We love blocks in our home. They offer endless possibilities for play and keep my little guy happy for hours. We recently had the opportunity to try out the K’NEX Sesame Street Neighborhood Collection thanks to K’NEX and Team Mom.

We received the Elmo set (these sets also come in Cookie Monster or Ernie) and as you can see above, my son enjoyed his playtime with the blocks. They’re just big enough not to be frustrating for small hands and best of all, the entire set didn’t come with a million tiny parts! Reasonably priced at $9.99-$19.99, these sets would make for some fantastic Christmas presents for the little people on your list.

K’NEX is also sponsoring the Make a K’NEXion Video Contest. The 10 best videos will be featured on KNEX.com and the winning video will receive $1,000 worth of K’NEX Toys! To enter and for official rules, please click here.

On the day before Thanksgiving, while most people are preparing their shopping lists and braving the crowds at the supermarket, my little family was up bright and early at 5 AM to head to the hospital. E.B. had a dentist trip a few weeks ago where it was determined that he had a serious cavity of epic proportions that had to be fixed. Great, no problem, I thought.

Until the dentist informed me that he would have to be admitted to the hospital and put to sleep to have it done.

This, dear readers, is why I haven’t been posting or nearly as inspired to write here. It’s one thing to have a cavity filled, but quite another when your four year old has to be admitted to the hospital and put to sleep to have it done. I have been an absolute basket case and trying to hold it all together.

In any case, E.B. did better than fine. He had a pulpotomy and the dentist warned us that if he saw anything else that needed to be fixed, we should do it now. We agreed and E.B. came back from surgery with 4 silver caps in his mouth. The worst part of the whole experience was the effects of the anesthesia on him. I had no idea a child could become so crazed when given anesthesia. It took Cracked Daddy and I both each standing on one side of the bed to keep him IN the bed until they came to take him to surgery. The sedative they gave him beforehand actually had the opposite effect. Sedated? Ummm…no. More like climbing the walls! The procedure took a little less than an hour and he was back in his room scarfing down popsicles, chicken noodle soup, and jello. We took him home about an hour later where he slept for three hours straight and then woke up raring to go.

Big props go out to my mom. After he was brought back to the room after surgery, E.B. was still a little crazed from the whole experience and NOBODY, and I do mean nobody, could do anything with him but Grandma. I think he was a little mad at his father and I, and I guess being that young and not being able to understand, I can’t exactly blame him.

Over the past eight years, Cheerios has given away more than 40 million children´s books by distributing them free inside cereal boxes and has donated $3.2 million to First Book, their non-profit partner, which provides books to children from low-income families. The program is part of Cheerios´ ongoing commitment to helping parents provide their children with a healthy, nutritional and educational foundation.

Beginning this month, Cheerios is again bringing books to the breakfast table, by providing six million children´s books free inside Cheerios boxes. The books are for children ages 3 to 8 years old, and include a brand new book in the popular “Trucktown” series, available only inside Cheerios boxes. And for the first time, all five books have been specially printed in both English and Spanish.

This year´s book offerings from Cheerios – all by Simon & Schuster Children´s Publishing – are:

Junkyard Fort, written by Jon Scieszka, and illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long and Dave Gordon: Join Gabriella, Jack, Melvin, Ted, Lucy and the other Trucktown characters as they make their own fort, using things found in the junkyard. Ages 4-8.

Tea for Ruby, written by The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser: Wherever Ruby goes, a bit of disaster seems to follow. But one sunny morning, things change when the postman brings Ruby an amazing invitation: would she like to have tea with the Queen? Ruby needs to polish her manners, and quickly. Ages 4-8.

Sleepyhead, written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by John Segal: In this rhythmic bedtime story, a cat is the parent and a teddy bear is the child who doesn’t want to go to bed. All ready for bed with teeth brushed and story read, Sleepyhead teddy tries anything to prolong his bedtime; books and his quilt provide ample fodder for his imagination. Ages 3-7.

Ballyhoo Bay, written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Derek Anderson: Mira Bella, an artist who teaches painting and sculpture, loves Ballyhoo Bay and what it offers: sun, sea, sand, and sky. But one gray day a billboard arrives, announcing an impending development that would take all the fun out of the place. Read along to see if Mira Bella and her art can save the day and Ballyhoo Bay! Ages 4-8.

What´s Under the Bed?, written and illustrated by Joe Fenton: Young Fred cannot stop worrying about the scary creature that might be hiding beneath his bed. Finally summoning the courage to peer under his bed, Fred, with his cumbersome glasses, sees that the only thing there is Ted, his friendly Teddy Bear! Ages 3-7.

