Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. Kids love slime. Parents and grandparents probably less so (well, they are the ones left with the clean-up!). But nothing compares to…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. When Lyons Cub was a baby, he used to have a dinosaur rocker, and with the continuous help of Early Intervention and…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. The Trihorse “Marble Run” (“Kugelbahn“) is actually not for marbles, but for big wooden balls and figurines, and it would make a…
They are beautiful; they are frowned upon (if you want to read a lengthy ethical debate about this matter, check out the pangeareptile.com forum). Many reptile breeders admonish hobbyists not to “dilute the gene pool,” arguing that in nature, different species usually don’t mate, either. (Sometimes, they do, but generally, they live in different habitats…
The funfair is in town! No, not the Largest Fair at the Rhine River banks in Düsseldorf; this would be a number too big for my toddler, and I would fear losing him in the masses–just a local small one with one merry-go-round and some food stands, where you can buy brats, candy floss, gingerbread…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. Is it just me, or is baking with a toddler always a messy affair? (All you mommies out there, you’re probably comparing…
Do you have a toddler who hates to lose, too? Lyons Cub definitely needs to win all the time. Also, he didn’t quite understand that the person with the most bananas wins–he gave away his bananas to the other players freely. But dang, if anybody DARED to catch the jumping monkey before he could get…
I remember the time when I first sat in a go-kart. It was in the early 1980s, and my parents had gotten a big, yellow go-kart for me from the older boy next door, and a small, red go-kart for my little sister from his younger sis. They were a bit rusty, and they were…
Lyons Cub has three more weeks in his current daycare, “Land of Clouds,” where he has been since August 2020. At three and a half years of age, he “aged out” and will go to the big kids’ kindergarten after the summer break. As much as he’s looking forward to being a big boy and…
She couldn’t replace my late husband, but she did everything my husband would have done: From the time we met, which was three months before Lyons Cub was born, she unpacked my moving boxes with me, built cabinets and shelves with me and filled them with pottery (only to take out all the pottery once…
It’s in the middle of summer, school break has started, but kindergarten is on and mommy has to work, so long day trips or vacations are still a no-no. Lyons Cub is getting bored, so what’s better than to take a trip to the Mall to take a ride on the ride-on machines? Lyons Cub…
It’s self-explanatory–playdough is one of the best sensory toys that helps children grasp different shapes, textures, colors, and names of their constructs that I can think of. It exists since the 1930s and was originally a cleaning substance for wallpapers, and its popularity as a children’s toy rose dramatically in the 1950s through television ads….
Montessori education stresses the importance of letting young children interact with animals. Several Montessori schools have their own little farms, where the children can feed, clean, and touch chickens, horses, or other kinds of domestic animals. This takes away their fear of big or loud or fast animals, gets them used to new smells and…
Going to the hairdresser is something special. Ideally, it’s a place where you can also talk and gossip and have some fun while getting your hair done. But with a little kiddo in tow?!? Will there be tears when the scissors approach baby’s locks? Will there be screaming when he has to release his grip…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. This birthday gift has been an instant hit with Lyons Cub. I don’t care so much about the music and voice parts,…