Monthly Archives: February 2011

Little ways to make life easier

Amazon.com Subscribe and Save

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When you’re juggling taking care of everything that breathes in your house and beyond, as well as your crazy job–finding time to drive to Target or the grocery store to load up on toilet paper, batteries, cereal, milk boxes, dish soap, tissues, coffee, cleaning supplies, bandages, and more isn’t as easy at it may seem. Your days of “popping into a store to pick up a few things” are over.

Hence, the beauty of Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program. Amazon’s program is super easy and straight forward. Simply go to their Subscribe & Save page and find thousands of everyday household items (health, child care, grocery, beauty, office, and pet products). Pick an item and sign up for free auto delivery every one to six months. You’ll save an additional 15% off Amazon’s already competitive prices.

You will always get email reminders from Amazon about an upcoming delivery so that you can change the delivery date to a later or earlier day. For instance, you can order an extra delivery of flu medicine if everyone in your house gets sick or hold off an another shipment of dish detergent when you still have a stockpile of four bottles. You can also cancel any Subscribe & Save item at any time so you’re not locked into unwanted purchases.

I’ve been using the Amazon Subscribe & Save program for about four years now, and the only things I would say to watch out for are: 1.) Going on vacation? Remember to check your upcoming delivery dates a couple of weeks before you plan on going out of town so that you can modify any package deliveries. 2.) If you have a lot of Subscribe & Save items (or canceled subscriptions) listed on your “Manage Your Subscribe & Save Items” page, be sure to look on page 2 of the item listing. Depending on how many active subscriptions and/or canceled subscriptions you have, there may be additional current subscriptions listed at the top of the second page. This is a weird formatting issue or savvy marketing strategy Amazon has used. 3.) Not all the prices are competitive. Bulky items like toilet paper may end up being a little cheaper at your local big box store, but weigh the price difference and decide whether it’s worth loading the kids in the car to save a dollar.

Note, if you have a child in diapers, be sure to join Amazon Mom. As a member of this free program, you get 30% off select diapers and wipes and shipping discounts (or free shipping). You also receive an occasional email with a specific discount on certain baby items like car seats or feeding accessories.

Now that you’ve saved all this time driving and shopping for staples at stores, maybe you can take a few minutes for yourself. Perhaps use the bathroom without your little one talking to you nonstop by the door? Well… maybe not.

Family Friendly Film, Music for your child (that isn't annoying)

Fun family viewing: Singin’ in the Rain

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Want to expand your preschooler’s movie repertoire beyond the usual Pixar and Disney choices? Try the 1952 classic Singin’ in the Rain. Award winning, toe-tapping, glorious dancing, and parodied beyond belief over the years, the comedic musical Singin’ in the Rain features some great humor and movement that will keep you and your child entertained. A nice plus is that there are no “scary” scenes unlike in many of Pixar and Disney films. We mainly fast forward to all the singing and dancing parts for my three year old daughter. Some of her favorite songs are:

* Make ‘Em Laugh (Donald O’Connor’s incredible song and dance scene. The part when he tries to get up and keeps falling down of course is a hit with preschoolers.)

* Moses Supposes (Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor tap dancing and singing really fast)

* Good Morning (Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor)

* Singin’ in the Rain (iconic scene with Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain)

* Broadway Melody Ballet (some truly breathtaking dancing by Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse)

Our daughter also laughs out loud at the funny voice of leading lady Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) in the talking scenes and the antics of Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor).

One of the best musicals in film history, Singin’ in the Rain is readily available at your public library, Netflix, Amazon instant video rental, and Blockbuster. Happy watching (dancing and singing too).

What to Read

Good read: Little Red Bird

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“Have you ever heard of the little red bird who lived in a cage made of gold? She had all she could need–she had water and seed, and plenty to read I’ve been told.”

The rhythmic, colorful, and poignant story of the Little Red Bird, by Nick Bruel, asks kids about the differences between comfort and predictability versus freedom and the unknown. The little red bird (a pet bird) enjoys the ease and familiarity of her cage but then one day looks outside and glimpses the world beyond. Through an open window (and many, many great metered sentences–you English and music majors will have fun reading this book), the little red bird briefly ventures out to a park happily discovering flowers, trees, benches, and well, a part of the exciting world she has never seen before.

But when the sun starts to set, the little red bird remembers the comforts of her home. From the top of a tree, she sees her little gold cage inside her house. “She thought she would stay, and live freely each day. Here in the park, ‘neath the sky. Then she thought she’d go back [home], where there was nothing she lacked. Though she’d never be able to fly.” The author, smartly ends the book with a question to the reader, “I wonder what YOU would do?”

