I just got the news that Baby Gizmo is playing Santa Claus! I had reviewed their fantastic book The Baby Gizmo Buying Guide and now they are having 12 fun-filled days of Christmas giveaways of their most favorite items for mom and baby! There will be lucky winners, one each day between December 1st and December 12th, of amazing prizes including products from: Maclaren, Svan, Kelty, JJ Cole, Mutsy, pediped, Stokke, Fisher Price, Moonlight Slumber, Kushies, Skip Hop, & Baby Bjorn.

The best thing about these giveaways is that all you need to do is log in to be entered to win! So head on over to Babygizmo.com and log in everyday for your chance to win one of these fantastic prizes! Oh and don’t forget about the Santa Baby Photo Contest starting today where you can win a sassy Peg Perego Skate Stroller.

“Potty Training” – those two words can sometimes cause quite a bit of anxiety among parents. I know that I certainly had a lot of apprehension when it came to trying to train my oldest son. Right before my his second birthday, I thought I had a few more months to get myself prepared and ready for the challenge that lay ahead. However, my son had other plans – I knew the time had come since he starting removing his soiled diaper any chance he got. The first few months was tough. I certainly spent a lot of time cleaning my carpets and washing a lot of clothes, all the while searching for answers on how to make this process easier and more enjoyable for the both of us. In hindsight, I can only wish I had the Potty Tots Potty Training Program from the very beginning of our potty training adventure.

The Potty Tots is a unique and amazing potty training tool for toddlers, consisting of a diverse cast of preschool friendly characters that encourage. In the kit, parents will find everything they need for a fun, stress-free potty training experience. Included in the kit are:

• Potty Training Guide Book – A colorful story book which addresses the challenges of potty training.
• Illustrated Potty Training Chart – A step-by-step chart which goes over the six essential steps of potty training.
• Animated DVD – The animated story of the book featuring the Potty Tots characters and fun songs to learn.
• Progress Game – A positive-reinforcement game which allows your child to track their progress with potty training.

In addition to the kit, parents can access online community resources to help with the potty training process on PottyTots.com.

Although my son was already day-trained when I received the kit, we were still having issues with nighttime wetting and also with not wanting to poop in the potty. I decided to give Potty Tots a try in order to see if we could work on these two issues. Within, three days my son was waking up dry in the mornings and had his first real poop in the potty. He was still inconsistent with the pooping but by the time two weeks went by, he had successfully pooped four times in the potty without any intervention on my part. I now look forward to using the Potty Tots kit with my youngest son who is a few months away from tackling potty training. I know this is going to make the task so much easier for the both of us.

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POTTY TOTS Potty Training Kit GIVEAWAY!

The Wise Mommy, along with Potty Tots, is happy to host a giveaway for a Potty Tots Training Kit! We will be giving away two kits – one for boys and one for girls!

Take a look at the Potty Tots website and then just leave your thoughts about Potty Tots and whether you would need a boy’s kit or a girl’s kit! The giveaway will run until Nov. 24th 11:59pm EST. Two random winners (one for the boy’s kit and one for the girl’s kit) will be chosen on Nov. 25th and the winners will be notified by email. Good luck everyone!

My boys are the proud owners of a Fisher-Price Ford F150 Ultimate Terrain Power Wheel, and provided the weather cooperates they drive it daily! My son got this amazing gift on his 3rd birthday and was so excited to have a truck that looked just like “daddy’s truck”. He’s been driving that thing around ever since that day, with his 1 year old brother happily coming along for the ride.

Designed for children ages three to about six (65-pound maximum weight per passenger), the Power Wheels F150 is a two-seat life-like truck that steers, stops, and goes in reverse like the real thing. We really like the Power Wheels that Fisher-Price designed with the new Monster Traction system. Also called “Ultimate Terrain Traction”, this is a high-performance drive system that takes on the toughest backyard driving conditions. We live on 2 acres of land, mostly grass, and have a gravel driveway, and this Power Wheel commands it all. The truck drives in two speeds, 2.5 mph and 5 mph, with a safety lock-out for beginners so that they drive only at the slower speed until they become more experienced to drive at the higher speed. The truck also has several cool features, such as a real-working FM radio, lift-and-lower tailgate with truck bed for storage, pretend seat belts, built-in cup holders and a battery charge indicator. The battery is easy to charge and lasts about 30 minutes per charge, so I recommend getting a second battery if you plan to have your kids driving this often.

Fisher-Price has several other styles of vehicles with the new Monster Traction, including the Arctic Cat 650, Jeep Hurricane, Kawasaki KFX Ninja, and the A.T. Rex. Power Wheels are covered by a limited 1-year “Bumper-to-Bumper” warranty from the manufacturer.

I have owned the LEGO Quatro and Duplo blocks ever since my oldest son turned a year old. Not a day goes by that my two boys don’t play with these building blocks. These kids just love to build things and stack blocks! We have also used these blocks when learning about colors and relationships, such as bigger/smaller and over/under.

The LEGO Quatro blocks are the largest of the LEGO series of blocks, intended for ages 1-3. These blocks are made of a softer material than standard LEGOs and are very easy for small children to grasp. Because of their size they do not pose a choke hazard like some of the smaller LEGOs do with very young children. The LEGO Quatro Bucket comes in a see-through bucket with 20 colorful various-sized blocks and a lid that can be used as a building base.

On the other hand, LEGO Duplo blocks are for the slightly older child, age 2-5. These are compatible with the LEGO Quatro blocks – as children grow they can connect elements from both sets using a 4-stud Duplo brick as a connector. The Duplo sets also come in several different varieties such as Thomas the Train, Dinosaurs, and Zoo Animals.

I highly recommend these LEGO sets for younger children, as they really stir the imagination and provide hours of play and creativity!

I have been using The First Years Take & Toss Straw Sippers ever since I realized that my son still couldn’t manage to handle a regular cup, but was beyond the sippy stage. My son first experience with a real cup ended up in spilled fruit punch all over my light gray carpet, and to this day a big pink stain remains right in front of the stairs on our way to our bedrooms. These convenient and inexpensive cups have saved us from living with anymore similar stains. They are durable to use over and over, in fact I have had mine for almost a year now. Yet they are inexpensive enough that you could treat them as disposables if you like. These cups come with lids and straws which limit the amount of spilling that occurs. I even use regular plastic bendy straws with these cups for even more added convenience. The only time any liquid comes out is if they completely flip the thing upside down, and even then only a few drops come out, which is better than having an entire cupful of liquid to clean up. I travel with these cups to restaurants, soccer, grandparent’s homes – you name it, they come with us.

The First Years Take & Toss Straw Sippers are compatible with the Take & Toss Spill-Proof Cups, so you can transition your child easily from a spill proof sippy to a straw cup sippy when they are ready. They come in fun bold colors, and you can even get them in Winnie the Poo, Thomas the Train, Disney, or Sesame Street themes.