Monthly Archives: August 2010

Travel

Tots on the Go

1 Comment

Visiting Grandma or vacationing in a city where kiddie equipment rentals are not readily available? Are you tired of just carrying too much stuff for your child when traveling?

I’ve used Tots on the Go a couple of times while traveling and the service, selection, and quality of equipment is excellent. Tots on the Go is run by a Mompreneuer Ellie Venafro. The company provides local deliveries to Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, in addition to shipping anywhere in the country. I had items shipped to our hotel and the day we were leaving, I dropped them off with a prepaid shipping label (provided by Tots on the Go) at a UPS (or sometimes the hotel will take care of the pick up for you).

You can rent equipment such as strollers, car seats, booster seats, cribs, bed rails, baby carriers, bouncy seats, toys, high chairs and more for reasonable prices.

It’s also a cheaper way to try out equipment you’ve had your eye on before buying.

What to Read

Good Read: Harry and Lulu

Leave a comment

A little girl named Lulu desperately wants a new dog. Her parents give her a stuffed toy dog instead.

“Lulu went lulu.”

Author Arthur Yorinks and Illustrator Martin Matje’s Harry and Lulu is a very funny, touching, and subtly moving story about a little girl who wants a dog, gets a toy dog, ramps up her imagination (or ours?), learns to believe, and in the end finds herself loving what may or may not be real.

Harry the dog comes to life over night and begins his journey to convince Lulu that he is real. He declines the offered dog biscuits but opts for Lulu’s pumpernickel bagel instead. They eventually end up in Paris where Harry claims he is from. While in Paris, Lulu tells Harry, “Now go away and do something… I don’t want people to think I’m hanging around with a stuffed animal.” The narrator poignantly fills us in with, “And though she could say and do all the mean things in the world to him [Harry], he still loved her and was loyal to her and, so as not to embarrass her, he walked around pretending not to know her but never once took his eyes off her.”

Sound familiar?

Harry ends up saving Lulu from an oncoming car, lands in the Seine, and Lulu rescues him–finally convinced that Harry is her dog. Whether or not he is real doesn’t really matter anymore.

I love, love, love the great dialogue in Harry and Lulu. The emphasis on certain words, the tempo, and the fun use of vocabulary will definitely delight your preschooler and you. The expressive illustrations are unique too. The artist Martin Matje depicts the body language of an opinionated little girl well, amplifying this perfect story.

Note, the phrase “Holy moly” is used in the beginning of the book. Feel free to substitute when reading aloud to your child… that is if you don’t already say it every day.

Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers, Date Night

FORM 2010

Leave a comment

Be sure to check out The Luminary Center for the Arts‘ contemporary furniture, object, and architectural design exhibition August 13 and 14. On August 14, there will be several do it yourself design workshops as well.

FORM 2010 is a fundraiser for The Luminary Center for the Arts, a nonprofit artist resourcing organization that that seeks to provide meaningful support to emerging artists, audiences and appreciators in the St. Louis area. Proceeds from FORM will be used for a new artist equipment library at The Luminary, which will provide area artists and creative professionals with access to specialized equipment such as a woodshop, media lab, film and video equipment, and large format printers.

VIP Preview Night tickets for August 13 (7 to 10 pm) are $25 in advance or $30 at the door.

General tickets for August 14 (11 am to 4 pm) are $7 in advance or $10 at the door.

Some of the featured exhibitors include:

SPACE Architecture + Design
DesignSpeak STL
Studio | Durham Architects
CONFLUENCE Design | Fabrication
Mails Woodwork
Designer Jordan Hicks
Designer Jill Nichols