Spilling the Beans

Update 5/3/2017: The Best Toys for Birthday Presents for Kids of All Ages Approaching their sixth birthday, kids are tremendously creative, and have no problem deftly merging fantasy and reality with inventive results. At GreatSchools.org, in an article on child development...

By age four, there’s one very easy shortcut to finding the perfect gift for your kid: just ask her! At this age, kids are pretty clear on what they like, whether it’s princesses, dinosaurs, superheroes, or baseball. Granted, your child...

A lot can change in eight years. Just ask my daughter Mira, who was born just 15 weeks before Magic Beans opened its doors on July 7, 2004. Eight years ago, she was sitting in the window of the store...

I’m sitting at my desk typing this post almost exactly 10 years to the minute after giving birth to my first child. She came into the world, reluctantly and with the help of a pair of forceps, at 1:57am on...

So of course my daughter found her birthday cake on Pinterest this year. Seems appropriate, right? She was looking over my shoulder one day and two months later, when I asked if she wanted anything in particular for her birthday...

(Flashback) 4/27/02 After laboring through most of April 26th, 2002, I finally gave birth to my daughter in the wee hours of April 27th, with the assistance of a formidable pair of forceps. I was 25 years old and I...