UrbanBaby Picks

The dog days of Summer are here and that usually means…back-to-school shopping. If you haven’t started already, you might want to have some fun with it and begin at Tada! Shop. The site was started by two moms who found shopping online for their children too hard and time-consuming. Their answer was to create a one stop shop that brings together popular name brands with lesser know specialty brands and boutiques–all in one place.

Founders Hadley and Holly are both moms of three and diligently curate and find the best essentials, the most original and the greatest deals for you. There are always plenty of sales to take advantage which so make sure and sign up for the weekly email. The “Editors’ Picks” elements is like having personal shopping experts hand pick all of the must-haves and seasonal fashions.

We can’t get enough of the “Create a Look” tool that allows you to mix and match brands to either purchase the items or save the look to your account. Shop for clothing and toys by age or price, filter by brand, or check out the “What’s New” section for timely finds.

www.tadashop.com

With Labor Day approaching, a new fall TV season is just around the corner. That means fresh episodes of the L&Os, CIS and NCIS multiples and The Good Wife plus a batch of freshman shows (many of which are usually canceled).

For the sandbox set, PBS Kids is rolling out The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That (see UB story) on Labor Day, and Nickelodeon is launching its first annual Nickelodeon Mega Music Fest, an hour-long, prime-time concert special. Teen sensation Justin Bieber will be headlining the show along with Wyclef Jean, The Laurie Berkner Band, The Fresh Beat Band, Dora the Explorer and Yo Gabba Gabba! Comedian John Leguizamo will host, with Sherri Shepherd serving as Stage Manager. The Mega Music Fest, which was shot live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, will feature a mix of pop and family-friendly songs.

No rotating panel of judges to follow … just singing, dancing and a young American idol with the most famous hairdo since Rachel on Friends.

Nickelodeon Mega Music Fest premieres Labor Day, Mon., 9/6, 8-9pm ET/PT on NICK with encores on Nickelodeon Tue., 9/7 at 10am ET/PT and Thur., 9/9, at 1pm ET/PT.

With the Dow hovering around 10,000, we’re not exactly working with bull market material. Time to get creative (and we’re not talking bonds or gold … well, maybe gold).

French Bull can provide us with a bull market of a different sort. French Bull is a fab home accessories and tabletop line that’s put a modern spin on melamine. The eight-year-old company is launching a number of new products this fall, including adorable kids’ trays with vibrant colors and eye-popping graphics (as of 9/1). Our fave is the “Playtime” design; it kind of looks like the Candyland board game. Kids can follow the path leading to dessert. (That’s our preferred destination.)

Coming later this fall (10/1): the premiere of French Bull Bags. We’re loving the leather Astrology Pouches. Get one to celebrate your own sign or Junior’s. Perhaps these will replace the ubiquitous initial charms necklace as a way of honoring your DC?

These new French Bull products will be available at frenchbull.com. The website also has a brick-and-mortar store locator.

The Italians have given us design fabulosity in the form of Gucci, Prada, Armani, Alessi plus dozens of other celebrated brands. So it’s no wonder the Italians have managed to make even a sippy cup look chic.

Welcome mOmma, a beloved Italian line of feeding products for infants and toddlers. The mOmma brand has recently come stateside. The company’s roly-poly sippy cups (with and without straws) and spoon function like a Weeble - they wobble but they don’t fall down. So that means the part of the cup that touches Junior’s lips doesn’t come in contact with dirty tables and counter tops. The cup may tilt but will pop back up before touching the table. Bonus for you: fewer spills. Bonus for your bambino: BPA- and phthalate-free products. Plus the wobbling feeding accoutrements score high in the entertainment category.

MoMA’s design store in NYC will carry mOmma (pronounced with a long “O”) items. What better endorsement of mOmma’s ability to meld design and function. mOmma at MoMA.

mOmma is available at mOmmaus.com and amazon.com.

As as the parent of an urban baby, you subscribe to the philosophy that nursery aesthetics need not clash with the rest of your home’s decor. You want Junior’s room to be an extension of the streamlined, modern look you’ve worked so hard to achieve throughout the grown-up quarters of your abode.

Enter Anna Bondoc. The artist creates one-of-a-kind nameplates. Bondoc uses time-honored art traditions of Chinese jianzhi and Japanese katagami to craft chic, mod pieces of layered paper in a sophisticated palette. The nameplates are made from Bazzill Basics Paper and come framed and unframed. Patterns include Modern Hearts (above right), Flower Geometry, Modern Hoofprint (left) and Blast Off!

Because the words “compromise” and “design” should never be mentioned in the same sentence.

Nameplates run $80-$160 and are available at annabondoc.com. Check out Bondoc’s other pattern art and notecards while visiting the site.

Urban living is all about making the most of your precious square footage. You’ve likely had to sacrifice items for Junior that would’ve taken up a disproportionate amount of space - an indoor slide, ball pit, ginormous stuffed animals, a chalkboard easel. We’ve got a substitute for that last one: the Write On.

Write On is a vinyl chalkboard decal. Just peel and stick to any wall. When it’s time to redecorate, you can remove it from the wall without destroying your paint job. Choose from an enormous selection of Write On designs, including an alien spaceship, baseball mitt, castle and butterfly. Just use a wet cloth or paper towel to clean.

