I’ve been shopping for toys for my niece and nephew, and I accidentally got sucked down a Gorgeous Toys wormhole. My kids are all out of the baby/toddler-toy stage, and a LOT of their toys are UGLY and PLASTICKY. Feast your eyes on THESE riches instead:

Small Rainbow Stacker (photo from Amazon.com)

Plan Toys Balancing Cactus (photo from Amazon.com). I saw this in Ann Wyse’s gift post and SWOONED.
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I’ve found it fun to shop for ALL the kids, but for Elizabeth way more than for the boys. This makes me feel especially sheepish because she’s a twin, and her twin brother Edward’s wardrobe is about 1/5th the size of hers. And because she’s opinionated and enjoys choosing, she does a lot of sitting with me at the computer while I order things for her, while Edward gets left out. Not that he seems to mind.

But this summer I made a happy discovery: Edward loves Threadless t-shirts. He and I spent a couple of happy sessions sitting at the computer together ordering his “new kindergarten t-shirts,” and for the first time he’s enjoying choosing his clothes each morning—fun for both of us.

Threadless is having a sale right now, with a lot of t-shirts at $5, $9, or $12—and if you spend more than $50 by September 5th, you can use code SEEUINSEPT to get $15 off. (Threadless didn’t ask me to talk about the sale, and they’re not compensating me in any way. I like to shop, and Threadless is more than I would usually spend, and I have a shopping post due and a child who wants more kindergarten shirts, so the sale is timely.)

I’m only considering sale tees, and I’m only considering the designs printed on American Apparel shirts because the Threadless shirts practically turn into crop tops when washed. Even the American Apparel ones are pretty small: Edward, who wears a size 4-5 childrens or even a size 5T in other brands wears a size 8 in the American Apparel t-shirts, and my 9-year-old wears a men’s XS. Anyway, here’s what Edward and I are looking at:

Arr Let O’ Me Nuts (photo from Threadless.com), $9 for kids’ sizes.
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I was pretty grossed out to learn that only about 12% of plastic water bottles are recycled.  This is particularly awful when it’s so easy and inexpensive to get good-quality reusable water bottles that will last for years or even DECADES before they join their non-recycled disposable brethren in the ground—or even join the 12% of the disposable ones that get recycled. Well, or some would have to be in a different kind of recycling bin because they are metal instead of plastic BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

My son is supposed to have two water bottles for school:  one for his desk, and one with his lunch.  He is also going to need two to take along on a camping trip in a few months. And I’d like to have two for myself, one for the diaper bag and one for the car.  But my experience with water bottles so far has been PITIFUL, mostly because they LEAK.  We’ve drenched lunches, backpacks, clothes.  I asked my Twitter peeps if they had a water bottle they were happy with.

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I’m too overwhelmed with the reality that it’s Thanksgiving week (OMG) to delve into the holiday gift guides we like to post here at Milk & Cookies, so indulge me in a totally random topic, won’t you? That being: the world’s coolest children’s boots. I can’t really afford to buy myself a new pair of awesome boots right now, so I’m channeling my window shopping desire into kid-sized fashions. Looking to outfit your offspring in some weather-repelling, eyeball-searingly adorable footwear? Start here:
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Between a four-year-old, a toddler, and a husband who routinely peels off his dirty socks while he’s watching the evening news and tosses them on the living room carpet, since apparently that’s the cue for his personal magic cleaning fairy to swoop in and whisk his laundry away to the hamper, my house has a bit of a clutter problem. Toys, books, shoes, crayons, and forgotten half-chewed waffles tend to accumulate on every available surface throughout the day, making it a real challenge to do the deep-cleaning I so greatly enjoy.

(Note: by “deep cleaning” I mean “sitting on the couch eating pretzels”. But the point is, if I really did want to vacuum, it would be hard to do so when the floor is three inches deep with LEGOs.)

