Must haves to add to those birthday lists this year

So, D-Man was very blessed this year and got many (I repeat, MANY) wonderful presents. We have had so much fun playing with them and learning how they work that I decided that some of you with young kiddos out there (or those of you who have gifts to buy for those young kiddos) might like some suggestions for birthdays in 2008.

One of our very favorites this year has been the "911 Learning Phone" given to D-Man by Uncle S, Aunt L and Cousin C. It has many cool features including teaching kids what dialing 911 is really all about. When they dial 911, the phone rings and the voice on the other end says, "911 what is your emergency." What a great way to teach your kids the importance of 911! It also allows you to program in one phone number at a time with a recorded message. When D-Man dials my cell phone number, I have recorded a message that tells him "great job dialing!" He smiles every time he dials "mommy's phone."

Another great option for a gift this year is one given to D-Man by Uncle M, Aunt C and the girls. It is a laptop (educational of course) that comes complete with an attached mouse. D-Man at this stage loves to check his e-mail (which the computer really won't do, but he's heard me say it so many times that he thinks he has to check his as well). It has many great educational games on it that teach kids to follow directions and use the mouse. D-Man is already becoming very aware of the fact that if he does something correctly, the computer (and mommy & daddy) tell him "great job!"

Husband and I got these for D-Man and he just loves being able to build a farm with them. Today he and I built a farm and the cow and the rooster had to ride in a pretend tractor around the farm. It is so great as a parent to see the little ones begin to pretend-play.

This is the PERFECT gift if you have a sports loving enthusiast like we do. I've heard that music and "batter-up" so many times I am hearing it in my sleep. But D-Man loves it and I can't wait for the weather to get warmer so that we can get out of the garage and play it in the yard. Thanks Uncle Beeb and Aunt Wiz!

And, oh my, do we just love this one! From filling the cars tanks with gas to letting the cars fly (and I do mean fly when you've got a 2 year old behind the wheel) down the ramp, we are having hours of fun thanks to RAD and PaPa!

There are so many other gifts that we got too numerous to mention, but just wanted to highlight some favs that we are playing with!