rain, rain, go away ...

It's Friday, and I didn't even have to look out the window to know that it would rain this morning. This is the fourth rainy Friday in a row, which is unfortunate because it was only five weeks ago that Madeline's preschool class started their Friday morning outdoor water play program. So, Madeline's class has only had water play one time since the beginning of the school year. I've dutifully packed her swim outfit in her backpack every Thursday night, and I feel a little sad each time I unpack it, dry, on Friday afternoons. I think that she really liked the water play - after the first time, she told me that she played with soapy sponges. Chris saw a photo of her class at her school's open house earlier this week - it was taken during water play and they were trying to see how many three year-olds fit inside a single bathtub. It sounds like Madeline and her classmates are missing some good stuff ...

Speaking of good stuff, it's been a really long time since I had my act together to organize my favourite links of the week ... but lo and behold:

• Z Recommends - this is one my new favourite blogs. I think that Madeline might be a little older than Z, but the posts at this site are for such interesting toys, products, and music!  I found the Sippy Cup Showdown post very informative (because the leak factor is oh-so-important to me), and I actually won something (a deck of Bright and Beyond activity cards) from reading this site. Cool, huh?
• Monkey Bars are so Old School - I'd never contemplated the evolution of children's playgroup equipment before, so I found this article interesting. I'm from the old-school era (loved merry-go-rounds), so it was helpful to have some of the new-fangled equipment on the playground explained to me :)
• I've seen this kid-friendly bento box in a few blogs, but Ask Moxie has a good post about it (and plastics) here. I think they're terrifically cute and useful in that the number of containers would motivate me to fill them all with veggies, but sadly, Madeline's school will provide lunch when she attends for a full day. No whimsical bento box for her yet.