With Dylan’s third birthday just around the corner and Christmas coming about a month later, there are sure to be many new toys coming into our home. We already have a lot of toys, and they are currently all over the floor of the playroom because Dylan enjoys dumping out the toy storage bins. Sometimes I think that he has too many toys, but I am not exactly sure what to do about it. The other day I decided that I would like to use our too many toys dilemma as an opportunity to teach Dylan about generosity and helping … Continue reading →

Jessie’s friend Braeden gave her a My Little Pony Memory Game for her birthday. Trying to play Memory the way I know how to play Memory is a frustrating experience with a three-year-old. Jessie wants to turn over all the cards and look at the pictures. She doesn’t get the concept of matching pictures and remembering where pictures are when they don’t show. She’s not ready. That’s okay because there are a lot of things that Jessie isn’t ready for. The My Little Pony cards have ended up in a plastic zip bag and Jessie carries them around. I love … Continue reading →

Children are noisy. We try to teach our children the difference between outside and inside voice. The two voices is a difficult concept for the toddler. The toddler’s normal tone of voice is forever at a loud whine. When I talk to other parents of three-year-olds I find that whining loudly is pretty standard for toddlers. We have a lot of toys that make noise. I think the majority of toys for small children make noise and flash lights. Jessie has outgrown the phase of having mostly noise making toys and her toys require her to use her imagination. Jessie … Continue reading →

I love pajamas. Pajamas are cute and comfortable. Jessie is very particular about her jammies. She will tell you that she wants to wear Doo Doo Dora, Elmo, or Princess. She will let you know if she plans to embellish her jammies with a tutu. Some of our favorite days are jammie days. Jammie days are the days that we lounge around the house without ever changing out of our jammies. It’s much easier to leave Jessie and Baby E in jammies too. Some days Jessie just does not want to get dressed. It’s bad when those are school days, … Continue reading →

My mom loves to send books to Jessie. Jessie knows the titles and asks for them. She doesn’t ask for the title entirely, but enough of it that we know what she’s talking about. For instance, Mommy Moon is My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. Hippo book could be anything by Sandra Boynton but is usually All the Hippos Go Berserk, which we have three copies of. I was so excited when Mom sent Free To Be… You And Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends . I grew up on Free … Continue reading →

When I was a little girl my friends across the street had child-sized kitchen appliances. They were wooden and made playing house much more fun and real-feeling. I wanted a kitchen of my own too. Every year for Christmas my parents gave me a brand new tea set. I loved playing with my dolls and tea sets were perfect for my pretend play. But I didn’t have a kitchen. I wanted a kitchen. I pleaded with my mom for a kitchen so I could be like my friends and play real house. My mom complied and got me a refrigerator … Continue reading →

When my husband and I started dating he took me to a supercross race in Anaheim. I knew about motocross, but hadn’t watched a race before. Motorcycles really weren’t my thing. I was excited about spending the night with him, but would have liked to bring a book along with me. I was not prepared for how much fun we were going to have. Being in the stadium with all the people was a blast. I don’t enjoy sports, so I hadn’t been to many games. I’d been to a number of stadium concerts and was a regular theater-goer. The … Continue reading →

What are we going to give Jessie for her birthday? Each year she’s older there’s more available that’s age appropriate, fun, and educational. There is so much I want to give her, but I can’t give her everything. I have to save something for Christmas. Bicycle Grammy and Poppa are giving Jessie her first big-girl bicycle. I don’t know what it looks like, but they have their eyes on either a 12-inch or 14-inch two-wheel bicycle with training wheels. Jessie should be very excited. Elmo We gave Jessie Elmo Live for her first birthday. It made her smile so I … Continue reading →