Your mssion, should you choose to accept it

...Is to tell me one fairly unusual item you cannot, right now, live without as a parent. No fair saying crap like "crib" or "car seat" (and do not make me watch the 'Kyle' video on YouTube again, please. I am out of tissues) "diapers" or "my (or my wife's, for my male reader) boobs." I'm also hoping too get beyond staples like playdough and washable crayons, which, while both masterstrokes in the Evolution of Parenting, are, shall we say, somewhat obvious.

Products are fair game. We got one of these this weekend and it's pretty swell, but I think everyone has to buy some kind of booster seat thingy, so I don't think it will count as my entry.

No, the most useful thing we've acquired 'round these parts lately was free. It came from Cosco, but I'm sure you can get one anywhere. It's a box that used to hold boxes of Clif bars, but it has reached a new level of utility in its new job: it's a perfect desk for a small toddler who loves to sit on the floor. It's all open in the front, presumably for easier Clif-bar access, but his little legs fit right in the opening and it's the perfect height for him to sit and color. It's cardboard, so he can smear it up/color on it/go Russel Crowe on it all he wants and all we have to do to get a new one is to show up at our nearest wholesale store and look pitiful. It's AWESOME especially for the New To Crayons set, because it's sort of a nice continuation of drawing paper.

So what can't you live without this week/month? I have no prizes to offer, but if nothing else, you will sound cooler than me.