www.bigthink.com is up! We tipped you off to the Big Think blog a few weeks ago, but now the full site is running, and we think it is the bomb! Smart, entertaining, challenging, and informative. Check out interviews with Deepak Chopra, Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), John McCain, Anna Deavere Smith, Mary Robinson, Calvin Trillin, etc. We’ll have to get the people at Big Think to interview David as a baby furniture expert. Or all around fabulouso.
By Winsome
One of the nicest things we can do for ourselves as we get older is to come across something you knew well as a child and feel the rush of familiarity as you look at it again after many years. You know, the feeling you get from smelling Play-Doh, but with your eyes.
And Next to the Bed Was...
If there is another book I loved more than Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths when I was a kid, I would be hard-pressed to tell you what it was. Having lived in its pages from the second until about the fifth grade, I didn't really see it again until a chance encounter with a worn copy in a guest room of my friend Emily's house in Maryland, 20 years and 1,000 other well-loved books later.
Before Baby Bjorn, there were cradle baskets.
The California Indians, the Pomo and the Western Mono peoples, historically have carried their babies and children on hand-woven cradle baskets. These amazing child carriers were the precursors of the modern day baby carriers. Precious Cargo: California Indian Cradle Baskets and Childbirth Traditions is an exhibit at the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center that is running through Spring 2008. It explores the use of the cradle baskets both historically and contemporarily among the California Indians and their beliefs and practices pertaining to childbirth and child-rearing. Among the many objects on exhibit are rare photographs and cradle baskets woven by contemporary California Indians. If you are not able to make it to the west coast you can also purchase the book that includes all the amazing rich photographs.
By Nancy
A very special children's book--a story of friendship and rescue, brought to life with simple, arresting drawings--continues to work its magic.
While we think a NettoCollection crib is the one and only for your little tyke, at some point in your travels across the world or across town you will find yourself with a very tired baby and no crib in sight.
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting offers several makeshift solutions from using a storage bin to a dresser drawer (Hint: First remove drawer from dresser and place on ground) to get you through a cribless night. A solution they don’t mention but that I used when my daughter was very small, is a large hard-sided suitcase. Obviously these improvised cribs and the precious contents within are to be monitored at all times. Still, it beats always staying at home.
By Liz
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting by Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht, Sarah Jordan at Amazon
Here are some children’s books that are very special to me, because they’re smart, goofy, well-drawn or all of the above. I think you will enjoy them too. Let me know by email if there’s anything you’d like to see on here I should know about.
Baby Whale's Journey, by Jonathan London, illustrated by Jon Van Zyle (Chronicle Books)
D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, by Ingri D'Aulaire and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (Doubleday)
Dog Food, by Saxton Freymann (Arthur A. Levine Books)
Eloise in Paris, by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight (Simon & Schuster)
Georgie's Halloween, by Robert Bright (Doubleday)
North Pole/South Pole, by Jacques Duquennoy (Raincoast Books)
Olivia Counts, by Ian Falconer (Atheneum Books)
By David
Originally published on CHILD.com
Image courtesy of Chronicle Books
I love the retro look of WPA posters, and there are eight reading-themed ones to choose from here. I think the images would look great in an older kids room -- a few, like this October one, are probably too visually strong for babies -- but several of the posters are quite suitable for decorating smaller kids spaces. And you can't beat the price -- $10.00 a poster.
By David
