Magical Menagerie
The ecomumma, (me), loves to shop for beautifully designed, well thought out and perfectly executed special things for children. Our latest discover is the Magical Menagerie by Junzo Terada. Junzo is an artist who has illustrated a wide range of products including stationery, fabric, toys, and more. He lives in Osaka, Japan.
The Menagerie is 20 different animal sculptures that you press out of the thick cardboard and slot together to assemble the gorgeously decorated 3D animals. No glue, scissors* or allen key required. We have these animals all over our house, on the bookshelves, on the dresser in the children’s room, there’s one on the shelf above my computer. I just think they are wonderful, and they’re a great price too $39.95.
*No scissors is important to me, as scissors are BANNED in our house. My 5 year old cut her and her 2 year old sister’s hair, on the morning of my birthday as I was luxuriating in a hot shower. My 5 year old had just grown out the short fringe she cut for herself this time last year and now my 2 year old looks like her name should be Collin** or Wayne*** and she should have a pack of cigarettes tucked up under the sleeve of her tshirt - you get the look?
**Sorry if your name’s Collin - no offence intended
*** Sorry if your name’s Wayne - no offence intended
Kid O puzzles quality crafted, strong contemporary design
Just in time for the end of the birthday season (we celebrate what feels like 50 birthdays during the month of October) and perfectly timed for Christmas are the stunning Kid O puzzles. The puzzle above is the 4 in One Jungle Puzzle, children and adults turn the pieces vertically and horizontally to create the 4 jungle scenes. We especially love the green tree frog on the crab claw flower, reminds us of our hideaway in Far North Queensland
Kid O are a small children’s toy maker and retailer in New York, they’re dedicated to enriching the play and learning experiences of preschool children at home. Their store mission is to “provide families with the products, tools, and experiences they need to support their children’s journey toward becoming life-long learners and confident, independent adults. Everything we do and sell communicates our belief that children are competent, rich in potential, and worthy of respect and beauty.”
This is the truth, and the whole truth. The puzzles are beautiful, I was sucked in by them before I even had a feel. They’re intelligently designed, carefully crafted and have that edge over the plethora of crappy puzzles out there.
Treat your children to a Kid O puzzle this birthday or Christmas. The puzzle’s sure to be one of those few toys that you might just keep for ever.
Bobux Bobux and more Bobux
We have received a huge shipment of new Bobux eco-leather baby - toddler shoes. These shoes are just lovely, they’re made from Bobux’s eco-leather which is exceptionally fine. All styles are designed in New Zealand and the all leather baby shoes are made in New Zealand too. We have many products from New Zealand at ecobabe, which is quite by chance. I’m not a kiwi and have no connection to the country. I have found that a lot of really good, high quality and highly eco-credentialed products are coming out of New Zealand, hence our planned trip there over the Christmas and New Year period.
Here are some of the gorgeous new shoes to get you excited. Be quick because we generally only buy one size in each style so stocks are limited.
Seriously, how cute are these shoes!
International Babywearing Week
We’re celebrating International Babywearing Week, 21 - 28 September. “Babywearing” simply means holding or carrying a baby or young child using a baby carrier. Holding babies is natural and universal.
Studies have shown that babies who are worn tend to cry less, sleep longer, and eat better. It has also been found that parents who wear their babies are more likely to be content which in turn equals a relaxed baby. One huge benefit of babywearing is being hands-free.
We have carried both our babies and I’m sure this has helped with their demeanour, it’s certainly helped with mine. Close enough to Kiss, constantly.
This is me, the ecomumma carrying ecobubba #2 at the zoo.
Red Sky at night, Shepherds’ delight
Red sky at morning, Sailors take warning.
We woke to an apocolyptic scene of armegeddon this morning. The sky was red, the air thick with dust and the fog warning sound going off on the harbour. Good think I didn’t get the car washed yesterday and I’ve already cancelled my cleaner who was supposed to come for his fortnightly visit today - I think we’ll wait a day or two until the dust settles down before attempting any serious cleaning.
The dust is quite alarming, it’s from the interior of Australia, from the north west, from what was once good farming land that las been suffering from drought conditions for many years. This dust storm is the result of el nino and global warming. It is true armegeddon, it’s where we’re headed.
summer’s on its way
Stunning weather we’re having in Sydney today, a great antedote to the full on weekend we had at The Baby Show. I will post some photos of our stand shortly. I meet with the lovely Deena from Ramalama this morning to have a coffee down at Bondi Icebergs and to watch the mega fit people on their morning runs and swims. We had a nice relaxing cuppa in the sun. I’m paying bills today and listening/viewing some favourite old and new tunes via youtbue.
This one’s for Johnny Cash fans, not the most uplifting video clip, but a wonderful, wonderful song.
Gee my posts have been boring!
Sorry I haven’t been posting lovely pics to make your screen time lovely, I have always meant to include lots of beautiful pics on the ecobabe-blog.
Would you like a peek at some of our lovely September new arrivals at www.ecobabe.com.au?
