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.
Ed. Note:
Jenny M and her kids have been on an art rampage. This review concludes Ms. M’s four part review of Crayola’s indoor/outdoor drawing instruments.
At first glance, these appear to be brilliant: first, they’re not markers, and second, they’re crayons that won’t break, because they’re housed in plastic like a twistable eyeliner, allowing for only a short drawing tip.
I bought these drawing implements for an airplane trip thinking that the gimmicky aspect of their not looking or acting like a traditional crayon or marker would contribute to keeping my two daughters busy. And busy they were, pulling the innards out and breaking them in short order. There is a serious design flaw here; the crayon inside is not grooved enough to require twisting to get it out—all you have to do is pull the tip. And then you have tiny pieces of a thin crayon and plastic casings everywhere, which from a waste standpoint is worse than regular crayons.
We have this kooky, converted attic room with sloping ceilings, 1980’s skylights and lots of beige carpet on which to goof around. My favorite part of the room is that the insulation was put in backwards. Due to this quirky design flaw, the room gets mighty warm on summer days. Rog got this huge portable AC unit that does a decent job cooling the room down to a notch below the sunbathing-on-the-equator-at-noon feeling. Sy and her pals love the “fan,” as they call it. Sy begs me to turn on the beast, then runs and gets her play silks and dances like crazy in front of the AC. She looks like a miniature Stevie Nicks, whirling around with her scarves whipping through the air.
Editor’s Note: Here’s the second brave soul to guest review on the site. This entry is written by my pal Andie, a professional writer by trade and a darn fine mother by nature. Thanks for taking the time to write this, Andie! Enjoy.
If you’re like me and find yourself rushing to board the plane on time, be prepared to answer the questions of onlookers coveting this little baby (and I don’t mean your baby—I mean the Travelmate). Every parent, grandmother and curious child will stop you and say one of three things:
1) I wish they had those when I was lugging around my kid’s seat!
2) Did you make that?
3) Where did you buy that? That’s the smartest invention I’ve seen in a long time.
I try not to lie to the poor mom with the car seat weighing heavily on her shoulder (“Yes, I made it while my son was napping Tuesday afternoon.”) and instead, as I make my mad dash to the boarding call, blurt, “Yes, it’s fabulous, and you can buy it online.”
I can’t sing enough praises for this. The gogo Kidz Travelmate essentially turns your child’s car seat into a stroller by attaching a frame with wheels directly to the car seat. Side note: Earlier models only fit Britax seats, but now the company includes with the newer model several different attachments that make most car seats attach to this little wonder. The newer model also features easily detachable wheels so you can fit the outfitted seat through the x-ray machine.
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.
Sometimes I just don’t have it in me to cart around Sy’s diaper bag. And sometimes it just does not match my dress or my attitude. There are days when I don’t feel like advertising that I am a mom. Of course, having a sticky, silly two year old attached to me at the hip is a dead give away. Anyway, when you crave your own accessories, it’s good to grab a bigger handbag from your superior (ha) collection and throw in one of the following little bags:
Thinking about the Top Ten Lists got me excited, so I am posting another one today.
OK, so I am just going to say right now that I’ll definitely be going over the “ten” part of the Gearhead Mom’s Top Ten List more often than not. There’s just a lot of gear out there and I love a lot of it. As your child gets older not all of the items are needed every time. This is also a great baby shower gift to give. Get a diaper bag (off their registry if they have one picked out) and fill it up with all these items. It makes that first trip out of the house a little less scary if you feel prepared.
