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Autumn in New York
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New Phrases For Bad Behavior
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Mothers Who Hate?
Preschool Preview... The Saga Persists
It Gets Them Around
Howling
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Always Carry a Pen
The other night I responded to a Quinnipiac University telephone poll. This is the one kind of cold call I don't really mind so much because I like to think that my political comments are registered somewhere and are significant in whatever the poll is measuring. The last time I was hit, the questions were all about the 2005 New York City mayoral elections and I managed to get the question asker to crack up by shouting: "I will never vote for a Republican. Never, never, never," when he told me he thought I would vote for Bloomberg because that's what everyone else what doing.
This time around, the questions were more scattershot. Would Pataki make a good president? (No.) Would Giuliani make a good president? (No.) Will Bloomberg run for president? Will Hillary? (I'm not a mind reader.)
And then they took an odd turn. What is your favorite thing to do in New York for the holidays? (More or less what I do in New York in every season.) Will I spend more or less money on holiday presents than I did last year? (It is the height of optimism to think that I have even started to think about that, but thank you for adding to the list of things I'm about to be worried about.)
Ah.
That last question did get me thinking guiltily about presents. I have a bunch of children I need to shop for and strangely little toy imagination these days. I am currently fighting a losing battle with the American Girl Doll people from whom I ordered a birthday present once and in spite of rejecting all inquiries about wanting to get catalogues, I am now receiving them in floods. (Consider that a warning.)
And then I remembered the one really great thing I learned about at a preschool open house recently. While talking to a woman who made me feel kind of inferior and gauche for permitting plastic toys in the house (as I've said before, all of those encounters tend to be strangely competitive), I did catch the name of an "acceptable" toy catalogue that is truly amazing.
Part of the appeal is just nostalgia because Back to Basics Toys has a huge selection of items from my youth- things like Lincoln Logs and these odd Bill Ding Stacking Clowns. They also have all kinds of things I've never seen before: puzzles and things to climb on, games and the maniacal Fun Roller.
So as much as I complain about these open houses and as uncomfortable as they make me feel, I have to give credit where it's due. Don't go to anything like this without a pen because there's always the chance that you'll learn something good, and if you don't write it down you'll forget it because you'll have been too busy ranting about the weird parental encounters to commit it to memory before you get home. It might not help get your kid into preschool, but it could save your skin during the holidays.
And, no, I haven't started shopping yet.
posted by Elise at 7:28 AM
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gef said...
Back to Basics is good (we bought Colorforms from them--as much for Dale as for our own nostalgia trip). But note they have a pretty high mark-up. I am a sucker for the airy-fairy Magic Cabin, catalog and website. With its illustrations, kind of the J. Peterman of kid catalogs...
11/15/2006 12:13 PM
Elise said...
Oh! Am not familiar with Magic Cabin. Just today I was clued in to "Mind Ware" which is all kinds of educational (Human Anatomy puzzles, anyone?)... I didn't realize the mark up, since my glancing at it led only to ruminations on childhood and not towards actually getting anything done.
I'll peer at the magic cabin though, many thanks.
11/15/2006 2:36 PM
said...
While you're peering at Magic Cabin (that's a new one for me, too), you might also check out:
http://www.sensationalbeginnings.com/default.asp
Good luck!
Sally
11/15/2006 5:44 PM
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gef said...
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