An a-peeling solution.

Write Ons, $24.95 & $29.95, available at vinylattraction.com.

Advice: Don’t apply the Write On to a freshly painted wall; wait at least a month. Because wall surfaces differ, first test the Write On on the inside wall of a closet (or another wall you don’t “care about”) to see if it’s going to remove the paint.

In 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, the Russian Revolution and World War I were in full swing, and New York granted women the right to vote. It was also the year Italian immigrant Antonio Pasin, the guy behind Radio Flyer, crafted his first wagons.

Now, almost a century later, Radio Flyer is introducing its first wagon for babies. The Comfort Embrace Wagon is a two-seater, and one of the spots has a sling with a five-point safety harness, so the one-and-under set (well, babies at least 6-months-old) can get in on the Radio Flyer action. The baby sling can be removed as Junior grows. The Comfort Embrace, billed as a stroller alternative, comes with two sun canopies (with UV protection) and has fab storage space for schlepping massive amounts of baby paraphernalia.

You can buy this souped-up version of the iconic red wagon starting next month. Be a part of history.

Suggested retail price is $229. For a list of stores that carry Radio Flyer, visit radioflyer.com. You’ll also be able to purchase the Comfort Embrace Wagon on amazon.com.

These days, we’re frequently accused of engaging in helicopter parenting and micromanaging our DCs’ lives. As a result, we’re constantly contemplating whether to step back or step it up on the parenting front. One area where we should be doing the latter? Bullying.

High school bullying has been elevated to a whole new level thanks to social media sites such as Facebook. But socially aggressive behavior/cruelty actually begins in much younger grades. In their new book, Little Girls Can Be Mean: Four Steps to Bully-Proof Girls in the Early Grades, authors Michelle Anthony, M.A., Ph.D., and Reyna Lindert, Ph.D., assert that you can give your daughter the social tools to protect herself as early as kindergarten. The “four steps” of the book’s title refer to observing, connecting with, guiding and supporting your daughter:

Observing - Look at how your DD reacts in social situations so you’ll have a point of comparison later when “inevitable social struggle occurs.” ***Tip: Play games (board games, not mind games!) with your daughter. Playing games affords you the opportunity to gather information about how she deals with social frustration, winning and losing

Connecting - Lay the groundwork for good communication - figure out the right questions to ask, view the situation from your DD’s perspective and be an “active listener.”

Guiding - Help your daughter to identify the real issue, put the problem into perspective, and strategize and consider possible solutions. Guiding also entails helping her to understand “the dynamics of the friendship group, her place within it, how she feels about that, and how best to respond to her new knowledge.”

Supporting (to Act) - Get your daughter to the point where she has the “ability to determine her own actions.” Assist her in assessing the pros and cons of possible courses of action. The goal is for her to act from a “secure base (your relationship)” and believe in her own “personal power.” The Cliff Notes version: empowerment and self-confidence.

Little Girls Can Be Mean is packed with exercises, talking points and anecdotes to assist parents in “bully-proofing” their daughters. Take action without overstepping the boundaries into hyper-parenting territory.

Little Girls Can Be Mean will be released on August 17th. Pre-order at amazon.com.

You know you’ve arrived when you get to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Dora the Explorer did just that earlier today to celebrate her 10th anniversary.

Mark your calendar, set your TiVo. Next Sunday, Nickelodeon is going all out to honor a decade of Dora. “Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure” primetime movie will premiere Sunday, August 15th at 8pm (ET/PT). Guest stars include Rosie Perez, Hector Elizondo and John Leguizamo. A 12-minute celeb-filled Dora “documentary” will follow the movie.

Dora the Explorer revolutionized kids’ TV with its innovative formula for teaching children problem-solving skills, and an appreciation for both the Latino culture and the Spanish language. Dora was the first animated Latina character on TV. (Consider her an “It Girl” for the sandbox set.)

Test your Dora knowledge below:

1- What was the first Spanish word taught on “Dora the Explorer?”
Azul(blue)

2- What’s Dora’s last name?
Marquez. The name “Dora Marquez” was inspired by the feminine word for “explorer,” exploradora, and by the acclaimed writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

3- What year did the Dora balloon first appear at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
2005

4- Dora teaches Spanish in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland. What language does she teach in every other market around the world?
English

The hour-long “Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure” primetime movie airs next Sunday, 8/15, at 8pm (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon, followed by the “Dora the Explorer 10th Anniversary” documentary.

Over and over again, we hear about U.S. students not measuring up against their international peers when it comes to science. Well, the Cat in the Hat may be able to help with that.

Dr. Seuss’ beloved feline with the killer hat is getting a new animated TV show this fall, and it’s all about science. The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! will debut on PBS Kids on Labor Day. The program will feature Sally and Nick, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and the fish, alongside the Cat in the Hat, voiced by Martin Short (a match made in vocal heaven). In each episode, the crew will discover the wonders of natural science (how bees make honey, why birds migrate, etc.).

In the meantime, check out The Cat in the Hat website and the activities to encourage kids to explore science concepts.

Study away …

***UB Flashback: Another science item for kids that we love is the fab album/DVD set Here Comes the Science by They Might Be Giants.***