Big Bad Rash

My middle son came down with a strange rash in mid-January and as of a week ago, we were STILL trying to figure it out. It was the kind of thing that started out small, concentrated to one area (on his rear end, unfortunately), and then spread like crazy. It became infected, and then it just spread and spread until he covered his whole body. It was itchy and painful, and I have no idea how he handled it with as much grace as he did. We went to the doctor SEVEN times over the evolution of the rash. SEVEN. The curious thing was that as it ran its course, the most stubborn part was (so embarrassing) in the shape of a toilet seat on his backside. It just wouldn't go away and it was blisters on top of blisters.

Finally, last week, the dermatologist (by the way, did you know it's almost impossible to get a kid in to see a dermatologist???) decided we should do patch testing to see if he had any skin allergies. Over the weekend, he had to wear this series of little patches (all stuck to medical tape) on his back, then after 48 hours, we could remove them and see if he had any reactions. It turned out, he had a pretty big reaction to something called methylisothiazolinone (abbreviated MI). It is an anti-microbial chemical found in SO MANY THINGS. SO MANY THINGS. After three days, he still has a red square on his back where that patch was. (Incidentally, the doctor ruled the Q15 reaction an "irritant" and not an allergy - probably should avoid that too, and it goes by literally 12 different names in products.)

What seems to have happened is that when he got the rash, I was worried it might be contagious, so I started furiously cleaning all bathroom surfaces frequently to keep the other kids from getting it. The Clorox (well, Kirkland) wipes I was using had this allergen in them and it was actually intensifying the problem. I ended up having to replace the kid-toilet-seat-topper (the one we had was kind of a spongey material that was potentially porous -ick) with a hard-plastic one and change my cleaning routine. The rash began to retreat almost immediately. This allergy also explained why he had had such horrible rashes as a baby when we used ordinary diapers and wipes. We had to move him to very organic stuff early on in life. Only a few brands didn't irritate him. Turns out those brands didn't contain MI. Through the years we have inadvertently shielded him from MI in most things just due to thinking he had sensitive skin and the desire to use organic/natural baby skin products on all of our children - mostly to avoid phthalates, actually. And I also went through and eliminated all triclosan-containing products from our house a few years ago too (scary stuff, it's even in toothpaste).
After the test results, and confirmation of the allergy by the doctor, my research and label-reading began. I thought I would post what I learned here in case there are others out there who learn of an MI allergy. Obviously, it is probably healthiest to make as many cleaners at home from known ingredients like vinegar and peroxide, but I just don't have time for a lot of that right now - life is particularly stressful at the moment, so I needed to be able to purchase things quickly to get us by for awhile.
Here are a few quick things to start with:
1) MI is found in all sorts of soaps, detergents, and skin products mostly.
2) MI is found in a lot of "natural" products, and there isn't a certain brand that I could find that is exclusively free of them - you have to pick and choose and read a lot of labels. Honest Co., for example, is currently being sued for being less than honest about what is in some of its products. I did find, though, that a lot of their stuff is MI-free - in fact, the only dish soap I could find at Target that was MI-free (include Seventh Generation, and Method) was Honest Co.
I spent quite awhile reading labels at Target this morning in the "natural" section and most of this stuff contains MI! So sad!

3) As far as detergents go, powders tend to less-frequently contain MI than liquids.
4) "Sensitive skin" and "fragrance free" products are less likely to contain MI, but not always a guarantee.
5) Sprays tend to be MI-free while lotions tend to contain it.
6) I learned that a lot of cleaning products are very vague as to what is actually in them. They are not required to list their ingredients on labels, so a lot of them don't, or they only list "active" ingredients. Greenworks is a particularly bad offender at false-advertisement. They do list ingredients, but in vague ways that don't actually let you know what chemicals their products contain.
7) Just because it says "plant-based" doesn't mean it is totally safe. My beloved Aveda products (I am so addicted to their smell) have MI in them, I sadly discovered.

I also discovered that quite a few - perhaps MOST - Mrs. Meyers products contain MI. I was surprised and disappointed to see that.

I also spent 20 minutes at Whole Foods reading the labels of all their cleaning products and most of them contain MI, sadly. I think this one makes me the most angry. Look at the claims this container of wet wipes makes, but it still contains MI!

Here are a bunch of products I either purchased today, or had hanging around our house that do NOT contain MI. Note that I am not suggesting that all of these are pure and natural (though a lot are), just that these do not contain this one allergen that bothers my son and many other people out there. This is a pretty broad range of products that are not too expensive and get most of the job of cleaning self and house done.

 L to R: Aveeno Baby Lotion (unscented), BabyGanics unscented bubble bath, Trader Joe's handsoap, Honest Co. dishsoap, Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes, Neutrogena Naturals face soaps, Method glass cleaner (in a refreshing mint scent), Method surface cleaner (but note that other Method products like hand soap and dish soap do contain MI), Aquaphor, Trader Joe's plant-based laundry detergent (only has three ingredients!), Dr. Baronne's Castille soap (the lavender stuff smells amazing - I am totally into lavender in the shower right now), Everyone Soap for Every Kid (LOVE the wonderful orangey smell of this stuff), Curel unscented lotion (note that only unscented doesn't contain MI).

L to R: Coppertone Pure & Simple sunscreen, Aveeno face sunscreen (though I don't like this stuff because of some other chemicals it contains), Target's Up & Up baby wash, Babies R Us vapor bath (great stuff for head colds), Johnson's baby shampoo, Kandoo sensitive skin flushable wipes (only the unscented kind), Biokleen bac-out carpet cleaner (Folex and Resolve do not list ingredients), Fizzy Tub color tabs (hey, what can I say, we went through a phase where that was the only way one of my kids would set foot in a tub without a tantrum), Cetaphil cleanser (awesome stuff anyway, even better that it has no MI).
And here's to many years ahead of obsessive label-reading!

Baby Bugs

We have two sick munchkins in our house, prompting me to suggest a couple of near-miracle products that we have fallen in love with.  I have mentioned Boogie Wipes in a previous post - they are another valuable addition to the arsenal for child-cold-fighting.

1) Vapor Bath.  I actually bought the generic Target-brand, which I'm sure is equally good.  It smells great and for better or worse, makes the little noses run - a good thing if the little one is congested.  It's nice and bubbly and has a comforting lavender-menthol kind of smell.  If I had a head cold, I'd want to sit in a bathtub full of this stuff too.

2) Similisan.  This is homeopathic cough syrup that can be used with children as young as two.  It works wonderfully and has saved many nights of sleep for us.  It comes in a mixture for dry coughs and one for wet coughs.  We've found the wet-cough medicine works better, but both are pretty effective.  My husband has even used it himself with success.

3) Little Noses.  This is a nasal decongestant also for children over aged two.  Although our son freaks out when we use it because he doesn't want anything put in his nose, he always concedes afterward that he feels MUCH better.  The Little Noses product that contains saline drops and a "snot sucker" (I don't know what those things are called so pardon my crass description) is also AWESOME for young babies.  That stuff got the baby through colds last winter.




So, if you happen to have a little one who is suffering, like we do, here are a few more things to try...
(...and of course, as stated to the right, I am an architect, not a doctor.  I'm just passing along suggestions for products that work well in our household.  If your kid is really sick, take him/her to the doctor.)

Ball in Motion

Yesterday we took the kids to what I would venture to say is the city's second best toy store, Magic Mouse in Pioneer Square.  Last time we were there, they had these crazy plastic balls out on the floor that were moving all on their own and the kids were very entertained.  This time, after watching our 17-month-old chase the ball for 20 minutes, we decided to buy one and see if it was as entertaining at home.  It is called a Squiggle Ball and I've never seen them anywhere else.  I even just looked on Amazon and they don't seem to sell them (shocking, I know, doesn't Amazon sell everything???).
So, we brought the ball home (along with a vintage-looking diesel train engine for the little train-lover among us) and tried it out.  The results were hilarious.  For some reason the ball seems to prefer rolling itself down our hallway and getting stuck in odd places like behind doors, under beds and in the bathroom - I'm beginning to think it is antisocial.  It also seems to favor the narrow passage behind the couch.  A couple of times I forgot about it and was a little frightened by the strange banging noise that I couldn't place somewhere nearby - it reminds me somewhat of a stray rodent.  Our three-and-a-half-year-old is afraid of it and screams like a girl running away from it because he thinks it's going to "eat" him (he has an odd fear of robots right now for similar reasons).  I think he's actually entertained by it, but he does always run for higher ground.  The littler guy just sort of ignores it when it's on the ground.  He does like to walk around with it while it's turned on and he thinks it's pretty fun to dance with.  I pronounce it an entertaining toy - particularly if you have a) pets, b) wood or other hard floors, c) lots of open space for the thing to roll around (none of which we have).  It does get stuck if there are a lot of toys out on the floor.  The only thing in a similar genre that might be more entertaining is an actual hamster rolling around in a plastic ball.  The motorized squiggle ball is far less messy, though.
Someone posted a youtube video of the ball in action, here it is:

Battle: Sippy Cups

This is a little bit of a true-confessions post.  I have been hunting for the perfect sippy cup almost as long as I've been a mom.  I have a love/hate relationship with them.  I view them as a necessity, but very very few live up to their claims of being "spill-proof" and "easy to clean."  Since I am one who believes in as much convenience as possible during this whole child-rearing thing, I am willing to keep trying different kinds looking for the *ONE* that works.  Since this has cost us a zillion dollars (after all, you can't have just one sippy cup and have it still be convenient) and a lot of headaches, I thought I would share what I have learned.  Maybe I can save somebody some hassle, or at the very least, a stinky rug.  Did I mention both my kids liked to throw sippy cups as babies?  Sippy cups full of MILK!
I've divided these into three categories: starter sippy cups, standard sippy cups and straw cups.  Yes, I've tried this many.  I've probably tried more that I have conveniently forgotten too... 

 

Starter cups: the sippy cup that is there to thoroughly confuse your baby who may have just gotten the hang of using a bottle.  I don't understand why anyone makes starter sippy cups with a hard spout.  That is such a foreign concept to a 6-month-old!  

1) NUK/Gerber - These are terrible.  For some reason when screwing the lid on, the spout never ends up oriented properly with the handles and it is very confusing for the baby.  The hard spout is also not great for beginners.  We tried to make these work for awhile, but finally gave up on them.

2) Playtex Sipster - These never worked for my boys.  I hoped they would because I think they are kind of cute.  I guess cute is not a factor in sippy-cup land.  Unfortunately the hard nipple confused my kids and I hate the concept of removable valves that get lost in the dishwasher, get accidentally left off creating a leaky cup, etc.  These cups do have the handles attached to the spout which is helpful to babies and they are very sturdy and see-through.

3) Avent - I wanted to be a cool enough mom to rock the Avent stuff.  Apparently I am not.  I didn't even try these with my younger son, but I remember my oldest son looking at that weird flat spout and then at me as if to say, "what am I supposed to do with this?"  It went downhill from there.  The benefit to these, I hear from much cooler friends, is that the sippy cup spout piece fits into Klean Kanteen water bottles.  All in all, these feel a little over-designed, but I don't have anything truly negative to say about them.  I know plenty of people who love them.

4) Nuby - I admit it.  I am in love with Nuby sippy cups.  For starter cups, the soft tops can't be beat.  They feel natural to babies and are sturdy enough to be tossed.  They don't have any valves that have to be removed for cleaning and their handles are attached to the spout keeping the whole cup oriented correctly.  They aren't perfect, no cup is, but they are the very best starter sippy cup I have found.  If you can find them, go for the super spout variety - they are brand new and even better!  Since there is less soft plastic on the lid, they are even less likely to spill than the previous design.

Standard sippy cups: the cups your kids will use until you finally come to terms with the fact that they are too old to need a drink attached to them day and night (water only at night, of course).

1) Nuby - Again.  Love.  My younger son uses these now after going through the worse option of #2 and I'm sure something else which I have blocked out of my mind.  These cups are great for the same reasons as the Nuby starters.  They are really the least-leaky sippy cup I've ever seen.  I love that they are not tattooed with characters also.  These are a great cup to move up to after the starter Nuby.  The best part about these cups besides their general awesomeness: THEY ARE CHEAP!  They cost about $2.50 a piece, which is about $1.50 cheaper than most competing cups. 

2) First Years Soft Spout - I bought these as a transition cup for my younger son because they have softer spouts, no removable valves and just seemed promising.  They worked great for about a month - long enough for me to acquire MANY of them.  Then for some reason, they started leaking both out of the spout and vent AND then out of the threads where the lid is screwed onto the cup.  Don't waste your time.

3 & 4) Playtex Insulated Sipster - I used these for quite awhile with my older son between about age 1 and 2.  For the most part, we loved them.  I have fond memories of taking them on vacation, losing them on vacation, finding drug stores to buy more on vacation.  The problem with these is the removable valve.  I'm lazy.  I didn't like having to remember to remove it and put it back in.  The twist-lock cups are basically the same thing, just with this lock-thing on the lid.  I really hated that lock on the lid.  A few times it took super-human strength to get those lids off.  My opinion of these cups is that they are great, very serviceable, if you don't mind those valves.

5) First Years Learning Curve - I resisted these cups for a long time simply due to the fact that they are covered in cartoon characters.  However, I finally bought a couple because I was so tired of dealing with the valves of the playtex cups.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that these cups are awesome!  We've been using them for about a year-and-a-half now and have always found them sturdy and dependable.  I say ignore the ugly designs and go for them above choices 2, 3, & 4. 

Sadly, after I have acquired enough of choice 1 for my younger son and choice 5 for my older son, the younger one has decided he ONLY wants to use the same cups as his big brother.  See?  The sippy cup battle never ends.

...and finally, Straw Cups: those cups you don't have any reason to own but think that somehow they are going to improve your life.  My short advice is to save your money and don't buy any of them.  However, I'll give a review of the ones we tried when we went on a straw-cup-kick thinking they were definitely better than all of the above choices (why we thought that, I now can't remember).

1) First Years Straw Cup - These. Suck.  (and not in a good way)  They leak like crazy.  Why?  It's hard to explain, but basically the little sleeve that holds the straw piece into the cup is also the soft part of the straw that comes out of the cup AND it is also this little plug that acts as a vent.  Invariably, the little plug comes out of its hole causing the child to dump the contents of the cup either all over him/herself or the floor.  No matter what we tried, we couldn't get that little plug to stay in its hole.

2 & 3) Playtex Twist-Lock - These don't leak but they are ridiculously complicated and the straw doesn't touch the bottom of the cup, so there's no way to get all the liquid out.  Both my kids find these frustrating.

4) Nuby Handle Straw - (They make this in an older-toddler cup without handles too) This cup is great - no surprise that it is Nuby once again.  It has never leaked, is not overly complicated and works well.  The only problem I have with this cup is that babies young enough to need a handled cup, don't quite understand the fact that you don't need to tip up a straw cup.  I don't understand why a straw cup is needed for this age group.  Nevertheless, if you feel like you must get a straw cup, get one of these (handle or no).

So there you go.  That is my take on sippy cups.  To sum it up:

~~Nuby.  I can't say enough good things about these cups.  They are well-designed both aesthetically and functionally.  They are inexpensive making the investment of 7 or 8 not quite such a huge deal.

~~For young babies, go for a soft spout and handles attached to the lid.

~~For older babies/toddlers, go for the sturdiest cup you can find that is easy to wash, has no nooks/crannies for rotten milk to hide in and has a valve system that is integrated.  

~~Consider where you will be using sippy cups (at home on carpets, on the go in carseats, out on hikes, etc.).  You may need to grab a couple of different kinds.

~~Decide what your *rules* are for sippy cup use.  We are pretty free and easy with drinks around here, we just limit juice consumption.  If you are an only-at-the-table parent, then you probably don't care so much about leakage.

PS: Oh, and photo credit goes to BabiesRUs, Amazon, and I think Target.

Bug Noodles

Is it just me or are these gross?
I was at Safeway awhile ago (a store I rarely visit) looking for foods that my three-year-old might *MIGHT* eat.  Every so often I have these panics that he's not eating enough and I need to try harder or be more creative.  I saw these noodles, made with whole wheat and with a serving of vegetables and thought surely they would speak to a little boy.  I was very wrong.  He won't touch them and is very weirded-out by them.  I don't blame him.  I have a hard time eating them too.
He will, however, eat the Trader Joe's radiatore that is colored with vegetables.  He LOVES those and eats them as fast as he can get them into his mouth, so his lack of interest in these definitely must be related to the bug-shapes. 
It's funny that even a three-year-old finds the concept of eating bugs very unappetizing.

Best Train Sets

Ahem...My name is Danielle and I love toys. There, I said it.
Our older son was a bit of a late-bloomer in the area of speech and one of his first words, right around the age of two, was "choo-choo." He knew what they were, he knew what they sounded like, and he was fond of pointing them out to us. Whether because of our excitement over his notice of trains or because they helped him find his voice, he has loved trains ever since. This is not a mild like, this is a love affair, an obsession. For his second birthday, a little over a year ago, we got him a train set and a table to put it on. Here is the picture I took of it all pristinely set up the day we got it, before he had even seen it. I love how the sun shines on it and it looks uncluttered, my carpet looks a little cleaner. This was the set-up that was featured on the box it came in. Sigh...I am remembering carrying the coffee table box up from the car when I was 7 months pregnant. Memories.
Anyway, we decided to get an Ikea Lack coffee table (the bigger one) to make into our train table instead of the traditional train tables out there on the market. The table and the train set were actually a little cheaper, and I think a little better looking (this thing had to reside in the middle of our living room, after all). This would also mean we could store all the trains in the bins under the table and put them away when we wanted to.
Our system has worked fantastically. It has allowed my son and I to bond while I build really complex train track layouts and he tells me which bridges and pieces he wants included in the current scheme. The only problem we've had is that our younger son loves to play "Bro-zilla" and trash the train track layouts. This devastates the train-lover. I found the perfect solution. They are little track-locks. They hold two pieces together and make it much more difficult to pull tracks apart. They are genius. Sadly I can't find a link for them, but I found them at a local toy store (Izilla, if you are local). This is what they look like:Moving right along...here are a few of my favorite layouts, the last of the three is what is currently on the table:Sometimes my son does not like my layouts and insists that I "make a new one." Yesterday, for example, he did not like my handiwork, so today I had the task of starting over again with his direction. It's great fun for me, actually, and I love the challenge of seeing exactly how complicated I can make it. It's more challenging than you might think since the sizes of pieces and the various curves offer quite a few structured limitations.

If you're considering investing in some trains, here's what I know (from experience) about all the different brands (the brand name is hyperlinked for your convenience):

~~Nuchi: Our very first little set was a Nuchi. They have very cute little trains and are compatible with the other brands. Price-wise, they are equivalent to Melissa & Doug, etc. At our local toy store (Top Ten Toys) they sell Nuchi by the single-piece which is fantastic. It's a good brand if you want specialty pieces. They have limited accessories and limited trains to choose from. It's a very basic brand.

~~Melissa & Doug: Our big, basic set featured in that first picture is a Melissa & Doug. They make very good quality, nondescript trains and their sets come with great beginner-accessories. Our set came with a roundhouse, a bridge, a crane and some people, etc. I like the roundhouse because it is smaller than the Thomas one (also not as fancy, though) and fits better in layouts on our table without taking over the whole thing. Very form-follows-function. Melissa & Doug is a great place to start. Our local consignment store actually sells it by the piece - also fantastic. It is also very reasonably priced.

~~Imaginarium: This is the ToysRUs brand. I love some things about it, not others. The wood is inferior quality and sometimes the pieces have compatibility issues. However, they make fantastic accessories and most are about half the price of Thomas ones and way more interesting, in my opinion. Imaginarium also makes GREAT trains. They come in three-packs and are cheaper than an individual Thomas train. The reason my son likes them so much is that they are very realistic-looking. They have actual diesel engines that LOOK like modern diesel engines, realistic-looking boxcars and tank cars. They are his favorite trains.

~~Brio: Brio stuff is amazing and wonderful but nearly impossible to find and therefore very expensive. I have scored a couple of brio stations off of ebay and I found a set of brio trains at a garage sale. Otherwise, they are sort of off the map. If you can find a set at a garage sale or on craigslist or ebay or consignment, definitely jump on it.

