Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Black Breeze Baby K'Tan - a first peek



This pregnant lady is very happy.  I was lucky enough that Baby K’tan sent me a Black Breeze Baby K’tan carrier to try out (LINK)!  We’ve still got about 4.5 months left to bake our little one, so I can’t give you a full review yet, but wanted to share my first impressions.





I’ve mentioned before that I have short little T-rex arms, and couldn’t quite get the hang of wrapping the Pickle in a Moby.  I would either need my husband’s help, or I wouldn’t get it quite loose enough.  As such, I wasn’t as effective at it as I wanted to be.


What’s great about the K’Tan Breeze is that it’s easy to use for even the wrap-challenged.  It is essentially two hoops hooked in the back.  I couldn’t get a good enough picture of this, so this is available on Baby K’Tan’s website:





The two loops are crossed over your body and brought under your arms.  There are much more thorough instructions on their website, and it can be used in a variety of positions as baby grows.  I’m really excited about that, because it’s not limiting in its use like some carriers are.  Much the same as how you can get wraps in different sizes, the K’Tan has sizing that is appropriate based off of your dress and bra sizes to ensure that it fits comfortably.


The Breeze is especially exciting to me since Little is due in August – the Breeze is 50% mesh and 50% cotton, so it’s cooler and more breathable if I want to take a walk around the neighborhood while babywearing.  We can essentially use this from birth until toddlerhood, since it supports children from 8 to 35 lbs.


In short, I’m really, really excited to use this on something other than a pregnant belly.  There are a bunch of colors available, and you can even purchase carriers gently-used on their website.  I’ve been coveting the K’Tans since long before we were pregnant, so I’m pumped!  Keep an eye out here in late August/early September for a full report on how it works.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

My First Crayola Safety Scissors



In preschool, the Pickle does a ton of crafts that involve cutting and pasting.  We do some at home, but I hadn’t been able to find any scissors that I really felt okay with her using even with supervision, so we had mostly focused on painting and other fine-motor skills at home.

A couple of months ago, I was at a store that rhymes with Schmarget, and found Crayola’s “My First Crayola Safety Scissors” – I couldn’t find them on their website, so here’s a link from Amazon:  LINK





The premise of these (and you get a pretty good deal for it, three pair for about $5) is that these scissors should only cut paper and cardstock – not clothes, lampshades, eyelids, or any of the numerous things that small children attempt to cut on a regular basis.  They’re made of plastic, no metal, and they’ve got rounded edges.  Hence, even stabbing motions to, say, a leather couch should theoretically not meet with any destruction.  (I should qualify that nobody in our house has actually attempted this, but I can’t see it being possible.)

Overall, these work awesome.  We did have one accidental mishap where Pickle was trying to cut something while holding it up in the air and accidentally got a tiny bit of hair (so they do cut hair), but overall they’ve been working really well.  I don’t feel like I’m abandoning her to a deathtrap if I have to turn away for five seconds to get her a new piece of construction paper. 

Additionally, they’re really a pretty great price.  For $5, you get three pairs.  This is nice if you’re having a playdate or if you have multiple children.  I figured safety scissors like this would be more expensive than normal scissors, but they’re not at all.  They haven’t broken yet despite some pretty heavy use, so they seem durable.
 
Value:  About $5 for three pair.  This, in my opinion, is a pretty great deal when a single pair of metal children’s scissors usually runs about $3.  10/10.

Child entertainment level:  This was very high for us.  The Pickle loves to cut paper into teeny little pieces more than I can even fathom.  9/10.

Practicality:  In my opinion, this was very practical.  Safe, economic, and worked well.  10/10.