Any hipster with a scarf can tell you: The fiber arts are enjoying a renaissance. I can knit (poorly) and spin (horribly), and I sometimes consider trying needlepoint. But no kittens and flowers for me. No, I'd start with the wacky but l…
We're installing a hook-and-eye on my daughter's closet today because she's desperately convinced that the Gremlins live in there and come out to mess up her room each night. I don't buy it. But here's a book of monsters that I'm pretty …
When my kids were younger, they received a big bag of plastic play food filled with such gems as skinny hot dogs, rubbery pizza slices, flat burger patties and even a few brown chicken nuggets. Well, this grass-fed beef buying, farmers-m…
I'm a big believer in traveling with kids . It's never too early to expose them to other cities, other cultures, other foods, and hopefully, the ability to behave on an airplane. (Oh please oh please!) I'm always looking for travel goodi…
Based on the color offerings of most sleep sacks out there, I'm left to believe that manufacturers think bright colors will somehow keep babies awake at night. What's with all the pastels? Well, that's exactly how mom Holly MacLean felt …
After many months of buzz, hoopla, and general fanfare, I finally got around to checking out Christoph Niemann's I LEGO N.Y. , and as a native New Yawka, I know can't imagine what I had been waiting for. This board book is everything I l…
My daughter is a bit of a choosy dresser. To say the least. If I'm being perfectly honest, it takes at least half an hour to get her ready every morning and she balks--nay, tantrums for an hour--if anything she's wearing is even slightly…
At the beginning of every new year, I treat myself to a pretty, new notebook. It's an almost-literal way to start the year with a clean slate. New year, new notebook, new thoughts. The only problem with this method, now that there are ch…
Yesterday a reader wrote to us about her toy storage woes, and we loaded her up with toy storage solution possibilities . Today we continue the organizational help with some of our favorite boxes, bins, and baskets. While I love putting …
It's up to me to keep my kids' schedules straight, but they still love to count down the days until the next big event, whether that day is a Saturday, their birthday, or the next candy holiday (Valentine's Day, for the record). Instead …
The chore chart that has worked the best for my family so far been a (not-so-pretty) laminated list with my kids' pictures that I made myself. But even then, I can't really add or change jobs unless I make a whole new chart, which made t…
In case you were too busy playing with your new iPhone over the holidays, here are some top picks on Cool Mom Tech you might have missed this week-- including old things, new things, and really expensive new things that might change the …
We have wood crates, with toy fruit and veggies, crafts , blocks, trains, etc., but no way to store or organize them. Do you have a toy storage solution? Do you dump everything by category into bins or baskets, and shelve them that way? …
Cardboard cottages are more common than refrigerator boxes these days, and cardboard castles are no longer hard-to-find real estate. But we've found a new line of structures that go beyond the typical rose-covered cottage-- and that boys…
I did this year what so many parents do, and I should know better by now: I bought the cheap kids' snow boots for my daughter. I knew they weren't really waterproof, but they seemed like they would suffice. Until the actual snow came. (A…
As you probably know by now, there's a bill in Congress to ensure that toys and clothing are free of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Which is good. Unfortunately, while the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act is well-meaning, th…
I love the new Uglypillows from Uglydoll. Perhaps it brings out the motherly instinct in me? A face that only a mother could love? Oh, no. I hope this isn't a throw back to my awkward years. Do you think the Uglypillows would be the last…
I remember wrangling that swaddling blanket and trying to wrap our first newborn babe like a burrito over and over and over again. More often, we accomplished a tortilla, flat and floppy, with baby girl seriously unimpressed with her par…
My five year-old's current vocabulary include words like despondent, haberdashery, and Mezzo-Soprano. Not because she's any sort of verbal genius, but because her grandmother introduced her to one of the most wonderful books for kids I'v…
I am so excited about heading to Salt Lake City in two weeks for the Altitude Design Summit , I'm already stressing about which boots to pack. (The really warm fashionable ones? Or the super waterproof Hunter boots? Or wait, what if I go…
While we love bringing you what's new and cool and educational in media , we thought it would be fun to share with you our own staffer's favorite guilty pleasure TV shows. Admit it--or only to yourself-- we all have those shows we love t…
I'm one step closer to becoming a treehugger. My new toy crush is made with organic maple, cherry and walnut wood and tackles balance, problem solving, pattern recognition and fine motor skills . Oh, and it's for babies. The Brainbow Sta…
My favorite parenting hack: If you give your kids a bubble bath and encourage them to roll around a lot, they get clean and smell great without loads of scrubbing and whining. Most of the store brands give my daughter a rash, so I'm supe…
If your resolution includes cutting back on plastic water bottles, and doing it with style (what? that could be a resolution) then we have an awesome new option for you. Café Press has teamed up with Paul Frank to create a design-your-ow…
