I just read this piece about booster seat safety.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute have tested 41 booster seats and in a press release today identified 13 - many of them current boosters by leading manufacturers - as not providing “the full benefit of improved lap belt fit. These boosters may increase restraint use by making children more comfortable, but they don’t position belts for optimal protection.”
Thanks to reader John for the tip.
Ooh. Amazon is having a sale on all Britax carseats this week (9/15-9/21). 10% off all of ‘em. Once baby G needs to move to a bigger carseat, I want to get the Frontier booster for Sy. Anyone have one? Opinions?
I was also reading about Amazon’s Baby Registry Promotion. If you, your friends or your family complete $750 of purchases from your Amazon.com Baby Registry by September 30, 2008, you’ll get six months of free diapers from Seventh Generation. Has anyone done this? Sounds cool, but $750 seems like a LOT of purchases.
Can you believe it’s already time to start thinking about going back to school? I feel like summer just started.
One way to keep your kiddo’s gear uber-organized is to use the super handy Mabel’s Labels. Check out their Ultimate Back to School Combo Pack.
Labels in the Ultimate Back-to-School Combo pack offer playful ways to ID one’s personal belongings – jackets, uniforms, shoes, bags, pencil cases and more. It is available in four NEW color combinations: True Blue - berry blue, ocean blue, sky blue; Juicy Citrus -orange, lemon, lime. Tickled Pink and Pack in Black. Available for a limited time only, until September 31st, 2008.
Dishwasher/microwave/laundry-safe and UV resistant.
The name on the labels can be whatever you like to a maximum of 20 characters. Names are printed exactly as you type them.
$39.00 for a pack of 40 Skinny-Minis™, 50 Tag-Mates™, 16 Shoe Labels, 2 Bag Tags - But you can get it for FREE! All you have to do is enter the Giveaway and wish upon your lucky star that you are the randomly selected winner!
CONGRATULATIONS TO WINNER, ROBYN!
I got this do-it-yourself brag book kit from Maude Asbury. OK, so I haven’t actually made it yet, but I can’t wait! You get all the fixins to make your own customized scrapbook/frame/bragbook album cover.
How cool is that? I’m basically made of all thumbs, so I am assuming my cover will be less than professional looking. Homespun is in?
Stay tuned for my review.
I’m looking into a spare car seat that is not going to break the bank. Because there’s not enough to worry about as far as crash safety is concerned, go take a look at HealthyCar.org to see how toxic the flame retardant levels are in your current car seat. You can also see how your vehicle ranks.
Nice to know there’s ALWAYS something new to worry about, isn’t it?
Oh, and by the way -
HealthyCar.org wants to know which child car seats parents are most interested in having tested. Parents can go to the Test My Car Seat feature and vote by Monday, June 23. Test results of the most popular car seats will be released on Tuesday, July 22nd along with updated data on toxic chemicals in 2007- and 2008-model vehicles.
When Sy was little she seemed to actually enjoy playing in her Gymini activity “gym” by Tiny Love. It’s not like she could tell me in so many words, but she was happy batting at toys and looking at all the stripes. Usually for about ten minutes, and then we had to move on, but ten minutes of free arm time is golden with a four month old.
You know, a play mat is sort of a silly thing and it seems excessive, but we used it all the time. If your cleaning habits don’t resemble Martha Stewart’s, it’s nice to know you have a clean spot for them to play at any time (the mat is easily unsnapped and washed). Yes, you can throw your kid on a blanket and call it a day, but Sy really liked playing with all the little dangly things and scratching at the circus scene on the mat. I’ve kept mine handy as my pals have had second kids, it’s nice to be able to bring it out when they stop by for a play date and my carpet is looking a little less than tidy (shocking, isn’t it?).
It’s also pretty portable if you are going to a relatives for the day. The “bars” unsnap easily and can be rolled up in the mat.
I spend a lot of time up in the middle of the night, thank you pregnancy hips. Sleep is elusive. Last night I started researching double strollers. I love the Phil & Ted’s sports buggy. I generally loathe big flashy gear, but I can’t help it. I really want one. All of my pals who have one just love it, as do their kids. But holy cow, they are almost $500.00. I guess we’ll have to hope we win the lotto this week. No, that is not the Deal o’ the Day.
Jenny was taking her girls for a walk the other day and and passed by another couple taking their baby out for a stroll with the grandparents. Only they were pulling the stroller backwards to keep the sun out of the babe’s eyes. Clearly, they needed a Kiddopotamus Rayshade.
Here’s what I like about my Rayshade: You can easily pull it over the top of your sun canopy (have to have one to make it work), and attach it with the hook and loop velcro straps. Insta-shade. The thing is HUGE to give your kid all the shade they need, so it takes a few spins around the block to figure out how much shade they need and how to achieve that and still allow them some sort of view out of the stroller. The first time I used it, as usual, I did not read the directions so I had a hard time figuring out how to attach it. It has four straps and as long as you have the front curve of the hoop facing out, you’re golden.
