To wrap up this week of all things Christmas wish list (for a 2-year-old), I thought I’d put together a quick post about our planned stocking stuffers. Tonight, we were reading Llama Llama Holiday Drama again and on the very last page, Llama Llama is in bed sleeping with a stocking hanging from the bedpost (with a candy cane visibly sticking out). I noticed Nora looking at it, and could see the wheels turning inside her head. She pointed.

“Sock,” she asserted.

I nodded. “Yes,” I said. “A sock. A stocking, really. You have a stocking downstairs. Santa comes and puts gifts in it on Christmas. Do you want Santa to fill your stocking with presents?”

A smile crossed her lips. “Yes,” she answered.

LOVE.

As I mentioned in the toys post, we got Nora an easel, so naturally she needs the art supplies to go along with it:
(Crayola Crayons, Target)
Nora has crayons, but due to leaving them open on the floor at times, Tessa has successfully eaten/chewed up roughly half of them. We’ve also had some broken crayons, and a ton of really dull tips. I know we could sharpen them, but what the heck—they’re so cheap, might as well get a fresh box. I love brand new crayons.

(Crayola Washable Kids’ Paint, Target)
We’ve never let Nora play with paint before, but I’m sort of excited to let her. Mess? Yes. But I think she’ll love it. It’s washable, and we’ll put down enough protection to make the area look like it’s hazmat, so no worries. Can’t wait to see her painted masterpieces. :)

(Crayola Dry Erase Crayons, Target)
For the dry erase board side of her easel, these dry erase CRAYONS sound perfect. No need to deal with markers? Fantastic.

(Chalk, ???)
We’re also going to get her some “indoor” chalk, but would you believe that I’ve had trouble finding any in stores? I can find the big honking pieces of sidewalk chalk, but regular ol’ classroom chalk? Can’t find it yet. Have to keep looking.

(Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princesses, Target)
Nora got this Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Castle for her birthday in September. It comes with two princesses (Snow White and Cinderella), but of course, there are additional princesses available. Each princess says different lines and sings snippets of their own songs, so it’s cute to have the extras. Nora loves to sing and dance to the songs. You can get the extra princesses in this big pack, but you can also buy them in pairs. We’ve purchased them in pairs over a period of time—just kept grabbing different ones as we saw them—and as a result we have the bonus of getting both a Beast (from Beauty and the Beast, obviously) AND a Prince Charming from Cinderella. :)

(OXO Tot Training Cup, Amazon.com)
We’ve got a great thing going with Nora’s current sippy cups—after a long and stressful battle to make a switch back in the spring—so I’m not in any big hurry to mess with it. However, Nora likes to feel like a big girl sometimes and drink out of a “grown-up” cup. These little training cups seem to be great because they are just that—training cups. The top has holes all around the rim, so no matter how they pick it up, they can get liquid out if they tip it. BUT it still has somewhat of a top, so it’s not as “dangerous” (in terms of spills) as a real cup. I like it, and think Nora will, too.

(Toy Story Toddler Plate, Target)
We randomly found one of these plates in Target several weeks ago. She could use another plate or two and we just decided to keep this one tucked away from Christmas. She’s going to be psyched. :) Now we just need some more of her favorite character utensils, too!

Alright, so now the hard part… finishing shopping! We’re basically done with Nora, but it’s everyone else we have to worry about. And only 18 days until Christmas!

Shop ’til you drop, people. Shop ’til you drop! :)

Continuing Nora’s Christmas wish list… yesterday, I went over the list of toys, and today I’m going to touch on movies and books.

First, a classic…

(Cinderella, Amazon.com)
I guess it’s something that sort of inherent in girls, because Nora has been more into princesses lately. I do think that the older girls at daycare have an influence on her, though. She inexplicably knew their names one day, so she has to be getting it somewhere! She calls her “Rella,” and knows Belle—she already has The Beauty and the Beast from a few Christmases ago, and she has been more into that movie lately, too. She screams dramatically, “noooooo!” every time the mean beast comes around. :) Also, as a side note, she calls Snow White “Black.” Like, she thinks that’s her name. Because of her hair color. You just have to laugh. Anyway, who doesn’t love a story about a Fairy Godmother. And talking/singing mice? I think this one will win her over.

