Ain't No Mom Jeans

Sick of The Same Old Toys? Try These: The Coolest Toys You've Never Heard of (For Kiddos Under 5)

 Do you have a friend like this?  The one who always manages to find the coolest toys?  Toys that the kiddos can't tear themselves away from, yet toys that manage to teach in the sneakiest (and most fun) ways?  Toys you certainly have never seen before.  And no wonder.  When you ask said friend, she shrugs nonchalantly and says, "Oh that?  I found it at <insert cool little boutique toy store>."  And it turns out that the product was shipped from France or some other fabulous far-flung destination.  Or the darn thing is a relic from your own childhood that she somehow managed to both remember and track down online (remember Run Ragged ?  Still one of my husband's favs.)

In any case, if you haven't guessed, I have a friend like this, and longtime readers may remember her as J.  J, mom of adorable Sohpia, with the discerning eye for sunglasses, lighting, and all things cozy-chic.  But her specialty?  (Ummm...besides her law degree and her non-profit Weecycle?)  Is toys.  This cool mama actually "works" (in quotes because I know she'd do it for free) at a toy store every Christmas season...for fun.  And since I gleefully steal just about every toy idea she throws my way, I thought you mamas might want in on the fun.

Here are J's latest finds...

Total Genius: Good Night Grab Bag

“Incentivizing” Your Kid to Sleep Through the Night in His Big Boy Bed

The mom’s battle with sleep begins during pregnancy, no?  Crazy dreams, frequent trips to pee, hot flashes and thumping babies prep us for the marathon of newborn night waking and sleep deprivation we’re in for.  If we’re lucky, the babe’s sleep starts to normalize around 4-6 months (or—bummer—much later for some), but once your toddler starts sleeping through the night, you have a home-free (!) feeling of accomplishment.  Until, that is, you find yourself living in a post-big-kid-bed world. . .  For some, the transition from crib to bed goes seamlessly.  For the rest of us, the ones who’ve tried everything else, the ones who’ve thought about actually reading Go the F**k to Sleep out loud to their kids, even the ones who object to bribing incentivizing their children, I submit the Goodnight Grab Bag as a possible miracle solution to your wakeful woes.

Stomp Rocket Fun

M bought my little guy a Stomp Rocket as a consolation prize when the new baby was born.

It's a pretty good one.

You slide the foam rockets on the tube...then STOMP on the attached launcher-thing.

And you get...

Handmade Alternatives: Teethers and Pacifier Clips

The following is part of a series of posts by contributing author Lane about a few fabulous handmade alternatives to the usual mass-produced baby items.  Also see her articles on handmade alternatives for baby slings and carriers, shopping cart covers, and nursing covers.  

Teethers

I don't even have my baby in hand yet, but from what I'm told by expert moms everywhere, when it comes to teethers Sophie the Giraffe is the queen of the world. You can find her at Toys'R'Us for $19.99.

 
But while Sophie may reign supreme when it comes to relieving little achey mouths, you may want a back-up or companion, so why not shop handmade?

Listening: Best Lullaby CD Ever

Sure, music soothes even the most savage two-year-old human beast.  But for some of us, powering through a kids music CD is a cloying act of endurance, often precipitated by an already stressful meltdown situation.  Not so with Anya Jane & Friends’ Lullabies, a recent release of “old favorites and new gems,” beautifully rendered in acoustic guitar, requinto (a cute little guitar), mandolin, harmonica and piano, with amazing vocals that will leave both you and your tiny person breathing a sigh of relief.  

A soulful, toned-down rendition of the classic “Your Are My Sunshine” kicks off the perfect soundtrack for winding down after dinner and getting into the evening routine.  “Jamaican Farewell” follows in a mellow canter two songs in, then pretty much every soothing and reassuring thing you could ever say to your child is summed up in a miraculously un-saccharine “Everything is Gonna Be Alright” followed by a beautiful original instrumental, “Cowboy’s Lullaby.”  The CD wraps with one movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique Sonata Op. 13,” and a traditional rendering of the classic “Tu Ra Loo Ra,” accompanied by harmonica and acoustic guitar.

Oh, and unlike most other lullaby CDs, Anya Jane & Friends’ Lullabies is suitable for listening all day long, any time you and your tiny people need to take a moment to chill.  I find it especially useful around hour 2-1/2 of any 3 hour drive, when it usually seems like everyone is about to lose their minds. 

Pick up your copy of Lullabies on the Music Train web site.  And if you’re in Denver, don’t forget to look into Anya’s kids music classes.  Anya is a dynamic, energetic teacher and great musician to boot.  Her classes are full of joy, dancing, ears-on fun and are easily the best kids music classes in town because they’re such a blast for moms and babes alike. 

Happy listening, mamas!
- M.

