Christmas 2006

Noah and I took our kids to Toys R Us the other night to get a feel for what they'd like for Christmas. Gabby was convinced that she only wanted the new Barbie movie, Twelve Dancing Princesses, until she came upon the scooters that apparently all the neighborhood kids ride on, and now she absolutely must have one as well. I'm all for it because I really don't like Barbies'.

Alex was the one who really surprised us--remember he's only 17 months old. Anyway, he found his way to the skateboard isle, pulled one off of the shelf and knew exactly what to do with it--he put one foot on the skateboard, and pushed with the other (he wasn't too stable so Noah supported him). Alex scooted along for probably 15 minutes, until it was time to go, and screamed at the top of his lungs when we pried it from his death grip. So this year, Santa is bringing Alex a skateboard.
I found this game in a great toy catalog I received today, called MindWare that sells "brainy toys" for all ages. The main purpose of the game is to fit your tetris-like piece into a slot before the base starts to vibrate and knock down all the blocks. It's priced at $24.95 and you can buy it here. I like to buy a family game every Christmas that we can all enjoy. This year, it just might be these Chrono Blocs.

We've recently discovered that Gabby loves legos and I'm all for toys that help with motor skills and spatial reasoning. I went to Toys R Us and found a whole wall dedicated to legos for boys and felt hopeless until I went to the lego website and found an entire collection for girls called Belville. As legos go, sets are a bit pricey but there are some in my price range so we'll just have to wait and see. I might buy her a smaller set and pair it with a generic bucket of legos.