My daughter is 6 years old. She is under the impression that aging corresponds with “getting bigger.” At her age, that’s true!

On the other hand, my husband and I joke around that I’m shrinking. I’m only 5 feet tall, and the last time we marked our heights on the wall, I was 1/4 inch shorter than last time. I tell my kids it’s because they’re wearing me down as they get older.

Anyway, my sweet baby girl gave me her thoughts on the “getting bigger” vs. “shrinking” processes my body is going through. Here’s what she said:

Daughter: “Mom, I think you’re all done getting bigger now.”

Me: “Really? Ok.”

Daughter: “Yeah! And now you’re shrinking!” <giggle giggle giggle>

Me: “I’m shrinking?!” <hahahaha>

Daughter: “Well, except for your this part –” <opens arms wide to point at my midsection> “YOUR TUMMY!”

Go ahead and laugh. I may be losing height, but for the record, I’m also working on reducing the “tummy” area. Aren’t kids hilarious?!

"I'm bored."

It’s been a while since I posted about my work at Squidoo. Well, I just finished a brand new page over there, all about how to keep kids from being bored. I worked on it all afternoon, because I was thinking of ways to keep my own kids from complaining, and I figured I’d put it into a nice, pretty, organized page, so other people could use the ideas, too.

When I was a kid, my parents would send us outside at the beginning of summer vacation and call us back just before school started. Okay okay, maybe it wasn’t quite like that. But it seemed like we spent almost every daylight hour outdoors. Any complaint of boredom was met with suggestions of either household chores or garden tending, which motivated us to find our own activities.

I guess children today don’t get much practice being bored. They need help coming up with things to do. Remembering the things I did as a child (no cable TV or video games!) inspired me to put together a really long list of ideas for my own kids. Some of the activities are fun and games, and some are little chores. They’re mostly free and non-electronic. They might be considered old-fashioned, which means they will seem brand-new to our modern youngsters!

If you have kids (or grandkids, neighborhood ruffians, visiting relatives, etc.) who are driving you crazy with a chorus of “I’m boooooored” and “There’s nothing to do!” then check it out. Boredom Busters: 100+ Ways to Keep Kids Busy When They’re Bored.

If you have some great ideas, please leave a comment and share! Cheers!

photo by John Morgan, used under a Creative Commons license

Red GloBrush

I can’t stand having scummy teeth and bad breath. I can hardly breathe my own air until after I’ve brushed my teeth in the morning! I don’t understand how my kids can skip brushing, whenever they can get away with it!

When I had the chance to try out a new toothbrush geared toward tweens, I was excited. Anything that will get my twelve year old son to brush regularly is a good thing. This is the GloBrush, made by the Arm & Hammer Spinbrush people.

Product description:

Available in three different fun handle designs, this brush is ideal for tweens and allows them to express their unique personalities. The light up color-change timer also makes the brushing experience more fun… and cool again, too.

I gave the GloBrush to my son, along with a pep-talk about how colorful and fun it was going to be to brush his teeth with it! And, he didn’t have to worry about timing himself while brushing, because the GloBrush has a built-in timer. I pressed the “try me” button to demonstrate the light-up handle, and he was off to give it a whirl.

Jake’s report:

Ahhhhhh! It feels like my teeth just had a massage!

He has been using the GloBrush for a couple of weeks now, and he still enjoys it. Usually, he gets over the novelty of these things pretty quickly. So the fact that he’s still using it is wonderful! If you have a child (or a tween, teen, or adult!!) who avoids brushing, give the GloBrush a try. And for extra fun, try brushing in the dark. It’s a light show in your mouth!

Disclosure: I received one free GloBrush.

Kinectimals Plush White Tiger

Recently, we received an addition to our Kinectimals virtual pet family. A White Tiger cub, which my daughter (6 years old) named “Stripey,” is a cute little plush toy, complete with whiskers. She was so excited when she unwrapped Stripey! When I told her we could scan Stripey’s nametag with the Kinect sensor, she could hardly wait to see what would happen.

