Woot

Woot offers random things - mostly silly - sometimes useful at low prices & minimum shipping.

They just launched a kid's version. Today's deal is a Crayola pack & it retails $30 elsewhere - and is $20 (with shipping) today.

http://kids.woot.com/

Each day a different item is offered until it sells out. The wine.woot is unfortunately not available in MA! Sigh.

Morning breakfast ideas

School is starting soon & I know our mornings are going to be super hectic - getting 2 kids & us ready and out the door by 7:15 is going to be a challenge. Does anyone have good breakfast ideas or getting ready advice? Lindsey will be able to eat a morning snack at school but I want her to have something nutritious before leaving.

Target baby coupons!

Click here : Target Baby Coupons good until September 5th

Natick: KidtoKid Sale

FILL-A-BAG SALE (Starts Thursday August 20th at 9:30 am)

Stuff as much as you can from our great bins of clearance items in a Kid to Kid bag and pay only $10 for the bag. We have a lot of stuff in all sizes so stop by early.

The Sale will run Thursday through Sunday while stock lasts.

WHAT WE SELL

Check out our huge selection of:

• Kids clothes sizes 0 - 10 years in girls and 0-12 years in boys sizes
  
• All types of equipment like strollers, cribs, exersaucers...
• Little Tikes and Fisher Price toys at prices that are less than half of what you would pay new.
• Hair bows--KiD to KiD has one of the biggest selections around
• Dinosaur puzzles, dino digs and more
• Wood puzzles
• Science and craft kits
• Learning toys
• Watches
• Girls princess dresses

http://natick.kidtokid.com/

Do I even dare bring it up?

Potty training. Ugh. My daughter will be 3 in about a month and things are basically at a standstill. She was making progress during the Winter and then things stopped. She basically became afraid of the whole process and the dr. said to follow her cues. She has sat on the potty a few times since her baby brother arrived in May with limited success. We tried the m&m ("letter candy") method as incentive - but it doesn't seem to help. If I mention it to her - she says she will try "tomorrow" - and then never does. We have the Once Upon a Potty book, the Mr. Rogers potty book, Everyone Poops. She loves reading them - but they don't seem to have any influence. I also bought her a potty chart and she likes to look at it - and says she'll use it when she is a "big girl" on her birthday. She doesn't even want to take the stickers out of the package. Luckily her pre-school does not require the kids to be potty trained - she starts after Labor Day - but I'd love her to be on track by then. Advice? Do I really just follow her cue? Thanks in advance!

Bite Me

My 10-month-old son bites. I don't think he realizes that it's not OK, and since his top teeth have come in, it's pretty painful. I constantly have bite marks on my shoulders. Especially if I'm holding him when he doesn't want to be held. Yesterday I noticed he even had them on his own arm!

Any ideas on curbing this bad habit? I say "no" when he does it to me and pull him away. He often looks at me, shaking his head no, but then he'll do it again. We have recently weaned off the breast (ouch!), and I used to think the biting my shoulder was a request for milk. He's now taken to biting toes and knees, too, though, and on my husband, so I don't think he's asking for anything but attention.

Will it maybe just go away in time?

For use and for fun: great iPhone apps?

By no means is this a serious parenting issue, but I know at least a couple of you mamas on here are avid iPhone users and might have some good recommendations for folks like myself who are new to the world of phone apps.

What are the applications you just can't live without? I'm a cheapie who prefers free apps, but will pay .99 for one that gets rave reviews from people I trust.

So far, the apps I've come across fit into one of 2 categories: 1. useful to me, or 2. occasional impromptu entertainment for my daughter (which can also be useful to me).

So far for me, I use and like:
+Maps/Around Me
+Mover
+HeyWAY
+Bloom (Eno inspired music composing app that entertains the 4 y.o. and soothes the baby--I too think it's fun to play with).

My daughter likes:
+Tic Tac Free
+Hatch
+Dress Chica
+DoodleIt
and a few others on my husbands' phone that I'll have to get the names of.

What are your favorites?

Sleep - Night one update

Thanks to all of you we made progress in night one of our new bed time "plan" (as Mia likes to call it - everything is a plan). We created a list of our bedtime routine and at the bottom a sticker chart. She was into it all day and followed it at bed time. She did not come out of her room once. She did call us crying and we went in once. She had her litany of issues (more hugs, missing Anna, needed to talk about something she wanted to do tomorrow) but we were able to settle her without a problem and not another word. We did tell her if she could do this for two nights in a row she could get a toy. I asked her what she might like and she said a scooter. I was thinking something more like some stickers so that may be a new battle in a few days.

I really do appreciate all the advice. I feel like these new tools really made a difference.

Defiance!

I know that it is a natural and important aspect of development. I have read the books. I recognize that my 2.5 year old son(nickname Rabbit) is exercising his independence, and I love and celebrate that he has such a strong sense of self and space and will. Except when we are running late for a doctor's appointment and he has thrown his shoes behind the couch. Or when it is time for a diaper change and he runs away, laughing. Or when we are out for a walk around the block and he wiggles free of my hand, running away even though he knows(HE KNOWS!) that running away on the sidewalk/street is our Number One Rule not to break. Some of these things I have found small, workable solutions for: the running away thing is solved by--sadly--strapping him into a stroller/wagon for everywhere we go...sigh. (I am currently 36 weeks along in a tough pregnancy, so chasing him is not really an option.) But it is like putting socks on an octopus to get him to do simple things like get out the door, or eat dinner without spitting out milk for comic effect, or throwing toys at the cats.

