Toddler Backpacks

When Isla started trying to carry around more than she could hold comfortably in her arms, I decided it was time for a backpack. The best ones I've seen are hand made and available here.

Magical Kids' Room Decor

Harvest Moon By Hand makes these beautiful window stars for your little one's room.

My daughter has the rainbow sun catcher up in hers, and it definitelyadds a touch of magic to her space. They start at $10 and are available here.

International Bebé

What was I thinking taking my toddler to Europe??  My first advice is don't do it.  If possible, postpone until your child is older and take a more child-friendly vacation.  If that's not possible, then I do have a few tips for you to hopefully make your excursion easier for you and Baby.  

First, do bring a stroller.  Yes, if you are taking the subway and traveling on cobbled streets and climbing crazy staircases a stroller will suck, but not as much as not having one at all.  I only brought my ergo pack, and wore her the entire time.  We won't go into the back problems I am still dealing with.

Second, consider your baby.  Both France and England have great parks, and really any patch of grass where Baby can safely run around for a while will be much appreciated.  London has the best parks we've ever seen, with special buzz-in gates surrounding the child area to keep kidnappers and pervs away.  Besides the parks, the only other places we saw other babies were the toy stores.  We played for hours in each one.  **Make sure you make a time agreement with your little one rather than just scooping him or her up when you are ready to go.  Tantrums are guaranteed if I don't let Isla know when she only has one more minute left to play.  I remind her again at thirty seconds, and then count down from ten.  

Third, bring your partner.  My husband was still recovering from back surgery when we took our trip.  The single parent thing is even harder than it looks.  

Lastly, don't forget to ask!  Or at least make sure the person in charge sees you have a babe with you.  France is so baby-friendly.  People smiled at me just because I was carrying a baby... kind of like they do here in the states when they see a pregnant lady.  We did not have to wait in line anywhere because as soon as Isla and I were spotted we were whisked away to the front.  Do ask if you are able to get a bassinet for the flight.  Whether or not you choose to use it, you will be seated in a row with substantially more leg room.

I have a feeling this was my last trip to Europe for a long time.  I am, however, heading off to Cabo after the first of the year, so I'll be sure to post about that.  This time I will have backup, and between my husband, siblings, and mom I'm anticipating a more relaxing trip.

Why Anatomically Correct Dolls?

In my search for the best anatomically correct dolls, I found a surprising amount of opposition.  Even some of our family members didn't understand why we wanted Isla to have a couple of anatomically correct dolls.  What started out as a simple quest for a good Christmas toy turned into an interesting debate with friends and family.

Why would we want Isla's dolls to have genitals.  Simple:  Gasp!  She has genitals.  So do all of her baby friends, and every other human being I know of.  Why would her dolls have faces, arms, hands, feet, and bottoms like her, but in the place of a vagina, only a flat spot?  Rag dolls barely resemble real-life babies, so their missing genitalia isn't an issue for me.  The baby dolls she likes, though, are of the plastic, extremely lifelike variety, and I don't want my daughter thinking there is something wrong with her because she has a vagina rather than smooth plastic in her diaper.

An argument against anatomically correct baby dolls is that it would make kids prematurely interested in genitals, and cause exploration.  I think we can all agree that this happens with or without dolls, and maybe exploration with one another would be less important if children could answer those questions by looking at their dolls.  

Another thought - what about siblings?  When we have another baby, I bet he or she will have genitals.  Would the "progressive and understanding" women who are so against anatomically correct dolls consider a new baby to "...numb [our children] to the sacred nature  of our bodies," or see the new baby as "...adding to the pile of [nudity]?"  Then why on earth would a doll?

I'll have to finish this when I have more time, but please post if you have any ideas that can enlighten me in either direction.

A Pancake Recipe for Cold and Flu Season

We are not vaccinating.  Yikes.  Instead, we are opting for preventative measures.  We swab her nose (and mine) once a day with saline and aloe solution.  We also give her a children's formula sambucus (elderberry extract) which contains echinacea and astragulus.  The sambucus is liquid, and tastes really good, but Isla won't take it in water as suggested.  I had to get creative.  I do things like pour it on her pancakes as syrup. 

