A Gift from her Teachers

The Bear's two preschool teachers gave all the kids in the class (she has since moved on to Pre-Kindergarten) a really inventive holiday gift - a mix CD of songs selected specially for each of them. The Bear's song - "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" from Annie and the liner notes comment: "Our optimist with a true love for music. Here she comes Broadway!" The Bear loves dancing to the lead track "Kung Fu Fighter" and grooves to most of the other tunes as well.

An awesome present! Similar to the idea we had for her first Birthday party giveaway.

A little battle sprouted up but luckily was diffused somewhat quickly Sunday afternoon. We wanted to swap CD players (The Bear's for the Mouse's as Bear's has the repeat-all function) because we were thinking that the lack of continuous music is part of the reason the Mouse takes naps in 20 minute increments (earning the new nickname - RoboBaby because she seems generally unaffected by the lack of sleep). At school the Mouse sleeps like a champ under a cloud of rather loud, never-ending lullabies in the mass-crib room. Sunday's nap after the switch: 2 3/4 hours. Hmmm...the Bear is not getting that thing back! Sunday marked the first time ever, I think, that the two of the took long naps at the same time. A beautiful thing.

At the stroke of Midnight - a Cinderella I can handle

It is no great secret that I have no love for the Disney Corporation. I stay as far away as possible from much of what Disney has to offer young kids. As a result, my girl has no experience with the Disney Princess franchise (yes, it is possible to raise a girl without Princess merchandise...really).

Recently, Scholastic Video sent me a copy of their new DVD collection titled "Cinderella and more beloved fairy tales" (officially released today, April 24 2007). It was the first time the poor-housecleaning-Princess-to-be had entered my home. In a move that surprised my wife and even myself, I decided to just pop the DVD in one night as we at down with our daughter, without previewing it. I was hopeful that this Scholastic adaptation (by James Marshall) would not be like Disney's Cinderella. I had a gut feeling that Scholastic was going to distribute something a little less, um, glamorous (the cover image helped my gut come to that determination). I was right. This story, using simple illustration and voice overs by Kathy Bates, shows us a much different Cinderella. She is not stunningly pretty and her self-image and vanity play no role in the story at all. I was delighted. She eventually won the affection of the prince, of course, but it is an affection she did not actively seek out (Cinderella just wanted to get dressed up and go to the ball, simple as that). There is absolutely no overtone of a girl needing to validate her self worth by winning the love or attention of a man.

If you have serious trepidation about indoctrinating your young girls into the cult of Disney Princesses, but would still like them to know of the Cinderella tale, this modestly priced video collection is perfect for you. Also included on the DVD is The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Brothers Grimm. This is beautifully illustrated tale of kindness, selflessness and charity that we have loved in book form since Christmas and were super excited to watch for the first time. This version presents a delightful romp through the Shoemaker's workshop as we watch the two giddy Elves help the older craftsman and his wife re-establish their family business. The DVD features three more tales as well, The Fisherman and His Wife, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Hansel & Gretel. The first is a stark and slightly apocalyptic tale of greed with very antique, linear and gray scale drawings. We had never heard of, read or seen this story before yet all three of us sat silently as we watched, in a slightly mesmerized state, the Fisherman trek back and forth between his wanton bride and the sea where he repeatedly calls on an over-accommodating fish. The other two short films, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Hansel & Gretel, may be a little rough and/or violent for your very young and/or timid children. Our girl did not enjoy either very much, she watched the goats and the troll through her hands.

Overall, this is a very solid offering from Scholastic and again, worth the price if only to store a more pleasant adaptation of Cinderella in your home.

My A to Z Recipe Box

We have been loving the new My A to Z Recipe Box lately. This past weekend washout saw the three of us whip up four of the 26 recipes. We tried the Cheese Fondue (used XXX Sharp Cheddar and needed to cook it in the loaf of bead for over an hour to properly melt it) with apple slices and bread, Pinapple upsidedown cupcakes (delicious!), Yogurt Parfait (with blueberries and homemade granola), and Blueberry Buckle.

This collection of kid-friendy, yet interesting and fairly healthy, recipes is awesome - as is the packaging. The young ones can really lend a hand with preparing (and eating!) each of these recipes. Just an awesome idea for young chefs.

Read my "review" of the My A to Z Recipe Box here (without pictures since the Families.com photo server is down).

