Just My Rambling

Yup, it’s gingerbread house time again. After having so much fun with last year’s gingerbread house, Lil’ C wanted to make another one this year. So I got this kit for $9.99 at Costco.

Lil’ C having fun putting it all together. Unlike last year where she wanted to eat the candies, this year she was the one who reminded me that the candies are not for eating but for making the gingerbread house. : )

Ta-da….the finished product now proudly sitting on top of my fireplace mantel.

As a mom to a preschooler, I am always on a lookout for fun educational toys. So I was very glad when I was given the opportunity to review the Toddler Tote by Lauri. The Toddler Tote comes with 3 animal-shaped puzzles, 4 mini and 1 large geometric-shaped puzzles, 2 mini pegboards and 7 Tall-Stacker pegs. The puzzles are all made from crepe rubber and washable. It also comes with its own 9” carrying case complete with a handle, thus making it easier for my little girl to carry with her all over the house. It is also great for travelling.

My little girl loves the bright and bold colors of all the pieces. She likes the puzzles but her favorite are the Tall-Stacker pegs.

If you are looking for a gift for toddlers this Christmas, this is a great gift. It helps to develop their fine motor skills while teaching them about colors and shapes. The best part is that if any of the pieces are missing which happens very often with toddlers, Lauri will replace them!! The Toddler Tote is currently available at MNC toys.

I have read a lot of mommy blogs that talk about their kid crying when they go to school. Well, guess what? I have a similar problem except that my problem is completely opposite!! My girl cries when I pick her up from school!!! Today when I went to pick her up, the moment I walk into her classroom, I heard a loud cry. It turned out to be my girl!! She was very upset that school time was over. She wanted to stay back with the other kids who were in the afternoon class. It took a lot of comforting and a little bribery to get her to leave the school. Sigh…. kids!! They really make life interesting, don’t they?

Today Lil’ C’s preschool had a field trip to the pumpkin farm. Even though the weather had been awesome the last few days, it decided to rain this morning. Mommy was not a happy camper but Lil’ C was so excited because she got to wear her new rain boots. Luckily the rain decided to stop when we got to the farm but it was still muddy and wet everywhere. Lil’ C and her friends were so excited and started jumping in the mud puddles! I think that was the best part of the field trip!! They took a hayride around the farm and then went to pick pumpkins from the pumpkin garden. After a snack, we headed home with a very mud-caked girl!

It’s pumpkin season and pumpkins are everywhere! They were even at a birthday party we attended last week. Give a couple of bottles of glitter glue to a couple of preschooler and you’ll end up with pumpkin masterpiece!!

Birthday boy got even more creative and decided to take off the cap and just pour the whole bottle of glitter glue on the pumpkin and himself.

My family has been asking me to post videos of Lil’ C for the longest time. Unfortunately the video-ignorant me could not figure out how to download from videocam to my pc!!! Duh!!! I still don’t and my technical support aka the hubby is too lazy to help me!! So I finally ended up using the video feature of the camera. So hopefully this works!!

When we first received Nana Star a couple of weeks ago, Lil’ C was so excited to see her and since then, they have been inseparable. Nana Star is like her little shadow now. She has been all over the house, the town and even on our recent vacation!!

Nana Star came to us along with a book and a CD. This book is about a little girl who found a lost baby star. The baby star wanted her Nana and so the little girl took on the responsibility of taking care of the baby star. That’s how she became Nana Star. Together, they embarked on a magical journey to bring baby star home. The CD has an audio version of the book and also a song. I can’t even begin to count how many times we have played and replayed the CD over and over again. Lil’ C just loves it.

One interesting fact about the Nana Star series is that all the Nana Star stories have a mistake in them. This was done on purpose because Nana Star believes that we all make mistakes in life and we can create something beautiful even with those mistakes.

The magic of Nana Star is brought to us by 4 generations of a family. Elizabeth Owens, the grandmother, is the creator of Nana Star. Her daughter, Linda Saker is the illustrator while her granddaughters, Elizabeth Sills and Elena Patrice are the writers and publishers of the book. Elizabeth Owens created Nana Star, Moonman and other friends out of love for her grandson who lived far away. She hoped that her grandson would have a sense of love and belonging wherever he went.

If you are looking for a great children’s gift, Nana Star is one that you need to check out. I am sure that your child will love her as much as mine does.

I was just reading Mumgather’s post about board games and I couldn’t agree more with her that board games are good for kids. This summer with Lil’ C out of school and us travelling so much, I have been using this opportunity to play board games with her.

We started off with My first UNO. It is the kiddie version of the regular UNO and less complicated. When she first started playing, she started crying and got really upset when she didn’t win. But soon, she started to learn that she couldn’t win all the time and got over it. Now although she still likes to win, she doesn’t get upset anymore.

Another game we play is Chutes and Ladders. It is a great game for counting. The latest game that we are playing now is Monopoly. I got the Junior version. Since Lil’ C is able to read, I took the opportunity to let her read the instructions herself and figure out the game all by herself.

Here she is playing the game and actually beating her daddy!! She owns more blue ticket booth ( the junior version uses ticket booths instead of hotels in the regular Monopoly.) than her daddy’s green ticket booth. I love this game because she learns counting and also learn how to use the different currencies. It’s great for learning additions and subtrations too. For example she has to pay money to buy ticket booths. Now she understands that to buy a $4 hotel, she can use either four $1 or 2 $2 or even a $5 and get $1 change. Lots of fun ways to learn Math.

Lil’ C finally got over her fear of getting her head in the water during swimming class yesterday!! It’s a big breakthrough from the first day of class last month when she didn’t even dare to put her face in the water. She even went under water to pick up a ring! Once she discovered how fun it was to go underwater, she couldn’t get enough of it. She kept dunking her head even while the instructor was talking. Hehe…. I think pretty soon she will be able to swim on her own already.

Remember how Lil’ C loved puzzles? Well, she has a new craze right now and it is doing maze. I bought a couple of maze book during the cruise to keep her occupied and she hasn’t stop since then. When she first started, she did not know how to do a maze but after a few lessons, she is very good at them now. I wonder how long this maze craze will last and what’s next.