The pancakes are fantastic, and our whole family loves them:  

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

dollop (about 2 or 3 tablespoons?) molasses

enough milk, soy milk or water to make it the right consistency  

Mix above ingredients.  Cook on a hot skillet.  Flip once.   I eat mine with butter and sometimes syrup; Isla has hers with sambucus and kids liquid vitamin drizzled on top.

*Obviously check with your doctor before using any supplements.

Nature Baby on Etsy

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Sweet little designs for your baby or mine at www.naturebaby.etsy.com.

Kid Friendly Eats

Isla is now at the age (14 mos.) where she will not just hang out in my lap or a highchair while I eat.  She runs laps around the legs of waiters and tries to find steps to leap off of, head first.  Fortunately, we have a couple of great kid-friendly options on Santa Claus Lane: the Garden Market and Padaro Beach Grill.  

Padaro opens at 11 and serves lunch and dinner outside on a huge lawn.  They are totally kid-proof, with a fence around the property, and even have a huge sandbox with toys.  The food is so-so at best, and expensive for what it is, but it is absolutely worth every penny to eat lunch or dinner in peace while your kid has the time of her life.  

The Garden Market has incredible food.  It's my favorite lunch spot, and although it does not offer a sand box or rolling hills of well-trimmed grass, there are fountains everywhere and shady outdoor seating, which was enough to entertain Isla for about an hour today when we met her godmother for lunch.  If someone could combine the two it would be perfection.

Little Sapling Toys

Little Sapling Toys makes the coolest takes on traditional teethers, cars, stacking toys, and rocking horses.  Teethers come in fun designs like triceratops and hedgehog, and they make an organic rocking unicorn.

Latest Etsy Find

Baby pants handmade out of bandanas... for $5!

Cool Kids Clothes

Hands down the cutest baby pants for boys or girls.  They're handmade and available here.

Cool Kids' Room Decor

I don't know why all the murals for babies' rooms are so "precious."  I'm not into it.  Besides the vintage-looking photos I posted earlier, I also love these posters from the Ashes and Snow exhibit, for either a boy's or girl's room.

Design Your Own Baby Shoes

The coolest shoes I've seen are French, and totally vegan.  Canvas ballerinas and slip-on tennies by Ben Simon are available here.

 If you buy leather shoes for your baby, there are other options besides Robeez.  At moxiesbabyshoes.com you can design your own, right down to the color(s) and style.  There is also an option to personalize with your child's name and/or a decal.  

For girls, my favorite shoes are the Baby Bloch ballerina slippers.  Somewhat hard to find online, Garnet Hill seems to have the most in stock.

Healthy and Easy Mac and Cheese

There is no doubt what my daughter's favorite food is; she likes mac and cheese better than anything else she's tried.  So, rather than fight it, I'm trying to work it.  Tonight, I made her favorite with a twist.  It ended up looking very green, but she scarfed it down like she hadn't eaten in a week.

Ingredients:

Annie's Organic Deluxe Mac and Cheese made with whole wheat shells

Flax seed or Omega 3 oil

Nutritional yeast

A few leaves of kale, stemmed and chopped up in the food processor

First, prepare the mac and cheese as directed.  Then, drizzle flax seed oil on top, along with some nutritional yeast.  To top it all off, put 2 or 3 tablespoons of chopped up kale (chopped in the food processor) on the top.  (This amount was for Isla's tiny-sized serving.  Adjust the amount of kale to taste, and stir the rest of the kale in with the leftover pasta to eat yourself.)  

Banana-Kale Muffins

Inspired by my visit to the Little Woods Pre-School Food Fair, and the muffins we tried there, I made up a new recipe this evening to sneak some healthy into yummy foods for my husband and daughter.  Actually, "sneak" isn't a good word, because I'm trying to encourage Isla to like foods like kale by preparing them in a way that's kid-friendly.  These muffins taste like dessert, but are a much healthier option:

ingredients:

one bunch organic kale

three or four small organic carrots

three very ripe organic bananas

one cup organic whole wheat flour

one tablespoon vanilla

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

big dollop of organic plain yogurt

one free-range organic egg

sesame seeds (1/4 cup or so)

one tablespoon baking soda

one tablespoon baking powder

one dollop organic honey

1/4 cup or so organic canola oil

pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

in a food processor, chop up the bunch of kale (after removing stems), the carrots, and the banana.  

put all three in a large bowl

dump in the other ingredients

mix by hand until blended

drop in greased cupcake pans (I use the mini kind)

bake until done - approx 10-14 minutes

enjoy!