I Can't See, C or Sea

I had an eye doctor appointment last night and when I arrived it was brought to my attention that I have no vision coverage with Aetna. Hmm. I went out to my car, called Aetna and sure enough - I do not. I have Davis Vision. So I called them. Now, calling service providers ranks pretty darn low on the big list of things I enjoy doing, so the fact that I needed to call another place and, probably, sit on hold some more annoyed me greatly. Luckily enough, the young lady who answered the phone (and did so quickly), Danielle, was maybe the best customer service representative I have ever spoken to - in my life. Seriously. She was great. I have no idea where she is located, but I contemplated inviting her over for dinner.

Turns out that my usual eye doctor (I have seen him once, for my first and only pair of glasses - so I am not married to his office at all) does not take Davis Vision. I have to make another appointment, with a new doctor,and who knows when I will do that - I have a nasty habit of putting such tasks off indefinitely (as my mother and wife know far too well).

So I have been reminded that not all telephone operators are terrible people, serving no purpose in the world, save to aggravate the consumer. I will be awash in the warm glow of surprisingly great service, at least until the next time I am forced to call Comcast or Cingular.

Thoughts on storing baby clothes and spending a night in New York City

We used Space Bags to seal up and store away our gal's baby clothes as she rapidly out-grew them. Made sense, really. We washed them, folded them and squeezed them into the clever clear bags and then rolled 'em up - effectively sucking the life out of the things. Well, we unzipped those baggies tonight to find the clothes rather stinky - a combination of baby vomit, spit up and old musky plastic. In general, very unappealing. So, we have to wash them all again now. Maybe we would have wanted to wash them anyway (I was hoping to not have to do so, since the W/D is my domain, but so be it), but we have no choice now - unless we want #2 smelling like #1's puke (which we don't...of course).

__________

We were in NYC last night, a night without the kid. Saw Phillip Seymour Hoffman (my favorite actor) in Jack Goes Boating at the Public Theater. Great show. Had a terrific dinner at The Harrison. I went with the pork belly enchilada and the pan roasted pollack with Savoy cabbage, Serrano ham and celery root puree (with a side of potato puree - I love mashed potatoes with fish). Great place, meal and service. I filled out the comment card to rave about our experience and got an email from the manager less than 24 hours later thanking me for dining with them and taking the time to leave behind remarks. Nice touch. Something so simple really goes a long way in securing a loyal customer base and building word of mouth promotion (see it is working right now).

I finally got to Other Music, the sorta famous indie record shop on 4th St. I bought the new Ted Leo and Kaiser Chiefs records along with a Folkways collection of Woody Guthrie tunes. I really had a hard time picking only a few records. I wanted the new Andrew Bird, Menomena, Maria Taylor, the Decemberists DVD, and a couple more. I think I should have gone with the Bird disc instead of Ted Leo. I like Leo and his music but it is not what I am in the mood for right now. I rushed through before the play started and came out of there less than gleeful with my selections. I hate when that happens.

Happy Egg Day, y'all.

Old Bike/New Bike

Out with the old...









And in with the new!


We went to Bike Line, a local mini-chain bike store, and picked up this awesome Trek Mystic 16" bike with training wheels. It is a unique shade of blue with tassels and a basket. The bike is decorated with flowers and dragonflies.

She was zooming around the store within minutes and couldn't wait to get back home!


...and here she is, with Quakers the duck, in our front yard during the Civic Association Egg Hunt last weekend.




Baseball Opening Day was fun for us. We cooked burgers and dogs on the grill and watched the first couple innings of the Phillies game together on the couch. Predictably, and wonderfully, she fell asleep on my lap in the 4th inning. The day was made perfect when she woke up extremely happy and ready to head outside to play. We spent a couple hours on the swing, slide and rolling around barefoot in the grass. I love this weather! (too bad it is gone tonight, when the 40 degree days and rain move in for the rest of the week).

Waterbabies

Waterbabies is the same as regular Coppertone spf 45, only $2 more.


Just look at the active ingredients.





What a crock of poo!

The Pokey Pup - The Amazon.com of Kid's Music and Movies

What a clever idea. An e-commerce desitination dedicated 100% to connecting parents and their kids to interesting and unique kids music, books and dvds. And it is a great looking site to boot!

Check out The Pokey Pup and their current specials and contests to win free stuff.