We recieved a prize package like I am offering for a giveaway below and we have thoroughly enjoyed reading each book. They’re just small enough for little hands and all titles my son has never read before. It’s been fun introducing him to these books and the librarian (my former profession) in me is so excited that Cheerios does this each year. We have a little collection of these books from the past two years and we look forward to them!

I have one Spoonfuls of Stories gift pack, which includes a set each of the five Spoonfuls of Stories books, a box of Cheerios, and a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble to give away to one lucky reader!

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment telling me what your favorite children’s book is.

Contest will end on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 11 PM Central. Winner will be notified by email.

E.B and I were watching a documentary on PBS the other night about healthcare and how it is funded in other countries. Oh, alright…I was trying desperately to bore the child to sleep because he would. not. give. it. up. It was one of those days when he was going 90 mph with no signs of stopping, and besides…it worked the other day for naptime when we watched Bob Ross painting ‘happy little trees”.

Anyway….

On the program it showed a pregnant woman. E.B. asked me why her tummy was so big. I explained she had a baby in there and it would be in there until it was time to be born.

“Mama,” E.B. innocently asked, “why did that woman eat that baby?”

I can only dream that all of our future “birds and the bees’ talks will be so light and funny.

Just a quick note. I realize it’s been almost a week since I’ve written anything here, but right now E.B. is going through some very tough sensory-related issues. It’s been an exhausting week to say the very least, but right now my attention has to be on him. I’ll be taking a (hopefully) short break from blogging and reading blogs until we work through this. Just hated to leave things hanging here.

As an affiliate of Warner Bros. Entertainment, my family and I periodically receive movies to review. We recently recieved the following 4 movies and below I’d like to share our thouths on each of them.

TCM Spotlight” Esther Williams Volume 2:

Synopsis: THRILL OF A ROMANCE Man overboard! War hero Van Johnson takes one look at Esther Williams and decides he needs swimming lessons. With Tommy Dorsey, Xavier Cugat and more. Dive in. FIESTA Mexico’s greatest bullfighter is…Esther? She plays a devoted sister who secretly fills in for her twin matador brother (Ricardo Montalban) after he abandons the ring. -or- A non-aquatic change of pace: Esther disguises herself in matador gear and secretly fills in for her twin brother (Ricardo Montalban) after he abandons the ring. THIS TIME FOR KEEPS An ex-GI falls for a bathing beauty (guess who!). Lauritz Melchior, Xavier Cugat, Jimmy Durante and Mackinac Island locations add to the good times and romance. PAGAN LOVE SONG Island girl Esther plans to leave Tahiti, but maybe she’ll have a reason to stay when Howard Keel arrives. Gorgeous, frothy fun with pristine Hawaiian locations filling in for Tahiti.MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID Tonight in the Hippodrome Tank: Annette Kellerman, Goddess of the Sea! Esther portrays Kellerman in a splashy biopic that includes a must-see Busby Berkeley extravaganza. EASY TO LOVE Esther wins fans at the Cypress Gardens’ aquashow, but will she ever win the heart of her all-business boss Van Johnson? Busby Berkeley guides the legendary water-ski number.

OWN IT ON DVD October 6.

Our Verdict: Esther’s aquatic moves are amazing to watch and Million Dollar Mermaid was our favorite of the collection. Watching older movies, we sometimes find the storylines and acting in that era amusing, simply because it’s different from the movies we grew up with or watch today. While definitely not a set of movies we’d normally buy, we still enjoyed watching them.

Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition

Synopisis: Now, the colorful characters and unforgettable songs of Oz come alive as never before when Warner Home Video brings this cinematic treasure into the digital age with the September 29 Blu-ray release of The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector?s Edition. The commemorative edition contains nearly 4 hours of all-new and never-before-available bonus features and is housed in numbered collectible packaging, and will be available for a limited time only.

OWN IT ON DVD August 11. Please visit the official site: http://wbshop.com/Wixard-of-Oz/wiz,default,sc.html.

Our Verdict: Love this! Definitely a classic that everyone must own in their DVD library. We were so excited that our son was finally old enough to appreciate this. The extra bonus footage was also very neat to watch to see what went on behind the scenes back then. And has it really been 70 years? Amazing!

Yellowstone: Battle for Life

OWN IT ON DVD September 29

Synopsis: In a land of beauty and peril, the dramatic lives and fortunes of these animals are inexorably bound together. Intimate and emotional, epic and engaging, Yellowstone – Tales from the Wild reveals the grandeur of this unique place as its animals struggle to survive over the course of three vividly changing seasons.

Our Verdict: I have a special place in my heart for Yellowstone because I spent a summer there, so of course this documentary appealed to me. The seasons in Yellowstone play such a vital part in all of it’s living things, from plants to animals and it’s interesting to see how it all plays out. I really enjoyed this documentary.

Available for purchase at www.bbcamerica.com