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Archive: February 2007
28 Feb 07 | Comments: 18
Congratulations, Heather! You get to suck snot out of your son's nose as soon as next week, depending on how fast the mail goes! Send me an email with your mailing address and I'll send your NoseFrida right out. Let...
Parent Hacks admin: Self-service graphic ad discount ends today28 Feb 07 | Comments: 0
If you've been considering booking a graphical ad on Parent Hacks and have your graphic ready to go, today's the day to sign up! FM has been offering a 35% discount on all graphical ads booked through their self-service platform,...
Cornstarch gets Vaseline out of hair28 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
Lisa of Lil Duck Duck says cornstarch gets petroleum jelly, Vicks Vaporub, and other oily, sticky substances out of your kid's (or your) hair. Details on her blog.
NoseFrida nasal aspirator: revolutionizing the snot sucker28 Feb 07 | Comments: 69
Ah, the nasal aspirator. This ubiquitous bit of baby gear has a place in most nurseries for good reason: babies inevitably get congested and must be "suctioned" so they can breathe properly while they nurse and sleep. Problem is, most...
Diaper Valet: New changing pad option27 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
I recently profiled Adrienne's lovely handmade diaper pouch, the Diaper Valet. Just in: matching changing pads! If you've been on the fence about buying one, free shipping ends tomorrow, and you can also get a $15 rebate if you purchase...
Browse Craigslist photos with Listpic27 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Craigslist addicts rejoice! Ryan Sit has hacked together Listpic, a Craigslist photo viewer that lets you visually browse your city's listings. You can browse an entire category (here's how Portland's Baby + kids category looks) or you can search by...
OXO Good Grips hacks the mango27 Feb 07 | Comments: 20
We're mango lovers around here, but I often end up wasting half the fruit trying to properly cut it into slabs for my kids to eat. I discovered this clever gadget at the grocery store yesterday: the Oxo Good Grips...
Birthday party keepsake: an autographed photo mat26 Feb 07 | Comments: 5
Liz, of Mom-101 and Cool Mom Picks fame, made this simple keepsake for her daughter's first birthday party: Buy a cheap photo mat, put photo of the birthday girl or boy inside, and leave a felt pen or marker for...
Airborne: Does it help your family avoid colds?25 Feb 07 | Comments: 32
We're battling the round-robin rhinovirus around here...the cold that infects one kid, then another, then me. It seems that no amount of hand washing, Purell, or general voodoo is keeping us healthy. All except for one of us...my husband. He...
Sheepskin as cozy stroller liner25 Feb 07 | Comments: 5
STL Mom has lots of good ideas, but this one popped up in the comments of Hot water bottle as stroller warmer, and I wanted to be sure everyone saw it: I received a sheepskin at a baby shower, but...
Water houseplants with leftover bottled water24 Feb 07 | Comments: 19
From the So Obvious I Can't Believe I'm Writing This Down file: I'm fine with tap water (especially with the help of my beloved Brita filter pitcher), but my husband is a devoted bottled water drinker. The kids, too, like...
Parent Hacks Meetup! 03/10/07 Austin, TX23 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Are you coming to SXSW Interactive? If not, will you be anywhere within spitting distance of Austin, Texas on the morning of Saturday, March 10? Then come on down to the Halcyon Coffee Bar and join me, Sara, and hopefully...
Hot water bottle as stroller warmer23 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
Jo's MIL scored a winner with this cold-weather tip: This was actually suggested to me by my mother-in-law (who knew? most of her "advice" makes me roll my eyes but this one's really good) and my husband told me i...
"Fridge googling": Macmillan Dictionary's Word of the Week22 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
What can this mean? Will Parenthackers be forever enshrined in the annals of popular language? (And technically, it's phrase of the week, but who's complaining?)
Time's running out on the Amazon Pampers discount22 Feb 07 | Comments: 0
You've still got a few days to get in on Amazon's $25 instant discount on $99-worth of Pampers, Luvs and Kandoo products. Few things make you feel as secure as a pantry stocked with diapers. Offer ends 2/28. Tags: Baby,...
Reusable reward systems22 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
AJ of Thingamababy reminds us that toddler rewards (for potty sitting, toothbrushing, etc.) can be as simple as drawing an "X" on a calendar. The trick is finding out what motivates your kid, and then letting the reward do its...
