue.

A happy child labourer

A happy child labourer

Tags: , ,
Posted in those darn kids | No Comments »

Write a Review Wednesday: Meeow and the Little Chairs

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Welcome to a weekly post in support of fantastic writers and illustrators of children’s stories and the wonderful books they produce.

Children have amazing imaginations. It’s not an uncommon tale to hear about a toy being discarded for the box it came in. Meeow is a black cat who, like children, loves to use imagination to create things from a box or a simple set of chairs.

meeowbk2

Meeow and the little chairs (age 2-4) is a wonderful new picture book illustrated and written by Sebastien Braun (published by Sterling Children’s Books).

The story is simple, like a parent describing events in a children’s book. The type is large and uncluttered making it easy for children to focus. The illustrations are simple but full of personality and warmth, even with the use of primary colours. And the primary colours are used in the dialog too: Woof carries a blue chair instead of just a chair. The visual reinforces this.

In Meeow and the Little Chairs, Meeow is playing with his friends Baa, Moo, Quack and Woof. The friends start to move their colourful chairs in line. As new elements are added, a green flag, a yellow whistle, the kids reading are encouraged to try and guess what the friends are building. It’s not until the very last page that the final creation is revealed. Your kids may or may not have guessed, but they will have fun trying to figure it out with the turn of each page; my kids did. And the very last page illustrates what the friends imagine their creation actually is; that it has changed from chairs into a real vehicle.

Meeow and his friends

Meeow and his friends

I love that Meeow, in both Meeow and the Little Chairs and Meeow and the Big Box, behaves just as children do and encourages them to use their imagination. My kids love to use their pillows and chairs and blankets to create all sorts of things, maybe even a train.

You can read my review on Meeow and the Big Box on my main blog Another day. Another thought…or two. If you’re looking for other book suggestions, read some of the past Write a Review Wednesday posts.

I have to thank Derry at Sterling Publishing for my review copy of Meeow and the Little Chairs.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Write a Review Wednesday, books, review, those darn kids | No Comments »

I love a good learning game

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

I love games, but I love them even more when my kids are learning without knowing they’re learning. We’ve been very fortunate to have been given access to some very cool learning games.

thinkfunlogoFirst we played with ThinkFun’s great logic game Rush Hour Jr (based on the popular Rush Hour game, but designed for kids 6 to 8). Checkout the review (and giveaway) in the Everything Mom review section.

PhotobucketSecondly my two oldest have been practicing letter recognition and order, math problems and basic skills such as following instructions, all on Adventure Island. Escape from Adventure Island is JumpStart’s newest venture in educational gaming on the Wii. Checkout the review, including video clips on what my kids think of the game.

And there’s more great game reviews to come on Everything Mom so stay tuned.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in fun stuff, those darn kids | No Comments »

Problem Solved

Friday, November 13th, 2009
Doing puzzles my way

Doing puzzles my way

My son proudly showed me his new slide puzzle (one of those cheap toys kids get with a restaurant meal). He would slide a few pieces, laughing at the mixed up creation he made, then he’d slide the pieces back. Each time he would mix-up the puzzle he’d memorize what he had done so the puzzle could be fixed by siimply reversing his steps.

This was fine until he became distracted and couldn’t remember the moves he made mixing up the puzzle. He tried in vain to remember how to fix the puzzle; what pieces he moved where. When that failed he turned to an old stanby method: crying and screaming to get me to fix it, NOW.

After a few minutes of drama, he stopped.

I know how to fix this.

And with that he tossed the puzzle hard on the patio stones. All the little slider squares went flying. He collected them, sat down and started popping the pieces back into place in the correct order. Problem solved.

Leave it to a child to think outside the box.

Tags: ,
Posted in those darn kids | No Comments »

What’s a little lie between family

Friday, November 6th, 2009

We try to encourage our kids to be truthful. Evan when they’ve done something they know is wrong and have been caught we try not to overreact. I’d rather they feel comfortable enough to confess when caught versus keep something a secret. I think when kids start to lie it just becomes easier and easier and the lies get bigger and bigger.

But sometimes as a parent a lie comes in handy: No nana is sick today so we can’t go over to her house; broccoli is the super hero’s secret energy snack, shhhh; it’s the school policy that you can’t wear long underwear to school under your pants which are under your skirt.

And now a new lie has unfolded in our house, well, not really a lie, I just haven’t corrected my son on it. My son, like most boys his age, is up to a lot of sneaky tricks. I’ve often caught him jumping on furniture or climbing where he’s not suppose to be. And each time I catch him my son’s is surprised since usually I’m not right there when it happens. He has decided that mom’s have super powers (like God) that enable them to see their kids and what they are doing, no matter where they are. It is true, I can usually tell from the sound or in some cases lack of sound, that my son is up to no good on the second floor of the house.

So now that my son thinks I have this super power to catch him, he doesn’t pull his tricks as often as he use to. If a little white lie stops some of his behaviour, is that so wrong? Or maybe I really do have super powers, which means maybe it’s not a lie at all. Hmm, I think I’m going to go for the super power story.

Have you ever told a little white lie to your kids?

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in just me, those darn kids | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries
Hot Tools!
________________
advertisement.png
Explore Channels

Who's Online

  • jenaferlm
  • Zoeyjane
2 user(s) and 137 guest(s) online | Show All

momPAGES

Sharole Lawrence, Glow Marketing

Sharole Lawrence, Glow Marketing


Plan Your Meals

Plan Your Meals

Share Your Stories

Pitch Your Idea

Enter Contests

Enter Contests

Download Printables

Free printables