chief organizational officer or faulty mindless control freak?

Sometimes we all need a little help figuring out how to keep the axis turning.

I recently had the opportunity to review the Day Runner Family Matters system via Parentbloggers.

It's an interesting system. An erasable wall calendar, file folders and storage bins for each member of the family, a day planner and door hangers to remind yourself of what you'll probably forget.

I think it's a great idea for larger families or for families with older kids. We didn't have much use for the bins besides a general one for our family - our information is too entwined and our activities aren't seperate enough to warrant the additional storage. And the door hangers are nothing but a plaything for a toddler, so those quickly had to be relegated to a higher surface. And guess what, then they didn't get used at all. But again, that's me, not the system.

The wall calendar is terrific. Now I have a place to list each of the things going on in a week instead of merely keeping it all in my head. I've already filled it with upcoming things for the next month but again, with multiple kids I'd imagine the columns would have greater use.

It's probably safe to say our family won't get a ton of use out of this product but that isn't a reflection on the product itself, but rather a function of our still small family and one very smart (or controlling) woman who still stubbornly chooses to keep it all in her head.

i am a pureeing fool

I couldn't get enough of Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious. After being an excellent vegetable eater as a baby M has completely turned against them as a toddler. Anything orange or green earns the screech i don't LIKE orange food. i don't LIKE green food. Truth be told, it's a pain in the rear. So when Parentbloggers offered the chance to review a cookbook where the vegetables are smuggled in I figured I had nothing to lose.

I love this book. I've pureed cauliflower and made banana bread, pureed carrots and made meatloaf. I pureed acorn squash (a feat in and of itself) and put it in buttered noodles. M has eaten everything and I sit smugly by for once, victorious over the toddler food war.

The book is not only full of recipes, but also tips and techniques. I am pretty sure I won't become the pureeing warrior that Jessica is, but I now have another tool at my disposal and know I'll return to this book over and over. It's just that easy to use and the food tastes really good. You'd never know all those veggies were in there and it feels better simply eating it, not only because there was more intentionality and effort in the preparation but also because it's a healthier way to treat your family.

Getting this book and having the space and luxury to actually use it brought up some other issues for me too, ones that I am addressing over at my main blog today so if you found me some other way stop over there before you go.

safe travels

I've never done a good job at preparing for the worst. Since M came along I've gotten better, we now have water and some food stored in the garage in case of an earthquake. We baby proofed the house. But I've never taken measures to ensure safety while on the road aside from the car seat. We don't keep extra food or water or blankets in our car. And shame on us.

Sequoia Survival helped me change that recently by allowing me to review their travel kit through Parentbloggers. The kit is small, so compact it will barely be noticeable in the trunk. But the point is, it's in there.

The kit is packed with all sorts of important items. ready to eat meals for two for an entire day, water, a decent first aid kit, rope, gloves, matches, paper, a mini-blade, emergency blankets, lightsticks, a hand crank cell phone charger and even a deck of cards. It's got what you need to spend the night, maybe two nights stranded in your car.

I will never forget the Kim family's struggle last winter. I will never forget their agonizing story of survival, a wrong turn on a day trip turned into tragedy. We've gone off the beaten path ourselves and never were we adequately prepared for the what ifs.

Nothing can truly keep us safe and that is probably one of the most important realizations we'll ever have as human beings. But we can do our part to be smart about it, to be prepared in the case of emergency, so that our mistakes can be minimized as much as possible.

I feel better knowing it's in my trunk. I'll feel better knowing I have this one small measure for M and for my family. I won't allow myself to live in fear, but I will continue to be smarter about the choices I make and calculate the risks. The Sequoia Survival Kit is one of the measures we'll include from now on in our travels, that little red safety pack nestled in my trunk.

I hope I never need to use it, but I am happy knowing it's there.

sole train

Parent bloggers and Ryka have offered a soleful opportunity to many of their reviewers as well as anyone reading this post (did you know they are giving away 50 shoes every day until October??)

I used to work out religiously before having M. I'd hit the gym five or six days a week before work and on the weekends. I felt fabulous. In fact I worked out until the week I went into labor and I had never felt so strong. And then M was born and a year slipped by, then two. My exercise was increasingly sporadic and I couldn't find a groove. So about a year ago I went and bought new shoes, and my first time out I got a blister. The second time out I got a new one. So the new shoes sat in the closet and when I would go out walking I'd put on my old pre-baby shoes, the ones with barely any tread. My shins protested.