Old tube socks protect exposed wrists from snow22 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
I wish I had heard CJ's snow-play hack about six years ago: Even in the heart of winter, we spend a lot of time outside, following my mother's wisdom that "there is no bad weather, just bad clothing." One problem...
Win a YoonKid from Cool Mom Picks21 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Discovered today at the lovely and talented Cool Mom Picks: YoonKids -- adorable, customized wall art depicting girls in all sorts of cool roles such as astronomer, reader, and and guitarist. Get over there today for a chance to win...
Bottle nipple as medicine dispenser21 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Cathy came up with an ingenious medication dosage hack: So they sell those nifty baby medication pacifiers where you crack the thing opened, put in the medicine, and in somebody’s dream world, the baby peacefully sucks the medicine down no...
Clean your wood floor with disposable diapers21 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Here's how Farah of shopping site SheFindsMom used up extra disposables: I have a great way to clean up wooden floors. I use diapers--clean ones, of course. (I still get a bunch in the mail from Huggies for some reason...
"Scrub" toothbrushes and toys with denture cleanser tablets21 Feb 07 | Comments: 8
Soni ("A devoted, albeit child-free, reader") offers this cleaning advice: To clean toothbrushes, I put them in a clean pasta sauce jar or some other container where I can cover them with hot water, drop in a denture cleaning tablet...
Parent Hacks Community: 2/20/0720 Feb 07 | Comments: 7
Our new community "features" are taking off nicely! Folks are starting to tag their relevant blog posts, del.icio.us links, and Flickr photos with parenthacks. (Many thanks to Jim for the incredible tutorial on how tagging and Technorati work.) Here's a...
What are your "secret ingredients" for a quick, home-cooked dinner? Talk amongst yourselves.20 Feb 07 | Comments: 31
Sara's meat soup recipe caused her to wonder what other people's "secret ingredients" are. Hers are: Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes, bagged fresh spinach, frozen half-baked bread (La Brea makes some, but I've started seeing generic brands in the grocery...
Turn leftover meat and pantry items into an easy, hearty soup19 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Sara's soup recipe takes minutes to throw together, is made up of pantry items, and can cook all day in a slow cooker. Mmmm. One of my default ways to use leftovers is to turn it into soup. Here's my...
Lead in vinyl lunchboxes: A bigger problem than we first thought19 Feb 07 | Comments: 13
Some time ago, we talked about the presence of lead in some soft vinyl lunchboxes. The topic came up again for me based on this GNM Parents post -- apparently the Consumer Product Safety Commission statement I cited in my...
Trying new foods often begins at the grocery store19 Feb 07 | Comments: 8
Andrea's daughters are more open to trying foods they get to choose at the grocery store: I'm sure the majority of parents out there have trouble getting their kids to try new foods. I've discovered that "trying" often begins at...
Bathtime as parents' planning time18 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Sara and her husband strategize during bathtime: On days when my husband and I have no time, we plan out what needs to be done in the bathroom while our daughter takes her bath. She's happily occupied (and I imagine...
Clock radio hack encourages kids to sleep later17 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
Here's how Susanne conditioned her early-riser to stay in bed a little longer: This worked wonders with our early-rising son, though your mileage may vary. When our son was two or three, he had the maddening habit of awakening between...
Parent Hacks admin: Google subscribers, where have you been all my life?17 Feb 07 | Comments: 20
I almost spat my orange juice onto my keyboard this morning. I knew I was in for a little treat at FeedBurner. I check there every day or two to keep track of how many folks subscribe to Parent Hacks...
Getting kids cooking17 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
We've got the kids' cookbooks covered...what next? Dori Young of Kids Cooking offers this advice if you're not sure where to begin: I feel that your kitchen is the ideal setting to teach and learn. Kids respond to learning through...
A walk through history: The "Through Time" book series16 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
These days, my seven year-old son is grappling with the concept of relative measurements. Whether a building is 100 feet tall or 1000 feet tall. Whether the visible growth of a tree takes 10 days or 10 years. Etcetera. We...
Ze Frank can babysit my kids any day16 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
I'm perhaps one of the last people to find out about Web star Ze Frank, host of the daily video blog the show. Lifehacker turned me onto his wonderful riff on procrastination. Funny, smart, and all that. I'm hooked. Of...
