Doll house

My daughter is turning 4 next month and I thought it would be fun to buy her a doll house. Little did I know how much time I would spend researching through doll houses and trying to make a decision about one. Ironically, it started out being a fun idea but now it's turning into a frustration because I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place and still trying to make a decision.

Here are the questions I've had to ask:
1. Wood or Plastic? - Plastic is easy to clean and isn't as expensive. It seems like plastic isn't something that's going to last for generations, especially if it's made in China. Wood looks nice and long-lasting but you have to pay a hefty amount for it.
Any decent size wooden doll house is going to be at least $100. In one sense, it doesn't seem like that much money, but on another hand, is it really worth $100 ?? You could buy a lot for $100.

2. How much money am I willing to spend? - I'm a conservative spender so that tells you why it's such a battle for me. When I think about kids in other parts of the world that are struggling to eat, I can't help but feel guilty for spending so much money on a doll house. So, I decided that $100 would be about the maximum that I would spend.

3. Is this something she's going to play with temporarily or do I want something that's going to last for generations to come? - Personally, I would like her to have something that she can play with for a long time and that it would last for her to pass it on to her own kids.

4. Size? - I like the idea of small - medium, because of storage space. However, if the doll house is too small, then you have to consider that the furniture pieces are going to be small as well. The disadvatage is small pieces loose easily and get eaten up by younger siblings. Too large of a doll house is a nuisance to store, and if it's something that's going to stay in the family to pass down to future grandchildren, think about how long you will have to store a big piece of item in your home. Probably medium is the best thing for us.

5. How important is it to have a doll house? - In the big scheme of things, not really important at all. Kids survive just fine without any toys. - Once again, after doing all the necessary research, I feel as though it's a constant debate. We have blocks and cushions that we often use to pretend make little houses and use small dolls along with that. It's nice to have a real house and nice not to have my cushions thrown on the floor all the time.

6. Build it or buy it? - How much time do you have to build one? Or are you a handy person or know of someone in the family that would like to build one? My husband looked at a doll house kit and thought it would be a fun memory to build one for my daughter. Wouldn't that be more meaningful to say "my daddy made that for me" vs. saying "ahh..it's just some doll house I grew up with". Buying one is a whole lot easier and quicker. Little kids usually don't have the patience to see someone taking the time to build it. We live in an apartment right now, so we don't have the space to build one. If we really want to get a doll house soon, buying will be the better option for us.

Show and Tell Letters

Since my daughter started preschool, she has "Show and Tell" every week. They go through a letter of the alphabet twice a week and they bring in an item that starts with the given letter. It's been fun searching the house for everyday items that she can take to school to share with her friends. Thought I might share this with other mom's who are looking for something. (maybe even last minute, as that has often happened to me).

A - apron, apple, airplane, album

B - basketball, button, book, bottle

C - cotton ball, cup, comb, camera

D - drum, doll, dinosaur, dice, diaper

E - egg, earphones, elephant, envelope

F - fan, flag, fork, flower,

G - glue stick, gum, grapes, gel, garbage bag, games

H - honey, hairbrush, hammer, hanger

I -ice cube, iguana, igloo, ice cream stick

J - jello, juice box, jump rope, jenga, jar

K - kite, kiwi fruit, ketchup,keys

L - lemon, lollipop, Lego toy, leaf

M - mail, marshmallow, mitten, map, magnet

N -nail clipper, necklace, nuts, needle

O - orange, jar of olives, onion

P - paper, purse, piggy bank, panda bear

Q - quarter (coin), quilt, queen, Q-tip

R - ruler, ring, ribbon, robot, bag of rice

S - bag of sugar, spoon, stapler, stamp

T - tissue, toy, toothbrush, tape

U - umbrella, uno cards, uhu glue

V - vitamin, video, piece of velvet material, vanilla essence

W - bottle of water, whistle, waffle, wood, watch

X - picture of an x-ray, xylophone

Y - yo yo, yoghurt, yoga video

Z - zebra, zipper, zero