My girls are obsessed, OBSESSED, with phones. They are particularly fond of my husband’s and my cell phones. This can be a bit problematic. (We don’t want them calling 911 or China, do we?) So of course, I have bought them toy cell phones, but do they play with them? No. They want the REAL deal.

Before Christmas last year, Fisher Price started selling again their old Chatter Phone — a toy I remember loving as a child. I was so excited when I saw it on the shelf at the store, that I got one to give to my little phone lovers. Interestingly, with its rotary dial, my daughters didn’t even recognize it as a phone. It’s funny how technology changes so rapidly, which is a blessing I guess because our outdated cell phones seem to be the best middle ground we have for the ongoing phone battle at our house.

Last week in a public restroom I was again reminded that my daughter is definitely a product of the 21st Century. My four year old had proudly used the toilet all by herself (Mommy had to stand outside of the stall and not interfere). She came out, dutifully washed her hands, and went over to the paper towel dispenser, which was an older model with a crank on the side. She held her hand beneath the dispenser and eventually started waving her hands side to side in frustration. Then it dawned on me that she thought it was one of those newer dispensers that feed the towel out automatically when their sensor is triggered. I couldn’t help laughing as I wound the paper towel roll for her. Boy does she have a different childhood than I did.

My brother sent me a link to this article, and when I read the headline: “How to Let Go of Hyperparenting and Learn to Relax With Your Kids,” I didn’t think I needed to read it because I am so clearly NOT a hyperparent.

I have never been one to fuss over my kids– even babies. Whereas some mothers carry around a thermos so their baby’s bottle will be warm, I’m thinking, “Hey, if I never give my baby a warm bottle then she will not expect it.” I also totally believe in the 10-second rule for crackers, lollipops, and, yes, even binkies. (gasp!) Okay, I think I might have sucked off any dirt from the binkies myself before handing it back to my baby, but I wasn’t racing all over the place trying to find a bathroom or drinking fountain to wash things off, and my kids have always been very healthy.

For most moms, now realizing that kids are pretty resilient, the second child is so much easier because they finally let themselves relax a little. I have always thought that I parented this way even with my first. I was raised in a family with seven (yes 7!) kids. I was second to oldest and my two youngest sisters are twins. My mother had her hands pretty full, and she relied on my older sister and I for help (although looking back, I’m not sure how much help I really was). I was pretty sure that I had plenty of parenting experience and decided to skip the how-to books and just let things come naturally.

So when I got that email from my brother this morning, I was reflexively going to archive it without reading, but I decided to just quickly skim through. Surprisingly I found the author’s suggestions useful (particularly numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 & 9), and, though I loathe to admit it, applicable to my own parenting.

When I was just weeks away from giving birth to my first daughter, a close friend (who already had a child) asked me if I had a video camera. I didn’t, and I had never thought of it as the parenting necessity that it truly is.

Since then I have used several video cameras from the ancient camcorder dinosaur that used actual video tape and was way too complicated, to early digital contraptions with poor image quality and lighting. Then my first digital camera recorded video, only there was no sound — a major flaw when you are trying to capture those cute little coochie coos that your newborn is making.

Thankfully when I replaced my digital camera the newer models included sound with the video, and although I could only record a two-minute snippet, that seemed like more than enough. (I mean honestly, who wants to sit through hours of home videos anyway?)

I had finally reached my perfect home video place. Then I saw the Flip. This amazing hand-held video camera is the size of a two-year-outdated cell phone and can record up to 2 hours of video IN HIGH DEFINITION!

It is so easy to use that when my four year old was playing with it she accidentally turned it on and upon seeing the red “recording” light on the front thought something terrible was happening. She brought it over to me and tried to blame it on her sister. I believed her too, until I watched the very incriminating video she had unknowingly made, and so then we had a talk about lying.

But back to my point: the Flip recorder ($170 at Amazon.com) is so small and convenient that you can carry it in your purse to be quickly retrieved for capturing that first step, word, etc. It automatically adjusts for low light (I told you it was easy!), and the video quality is worthy of viewing on your big screen at home. Oh, and I recently discovered that it’s also a really great way to entertain kids on long road trips. Let them record and watch a video of themselves, then delete it later — that’s the beauty of digital.

I have never been known for being frugal, (certainly not when I’m craving things like Bettye Mueller pumps), but I’m really trying to watch my pennies lately, so throwing away money on extra postage — even if just a few cents — is really annoying. Standing in line at the post office is definitely out, so to figure out the amount of postage needed I use the post office’s online Postage Calculator.

Still it takes way too much brain power to figure out which stamps to use of the ones I have on hand without overpaying. What I really want is someone to tell me exactly which stamps to use so I can pay exact postage without any complicated equations. Coincidentally some brilliant person somewhere created a tool that does just that.

So remember how I mentioned that we were moving… oh, like 2 months ago? Well this week I finally started unpacking. Why such a long wait you ask; because, being the geniuses that we are, we decided to move our entire household and then take three successive trips out of town. Isn’t it lovely how things just work out so perfectly sometimes? (So hopefully that explains a little of why I’ve been AWOL with my posts.)

Naturally as we were packing for these trips we would need something that was somewhere in one these hundreds of boxes. So we have been randomly opening boxes and throwing things haphazardly around the house in such fashion as to create an incredibly huge mess.

Yesterday I decided to take back the house and restore order (or as much order as possible with two kids and a dog). I’d feel like I was making progress only to turn around and see my work undone by a toddler cyclone. For instance, we have this desk area in our kitchen that has become a dumping ground with layer upon layer of junk mixed with important papers, cell phones, chargers, ipods, tools, kid’s drawings, etc. It was driving me absolutely crazy. I spent three hours finding a place for everything, and I got all the kitchen counters completely cleared off. In the time it took me to say, “Hallelujah!” the pile had already started up again. I think I’m fighting a losing battle.

Chalkboards aren’t just for the classroom. In fact, we have loved kid-friendly chalkboard wall paint for a while now. With kids heading back to school, we’re really digging these cool and clever home accessories decked out in blackboard perfection.

	Not ready to commit to painting your wall? These removable chalkboard wall decals will add a fun touch to your family room, kitchen or play room — even stick them on closet doors or the fridge. Available in animal shapes or circles and squares $29-36 at etsy.com.
	Adorable chalk tags that you can use (and re-use… that’s the beauty of chalkboards!) anywhere. $5 at etsy.com.
	They might be called blackboards, but they don’t have to be black! We think this lime green board would look cute on the front door for notes from missed visitors. $14 at etsy.com
	We all want one of these chalkboard candles, and wouldn’t it make a perfect gift for teacher? $26 at paper-source.com.
	Even chalk has been given a new spin with convenient chalk markers. $13 at paper-source.com.