Giveaway: Photograpy Session for your valentines
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©Melanie Greene
Valentines Day is coming up! Are you searching for the perfect gift? Something meaningful, beautiful and lasting? Well, we have a chance for you to win the most perfect Valentines gift of all- and you can give it to your sweetie, your parents and yourself! Have a professional portrait taken of your family, child or pregnant you.
Melanie Greene Productions is doing a fantastic giveaway for one LUCKY reader. Melanie offers premiere photography of infant, child, family, and maternity portraits, so you can choose which genre, where and when!
Giveaway Value: $350.00
- One hour sitting in your home or in the location of your choice
- One complimentary 8” x 10” print on black & white or color
- One DVD complete with high resolution images, print ready
- Personalized webpage link to share with friends and family.
How to enter:
- Tell us your absolute favorite toy that your child has had or has and what age it was loved the most! (Extra credit if you can send a link for it too.) I will compile a list of the best of the best next week.
- The contest starts NOW! The winner will be announced on Friday, February 5th.
- The winner is chosen randomly by random.org (a random number generator)
To learn more about Melanie Greene, check out her website: www.melaniegreeneproductions.com or give her a call if you have questions. 917.902.0156
©Melanie Greene
©Melanie Greene
©Melanie Greene
My son loves this bubble popper — plays with it everyday! He got it as a gift for Christmas -he is almost 2 now and the toy says its good for 9months+
http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Explore-Grow-Busy-Popper/dp/B002B555QQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1265230614&sr=1-6
My 3 year old son is obsessed with his guitar. For all parents, considering spending $70 on guitars at fancy toy stores..i urge you to check toys r us for the cheapie red guitar that cost less than $20! He is rarely seen without it and it’s even ended up in his bed on several occaisions.
My daughter loves her Melissa & Doug Animal Magnets. She received them as a gift on her first birthday she has played with them every day since. She is now 17 months old and can bring me all the animals as I call them out. If I say “bring mommy the cow” she runs over to the refrigerator screaming ‘moo’. Nothing makes her happier then the applauds she receives when she comes trotting back with a cow magnet in her hand. This games keeps her occupied when I need to check my email or make a phone call. Sometimes I catch her quietly transferring the magnets from the refrigerator to the oven. They were a great find!
Here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Animal-Magnets-Box/dp/B000N178E2
My son loves the tamborine. He started playing with it around 8 months of age. Now that he is walking, he loves to walk around the house beating his tamborine.
When my 3 year old daughter completed her first semester (Fall 2009) of nursery school last month, she received a medal to wear around her neck. Since receiving it, she has never taken it off except to bathe. At night, she asks me to slip it into her sleeper so nobody takes it from her!
Ever since my 21-month old (4 months ago) daughter learned the words for giraffe and monkey, she sleeps with one of them each night. She never brings them both into bed with her, thinking that one will be jealous of the other!
http://anwo.com/store/media/meerkat_toy.JPG
Luca’s “kitty-kat” hasn’t left his cute little sweaty hand for ten weeks (not since Luca’s baby sister came home from the hospital).
Thankfully meerkats come in threes since my husband has already run out to If I Were A Toy twice to adopt more.
Luca would love to have a photo shoot for “kitty-kat”!
even with two boys, i would have to say our play kitchen has been a consistent hit for years. oh, and trains & tracks too.
My 3 year old daughter’s favorite toys are two rubber toy bracelets that have bright animal charms on them. They are bracelets but she insists they’re watches – one yellow and one rainbow colored that she calls “yellow watchy” and “rainbow watchy”. She wears and plays with them around the clock and likes making up stories about all the animals on them. She also loves her stuffed monkey appropriately named “Monkey”!
puzzles. puzzles. his favorite: kretk, the little mole.
My son’s favorite toy is a double hand-me-down ride on bus. He loves to zoom around the apartment and go, “beep, beep” when something is in his way.
