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Sales of note for 11.30.23…
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Limited-Time Sale of 11,000+ items; up to 25% off select women’s coats & jackets (ends 12/6); Nike up to 25% off (ends 12/2); markdowns include big deals on UGG, Natori, Marc Fisher LTD, Vionic and more!
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off sale styles
- Banana Republic – 40% off your purchase, including cashmere; up to 60% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 25% off $125+
- J.Crew – 50% off women’s styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- Lands’ End – Up to 70% off everything; free shipping (readers love the cashmere)
- Summersalt – 30% off everything; up to 60% off select styles (this reader-favorite sweater blazer is down to $75)
- Talbots – 30% off entire purchase, including all markdowns — readers love this cashmere boatneck and this cashmere cardigan, as well as their sweater blazers in general
- Zappos – 35,000+ women’s sale items! Check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kid shoe brands on sale.
Kid/Family Sales
- BabyJogger – 25% off 3 items
- Crate & Kids – Toy & gift event: up to 50% off everything; save 10% off full price items
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 50% off everything; extra 30% off sale styles
- Ergobaby – 40% off Omni Breeze Carrier, 25% off Evolve 3-in-1 bouncer, $100 off Metro+ Strollers
- Graco – Up to 30% off car seats
- Strolleria – 25% off Wonderfold wagons, and additional deals on dadada, Cybex, and Peg Perego
- Walmart – Savings on Maxi-Cosi car seats, adventure wagons, rocker recliners, security cameras and more!
Isabella says
LBs first birthday is rapidly approaching, and I want to mark the occasion with something fun and memorable, but I have no ideas what to do. Granny will probably come visit and bake a cake, but no other family unless we road trip to them. My house is a disaster scene and there is no way I could host people. WWYD?
Anon says
I just actually attended a 1st birthday at a wine bar. It seemed fitting given first birthdays are more for parents anyway. They even hired a photographer to get lots of photos of birthday boy with family and friends.
Anonymous says
Similarly, I have been to two first birthday parties at breweries.
Anon says
First birthdays should just be for family and close friends imo. If granny is visiting and you bake a cake and get a ballon that sounds like party enough for a 1 year old!
Anonymous says
Get professional family pictures, with fun props like a balloon shaped like the number 1
Anonymous says
I’m of two minds on this. My oldest was our first foster baby, so we threw a huge party for his first birthday because we knew we’d be adopting him and wanted everyone to finally meet him. I asked some crafty friends to come over and decorate a half hour before the party started. A talented friend baked a cake (otherwise I would have done store bought). I also asked someone to take photos. We rented a bounce house and spent most of our time in the back yard (there may have also been a keg). We had Mexican food catered. It honestly wasn’t much effort (side note: no one cares if your house is a wreck). On the other hand, I totally understand if you don’t have the capacity to pull off a big party. You could ask a local place to host, or you can definitely just have your mom make a cake and buy him a balloon and sing happy birthday while he’s in his high chair. There’s really no wrong answer here. Think about what would feel meaningful to you and do that. Lb won’t remember the occasion but if you take photos and recount it fondly, that will mean a lot to him later.
Jellybean says
Since you mentioned road tripping to other family, I’ll bite since that’s what we did. DH’s side parents and siblings cannot travel for various life reasons, so we road tripped to them (6 hours) and rented a house near where they live, and my parents made the trip and stayed at the rental house too. My best friend also lives about an hour from there and drove in. I hosted a small party at the rental house. I admit it was a bit extra especially since baby obviously won’t remember it, but this was in summer 2021 and family had barely gotten to hang out with baby or with each other because of Covid, so I figured the first birthday was a good excuse to celebrate after foregoing a lot of other celebrations and time together due to the pandemic.
OOO says
I took the day off to start potty training DS today but I think he’s starting to get a head cold. Anyone have experience with potty training a toddler when he’s sick? I mean if he gets really sick then of course we will rediaper, but if he just has the sniffles I would like to keep going.
