From the category archives:

Outside

Carnival: gardens and the great outdoors

July 20, 2010

As part of the Healthy Child Blog Carnival, on the theme of Splendor in the Grass, we submitted my post about urban chicken farming. This carnival is part of an ongoing effort by Healthy Child Healthy World to help inspire a movement to protect children from harmful chemicals. The theme of backyards drew a wide [...]

What to Wear: toddler camping version

July 12, 2010

Tennis shoes, flip-flops, water shoes: what’s a kid to wear on a camping trip? My parents recently took my kiddos camping for three nights. (Yes, I know how incredibly lucky we are.) My step-mom reported back to me that the two pairs of shoes each child brought with them were just right for the great [...]

5 Super green baby activities

April 22, 2010

You know how everyone wants you to buy green stuff in order to do your part for the Earth? Well, being green is more than just buying more crap we don’t need, it’s also getting our hands dirty planting a garden, annoying your family by turning out the lights when they’re still in the room, [...]

Love Handles: Love it or shove it?

March 21, 2010

We recently became aware of this intriguing new stroller accessory. Love Handles turns your stroller into an elliptical trainer of sorts, allowing you to burn twice as many calories by getting an upper body work out at the same time that you are walking or running with your stroller. What do you think? Would you [...]

Make it a potluck

March 12, 2010

I really love bossing people around organizing easy dinner parties. Gather some friends together for a BBQ or potluck. The easy thing is that by distributing the responsibilities, you’ll have less to worry about. And more fun all around. Simple rules to sharing the load with a potluck: Assign jobs and give yourself an easy [...]

Committed outdoorsman: A rookie dad sleeps on the porch

March 11, 2010

An exciting email recently circulated amongst my extended family. My second cousin Emily and her husband Will were going to be on Oprah. “Set your DVRs!” read the email. I’ve met Emily once and never met Will, by the way. (Our grandmothers were sisters.) If you watch Oprah, and apparently bazillions of women do, you [...]

Activity #538: Take your toddler for a latte

January 13, 2010

My middle school ex-boyfriend, Neil, is now a rookie dad to a toddler (ain’t facebook great?). He likes to take his son, Graham, out in the Burley trailer for coffee dates. Neil drinks the coffee while Graham sips his leche. Neil reports: Even in the fun Portland winter weather, I like to take Graham out [...]

Activity #531: Take a cold weather power walk

December 14, 2009

Brrr. We had a cold snap in Berkeley last week complete with frost on the grass and snow in the hills. I’ve become such a weather wimp since moving to the Bay Area from Chicago a dozen years ago that I had a hard time leaving the house. If you have a baby in the [...]

Activity #332: Take your toddler tailgating

November 6, 2009

I was way into football in high school and college: face-painting, dating the quarterback, the whole nine yards (which might actually be a military metaphor rather than a football metaphor, but whatever!). Since moving to San Francisco from America’s heartland (and marrying a man more interested in triathlon than touchdowns), my interest has waned. But [...]

Activity #366: Set up a backyard festival

August 27, 2009

Entertaining Julian in the afternoon is best done outside. Inside he is totally crabby from about 3 to 6 pm. I’ve discovered things he likes and have been lazy enough to just put them all in the backyard at once so that he can roam from activity to activity over the course of an hour. [...]

5 great scavenger hunts to get you + your baby out of the house

August 12, 2009

If you’re running out of ideas and mommy yoga just isn’t doing it for you today, might I suggest a few great scavenger hunts to shake things up? Grab a diaper (and all that other stuff) and hit the road. Go on an alphabet walk: Take a walk with your baby and your camera. Shoot [...]

Activity #593: Geocache with your baby (or while pregnant!)

August 3, 2009

If your regular walking routes are a little dull, here’s a suggestion from a rookie mom reader: Strap on your baby and go geocaching! Shylo tells me she started geocaching while pregnant, in her third trimester, as an excuse to get out walking (although some of the more adventurously placed caches proved too much for [...]

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