Archive for the ‘Product reviews’ Category
You are currently browsing the archives for the Product reviews category.
22
Aug
2010
Kate’s Genius Child-Rearing Inventions #1
I have often been described as a genius. By often, I mean I think I heard a teacher say it once. Possibly she said pest. No, definitely genius. Anyway, I present to you the first in my eagerly anticipated series – Kate’s Genius Child-Rearing Inventions. These are things that I have never seen in a shop – possibly as they may cause injury – but DEFINITELY should be in a shop. People would buy these things.
Pop-up remote controlled electric fence.
A little less violent
You know when you’re in a park. Or a coffee shop or a circus. And you have a small child running in the wrong direction. Or crawling away as fast as their little legs can move? And you really want to finish the end of JUST ONE sentence before interrupting your conversation to drag them back to the designated zone? This is where you whip out your remote control, press the buzzer and a child proof forcefield is erected. Nothing too violent – it wouldn’t give them an electric shock (that’s part of my invention #21) – would just keep them in a defined area, unable to disappear behind a faraway hedge, smear ice-cream on any one’s leather sofa or empty salt out of every salt shaker behind the waiter’s station.
1
Jul
2010
Björn it Up Baby
Baby Bjorn Babysitter Balance
I’ll admit that I like Baby Björn branding. It’s not just the clever word play, it’s that it also makes me think of Björn Borg and I can’t help but think that a little bit of his retro cool might rub off on me if I buy something from Baby Björn*. It’s his general coolness I’m aspiring to you understand, not his wardrobe at the peak of his fame – I’m not going to start wearing tight white shorts, long socks and terri towelling headbands. Though I don’t doubt there are some very fashionable people that could carry that off. I just don’t have the legs for it. Or the hair.
But I drew the line at the 80 plus euro for a baby chair/baby sitter/bouncing cradle. I remembered the metal frame strung with some slightly flexible material that people used from my youth and it didn’t seem necessary to buy an expensive, branded version. There must be dozens of alternatives I assumed. They’re so simple. Well, actually not.
6
Jun
2010
Sophie – baby’s first status symbol? And our very first giveaway.
This is her. Skinny, Parisian and chic.
I don’t know if it has hit other parts of the world yet, but here in Europe if you don’t own Sophie, you may as well stay home – or stay hidden underneath the sun protector in your buggy or other baby anti-humiliation techniques. There is no way you could face life in the sandpit without knowing that you had Sophie waiting for you at home. Yes my friends – it’s not about highchairs or cots or even your designer buggy – if you don’t own Sophie La Giraffe, you are nobody.
Furthermore, if you don’t buy your baby one immediately, you are probably sentencing your child to a lifetime of lunches alone and dodgy denim choices (I have no memories like this to relate to, only ever having been seen wearing cool, up to the minute, always in fashion jeans. Cough denim hotpants cough).
But why? Why this French phenomenon? There are fifty five million different squeezy toys for babies (I counted), what makes Soph different? I’ll hazard a few (dodgy) guesses….
- She is French. Probably Parisian. And female. All Parisian women are skinny, chic, classic and colour coordinated. So is Sophie.
22
May
2010
Gina Ford – The case Against
Adapting to the GF routines, about as easy to follow as a badly translated technical manual
Madam Chair, Ladies and Gentleman of the pro Gina Case, ladies and gentleman of the audience, I am here to state the case against Gina Ford (GF). (I have no idea if that’s the way you open a formal debate as was never on a debating team, but it sounds something like something I heard in a film once). Let me first address the arguments of the opposition. This should be quite quick as most of Kate’s points were not arguments about the merits of Gina Ford at all but a lightweight description of a routine and some, not all that compelling (other than sleeping through) claimed benefits to following the GF method.
17
May
2010
Gina Ford – the case FOR.
Do not set one of those up in your back garden to burn books. This would be weird.
Oh my god, my pulse is racing, my heart is beating faster and I can hear Jacqui yelling from Madrid. It’s that time. Time for the post I have been thinking about since we started the blog. The Dame Gina Ford post.
If you’ve had a child in the past ten odd years in the UK or Australia, you’d have to be a bit lacking in eyes and/or ears to have missed one of her books on the parenting bookshelves, seen referenece to her methods on the internet or heard mention of her routines from other parents. The most popular book is The Very Contented Baby, but there are various follow-ups including The Contented Baby with Toddler.
