Ah, the weekend. Perhaps you had the forethought to arrange a sitter. But if that was as far as you got, and you still don’t know where you and your love monkey are heading to, check out OpenTable online reservations. This online reservation system serves restaurants across the US and internationally; plug in your search neighborhood (e.g., Back Bay) and scope out reservation availability (and descriptions, reviews, ratings, and menus where available) for multiple restaurants at a time. No more individual phone calls!

Summer is more than half over but there’s still time catch one of the noontime performances of Club Passim’s Culture for Kids concert series at the Boston Children’s Museum. Today’s (July 28) show features Roots music; the August roster includes African drumming (Aug. 4), Latin rhythms (Aug. 11), Jazz (Aug. 18), and Folk (Aug. 25). All events are free for kids (8-12 years old); a $5 donation is suggested for adults.

I love letting my fingers do the walking. And I love getting rewarded for it.

A mama friend turned me onto Upromise, a service that helps you save for your babe’s college tuition while you shop. Access your favorite online stores through their website (or use their automated software so you don't have to remember to start at their site) and earn money while you shop. Register those pesky little Shaw's or CVS cards and every time you use them to buy participating items, you’ll earn money. And the list goes on with restaurants, retail stores, services, and special programs.

Now you have a new way to rationalize that cute new pair of shoes!

The Georello Jungle is a classic example of why I don’t include listed age limits for toys and books; rather, I note developmental aspects of the item that would mesh with wherever your babe is at.

This super cool toy is part puzzle, part color learning tool, part mechanics 101 lesson. The Georello Jungle is the one toy in our house that garners play irrespective of age (e.g., 21 months to about 60 years!). Toddlers love locking the base puzzle pieces together and, as I recently discovered, matching the colors of the animals to the colors of the base pieces. Adults cannot resist attempting to construct super cool, spinning gear patterns.

The 50-piece set includes base pieces, meshing gears, wild animals, and palm trees. I picked mine up at Henry Bear's Park (Huron Village, Arlington Center); also available at Amazon for $15.99.

A local mama of twins found her fabulous nanny through Craigslist. After seeing a friend tango unsuccessfully with a nanny agency (to the tune of a $2500 matching fee), this mama posted an advertisement on Craiglist, interviewed 25 (!) candidates who responded to her post, picked the top 4, did trial periods with each, and ultimately was able to hire Super Nanny.

Hiring a nanny was more economical than enrolling her twins in day care; this mama suggested starting the nanny search about two months prior to actual need so you can do a thorough search and not settle for a so-so candidate.

This strategy also would suit a search for a babysitter or mother's helper. Click here for the direct childcare link on Craigslist.

When you are next looking for an outing that is a little more Zen and a little less zoo, head to the peaceful, manicured Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. The grounds are open from sunrise to sunset every day; admission is free (although donations are welcome).

The Arboretum offers seasonal two-hour school programs for students in grades 3 to 6 that are designed to encourage the investigation of plant science. Classes are free for kids from Boston schools, $4 otherwise. One-day and multi-session horticulture, botany, and landscape-related courses are offered for adults of all levels.

I've seen some really random things this month. 

1. A bike rack on a hearse.  It was on the top of the hearse, but it wasn't a roof rack - it was a trunk rack. I have no idea how it was affixed there, but I almost got in a wreck looking at it.
2. A car on fire on the side of the interstate - no emergency vehicles yet.  The owners were standing in the median, looking understandably dismayed.
3. A picnic of families whose children were dwarfs or midgets or little people.  I'm not sure if any of those terms are PC, but I mean no harm.  I've never seen a child displaying these physical characteristics before, so to see twenty or so of them playing in the park was startling at first.  I thought they were all the little angel's age until I got closer and realized the little angel can't ride a tricycle, let alone a moped, so maybe those weren't toddlers.
4. The little angel voluntarily eating soy sauce.
5. Poo in the potty-training potty, a first.
6. My rental neighbors doing yard work (they're new). No one has done yard work next door since my lesbian-firefighter neighbor, C., moved away.  She was my favorite, partly because she did yard work and partly because she always talked to me. None of my neighbors ever talk to me. Wah.
7. A woman swimming at the Y with an intact mouth of fire-engine-red lipstick. How the hell did she manage that?  I can't even keep my waterproof mascara from running.
8. A horrible painting of phallic stalagmites.  They were pink and brown. Argh.
9. A jeep with a six-foot can of Red Bull in the back. 

That's it.  I'm out.  I'll be back after BlogHer.

Parents always look distraught when their babe grabs a toy out of another babe’s hand, or exercises a death grip on an object when it is suggested that they share. But parents ought not to be so hard on themselves and think that their babe is destined to be greedy; self-centeredness is a natural stage of development and it takes time to learn what sharing is all about.

Dr. Cathryn Tobin’s article “Sharing: 14 Ways to Get Your Child to Play Fair” offers helpful guidance. She outlines common mistakes made when attempting to teach kids to share, offering insights into the long-term implications of well meant parental actions such as forcing a child to share or prying a toy out of a child’s hands. She then offers concrete actions to teach kids to share, including ways to model good behavior for your babe while understanding their developmental limits.

Dr. Tobin is the author of the well-rated book The Parent's Problem Solver: Smart Solutions for Everyday Discipline Dilemmas and Behavioral Problems ($13.95 at Amazon).

There’s a point to commuting after all. Yesterday, while mama multitasking before heading to the office (i.e., entertaining the babe on my lap while trying to clean up a few emails while talking on the phone), the babe reached over for the laptop, played for a minute, then made a break for it. I thought nothing of it. I begrudgingly headed to work.

I soon discovered that there was a foreign object lodged firmly under my “v” key. I think it was a crumb. All efforts to dislodge the crumb were unsuccessful. Copying and pasting became impossible. I spent the next 7 hours avoiding the “v” key.

The commute home was crowded and grumpy (trains were backed up and everyone was missing their connections) but I later discovered the silver lining behind the stinky train. While my explicit attempts to dislodge the crumb were in vain, having the laptop bounce along on its side in my bag during the commute home did the trick. So far I have yet to find the crumb under a different key.