Per my role as a March of Dimes mom (through which I will donate one post per month to pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, newborn, or general family topics), this month I wanted to share some tips on safeguarding your home; these tips are important to consider before bringing a baby home and while you have small children in the house. I extracted and adapted these ten tips from a home safety checklist guide prepared by the March of Dimes with the assistance of Dr. Ruth Etzel (Director, Division of Epidemiology and Risk Assessment, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and editor of the Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health).Per my role as a March of Dimes mom (through which I will donate one post per month to pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, newborn, or general family topics), this month I wanted to share some tips on safeguarding your home; these tips are important to consider before bringing a baby home and while you have small children in the house. I extracted and adapted these ten tips from a home safety checklist guide prepared by the March of Dimes with the assistance of Dr. Ruth Etzel (Director, Division of Epidemiology and Risk Assessment, Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and editor of the Handbook of Pediatric Environmental Health).
One of Laurel’s favorite birthday gifts is the Connectagons Under the Sea set gifted by her grandmother. Blissfully gender unspecific, this building set includes 10 base coral pieces and 234 interlocking wooden discs that are vividly patterned with fish, coral patterns, and other underwater critters. The pieces are pretty to look at (I couldn’t resist sorting by color/type) and irresistible to play with (for all ages, clearly), whether you’re building vertical sea sculptures or – like Laurel – creating little rooms for dolls to play in.
All kids deserve to have music in their lives, and I love that there are ways to access music that don’t involve investing thousands of dollars in an instrument (as I did for my bow alone as an aspiring violinist). Among Laurel’s favorite birthday presents this year is the Schylling Blues Harmonica gifted to her by her musician uncle. Offering immediate melodic gratification, I can’t get enough of Laurel’s joyous expression as she blows and draws to make music. And in addition to the awesomely low price tag and easy music making, you can't beat the compactness and low maintenance of harmonicas.
Laurel always has loved putting pen (or marker, crayon, or colored pencil) to paper, and these days, whenever presented with activity books that include word searches, mazes, scene analysis, etc., she immediately gravitates towards the mazes. In my subsequent hunt for maze books, I was thrilled to find Kumon’s Amazing Mazes (a sequel to My First Book Of Mazes and My Book of Easy Mazes). Part of Kumon’s educational workbook series for kids, these mazes are happily challenging for growing brains (mazes increase in complexity with page count) and are beautifully illustrated and cleverly constructed. Next on my list: the animal, things that go, and around the world maze books.
Today, Kate recommends revisiting Maurice Sendak:
“When I was a girl, my father often read to me before bed, using voices, accents, and enthusiasm that I can only endeavor to imitate now that the years have passed and I am reading to my daughter myself. One of my favorite books to read with my father was Maurice Sendak's Higglety Pigglety Pop!, a chapter book about the existential searchings of a fluffy dog named Jennie. Even as a child I recognized that the book had a sadness to it, a poignancy, and that it spoke to its young readers in a way that was subtler and more complex than a lot of the other fare available for my age group.
My friend Nooshi is truly impressive when it comes to hosting parties (whether they’re for grownups or kids) and her birthday parties for her son always are amazing. If you’re feeling up for a challenge, or simply want to glean a few of the basic ideas, check out the below write up of her son’s recent Outer Space Party. It is -- not surprisingly -- out of this world.
This past weekend I took a walk down craft memory lane when my mother-in-law brought a Klutz potholder making kit for Laurel. To be perfectly frank, it’s not the most chic craft, but boy does Laurel love it. It’s a fantastic project that enables kids to experiment with colors, patterns, and the dexterity needed to weave the cotton loops onto the loom (it was fun to see Laurel figure out her own way to weave without the plastic tool). I actually need to buy extra loops ASAP because Laurel is burning through this kit (she already has gifted three potholders to me) and we haven’t even gotten to the woven chicken project yet.
Crafts and toys typically occupy separate real estate in stores and playrooms, but CALAFANT cleverly has figured out how to merge the two, offering kids a wonderful vehicle for creativity and play, and parents more bang for their buck. CALAFANT’s cool line of recyclable cardboard toy kits are available in affordable small, medium, and large sizes (plus a giant crawl-able castle). The kits are fun for grownups to pop together (no tools or adhesive required), and offer a blank canvas on which kids can paint, color, collage, and bling to their heart’s desire. Laurel loved decorating the CALAFANT palace (glitter glue was her favored medium) and the palace can serve both as a pretty display of her artistic style and a happy home for her Playmobil and Polly Pocket figures.
