Family Friday: Cut, Sculpt, and Roll Play Set with Tools
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Oooh: My boys both loved the older version of this play dough set, so it’s nice to see that there’s an updated version. (If you’re on the hunt for more, we’re big into play dough at our house: this set is great if you’ve got a young’un, and my eldest was always a big fan of the Chuck and Friends/Play-Doh collaboration — but with the latter, skip the gravel grinder because it leaves you with tiny dried Play-Doh pieces all over your kitchen table!) This pictured updated set is $10.99 at Amazon. Melissa & Doug Cut, Sculpt, and Roll Clay Play Set With 8 Tools and 4 Colors of Modeling Dough
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Sales of note for 3/21/25
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Spring sale, up to 50% off: Free People, AllSaints, AG, and more
- Ann Taylor – 25% off suiting + 25% off tops & sweaters + extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 40% off everything + 20% off
- Eloquii – 50% off elevated essentials + extra 50% off sale
- J.Crew – 25% off select linen & cashmere + up to 50% off select styles + extra 40% off sale
- J.Crew Factory – Friends & Family Sale: Extra 15% off your purchase + extra 50% off clearance + 50-60% off spring faves
- M.M.LaFleur – Flash Sale: Get the Ultimate Jardigan for $198 on sale; use code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Buy 1 get 1 50% off everything, includes markdowns
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!!
- The concept of “backup care” is so stupid…
- I need tips on managing employees in BigLaw who have to leave for daycare pickup…
- I’m thinking of leaning out to spend more time with my family – how can I find the perfect job for that?
- I’m now a SAHM and my husband needs to step up…
- How can I change my thinking to better recognize some of my husband’s contributions as important, like organizing the shed?
- What are your tips to having a good weekend with kids, especially with little kids? Do you have a set routine or plan?
Late in the day for this question, but here goes – do you send Tylenol/ibuprofen to daycare with your teething-age kids? Daycare called letting us know our normally very happy son was inconsolable and wouldn’t eat lunch after a normal morning. They said we didn’t have to pick him up, but my husband was home today anyway so we thought we might as well. He (son, not husband) was a real mess but about 15 minutes after ibuprofen was back to normal. He had a normal morning so I wouldn’t have thought of giving it to him before school, but on a normal day where we are both at work, this wouldn’t have worked as well. Curious what others have done. The only “medications” we have sent to daycare are diaper rash cream and sunscreen.
Duct tape?
Silly question, but how do you get your toddler to keep his or her clothes on? My kid has recently become obsessed with taking all of her clothes off. I don’t care if we’re in our house, but she does this at school too! Apparently yesterday she had a bit of a meltdown because her teacher tried to get her to stop stripping down.
How long can you go with a plugged duct? Has anyone had one that just WON’T go away?
Baby Pogo finally is night weaning himself (prayer hands emoji), but of course I woke up with a plugged duct at 4:45 today. I put him on the b00b and he was just annoyed because I don’t think he was actually hungry at that point and of course the milk wasn’t coming out very fast at all.
I spent over a half hour pumping this morning bent over at the waist and doing massage. No dice.
Should I let it go til the end of the day? Pick him up early at daycare right before a feeding so he’s hungry and try and get him to get it out? I’ve never had one go more than a few hours before.
I’ll be going back to work after maternity leave in a few weeks and need some advice about reduced hours. I took a smaller chunk of leave up front so that when I start back I can use my remaining parental leave intermittently throughout the rest of the year. I’ll essentially be returning at 80% (I.e., one day “off” each week), and I have a good bit of flexibility as to which day of the week to stay home. For those of you who have gone reduced hours, either temporarily or more long term, which day of the week did you find to be the least disruptive at work and/or most productive at hone? Did you set a specific day at the outset or did it vary based on the demands of a particular week? Also, what is reasonable to expect from this time away from the office? Did you use it to spend extra time with your kids or to grocery shop, clean house, etc? Is sending the kiddos to daycare frowned upon since it’s technically supposed to be bonding time for parents? Interested to hear others thoughts and experiences!
How old were your kids when you started volunteering with them? I want to teach my daughter about the importance of community and giving back, but also am cognizant that many times volunteer opportunities are a bit contrived and can require more effort from the organization than they get back. I don’t want to be a drain on them just to give my child an opportunity. Thoughts on when and what is best to do?
another story about the inaccuracies of ultrasound measurements:
My OB was convinced that my baby was 11lbs at 39 weeks, but she said that margin of error for this baby was 2lbs. That gave me a range of 9 to 13lbs. She also said that the most accurate measurement is the mom’s guess. I didn’t trust myself, because, umm how do I measure it?! But, self doubt aside, I knew the baby was not 11lbs, I just knew it. He was born the next day at 9lbs and the OB was beside herself. All this is to say, trust yourself. You know what is right for you…even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I would not get the scan. My practice pushed me to get a scan, the baby measured in the 5th percentile, and then he came out literally less than 24 hours later in the 70th percentile. I know it’s anecdotal, but it’s not an uncommon story in my friend group.
I did look around for studies on it, and according to one I found (I’ll post link separately), 5% of babies had actual weights within 15% of the predicted weight, and 82% of the scans OVERestimated weight (which actually helps explain why they were more freaked about my “tiny” baby).
I don’t think gathering more information, if it’s going to be inaccurate, or you’re not sure what to do with it, helps your baby.
curious to hear from others who may have had similar experiences – my 32 week ultrasound suggested baby might be big by term (measuring just over 5lbs then), and since then my doctors have been pushing me to get another ultrasound. I’m now 38+3 and while my stomach is measuring on track and I’ve gained just under 30 lbs, they are starting to scare me with warnings of what could happen if the baby should get stuck and that they’d want to induce me if an updated scan showed he is really that big. I’m on the fence – my family tends to have bigger babies without much of an issue, but of course I’d be devastated if something happened to him during birth that I could have prevented. I’m currently leaning toward doing an updated scan and potentially letting them induce if he’s that big, but wondering if others have a different take/advice after being in similar situations. I know how inaccurate these scans can be and I really hate making a decision on the basis of one, but the downside seems so horrific that I feel like I owe it to the baby to at least see what it says…
What are the best recipes for food to bring over to a friend who just had baby #2? I’ve done lasagnas, etc. in the past, but now that I have a little one of my own, I’m looking for something relatively quick and easy that will also be relatively healthy and satisfying for my friends. Thanks!
This is timely as I just earlier this week bought these tools (the old set though, I guess) from another parent and I wanted to post on here and ask for best playdoh tips. Put down newspaper underneath? Just vacuum afterwards? He has his own little wooden table and it’s over hardwood so hoping it wouldn’t be that bad.