My 7 month old son loves his “Sophie the giraffe”. Now, I’m sure there is not a mother in New York that doesn’t knows what this toy is. It really is a glorified, over priced “chew toy”. I had gotten it from a seasoned mom at my shower. I remember thinking when I got it that I could easily give it to my dog, elvis and he would love it. At about 4 months old, I started noticing him grabbing for it. But now, you can’t get it away from him. The moms in the neighborhood told me that he was really going to love it when he started teething, but I don’t think I realized how much!
my daughter petra loves playing guitar with her daddy.
My daughter’s favorite toy right now is a set of Yo Gabba Gabba figurines that are about 3 inches tall and an accompanying set of Yo Gabba Gabba soft toys that are about 10 inches tall. Collectively she calls them “the Gabbas”. She has never seen the TV show, but instead has two books and a CD of the music from the show. She knows all their names and like to line them all up on the back of the couch – “Toodee, Foofa, Plex, Muno, Brobeeeeee!!” She takes Brobee to bed with her every night. The last words from her lips at night are “Night night Gabbas!” and the first in the morning are “Gabba Gabbas?”
Here’s the Yo Gabba Gabba gang:
http://www.toyglobe.com/details_ver2.php?type=119672
And here’s the plush version:
http://www.oliebollen.com/detail.aspx?ID=11776&cc=go
My 14 year old son(yes a teenager), has had this stuffed animal since he was 1.5 years old. It is PERDY from 101 Dalmations. He named her Doggy. We still have it. It does not have spots left anymore and its neck is barely haning on. He does not sleep with it anymore but leaves it under his bed at night still for security. He would kill me if he know I was telling you all.
hi, my son is 2.10 years old and can not go a day without his blankie. Seen below. We have several(5-6), in house for backup
http://thecuddlyhippo.com/pro1245935.html
My 11-month old son loves our Blackberries…he will drop whatever he is playing with if he sees it or if we are using it. My husband has given in and the baby has killed 2 Blackberries with slobber and chewing.
Our son, Jordan, age 6, loves his wooden New York Subway Trains.
http://www.transitmuseumstore.com
My 11-months old daughter best loves her “noisy-peekaboo” books, we have tree different ones. It’s big with nice photographs and flaps to open and one flap with sound on each page. She spends the longest time sitting on the floor with them after pulling them off her bookshelf section.
My daughter loves her stuffed knit monkey Blah Blah. Its a fancy version of a sock monkey. When she was an infant, it was longer than she was and now she carries it around under her arm. It was fun to watch her grow up with Blah Blah.
My 2.5 year-old son Ariel’s absolute favorite toy at the moment is a train and his train tracks. He can invariably be found prostrate on the ground next to his tracks, pushing the engines and cars around and around. My husband is fond of helping him set up elaborate track configurations out of the two mis-matched sets we have. My son especially likes staging spectacular “crashes” of trains and the other many vehicles he has including trucks, backhoes, race cars and tractors. Turns out there really is something to this whole “boys like vehicles” thing; who woulda known??
This is one of the wonderful track sets he has: http://www.maplelandmark.net/action.lasso?-database=mlwproducts1&-table=web&sku=11130&-response=detail.lasso&-search
This is the train set that started it off: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3336527
And this is the Thomas the Tank Engine train he was given for his 2nd birthday and which goes with him almost everywhere: http://www.albeebaby.com/lamaze-rheneas-train-toy.html
Thanks for this great giveaway!
Our daughters favorite toy we call “flat bunny” (to distinguish it from her other stuffed bunnies). Its fabric body is filled with crinkley cellophane and it has plastic rings and rubbery feet she can chew on. She loves to explore that toy! She can play with it for absolute minutes, which for a almost 5 month old, means something!
My 6-year old daughter, Elisabeth, loves her American Girl Doll Elizabeth!
My 14-month old daughter, Alba, is at the point that she loves babies and baby strollers. She will pick them up and put them to sleep and whisper shhhhh, cover them up, feed them a bottle, and pick them up and pat their back.
A non-toy favorite are all the cans in our pantry (an open stack of shelves), she loves carrying them around the house and you never know when you go to bed whether you’ll find a can of tuna on top of the bed!
