Since I have a toddler, I thought the Toddler Tools book line would be perfect for my house.

Listening Time is a great book for teaching your kids about how to be good listeners.  Both my eighteen month old and four year old like to read it.  It is a board book, so it can’t be destroyed either.  I love that it also helps to work on body parts too.  The illustrations in this book are great, and really get across what we want our children to do.  There is also humor intertwined into the story.  It is short enough that it definitely keeps even the shortest attention spans entertained.

Bye Bye Time is another board book that is good for those really hard times when we have to say bye to our kids.  It teaches our children how to comfort themselves when they are sad that we are leaving.  There is also advice at the end of the book parents and caregivers to make this transition easier like prepping your child and to be ready for tears.  The illustrations in this book are great too.  Madison can tell me the story without being able to read it (which is a huge plus).

Naptime is another great book in this series. Like the other books, this is board book. It also has the tips in the back of the book to help parents and caregivers with naptime.  I personally learned that Will should be getting one nap daily lasting 1 – 2 hours, and he should be getting 10 – 12 hours of sleep a night.  This book is all about a naptime routine and getting your little one down for some much needed rest.  Now, if this would only work on a 4 year old.    She likes the book; it just has not motivated her to take a nap (she quit naps at 18 months).

The last book in this series is Clean Up Time. That is something we all need at our houses.  This book rhymes, so it makes it all the more fun to clean up.  This too is a board book and also has the tips at the end to help parents and caregivers.  I personally agree with the “break it down” tip.  Will doesn’t often get overwhelmed at cleaning up; he just thinks it is a game.  However, Madison gets extremely overwhelmed if someone does not help her.  By breaking down what you are going to do (pick up the blocks first), it takes away from how huge of project it is going to be.

This Toddler Tools series is a great bunch of books.  They are books that are hard to destroy and have great lessons in them.  I highly recommend them in anyone who has a toddler in their house.

Up until recently, I had never heard of the Only Hearts Club.  The Only Hearts Club are real dolls for real girls. There are eight culturally diverse dolls.  They dress like real kids, are poseable, and are nine inches tall.  Their names are: Taylor Angelique, Karina Grace, Olivia Hope, Briana Joy, Lily Rose, Anna Sophia, Kayla Rae and Hannah Faith.  These girls form a club together called the Only Hearts Club and their motto is to “listen to your heart and do the right thing.”  For our house, these fit perfectly into Madison’s dollhouse.  There is another kind of doll out there that I cannot stand (I won’t name it), but these are a welcome alternative!  I love the positive message they are sending out to little girls.  They also have soft bodies which is great in my house (not that the kids are going to whack one another with them, but you never know).

They also have a line a books for your daughters to enjoy. We have the hardcover It’s Hard To Say Good-bye book.  The book about one of the girls losing her dog. One of the other girls goes to find another puppy for her and falls in love with the puppy herself.  I won’t tell you about the rest of the story, but it is about how the Only Hearts Club came about.  It is a cute short story and just the right length to hold young girls attention spans.  It also taught some morals without being obvious about it.

They even have Only Hearts Pets.  They are 2 1/2 inches tall and really cute.  They are really soft and each pet has its own name.  It also comes with a backpack clip.  The paws of each animal also have Velcro on them, so you are able to have them hold small objects like a pen or you can create a bracelet with secerql of them.  There are all sorts of pets also:  dogs, cats, monkeys, cows, pigs, frogs, and elephants.

All of these Only Hearts Club products are perfect for the little girls you have in your life.  They can be found at Target or online at The Only Hearts Club.  The Only Hearts Books retail at $3.99 each. The Only Hearts Club dolls retail at $15.99 each, and the Only Hearts Pets retail at $3.49 each.  These prices make this a very affordable present this holiday season.

Another affordable toy out there on the markets this year can be purchased at Macy’s. At $14.99, Skoodlez makes a great toy for your kids or a grab bag, and can be given to kids 4 – 12. The stuffed animal has weighed down hands and feet, so you can easy pose them and hang them.  The cool part is that there is a coin handing around the stuffed animals neck.  You take the code off the coin and use that to access the online world.  On the site, children are challenged to create their own stories.  There are three different settings, so you can taylor it to your child’s age.  Beginner is from 4 – 6, medium is from 7 – 9, and advanced is 10 – 12.  When they finish their story, they can share them Skoodlez community.  They can also print them out.

This makes the perfect gift for the kid who has everything.  The Everday Skoodlez line includes fifteen animals:  hippo, cat, dog, mouse, duck, lion, tiger, leopard, panda, bear, zebra, giraffe, monkeys, and elephant.  There is also twenty four holiday ones.  They is definitely something here for everyone.

Eebee’s adventures products are designed to help you and your baby transform everyday play into learning that lasts. These books definitely do that.

Eebee’s Bath Time Adventure is a pretty cool book. You are actually able to take it into the tub with you! You are able to follow along in the story and press certain things to hear the book squeak at you or what a sponge sounds like. When you submerge the book, you now are able to use the same thing so squirt water.

All About Me & You is another hit with my son Will.  There is a mirror in the back of the book.  The mirror alone makes my son laugh.  Each page of the book has directions like make a funny face into the mirror or give a kiss.  It has then touch their nose and finding their tummy too.  It is an extremely interactive book that will bring hours of giggle time to you home.  This book is also made out of carboard so, you don’t have to worry about your kids destroying it.

Eebee’s Laundry Time Adventures is an excellent cloth book that works on words, sounds, and textures.  There are some fine motor skills that get worked on too.  The book has you taking the towels out of the laundry bag and putting them in the washer among other things that you do when you are doing the laundry. I think I may have had just as much fun as Will with this book (don’t tell anyone).

Since Will loves to play peek-a-boo, eebee’s Peek-a-Boo Adventures was another hit in our house also.  This cloth activity book was again fun for both Will and me.  This book has eebee hiding in all sorts of places for us to play peek-a-boo with him.

At 18 months, it is really hard to find toys and books geared towards his age, and the eebee adventure books really do that.  We have had a blast with these books, and I can only recommend that everyone pick up a set.

Did you know that Baby Einstien has been around for 10 years?  I can’t believe it either.  Granted, my oldest child is only going to be five, so I’ve only been able to enjoy them for half the time they have been around.  That being said I love baby Einstein and all of their products.  We own a ton of Baby Einstein DVDs and books.  I can totally see how they are the #1 selling infant DVD line.  The best part of their DVDs is that they are timeless.  Madison will still watch the DVDs with her little brother Will (who is now 18 months old).  Their DVDs are some of the best ones out there in my opinion.  Not only do they entertain your children, they also learn from them. You can easily interact with your children and talk about what’s on the screen.  It is almost amazing how memorized little kids get while watching these DVDs.  I also love that their music collection.  We have used their Lullaby Classics CD with both of my children.  Baby Enstein’s book collection is also great.  Their books are very interactive.  They include your children as part of the story and require your children to interact with the book.  For example, in Touch and Feel Farm animals, they are able to feel a sheep’s wool, a cow’s nose, and a horses mane.  Will is very much into textures right now, so this is one of his favorite books. Madison still reads their See and Spy shapes book!  Each page asks you to look for a count certain items, and no matter how many times we do it, she still loves it!

Having been a huge fan of Baby Einstein for 5 years, I can only tell you that I highly recommend all of their products.  We have yet to have a product of theirs that we didn’t like.  Their products make great presents for you kids, a baby shower, or just for the fun of it.