Dapper James

This righteous little fellow graced our inbox this week & we couldn’t help but share.  (How does one manage to be so tiny, yet look so very distinguished?)

James wears the Duck Duck Green organic cotton “Ducksie” & organic cotton Booties by Sckoon.  His pachyderm pal is the Baby Elephant, handmade by village artisans in Kenya.

Thank you, James (& your awesome mom) for sharing!  You & your cuteness made our week.

-m & a

Liquid Fun in a Jar

I’m going to date myself here- when I was a kid, we rented a Betamax machine for my birthday party & watched ‘Splash’.  My parents were extreme late adopters.  We were probably the last family in Michigan to get a cordless phone or a microwave.  To me, that Betamax was like having a magical movie-robot in our house.

Fast forward to today: I find it a little odd that my 2 year old can play YouTube Muppet videos on the iPad all by himself.  Or that my 1 year old taps at my laptop screen impatiently, wondering why it doesn’t react like an iPhone.  So I admit I got a big Luddite-grin on my face when my son recently called “Mixing Colors” his favorite game.

This is such a simple project but so far it’s given my son hours & hours of technology-free fun.  Here’s the gist:

We’ve been trying to teach our son the concept of color mixing for weeks with very little success.  After one round of this game, he got it: when you mix colors, they make a new color.  Add more water & the colors get lighter.  Mix them all, you get brown.  And man, the excitement!  It was like the boy invented secondary colors.

Making forts out of couch cushions, avoiding the cracks in the sidewalk.. Good to know the oldies are still goodies.

-m

Looking for a fun book to teach toddlers about color mixing?  Mouse Paint rules.

Eco Modern Baby hits ddg!

Tomorrow is the first day of spring!  After all of this gray winter nonsense, I’m anxious for some sunshine & color.  Luckily Eco Modern Baby hit Duck Duck Green this week.  Their bold patterns & saturated colors have brightened up our shelves!

Eco Modern Baby designer, Kristen Angelo, brings a fresh perspective to the stuff parents use every day.  The Kerchief is the best bib idea ever.  Your mini-hipster will look too-cool-for-preschool.  (My daughter has been rocking one all week to rave reviews.)

Kristen has kids of her own & it shows in all the little details that make parents fall in love.  Check out the Infant Sleeper with snap & zip closure for fumble-free midnight changes- smart!  Sleeper sacks are a really smart idea for newborns in general.  No loose blankets means a safe & snug sleep.

The Burping Cloth is made with soft organic cotton, so you don’t have to worry about nasty pesticides or chlorine touching your baby’s sensitive skin.  Nice!  The Change/Play Mat is great for quick diaper changes on the go.  Just roll it up & wrap with the simple elastic strap.  It’s larger than most baby mats, so it’s great for Tummy-Time too.  In fact, we dig it so much, we put it in our Bum Bums Kit!

But what I love most about Eco Modern Baby is how they’re made.  All EMB products are designed & manufactured in Seattle, Washington. They even use certified organic cotton textiles grown & milled right here in the USA.

Oh, & they’re nice, too!  They recently donated baby blankets to child survivors of the 2010 Haiti natural disaster.

We are so excited to offer these great new products for your baby.  Now let the sun shine in!

-m

From the moment they are born, over 200 toxic chemicals pollute infant bloodstreams.  200.  What is going on?

Scientists used to believe that the placenta provided an effective barrier against most chemicals.  Now we know that all manner of environmental pollutants are being carried to the developing fetus via the cord blood.

In 2004, The Environmental Working Group conducted a study on the umbilical cord blood of 10 babies born in the US.  The results were shocking.  Two major labs found, on average, 200 industrial chemicals & pollutants in the blood.  Of the total 287 chemicals detected:

134 are known to cause cancer.

158 are toxic to the brain & nervous system.

186 cause infertility.

151 cause birth defects or abnormal development.

PLEASE watch this video.  Share it with friends.  Help send a universal wake-up call to inform parents about the dangers of toxic chemicals in our world.

-m & a

Want to learn more?

• Visit Healthy Child Healthy World

• Visit the Environmental Working Group

• Join Seventh Generation’s Million Baby Crawl for safer chemicals

• Watch the presentation 10 Americans by Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group

Cold season stinks!

There’s nothing worse than a sick baby. I know colds are an unavoidable part of growing up.  But that just doesn’t make it any easier to watch your kids suffer.

This winter has been a really terrible one for colds.  Our families have been sick non-stop since December. Rotten all around, but truly miserable for little ones.

Most over-the-counter cold remedies are dangerous for infants. Babies can’t spend their colds zoned out on Nyquil, watching re-runs of Northern Exposure like some adults I know. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make colds a little less distressing.  Here are a few very simple, safe & natural ways to help your baby feel better.  (But nothing can replace the advice of a pro, so consult your doctor!)

Good luck & stay healthy!

-m & a

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Fluids

When a baby is sick, getting enough fluids into them is extremely important. If you are breastfeeding, just increase the frequency. Breast milk is the perfect food for a baby, sick or healthy. Otherwise, offer fluids every 10 or 20 minutes. Water & natural juices that are high in vitamin C are the best. These will hydrate while thinning out mucous.  If your baby is drinking milk, cut back while they are sick.  Dairy can cause mucous to thicken, making it more difficult to clear airways.

Having trouble getting a sick toddler to take enough liquids?  Try a homemade popsicle.  Just pour natural juice into an ice tray.  Use a toothpick, or a popsicle stick cut in half, for the handle. Freeze & serve up smiles.  Laughter is the best medicine after all.

