The Perfect Mother's Day Gift

What is your idea of the perfect Mother's Day gift? Which of these would you love to receive?

1. a lazy morning in bed with a cup of tea and a book
2. a handmade item with a sweet message from a child
3. a large bouquet of store-bought flowers
4. a bouquet of flowers hand-picked and brought to you by hand
   
5. some plants or seeds for your garden
6. a gift certificate to a bookstore or garden center
7. a shopping spree to a store you love
   
8. lunch or dinner made for you by a loved one
9. a picnic in the park surrounded by your family
10. total harmony in the house for just one day - we can dream, right?
11. a trip out to visit a place you love
    
12. a visit with your own mom
13. something shiny or colorful - think jewelry, or a pretty item
14. something entirely practical for the kitchen or garden

Does your family know what your perfect Mother's Day gift would be? How well do they know you? Can they guess? Which of these would they choose for you?

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Antsy Holiday Kids

Spot the Dog by Eric Hill at Amazon.com
As the holidays approach kids are apt to get antsy. All that excitement and busy parents can be a recipe for a melt-down. Whenever I think of putting up a Christmas tree with young kids around, I am reminded of Spot the dog. When Artist Girl was just a wee, little thing we had a VHS video tape story of Spot the dog at Christmas. Eric Hill's stories of Spot are simple, charming, and about things kids can relate to in their own lives. For instance when Spot is helping his mom with baking cookies and putting up the tree, he gets overexcited. What is so charming about the story (I'm not 100% sure I'm picturing the right story here), is that there is no blame put on Spot. The story simply says something about the decorations creating too much excitement and Spot goes outside to burn off his energy and get out from under his mom's feet. Which brings me to talking about antsy kids...

A wise friend of mine, a mom of three, did something wonderful for me when my kids were little. Every year she would send us a package of carefully selected items, which arrived before the holidays and was always the one package we'd open right away. For several years in a row we received Christmas items in our package. One year it was Rudolph mugs, another year a very large Santa puzzle, and a third year A Charlie Brown Christmas book. Now, at first I was a little puzzled with these gifts, and maybe not terribly thankful. Nonetheless, we used each item then packed it carefully away with our holiday decorations at the end of the season. As the years have gone by, my friend's wisdom has become more and more apparent. It's tradition stupid - I was a little slow on the uptake! What fun it is each year to unpack these special items and to take a few minutes out of the holiday craziness to sit down and enjoy them. What more could you want for occupying antsy kids than a book, a puzzle and a Christmas mug full of hot chocolate?

Now my kids are pretty grown up and they are the ones putting up the tree. They aren't so antsy any more and don't need a lot of calming from holiday excitement. I am the one who gets out the puzzle, sits down to read the Christmas books, and indulges in a little nostalgia. What multipurpose gifts our kind friend provided :-)

Brought to you by GreatFunbooks.com - with Christmas titles from Usborne and Christmas sets from Usborne

Baby Dad

The Father's Almanac at Amazon.com
Once upon a time Handyman Hubby was a baby dad. He'd never changed a diaper, never bounced a baby, and didn't know how to play roughhouse. Sixteen years after purchasing The Father's Almanac, I looked up today in search of a favorite book to write about and saw this book still on my shelf. I guess that's some kind of testament - unless you believe that I've never, ever thrown a book out. Now, that's not a polite accusation! There may be a grain, or even a boulder, of truth in it, but I do actually take a lot of time over choosing what gets on my bookshelf in the first place :-)

Maybe I actually bought this book for me, or at least because I thought it was full of the kind of "baby dad" I'd like to have in my home. Just as I was starting to write this article Handyman Hubby chanced by my desk and looked to see what I was doing. When I told him that this book was the reason and source of the roughhousing that has been a favorite dad/kid interaction in our home since Artist Girl and Game Boy were tiny, he was surprised. Well, there is a lot more to this book than roughhousing safely, though I have to say that for me it was worth the price just for that alone.

Checking Amazon.com to see how many people who view this item actually purchase it, you'll see a figure of 55%. I can't say why 1/2 the people end up choosing something else, but I can give you a few gems from this book. And if you know someone who will be a father shortly, or who has a young child, you just might give this book a check.

First up, there's good practical advice about getting involved in pregnancy and in birth choices, with words of advice on such diverse things as back rubs, trial runs and emergency delivery. Moving on, the man in question will learn about bonding, celebrating, and big adjustments. Baby dad can learn how to do the football hold and how to build a hip baby seat (men just aren't endowed that way)! Moms to be will be reassured to know that dads will get an explanation on diaper changing, burping, and on comforting criers. I think all of that is great and as I read through this book again, I realize how much of that we did use. However, I think my favorite part of this book is all the little projects it details from old-fashioned simple toys like clacker blocks, and spinning tops to sleds, musical nails and a bouncing swing.

This book really is a complete pre-birth to preschool guide for an involved dad and would serve as a pretty complete preschool curriculum for either parent, or for both parents.

By the way, I do also own the equivalent Mother's Almanac, but it's not one of my favorite books and I shouldn't really give it shelf space. The Father's Almanac IMO is better organized, nicely indexed, and considerably more fun!!

Do you have a favorite baby advice book on your bookshelf, a favorite dad and kid activity, or a favorite dad and baby story to share. Let me know and I'll give you a link.

I have the most awesome readers who have amazing partners:

• Janet of 32-Acre Wood reports that Mountain Man was a great baby dad. He stepped up to the plate and changed all her first's diapers after she was in bed due to a C-section.