Knitting Zeal

Dial for kids to keep them squeaky clean!

With the warm weather now, there is a lot of outdoor playing going on, which means the kiddo is digging in the dirt and sandbox, sliding across the lawn for fun, and getting all sweaty. It also means he is taking lots more baths to get clean.  As a Purex Insider, I had the chance to try out a new bath product for kids, Dial Kids Body & Hair Wash.  I let my son pick which scent to try out, and he chose the Peachy Clean scent that is formulated for kids ages 2+.  There are versions for kids ages 6+ in Watery Melon and Berry Cool scents, too.  The Peachy Clean version is specially formulated for sensitive skin.  I am really glad that we were able to try that version out, as everyone in my family has sensitive skin. 
My son used to fight getting a bath, especially having is hair washed.  Switching to a kids' body wash combined with a shampoo really helped and made him feel like a big kid.  He was excited to try out the Dial Kids Body & Hair Wash, as it was also a combo product.  I love that it is tear free, hypoallergenic, free of artificial dyes or added parabens and Ph balanced.  With his sensitive skin, having a very mild cleanser is really important.  We both really like the peach scent, as it has a light fresh soap scent.  His hair smells lightly of peaches the day after washing, which I just love!  So far we are really loving this new kids' body wash!  My son has not had any skin reactions to it and he has not complained about it bothering his eyes when having it rinsed off his hair.  It gets all the little boy dirt off easily and without a fight. This is a product we will continue to use in the future!

For more information and to stay up to date with Dial products, check out their Facebook page. 

Disclosure:  As a Purex Insider, the Dial brand provided me with a sample of Dial Kids Body & Hair Wash in exchange for this product review.  The opinions expressed here are honest and based upon my (and my son's) experience with the product.   

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Springtime in New York

For at least a year and a half now, my five year old son has been asking to visit New York City.  He knows about it from a.) Curious George lives there and b.) his daddy works there about once a week.  Christmas 2012 I gave him a book for kids about visiting NYC, but we delayed going because it just seemed so overwhelming.  Back in March, I had the chance to go to NYC with my husband for a fun night out to celebrate a friend's graduation and move at Café Boulud, near Central Park West.  It was a fun night and I realized how easy it would be to get to the city via NJ Transit, as long as the kiddo was ok with taking a very long train ride. 

Since being a train conductor is one of his life goals, we decided it was a great time to try a day trip to the big apple.  Plus, the weather has been BEAUTIFUL for walking around a city.  We surprised the little guy on Thursday night and told him that we would be getting up early the next day and heading to the train for our day in New York.  He was so excited!  (OK, he still says he really thought he'd get to ride on an Amtrak train, but I promised that will happen some day...)

After a quick taxi ride, we made our first stop at the Central Park Zoo, which despite the movie, does not have the same animals that appeared in the Madagascar movies!  We brought a picnic lunch with us from home and enjoyed our lunch watching the Sea Lions kiss!  The penguins put on quite a show, while the polar bear was snoozing in the shade.  The zoo was really tiny and completely manageable.  We saw every exhibit, including the children's zoo that was a block away, in about two hours. 

We spent the rest of the day visiting toy stores.  First up, the Apple Store on 5th Avenue.  The store is that glass structure.  There is a round elevator and a circular staircase  that goes down to the actual store.  It was mobbed.  Then we headed to FAO Schwartz, which was in the building behind the Apple Store.  In my memory it was much more amazing.  I forgot that Toys R Us owns it.  They did have a massive amount of toys for sale, along with some unique things, like live superheros available for photos.  I let my kiddo pick out a toy as his souvenir.  He chose an NYPD car set and a model Taxi car. 
We walked many many many blocks that day.  We visited M & M World, which was an overpriced candy store that played too loud music and was too crowded (I felt so old there...it was so annoying!)  We had dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp in Time's Square, which was really good and had great views of the Good Morning America building.  Time's Square itself was packed.  It was about 4:30 on Friday afternoon and the area was filled with so many people and sights.  It was overwhelming.  The digital ad displays are amazing and overly abundant.  We didn't know where to look first. 
We concluded our trip with a ride on the ginormous, 60-foot high ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us in Times Square.  That toy store was really impressive!  Needless to say, the kiddo found even more NYPD cars that he wanted.  (Other than train conductors, he loves police and firefighters!)  The ferris wheel made be feel queasy, but I survived!  We got to ride in a taxi made out of Megablocks.  My favorite one was the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe gondola! Isn't it cute?
Someone also got to meet the "real" Geoffrey!  The kid's favorite animal is the giraffe.  The zoo didn't have any, but I think this one made him just as happy!
It was a great first trip to NYC for the kiddo.  He can't wait until we go back!  Next time we'll have to visit the Empire State Building.

