The easy pre-sport toddler days rapidly wane and your preschooler or kindergartener now wants to try everything. Soccer season melts into baseball season and summer sports are transcended by winter ones. Meanwhile an expensive pile of equipment grows in your storage room, garage or basement.

I’m often amazed by the amount of equipment required for each sport. Who knew shoes came in a variety of “sports”? Baseball shoes, soccer shoes, skateboard shoes…the list goes on.

When it comes to individual sports, especially those that require, not shoes but skates or boots, the price tag inches up and the lifespan of each seems but a nanosecond. So, I’ve tended toward the cheaper or rental version whenever possible.

Since I’m an eager participant in several of these, fun but expensive, sports, skiing and ice skating, and my son is too, I’ve taken him straight to the rental counter each time we go. Unfortunately, he is less than enthused by my real passion, rollerblading.

Worse yet, renting rollerblades for him isn’t really an option since my preferred path is around our neighborhood. And buying a new pair each year for an unenthusiastic participant seems somewhat wasteful.

So, I’ve invested in a pair of adjustable skates. While they don’t provide the best fit, they do the trick and save me money in the long run. These unisex adjustable skates are great starter skates and are handy to have around for small visitors if your child really gets into skating and wants his or her own pair. These Kid Meteor adjustable skates are a little less “clunky” and feature the “cool” look boys covet.

Some of my favorite pretend play toys are those that revolve around cooking. Since children and adults of both genders love to cook and, face it, we all love cooking shows; stoves, refrigerators and the wide variety of cooking toys are almost always a great hit.

These are toys that grow with kids too! Add a toy cash register and playing Mom or Dad evolves to playing restaurant, using budding writing skills to take orders and rudimentary math skills to add up the check.

The problem in many households though is space. While an elegant, child sized, wooden kitchen set works well in a playroom, family room or even a large bedroom, sadly, that’s often not really an option. It wasn’t for us.

But we found a better solution. The Plan Toys sturdy, wooden table top stove that slipped into the kitchen cabinet designated for my son’s “kitchen toys” was not only space-saving, but allowed him to actually join right in when dinner was being prepared.

Easy to pull out and place on the kitchen table or the small child-sized table we kept in the room, he happily imitated our motions and prepared HIS meal while we prepared ours. I’ve given the Alex Toys My First Stove as a gift a few times and have been told that it’s an excellent addition to Grandma’s house too!

Face it, buying baby furniture is a losing proposition. That is, buying furniture, JUST for baby is. At most you might get one to two years, out of a crib. If you’re lucky, you may be able to use it for several children depending on spacing, gender and well, space…i.e. if you have somewhere to store it between births.

With dressers you fare a bit better as even the most aggressively cutesy baby style will be tolerated, if not adored for at least 3-4 years. A more neutral style can last the full eighteen years and be dragged off to inhabit an overcrowded student apartment.

But, the changing table. Well, that’s another story. While many folks seem to do just fine without one, I find it makes life just so much easier to have a home for all the diapering accoutrements…even if most changes happen elsewhere.

The problems with changing tables though are lifespan and space. After a few years and a few thousand diapers, their primary use is gone. Long before that, typically, they fall apart. (Changing tables seem to be one of those things that you can’t scrimp on and expect it to last.) And…they take up a lot of space!

Solution – the changing table that well…changes after the diaper days are gone. Here are two great choices from South Shore. The Natural Maple Changing Table turns into a dresser, while the Petite Changing Table converts to a bookcase. We’ve found this solution an excellent way to justify buying a nice piece of furniture that will last and look good for years.

If you’re like most parents and like me, in particular, it seems toys are always accumulating in your house. They are given as gifts; they appear after parties and a few, sometimes the good ones, you purchase for your child…often on a whim.

The good ones, not necessarily the most well made or the most expensive, but those that provide the most play value, last for years. In our house these are usually pretend play toys. We have a wide variety of them – cars and trucks, toasters and play food, costumes and stuffed animals. One of the best we’ve purchased, especially for summertime fun is our toy BBQ.

Americans are a barbecuing society. As the fourth of July weekend approaches we’re all stocking up on burgers and buns and getting ready to fire up the grill for the holiday. Why shouldn’t our children too? O.K. well, not exactly fire up but pretend to cook on the grill.

These toy grills, one smaller for tabletop use and one larger, “floor model” are great for summer fun. They’re small enough to haul outside and set up next to Dad or Moms or even carry along in the car for a barbecuing picnic. Boys particularly love the opportunity to “cook like Dad”.

I like these two models because the number of bells and whistles is limited. Sure, they light up and make noise, but they’re just as much fun if you never put in batteries or replace them when they die.

So, pick up a toy grill and let your little one join in the fun this barbecue season.

I always admire those people who have a piano in their home and someone to play it.

We have friends who are musical and pull out a well-worn guitar after family dinners. We have relatives who gather around the piano and have family sing-a-longs. Talented neighbors have a collection of instruments and virtuosos for each.

Unfortunately my family’s talents seem to lie in whistling and singing off key. That however doesn’t stop us from making music.

One of our favorite summer activities is to gather the neighborhood kids together and have a marching band. Selecting costumes that vary from a scarf tied around the head to an old Halloween witch’s hat, they troop into our playroom and make a selection from our vast collection of percussion instruments. Lined up again we all strut around the neighborhood, happily banging away.

Sometimes we sing while we walk. Sometimes rhythm is enough.

We’ve had a series of children’s instruments over the years. I’m not fond of the plastic “child sized” instruments sold in most toy stores. They tend to break and never sound quite as good as the real thing.

