Table of Contents
1. Aqua2go
Staff Writer, Jala Smith, talks with Mom Entrepreneur Stacey Griffin about her ingenious idea to put water in a box.
2. Bunny Books for Baby’s Basket
Staff Writer, Mamie Consentino, reviews the best in bunny books for baby’s basket this year.
3. Silly Solutions For Those Rainy Day Blues
Staff Writer, Rachelle Powers, shares her tips for entertaining young children on rainy afternoons.
Aqua2go
by Jala Smith
So it’s snack time and your three-year-old is bouncing in anticipation of her favorite fruity juice box. You know, the unbreakable, equipped with straw, “made with 100% real fruit juice” marketing phenomenon that seems to have wooed most 3 to 8-year-olds into taking their full day of recommended fruit servings in about 10 liquid swallows. Your little one may be getting some fruit nutrients from those boxes, but most brands throw in a significant amount of sugar, carbohydrates and calories to make the taste appealing to petite palettes.
Don’t despair parents. We’ve found a healthy, hydrating, and slightly deceptive (but oh so harmless) alternative to the tantrum-taming tactics of the conventional juice box. Water! Yes, you heard us right. We found a really smart mom in New Orleans who has developed Aqua2go, a drink box filled with purified water. It’s diverted her 3-year-old’s attention away from sugary juices and has helped persuade Sofia to drink more water. The water is packed in small aseptic containers, just like the kind juice boxes are made of. These containers are not only biodegradable, but preserve the water longer — up to 5 years, when most water bottles are only shelf stable for six to 12 months.
Stacey began researching and discovered that one of the few aseptic packaging facilities was located right in her area. She placed an order, filled her trunk with several cases of Aqua2go, and headed out to a neighborhood grocery store to see if they would bite. Oh they bit alright. They emptied her trunk, in fact.
It hasn’t even been a year since Aqua2go rolled off the production line, and Stacey has received requests and orders from just about everyone imaginable; doctors offices, surgery centers, pediatric dentists, diabetics, homes for people with disabilities, children’s hospitals, schools, nurseries, sporting events, donut shops, health clubs — even Ellen! Yep, Stacey managed to get the attention of the Ellen Show where she’s already appeared twice as a guest.
To Stacey, Aqua2go isn’t just a great idea. Stacey has chosen to use the company’s success to give back to various non-profit organizations. She has partnered with the Make A Wish Foundation Louisiana Chapter and has already granted one wish to a child in her area. She also plans to do some work with Habitat for Humanity, and regularly makes contributions to various charity events and organizations.
Stacey has since been able to get her psychiatric facility back up and running, as Aqua2go finds itself on more shelves across the country. A second product, which remains under wraps for the time being, is already in the works. Aqua2go will be the first company to produce this product in the US. “I think people looking for alternatives to high sugar juice boxes will love this new product — and there will be no added sugar or artificial sweeteners slipped in. We are very excited!” says Stacey. Hmmm. What else could Stacey put in a box? Ellen suggested rocks, but we don’t see that being a big seller. Rocks in a Box?!
Find out where you can buy Aqua2go by visiting their website at www.wateronthego.com. Have a favorite grocery store that you think should carry these fabulous water boxes? Just get in touch with the store manager and direct them to Stacey’s website.
Bunny Books For Baby’s Basket
by Mamie Cosentino
What is it about bunnies and storybooks? From Miss Potter’s Peter in his blue button-up coat, to the well-loved, well-worn Velveteen Rabbit, we’re positively charmed by them. Whether pointed or floppy-eared, smooth colored or spotted, we love a good bunny. And we love a good book. Chocolate rabbits are scrumptious, but storybook bunnies last a lot longer. Try tucking a couple of these treasured tales into baby’s basket on Easter morning—we think they’d make for a very sweet treat.
First published in 1942, The Runaway Bunny is the timeless tale of a mother’s perfect, protective love. After telling his mama that he has decided to run away, Little Bunny imagines all of the ways he might escape her, becoming everything from a fish in a trout stream to a bird who flies away. “If you become a bird,” his mother tells him, “I will be a tree that you come home to.” And so the story goes.
Authored and illustrated by Goodnight Moon’s Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, The Runaway Bunny reads gently and gracefully with short passages and swift phrasing, and is complimented by the simple sketch-like illustrations and vivid color palettes that are both warm and whimsical. A beautiful bedtime story, this book has been charming children for generations, and is sure to be reached for time and time again.
Created by the mother and daughter team of Adele Aron Greenspun and Joanie Schwarz, Bunny and Me is an ideal book for baby. With less than ten words per page, Bunny and Me is short and sweet with gorgeous tinted photographs that are nothing less than enchanting.