Fall Sweaters

Looking for a new favorite sweater for your little one?  My top two sources are Craft Junkie Creations and The Anecdotes.

Mama and Baby and Papa Yoga

Emma has added a new time for her mama, papa, baby yoga class at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center.  Now you can go Mondays 1:30-2:30 as well as Wednesdays from 12:15-1:30.  $12 per class.

Free Stroller Fitness Class

Tracy Schmidt, pre/post natal exercise guru and mama to five beautiful little ones is teaching a FREE stroller fitness class Tuesday, September 1st. To get in on it, show up at the Leadbetter end parking lot at Shoreline Park at 11 am with your stroller, carrier, towel or blanket, water, an exercise band if you have one, and your baby. This is going to be a 90 minute vigorous workout with time to talk and hang with the other mamas afterward.

New Natural Toy Obsessions

MamaKopp makes the coolest wooden toys and puzzles.  Isla loves to play with her "Troll-in-a-Rainbow" puzzle, and my new obsessions are the Serendipity, Pregnant Mama, and Lovebirds (pictured).  More puzzles and toys including Centaurs, Moomintrolls, and Beasties are available here.

Birthday Crowns

                                                                          
                                                      I am all for birthdays.  Mine lasts all week.  I plan on making crowns for Isla and myself for birthdays and just playtime.  Etsy is a great resource if you're in the market to buy one, or looking for a pattern.  Try njsisson, cozyblue and SusannaW.

SB Natural Mama Goes to SD

While I've called Santa Barbara my home for over 22 years, I'm originally from La Jolla and feel very connected to my birthplace.  Also, Isla's PopPop (my dad!) still lives in Del Mar, so we're down South quite a bit.  On our most recent visit, I took some mental notes, since it is actually the perfect road trip for an SB mama and her family to take.

We usually take the train down since Isla is not too keen on the car seat for extended periods of time.  It is an easy and beautiful commute, and takes less than 5 hours to our stop at Solana Beach (and just a bit more if you're headed all the way to downtown San Diego.)  The most recent trip we took was for Isla's birthday, and we took her to Sea World for the first time.  While I'm generally very conflicted about zoos and animal parks, I feel pretty good about Sea World.  The animals seem well cared-for and happy, and most importantly I feel it instills a love of the ocean and it's creatures in all who visit.   The connection children and adults make when they see the whales and other sea life up close ostensibly contributes to the percentage of visitors who go on to help protect and preserve these animals and their environments.  That said, Isla's favorite exhibit was the beluga whales, although she was ridiculously entertained the entire 4 hours of our visit.  We barely covered 1/3 of the park, and are planning our next trip for September.

Click here for an amazing story of a hero-beluga whale.

Even if the main focus of your trip is to visit Sea World (or the San Diego Wild Animal Park, or Zoo), I highly recommend a pit stop in North County.   Just ever so slightly North of Solana Beach is Encinitas, home of The Magical Child - one of the best natural baby and kids stores I've seen.  Expect to find Waldorf dolls, amazing CDs and books, fairie dress-up, safe and natural toys, organic clothing, cloth diapers, organic toiletries, etc., and a great play area for your little one.  I make a trip here every time I'm in the area.  As for restaurants, the Pannikin is a daily must for my family.  It's the best coffee house I've ever tried.  The ambiance is so cool, and different at each of the three locations (La Jolla, Encinitas, Solana Beach), and the food and coffee is amazing. 

The beaches in San Diego are incredible, and the water is so warm.  There are plenty of great spots, but my favorite is Windansea in La Jolla.  If you're planning on taking your little one in the water, though, I'd skip this one - while an older child would have a blast, the shore break is not suitable for young kids.

**I want to add that my feelings about Sea World - and other sea parks - are extremely ambivalent.  The Shamu show was one part cool, to three parts sad.  The giant, intelligent, amazing wild animals were in such a tiny, artificial environment.  While I do feel sea parks are important in keeping people connected with whales and dolphins enough that they would fight for their welfare (i.e. trying to stop the mass-slaughtering of both in Japan!), I feel just as strongly that something needs to be done to protect the animals in these parks.  Better, larger tanks that better simulate their natural environment, and breeding animals specifically for the parks rather than poaching them from their home in the ocean would be a start.