Helping a toddler with gift giving

It is hard to explain to a child that the present you just bought is not for them! Especially when it is for a birthday party. Birthday parties are for friends and friends have common interests so a present for a friend is usually a want for my daughter. We had this issue this week and sure enough she did want the present when she saw it. I did the usual reassuring of  "you will get presents on your birthday", "you are going to chuck e cheese for your birthday", and "this is for friend because it's her birthday and she wants you to come play at her party". She continued to ask to open the gift but never got to tantrum mode or worked up about it. The day of the party I unrolled enough wrapping paper to wrap the gift in. I used old Christmas paper and flipped it over to the blank side. Then I gave my daughter stamps and highlighters and let her color the paper for her friend's present. She. Loved. It. Pictures follow :)

Helping a Toddler understand "soon"

The baby is coming. Not today or tomorrow but before your birthday. This is what I tell my almost 3yr old. Now that there is less than a month until his eviction date (hoping he beats it) and a bit more than a month until her birthday I did a fun little craft to help her understand when it will be time. I saw this when my husband deployed and I had heard of it from some friends who used it to get their children through deployment. It's a tear chain, one loop for everyday that needs to pass before it is that very special day. One friend's husband wrote a message on each loop so that his boys had encouragement from him everyday. My version is much simpler and much less profound but serves it's purpose of helping a toddler visualize when a future event will occur. I even added a blue loop for baby brother's eviction date and ended with a pink loop for her birthday!