This is fellow blogger, Jason’s son “LittleMan” dressed as a pirate! Arrrr….

 Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing a photo showing off a little bit of wonder in the lives of our extended Graco family of customers, employees and friends.

Some of you may or may not be familiar with Twitter. For those of you that are, skip the next little paragraph; for those of you who aren’t, you probably won’t understand this (my husband sure doesn’t) but here’s a quick explanation:

Twitter is a micro-blogging tool that folks can use to simply answer the question “What are you doing?”  You are allowed 140 characters to catch friends up on your breakfast choice, bestow wisdom upon them, point them in the direction of something cool you found online, catch up on breaking news (sadly this is what I have resorted to in order to stay in the know) and the best thing Twitter is for? - staying connected to friends. 

I have been using Twitter since January and I’ve “tweeted” close to 700 times (I swear I still have time to do actual work.) Some of those tweets are directly to folks who follow me (approx. 375 people), some quite literally answer the question “What are you doing?” and some are a form of free-association therapy that I should really consider filtering more. Graco has even started using Twitter to give car seat safety tips once a day as part of our recent Ready for the Road Ahead campaign. But since I’m a mom and a lot of other Moms are following me, I write a lot of kid stuff - minutia that’s really too short for a blog post but too cute not to share.  Sooo… over the last 9 months that I’ve been on Twitter, I thought I’d share some of my favorite tweets:

• I got my 1st unprompted “I ♥ You” from my 2 yo DD complete with a hug and back pats. All together now - Aaawwww…
• 3 1/2 yo DS is very excited for soccer to start on Saturday. He slept in his shin guards last night.
• DS just called to tell me he speaks Spanish now. “Do Do Clalla, Uno, Dos, Sha Sha” Hmmm… I don’t know some those words…
• Walked back from the beach with 2 year old. Took almost 45 minutes. I love vacation. No hurry for anything…
• DS said he wants to go to school naked today. Isn’t that a nightmare? That is supposed to be scary, not fun! I’m a little concerned…
• Last night my DS was trying on new pants - he pulled them up and said “PERPECTO!” That’s 3 1/2 for “perfect fit” I guess.
• Singing and dancing with 3 yo DS. Instead of singing “Momma Rock Me” he sings “Momma Rotney.” So cute…
• DH has a gig tonight. DS observes- “Daddy’s job is for rocking” Right on!
• How do you avoid the mullet look when 20 mo DD’s bangs are too long, she won’t keep barrettes in and I can’t bear to chop the curls in back?
• DS just declared “he had a great nap!” after being in his room for 7 whole minutes. It’s going to be a loooong day…

I’ll be doing a follow-up post featuring some of my favorite tweets from the folks I follow. And if you’re on twitter but I’m not following you, leave a comment and I’ll be sure to follow!

Seeing life through a child’s eyes can be thrilling for any adult.  As you watch a child and how they interact with the world around them…their actions can be puzzling and quite entertaining.  My husband and I were just laughing at the many things our 2 year old Bear does and sometimes we just don’t understand her amusement or challenge.  And it makes the two of us stop and say…Why Is It???

Why Is It…our daughter can watch her favorite Curious George episode at least 15 times consecutively and be completely entranced like she is watching it for the first time.  Another favorite is Cinderella, I think we could recite every word – a bippity boppity boo! 

Why Is It…our daughter continues to introduce her new little sister as her little BROTHER after weeks of correction (it took 1 week for her to get the name right)

Why Is It…our daughter can not walk past a pile of rocks without reaching down to pick-up at least one and forcing it into a miniature pocket in her pants. 

Why Is It…our daughter has completely lost her appetite at dinner time, but 15 minutes before bed time she is STARVING.

Why Is It…the basic manners like “please & thank you” have to be prompted with the obligatory question; Bear, what do you say?  Experienced moms out there please tell us a day will come when the “thank you” will just naturally roll off our daughter’s tongue.

Why Is It…toddlers can meet each other for the first time and play like they have been best friends for years?

Why Is It…on family road trips our daughter can identify a Chick-Fil-A or McDonalds (only with playgrounds) before we do?

We love the joys and wonders of parenthood.  We would love to hear some of your “Why Is It” stories.