• Curious about Michigan? Trivia Contest (win A LOT of stuff, through April 20)

• Terrible Twos "Owl" Contest (win autographed CD and poster, and a stuffed Owl)

• Buy one, get one Enzo Garcia CDs

Buy PLAY the new kid's music compilation from Desoto Records. All the proceeds will be donated to help Cal Robbins, son of J. Robbins (formerly of Jawbox, Burning Airlines). Cal was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. and could use our support. Thanks.

It's her party and we'll have it at our house if we want to

The big 3rd birthday party for our little lady is this weekend.

What started out as potentially extravegant affair at a Justin Roberts concert in Philly has turned into a mildly, dare I say, boring event at our humble abode with pizza, soft preztles and fruit (with cake and ice cream too, of course).

In a funny aside, my lovely bride mailed half of the invitations without stamps - so we got those back yesterday. If only we put the guest addresses in the top left corner of the envelopes. Then they would have arrived as intended...for free!

We are asking the guests that they refrain from "toy" gifts and instead, if they would like to bring a present, give our daughter crafy items and projects, tracing paper, colored pencils (and a sharpener!)

She practices her etters every night. It is really something. She can write just about every letter, in upper and lower case, and read off the letters on my shirts. We figured more of these supplies would be the best gift possible right now, and not too expensive for family and friends.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Party

The good Doctor will be celebrating his 103rd birthday on March 2nd and I have suggested, over at Families.com, that folks throw a little p-a-r-t-y in his honor.

My girl shares her birthday with Seuss. In fact she was born on his 100th B-Day, three years ago. Some local school kids visited the hospital that day and dropped off a special edition of The Cat in The Hat for her to commemorate the occasion.

The National Education Association is marking the event with a Read Across America campaign.

First & Last Name

I went home for a couple minutes during lunch, to surprise my ladies. I was showered with kisses and raspberries, both grand and petite varieties of each.

I discovered that just this morning, my little one began writing her whole name. Pretty exciting stuff! Yeah, the 'g' looks funny, but holy crap! She can write her first and last name.

The Best Day

Yesterday was amazing. Never got out of our PJs. Played, slept, baked brownies. My girl was charming from start to finish. It was as close to a "Perfect Moment" type of day (to quote the late-Spalding Gray) as I have ever had.

I wish it was the standard weekday for us.

Happiness is a Ham & Cheese Omelette

I am a happy man. I collected a fair share of credit to Williams & Sonoma during the recent Christmas and Birthday seasons and used all of it to score a 10" All Clad Brushed Stainless Steel Non-Stick Frying Pan. I have the entire set of All Clad LTD Stainless Steel cookware and it is a wonderful set to cook with but producing an appetizing looking fried egg, let along an omelette, with a non non-stick pan is freaking impossible. So I acquired the missing piece to my culinary puzzle this past Sunday and just tonight, I made my first omelette. A perfect 10. Diced ham, cheddar cheese and organic free range brown eggs. Light, puffy, evenly cooked and flippable! I can die now...

Playtex Coolster Tumblers

Ok, I am sort of a dork when it comes to the silly little things that perk my interest and put a smile on my face but the new Playtex "sippy" cup did just that this past weekend. This is a new kind of sippy cup for the older toddler set. I saw it while in Babies-r-Us, buying a new Carseat (a booster! very excited about that as well...I smell another post coming...)

The Coolster (ok, that is a poor name, I should have been consulted) is a sophisticated and "adult" version of the popular sippy/straw cup. It looks and acts much like an adult travel coffee mug and should be ideal for any 2-4 year old. It remains as spillproof as any other Playtex sippy product, employing the same one piece valve in the lid, and keeps beverages cool longer (hence the name). The price is comparable to other toddler cups: $8 for a 2 pack.

The colors are also terrific, with a metallic sheen to the purple (and with little white flowers), green and blue (sports theme). No animated character infiltration either - which is a big plus!

Jeff

Quit It

Today is The Great American Smokeout. Please try to quit.

There are e-cards on the American Cancer Society's site for you to send to someone trying to quit. A nice way to tell them how proud you are of their efforts.

Jeff

Fast Food is Yucky!

We, as a family, loath fast food.

We hate everything about it: the quality, the concept, the marketing, the convienence, and the "fast". But because we are a sports-lovin' bunch and the television is on for much of Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the Fall, some things, like terrible advertising, are unavoidable.

