Why does this matter? Well, when the baby is strapped into the safety harness, there is nothing to keep baby’s bottom on the nap nanny. Gravity, yes. But imagine a wiggly baby. Imagine a baby lifting her mid-section high in the air doing a baby back bend. Then, imagine said acrobatic baby toppling over out of the side of the Nap Nanny, still buckled in. Head down, feet up, Nap Nanny on top of baby. I know because this happened to us.

At first I thought my baby was just supremely agile and active so while I stopped using it, I didn’t think it was as dangerous as it turned out to be. See, other babies did the same thing and unfortunately one died because of it. That baby was in a crib sleeping in the Nap Nanny and you might think that the mother who did this had a screw loose but be not quick to judge! I, myself, placed the Nap Nanny in the crib before I knew of this problem. Of course I did…the baby was having sleep problems.

The baby sleeps in the crib (unfortunately I can’t use my beloved floor bed for baby #2 because of safety reasons). There is a sibling running around, so where else should baby go other than in the Nap Nanny sitting in the crib? Yes, yes, it doesn’t quite look right and my reptilian brain sensed some danger, so I stopped doing it. But I did do it. So I can see how that poor mother used the Nap Nanny in unsanctioned ways.

I will say that the makers of the Nap Nanny have since fixed the problem by attaching Velcro to the underside of the fabric in the seat, securing it. That is supposed to keep baby’s bottom sufficiently in place. I thought I had a first generation product with no velcro…because if I saw velcro putting it together, you’d think I’d use the velcro. Come to find out I HAD velcro straps but they aren’t as user friendly as you’d think.

Actually, there are plastic D-rings on the foam insert and velcro straps (small!) on the fabric. After the recall, I investigated my nap nanny further and found these. SOOO, naturally, I velcro-ed the fabric in place. I’ll tell you what happened…

My baby did the SAME THING AS BEFORE!

Those straps are crap. They don’t keep the baby firmly in the seat any more than not using the velcro straps. Now, admittedly you may discount my experience because I had the velcro straps in the first place and didn’t use them because I didn’t read the instructions fully enough to know that I was supposed to use them. But I’m a rushed, sleep deprived mama and I’m certain I’m not alone. If I could mis-use this thing, it could happen and did happen, to just about any one else.

The moral of the story is that I’m not going to replace my Nap Nanny with a new one. I’m getting rid of it. Why? Because the company – who is doing the recall voluntarily – is a cheapskate. They are offering $80 toward the purchase of a new Nap Nanny if you have an old one. $80 off a $130 product that is defective…couldn’t they do better?

If you need more information about the recall, here is the company’s information page about the recall.

I decided to sleep train the baby to solve our sleep problems. It is so difficult to sleep train an infant with sleep problems, but it’s well worth it. Now, we all are sleeping just fine. And, safe, might I add.

Oh, and I’m taking this recall as a lesson. I, personally, found the product to be defective but instead of reporting it, I simply stopped using it. What will I do next time? Speak up! There are so many stories of recalls and unsafe products out there, we really all have to drive defensively through life, don’t you think? I mean, it works for safety on the roads, why couldn’t it work off the road?

So, I won’t be getting this Design Within Reach Teak swing for my little one any time soon. But I can let my cluttered mind loose for a second, dreaming of the cool breeze as I carelessly float back and forth in my mind.

Oh, wait, I thought the swing was for the kids…my bad.

On a recent looky-lou open house tour (it’s a favorite past time of my husband’s and mine, much to the dismay of the realtors we meed), we found our dream house. Everything was as if it was made for us – like having a sleek loft shoehorned into a regular house. Lots of clean, modern lines. Lots of windows.

And – you’ll love this – in the kids’s room, the owners cut out a portion of the dividing wall and created a super long area for the kids to play. What, pray tell, did they have where the wall once stood? A swing. That’s right. A real swing, hung from the ceiling so the lucky kids could swing back and forth, from one room to the next.

I wish we could live in that house!

No? Well, lemme tell ya.

It’s called Flanimals Pop-Up“>Flanimals Pop-Up and when I opened it, it scared the B-Jesus outta my 2 year old. I shouldn’t have laughed. See, Flanimals is a pop-up book and for those of you (myself included) who don’t know how jarring pop-up books can be, well, having something big and purple with fangs and beady eyes jump out of the middle of the book when you open it could be a tad scary. Maybe I should have waited a few years.

But, me being me, I couldn’t because I love Ricky Gervais’s sense of humor. With this book he doesn’t disappoint.

Flanimals are useless and pointless and have unpronounce-able names like Mernimbler (the freaky purple pop-up). Gervais is totally sarcastic and makes the most ridiculous of arguments regarding Flanimal evolution. For instance, he talks about how one Flanimal believes that a weird creature called Grob (who lives in the sky) created all living Flanimals in a day. Mental!