The anxiety of leaving home or leaving the familiar applies to all our different phases of life and The Little Red Bird beautifully opens this topic for discussion with your child. This book is particularly good for kids dealing with separation anxiety or those who are on the quiet or cautious side in public settings. For these more observation based learners, the idea of venturing out into the freedom of new experiences often sounds more scary than inviting and this little red bird shows that “the new” can sometimes be fun.

Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers, What to Read

Story Time at Subterranean Books

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Looking for a different and almost magical story time in the St. Louis area? If you haven’t experienced one with Georgy Rock at Subterranean Books at 6275 Delmar Boulevard, you’re missing something quite unique.

YouTube Video of January Story Time.

A favorite storyteller in the region, Georgy Rock (recently named the best storyteller in St. Louis Magazine’s A-List 2010) spins tales, shares stories, warms hearts, sings, and generally captivates kids and their parents on Thursdays from 11:30 to noon at Subterranean Books. She has 30 years of experience telling stories and in 2009, was ordained a maggid, or Jewish itinerant storyteller.

Last Fall, when one of our usual Thursday morning classes was canceled, my daughter and I had a chance to hear Georgy Rock at Subterranean. Up in the cozy second loft like floor of the bookstore, Georgy welcomed all the children by name and sang/spoke her way through four books. She has a beautiful ability for creating a seamless tempo in her readings and integrating song and humor throughout the event. She also sang a couple of songs that involved hand and arm movements which the kids enjoyed. There were only about six children there when we went, infants to preschoolers.

Tips

* It is lunch time for most kids at this time, so many of the children ate a few quiet snacks and sucked down milk/juice boxes. Come prepared with some fruit or semi crumb-free snack.
* Parking on Delmar during the week at lunch time isn’t too bad–you can usually find some street parking. There is also a public ramp about a block from the bookstore. Be sure to bring your quarters!
* A few doors down is a great kids store, City Sprouts. They have a lovely play area with trains and kitchen toys, plus plenty of kids clothes, gifts, furniture, and design ideas. City Sprouts also has a pretty extensive selection of Tea Collection clothing.
* Want to spend the afternoon in the area? Nice map of Delmar.

 

An important note: Subterranean Books is struggling financially to stay afloat, as are many independent bookstores. If you have time, browse the store before or after story time. There are some incredibly thoughtful and smart selections of children’s books. We are library and bookstore junkies and were happily surprised at some of the new titles we discovered. Please remind your kids to be gentle with the books while browsing–this tiny store doesn’t have much wiggle room on their inventory.

Read more about story time from UniversityCityPatch.com.

Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers, Little ways to make life easier, Visual Art at Home

Captivating coloring

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Recently, my three-year old daughter has started enjoying coloring more. She is mildly interested in the coloring sheets that come with the kiddie menus at restaurants and the handful of Miffy pages I’ve printed from web sites (although we love Miffy books!). She doesn’t really care much for Melissa and Doug coloring pages or TV character pages. But for some reason, Taro Gomi doodling and coloring books hold her concentrated attention for 30 minutes plus. Yes, that’s enough time to have a real conversation with someone or cook most of your dinner!

The author of Everyone Poops and other books, Taro Gomi is an award-winning writer and illustrator. His doodle, scribble, coloring, activity, and painting books and postcards will keep 3 to 7 year olds engaged. The clean line drawings are bold, expressive, and humorous with ample space to color and also space for embellishing (some of the pictures ask kids to add worms or apples to certain scenes for instance). If you love white space, these books are for you, uh, I mean your child. Some of the Taro Gomi books focus more on learning how to draw/doodle while others are geared more towards preschoolers who just want to color, draw simple lines, or practice counting. There is usually a nice balanced assortment of different age appropriate pages in each volume.

Here are some sample Taro Gomi color pages to download on Chronicle Books’ site.

Here are a few of our favorites to buy:

Doodles: A Really Giant Coloring and Doodling Book
Doodle 123!: A Really Giant Doodling and Drawing Book
Doodle All Year

Be sure to check Amazon for good prices on Taro Gomi titles and possibly Barnes and Noble or Borders if you have a coupon. Many of these books are pretty thick and heavy, so feel free to remove a few pages for a restaurant outing.

We also like the Melissa and Doug triangular crayons for color, durability, and no paper wrapper to peel away.