Chest Rub

I’m going to try not to sound like a fanatic here, but I can’t rave enough about Sniffles Baby Chest Balm.  Erbaviva’s organic formula relieves cough & cold symptoms naturally. Most chest balms are not recommended for children under 2, but Sniffles Chest Balm is gentle enough for all ages. And unlike most conventional balms, it’s petroleum-free.

Just apply the balm to your baby’s chest and back, & use the palm of your hand to rub with a gentle, circular, massaging motion. Organic essential oils of Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, and Myrrh warm the chest & open breathing passages.  The calming massage, along with organic Calendula, Lavender & Chamomile, help your baby to relax. (And you and your baby will enjoy the incredible scent.)

When Andrea first started using Erbaviva’s Chest Balm, she was surprised to find her toddler loved the stuff.  Whenever he is sick, he runs to her with the jar & says, “Want nice cream, Mommy.” Her glowing review lead me to try it on my son. I was shocked to get the same reaction. When something brings that much comfort to your sick kid, you fall in love.

Steam & Warm Baths

Steam & warm baths are tried & true sickie remedies that work great on babies & adults. Steam loosens congestion, allowing your baby to breathe easier. To create a steam room, close the bathroom door & run hot water in the shower for several minutes.  Switch to cold water for a minute to create lots of steam.  Sit with your baby in the steam room for several minutes.  Repeat three or four times a day, as needed.

Warm baths work much like a steam room to clear nasal passages and soothe lungs.  Baths are great because they relax overwrought little nerves while they do their magic. You can add a few drops of eucalyptus, thyme or sage essential oil in the bath water too.  The vapors will help to clear the sinuses.

Moms aren’t the only ones who enjoy a little spa treatment.  We love Erbabviva Baby Cream for after-bath massages.  Colds come with achy muscles & baby massage can ease the pain. Baby Cream is made from the highest quality, natural ingredients. It’s very light & soaks in easily.  And the Organic Lavender & Chamomile essential oils are specially formulated to help your baby relax.

Sleep!

Nothing cures a cold faster than lots of sleep.  So throw out the schedule. Let your baby go to bed early & nap as long & often as they like.

*This article is provided for information purposes only. Please consult your baby’s health care provider before trying home remedies.

It's all about 'where' though.

Our son is two & a half- high time for some big boy pants, I say.

We’ve been talking to him about the potty for months now. We bought the potty seat.  We read Everyone Poops & discussed at great length. We let him “flush the poopies” from his diaper.

And we were making some slow progress.  He really liked talking about the potty at least. But the Potty Sticker Chart remained pretty bare, with two lonely stickers.

Over the holidays my mother-in-law shared with us her tried-and-true method- let him run around with no pants for a week.  He’ll be so uncomfortable with the idea of going into mid-air, he’ll want to use the potty.

Sounded shocking. We already think of our kids as being a bit feral. But she potty trained four kids, & none of them wet their pants (as far as I know, anyway).  And it would be so nice to cut back to one diaper-clad babe-in-arms.  Not to mention reducing our carbon footprint.

Desperate measures are called for.  So today we decided to give it a whirl.

It’s January, so we cranked up the heat and put him in a sweater & fleece, with socks.  Quite an outfit, I tell you.  The view got pretty weird at times.  We trailed him all day long, repeating, “Need to go yet? How about now?”

Kinda shocked, but it worked like a crazy.  He used the potty 4 times (both numbers.)  There was one minor accident (involving the seat of an unfortunate toy car.)  But all in all, a really encouraging start.

Tonight we put the diaper back on before bed.  He is already impatient with the bulky things. By the time we pick up some toddler underwear hopefully he’ll be ready for them.

In the meantime, I just hope he doesn’t become too attached to life in the buck.

-m

They've got to see this.

Forget the shoebox full of pictures. Digital scrapbooking will set you free.

When I was pregnant I pictured myself creating beautiful, elaborate scrapbooks chronicling every precious moment of my kids’ childhoods.  But as it turns out, I’m not much of a scrapbooker.  Maybe it’s all the years spent living in apartments.  Clutter just isn’t a great option when space is at a premium.  Or maybe I’m just lazy & enjoy getting 4 hours of sleep instead of 3.  So our answer is digital scrapbooking.

When our kids were born, we created an email account for each of them.  We email them on special occasions, or whenever we feel like sending them a little message.  Birthdays, we send a happy birthday message & attach a jpeg of their invitation.  When we send baby photos to family members (almost daily, I admit) we CC our kids. First steps, video clips of dance parties, Halloween costumes.  Or most often, we’ll just send an impromptu love note.

We also gave their email addresses to our family and close friends so that they can say hi when the mood strikes.

Every so often, we’ll check their email accounts.  It’s already so much fun to read about all the little moments we’ve had with our kids over the past two years.  It’s sort of like a photo album meets journal meets scrapbook.  I love to picture our son, 10 years from now, reading a note from his uncle on his 2nd birthday. Or our daughter watching a video of her first birthday cake.

…But enjoy checking that email while you can- I fully expect to be banished in a few years.

-m

Sloane Tanen feels me.

Wow.  My toddler called me out. I was having a glass of wine while reading him his bedtime story.  Taking advantage of a page-turn, I took a sip.  He looked at me, smiled & said, “Drink Mama’s juice!”  Mama’s Juice??  Hilarious.

We don’t have much chance to get out these days.  Between the kids and work, days are pretty long.  By the time they’re both in bed, our idea of a party usually involves dvr & pizza.  It’s funny how disappointed we are when Saturday Night Live is a repeat.  That’s where the glass of wine comes in.  It makes it feel like it’s the weekend.  Like I’m still a grown up, not just a mom.

It’s been a long day.  Fun but exhausting.  And I really enjoyed that glass of “Mama’s Juice.”

-m

“Goodnight Moon” photograph by Sloane Tanen via http://www.sloanetanen.com/