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Thingamababy

A dad's eye view of baby and toddler stuff

Eco House: A Sustainable Living DollhouseToday

Eco House by Wonderworld Toys is a dollhouse of the future. Or maybe present day? It’s an ideal home anyway, one moving us closer to sustainable living.

The house comes equipped with solar roof panels, a wind turbine, recycling bins, a bicycle (there is no car), a rain barrel (aka rainwater tank or water butt) and garden greenery.

Warning: If you live in Colorado, be advised that rain barrels are illegal because the government owns all water that falls from the sky within its borders. Only let your most trusted confidants see this dollhouse, lest your child get charged with sedition.

Unlike many barren dollhouses, this one comes fully accessorized with a shower, vanity, waste basket, small and large beds, oven, table, three chairs, two parents and a child, a recycle bin, a waste bin and two planters.

It seems the company only sells white dolls, but for some reality play, any other-brand wood dolls found at most toy stores should work.

Fame of Shame Game #10: Morning Chicness BagsYesterday

The prize: Up for grabs this time is one copy of the Rookie Mom’s Handbook. Inside you’ll find 250 activities for new moms. Thank you to the kind person who recently gifted the book to my family, but I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I kind of, sort of, already received a review copy, and, umm, reviewed it. Good book.

Your challenge: Tell us why the inventor of the following product is destined for fame, or shame.

The product:

“Morning Chicness Bags are compact, disposable, affordable, and yet stylish vomit bags. Now you can carry a chic morning sickness bag everywhere you go. You no longer have to use airsickness bags from the airplane, plastic shopping bags or garbage bags. You can stop searching for the nearest toilet bowl everywhere you go, and no more sticking your head in a disgusting, smelly garbage can!”

Oh how I wish I crafted those words, but it’s a d

Penguin Rescuer: Global Warming Game for ToddlersJanuary 5

It had to happen, I suppose.

The ice caps are melting and your 3-year-old has been enlisted to rescue penguins trapped on an iceberg adrift far from land.

Penguin Rescuer by Wonderland Toys is a cooperative board game. Penguin figurines stand on an elevated iceberg in the center of the board. Your children role a die and place ice tiles to create land bridges to the mainland at the board’s corners, enabling the penguins’ escape.

Why? Because you want to teach your child about global warming and the satellite-based freeze ray technology that creates ice platforms in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.

What I found most enlightening was the hungry Orcas depicted on the game board as almost encircling the iceberg. It turns out Orcas feed in all of the world’s oceans. Here’s a photo of killer whales stalking iceberg-bound penguins and a fairly awesome

How to explain New Year’s Eve to a toddlerJanuary 2

Simple: It’s the night before the world’s birthday.

Making the world a birthday cake is one of our new annual traditions.

Mom applied the chocolate frosting and green edging. Dad wrote “Happy Birthday World 2009″ around the edges in non-sequential order because that’s what dads do. Then we gave our daughter carte blanche to go to town with the leftover toppings from our holiday cookie decorating party.

As she explains it, her cake design features a person in a parade with lots of people watching because that’s how people should celebrate the new year. Incidentally, our TV is off during the day, so she did not see and does not know about the various January 1st parades shown on TV. She did attend a lighted truck parade a couple weeks earlier.

The most important thing to know about cutting a birthday cake is to let your kid have any p

Cheesy Thoughts at a Family RestaurantDecember 31 2008

The scene: a pizza parlor’s weekly all-you-can-eat pizza-and-salad buffet.

1. Should I tell the cashier my 4-year-old is 3-years-old in order to get her meal free?

2. When my daughter asks for a quarter for me to play the car racing arcade game with her, should I ask her, “Did you bring a quarter from your horsey bank?”  And then… “Ahh, shucks. Remember to bring one next time.”

3. Should I walk around to all of the tables cutting the helium balloons free so that I can hand my daughter a huge bouquet?

4. When we’re finished eating, should I ask the cashier for a to-go box and head over to the buffet to fill ‘er up?

One of those ideas my wife thought up. One comes to my mind on every visit. One I observed a father actually doing. One I did myself.