Here’s another gift my cousin got at her shower the other day. We had the exact same exersaucer when Sy was little, I felt it was the least offensive on the eyes. My friend Emily called it the Distract-o-Matic and that pretty much sums it up. You only need it for a few months - from when the kiddo is able to sit upright unassisted and unable to walk to a crawling maniac who won’t sit still in their control center. But when you need it, boy are you happy to hand over the floor space.
This contraption has legs that adjust for three different heights to grow with your daddy long legs. It rocks, it sways, it sits still if you want and the seat can swivel 360 degrees for maximum dizziness. Sy looked like Captain Kirk in there swiveling around. It has 9 interactive toys to help develop sensory and motor skills, as well as introducing bi-lingual language. The bi-lingual language stuff I can always skip because I feel like that’s just Baby Einstein shoving unnecessary early learning down your throat. As my friend Ashli’s favorite kid book title (but not book) reminds us, Einstein Never Used Flashcards.
The thing about going to a baby shower is that even though I had my child three years ago, I find myself saying, “Why didn’t anyone make that when we had a newborn??” That was the case at my cousin’s shower over the weekend when she opened up her papasan swing by Fisher Price.
A few of my pals have used this swing recently and swear that it is is a complete life/arm saver the first few months that baby is home with you. The most brilliant part about it is that the swing rocks your screamin’ babe in two directions; traditional swing and cradle-like back and forth swing. When we had Sy she was such a colicky mess, we would loved to have had a robot rock her back and forth to give our arms a break. I wonder if this would have helped. This swing is not cheap, but I would have paid about forty million dollars to have my child stop screaming every night for five hours straight.
I’ll have my cousin review it when she has her baby and report on back to you.
I’ll keep this short and sweet because this product is a total uni-tasker, but definitely one I’m glad I have. I meant to write about this when I was reviewing potties.
The Piddle Pad, made by the geniuses at Kiddopotamus, is a waterproof seat liner that is completely worth its modest price tag. The liquid absorbing, soft pad is a unobtrusive receptacle for pee, vomit, blowouts, you name it. The backside of the product is coated with vinyl to help keep the product in place and the liquid where it should be, not on your car. You just place it on the base of your child’s car seat (or stroller) and your days of washing the car seat cover are numbered. It doesn’t snap or slide into to anything, it just sits there, ready to catch whatever rain may fall.
I was taking a look at Sy’s diaper bag the other day and thought, YUCK. It’s been used almost every day for over 2.5 years and I’ve never as much as wiped that nasty bag down. So, as usual, without checking the washing information, I threw it in the wash with some other bags and backpacks. I washed it on gentle with warm water and regular soap and hung it dry. The fabric pilled a little at the edges (especially near the phone holder), but other than that, it cleaned up nicely.
So this morning I decided I’d check the SkipHop website to see if it is actually washable. Lo and behold, the canvas and denim models are indeed machine washable. Must be my lucky day. It said to take the strap off (nope) and to wash it with some towels (but not 3 other large bags like I did?) but other than that, I seemed to have followed directions for once.
I must say, after many years of use, my little Duo bag is still a workhorse. I do wish it were a little bigger since I seem to roll with a lot of gear, but I see on the site that they have a new one that is 30% bigger and with some fabulous new patterns, like Blossom in the featured picture above.
The bags are sold in a ton of places, but the best prices seem to be the SkipHop site and Amazon.
OK, so check out these nifty carry-on, ride-able suitcases. My friend across the street has two daughters, four and six. They went on vacation recently and took their two Trunkis along with them. According to the site, Trunki is “the world’s first ride-on kid’s suitcase. Designed for family vacations, children can pack, sit-on and ride their own luggage, whilst parents can keep them in tow. Trunki’s light weight and durable design is hand luggage approved, with generous space inside for toys, games, books and spare clothes.”
A Trunki suitcase weighs less than 4 pounds and is made of the same hard plastic that adult suitcases are made of. It is 18” x 7.9” x 12” and has a five gallon capacity. The case comes in both blue and pink. I like that it has a soft rim built in to protect little fingers from being pinched.
Here’s what my pal had to say about them.
I should file this review under: things I am totally bummed that Sy won’t use anymore. Phil & Ted are known for their widely popular (and astronomically expensive) double stroller, but they also make one of my favorite products around, the metoo chair. Coming in at around $50.00, it aint exactly cheap either, but I think it’s worth the money.
The Retract-A-Gate is hands-down the best gate ever. I’ve owned several different respected types of gates, so I feel I can make such a bold statement. Sure, safety is the No. 1 concern—and it meets all those requirements with flying colors—but the main reason why I love this gate is because it practically disappears and is so easy to operate.
