Today, baby M is TWO years old! It’s absolutely blowing my mind. The last two years have absolutely flown by, and she has been the very best part of pandemic life. We all feel so grateful that this weird time … Read More
We loved reading The Orphan of Ellis Island for the January 2022 Global Children’s Book Club! If you also enjoyed it, here are some other books that are similar that you might love, too. Shooting Kabul Purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, … Read More
Especially with a big family, our kids definitely need to help out with carrying some of their own stuff when we travel. This is especially true when we fly, but also helpful when we road trip or RV. We love … Read More
With 5 kids of different ages and sizes, it’s often tricky to find Indian clothes for kids. Though we live in an area with several Indian shops, they often don’t have a huge stock and don’t have the sizes, styles, … Read More
One of the big reasons we loved flying Avianca for our summer 2021 adventures was because of the fantastic route availability they had through Central and South America. While Ecuador and Guatemala were the primary focus of our trip, we … Read More
While the Global Children’s Book Club is obviously focused on families with children, I’ve had requests from a number of adults who’d like their own book list! This is the perfect way to read around the world with us this … Read More
Just the thought of flying with a toddler seems to send fear coursing through many people’s veins. And to be fair, it can definitely be challenging. I know with each one of my 5 babies, I’ve felt a bit of … Read More
Oh masks! I never thought a year and a half ago that I’d still be writing a post on the best masks for kids, but here we are. To be clear, this is NOT a comprehensive post on all of … Read More
Back when I did the A-Z Global Children’s Book Club, one of the best parts was the darling printable passport with a page for each country. So for I decided to bring back that idea for the 2022 GCBC! So … Read More
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve written about the best chore chart system for our family: our family economy. We’ve now been using this chore system for nearly 5 years and it’s helped my kids build skills and … Read More
Join us as we learn about Italy with kids! During this virtual tour of Italy for kids, we’ll enjoy fun and inspiring Italy activities. This Italy virtual field trip as part of the Global Children’s Book Club is a perfect … Read More
For many years, I had piles and piles of goals that I’d set at the start of each year. Everything was categorized and I had benchmarks and it was a whole process. And while it worked for a few years, … Read More
Today, baby M is TWO years old! It’s absolutely blowing my mind.
The last two years have absolutely flown by, and she has been the very best part of pandemic life. We all feel so grateful that this weird time has allowed us to spend so much time basking in her light. Truly, our entire family is utterly, completely obsessed with her.
I must say, it’s fairly difficult to choose fun but somewhat useful 2 year old gifts for a 5th child, especially since 2 year olds don’t really wan’t anything in particular (but do love the opening of presents). She has pretty much everything she needs! And with plenty of hand-me-downs, there’s not much in terms of open-ended play that we want to add to our home. As you probably know if you’ve been here a while, we don’t love adding more toys to our home and try to limit to enjoying what we already have.
Still, we wanted to make her day fun and special, with a few little things that would be unique and exciting just for her. I wanted to choose a couple things that wouldn’t just add clutter, wouldn’t duplicate what we already have, and would get a significant amount of use. Here’s what we chose!
We love the CDM and used to have a membership there. But with several of our kids aging out of the prime age for the museum (and with Covid, of course), we haven’t been in a while.
The museum is taking tons of precautions, and baby M is very good at wearing her high filtration mask now, so we figured a hopefully uncrowded weekday morning while all her siblings are at school would be the perfect birthday outing and 2 year old experience gift.
Truly, I still sort of can’t believe we purchased this unicorn inflatable hopper. But the second we blew it up to get ready to give to her, I knew we’d made the right decision. This thing is both adorable and wildly hilarious and likely the most ridiculous purchase I’ve ever made. We originally considered a ride-on bouncy ball, but this one popped up and not only is it cuter, it’s much more stable, safer, and easier to ride for a toddler.
I think it will be just perfect for our girly who’s more active than all her siblings combined. She’ll get out plenty of energy and have tons of fun hopping around on this thing – it’s just pure CHEER (and we don’t have any other bouncy toys). Plus, it deflates if needed to conserve space. I have no doubt she will fall in love with this toddler inflatable bouncer the second she lays eyes on it.
I always love gifting my kids a book for each of their birthdays and writing a note inside; I hope they love taking their little collection with them when they create their own homes. I love choosing out a special book for each birthday, and this one seemed perfect.
Written by Tasha Spillett-Sumner and illustrated by the unmatched Michaela Goade (both Indigenous women), it’s a beautiful representation of the gifts mother and baby gift to one another. I can’t wait to soak in the beautiful message and illustrations with my own baby girl.
Purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, Target, Walmart
We’ve loved these Water Wow books for years and years with our other kiddos. Our other kids have long since worn out/used up and outgrown our other ones, though. So it felt perfect to get her one of her own! I’m excited to use this for road trips/airplane and to have a mess-free activity to occupy her. I decided to just get her one booklet for now to see how she likes it before grabbing a bigger pack.
I’ve been online friends with Audrey, the creator of Lily Huckleberry, for quite a while and love her commitment to using literature to help little ones explore the world right from home. Her books are beautiful and I’ve loved seeing the series progress.
My kids participated in a photo shoot for Lily Huckleberry a little while back and while at the photo shoot, baby M fell in love with this plush Lily doll. Audrey was incredibly thoughtful to remember that and offered to send me one for her along with a copy of the newly-released book (which is gorgeous!!). Lily arrived just a couple days before baby M’s birthday so it was perfect to include in her presents. She’s going to be thrilled and I’m betting we’ll be seeing Lily on lots of family adventures.
In addition to these gifts, a couple of family members sent some sweet things:
Dan’s parents sent this darling little magnetic tabletop easel. I love that the pen is attached and has a stable surface, which will make it easier for baby M than a handheld one. She’ll also be able to do little activities at her special table.
My sister & brother-in-law sent over these adorable little slipper socks from Bombas. I’ve heard amazing things about the company and these seem so cozy. Plus, baby M is always running full speed around the house so hopefully these will help keep her upright a bit more with their grippys on the bottom!
That’s it! We’re so excited to celebrate our darling gal with morning waffles, tons of sibling cards and handmade gifts, an ice cream and playground outing, and takeout Indian food (her fave). She’s such a light in our lives!
