Christmas Wish List?

OK so I realize its only Nov 2nd and all but I am basically done w Xmas shopping for the year. Thank GOD too cuz w the $ situation being what it is and all....Yikes! Anyway, got an email from a family member about what Ms. M might want for Xmas. Well, as da planning kinda Mama I am...I have thoughts on that already!

PLAN musical toys. They have these at the Right Start store and they are AWESOME! They are solid wood with non-lead paint and they are actually really good instruments. The store by us also has a few other Italian made imports that are sooooooo awesome! I think they are Taniri?? brand, not exactly sure. I went to their website though and they are only sold at boutique stores. But there was a drum and Xylophone by PLAN, there were the castanets that I bought M that day, a Saxophone that was all wood and had brightly colored "keys" for the kids to play on...there were all kinds of Super neat toys. The end result here- wooden good quality non-lead no plastic real musical toys. And if we could afford a small grand piano..don't doubt that we'd have already bought one!

Next would be of course more learning toys. The one on the fridge still works but is just one letter and M has grown weary of it. I need to start working more and more with her on learning as she is not as far along in that dept as her peers (not that its good or b ad...just making a note) so I like this one to help w phonics, letters, simple words. And yeah...I know...its one more loud toy for her to play with while I am on the phone

Again by Leapfrog...another more advanced learning toys. Kinda the same thing but geared a little older in age and more letters etc. Helps sound out the words/letters too. Both of these are under $40 and are available at Toys R Us (also called "TRU" by yours truly) and I am hunching also at Target and Walmart for sure.

I think the twins have this one, not sure the exact type, but Meizhi seems to like the painting thing. The one I got at a garage sale(I think from Tina??) was/is a smaller version and its chalkboard. This kind is dry erase on one side and paint(paper roller) kind on the other. It also grows with the child which is a good thing. This one is by Doug and Melissa and costs I think about $50. A little pricier yeah, I know, but it seems like a good quality one. The paint tubs and brushes I believe are sold separately so I'd have to find out where to get those. Yet another Kudos out to the traditional solidly built wood toys and Doug&Melissa toys ROCK!! I haven't encountered a bad one yet. I know there's usually cheaper el-plastic versions of lots of the toys our there but they just don't hold up and I am finding that quality really does make a difference in this area, much like in the rest of life itself.

And the one thing that if no one in the family gets her, Mama and Baba might. A little computer all her own. I am ALWAYS on the computer (no! really?? me? Nahhhh!) so M is often in the front room with me on my lap wanting to press the buttons or move the mouse. She "needs to check email" or "gotta go to work" so this would be one all for her...she could sit on the bed next to me and play/learn while I was on the computer doing my stuff. This one is by Fisher-Price and costs $33. Its the Fun 2 Learn Laptop. We like this one because it was a little mouse (some don't) and it doesn't look too-too advanced for her as her very first one. The goal would be she blow past this one quickly and we get her another more advanced kind but...hey...let's start slow. I grabbed the photo shot from TRU but I know Walmart carries it cuz thats where Rich and I were looking at it.

Something to remember ..and something we are becoming more and more keen on as M is getting older...is that Meizhi doesn't have anyone at home to play with and not a lot of time at home in the evenings to play. So a lot of her toys are going unused because she doesn't have playmates. Of course once MeiMei is home, that will change but until then..she's got a Mama and Baba who are just getting home from work, trying to cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up after dinner, wash dishes, straighten up the house, most likely clean up some mess from Floyd or just do the daily vacuuming of the dog hair, laundry, pay bills, watch some TV, have some 5 minutes or so to sit and relax a minute or two, have about 3.7 seconds of adult conversation, maybe take a phone call or two..and then bath time, bed time, emails, blogs, read the paper of a book, get ready for bed, get the breakfast stuff ready, next day school/work stuff ready and....oh yeah..this is all usually within a 2 hr window!!

Meizhi and I usually don't get home until 7pm ish and I have been doing well to get her in bed by 9pm. Yeah...I know, its a lot and so there's not too much time in there for gobs of super intensive interactive play time. She LOVES her kitchen and "cooks" daily for us. She plays with her dolls some. Currently Elmo is the baby of choice and he's even taken the privileged spot in the $10 crib and her old blanket! She likes her movies we got her from her birthday but again, time wise, we are just so crunched- we haven't even unwrapped the Einsteins one yet. SO these are games/toys that she can learn on and play on at the same time, they are one person toys, and they are portable too which means she can bring them anywhere in the house we are or even into the truck and still play with them. (all except the easel of course!..but thats a Mom supervised thing anyway really since its painting)  I was wanting to get her some cool magnet toys or building toys (like Lego's or something) but again, she really wouldn't play with them without someone else to interact with.

And to the nay-sayers out there that say "I" should be the one playing with her...we do/I do. But I still gotta get all that other stuff done in my limited amount of time and so you can crawl back into your dream world where everything is gooey happy perfect and I'll live in my reality. To quote an old saying...you do the best you can and give 100% and that's all that can be asked of you. Believe me, there's already enough guilt going around in my mind to fill an ocean full! If I could only do this....if I could spend more time doing that....oh man...trust me. I don't need anyone to fill my feeling-guilty bucket....it over runneth already!