The Mazel Tov Giveaway From Little One Books: Win a $15 Gift Certificate!

Mazel Tov, in Hebrew, means congratulations. As many of you know, I recently had a baby girl named Samara.


After Samara was born, I've received many "Mazel Tovs."

In honor of my new baby girl, I'm co-hosting a $15 gift certificate giveaway with Little One Books.

Little One Books sent me two baby books to review. After all, I have a target audience here to test them out on.

The first one is called "I Went Walking." Samara seemed to like it.

I Went Walking is a great book for babies. It's simple, but introduces a variety of animal words and colors, including a green duck, a red horse, a black cat and a yellow dog. The book's words are rhythmic and catches one's attention with it's rhyming couplets.

The second book I received was Sandra Boynton's The Going to Bed Book.

I read this to Samara when she was sleepy. This book features silly looking cartoon animals getting ready for bed. They're doing all the routines associated with bedtime, like putting on their pajamas, taking a bath, and brushing their teeth. However, there is a page in the book that is questionable:

The animals are exercising before they go to bed, which is nonsensical. But it's cute and funny to see cartoon elephants, moose and other animals working out. I'll give Ms. Boynton a pass on that one.

After we finished reading The Going To Bed Book this happened:

Now for the fun part. Enter here to win a $15 gift certificate to Little One Books. Here's what you have to do to enter.

1. Post a comment with what product(s) you like from the Little One Books website
2. Follow my blog (either with feed reader, or Google Friend Connect)
3. Like Little One Books on Facebook here.
4. Like Old School/New School Mom on Facebook here
5. Follow Little One Books on Twitter here.
6. Finally, sign up for The Little One Books newsletter. The sign up is on the upper right hand corner of their site.

Good luck! The winner will be selected randomly and be announced on Wednesday April 6th!

Poop on The Floor - A Good Omen

This morning I woke up to Ari shaking me vigorously.

"Mommy!" He said "I went poop!"
"Okay..." I said in a very sleep deprived state. I wasn't sure what the urgent state of affairs was.

Then I rolled over in bed saw saw that he had removed his diaper and pooped on the floor. I have to say that this was not the way I would have chosen to wake up.

I hazily tried to collect my thoughts.
"Uh...that's okay. But next time, tell me before you have to poop so you can go to the potty." I countered back.

"No." He said in a matter of fact way. With that he ran down the hall naked from the waist down. When I finally caught him, I gave him a bath, diapered him and went on with my day.

When we came back from grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, we had lunch, and then, according to the schedule, it was quiet time. When I announced that it was quiet time, he announced back at me:
"I have to pee! I wanna go on the potty."

I presumed this was just an attempt to avoid napping, but I acquiesced and put him on the toilet. I gave him some privacy and five minutes later he said:
"I peed!"
"Good job bud!"
I looked in the potty and he had actually pooped!

I went wild with praise. I told him he was awesome, and he grinned from ear to ear.

After he got off the potty he said:
"Okay, quiet time!"
I wanted to say "Excuse me? Are you my son? The same person who once hated anything to do with the toilet and avoided naps like the black plague?"

Instead I said:
"Yes! quiet time!"

He's asleep now, and so is Samara.

I guess I need to go buy underwear for him. What do I do next?

Tumbling Class At Power Play

The other day, a friend of mine who I met at the library, Barbara, introduced me to a great indoor play space. It's called Power Play and it's located on 3rd Avenue and 8th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

We met up at Power Play for a play date and Ari loved the indoor play space. It was equipped with many plastic vehicles to drive, a giant slide that lead to a sandbox, a big wooden playhouse and lots and lots of toys.

The play space costs $10 for a 2 hour play session. Barbara had a Play Pass, which she was kind enough to let us use. Ari loved the indoor play space. He spent the majority of his time there playing in the sandbox.

When we were getting ready to leave, the receptionist told us that Power Play offered gymnastic/tumbling classes for kids. If I was interested, she said, I could sign up for a free trial class. I asked Ari if he wanted to take a tumbling class. He said "Yes!" So I said "Yes!"

My friend Cordy texted me yesterday asking what I was up to on Thursday. I said "Taking Ari to a tumbling class. Wanna come?"

She said she was down, and so I signed up her two girls Z and L.

The class was a big hit with the kids!

The instructor, Abbie, (pictured above) was great with the kids. Ari was shy, because there were a lot of kids there and he tends to take a while to warm up to people in a group situation. But she was very patient with him and let him take his time getting used to the group.

Z and L had less inhibitions, but all of the kids had a great time.

I want to sign Ari up for the semester. Lately I've been feeling like he needs more structured social interaction with other kids, and this seems like a great environment to achieve that goal in.

After the class we had some amazing pie across the street from Power Play at a place called Four and Twenty Blackbirds, which Barbara also introduced me to as well. Ari was very serious about his pie.

For more information on Power Play click here.

Distractions Needed While Nursing

I don't know how anyone successfully nurses two kids, especially if the older kid is a 2 year old boy. Whenever I try to feed Samara, Ari is literally climbing on my back. Today he got the brilliant idea to lick my arm while I tried to feed the baby.

"Stop it!" I said "I don't like that." Of course this response made him do it more. In the end my left arm was covered in drool.


He also likes to engage in potentially dangerous or aggravating activities while I have the baby on my boob so that it is difficult for me to stop him. He'll climb on top of the couch, attempt to pull down the window blinds, rip up important papers that are sitting on the coffee table and much much more. It's anxiety provoking.