Spring has sprung with fun!

So now that it's starting to feel like spring weather, my family has jumped into spring mode and has been participating in fun outdoor weather activities.  Here's a little wrap up of some of the fun things we've been up to with the kiddo:

We vistited the Morris Arborteum to check out the cherry blossoms and the Big Bugs exhibit.  The trees were beautiful!!  Someone had fun climbing a few and running around.  He loved following the map to find all of the 11 bugs throughout the gardens.  From giant ants to a floating dragonfly, we found them all.  This huge ladybug was particularly cute.  All of the sculptures were made out of fallen trees and willow branches by an artist from Long Island.  They will be there all summer, so I'm sure we will be back to see them again.
We took my son's favorite form of transportaion, the train and subway, and caught a Sunday afternoon Phillies game on opening weekend.  It was a rather boring game, which they lost, but it was a nice day.  My husband even won a baseball from the opening game! My son made his own homemade sign to cheer on the team.  He loves that he has learned how to print and copies the spelling of words he doesn't know.  I can't always read what he writes, but its wonderful to see his skills emerge.

We have tickets for some summer games, so hopefully we'll see a winning game then!

We visited a local playground with a friend.  Can you see the absolute joy in his face as he ferociously rocks in that little car?

We took the train into Philadelphia for a "surprise" visit to see Daddy at work and have lunch.  We snapped a few photos at the train station for a school project.  He will be star of the week this week at school and we made a poster describing him.  For his favorite place, he said it was SEPTA's Suburban Station.  Not Disney World or Sesame Place.  No, the train station in underground Center City Philadelphia.  He wanted a photo of himself in front of the name of the station.  This is his new smile...his Lego Man smile!  (He even showed me the Lego minifigure he is trying to imitate!)

We had fun at lunch and then walked over to Sister Cities Park near the Parkway, along with a walk to Logan Square/Circle's fountain. 
He had the chance to go back to the Parkway the next day with Daddy for the Philadelphia Science Festival.  He checked out the Philadelphia CSI truck, did some science experiments and even got to climb on a real SEPTA bus, something that he has wanted to do for weeks!  (He has a planned bus route he wants to go on in our neighborhood.  He is obsessed!)

This week spring soccer starts.  It will be his first time playing for our Township.  He didn't want to do the intramural team, so I found an instructional soccer group for preschoolers.  I hope he meets some local kids that he'll be in Kindergarten with next fall!

Happy Spring!

 

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Visiting the Reading Public Museum

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Visiting the Reading Public Museum

After stumbling upon info about a Lego exhibit in Reading, I decided to take advantage of a family day to visit the Reading Public Museum last Monday in West Reading, PA.  It's a bit over an hour drive for us, but an easy drive, and the weather was bright and sunny.  Many years ago, prior to parenthood, my husband and I went to this museum to see a traveling Post Secret exhibit there.  This time, the temporary exhibts featured Legos and Jelly Belly jelly beans, two favorites in our house now!

That ant sculpture is one of two ants in front of the museum.  What was fun was the arboretum surrounding the musuem building, which would have been fun to explore if it weren't so windy that afternoon.  Inside the museum we checked out the jelly bean art work....classic art crafted out of Jelly Belly beans!  They were enclosed in glass because some visitors at past exhibits had been caught licking the jelly beans!   The close up of the jelly beans with the white cluster is a close up of the Girl with a Pearl Earring's pearl earring.  It was a really fun exhibit filled with some of my favorite art work copies.  