Anon says
No experience potty training while sick but even a mild cold can impact a toddler’s attitude a lot. It still does for my kid at age 5 (although she’s more strong willed than most). I’m not sure it’s worth trying to push through if it’s going to be harder on all of you than necessary.
anon says
I’m solo parenting for 15 days. One of my kids is with my husband, and the younger one (7) will be with me. She’s really pretty easy to please, but it’s already hard finding things to keep her busy and active this time of year. She’s my little shadow even when DH is around, so I’m expecting that to ramp up with him away.
Any great ideas? At this point, I’m almost hoping for a snowstorm so we can go sledding. But then I’ll have to deal with snow removal, soooo …
Anonymous says
Honestly, that sounds so fun! What do you need to do while needing to keep her busy? Do you mean between like after school & dinner?
Otherwise I’d just lean into it. Ask her what she wants to do. Make it Mommy & me time. Go out to a show or for dinner or or go see a movie or get Mani/pedis. If she’s annoying you or something, let her have a play date over for a few hours. Put her in charge of planning dinner one night. Do a spa day. Take her skiing.
I would love all that 1:1 time with a kid!
Anonymous says
Coming back for more ideas: take her to a mall. Go to Claires, get a pretzel, go to the kids Dept at Nordstrom. Go to Sephora and let her play with the sample make up. Go to bath and body works and let her spray all the sprays.
Go to target, get a Starbucks (get her a cake pop and hot cocoa), browse around together.
Go to a pet store and look at the cute animals. If you have a pet, buy them a toy.
Watch Cake or cupcake decorating on YouTube then try and replicate. Or watch a cooking show together and make something. Order take out and watch a Netflix movie together.
Anon says
I solo parent my 9 y/o a lot, and honestly, lots of play dates, lots of movies. Sometimes we go out to eat and bring our books. Bookstore browsing with a hot cocoa.
Anon says
I basically solo parent my 5YO because DH is recovering from two serious surgeries in as many months. Things I like to do that keep her busy and and me sane:
– weekly costco run where she is the keeper of the list (she thinks grocery shopping is fun – pandemic kid)
– we go out to dinner a lot (and lunch on weekends) and sometimes if I (an introvert) am just done, she brings her tablet and headphones, I bring my kindle and we eat together in silence where someone else is doing the cooking and dishes. Once she is a stronger reader, I expect we will each bring books (this is something my family did, I know we are weird).
– we put on a mutually agreeable show (often a baking competition, battlebots, big bang theory, ninja warrior, scooby doo) and do our nails. Fun fact in our house: kid nails take a full 15 minutes to dry for each coat if you are noisy, but only 5 minutes per coat (and 15 at the end) if you are quiet while they are drying.
– bake cookies or bread or cinnamon rolls or something extra special you wouldn’t normally take the time to do and embrace the messiness that comes with a miniature sous chef
– when we used to belong to a gym, drop-in kid classes for yoga, rock climbing, etc. If you have a county rec center with an indoor pool, can you do a drop in swimming session? Also if you have a gym, do they have child care that older kids can use or would enjoy?
– if it is cold enough to snow, are you near enough to day trip to a ski resort for a day of skiing, snow tubing or ice skating?
– invite friends over for hot cocoa and smores around a fire pit with a “group parenting” approach to the gaggle of girls
– definitely looking to take kiddo bowling this winter because I think she is finally old enough to enjoy it
– is your kid into puzzles or legos? maybe a new one for just the two of you to work on together
– on weekends DD gets to take a soaking bath where she sets up her tablet in the bathroom on the counter and soaks in the bathtub for upwards of an hour just playing with her barbies and watching her show. I don’t rush her, just let her soak until she gets bored. Sometimes I supply snacks and juice for her too. What a life.
Mommadom says
TLDR: Any experiences with kindergarten foreign-language immersion programs?