I highly recommend this book to all parents. Younger kids, maybe not so much…there would be a lot of explaining to do. Of course, you could always set your kid on the path to TV fame (and therapy!) by reading him the book…there is that.

Thanks to Candlewick, the publisher of Flanimals, for sending a review copy.

So, there she is boring holes into my hands with her eyes and her arm slowly moves from its usual dangling position, straight as a board, and lands on the bottle. Kinda like that claw grasper thingy some infomercial used to sell to help little old ladies reach light bulbs in the ceiling. She looked up and me as if to say, “Whoa. Did. You. See. That?”

Now she can’t get enough of grabbing things. So much so we’ve nicknamed her “Ms. Grabby Hands.”

However, put a doll in her hands and she’ll lose interest in no time. Once she’s grabbed it she doesn’t know what to do with it. It’s too much for her. Not so for my older daughter who is all about care-taking and being a good mommy to her dolls. She dresses them, puts them to bed, gives them time-outs. You know – all the mommy stuff. It’s so funny to me the developmental differences and how each girl plays with the same toys so differently.

So, I thought I’d brush up on my understanding of what toys are good for infants, toddlers, and “big girls.” Here’s what I’ve discovered:

0-12 months: Because the brain is developing neural pathways, toys that facilitate gross and fine motor skills are best. Mirrors (unbreakable, obviously), mobiles, soft stacking blocks (to knock over), instruments meant to be pounded – all things that stand up to and promote flailing, pounding, mouthing and grasping. Think about introducing all different types of textures, smells, sounds and sights. I personally like to find new textures from nature and tend toward wooden toys over plastic ones, but you get the idea.

12-24 months: Children understand a little about the laws of nature (like gravity and such). They are walking and talking, or somewhere along the continuum from immobile to mobile. For them, cause and effect is huge! Toys that test that theory are perfect. Also, they are getting control of their bodies, so toys that help refine their motor skills are really good for this age.

Toys might take the shape of real household objects like doors and drawers, seeing as opening and closing provides endless entertainment – beware of little fingers getting smushed though. Other good household type toys: small brooms and dustpans, little vacuums or telephones, too. Kids this age like to mimic what they see Mom and Dad doing (this is true for almost any age, to be honest). Pushing and pulling (toys AND people unfortunately) is fun, too, so look for toys that direct that energy toward toys and away from people.

24-36 months: Power. Control. This is the time when the child likes to feel powerful, likes to exert control over her world, so toys like dolls that can be dressed and undressed, small stuffed animals or trains with tracks are great. Stories also begin to take shape here – both listening to and telling stories. And, since a child between 2 and 3 is really getting control of his body, more complex instruments, crayons and markers (unfortunately, given the potential mess they make), and buttoning, lacing or zipping toys really fascinate.

Hope this helps. If you find yourself in need of a toy, think about where that kid is in terms of brain and body development and you’ll know just what to get. Or, more likely, you’ll know what NOT to get and then you can go from there.

photo credits: top – Guillermо, middle – César Rincón, bottom – pajp

So, when I found these easy do-it-yourself instructions on how to make a coloring page out of a photograph of your little one, I scurried off to my computer to try it out!

Look at this pic I took of our wee one with a stuffed animal affectionately known as “Doggie” – same size, so sweet. So, here’s the original:

And the coloring page (to which my oldest squealed “Doggie!” So much for her little sister:

Amazingly, you can transform a photograph into a page to be colored in just three easy steps. You can check the instruction link above for all the details, but I will warn you that you’ll need Adobe Photoshop to do this.

Tons of fun. But once you get the hang of this you might just want to turn ALL of your photos into coloring pages!

photo credit (top): Fototiller

Mutsy, a Netherlands-based company, has just come out with a double seat (called the Duoseat) for their stroller. I don’t have one and have never seen one in person, but it looks as if the double seat is an attachment for the regular, single sized chassis, the 4Rider. Meaning, that it’s no bigger than a single stroller but will fit 2 kids. Brilliant!

The front seat of the stroller is suitable for children 6 months and older. The rear seat, suitable from birth, can be placed in 4 positions, including a reclined position for baby. Plus, each seat has its own hood. The double stroller we have now doesn’t have a hood for the back seat and, while you wouldn’t think this is an issue, it can be.

The Duoseat is $199 – a bargain if you already have the 4Rider for your first. If not, then the stroller is $599. Not so much of a bargain, but not outrageous either.

I do wish I would have had this option when my first child was born because, while we didn’t “know” we were going to have a second, we figured it was a possibility. While buying a double stroller when only having 1 child would have been a little weird to me, I would have bought a single that could be converted to a double, if the need arose. As it eventually did. Now we have a parking lot of strollers. I hate that. I would prefer to have just one!