The main exhibit we went to see was the Lego Castle Adventure.  This was a hands-on exhibit featuring castles and Legos, covering the design and building of castles.  There were many Lego building stations for the regular little bricks as well as tables of the bigger Lego Duplo bricks for younger kids.  It was a really cool exhibit that included an interactive catapult game and a jousting area.  There were lots of Lego castle structures on display...they were really cool!   It was a fun visit!  These two exhibits end May 5th, so go see them while they are still there!

Consignment Sale finds at Just Between Friends

I had a fun time shopping at the preview sale at the Just Between Friends Sale in Oaks, PA this week.  I got a media preview of the sale and was amazed at how much stuff was for sale at low prices!  

Since it's almost spring, it was time for me to find a cute argyle sweater vest for the kiddo.  Not only did I find a cute vest, but also a matching tie, which is the kiddo's favorite dressy items, since then he looks like daddy! I was also able to buy three bathing suits for the kid for $3.50 each!  He is set for summer and swim lessons now.  Another great find was a navy windbreaker from Gap for $3.50.  

I big find for me this time were Legos.  One gallon sized zipper bag filled was $6 and a box set of basic bricks was $6.50.  For Easter I have been planning to fill those plastic Easter eggs with Legos instead of candy, since we STILL have Halloween candy.  (He'll still get a small amount of candy in a basket, but we don't need 50 eggs filled with  more!) I had been planning to buy a new box of Legos for filling the eggs, but the two packs of used Legos I bought at the Just Between Friends Sale is more than enough.  I am thinking I'll wash them in a laundry bag in the dishwasher without the dry cycle to clean them.  

My son approved of all the clothing items I purchased for him except for a pair of crazy plaid shorts that I thought were fun.  I gave him one toy, and hid the Legos for now.  I bought him a tool box kit to make from Home Depot that was $2.  He loves going to the build-it clinics and this would give him a good project to make with his dad at home. 

It was an amazing site to see a warehouse sized room filled with all kids and baby stuff!  From strollers and car seats to Easter baskets and even new Melissa and Doug toys, there was everything needed for kids at great prices.  Check out the sale this weekend if you are in the area!

 

Disclosure: I attended a preview sale for bloggers and received a gift certificate to shop. No review or post was required.  I have been a long time fan of consignment sales!

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On Chapter books and learning to read

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On Chapter books and learning to read

In an attempt to get ready for kindergarten next fall, I've been slowly incorporating new books into my son's bedtime reading.  While my favorite books to read are colorfully illustrated picture books, I also love a good novel.  The kiddo has been loving listening to the early readers books featuring different Lego characters.  We had enjoyed reading a brightly illustrated Bad Kitty book that we borrowed from the library a while back.  When I saw the Bad Kitty chapter book series I decided to try reading one to gauge my son's interest in a different book format.  The Bad Kitty books have some illustrations and are written in super short chapters.  And, they are hysterical, especially if you are five.  My son really enjoyed the first book and the second one that Grandmom bought him for Valentine's Day.  I had purchased Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a while ago and decided it might be a fun book to try next.  It has much less illustrations but the response has been good.  We read a chapter or two a night in addtion to picture books.  I don't recall ever actually reading this story as a child, but I did watch the original movie often!  Once we finish the book I'll show him the movie. 

Some of my son's preschool peers are reading already.  I'm not worried that my son is not yet doing so.  I see how he is recognizing different words in signs as we drive around, in ads, and in books.  He likes to play scavenger hunt with a set of sight words I bought for him and he has begun to recognize what some of them say. It is fun to see how his reading skills are improving.  He also realizes that he can write letters much better now and likes to make signs and take notes.  Sometimes the notes are just scribbles, but I see this as practice for college note taking!  Before long, he won't be able to tell me that he is too young to read.  Which is what he often tells me when I ask him what something says. 

Maybe we'll read James and the Giant Peach next!

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Happy Birthday Theo. Lesieg!

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Happy Birthday Theo. Lesieg!

