Christmas gifts

My youngest pair are into imaginary play, too... we have a costume basket that gets a lot of use...

Also have wooden train and legos... The train gets more use than legos here, but at my boyfriend's house, when his 6 year old plays woth my 7 & 5 year old, they play legos a lot...

Also games, Trouble, Don't Break the Ice, Don't Wake Daddy, were big hits last year... Now mine are older and like playing Upwards this week...

My 7 year old (girl) also likes her Carebear with a glow-patch on its stomach. Both my kids sleep with glow-in-the-dark stuff around them when possible, then we can turn off all the lights.

We also have parts of an Imaginatrex set- the dungeon pieces with trolls... there was a wizard's castle and knights and stuff that we didn't acquire before the pieces disappeared int he stores near us, but the dungeon pieces work well with the wooden train set, which also works with hotwheels and penny racers and dinosaurs and wild animal sets...

Oh, and I was going to suggest you get yours a pair of walkie-talkies and maybe an indoor tent thingy for indoor camping play. We have a lot of rain and such games are high on our winter list, even today. In fact, other games work nicely within the tent (or Scooby-car, or what-have-you...)

When I as little, we had a giant coffee table type book with paintings by Audobon in it. I loved that book! Any topic in nature is a good choice as a giant picture book for kids that'll get lots of use throughout their lifetimes.

Also, reading books with wonderful pictures in them. Alphabears has beautiful pictures for the preschool crowd, and any Dr. Seuss books are generally hits... We have a lot of beautiful picture books and poetry books with pictures that are loved... How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight? is one of my other favorites, along with The Other Day I Went to the Zoo, and Noisy Nora. When they are reading more, There's a Hair in My Dirt by Larsen, I believe is a much-loved nature book (told from the perspective of a worm. )

That's a good angle, PrincessP. Give 'em a bird book to look at first, and then go to the field guide. Walking with grown-ups, looking stuff up, explaining it to the grown-ups - all good. There are also some marvellous tapes/c.d.'s of bird calls to listen to, to prepare for the walks. They can get annoying after a few hours of steady play, but it's amazing what those tiny ears and eyes can pick up on a hike/snowshoe/canoe excursion.

Binoculars (or binos, in my crowd) are great. There's nothing better to teach kids than an appreciation of their outdoor world.

All great suggestions pp, and should grow with them for at least another year or so. My kids lovet to make me read the Dr. Seuss sleep book, but it is incredibly long. I confess I don't like to read out loud. But at the rate they're going, they should be able to read themselves soon.

"The news just came in from the county of Keck that a very small bug by the name of Van Vleck is yawning so wide you can look down its neck." Yeah, that's a long book! I *accidently* skip pages, myself. How Do Dinosaurs say Goodnight? is a much shorter book.

This topic would be a bit more appropriate for the question I have actually... I need your take on this, because I know I'm not wrong.

The thing is... My sister has a baby too. Her kid is 10 mos. old and I was talking to her about what to get him for Christmas. Now I made it clear that I didn't want to give my nephew any toys whatsoever. I refuse to do so. The boy has waaaay too many, and in my opinion the kid is getting spoiled by that. She has said once that it didn't matter how cool a toy she'd get him it always ends up with them coming home, him playing with the toy for about 5 minutes and then going back to the bottle's top (apparently, his favorite thing to play with). But she keeps on buying him stuff. She bought this ridiculously expensive pony rocker to give him for christmas but she couldn't wait to see him riding the damn thing and gave it to him before hand only to go shopping yet again for yet another toy.
Now, I trully understand the excitment of being a new mom (mind you I don't have a kid myself) but I think this is absolutely ridiculous. But........ it is none of my business how she wants to raise her own child (plus, I need to make this a bit shorter so you'll keep on reading, hehe).

We got into a huge argument when I brought up the fact that I won't be giving him a toy. I told her I'd get whatever else he needed. Her reply: "he doesn't need anything". My comeback: "well... how about if I give him the money so that you can put it away on his college fund?" She said: "I don't want the money... I want him to get toys on Christmas".

HOW INSANE IS THAT? I ain't giving this boy no damn toys. This is an obsession and she needs to get over it. I doubt that the kid even know what's going on anyway. I know.. it's a silly argument...

What do you think? Should I just give in and give him what she wants or should I stick with what I think?

Get him a great big box and wrap it up. Kids love boxes.

That's not a bad idea cj... It is technically a "toy", isn't it?

I'm with cjhsa on this one. The kid is 10 months old, the world is his toy.

We actually didn't get the kids any gifts for Christmas or birthday until they were two. Not that they didn't have toys, they did. But when they are little they can't even open the presents by themselves and they get no satisfaction from having waited until Christmas to open it, or being surprised by it.

You could get him clothes. Or you could buy a box of bottle tops.

I did mention getting him clothes but that's when it got ugly. She has an issue with getting anything other than toys on Christmas. When as a child, her, I and my other sibblings all got clothes and things of that nature when x-mas and b-days came around. I never minded any of it, but she has brought it up several times even before she had a kid, so I somehow simpathize with that.

I'm seriously thinking of getting him a giant bucket of candy. heehee

Yeah, quick, before he has teeth!

What about books? Seriously, at 10 months your nephew is old enough to enjoy the ritual of turning pages and listening.

I suggest:

Pat the Bunny

A good collection of Nursery Rhymes

A cheerful Alphabet Book

Browse in the Children's section of a good bookstore and you may well wind up spending more than you'd planned.

p.s.--

Pick your battles. Your sister is obviously going to spend the rest of her life buying toys for her toy. Choose a fight you can win.

Thanks Noddy.
I have actually though of books before but I never thought a 10 mos. baby would gain anything from it since, like shewolf mentioned, they usually put everything into their mouths...

Super July--

By the time my sons were three months old, given a choice between a lovely red plastic block and a dingy Modern Library book, they'd go for the book.

Mind, I'm not recommending War and Peace--or actually, physically ingesting nursery rhymes, but 10 months is old enough to start appreciating literature.

Go for it! Literacy reigns.

You can get cloth books and bath books that are impervious to being gnawed upon... DK has a series of bath books that were popular was my daughter around that age.

Books are great for any age.

There is a great kids CD called "Ralph's World; The Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro".

"In The Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro, Ralph's World takes the normally placid genre of kid's music, straps it to a Saturn IV Rocket and blasts it to the heavens! The long awaited fifth title by Ralph's World is here. Venture into a musical universe ripe with rampaging ants, treehouse orchestras, wah-wah pedaled dump trucks and of course monkeys!"

When Mo was little he was fascinated by aquariums and mirrors -- two other things to consider.

One more idea --

If your city has a children's museum they usually sell gift passes -- a pass to ours for a parent and kid is, I think, $12. Membership at ours is only about $35 for a year.

That's a great idea!!! I have seen those... I know books are good for children and I should certainly keep that in mind. But I also want to be the super-cool aunty and give him candy!!

At 10 months?

Furthermore, if he's in the same house with all that sugar and artificial flavoring, he'll grow up to be ADHD and it will be [Iall your fault

Can you bear that burden forever?



Edited to organize bold.