The Alana Trike has a four-position telescoping frame with a one bolt release so it can grow with your child or be used by multiple children. The four-position adjustable high-back seat with a handhold is appropriate and supportive enough for one year olds and sturdy for rough riding four year olds.

The parent-operated chrome plated push bar allows kids to ride and enjoy the trike long before they learn to pedal, as young as 12 months old or as soon as they can grip the handles. The push bar makes the trike a great stroller alternative for eager and active one year olds who don’t like being passive passengers.

The Lights and Sounds Trike now with the exciting Batman license. It utlizes the existing Lights and Sounds trike body with its adjustable seat and adds Batman color and graphics. The handle bar unit has a face plate with 8 buttons and Batman sounds that link to the working signal lights.

The trike’s stability also helps with mounting and dismounting. We looked at a Radio Flyer trike and found it was easy for a kids foot to get caught on the seat or the tube dismounting the trike, causing a fall. No problem with this trike, getting on and off is very easy.

We also like the pneumatic tires and the retro look. We get lots of compliments from the neighbors. Our friends have the expensive trikes (Kettler?) and we certainly prefer the Schwinn over those which seem to be cheap plastic and are so loud because of the plastic wheels. The push bar and one pedal on their Kettlers broke, indicating to me that they aren’t that durable.

The only bad size is that it is heavy. This hasn’t come into play, both kids can push the trike around with their feet, even up a slight hill.

Leapfrog’s Crammer study device makes any “cram” session a lot more fun then it used to be. It stores over 16,000 quiz questions in a flash card format. Kids or parents can go online and design the questions around what they’re currently studying.

Get it @ LeapFrog.com

TemporalScanner Thermometer

Taking a child’s temperature can be difficult and stressful for parents as well as the child – especially when they are sick.

The Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometericon makes all the fuss disappear. Simply swipe the scanner over the forehead, and the scanner takes 1,000 readings per second and selects the most accurate.  Its non-invasive technology makes it easy and painless to take a temperature.

It is so gentle and works so quickly that you can even use it on a sleeping child.  It’s good for all ages so you can have just one thermometer for the entire household.

You can find this at Babies R Us for about $49.99

Toy Storage

If you have kids then you probably have lots of toys all over the place. This Firefighter toy box bench is the ultimate Toy Box for your little firefighter!

The cool sliding door allows your child to drive fire trucks and other heavy trucks right into the box! Add the other Firefighter pieces to complete the theme. Heirloom quality and built to last for several generations.

The first wagon was the “No. 4 Liberty Coaster”, which was built from wood and steel in 1923 and enjoyed tremendous success.

Modern wagons are built in “Classic Steel or Wood”, although Plastic is also an option. While there have been dozens of different versions over the years, the “#18 Classic Red Wagon” for which the company is forever associated with has been in continuous production for over 70 years.

I highly recommend Radio flyer wagons for any boy or girl!

Alyssa is all ready for the fall. She really hasn’t grown too much since last year (just upwards!), so all of her pants from last year fit her just fine. She inherited my short legs, so at least this year most of her jeans won’t be dragging the ground. I seriously have to roll up the cuffs on 90% of her pants. It’s ridiculous!

Ryan, on the other hand, not so ready…. he has new shirts, about ten of them. But he needs pants. I wasn’t sure what size pants he had leftover from last year, so I decided to wait on buying new ones until I checked out his drawers. Well, I went through them yesterday, and he’s down to one pair of jeans and two pairs of cargo pants. Ridiculous! That kid grows too much. He was wearing 24mo/2T in the summer of 2007, here we are in the fall of 2008 and 5T fits him now. In comparison, Alyssa is wearing 5T loosely, and she’s almost two years older than him. Well, that’s my chunky baby.

So guess who has to go shopping for more baby clothes. Or should I say toddler clothes, since there’s nothing really BABY about a whopping 5 in toddler sizes!

Psst… anyone else who has a horse-sized toddler like mine, check out eBay for onesies. I found a bunch (new! in packaging!) by Gerber that are 4T! I’m stoked!