There's nothing more magical for a growing child than quietly playing Christmas music, a warm fire crackling, twinkling lights on the evergreen smelling tree, and a pile of neatly wrapped presents. Of course, this isn't real life. BUT the traditions can be!

I have so many memories from my childhood of waiting eagerly with my brother at the top of the stairs before going downstairs, waiting for our parents to wake up so that we can go down and get our stockings. I remember the smell of bacon on the stove and eggnog mustaches on all of our faces. 

We were gifted these toothbrushes and I am so glad because they are wonderful. The brand's mission alone, to reduce plastic waste, is enough to switch over to a more eco-friendly brand. Here are some facts:

🌱Over 5 Billion plastic toothbrushes that will never biodegrade are dumped into landfill and oceans every year worldwide!

🌱It is critical for our society to take an action. Purchasing an alternative like @gondolabamboo toothbrush is a vote for non-toxic sustainable, natural and degradable materials. 

One of the things I really liked about these is the bristles. My fear when getting them was that they wouldn't really work, or that my teeth wouldn't feel clean after using them. But my teeth actually feel smoother and look whiter than when I was using a dentist-recommended brush! 

For the kids brushes, they are smaller in size and feature cute creatures. They are perfect sized for my 2 year old's little hands. He was instantly excited to see them and now he picks a different one each night. I know that when I brush his teeth after he "tries" to that his teeth are getting the best clean that we can do. Plus it's fun to brush brush brush!!

1. Count with Me
I love this one because it ages with the child. It has different textures as well so you can feel the edges of the page when you trace a number. It's larger with thick pages which makes it super durable to tag along. There's also a matching book for letters!

2. Peek-a-Flap series
This is one dirt and as you can see from the cover, it's all about tractors and moving dirt. Instant favorite! These flaps are super thick and are more like pages in themselves. The story in each is also very informative and uses great vocabulary to build knowledge!

3. Chug Chug Tractor
This one is a double whammy because not only does it have dozens of cool flaps but one flap per page has a sound effect, too! It's full of animal sounds, foods, and the text is accurate and informative. Perfect for a tractor-loving kid!

1. Motion Bubblers
This is our favorite, but there are so many different sensory bottles you can get and so many you can make too! This is similar to a lava lamp. When you tip it over, the bubbles are created by different colors. It looks so cool! Both kids will play with it and, now at 2, Lincoln loves to count the bubbles and name the patterns the colors create.

2. All-natural crayons
So, toddlers put things in their mouth constantly. These are all natural and made from beeswax. Aside from that, they're chunky and easy to hold. They resemble chalk sticks in size. The colors are vibrant and unique. The kids love to take out the box of these when doing art projects. They have quite a few bite marks, but don't have paper to peel or snap easily.

3. Cleaning set
This is actually one of my favorite purchases ever! A common phrase in toddlerhood is "me do" or "me help" and this set makes it not turn into a battle. Whenever there's a mess, Lincoln will go straight to his broom and dustpan and "help" me clean. We added a small swiffer to it so he feels included when doing that task as well! Such a fun item to have!

1. Duplo set
Okay, these are the best for 2 year olds. They still are large enough to handle for small hands, but fit together better than the megablocks. They have cute sets with cars or trucks or people and animals. The directors to make big projects are easy to follow for both of us. Perfect intro to building and creating. 

2. Magnet tiles
Again, these are a perfect set to start STEM projects. At this stage, Lincoln struggles with understanding how to balance them without a base, but we talk through it and I find he doesn't get too frustrated. He likes making things like garages and houses and barns out of the tiles. The shape recognition is also really awesome to see!

3. Water coloring mat
I got this during quarantine and at that time Link was too little to really get it. Now, he loves to play with this mat. He shakes the water marker and it makes really awesome rainbow designs. Ours features animals and letters around it and I find his tracing and trying to make straight or curved lines has really begun to show!

Week two of daycare and of course, both kids have a full-on runny nose. Lincoln uses the crane humidifier that I love, but I thought I would try the FRIDABABY humidifier because I really loved their recent Fridamom campaign and their company mission. So...here we are!

First thoughts were that it has a lot of great features. It lets you use an essential oil if you choose, nightlight if wanted, and an easy to empty and clean base (which is beyond hard to find!). 

I bought the vapor oil from their brand line and am in LOVE. It smells soooo good, but it's not overwhelming or too strong. It was easy to add into the water as well.

My next tip is foods. Pack items that you know your kids will eat. Try things at dinner time or on the weekend and pack them things they like, will eat, and can fill them up. The last thing you want is your child to be not eating at school. I really love the Bentgo boxes that help create small serving sizes. It makes meal planning so much easier because you see how much of each item. 

Personally I like to throw in a large portion of the "meal", think pasta salad, sandwich, casserole, etc. I do at least one fruit, a snack item, some veggies if they aren't in the meal, and the little circle in the middle I'll add a treat.