On the first day of voting for the Weblog Awards, for a glorious (if delusional) hour or two, I was in first (!) place. Now that it’s the penultimate day for voting, I’m in penultimate place. Sigh. Vote today to make sure this insidious trend doesn’t leave me in last place tomorrow, okay?
Visiting for the first time? Welcome! Here are a few of my favourite posts, randomly selected for your bloggy pleasure:
- Our infertility and IVF stories;
- Tristan’s birth story and Simon’s birth story;
- Zed versus Zee (because I’m fiercely proud of my Canadian-ness)
- I’m outraged (because I love a good grammar debate)
- Code Blue for Daycare (because it’s one of my pet topics)
- The sweater story (because it still makes me laugh at myself)
Yesterday, we talked about the Canadian Toy Testing Council’s best toys for 2008. I had also bookmarked another “Best Toys of 2007” link a while ago, and was thinking about writing about it, but quite frankly, I didn’t find any of the toys on that list too appealing. (I have a hard time sanctioning a list that would approve the Fisher Price Smart Cycle. My 3 to 6 year olds do NOT need a stationary bike hooked up to the TV, of that I am quite sure.)
The one toy from this particular list that I had been contemplating for the boys is one of those new Aquadots sets. I’d never seen them before, but recently they’ve been everywhere and on several favourite toy lists. Now I know why. Apparently, they’re under massive recall, not because they’re a choking hazzard – which is what gave me pause – but because the little beads release a hallucinogenic drug when swallowed! No wonder it was every kids’ favourite toy last year!
Did I mention the voting thing?
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- Day one! Because I know my reproductive workings have you on the edge of your seat, I felt it necessary to broadcast to the entire interweb that it is, in fact, day one of my cycle. The cycle. The cycle that will lead, in approximately two weeks, to my wee Frostie finally coming out of [...]...
- Best Bet Toys for 2009 [Edited to add: Click this link for information on the most recent CTTC Toy Report for 2010.] Apparently, I’m a creature of habit and tradition. (Who knew?) Each year since 2005, I’ve blogged about the Canadian Toy Testing Council’s annual Toy Reports. I love these reports because they aren’t sponsored by any company [...]...
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- Best bet toys for 2008 (Edited to add: looking for the 2009 report? I’ve got a post about it here!) *** Every year, the Canadian Toy Testing Council releases its picks for the best toys of the year, as selected by the more than 1000 families that are part of the toy testing network. The CTTC provides a full [...]...
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
EEK! I have one of these stored away for Christmas for my seven year old. I don’t think it’s been recalled in the states, but I probably need to return it anyway. Don’t want to risk the baby swallowing the beads!! (or the dog or the seven year old or the fourteen year old…) That’s too bad – he really wants it. I also bought one for a gift last month. I guess I’d better call her mother and warn her. “Sorry to bother you, but I accidentally bought your daughter hallucinogenic drugs for her birthday.” Nice. Thanks for the information.
Looks like it’s going to be an Amish handmade doll and custom made plain wooden blocks Christmas in our house!! LOL I’m terrified to even consider anything in the toy stores!!! Yeah and I think my daughter riding her regular bike outside is still the best way to go. “Smart Cycle”, how pathetic.
the twins just received some AquaDots for their birthday, the other kids were so excited about it whereas we never even heard of it (guess not watching TV puts us in the uninformed category). We played with it all week-end, wasn’t all that great actually and thank God none of us ingested any
as for the kids exercise machines: totally demented!
I watched the Amazon video for the AquaDots – it’s a pretty catchy song. Almost makes me want to gobble up a handful of the things myself. Who says being under the influence of mind altering drugs is a bad thing for kids, anyways? Stupid parent patrols.
I have never found that the toy award toys are the best toys. I bought a Leap Frog Learning Train for Miss M her first Christmas and she promply learned how to give herself electric shocks by licking the magnetic bar that linked up the cars. A toy that was recommended for 9 month-olds that gave electric shocks when put in the mouth. Not only did no one at Leap Frog notice this BUT it won best toy of the year award. Oy.
As for the stationary cycle, I’ve been planning a Wordless Wed on that one. It’ll be up next Wed if I can get access to a scanner.
So it’s back to playing with a pot and a wooden spoon then?
So the Fisher Price Smart Cycle–why is that any worse that playing video games on Xbox or whatever? Just curious….
I’m just in awe of your nomination! Congrats! (And I voted for you).
Hey RevDrMom – what irks me, I guess, is the idea that our kids are so sedentary that we need to provide them with a TV/video game incentive (targetted to ages 3 to 6, mind you!) to get some exercise. It plays on the media hype about overweight and sedentary kids, preying on parental anxiety, and I don’t like that. If kids need exercise, get them up and playing – not hooked to a video game. It just strikes me as an exceptionally dumb toy, a huge waste of space and plastic, and something that encourages all the wrong things. But, that could just be me!
I love the use of the word penultimate! This was a favorite word, ever since I learned it in high school.