Kid Baltimore | Family Activities with Children in Baltimore, Maryland

Happy Mother's Day

Look what was waiting for me this morning - a pretty blue pot decorated with ladybugs and a beautiful heather plant. My 10-year-old daughter orchestrated this project, helping her younger brother and sister add their fingerprints. I love every single bug, even the smudgy ones.

 

And a homemade book, again by all three. with each child writing and illustrating different pages. I know how much hard work this must have been, because the twins can't read, yet they managed to sit down with big sis to write whole sentences.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Here, Bat, Bat, Bat, Bat...

We've noticed a trend. Every year, we head to the beach for a week of calm. And every year, we return to some house/pet sitter screaming about a bat infestation. Wow. What can I say to a person who just removed three live bats, neatly folded in half, from underneath the cat food dish?

Sorry?

Last year, we changed our schedule. The bats returned right on schedule, and we found ourselves with a bat in the living room. Dave and I devised a plan. It involved him tapping the bat with a stick, ever so gently, and me chasing the bat down the hallway with a sheet to try and catch it, screaming all the way. I don't think the screaming was supposed to be part of the plan, but that's what happened. After a few tries, I caught the bat. Hurray for me! Then we scooted it toward the doorway. The only way for us to make sure it was safely outside seemed to be for me to seal off the doorway with the sheet and let poor Dave and the bat untangle themselves.

Now, don't get me wrong. We like the bats. We want to keep the bats. We love to watch them outside swooping down upon unsuspecting bugs. I'm all for natural pest control and there is a certain natural balance, a bug to bat ratio, that I'm pretty sure is a good thing.

But no bats in the house, please. So our goal this year is to establish a more suitable home for our flappy friends. Introducing our new Rubicon Bat House. It's made from 100% recycled plastic milk jugs, which is a double bonus for me because, boy, do we go through gallons of milk around here.

The hole is dug, the concrete is poured, the pole is planted, the bat house is hung, so now all we need to do is wait. Come, my little bow ties, come...

Resolution #1 - Deplasticize

I know, I'm making up words. It's okay. Better grammar can be next year's resolution.

For now, one thing (on a long list) I'm focusing on is reducing plastic in our lives. That's no easy accomplishment with a house full of kids, and I am certainly not going to spirit away kid-essentials, like Legos or Barbies. Those pesky water bottles, however, are now banished, as are sippy cups and miscellaneous plastic containers from too many sources that have multiplied over the years. Gone.

Klean Kanteen is my new love. These stainless steel bottles come in a range of colors. They offer a few different tops. We like the sports cap just fine. It's made of non-leaching polypropylene (yes, a little plastic, but a safe and reusable version). If your kids are younger, check out the sippy spout. Or, if you really want to go all out, you can get a stainless steel cap and your drink will never touch plastic at all.

Now if I could just figure out how to get rid of the other 50 million pieces of plastic in the house...

Order online: Klean Kanteen or ReusableBags.com

Or see where they are carried locally.

Sergio Makes A Splash!

On a recent trip to New York, my husband and I were lucky enough to spend some time with fellow illustrator/designer Edel Rodriguez. His new book Sergio Makes a Splash just hit bookstore shelves this spring. First, let me say that I am totally in love with the idea of a penguin wearing water wings and snorkel gear, but I also absolutely love Edel's bold color palette and woodblock textures.

Young Birder's Guide

Bill Thompson stopped by our studio last month, and dropped off a signed copy of his new book The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (Peterson Field Guides) for my daughter. The book traveled back and forth from school the last few weeks of the year so that she could study it on the bus and during free time. It is now sufficiently dog-eared enough that I thought it deserved to be mentioned as a really great regional bird guide for kids. The book is filled with lots of fun facts and color photos. The beautiful illustrations by Julie Zickefoose are an added bonus.

To find out more about Bill Thompson, listen to his recent NPR interview with Melissa Block, or visit his blog, Bill of the Birds.

Timer Time

The death of nap time is a horrible thing. I remember when my oldest was giving it up, whether or not she still needed it. I instituted a rule. Naps are optional, but quiet time is not — especially for Mommy. The only problem is that explaining how long an hour is to a three-year-old is nearly impossible. Quiet times were almost always on a sofa in my studio and I kept hearing a tiny whisper, "Is quiet time over yet? Is quiet time over yet? Is quiet time over yet?"

My solution was an hour glass. I figured that if she had a visual reference, she would get it. I scoured the internet and found very few hour glasses that actually measured a whole hour. I ended up settling on this ginormous, ornate, gold thing that reminded me of a certain wicked witch. The fact that my daughter was right in the middle of a huge Dorothy phase probably didn't help. In hindsight, it all seems rather cruel. She, being forced to abandon her ruby slippers, and held hostage on a comfy sofa. I, cackling wildly and as I turned over the hourglass.

Anyway it worked for a while until the Baltimore humidity got the best of the hourglass. As the sand would clump, time would magically stop. That was the end of the hourglass and the end of quiet time.

So here I am again, but with twins, facing the end of two nap times simultaneously, and not ready to give up just yet. Finally, I found the answer. The Timer Time is a visual timer. It comes in three sizes and is just so simple. So perfectly simple.

Note: I ordered mine from EAI Education and it arrived incredibly fast.

Wake Up Little Sushi

One of my favorite presents for the kids this Christmas was this really neat wooden sushi set from The Land of Nod. All of the pieces velcro together. Sushi is always a big hit around our house. Even my 3 year old picky eater is a huge sushi fan, so this toy is getting lots of attention. And it even comes with soy sauce and wasabi for dipping!