Back to work today. I’m sitting on the train as I write this on my brand-spanking-new iPhone. My wife and I got each other one for Christmas, and so far I’m loving it. And what did you all get for Christmas?
Babito had a fantastic Christmas. It was so much fun spending two solid weeks at home with him. Santa brought him his kitchen, he got tons of presents from his Papa and Nana, including a Cozy Coupe and a scooter, and a trampoline from his Nino and Nina.
Last night, as I was getting him ready for bed, I told him that tomorrow he gets to go see all his friends at daycare and he immediately burst into tears. He said “Please don’t go to work Daddy! I want to stay home with Mommy and Daddy!”
He was inconsolable. I finally got him to calm down by listing all the fun things he does at daycare, but it broke my heart how sad he seemed.
In other news, it’s time to announce the winner of the contest! The winner is Astrogirl! Thanks to all that entered. There will more contests here at Daddy Dan in 2009, so stay tuned!
Happy New Year!
. He loves playing kitchen at his day-care. We found this one at Toys R Us when we stopped in late last weekend to get my nephew a birthday gift. The salesperson told us that if we applied for a Toys R Us credit card we could get 25% off on all our purchases that night, so we ended up doing ALL of our Christmas shopping for Babito and our nieces and nephews on that night. The kitchen was on sale, plus we got an additional 25% off, so we got a great deal.
is a fantastic gift for kids 1-3. It’s a three-car train that comes with a giraffe, and elephant, and monkey. The train moves and plays songs and is very easy for a toddler to start up. The train plays music when you put the animals in the front car. You push the smokestack down to get the train moving. Works on any floor, even on thick carpet. The animals heads and legs move and make sounds too. Babito still plays with this on a near-daily basis.
– For about a year, this was The Babito’s favorite toy. When the toddler sits on the zebra it makes a bunch of silly sounds and the child can bounce and spin the zebra around. It cracked Babito up every time he rode it. There are some great safety features with this toy. The zebra will not turn unless the child’s weight is on the seat, which helps them get off and on easily. I highly recommend this one. It also allows you to lower the sound effect volume to a tolerable level if it starts to drive you a little nutty!
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– I can’t really explain the appeal to this one. All I can tell you is The Babito LOVES to cut up the wooden food in this high-quality set from Melissa and Doug. The set comes with various wooden fruits, vegetable and breads that come in several pieces each, held together by velcro. The set also comes with a cutting board and dull (obviously) wooden knife. It’s fairly easy for toddlers to “cut” the pieces apart. The Babito seems to get a true sense of accomplishment when he’s completed cutting all of the pieces. It’s a truly inexpensive gift that will get a lot of use.
– The Melissa and Doug Band in a Box is another great gift. The set comes with ten persussion instruments, including a tambourine, maracas, cymbals, triangle, and other noisemakers, all in a handy wooden storage box. The Babito loves music (and noise in general – lucky Mommy and Daddy!) and love to play “Marching Band” throughout the house with these instruments (again, lucky Mommy and Daddy). 
