1m2aSandbox

My last entry was an introduction to
sunscreen – so if you haven’t read that, please read it
first.


Today we’re getting into the nitty-gritty: specific
ingredients to watch out for, all the sunscreens I’ve tested
so you don’t have to, and my top picks.


Hey, no fair trying to skip to the end.

It’s summertime, which in my
household means extended periods – and I’m talking
three or four hours at a pop – at our neighborhood pool.
Being the pasty white girl that I am, I worry about skin protection
– and with good reason. We’re burning faster than ever
before, and those freckles suddenly aren’t as cute as they
were when we were nine.


There’s a lot of confusing information out there about
sunscreen, and I’ve spent hours digging through internet
research trying to find out what’s best for my family. I
already make the girls wear the long SPF-material swimsuits that
cover their arms and legs – I call them the Amish Sporty look
– when we go during the day, but we’ve still got faces
and forearms and legs to cover. And while I often wear a rash guard
myself, I don’t particularly want the farmer tan that brings
two-tone biceps with it, so I want the absolute best sunscreen I
can find. Add to all of this my concerns about chemical absorption
in the girls and trying to use eco-friendly options, and suddenly
picking the right sunscreen seems a pretty tall order.

After a few months in a holding pattern,
Cora’s begun showing a renewed interest in potty training.
And I can’t decide if it’s simply maturity – or
devious cunning.


Cora’s been doing most of her pooping in the potty for a
while now. She’s discovered that a poopy diaper is rather
uncomfortable, and nine times out of ten she’ll tell me when
she needs to poop so as to avoid having that happen. Sometimes
she’ll be in the middle of a game or a social situation and
not want to stop and simply use her diaper, but by and large
she’s got the pooping down.

Almost a year ago, Maddie started asking
me when she’d be old enough to wear glasses. Not sunglasses,
just regular glasses. Since I, my husband, and my mother all wear
glasses, she sees all the grownups in her house with them and
assumes it’s a level of adulthood to be sought after and
attained.


Maddie was so wistful about them that I bought her a pair of
clear-glass stylish frames from Claire’s in the mall for
Christmas. Maddie ended up revising her list at the last minute
(see: Necklace Crisis) and I tucked them away for another time,
thinking she’d forget about them.


My friend, she did not forget. For the past six months
they’ve come up off and on, and I finally gave in and pulled
the trigger for her birthday last week. Maddie unwrapped her bright
pink, rectangular frames and squealed with delight.


And has worn them pretty much non-stop.

It’s time once again to start making
that list and checking it twice.


The list for ways to entertain the kids during long summer days,
that is.


And in case you’ve forgotten, href="http://www.kidsbowlfree.com" target="_blank">Kids Bowl
Free is a national program, so give it a look. Head to
their website and see if there’s a participating bowling
alley near you. If there is, simply sign up each child and once
registered, your child will get two free games a day for the summer
to bowl. And for a mere twenty-five bucks, you can purchase a
family pass that allows the grown-ups to bowl all summer as well.


Now, strictly speaking, it’s not totally free. You’ve
got to rent the shoes each time (unless you’ve got your own
and you’re hard-core). But it does cut down on the cost, and
provides you an air-conditioned, fun place to head that’s not
covered in Disney princesses or Thomas stuff on a hot summer day.


For me, having an alternative to yet another six hours at the pool
is always a good thing.

Maddie had a fantastic birthday and I
didn’t shed a single tear. I did watch, misty-eyed, a few
times. I’m telling you, this kid grows like a weed and it
seems only last week that she was trying to run, stumbling on her
coltish legs and skinning her knee on the sidewalk.


Oh, wait, that was last week.

Dear Maddie:


The clock’s really starting to fly now, kiddo, and I’m
afraid we’ve got a big birthday here.


So you’re turning five. Wow. At this point, I can no longer
pretend that you’re anywhere near the babyhood stage.
You’ve passed babyhood, toddlerhood, even pre-schoolerhood,
and are firmly entrenched in kid land now. At five years old,
you’re moving to big-kid school in a few months and are truly
becoming your own person. Yikes.