Remember that refrigerator box you used to play airplane? You drew your little controls on the insides, and colored the wings in crayon on the outside. What an adventure. Well ... someone did that, only they made a spaceship. And he didn't use crayons or a refrigerator box. And it's way, way more amazing than you could even imagine.

Daniel Sherrouse created a spaceship simulator for his 1-year-old son, Noah. He planned it while Noah was still just a little kicker in his mother's belly. Let's just say, it's the kind of toy you grow into.

Forget "terrible." This 2-year-old is tricky, and by "tricky," I mean "future evil genius material." Scratch that, he's already an evil genius. Not only has this toddler figured out how to slip into his sister's room in the still of the night and steal her stuff undetected, he breaks into her room by picking the lock -- with a pair of nail clippers -- in the dark!! Luckily (for us, because it's hilarious), his parents set up a video camera to catch him in the act. And posted the results on YouTube, with the following explanation: "This is what our 2 yr old does at night. He picks the lock to his sister's room and takes her stuff ... We caught it on video."

I admit, I feel a little defensive about my son's screen time. Letting your child play online, iPad, iPhone, and iDunnowhatelse electronic games and videos these days is up there with letting them eat sugar and food dyes. It's one of the great eeeeevillllls of parenting. I see parents handing their kids screens big and small all the time, and yet, we all claim to have "limits" and we always have a perfectly good excuse for allowing it just this once.

What if we just relaxed and stopped treating screen time like a poison we reluctantly dole out to our kids? What if there were evidence that it's not even as bad as we've been led to believe? What if screen time maybe, possibly, shockingly, teaches our kids something?

Every mom I know, myself included, at some point or another comes to the same sad, inevitable conclusion: Dads are more fun. I know I'm making a sweeping generalization here, but if you've ever left your toddler at home with daddy for an afternoon and walked in the door to find your little one and your husband napping contentedly on the couch in the middle of the biggest mess of toys and Cheerios and crayons imaginable ... well, you know what I'm talking about.

Maybe it's because men are just big, overgrown kids who secretly just want an excuse to play with toys all day long. Maybe it's because they're better at letting go of whatever's on the to-do list and living in the moment. Whatever the reason, this (adorable) video suggest it may have something to do with shirtless bongo drumming.

My son making me feel a little better about the whole thing.I have twins -- one boy and one girl. Baby jackpot some would say. They just turned 3. My parents bought my daughter a dark blue velvet jacket for her birthday. It's adorable, but Pippi will not put it on. She pushed it away and said, "No, that's for Hunter." I explained how it's a gift for her but she said, "No, that's a boy's jacket."

My daughter, who wore mostly pink for the first few months of her life because you can't find preemie clothes in many colors, has been pink-washed. My daughter -- the little baby girl who I bought baby dolls for and dressed in tutus -- is a girly girl who doesn't think she can wear certain colors. And it's all my fault.

I'm not a fan of corporal punishment, but I have to admit I sympathize with the mom featured in this episode of Coffee Shop Confessions: "I Almost Spanked a Stranger's Child!" Because the mom lost her temper in a toy store, and if you've ever taken a toddler to a toy store (or even observed a toddler in a toy store), you know exactly how horribly horrible an experience that can be.

And it's not like the mom was going to give her little girl a full-fledged spanking in the middle of the aisle; she just went to give her hand a swat. How many times do I have to tell you to put that toy down?!

Unfortunately, the hand she grabbed didn't belong to her daughter at all.

Christmas morning with kids is the best thing ever...until you actually have to take the toys out of that ridiculous packaging, usually while the kids are begging you to open it right now please please pleeeaaasseee...and you're wielding a knife or scissors on not enough sleep and too much coffee. Whoever invented these things hates parents, I think.

'Tis the season to be checking those lists and checking them twice. If you have a toddler on one of them, the choices can be overwhelming, and it seems like they want everything and nothing all at the same time.

But kids this age are also some of the most enthusiastic recipients of gifts. They see magic and possibility in the bows and the boxes, and you don't want to disappoint. You don't have to spend a fortune to wow them though. There are plenty of amazing, affordable gifts out there that will thrill toddlers. Here are 10 unique ones I've found.