Flippin' Sweet (For Girls)

I just got back from a two week vacation Out East with Alec and the boys. We flew five hours from SFO to Cleveland (where I’m from) and the next day drove about ten hours to Upstate New York to enjoy a friend’s wedding celebration and the other amazing lake/mountain activities.

Unfortunately Milo’s most treasured lovey, Monty the Monkey, did not make the whole trip with us. We left him somewhere in the Cleveland airport or on flight 254 (with wonderful flight attendant Beth who fawned over my kids and the pilot — codenamed Pilot Captain Driver — who let Holden work the controls on the way out of the airplane).

Today, as I packed up his school blankie (Tsumeb, the lion who soothed him all vacation long), I freaked out about how we’re going to play this. Do I bring T home every night and back to school every morning? Of course not. Do I run out and buy a replacement monkey just as soon as I can? Of course I do!

After hitting all my local lovey stores with no luck, I searched and found a good and fair priced selection on thebabybasics.com and ordered two. They’re usually about $12 in person, and these are only $10. And I would have paid for expedited shipping so I suppose I’m a total freak!

And I suppose while I wait for them to arrive, I will run Tsumeb back and forth a bit.

I just reread my post from last August about the 13 things that confused me about preschool, and I’m happy to report that after one year, things are much much easier.

Just like those first few weeks months with a new baby take a lot of adjustment (and the first few days weeks back at work), so, too, the first few months of preschool involve a lot of learning.

And here I am to tell you what I learned:

• Yes, Laptop lunchbox is worth the money. Less waste, less fuss. So easy. I’ve got one for my 17 month old to start using next month. You can buy extra parts for the inside at a great deal if you don’t care about matching. I don’t care about matching.
• Alissa was right about the sleeping bag. I tried to scrimp there and wish I hadn’t. Yeah, $50 is a lot of money, but if they use it every darn day for 3 years, and it doesn’t fall apart after weekly washing, it’s probably worth it. I’m buying a Bazoongi (now on sale for $36) for Milo to start using next month (Holden will have to stick with his REI heavy fleece bag until it falls apart though)
• Between Mabels Labels and sharpies, it really pays to label everything you want to get back. The sticky tagmates work on clothes and plastic bits.
• I can indeed change a poopy diaper standing up. The trick is to get the kid to tip over (or do a downward dog) so you have a clear shot. But thank God for potty training.

When I first faced the task of buying underwear for my son, I was reluctant to go the Thomas route, although I had heard from parents since before I was even a parent myself that Thomas undies are a critical bribe on the road to potty training. So I bought them. But frankly they offend my aesthetics. Stylewise, my husband and I are more often guilty of splurging on Lucky brand clothes for our kids and less often likely to accept hand-me-downs with any characters or animals on them. Ok, maybe underwater animals are ok. And birds. No doggies, if you get what I mean.

So a couple of weeks into potty training (you are correct; this was not an overnight process for us) I realize that we need to have about 15 pairs of underwear on hand. I’ve bought some cute ones at GAP, but c’mon, I can’t be paying adult underwear prices for kid undies; I’d rather spend on what gets worn on the outside. Then, I discover that Hanes makes boxer briefs. I buy a 3-pack and my son LOVES them. They are navy, red, and grey. There are no licensed characters and no prints. So cute hanging out of the back of his pants. And his bum, it looks like a tiny little man-bum, and this is probably inappropriate to love your son’s butt so much, but hello? SO CUTE! IN BOXER BRIEFS!

Months pass and we are in the clear with potty training. I am about ready to buy some larger undies when my blogeriffic friends Julie and Kristen alert me to the offer of a set of socks and undies Hanes wants to send me for review. Heck, yeah.

Heather accepted the offer as well and warned me that what arrived was plain white tighty whiteys and her son absolutely refused to wear them. Interesting, I thought, but I also suspected that Julian would have a different take because Julian LOVES NEW CLOTHES.

The next day, the tighty whiteys arrived and I showed them to my son. Do you know what he said? “Hooray! Throw spaghetti up in the air! Plain white undies!” (Throw spaghetti up in the air is his expression for celebratory moments).

Then, he took the entire package up to his room and put all 6 pairs on, one atop the next. So if you haven’t gathered my conclusion already, let me be clear: Not only do Hanes plain white undies offer a clean and comfortable undergarment solution for your young child, they also provide entertainment and gross motor skill activity.

Thanks, Hanes and PBN, for the opportunity to see my three-year old in tighty whiteys. We love them. And we appreciate your offer to refund if they are not comfortable.

I posted pictures on Flickr of Scarlett’s bedroom. Go there to see them larger, and here are the small ones.

I painted these stripes and made this banner from fabric.

The dragonfly and other decorations are blik stickers.

This mobile is “vintage” as it was on my sister’s crib and she is 26.