We fired up the Xbox and started the Kinectimals game. She navigated right to the scan rock and after a couple of her wiggly tries, I scanned the tiger’s tag for her. The game recognized the code and *poof* unlocked a virtual white tiger for her! Another Stripey! She was thrilled!

White tiger unlocked in game

The Plush Pals are a fun addition to the Kinectimals game. It’s nice to have a soft, fuzzy, huggable toy to go along with the virtual pet in the game. I think any child who enjoys playing Kinectimals will be thrilled to receive a new Plush Pal to squeeze in person, and to unlock within the game as well. There are five new Kinectimals plush pals, available at Toys “R” Us and Target for $11.99. New animals, including the Canadian Lynx and Jaguarundi, will be released later this year.

The animals are small enough to fit into an Easter basket, and won’t melt in kids’ hands, get smeared into carpet, or cause a sugar-high frenzied rampage. Cheers!

Disclosure: I received 2 plush pals to review for this article.

Billy Twitters Book

I was strolling through the children’s section of our local public library, and I spotted the spine of this book on the shelf. I thought, “is that really a kids’ book about Twitter?!” and grabbed it to take a closer look. As it turned out, it’s not a book about the Twitter “fail whale,” but a story about a boy and a whale.

Still, I thought it was pretty funny, and worth sharing. If you’re familiar with Twitter and the infamous “fail whale” that is displayed when the service is unavailable and/or over capacity, you will appreciate the humor in the coincidence.

Twitter Fail Whale by michperu via flickr

My middle child is a 7 year old boy. He is sweet, sensitive, curious, and thoughtful. We enjoy watching TV together, and we love “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Recently, there have been commercials for a new program, which looks like a combination of “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Biggest Loser.” It’s called “Dance Your Ass Off,” and the promos feature big people in little costumes, wiggling and jiggling to the music.

These people appear energetic, enthusiastic, and uninhibited. They look like they’re having fun.

My son watched the commercial, and thought for a moment. Then, he spoke:

My son: Mommy, I think that’s a program for people who want to get in shape, because they have big bellies. Like balloon bellies.

Me: Yes, that’s right.

My son: I think you might be one of them.

Lucky for him, he’s cute and sincere and sweet and kind. If you haven’t seen the trailer for the show, here it is. And by the way, I’m not as big as the girls on the show. But I do have a squishy belly.

I love my family! And I love to cook. Check that. I used to enjoy cooking. Or… I enjoy cooking for people who will eat and appreciate whatever I prepare. Unfortunately, that is not the situation in my home these days.

Two of my three children have or had food allergies, which made feeding times challenging when they were toddlers. My oldest (now 9) was allergic to lots of things, including dairy products, tomato, citrus, strawberries, soy, peanut butter… Just about “everything.” My second (now 7) was allergic to wheat. The set of foods that they both could and would eat was extremely small.

Mercifully, the youngest (just turned 4) doesn’t have any food allergies. Hallelujah!

To make a long story short, what started out as cooking to accommodate the kids’ allergies and prevent anaphylaxis, has developed into a habit of me running a Denny’s in my own kitchen. I’m like a short-order cook behind the counter. One wants macaroni without cheese (he’s allergic to cheese), the other wants French toast (he could eat macaroni, but won’t), and the Hubby prefers a normal meal, but nothing with peas, beans, or potatoes.

Ding! Order up!

Do you see why I’m going insane?! Every day, every meal, I’m running around the kitchen. Water boiling, toast toasting, microwave nuking, etc. Kiss my grits! (Flo, the sassy waitress at Mel’s Diner in the sitcom “Alice,” remember?)

I finally came up with an idea to make things a little bit easier on myself. It’s been in effect for a grand total of two days, but it’s working pretty well so far. In case there are any other overworked, kitchen-weary parents out there, I thought I’d share my solution.

