Back in November, the nice folks at LeapFrog asked if I would like to participate in a toy review program. I have to admit: I was interested. When my kids were younger, I was an avid purchaser of LeapFrog products. We owned a Leapster, LeapPad (now replaced by the Tag System), LeapPad Junior and one of my all-time favourite toys (which my kids still love) is the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics kit (except for the fact that they don’t have a Canadian version with “zed” instead of “zee” for the letter Z, but that’s just my own personal issue!)

So yes, I was interested. But I was also slightly skeptical…my kids are in grades one and four respectively…aren’t LeapFrog toys geared more at the preschooler age group? Read the rest of this entry »

Ahhhh!

So, so much has been going on in my life lately that I can’t possibly fill you in on it all. Why? Because that damn IRL stuff has been sadly overwhelming my online life. (“Stupid IRL”, she says in her best Homer Simpson voice)

For shorts, you can read this. It’ll give you an idea of the really, really big life and death (for real) issues that I’m talking about.

Then, just for the hell of it, read this, too. Just ’cause I think it was kinda funny and thought-provoking. (If I do say so myself. And I do!)

And now, for some funny in a sad, maybe-I-should-actually-be-mad way stuff:

So. I am living with my sister and her family in Toronto. Why? Read the first link above, doofus. My Mom is in the last stages of her fight against cancer and I’m here to help, okay? And after nearly four weeks here alone, my daughters came out to join me. So all three of us are living with my sister and her family. Which means there are four cousins, all under the age of ten, living together in one (rather smallish, but beautiful nonetheless) house. And because three of them are girls, and they’re young, and stupid unsupervised; they decided yesterday to give themselves (and the neighbour kid, thankyouverymuch) homemade “marker tattoos”.

Yes, marker tatoos. Read the rest of this entry »

Just so you know. Never, never, ever buy your child a “Grow Your Own Triops Kit”. They’re available from Scholastic, only in the catalogue, they call it “prehistoric creatures”. That’s so you can’t go online and google “triops” before you buy the kit.

Because when you get the kit? And you hatch the eggs? 

I know! Can we say 'disgusting', children?

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is Wednesday, so I must be in Estonia.

If you want to know why (and where), go here. For some fun pics and stories from the trip so far, go here.

In other news, how much does the newest version of Firefox rock??? If you’re not already using this ubercool OS (that means free, folks) browser, you should be. It rules.

It’s 12:56 pm local time, and Girl2 just feel asleep. That’s not good. Jet lag has finally caught up to her. Contrary to what I thought last night, the energy stores of a five year-old child are not, after all, unlimited.

Sleep well, sweetheart.

Children, I mean.

This week, both Girl1 and Girl2 are in a city-run camp that includes swimming lessons, crafts, activities, yada yada, yada. They don’t particularly like it, and it is a bit disorganized. It’s one of those “you get what you pay for” kind of daycamps and it was only $120.

So they are with friends of theirs, and I’m carpooling with the other mom. I do the drop-off in the mornings, and the first two days, Girl2 clung, and cried and looked up at me with her sad, sad eyes when I left. This morning, though, she was fine.

Yahoo, right?!?

Of course not. Girl1 sensed the impending relief of maternal guilt and decided it was time for her to cry.

No rest for the wicked, right?