My 3 yr old daughter loves her Thomas the Train Duplo/Lego set. It has tracks and a Thomas train made of Duplo, and she loves building the station, tunnel, and other things that Thomas can stop at as he goes around the tracks.
http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Duplo-Thomas-Starter-Set/dp/B00160D00A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1265215904&sr=8-1
Tenzin loves stacking and crashing these blocks!! We also use them as indivdual ‘garages’ for his toy cars. So many uses, they never get old!
http://www.kazootoys.com/abc-building-blocks.html?utm_source=abc-building-blocks&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=googlebaseaffiliate
Fisher Price Classical Stacker – http://www.diapers.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?productid=19691&site=CI&cm_mmc=cse-_-googlebase-_-toys-_-FS-203&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=FS-203
My sister’s kids loved theirs so much she got my daughter one at 6 months and it continues to be a go-to toy now that she’s almost 1. The electronic music isn’t loud or annoying like so many of those toys…
My daughters (4 1/2 months) seem to really like their BlaBla dolls: http://www.blablakids.com/Online-Shopping/Classic-blablas/DOLL-Cat-Mini-Bubbles
My 4 year old loves his Japanese action figures more than anything. Daddy went to Tokyo for work and brought back all sorts of toys from KiddiLand kiddyland.co.jp.
My two boys have been inseparable from Lego/Megabloks for 3 years now. It goes everywhere, and they are never bored with it. Stepping on the pieces isn’t so fun, but it gives them hours upon hours of enjoyment, and they’re 7 and 3. The most favored set for 2 years running has been Captain Cutlass’ Stormstalker > http://www.amazon.com/Mega-Bloks-Pyrates-Captain-Stormstalker/dp/B0007Q1JIY which we picked up for $5 when ToysRUs went out of business. Best $5 toy I ever bought!
My daughter’s favorite toys from age 1 through present (she’s 5.5 yrs old now!) have been simple silk scarves. The best quality and price that we have found them, have been through http://www.atoygarden.com thought some waldorf education suppliers sell some lovely ones as well. http://www.magiccabin.com has them but they’re far more pricey and friends have said the quality is not as great as A Toy Garden’s. These are a staple in waldorf schools worldwide. Children use them creatively to make soooo many things- from dress ups, to water or grass when playing in a doll house, to blankets or slings for babydolls, to houses and tree canopies when using huge silk scarves or when paired with playstands or using wooden playclips (also available from the same places!). I ran a childcare program for years as well as taught creative movement to music classes for a season and have yet to meet a child (of any age from infancy though about age 10) who did not think these were great things!
PS- I love the prize idea! As a single mama, this is actually what I gave myself for mothers day once long ago, when she was little and was both a fun family memory, as well as the first time I’d had any decent photos of my photogenic child or self together as a family. We’d LOVE to be the winners and I love getting the chance to share this fun toy idea with others!
My 21 month old son loves a ball more than anything. Any ball is great, but especially anything big enough to catch or bounce. His current favorite is a small Gertie Ball:
http://shop.smallworldtoys.com/product_p/01020.htm
My 2.5 year absolutely loves her Schleich dinosaur figurines. Her favorite is the Spinosaurus and she walks around scrunching her nose and roaring!
http://www.schleich-s.com/en/action_figure/product_range/world_of_history/prehistoric_animals/dinosaurs/spinosaurus/index.html
My son favorite toy is Thomas the train and all the friends… He has been train obsessed since he got his first train when he was 1 year old… He takes them to everywhere and he knows all the names of the one he has a does not have…
My son’s current favorite toy is an antique typewriter that’s within his reach on a side table next to our couch. He’ll turn one in two weeks and loves to pull himself up and type with great purpose.
my 2.5 year old daughter has had a lot of favorite toys – corolle doll stroller, pull-along dog by melissa and doug [second-hand from still hip!], plan dollhouse furniture [nursery set], and most recently her woodstock guitar — but none that compare with her obsession with “mama’s iphone”. i bought her kid-friendly apps but her absolute favorite thing to do on my phone is see pictures and videos of herself.
