19 Jan, 2010
By andrea tomkins in Easy ways to make kids happy
I swear to god this one is entirely their own.
When we were sitting around the emergency department at the hospital with Sarah and her lip (she is totally healed now by the way!) we had very little fun stuff with us to keep us occupied. All I really had was a pen and a very small pad of paper. We had to make do. And we did. For five hours.
We spent quite a bit of time generating lists of “ten things.” It was actually fun. I pretended to interview the girls and they gave me interesting answers (with very little prompting!). Some of what they revealed was rather unexpected, but I liked the authenticity of this conversation. It was truly honest.
I do recommend doing this on your own. Who knows, you might learn a few things.
I am posting a few of our lists here this week. Feel free to add your own ten things (or more, or less) in the comments. I would love to see what your family would add to the list!
Without further ado, here is the first one:
Ten Things We Like To Do As A Family
Today’s article over at SavvyMom is about a new(ish) store in Ottawa called Nest.
Oy. I love that store. But I am very very sad they weren’t around, oh, eight or 10 years ago when my girls were wee.
I’m sure the owner, John-Paul, thought I was a total nutcase when I was there. I don’t know what got into me that day (I guess I was over-caffeinated AND hyper excited to be there). Not only did I talk his ear off (I think I actually saw him picking it up off the floor as I was leaving) but I think (to his shock and dismay) that I fondled almost every item in the store.
I walked around saying brilliant things like: What’s this? And what’s this? Oh, what’s this?
The majority of the items are made of wood. What is it about WOOD that is so darn appealing? Wooden toys are warm, they’re soft, they’re uncommonly smooth and have a satisfying heft to them. Have we evolved to appreciate wood more than any other material?
Nest is full to the rafters of gorgeous toys. Many are German-made but there are a whole bunch of locally-made toys as well. So so so charming.
The article mentions a few of my personal favourites: multilingual wooden blocks (a display sign listed all of the languages, and had a note about the blocks not being available in Klingon – ha!) as well as Efie cherrystone warmers (had I known at the time that they smelled like cherry pie I would have bought one on the spot!). There were a hundred other things I wanted to take home with me. I was practically paralyzed by a wooden stacking toy that was shaped like a campfire. I could picture it perfectly on my mantle.
These toys are heads and shoulders and arms and legs above the plastic crap that comes off the slow boat from China. They’re an investment. They’re art. They’re heart. What lovely gifts for that special someone.
Next time you’re downtown I urge you to check out Nest!
ETA: I forgot to mention that Nest is offering SavvyMoms a 10% discount on all regular-priced items (excluding Ruskovilla items) from now until the end of February, 2010. Just mention you’re Savvy!
My name is Andrea and I live in Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Sunny who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. During the day I work as a freelance writer. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.
If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here.
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