Nanny Tested: Mess-Free Markers

When I first saw commercials for this, I thought that it was one of the dumber things I’d ever heard of. Markers? That don’t make a mess? Why on earth are you getting markers if you don’t want a mess? Then I started nannying full-time. It is literally impossible to keep an eye on a child at every moment, and when you blink, that’s when you hear the shriek of the older sibling screaming “NO BABY! DON’T COLOR ON THAT!” Yeah. That’s when I got the appeal.

The Schmoops loved these coloring books – especially the Princess ones, of course. Mainly they were left to Schmoopette, though Schmoopelina had some special glitter pages of her own. Schmoopelina (age 5) loved to sit and draw pictures with marker, so it was awesome to have something to give Schmoopette (age 2) where I didn’t have to be breathing down her neck to keep her from drawing on the table (though I did encourage her to stay on the paper, even with the “magic” markers). I will say though that even more than most coloring books, these really inhibit creativity as there are “hidden” scenes in the backgrounds. Cute… but at the same time… what if you wanted to draw your own background?

The Color Explosion is a pretty much perfect mess-free pick-up anywhere art project. It’s awesome. Black paper that reveals to rainbow colors with the “magic” marker. Schmoopette and I made a bazillion designs on these and I wish I had scanned them – pretty much all designs look great with this, but the more abstract ones become totally, totally awesome.

Thing 2 is currently having a “drawing on the walls” moment and I nearly cried to hear the sentence “I guess we won’t be giving him crayons for a while.” He’s not up to pencils yet, and markers are certainly out of the question. I can’t possibly entertain an existence where drawing wasn’t at least an option for him, so I picked up a pack of Elmer’s Go Paint markers w/drawing paper. Like the Color Wonder, the markers are only supposed to work on the paper they come with. I did my best to find the most open-ended package (that is, one without pre-drawn scenes to “color in”) and hopefully, he’ll enjoy coloring with it and we can work on “drawing goes on the paper!” while also keeping the walls safe from re-decoration.

Awesome Blossom.

Providence, 2007.

• Stephen Colbert takes on Sesame Street and Pox News.
• Cookie Monster talks about the origin of “OM NOM NOM!”
• Last Sesame Street related post: in response to South Africa’s HIV+ muppet Kami, Jezebel wonders, how young is too young to teach children about AIDS?
• Susan Striker’s 10 Cardinal Rules for Teaching Creative Art. Excellent read about working artistically with kids! I do my best to abide by these rules, but I’ll admit that coloring books are my Achilles Heel. I’m 28 and I still have coloring books of my own, I love them.
• Frida Kahlo’s Studio Dollhouse: Perhaps the greatest dollhouse EVER.
• 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son: “Let’s get this straight before I get old and uncool.”
• Art in All of Us: Gallery of children’s art from around the world!
• Newborn babies cry with mother’s accent: I guess I’ll have some American crying babies. If they cried with their father’s accent… my future babies would be way sexier. *sigh* No Portuguese accent for you, babies, I’m sorry.

Nanny Tested: Strollers.

I’m a fan of strollers. Nannying in a city for a year and having to haul children and all of their accessories just would not have been possible without a stroller. I still enjoy using one occasionally with Thing 2 just because on his own, he’s all over the place and I feel much safer knowing that he’s not hurting himself if we’re off running a few errands. So, I have a few opinions on the subject and thought I’d share.

Chicco lightweight stroller

The Chicco stroller I’ve used (with two families, no less!) is slightly different, and slightly inferior as it has no basket, but this is the basic concept. Very lightweight. No frills. Still, very sturdy and gets the job done. Without a basket, the stroller gets kind of unwieldy (or I do!) with bags hanging off, but with a basket, this would be pretty much perfect. Fits in the trunk of my car just fine. Also very easy to navigate in small spaces – on/off public transportation, etc.

Maclaren Volo

This stroller is very similar to, but not as good as, the Chicco. The Volo I used was easier to fold up, but did not have brakes. No brakes! This is double plus ungood for riding on the subway where the brake is all that’s between you and the stroller flying on down the train – so I had to be extra sure to place my feet strategically around the wheels, which can get super tricky when the train is crowded. Do not want. The basket though is a big plus. Really love the basket. But really, a stroller needs some brakes.

Oddly enough, the day I post this, Maclaren has issued a recall of every stroller they’ve made since 1999 due to fingertip amputation hazard (!). Clearly, I was not pro this stroller in the first place, so there’s another reason to go for the Chicco.

Phil & Ted’s Dash

This is the way to do a double stroller, if such things must be done. I can’t even imagine the pain and heartache of a side-by-side double and public transportation (or even sidewalks!). This one is itself plenty wide. I used it as a single stroller only in the winters when the big wheels were a total necessity for walking down snow-filled sidewalks, and definitely recommend it on that count as well. It’ll get through anything. It is rather bulky for the subway for just one child, but with two kids, it takes up far less space than any other double stroller I’ve seen. Only drawback: When using as a double stroller, there is no convenient place to hang a diaper bag thus turning nanny into a sherpa.