At Graco we’ve always believed in giving back to the community.  As a member of the Ready. Safe. Go! Car Seat Club you can help support community safety. Graco will donate 1 car seat for every 10 members that sign up (up to $100,000 MSRP) to organizations serving families in need.

Here are the incredible organizations we are supporting through this effort:

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 
All Children’s Hospital
American Academy of Pediatrics - PA Chapter
Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital

If you’d like to support these organizations and get car seats into the hands of families in need, sign up for the car seat club here.

And if helping families in need isn’t enough, as a member of the Ready. Safe. Go! Car Seat Club, you will also recieve special offers from some of our partners as well as e-mail tips about your car seat.

From baby’s first car ride to all the places you’ll go, Enjoy the Road Ahead!

Now that we’ve officially entered Fall and that I’m back in the office from my 3 month maternity leave, I was reminiscing about that notorious essay it seemed you were assigned every year during your first week back at school, appropriately titled “What I did on my Summer Vacation”. Though, in my case, it’s twenty years later and my first week back at school has turned into my first month back at work. It’s hard to believe that 3 months came and went so quickly, but as I think about it, I really did have quite an enjoyable summer being on maternity leave. I mean, truthfully, how couldn’t you? – spending 3 warm and mostly sunny months with your children, doing all of quintessential summer activities. Going to the amusement park (2 actually!), going on vacation and just plain ol’ getting outside every afternoon for a walk around the neighborhood.

The interesting part is that I had Punkin’ Bear around the same time of year as BrotherSister. (which, by the way, now that we know for SURE that she’s not a Brother, I’m officially re-naming her “LadyBug”) but I feel like I was and am much more mobile with LadyBug than I dared to be with Punkin’. I mean, I wouldn’t have fathomed venturing to an amusement park with Punkin before her 3^rd month and yet I did with LadyBug. Of course, I also didn’t have an energetic pre-schooler around at the time to even think about doing such a thing. But really, when I look at Bug’s first 3 months of life, she has been on a plane, a train, and of course, in automobiles. She’s been to the beach, to an aquarium and to the zoo. She’s been grocery shopping, mall shopping and house shopping. I mean really, this little one has been out and about in every sense of the word.

Here’s the thing (and forgive me, I know this is going to sound like a sales pitch given where I work and all, but it is the absolute truth!) – I’ve come to realize how indispensable certain “tools” have been in allowing me to explore the world with my little ladies over the summer. Take, for instance, the Snugrider. It has been amazingly handy, especially because we now have twice the gear to pack every time we go out (and I still haven’t upgraded from my car to a roomier vehicle). It’s just so portable, light and easy to move which is a must when you’re holding hands with one of you little ones and pushing a stroller with the other.

Another great item that I actually didn’t use with Punkin Bear but have used a lot with LadyBug, was my Infant Travel Bed. Don’t get me wrong, I still love and use my Travel Lite Crib for our overnight travel, but when visiting family and friends, it was just a great, quick and easy way to set up a nap spot for LadyBug. And quick, easy, efficient are must haves for me.

All in all, my “vacation” with my 3 year old and my 3 month old girls was full of fun and great memories. Now sleep on the other hand, not so much…

I love this picture- it’s a shot of all the cousins at the beach. (Photo credit: Still Motion Photography)

More about the Graco SafeSeats:
Innovative Technology That Keeps Your Baby “Rear To A Year”
The Infant SafeSeat™ Car Seat holds babies up to 30 lbs and 32″ tall. That means it fits 97% of one-year-olds and can keep your baby rear-facing for one full year. It’s been extensively crash tested to meet or exceed U.S. standards, and engineered for safety. The seat’s base stays put in your car for a convenient, one-time installation. Its seat belt lock design makes it simple to tightly secure the base, and an adjustment dial helps for an easier installation. The seat’s patent-pending 5-point harness can also be easily adjusted, thanks to an accessible front strap. The carrier handle is uniquely designed so it’s more comfortable for parents to transport. For Baby’s comfort, the padded seat has a removable all weather boot and infant head suport plus 180° canopy canopy. All this means you’ll enjoy a full year of hassle-free travels with your most precious passenger. 

Good choice Brandgelina!

This is Graco employee Karen Hartzell’s daughter “Baby” dressed up as Tinker Bell. So precious!  

This is Lindsay dressed up as a clown! Stay tuned for more of her home mom-made costumes from when she was a kid!

