Gearhead Mom

GHM Top Ten List: Board Books for New Baby

Since Jen’s sister just had a baby (Congrats to you, Mama K!), she has new baby on the brain. Here are some of her all time favorite board books for wee ones.

Top Ten after the jump.

High Five

Remember Highlights magazines? When I was a kid that magazine was the only reason I looked forward to going to the dentist, because I knew there’d be a whole pile of the two tone magazines for me to devour. I was a huge fan of the hidden pictures page. The magazine covers are a little fancier nowadays, but after 60 years, the content is still going strong.

Now Highlights has introduced a new magazine, High Five, published for readers ages two to six.

The Sneaky Chef Is Suing the Deceptive One

Just as I finished writing about my new cookbooks, I read about this lawsuit. Looks like the Sneaky Chef is a bit peevish with the Seinfelds.

Just Add Cumin

I received two cookbooks for Christmas this year, Deceptively Delicious and The Best of Cooking Light. Since I am a total disaster in the kitchen, I am always grateful to give some new recipes a shot, as long as they are easy and I don’t have to work too hard (I am so lame). I have resisted getting Deceptively Delicious or The Sneaky Chef since I want Sy to eat what we eat. It’s probably a combination of that mixed with the fact that I am too lazy to make two dishes, and maybe I am just afraid of the words “broccoli puree”. Either way, I am going to try out some recipes and review them. I haven’t cracked it open yet, but I’ll keep you updated.

That being said, I am completely enamored with my Cooking Light book.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Jamberry

The first time I took Sy to story hour, the volunteer read Jamberry by Bruce Degen. Sy did her toddler thing: sort of kind of listened, wiggled, giggled, and then wiggled some more. I, on the other hand, was totally charmed by the book. Jamberry highlights the adventures of a boy and his pal, a big brown bear, as they go berry picking. The book was inspired by Degen’s own berry picking escapades with his grandparents and later with his own children.

What a Groovy Book

Jenny spied this book the other day. Gallop! is a book about animals in motion, but with a twist.

The author, artist and inventor Rufus Seder, used a newly patented technology called Scanimation. Scanimation (and I quote from the editorial review) is “a state-of-the-art six-phase animation process that combines the “persistence of vision” principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. So in other words, if you wiggle the pages, the illustrations look like they are moving. A flip book sans flipping.

I figured it would be expensive with all the new fangled technology packed inside, but it retails for $12.95 or less on Amazon. I can’t wait to see it in action.

Jenny’s Favorite Magazines

Deciding to become a parent is not unlike getting engaged, in that there is a Whole New Horizon of Readings and Propaganda out there you didn’t even know existed. Remember how many bridal magazines littered your house? Now take stock of the parenting books, magazines, and catalogs. Brides-to-be ain’t seen nothing yet in terms of sheer volume. Since conceiving my first child almost five years ago (wow, really?), I’ve waded through subscriptions to various parenting magazines, drowning in a sea of advice, product endorsements, and subtle pressures. I am happy to report that I am confidently coming up for air committed to (only) two parenting magazines which meet all my needs, thank you very much. 

They are Brain, Child and Family Fun.  At first glance they couldn’t be more different:  Brain, Child is cerebral and Family Fun is, well, fun-oriented.  But they have several key characteristics in common:
1. Neither makes me feel frumpy (no photos of glamorous moms wearing $400 tops canoodling kids in unbelievable outfits)
2. Neither makes me feel guilty, resentful, or like I need to be out there doing more and being more. (I know, I know! Nobody can make me feel anything. Except MAGAZINES FOR WOMEN!).
3. Neither magazine presupposes my income level or my status as working or stay-at-home Mom.
4. Neither magazine is overtly political, moralistic, or preachy. How refreshing!
5. Neither magazine targets parents of children of a specific age—i.e., I won’t “grow out” of these magazines in the near future.

Mounds of Kid Art Work + Artimus Art = Professionally Bound Book of Art!

I know I must sound like a broken record, but as you know by now, I love Mom Power. It’s astounding how many moms are out there creating unique, successful companies, all the while taking care of their entire broods and I bet some of them even have time to put on make-up. I love getting to tell all of you how cool they are. So today’s bonus Mom Power post is about Artimus Art, created by mother of three, Dana Hostage. Hostage has always worked full time, and has never had a lot of time to spare with inefficient projects. Instead of complaining about it like I do when something is inefficient, she just went out and created her own company.