At the outset, I need to divulge something that might already be obvious – I love Gina. There, I’ve said it. It’s out there. Let the stabbings commence and the bags full of poo start arriving on our doorstep, but it is true – her methods have worked like an incredible charm for our family and Gina (or The Big G (TBG) as we prefer to call her) rules the child routine roost around at our pad.
11
May
2010
These are a few of my favourite things….PICTURE BOOKS
My favourite book. Get your hands on it.
Or so the song goes. These are actually a few of my favourite children’s picture books for the under 5s. I know, I know, there are literally thousands of wonderful books, and as clever and efficient as I am, I haven’t quite got through them all. Astounding I realise.
My requirements for being added to this illustrious list include gorgeous illustrations, fun or charming stories (a sense of humour doesn’t go astray) and something that I don’t want to set fire to the fortieth time I read it. And I have to admit a terrible bias towards Australian books here – I don’t know if it’s because some of them reflect my own childhood stories, or their cheekiness just appeals to me, but I have to put it out there.
So to keep you going while I make my way through every single children’s book in the world, here are some of my favourites:
- Wanted: The Perfect Pet – this is probably my favourite book ever. Mainly for the over 2s but good for a few years after that due to the detail, it is very funny, very sweet, very engaging and has lovely line-style drawings. It also provides good scope for me to show off the breadth of my story reading skills. Love it.
3
May
2010
By popular demand – THE BABY LIST. Essentials and almost essentials to buy.
This is like a picture of me at the dentist. I know - bad hair day.
Ages ago I wrote a post about baby things I had bought that I had wasted money on. I made a rash promise to post my spreadsheet of things that you SHOULD buy. Four months later I am coming good with my promise. I know. I’m reliable like that. You should hear my promises to my dentist – they are nothing short of inspiring and involve trips to hygienists, dental floss and 45 degree brushing angles.
Anyway, I digress. I know that interesting dentistry anecdotes is a post in itself but baby stuff I promised and baby stuff you shall have. There are many many things to buy when you are having a baby. And many many shops and online stores from which to buy these essentials. I say essentials. In actual fact, apart from a cot, a pram and some clothes, you’d be hard pressed to say anything was truly essential. But we are what we are. Well, actually, I am what I am. You may well be a far more worthy and green type person who buys the minimum, recycles stuff, freecycles it back into the community and is generally a better, kinder and more annoying person than me. If you are, can I suggest you stop reading? I think you will not enjoy my list of essentials.
28
Apr
2010
What to think about when buying your baby monitor
Babyology reported recently on the new concept-stage monitor in the works by Danish company Sikker. Monitors are going stellar with monitorisation of the baby´s body temperature and heart rate rather than just old sound and movement.
But what do you actually need out of a baby monitor?
26
Apr
2010
Things that make me vomit. And other fun stories about toddlers.
Many may be needed.
The day I hoped would never come is here. Or rather I hoped it would come, but I hoped someone else would have to deal with it. But no, no other mother has popped out of the woodwork offering to take over my role for a few months. So…… it is POTTY TRAINING TIME.
I have enjoyed each new stage up until now (apart from the hellish non-feeding phase of the first baby which I have conveniently blocked from all memory). The weaning was fun, the walking, the learning to feed themselves, talking (offensive swearing toddler aside) — all good stuff. But this, this is something I am ill-prepared for. Mentally, physically, emotionally, I am just not a potty-training type of person. I have a number of issues here:
- I am not a massive fan of talking about bodily functions. I cringe when I hear myself saying “can you do wee-wees for Mummy?” and my voice drops four volume levels when I ask my little angel if he needs to do poo-poos. The thought of having to spend the next few weeks (months? years?) talking about this is KILLING me.
17
Mar
2010
Homemade goodness, you can call me Martha
photo credit: mitch59
I tried commercial baby food for the first time yesterday. Well actually the first savoury one. I had tried Nestle’s all-natural fruit puree which is actually really quite fabulous, to be fair. Monkey loves it, even I love it. But I tried a vegetable and meat one for the first time because we’re about to take a long haul flight and I figured it might be easier than taking home made food. So I checked out Nestle’s vegetable and chicken. Not a few people had told me that commercial baby food in general was disgusting. But as the fruit puree from Nestle was so good I thought there would be a good chance their meat and vegetable selections would be edible. They’re not. Well, I haven’t ventured further than the chicken and veg. Nor will I. One was bad enough. People had warned me but until I tasted it myself, I just couldn’t believe it could be so bad. It kind of seemed like they’d soaked some cardboard in gelatine, and then pureed it. They may possibly have thrown in a carrot. There was a taste slightly resembling carrot. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. It was orange though, so, it’s a possibility.