If we're home, the only thing that seems to work is to turn the TV on. He is transfixed by it, and therefore stops climbing on me temporarily. But I don't want to over use the TV because a) it's bad for his brain, and b) he'll become immune to it and it will not work as a method of distraction.

A few moms have suggested having toys for him that only come out when it is time to nurse the baby. I sort of tried this with his Thomas The Tank Engine Board Game, but it didn't work so well. He got excited at first, but then quickly got bored of the game and started searching for things to destroy in the living room.

Anyone have any tips on this?

When In Doubt, Call in Reinforcements

When I mentioned that I was going to lead Story Time at the library to my parents, my dad was excited. For those of you who don't know him, he comes from a theatrical background and loves kids.


"Can I help?" He asked.
"Of course!" I automatically replied.

When we got to the library I got some shocking news. It turns out that the librarian is not going away for ten days, but rather three weeks. Consequently, I'll be covering two more weeks of Story Time.

My dad and I led Story Time together and it was loads of fun. Thank you to everyone who made such great book suggestions for the 0-4 age group. We ended up going with "Click Clack Moo", one of my favorites:



"The Monster At The End of This Book"



"Knuffle Bunny"



And a couple of other Mo Willems books that I can't remember the names of right now.

I'm so glad my dad was there to help me.

As for songs we did:
Old McDonald
If You're Happy And You Know It
The Color Song- See previous post for lyrics
Open Shut Them

Below are some pictures from the day. The faces of children involved have been disguised so that they may remain anonymous.


One of my mom friends from the library was kind enough to hold Samara while I read and sang to the kids.



Thanks dad for helping me out. When my mom heard that my dad was doing Story Time, she said:
"I want to do it too!" And she's actually led it before, so she knows what to do. Maybe she'll help me next week!

The Giant Frog, By Ari

Here is a story that Ari told me at breakfast today:

ARI: Once upon a time there was a boy named "Mommy."
Mommy met a giant frog.
The frog say "Hello."
Mommy say "Hello."
Mommy was scared.
1-2-3-4-5.
5-4-3-2-1.
I all done with peanut butter toast.

I love that I am a boy.

Trader Joe's, Will You Marry Me?

Groceries are extraordinarily expensive. I try to buy mostly organic, so they end up being even more expensive. My mom has been telling me (for over a year) to try Trader Joe's. I kept meaning to go over there, I really did, but I was addicted to ordering my groceries online, with Fresh Direct. It was so convenient, but also pretty pricey.

Yesterday, I had a playdate, and I made Mac and Cheese for the kids' lunch. My friend saw the box and commented:
"You know, Trader Joe's Mac and Cheese is like 99 cents."

My jaw hit the floor. It was then that I knew I needed to get over there immediately.

I'd heard enough tales of Trader Joe's cheapness. I was ready to embark there with the two young ones.

Today, I left the house, and decided that I would take a taxi over there. I figured, I would be saving so much money once I got there, that the taxi fare wouldn't be too bad, plus I had two kids with me. Ari was pleased.


The cab ride to Trader Joe's cost us $9.00. When we got there, I was completely overwhelmed. There were so many aisles and everything was so cheap! Ari was pleased to simply sit in a grocery cart.

A kind security guard took my stroller and put it at the front desk for me.

People in the store began to get annoyed with me because I was standing in the produce aisle, blocking their way. I was so surprised at how cheap everything was that I keep re-reading the signs.

"I'm sorry," I kept saying. "This is my first time here, I'm really overwhelmed."

I was also terrified that Samara was going to wake up at any given moment and want to nurse. She didn't, thank goodness. She slept through the whole shopping trip!

Ari got a free cookie, they were giving out samples, and at the checkout counter, he got stickers!


I noticed there was a bunch of moms shopping there. That's why they have cookies and stickers on hand.

Here's the best part. I was throwing things into my cart left and right, and I was terrified of what the total would be. Four enormous bags of groceries cost me...drum roll please...$98.00!
I couldn't believe it. I was expecting the total to be at least $150.

Here are some of the items I got:
Kosher Organic Chicken Breast
Kosher Ground Turkey
Organic Peanut Butter
Organic Eggs
Toilet Paper
A giant bag of grapefruit
A giant bag of navel oranges
Organic bread crumbs
A gallon of Organic Milk
Wheat bread
2 bags of organic broccoli florets (fresh)
A package of zucchini
Organic vegetable broth
2 boxes of Trader Joe's frozen pizzas
32 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A giant cucumber
Organic Bananas
Strawberries

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but you get the idea.

After we checked out, one of the women who worked there, for the sake of anonymity we'll call her "Brenda," helped us out of the store, called us a taxi and loaded the groceries into the taxi trunk for us! We spent the time waiting for the taxi talking about kids. She told me about her three girls, two Virgos and a Pisces, ages 7 months, four and nine years old.

Before the taxi came I realized I needed to get cash. Ari, Samara and I dashed across the street to the ATM. Ari was furious at me for not letting him push the buttons, but I was in a rush, Brenda was watching the groceries and I didn't want to miss our ride home!

The taxi ride home was $10 with tip.

Here's a cost break down:
$98 groceries
$19 cabs
-----------
Total: $117

When I order groceries from Fresh Direct, I spend anywhere from $130-150 a week. Even with the cab ride, I saved money. Plus Fresh Direct, to my knowledge, does not give away free cookies and stickers.

Additionally, if I leave the kids at home with Wil or my mom next time, I'll save the $19 in taxi money.

Who else likes Trader Joe's?