My 4.5 year-old son will be starting kindergarten in the fall, and now is the time to make decisions about foreign-language immersion programs in our district (one is full-immersion Spanish and one is partial-immersion Mandarin). I am torn. On the one hand, I know that learning a foreign language early is so much easier than it is later, and I know there are many studies indicating that there are significant mental and social benefits to being bilingual. On the other hand, I know that instruction (especially exclusive instruction) in a foreign language will likely make starting kindergarten extra challenging for my son (he has not had exposure to any languages other than English), and I don’t want to set him up to be frustrated, discouraged, etc. In addition, parents have to take on more responsibility for transportation in the language immersion programs (limited bussing) and both programs are a K-12 commitment. I think we could handle the transportation aspect, and I love the idea of the opportunities that being bilingual could open for my son, as well as the increased cultural awareness. However, he did have some early speech delay (he is generally caught up now and no longer needs speech therapy) and he was adopted. I only mention that because my husband and I were both very academically-oriented, bookish kids and we are trying to guard against forcing that on our son. In addition, I don’t know if there could be conditions like ADHD, dyslexia, etc. in his family history that could make school even harder. I don’t want to assume that the language immersion will be too challenging and deprive him of the opportunity to try, but I also really want school to be a positive experience and I don’t want to upend him by having to switch schools after kindergarten if things don’t work out. Any experiences with language immersion, positive or negative, that you could share would be fantastic. Bonus if you have experience in the context of kids who needed early intervention for speech. Thanks, all!
Anon says
I think immersion has limited value if you don’t speak the language at home and the child will lose it as soon as the school program ends. If you or your husband or a trusted caregiver speaks Spanish or Mandarin I would try that. I don’t think switching schools after kindergarten is a big deal. Kids that age are still young enough that they make friends easily and don’t have established cliques. I don’t think immersion school is forcing intense academic experiences on your kid so I wouldn’t worry about that aspect.
Anonymous says
I somewhat disagree with the above commenter about the limited value. Kids’ brains are sponges at this early age and you’ll be surprised what they’re able to learn and retain. Even if they don’t use the language after leaving the program, some impact/impression would have been made—so if they choose to pick it up again as an adult, it’ll be much easier. Apparently as we grow and our brains develop, we lose the ability to hear and say certain phonemes if you’re not exposed to them (ie, “zh” sound in Chinese).
That being said, do recognize that it will be harder for you as a non-speaker as well if your son joins and progresses in the program and you may need to find ways for him to keep up academically with his native speaker classmates. Also, define what success looks like for you should he join the program and what/when you would want to switch to English instruction.
My 3rd grader has been in a duo-language Mandarin/English program since kindergarten (including one year of virtual). We want him to be able to converse with my parents and have enough vocabulary and character recognition should he want to pick it up in college or as an adult. He’s about to surpass my very basic / elementary level Chinese skills and we’re having to FaceTime my mom for help with schoolwork.
Anon says
My kids are in an immersion program (started in K) in a language that neither parent speaks. It’s going well even for my child with a 504, and I have no regrets. That said, a few things to think about.
– What are the resources available for families who don’t speak the language, particularly when it comes to schoolwork and homework? Ours provides after school tutoring and an English-language version of the text to parents upon request so we can assist on homework.
– What is your own aptitude for the language? Do you plan to learn it yourself? If not, how do you plan to interact with families of classmates who exclusively speak the other language? While I’m nowhere near fluent, I can now have basic conversations with parents at community nights and I can (with the help of Google translate) text parents about birthday parties and playdates.
– How do they work with children who are having difficulties or performing outside of grade level? Are there additional supports or out of level options? Will those be in the immersion language or home language?
– How does the program support community building? Are there ways to learn about and immerse yourself in the cultural aspects of the language? Are the teachers native speakers and will they incorporate their cultures into the classroom? To me, language acquisition without cultural context is much less impactful.
– For a parent who doesn’t speak the language and isn’t in the education field, it’s difficult to gauge progress. Even in a typical school, it can be hard to understand elementary report cards. How do they communicate with parents on child performance in the program? Do they assess knowledge in both languages? What about standardized state tests – what language are those in? How does a lag in vocabulary impact that? How often do they have children who leave the program, both because of parent decision and because of school decision? What does the school do before and after those situations?
As I said, I love our program and am thrilled that we were accepted. But we also have a district that has put a lot of thought and effort into the above situations and truly want it to be successful. They’ve gone above and beyond to bring both languages and communities together and over-communicate on progress and support. If our district didn’t have all of those in place, I’d likely feel differently even though I love bilingual programs.
OP says
OP here. Thank you for the kind and thoughtful comments. These responses are so helpful for thinking through the pros and cons and give me great ideas for questions that I should be asking.