26
Feb
2010
Pocoyo; Great TV For Even the Tiniest Tots
If you, like me, find it hard to think of things to do with a very young baby, you should take a look at the Pocoyo series. My baby is 7 months old and I’m pretty much constantly changing whatever basic object it is in his hand every 5 minutes because that’s how long it takes for him to get bored. He can’t crawl yet, build blocks, draw or doing anything particularly engaging and I had thought that it was far too early for television. But he actually seems to love Pocoyo.
The white background, bright colours and lively music of Pocoyo have just enough sound and movement to capture the interest of the youngest infants. It’s a welcome addition to the arsenal of entertainment tools with which I am constantly attempting to kill the boredom.
The best part is that I think it’s really cute and funny and enjoy watching it with him. The narrators are delightful in both Spanish and English. Stephen Fry does the English version. Parents generally seem to find the shows pretty entertaining – evident from comments on websites and forums, which is a quite an accomplishment when it’s a programme that’s made for the very youngest infants.
17
Feb
2010
Private Cord Blood Banking
When we fell pregnant with N all our friends told us to get on to cord blood banking. Debate ensued as to which of the private cord banks were the best. Private cord banks are big here. There are seven operating in Spain, and their marketing is evidently effective. At no time did anyone address whether banking your cord blood with a private bank was the right thing to do. So confident were they of the need for private cord blood banking that one can see how expecting parents come to assume that cord blood banking is a given obligation. It almost feels un-parent like to be questioning the benefits of committing to anything that might benefit your child in future. ‘How could we not invest in something that may one day save our child’s life?’ you ask yourselves. This line of thinking is encouraged directly (or indirectly via your peers) by the well executed and powerful marketing messages of private banks. Private cord blood banking is a very expensive programme with questionable benefits. You need to go beyond the marketing material to make your decision.
12
Feb
2010
San Miguel Food Market Madrid
The San Miguel Market (Mercado de san Miguel) in Madrid is an exciting culinary and entertainment addition to the centre of Madrid, long overdue. Very overdue in fact. The building sat empty for over 10 years. It has been beautifully renovated and the food displays are a pleasure to look at as well as feast on. You can sip on champagne while sliding back freshly shucked oysters or grab a tray of tapas and a beer to enjoy under the high ceilings of the light and airy interior.
If you go on the weekend, try to arrive outside of 2:30 to 3:30 when it gets a little bit crazy – but if you arrive at peak hour, the insiders trick is to enter through the “back door”, the entrance farthest from plaza mayor where there is more space than the hordes realize. We found a space even with pram in tow.
San Miguel Market and Surrounding Buildings
4
Feb
2010
Make your own personalised word cloud canvas
I stumbled across website wordle.net a few months ago. Wordle lets you create your own word cloud image. I have been pondering ever since what a great gift it would be to use it to create a unique canvas for your baby’s room, or as a gift for, well, anyone. Or maybe you just want one for your own living room.
You can create your own word cloud image on wordle by entering a list of words and then changing the font, colours and the way the words are arranged. The image is yours to use as you wish, so you can save the file you’ve created and have it printed on canvas. (Google “print on canvas” and you’ll find any number of sites that will print your image on canvas and send it to you. Assuming you don’t live in Tristan da Cunha*).
28
Jan
2010
Child attacked by face eating bear
This is my son. Not, as it may appear to an alarmed parent in the middle of the night, being suffocated by a wild brown animal, but voluntarily, softly rubbing his face up against his FLATOUTbear.
Apparently FLATOUTbears are already pretty well known to many parents, but there may be a few of you still unfamiliar with these teddy bears, or, like me before, were aware but not especially enamored with them — at least not with any more affection than for your average cuddly bear. Now, however, I totally get why flat is good.
You can’t rub a normal bear on your face like that. Nor, most likely, would you want to — the snout and belly and all those other curves would make it not quite as pleasant. There’s nothing wrong with curvy bears, I’m sure they’re good for lots of things, but being plastered against baby’s head, well, that’s where FLATOUTbears really come into their own.
