She’s My Little Sample

A while ago I was telling an older acquaintance about how few clothes we need to buy for Amie. We have several generous friends who have daughters a year or so older than Amie and who gladly pass on some clothing. – I love hand-me-downs, I said. To which my acquaintance whispered: – Ssshh, you …

Kapla Building Blocks

Ok, I think we finally found the ultimate building blocks! (Baba and Amie play with the Kapla blocks)  Looking for a birthday present to give a thee-year-old, we stumbled upon these Kapla Blocks.  My first reaction was: huh, so what? They are simply wooden blocks or rather miniature planks. But then you take them out …

Puzzling Again!

Have you seen Amie puzzling (video to the right)? She was only 18 months old and really into it: fit-the-shape peg puzzles as well as jigsaw puzzles. After a while she lost interest and moved on. I wasn’t heart-broken, because I knew that by then she had memorized all the puzzles and wasn’t, therefore, really puzzling …

Outing on a Fall Morning and a Yard Sale

Amie and Baba at the Park  Yesterday morning was blustery and a little cloudy, but sunny and quite balmy. The three of us went to the Larz Anderson Park, where Amie ran and ran, up and down the hill, in a field of leaves and dandelions, hemmed in by trees changed to all kinds of colors. …

More about those Green Diapers, again

 Jean-Pierre, who has commented extensively on the green diaper issue, put me on to the website of Richer Consulting Services, a source for information about the disposable diaper industry. It is quite an extensive website, where you can find information about the history, economy, manufacturing process, and ingredients of disposable diapers. I plan at some point to …

Jigsaw puzzle play with under-two-year-olds

I added an article on Amie’s puzzle skills in the Child’s Play section. Beside a short history of how Amie approached her jig saw and fit-in puzzles at around age 16-18 months (a history that is perhaps representative of other kids that age), there is also a funny VIDEO of her solving some jig saw puzzles at …

A game for an almost-2-year-old

I am looking for a board game type of game: something that is fun (duh!) that is “conceptual” in that it requires concept-formation, forward-thinking, memorization, etc. that can be played in a group that is appropriate for a clever and patient 22-month-old. The social aspect is very important: I feel she needs and would welcome something interactive with …

More about those diapers

I published a new and updated review of “green” diapers (Seventh Generation, Whole Foods 365 Private Label and gDiapers). There’s a lot of new information, much of it gained from very recent email exhanges with the companies involved, as well as some more thorough research on the net. The new review complements the old one with many …

More about diapers

A while ago I published a review of gDiapers, Seventh Generation diapers and Whole Food 365 diapers. In the meantime I’ve received comments and questions from discerning and concerned readers, gained some more hands-on (hah!) experience with the gDiapers, and found some more questions on the net. These are additional questions that I am now investigating: What is the …

Ecological Diapers Review

     Whether you’re a new parent or have just been blessed with a second/third/fourth… baby, diapers are probably of major concern to you. I’ve written a review article of the “ecological” diaper brands that we have, personally, used: Seventh Generation Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value gDiapers I run through many considerations, such as baby’s comfort, cost, ease …