A big thank you to the 300+ people who entered this contest! Here’s the winner of the Karito Kids doll…

BECKY GRAYSON

Congratulations, Becky! I’ve already emailed you, and you have 48 hours to get in touch with me in order to claim your prize. Huzzah!

We just read a fun new book, courtesy of Parent Reviewers: it’s called William is Going Green, and it’s the first in a series of books about William the Garbage Truck and his other little garbage truck friends. In this book, William the Garbage Truck loses his job because he was polluting the air, and is forced to find another job. Little readers can learn all about energy efficient hybrid garbage trucks, and how William had to change his ways in order to become “green” – like so many of us, right? The book is written by a father and son, and they have a great website where you can meet the rest of the surprisingly diverse group of garbage trucks. The site is full of great information for kids about recycling, and you can purchase the book there as well.

I’m not super familiar with big fancy dollies, because although I have a houseful of girls, they are hard on toys, and we’re too broke to spend a ton of money buying them really cool, expensive toys. Besides, it seems like every other day, we hear about a toy recall due to choking hazards or lead paint. I’ve decided to be proactive and just let my kids play with construction debris and broken glass. Still, sometimes we luck out, and a company will just SEND us something FOR FREE, so that we can try it out and Mommy can write about it.

Recently, our family received this totally cool looking doll in the mail:

She’s ZOE LINDEN, one of the darling dolls available in the Karito Kids line. Each of these dolls hails from a different part of the world, and comes packaged with her own trendy little outfit and hardcover story book all about her life. This particular doll is from New York City (New York City! I just have to shout it out like in the old Pace Picante Sauce ads. I can’t help it.) Her book is all about saving her mom’s house from foreclosure. No, really.

After you buy one of these dolls, you can log onto their website, KaritoKids.com, and set up an account for your child. Then, you can register your doll and enter a special code to earn World Change Coins. These can be converted into donations to help kids around the world. So, there you go. You’re not spending a small fortune on a doll, you’re giving money to charity.

My own kids were very excited to meet our new buddy Zoe, as you can see here:

Once we cracked her open, they were much more enthusiastic. My oldest daughter decided that Zoe sort of looked like her. Well, dressed like her, anyway. She gave thumbs up to the fingerless gloves and Converse AllStar knockoffs, although she did say if it were HER doll, she’d draw little stars on the shoes to make them look more like the real thing:

  

If only we could change the colors in her outfit from bright and cheerful to dark purple and black, she’d be downright emo. I personally like this doll because she looks so much like my little Nikki. She’s got nearly the same blonde hairstyle, curly with bangs. If we rubbed Spaghetti-Oh’s into the doll’s hair and let it get really tangly, she’d look JUST like Nikki. She does have a super cute face – check out the freckles and eyelashes:

Now this is where the difficulty comes into play. One doll. Four children. Even our little boy loves dolls like this, particularly those that look REAL. We’re trying really hard to be fair with the sharing and turn-taking, but it’s not easy, man. Here are my little Karito Lovers:

I knew the girls would flip out over this doll. She’s BIG. She’s cool looking. She’s a nice size for incorporating into play scenes. I actually found this doll sitting on the bottom step in Time Out yesterday. I’m not sure what she did, but I’m sure she’s regretting it now. I wasn’t prepared for how much my son would love this doll, though. One of the really cool things about having a son with autism is that gender stereotypes go right out the window. He doesn’t really care if it’s a “boy” toy or a “girl” toy, he just thinks it’s fun and he wants to participate too. It pains my husband greatly to see his son running around in a Cinderella dress, but I love it. And it doesn’t bother me one bit to see him loving a dolly. And you know, my husband didn’t mind it nearly as much when he realized our son didn’t want to play with the doll as much as he wanted to MAKE OUT WITH IT.

Besides wanting to kiss it and love it, Pablo really loves to gently and lovingly stroke the doll’s face, pointing out her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, lips, etc. to us. It’s actually quite precious and touching to see.

A few things about Karito Kids dolls. They’re what I would tactfully call AN INVESTMENT. If you have a kid who is really rough on their toys, this may not be a good choice for you. The dolls are well made, but again, I’m not the type of parent who can plunk down a Benjamin for a DOLL and think nothing of it. But hey – I’m not representative of all parents! You might not be up to your armpits in small children like me. Back in the day when Kayley was an only child, her dad and I both worked, and Christmastime at our house was INSANE. I totally would have bought this doll for her back in that life. She is such a mellow kid, though – the clothes would be completely intact years later, I guarantee you. Here in THIS life, though, we’ve already lost the shoes for poor Zoe. Also, within about 5 minutes of removing this doll from the box, a button or something came off of her outfit. I didn’t see it, I just heard about it from my husband, so I thought I’d mention it. I wouldn’t say it’s a choking hazard, because this doll is rated for children age 6 and up. But – for a doll of this quality, I would expect the buttons to stay on the clothes, y’know?

Bottom line: This is a cool doll. My kids adore it. It might be a perfect fit for your kids and your household. I hope what I’ve written here helps you make that decision. Would you like to win your very own Karito Kids doll? I’m giving one away, valued at $99.00. Woohoo! Just leave a comment here for a chance to win. I’ll randomly draw one winner on September 30th. Be sure to check out the contest rules linked in the menu bar at the top of the page. Good luck to ya!

(Psst…like winning stuff? I’m still giving away kids’ music all month long! Enter those giveaways too!)

Hey, Denver people! Listen up! This post is of utmost importance, as it concerns PIE.

I wanted to pass along what sounds like such a fun event! Are you a fan of the ABC hit show, Pushing Daisies? I’ll admit, I’ve never seen it. And it looks AWESOME, like a show I would completely LOVE, but I just can’t seem to find time to commit myself to obsessing about another show, what with that whole, “parenting five children” thing and all. But this event might make me change my mind! They’re pushing pie, PIE, people! Who doesn’t like pie?

It’s the Mobile Pie Hole – a truck traveling the country all throughout September, giving away free pie (pie!!) to kick off the second season of Pushing Daisies. The Pie Hole will be in Denver this Wednesday, September 17th, at Larimer Square from 10 to 2. They’re going to be serving up free pie, and giving away pie-cutters, spatulas, and more! Stop by and get some free pie! Tell them LaLaGirl sent you!

I wonder what I’d have to do to score one of those awesome daisy bicycles??