Three Year Check Up

My plan was I'd take Roo to her 3yr check-up and then to the toy store to spend the gift card she got for her birthday and pick out birthday presents. So many September birthdays. She was happy enough to go to the doctor when I reminded her there was a possible lollipop when she was done. Dr. J says she's on the small side of average at 28.5lbs and 36in. It had been a whole year since we'd been in, woo-hoo. Happy and healthy. She got her lollipop. She choose a pink bubble gum flavored treat.

Thanks partially to her lollipop she sat calmly in cart for our whole trip though the toy store. She choose a Tangled dress up dress and a Tangled doll for herself. She even got a free Tangled musical jewelry box. With birthday presents procured we decided to pick up grandma for a play date. Maybe it was timing? Or a lollipop so early in the day? Maybe not enough sleep lat night? In general 3 has been difficult. She seems much more manic these days. Melt Down.

Poor grandma was subjected to screaming the whole ride to our house and then Roo had to go straight to bed. I wrestled her to the potty and bed, promising her lunch would be waiting when she got up. I had to pull the car over and take her new doll away it was so bad. It's difficult because everything is the end of the world to her just now. I'm thinking we weren't quite caught up on sleep from our overstimulating weekend.

Mom and I looked at party pictures and ran to Target while she slept. I fantasized about not going home until after dinner. Poor Mike, did his best to feed and entertain her, but it's very hard to fix computer code without the ability to concentrate. I hurried home after the SOS text. She seemed better for a bit and even got her new doll back, but it didn't last. Her fits got violent and she was in bed by 7pm. Reset!

Three feels like a glimpse into what she'll be like as a teenager...gulp.

Caption This: Toys Edition

You know you've got one! Let's hear your captions. Anonymous comments happily accepted. It's quite a party in there...

Room Re-organize!

First some cute pictures post dance class yesterday. I took ballet twice in my life once briefly at about Riley's age and again in college. It was not my thing, but I have always loved to swim and swing. To be weightless with no concern for my lack of balance. To go fast, really fast. I totally get that. I think the swing set installment was as much for Mike and I as it was for the kids.

After the kids had been dropped off today I decided to attack Miss Roo's room. It was messy from several consecutive days of play without tidying, but there was some re-arranging to do to. Messy floors and mobility issues don't mix well. I had been stacking all her dollies in the wooden cradle and eventually stuffed animals joined them and it was a mess! It kept overflowing onto the floor and into the doorway.

I picked up everything that had a spot first. When all the books, clothes and little people were situated I pondered the dolls some more. We're about to upgrade Miss Roo to a real dresser since we haven't needed the changing table in almost a year. I removed the changing pad and put the animals up there. I figured the lack of a cushy place to sit might also dissuade climbing up there.

Then I moved the cradle and dollies to the end of Riley's bed so any errant dollies with fall into her room neither blocking the main path to the dresser or the door. I think it's going to be much more functional that way. I also upgraded her from eye hooks that had mostly fallen out to flower hooks (from the craft store dollar bin) for her bags. They were perfect colors. Much sturdier then my last three cute sets of hooks that all broke.

Miss Roo was beyond thrilled when she came home and discovered her room. "Thank you Momma! Thank you my room is so pretty. Thank you for recognizing(organizing) it." Toddlers are just like hamsters, she found the only new thing in the room immediately.

Thrilled by the yellow and pink flower hooks.

"Oh, my animals are upppppp dare!"

The new nursery. I put the baby dolls in the cradle and sat the big girl dolls on my Boppy ppillow in front of the cradle.

I still have to free up another shelf for books, but that was a project for another day. I also, asked Mike to put a second rod in Riley's closet this weekend. She currently has a rubber maid drawer busting with every dress up related item she owns. I want to hang dresses and tu-tu where she can reach. Yay, organized room Mom can walk or roll through. Phew.

Transform! Roll Out!

So, today we ditched the schedule idea. I dropped Riley off with her friends at school and took Isaac to the toy store. We bought school supplies. You heard right, school supplies! They were BOGO so I grabbed up some stuff for later. We also got two pretty cool birthday presents. Isaac made his first withdraw from his allowance account to buy two Lego Mini Figures. Apparently, it's always a surprise which one you get. This seems completely stupid to me. A girl would never buy a mystery Barbie or at least I wouldn't. He ended up with a repair man and a computer geek. It only occurred to me writing that out that Mike's kind of a hybrid of the two, funny.

Then we went home for some air conditioning and lunch. After that we headed out to the Transformers exhibit. It is a private collection that a college library put on display for the summer. The main focus was Optimus Prime. It was interesting. There were tons of toys, but also letters from actors who voiced the character in the various cartoons and movies. I thought that was great.

Great letter from Garry Chalk

Here's Isaac checking out the robots in disguise.

There were much more unusual items on the second floor. Starburst candy flavored "Optimus Lime" for example. Here are my two favorites:

This is a Mr. Potato Head called "Optimash Prime". I love that.

This is a Mickey Mouse Optimus Prime from Japan. So cool!

After all that Optimus Prime Isaac was overjoyed to see Bumblebee, his favorite Autobot.

Now to explain why Isaac can't have over 10,000 of anything until he moves out!

Building Up...

Yesterday was the slowest day of my life. I had dinner ready and warming in the crock pot by 3:00pm. I was willing the minutes by. Today is the opposite. Where is it going? I've been pre-registered and now actually register and at 6am Monday they'll check me in for surgery.