Kiddley shuts its doors15 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
One of my favorite sites, Kiddley, has gone on an indefinite hiatus. Claire and Phil, creators of Kiddley and Loobylu, point to the demands of balancing work, family, and blogging...and that family wins out. Sad as I am to see...
Playing in the snow...in the bathtub15 Feb 07 | Comments: 7
Snow play! Without all the bundling! From Colleen: There is something to be said for playing in the snow. From the mouth of my mom, “Kids need fresh air every day”. But thinking about dressing the kids to go play...
Mrs. Meyer's Dish Soap: all natural and prevents "dishpan hands"15 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
Rebecca's hack reminded me of an old commercial for dishwashing liquid that fascinated me as a kid. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what "dishpan hands" might look like. As parents of a 4 month-old who is...
Gardening with kids: getting started15 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
The crocuses are just starting to peek out of the soil, and suddenly my kids are dying to get their hands in the dirt. The timing couldn't be better for the great post at Z Recommends about how to cultivate...
Send those Valentine bears to kids in Iraq15 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
By now you're probably wondering what to do with the one or two or ten Valentine-themed bears you or your kids brought home. Once the novelty wears off, pack them straight into a box and send them to Edmay in...
If your kid's learning, who cares if you look like a dork?14 Feb 07 | Comments: 7
A must-read post at Thingamababy about a new series of PSAs reminding us about those everyday "teachable moments." Who among us hasn't done something like this? Tags: bornlearning.org, Learning, Parenting
Your picks for the best cookbooks for kids14 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
I never knew there was such an array of kids' cookbooks out there! Thank you for sharing your favorites, along with some great stories and memories of your own childhood cooking experiences. I also appreciated that several of you forgo...
Plastic shopping bags as disposable toilet seat covers14 Feb 07 | Comments: 10
Toilets seem to bring out the hacker in most parents, wouldn't you say? Here's Sarah's tip: I found myself at a gas station with my 3 year-old when she announced that she had to poop. I crossed my fingers that...
A better way to ice burned fingers14 Feb 07 | Comments: 12
From Kip: A friend's 2 year-old touched a hot stove burner. Our friend immediately started trying to put the hurt fingers under cold water, but the child wriggled and protested that the cold water didn't feel good. The child's grandma...
Baby food jars as hardware containers14 Feb 07 | Comments: 15
Speaking of reusing food containers...Ted's hack reminded me of the million-odd bottles of random hardware bits scattered across my dad's garage. My dad is well-known for NEVER throwing anything away. He's even got a few baby food jars in there,...
Happy Valentine's Day, dear Parenthackers14 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
If I could send each of you a Moonstruck truffle, I would. Instead, let me just wish you a happy, silly, frilly day full of love. And chocolate.
Make a last minute Valentine t-shirt13 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
Pam to the rescue! The activity center at www.hp.com has 2 free Valentine’s iron-ons available to print. Because we don’t need any chocolate, and because money for flowers is better spent on diapers these days, I printed one that my...
Soft-close toilet seat prevents slamming13 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
Did you know there is such a thing as a soft-close toilet seat? No more SLAM SLAM SLAM (especially in a house with a few kids), and little fingers are safer, too. Great for those who are potty training, when...
Favorite kids' cookbook? Talk amongst yourselves.13 Feb 07 | Comments: 44
My daughter is expressing a keen interest in cooking, and I'm finding myself rifling though my cookbooks looking for simple recipes she and I can follow together. I'm a big fan of Mollie Katzen's cookbooks for kids: Pretend Soup, Salad...
Turn valentines into placemats13 Feb 07 | Comments: 9
From Heather: As kids, my brother and I would take our stacks of valentines from our school parties and turn them into a holiday placemat by arranging them between two sheets of clear contact paper. We did the same thing...
Hanes ComfortSoft: I'll never buy another brand of boys' underwear12 Feb 07 | Comments: 13
I never thought I'd get evangelical about underpants, but here it is. Regular boys' briefs generally come with scratchy elastic waistbands -- they always gave my son uncomfortable red welts on his waist no matter what size he wore. No...
Getting pants on a wiggly baby12 Feb 07 | Comments: 9
Josh demonstrates proper kid-wrangling: I don't know if this qualifies as a hack, as I just thought it was how everyone did it, but my wife saw me doing this the other day and suggested I send it in. When...