We are replacing Bambino Mio prefolds with Real Nappies, why? it’s time for a change, Real Nappies are a NZ owned product, less flyer miles travelled for product and they’re the best value prefolds on the planet, that’s why!
The Wean Machine, now this is one handy gadget that all clips together as one. Made from BPA free pastic the Wean Machine is the simplest way to make pureed baby food. Stick the Wean Machine and a banana in your handbag when you leave the house for the park. At food time stick banana in Wean Machine, close (it works like a garlic crusher) and voila, fresh pureed banana to eat directly from the press using the cleverly designed sppon that clips into the handle. Once home rinse and place in the top rack of the dishwasher for cleaning. I think this is the coolest invention for new mums daunted by food, purees and portability.
The thinkbaby feeding set is the safest in town, it is made from stainless steel which is inert, so there’s no worries about BPA, PVC and other plastic nasties. This set cannot be broken and comes with handy lids for using as food storage in the fridge or cupboard. We also think these are great as camping sets for the kids, must add them to our list of gear before we head off for our first camping trip of the year.
Here’s a pic of the eco-daddy and the eco-bubba in front of our McMansion tent when we last went camping. Our tent is seriously big, we can fit 2 x queen mattresses next to each other to create one gigantic bed for the adults and the kids, and we still have half a tent left over for non-sleeping area. I thought we’d over done it by buying the biggest tent on the market, but after years of owning a little two man tent, the graduation to the ahem 14 person tent is truly deserved. I challenge you to find a bigger domestic tent.
Au revoior, I’m off to tape up boxes in preparation for the great schlep it all to Moore Park activity that’s going to go on tomorrow as we install our stand at The Baby Show.
Hope to see you there
Green Guide to Plastics
I promised the Mums at ballet that I would remember to put this post up - see it’s not just us ‘greenies’ who are worried about our children’s exposure to plastics, it’s everyone’s worry.
The following post has been copied from the blog site - http://earthyhouse.com I apologise for copying but I thought it more important to get the information out there than to leave it on my ‘to do’ list that is literally metres long.
If you look on the bottom of any plastic item, most of them are marked with a triangle that contains a number. Here’s the list according to the ‘Green Guide’ on what’s safe and what’s not.
A. Some types of plastics can leach traces of chemicals into foods and beverages. These chemicals include suspected carcinogens or endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to reproductive system harm. Plastic used for containers can be identified by their recycling codes, as listed below. Most wraps on pre-packaged foods lack identifying symbols. As a precaution, you can unwrap these foods and store them in nontoxic glass, ceramic or steel bowls, or Ziploc bags (made of LDPE). Heat promotes leaching: To be safest, never microwave or heat foods in plastics.
#1 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE or PET): No known hazards.
#2 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE): No known hazards.
#3 Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC or vinyl): Plasticizers are added to many PVC products to make them flexible. These include phthalates — suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). DEHA, another possible endocrine disruptor, was found to leach from PVC cling wraps into cheese in 1998 tests by Consumer Reports. Grocery stores commonly use PVC to wrap deli meats and cheeses. Reynolds cling wrap is PVC. Appalachian Mountain spring water and some vegetable oils are bottled in PVC. And PVC’s manufacture and incineration produces highly toxic dioxins, as does the PVDC used in Saran Wrap, according to Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. AVOID THIS PLASTIC
#4 Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE): No known hazards.
#5 Polypropylene (PP): No known hazards.
#6 Polystyrene (PS or Styrofoam): Made from styrene, a suspected carcinogen, PS also contains p-nonylphenol; both chemicals are suspected EDCs. Do not consume fatty foods or alcoholic beverages from Styrofoam containers; styrene can leach into these substances. Some opaque plastic cutlery is PS, as well. AVOID THIS PLASTIC
#7 Other Resins, including Polycarbonate (PC): Most clear plastic baby bottles and 5-gallon water bottles are made of PC. Bisphenol-A, an EDC in PC, has been found in water and heated infant formulas bottled in PC, as well as food cans lined with a plastic film. AVOID THIS PLASTIC
Resources:
The Green Guide #88/89: Shopper’s Guide to Plastics and Food
Weego glass baby feeding bottles are now shipping from ecobabe
Apologies for my absence
Dear ecobabe blog readers, all two of you, I apologise for my absence, I have been uber busy preparing for The Baby Show which will be held at the Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park, this weekend. Come along and see us if you live in Sydney, I am taking 300 pairs of Bobux shoes to the show so you should find a pair that you like! I’m a wee bit nervous about the Show, it is my first retail show and I’ve also been invited to speak on the Mums in Business panel on the Saturday. Yoiks.
I have 5 x double passes to give away (valued at $30) if you’d like one, send me an email with your name and address ASAP to: jayne at ecobabe dot com dot au and I will send you a double pass.
Out my back door right now
Sydney’s weather is divine today, 18 degress at 7.45am this morning. Not bad for the middle of winter, it’s making me a very happy ecomum.
To celebrate I’m having a little blog sale of 20% off Bambino Mio re-usable swim nappies and 20% off all Bobux boots, because summer is on its way, it might be a few months off, but Sydney is reminding us why we love summer. Enjoy!