Mountain Buggy Urban single

I imagine that these wheels would be awesome in the snow, but I have not used this stroller in a winter setting. This stroller is a beast. It doesn’t fit in the trunk of my car without a lot of manhandling, and even that means that everything else has to be taken *out* of the trunk (and that’s not a lot of stuff, but still). It’s very, very bulky. I’m pretty much a fan of the basket and that’s about it. It’s a lot of stroller for just one kid. While it says “urban,” I imagine that the best use of a stroller like this would be off-roading. Or, of course, jogging. If you roll that way, so to speak. This stroller does have a great feature that I haven’t seen in many toddler single strollers: the ability to recline the seat back. That’s awesome for a stroll that turns into a nap. Way awesome.

(Not) For Babies: Rhode Island is Famous For You.

Oh, I love this song. And it’s so kid-friendly. Doubly so since I’m working with some lovely Lil’ Rhodies. (PS: I love Erin McKeown’s cover, but the Blossom Dearie original is just totally priceless.)

Jedi Nanny: Teething.

In desperation yesterday after a finished ice pop ended in more screaming, I stumbled upon my best idea perhaps ever: I gave Thing 2 an unopened Smooze Popsicle. (Link to a review of the Smooze which describes its actual food properties in a way consistent with my experience.)

As you can see, the Smooze is wedge shaped, which is wicked fun to chew on. We had poor luck with these over the summer because the shape is absolutely not conducive to being pushed up through the end when opened. They are very stubborn and don’t move, and further, small hands have a super hard time with it. Mostly, he would suck/chew on the ends and get the melted popsicle all over himself. So, when I gave him the Smooze yesterday, I imagined he would just chew on it and that would be the end of it.

His teeth are strong enough that he was able to punch a few holes in it while chewing on it, and was able to suck the juice out of it that way. I wasn’t worried about him chewing on the packaging because, as I said, that was pretty the extent of his interaction with it even when I gave it to him as a snack and not a tooth soother. So, he sucked the juice out of it gradually and was totally content to just chew on it…

… FOR AN HOUR.

This provided both of us with an hour free of tooth related screaming. He was really, really happy to just have something cold in his mouth and was actually less frustrated with sucking the juice out than he had been with trying to push up the ice over the summer.

Very, very lucky accident. I had simply been looking in the freezer for anything cold he could chew on, and didn’t find any more ice pops or even a teething ring. Poor guy was having a really hard time and I’m glad that this random solution worked out. I’ll definitely try it again if he has another bad day with his burgeoning teeth.

Happy Birthday, Sesame Street!

 

As I found out logging on to Google this morning, it’s Sesame Street’s 40th Birthday! Hooray for Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Snuffy, etc. Snuffleupagus is most definitely my favorite character – what about you? What are your favorite Sesame Street moments? Here are two of my very, very favorite songs – perhaps even some of my favorite songs of all time.

(Not) For Babies: R.E.M. edition

Of course, Shiny Happy Monsters IS for babies, the original is just as awesome and just as baby-friendly.

Yeah, this was originally all I was going to say on R.E.M. (I was also saving this for a later time since I just posted a NFB this week), but then there was a great MetaFilter post about some of their perhaps not-so-baby-friendly work and I just have to share more of my absolute favorite band. R.E.M. has touched my life in so many ways and has been the soundtrack to just about every major phase I’ve gone through since my late childhood. When Out of Time came out, my mom bought it on CD (it was one of the first albums that came out after we got a CD player – we were definitely early adopters there) and when I got my own little CD boom box in my room, it was the first CD that belonged to my parents that I stole. So, in tribute, here are some highlights of my favorite songs from my favorite band that I enjoy sharing with kiddos.

(Not) For Babies: Bongo Bong.

I grew up in a musical family. My mama never allowed music into the home that she didn’t like herself, so while I had Raffi & Rosenschontz in the house, I also had Paul Simon & the Rolling Stones. I like to make mixes to listen to with kids that are equal parts “kids” songs and “grown up” songs. One of my favorite “grown up” songs to include is Manu Chao’s “Bongo Bong.” (Criteria for a good “grown-up” kids song: easy to memorize and sing at will, upbeat, kid-appropriate lyrics.)

The Pink Dress.

[image, as watermark would suggest, courtesy GettyImages ]

Oh, I do love me a good story of children breaking down gender barriers. Here’s a wonderful story about a boy named Sam and his pink dress.

Daily Doodle. 10/9/09.

To prove that I’m not taking this Daily Doodle business *too* seriously, Friday’s drawing is a collaboration between Thing 1 & myself. He’s big into “connect the dots” lately, though the numbers are rarely, if ever, sequential. I end up asking him which one is next and usually there’s a logical pattern like 333 is after 53 because they both end in “3.” So, he draws the numbers and I connect them and it ends up looking “like spider webs.” The title of this piece is “The Spider’s Breakfast.”