Because architects have babies too!
Why is baby-related gear designed (or rather over-designed) to offend creative parents, and appeal to people who think 'more is more'? It's a chore to find things that are safe, and practical, and affordable and NOT UGLY. The aim of this site is to share with people some of the things I've found that fit those criteria. You don’t have to be an architect, of course. You might be a graphic designer, or an artist, or anyone whose house is not furnished from Oak Express.
September 25th, 2007
Our old dining room table was solid core door (free) with $20 IKEA legs. We covered the door with black vinyl. It was childproof, easy to clean and completely hideous. Oh, and the door was 24”
wide, so you could rub knees (and plates) with the person sitting across from you. That dining room table was the equivalent of milk crate shelving or the beach chairs I once passed off for a living room suite.
So we needed a new dining room table. We couldn’t buy our ideal dining room table, of course, it will sport a layer of ground-in burritos, sour cream and blueberries in about a week. Read the rest of this entry »
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September 18th, 2007
When I was little, I had an impressive collection of Fisher Price Little People, which my brother and I called Peoples. As in, “Wanna play Peoples?” The answer was always yes, even though I was five years older than he was. (I was sort of immature, and he claims that he was wise beyond his years). I had the farm, Daniel had the garage. We had matching houseboats and two entire houses full of furniture. (The houses were kleenex boxes stapled together with contact paper “carpet.”)
So now that Finn is at the age when imaginary play is the key to future intelligence (or so the books say), I thought, “Got to get her some Little People!” Only – gasp! – a google search for Little People showed that Fisher Price destroyed Peoples!
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July 4th, 2007
Finn got many things for her birthday, but besides her new tricycle which I will blog on later, by far the most loved toy is her Krinkle Blocks. (Thank you so much Michelle, Brad and Marlowe – the Elmo-watching is much-reduced since these came into Finn’s life).
At our house we call these Bristle Blocks, because that’s what they were called when I was little. But a quick internet search reveals that Bristle Blocks (made by Playskool) and Battat Bristle Blocks and Krinkle Blocks look EXACTLY the same, even come in standard 113-piece sets and include little figures (which they didn’t have 35 years ago), but are made by different manufacturers, and DON’T fit together.
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May 26th, 2007
Finn’s second birthday is coming up, and because I know she’ll get lots of presents (including a tricycle and an Elmo doll) and won’t know what to play with first, I gave her one present a month early.
I knew that a dollhouse would be a good choice, since she played with the one at Grandma Meryl’s endlessly. I bought a very simple kit and painted the same color as Finn’s green wall, because I still have almost a full gallon of that green paint, and because people will say “How sweet! You matched her room!” and I didn’t even have to try. 
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March 22nd, 2007
I think my previous entry on high chairs is obsolete. You see, I’ve convinced myself that high chairs are totally useless, unless: you are feeding a very little baby (say, under six months) and need something that can contain this very small baby with a five point harness, tilt this very small baby waaaaaaay back (I’m not sure why this is important, but it seems to be mentioned as an important feature in lots of reviews) and cushion this small baby with lots of padding.
Otherwise (and having not fed Finn solid foods until she was six months old, this is what I should have done) buy the very amazing Healthy Care Booster Seat made by (gasp!) Fisher-Price. I am not a big fan of Fisher-Price, but it’s not because every thing they make is plastic. Really it’s because they employ designers that make plastic look like crap. Which is not a plastic prerequisite (more on totally cool plastic design in a minute).
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Posted in feeding, general | 2 Comments »
March 9th, 2007
Lots of little kids are into Elmo (that little red ball of hysteria) or Dora (who the hell is Dora?), but Finn has bucked all the trends and is a huge fan of Jakers! (I added the exclamation point because it’s actually there).
David and I first saw Jakers! on a trip back to my parents’ house, a long, long time ago before we had cable (gasp!). When you’ve just moved from Ireland, a kids’ tv program about an Irish pig now living in America telling stories from his youth on a (fictional) farm called Raloo near a (fictional) town called Tara is sort of exciting. The town looks pretty accurate, the low stone walls look pretty accurate, and they even say Janey Mac. The rolling green hills, even animated, make you think “Why do I live on this patch of dust they call New Mexico?” Read the rest of this entry »
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March 9th, 2007
Restaurant Finn started as just a dream. OK, it actually started with the IKEA pots and pans set; when I first saw them Finn was only 9 months old and not even walking yet much less about to open a restaurant, but I coveted the little stainless steel ladle and the pans and lids that look exactly like Cuisinart cookware.
Before we bought the pots and pans, we gave her a set of dishes that she used to serve up “rock soup.” This consisted of rocks from the yard, which was fine until she got more literal and started putting them in her mouth. Knowing they weren’t REALLY food, she never ate them, but still… Read the rest of this entry »
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December 26th, 2006
The current favorite toy in our house is a cardboard box with holes cut out for doors and windows that Finn decorated herself.
But other than that, a close second is Finn’s sand and water table. It’s winter, and it’s cold outside, so we keep it in our pantry, and the water part is firmly closed up (believe me, unless this is outside, you don’t want both sides open at the same time!).
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October 24th, 2006
One of Finn’s favorite words is “bubble” (pronounced “bubbow,” with a sort of Essex accent, much to my English husband’s amusement).
The bubbles themselves are also popular. But, alas, not all bubbles are created alike.
The industry standard is the cheap bubbles you buy in the supermarket, with the wand that you have to fish out, getting your hands all sticky. The wand is not very good for actually making bubbles, so half the time they come out as duds. And your child will grab for the container while you’re trying to get the stick back in, and the cap back on, one-handed.
But there are perfect bubbles. Little Kids Inc. makes a no-spill container. Let your child grab it, turn it upside down, throw it across the room. This alone would be enough, but, wait, there’s more! You don’t have to get the cap back on because there’s no cap; when your child is screaming “bubbow!” all you have to do is pull out the wand. Not only that, but the wand makes perfect bubbles. And the container looks really cool. Something you don’t mind having on the coffee table for easy access.
I prefer the No Spill Bubble Tumbler Minis because they’re small, but Little Kids makes other sizes, too. Our local stores didn’t carry the product, but I found it online at the Super Duper website.
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October 9th, 2006
Finn likes to play with rocks. “Rock!” she shouts, and bangs on the front door so that I’ll let her out to sort gravel in the entryway. She collects sticks (“sdits”). She has a piece of radiant floor piping as a toy (this is, of course, an architect’s child).
She also has musical instruments and lots of books, and a stuffed gorilla. This is not a child lacking toys.
But the weirdest thing happened today at Auntie Linda’s. We got out the box of random toys from the shed so that Finn could play while the adults did adult things like eat and talk and exclaim “Finn is so cute!” and Finn found a bedraggled little doll in the box, and then a little plastic comb, and started to comb her hair. And then Linda went and got the big doll from her daughter Sophie’s room, and Finn said “Dooooooow…” and played with her and combed her hair.
“Finn needs a doll,” said Linda matter-of-factly.
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