And A Tub Of Hot Fudge

One week into the new school and - not to be jinxy - Patrick is like a different person. Not just a different person from the anxious/resentful kid of last week but a different person from the angry/bored/anxious/resentful mess of a child who had been developing over the past few months.

Let me back up.

I liked our old school quite a bit. We will most likely send Caroline and Edward there. I think lots of different kinds of kids with lots of different kinds of learning styles would thrive there. Unfortunately Patrick was not one of them; although it took me (and Steve, but the children and their day-to-day'ness fall under my purlieu) a while to recognize this.

I knew that Patrick was becoming more and more irritable. I knew that we were having a hard time with him. Even my mother (who adores him) noticed that he was remarkably crabby during her last visit. But I didn't know whether this was just the age or his personality or what. In retrospect I think that Patrick was having a miserable time in school (on all levels) and the worse it got the less he talked and the angrier he became. As the weeks went by I realized that something, whatever it was, was seriously wrong and I started considering that maybe his school was part of the problem. I had met with them in October when they reported that his eyes were glassing over and his tongue was hanging out during math. I suggested he needed harder work; they suggested he needed more self-discipline. I promised to talk to Patrick about being less of a marmot and they promised to look into the fact that... oh to pick just one... he had been attending the wrong spelling class for two weeks but no one had noticed. Or that he (this is true) left entire pages of math worksheets unfinished except for doodling the page numbers into various lengths of pi - they did four straight weeks on the value of currency and how much Miguel had left after he bought a peach; Patrick has been a coin collector since he was four, you decide how much he enjoyed this. Or that he had asked for a more difficult just-right reading book but been told no, so the following week he brought home not one but two Dr. Seuss books (when challenged by me over this choice he pointed out that it was The Cat and the Hat COMES BACK - so, really, much more scope than the original.) Where was I? Oh, right looking into alternative schools for him. You know, I have been asked by a lot of people over the years whether we found it worthwhile to have our kid tested (Patrick has done WISC WIAT and SB-V) and prior to this my response has been mixed. I, personally, found it soothing and it has been occasionally helpful with the school but I had not yet found testing to be particularly actionable, if you know what I mean. However, as Patrick's year rapidly deteriorated (remind me to never tell you about the worst parent-teacher conference in history - there was shouting [Patrick's] mortification [mine] and malevolence [no comment]) I was very grateful that we had actual data to discuss when I called people in various districts seeking counsel. It's one thing to talk about your snowflake's unique pattern; it's another to say these are his numbers what do you suggest? The overwhelming consensus was to see if what-is-now-his-new-school would be willing to make a space for him; otherwise our district (Patrick's old school is not in our district) was willing to bump him from second grade into a third grade cluster for the latter half of the year at our neighborhood school and then take him into their magnet next year (they start in fourth grade.) I can imagine many children do well with grade skipping (Steve did) but I doubt that Patrick would be one of them. He's young and he's young - late June birthday plus general late social blooming - and it is hard to imagine him with kids a year older. 

So that was the deal, mostly, and those were the options and so far the new school is working out better than I had even hoped. Patrick comes home in a genial mood and he is excited again. Actually he might be a little too excited. Over the weekend they had to come up with an experiment and share it with the class. Patrick wanted to make rock candy, so he did and it went over well. Giddy with success and fired with scientific curiosity Patrick paused in the middle of putting away his clothes last night and contemplated the electrical outlet in his room. What would happen - he wondered - if he placed a quarter on the prongs of the nightlight as it was pulled only partially from the socket... OH MY GOD! Patrick accidentally started an electrical fire in his room last night and scared us so badly we took turns yelling at him and himself enough that he continued to sob off and on for an hour. This morning I found him packing the blackened quarter and the half-melted nightlight into a sandwich bag in order to bring it into class to share the dire consequences of his latest experiment.

Speaking of cautionary tales, Peeks left this comment yesterday:

"It is rather a shame that our heroine was cooked and eaten following the soon-to-be infamous Julia / Twin City meetup.

But a Cautionary Tale for our times will be born."

I forwarded this to Steve who replied that reports of my death have probably been greatly exaggerated. When I initially told him I was going to meet the internet and asked him to meet me there afterward just in case anyone wanted to murder me he was scornful. "Why," he asked, "would anyone want to kill you; they don't even know you." I thought this was rude because it implied that the scenario might be different if they actually did know me.    

