The New Parents Guide Blog

My husband’s family has a well-loved Christmas Eve tradition:  a visit from Santa Claus, complete with gifts and photo opportunities.  One thing I find myself dreading as the kids get older is our first year without a Santa Claus. A bonus of having children as spread-out in age as ours are is that this sad event is delayed for a while.  I’ve still got one “believer” in the house, and the Big Kids remember how fun the Santa tradition is for the kids.  None of them want to ruin that for the little ones.

The joke in the family is that there’s always a baby at Christmas Eve, and the baby always cries when it’s time to sit on Santa’s lap.  Santa and the baby must suffer through no fewer than 23 digital cameras on Delayed Flash To Reduce Red-Eye before Mommy or Grandma can rescue both of them.  As soon as everyone arrives at the party, speculation will begin.  Will it be the 6-month-old this year, or his toddler cousin who loses it at the very sight of Santa?

Fortunately, the terrified stage doesn’t last longer than a year or two.  That’s when the little kids figure out that Santa is not scary–and he brings some pretty cool presents, too!

If you’ve got one of those “screaming with Santa” photos of your baby, you’ll need a great photo album so you can keep it forever.  This personalized Teddy Bear Album holds up to 200 photo pages, and it’s super cute as well.

BASKET OF BARGAINS

50% off Colormate Bath Towels at Sears.com
Discounts will appear on item pages.
Valid through: December 26, 2009
See other Sears coupons!

TODAY ONLY!

Free shipping on orders of $25 or more at Walgreens.com
Use coupon code NEWYOU in your shopping cart.
Valid through: December 24, 2009, 11:59pm ET
Valid for five uses per account. Offer is applicable to standard shipping charges only. Discount does not apply to pharmacy or photo orders, gift card purchases or taxes.
See other Walgreens coupon codes!

Young children have this special way of disarming us just when they are at their most exasperating and we are at our most impatient. 

One day as soon as I turned off the water from my shower, my younger son (who was about 3 at the time) asked,

“Mom, are you done?”

Yes.

“Are you done?”

Yes. I’ll be out as soon as I get dressed.

“Are you done in the shower?”

Yes. I’m getting dressed.

This went on until I was dressed and opened the bathroom door.

“Mom, YOU’RE MY BUDDY.” This was accompanied by the World’s Biggest Hug.

Who said cuteness isn’t a survival skill?

Wondering what you can expect from your three-year-old?  Check out our Child Development Guide for information on kids from birth to age 6!

BASKET OF BARGAINS

15% off $20 or more in Bottles and/or Cups at Diapers.com
Enter promotion code SBFEED2 in your shopping cart.
Valid through: November 12, 2009
You may need to log in to use this coupon. Diapers.com reserves the right to limit quantities.
See other Diapers.com coupons!

Buy 2 select Kitchen items, get 1 free at Solutions.com
Mix and match!
Discount will appear in your shopping bag. Valid for lowest-priced item.
Valid through: October 29, 2009
See other Solutions coupon codes!

Recently we were visiting with our Back Fence Neighbors. The 5 children we have between us were climbing over the fence, playing in both yards and having lots of fun.

Their toddler daughter had just gotten a Barbie fishing pole for her birthday. Instead of a hook, there was a plastic fish, about 3 inches long, tied to the end of the line. (The fish could be removed and replaced with hook and bobber if the child was going to fish for real fish). 

My teenage son was having lots of fun with this fishing pole. Obviously the pink fishing pole with the blue fish was no threat to his Boy-Scout-camp-honed masculinity. He stood atop a giant fort in the backyard, casting as far as he could.

Once it almost went into another neighbor’s pool.

A few times it nearly caught in a nearby tree.

Then he tried to cast it over the roof.

He heard a thump, and suddenly the little blue plastic fish was nowhere to be seen.

Oooooops!

The two dads quickly realized that the pole itself was undamaged. Probably the Boy Scout hadn’t knotted the fish to the end of the line well enough (it had come off once already).

While the dads were inspecting the fishing pole, my son went off in search of the missing fish. The next thing we knew, he was on the roof of the house! We have a split-level, so the roofs on the various levels are easy to reach once you’re on any one of them.

My husband told our Boy Scout that he had to get off the roof NOW. Then we were all hunting for the little blue fish. We checked the flower beds, the sandbox, the castle, and under the tree in front of the house. We looked under the cars, including the ones across the street–and attracted the attention of a few other neighbors along the way.

The next morning my husband found the missing fish, in the little space under the windshield wipers of his car. There was still some line attached, so our son’s Boy Scout knotting skills are no longer suspect.

BASKET OF BARGAINS

Free shipping on orders containing Halloween Costumes at BabyAge.com
Use coupon code Costumes09 in your shopping cart.
Valid through: October 31, 2009
See other BabyAge coupons!

$2 off any Parenting or Pregnancy Book at Diapers.com
Enter promotion code SBPARENT in your shopping cart.
Valid through: November 12, 2009
You may need to log in to use this coupon. Diapers.com reserves the right to limit quantities.
See other Diapers.com coupon codes!

