Yom Kippur, Mama

Rosh Hashana was kind of anti-climactic for me on the holy front. As it has been, almost every year since I entered the motherhood. Somehow I still manage to get myself all psyched up for an inspired, introspective, prayer-filled holiday - and I wind up feeling ridiculously accomplished to simply be in Shul for Shofar with both kids, even if it is only for an hour. And honestly, we should feel accomplished for that! And while I forget this every year, I remember it every year too: as mothers, our holy service is just that - to be mothers. 

Over the course of the Babyccino Tishrei series we've had many "tip sharing" circle times, and I've heard a whole bunch of awesome family holiday tips and super cute traditions. I wanted to share two of my favorite Yom Kippur tips here - they can seriously help up the success factor of your fast day. 

1. Toy Swap

I've done this one many times before, and it's always as fun as I think it should be. Simply swap toys with friends! Forget buying a whole bunch of new toys and activities for this one day with your kids (admit it, it's never enough anyways), just pick a friend who has kids with similar ages and interests to your kids (make sure it's someone whom you trust to be careful and responsible with your things) and do a massive toy swap. Board games, manipulatives, puzzles, play food, dressup, blocks, lego sets etc. Just swap it all! Of course, don't show your kids the toys all at once. Break out a new toy or activity one at a time, as need be, throughout the longest day of your year. Simplest entertainment ever. 

2. Hot Meal

Many moms and dads have attested to the ironic satisfaction of this tip: serve your kids a hot dinner. It's one of the easiest ways to make it tantrum-free throughout bedtime - have some form of warm comfort food to serve up on demand. Use your crockpot to make your kids favorite nutritious meal the day before, and don't think about food again (well, not their food). Make a cholent, meatballs, chicken soup, overnight potato kugel, or minestrone, and know your kids will eat happily and healthfully, and hopefully fall into a quicker sleep. This also helps if you are leaving your kids with a babysitter at that hour - simplest dinner instructions. 

I love being able to hang out with so many different parents each week - I think I learn more from them than their kids learn from the class! I feel like I have access to a never-ending fountain of real-life tried-and-true parenting tips, trials, and advice. Thank you all!! Wishing you a peaceful, easy, and meaningful day of actual atonement. 

P.S. The broken-home consequence of shuttling kids back and forth is absolutely one of the most painful things for a parent. But, thankfully, it helps ensure self-preservation and makes survival that much easier. I am very much looking forward to a child-free Yom Kippur spent in solitude, servitude, and supplication. God knows I need it. 

Pint-Size Pop Up Shop!

Last Spring, Freida suddenly had a pint-size business epiphany, and set her heart on selling bracelets. She had been making Rainbow Loom creations all year, and when she had perfected her fishtail designs to her satisfaction, she decided she would go corporate. With the help of a cardboard paper towel tube, she slowly started building her shop stock. Not a week went by where she forgot to ask me if she could have a lemonade + bracelet stand this Summer. And then she'd ask again 5 minutes later. To verify.

As an avid fan of Ikea, the annual arrival of their catalogue always excites me to some extent, and I usually settle on my favorites right then and there. One of my favorites from 2014 was the concept of the Skylta Market Stand. $15 for this cardboard cutie - and a promise of Summer-stand fun! I couldn't even resist from sharing this find in the Babyccino Summer Curriculum - under the umbrella of "lemonade" week, of course. Dramatic play props with these proportions usually require significant funding and even more significant space. The idea of having this made to go up and down in a jiffy completely made me smile. And it was one of my best Ikea buys ever. (While Ikea instructions are for dummies to begin with, I somehow manage to fall through the cracks, and struggle with those little manuals no matter what. Huge shout-out to my 11-year-old niece, Chaya, who was in town and available to assemble this one for me on the spot at Babyccino class.) I've since taken it apart to store flat, and put it back together a whole bunch of times. After our epic Lemonade + Bracelet sale, the girls have used it to enhance their dramatic-play-playdates with everything from "farmers market" to "movie theatre box office". It's been an imagination booster, to the max. And I wanted to share it here with you all - get your hands on it before it's discontinued (Ikea style)!

