The BabyKicks Chronicles

See what its like when the BabyKicks team works on a photoshoot - take a look at this fun little video.

Go Green Baby Co in Salisbury, MD is offering a session called “Cloth Diapering 101″ this coming Saturday, September 20, 2008 at 10AM!

If you have considered cloth diapers, but don’t know where to begin, this looks like a great place to start. Go Green Baby Co. is located on E. College Avenue in Salisbury. You can get more information by calling 443-736-8611 or emailing Jennifer at jennifer (at) gogreenbabyshop.com.

Learn more about this class, and Jennifer’s other offerings at:

http://gogreenbabyshop.com/pages/Classes.htm

I am considering joining the Baby Sign Language Group. Prospector starting signing over the past few weeks- current favorite signs are “car”, “fan” and “milk”.

I’ve listed another batch of Joey Bunz on ebay today, and I have a whole bunch more auctions to create for Washies, blankets and Joey Bunz premiums- so check now and check back later tonight!

http://stores.ebay.com/BabyKicks

My family is taking a trip to Disney World in September. We found a great deal on an economy room and are  looking forward to taking our kids who will be 4.5 and 12 months at the time. Panorama is still young enough to get a huge kick out of the princesses, and Prospector loves animals, signing and dancing shows.

My initial thought was- well, this will be a week of disposables. But now I am not so sure. The hotel has a laundry room, and I could use liners to minimize the amount of solid mess.

Has anyone tried cloth diapering on trips to Disney or similar adventures?

Vacations to the beach, camping and with family/friends seem less intimidating than a week in a hotel with a strange washer. I’d love your ideas. I’ve started a thread on the BabyKicks forums here:

http://www.babykicks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9

And over at the Diaper Pin Here:

http://www.diaperpin.com/forum09/forum_posts.asp?TID=41736&PID=428417#428417

If I decide to go for it, I will definitely write up my findings. Let me know what you think!

I had the chance to try out some gDiapers over the past week. There were many things that I liked about them, but I really wasn’t impressed with the flushable/compostable inserts.

I did discover, however, that they worked AWESOME with BabyKicks Joey-Bunz. Of course, you know I am biased since I blog here, but I always give my honest take on anything I try, and they really worked great.

The gDiapers inserts seemed oversized, and I could never really get them crammed into the little plastic sling the way that I wanted.

When I went to change the diaper, it seemed like a lot of the gDiaper insert was unused, so I felt wasteful removing it, but I couldn’t really figure out how I could leave it in there any longer.

Theoretically, the insert is flushable. There are three layers of material that make up the insert. The outer layer is a thin mesh, then there is a fluffy core, and another layer of mesh. In order to flush the gDiaper insert, you need to use your hands to pull open the two outer layers and dump the inner fluff into your toilet. Then you have to use a "swish stick" (included in the kit) to break up the fluff before you flush. The package says not to attempt flushing if you have any doubts about your toilets or pipes. I have a pretty gnarly septic system, so I did not attempt it. It says you can compost, or if you put it in the trash, it will degrade there in a few months.

I like the idea of a biodegradable diaper, but this seemed like a lot of work for little payoff. The inserts are a little on the expensive side (128 Med/Large inserts for $52 when you order from their site which is about on par with the equivalent amount of size 4 Pampers).

So after a few rounds with the gDiaper inserts, I stuck two medium Joey-Bunz into the little plastic hammock inside of the gDiaper. It was a nice, trim fit on Prospector. I didn’t put a cover on him, and the little plastic hammock did its job- he didn’t leak even after a big wet. The only thing that I wish worked differently was that I prefer sticking the Joey-Bunz into a pocket because they really draw the moisture into the core of the diaper and the part that touches the baby stays extra dry (like with our One Size Hemp Diaper, or a compatible pocket diaper like Fuzzi Bunz.) When the insert was soiled, I just did a quick dip in the toilet while I was flushing and threw it into my diaper pail. The gDiaper could be used over and over unless it got wet or dirty.

Another thing to consider is that since the gDiapers are lightweight cotton, if there is a blowout (and there always are a few here and there in life) the diaper itself doesn’t offer any backup protection.

So if you are a gDiaper user- definitely check out BabyKicks Joey-Bunz. Maybe you just use them occasionally, or for backup protection under the flushable inserts, or maybe you switch to using Joey-Bunz full time. Either way, I’d say they are a great enhancement to your diapering arsenal.

There are still a few days left on some of my ebay auctions for slightly irregular Joey-Bunz. For about $35 plus shipping you can try Joey-Bunz with your gDiapers and potentially save yourself a ton in refill costs.

If you have any questions about my experience with gDiapers (they are definitely still in my rotation) head over to this thread in the BabyKicks forum and let’s start talking more.

It has been a blistering few months finishing up my book projects, so forgive my slackness in eBay seconds listings!