He was right though. I went out and met chunks of the local internet and not one person tried to kill me. Not even a little bit. It was fun although it reminded me slightly of my wedding. We invited about sixty people when we got married and before the event I looked forward to catching up with all kinds of old friends. When I did the math, however, I realized that speaking to each person for three minutes would take up three solid hours. Five minutes and the party is over and I haven't even had cake. The internet gathering felt like that. I wanted to talk to everyone but I failed. It was fun, though. It was great to get out and fascinating to meet completely new people and then Steve picked me up and the two of us went for an early birthday (his birthday is today - Happy Birthday Steve) sushi. I think I will do it again and I think next time we'll go bowling. I like bowling as I like most of the beer sports.

Moving on, I want to talk about presents because I am dying over here. I have gotten one (1) present for one (1) person (Edward) and then I have a stack of scribbled notes with question marks to denote that I have a gift idea but I am either not sure if it is a good idea or I am sure it is a good idea but I don't know where to get it or not sure it is a good idea and also not sure where to get it.

So as always around this time of year I am soliciting suggestions and offering my own:

Caroline - Caroline likes Patrick, dancing, pulling bread knives from countertops, and answering my rhetorical questions ("Where did I put the phone?" I mutter. "I don't know!" squeaks a voice from the region of my kneecaps.) She also keeps draping things around herself, like hand towels and bibs and anything she can rummage from the laundry basket. I am thinking about getting her a set of dress-up clothes, preferably something with a few different pieces. Any thoughts on where to get something toddler friendly (internet preferred)? Also I think she would like one of those dolls that you get to snap and button and lace and zip - you know what I mean? And maybe something in a play clock? Finally, I thought she and Edward could get a toy kitchen for their big present. I have looked online but the sheer volume of choice has staggered me. I want it to be, you know, fun and big enough for two kids to play with simultaneously. Any suggestions?

Edward - Edward likes Matchbox cars and Thomas the Train cars and school buses and airplanes and dump trucks and giant excavators and helicopters... and music. He likes pretending to feed people and things. He likes to count when we go up the stairs and he likes to identify letters when we read books. As an aside I have been trying to work with him from the sheets his speech therapist gave me and he finds this HILARIOUS. He says "Uh" and I say "Uh-PUH, Uh-PUH" as I pull my hand away from my mouth with the p sound just like she taught me and Edward literally falls over with mirth. I think I am doing it wrong.

The only present I have gotten so far is for Edward and it is this remote controlled car (well similar - I got the police car) because Patrick has one he built out of Legos (oh! that was a good present for a seven year old. I'll link it although I think you can do better on the price than Amazon) and Edward will lie on his stomach and watch Patrick drive that car around for hours.

Any other thoughts for two year olds? How about seven? I think Patrick will get a portable chess set (any chess people out there? any nice sets to recommend that aren't too nice?) and some Legos. Board games? I find that I am stuck in 1976 when it comes to games for children: Sorry, Life (which is a terrible game; remember how you would get mad if you wound up being a teacher and you only won if you got to be a doctor or lawyer? what the hell was that about?) Clue and Monopoly... any newer family games to consider?

For nephews three through seven I am thinking about one of the wonderful capes from BeeBee Bug and/or subscriptions to Lego Club (you get a "magazine" - I think it is a big ad but whatever - and a new small Lego set delivered every two months for a year; that's cool) and/or subscriptions to one of the Cobblestone magazine (they have lots of different ones that are great and kids of a certain age always love their own mail.)      

Oh! I almost forgot. I have three featured readers over the next week or two whose ads I will be rotating on the sidebar and I would love it if you check out their stuff. Shawna is a photographer with exceptionally lovely things for sale here. Grandpa Ernie (his daughter is a reader and helps run his etsy shop) makes THE MOST BEAUTIFUL wooden toys for sale here. And Scrollwork Designs has jewelry for sale here that makes me chew my thumb in greed.

So, how goes your holiday shopping and what has you excited this year?

PS What can I say? I LIKE buying presents.

Comments

[Cornelia]

Any games from the Cranium series. They're generally teamwork oriented and isn't entirely based on getting to the end first-- small reduction in competition. They have some kid versions, too. http://www.hasbro.com/cranium/en_US/

[KellyH]

Would Caroline like some play silks as well as dress up clothes? I think you can find them lots of places, but I know I saw them at magiccabin.com.

This is the play kitchen we have and it works very well for 2 kids: http://www.step2.com/product.cfm?product_id=1218 My four- and seven-year-old daughters still play with ours and we've had it 5 or 6 years now.