When “Baby opens a book, Bunny wants to look.” And you can read along as these two “funny buddies” pop bubbles, wear beads, and chase a ball. But when Bunny hops away, Baby must go crawling through the dreamily-hued, picturesque pages of this lovely tale until the two are together again. Simple yet stunning, Bunny and Me is a true picture book, and a true delight.
Buckaroo babies will be delighted to find Cowboy Bunnies in their basket, a romping good story with a whole lot of character. Christine Loomis wrangles up delightful descriptions with giddy-up-and-go rhythms, while Ora Eitan’s bright, colorful paintings on wooden slats offer a novel and noteworthy approach to children’s illustrations.
A fun, frolicking, after-supper story with adventure at every turn of the page, these Cowboy Bunnies ride ponies, rope cows, toss hay, and jump gullies, all before lunch. When it’s time for a break, they “Ring the lunch bell-Rub their bellies-Eat up flapjacks-Eggs and jellies.” With hills and dales, banjos and fiddles, twinkling stars, and a silver moon, this book has a little bit of the Wild West, and a whole lot of wonderful.
So hop to it, Mama! Like the White Rabbit who led Alice straight into Wonderland, these board book bunnies are sure to take baby on a delightful journey for years to come.
Here come those April showers. So what are you and the little ones going to do to keep from climbing the walls while stuck indoors? Hopefully I can help. You see, I spend a large majority of the year confined to my home in Alaska with my three angels. It never fails that my kids are enthralled by a new (expensive) toy for about a day before abandoning it to the toy box in favor of emptying shampoo bottles into the bathtub or unrolling an entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet…and then flushing it. Boredom has gotten the better of us many times. Out of necessity I have learned or created activities using things from around my house to keep my little tornados from destroying it.
Activities for Preschoolers: If the idea of breaking out the Play-Dough has you breaking out in hives, you are not alone. My three year old received a huge Play Dough kit for Christmas and managed to ruin two upholstered chairs within fifteen minutes. Here are some less destructive options…
One of my son’s favorite games to play (especially when I’m nursing my baby and can’t get up) is “Treasure Chest.” We pretend the couch is the treasure chest and he has to fill it with treasures. I will ask him to find me a “blue” treasure and then a “fuzzy” treasure and so on. He gets to run all over the house finding “square” treasures and treasures that make noise, or have faces. It’s an excellent learning game as well because he has to distinguish colors, shapes and textures.
I can’t remember where I heard about this little game but I do remember how astonished I was by my son’s skill at it. We took our wood block alphabet puzzle and dumped the pieces into a grocery bag. I covered his eyes with my hands while he reached in and found a piece. He had to identify the letter by feel while I kept his eyes covered. Once he guessed correctly, we opened our eyes, did a happy dance and put the piece into the puzzle. Often times after we play this game, my son will sit with the bag and play by himself. He squeezes his eyes shut, grabs a piece (peeks at it) and announces the correct letter. You could try this game with letter magnets as well. Or try it with different shapes of toys.
Activities for Toddlers: While her older brother is busy pulling letter puzzles out of a bag, my daughter is just as happy dumping out other wooden puzzles and putting the pieces into my mixing bowls. When she tires of that she is just as excited to use the bowls as a drum set. When I get tired of that….
Toddlers are notorious busy bodies and mine is always up in my business. She wants to sit in my lap when I’m on the computer, she wants to chatter away at me when I’m on the phone, and she definitely wants to hang out while I’m scrap booking. So if I’m working on a scrapping project, she is sitting nearby with a pile of scrap paper, happily crinkling them, ripping them, waving them and saying, “Mommy, wook it!” While showing me her creations.
Activities for Either Age: One of my favorite activities with my kids is to sing and dance to a Wiggles video. A while back, my friend challenged me to do all the dances through the course of an entire video. My two bundles of energy were still going strong long after I was sprawled out on the floor in exhaustion. Not only did they have a wonderful time laughing AT me, but I got in some of that much needed exercise as well!
It really doesn’t take a lot of expensive toys to keep your kiddos entertained during those gloomy rainy days. In fact, they will happily play with a pack of baby wipes for extended periods of time. And when I’m cleaning my kitchen, I put my munchkins to work cleaning the refrigerator with wipes. They will inevitably move on to the cupboards, the stove, even the floor!
Now if you don’t mind some of the messier fun, I learned this delicious idea from another mommy friend. Finger painting…with pudding! Put a dollop of pudding on some construction paper and let them at it. The creations can air dry on the fridge will you enjoy some yummy clean up (refer back to the baby wipe activity).
So don’t let the rainy day blues get you down. And definitely don’t wait for half the laundry detergent to be dumped in the washer, or all the linens to be pulled down out of the closet before you make the effort to abolish boredom in your household. Bust out the wipes or the pudding (and then the wipes) or if your busy with work, chores or another baby, hand her a couple wooden spoons and let your mini-maestro serenade you on her Tupperware drum set.
