by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
Thanks to my mother-in-law, that 36-22-36 blonde doll made an unwelcome entrance into my toddler’s toy gallery this holiday season. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving in to all future Barbie requests so fast. It just means I’m going to have to...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
Let’s admit, there’s been quite a bit of dvd-watching over the last few months. How else are you supposed to get the gifts wrapped, the holiday cards sent, and the cookies baked–or at least ordered through a handy toll-free number? But while those...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
My daughter has reached the age where she must take at least three random items with her wherever she goes. And then, leave them in the car. While I’m not about topick a battle with her every time we leave the house,I amgoing to try to find a compromise —...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
I thought I’d seen a stuffed everything — bears,phoenixes, horny toads…you name it, they’ve got it. You know, just in case you have a little one obsessed with flamingos. But dachsunds? Nope. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a stuffed one...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
If your kids are anything like mine, they have an obscene amount of stuffed animals and while I can’t prove it, I’m almost positive that they multiply just like real rabbits because the pile never stops growing.Take heart: the awesome and oh-so-clever...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
When I was in middle school, I should have failed Home Economics. I burned my banana bread in cooking class, and the blouse for my final sewing project might have fit had my head been the same size as my arms. But woodshop–now that, I aced. And Aunt Ginny loved...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
Battery: It’s one of the first words kids learn, right after "NO!" and "MINE!" and "GIMME!" If a toy moves or makes noise or has any potential for fun whatsoever, then certainly it requires batteries. Or does it? Perhaps all some...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
One of the downsides of our charming New York apartment – our toys outnumber our square footage. I fear any holiday gift for the kiddo bigger than a breadbox is going to have trouble finding a permanent home here–except for maybe a breadbox itself. Then at...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
I know my daughter would love a dollhouse, however, I just can’t give in to buying a huge pink plastic house with frilly shutters and a white picket fence. Just thinking about it gives me a weird sugar high. Plus, I’d love my next child (perhaps a son?) to...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
Wouldn’t you love this to be the year that you actually get your shopping done before the night before Christmas or Hannukah? 5 PM? As the shopkeepers are pushing you out the door and telling you, "come earlier next year?" If you can get it together...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
The Christmas of my childhood generally consisted of a full stocking and one big gift, which we certainly preferred to the alternative of fourteen crappy plastic toys and a few itchy grandma sweaters. It was way cooler to get something like a ballet barre, a rocking...
by Cool Mom Team | Toys + Playthings
There’s nothing like anticipating that glorious, uninterrupted, naptime shower only to have to spend an extra ten minutes emptying out all the darn bath toys that are scattered around the bottom of the tub. And the net thing? Please. That holds one rubber duck...