I have a defiant toddler, a-slobby-work-obsessed-doesn't-know-how-to-react-to-my-stress partner, an eight year old with his eye on his birthday party and a feeling of being completely overwhelmed. It's awful how run down I feel from all the preparing. I'm just in slow motion today.

I really, really wanted to go to the toy store today. I hallucinated for a moment that I could take Riley, but that was not going to happen. I snunk away in the afternoon and wondered the aisles. It was fun. After today's trip we just need Isaac's big present which I think we have to order online and I earned a $10 gift card for today. My kids are essentially done and Mike and I aren't doing gifts for each other this year so I have get going on my DIY projects for the extended family.

Honestly, I could get each kid at least five more things, but I have to keep in check this year. I sent my annual wish list to the grandparents with a lot of the toys I'm not getting so I feel better. Speaking of toys people aren't getting there wasn't a single one of those dolls on the shelf in this store. It's a conspiracy. I'm glad I have one tucked away. Phew.

The Dr. B's office called when we were walking to meet Isaac and it turns out we don't have to be there as early as I thought, so that's something. Easier for kid drop off, harder on my poor empty belly.

The "IT" Toy

Ok, I fully admit before I had kids I remember thinking the people trampling each other for Tickle Me Elmo were certifiable. I also remember a Christmas or two as a kid where I either didn't get my heart's desire or it didn't work. Somewhere between a childless person's lack of understanding and a child's disappointment when the magic of Christmas lets them down is the true reality of a parent on the trail of their child's desired toy at Christmas.

Last year it was the Mickey Mouse that danced. People were getting twice what he retailed for on Ebay. Greedy soulless people who went to toy stores in September/October and bought toys so they could exploit desperate parents in the holiday season. I looked for him earlier in the year, but there were never any on the shelf. I was going to skip it, but I ended up buying one on Ebay. What can I say? I love Christmas and it was such a cool toy. We'd had a rough end to the year that year the kids deserved a big Christmas.

The year before that Isaac wanted this stupid wrist watch thingy that figures snapped onto and lit up. To find it and the figures that went with it took months and was so stressful. We're talking multiple WalMart trips in December (shudder). We didn't have resort to Ebay in this case. By the time we found it I would've paid more to have been able to skip all the work.

This year Riley wanted a certain doll. I bought her early because I'm trying to spread out Christmas expenses and keep them in check. Plus I was there and she was on sale, yay! When I bought her she was one of only two on the shelf, in October. Maybe they'll get five more shipments before December, but somehow I doubt it. When I got home I looked up a different toy and found people selling the doll I'd just purchased for two and even three times what I had just paid. Where do they get off?

Do the toy companies do this on purpose? Are they controlling supply to drive up prices like with diamonds? I bet they do. It's endlessly frustrating and a little cruel.

The kicker is that the stupid Omnitrix thing we tracked down for Isaac was broken a month later.

I Love Toys

So we went shopping and got our VIB's (very important babies) birthday presents. I love picking out toys! I just love to find the right toy for each kid. Santa is missing an elf what can I say. There was this buy 2 get 1 free sale on Fisher Price and I decided we'd get presents for the VIBs and get Riley a free toy. This line of thought (Riley just had a birthday and her room is already bursting with toys.) is part of the reason we need to move into a bigger house. We have a very small house and alot of toys. Mike and I are equally guilty. I love the toys and rotating the ones in the bedroom and living room and getting new ones and passing old ones on to other babies and watching her grow and develop and use the same toy in different ways. I could go on forever, but since having a post that's one long run-on sentence (which I know would make some of my readers wag reproachful fingers at the monitor) I'll end it there. I digress, so I'm at Toy-R-Us or TRU as we've started calling it and sometimes just "that place" if we think Isaac's eavesdropping. I picked out birthday presents for three one year olds birthday presents (2 girls and 1 boy), one six year old boy and one twelve year old boy. What exactly is 9mo before Sept because there are TONS of birthdays?!? I also decided Riley needed this kitchen:

It's really awesome! Like all of her other Fisher Price toys it has four different modes (including imagination which makes everything work like it would in real live) so I'm always discovering new songs. I'm partical to "Shapes in My Refridgerator." She had it for about a week before she figured out the food fit through the holes in the fridge door, so smart. Anyway it's endless fun and a real space saver. I highly recommend it. Moving on, is anyone else a rewards member at TRU? I've yet to figure out what these "points" are earning me. I've spent a good deal of money and ended up with copious amounts of coupons, but is that the whole deal? I feel like I'm missing something. Back home with my bounty my fingers are itchier than the kids and having to put things away unopened is a bummer. Just knowing how much the recipients will enjoy these toys has my brain buzzing. I do want to clarify I'm not a label whore or a snob at all. Hand-me-down toys are often cooler than what you can buy new. Like our much beloved Incredacube:

We got ours at Sugar Babies on 16th and 30th my favorite place to buy second hand toys. It has alot of cool features, is a good solid place to pull up on and two or three babies can enjoy it together. My cousin uses hers as a foot stool after the kids go to sleep. Awesome toy especially if you score some of the talking blocks. Mike also has a co-worker who has passed down some neat toys. One of Riley's favorites is this book:

I LOVE this book. It is the go to car toy and keeps her busy for long periods of time in doctor's office waiting rooms. It sings and lights up and parts of it move. She's loved it since 3mo and is still always happy to entertain herself with it. This is a great gift for a one year old (I got one for one of her friends first birthday). So many toys, so little time (and space).