And then the Ryka opportunity came along. I was a bit apprehensive, sneakers on line that I didn't get to try on had a fair shot at not fitting, at the blisters redux. But I loved the Ryka shoes; not only are they comfortable, the soles have a tremendous amount of cushion and the right amount of flex, but they are also cool and understated, a perfect white.

Since I've gotten them I've gone out walking 3-4 times a week and I've never gotten a blister. And my shin pains have disappeared (the wonders of shoes with proper tread).

And this could be your post, your story. Because Ryka is giving them away. You never know, you might be walking on soft white sneakers soon too. And your shins will thank you, and so will your muscles and joints. I know I still need to move more than I do, but the right shoes go a long way.

ninos y espanol es muy bueno

The good folks at Kids Love Spanish and Parentbloggers have teamed up again to offer some of us a chance to review their DVD series that teaches kids to se habla espanol.

I jumped at the chance because we've really been wanting to offer M the opportunity to learn other languages but are realistic to know that as long as we are only speaking English that's all she is going to learn. J jumped on these DVDs when they arrived and he and M settled in front of the TV and lo and behold, M LOVED them. They sat for over an hour watching various DVDs and practicing words. M took to it like ants on sugar - she can now count to 10 in Spanish, say about 10 animal words in Spanish, and can practice the Spanish alphabet (ha, I hadn't even realized all the extra letters until I watched the DVD myself...)

I think the repetitive nature of the DVDs really work - things are repeated again and again which gives the child a chance to say it over and over. And M will sit and talk back to the TV (not that I am necessarily proud of that) repeating azul, caballo, pez, uno, dos, tres...and I think it's pretty cool.

The graphics are pretty low tech and the videos can seem a bit hokey sometimes, but my initial reaction was minimized when I realized exactly how much M was learning. She will say words in Spanish when she's not watching the videos as well which is really amazing given the exposure hasn't been near what her exposure to English has been.

It goes to prove their brains are little sponges and the more we can show them the more they can learn.

Con Mucho Gusto, Compadres.

print your kid

I had the great pleasure of reviewing Print a Kid recently. They create personalized books for children and the good people at Parentbloggers gave me a chance to give it a spin.

The end result is a fantastic, personalized book that your kid will love. And the website is so easy to use. You choose from a selection of books and they walk you through the personalization, from the skin/hair color of your own child to the names of friends and family. M is having a birthday next week so I chose their birthday book and now she has a really cool book memorializing her name with a personal dedication from us, her birthdate, and a story about a party with all of her friends and family in starring roles.

I love this book so much that I keep taking it out after she goes to bed to look at it over and over. I cannot wait to give it to her next week because I know that she will absolutely love a whole book (a real, honest to god book) all about her and her friends. And the illustrations are terrific too. The story is basic, but it's secondary to the fact that it is personal and fun and a really great idea. I have a feeling we'll be reading it over and over.

This is one of the best products I've reviewed so far and I've never had so much fun doing it. If you are looking for a gift for your kid or for someone else's I highly recommend this as a fun and affordable way to go. You can check it out for yourself at the website above and if you do, I'd love to hear what you think.

the wonderful world of words

We all know TV is the devil but it's the devil we know and love, some of us more often than not. We've really taken a hard line lately because if M is watching it I want her to be learning something and not simply running around the house screaming "To The Rescue!" So when I had the chance to check out a preview of a new PBS series called Word World courtesy of the good women at Parentbloggers I jumped at it. I wanted to review it especially because M is really on the verge of putting letters together. She's just starting to realize that letters actually add up to something and that something makes for a bigger something. A way to read. And that my friends spells freedom for her imagination.

So we settled in with some bananas and our DVD. There were two 11 minute shorts and each was a vignette of sorts with a variety of brightly colored characters made out of distorted letters themselves. I tried to see if M would notice the letters in the shapes but she couldn't figure it out. The cartoons themselves were engaging and slightly annoying to me but less so to her. We watched them twice and M seemed to like them well enough but I was hoping for more chances to create words. Each piece had one or maybe two words it actually spelled, and after watching it twice M was able to say which word they were spelling which was pretty cool but not as cool as it would be if there were several words spelled during each show.

But these are just 11 minutes long and I think the show will be in 30 minute segments which will most likely lead to more spelling. All in all it was interesting enough to make me watch an episode when it comes out in September but I'll mostly be watching to see how educational it ends up being. If the shows practice spelling 4-5 words per episode I think it might be something we'd let M watch. Because spelling is where it's at and I'll take it over River, Backpack, Map! or however that non-educational type formatting goes any day of the week.