link to guitar:
http://www.minijake.com/mjcategory.cfm?L1=playing&L2=toys&L3=instruments&categoryoid=175&productoid=101793&itemoid=61008
My daughter, who is almost eleven months, loves her Pat the Bunny book, especially the box. She has been gnawing both the book and the box for days! She crawls over to her bookshelf and always pulls out this book.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=pat+the+bunny&CAT=925849&x=0&y=0&src=ET
At 2, my son could play for hours with his Tinker Toys!
http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-54809-Tinkertoy-Classic-Jumbo/dp/B00004TFRN
#1 son’s favorite toy is still his battery opreated Thomas! he’s 5 and still plays with thomas most days.
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Friends-Wooden-Railway-Battery-Powered/dp/B0000630L2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1265209091&sr=8-1
#2 son’s favorite toy is a hand knitted little boy we call Sammy whose named has been changed to elmo. he’s 2 and has loved him most of his life.
one of a kind by grandma so no link available
#3 twin 2 year old son’s favorite toy is oddly a book! his spanish dictionary which he has loved for about 6 months
http://www.amazon.com/First-Spanish-Primer-Palabras-EnEspa%C3%83%C2%83%C3%82%C2%B1ol/dp/1564582558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265209165&sr=8-1
#4 4 month old loves this snail.
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-1-2-3-Crawl-Along-Snail/dp/B002OSY2T6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1265209474&sr=8-3
Sean is 4.5 years old and his favorite toy has always been us, his parents. A box comes in second place. Trains, maybe third place and books, last place. If you can get him to play with a toy on his own; I will give you a gold star
My son is train obsessed. My mum got him some magnetic subway trains for his 2nd birthday and they have been the love of his life since. For some reason he decided at one point that they needed to have bandages on them so there are bits of leftover bandaids on them, the paint has worn off in many spots, and some of the wheels have buckled, but his love for them has not dimished. Since then people have bought him a huge variety of different trains from the thomas collection but none has ever taken his attention from his subways. At least one goes to bed with him every night. He’s a subway man, what can I say =)
Our one year old son loves working with shapes with his Playskool Form Fitter.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsByAge.htm?CD=9&ST=SO&ID=8598&PG=1
Ha! I meant Fun ribbons!!! Not gun ribbons!!!
My daughter is four months and loved her Whoozit toy. It has a mirror on one side and lots of gun ribbons and tags for her to pull on and chew on.
My 9 month old daughter loves her Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Tea Set! She lunges for it the moment we set it down in front of her.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3304530
My 9 month old’s favorite toy is a blue soft rubber car with a velvety texture. He loves to watch it zoom by and it seems to help him want to test out rolling and crawling. When he gets a hold of it he loves to spin the wheels. It is so nice to watch him be fascinated by a toy without all of the flashy lights and sounds. This one has no batteries…100% baby operated!
My 17 month old is loving learning the alphabet using these magnets on our refrigerator! http://www.amazon.com/Schylling-MABC-Magnetic-ABC-Blocks/dp/B00000IRXV
My 9 month old daughter loves this squeaky girafe toy!
Our 7 month old loved his borrowed Heimess play-gym. It is a simple wooden frame with two primary colored rings and a doll hanging down. Mainly he liked rolling over to move the abacus type beads along the side bars.
Sadly, you cannot get this in the US, it is a German product! This is a similar model (ours was fairly old)
http://www.heimess.com/en/produkte3_1_7_en.htm
My 9 month old daughter loves this Sophie this squeaky girafe toy!
Our son (2 y.o.) LOVES his books more than anything, but in terms of toys one of the most popular is so simple: stacking/nesting boxes that are also a bath toy from kidco (http://www.diapers.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?productId=20088). Not only does he love them in and out of the bath, happily for us they have a great design, appealing colours, and are super compact so can also travel easily. That, and you can buy them at diapers.com, so they are an easy gift.