Adiri Natural Nurser Giveaway!
A few months ago I had the opportunity to review the Adiri Natural Nurser, a bottle that is specifically designed for breast-fed babies. See review here. I know, it sounds like a paradox, a bottle for breast fed babies; but the Adiri Natural Nurser was created with the breast fed baby in mind. Many breast fed babies who have previously refused other bottles have accepted the Adriri Natural Nurser.Adiri recently wrote to me and told me that they had made some improvements on the Natural Nurser. They offered to send me a sample bottle to use as a giveaway on my blog. I'm happy to report that it has arrived!The bottle Adiri sent is the fastest flow: 6 month +. The improvements are as follows: Improved bottle design that eliminates leaksFree Warming Disc Beautiful new package with clear, helpful instructions Giveaway Contest:Email your funniest baby story to oldschoolnewschoolmom@gmail.com. The winner will receive the Adiri Natural Nurser!Good luck!
It’s Getting Hot in Here!
August 2009, Brooklyn, NY. The weather outside is 90 degrees or more. When I walk outside it feels like I am walking into a pizza oven. The sidewalk is emanating heat.Inside it is just as hot. Our air conditioner is on the fritz and everyone in the apartment notices the intense wave of pure unadulterated heat. Especially my son.We had to strip this perpetually zooming toddler down to his diaper in order to combat the intense rays of pure hot that invaded our apartment. I was having fantasies of taking my son and a sleeping bag and camping out in a movie theater for the exclusive pleasure of capitalizing on its powerful air conditioning.Last night, my son was not having the heat. Even his best friend, Egreck the cat could not make him smile by the end of the evening.Though he gave it his best shot, not even Rupert the infamous platypus was successful at invoking a smile on this hot toddler's face.It was just too hot. In fact, it was so hot in my son's room, even with the ceiling fan blasting and a fan directly pointing on him he was still unhappy. My boyfriend and I racked our [...]
The Stroller: Don’t Leave Home Without it!
The stroller was invented to make the lives of parents a little bit easier. Here's how it all began:England 1733: William Kent, a garden architect, was asked by the Duke of Devonshire to design a portable device to carry his children around in. Kent came up with a baby carriage.United States 1889: William Richardson improves on Kent's idea and copyrights the "reversible stroller," a bassinet that can face inward toward the pusher or outward to see the surrounding world.England 1965: Owen Maclaren, an aeronautical engineer, inspired by frequent trips with his daughter from England to America, designs a portable light weight stroller which is ideal for traveling. This stroller is called the the "Maclaren Buggy," or the " B-01." Though they have been modified over the years, Maclarens are still popular today.Which leads me to today's story. I am the proud owner of a Maclaren. My sister-in-law gave it to me when her daughter out grew it. Thank you, Rosa! Today, however, I made the mistake of leaving it at home.I thought to myself, my son is finally walking (at 15 months), I'll let him have a chance to practice his new found skill. I left the house around 9:30am. [...]
Will You Go Out With Me?
Ah the single life! I remember those days well. When I could sleep in on Saturdays and stay in my pajamas all day long. Those days are gone. Today, sleeping in is an urban legend.As far as staying in my pajamas all day, this is not a viable option. The main reason is that my son wants to go out. I'm not sure what happened, but he hit 15 months and all of a sudden he is obsessed with leaving the apartment. He finishes breakfast and as soon as he gets down from the high chair, he walks over to the front door of the apartment, points to it and babbles in his alien baby language. He wants out. I haven't even had my coffee yet, I can't even fathom leaving the apartment.Usually, I'm pretty good about taking him where he wants to go; out. We leave the house when I am properly caffeinated, relatively clean and dressed. But the other day, I had a paper to write for my graduate level education class. My dad graciously offered to take my little man to the playground.I accepted, but with one condition; he must take pictures. Here's what he came back [...]
Let Sleeping Dads Lie…Or Not…
Let Sleeping Dads Lie...Or Not...
What Not to Wear – Baby Boy!
