November 2007

Before I let Andrea tell you how much she liked taking her 18-month old twins to IKEA, I want to mention her new business, little uni. She is selling handmade baby clothes that are simple and sweet, with modern appliques. Her babies Mira and Will are modeling for us in these pictures.

Andrea lives in Chicago, where its been freezing and snowing for the past few months. Her kids just moved to one nap a day, so they are always looking for good morning activities. She writes:

My husband and I planned a trip Saturday morning to IKEA to buy a kid-sized table and chairs. I was not looking forward to a day in the suburbs at a crowded IKEA. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that if you get to IKEA early, it is not crowded at all.

We put each kid in one of their odd stroller/shopping bag holder contraptions. The kids loved being pushed around in them, and we loved not pushing a heavy double stroller or 2 cumbersome full-sized shopping carts.

The kids section is really amazing. Besides the unique, colorful toys, bedding and furniture, they have a play
area set up in a maze of child-sized, completely furnished rooms. I bought a great set of plastic, colored plates. We also let each kid pick out a stuffed animal. The kids loved riding the glass elevators, and saying “Hi” every time they heard the beep of the doors opening. Because it wasn’t crowded, we could really see and appreciate the well-designed room displays. The kids pointed out lights, doors, windows, balls, beds as we walked around.

Lunch in the café was excellent. The modern, white highchairs were neatly stacked and easy to find. There was plenty of space at the table for 2 toddlers and 2 adults. I set up the kids and my husband went to get the food. He got mac and cheese and Swedish meatballs from the kids menu, of course served on the wonderful plastic plates. I think the mac and cheese was $.99. The kids gobbled down every bite.

After a couple of awkward trips to the car carrying table parts and babies, we headed home just in time for their naps.

Soon we’ll have a Rookie Moms holiday gift guide. Or maybe we won’t. It sorta depends on how many naps I can eek out of Scarlett this week. But I don’t want this gift idea to get lost in the shuffle of the potentially super dense and helpful gift guide to which you may or may not ever have access.

Order your favorite toddler a personalized shirt from your favorite make-your-own tshirt web site (mine is customglamgirl.com) and instead of his name, put the name of the tot park where he likes to hang. Whether its with you or a nanny, you know there’s that special place where, when your kiddo arrives, everyone stops and stares. “Oooh, Holden’s here!” says every Jacob, Maddie and Emma to one another, eyeing his Maclaren and Snack Trap. And when he gets up and stands atop the slide, pausing before his rapid descent, they’ll all see his shirt and know that he owns the place.

My kid goes to Totland in Berkeley. I made this shirt at neighborhoodies.com.
Simply colors has better prices, but less font choices.

Olivia, who is not a rookie mom, but rather a veteran step-mom, forwarded me an email explaining that ICE in this case stands for “In Case of Emergency.”

Do this: Add a contact in your cell phone for the number you want called in an emergency.

The forwarded email read

We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.

If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn’t know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency?

Hence this “ICE” (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.
The concept of “ICE” is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name “ICE” ( In Case Of Emergency).

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn’t know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as “ICE.”