One Sunday in July, we made made a whole big batch of lemonade and set up shop on our block. I snapped a pic and posted it on Instagram, inviting our neighborhood friends to stop by and support her pop-up shop. Naturally, we also got the Melrose crowds, as well as a slew of charitable church-goers. Her little friends came by to join in the enterprise, and my friends came by to support my little entrepreneur. She was planning on making a few bucks to buy some new additions to her disney princess figurine collection (which her mother staunchly refuses to contribute to), but when we dismantled at the end of the day and counted up her cash, she (and I!) was shocked to see she had made a whopping $64! It was such a fantastic lesson in finances - we spoke about paying her "employees" (the little friends that helped man the booth), covering the cost of her supplies (the bags, napkins, and straws she wanted), and setting aside 10% for charity. At first she was hesitant about this saying "but I don't want to lose $6.50!", when I said "you're not losing it, you're giving it"  - total game changer. She decided she wanted to send it to the IDF, and even happily wrote up a little card for them. The rest of the money she put away deciding she can save for her dream scooter instead of buy a bunch of princesses that usually break anyways. As she was falling asleep she said dreamily, "can I have my own bank account?". :)

Would seriously suggest you do something like this with your kids as a little lesson in fiscal responsibility. And get this stand while you're on the market!

Motherhood Tips

I really don't think I would be enjoying motherhood as much (or have gotten through the intensity of new motherhood as well) without the tips and advice from other mamas. There's just no way I would have figured certain things out on my own. In fact, most of my tried-and-true favorite methods of managing the mayhem (of motherhood in general, and now of single-working-mom) are tips and ideas I've ripped off of other way-more-seasoned women. Everyone has a few of their favorites that likely come to mind were someone to ask you for your very best mom-tip, and I sure can think of a slew of my own that I'd love to share with you here. But for now, here are 5 motherhood tips from 5 awesome famous mamas via Clementine Daily. Not all of these are for everyone, but there's something here for anyone. Enjoy!

From GABRIELLE BLAIR: Use smaller blocks of time. I might have an hour’s worth of laundry to wash and fold and put away, but I don’t have a full hour to dedicate to it. Instead, I grab 15 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes during the baby’s nap, 5 after dinner and another 10 minutes when the baby is in bed. It’s not ideal, but for me, it has become second nature.

From HATCH Founder Ariana Goldman: Make a game out of life's errands! If my daughter Charlie's singing and playing through clean-up, dressing and getting out the door, she's not likely to tantrum or cry.

From CAMILLE STYLES: Get up early! I love to set my alarm for an hour before anyone else in my house wakes up, which leaves me with a blissful sixty minutes to do whatever I want: work out, catch up on emails with friends, make plans for the weekend, think about my dinner menu (yes I'm the type who likes to plan dinner during breakfast.) It leaves me feeling calm, centered and ready to take on the day...  which is a good thing, since once my 18-month-old wakes up, it's "go" time.

From PARENT HACKS Founder Asha Dornfest: When the schedule balance tips toward too full, I immediately scale down my dinnertime meal plans. I fall back to 3-4 quick meals I can prepare without a recipe AND with ingredients I have on hand (ex: veg/chicken stir fry + rice). Dinner is a particular sticking point for me right now, so having 1-2 meals stashed in the freezer works like an insurance policy. When I KNOW, no matter what, we've got something good to eat for dinner, I can relax and enjoy the spontaneity of my day.

From our very own Managing Editor AMANDA CARTER GOMES: Everything is temporary. The good, bad and ugly. Today's tantrum is as fleeting as tonight's bedtime back pat requests (though I do hope the latter practice sticks around for years to come). This helps keep me a little centered during trying moments and reminds me to appreciate the endearing phases even more.

P.S. One of my favorite tips: keep kids busy and involved in any event by getting them setup with something of their own related to whatever it is that is going on. Thanksgiving meal? Set up a kids table with butcher paper and crayons. Date Night? Leave the kids a new puzzle to knock out with their babysitter while you're gone. Cross-country flight? Set kids up with their own backpacks ("luggage") filled with slews of in-flight-entertainment options. Dinner Party? Let the kids put on a show (they usually practice for hours letting adults mingle happily together before becoming the audience). I got this concept from Cookie magazine in 2008 and I've been using something to this effect ever since. It takes a little thought and minimal effort, but it really works! Occupying children will always keep them happy. At least for a little while. :)

On erev Pesach in Chicago we set the kids up with a little craft table using a kit of Passover Plague Puppets and some glue. They were busy there for hours, and left us to cooking and holiday prep in the kitchen and beyond. Then they practiced their "show" all afternoon! And it was the highlight of the Seder on both nights. It kept the kids awake and excited for maggid, and it was some fun and humorous entertainment for all of the adults in attendance. Thankfully we managed to get them to put it on one more time after the holiday so that we could record their cuteness!

https://vimeo.com/94058544

(I got such a kick of the "death of the newborns" plague. I guess dancing around the graphicness has it's price - confusion! :))