In the spirit of Stacy London and Clinton Kelly from the TLC hit show "What Not to Wear," I would like to address the issue of baby boy clothing.When I was pregnant and found out I was having a boy I was thrilled. I was also a little relieved. I was relieved because of a superficial reason; the clothing. I figured if I were having a girl and told my friends and family the news, I would have an influx of pink clothing that I could not control. I don't care for frilly pink dresses myself, and I certainly would not have liked to see my daughter clad in such attire.So I embraced the testosterone coming my way. Little did I know that there are also issues (albeit different ones) associated with baby boy clothing.My boyfriend's parents recently sent me some clothes for my son. I have to say I was impressed. They selected some really nice items.These are great and rare. They are atypical of baby boy clothing you might find in any store USA.The truth is, most baby boy clothing usually has one of the following items included on the fabric:--A reference to a generic sports team--Cars and/or [...]
Write it Down!
Taking a break from technology, I would like to focus on something relatively simple; writing. I am literally referring to the process of taking a pen into your hand, forming letters that eventually become words and words that eventually become sentences. I am about to disarm many of you with this statement: I cannot remember the last time I wrote something down! I've been using a computer for so long that I barely have the opportunity to use paper and pen. This scares me. What scares me even more is the fact that our kids will write even less then we did when we were children. I remember working hard to learn to hold a pencil. Then it was on to learning to construct letters in print. Finally, the dreaded cursive. I hated writing in script because it was so difficult to loop letters together in a fancy way. Today, schools (public and private) are filled with computers. Children still learn the fundamentals of reading and writing, but as soon as they are able they are typing away. Where does this leave the old paper and pen? Will our children still be as proficient writers if they are using computers [...]
The Cat Chronicles
I have mentioned in previous posts how much my son loves Egreck, my gregarious and surprisingly malleable black cat. I have several pictures of the two snuggling together. But now there's even more tangible evidence of my son's love for his feline friend, Egreck. It is documented on video! The Cat Chronicles
The Video Diary of a Toddler
Adults lead busy lives, but so do children; especially toddlers. There is a lot on the agenda for a toddler. Whether it's collecting office supplies and then promptly destroying them, chasing the household pets, or finding out what's inside a box and then eating it, regardless of whether or not it is objectively edible. All of these are part of an exciting day in the life of someone who recently began walking and talks in their own alien language.Here are three videos of my son doing what he does best; being a toddler: 1. Reinforcing the Importance of Office Supplies 2. Getting Ready For Vegas 3. Appreciating a Cold Beverage
Ari Discovers The Webcam
After several fruitless attempts to get my son away from the computer, I decided to embrace his obsession with this particular technology. Instead of letting him blindly bang on the keyboard, I had another plan. I introduced him to the webcam where he could see himself on the computer screen. Needless to say he was fascinated. See for yourself in this video:
Is There a Clean Tee-Shirt in This House?
It's a very easy thing to do; stay in your house. Especially when the weather is hot and humid outside and you don't feel like you live in New York City anymore but rather the rain forest in a South American country. Personally, this kind of weather makes me want to become one with my couch, soak up the air conditioning in my living room and eat a lot of ice cream.If you're anything like me in this situation, you create excuses not to leave the house. I can't find a clean tee-shirt therefore I must stay in today! Plus, it's overwhelming to try to leave the house with a baby in tow. You need to compile a bag of supplies to make sure your child is satisfied both physically and emotionally for the duration of the time that you are in the outside world. It can be a daunting task.On the other hand, I once had a therapist who gave me these wise words of advice: "When in doubt don't bail out!" Meaning, if you have plans to do something or go somewhere, and you are considering canceling those plans for an arbitrary reason to stay home, DON'T. Force [...]
Babies and The Elderly
Babies are loved by many, but nobody loves a good baby more than the elderly.My best friend's father has dementia. Before he got sick, George always loved babies. I am happy to report that despite his illness, George's love for babies has remained intact.Yesterday, my son and I went to visit my best friend and George in their apartment. It was difficult to carry on a conversation with George because he was staring into space the majority of the time. Then I had an idea.For months now, OK, a notorious tabloid magazine, has been sending my best friend their periodical despite her efforts to thwart them. To show my support for their demise, I begin ripping pages from OK one by one and handing them to George. Then I threw them up into the air and screamed. This excited both George and my son who began to laugh. Babies and the elderly share joy in the simpler things.Frequently during the day, George sat in a chair and stared off into space. At one point he began to cry spontaneously. My best friend comforted him, and assured him that he was crying because he was confused and could not communicate what [...]