[Natasha]

Check out Qwirkle -- like Scrabble but with shapes and colors.

[gretchen from lifenut]

I second the Cranium games. All of them are a blast to play.

Apples to Apples isn't a board game. It's a card game, fast-paced, lots of laughs.

For Caroline, go to Magic Cabin dot com. They have play silks/dress-up stuff in every color. I think you could find everything on your list there, actually.

I've just done more Christmas shopping for you than I have for my family...sigh. Not going well this year.

[Asp]

This might apply more to your request for audio books, but I loved loved loved the Great Brain series of books when I was a kid. For the life of me, I can't remember quite how old I was when I read them, but I think I was right around Patrick's age. Still, if Patrick is working his way through Harry Potter on his own, I doubt he would have any issues.

If you don't already own it, I'd also recommend the BBC's Planet Earth dvd set, since I recall him liking that sort of thing.

Now if someone could just tell me what to get my batshit crazy, invented her own religion, believes gays will burn in a firey pit and that the President is literally the son of Satan future mother-in-law, I'll be set for this year. I've been told I'm barred from tranquilizer darts or a statue of Jesus that is also a magic 8 ball, so I'm at a loss.

[Julia]

Asp -

Personalized note cards.

No I am serious. She can use them to write hate mail to... well everybody.

Seriously. Note cards. With initials.

[Chi-An]

So glad to hear that Patrick is enjoying his new school. I was one of the few people who wasn't yelling "Move him!" when you asked for advice, but I would have if I had read this post.

Chess sets: I'd just hike down to your local game shop and see what they have. Doesn't need to be fancy; I think for Patrick you can skip the ones that have the moves printed on them. My son just about wet his pants when he saw the Lego portable Chess set (http://shop.lego.com/product/?p=852676&LangId=2057&ShipTo=US); it combined three of his favorite activities: chess, Legos, and scattering teeny tiny pieces of things over the rug so Mommy could step on them and hurt her feet. But I don't advise it, because see above. And it's actually a little difficult to play the chess game b/c you have to work to remember what Lego person matches up w/ which chess piece.

Does Patrick have Snap Circuits? My son got them for his birthday and went bananas over them. Maybe it will channel his experimental urges more safely.

For family games, some of our favorites are Qwirkle, Set, and Carcassone.

Aaaand, one of my favorite gifts to give (besides books) is art supplies- because most kids can have large amounts of fun with a pack of construction paper and several rolls of scotch tape, with a few markers tossed in. And pipe cleaners!

ps I remember hating Life yet playing it a lot; I distinctly remember being terribly upset around age 7 because I ended up with no children. I think I talked my brother into letting me do an off-the-books adoption, i.e. paying x dollars into the bank to get a child.

[elise]

What about that game where you make up definitions of words? Seems like something Patrick might get into, heck he probably knows the real definitions of the words. Balderdash is the name of it.

There's a lot of books out there like Dangerous Book for Boys along with chemistry kits and other experimental type kits.

[sheilah]

We had a heck of a time getting the local school district to do anything about getting Evan in gifted classes or promoting him. They only responded when we finally got him into a school who would advance him directly into 2nd grade (he is only six but has a late b-day - Dec. 12) and sign him up for gifted classes. His new school tested him and had no problem moving him up when they saw his results (it's a private school). That's when the public school sent us a letter saying they would 'look into' moving him up. We sent a letter saying no, thank you. He is doing very well now (they are also on this money thing which Evan aces all the time). We still only get anything less than 100%s when he is too lazy to follow the instructions (he is very good at adding things in his head and just writes down the answer...).

Evan likes word puzzles so I got him a couple of 'Find the Word' books. I also want to get him a game so I will be back to see what other readers suggest to you.

[Kristi]

I ADORE buying presents. I don't have enough time right now to go search out links but I did want to pass along Kim's blog about her gifted children. She is constantly advocating for them and you might get a kick out of some of her posts.

She used to write for BabyCenter and now is a PR rep for a few different companies, and such... but anyway!

http://hormonecoloreddays.blogspot.com/

Love reading your blog, of course :) Your posts are always so interesting!

[Regina]

There are some Harry Potter related games, if he is getting into the books. Patrick might also enjoy a themed chess game with characters from a book or movie.
The twins might enjoy tons of plastic dishes and plastic food with their kitchen.
If you get Caroline a doll, save yourself a lot of trouble and get her one without any functions!
They have lots of Disney dress-up stuff at wal-mart if she has seen any of the movies.