You know you’re either terribly predictable or somewhat loved when folks write in asking if you’re trapped under something really heavy on a day (yesterday) with no posts or tweets (thanks, folks!). I actually was enjoying a much needed long weekend away with a couple of other families and made a conscious decision to remain unplugged. Our packing was decidedly uneven – too much food for our numbers and too many bathing suits given the weather – but one thing I did right was pack plenty of rainy day entertainment. Here’s a list of 10 smart things to pack to keep the kids from going crazy on rainy vacations:
When playing board games with Laurel, coping with the whole winner and loser thing has, at times, been challenging. So one thing I love about eeBoo’s prettily illustrated Fairytale Spinner Game is that the game can be more about storytelling. While there are formal rules (object = obtaining one scene, character, and object per category), we simply spin until all the pieces are collected then (often with two scene boards apiece) make up fabulous stories. Not only is it fun to stretch the imagination, but it allows me to work in some life lessons (e.g., appearances aren’t everything; ogres can be friendly and have feelings too…) along the way.
As I mentioned in March, ever since experiencing BlogHer Boston, I’ve been super excited to attend the big BlogHer meeting in Chicago this summer. And I’m enormously grateful to have not one (Boston-based firm 360 Public Relations, which I announced in March), but two companies sponsoring my trip. Thank you, Stonyfield Farm, for acting as my secondary sponsor for BlogHer Chicago! Please read on to learn about Stonyfield's impressive environmental initiatives, and a yummy but lesser known organic product they offer.
We do lots of arts and crafts at our house, but every now and then I discover a magical item that positively consumes Laurel, be it at home, while waiting at a restaurant, or during travel. The Orb Factory’s sticky mosaic kits currently are Laurel’s project of choice; she's so instantly, happily, and independently engrossed in these kits that they even allow me some time to catch up on work or household matters nearby.
Today, Carole Arsenault of Newborn Nurses offers tips for choosing baby toys:
Babies learn by using their five senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. It’s not always necessary to purchase expensive toys for your baby; some of the very best toys are everyday objects we have in our homes (e.g., measuring cups or spoons, empty plastic containers). However, when you are ready to purchase a toy for your baby here are some basic guidelines to consider.
My friend Nicola claims not to be terribly crafty, but she seems to have a knack for assembling super cute birthday parties. I’ve been meaning to post for some time about this teddy bear tea party she hosted when her daughter turned 4 years old. In a similar spirit to my nature fairy party and marvelous messy party posts, here’s the how-to:
Today, April offers a cool idea to inspire kids to try new foods:
My daughter has interesting tastes in food. She is my child in so many ways, but in the food adventure sort of way, not so much. I was dying to try everything as a child...just because. I wanted to try it all, and I often did. My daughter? Well, she has her favorites and she'd like to stick to them, thankyouverymuch. Luckily for us, her favorite foods are black beans, broccoli, and pasta. Not a bad triad of vitamins, protein and fiber. But try to get an apple in the girl? A grape? A suspect vegetable? It all produces a gag reflex that upsets the stomach of everyone around. Even the promise of a treat for sampling everything on her plate cannot tempt her. She'll decide to go without.
I’m constantly looking for ways to streamline or repurpose around the house; here’s a lovely way to give old plant pots new life. This project was inspired by: a) plant clippings we already had rooted (plus more overgrown plants that needed grooming); b) yet another snow day where we were looking for something to do; and c) a tired collection of empty plant pots. Laurel and I decided to paint one of our old pots to make a creative, earth-friendly gift for a loved one. Here's the how-to:
Today, Sharon offers inspiration and local recommendations for DIY crafting:
“I have always loathed the holidays for their sheer commercialism, and this year I spent a lot of time reflecting on giving, and how to infuse meaning into the gifts for the little ones in my life. Through the journey, I discovered a new side of myself and some really excellent local craft stores.