Artimus Art is an online publishing service which compiles all of junior’s works of art into a professionally designed hard-bound book. It also exists as an online gallery (both private and public) so you can share your child’s masterpieces with your family far and wide. My question to Dana was, well why can’t I just do this on my own? I have a scanner, I can scan them in and have them printed out in a book. Dana explained the process to me and her operation is a whole lot more professional than me scanning things at nap time, that’s for sure.

It’s So Easy Being Green

Surprisingly, Raising Baby Green, The Earth Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care is not a scary read. I figured I’d have to slog through all 291 pages only to learn how un-green we are. Not so. This book has an easy to read format organized in seven thematic chapters highlighting the womb, labor and delivery, the nursery, the kitchen, the bathroom, the garden and the whole house. There are also valuable sections at the back of the book for general green information and green resources. Today’s parents don’t have a lot of spare time to read and that point is addressed well in this book: each chapter’s information is broken into easy to read sound bites, all with suggested companies or websites to do further research. I also like that this book does not take a preachy tone. It gives sensible information in a factual, easy to understand way.

Everyone Poops!

Everyone in our house is a hugely committed fan to Mr. Taro Gomi and his books. One of our favorites is his classic, Everyone Poops. Sy wants to read this book about seven times in a row every time we pick it up. She yells, “Everyone POOOOOOPS by TawoGomiiiii.” Gomi’s approach to poop is equally playful and scientific all the while being completely nonchalant, my favorite silly line being “A two hump camel makes a two hump poop. Only kidding!”

The book is actually quite informative as the reader learns how different animals and people poop with colorful illustrations to show scale and color differentiation. Sy is quite disconcerted by a picture of a whale whom I assume is trying to poop. He must look sad to her; she always wants to go back to that page and discuss why the whale is crying. She usually decides that another whale has taken his toy and he wants it back. It’s a tough life out there in the ocean, gotta watch out for those toy thieving whales. She thinks the pictures of the kids going poop are hilarious.

Does this book make my toddler want to actually sit on her toilet and poop there? Not on your life, mama. As my glorious two year old told me last month, “Sy not like potty. Sy like diaper.” And so it goes.

Sneaky vs. Deceptive

It seems like perhaps Oprah should have done some more homework before touting Ms. Seinfeld’s new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, as a new concept, says the author of the Sneaky Chef, Missy Chase Lapine, whose book debuted six months before Seinfeld’s.

I don’t have either book, since my kid miraculously likes her vegies. My friend Deanna says she uses the Sneaky Chef all the time and even her husband loves the meatballs. My friend Lisa made the cupcakes from Deceptively Delicious (the book is apparently heavy on the baked goods) and they were pretty good, pureed beets and all. Sy didn’t get to try it since they had eggs, but she doesn’t like chocolate all that much anyway. What kind of toddler is she?? Jenny said she’s one that likes to eat butter in gobs. It’s true. She’d eat a whole stick if I let her.

An Open Letter to Ian Falconer

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!

Thumpety, Bumpety, Thumpin, Bumpin, Round and Roll-y, Runaway Pumpkin

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I get * super * jazzed about Halloween. Aside from geeking out completely over the theme and general holiday uproar, I love to read thematic books. We have books that cover every major and minor holiday in our house; Chinese New Year, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Halloween, the rites of Spring, yadda yadda yadda. I’ve read them to Sy on every holiday, whether she understands it or not. I do think she’ll get it more this year, especially since I’ve been telling her just about every other hour that Halloween is coming, and that’s a day where we all get to dress up.

My cousin is a school teacher and she gave me about 50 books (no exaggeration) that she bought along the way from those cool, old-school Scholastic catalogs. Within that enormous collection lies a simple, silly Halloween book that I have been reading to Sy every night for the last week and a half, The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis. The plot is not exactly complicated nor is it laden with lessons on manners or gender equality; it’s exactly what it sounds like it is, a gleeful tale of two brothers and their little sister who detach a massive pumpkin and watch the chaos unfold as it rolls down the hill and through their farm.

Toddler, Toddler, Toddler Two

My friend Jeanne always spits out pearls of wisdom at me. One of my favorites is, “Toddlers are special people.” When you repeat the phrase, make sure it is laced with equal amounts sarcasm, caffeine withdrawal and love. Oh, and it helps if you smirk and roll your eyes at the same time. My goodness, my girl is two. No, let me rephrase that. My goodness, my girl is TWO! I don’t think I’ve ever been told “No, No, No!” this many times in my life as I have the last week. It’s impressive. As are the hour-long epic hissy fits. Rog and I have so far managed to keep our humor in check, but all the while not laughing in front of her; we don’t want to hurt her feelings. Although, come to think of it, I am pretty sure she doesn’t give a rat’s arse about our feelings currently.