Plan City Toys: I. Love. This. Stuff. My son doesn't care all that much. He likes his plan city trains, he likes the roads that are compatible with the tracks, but he does not share my complete and total love affair. Were I rich, I would buy every piece of the Plan City (including the super-awesome doll house). They even make a bullet train which you can bet is going to find its way into my son's stocking. My favorite piece is this station. I have been trying to think of a way to justify it for almost a year now, but in truth, my son is just not that impressed. I think I could talk him into the parking garage, which is also cool. Sometimes they run these awesome accessories on Amazon for half price (!) but I still have managed to exercise self-control.

~~Ikea: The little trains are cute but the tracks are terrible and not very compatible to the other brands even though they claim to be. I am not a fan, even though they are cheap. In this case, there is a reason. My boys DO love the road-rug that goes with this train set, though.

~~Thomas: ...sigh...Thomas. Sometimes I wish Thomas didn't exist. Truly my son isn't a huge Thomas fan. He likes the cartoons but really can take or leave them. Last Christmas, I scouted ebay and bought him one-by-one a fairly thorough collection of the main characters. I later found out that I was buying knock-offs from Hong Kong, but hey, $3 for a train vs. $16 for a train? You decide. I'll take the risk. Thomas accessories are great. They are usually interactive, make realistic train sounds, and are interesting and fun BUT they are ridiculously expensive. Whew! They also rarely if ever go on sale. My advice regarding Thomas is that if you have a little one who likes trains but maybe doesn't know about Thomas, keep it that way. Save your money and steer him/her towards the more interesting, realistic-looking stuff.

...and recently I found what I very much want to get my son for Christmas (or, ahem, what Santa wants to get him). They are called Whittle Trains and they are tiny replicas of real modern trains. I'll have to see if we can swing a couple because I know he would go crazy to have his OWN Santa Fe engine. I can hear the excitement now...it makes me smile. Why? Because I love toys.

Best Fridge Toy Ever

Forget magnet letters and numbers, this one is for the budding engineer. These are called Turn and Learn Magnet Gears. They are colorful, easy to figure out and seem to capture a curious kid's attention for at least a few minutes, which is really all you can ask of a fridge toy, right? I'm always looking for ways to occupy the kids while I am trying to make dinner so that I don't end up wanting to cook them for dinner. I found this set at Lakeshore Learning. If you've never been to one of those, find one in your area and GO. It's the coolest educational toy and teacher supply store out there. I hear they have a huge sale in the summer time. I may have to check it out...

Bright and Early!

Here I go, my first product review:
I refer to this as "silver-bullet-parenting", and I am guilty of it far too often. You know, looking endlessly for that one product that will instantly make your life easier. I'll let you know when I find that one magical item, but for now I've got a long list of umm...good-ideas-in-theory.
The "Okay-to-Wake" toddler alarm clock. It sounds like a great idea, right? Any two-year-old knows that "green means go" and "red means stop." Our older son was going through a spell where he was consistently waking up at or before 6am. Neither my husband or I are morning people so this was a real stretch to deal with. I started doing some googling and found this clock. I had some paypal money left-over from something I'd sold on ebay so I thought, why not?When it came, our son fell in love with it. He carried it all over the house and we diligently tried to explain to him when he took it to bed that night that he needed to watch the clock and stay in bed until it turned green. We had set the clock for a 7am okay-to-wake time. The next morning at 6am, bright and early, he came running into our bedroom with the clock in hand saying "green mean go! green mean go!" The thing is, it was hard to argue with him because the clock itself is green! He just could not understand the concept of waiting for it to glow green like a light. So, I chalk this one up to a giant toddler-misunderstanding and we now have a pretty nifty end-table clock in the living room since he quickly lost interest. By the time he can wrap his little brain around the concept of the clock, his little brother will be the one waking us up before the birds.
Now, I would not be doing this clock complete justice unless I mention that it does have a "girl" option which is a little pink flower cover. So, maybe if you have a girl, this might work? We are not yet comfortable enough with our son's masculinity to try it that way.
What do I think?: save your money or invest in some nice Thomas the Train DVDs that will captivate your little one while you try to sleep on the couch instead.