When my daughter grew out of her indoor blow up activity ball pit she got for her first birthday I had a hard time taking it down, it stay up till she was almost 3. I realized that the only use it got any more was when my best friend's son was over. So I let it go. I gave it to my best friend knowing her son would get much more enjoyment out of it then Allyson was. It's easier for me to part with Allyson's stuff if I'm giving it to someone I care about. It took me 2 1/2 years before I could allow myself to take Allyson's things to a consignment shop and I still have a hard time with them.
I've always done a lot of donations to thrift shops for the small unimportant toys or clothes that I didn't care for, but with certain items, even though she never plays with them I feel like I'm giving away a special memory of her childhood. It's just easier for me to let go if I know where Allyson's toys or clothes are going.
Maybe that is weird. I don't know. What do you think?
Sharing kids toys and clothes with friends is a great way to revive the life in some toys that had been long forgotten in the bottom of the toy box. It also saves them from the trash. To a young child a new toy is a new toy no matter where it comes from. I am sure that there has to be some mom's and dad's that have similar separation anxiety about their child's things like I do. But giving it to someone you care about has an easier transition process then just donating it or selling it. I know I have some friends who prefer to give their kid's toys to other friends.
We've received some great stuff from friends. One in particular held on to her daughters clothes from her first 2 years until her daughter was 5. She was finally able to part with them when I found out I was pregnant with Allyson. We got great use out of almost all of them. Another friend of my aunt's had this beautiful wicker child's rocking chair and passed it our way. Allyson still uses it today and I will probably keep it as something to pass on to my sister when she has a child.
To those who are like me and have trouble letting go I completely recommend talking to your friends who have kids. They would probably love to share toys, or take some off your hands. With everything getting so expensive it's a good way to save some money for both sides. If you aren't all that picky about who they go to there is a free site called freecycle.org where you can find a group(local area) to post the stuff you would like to give away free. Then other parents in your area call or e-mail you depending on which you prefer and pick them up. Or you can find toys this way too. I've heard of many parents using this to pass on some of their kid's toys or pick up some new ones.
SHAKEFIRE hosts quite a few sweepstakes each month, mostly for DVD's of the latest releases. This month one of the prizes they are giving away is the WonderPets: Save The Beetles DVD. I am a big fan of WonderPets on NickJr. It's one of the few preschool educational cartoons Allyson enjoys that also gets a smirk out of me. Ming-Ming is a favorite character of mine and her slurred tag line "this is serious" I tend to repeat occasionally in conversation.
WonderPets cartoon features two "Save the Animal" segments where 3 preschool pets team up when the preschool kids have gone home and spend the next 30 minutes using "teamwork" to save whatever baby animal is trapped, stuck, or in trouble. It's a cute cartoon and the dialog is spoken like a Opera .
The newest episode getting attention is: WonderPets: Save The Beetles.
"With songs inspired by the Beatles, the Wonder Pets journey to Liverpool to save a band of mop-haired Beetles who are trapped in a Yellowish Submarine. Plus 3 more episodes in which Ming-Ming, Linny and Tuck save a chameleon, a platypus, a kitten, a duckling, a sheep and a hermit crab!"
I'm glad to see SHAKEFIRE offering a more preschool-oriented DVD Sweepstakes and I've already got my entry in. If you would like to give it a shot and enter too Head on over the the SHAKEFIRE WonderPets: Save The Beetles sweepstakes page.
The sweepstakes ends Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 @ 11:59PT.
Check out our store to purchase WonderPets DVD's and more
Earlier this afternoon Allyson and I were working side by side on our computers. I was researching content for a future article for Preschool Online, she was doing what she calls "her work" on the Playhouse Disney website.
We occasionally print out new free coloring pages. She especially loves the Free Playhouse Disney coloring pages. When she finds one she likes and today was the same. She found one Playhouse Disney free coloring pages of Little Einsteins and asked me to print it. What I didn't realize as I was quickly pushing the print icon on the firefox browser tool bar and then accepting print in the pop up box was that she was studing me carefully. Actually I only assume she was studying what I was doing carefully because about 10 minutes later I heard the printer next to me start up.
I looked over a little startled because I wasn't printing anything myself and saw her big blue eyes light up and a clever smile on her face as she told me "I'm printing mom". Low and behold, the page that printed was one of the Playhouse Disney free coloring pages.
