I am not overly picky about the books we read before my son goes to bed. If they are educational, great, but the winners for me are the books that excite my son. If he is engaged and loves the book, then it is a winner. There are so many options out there, that a recommendation goes a long way.

And if I like reading it? Well, there’s grand slam.

Dinotrux  by Chris Gall was a gift my son was very happy to receive from his aunt. The short: Dinosaurs that are Trucks. Need I say more? Oh yeah, pretty good story line and cool art along with some light humor.

In fact, my son was so excited that when he saw his cousin with Revenge of the Dinotrux, he begged us to get it for him. The look on his face when we gave it to him got me equally excited. It’s a different story, but again, Dinosaurs as Trucks.

Both of these books are grand slams.

Now, back to figuring out what Tyrannosaurus Trux will be doing next…

I will caveat and say that we have the train, which is no longer available, but the new versions seem to be more souped up and cooler. Considering this was purchased by my partner in crime as a closeout (since they were discontinuing the train) and as an unplanned “looks cool” toy, we are very happy with it.

There are lots of toys and lots of educational toys, so I am not going to compare it to them and say it is far better than anything on the market. I simply like this train for the fact it is colorful, simple to use and actually works when you put it together — which is the same reason my son likes it. It is nothing more complicated than a bunch of plastic parts and screws that go together with a triangle head plastic screwdriver. When complete, it rolls and has a couple moving parts to make it look like a moving train. My son is on the cusp of three and can’t quite master it completely, but with just a touch of help, he is off and running.

I like it better than some of the other thoughtless toys he has around him where flashing lights and sound draw him in like a moth to the flame. Don’t get me wrong — they have their time and place, but it is also nice to have something my son can interact with (motor skills) and enjoy without it being some sort of major school lesson. That will only come in due time.

As I have mentioned in other posts, I am not an “organic-only” person, although I do lean to them when it comes to our son. Also mentioned in other posts, I grew up on a small farm with a family that made meals from scratch — so for the most part, my diet was inherently organic. Apparently, by eating a vegetarian chicken raised in our front yard, without antibiotics and killed in the last 24 hours (most times within the last hour), I was eating like a socially responsible foodie (NY Times Article). Who knew that people would be willing to pay more for the age old way of raising and eating a chicken?

As usual…I digress….

On to Annie’s Homegrown. What have we tried? The Organic Snack Mix,Organic Fruit Snacks, Natural Mac and Cheese, and the Bunny Grahams.

The short? Everything tasted great — and more importantly, our son loves them as well. I judge fruit snacks on simple criteria: ingredients, taste and texture, with texture being almost as important as taste, and these fruit snacks pass with flying colors. In other words, they make tasty organic and natural food at affordable prices, give back to the community and support sustainable agriculture — much like other organic and natural food producers. Where they kept me as a customer was customer service, which is a dying breed and something my son may never really experience.

We bought a bum box of the grahams. We Opened the bag of grahams inside an undamaged box and we were greeted with a funky smell. Box: fine. Bag: fine. Expiration date: fine.

Satisfied with the product? Nope. So my partner in crime takes to the phone lines. A quick five minute conversation uncovers what we had suspected — a glitch in the production process, specifically one of the oils that was used. Danger? None. Issue? Taste and smell. Result? Apology and a couple days later not only a coupon for a replacement box but a hand signed letter and more coupons. Feeling? Happy.

I know. This should be the rule and not the exception, but those days are long gone. I give kudos to the Annie’s Homegrown team — the replacement was expected, but the added touch of the nice conversation, letter and additional coupons was just right.

Enter the AeroBed for kids. What makes it different to the delight of any parent? Raised sides.The skinny on why we like it:

1. When our son grew out of his Pack N’ Play for sleeping, we needed an option that wasn’t as far off the ground as a toddler bed and was more than a thick cushion on the floor — this fit both criteria.

2. The raised sides kept our son from rolling off the edge of our regular AeroBed and onto the floor.

3. Small and easy to A. travel with and B. put at the bottom of your bed in a guestroom. For any parent that has been lugging around a playpen, this will seem like a breeze (especially when you inflate and deflate compared to trying to get the playpen back into the seemingly too small bag).

4. It served as the bed for our son between his crib and toddler bed (which was the crib, just converted).

You can get the AeroBed for kids here at Amazon. We got it using their Amazon Prime (we needed it before a trip we were taking and the Wifey was adamant about it). So, we signed up for the trial – more about that later.

