Knitting Zeal

Preschoolers Madagascar party fun

As part of the Children's Claritin Moms Crew I had the opportunity to host a Madagascar 3 Party for my son and his preschool buddies.  I received an awesome party kit, complete with the first two Madagascar movies on DVD and some fun giveaways for the kiddos.  It was a great way to get the kids together before the end of the school year.  My son loves the Madagascar movies and is really looking forward to seeing Madagascar 3 when it is released in theatres on June 8th.  It is rare that an appropriate movie for preschoolers is in the theatres, so we are really excited about this summer movie!  

To get ready for the party, we made chocolate banana cupcakes with chocolate icing and popped lots of popcorn to share.  My son loved having popcorn boxes to share with his friends.  I also made up little goodie bags for each kid with a candy stick, Madagascar 3 stickers and pretzels. We decorated the table with animal themed plates, animal figures and my favorite cupcake stand, making the cupcakes the centerpiece.  (The kids ended up having so much fun playing they never ate the cupcakes, so each got to take some home!)  

While the movies were playing, some kids watched for a bit, some played, and the moms had a chance to catch up and chat.  It was great being able to talk with the moms for more than the five minutes we usually get at pick up time!  We discussed everything, including how rotten this allergy season has been for all of us.  Most of my son's friends seem to have asthma issues, along with seasonal allergies.  I know my allergies have been terrible this spring, thanks to the mild winter we had this past season. 

The kids had a blast playing together and enjoying their snacks.  At one point we caught some of the kids composing music notes together, maybe writing the next movie score?  They were so cute!  

Overall, our Madagascar movie party was a hit, even if the movies didn't get much of a viewing!  On the next rainy day we might have to host another movie get together so the kids can actually sit down and watch!  

 

As a member of the Children’s Claritin Mom Crew, I receive product samples and promotional items to share and use as I see fit.  No monetary compensation has taken place and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience.

A day at the beach

Sunday morning we decided at the last moment to head to the beach for a day.  It was cool, overcast and not beach weather, but it was fun to explore anyway.  We headed to Ocean City, NJ and hit the boardwalk.  The kiddo enjoyed eating his way up the boardwalk.  We started with lunch at our favorite pizza shop, Manco & Manco's (formerly Mack & Manco's until some sort of legal dispute.)  The kid that insists he doesn't like pizza because of the sauce had no problem eating it!  

After playing on the beach a bit he asked for ice cream, so we hit Kohr Bros. for custard.  We picked up some salt water taffy at Shrivers, but saved them for later!

It was overcast while on the beach, but that didn't stop the kiddo from running around the beach and running into the shallow breakers.  He got a bit wet, but nothing too bad.  He had a lot of fun and could easily become a beach boy.  

Mussels and barnacles on pier posts by the ocean

 

 

the beach and Wonderland's Ferris wheel in the distance

A visit to OCNJ isn't complete without a visit to Wonderland Pier.  It is ridiculously expensive for the rides, so he only went on the carousel.  He wanted to go on the gigantic ferris wheel, but I nixed that!   

The sun came out as we were leaving!

 

Wordless Wednesday

enough cars?

Season passes at Sesame Place

 

meeting our buddies

Opening day at Sesame Place was this past Saturday.  This was the second year in a row that we went to opening day and it was a lot of fun.  My son was even more excited this year, as he has asked at least weekly since December when we can go back to Sesame Place.  This summer, he is a lucky boy, as we have season passes for the first time to Sesame Place.  I won a season pass from Philly Parent Circle, a great resource website if you are a parent in the Philadelphia area.  I decided to buy two more passes so that the whole family could visit repeatedly this summer and lucked out in buying them during winter when they were discounted.  

 

We have had the chance to visit Sesame Place several times over the past few years as guests of the park at blogger events.  I had heard the spiel about buying passes if one plans to visit more than two times, as at that point it is cheaper than purchasing daily tickets.  What I discovered was that having season passes really pays off in respect to the 30% discount on food and merchandise they provide for guests.  Being local and pass holders means we can visit the park without the pressure to do EVERYTHING in one day.  The rides or activities we missed doing or doing again this past weekend we can do the next time we are there.  It made the day much more relaxing.  I realized that if we didn't make it to the show we wanted, it was ok, as we have more opportunities to catch it this summer.

 

Murray!

