Archive for March, 2010

Let me paint a picture for you. You’re at an amusement park with the kids. One of them falls and hurts his knee, and in all the fuss over finding a bandage and kissing it, kid #2 wanders off. What do you do?

If you’ve applied Safety Tat, you rest just a little bit easier. The temporary tattoos are a unique and easy way to help keep kids safe. Put one on the kids’ arms when you’re on the way to a park, the grocery store, or another crowded venue; with your mobile phone number plastered to his arm, anyone who finds your wandering child will know how to return him.

Safety Tats can be ordered already-printed, or in write-on versions for the school field trip. They come in different versions too, including Safety Tats that warn strangers “I have autism,” “I have a peanut allergy,” or just the classic “If lost, please call.” For kids who are too young or otherwise unable to remember phone numbers, Safety Tats could prevent a whole lot of stress.

Safety Tats, from $19.95 for a pack of 30

You’re a big fan of a nursery that doesn’t look like such a, well, nursery. There’s no reason little bunnies and teddy bears in the ubiquitous light pink and blue should interfere with your home’s design aesthetic (unless of course that’s what you’re going for).

Time to go Oilo. The Utah company’s fresh, streamlined and sophisticated bedding is worthy of any urban baby’s pad. “Oilo” is derived from two Hawaiian words - “lio,” which means little sprout, and “ho’oilo,” which means cool, rainy season. And the designs truly are like a cool, clean breeze flowing through your bambino’s bedroom. The newest prints coming at the end of April are Cobblestone (taupe and white, pictured) and Raindrops (aqua with subtly-outlined white drops). You should also eyeball the mod, geometric Wheels line on Oilo’s website. Each design comes in crib bedding, pillows, gliders, poufs, wall art and light fixtures. The pillows and light fixtures are so fab you might want to use them in other rooms of your abode.

No design sacrifices necessary.

Available (Cobblestone and Raindrops items can be pre-ordered) at oilostudio.com.

Monday morning pop quiz - Louboutins, Birkin bags, Zhu Zhu Pets. What do these all have in common? Waiting lists. Now Tegu magnetic blocks are part of this elite club.

The blocks launched last fall and created such a sensation that the start-up company couldn’t keep up with demand. Hence, the 2,200-person waiting list. But today the Tegu sets are once again available. The blocks are made from sustainably-harvested, Honduran hardwoods and contain internal magnets - sure to ramp up the entertainment value of a simple toy, long hailed by child development experts for its value in open-ended play.

Tegu was founded by two brothers, Chris and Will Haughey in the consulting/finance world, who wanted to establish a for-profit company in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and one known for an alarming rate of deforestation. Tegu enthusiasts say the socially-minded company has “reinvented the wooden block” (next up - the wheel). These magnetic blocks are addictive for both kids and adults. Word is Wall Street traders keep them within arm’s reach as a go-to stress reliever.

Those blocks must be getting quite a workout.

Available at tegu.com.

The book jacket begins, “Provocative and groundbreaking, Slow Death by Rubber Duck reveals how the living of daily life creates a toxic soup inside each one of us.”

Don’t be scared away. The intention of the authors, Rick Smith and Bruch Lourie, is to introduce people to the real fact that there are potentially dangerous toxins in our lives and homes, and to provide steps in which families can protect themselves. The authors proved their point by using their own bodies to experiment with everyday household items and they provide many helpful actions items throughout the book:

1) Avoid personal care products with heavy artificial fragrances, especially those with “Fragrance” or “Parfum” listed as an ingredient.

2) Opt for fresh air instead of air fresheners.

3) Reduce your fat intake.

4) Dump your old non-stick frying pan.

5) Read the labels and avoid consumer products with PFCs.

6) Encourage politicians to introduce legislation to phase out PFCs from food wrappers and other consumer products.

7) HealthyToys.com collaborated with Mom’s Rising, a U.S.-based organization to develop an invaluable online resource with a database that includes test results for more than 1,500 toys and products that have been tested.

“This book is an important wake up call for every mom and dad unaware of this ticking toxic time bomb that’s been lurking in our children’s toy chest, schools, and homes for years.” Lois Gibbs, Executive Director, Center for Healthy, Environment & Justice.

Learn more about the authors
Recent guests on Leonard Lopate show, NPR March 9, 2010

Available at Amazon.com

It’s been shown that even a year after birth, babies remember and respond to the music they heard in the womb. And anecdotal accounts abound of parents who play music for their babes in utero and then are able to soothe them with that same tune after birth. It doesn’t even seem to matter what it is; lullabies, Ella Fitzgerald, Death Cab for Cutie. Whatever you got.

Of course, it’s not easy to strap a pair of headphones against that belly. That’s where the Lullabelly comes in. The “prenatal music belt” is made of super-cush fuzzy fabric and buckles around your um, well, where your waist would normally be. Drop your music-delivery mechanism of choice (iPhone, iPod, old-school Discman) into the front pouch, and Lullabelly’s built-in sound control keeps the volume at the level of Mommy or Daddy’s speaking voice. If you want to listen along, plug in the (included) adapter and earphones; you can turn up the volume on yours and luxuriate in the knowledge that baby will be born with a fondness for Deep Purple.

Lullabelly, $55

Normally we’re no big fans of toys that make noise and/or are made of plastic, but with Easter coming up and thousands of sugary treats tempting from drug- and grocery-store shelves, frankly we’re getting a little desperate for something to put in the kids’ baskets that won’t rot their teeth. Thusly we were charmed by Techno Source’s Hide ‘Em and Find ‘Em Eggs.