My Kids Favorite Apps

I've been so caught up with work that I put my Pesach travels completely on the back burner. I literally didn't even go back to the flight reservation email to check what time of the day we're flying - until after I finished my last Babyccino class on Monday afternoon and fully finished the Babyccino "Spring!" curriculum (which is live and available for purchase if anyone new is interested). I can't really multi-task well these days, and I seem to function much much better when I only focus on one thing at a time. So! This morning I woke up completely psyched for our imminent trip to my family in Skokie! Aside from my parents and my brother Moshe (who has been my right hand man in the Babyccino office deptartment!!), my sister Shterni and her family are coming (cousins!), as well as my hipster brother and his awesomest preschool-teaching wife, plus my fabulous newest-married sister with her boy beau. I'm SO looking forward to getting away, checking out (work/life wise), and spending heaps of quality time with my family. This morning I started packing up the girls clothes, and organizing our in-flight entertainment plan. Aside from buying a couple novelty coloring books, a slew of stickers, and some small-fare games and gimmicks, I dug up my old iPhone and restored it to factory settings. I cleared it up of all the regular icons, loaded it with my girls favorite apps, plus a bunch of new ones to try, and left the camera on there for Freida to explore with photography over this trip. She's going to be so excited at the prospect of having her own "phone" (it's really no more than an iPod touch) for the trip that I think we should be pretty set for the 4 hour flight. Anyways, lots of you have been asking for good kids apps to download before hitting the road, and I figured I'd share our top 4 favorites here. The interesting thing about these 4 apps is that both my 2 year old and my 5 year old LOVE these. Enjoy! 1. Endless Alphabet $6.99

This letter recognition app is, by a long shot, THE best app out there for toddlers. The adorable graphics + the genius phonics-teaching method is preschool gold. Not to mention the animated short it shows for the definition of every word! The words are truly endless and I have even upped my vocab from eavesdropping on Freida's playtime (gargantuan, anyone?). Also, I find it completely mind blowing that Hudi has learned all her phonics from this app. She doesn't know the whole alphabet, but can point to any letter and make the correct sound!! This is totally worth the whole $7. Promise.

2. Toca House $3.99

Help the quirky Toca characters with chores around the house. Sort the family mail, mow the lawn, wash the windows... you get the idea. Awesome graphics and great sound effects make this app super-fun to play and non-obnoxious as backround noise. Your kids will love it.

3. Drawnimal $1.99

This interactive artist app has fast become a family favorite. And for a while when I was sleep training Hudi last year, this was the activity I would set Freida up with after bath each evening. We upped the ante and made it even more fun by implementing a little lap whiteboard (the kind for practicing letter, $1 aisle in Target) and a dry erase crayon + eraser. The concept of using the device as an art component is wild, and the animations are adorable, to boot!

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Friends - Play & Explore $3.99

This 3-D popup storybook features the most beautiful and whimsical of illustrations. This app is so well done, and the story-telling narration helps walk the kids through how to play and what to do. And somehow that makes it just interactive enough for them to play with it longer than other apps. Plus, the activities are relatively educational.

P.S. Don't forget about Fiete for the toddlers!

Babyccino "Spring!" Curriculum

Hey Ladies!

Babyccino has some fresh new material! The Spring 2014 curriculum has just landed last week, and the theme is "Spring!" - featuring the elements of the nature around us via plants, bugs, water, and earth. This growth-themed series will encourage young children to explore our world with their senses, communicate with creative art, and express themselves through music and movement. Due to popular demand, this particular 8-class curriculum includes classes and activities for the holidays of Lag Baomer and Shavuos. Join the Babyccino team and watch your community of little sprouts blossom!!

Buy-in will include this complete package:

• The rights to use the name “Babyccino”
• The Babyccino promotional material – text altered to your needs
• The philosophy behind Babyccino
• The method to promote the classes
• The complete classroom layout (including links for furniture purchases)
• The Circle Time “how-to” (including song playlist and links for props)
• The fully descriptive Fall 2013 Curriculum (including links for supplies)

The Curriculum consists of a “theme”/unit, the music playlist for that theme, and 8 detailed classes. (We will be selling 3 different curriculums throughout the year –  8 fall classes, 8 winter classes, 8 spring classes.) It basically lays it all out for you – you can practically spend one Sunday getting things together off the list of items detailed here, set them aside all ready-to-go, and never have to plan another mommy & me again. Seriously.

You should hit up the Babyccino facebook page to get an idea of what I’m talking about. There you can view full photo-documentation of all our previous classes and you’ll see what it’s all about.

Click here for a more detailed blog post about Babyccino and here to see what buyers are saying about it.

Happy Spring and Chag Sameach to you all!!