Make your own foaming dishwashing detergent12 Feb 07 | Comments: 7
Lisa extended Kirsten's foaming hand soap hack to include dishwashing: I recently saw a TV ad for Dawn Direct Foam -- it seems to be the exact same thing as foaming hand soap only with dishwashing detergent [Are you sure,...
Breastmilk as cure for an eye infection11 Feb 07 | Comments: 10
My pal at urbanMamas cured her son's eye infection with a well-aimed squirt. Her pediatrician and pharmacist later confirmed that, yes, breastmilk is indeed a well-accepted cure for eye infections. Will the wonders of breastmilk never cease? Tags: Breastfeeding, Breastmilk,...
Make a geometric sculpture out of marshmallows and toothpicks11 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
This was my son's first-grade activity last week -- to build something out of marshmallows and toothpicks, and then to see if it was strong enough to support the weight of a book. Simple, fun, educational...and tasty. By the way,...
Soft rope "lowers" stairway banister for toddlers10 Feb 07 | Comments: 11
My friends are getting used to me prowling around their houses with my camera phone exclaiming, "Hey! That's a parent hack!" This time, it was some low-tech babyproofing in the form of a length of soft rope tied to the...
Send a Tabblo valentine today!09 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Awesome. With a few clicks, you can turn your digital photos into Tabblo valentines. For $1 each, Tabblo transforms them into paper cards which it prints and mails to the recipient of your choice. (They even arrive sealed with a...
A twist on "I'll count to three!"09 Feb 07 | Comments: 14
Kaylen challenges the classic "I'll count to three!" parental threat: When my son was little and I was teaching him to count, he realized that there are numbers after three. One day I told my son I would give him...
Single-serve Danino yogurt cups as toddler bowls09 Feb 07 | Comments: 17
From what I can tell, Danino yogurt is only available in Canada. If so, Canadian readers: this one's for you! (But I've got a universal "Talk amongst yourselves: at the end of this post.) From Jeff: My hack is a...
Detangling little girls' hair09 Feb 07 | Comments: 22
Tim's hack made me recall my own painful detangling sessions when I was a preschooler. My parents must have spent at least $100 on endless bottles of detangling spray -- this would have been so much more effective. At about...
Making medicine go down a little easier09 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
Bob found that the gentle approach helped the medicine go down: I've got a 13 month-old who is once again on antibiotics. In the past, getting him to take "the pink stuff" from a syringe has been a struggle but...
Quintura's search engine for kids08 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Yakov Sadchikov, co-founder and CEO of Quintura, got in touch to tell me about his company's new search engine for kids called (duh) Quintura for Kids. There are other kid-friendly search engines out there (summed up in 2005 by Danny...
Parent Hacks community: How tags and Technorati work08 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
Have you seen this? In an amazing act of generosity, Jim (Linux Activist, Baby Toolkit) has written up a tutorial for Parenthackers who want to learn more about how and why to tag their blog posts. I say amazing because...
How to color rice07 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Chris (In the Trenches of Motherhood) explains how to color dry, white rice. Why? To transform it into playstuff for tactile indoor fun. Tags: Crafts, Parenting
Easy cheese "crackers"07 Feb 07 | Comments: 13
For the toddlers and the low-carbers, from my very smart cousin Leslee: Cheese chips with all the taste, none of the guilt! Place 4 slices of Kraft American Cheese (I use 2% milk) on a piece of parchment paper. Microwave...
Wishlist.com consolidates gift registries07 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Apropos of our recent conversation about store-based gift registries, Brian's hack came up in my queue. He recommends Wishlist.com as a more flexible alternative to a registry tied to a single store. Tags: Birthdays, Parenting, Wishlist.com
How to organize your rewards cards07 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
LifeClever posted a handy suggestion for streamlining your wallet -- with a hole punch and a carabiner key chain. Finally, a way to deal with all of those rewards cards, frequent buyer cards, "buy 50 get one free" cards, and...
How to give your kid a personalized (managed) email address06 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
John Watson (of Flagrant Disregard, LetterPop, and fd's Flickr Toys, among other things) wrote up a sweet little Gmail hack for setting up dummy email accounts for his kids (really just separate identities). He keeps track of the email, but...
Parent Hacks admin: New community "features"06 Feb 07 | Comments: 16
Now that we've swapped stories of public restrooms, marriage challenges, and vomit, I think it's fair to call ourselves a community. There's a good balance of likemindedness and diversity here -- the vibe is positive yet real. No playdates...yet...but support...