It's Dr. Seuss' birthday today!  He would have been 109 years old today!  Wow! I admire Theodore Seuss Giesel for his ability to get so many children and families reading over the 76 years, but I have to say some of his most famous books are not my favorites.  It wasn't until I did a bit of research and learned that two of our favorite books, both authored by Theo. Lesieg, were actually written by the Dr. himself, only using a pen name, his last name backwards!  

My son brought Dr. Seuss' first published book home from the preschool library a few weeks ago, And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  It was published in 1937, and it showed that it was from a different era based on the language in it.  I have to say I didn't love it.  I bought my son a copy of The Cat in the Hat when he was a baby because I thought it was a book he should have.  We've read it a couple of times, but neither of us particularly like it.  (It is just weird.)  He does watch the PBS cartoon, the Cat in the Hat and the stories and educational messages of the show are great, but that cat is just so odd looking, right?

My favorite books were The Foot Book (I don't know why,) Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, My Book About Me (which is funny to read what I wrote in it all those years ago,) Wacky Wednesday, and Oh The Places You'll Go!  My son loves my old copy of The Many Mice of Mr. Brice, which is a pop-up book that is slowly falling apart since it's about 35 years old!  My copy of Wacky Wednesday is falling apart too, so I did purchase a new copy for him, since he loves to read that too.

 I had fun exploring the website Seusville to learn more about the author, his history and all the books published over the years.  Reading a Dr. Seuss book is certainly fun, as the rhyming makes it easy to read and the repetition of words helps early readers improve their vocabulary.  We'll be reading our favorite Dr. Seuss books before bed tonight!  

Family sick days

Last week, were really looking forward to the holiday weekend that included Presidents' Day.  Friday was supposed to be mild weather, so I had a trip to the Morris Arboretum planned for the kiddo and I.  The kiddo had a swim lesson and a birthday party scheduled for Saturday. My husband took Monday off so that we could spend a family day together exploring the Franklin Institute. My husband and I were fighting some sinus troubles, but they were manageable, just annoying.  And then the kiddo woke up on Friday with a fever.  Life came to an abrupt halt.

My son rarely gets sick.  Seasonal and pet allergies trouble him, but a full blown cold and a fever occurs once yearly or less.  So when he woke up on Friday morning and climbed into my bed, he felt like a heating pad on high.  He had lots of nasal congestion but thankfully his lungs were clear sounding.  His temp was just barely 100 degrees F, so it wasn't a worrisome temperature, but it was enough to make him lethargic.  For two days he laid on the sofa and cuddled with me.  This is a kid who just plays all day usually.  When he had no energy but to lay there, I knew he was feeling really bad.   

We were all feeling sick.  It was just sad. How does a family deal with everyone being sick?  This is what we did: 

• Clean.  I continuously used bleach wipes to clean doorknobs, sink faucets and even the remote controls to keep the germs at bay.  We ran the dishwasher with the sani-rinse setting too.   
• Laundry.  I changed bed sheets, especially pillow cases.  I also changed the hand towels in the bathrooms and kitchen often.
• Hydrate.  My son had no appetite, but I insisted that he drink often.  He asked for iced tea, so I made a decaf herbal blend of hot tea and chilled it on ice for him to drink.  I also gave him as many Honest Kids juice pouches as he wanted, along with water.  The parents drank lots of hot tea and water too.  I believe staying hydrated really helps with congestion, as well as has a cooling effect for a fever.
• TV viewing.  We usually don't watch TV during the day.  With the lethargy going on here, we took advantage of the on-demand feature and found the first season of Phineas and Ferb and watched almost all of them!  It was a nice way to cheer us up and we all got a laugh even though we felt crummy.  
• Sleep.  My son refuses to nap because he is too old, he thinks, for naps.  He did end up falling asleep on my several times.  He also went to bed earlier than usual each night.  This really helped him.  (I on the other hand got little sleep, as I cleaned, did laundry and kept checking on my kiddo or had to help him when he was up with coughing spasms. My insomnia was kicked into high gear!)

By Sunday, my son was getting better but we stayed home and he just played all day. Monday he seemed to be great in the morning and we took the chance to go ahead with our plans to visit the Franklin Institute.  I still felt exhausted from lack of sleep, but wanted to make the best of it since my son was so excited to see the Franklin Institute for the first time.  It was a mistake to go, as he relapsed a bit by starting to be crabby and the cold air made his cough worse, so I kept him home from school on Tuesday, just in case.  He was so mad that he missed school! (He LOVED the FI though, so much so that we bought a family membership so we can go back again!)

