Winner!!!!

Hooray!! New Diapers...free diapers!! Yea!!! Check it out. (Sorry for the overuse of the exclamation point).

Indoor Playgrounds??

When it is cold, snowy, wet, or just wind chill madness at negative numbers, one does not want to go outside. However, an 18 month old does not understand the difference and needs to go outside to reduce the amount of energy that he has bottled up. When searching for fun, free/cheap things to do, indoor playgrounds came across my screen. Now, they are fun, cheap for little ones ($7-9) and some are FREE for adults. We have tried 2 of the 3 in our area (20 mile radius) and have determined that there are pros-and cons to both.

The first one we went to was in an old textile city north of us, basically the company took an abandoned warehouse and converted a portion of it into an indoor play-space. It has a bounce-house, garden and music area, art section, grocery store, pirate ship, and a huge plastic climbing gym/obstacle course. It was like a small hands-on children's museum.It is designed for toddlers-10 years old and parents are expected to watch their children and ensure the safety of their child, they're also expected to enforce the rule that you may not remove toys from one play space and put them in another...virtually impossible the way that this area was set up. There were clearly laid out sections to the play-spaces, however, there was too much open area for each section which translates to running area. Final big issue, the staff for this play-space did NOTHING to aide the play, especially in the art area, it would have been nice to see some sort of craft to do. Aside from that we liked the play spots, the decorations and the toys. Note: Parents are NOT free at this one.

The second play space we have gone to is a bit closer and less city-esque. This place had clearly designated areas and relatively few toys that could move. There was a wooden, giant pirate ship jungle gym, a wooden castle jungle gym, a track with ride-on toys, and 2 bounce-houses. There was a separate, gated toddler area with appropriately sized toys and bounce house (see picture below). This place was awesome and great fun for all. The only complaint was the cleanliness factor. One of the bathrooms did not have a child changing area and someone who used it before us had a clear aiming issue. Also, in the bounce house there was a layer of dust in the corners and creases that was thick and full of lint (icky). Aside from those down falls we enjoyed this place. Note: Parents/Adults are FREE!! (As seen in the picture, we loved the child sized picnic tables complete with paper towels)

Diapering an 18 month old

When we first set out to cloth diaper I thought the one-sized diaper was the way to go. Most are made to fit until the child is 30-35 pounds and they adjust nicely for that time period. Unfortunately, we've hit a bump in the road, my almost 27 pound toddler is growing out of most of his one-size diapers and he says "no-no" to the toilet. What to do? Do I invest in more sized diapers? Well, to start with, I bought a couple large diapers (I believe I got 2), they're both designed for 25-40 pound kiddos. I've also gone through the diapers trying to determine what will last. I think that my Happy Heinys, Knickernappies, and Fuzzibunz will make it to the potty training phase. I do not think the Bum Genius 3.0s will, nor do I think the Gro-Baby will. I am still torn about the Haute Pockets and the Dream Eze (size large). My newest diaper the Mother-ease diaper is nice and will probably last through potty training, however I am not a fan of covers, it just adds bulk. But here's a cute picture of the little man in his newest diaper.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It was a busy month in our cloth-loving household. We took little man to Maryland for Christmas...12 hours in the car with an eighteen month old gives you a new appreciation for those quiet hours of sleep. He does really well on long trips, as long as he has plenty to do, see and listen to. We set him up with a Tabby-tray that attaches to his car seat. This was great for the first 20 minutes and then he wanted off, I'm not scratching it for future road trips. I think that we will probably introduce it slowly. It's great for coloring, reading, and playing with cars and choo-choos.

We also were blessed with the ability to use cloth diapers the entire time we were gone. My sister-in-law was very patient with the two extra loads we did, but 20 diapers for a 5 day vacation worked out nicely. I have a couple of samples sizes of cloth friendly soap that I brought a long and that was perfect. Her washer is a bit more high tech than mine and offers a button for an extra (needed) rinse of the diapers. That was very exciting.