[jen]

blokus is a fun family/7-yr-old game although it makes my non-spatially-gifted brain hurt. However, you can't play scrabble (or even bananagrams) all the time. I guess.

[Stephanie O]

Yay about the new school! :)

We just recently got the game Blokus and are really liking it. There's enough strategy to keep my husband and I interested! Amazing to play a game with the kids and *enjoy* it. Another game I haven't tried yet, but recommended by the same mom who liked Blokus is Labyrinth. She said it keeps the adults entertained as well as the kids, so there's probably enough strategy for Patrick (and you and Steve!). Amazon has both (the labyrinth search will pick up lots of books unless you search in the games section).

[Gillian]

findit.com Great travel or sit still in the waiting room toys. Grandson loved the sewing cards and stringing beads. The best part of the beads is realizing that a cheerio will fit on the string and then you can eat it. This is funnier than anything else in the world.

[Erin]

I got all my 3 and 4 year old boys (three nephews and one close friend) one of the capes -- I LOVE them! It was a great suggestion! Personally, I would go for a wooden play kitchen and food if you can -- they look much better and wear better! The are, of course, very expensive, but well worth it, I think.

[lizardek]

Did you know that Lego has board games? Board games you have to build first and then play? There are 10 of them, all different. Google Lego board games: guaranteed awesome!

[yasmara]

Thanks for organizing the meet-up Julia! I'm definitely up for bowling.

--Alecia/yasmara

[Juno]

Patrick might like the books by Blue Balliet - Chasing Vermeer, the Wright 3, and Finding Calder. The are chapter books about 3 smart kids with quirky interests, have mysteries, and have pictures with puzzles in them.

[Marsha]

O.K., I was the one who suggested to you way back that second grade sucks and that if it's managable you could supplement and stick it out to third grade. Right.

If you'd said *then* what you just said *now*, I'd have suggested switching instead. I want a redo.

Also: there are Lego (or maybe "lego") digital cameras and MP3 players out there that my kid is receiving for Christmas. V. Cool. Also: try thinkgeek.com

[katie]

I am getting Qwirkle as a family gift, it is supposed to be good for younger children (like dominos) but also takes strategy when they are older.

[Morgan]

I loudly second the recommendation for Blokus - it's awesome. I'm a gifted specialist and my students also LOVE the card game SET. That one he can play by himself or with others. He might also like little books of Sudoku or KenKen puzzles, though KenKen might still be a little above his pay grade. Jenga is a great classic to own.

We got my 2 year old a Step 2 Kitchen (Lifestyle Party Kitchen) for her b-day and it's awesome, though maybe a little small for 2. But Step 2 makes much bigger ones. I like the wood kitchens from Little Tikes and Pottery Barn Kids a lot, too, but she's a bells and whistles kid so I wanted the electronics. She adores the sizzling stovetop. Perhaps because we've given her cast off cell phones instead of toy cell phones to play with, she also is a stickler for things looking realistic so we decided on the look of the Step 2's over the more stylized and retro old ones.

[Christy]

He might be a year or two young for it, but you never know, so I'll recommend "Settlers of Catan" as a game for Patrick. Very fun "conquering a kingdom" game, with very specific rules and endless possibilities and ways to win. If you DO think he's too young for it, PLEASE put it on a future list for him! Its a wonderfully fun game.

[Elizabeth]

I have a wooden kitchen that my daughter and son use together without too much fuss. It is insanely sturdy and may be the best toy purchase I ever made.

http://www.mrtoys.com/childrens-furniture-guidecraft-furniture-guidecraft-complete-kitchen-center-p-3168.html

It was great meeting you and so much fun getting to know some of the other readers of your blog. And I never felt the urge to off you. Not even once.

[christine]

Ikeep seeing the Bananagrams game at toy stores and thinking it looked like a nice, basic game -- not too many convoluted rules to figure out. I think it's like Scrabble, but without a game board. (and a quick look at amazon also lists a "Scrabble apple", I assume to win back all the shoppers who would prefer to have a fruit-themed word game.)

[Nicky at Not My Mother]

No help on the presents, I'm afraid, although here in Aus we have places like the Australian Geographic Shop (http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/shop/index.htm - we really haven't embraced internet shopping) which sells science experiment type packs, you know, like collecting bugs or doing experiments. If you have something similar Patrick might enjoy?