 

Reader Question: What to Get a One-Year-Old and The Secret Toy Closet

Reader Question:

Hello Ladies,

I know I'm a bit early but I know the question will inevitably come up and I'll be scrambling for ideas to give two sets of Grandparents and various Aunties and Uncles who all don't want to send a duplicate gift since we live overseas. And the other problem, myson's first birthday comes just 4 days after his first Christmas. Can we say gift-o-palooza?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, but if you haven't the time, needn't fret; I've put out some emails to some Moms as well.

Thanks Ain't No Mom Jeans! Keep up the great work

Kind Regards

Nell

Answer:

Pshaw!  We always have time for reader questions, Nell—we love them!  Thanks for writing in—it makes us feel soooo popular : )

What first jumps to mind is books, books and more books, but I'll cover toys here and we'll do a round up of best books by age at a later date.

As luck would have it, Little Lou celebrated the big 0-1 two days ago, so I just finished the scramble for one-year-old gift ideas and it’s fresh in my head.  Little Lou is my second, so I feel like I have some perspective on what kids this age will actually play with, and since S. and I both have January babes, I’ll let you in on a well-tested method we’ve both employed for combating gift-o-palooza: The Secret Toy Closet.

Back to School: Best Toddler Backpacks

If my mom had said this to me ten years ago, or, I’m embarrassed to admit, maybe even 5, I totally would have rolled my eyes.  But life since having children has flown by at an alarmingly fast (and heart wrenching) clip.  It’s weird because my teens seemed to drag on and on in Grunge-induced adolescent angst.  My twenties were a blur: first job, first solo apartment, near-miss (and one hit) romances and more parties and bars than I can shake a stick at.  My early thirties just seemed like a slightly more mature and soberer extension of my twenties. 

Until there was Huck.  Then Lou.  And now I have purchased (gasp!) a backpack (!).  For my little son who is quickly growing into a big boy and is going off to his first day (sob) of early learner school next Tuesday.  With a backpack on his tiny back—the very same back that closed around the neural tube (which is the core of his fabulousness today) growing deep inside my belly a little over three years ago.  Ugh.  Truly, where does the time go, and other such mother-speak clichés.   

Given the significance I have attached to said knapsack, naturally I wanted it to be the best, so I trolled the Internets for the best of the best.  Here are my picks for the back-to-school season’s top-five preschooler backpacks. 

DIY: An Easy but Cool Outdoor Space for Toddlers (And Portable Enough for Apartment Dwellers)

M and I were recently interviewed by the Denver Post about how to keep the little ones entertained (but safe) at home.  You can read the full article here.  My contribution to the article centered on the transformation my balcony goes through each summer.

As many of you know, I live in the heart of Denver.  We live in a 2nd story condo, right off of a busy street, on an intersection that is the site of fairly serious accidents at least twice a year.  We have bums, I'm practically on a first-name basis with the 911 guys, and we live right across the street from an apartment building only known as "the crack house".  On the upside, you can find a liquor store merely by walking a couple of blocks in any direction, and porn 24 hours a day.  Sadly, most of the hookers have left.  

It's not what most people think of as an ideal environment for raising kids, but for us, it's home.  And one of the ways we've found to cope is by making the best of what outdoor space we do have: our balcony.

The trick to transform a balcony into a play space is that everything must be portable and easily washed.  One can't just hose everything off when it gets dirty.  And because the balcony sits right off the living room, I can't stand to get one of those plastic Fisher-Price sand and water tables -- I would end up poking my own eyes out, staring at that thing all day.  Not to mention that it's hard to store off-season.

So I've spent the last two years trying to find items that look cool, and are also portable, washable and store-able.  Lastly, I want to be able to quickly transform the space from a day-use play space, to a night-use dinner space.  Here's what I've found:

Found! Toddler Proof Cell Phone Cases (for iPhones, Blackberries and Others)

Raines and I visited my parents in Gulf Shores last month. The first day we spent on the beach, I made sure my cell phone was safely zippered into an inside pocket of my bag.  Upon unpacking that night, I opened up the zippered pocket to find that *someone* had carefully unzipped the pocket, filled it with sand, and then zipped it back up.

I can't imagine who.

Immediately after, the main button on my iPhone became very hard to push.  You could practically hear the grains of sand scraping against the underside of the button.  So upon our return, I took my iPhone to the Mac store.  I simply wanted them to open it up, blow out the sand, then return it in one piece. HA!

Step Into My Office: Toddler Parsons Desk

 I have this problem time and again.  Maybe you have it too.  I want to provide a fun, child-friendly atmosphere for my kids, but I loathe, loathe, loaaathe most children's furniture, design motifs and color schemes.  For the most part, they're just so bizarrely saccharine that they seem intentionally designed to assault adult sensibilities.  And, in my experience, despite lending that coveted daycare-exploded-in-my-living-room effect, they're under-appreciated by their target audience anyway.