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We only gave Sy a couple of presents for her birthday since she has such a huge and generous family. The first thing we got her was the Plan Toys Gas Station because the girl has always been obsessed with gas stations. Why? We don’t know, and we don’t ask. Some three year old mysteries are better left unsolved.
I thought this toy was going to be a huge hit since it’s two of her favorite things; a gas station and the world of her very vivid imagination. All those hungry cars getting filled up at her very own gas station, what’s not to love?
A lot, according to my girl and me.
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Look! A new guest reviewer. Today’s review is from Natalie Zee Drieu of the fabulous Coquette Blog and the CRAFT magazine blog. Natalie is pregnant with her first bambino. Congratulations and thanks for the review, Nat!
I love to sleep. When I don’t sleep well through the night, I get groggy. This ended up happening to me more and more after my first trimester when I really began to grow. My doctor advised me not sleep on my back and recommended I get a body pillow to help me sleep better. A body pillow?! Where would I store it? It wouldn’t look so pretty on top of the bed. Ahh!
I have to say, I was a bit skeptical at the idea of this huge pillow in bed with me and my husband. I didn’t want him to think it was a big barricade between us either. But for the sake of a good night’s sleep I had to try it. After extensive research online, I ended up getting the Leachco Snoogle Deluxe Total Body Pillow.
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Jenna McCarthy is one funny mother. (No, not Jenny McCarthy, although I suppose she is funny, too.) Jenna McCarthy started her writing career in New York for the glamorous Seventeen magazine. Dude. Back in the day, I soooo wanted to work at that magazine. My inner teenager was a wee bit jealous as I read McCarthy’s bio. Anyway, McCarthy’s bicoastal career eventually led her to Santa Barbara where she became a radio talent, a mother of two, and a very, very funny writer of the book The Parent Trip: From High Heels and Parties to Highchairs and Potties.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of parenting books; I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to them and they pretty much all make me feel inadequate. Not so with The Parent Trip. It’s more like reading the diary of one of your more humorous friends - a diary that spans pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and the first year of parenting. McCarthy touches on the highs and lows of pregnancy, labor, navigating the evils of a new mom’s group, breastfeeding, toys, the first vacation, you get my drift. All that crap we never thought we’d spend dozens of hours agonizing about as new mothers.
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Like diapers, I feel like we’ve tried all the sippy cups there are to try. I currently have two in rotation, and yes, I have tried them all too.
1) Born Free Sippy Cups
BPA-free and all that. This cup/bottle is easy to hold, has a removable handle and you can go from a bottle nipple to a sippy cup spout without changing the bottle on your kid, too. The flow is fast while using the hard spout attachment and it feels more like drinking out of a cup with a lid
There are six parts to the cup while cleaning which feels a bit excessive. I usually throw them all in a big bowl of hot soapy water at the end of the day and wash ‘em all up. I put them in the dishwasher once a week for an extra clean since they are dishwasher safe. I’ve noticed that the soft spout tends to break down pretty quickly. I even had to throw one away as bits of the rubber were breaking off and Sy handed me one straight out of her mouth. I did not worry because she does not swallow things unknown to her, but it might give me pause if she were younger. I now use the hard spouts only. They sell the nipples and spouts separately and all work with the same basic bottle.
9/29/07 update: I just had to throw away another spout because the opening basically disintegrated into a bigger hole and there were little bits hanging off. I am going to attempt contacting the manufacturer about this and see what their plans are for fixing the problem, I doubt I am the only one with this issue.
Snapshot for Born Free
• I love the idea behind it, to have a safe bottle for my kid, but how safe are the spouts?
• Not so cheap, but readily available both online and at Whole Foods.
• The bottles also come in glass.
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Dear Mr. Falconer,
You had me at hello. Really, you did. When I met Olivia, I thought to myself, well there’s a sassy little pig I can hang out with. What a great female character to share with my little girl. I mean, how many pigs do you know who can paint like Jackson Pollock, imagine herself as vocally talented as Maria Callas and can scare the pants off of her little brother? What’s not to love? I especially love the part of Olivia’s day when she moves Edwin, the cat. Then moves him some more. Sy really resonates with that. She understands the importance of moving a feline from room to room.
Of course it did cause me some concern when I stumbled across Olivia eating dinner. Are those meatballs she is eating? Surely not PORK meatballs, Mr. Falconer. Ah well, I suppose even toddler pigs have their favorite meals.