Oh, and if you’re in to glimpsing the stars in regular life, here’s Sarah Jessica Parker pushing hers.

Like when my husband wanted to run out, real quick, to the grocery to buy the milk that I forgot. Sophie wanted to go with him. When he said no she broke down in utter tears saying (correctly), “that’s not teamwork!” So cute.

Anyway, back to the book…since Maisy and friends work together to put up the tent, my girl just revels in their teamwork. Then when Eddie the elephant tries

Thanks to the folks at Candlewick Press for sending it our way…little did they know that it would be quite so relevant.

Glory Chen, the San Francisco based designer (who I feel like I should have heard of before but haven’t because I live under a rock!) has a new selection of brightly colored canvas, leather and patent leather shoes for boys and girls.

So sweet – like little grown up shoes, but not in a bad way. The styles include loafers, sneakers, sandals and Mary Jane’s, are $70-$90 and available in European sizes 21 to 27.

My sister sent me this hilarious post on Suburban Snapshots about how having a toddler was like going to a frat party and it brought back memories of beer, boys and bashes. Here are a few of my favorites from the post and from the comments:

• It’s best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.
• There’s definitely going to be a fight.
• You are subjected to the same story 20 times.
  You realize you are the one telling the same story 20 times.
• You lie to your parents about what’s going on at your place.
• Your one goal is to get someone in bed and, when you’re finally successful, you’re so tired all you want to do is go to sleep.
• You ask the two nearly naked girls what they’re doing and they say they’re having a ‘naked underwear party.’
• Someone will be urinating in the front yard with their pants around their ankles. When done they will try to walk with their pants around their ankles.
• For some reason, there’s a half eaten stick of butter under the couch.
• Some little guy is going to spit up and then pass out with his face in your cleavage and a drunken smile on his face.

There are so many more cute analogies! My contribution: there are thousands of colored plastic cups laying around half full and you’re pretty certain one of them was yours…once…but now they all look beyond gross. And to think, you were actually drinking that!

What about you – anything to add???

photo credit: elisfanclub

Every baby has the potential to be anything her heart desires and Baby Potential has onesies tell the world just what that is. They are endearing and, if I saw one on a baby, I might smile a knowing smile, thinking “you want to be a vet, you must love animals.” It says a little something about the baby…or about the parent.

My only criticism of these onesies that shout out to the world what a baby may want to be when they grow up is that it may inadvertently pressure the child. Parents invariably place their hopes and dreams on their kids. I just cringe a little bit when I think about putting “lawyer” on a baby’s shirt.

I realize, I could be over analyzing this – it’s just a onesie after all, not like the parent is choosing their child’s major in college when she pops out of the womb or anything. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a lawyer – it’s just a little weird to me to plaster that on a baby.

It’s funny, I read the “about us” section of the Baby Potential website and the company’s message is the exact opposite of the initial impression I got. They want to encourage the notion that anyone can do anything, which I whole-heartedly support. Baby Potential specifically creates gender, racial and socio-economic neutral graphic patches accompanied by gender, racial and socio-economic neutral career paths…”scientist, artist, philanthropist.” You get the gist.

Or you can custom order a career, like “recycler.” Or better yet, “thief” or how bout “carjacker”? Oooh ooh I got it – “unemployed philosophy major” or “BP executive” (ouch). You could actually have tons of fun with this, if you and your kid have a sense of sarcasm.

But back to seriousness…Baby Potential also talks about changing the perception that “at-risk” youth are somehow not able to reach their potential…they propose that at-risk kis CAN, in fact, be all they can be. However, (and this is the cynic in me) how many at-risk youth (or their parents) will be spending roughly $20 on a onesie that says “teacher”?

That said, I kind of love the “president” onesie and considering the fact that we currently have a sitting president who embodies the belief that anyone can reach the highest office in the land, maybe I need to brush that stodgy attitude off and embrace the inner potential in every kid…AND their clothes!

They call it nostalgic playware. Modern heirlooms. I call it adorable. Vintage inspired frocks by Olive’s Friend Pop for girls to play in.

Makes you just want to go out and have kids, doesn’t it? I mean, if they look that cute, they’ve got to BE that cute, right? Only that kind of thinking will get you nowhere good…

Unfortunately, these clothes are only available outside the US, as far as I can tell…that makes them not exactly practical. Plus, seeing the way my daughter looks after a good day of play, these are the last clothes I’d put her in. They are too cute to get destroyed by dirt, sand, scuffs and tears.

Maybe the next time I have a friend visiting Australia, I can send along a request. Until then, I can settle for visualizing my daughter’s adorable little body bedecked in these sweet clothes.