Rookie Moms

AKA “Give your baby a tomato facial”

Go on, what are you afraid of? Let your baby really experience her dinner by getting all up in it.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I could have ever let Holden get this far into his food. Sure, I fed him on the floor and let him eat cottage cheese with his bare hands but this photo makes me really impressed with Mother Hoodwink for letting baby Boomba take it as far as he wanted to.

Tomorrow night (April 30, 2008) from 5-10 pm is “$0.31 Scoop Night” at Baskin Robbins, and sadly I am way overthinking whether or not our readers will be interested in this. Why? Because I am immersed in anti-sugar parenting trends, and my friends who do treat their toddlers to ice cream go to fancy pants stores where organic milk is coupled with seasonal fruit and all natural ingredients to produce gourmet ice cream. I’m not kidding.

So when I’m offered dirt-cheap ice cream and an outing that will surely make my 3 year-old three and a half year old (whose half-birthday is today, so clearly we should be celebrating all week) jump for joy, and I feel guilty instead of delighted, I have to remind myself “don’t be an idiot”. Moms and preschoolers deserve ice cream.

And if your baby is too young for ice cream, like seven weeks old, or not even born yet, then you really have no excuse to not hit the local B&R. Place baby in sling and go inside and spend $0.31.

I’m not really so much of a treehugger myself. I’m all for the values associated with it, I just don’t like being cold or wet, so my hiking adventures are limited to sunny days. But not too sunny, because I don’t want us to get burned.

Hiking is such a great thing to do as a family, though. Going for a hike takes you away from the house, the chores, the tv and computer. Babies usually are soothed by the light and air. Preschoolers are intrigued by every stick and leaf on the ground. Compared to Heather’s family who is on a car fast this month, mine hardly remembered it was Earth Day. Something to improve on for next year, I suppose.

Another pair of Bay Area moms just let me know about their blog, Tree Huggers In Training, on which they review local trails (both paved and off-road) from a new mom perspective, paying close attention to trail conditions, weather conditions, and general “Goodness, how would I do this with a baby?” conditions. Dana and Beth hope that new (and expert) moms, as well as dads, use the site as a resource to get out and enjoy all walks and hikes that the area has to offer.

They encourage us to take the Treehuggers In Training Oath, centered around three “B”s: beverages, blankets and bumcover disposal methods:

1. I promise to pack beverages - Milk for me (in whatever form I prefer) and water for mom
2. I promise to never leave the house with out the blanket- on which to sit, with which to cover, and to share
3. I promise to be responsible with my bumcover- Tree Huggers always pack out what they packed in. A ziploc is your friend.

Help the TreeHuggers build their reviews of outdoor excursions by taking one yourself and then sending them a write up. Send them a note at reviews AT treehuggersintraining DOT com. Even if Dana or Beth have already reviewed a hike or a piece of gear, they welcome all other first-hand experiences.

I am not sure if I should be embarassed about this, but we had a consultant, “The Babyproofer”, come evaluate our home. He walked around and then told us all the things that could possibly kill our baby.

This sounds dramatic, but we learned a distinction that we had not been making before his visit. You must fix the things that could kill your baby. The rest might just result in small injuries or minor damages to your home decor. Example: TV falling on baby (possibly fatal) vs plant toppling onto the floor (not fatal, just unpleasant).

After paying this professional for his time, I decided a better course of action would be to invite over my friend Julie or Heather’s friend Marla, both mothers of two. I’m sure that they would have been happy to show me how to protect my child from himself, and not charge me by the hour. And this wisdom is what I pass on to you.

Next step: Ask someone who has a toddler or two to walk around your house room by room and take notes as she gives you a braindump of all the little hazards her mommy mind can count.