It warms my heart that even after Olivia paints on the walls, torments both brother and cat and completely wears her mother out (does dad really work such long hours?), she is lovingly put to bed. It reinforces the fact that while toddlers can be completely maddening, they are truly the most magical creatures on earth. Brava, Olivia. Brava!
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Ed. note-
Please note that Aqua Dots were recalled, not the Aqua Doodle.
Today my four-year-old daughter found her dusty Aqua Doodle mat folded up in a corner of her playroom. Next thing I knew, both she and her little sister had spent a half hour on the kitchen floor, painting with water (it comes with a “pen” that fills with water; the mat turns blue as it gets wet). I bought the Aquadoodle after a couple of moms told me it was the greatest thing since exersaucers. I wasn’t as impressed, I’ll admit. Once it’s all wet, which can happen quickly, it’s pretty much done for the day. But my daughters loved using it together this morning. Of course, it only comes with one pen, and at first they were arguing over got to use it...when, in a moment of Mom Brilliance, I busted out the paintbrushes! Suddenly this activity had new dimensions. I put out a bowl of water to dip brushes and hands in, which was promptly overturned--but hey! Water spilled on the kitchen floor? Almost hardly worth cleaning up.
My epiphany today is that we’ve actually gotten quite a bit of mileage from the Doodle products. Need a safe toy for the car? Magna Doodle is perfect (we even have the Disney Princess version for learning to write letters; as for my thoughts on Disney’s encroachment on the innocent Doodle line, see the Counter Princess Propaganda Campaign). Magna Doodles come in small hand-held to laptop sizes; my daughter uses hers to play school, to practice writing her name…
Missy’s humble opinion after the jump.
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In honor of Thanksgiving week, I’ll be posting some of the toys for which we have the most gratitude.
Monday’s pick is Sy’s current favorite, sure to be in the top slot for years to come, just as it was in my own youth:
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It’s newborn season in my life. Many of my friends are having their second baby right about now. While they all knew what to expect at least a little more the second time, there are always new challenges, lack of sleep, feeding issues, lack of sleep, fussy kids, lack of sleep.
My friend Leigh’s newest baby is very jerky and unsettled when she sleeps. She’s been busting out of the swaddles which then wakes her up, which then makes for one crabby baby. Now that’s a challenge I am familiar with! Sy was colicky for what felt like years, but was really only about three months (oh, but what long months they were). We also had to swaddle her for a long, long time to either help calm her down or to keep her jerky limbs from waking her up (once we got her to sleep, that is). We tried a lot of different swaddling cloths, but found the Swaddle Designs Ultimate Receiving Blanket to be the best one out there. It is huge, has directions sewn in and is a really strong, soft cotton flannel material. We’d wrap her up in that and then rock her for what felt like hours (oh, that’s because it did take hours) until she fell asleep. Once she was conked out, we’d give our arms a break and transfer her to her Snuggle Nest where she’d sleep almost peacefully for at least 28 minutes, give or take 20.
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I have two daughters, two and four, both of whom love to “help” me cook and as well as to sneak water into their bedroom in various containers to make...well, messes. They’ve also outgrown a play kitchen that served us well (the Little Tykes Discover Sounds Kitchen, which is great, by the way, for tight spaces and 1-to-3 year olds. We had an earlier, less gadgety version than this one.
Time for an upgrade (Did I mention that my OWN kitchen needs an upgrade too? Anyway...). I spent quite a bit of time looking at play kitchens and comparing reviews and sizes and features. Here were my specifications:
1. Made of wood. We have plenty of plastic toys, so I am not a die-hard wooden-toy mama, but I don’t like the big, NOISY plastic kitchens out there. They remind me of bad model-home kitchens: overdone and So About To Look Dated.
2. Big enough to be interesting, but small enough to not Overwhelm MY Small Kitchen.
3. Removable Sink Basin. This was a must, as my daughters were going to pour water on this toy whether it held water or not. I wanted to be able to clean this part and carry it away from my overzealous Aquarians if need be.
4. One piece. While I like some of the kitchens that have separate refrigerators and ovens, they tend to take up more space, and rather needlessly, in my book.
5. Two cooks=not too many. I have two budding chefs who want to play at the same time. I looked for a kitchen with space for more than one little culinary genius--and I liked kitchens that functioned like islands, and which my girls could walk around, but I DON’T HAVE ROOM FOR AN ISLAND IN MY OWN KITCHEN, so finding free floor space for the toy was not going to work.
6. Less than $200. That requirement immediately disqualified anything from Pottery Barn, for example.
Enter the Kidkraft Retro Blue Kitchen, which we all love, kids and parents and neighborhood children alike. Some reasons it’s great:
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