What was fun about opening day?  The characters were so fluffly looking!  Fresh costumes, happy employees, and an ultra clean park all led to a fun day.  We missed the morning arrival parade, but did have the chance to enjoy the Neighborhood Street Party Parade.  This time we were along the beginning of the parade route and really had the chance to enjoy unobstructed views.  My kiddo was even encouraged to join in on some dancing by a parade dancer, but Mr. Bashful swayed along on the side.  

 

 

Pretzel dogs and apple slices for the kiddo

A big change I noticed this year was the menu changes.  Honestly, the food there was nothing exciting last year.  This year they added a completely new menu to one restaurant, Captain Ernie's Bistro, which featured a variety of paninis, pizza, and salads along with an updated kid's menu that included pretzel hot dogs and a turkey sandwich.  My husband and I had paninis (Chipolte chicken and Turkey Florentine) and really enjoyed them.  My son had the pretzel hot dogs and actually ate his lunch.  The kids meal includes a fruit choice and drink.  With our pass savings, lunch there was cheaper than what we usually pay locally.  A tip: the map you can pick up at the entrance has the menus printed on the back for each restaurant.  Each place serves different foods, so if you have a picky kid (or adult) who will only eat certain things, check to see which place serves the food they want.  The family in front of us had to get out of line because their kid was upset that Captain Ernie's did  not have chicken fingers.  

 

It was really cold on Saturday, so we did not go on the water rides, although there were a few crazy people swimming.  We actually have never been on any of the water rides.  We are looking forward to trying them out this summer! 

Twiddlebugs slides

 

Teaching preschoolers about money, our dollar box

The other day when I was trying to vacuum the family room, the place where 90% of the toys are stored, I kept discovering coins and dollars scattered about.  Turns out the kiddo's cash register had flipped over at some point scattering the contents.  Most of the "money" was toy money, but I also found a lot of real currency, including some gold dollars that had been fished out of a certain four year old's piggy bank!  I've now tried several times to explain that real money is not a toy and it is not ok to play with it because it has value. It is especially bad if I vacuum it up!  My son's response was, we'll just get more from the bank.  Huh?  I clearly was not communicating my message effectively.  Yes, four is young to grasps the concept of currency and value, but learning about it has to start somewhere.  

Aside from the kiddo's piggy banks, we have a box that we keep put away to collect 'A' dollar bills.  This is something I started doing well over a year ago when a friend told me about it.  They were collecting the dollar bills with their kid's initials on them and when they hit a certain amount, that was their spending money for a certain thing.  I decided to start collecting for my son, with the goal that what we collected would become our Disney money for spending in the parks when we eventually go.  My husband and I set aside our 'A' dollars, our son's first initial (and a dollar minted in Boston, making them not quite as common here in PA!) and store them in the dollar box, hidden in the house.  (Hidden from the child mainly!) Eventually we shared with our son what we were doing, saving dollars for a special trip.  I thought he understood it until he saw me with it today and asked if he could have some of his 'A' dollars to play with his cash register!  Ugh.  

our dollar box

 

I started doing a bit of research about how to teach a preschooler about money and discovered a great resource from the Credit Union National Association.  Thrive by 5 features a number of worksheets and ideas for helping parents teach little ones about money.  I am planning to start with a savings chart and an earnings chart for my son.  Let's hope that it makes a positive impression!

Our dollar box will continue to grow and while the money in it doesn't earn interest, it is an easy way to start saving towards a goal with change.  If it ever hit a substantial amount, I would probably put it in our money market account so it would at least earn a few extra cents!  

How do you teach your kids about money?

A house of his own

For almost two years now my son has asked for a play house of his own.  Last summer he wanted this little castle house that I spent all summer trying to find on Craigslist.  I found one once, but getting it was an issue.  This year he saw one in the yard of a local day care center that he just loved.  A little research and more hunting on Craigslist revealed that if I found one, I would need to rent a truck to get it home, as it wasn't easily disassembled.  Lucky for him Little Tikes had a free shipping offer, so in the end it was just easier to buy a new one.  We had decided that investing in a full play ground/swingset was just not feasible, since we would hardly get the value out of it with just one kid, but a play house was way less costly and easier to sell off later when he grows out of it. 

