First Grader Fashion Sense

Zip has gotten to the point where he has an opinion on what he wears. Not in a That-is-hideous-I-will-die-if-I-have-to-wear-it teenage drama kind of way, but he definitely has opinions of the 7-year-old variety. Last year I noticed he preferred bright colors and patterns, and I was happy to oblige by finding him plaid shorts and vibrant polo shirts. This summer he took an abrupt u-turn and started insisting on camouflage pants and black t-shirits, thanks to the influence of Turtleman, who is his hero because 1) he lives in a house in the woods, 2) he brushes his teeth with maple twigs, and 3) he catches wild animals with his bare hands.

For the most part, I've gone along with his choicesbecause kids must express themselves and all that. We let the boys put 5 things on their Christmas lists, and Zip asked for a camouflage baseball hat. He was very specific about this and even cut out a picture from a catalog to show Santa the specific type of camouflage he wants. It must be the kind with leaves and twigs on it, like hunters wear, not Army camo like soldiers wear. My husband gave a silent head shake and eyebrow raise which means Hell, no. He's worried our son is going to go country on us and has all sorts of negative associations with that, for personal reasons. But I'm happy to let Zip explore different identities and figure out what he likes. That is what being a kid is all about, right?

Real Families Talk Biracial Haircare {Vanessa's Lovelies}

Today, say hello to Vanessa! Vanessa was just recently named one of Babble's 100 Best Bloggers for 2013 in the Latina category, for her blog De Su Mama, where she shares love letters to her children and writes about identity, parenting, travel, and food. Vanessa is a Cuban-American mom of two biracial children, Alina (3 1/2) and Sebastian (17 months). She has shared her journey with caring for their hair in more detail on her blog...you'll want to check that out after you finish up here!

Describe your children's hair:

Alina's hair is a mix of textures and curl sizes. The top layer of her hair has loose, soft curls. The under-layer of her hair is more coarse, with much tighter curls. She also has a few pieces of hair in the front which are very kinky.

Sebastian's hair is still coming in and will likely change dramatically within the next year. At this age though, he has soft and fine curls. (Great point - it is not unusual for hair to change a lot from infancy into toddlerhood. I definitely saw this with both of my boys!)

Race In The Toy Aisle: What Do Black Kids See?

Heads up: There is an unusually super-long post ahead. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and get comfy - we're going be here a while. 

A little background...

It all started a couple of months ago, when I was shopping for my 7-year-old's birthday. Roaming the aisles of Target, I noticed Fisher-Price had some additions to their Imaginext line. The selection of 3-inch knights and samurai and dinosaur-riders has expanded, and they've been joined by a handful of rescuers - firefighters and police officers and such. And still....not a single black action figure. Has anyone else noticed this? Maybe it is just the selection at Target. But flipping through the Fisher Price website I can only find one - ONE(!!!) - black figure among the 100 or so Imaginext toys. And that one black guy, Tiger The Hunter, is covered with some sort of "tribal" battle paint (again, seriously?!) and appears at the bottom of the very last page. Yes, they made the one black guy the stereotypical savage brute, and then they made him go to the back of the line. Did no one at Fisher-Price see a problem with this?

But maybe this is an exception. Maybe it's just Imaginext that has omitted black people from their line-up of toys. When I read this piece by Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post a few days ago, in which she analyzes the disturbing blue-pink divide in the toy aisles, I wondered: What would happen if I did a similar look at race? Maybe my hunch that black kids are grossly underrepresented is off base. Maybe there is a good amount of diversity in the toy aisle, and plenty of black dolls and action figures for children to play with.

Roaming the Aisles of Target

So I went back to the store where we do the majority of our toy shopping - Target. I took my time exploring each aisle, taking notes, and waiting for security to ask me why I was taking pictures of all of the toys with my phone. Here is what I saw:

Real Families Talk Biracial Haircare {Melanie's Boys}

It's time for Round 4! I'm having a blast hearing from these awesome families. I hope you are enjoying it too! Today we hear from Melanie Coffee, an award-winning journalist who blogs over at She's Write. I am sure I've mentioned Melanie before - I had the luck of meeting her at the BlogHer convention this summer, when we sat at the same table for breakfast and then realized we're both mommas in mixed race families. On top of that, she loves wine and writing, so hey, we've got a few more things in common! Melanie and her handsome Norwegian husband are parents to two curly-haired boys, Logan (age 6) and Ethan (2 1/2).

Describe your sons' hair:

Sandy brown, finely textured and loose curls.

Are there any specific resources or tips you have found helpful, when it comes to learning to care for your kids' hair?

After a few mediocre hair cuts at a kids’ place, I found that I need to say to “taper the boys hair in the back” so that their hair lays right and when it grows out, still looks somewhat tidy, or at least nicely shaped. And, since they have wild curls when it gets long, I have them cut the hair around the ears because if not, when those curls grow out, the boys look like they have wings.

Any favorite products for your children's hair?

I don’t really have one. We use Aveeno bath and shampoo wash for ease and I rarely use any products beyond that. Though when Logan wanted a mohawk, I used his dad’s hair gel to create a fauxhawk.

What is your "go to" hair style for your boys?

How to Host A Holiday Open-House that Gives Back

Last year, I started fantasizing about hosting a holiday open house. "Fantasizing" is really not an overstatement. We had never had one before, and I had visions of our friends and neighbors, decked out in their holiday finery, stopping in to drink wine and munch on home-made sugar cookies by the light of our Christmas tree. Sounds perfectly lovely, right? (Just ignore the screaming children in the background, of course.)

I was planning it all out in my head when, thanks to a sponsored post I was working on at the time and a very quick deadline, our open house became something entirely different, but just as wonderful. We ended up hosting a holiday brunch which doubled as a collection for our local women and children's shelter.

I was so happy with how it all turned out, I decided it definitely needed to become a tradition. Except, given our weekend schedule this month and our holidy travel plans, we will be skipping this year. Bummer! But we will be doing it again in 2014 and I'm thinking it a charity-brunch may be a perfect twist on a house-warming party when we move this spring. Who says this has to be a holiday open house?

So I  thought I would share how to go about throwing your own holiday (or not) brunch / community collection, just in case you might like to do something similar. I mean, what captures the meaning of the holidays better than gathering with your favorite people and doing good for others? And this can be thrown together very quickly. Last year I planned our brunch in 48 hours - invitations went out Friday, brunch on Sunday morning. Although I don't necessarily recommend being so last minute, it did mean less time to stress about it.

I really wish I had some good photos of the event. Next year, I'll do a better job with my photography and share again! In the meantime here are 5 steps to hosting your own holiday open-house that gives back: