Blackmail
I never thought I would do this, but I have turned into the biggest blackmailer in the world. I admit, before I had kids I would disdainfully listen to mothers blackmailing their kids and say to myself: When I have kids, I will never, ever do that! Forget about it – in desperate times you need to resort to desperate measures.
This morning I had an unusually grumpy, uncooperative child on my hand that I had to drop off to school. I went through all my boxes of tricks, cuddles, stern voice, happy voice, songs, tickles… nothing was motivating her to get up, eat her breakfast, put on her clothes and get ready for school. But one magic word did the trick: Malabar (one of these sweet, nasty confections that are so sticky and sweet that they need to be individually wrapped). I promised her a Malabar after school if she behaved well…. and from one second to the next, she turned into a little angel.
At school she started to get grumpy and again I whispered the magic word “Malabar” into her ear (did not want the teacher to hear me) and it worked another miracle.
I just want to formally apologize to all those blackmailing mom’s I looked at with shock in the past — they were right and I was wrong!
- Emilie
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• Plan Toys wooden drum• Meningitis Awareness Week – What you should know!
• My daughter had meningitis
Look and Cook
I found this book in a small bookstore in London and thought it was the most adorable cookbook for kids that I have seen in a long time. I love that it has an excellent collection of old-school, comfort food recipes – everything from chicken noodle soup, meatloaf and chocolate birthday cake to simple things like cinnamon toast and grilled cheese sandwiches. Each recipe has step by step instructions that are easy for kids to make and it has wonderful illustrations that describe all the tools and utensils found in the kitchen. There is even a little illustrated lesson on how to set the table for a meal. If you are looking for a practical and fun birthday gift that is great for the whole family — I can’t recommend Look and Cook more highly.
-Dina
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• Plan Toys wooden drum• Meningitis Awareness Week – What you should know!
• My daughter had meningitis
A year long photo project
This summer a few blogs published this nice movie which was posted on YouTube. Parents took (at least) one picture of their baby every day for the first year of his life, nearly always in the same position (basically lying on a white sheet). Then they made a movie out of it with a nice soundtrack. I think it’s brilliant!
You need some commitment sure, but it would be such a precious memory. It’s truly amazing to be able to see your baby’s growth in just over 2 minutes.
If you are pregnant now it may be something you could try to do. And personally I guess you could even cheat on a couple of days….
-Michela
Animal masks
I picked up this Mask Animo kit the other day from the Daylesford Organic shop in Notting Hill because I knew my boys would love it. My 4-year-old, in particular, is really into craft projects these days — and so we’ve been trying to do one big project every week. This animal mask kit made this week’s craft session really easy!
It consists of 8 ready-cut boards and 8 elastics. You pop out the shapes, paint and decorate them as you wish, and then stick them into each other using the designated slots, no glue or scissors required! (The cardboard is made of 100% recycled paper, which is also a great sidenote.)
My boys had so much fun painting the animals. And you should see them now… running around mooing like cows, oinking like pigs, cawing like crows… (See photos here!)
-Courtney
Goodstuff Eatery
After I’d been living on Capitol Hill a while, I noticed this fun looking new restaurant, Goodstuff Eatery, and was amused by the name….and then I read about it in all the local papers– it is run by a local celeb chef, Spike Mendelsohn [famous from Top Chef, one of my fave reality shows], and made even more famous when Michelle Obama decided to eat there one night with friends. So we took the kids, ordered up some gourmet burgers and super rich milkshakes and had an all-American meal. Yum. Specialties include burgers with applewood bacon and cripsy Vidalia onion, a free-range turkey burger, and handspun shakes with flavors like toasted marshmallow and very berry. Just writing about this is making me think we might have to venture back to our old ‘hood to have another meal there sometime soon….303 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington, DC.
-Rebecca
Green Tomato Chutney
Courtney just asked me for my recipe of green tomato chutney, as the tomatoes in London apparently decided to stay green this summer!!
This recipe, that I’ve now used for years (apparently the green tomato problem is not unique to England) comes from Mrs. Beeton’s Everyday Cookery, which was published in the 1830s!!! Safe to say it withstood the test of time… We really love this chutney; it’s excellent on a thick slice of wholegrain bread with good cheddar!
Here’s the recipe:
Swine Flu
The Swine Flu, in France known as la grippe A, has landed in France and the media frenzy is on!
School started last week and, as in other countries, measures are being taken on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Children are being asked to sneeze into a tissue, wash their hands and cough into their elbow. If there are more than three cases of the flu at any school, the authorities will decide if they should close down the school. In October, if the media is to be believed, all children will be offered the vaccination at school.
Without wanting to trivialize the subject, the hysteria around swine flu seems a bit overblown! From talking to friends who have been diagnosed with it, it isn’t any worse than the common-all-garden variety. There have been very sad cases of people passing away after having been infected by this flu, but the toll does not seem to be higher than during the normal flu season.
So why all of this excitement? (more…)
Snook velcro sneakers
The teachers at my sons’ school have asked that kids wear either slip-on or velcro sneakers. Apparently they don’t love tying the laces of 20 different high-top Converse All-Stars. (Who can blame them?) But… cute velcro sneakers are difficult to find!
I recently bought a pair of these Snook sneakers for my youngest son, and they’re really cute. They’re very simple in their design, and probably the least ‘clunky’ of all the velcro shoes I’ve seen. More importantly, they’re really easy to take on and off, which makes my life easier as well as the teachers’.
They’re available online from Little Fashion Gallery.
-Courtney
Win! (!!!)
Not very long ago I wrote a post about birthstones — about the ancient origin of the tradition, and about how I just love the idea of birthstone necklaces…
I really LOVE the birthstone necklaces of Prismera Design. They are just lovely in their simplicity: the larger ‘chain’ makes them fresh in appearance, and the gemstones are of a truly wonderful quality.
I guess you know where I’m going…
Prismera Design is now generously offering one lucky Babyccino reader a custom birthstone necklace! (!!!) The winner can choose the colour of the necklace, the size of the chain and may pick up to three birthstones of choice.
We know, this is big…
If you want a chance to win such a beautiful and personal necklace, then just leave a comment below by Sunday, September 27th. We’ll pick one winner at random.
Oh, one more thing. In order to be able to win you have to be a subscriber to our daily email!!
Good luck!!!
P.S. Congratulations to Amanda from Australia who won our last give-away: a pair of maternity leggings from Mama-la-Mode!
Shhh, one of Melbourne’s best kept secrets
This weekend, I plan to treat my kids to a mini cupcake at Little Cupcake in Delgraves Street, Melbourne — a delightful strip in the city renowned for its gorgeous hotchpotch of eclectic shops and cafes. Little Cupcake is a quaint haven for sweet tooths, dedicated entirely to cupcakes! Think mini cupcakes smothered in heavenly buttercream in a size perfect for cramming the whole thing in your mouth. As I devour my cupcake, I will float back on a nostalgic cloud to my childhood and regale my children with tales of the ‘good old days’ when the delicious aromas of Grandma’s warm gooey homemade cakes beckoned us on our weekly visits. They will probably completely ignore me, cupcake heaven beckons afterall. Oh, who can blame them?
Little Cupcakes is in fact so ‘mini’ that queues regularly spill out the door and way down the road. Timeless classics are on offer including vanilla, lemon, mint and strawberry as well as other inviting concoctions – ‘creamy coconut’, ‘Belgian button chocolate’ and the dreamy ‘Red Velvet’- my absolute favourite. Cupcakes are available in 2 sizes ‘small’ and ‘extra extra tiny’ and served on a wooden tray. Offered with an array of coffees and teas, served in pretty teapots. Who can resist? Anyone care to join me for some afternoon tea?
-Sara
The sound of silence
When I flew to London with my three-year-old twins I was in a complete and total panic. For weeks I would lie awake at night picturing nothing but six hours of high pitched screams and death stares. When I asked for advice on how to cope, one friend suggested that I flood the first class cabin with water, freeze it, and hire the escapades to perform. Another friend simply said “M&M’s, Sticker books and Benadryl.”
Like any rational parent with the will to live, I have no shame in busting out the DVD player… so when they grew tired of the doodle pads and pulling apart everything within reach I broke it out and fanned a selection of their most prized Nickelodian shows (cue the sound of angels singing). What made the DVD even more of a hit were the Califone headphones that a friend told us about. Unlike other cumbersome headsets, Califone headphones are made for smaller heads and they fit nice and snug. Choose from a crowd pleasing panda, tiger or bear. The earphones put a smile on the skeptical faces of my surrounding passengers who, like me, were thankful for a peaceful, scream free flight.
-Dina
Multitasking gets tested
I pride myself in being a good multitasker, and I’m sure I’m not alone! Over the years my casual (but now numerous) observations have led me to believe that women are generally better multitaskers than men. Also, I believe this quality further improves with motherhood.
I may be wrong but it seems to me that mums are particularly good at handling many things at the same time. After all they (still in most cases) keep the family running! They can breastfeed while buying groceries online, then immediately switch to bathing the toddler while remembering to defrost the meat for dinner and load the washing machine with their husband’s dirty jogging clothes.
Isn’t this multitasking? Isn’t this a nice ability to possess?
Well, not everybody thinks so. The NYT reports the results of a Stanford study which has investigated the cognitive abilities of good multitaskers and found no advantage whatsoever if compared to low multitaskers. They were shocked too, but it seems that when a self-declared multitasker is bombarded with information his brain in the end does not work very efficiently. They actually performed all the tasks worse than the others. (more…)
Warm and fuzzy
I know I risk an immediate turn of the weather by writing about fur hats now that we finally have some sunny weather here in the the Netherlands, but this beauty by Robba Vecchia hanging in my daughter’s bedroom secretly makes me long for SNOW!
Robba Vecchia is a new French fashion brand that focuses exclusively on girls aged 4 to 12 years old. Nathalie Sadoune, the designer, was raised by her grandmother, who was a visiting couture dressmaker in Nice, so she grew up amidst ribbons, feathers and silk. How romantic is that? No surprise that Nathalie’s collections are overflowing with romance!
The new Robba Vecchia winter collection is trendy and very rich in fabrics and detail. Fur hats, waistcoats and bags, checked blouses, low baggy trousers, cool tunics — delightful! I will certainly be shopping more from this collection when it gets colder here. And who knows, maybe with some effort I could squeeze myself into a size 12??
xxx Esther
Art classes for wee ones
When it rains in NYC a day at home can seem like an eternity. Wee Arts drop-in classes at Children’s Museum of the Arts is a wonderful way to spend the morning doing something that everyone will be happy about. For $22 a family, children can rotate from play dough to paint to stickers to block building. Young and engaging teachers walk around to help the children explore various materials and the program ends with a fun and upbeat session of sing-a-longs, drumming and a farewell book.
Wee-Arts DROP IN (ages 10 months to 3½ years) Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 10:45am-12pm.
-Dina
Squeaky toys
My baby is four months old already — time for toys! So this week I brought the box of baby toys out of storage, and was reminded about some of my favorites… Like these squeaky little rattles by Lilliputiens. They’re cute, they’re soft, and they squeak when you squeeze them. They fit perfectly into little hands, and babies love to chew on all the little parts, whether it’s the tail of the zebra
We have a few — good to have one in your handbag, one in the buggy, one in the toy basket…
The zebra is available from our Amazon shop.
-Courtney
Eating out in France
Michela and I are often asked about family-friendly restaurants in our respective cities. Try as we might, we are hard pressed to come up with good suggestions. There is a huge North/South divide in Europe regarding the obvious signs of child friendliness in restaurants.
In Northern Europe you will more often than not be offered a highchair when you enter a restaurant with your kids. Often you find changing tables in the bathrooms and kids menus, and many places even have special toys they bring out. In Southern Europe it is rare to find this kind of service, BUT this does not mean that children are not welcome. In fact, they are almost always welcome, but are expected to fit around the adults. (more…)
Trip to Ikea
I went to Ikea today to get some frames and came back with some frames (although I nearly forgot them), two Lidan laundry baskets, cute paper napkins, a plant for in the bathroom (Pogonatherum, an old favourite), two little stuffed mice for the children, a dish-washing brush, a set of three small wooden boxes with lids for in the bathroom (it desperately needs to be re-organized – as always), a selection of cool looking Swedish juices and knackerbröt, a wicker basket to keep my herbs on the balcony, and the apple slicer ‘Charm‘ (pictured), that I’ve already tested and I can truly recommend.
I kept myself from buying another Norrebo storage bench (on sale now), 4-for-the-price-of-one Daim chocolate bars, more hooded towels and the Plocka plates that have a space for a small bowl and would be super-cute for breakfast.
I might go back tomorrow…
xxx Esther
One for the must-do list
I’ve still got the travel bug. I’m off to Africa to write a travel article. And while I’m not taking my family, I can’t wait to do so one day. You see, during my research I came across a photo from Giraffe Manor in Nairobi and I thought, “wouldn’t this be the most amazing place to take my child”. In my opinion, it would beat Disney Land hands down. I can just see the wonderment on my son’s face when a giraffe pops his head through the window. Priceless. If any of you have been there, I would love to hear about your experience.
-Natalie
La Ferme
I have never been a fan of battery-operated toys. Most of my friends think I’m crazy and tease me about it, but I reckon that battery-operated toys are just not necessary!
I did give in and get my toddler a lovely little book called La Ferme, illustrated by my friend Marion Billet — one of France’s most popular children’s book illustrators. My daughter squealed with delight when she started playing with it, much like the little pig in the book. The concept of the book is simple — six lovingly illustrated farm animals each with a little button on them which make very realistic animal noises. It was perfect for a recent 5-hour car ride, as it gave hours of entertainment and she now knows exactly what a cow, a hen, and a horse sound like and takes great enjoyment imitating the sound!
I guess my rule about battery operated toys had to be broken at some point…. I have not been able to find this book on sale internationally but you can buy it via a French website or in most good children’s bookshops here in France.
- Emilie
Holztiger wooden animals
It’s funny how kids develop certain interests. I have a 4-year-old boy who is obsessed with sea creatures and a 2-year-old boy obsessed with crocodiles (don’t ask)! In any case it’s sometimes fun to play into their little obsessions, which is what my friend, Allison, did when she sent these darling wooden animal figures for my boys. A crocodile
Holztiger makes loads of different wooden animals– all very cute, all perfectly sized for little hands, great for decorating a shelf or for building a collection.
Available from Amazon (UK
-Courtney
