Parenting Toddlers

A few years ago my husband was begging me to get a game for our son. It was a little thing called Whac-A-Mole. I used to LOVE the real whac-a-mole at the fair, and it was impossible for me to see how they would be able to make a good version for a child that fit into a box.

This Whac-A-Mole is a bit different than the carnival style. It doesn’t pop all the way back in the hole (which still kinda bugs me). It is, however, the PERFECT game to play with a toddler. You pick a color mole, and whenever the light flashes on that mole, you whack it. The first to get to 100 points wins! The moles make funny sounds, and there are quite a few variations. If, for instance, your mole makes the “woo hoo” sound, it will make that sound the entire round. The next round, however, it may make the “woof woof” sound.

I’ve only seen one toddler who didn’t have the patience for this, which made me appreciate it all the more. She was one of those “run around and never stop moving” types of kids, and I think that our son may have been that way if we wouldn’t have made it a point to sit down with him every once in awhile and play games like this. Whac-A-Mole teaches patience, recognition, and even helps with reaction timing. Best of all? It’s under $20!! If you’re looking for a great game to play with the whole family, check out Whac-A-Mole!

It is very early as I write this. Connor had a rough night, and about 5:00 this morning he decided that bed was simply no longer an option. While he was visiting family yesterday he spent quite a bit of time outside, and he picked up a stellar collection of bug bites. (Stellar as in “I think we could draw lines between them to form Orion and his belt,” not stellar as in “great.”) We gave him children’s Benadryl and applied calamine lotion, but he woke up every three hours as the Benadryl wore off. This morning is not kind to us, folks.

As an exhausted-mom cop out, I’m just going to give y’all a collection of links this morning. Eventually, some of these may make it to the blogroll or the links sidebar, but for now they’ll have to do as an entry. Let’s just pretend I wrote something insightful around the links, okay?

Like most of you, I enjoy reading mommyblogs. This is actually a holdover from long before I had a kid; I just like reading about children and parents. I’m pretty sure the entire internet knows about Dooce and Mighty Girl, but do y’all know about Mimi Smartypants? All three of these women are pretty hilarious, and thankfully, all three of them find the time to update regularly and the brainpower to do so with style.

Here’s a little something for those of you who have trouble with meals: Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan. Some — okay, most — of the information in the article will be pretty familiar. (Prepare meals ahead of time! Learn to make a few quick and easy staple meals!) Still, it’s never a bad idea to reiterate this stuff. This link may require you to register with the New York Times.

If you find that article interesting, try hitting up Living Behind the Curve and check out their SRSLY plan. It’s a nice take on pre-prepared meals, and all it requires is that you own a CrockPot. Actually, it doesn’t really even require that — if you don’t own a slow-cooker, a nifty trick is to throw your CrockPot meal into a stockpot and pop it in the oven at 200 while you get on with life.

My, that was food-centric, wasn’t it? As a silly subject change, Baby Gift UK offers exactly what the title implies — baby gifts for you Brits. (It also has offerings for new parents.) The site’s got a nice variety of items for sale, although they seem to be a bit pricey. These are for when you really want to impress someone or you really want to give something nice. Don’t waste them on your snotty sister-in-law!

Mighty Goods offers a smaller version of the same thing for those of you in the US. Smaller… but much more funny. This site is run by Maggie of Mighty Girl, so using it makes you win twice.

All right, kids. I’m checking out. I’ll be back tomorrow with something insightful, witty, and heartwarming.