Last Minute Stocking Stuffer Ideas

by Sasha Have you talked to Santa lately? How is he doing with stocking stuffers? A little brainstorming session just happened over in the Kids in the Capital Facebook Group, looking for non-food stocking stuffer ideas. Here is what everyone came up with:

• fancy socks (my 3 year old has a fetish)
• little wind up toys (Mrs. Tiggywinkles and Tag Along Toys both have little bins of them near the cash - my 16 month old can't get enough of them)
• stickers
• Fisher Price Little People figurines
• hair accessories
• craft supplies (crayons, markers, finger paint, play doh)
• flashcards
• an activity book or colouring book (Laurie says she always got an activity book in her stocking to keep the kids busy until their parents woke up! Brilliant!)
• Christmas ornament
• finger puppets
• bath stuff (shampoo, body wash, soap, toothbrush)
• roll-a-soap (available from Avon or the small neighbourhood toy stores, according to Rene: "It looks like that deodorant that rolls on and it comes in different colours . They can roll it all over their body thinking they are painting themselves and really it is soap."
• underwear (panties are a big deal for the toilet training set!)
• puzzles
• small musical instruments (Amy's little one still loves to dance around with the maraca she got in her stocking last year)
• toy cars/trucks
• mini board books

Many thanks to Jennifer, Rene, Amy, Donna, Laurie, Pam, and Christine for all your great ideas!

What do you find in your stocking?

Sasha is an Ottawa mom and blogger who only occasionally writes about herself in the third person. She blogs about losing a few things (weight is just one of them) at Sasha Loses It, and about everything else in her Rambling Notebook. You can also find her ~ far too frequently ~ on Twitter at @sasharambles.

Our ninth winner of a Family Pass to the Canadian Mint is Andrea Santos!

If you leave a comment on any post for the duration of the giveaway, you are entered to win. Additional comments are not required and won't increase your chances of winning (though they are always welcome).

HOW TO ENTER

We are going to be giving out one pass a day for the next 3 days. To enter leave a comment on any one of the giveaway posts or tweet about the giveaway:

I’d love to win a family pass to the @canadianmint from #kidsinthecapital this holiday season!  http://www.kidsinthecapital.ca/?p=6655

Only one entry will count and you can only win once.

Winners will be picked each day from all comments and tweets received by 8:00pm. If you'd like to know more about this giveaway and the Canadian Mint, please read our introduction post.

Flashback: Moms helping moms

As the Holidays quickly approach there are some great posts from the archives that remind of us of the wonderful things we can do within our community. Check out Sasha's post from last November. by Sasha

‘Tis the season for giving. And while we’re busy making our lists and checking them twice, our thoughts often extend beyond friends and family to the wider community.

Giving feels good.  And if you can also clean out the closets, re-purpose outgrown kid stuff, or indulge your crafty side at the same time, then so much the better.  And with that in mind, here are some ideas for moms looking to help other moms this holiday season.

The Food Bank

The Food Bank – it’s not just about the food. The food bank also accepts baby care items, such as diapers and wipes. Something we like to do at the office around Christmas time is pass the hat and then a bunch of us go on a shopping spree in the baby aisle. It doubles as a team building exercise: the folks with older children reminisce, and we tease the young single guys who have no idea what babies need. Two Ottawa Moms have also started a Diaper Drive for the Ottawa Food Bank.  See their Facebook page for more information.

The Snowsuit Fund

If you’ve dusted off last year’s snowsuit and can see 3 inches of ankle between boot and suit, then consider donating it to the Snowsuit Fund. Gently used winter outerwear can be dropped off at any local Canadian Tire or Brown’s Cleaners, or at the Snowsuit Fund depot (225 Donald Street, Unit 134).

Getting Crafty

For those with a crafty side, Yarn Forward accepts new, hand-knit or crocheted hats, mitts and scarves for the Snowsuit Fund. They also keep a stash of customer-donated yarn that you can use for this purpose. Similarly, Wool Tyme keeps a yarn stash and collects blankets for Project Linus.

Ottawa area hospitals also accept knitted and crocheted newborn hats, as well as blankets and sleepers.  Details vary between hospitals – call the volunteer office at your local hospital for more info.

Young Moms

St. Mary’s Home provides a wide range of support for young moms, from prenatal education and health care to ongoing support for mom, dad, and baby. Usually, they accept donations of used baby and maternity clothing (now, if I could just decide whether I’m done with those oh-so-sexy panel jeans).  Currently, however, their donation room is undergoing renovations, so they are directing donations down the street to Chez Mère Bruyère, where they will also be available to the St. Mary’s moms.

So there are just a few ideas, what are yours?

Sasha is an Ottawa mom and blogger who only occasionally writes about herself in the third person. She blogs about losing a few things (weight is just one of them) at Sasha Loses It, and about everything else in her Rambling Notebook. You can also find her ~ far too frequently ~ on Twitter at @sasharambles.

Parents in the Capital: Meet Sasha

Ottawa has some wonderful bloggers and we are lucky that many of them are Kids in the Capital contributors and readers! We want to share some of our favorite Ottawa parent bloggers on a more regular basis so we have introduced a series of posts called Parents in the Capital. Say hello to Sasha!