Our special guest today is Elizabeth Kathryn Gerold-Miller, a Long Island, New York mother of four who blogs at The Divine Gift of Motherhood and (in her free time) writes as The Long Island Motherhood Examiner.  Her writing is funny, encouraging, and down-to-earth, and she wins my imaginary “Blogger I’d Most Like to Meet for a Latte” award this week! (Make mine pumpkin spice…)

I am able to write this afternoon because the project I had assigned myself during the baby’s nap time was done in ten minutes.  The project was hanging a border in the second half of the laundry room. The first half I had hung two weeks ago, and it was such an ordeal that I had put off the second half this long, thinking I would need to allot myself an hour without the baby.

Well, it went like a breeze. I had that thing up, with no mishaps, within ten minutes. So much easier than the first half. And why was that? I had done that with my toddler at my feet.

Foolish, you may think, stating what is now, to me, the obvious. My toddler was happily watching a Winnie-the-Pooh video in the living room and I had these rolls sitting there waiting to be hung. The instructions looked easy enough. I opened them, got out my two-foot ladder, wet them, and started rolling.

Two minutes later, I had six feet of it up, was rounding a corner, and my toddler started climbing up to join me. The water was dripping down the wall, I had a bubble to work out, and the first six-foot section was falling down. Having thumbtacks within reach, I hastily tacked up the portion I had done, and stepped onto the washing machine so I could get up the remainder of the roll.

So there goes another chore onto my list of Things That Should Not Be Attempted With Toddlers Around. (I have a friend, a homeschooling mother of four, who started to hang a border in her kitchen years ago, and never finished!)

BASKET OF BARGAINS

Up to 50% off Framed Art, Mirrors, and Wall Decor at Cost Plus World Market
Plus free shipping!
Valid through: October 18, 2009
Excludes Novica.
See other Cost Plus coupons!

15% off orders over $55 at LillianVernon.com
Enter media/promotional code 639860100 in your shopping cart. Discount will appear during checkout.
Valid through: October 31, 2009
Valid online only. Discount cannot be combined with any other offers or coupons, and is valid on new orders only.
See other Lillian Vernon coupon codes!

Fall is my favorite season.  I love driving around, looking at the beautifully-colored leaves on the trees.  And because there is only one small tree in my yard that’s not an evergreen, I don’t even mind raking. 

If you enjoy the wonderful colors of fall, why not take your family to the Conway Scenic Railroad in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire?  Kids love train rides, and this one takes you through some of the most beautiful mountains in New England.  There are short (55-minute) and long (5-hour) excursions available, and children 3 and under ride free in the coach cars.  You can bring a picnic to enjoy before boarding the train, or have sandwiches and snacks in the dining car.  The trains are heated for those chilly fall days, and operate rain or shine.

Bookmark The Weather Channel’s Fall Foliage Guide and plan your trip at the peak of autumn’s beauty!

BASKET OF BARGAINS

TODAY AND TOMORROW ONLY!
Free shipping on Halloween Costume and Decor orders over $39 at Kmart
Discount will appear in your shopping cart if your order is eligible.
Valid through: September 12, 2009
Free shipping on items shipped via Lowest Cost or Ground shipping method for all mailable items. Offer applies to most items under 150 lbs. Estimated offer value ranges from $6.80 to $57. Offer excludes shipping costs on non-mailable items delivered via freight truck, freight truck curbside or premium white glove shipping methods. Continental U.S. only.
See other Kmart coupons!

TODAY AND TOMORROW ONLY!
Free shipping on select Baby gear at Target
Discount will appear at checkout.
Valid though: September 12, 2009
Offer available online only. Look for the “free shipping” logo on eligible items. Offer valid for orders shipping within the 48 contiguous states. Offer available at Target.com only and does not apply to partner businesses or Amazon.com product purchases.
See other Target coupon codes!

Every summer my family and I try to make a trek down to the Outer Banks beaches–Hatteras specifically. We love Hatteras for its remote location and plentiful wildlife so, in keeping with our yearly ritual, this past week, we packed up the kids and everything but the kitchen sink and headed for some fun in the sun.

As all mothers and fathers know, a trip with your kids is full of unexpected surprises. A harmless walk into the kitchen can be met with projectile objects and a wet sensation on your feet from who knows what. So, you can imagine my surprise when my now two-year-old, Lainey, said there were monkeys on the beach (herself not included). The Benadryl I gave her before bed should have surely worn off by the next afternoon so I figured she was not experiencing some strange side effect of any kind.

No, I believe the reason for her remark about monkeys was due to a giant piece of driftwood that floated onto the shoreline. Lainey pointed to the out-of-place relic and asked what it was. I told her it was driftwood, kind of like a piece of tree. Some moments passed and as she sat down in her tiny beach chair for her snack, she pointed to the still present driftwood and said, “Tree, monkey. Tree, monkey, ooh-ooh-aah-aah.” I let out a giant cackle and tried to fathom why on earth she would have thought a monkey was in that decaying piece of bark in the sands of Hatteras. Then I remembered I had just read her a book about different animal habitats. You know the ones—where fish live under the sea, bears live in caves, and monkeys live in trees. So, any bright two-year-old would, I guess, conclude that if they see a tree, there is a chance a monkey may be in it. The book didn’t bother to go into specifics such as, “Monkeys don’t live in trees in North Carolina but prefer more tropical destinations like Costa Rica.” I mean it’s a board book for Pete’s sake.

Yes, that afternoon at the beach, I realized how literally our children perceive the world. They are brilliantly naïve, naturally loving, and quite hilarious. And, if anyone does happen to spot a monkey on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, please let me know…

Blogged by Tara Kompare (www.themedicinemom.com)