Every Wednesday we’ll be sharing a photo showing off a little bit of wonder in the lives of our extended Graco family of customers, employees and friends.

The fair is a wonderful family activity with something for everyone. Rides, games, food, and take a deep breath, SSSSSSNIFF – ah clear sinuses. Plus a host of interesting business displays you don’t typically see at the mall.

Gus used to like the fair. He’d ride the rides, pet the animals, drink the cider. Good times. Not this year. Now that he’s in Junior High, the fair is so “not cool.” And he’s a little big to be hoisting up on my shoulders and strolling the fairgrounds like this happy family:

Nope. We’ve gone from this- to this:

The fair is a great place for people watching, too. You find young and old alike. Lots of old folks reconnecting with their pastoral roots. Lots of young families enjoying the wonder in their children’s eyes – there was a whole lot of wonder in those eyes that saw the baby calf being born – right there under the tent at the fair. I bet there were a lot of birds and bees-type questions being avoided after that scene.

Why, you even see groups of High School kids, hanging out, eating (or rather, wearing) funnel cakes and loitering around the John Deere display. Actually overheard a teenager on his cell phone, “Dude, meet us over by the combines.” Oh, what fun! The one constituency conspicuously absent from most of this is young teens – Junior High School kids. I suppose they’re all just too cool. Not as much action at the fair as there is in a Playstation game. Let’s see, you can sit home alone and play a video game with no basis in reality, or get out in the country, meet some interesting folks, see some pretty impressive produce and gain some insight into another way of life. I don’t care if Gus really is as cool as he thinks he is. When the seasons change, we’ll take the fair – every time.

Before PP’s birth, Peaches never liked children (or other dogs or men or most adults, for that matter). Therefore, you could imagine my apprehension about bringing my new baby home to meet my first furry baby. Pre-birth, I read posts about introducing your baby to your pets. I attended child birth classes which actually discussed this very topic (not surprisingly, about 80% of the couples in the room also had a pet at home). So I knew I wasn’t the only one—however, my dog did not have a good track record.

It was a slow & controlled introduction and now Peaches & PP get along very well. There were a few times that Peaches growled at PP but that mostly happened if Peaches was sitting on my lap & PP tried to climb on top of me. But for the most part, Peaches & PP are best friends. PP shares her snacks with Peaches, hugs Peaches, kisses her good night every night, gives Peaches “tweats” (as PP calls them), and shares her toys with her. Peaches has actually completely accepted all kids & I no longer fear having kids over (I used to have to keep Peaches on a different floor since just the sound of kids irritated her).

Peaches is at my parent’s house this week & PP cried when they left with her..you could hear her saying between sobs, “My Peaches.” When Peaches is at my parent’s house, PP calls to talk to her too. I love how having a pet is teaching PP compassion & how to love an animal. She loves all animals now & I feel that having Peaches in our life has taught her how to properly treat & care for animals.

This guest post is by Laura Derrico, a member of our Channel Marketing Department and mom to an almost 4 year old boy, “the bubz.” Laura talks about a parent’s experience in dealing with a child’s independence.

When you first bring your child into this world, you want to shelter your baby and keep them away from harm, you want them to dream big, you want them to be happy, you hope they won’t have to experience being picked last in a ball game or left behind. You want to be there with them but let them go at the same time.

This morning I was at the park with “the bubz” and we were doing our normal thing; I sit and watch- he runs around, he coaxes me to climb up the playground fixtures where I clearly do not fit and we laugh. I climbed down to grab some water for us and I look up and he is climbing this spiral climb thing that, until now, he has been terrified to go near (frankly, so have I and I certainly have not encouraged him to climb it, either). He continues to climb, determined, excited. He reaches the top and I am in awe. When he realized that he had reached the top, he jumped up and down and smiled so large and screamed “yay, I am a big boy now, mommy”- let me just tell you, the amount of pride, happiness and sadness that filled my heart was overwhelming.

I now know that he is strong enough to climb small mountains, to see he now knows how to accomplish small feats- (so huge for him, I know)…but what got me the most is that he no longer needs my hand or that extra push to get him to the top- he can do it by himself. I have been teary-eyed all day since then.  Again, as a parent, you want your little ones to be able to accomplish wonderful things on their own, but when you see that you can sit the sidelines and they’re ok…there is that happiness, but a little bit of sadness too.