Happy sleeping!

A few things:
1. Make sure to read the instructions. Changing the crib into the bed requires removing one of the sides and adding another piece.
2. Small tools and tight angles make this a royal pain.
3. Prepare to have your child sleeping on the floor — not because of falling out — just because they now can.

While making the conversion, I did find out something new about the Mammut series: heat will melt/warp the finish. I put a relatively hot cup of coffee down on the three drawer chest and I now have an assigned seat for my mug.

The short of it: Do the risks of putting a child under general anesthesia outweigh the benefits of tubes? Articles (here is one from the NY Times, 2006) are coming out all the time about ear infections with the current base of knowledge suggesting that ear infections do not cause long term hearing loss or serious developmental delays. Additionally, even antibiotics are called into question (CNN.com, 2010). Are the side effects worth the ear infection clearing up one day — maybe two — earlier than normal? I know we didn’t want to put our son under anesthesia — but what can you do?

After a consultation in April 2010, and a decision to wait and see what the fall brought with it, we crept into September 2010, with our fingers crossed. A double ear infection settled the discussion. Hearing loss was not a major factor for us — and antibiotic overuse was a slight concern. Pain was the big issue and the one not discussed in the articles — I assume because it can’t be measured. For weeks at a time, our son was in pain and unable to sleep, we had to do something.

Since September: 0, yes ZERO ear infections. The procedure took little time and the recovery period was very short. We were able to take our son home within a couple hours of the surgery and by the next day he was back to his bubbly self.

But know this — if something had happened when he went under anesthesia, or if there were complications, I don’t think I would feel the same way.

To get more information on ear infections and ear tubes, you can go to KidsHealth.org. This is a great site to get information — and it comes from Nemours, one of the largest nonprofit organizations devoted to children’s health — and the hospital where our son had his surgery (which was fantastic — from explaining everything that was happening to simply being nice). We went here on a strong recommendation — even with The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) right around the corner.

**Please note, this is not medical advice — simply a review of our own decision and the outcome.

Mr. Rainey hits on a form of advertising/marketing I have long despised: pitching products/shows on local news segments as though they are actual news — or as though they are from non-biased reviewers. If the person reviewing the product is getting paid directly or indirectly by the company that produced the product, we should be told as much. We, as consumers, have the right to know when something is being sold to us and when we are simply being given information. I am more incensed by the fact the subject of the story is pitching toys.

I am not sure who is worse: the company that pays the “reviewer”?; the “reviewer” for clearly lying?; the news station for allowing it to happen?

Wait, I do know. All of them.

Why do I think this is important? Because of the simple marketing principle: Give someone something and they are more likely to give something in return. For a lot of us, it is simply in our nature. So, if a company decides to start sending me freebies for review, I might not knowingly lean my review in a positive direction — but my subconscious sure might. It is for this reason I think transparency is very important.

While I think bad products will fail on their own accord, regardless of marketing, I don’t see why the consumer has to use their increasingly tighter budgets on products they thought were a “good buy” but turn out to be nothing more than a marketing ploy. Due diligence is on the consumer, but getting bamboozled by my local news is not helping.

So we set out on our 14 hour drive to Nashville to visit family, followed by a cross-Tennessee drive to Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountains. Since I am not a travel review site, I will leave the tourist reviews out — but I can say that I have always loved Nashville and the Smoky Mountains were amazing.

Overall, it was smooth sailing, err, driving. We broke up the 14 hours into two pieces, but since the trip back was only ten, we did it in one shot. The reason for this post? The savior? The thing that some parents revile and will call me a bad parent for doing? The thing that might have permanently cooked the meatball?

Portable DVD player. We went with this one: Philips 9-Inch LCD Dual Screen Portable DVD Player

We have only used it for the trip, so I am not necessarily saying this is the best one out there — but it was the only one I could find that had headrest straps and the proper connections for them. The dual screens are nice for the fact it doesn’t have a remote control, so you can use the main display for that purpose — and if we have a second kiddo, then we are set.

Call me a bad parent if you want — but I watched TV as a kid (and much more violent cartoons at that) — and have turned into a fully functioning, well rounded, educated adult.

Well, sort of.

As I posted, drop side cribs are on my Bad Things list for this reason. Drop side cribs are recalled at a fairly regular rate, which makes me wonder why companies continue to produce them (although these started selling back in 2007). If you are a new parent reading this — steer clear of drop side cribs unless it is an absolute necessity.