Glade Scented Oil Light Show makes a good nightlight06 Feb 07 | Comments: 8
Kristine found that a little nighttime entertainment prompted her son to stay in bed: Glade Scented Oil Light Show is a great night light - especially if you leave the scented oil container off. Simply plug it in, and it'll...
No-sew tutu05 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Perfectly pink and poofy, but you had me at "no sew." At the always-wonderful Kiddley. Tags: Dress-up, Parenting, Tutu
Eucerin cream gets rid of baby's saliva rash05 Feb 07 | Comments: 16
Christine from BebeReviews.com found a solution for her baby's teething-induced saliva rash: My pediatrician recommended Eucerin cream (not the lotion -- big difference). I applied the cream on my baby's skin after his bath -- it was super-thick like paste....
Educate your kids with Google Video05 Feb 07 | Comments: 11
Kim's husband introduced their toddler to the wonders of Google Video: I took a nap on Sunday - a VERY RARE happening, but my husband agreed since he was going to be going four-wheeling later in the afternoon. When I...
Discount stores sell re-labeled versions of name-brand kids clothing05 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Latia uncovered some surprises on a recent trip to a discount store: With a little research, I've discovered that name brand kid's clothing labels will sell their overstocked or slightly defective outfits to cheaper stores, which then replace the tags...
Save the date: SXSW Interactive Festival, Austin, TX, March 9-1304 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
If you happen to be wandering through Austin, Texas March 9-13, come see me at the SXSW Interactive Festival! I liken SXSW to the Burning Man of tech conferences, with plenty of music, film, and general reveling happening alongside the...
Queenie! You've won a Diaper Valet!03 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
Congrats to Queenie, winner of my random drawing for a Diaper Valet! (Queenie, get in touch with Adrienne directly to claim your prize: info [at] diapervalet [dot com].) Some of those diaper stories are hilarious. I'm still chucking about Shauna's...
Super Bowl Sunday: a great day to go out with your kids03 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
Last year at this time, Jay pointed out that Super Bowl Sunday is a great day for the unsporty to visit museums and attractions that are usually packed on weekends. Tags: Parenting, Super Bowl
How much time with your kid is enough?03 Feb 07 | Comments: 12
There's a fascinating discussion going on at the Wall Street Journal blog The Juggle about how much time working parents can and/or should spend with their kids. Is one hour per day enough? Two? I've been reading the comments, many...
Amazon Pampers deal: $25 off $99-worth of Pampers products02 Feb 07 | Comments: 3
Right on the heels of the Huggies extravaganza, Amazon is now offering Pampers loyalists a special deal: $25 off $99-worth of Pampers, Luvs and Kandoo products through February 28. Enter the promotional code PAMPERS2 during checkout for an instant discount....
Diaper Valet: Essential diaper supplies to go02 Feb 07 | Comments: 41
Brought to you by the minds behind Baby Toolkit: the Diaper Valet. (If Adrienne and Jim are involved, you know it has to be good.) They sent one to me for review, and it's so lovely I found myself slightly...
Guest post on National Geographic Traveler blog01 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
Marilyn Terrell, Chief Researcher for National Geographic Traveler, has been sending me all manner of great tips. She was also kind enough to put me in touch with the writers of Inside Traveler, the magazine's travel blog. My guest post...
Homemade macaroni and cheese -- easy as boxed (redux)01 Feb 07 | Comments: 18
Now that Annie's Homegrown macaroni and cheese has been outed by Salon as just as bad for you as its blue-box nemesis, I thought the time was right to resurrect a post that appeared here some time ago: my "recipe"...
When pediatricians make mistakes01 Feb 07 | Comments: 7
This is why I love Dr. Parker so much. He talks openly about the fear of misdiagnosing a patient, and why the willingness to face that fear is ultimately better for his patients (and their parents). I'm no medical expert,...
Recording your kid's promises with a digital camera01 Feb 07 | Comments: 6
CMM came up with this hack to deal with High Candy season (Halloween), but Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so this hack may get some use yet. We don't want our daughter eating candy all day, but sometimes...
Gift registries simplify birthday present paralysis01 Feb 07 | Comments: 10
As my kids get older, the number of birthday party invitations seems to be increasing exponentially. I'll save my birthday party rant for later (hint: Birthdays Without Pressure), and for now, will simply complain about the discomfort of choosing presents...