The play house arrived on a giant frieght truck on Friday afternoon.  The kiddo was ecstatic!  He was excited to help build it because we needed a drill to do so.  He eagerly helped me unpack the enourmous box that it arrived in and collect the needed tools.   We were able to get it mostly assembled, except the roof.  My mom came over to help with the roof assembly and viola:  He was especially excited about the gas pump.  He asked me to fetch his "credit card" and old cozy coupe so that he could gas up the tank!  He even knew how to slide the card and start pumping.  
I imagine there will be many fun filled imaginative days spent playing here.  We are ready for the warm weather!

Regional Rail obsession

My little guy has a new obsession.  Regional Rail.  If you are from the Philadelphia region, you would recognize the acronym, SEPTA.  Yes, my little boy loves SEPTA! (SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, for those wondering.) He takes a train ride into Center City Philly about once a month with his dad to a fun kids program held in the Marketplace of the Comcast Center. As a result, he has memorized all of the train stations on the way from our suburban station to The Suburban Station, Penn Center in Philadelphia.

I happened to mention to him one day that there was a SEPTA Museum in the city and that we could go visit it sometime. He glommed onto that idea and began talking about going constantly. So much so that I thought his little head would pop off!  Despite my attempts to explain that it wasn't a museum like the Please Touch Musuem (who does have a partial SEPTA Bus there for kids to play on) he was SOOOO excited.  It finally got too much for me when he started calling out train station stops in his sleep and then asked if we could buy a SEPTA dress up costume at the museum for him to wear at home.  I tried to explain that they did not sell dress up clothes there, but maybe we could buy some accessories to make one.  

Finally, last weekend I decided we had to fulfill my little guys curiosity about the SEPTA museum.  We took the train into town on Saturday, a sort of gloomy, rainy day, and walked over to the "museum" and transit store which are in the lobby of the SEPTA office building on Market Street in Philadelphia.  He loved the ride down and loved being able to explore!  There were some model train displays, lots of Philadlephia transit history and a real Trolley car that could be explored and "driven."  

Playing Bus Driver

Checking out the Trolley

Driving the Trolley

Watching the trains come and go at Market Street East station

At the Transit Store, we did not find an authentic SEPTA dress up costume.  I did find a patch and some buttons.  We also picked up a coloring book and a SEPTA hat.  At home I sewed the patch and buttons onto a sweat jacket that he already had and now he has his SEPTA dress up uniform, which cost me under $2 for the patch and buttons.  He has been having fun playing train condutor and engineer and calls out the stops from the family room or even in the car as we drive!

On being a boy mamma

I've been thinking about how being the mom to a boy is a unique experience as to a mom to girls or to both sexes of kids.  It's funny, but I always thought of myself as a mom to girls, complete with the Lilly Pulitzer pink and green bedroom and lots of American Girl dolls.  In fact, one of the first thoughts I had when I found out I was having a boy baby was that I guess I'd be saving thousands of dollars by not having to buy any American Girl stuff.  I don't know why I assumed I'd have a girl; maybe growing up in a family of girls had something to do with it.  

Now that I have a boy, I have completely embraced the wonderfulness of it.  My son is a blast and loves to do many great things, mostly without involving bugs and worms yet.  He keeps my girly-girl side in check!  There are cetain times that I still get a little pang for the girly girl stuff, especially at Easter time when Macy's is FILLED with beautiful girly spring dresses!  I avoid Macy's kids' department at this time of year!

But just because boy clothing is not all that exciting doesn't mean we can't have fun with it!  My son has two birthday parties this weekend (one is a tea party for his two best girlfriends, but he doesn't know it yet!) and on Easter weekend we have two days worth of celebrations with family, so he needed some proper clothes for the events.  We spend the afternoon shopping today for new sneakers and an outfit.  So while I may not be buying those cute pink sparkly shoes, I can buy the cool light up when you jump sneakers that he likes.  We hit Stride Rite, as their shoes really do last.  (The cheaper shoes I buy for him never survive more than a month or two on the playground, while he has worn the same sneakers from Stride Rite for almost a year now and they are just starting to wear!) The shoes he picked out were out of stock for the size he needed, so they are ordering him his size for us to pick up later this week.  They are crazy police car shoes!  He was so happy to have them.  

We stopped at Gymboree because they still have cute clothes for boys and I had a coupon.  I love a little boy in an argyle vest or sweater, but my darling child has grown to the age where he doesn't like "those funny looking diamonds" on his clothing.  (ugh)  He did like the cute red vest with a baseball on it, so we found some coordinating pieces to make most of an outfit and added a few accessories from the Children's Place to complete the "ensemble!"  He even decided he needed a new belt to go with his outfit!  He was a great shopper, and very patient.  

