All Child’s Play

Most people consider “that time of the year” to be Christmas.  For me, “that time of the year” is right now.  Between our kids and our grandson we have 3 birthdays in a two and 1/2 week period…and I’m always stressing out over kid’s birthday gifts.  All of my good ideas get used up at Christmastime, so by the time February comes around the “good gift  think tank”  is dry.

When the “kids” were little it was so much easier.  You just lose touch with what they may need or want when they’re not living at home any longer.  Clothes are out because they have their own styles and tastes, video games are pretty much a thing of the past for both of them, and I hate being one of those moms who’s always buying things for the house and especially the kitchen.

These days  the best I can come up with is money or gift cards.  Boring!!!  I’m just at a total loss……..

But, for the little guy (the grandson)  the shopaholic in me really comes out!   Thank god I have a husband and credit card limits to shut me off!!

One of the things I really wanted to get for him this year was  personalized kids birthday CD.    When our son was 3 we got him a personalized birthday tape which we have played every year since on his birthday….the past few years over the phone but it’s just one of those things that we probably won’t stop doing until the good old tape player gives up on us (yes…it really really is  a tape because cd players and cd’s weren’t the rage back then).

Our daughter thought we were playing favorites because she didn’t have her own personalized birthday tape, so when she was about 6 or 7 we just had to had to get one for her.  Unfortunately hers just wasn’t quite as catchy of a tune as our son’s, and “lame” as she called it …so mission was still not really accomplished.

Our grandson loves to stick in and play those old birthday tapes every time he comes over, so I promised him that I was going to get him one of his own with his name on it.  He just thinks it’s so cool that his daddy and aunt’s names are on that music, and he remembers every word of their songs and directs and guides us all through the singing of the songs.  Ya gotta love that age…so innocent!

Oh…and 23 years later we still call our son and play the good old Captain Zoom birthday tape for him over the phone.  He thinks we’re pretty weird…and I can just see him rolling his eyes and probably holding the phone away from his ear…but until the tape player gives out on us or the “Captain Zoom” tape dies…we’ll continue to annoy him every February 27th!!!

I didn’t want to get a “lame” birthday cd for Colton (like we did all those years ago when we “messed up” with our daughter), so I spent a snowy cold Sunday yesterday trying to find just the right personalized kids cd for our grandson.  Thought I’d share all of my research for those who may be looking for the same thing.

Here are the sites that I found which had the best prices…best songs…and largest selection of names.  Our grandson’s name is Colton..and I promise you I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find one with that name (thought it was an unusual name at the time…but guess not!)…but these sites had names galore!!!

My Music CD

A Special Gift

Captain Zoom

(this is the one that started it all with our son …can’t believe that Captain Zoom still  exists almost 23 years later….It’s a goody!!)

I’m one of those people with a really weak stomach.  It doesn’t take much to make me nauseous and get me gagging.

That was the case this morning.  On my way home from the grocery store, I was stopped at a red light.  In the car in front of me, there were two kids staring at me through their rear window.  As I was watching them, they both…almost simultaneously started picking their noses and eating it.  Yuck@!!  I thought I was going to throw up in my car.

That light couldn’t change fast enough for me.  It was one of the longest red lights I’ve ever sat at.  I wanted to berate the mother (who was sitting in the front passenger seat).  First, for not buckling those kids in, and second for not teaching them better than to pick their nose and eat it…especially in public.

When I got home and told my husband  the story, he reminded me that our own grandson (soon to be 3 years old)  has been on a bit of a nose picking jag himself.   Guess when it’s your own flesh and blood it doesn’t bother you as much.  But g _ _ forbid that someone else would ever have to be as grossed out by our grandson as I was by those two kids.

We have reminded him several times not to pick his nose and to go get a tissue and blow it.   That works about 10% of the time.  The rest of the time he just gets too busy to take take out for a tissue, or he doesn’t even seem to know he’s doing it.  To be honest with you, I don’t know what he’s doing with those bugers.

He does have allergies, and I have read that kids with allergies tend to pick at their noses a lot.  Not an excuse…just a potential reason.

So why do kids pick their noses and how do you stop them from doing it.  And further yet…what possesses them to want to eat it?

If you have any suggestions or tricks on how to stop this nauseating behavior, please leave a comment below this post.  I love my grandson, but I don’t want him to make anyone else sick and gagging like I was this morning.