The ones I like best are well made “real” instruments. Typically much better made and not very expensive, they often last to hand down to the grandkids.

There are lots of choices from all over the world that introduce children to real instruments and other cultures at the same time. Finger cymbals, popular with dancers take a little bit of coordination but make a really pretty sound. Bongos and maracas often used in Latin music are often works of art.

Take the opportunity to explore the world with your music collection!

I recently became extremely bored with our weekly dinner menus and started digging through the various cook books I’ve accumulated over the years. Most, I’ve found acted more as dust collectors than as useful tools, mostly because; in the cooking department I am more workhorse than racehorse. That and, my husband and I have decided that dinner should take no more than one half hour or so to prepare.

That can be limiting.

One stood out. It was used endlessly and shows it from the earmarks and stains - my baby cookbook.

With a new baby is just one upheaval after another. So, to make dinner time a little easier I started including my child in family meals from the time he started on solids. While this can be challenging if your meals tend toward the gourmet, simple, scrumptious meals can be made for the whole family using a baby and family cookbook.

The Baby Cookbook features meals that fit with the tastes of baby’s and toddlers and are actually tasty for adult palates. All of the recipes are low sugar, low sodium, etc. and promote good eating habits…which can be good for the whole family, if you like I, before kids, had slipped into some rather unhealthy ones.

Another indispensable book, especially if you prefer to pass on the processed pacaked baby foods stage and feed your baby real food from the beginning, is Super Baby Food. This one is packed with recipes for making your own baby food, as well, as nutritional information and feeding schedules.

Of course, you’ll want to purchase a food mill too so check out these options.

Since we live in a particularly sunny part of the country and near the water, we rarely leave the house without hat and sunscreen. Days at the beach or at the pool however, present another set of problems. Head gear and sunscreen work less well in those wet and wild environments.

When venturing into the water I do lather up my son with sonscreen sunscreen but also outfit him in a full length swimsuit that blocks out some of the harmful rays. I’ve been doing this since he was small, so while I haven’t been able to divulge in the, oh so cute and skimpy, swim suits available, he’s somewhat safer from skin damage.

This UPF50 swim suit from Protect-a-Bub however, combines the best of fashion and function -cute colors and sun protection in one. I’m planning on purchasing two for a summer sure to be spent mostly at the pool. Gas prices as they are these days, its makes little sense to venture too far a field.

My big find this year though is this fantastic beach tent. Though our pool fortunately is surrounded by shady trees, our beach, for obvious reasons, is not. That means every time we venture forth I end up dragging along my beach umbrella and repositioning it every half hour or so as the sun makes its way across the cloudless sky. This cool beach tent will give us instant shade and a great place to eat lunch and play games out of the heat

I have to admit, I was always a big fan of making my own baby food. Yes, health played a role in it. The fresher the food the better I always thought. If I made my own I KNEW what was going into it and didn’t need a chemistry degree to try to decipher the ingredients.

But once I started down that path, the more I found that it was actually cheaper and easier to make my own than it was to buy baby food in jars. I started my son on avocados, applesauce and bananas (OK and the occasional French fry). As his tastes changed and I got bored serving him the same thing over and over he was included in the family meals…which turned out to be easy since we eat a lot steamed vegetables and plain sorts of foods.

The one accessory that was indispensable was my tiny food mill. Sure, I could have used my food processor but a dedicated food mill turned out to be so much easier. I never worried about making a batch of home made baby food and freezing it for later, I just steamed up a small portion of vegetables or fruit or whatever the recommended food to introduce was and dropped it in the mill.

I have an electric model but a manual one would be great for restaurants and picnics!

I’m a firm believer that a wagon is a required accessory when one has children- mostly because it is virtually impossible to go anywhere with kids without a load of accessories. Diaper bags, snacks, water, baby wipes, sports equipment, blankets and, of course a change of clothes; all seem to be required at one time or another. And…as the kids get older and the family gets bigger…carrying them around no longer seems to be a viable option. That’s where a wagon comes in handy.

With gas prices so high, I’m also looking for more places where we can walk, further and further distances. This is, of course, great for mommy exercise too. Yes, the stroller will do in a pinch but a wagon is just so versatile, especially as kids get older. My husband has found our wagon quite useful too, for carrying groceries, gardening accessories and firewood. I don’t know what we would do without it.

Since I’m a sucker for old fashioned styling and quality materials I’m willing to pay a little more. So, these Radio Flyer wagons I think are perfect. I like the sturdy construction and the real wood and metal. It just makes me remember when I was a kid.

Not surprisingly, yet another round of friends are having babies so I am once again looking for shower presents. Since this happens every few years, I am never quite a stranger to the baby department. In fact, I actually enjoy going back to see all of the new gadgets and accessories available.

This time the new moms are working professionals, neither of whom I know very well, but both of whom I feel obliged to purchase a present. Actually obliged is probably not the right word. I WANT to buy a baby present. I want to add to their ever-growing base of knowledge about parenting. I want to buy the perfect present.

Since I usually buy clothes, this means buying something that is practical yet stylish and hopefully addresses one of those “new mom needs that she hasn’t figured out yet”. So, I really like this long sleeve organic coverall from Halo.

These are great if you’re co-sleeping since you can place the baby on top of the covers, sans blanket, and still keep him or her warm. The light weight is great for summertime and the turn back sleeves, a really cool feature, keeps baby from scratching him or herself in the face – something that happens way too often in those crazy early days

Halo also makes an organic onsie – something most new moms need in quantity. I like the organic, chemical, dye and preservative free part. Babies’ have the most sensitive skin and always seem to be developing one rash or another so I recommend staying as natural as possible.