(Finding Nemo, Amazon.com)
I was so excited when I found out this one was coming out of the vault. Or re-released on blu-ray. Whatever. Michael and I actually rented and watched this in college, and it’s a cute little movie. If I was going to bank on her loving a movie, it would be this one. I see us watching this one quite frequently when we’re stuck inside the house this winter!

(Secret of the Wings, Amazon.com)
I’ve never seen any of the Tinkerbell movies, but from reading reviews it sounds like they are cute. My mom saw a promo for this movie and thought it was something that Nora will like, so she picked it up for her. Another cute one to add to her growing Disney collection. :)

For books, Nora goes through phases with what she wants to read. Right now, she’s obsessed with the Christmas books. The Polar Express, Happy Holidogs, Llama Llama Holiday Drama (the last two are borrowed from the library…might need to add them to our own collection!). But she also loves Sandra Boynton (she has most of them now) and MERCER MAYER! We only have four of the Little Critters books (I Was So Mad; Just Me and My Puppy; Grandma, Grandpa & Me; and Happy Easter, Little Critter) but I really want to get more because she can’t get enough of that little guy. Really, we’d love any of the other ones, but here are a few examples:

(Just a Mess, Amazon.com)
Nora is a little, how do I say… anal. OCD. I don’t know, but she likes things to be clean. She demands a napkin with every meal so she can wipe her hands. If she spies a piece of trash (like an empty package, some crumpled paper, or even a broken crayon), she says “trash!” and gets up to go throw it away immediately. So this one seems right up her alley. :)

(The New Potty, Amazon.com)
I’ll take all the help we can get, since Miss Nora is only showing minimal interest in the potty at this point.

(All By Myself, Amazon.com)
Also seems very appropriate for an independent 2-year-old. :)

(Just a Snowman, Amazon.com)
A cute one to have to read in the wintertime!

For non-Little Critters, I really like Llama Llama, so maybe:

(Llama Llama Red Pajama, Amazon.com)
This is the classic one, right? Should probably start there. :)

(Llama Llama Misses Mama, Amazon.com)
She’s a mommy’s girl. This looks cute.

Nora has a lot of books, but I don’t think that you can ever have too many. And I really don’t mind adding movies to the collection, either, even though we do limit her screen time when she’s at home with us. She admittedly watches more movies in the winter simply because we’re home and stuck inside more. And of course, movies are a GODSEND for road trips to visit Michael’s sister or my dad, and airplane trips, too.

What movies and/or books are your child’s favorite? Are there any new ones on their lists this year?

Last year, I did a couple of posts highlighting some of the items on Nora’s Christmas wish list. They seemed to be pretty popular and helpful for people at the time, so I figured I’d do it again.

Sometimes, it’s hard to shop for kids. Other times, it’s easy. This year, things seemed to kind of fall into place because we had a few things in mind right off the bat. We’ve seen Nora enjoy some of our nephews’ toys, or we had specific “holes” in her toy collection that we were trying to fill. And, of course, she’s getting a little older so she’s starting to venture into a new territory of age-appropriate toys.

Here are the items on Nora’s Christmas list (for Santa, the grandparents, and us):

(MALA Easel, IKEA + art supplies/accessories)
We were originally going to get her an easel by Crayola, but the price tag was around $50. When we saw this one from IKEA, we decided to save a decent chunk of change. It’s a great little easel, and I actually like how it looks (the natural wood) vs. the colored plastic from Crayola. It folds flat and can be easily stowed away when not in use. To go along with it, we’re also doing art supplies/accessories like dry erase crayons, chalk, finger paints, easel paper, etc. I think she is going to love this!