I've worked with her on many of the basic computer and internet skills she needs to go on her favorite websites to the point where she barely needs my assistance except to ask "which one says PLAY" on some of her games. I didn't realize how much her brain is soaking in the things I do naturally without thought that I haven't yet explained.
I wonder what else she has learned how to do that I just haven't realized yet. I will wait for the day she logs into my bank account and transfers my checking balance into her savings account online.
Print your own Playhouse Disney Little Einsteins free coloring pages Here..
My old boss called me today. We will be discussing me going back to work on Monday. I am excited after being unemployed since January. I am sad though that I will have to give up being able to do whatever I want during the day. Allyson will do better getting back into a Daycare/Preschool environment and making new friends.
Because I will be spending next week picking a daycare and getting things in order to go back to work I wanted to take Allyson out and do something. We went to the indoor swimming pool and over to the closest Elementary school to kick around the soccer ball and play on the toys.
A normal evening there would be hardly anyone there but people started showing up so I asked one of the young girls what was up. The elementary school talent show was tonight. Free admission. I love free. We stayed, we watched. Allyson loved it. I don't know any of the parents and I'm quite shy around people so Allyson and I kept to ourselves not talking with anyone else.
While we were watching one of the acts Allyson saw people with water bottles and asked for one. I told her I didn't know if I had any money for it. I pulled my wallet out of my coat pocket and started fumbling through. In the main money fold I found a $20 and in my credit card flap I found a $5. Both of which I new I had, niether of which would be accepted in the Dasani vending machine. I started looking in other areas and in the front zipper pocket of my wallet I spotted a bill.
My look of shock made my jaw sore from dropping so low when I realized it was a $100 bill. I exclaimed a little to loud "Oh My God!" When I started opening it and found three $50's and a single folded with the $100. I was shocked and excited as I quietly tucked it back into my wallet thinking all the things I spend the money on and the one thing that I should put it towards..Bills. A great find to say the least, but the Dasani waters were $1.25 so I was still out of luck not having a single coin on me.
It didn't dawn on me until I was telling the story to my mother and sister after the elementary school talent show that those parents seated around me most likely witnessed the entire event. Imagine their surprise to see a stranger they've never met open their wallet during one of the talent acts, pull out some large bills, vocally exclaim a little too loud "Oh My God" while thumbing through and counting the money, then quietly tuck it back into the wallet, walk away for a bit and come back empty handed not to be heard from for the rest of the night.
I just want to personally thank Dasani water. Not just for a great tasting water, or the convienent placement of vending machines in public schools, but for being the reason I found the $251, had it not been for you, Dasani bottled drinking water, this great event may not have happened for months to come.
I just started Allyson with flushable wipes. We were having trouble with potty training and "getting everything". Flushable wipes has really made a difference. I found this contest offering some and wanted to pass it along to everyone.
Until I can launch a full page on the site dedicated just towards great contests and sweepstakes I thought I would start positing the ones I find on the blog. SparkPlugging is holding a great contest for Huggies® CleanTeam® products.
"Ten lucky Momsational readers now have a chance to win a set of CleanTeam® foaming hand soap, flushable wipes and extra conditioning shampoo."
Easy to enter and great odds to win. How to enter? just leave a comment with your name and e-mail address on the contest blog post by Midnight PST, May 15, 2008. If your one of the winners, come back here and let us know you found this contest through our site.
Click Here to enter.
Welcome, I am glad your here. My name is Stephanie and I have been putting in the hours trying to create something parents of preschoolers will enjoy. I started this site in hopes of sharing great articles, advice, and more focusing on our preschoolers and their well being, education, and learning.
I have a preschooler myself though she's not in preschool at the moment. We are at home for a short while until I go back to work. Then it's back to the structured learning of a classroom for her. I have been unemployed since January and am always on the look out for ways to spark her creativity and learning. She's a smart cookie and always needs to be challenged.
I started teaching my daughter how to use a computer at a very young age. I don't think she was even one the first time we started playing over at the Fisher Price website. That first introduction has led to a great learning experience for her. I allow her to play preschool games online supervised of course. She does quite well and loves playing games and doing activities with her favorite characters. I have created a page dedicated to her favorite free online preschool games and encourage everyone to check it out.
if you have any questions or comments, you are more then welcome to send me an e-mail. Be easy on me though, this is one of my first major website projects. It's a little bland right now but I'm hoping it will be a preschool website you bookmark and return to often.
