As a teacher and prolific reader with eclectic tastes, not to mention a collector of children's books, I definitely have my faves. Charlie the Caterpillar by the late Dom DeLuise is an adorable story about a little caterpillar who is treated poorly by an assortment of critters because he's so ugly. Later, after he morphs into a butterfly, those same critters want to play with him but Charlie refuses, saying he's ...well, you get the picture. :) Another fave is The Caterpillar and the Polliwog by Jack Kent. This is a classic! It is a story about a polliwog who hears from a boastful caterpillar how he's going to turn into a beautiful butterfly when he grows up. The polliwog decides he's going to become a butterfly, too. As he watches the changes in the caterpillar, he too, goes through his changes. Neither are accurate in the depiction of the caterpillar's anatomy, food, life-cycle terminology, etc., as is the norm, I've found, in most children's literature. If you can get over that, or, do what I did and have children listen to the story and then discuss later, what the inaccuracies were but also discuss the positives about the story, then it's a win-win. :)

Would you believe-- my kids are still young (9, 6, 4, 2 and one more coming soon), and I have this problem, too? How many things do we actually want or need? Most people I know have enough, or more than enough . . .we are middle class people, too. Not wealthy compared to the 1% in the US, but wealthy if you think about the rest of the world. I wrote about this on another thread, but I am keeping in mind what my friend does: something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. Something you need could be something like some socks or gloves. I made a spreadsheet with each category for the kids so I could keep track of this. I also included some items like each of their dolls getting something, and a small family gift. Anyway, my friend uses this for her DH, too. IMO, there is always a let-down after the presents are unwrapped (even when I was a kid) so I want to make Christmas like a party. We had a Hallow e'en party this year w/others this year, and it was a lot of fun. While I won't be inviting others over for Christmas, I am going to plan activities as a party for US. Once the presents are done, there will still be cooking decorating, crafts, karaoke, etc. Whenever anyone would rather go play with their new x, of course, they can! My friend is having an open house, so that will help as well. My mom gives us $, but she always gives a physical gift, too, so that we have something to unwrap. I think it's fun to buy for my mom-- one of those people who does not have or want excess but has the means for it . . .this year we got her a Keurig coffee maker. Something she would NEVER buy for herself, but she likes to use ours when she comes over.

Hi Midwest and all~ My son's room is still an ongoing process, he's 13 months. I like vintage stuff so it takes a while to find the right items. Mid what does the denim quilt look like? We did my son's room in a cowboy theme.. with a bit of Americana thrown in. I found great denim curtains at Walmart. Here's a link, (this is my first time posting here, hope this works!) Here is a link that might be useful: Cowboy room

I found the comment "you can't reason with a child that age" very interesting. Parenting books all tell you to reason with children. Unfortunately these pop psychologists forgot their child development and the FACTS that brain development does not enable reasoning until well into school age!! What Linda is going to learn the hard way, if she doesn't get to the parenting/authority ability to say "enough, go to your room" and have the child comply, when he is 13 this will not be cute. How a relationship plays out when they are young tells much about how it will work when they are older. Look out world another out of control teen is on the way!!