Bacterial Bath Toys

I'm totally one of those obnoxious women who's "Pesach cleaning" gleefully erupts into a full-on dirt, grime, and invisible-dust busting euphoria. Oh! How I love scrubbing and sanitizing my way to disinfection heaven! Well, this year, thanks to my new cleaning help(!), I somehow managed to lay low in the sterilization station, and happily put my own elbow grease into things that actually make a healthy daily difference! For one, bath toys. It's never yet happened to me, but the sheer look of horror of other mom's faces when they tell tales of dark-greenish slime spurting from squirty bath toys during a sudsy bubble bath with the babes has got me grossed out enough to pick up on some proactive prevention!

I soaked the stash of bath toys in a solution of 4 parts white vinegar - 1 part warm water, but first i filled each little squirty with straight-up bleach! Just suck it up into the toy, and let it sit in there for at least an hour while soaking with the rest of the bath toy bounty. Bleach will, no doubt, fight off any impending germ-y buildup - gnarly or not.

But most important, make sure to ALWAYS squeeze out the water from each little rubber toy after every single bath session. We made it part of the bath routine. Thankfully Freida likes being helpful. :)

P.S. People are always asking me how I have time to teach Freida so much etc. While I'm supremely lucky to be able to work from home, I just want to mention how involving a child in every-day tasks - no matter how much harder it may seem to be - will prove to be easy, gratifying, and effective. There is no good-enough reason why all the Pesach cleaning should be done when the kids are napping or out of the house for the day. It's part of the way they learn and develop as social little people. Watching Freida scrub up the toys immediately brought me back to my childhood - washing down the little tykes rocking horse with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water. I felt like it was yesterday. These little things are all part of "teach them to your children"...

Bunch o' Brushes

Pesach around the corner means lots of house-guests for a lot of people, and these colorful little packs of toothbrushes seem to be a great staple for a family bathroom. The packaging looks more like a box of markers than a stash of oral-hygiene gear, and each little brush comes with it's own itty-bitty tube of paste. Great for your purse, a forgetful guest, or even as a distraction during a bathtime/bedtime meltdown...! Colorfulnights, $16

Weekend Round-up!

Happy sun-soaked Friday to you all! Here's a few links I've been meaning to share:

- A cute + clever creative-table invention for the kiddos.

- The Bugaboo Donkey prices are in. Oh my!

- My latest Algemeiner article, "The Zaidy Syndrome".

- This bicycle basket has got me in the spring groove... Dreaming of sandals, bike rides, and farmers market flowers!

- Zara Kids Spring 2011 Collection is brimming with children's chic and class.

- A Rabbi seriously redefines devotion after the tragic New Zealand quake. (Tzippy, you've got quite the man on your hands! We love you and miss you guys!!)

- Some really great lunch-box ideas from Gwyneth - to revamp the old routine.

Happy (almost spring!!) weekend!

Fruity Little Love Notes

In anticipation for Valentine's Day the blogesphere is buzzing with some of the most adorable downloads and DIY's! The theme is love, so even if you don't celebrate this pagan holiday I'm sure you can think of heaps of times and places to use these cute and creative ideas. These super-cute fruit stickers from Twig and Thistle would make for personal little lunchtime love notes (kids & husband - double score!). You can download the PDF and printing instructions right here.

Yoga Baby

If any of you other moms out there are as attached to Yoga as I am, you'll appreciate this extraneous bit of gear known as the Oshi Mat. Totally unnecessary for anyone but a Yoga-loving, germ-obsessing baby mama! I started doing Yoga when I was 16 (at just about the same time that Sushi made it's grand debut on the hipster scenes - Yoga became the ultimate modern-girl workout) when I was schooling abroad in Toronto. My friend and I (hi Leah!!) would hit the gym at the local mall and morph our bodies into the most random of positions... I fell in love. I used to do gymnastics, so my back really seemed to crave all the core-strengthening goodness resulting from 30 minutes of Yoga.

When I found out I was pregnant with Freida, I signed right up to a prenatal Yoga class that was held at a studio down my block. It was fantastic, and I felt like I was indulging in something so luxurious and selfish during those special (though at times, difficult) 9 glorious months of carrying a baby. Once Freida was born I continued with my daily Yoga at home, and when she was a few months old we started attending a Mommy & Me Yoga class at the same studio. Freida became quite the little Yogi and seems to have retained all of her baby flexibility (probably more due to genes than yoga, but anyway!). The only thing that bothered me was the germ-infested studio floors, and bacteria-laden mats... I eventually just bought a second mat for Freida and marked it so i knew which side went down onto the floor, but I wish I would've been introduced to the Oshi Mat back then!

Lightweight, water repellent and moisture-free to stave off bacteria, Oshi Mats are made of eco-friendly, non-toxic, recyclable foam, and they 100% PVC and latex free.Definitely a product created for the unfortunately overtly OCD moms (like me!), but a smart concept either way.

The best part is: you can snag one on sale today over at Gilt!

To endless (and germ-less!) downward dog-ing!!

Also, you can check out this previously posted link to a great Yoga for Kids DVD.