Christmas Eve Standup

It's going to be a Little People Christmas

Too bad Target was sold out of the nativity set by the time it went on sale for half price...

I've been a savvy shopper and managed to get my kids several Fisher-Price Little People items for an average of half the retail price. These are some of my daughter's favorite toys and have been for years, and my son enjoys them too.

My latest scores included the following, both about $6 on Amazon instead of the retail price of $17.99. The SUV was a Lightning Deal in toys and is now a little more but still far below retail. And the tractor set has been deeply discounted for days!

Just finished Finger Lickin' Fiften

I recently finished the most recent Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich. I always enjoy the books in this series, but this one didn't provide as much satisfaction as previous ones. I may just be too picky about books these days since I have so little time to read. Finger Lickin' Fifteen was an enjoyable read, but didn't leave me sad that I have to wait to read the next Plum novel.

The next time we have a car trip or I otherwise think I'll have more time to read, I plan on picking up Plum Spooky (A Between-the-Numbers Novel)from the library.

The fifteenth novel may not have excited me as much as previous ones, but if you haven't discovered these books yet, I highly recommend them. They are fun, irreverent mysteries featuring a bumbling Jersey girl who finds herself working as a bounty hunter. She bounces back and forth between the two main men in her life, Morelli and Ranger, and has an entertaining supporting cast of characters.

Amazon toy deals!

Amazon has been running some great buys on toys. Last year I got so many last-minute deals, online and off, that I held a few things back for birthday.

Keep checking their Lightning Deals page. You can preview the items that will be further discounted later in the day. Today seems to have some extra-good deals, and they are selling out especially fast.

That page highlights several other Amazon specials. Of special interest to me was the deep discounts on several items with Frustration-Free Packaging. I'm a huge fan of this packaging for gifts for my own children because the number of wire ties and tape used on some toy packages is pretty ridiculous. It can be quite a project to open them, and there are more dangerous little things to keep away from the baby, and there is a lot more packaging waste. The box isn't as shiny and pretty and made for nice display in a store, so it might not go over as well in some gift situations, but I will choose this packaging over the regular packaging every chance I get when buying for myself.

P.S. If you read my recent post about Sophie the Giraffe, she was one of yesterday's lightning deals and I gave in to temptation. I'll review her after she's been well chomped by Gator!

Muh muh

"Muh muh." That's, me, apparently. Or it means, "I want to nurse!"

I've recently realized that when Gator is following me around persistently, he says mmmmmm mmmmmm or muh muh. When he's that fixated on me, he usually wants to nurse. Luckily for him, Mama and nursing come in one warm package.

One of the interesting things about breastfeeding is you can't ever tell for sure how much your baby wanted to see you because he was hungry and how much was because he needed a mommy fix. It's such a special relationship that gives bonding and nourishment. Not that bottle-feeding mommies don't bond, but the bonding when you're feeding with a bottle is different from the bond while nursing. At least that's what my hormones tell me when my baby is suckling away, getting so much nourishment and comfort from such a simple act. I've had to feed my other baby expressed milk as a newborn who couldn't nurse, and the hormonal response from pumping and bottlefeeding is just not the same as the pure and simple act of breastfeeding.

Gator is so much more of a mama's boy than I remember his sister being. I'm sure part of that is because others can fulfill her needs as well as I can, but only I could feed him for a while, so we were pretty inseparable.

Violet's first word was "da" and everything was some variation or inflection of "da" or "da da". It really makes me smile that Gator seems to be choosing mommy as his first word to tackle.

Gender Confused Super Why

At left, Princess Presto. At right, Super Why. So she says.

My daughter has dubbed one of her Little People figures "Super Why". She named the girl with glasses Super Why before she'd even seen the PBS Kids show, but saw a promo after one of her other PBS shows. Apparently, the glasses look enough like a superhero mask to her.

Later, the African-American figure was dubbed "Princess Presto". Even though the only resemblance I can see is their skin tone.

The figures do have a bit of gender ambiguity, and I appreciate her imagination, but she seems very confused about which ones are boys and girls. Very confused indeed. But we're playing along and help her find Princess Presto and Super Why when she needs to locate her "friends".

In case you want your own Super Why and Princess Presto, I found out their real names are Maggie and Michael, and you can find them here: Fisher Price Little People Michael, Dog & Maggie Figure Set

Sophie's on sale

I think I'm still too cheap to spring for Sophie the Giraffe for my baby, but I'm reading all sorts of wonderful things about it in my forums. If you're shopping for Sophie, I noticed that she's currently $5 off on Amazon, and it's eligible for free super-saver shipping when you spend $25. I always find something to up my order, even if it's just stocking up on cat scratcher refills or toiletries.

Tantrum

It's amazing how quickly a tired toddler can erupt into screams and tears.

Christmas Morning Preview

My order from The Children's Place arrived this afternoon and the kiddos tried on their fleece PJs. Violet's is a two-piece and Gator's is a one-piece sleeper that seems to fit narrower than the 12-month ones he has from Carter's. His torso is long enough that a 9 month size would fit him so very briefly, but if the sleeper is too wide, he pulls his short legs up in it. I'm only putting the kids in coordinating jammies, but if you want to put the whole family in this winter design, they have sizes infant through adult.

TCP had a sale that included free shipping on Thanksgiving, and I had an extra coupon, so I ordered a few things from the website.

Gator looks absolutely adorable in the preppy little clothes I got for him. I've always loved the way my babies look in a polo onesie. He got a few of those, some corduroy pants, a striped button-up shirt, and an adorable little vest. It has green, charcoal, black, and ivory stripes and will look oh-so-cute for Christmas and other days. Now I just have to pick up something special for his sister to wear for Christmas...but I usually wait til the last minute and pick up something cute on clearance for her.

Free bear from Amazon & Christmas shopping

See this cutie? Don't let that listed price scare you. He's FREE when you purchase $75 worth of qualifying toys on Amazon. I was shopping and saw he was an optional extra for some of the things I was looking at. Things like that toy next to him below...

Someone asked if I thought Violet would like the Color Me a Song. I'm not sure about it. Do any of my readers have experience with this? I'm worried that it might be a bit too basic for her current coloring skills...and that it might be incredibly annoying. We already hear the scratch scratch scratch of the stylus for her magnadoodles all day. (OK, it's the generic knock-off that makes more of a scratchy sound than the name brand ones.)

I think the GloDoodle will be more her speed...but would she like the Color Me a Song too?