Category Archives: Age 1-3

Car Seat Poncho

March 22, 2007Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Baby & Kids Clothing, TravelAlicia

I love the cold weather because I get to wear sweaters to cover up my extra fluff (as Sebastian so kindly puts it). However, one thing I dread about the winter and cold days in general is getting Madelyn all bundled up before we leave the house. That dread came to an end though, when I received a Car Seat Poncho to review. The Car Seat Poncho is made of two layers of 400 weight fleece so it is incredibly soft. Madelyn uses it to snuggle with sometimes when she’s not wearing it..she likes it so much.

When Madelyn is in her car seat, the Car Seat Poncho surrounds her like
a blanket and keeps her super warm. As the temperature inside the car increases, it can be easily opened or removed.

The Car Seat Poncho is perfect for families in apartments because you don’t have to bundle your child up in a coat or jacket just for the short walk to the car.

The Car Seat Poncho is simple to use. Believe it or not, I actually figured out
how to ‘install’ (ha ha) the Car Seat Poncho without instructions! Before you go out, slip the Car Seat Poncho over your baby’s head. Then when you sit your baby in the car seat, lift the back of the Car Seat Poncho and drape it over the top of the seat. Open the zipper from the bottom, and lay the poncho panels aside. Buckle the harness and tighten the straps as directed by the car seat’s manufacturer. Pull the zipper down to close the poncho.
That’s it! You’re ready to go! I love it!

I can’t tell you how many "That’s so cute" comments I’ve gotten when Madelyn wears her Car Seat Poncho in the store. Yes, I use it even when she’s not in the car seat.

The Car Seat Poncho is for use with babies in a convertible car seat, not an infant seat and who weigh 20 lbs. or more.

Where to buy: Car Seat Poncho

Mention The Mommy Insider and get a 10% rebate check with your purchase!

dreambaby safety accessories

March 19, 2007Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Pets, Store ReviewsAlicia

Madelyn has been walking for a couple of weeks now. At first, she wouldn’t wander far from us so we didn’t worry about gates… we were always within 5 inches of her. Now that she is more confident in her walking skills, she is all over the place. She’s all over the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the den, and her favorite is the stairs. Luckily, dreambaby sent us a couple of their safety gates so I know now what a really good safety gate is. When Sebastian was a baby, we used the wooden pressure gates all over the house so I wasn’t accustom to the metal/sturdy gate that dreambaby sent for review. I quickly warmed up to them though and now I won’t use or recommend anything other than dreambaby safety gates.

dreambaby safety gates can be used in hallways, doorways, and they have baby safety gates especially for use at the top of your stairs.

Installation of the hallway gate was simple and the use was even easier. To install the hallway safety gate, you simply turn/screw the knobs until they are tight against the doorway or wall. That’s it. There is a little ‘slide’ button on the top of the handle of the gate that you simply shift while pulling up and out on the handle to open the gate. It’s a one handed process. It took me longer to write that sentence than it does to open the gate. What I love is that I don’t have to put Madelyn down while opening the dreambaby gates like I did with the wooden pressure gates. I can use one hand and it’s easy!

Another dreambaby product that I love is the cabinet safety locks. I never took into consideration that there would be a difference in cabinet safety locks from brand to brand, but there is. We have two dreambaby safety cabinet locks that I love and have been using for a while, and when I needed more, I purchased a three pack at Target by the brand that they carry. I don’t like them. You don’t realize how nice a product is until you use a similar product that stinks. The other brand is very difficult to open compared to the dreambaby brand. The dreambaby cabinet locks do a great job at keeping Madelyn out of the cabinets, so I don’t see why I should use a more difficult lock. I am ordering more dreambaby cabinet locks so I don’t have to use the other brand.

dreambaby sells a lot ofther safety products including a bathroom line which I will review soon. They sell a complete safety value pack with 46 safety products.

Where to buy: dreambaby

Binky Lasso

March 17, 2007Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Baby & Kids Clothing, BedtimeAlicia

Madelyn’s pacifier is part of her wardrobe. There is not one hour of the day when she is without her pacifier. She doesn’t necessarily have it in her mouth 23 hours a day, but it’s available for her when she wants it. If she has a diaper on, she has a pacifier ‘on’.

Because I am a "germiphone" (Sebastian’s word exactly), pacifier clips are an absolute neccessity.

Back in the day.. there weren’t options when looking for a pacifier clip. You might have had a few choices at the grocery store, but their pacifier clips just aren’t stylish for little princess and princesses. My little princess must have a stylish pacifier clip.

The Binky Lasso is a favorite of mine. I love the fabric design. I haven’t seen a pacifier clip made from fabric before I was introduced to the Binky Lasso. The Binky Lasso is easy to wipe clean with a wet cloth, super easy to clip on clothing or bibs, and can even be used as a toy clip.

Available in several designs, you are sure to find a Binky Lasso that fits your child’s personality and style.

Where to buy: A Little Lively

The Mommy Insider readers get a FREE Binky Lasso with the purchase of any gift set. Use the code ‘binkylasso’ when checking out!

The Adventure of Bento Babeys

March 16, 2007Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Books, Music & DVD, Store ReviewsAlicia

Do you know what your baby is doing in her spare time? Did you know there are babies with secret karate skills? I bet not! Mikey, Shonda, Pedro, and Sahi, are four very special babies with karate skills that keep the city safe while we sleep at night. Isn’t this every child’s dream? I think this is an awesome concept because this type of story that we read to our children usually focuses on adults being the "hero", not other children. The Bento Babeys book can be a great educational tool as well as a wonderful confidence booster.

The book comes with a colorful figure for each character so your child can play along with the story or make up her own stories using the characters in the Bento Babeys book. What a great idea!

A CD featuring songs with easy to understand lyrics and music that your child will love comes with the book.

Sebastian, my seven year old, loves anything to do with martial arts. When I got the Bento Babeys book to review on The Mommy Insider, he was so excited. He loves the figures and really enjoys the CD and best of all, he actually WANTS to read the Bento Babeys book and share it with his classmates at show and tell.

Sebastian really appreciates the section of the Bento Babeys website where the facts about each ‘babey’ are told. Apparently, his favorite character Sahi once ate a fuzzy caterpillar which made her throw up! It’s funny things like this that make Bento Babeys easy to related to and enjoyable for children.

Where to buy: Bento Babeys

Baby Meets Family – Personalized baby video

March 15, 2007Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Music & DVD, Personalized, Store ReviewsAlicia

I know you don’t like to put your baby or child in front of the TV while you clean the kitchen but sometimes it has to be done. Now your baby/child can have a positive, educational entertainment experience while in the TV zone.

Baby Meets Family DVD’s include up to ten photographs that the parent submits. Each photograph is displayed several times throughout the show. The show itself is very cute and keeps Madelyn’s attention unlike regular TV shows. Now that Madelyn is old enough to recognize me and Tim (daddy) she ‘gets it’ enough to wave at the TV. It’s so cute!

Baby Meets Family videos are a great tool to use when leaving your child with a babysitter or nanny.

The video itself is fun to watch. Even Sebastian, who is seven, enjoys watching it! The video features toys, puppets, and animal scenes, that are soothing, easy to follow, and colorful.

You can watch a demo on the Baby Meets Family website.

Don’t forget to buy extra copies for the Grandparents!

Where to buy: Baby Meets Family