Protecting tiny eyes

Having battled with melanoma myself, I'm always worried about my daughter's exposure to the sun, especially living in Miami. She currently has a pair of sunglasses that have a band around the back of the head, but we just can't get them to stay on her head. The band is still a bit loose, so I won't blame the glasses, but she did used to have a pair of regular sunglasses that she seemed to enjoy wearing a lot more, until her mom somehow lost them.
In searching for a new pair, I came across Real Kids Shades. I like them because they detail their rigorous product testing program which assures all Real Kids Shades are CPSIA Compliant, CE Certified, and FDA Approved to provide 100% UVA and UVB protection. Just because glasses say they have UV protection, doesn't mean they do, and wearing glasses that lack sufficient protection is actually worse than wearing no glasses, since when behind a shaded lens, the retina actually opens, letting in even more dangerous rays to insufficiently protected eyes.
I ordered the Flex, for ages 3-7. They come in great colors and are a frame shape that I wish I could find for myself. Check them out at RealKidsShades.com

Safe, softer, sleeping

Now that my daughter is getting older (she's edging quickly towards 2 1/2) her mattress, organic in all it's glory, is feeling a little on the firm side for her tossing and turning little body. I'm finding her sleeping on her side and back more and more, so I started looking for a mattress topper to soften it up a bit. Not as easy of a task as I thought it would be. Finally though, I found one, at Ecobaby.com.
Since growing bones grow best on firm mattresses, their recommendation for softening up a firm mattress without adding too much give was one of their organic plush pads, made of natural wool attached to a cotton backing, so as to be humane. My daughter sleeps in a Stokke oval crib, and they even make a pad for her mattress.
Here's to hoping both she, and I, will be catching a few more Z's.

Funny letters-BOOK GIVEAWAY

The Jokelabet-the ABCs of letter jokes, a new book by Russ Stark and Tony Buckland, teaches kids the differences between letters with a sense of humor.
"What did the I say to the T? Cool hat." and "What did the O say to the Q? Your shoelace is untied." are a few of my faves from this independently-published book available at blurb.com (search for Jokelabet).
Write a comment about which letter gives you and your family the biggest laughs on a regular basis.
One v-e-r-y lucky winner will receive a free copy of the book (make sure to include your email address so I can be in touch if you win).

Wee-licious

For a while there, I was cooking up a storm for my daughter. I was a member of an organic food share, I was finding new recipes, chopping, dicing, slow-cooking, fast-cooking, I was even cooking Kale.
Lately, I've lost my cooking mojo and have been stuck in frozen food purgatory, but today I saw a post on my friend's facebook page and clicked onto Weelicious.com. I got my mojo back. I went and bought ingredients I needed. I mixed and whisked and made these delicious Peanut (well, Almond) Butter and Jelly frozen pops. So easy. Tomorrow, I have the Avacado and honey dip on my to-do list and am actually looking forward to it. I think I just needed a little inspiration, so thanks Weelicious. The thing I love most is that they have an amazing number of specified categories including dairy-free, gluten-free and egg-free.
Crossing my fingers that my daughter digs the PB&J pops tomorrow.

Say NO to GMO

Just thought I'd share this video series by Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception.
Don't Experiment With Your Baby is a must-watch for anyone thinking about having a baby. The video details how GMO tests on animals have shown very serious results to babies in utero. And if you're going to watch only one of the series, make it It's Time For a Food Fight. Apparently animals know better than we do.
I think a lot of us have organic foods on our radars, but forget about how dangerous genetically modified (GMO) foods can potentially be to us and our children. Luckily, all certified organic foods cannot intentionally include GMO ingredients But a lot more varieties of non-organic fruits and veggies are going under the needle these days, so refer to the non-GMO shopping guide website. They even have an iphone app. Now chant with me...No GMO, No GMO, No GMO.

Your Wee Friend

My daughter is about to go into full-on potty training mode, as soon as I'm up for sitting her down on the potty every half hour that is.
Well, one step I've taken so far is installing these too-cool, heat-sensitive stickers that change color when your wee one pees on them into both her potties. They're called, appropriately, Wee Friend stickers and they start out black and change to the object of your choosing (they come in a variety of designs including a star, pig, flower, etc.).
You just stick it to the bottom of any flat-based potty surface and wait for your kid to pee.
Don't be a dimwit like me and try to show your little one how it works using cold water, because it's only activated by the warmth of you-know-what. Poo will do the trick as well, but it's definitely not as fun to look at afterwards.
My daughter peed in her potty for the first time yesterday and was definitely encouraged when I told her that the "magic" star would appear for her.
One sticker per package. Available at pottytrainingconcepts.com. Make sure to use the code ShipCheap (caps are case sensitive) at checkout to get the $4.95 shipping. Also use coupon code: CLR15% for 15% off any order of %50 or more.
Happy training.