We are all still coughing a bit, but feel much better this weekend!  I'm feeling grateful that we were just dealing with cold viruses and not the flu!

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Week 2: Photography Project...Legos!

Make way for the Big Boy room!

My son's bedroom has been through a metamorphis over the past five years.  It went from baby nursery to a big boy bedroom in no time at all!  

When he was a baby, his room looked like this, complete with hand knit blankets and a beautiful crib (that was later recalled due to the drop down side!)

 

Then he grew up into a toddler bed, his blue race car bed.  The blankets were still there, but lots of boy stuff too!

And now, he has a real twin sized bed...the one he'll sleep in until he leaves for college!  We searched for over a year and really debated what type of bedroom set we'd get him.  He wanted a really cool castle bed with a slide, but in the end we decided it just wasn't practical or fiscally wise!  We let him help choose this set from our favorite local family-owned furniture store.  They thought it would take about 4-6 weeks for the furniture to arrive, but we were surprised that it came in under two weeks!  Yikes!  That meant lots of cleaning out and disposal of the old dresser and chest of drawers that had been my furniture.  We had to replace them since the drawers were broken beyond repair.  I had a week to empty out the room and sort through everything.  I was able to donate tons of clothing and baby bedding, along with a bag of unused stuffed animals.  We still have an abundance of stuffed animals, but I think they'll be here for a while.  

My son wanted a construction themed bedroom.  I am still in the process of making that theme happen, but for now he is happy with these cool wall decals I found that have construction vehicles, cones and signs.  I like that they are repositionable and won't harm the paint.  And for $12, when he changes his mind about the theme, they won't be a huge financial dent!  We picked out some construction themed fabric to use for pillow cases and I found some construction themed bedding that will make it on his bed once I get it all washed.  For now he is using his Ikea duvet with trucks and cars on it, and it works well!  

We decided not to get the desk that matched the furniture.  It was huge and would not fit into the room well.  We chose to buy a very small desk from Ikea that fits nicely and was very inexpensive.  If it ends up with crayons or marker stains on it, it won't be the end of the world.  Eventually it will hold a laptop nicely or be a good place to do some homework.  For now, my son is pretending it's his work desk!  He has the best imagination!

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Week 2: Photography Project...Legos!

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Week 2: Photography Project...Legos!

Week two's assignment for the 52 Week project with Picaboo was capturing winter activities.  Needless to say, this week in Southeatern PA wasn't very wintery.  In fact, it was cold but not cold, the snowman is still melting on the patio and is down to one sad ball of snow and dirt, and it rained off and on and then on most of today.  So I ended up capturing an indoor activity, something that fills the afternoons when the weather is lousy: building with Legos!

My son loves Legos and wanted the Lego Police Station for over a year.  Santa finally gave in and he received it for this past Christmas.  This was a BIG deal.  He sat for two weeks just playing with the box.  He has many of the accessories that complete the police station, such as police vehicles and little criminals, along with the classic 1970s police station that was mine as a kid.  But that wasn't enough!  So on Thursday afternoon when he said he was bored (despite a pile of unplayed with gifts still in the family room!) I suggested that we assemble the police station.  Bingo!  This was what I figured I'd use for this week's project post.  

My kiddo is 5 and still learning about building, so I ended up building the majority of the structure.  He helped as he could.  I have to give kuddos to Lego for not only having awesome instructions for the assembly, but for also the great packaging.  This particular kit came with 9 individual bags of legos and four instruction books.  To assemble, one bag is opened at a time in order.  Ingenious!  This definitely made it a joy to build. Now if only it came with clear lego glue so that a certain 5 year old wouldn't lose parts during play...

Here is our progress...

 

The set, all 783 pieces!

Getting started...

The finished project in action!

It took two days and a total of three hours, but it's finished!  The kiddo has been playing with it and loves it.  Gotta love Legos!

 

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