I must say, despite the CPSA I still remain most confident by mass produced toys when they're made in Europe. The standards are consistently high, and the products seem made to last more than one kid. Or more than one month as the case o…
My daughter has a thing for flip flops these days, probably because she sees me wearing them all the time. So I did a dumb thing and bought a cheap pair of kids' flip flops from a big mall store. I think these mall flip flops are made of…
We're on tooth number three here and I'm desperate to offer any type of teething relief I can to my poor grouchy baby. At the top of my arsenal of soothers: the Dress Me Up Organic Teething Bonbon found at CMP fave Kai Kids. These mom-ma…
Now that the weather is nice, I kill some time during those dreaded post-nap-pre-bed hours at our neighborhood playground, which sadly consists of two swings, a terribly neglected sandbox, and a very scary spider web jungle gym. As a fun…
The wonderful Duck! Rabbit! is the newest book from the prolific Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who you might know for children's books like Little Pea or even her wonderful adult book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life . In this title, she's team…
When I moved to the Deep South almost 10 years ago, I admit it was a bit of a culture shock. Okay, I lied. It was a whole heckuva shock. Clearly I wasn't the only person that saw the humor in aspects of the culture, as you can tell from …
Maybe I'm just a German tourist at heart or something, but I do like that look of knee socks on my kids. Okay, so not with khaki shorts and sandals--but it can totally kick a pair of Mary Janes and a short skirt into gear. Pork Chop Kids…
I recently got a look at Alphabetica: Odes to the Alphabet , Diana Spieker and Krista Skehan's mind-blowing alphabet book filled with multisyllabic metaphors and modern, deep-inked illustrations. This book bursts with detail. Each page c…
I'm on a British kick for absolutely no reason these days, which is why I've had the British flag t-shirt from Childish Clothing bookmarked for ages. I love the distressed look and how the word RAD is spelled out in Scrabble tiles. This …
I bet you've wondered how we find the great children's books we review here at Cool Mom Picks. Well, we will share one hot tip: Bookmark sites like the brand new One Potato . This children's book site is like literary nirvana for book-lo…
I wasn't sure what to think of Belle Heir's fine vintage children's clothing when I first visited their website, but the more I browsed through, the more fascinated I became by the clothing made when my parents, grandparents, and even gr…
As a former therapist educator, I spent many a class period educating students about how there are no bad emotions. But as a parent of a preschooler, that concept, along with feelings in general, are a bit more difficult to explain -- as…
One of our secret tips that we now share with tens of thousands of you all is that if you're looking for great discounts, check out the Australian labels that we feature here time to time. Because their seasons are backwards (although th…
When my son was born there weren't really tons of organic or eco-friendly baby products like there are today. Honestly I thought I was being environmentally responsible by making sure there was no lead paint on his crib. Who knew a scant…
I've noticed this odd thing about lovies and security blankets -- the kids never like the ones I like. If it's soft, even if it's ugly, they dig it. Go figure. But in the case of the fleece Mini Miette baby lovie from the luxury eco-cons…
Whether you need a last-minute Mother's Day gift or just want to appear more stylish than everyone else while waiting for the pediatrician, I love the Posh Puzzle books by The Puzzle Society. These are the people who bring you nationally…
Before I had a boy in the house I used to hear all about how hard it is to find cool clothes for boys -- unless you are into tees that say "tough guy." Now that I'm experiencing this firsthand, I was delighted to find Winter Water Factor…
Because I'm skeptical of anything that yells AS SEEN ON TV! at me, I admit my initial thought was oh no...what kind of toxic garbage are those pipe cleaner looking Bendaroos (warning - loud sound when you click over) made out of? The ans…
I used to play this game with my son when he was a baby, it was called I put on the sock, you wiggle out of it and lose it . Oh the fun we had. If only Bical Grippers existed back then. Half sock, half shoe, all cool. The lightweight neo…
We haven't spent too much time on christening dresses here, since most of them are just a little foofy for us. However we kindly invite you to have a proper drool over the gorgeousness we've recently discovered from Petits Fournier Child…
With summer vacation less than a month away (seriously, it is!), my daughter is begging me to send her to camp, which just so happens to be a full day and requires some semblance of lunch packing on my part. I suppose it's good preparati…
Last week my daughter had a playdate with a four-year-old friend and it blew my mind that he was drawing Darth Vader and Princess Leia figures on the sidewalk with chalk. (Actually, I was less blown away by the Princess Leia which was pr…
Last week, I used Earth Day as an opportunity to introduce my girls to the idea of being good to the planet and all that other stuff we're supposed to do as (mostly) responsible moms. A week later, the organic heirloom tomatoes we plante…
Last fall, we couldn't wait for the weather to cool off so that we could dress our girls in the gorgeous Kit + Lili winter line. Now it's May and we're itching to save our pennies so we can get our mitts on their new girls' dresses for s…