wseattlemom's Profile

Love, love, love this!! Kids love bees and honey, and they want to feel they can do something important.

My son's k-2 class has spent the last few months studying pollinators and the decline of the honey bee population. The kids instantly wanted to help, so they created pamphlets for the opening of our neighborhood bee garden on May 19th. They are also creating/editing a documentary about bees as their end-of-year class project. You can check out information about the bee garden here: http://www.westseattlebeegarden.com/home.html

We attended a Korean Dol for the first child (Phoebe) of a couple with whom we had been friends for many years. We were amazed at how many people were invited!! And, Phoebe looked incredibly sweet and beautiful in her Hanbok. It makes me wish I came from a heritage that made such a big deal about the 1st birthday.

Laugh like a crazy person - that's all you can do. Try it now - bwahh, haaah, hahhhaaa!!!

And, scope out a local thrift shop to tide you over - picnic blanket and a few dishes for meals, a few funky clothing items, something to sleep on (buy the mattress new if you can). This will make for a great story later, even though you feel insane right now.

I always wondered about the floating stairs with no rails . . . . we used to use cardboard to slide down them. The open side made it more exciting!

Hear, hear. My 5yo is in school all day, and I work all day too. Even though he has a great school with lots of opportunity for outside time, we try to have as much unstructured play time as possible when he gets home and on the weekends. Too much planning is just too much planning - not enough fun or spontaneity. I love the games he comes up with the our next-door-neighbor 5 year old. We actually have a hole in our adjoining fences simply so the boys can play, whether it is climbing, stomp rockets, or just running around with swords pretending to be pirates.

I'm a bit sad that next year he will be going to a public school that only offers a single 20 minute recess for its entire 6 hour school day (we can no longer afford his private school). Unstructured play time at school helps kids to develop social skills and is a necessary component of childhood development. This article from the AAP shows how the reduction of recess in schools in response to testing demands is actually detrimental to children. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183.full#sec-1

Black-out curtains to block out the blinding street light just outside our bedroom window, white noise machine (from Conair - very simple) and earplugs (for the husband's snoring). :)

I wish our neighbors would read this. We both have small kids, but only their kids climb the tree between our tiny backyards and peer at us during dinner on the deck (or any meal on a nice day outside). If we are lucky, they don't also try to have a conversation with us while we try to eat.

Love this! I am sending this to my son's teacher - they constant take videos in class and have to crowd around her computer screen to see their videos.

I've heard there are more dogs in Seattle and SF than kids, and I wouldn't doubt it. We visited SF from Seattle when our son was 2 years old. We went to a local park and noticed that it was primarily used by dogs, the tiny "kids area" was old and dirty and fenced off from the rest of the park (probably to keep the dogs out). We saw very, very few kids on our visit - and just 3 came to the park.

I would guess it's the cost (and the difficulty in finding a consistently good public school) that keeps many families away. We still live in Seattle (not the outskirts or the suburbs, but with a Seattle address), but are grateful to live in a family-friendly neighborhood. There are a ton of kids on our block. But, Seattle is notorious for having terrible public schools (along with a few very good ones), and not everyone can afford private.

It's almost like he has his own train compartment with a sleeper! Super functional and so much fun! Does it also hold the weight of an adult? Those boys grow quickly. :)

p.s. Love, love, love the space items - the rocket and solar system.