I’ve just posted a few listings for small, medium and large joey-bunz seconds at 65% off MSRP.

http://stores.ebay.com/BabyKicks

More to come!

A few weeks ago, I went over to BabyKicks to learn some more about the diapers I have been using the past few months. Stephan was nice enough to walk me through all of the features of the new diaper and teach me some tricks for snapping, adjusting and more.

This short video shows off the snaps and sizing of the diaper and also shows a technique for diapering small newborns. I am not the best videographer in the universe (though I do have many other talents) so forgive my first attempt at filming and editing!

I have a few more videos to post over the next few days- so stay tuned!

To learn more about the One-Size (fitted) Hemp Pocket from BabyKicks, check out the BabyKicks store.

Some cloth diapers, like Fuzzi Bunz (and other pocket diapers) and All-In-Ones, don’t need a cover for day to day use because they have a waterproof or semi-waterproof outer shell.

Since the BabyKicks One-Size diaper is made entirely out of cloth (hemp and cotton with a touch of polyester for stretch), it does best when used with a cover. You only need a cover or two (one on the baby, one on the line). There are a few different types of covers. Here is a sampling:

WOOL COVERS

Wool Covers, like the Swaddlebees Merino, are great for night use when you might need some backup absorption. They also allow more airflow than the waterproof type of cover and I like them better for daily use. Unless the cover gets soiled or smelly, you can use them many times before they need laundering.

WATERPROOF COVERS

Waterproof covers, like the Bummis Super Brite, are typically "wipe clean" and are best for preventing those catastrophic blowouts and when you need true wetness prevention.

Covers are fun because they come in all kinds of neat colors. Most covers can be used with any type of diaper such as prefolds, pocket diapers or  I often use a cover to prevent leaks and messes with disposables on airplanes or when the baby is wearing special clothes

You can pick up some Bummis covers from BabyKicks when placing your order in the BabyKicks store, or from one of our partners, or also retailers like Amazon.

(cross posted from www.civil3drocks.com)

I went through a phase a few years ago where I read everything Maria Montessori ever wrote and tried to incorporate as much exploratory learning and play in our everyday activities. One of the things that I didn’t do enough of was color games. Mostly, I couldn’t think of what kinds of containers I could use that would be easy for little hands to hold, easy to measure and unbreakable. Well, now that my mind is locked on these stupid plastic bottles, I can’t stop thinking of ideas of how to use them.

Every night after dinner, I try really hard to take an hour away from whatever work I have on the go (and there is always work to be done) and do some sort of non-TV, hands-on activity with Panorama. Tonight, we did two games. Primary color mixing and color grading.

For the first one, I added a blob of red, yellow and blue tempera paint to three bottles, then filled with water. I gave her a spoon and she mixed them together. Here is a youtube video of the process.

I was pleasantly surprised by how fun she thought this game was (she played for about another 30 minutes after this video making colors such as "avocado"). Also note how much LESS whiney-four-year-old she becomes as she starts seeing that I am NOT trying to torture her, and how it is OK to make a mess. She hates mess in general.

For the second game, I made a concentrated batch of purple and a concentrated batch of white. Then I had her mix 1 oz, 3oz, and 5oz of purple with enough white to fill to 6 oz. Then, she lined them up by which one was darker. She liked this game a lot, too.

I can see this becoming extremely popular. We’ll take it outside next time on the little tikes picnic table and try some more variations on the theme- such as making 10 different concentrations instead of 3, etc.

I saw this workbook ( My Book of Number Games (1-70) ) at Target and there was something very simple and appealing about its cover- almost Eric Carle-like- that attracted my attention.

When I flipped through, I found the inside to be equally interesting. The book contains 38 connect the dot exercises that get slightly more difficult as you progress. The first few go from 1 through 10, then it slowly works up so that the child is tracing from 1 through 70. On the reverse of each connect the dots exercise, there is a color by number that gives the child practice identifying the newly introduced numbers. For example the one on the reverse of Panorama’s seal had her distinguishing between several numbers in the twenties.

Panorama liked this book from the first time we tried it, but she did get pretty frustrated the first few times she attempted the connect the dots. I had to show her how to stop and look for the next number before beginning to draw the line, and we practiced drawing straight lines with mock-up dot exercises I made for her on regular paper. It didn’t take long for her to get the hang of it, and I have been very impressed about how well she "reads" numbers greater than 10. She’s up to the thirties now.

I would recommend making copies if you can of some of the earlier exercises instead of working right for the book. Panorama is the type of kid that thinks a whole page is "ruined" if she makes one line loopy (especially when we first begn this book), and it was nice to be able to let her try the same puzzle again.

Since this workbook has been so popular, I’ve picked up a few others. They all have that same simple, sane and practical tone with no in-your-face cartoon craziness or 100 pages of stickers. Just low key, fun, yet challenging exercises.