Today my daughter and I emailed Santa and he emailed back in seconds!! We printed his letter out and now it hangs on the fridge, so you can imagine how thrilled my 4-year old was.

I urge all parents of young kids to go visit the site - Email Santa - and will definitely telling all my friends to go there with their kids asap. The site opens up to an up-to-the-second “Countdown” to when Santa will be coming to your home, which immediately got my daughter wide-eyed and smiling excitedly. The message below it read:

The elves & reindeer have been busy making fun things to do… just look to the right , there’s something for you !! There’s games and great letters and pet emails too! But shining through, Santa wishes your Christmas dreams come true ! Merry Christmas!!

Just below that, you can help your child fill in the blanks like her name, where you live, whether she’s been good this year and what she wants for Christmas as well as a ps. bit on any extra things she may want to tell Santa. She also gets to choose a stamp and a little present for Santa or the reindeer!

You hit the button, and hey Presto! You hear this voice of a man who sounds like he’s on a radio, saying that an email is now being delivered from the North Pole, with some familiar “ho ho ho’s” in the background, and there is your child’s letter from Santa, all personalized and adorable, ready to be printed out, totally free! (well, you can give a donation to the lovely soul who created this).

The site also has a bunch of other fun Christmassy things for your child to do, like sending an email to Rudolph from your pet, cool games, colouring pages and best of all, the letters to Santa from the children are posted on a page for all to see. I’ll be sharing some of my favourites in the next post, which shouldnt be missed. Some will really make you cry!

[tags]Christmas, Holidays, Emailing Santa, Santa Clause[/tags]

Today my son had his first day of “school” at Gymboree. At 20 months, he joined the “Level 4″ class for twice a week sessions, one of which is “play“, the other being “music”. Before anything though, I’d like to advice new Moms from getting over-excited and enrolling their babies until they’ve tried out the classes several times.

All babies are different, and no matter how adorable (and baby brain-enhancing) Gymbo’s classes look, it doesn’t make sense to do it unless your child is ready and happy doing it.

Anyway, this wasn’t really his first day. His first try at Gymboree was at the tender age of about 9 months. He refused to crawl (which continued until he just got up and walked at nearly 1), and looked pretty stressed out when the very perky teacher cajoled him into going through a tunnel.

We tried again at about a year, this time for the music class, but still he looked a bit weirded out by the whole thing. Fast forward to about 5 months later, and this time I thought we’d give it a go again, but just for “free play” with his big sister. Well, he finally seemed to be enjoying it. And when we did another trial class last week, lo and behold - he LOVED it.

He must have been the most giggly, excited and pro-active kid there. He had the time of his life!! So now, I’ve finally signed him up for the next 2 months (in case you were wondering, it cost me about $200 for 16 sessions - but this includes unlimited play for as long as the enrollment is), and I’ll be letting you know how we get along. Fingers crossed, I hope it’ll last!

[tags]Gymboree,Play,Music,Babies,toddlers[/tags]

Here is small selection of divorce books for parents worth checking out at your local bookstore.

1. Child Custody: Building Parenting Agreements that Work
by Mimi E. Lyster

A practical guide for dealing successfully with this touchy issue. Checklists and worksheets make the whole process with its somewhat daunting legal implications a lot simpler to face.

2. Its Not Your Fault Koko Bear
by Vicki Lansky

This is a heartwarming storybook for parents to read together with young children when facing a divorce. Parents with young kids have given this book glowing reviews saying how it helped their child get in touch with and understand their feelings when going through this difficult time. Kids really relate to this one. Highly recommended.

3. Dinosaurs Divorce
by Marc Brown

This time its dinosaurs taking on the emotional turmoil of divorce, but in a way that will engage kids and hopefully have a positive influence with its cheerfull illustrations. Its on the long side (31 pages) and the different chapters tackle issues from “What is Divorce” to “Living in Two Homes”. A good way for parents and children to open up honest dialogue.

4. Difficult Questions Kids Ask And Are Afraid To Ask About Divorce
by Meg F. Schneider

Parents with older kids (after preschool) were reassured with this book and claimed that the questions hit very close to home. The subjects and ages vary though, so an overall good range for parents.