Any advice? We have used "time-out" as well as the "toy time-out," with mixed results. I know I shouldn't try to reason with him, and I know that I need to keep my emotions in check so that he doesn't know that he is on my last nerve, but gosh, it is SOOOO hard to maintain a Good Mama demeanor in the face of outrageous defiance. As we have a new baby joining us soon, I am especially eager for some suggestions on how to keep order and peace in the house. I have a feeling that, whereas Rabbit is excited to welcome his new brother, he will undoubtedly act out as the attention he used to command gets reduced/shared.

So when he turns three, this defiant behavior stops, right?? Or is it when he turns 22?

anything worth reading?

A few years ago (even a few months ago) this post would be asking for good book recommendations for me. Well, the only books I am reading right now are about bears, dogs, princesses, trucks or being a big sister (at least we are well-rounded here). Don't tell my book club (Alycia...) because I will get kicked out, but I don't even have time to read magazines much less books now that I am not commuting. Yes, in addition to losing my brain I am damaging the environment by driving to work instead of taking the T.

I hope once our bed time routine for both kids takes less than two hours and I am not working until 2 am (don't get me started) I will be able to read a good book again. Until then...

I do seem to find the time to read blogs. We are lucky to have some bloggers in our litle group here (I posted them on the right). Check them out. If anyone else has a blog you want me to post, I am happy to do it.

Any other blogs you guys love?

Bye-Bye Binky

We have been trying to get Jenna off her binky and things seem to be going backward instead of forward. We had reached a point where she could only have it in her crib at bedtime but following some leniency on vacation we seem to have lost control.

Any tips for getting rid of the pacifier once and for all?!

FLOOR CLEANER

Hi Fellow Mommas.

Question - anyone have any recommendations for green friendly (and not crazy expensive!) hardwood floor cleaners that would be safe for my 7 month old?

He's starting to want to crawl and.. suck the floor and I'm a clean freak so I want to make sure what I use won't hurt him.

Thanks!!!
alycia

Hi Fellow Mommas.

Question - anyone have any recommendations for green friendly (and not crazy expensive!) hardwood floor cleaners that would be safe for my 7 month old?

He's starting to want to crawl and.. suck the floor and I'm a clean freak so I want to make sure what I use won't hurt him.

Thanks!!!
alycia

Looking for School Lunch Ideas

Recently a friend posted a FB status asking for school lunch ideas. I thought it was a great idea because I am stuck in the pb&j monotony. I am looking for lunches that are easy, healthy, and will be eaten! One of the ideas was to cook brown rice with black beans on Sunday, put them into muffin tins and freeze them, then dole out a serving topped with sliced avocado. I thought that was a great idea, something I could make a big batch of on the weekend, and easy to prepare during the week. And pretty darn healthy too. What I am uncertain about is how to get the frozen servings out of the muffin tin? Do they pop out easily? I haven't tried it yet....

Anyone else have ideas they want to share?

Shopping websites

So...what websites do you love for "kid stuff?" Janelle turned me on to these that have daily deals:

www.babysteals.com
www.greenbabybargains.com
www.mamabargains.com

I have gotten some really good stuff at babysteals.com.

Ev turned me onto www.albeebaby.com where you can get good deals, but I have gotten a few really great deals (Joovy stoller regularly $299 for $99 and a Britax Marathon carseat for less than $150).

I use others, can't think of any right now, but would love to hear what sites people like for shopping.

Go to sleep!!

In the world of sleep, this is not a serious issue, but I do need some advice before it becomes a real issue.

What do I do when my toddler is starting to create excuses not to go to bed? She seems tired, but is trying to come out of her room (never did that before), calls for us and says things like "I needed to give you two hugs and two kisses and I only got one" or "I didn't get any medicine" (because she isn't taking medicine) or "I need a tissue."

It is taking her more than an hour to go to sleep each night. That is not unusual, but it used to be talking or singing, not coming out of her room and crying.

Do we ignore her? Go in and talk to her? If we go in, what should we say? Right now we read to her before bed. Should we let her look at a book in bed to continue the 'unwinding' process or will that just delay sleep even further.

Thoughts? Anyone have experience with this?

Testing, testing

Hi friends-

I am hoping this can be a place where moms can share information, ask questions, post concerns, frustrations, successes, etc. It doesn't have to be serious or just questions, it can be "did you see the great sale a XXX" or "my kid said something hilarious today and I want to share it with people that will appreciate a 2-year old talking about XXX."

I feel really lucky to have friends with kids that have given me such great advice and pointed me in the direction of great resources. I would love to extend the reach and get even more input.

If people are really interested in using it and having it be interactive, I am happy to have it be whatever it turns out to be.

Thanks! Julie