I'm SO glad Patrick's school is working better. You stopped my heart with him putting the quarter in the powerpoint. Just tell him that experiments are brilliant but anything to do with electricity is off limits for now.

[Annika]

We sent in the form to join Club Lego about a million years (six months?) ago and still no magazine, so I recommend against counting on that.

[SaraC]

I second the Blokus recommendation...my 6 year old is getting it after we played it at a friends house and for once in my life I did not want to poke my eye out with a stick after playing a children's game.

[Nicky at Not My Mother]

Here's a slightly better link for the Aust Geographic shop, which shows the sort of thing I mean:

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/shop/science.htm

[Molly]

I kind of like this wooden play kitchen: http://www.digitalgiftstore.com/53170.html
it's not all girly looking.

Board games? http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/guides/the_2009_good_gift_games.php
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Board_Game_Gift_Guide_2008

[melissa in NY]

Go to mindware.com. I got the catalog in the mail and by the time my 6 year old and 8 year old were done with it, I had no sticky notes left. I purchased the United States bingo, a robot kit that you use a soda can to complete, and some color puzzle game for two players. AND, they threw in a book of brain teasers for free!! I love free!

[liz]

You might check out the Melissa and Doug food toys. Really fun. We got the cookie set for our toddler, which I thought was too adorable to pass up: http://tinyurl.com/yhda47e

Also, Matthew Baldwin's board game guides are fantastic: http://tinyurl.com/yfnck2p

Lots of interesting games and some that would be appropriate for someone Patrick's age, I think. Oh, here's one where he did an list just for kids: http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/001591.html Blokus is lots of fun.

Great descriptions, so you know what you're getting into. He hasn't steered me wrong yet.

[Jodi]

Have you visited the Constructive Playthings catalog? It is so great.

http://www.constplay.com/cgi-bin/constplay_cgi.sh/WService=constplay/constplay.com/family/default.htm

[Cara]

Caroline needs a bag of long, flowy scarves in all different bright colors. And maybe some "dance" shoes. Really just any dressy, fancy shoe for the play box will do that.

Edward needs a flashlight. Seriously. And a bug collecting box, if you can stomach it.

If you can find it, I bet Patrick would love Smath. Scrabble, but with math. I had it at about his age (and I was alot like him) and we had a blast playing it.

[AmandaL]

About the electrical outlets (sorry if this is repeated above, skimmed and didn't see it): all the outlets in our house are "upside down", so that the double slots are on the bottom and the grounding hole is on the top. We had no idea why that was until our electrician came in on something unrelated and told us that it's common to see it in commercial buildings because the it happened fairly frequently that a paper clip or other metal object ended up falling down behind a desk and would land on a plug slightly extended from the wall, shorting out. We had been contemplating switching them all around (not difficult to do), but with our little dude liking to experiment, we thought they seemed juuuust fine the way they are. If you want to switch the ones in your house, it's easy to do!

[Jane]

Last year I bought both of my then 6-yr-old grandsons a membership to the Brickmaster program through Lego. Every two months, they got a Lego magazine and Lego kit. $40. They loved it! One of my daughters and her son had a Lego-outing each time his kit came--a mom and son afternoon at a coffee shop where they put the kit together and had some quality time (she has four kids, so some one-on-one time is always good). I'm repeating it this Christmas.

[Jane]

Oops, I see now you are familiar with the Brickmaster Lego stuff! Yup, it's good.

[toby]

More support for Blokus. Kiddo #1 loves it (he's 5) and we don't hate it!

Also, for the twins, kiddo @2 (3) was obsessed with phones. We have a phone that when you dial your own phone #, it plays a recorded message you've recorded. Kiddo #2 loves it and learned his phone # in about an hour using it. It also teaches dialing 911. It's from Learning Resources. We have the Pretend and Play one. I see now that there's one that does even more than ours, the PhoneSmart Teaching Telephone. Don't know if that's good, but ours is totally adequate.

[Melissa]

For Patrick - LEGO NXT Robot kit. We bought one for our 7 yo last year and he loves it. http://www.nxtprograms.com has lots of great robots you can make with the basic kit.

I like the children's kitchen items at IKEA
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/10401/

I also suggest Lego for Caroline and Edward. The Tubes Experiment Set 9076 is great. http://www.legoeducation.us/store/detail.aspx?KeyWords=tubes&by=20&ID=1471&c=0&t=0&l=0

Congratulations on the new school. It's lovely to read that Patrick is getting his spark back.