He's going to look awesome in this:  And it was all on sale!  

Little Dentist

My son's been to the dentist twice now, most recently about two weeks ago.  I really love his dentist.  He's been in practice for a while and has a very kid-friendly office without being overdone.  Recently he was even listed in Philly magazine on their best pediatric dentist list!  My son has received a good bill of teeth twice now, which was very encouraging to me.  For a while getting him to brush properly was a challenge and he was adamant that I could not help him brush.  At his first dental appointment last summer the dentist told him he had to let me help him.  That made a huge difference and he now lets me help, especially with those back teeth.  This last visit was great with no problems.  I really appreciate that his dentist, Dr. Lloyd, lets me stay in the exam room with my son, who prefers to sit on my lab for his exam.  I know many pediatric dental offices do not allow parents to go into the exam rooms with their children, and I am not comfortable with that practice.  

To prepare for going to the dentist, we read a Bearenstain book about going to the dentist.  In it the bears talk about getting a cavity filled.  The drill fascinates my son.  I have told him that I hope he never had to experience the drill!  My husband has PERFECT teeth and has never had a cavity. (I'm hoping our son's teeth take after dad!)  I, on the other hand, have many filled teeth!  I just found out last week that I may have yet another cavity and have to go back to my dentist next week to get it checked out further.  Grr.  

My son is excited that I get to have my tooth drilled.  See, he saw this play-doh toy about teeth and playing dentist.  He wanted it and talked about it constantly.  I said no more toys for now, since we don't have room for the once we have!  But mommy-guilt got to me.  After realizing on Friday that my son's pink eye was the bacteria version, as opposed to the viral version that we thought it was all week, we had to go pick up a prescription for eye drops at Target.  He was really upset about having to get eye drops.  He asked if we could look at the toys and see if the play-doh dentist was there on the shelf.  I was silently hoping that they didn't have it in stock.  And then he found it, on sale.  I gave in.  He loved it and even cleaned it up all by himself and put it away in the play-doh storage bin we have in the toy closet.  He is still talking about the drill.  I'll rationalize the toy as part of his career training. 

 

Poor little head has a lot of cavities!

 

The kid and the Philadelphia Flower Show

 

 

Aloha!  The kiddo, my mom, and I went to see the Philadelphia Flower Show on Tuesday, apparently with every single senior citizen in the tri-state area too.  (It was really crowded!!) It was beautiful, of course and the theme was Hawaii, which is my dream place to live (specifically Lahaina, Maui.) 

 

The entrance of the show led visitors under the sea, sort of.  The kiddo thought it was cool to see fish "swim" overhead.  We missed many of the main exhibitors because it was just too crowded to get close enough to see any details and I didn't want the kiddo to get hurt because he was too small for people to notice.  It was bad enough I kept whacking him in the head with my camera lens!  We found that some of the smaller displays were just magnificent.  I think a favorite was MODA Botanica.  They had a moving display that the visitors could control by turning dials on the ends.  The dials changed the scenery in the display by sliding parts back and forth.  It was sort of amusing to realize that most adults were not tuned in to the control they could have over the exhibit, but the kiddo and other kids discovered the dials and started playing.  It was very clever to see them change the scene, even if it ticked off some of the visitors who didn't understand!  (Grownups can be so fuddy-duddy!)

 

There were tons of orchids, almost everywhere you looked.  It was hard to photograph them in the poor lighting so I ended up having to use a flash most of the time.  My son did well, considering what a busy day it was.  We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, which had really good fries, according to him!  He also loved taking the train to and from the show and was more than happy to ditch me on a busy train and sit with his grandmom.  

I uploaded most of my photos on Flickr, if you want to see more!

 

The show is open until Sunday, March 11, 2012.  They redesigned the layout from previous years, which in my opinion was done poorly.  Traffic flow around the main exhibits was horrible and at one point we were trapped in a corner because everyone just stopped moving to try to see some dancers--certainly not a place to go if you are at all claustrophobic!  I really hope that in future years they work on having a way to go around all the exhibits on all sides so that doesn't happen again.  If you go, be sure to check out the layout online and get a map there to help.