Turn on the egg and hide it somewhere; every couple of minutes it’ll yell out “Yoo-hoo, I’m hiding!” or “I’m over here!” Find it, open it, and the mini chick or bunny inside says “Surprise, you found me!” All the squawking can get on your nerves a tad (although for once it sounds like the electronic voice was recorded by an actual child, not an adult stridently attempting to sound like one), but a toy that makes it possible to do egg hunts with very small children–and allows them to do egg hunts with minimal adult participation–is the kind of thing that merits inclusion in our Easter baskets.

Techno Source’s Hide ‘Em & Find ‘Em Eggs, $5 apiece or $15 for a four-pack at Walgreens, Walmart, Wegmans, Target, Kmart, Rite Aid, and Toys “R” Us

If ever you needed an uber stylist such as Rachel Zoe, it’s now, during pregnancy. But given economic realities and some “minor” logistical issues - she’s based in L.A. and perennially overbooked - that’s probably not going to happen.

Enter Bump It Up: Transforming Your Pregnancy into the Ultimate Style Statement by Chicago-based trend reporter and mom Amy Tara Koch. Koch shares some fab tidbits. Her trimester-by-trimester guide covers “getting high” (translation: lengthening your silhouette), and other ways to manipulate your silhouette during pregnancy and look your stunning self. Hint: big bags, belts, boots, bronzer, bling (gold!) and the favorably-shaped shift dress will be your best friends. Koch, a fashion veteran, has put out what could very well become the pregnancy fashion bible, complete with gorgeous illustrations from Paris-based Annika Wester, whose work has appeared in numerous fashion mags.

Fashion 411 before you become a fashion 911 emergency.

Available at amazon.com.

We all want the best for our kids and do everything we can to help them aim high - tutoring galore, Mandarin lessons by two, violin instruction by three. But there’s a stress-free, fun way for Junior to reach for the stars.

Enter Eco Stars. They’re recycled, star-shaped, non-toxic crayons. These celestial, wax, writing utensils are made from crayons collected from the National Crayon Recycle Program, which has saved 52,000 pounds of crayons from going into landfills. Eco Stars are now available on organicfundough.com. That’s the website of Brittany Shapiro, aka “Miss Brittany,” as in Miss Brittany’s Organic Preschool Fun Dough. Her organic play dough created quite a buzz on the sandbox circuit this past fall and holiday season.

Miss Brittany is offering customers a 10% discount (on their second purchase) if they send her their old crayons for the national program.

A topic worthy of waxing philosophical.

Children will run outdoors this spring and look up - blue skies, white clouds, balloons and bags…

Bag in the Wind by Ted Kooser, Illustrations by Barry Root Ages 5-8

Even though we are all super-responsible-green shoppers these days and never forget our canvas grocery bags, there are still some plastic bags floating around out there. In his first children’s book, former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Ted Kooser, follows the journey of one particular “just the color of the skin of a yellow onion” plastic shopping bag.

The excursion of the bag in the wind is dictated by elements and man, and begins in a landfill. Through strong language and detail of a barren landscape the bags fate becomes important as it passes through various recycled experiences,

“It was the very same grocery bag that Margaret had used to collect cans in, but Margaret didn’t recognize it because it looked like every other grocery bag in the world – the color of the skin of a yellow onion, with two holes for handles.”

Mathilda and the Orange Balloon by Randall de Seve, Illustrations by Jen Corace Ages 3-6

“Mathilda had never seen anything so magnificent. At once, something inside her woke up.”

The passion of a young sheep seeing a new color for the first time ignites an imagination that challenges even the most jaded of the elder ewe, “Really, what is orange?” Delicate and playful illustrations from Jen Corace, whose other artwork brought us Little Pea, Little Oink and Little Hoot, charms the gray, gray, gray and green landscape with a bright new hue.

Available at Amazon.com

So what crunchy stay-at-home-mom spit in Peggy Orenstein’s organic frozen peas? That’s the question we found ourselves pondering upon reading the Waiting for Daisy author’s New York Times Magazine piece, “The Femivore’s Dilemma.” On the surface, Orenstein’s story, which examines the decision of some of her Berkeley stay-at-home mom friends’ to keep chickens, is supportive of said women. She lauds them for “feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly. What could be more vital, more gratifying, more morally defensible?”

Yet a closer read displays Orenstein’s true agenda, to send up her friends as Marie Antoinettes playing milkmaid. They’re suffering from “an increased risk of depression, a niggling purposelessness, economic dependence on [their] husband[s].” She diagnoses them as “precious” and sniped that those who go so far as to homeschool their kids and go without health insurance as “a bit like being Amish, except with a car (no more than one, naturally) and a green political agenda.”

Blogger Natasha Burge aptly expressed her disquiet upon reading Orenstein’s article on the blog Feminuity: “I truly believe that growing our own food is a revolutionary act, so to see it framed as just another hobby for idle, wealthy housewives is disappointing,” she writes. “And must we continue playing into the assumption that all feminists think housewives are not good enough, or are not making a legitimate choice? Feminism is about women having the choice to do whatever they want with their lives, and respecting the choices they make, whether it is to raise children and care for their family, work in an office outside the home, or both.”

Um, yeah. What she said.