Tuna fish that isn't so fishy

I've been looking for a canned albacore tuna fish so that I can make my girl a nice little tuna fish salad sandwich, but almost all canned goods have the not-so-added benefit of having BPA in the can linings. I've made a habit of buying most of my other usually-canned goods (tomato paste, beans, peas, etc.) in glass jars or frozen bags instead. Tuna, unfortunately doesn't taste so great out of a frozen bag and isn't available in glass jars so my search went on until the other day when I picked up a can of Wild Planet sustainably and wild-caught albacore tuna fish in Whole Foods and read the back label to find that, wahoo, they use a certified BPA-free can.
Wild Planet tuna fish is also much lower in mercury than the average canned tuna fish because they use smaller troll-caught fish instead of larger and older (which means higher-in-mercury) line-caught fish.
Check out Wild Planet's website to read more. wildplanetfoods.com

Half sippy, half cup, it's the Tilty

I remember seeing an ad for the Tilty cup when my daughter was first born and thinking "that's a great idea, but it'll be years before my little tiny baby will need that." Well, it's two years later and she wants so badly to drink out of a regular cup. Unfortunately, at a few months shy of two years old, she has the motor-skills of a guy stumbling out of a bar at 3am, so more of her drink ends up on the rug than in her mouth. The other day I spotted the Tilty at a local store and grabbed a two-pack to try out. My daughter loves it and so do I. There are no straws, filters or valves. There were early mornings where I felt like I needed a mechanical engineering degree in order to put her various cups together. This one is simple. Fill. Snap top on. Hand to thirsty kid. Done.
Tilty keeps the liquid at an angle and allows it to flow to the spout with minimal effort so that your little one doesn't have to tilt his/her head back as far. According to The American Dental Association, the fact that it doesn't have a valve also makes it better for a toddler's dental development. TILTY is BPA Free, PVC Free, Pthalate Free, made of safe #5 polypropylene, and is dishwasher safe.
Happy sipping.
Available at Amazon.com Tilty Sippy Cup, Clear, 7 Ounce, 2 Pack (Obsessedmoms.com gets a small percentage when you buy through this link)

Wishing you a Happy Earth Day with an offering of Green Toys

Yesterday morning, at 6am, when my dear daughter tends to wake up, I did a small inventory of some of the toys that have slowly been trickling into our house (via gifts from Grandparents and well-meaning friends) and realized there were lots of "invader" toys that do not meet my standards for the health of my daughter mixed in the bunch. So I got a basket and started gathering questionable plastic toys to put into toy lock-up and then took a look to see what alternatives I could find for them that were BPA and Pthalate-free. The skies opened up when I found safe versions of all the "no" toys in my reject basket. From the same people, Green Toys, who brought us the BPA-free tugboat made of recycled milk jugs I also found replacement "safe" versions of our play dishes and utensils, tools, trucks and other great safe toys are also available. They're now in my Amazon basket and I'm hoping they'll make it into yours too.
Read more at Greentoys.com and purchase at Amazon.com(Obsessed Moms gets a small percentage when you purchase through these links)
Tool Box
Dish Set
Tea Set
Happy Earth Day!

Obsessed Moms logo has been born

Obsessedmoms.com finally has a logo, thanks to amazing illustrator and designer Maura Condrick. There are a series of other great obsessed-animal-mom illustrations to come, so keep an out for them as they arrive. Hoot-hoot.

Zapping big germs on little toothbrushes

I read about the Violight ZapiPOP kids' toothbrush sanitizer in a magazine about a year ago and finally bought one for my daughter. Turns out some pretty gross stuff can end up on your kids' toothbrushes because of airborne bacteria that go flying when you flush...Influenza, herpes simplex I, streptococci, staphylococci, yeasts, and the bacteria that cause gum disease, cavities, and even diarrheal illness just to name a few. Also, germs can move from one brush to another if you store toothbrushes near each other.
The Zapi uses ultraviolet (UV) light which is a proven germicide which eliminates up to 99.9% of bacteria that thrive on your toothbrush. They come with stickers that you can change to create new characters on your Zapi. My daughter loves her oso (bear in Spanish) and asks to hold it when brushing her teeth. Available at violight.com
NOTE: I just saw a 20% off code smile311

Truly Green Grass

When we moved from New York, where our fire escape was our yard, to Miami, where we actually had a real yard, we started to think about how to treat our grass without making it dangerous for our daughter to play in. Most fertilizers, weed killers and bug killers are chock full of nasty toxins you don't want your kids anywhere near, and since our children probably eat more grass from the yard than they do veggies from their plates, it's important that we make it safe for them.
There are several brands and types of organic fertilizers, including some that are specific to vegetable gardens and others to lawns and flowers. Scotts Organic Choice Lawn Food is one that I found to be readily available at local hardware and home stores like Home Depot and Ace.
Of course, the results may be a little slower-going than with traditional fertilizer, but like with all good things, a little patience pays off. We noticed a big difference after applying it three times, with empty patches filling in and greener, fuller grass.
Seems like a small thing we all can do to make our children and our planet a little safer.

Clean drinking water out of thin air

You can filter your drinking water with a grocery store-bought filter or a fancy-pants ceramic one, but there are some things that no filters can clean out. Antibiotics, anti-depressants, hormones and other compounds are running rampant in our drinking water, albeit in small, but detectable amounts. Check out this article for details.
I for one, do not want any of that stuff in my or my daughter's drinking water, so I'm saving up for one of these bad-boys...an Ecoloblue atmospheric water generator. It takes the humidity out of the air, filters it and turns it into some of the cleanest drinking water around. It's pricy, starting at just under $1000, but look at it this way, if you buy bottled water in an effort to avoid all the yuck in tap water, you're probably spending about $3500 a year already ($.40 per 8 oz. bottle x 8 glasses a day x 3 people in a family x 365 days in a year = $3500). And just think of all the plastic you wouldn't be adding to the landfills.
The Ecoloblue generator makes 28-30 liters a day, depending on the model, in both cold and hot temperatures, so you can use it for cooking as well (easy to forget that the water that your food is cooked in actually ends up in your food). For the really green, they are also solar-panel-compatible.
It has 30-day money-back guarantee and a one-year warranty.
Available at www.ecoloblue.com (tell them Obsessed Moms sent you)

Non-stink, indoor-composter...toddler food scraps turned to fertilizer

Nature Mill has just released their third-generation indoor-composter, and it doesn't stink, literally. It has a carbon filter to weed out the stink of decomposing organic waste, fits under a kitchen cabinet and uses about $.50 of electricity a month. I've always been a bit weary of having rotting food sitting in my kitchen, but at the same time, I'd love to teach my daughter that she can make a difference in making our Earth a healthier planet, and composting is a great way to do that.
Using the compost to fertilize the yard is another fun, earthy, thing to do with your kids and lets everyone reap what they sewed, or at least what the composter sewed.
Watch this video (scroll down mid-page) to hear the details.
Available through Eartheasy.com

Good Night Light

After searching for a great nightlight that my daughter could easily hold, I found this cresent moon light by Kinderglo. It has several color settings, including one where it changes from one color to another. You can set it to turn off on it's own or to stay on all night. The LED light prevents it from getting hot to the touch so your child can keep it in bed if they want. It's too bright for my daughter to sleep with on, but she likes holding it before bed, and has named it a very appropriate "moon". Available at amazon.com
Kinderglo Portable Fun and Safe Rechargeable Night Light, Quarter Moon
(Obsessed Moms makes a small percentage if you buy it through this link)

Double-edged...spoon

I recently bought this spoon that is actually two spoons in one, one on each end. It's great because each spoon has a non-slid area that helps food to not fall off, as well as being large enough for a good-size bite. Most of the other baby spoons I have just weren't cutting it for my girl anymore.
She's at the stage where she wants to put food in her mouth herself, but still doesn't have all the dexterity she needs, so this funky spoon design is really helpful for her little hands. It's 100% rubber and is PVC, Phalate and BPA-free. I wish I had bought this cousin of the Teethifier long ago.
Teethifer and Spoon Z are both available at shopkidgear.com

Real wood VS. Fake wood

When looking for a wood kitchen set for our daughter's Christmas gift, we had a tough time finding any that weren't made from MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), which is often marketed as "wood", but is not actual real wood. Here is a link to an article about the dangers of MDF and the formaldehyde used in the glues that attach the layers of fiberboard. We kept searching and found this adorable and simple REAL WOOD kitchen set, that is made right here in the USA, made by Little Colorado (littlecolorado.com). Note that they also carry furniture made of MDF including other kitchens, so if you're looking for real wood, make sure you read the descriptions very carefully.
Happy cooking.

Congratulations to Laura...she won a free set of wood and sandpaper letters

Laura's comment about how she plans to teach her little one their letters and numbers won her a free set of innovative Polliwog birch and sandpaper letters. Congratulations Laura.