Tell us about yourself and your family. I'm mom to 2 marvelous little girls, wife to DH, and a little cog in a great big telecommunications company. Baby Em is 10 months old, and I'll be home with her until the end of the summer. Miss Bea is 2 and a half, walking and talking and being incredibly cute when she's not being incredibly stubborn.

What is your favourite activity to do with your kid(s) in Ottawa? We are total museum junkies, and don't go nearly often enough. We also love walking the NCC trails - the ones I loved cycling so much as a care-free single - and have recently taken up geocaching.

What is your favourite at home activity to do with your kid(s)? Hands down favourite is jamming on the piano in the evenings. Sometimes DH plays and Miss Bea dances, other times they bang out delightfully cacophonous duets.

What was the biggest surprise that parenthood has brought into your life? The biggest surprise has definitely been how much joy can come from something so challenging. Who knew that learning the real meaning of the word "sleep deprivation" could be this much fun? It's incredibly rewarding to discover what you are actually capable of.

What parenting tips/advice do you wish you'd known when you first became a parent? Get Out. Go for walks, go to the mall, go to a museum: just get yourself out of the house. And Get Help. When someone offers help, accept it. And when they don't, ask for it.

Tell us about your blog and how you discovered blogging. In the last months of my second pregnancy, I spent a lot of time researching things to do with an infant in Ottawa. By the time I was done I had amassed far more ideas than I knew what to do with, and decided to share them online. Then I discovered that Kids In The Capital was already doing that! So I took some great advice, and decided to just let my blog ramble around until it found which direction it wanted to go. It's rambling still...

What do you love best about being a parent in Ottawa? I love Ottawa. It's just big enough to have everything we need, and small enough not to be... big. There are so many things to do as a family, many of which are already talked about on this blog. But most of all, I love the wonderful, supportive community of Ottawa parents that I have found through social media.

Thanks Sasha!

TeleHealth Ontario

by Sasha When I showed up at the hospital at 4:30 this morning, the staff were friendly. And when someone asked the nurse how he was enjoying his first night on triage, I joked that this was not what a nervous mom wants to hear.

I do have one complaint about the exchange, though: some derogatory comments made about TeleHealth. The gist was that without TeleHealth, I would not have shown up.

I can tell you that without TeleHealth, I would have been at emergency not just tonight, but several times in the past few years.

My first call was for a miscarriage. In the middle of the night (isn't it always the middle of the night?), the pain and bleeding suddenly got much worse. The last place I wanted to be right then was a hospital waiting room. Telehealth saved both me and the system the burden of that trip.

Another call. This time, a 1 year old with high fever and vomiting. But perhaps the most disturbing was the extreme lethargy. I hardly recognized my usually vivacious daughter. Telehealth told me to administer water, a tablespoon at a time, every 5 minutes. It worked. And once again, saved everyone a visit to emerg.

These are not the only times. This is just what I can remember as I peck away on my phone in a woken-at-4-am hospital-waiting-room stupor.

I want to reiterate: the staff were kind, even if they did make me feel silly for being there. And I recognize that the job they do is tough, and that they deal with a lot of unpleasantness. But I think it is important to understand that when I call TeleHealth, it's to try and avoid a hospital trip. Without it, I would have shown up anyway.

And they don't get to - or have to - talk to me when I don't.

The number for TeleHealth Ontario is 1-866-797-0000 . You can talk to a Registered Nurse 24-7. And if there's a wait you have the choice to hold the line or get a call-back.

Sasha is an Ottawa area mom, blogger, and fan of the Oxford comma. This post first appeared on her blog as Talking TeleHealth.

International Museum Day: May 18

by Sasha

Did you know that tomorrow is International Museum Day? We are lucky to so have many world-class museums right here in Ottawa, not to mention a wide range of community museums scattered throughout the region. Why not visit one? Admission to the museums of Nature and Science and Technology will be free, and there will be special activities at the Museum of Civilization and the War Museum.

Or if the 18th doesn't work for you, here are some other free ways into Ottawa area museums:

The Ottawa Public Library lends passes for the Museums of Civilization, Science and Technology, Nature, and the National Gallery. The passes cover a family of 4-5 (the OPL catalogue has the specifics for each pass). They tend to be hot commodities, but at any given time there tend to be a half dozen or so checked-in at various branches throughout the city. So why not play museum roulette: pick a pass that’s available at a branch near you, and off you go! Just search for ‘Museum Pass’ in the online catalogue.

Admission to the Museum of Civilization (including the Children’s Museum) and the Canadian War Museum, is free every Thursday from 4 until 8pm. It is also free on Canada Day (July 1) and Remembrance Day (November 11).

The Museum of Nature is also free on Thursday afternoons (from 5 to 8 pm), as well as on Earth Day (April 22), and Canada Day (July 1).

The Museum of Science and Technology doesn’t have a weekly freebie, but they are free on Canada Day (July 1).

The Canada Aviation and Space Museum and the Agriculture Museum are free from 4 to 5pm. Every day. How cool is that? And the Agriculture Museum is also free on Canada Day.

The National Gallery (including the Museum of Contemporary Photography) is free on Thursdays after 5, and for children under 12 all the time.

What is your favourite Ottawa-area museum?

Sasha is mom to 2-year-old Miss Bea, and 4 month old Baby Em.  Her ramblings can also be found on her blog, The Rambling Stroller.