PerryWinkles Kids Blog

I recently was fascinated to find out that some very perceptive mothers had come up with a line of toys called Taggies that had a lot of tags around them.  The inspiration for this was their babies’ seeming fascination with chewing on labels.  Kathe Kruse, the German toy maker, also had the same idea with their new line of toys called Labelies.  They make soft toys and blankets with a lot of labels like this adorable toy dragon. This probably increases your toy’s “shelf life” (or how long your baby will be entertained by it) by a good 10 precious minutes!

Check out the full collection at Baby Naturopathics, a fantastic resource for toys made of natural materials, clothing made of 100% organic cotton and skin care products made of natural products.  Be warned that they have a wonderful selection of European toys that can be a bit addictive if you’re in a toy buying mood!

PerryWinkles Kids - Fine Children’s Clothing

Do you ever get the feeling that someone has thought of something for everything? There are gadgets and toys to meet every mothering need, it feels like. You have diaper bags designed to make you look fashionable and be comfortable and hold everything you need to get through the day; as well as little bags in attractive fabrics to hold the wipes that go inside the diaper bag, and special holders for the soother so it doesn’t get dirty, insulated holders for the bottle so it doesn’t get warm, and plastic food containers that are divided so you can conveniently carry along your baby’s food and of course the container has a dent that perfectly fits the feeding spoon so you never lose it or leave your house without it. And the list goes on and on. Some inventions are just what you needed and really fill a gap while others are just more gadgets to accumulate.

I was noticing the other day that my six-month-old was really fascinated by the tags in her soft toys. She didn’t seem to care that we had carefully chosen toys that were beautiful or seemingly educational. She would dive right into the tags and entertain herself for a while mowing down on it. I wondered if someone had picked up on this and marketed it already. Sure enough, two days later I was talking to a friend and she showed me her baby’s new Taggies book - a cloth book that has tags sticking out from all their pages.  It’s so much fun watching a baby have a field trip on one of these toys! They also make blankets, bedding and even clothes all filled with tags sticking out of everywhere.  Like I said, they’ve thought of everything!

PerryWinkles Kids - Fine Children’s Clothing 

Life with a six month old is challenging.  Spending time with my daughter is the most rewarding way I can think of spending my time but at six months it feels like every minute of the day she is discovering something new, her world is expanding and she wants to explore and be stimulated every single moment.  She doesn’t crawl yet so I am her means to her ends and she obviously doesn’t talk yet so I need to constantly be interpreting her moods and signs to know what she needs next. 

Entertaining a six month old is even more difficult when you have to do it in the middle of winter in Canada.  Not only do you have no time to shovel your sidewalk and dig out your car in the morning but parking anywhere else than at a shopping mall is nearly impossible when you have to first maneuver the snow so you don’t hit the cars around you, try not to get stuck in the snow (I’ve already had to shovel my way out of one parking attempt), and avoid parking next to any snow banks that will make it difficult for you to get in to remove your baby from the car.  Going for walks with your stroller is out of the question, as not everyone is diligent about cleaning their sidewalks so you end up having to carry your stroller every few meters.

So I was not impressed today when I had been looking forward to finally getting out of the house to take Clara to music class and it had started snowing.  Again!  There is literally no place to shovel snow out of my driveway anymore, the snow banks around my house are so tall.  Apparently, they’re calling for another 20 cms. of snow in Toronto today.

I was determined not to get stuck inside today but Clara decided today was not a good day for napping.  So I shovel the snow and clean the car while she’s screaming inside.  I quickly bundle my baby up, get her in the car and maneuver my way out of the driveway managing not to hit the snow banks.  “Beep!”  No antifreeze left for the windows.

We glide our way to music class through the snowy, slippery streets and Clara has a wonderful time.  The effort pays off.  Clean the snow off the car.  On the way back I decide to make chili for dinner.  Stop at the grocery store, get the ingredients, clean snow off the car again and get home.

Finally, baby is asleep, I’m into my cooking and not thinking about the stinky weather anymore.  Then, “Slit!”, I cut my finger chopping an onion.  I never cut my finger when chopping vegetables!  Two seconds later, “Snap!”, the mousetrap.  Wonderful.  It’s so cold outside that mice have decided it’s cozier inside.  “Knock, Knock.” Someone’s at the door.  Must be important, if someone’s out on a miserable day like today.  You can imagine my disappointment when I am faced with a pushy kid trying to convince me that I must switch hydro plans.  Honestly, I’ve gone through this before and I’m not interested. 

Chili is done and I pour myself a glass of wine.  Ah!  There is no moral to this story other than to say, Can this day be over already?!  Let’s hope for sunny skies and warmer weather tomorrow!

Here in “deepest darkest Peru” everyone has an opinion about everything when it comes to raising babies.  Of the tips that our local cleaning lady, Denise, has shared with me over the past month some show local folklore and others practicality of people with few means.

Noticing how much hair I was losing, something I thought a normal post-partum effect, she said with full conviction that the reason I was losing hair was that my baby sucks her thumb.  Thinking I had misunderstood I asked her again what she meant and she repeated the same thing perfectly serious.  My baby does indeed suck her thumb but I suspect my hormones are also still adjusting less than six months after giving birth.  Also according to Denise, Clara is going to be a chatty baby because she sticks her tongue out often.  (She also happens to be teething…)

When my baby had an eyelash stuck in her eye she said I should blow in it.  I softly blew in but she laughed at me, grabbed her eye open and blew hard and loudly into her eye.  My baby didn’t even flinch, as if she hadn’t just had someone pretty much spit right into her eyeball, and the stuck eyelashes easily slid out of her eye onto her cheek.  Problem solved.  She shared that another way to get rid of this problem is to express some breastmilk into the baby’s eye.  I haven’t tried this method yet but I’m starting to believe that I should take this lady’s tips seriously.

When we fed my baby peas for the first time Denise shared that this vegetable is known for causing gases and that they should be cooked with aniseed to avoid making the baby uncomfortable.  When my baby got her first teeth she told my sister, who was the first to notice, that she had to give her an allowance for good luck.  I’m not messing with Peruvian folk beliefs so I’ll harass my sister about that allowance!

Another Peruvian secret when it comes to babies is that they give them the juice of a wonderful fruit called ‘granadilla’ even before they try any solids.  It’s an exotic fruit full of seeds with a sweet flavour.  Its smooth juice is extracted by pressing it through a colander and it’s a great way to ease babies into fruits, keeping them hydrated and giving them some nutrition.  In these hot summer days down South (not to rub it in) it’s important to keep babies hydrated, as I keep being reminded!

PerryWinkles Kids