I like to exact revenge on my husband by 1) power-nagging in that oh so attractive fish-wifely tone, and 2) draping his various discarded clothing items over his computer monitor (sometimes with a note: “OH HAI WE GOT LOSTED CAN YOU HELPS US FIND THE WASHING MASHEEN?”), and as for my four-year-old, I’ve started being more strict about having him pitch in. He’s definitely capable of putting away his things and carrying out other small tasks around the house, and I’ve been thinking it would be helpful to have a chore chart for him.

In poking around online, I’ve noticed that chore charts tend to have one common theme: they are butt-ugly. I know the home decor aspect of a chart isn’t really the point, but still, it doesn’t seem like it should be so hard to find a chart that’s both useful and non-hideous.

Here are a few chore-organization-solutions I eventually came across that I think are pretty cool-looking:
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I’m not quite in the BACKTOSCHOOLOMG headspace yet, since my oldest kid is in year-round preschool and the other is still young enough to lustfully gnaw electrical cords if you don’t watch him, but I understand it’s kind of a Big Deal, getting all the supplies and whatnot. I assume preparation is exactly how it’s depicted on The Wire, where a violent criminal named Marlo gives children money to buy their school clothes, in order to create a lasting debt and sense of loyalty so he can better use them as pint-sized drug dealers? I mean, I don’t want to have to pay for these things myself, for crying out loud.

Anyway, in the back-to-school theme, I was thinking about lunch-toting products that might be useful to read about. We did a post on lunchboxes last year, and we also covered some BPA-free products—I’m thinking these subjects are two great tastes that taste great together, you feel me?

(God. Sorry. The Wire: ADDICTED.)

I’m still not super worked up over BPA, but my thinking is this: since BPA-free products are so accessible these days (and generally not more expensive), why not buy those instead? It’s a pretty easy choice for me, and I’m all about easy choices. Here’s a neat selection of food storage solutions—perfect for holding school lunches—that are all BPA-free.
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Years of my own experience should have clued me in, but until I had a daughter and bought her a cute 1-piece cherry-patterned swimsuit from Target, I hadn’t fully realized that 1-piece swimsuits are REALLY CHALLENGING to pee in. It can be a little tricky to find a cute non-bikini 2-piece for a toddler girl, especially at the BEGINNING OF JULY when summer is OVER.
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My three youngest children have their birthdays in the same week and a half: this year, twins Elizabeth and Edward will turn four, and youngest child Henry will turn two. STAY WITH ME, because I need your help with Henry’s presents.

I am not much worried about the four-year birthdays. I idly asked what they were hoping to get for their birthdays, and Elizabeth answered that she wanted
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First, a quick shout-out to all of you who gave me ideas and atta-girl you-can-do-it comments about traveling with my preschooler—everything worked out perfectly, and we had an absolutely wonderful time. Thank you so much!

Today I’d like to talk about evening routines, and what sorts of things help mitigate the chaos. As a quick primer to my thrilling home life, we have two boys: a 3.5 year old and a 15-month-old. Here’s our typical end-of-day routine, along with the items I’ve come to rely on:
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I have always been scared of having to take my kids on a plane. We’ve never done it, because our family is close enough to visit by car, and every time I fly on my own I surreptitiously stare at other parents trying to manage small kids and strollers and bags and think to myself, oh thank GOD that’s not me.

The time has come, however, for me to nut up and face my fears, because I have the opportunity to take my 3.5-year-old on a trip to Washington DC at the end of this month. It will be just the two of us, and I am both thrilled about the adventure and, um, COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT.

We’ve been talking a lot about the trip and watching YouTube videos of planes taking off and so on; I feel like I’m doing an okay job on preparing him as best I can. He’s super excited about everything, but I know the fickle nature of a preschooler: it’s inevitable there will be some challenges along the way. So, what sorts of gear can help make it all a little easier? I’m hoping you guys can help me out, especially those of you with experience traveling with children. Here are some items I’m looking at:
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