Places You Must Go!! Art Knapps in South Surrey

One of the best places I have gone with my toddler, is the Art Knapps Nursery in South Surrey. http://artknappsurrey.com/ I only heard of it through word of mouth, but I'm sure all parents in the 'burbs know all about it. It's a wonderful place full of lush plants, like a typical nursery, but what sets this place apart from the rest is the entertainment for the kids. At this particular location, they offer an 18 hole mini-golf hidden amongst the greenery, an area with beautiful chickens and birds, a wooden playground, and the piece de resistance, a "Thomas the Tank" look a-like train ride though the park/nursery, complete with a tunnel to go through. My toddler LOVED it! After taking in all the outside attractions, inside the massive store there is a gigantic electrical train table complete with mountains and tunnels, that the kids can watch, and a Thomas the Tank, train table set up for the children to play with. You could easily spend hours at this locale, before your child is barely willing to leave. As with my son, I watch several parents having to carry their crying child out when it was time to go. And as the cashiers say, "There goes another satisfied customer." (This photo is me exactly 40 weeks pregnant!! I'm using my son to hide my belly.)

I should also mention, that they have thousands of beautiful home furnishings and decorations in the store as well, so if you thought the $2.50 was cheap for your child to have fun, think again, as I have yet to leave the store without spending at least $50.00 on a "must – have" for me. There is a little mini video of the train ride to get a better idea of what this place is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DepCmAs969A

Buttons

Buttons beckon to my son, like a compulsive itch that needs to be scratched. These little circles taking no effort to press, hold mystery and excitement as to what powers they may hold. Opening up doors that take you to somewhere new, turning on machines that whirl, rumble, and hum, stopping cars within a moment's time, calling a strange voice that wasn't there moments before. Buttons change the monotony of the moment.

It started innocently, us as naive parents, allowing their child to flirt with the control that a button commands, but quickly the demand for authority spiraled into an addiction, causing us to be on constant guard. The fallout from our decision, has caused the emergency help button to be pressed in the elevator countless times, the 9-1-1 on speed dial had to be erased, the dishwasher setting are always changed, and the traffic at each intersection passed during a walk, has had to stop for no other reason than the delight of my child. The pinnacle, thus far, has been the fire alarm pulled at the gym daycare he attends daily. The building's alarm rang at a noise level that could be heard from blocks away. All levels of the structure were evacuated, other than the gym itself, as we were aware of the false alarm. Traffic was stopped along Broadway, by three fire trucks racing to attend the possible emergency. And firemen dressed in their uniforms hovered in the daycare near the pulled alarm, while talking to the manager of the gym, and other adults in authority. Although my son sobbed in my arms knowing he was the culprit, this frantic tumult was not unnoticed. I believe, since then, his fascination with buttons and now, levers, has grown. The excitement with the possibility of danger is a strong urge that cannot be dismissed lightly.

My in-laws have moved into a brand new townhome, where they have a stacker washer and dryer, a microwave two feet off the ground, a water dispenser on the outside of the fridge, and a dish washer with flashing red lights, all of which are easily assessable by my son's little fingers. When these buttons are touched, something exciting happens, the least of it being, an adult comes running. Our nights together are spent in conversation and vain efforts in trying to deter my son from accessing these appliances. In vain, I mean, we left their house last Saturday, and the washer was running with a load that consisted of a book, two plastic bags, and an abundant amount of soap.

The battle between us and our son's desire to press buttons is ongoing. Innovative and creative reasoning, broken down to basic sentences is a constant puzzle that haunts us several times a day. Our final recourse is to threaten him with the idea that the fireman will come, even if he simply wants to press the buzzer on an intercom. I would advise against letting your little one follow the path we have blindly lead our child down, as the simple press of a button is now an action that irks us more often than we would like to admit.

Gravitating to a Genie? – Don’t

When coming up with a list of "must haves" for your baby's needs, I would recommend dropping the Genie from your list. Here's why...

Poop is poop, and there are only a few ways of ridding yourself of your baby's poop, without becoming overly creative. But in my opinion you are throwing your money away by purchasing a Genie and endless amount of re-fill cartridges. The Genie itself is about $30.00 and basically it's a poop silo. It stores all the used diapers, and is supposed to contain the smell, which it generally does, but after awhile, you will begin to smell a perfumey poop smell. My husband and I would either play rocks, paper, scissors, or barter with each other to finally decide who would get the lovely task of emptying the Genie, as the smell would be atrocious.

The re-fill cartridges are essentially long plastic garbage bag tubes. You tie one end, insert the diaper, close the lid of the Genie, twist and the diaper is sealed in a ball of plastic. Do this about 15 more times, you end up with a long, gigantic, smelly string of "pearls." Unless of course, the tie you did at the beginning, comes undone, and the balls of old diapers come spilling out when you empty it. Not a scratch and sniff sticker you want to scratch and sniff. The re-fill costs between $7-$9 and we would go through one every two or three weeks.

When you add the cost of diapers, and formula, and the inconvenience of having to constantly having to go out and get those items, (unless you are uber-organized,) the diaper genie, just became more of a hassle rather than a necessity. Our solution, which many environmentally friendly people may object too, was to simply use a plastic grocery bag for the down and dirty diaper and throw it in the garbage, and with the little poop factory we had going on, we were constantly taking the garbage out, not giving the dirty diapers much of a chance to emit it's odour in our house..... (or so we think, someone who doesn't have kids may think otherwise.)

Regardless, in my opinion, go out and buy a new pair of shoes, or 15 weeks worth of lottery tickets, either way, you'll be happier with your investment.