At dinner on Sunday, I told the crew that I wasn’t going to take special orders any longer. I assigned Hubby and the kids the task of agreeing on five dinners that they would ALL eat. If this sounds ridiculous to you, you must have an easy family to feed, because it was no easy project for my bunch.

After about 30 minutes of lively discussion, they had assembled this list:

• Pizza night
• Taco/Nacho night
• Spaghetti and breadsticks night
• Snack/Buffet night (fruit, cheese, yogurt, bread, etc.)
• Grill night (burgers, brats, etc.)

Those five things will be rotated each week, and on the other two days, we’ll have leftovers or something special.

So that’s the plan. I’m feeling saner already. I went grocery shopping today and bought everything I’ll need for the rest of the week. And the ritual of 5:00 dinner panic has come to an end. Let’s hope they still like pizza a month from now. Cheers!

I wrote a post a while back, on the gag-inducing topic of my kids getting sick, and my willingness to sacrifice my own cleanliness to protect the carpet and sofa. Because, you know, it’s easier to wash my chest, face, and shirt, than to clean the furniture. Hubby calls me “the vomit magnet.” You get the idea…

Well, I’ve been reconnecting with old friends on Facebook lately, and I found out that one of them (her name is Heather too, and we lived in the same dorm during our first year of college) has a brilliant new product for parents. Heather and her sisters came up with a fresh new take on the barf bag. It’s called Chuck the Yuck, as in “Keep the kids. Chuck the yuck.”

It’s watertight, big enough for adults to “use” (morning sickness, motion sickness, etc.), holds blown-out diapers and other yucky stuff, and it’s cute!

Got details?

• Chuck the Yuck bags are 9.25″ (high) X 5″ (wide) X 3″ (deep).
• They are larger than most sickness bags to allow for adult usage.
• They are also water tight and have a seal with a twist closure that is centered in the top middle section of the bag to allow for fold-over and secure closing.
• Chuck the Yuck bags come in packages of 3 for $4.99.

So if you’re still in the yuck stage of pregnancy or parenting, you might give these bags a try. Just make sure you don’t confuse Chuck the Yuck with your sack lunch. Cheers!

We visited a Japanese grocery store recently, and my daughter loved the maneki neko figurines and posters. She does an excellent imitation of the famous Japanese lucky cat, and I just had to share. We wish everyone a lucky and prosperous 2009!

I sat down at my “secondary” computer recently, which is also used by my children. They’re not allowed to play with my MacBook, but they have their own limited-access account on the desktop iMac, and they like to watch DVDs, play games, and type on it. Yes, you might say they’re mini-geeks. They love computers.

While I was starting up my browser, I noticed a noise coming from the optical drive, where the CDs and DVDs go. It sounded like it was trying to eject a disc, and it kept happening every 10 seconds or so. I tried the conventional methods of ejecting, but the computer didn’t even seem to acknowledge the presence of a disc.

Unlike tray-loading drives, the iMac has a vertical slot without a tray. You just load the disc in part-way, and it takes it the rest of the way. It’s magical. Unfortunately, there’s no way to pry it open. There’s no door. There’s not even an emergency eject button to push with a straightened paper clip.

After trying everything I could think of, plus the tips recommended by Apple help, I shut down the machine and gave up. I asked the boys (ages 9 and 7) whether they knew what had happened to the computer. “I don’t know.” “It wasn’t me.”

I asked my daughter (age 3-1/2). “Do you know what happened to the computer? In here? Did you put something in here?” I pointed to the disc slot.

She smiled, flashed her big blue eyes, and said, “Um, yeah.”

“What did you put in here?”

“Two discus-es.”

Great. I don’t know how she did it, because when there’s one disc loaded, you can’t just slide in another one. She must have really applied all of her little fairy princess might to get that second “discus” wedged in there.

Well, it could have been worse. At least it’s not cheese and crackers… And now I get to pay a visit to the Apple Store.