As I mentioned on Monday, the Munchie Mug is my pick for Best in Show for 2008. But I also have a few faves within more specific categories, so today’s pick is my favorite piece of travel gear - the Potty-On-the-Go by Fisher-Price.
When I reviewed it back in April, I only gave it 3 stars based on the wastefulness of the bags. While I still agree that it is indeed wasteful, we also couldn’t travel without this. Sy is absolutely petrified of loud and/or public toilets. Refuses to step foot in most public bathrooms, and really, who could blame her? They are loud and dirty, two things that drive Sy absolutely around the bend. Add an automatic flush to the set up and you have a three year old with a nervous breakdown on your hands.
So what did I do about the bags?
Diaper bag? Check. Baby Bjorn? Check. Food for toddler (just in case)? Check. Pumpkin pie? Check. Green bean casserole? Check. Out the door we go to Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt’s house. We’re only 30 minutes late.
As soon as we walk in the door, we show off Baby G to the family, some who haven’t even met him. We know we have a short time window before he needs to go to sleep for the night. And this will be the first time he’s ever gone to bed outside our house.
About 20 minutes later, after being passed around from relative to relative, it was bedtime. Missy took Baby G to the spare bedroom and nursed and rocked him to sleep. Dinner was now being served.
Sy was having a blast with her cousins and aunts and uncles so I knew she was fine. I wolfed my dinner down so that I could relieve Missy. And then it occurred to me…
Crap. We forgot the baby monitor.
It’s a family week for us, so I thought I’d re-post some favorites. I wrote this last year before the travel season and I still agree with everything I wrote!
If you are traveling for more than about nine minutes, it’s good to have a few things hidden in your bag to keep the travel blues at bay. Here are some easy to pack supplies for the kiddos along the way.
We just bought the bullet and ordered Sy a Frontier car seat by Britax. Baby G LOATHES his little infant car seat. I think it incenses him that he cannot see, so we’ll make the switch before year’s end. I’ll put him in Sy’s old one (the Britax Decathalon, which goes from five lbs up) and Sy into the Frontier (30 to 100 lbs). We’ve always loved the Decathalon by the way, I’ll have to review it.
I like the Frontier because it converts from a 5-point harness to seat belt, but still has a tether system like a traditional car seat. Of course, you can’t switch to the seat belt option until they are 80 lbs, which Sy won’t hit for a long, long time. It also has cup holders, which Sy is extremely excited about. My sister has the Parkway booster for her seven year old and says the cup holders are absolute crap; drinks spill all over unless your cup is only about 2 inches tall, which you know, so many sippy cups are. Not. The Parkway is a retired product, replaced by the Monarch. I think in a year or so, we’ll put Sy into one of those. So many options…
Hey reader Firemom, did you end up buying one for your kiddo? Do you like it? Do tell.
Britax car seats are on sale this week only over at Babycenter. Up to $60.00 off and free shipping. Woohoo!
Move over Snack Trap, there’s a new spill resistant infant and toddler snacking cup that is both BPA and phthalate-free and manufactured in the good old United States of America; Sonoma, California to be specific in town. Invented by a grandfather of six and manufactured by a machine he built, the Munchie Mug is committed to child safety and parent convenience.
The Munchie Mug when dropped or turned upside down does not spill any little snacking treasures inside out onto the carpet, couch, backseat of the car, grocery store floor, etc. It is made of 100% recyclable polypropylene #5 and all FDA food-grade approved materials. The Munchie Mug is dishwasher safe and baby safe. The soft fabric enclosure overlaps to keep snacks in, and it is soft enough to not irritate little hands trying to get snacks out.
OK. Sounds good, right? But let’s get down to brass tacks - did my girl like it?
Here’s a great tip I got from the moderator of my mom’s group back when I had Sy. She reminded us to not only pack a spare outfit for our kiddo, but also for ourselves. There’s nothing like a torrent of spit-up pooling in my bra to make me grateful that I have an extra shirt in my bag. I find this to be especially beneficial while on an airplane; having spare pants makes holding a kid with an explosive diaper on your lap not a completely fearful experience.
I was reminded of this tip over the weekend while we were at the pumpkin farm. Roger had Baby G in the Baby Bjorn and he threw up all over his Dry Clean Only sweater. The supportive wife in me smirked and questioned, Who wears a sweater like that with a newborn? To a farm? I know. I’m super helpful, right?
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.
The 2008 test results for cars and car seats have arrived over at Healthy Car.
Definitely worth checking it out if you are in the market for a new car seat, or car for that matter.
You could also stop by to read Z Recs piece on the new Britax Frontier car seat, a 25-to-80-pound car seat that converts from a five-point-harness seat to a belt-positioning booster. Looks pretty groovy and oh, so safe.
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.
OK, so after this review, I really think I’ve covered my potty-training bases.
Sy is pretty good at holding it if we are in the car. She loathes having accidents and more importantly, loathes getting her outfit dirty. It’s times like this when I wonder if she is really my kid. We have emergency diapers in the car and the piddle pad in place, but sometimes when you gotta go, you gotta go. Like at our favorite park that has no bathroom. Enter the Fisher-Price Potty On-the-Go (F-P doesn’t seem to have the illustrious commode on their own site).
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.
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 am always on the hunt for travel toys that actually hold Sy’s interest. Growing Tree Toys has a pretty substantial list of travel toys on their site. I like that it has the recommended age on the short description. Easy to zoom by and look for age appropriate toys for my kiddo. Check out this Smile, It’s a Real Camera from Chicco (Really? That’s the best name you could come up with, Chicco?). It’s $18.95 for a real 35mm camera, including a roll of film and batteries. Sy would love that but she’d also burn through that roll of film in about three minutes and be peeved that she could not immediately see the results. Ah, the digital generation. I wonder if it would be fun even without film?
Potty training opens the door to yet more gear. Training potties, potty seats, fabulous pairs of Elmo underwear. So much for all that money saved on no more diapers, right? We have all the basics, but my favorite is the Primo potty folding seat. It’s exactly like what it sounds like it is, a folding portable potty seat. The white seat (yay! no Dora! no Backyardigans!) folds into quarters into a small little wedge. It slips into a purse or diaper bag no problem. I like to keep mine in a plastic bag since I am a total germ-phobe.
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.