(Step2 Naturally Playful Sand Table, Amazon.com)
Since Nora has a September birthday (so, end of summer), for Christmas presents we like to think ahead a little bit to things she might enjoy in the spring/summer. We looked at sandboxes but most of them seemed super small so the child can’t really sit IN it—they just have to lean over the side awkwardly. A sand table makes a lot more sense to us, and brings the sand up to her level. If she receives this, we’ll pack it away for a few months.

(Toy Story 3 Action Figures – Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Toys ‘R’ Us or Target)
Our nephews have these and Nora is OBSESSED with them every time we visit them. They’re a bit pricey for what they are, in my opinion, but they go on sale pretty often and we snagged them during said sales. Plus, these are something that can grow with her a bit, just like any other doll—I can’t wait to see her face when she sees these! She loves Toy Story 3.

(Melissa & Doug Food Cutting Set, Amazon.com)
This was another one that our nephews have. Nora’s never seen it/played with it, though. Since she loves helping me in the real kitchen and also cooking/baking in her play kitchen, I think she will really get a kick out of these. When I cut veggies and she is up in her learning tower “helping” me, she always wants her own cutting board and “knife” (I don’t actually give her a knife, folks). She will love having something she can actually cut safely! :)

(Melissa & Doug Magnets, Amazon.com)
Nora loves her magnet board in our playroom. She just has alphabet magnets (also M&D) now, which are great, but I know she would like to have a little more variety. Melissa & Doug makes animals, dinosaurs, etc.

(Kid Music Player, ????)
This photo is of a Fisher-Price Kid Tough Music Player. I would love to get this for Nora, but HELLO, it is $180. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS. Try as I might, I cannot stomach that. Nora loves music and loves dancing, and I’d like for her to have a personal little music player. However, I could buy her a freakin’ iPod Shuffle for less than 1/3 of that price. Is it “kid tough”? No. But I could also REPLACE an iPod Shuffle 2.5 times for that money. I just don’t know. Does anyone out there have any recommendations (more budget-friendly) for this sort of thing?

(Kamik Jack Frost Winter Boots, REI)
These aren’t a toy, but she needs them to play! Nora has never had a pair of winter boots before. She has small feet. Last year, she was still wearing a size 3 shoe through the winter, and THEY DON’T MAKE THEM THAT SMALL! Or at least not in brands that are easy to find. We ended up having a really mild winter last year and not much snow to play in anyway, so it worked out. But this year, she is going to have winter gear on hand so we can go out and play! My mom scored these boots when they were on a deep discount (like 50% off).

(Build and Grow Toy Tool Set, Lowe’s)
For her birthday, Nora was given this Home Depot toolbox from Toys ‘R’ Us. We just introduced it a few weeks ago (we hide away a lot of her presents after she gets them and bring them out one by one over weeks/months), and she is HILARIOUS with them. She loves to help us whenever we’re putting something together, and she “works” on pieces of scrap wood. We saw this set discounted at Lowe’s on Black Friday so we picked it up for her. It has some duplicate tools, but also has a bunch of accessories that didn’t come with the Home Depot set. There is extra room in her toolbox, so this will round out her collection. :)

(Doll Stroller, ???)
Nora is really into mamas and babies. In fact, I think I mentioned last week about how she was playing with Little People Nativity Set and she put Baby Jesus in the cart (normally pulled by the mule), and had Mary pushing him around like it was a stroller. And EVERYTHING around her is a “mama,” “dada,” or “baby.” For instance, she will see a little measuring spoon and a big measuring spoon, and she calls them the baby and the mama. She’s a nut. She is also starting to get into her dolls more. I think she would like a stroller. I haven’t really looked into these much and I don’t know which ones are best. But the one pictured here is a cheap-o $10 one from Toys ‘R’ Us. I’m open to suggestions here.

That does it for the list of toys this year. I might do another installment or two—movies, books, stocking stuffers, etc., so stay tuned for that this week.

Again, I don’t expect that Nora will get everything on this list, but our parents always ask for ideas and this is what we came up with for a master list. From Santa and us, the plan is for her to get the easel, Toy Story dolls, and the tools.

So what’s on your child’s wish list this year?