19
Jan
2010
Party on Parents, the Babyphone iphone application is your portable baby sensor
Hold on to your hats iphone fans, I may have found the most useful iphone application ever. Well, let’s not forget about Total Baby, which is still going strong for me, but let’s just say I’m at least as excited as I was when I discovered that trusty application. My latest discovery is the BabyPhone iphone app, which, in the briefest of explanations, let’s you monitor your baby with your iphone – calling or emailing another designated phone number (or email) when it senses your baby crying or moving. It works; I’ve already tested it on the Christmas, New Year party circuit. Quite simply, it’s genius.
Koolistov BabyPhone iphone application, Activiation Screen
No more popping in and out of the party/dining room every five seconds to see if your precious one is still sleeping peacefully in the room where you’ve left him or her, as opposed to the hysterical crying you’re constantly imagining could be going on unnoticed and unattended. No more pretending to listen to conversations and appear relaxed when you’re actually wound up like a rubber band trying to separate the sounds of voices from what could possibly be a cry from the distant room. No more ducking in and out of the party to plaster your ear against the door or opening the door only to find the baby was sleeping… until you opened the door.
12
Jan
2010
Baby Carriers – are you a hippy or a trendy?
I know very little about baby carriers and slings. But I am nothing if not helpful, and someone asked me the other day about which one was the best, so Alex – this one’s for you. Oh, and anyone else pondering the great unknown of the carrying/wearing world. Just writing to Alex would be weird. Although she is already probably slightly uncomfortable at having a whole post dedicated to her. Quite selfish the rest of you are thinking? I know – Alex is like that. Anyway, poor Alex, don’t be mean to her if you meet her, she can’t help being like that.
So slings, carriers and pack thingies – they are your big three segments. Slings are for babywearing hippies, carriers for trendy inner-city types and packs for healthy ruddy-faced outdoorsy types. Who carry hiking sticks. Got that? I love a good generalisation. Now this is not supposed to be the pinnacle of research, just a point in the right direction for beginners, to start you off even better than my ramblings, you might want to read this Which column.
20
Dec
2009
Things I have wasted money on
If you ask my husband — most of my wardrobe, half the bathroom cabinet, all of my top drawer, the spice cupboard, the bottom three shelves of the bookshelf and everything in my half of the CD rack — falls into this category. But for the purposes of this post I will keep it to Items I Have Bought for Children or Childbearing Purposes. Also known as Things Kate’s Friends Should Have Told Her.
17
Dec
2009
The Very Talented Anneka Tran
"Single Tree" 3D Illustration by Anneka Tran. Visit her blog at http://annekatran.blogspot.com/
Many of you I am sure have been admiring the illustrations on our site. We’ve put them there to distract you from the writing. All of them were done by illustrator Anneka Tran, a young, energetic and very talented lady from Staffordshire, England. Anneka has her own blog and website which shows her amazing selection of illustrations and work.
The blog also gives an indication of her impressive work ethic, with something new and gorgeous posted almost every week. When we brief Anneka for an illustration it takes longer for us to pick up her response email and approve the drafts than it does for Anneka to whip the illustration itself. Sometimes it’s actually scary.
The artist’s latest, self-assigned large scale project was an illustration (well more like a series of illustrations) of The Table Of Elements. How’s THAT for self-motivation? I don’t think I have ever given myself an assignment. If I hadn’t partnered with Kate on this blog and given myself some outside pressure I wouldn’t get anything done. You can check out Anneka’s Table Of Elements here. Art meets geek, and the result is amazing. Be sure to scroll down on the article to see the larger images.
13
Dec
2009
For the slack Christmas shoppers – last minute ideas
I was going to do a long post on Christmas present ideas. Then I started getting them come in thick and fast from my favourite blogs and I decided that:
a) I had left it too late
b) I couldn’t possibly outdo the lists I have already been sent and
c) Why on earth would I rewrite a whole post that I was clearly going to shamelessly copy from other sources anyway (ah, Internet, bless your cotton socks)?
So I thought I would highlight a few fun ideas/gifts and then give you the links to my favourite present lists for you to peruse at your leisure (or not – Christmas is only 12 days away. If you haven’t finished yet you’re absolutely buggered).
Nice traditions for book-loving parents
- See Jacqui’s post on passing down books. What a gorgeous idea.
- Stolen from Babyology – think about starting a tradition where you give each child a special book – like a special hardcover or vintage book. Do books come in vintage? We’ve bought the Mouse a hardcover set of Beatrix Potter. I hope she doesn’t read this and find out. She is 14 weeks and VERY advanced.