[Carolina]

Quality board games for Patrick--YES! Definitely go to the trouble at this age in Patrick's life to learn a bit about and get into really good "German Style" or "Strategy" board games. It used to be hard to find this type of game, but now in the land of the internet, it doesn't matter that Target doesn't carry it.

Emphatic second on the previously suggested Set, Blokus, and Quirkle. Those are all more or less logic games (no real "story" component, just pure strategy). Other games in this category include Tantrix and (for the letter loving Patrick, perhaps ideal), Quiddler. Another fascinating one that is more in this category than the next is called Khet, and is a little like chess except it involves lasers and some of the pieces have mirrors, so that your strategy includes predicting how the lasers' paths will change when reflected in the mirrors.

Carcassonne, the Amazing Labrynth and Settlers of Cataan have more of a story as well as strategy. This might be more appealing to the family at large as time goes on. Other popular games in this category that Patrick might find playable include Primordial Soup (aka Ur Soup, originally published in German but pretty easy to find on the internet), Chrononauts, Citadels, Wizwar, Ticket to Ride and (I could not recommend this game more strongly--there is nothing like it) Roborally.

Of those, Chrononauts and Wizwar should be relatively cheap, as they are published in a more intentionally low-budget way and with smaller pieces etc etc. Chrononauts is published by Looney Labs and they have a number of excellent games that are pretty minimalist but are well-designed enough to allow for hours of fun. I now fear that WizWar may still be out of print, but I think the hope is that it will be re-released soon. Hmmm.

In general, when looking for games, do your research via boardgamegeek.com--it is *the* place for thoughtful conversation and reviews of board games on the internet, and any board game you can think of will be on there along with plenty of reliable information and conversation about it, I am sure of it.

Oh, and evidently they have a Holiday Gift Guide this year: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Board_Game_Gift_Guide_2009

That's worth checking out. You'll see that a lot of what people have recommended to you is in the "All-time favourites) sectiong. For Patrick, go for the "family games with older children" section--those games are more his level than the "family games with younger children" section, which is more like stuff the five of you could play in a couple of years.

[Debby]

Rush Hour; probably the standard edition. And a few extra sets of cards. Each card has a puzzle for you to set up, then you have to solve it by moving the cars back and forth. The puzzles range from simple (age 8 and up) to quite complex.

If you sew, you might want to make a small drawstring bag to hold all the cars and the decks of cards (assuming you get extra sets).

[amanda]

I got my niece a "dress up and play veterinarian" kit from fat brain toys and I predict it will be a HUGE hit. Really, I could spend hours looking through their online catalog:

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/

[amanda]

ok also i just saw the website has a "wizard" for finding gifts. enter interests, age range, gender, cost and ta da! recommendation.

[Eli]

Game ideas for Patrick....Blokus (new) and Mastermind (old)

Great job getting Patrick's school situation figured out!

[Sarah]

I second Settlers of Catan for Patrick. It's a fabulous game and will keep you interested as well. I think he might really enjoy the strategy aspect of the game.

[Janet]

When my daughter was 2, we got her a kid-friendly digital camera and she loved it! She's 3 now and she it has grown with her...she still loves it. Kept her away from my camera. It's a V-Tech camera from Target.

[Jennifer]

I'm guessing that Patrick would really enjoy Mastermind. His appreciation of chess would lead be to believe that he might like other strategy games like Stratego and Risk. Do you guys have any Playmobil toys? And the Haba brand has everything from delightful wooden play food to wood block replicas of various world landmarks and architectural styles. Try a site like Moolka for a good selection.

[Caroline]

Board games: My six and nine-year-olds like Blokus, Pentago, and Apples to Apples. I am ordering Quirkle for the 6-year-old.
Do you guys have Wedgits? We got them for my daughter when she was around two, and they still get played with.

[Rayne of Terror]

Quadrilla marble run for Patrick

[Beth S]

ooh, for Patrick you need to get Settlers of Catan. I know it is rated for older kids but he will love it and won't have any trouble understanding the rules. We play it with our 7 year old ALL the time(he is so like Patrick it scares me). It is so fun, when we first got it, we played every single night for 5 weeks straight.

[babelbabe]

my guys dig Phase 10 (a card game like Uno but better), and we all like Apples to Apples. Likewise is also fun.

wasn't it you who linked to the tutu? i think dress-up clothes are perfect but don't spend oodles - just hit the party store for some hats and props, and the fabric store. also, my wedding veil lives in our dress-up box...