Other than the ability to teach our daughter about and expose her to the beauty of team sport, competition, and physical fitness, this TV time allows corporate America ample time to sell us everything from enormous automobiles that we do not need to fast food that we do not want. The Mrs. has taken to address these glistening 18 inch+ cheeseburger images (on our 25" TV) with the ever-popular toddler friendly phrase: Ewwww-Yucky!

So far, our girl is playing along. She will ask if a certain commercial is for fast food and say, unprompted, YUCKY! We have gone on to explain why we do not visit those establishments, along with most chain casual dining places. We do all of this in an attempt to drive home our family's goal of using and buying only quality, wholesome food prepared with care and/or some inventive flare. We also like to support restaurants, markets, and grocery stores that actively display a passion for the farmer/producer (hopefully local), the food itself (hopefully somewhat decent for us, at least a fair portion of the time!), and for the eventual end-product (hopefully delicious and not too bad on the eyes either!)

Jeff

Fuzzi Bunz - Cloth Diaper Sale

The Fuzzi Bunz Store is having a Happy Thanksgiving Sale! Enjoy 10% off any purchase for the rest of November. Use coupon code "thankful" at checkout (located on the bottom of the view cart page).

Also, all orders over $45 enjoy free shipping.

Read OWTK's review of Fuzzi Bunz Diapers.

Jeff
OWTK
http://www.owtk.com

OWTK 2006 Holiday Gift Guide - Buy, Give and Plant (Trees as Gifts)

Cannot think of an inventive, original, and long lasting gift? Want something that is well made, will last forever if cared for, and can be equal parts educational, beautiful, fruitfull, and fun?

Give a Tree as a gift!

My parents gave our girl a baby pine tree as a gift on her first Christmas two years ago. I planted it on January 1st (during the usual winter warm spell in Southeastern Pennsylvania - it was nearly 70 degrees on New Years Day 2005!). She took to hugging it as soon as it was in the ground (tree hugging was an early habit of hers - which is why we designed this Tree Hugger shirt for her. This design started our Cafe Press store). The following year, Mrs. and lil' OWTK created a small teardrop shaped flower bed around her little tree. Each Spring we let our girl pick out colorful annuals (her choice - whatever color is her favorite that day) and she helps plant them around the tree.

This experience has turned into a wonderful yearly tradition that started as a thoughtful and unique holiday gift.

When she is a bit older, maybe next summer, we will engage in a woodworking art project to make a sign to stake into her flower bed.

Jeff
OWTK
http://www.owtk.com

Fine Tune Hearing whilst Hiding and Seeking

I had an idea to spice up the ol' Hide-n-Seek routine the other day. I figured it would be fun, trying to focus my daughter's ears on where the sound of my voice is coming from. So, instead of running to a hiding spot and staying as still and quiet as possible, I would go into another room and talk in a regular tone, just rambling really so she could follow the sound. She would wonder around the house, paying close attention to the sound and where is it coming from: how far away it is, what direction it is originating from, what room it is coming from (for example, the bathroom with tile and such, it much more likely to echo and reberverate).

This is a fun way to play the same type of game your kids already know and love - only tweaked a bit. It could be a fun challenge for them to focus harder and allow you to teach them about sound, echo, distance and hearing capabilities.

Jeff
OWTK
http://www.owtk.com

Unicef's Trick or Treat Campaign

Today we received a note from our daughter's daycare/school announcing their participation in Unicef's Annual Trick or Treat Campaign. While in France, we began giving her loose change (Euro then, but U.S. currency since - of course) and talking to her about money (that it is used to buy things, that we need to save it for special treats, etc).

The Unicef Trick or Treat program and it's convenient classroom placement presents us with an easy opportunity to introduce the concept of monetary donations to her. We explained that some little boys and girls and their families do not have enough money to buy costumes, candy or toys and that it is our resposibility to assist in any way we are able. That way, we can help ensure that every child is able to frolic about in the same manner she will this season.

She is curious and is interested to give away some of the funds she has amassed. We have told her that we will match her donation dime-for-dime, quarter-for-quarter.

Making a difference really can occur with a single nickel and one small child leanring the value of money and the importance of giving some away to those less fortunate.

Jeff
OWTK
http://www.owtk.com