denizenOf20540's Profile

Two words: Sheet Suspenders. http://www.sheetsuspenders.com/

Look how well the folks sleep after fitting their mattress with these things! Ah, the power of the infomercial!

*being re-merged.

After a run-through of the sites, I'm seeing a ton of duplicate posts - posts that fit under more than one category. That wasn't the case with the divided sites. Or, at least, when you saw a duplicate post, it explicitly said that you could read the full post on the sister site. Gah.

I have to chuckle at the Library of Congress even appearing on the first chart. It's a silly comparison, really, considering that the LC is not a digital image repository the way the other services are. If the original creators of the graphic were counting LC's online images, one must remember that LC has mainly had to convert physical photographs into digital. Instagram, Flickr, and Facebook certainly have never had to do that as their images were born digital.

Yikes, you are doomsaying without giving us human types enough credit for creating new cultures around reading and the "book."

To whit:
1) Storytime with digital books is still a tradition in our house thanks to the iPad, with its generous screen and full-color capabilities. Oh, were you thinking about holding storytime only with Kindle books?
2) Celebrity hounders always used to carry around a small journal called an autograph book - blank pages waiting for signatures. Perhaps an industry of 'book cover trading cards' (signed by the author, much like baseball cards) will supplant signing the title page on the physical book.
3) I could see customized digital bookmarks being designed and sold as an add-on to your Kindle or ereader app. Not so much of a stretch. As for clip-on reading lights, don't Kindles require those for nighttime reading?
4) Suicidal bookshelves shall recover from their depression once they realize they can be used to hold millions of other knick-knacks.
5) I can imagine owing a touchscreen wall that will allow me to display my books (spine-side or cover-side out), open them, and read from them. Also, I can categorize and change the sort display - based on subject, author last name, what-have-you. This can't be too far in the future...
6) I can CHOOSE to send read ebooks to an archive and not see them, or I can CHOOSE to set up a collection called "Vacation" and save books into that category.

Sorry, dears, your arguments for what will happen when we all go digital simply doesn't stand up. Trace the zip code in my handle, and you'll realize I have a little bit of experience in this.

I will be sharing image #7 with my parents because in the 1970s they took out the middle row of seats in a VW van, strapped down a playpen, and used it as containment for me... while the vehicle was in motion! Hippie carseat!

I have the AluPen, and I have to say it really is a great stylus. It has wonderful heft and sits well in your hand.

I'm looking at the photo of the Ozaki Stroke and appreciating the larger barrel of the AluPen; you won't go arthritic holding it for long periods of time.

Ah, you're about a week ahead of me! I'm just putting the finishing touches on the teeny tiny playspace behind our own rowhouse for our toddler and baby. I don't have photos yet to share, but I can try to describe what I've done so far. Everything that goes into the space needs to do double duty because of the size limitation, so keep that in mind when you're planning!

We were lucky in that we started out with a great blank slate: concrete stamped to look like large brick pavers. To cover that hard surface, I purchased interlocking foam tiles to serve as a soft landing for our soon-to-be-crawling baby and as (double-duty alert!) a game board (think checkers, or bowling when oriented into horizontal lines).

There are 2 big A/C units in our space, and to deter curious kiddos from touching the machines, I am using tall planters to block that area and serve as our "garden."

We have a deck-like structure that leads to our second floor, so I'm turning that area underneath the stairs into a fort. I just finished laying the pavers (free leftovers from the grandparents' garden project) because that area was previously mud and placed a waterproof container to hold all the outdoor toys. It also serves as seating.

I'm making a sand table and a water table - each with a very small footprint - that can be stored in the understair area. We have a small blow-up pool that will serve as a splash pool during warmer weather and a ball pit. And so many other little surprises for the kids!

You've got a great space, and your little ones will be so lucky to have a play area all to themselves! Do share your "after" photos with us!

Another vote for the NoseFrida. I bought one from the nurse that does house calls in our neighborhood when our 8 week-old was struggling with congestion. I have to say, for infants (and toddlers who don't yet have the grasp of "blowing" their noses), this works the best. Like in robinm's experience, the stuff doesn't come far enough into the nozzle to be worried about inhaling it.

I'm in an interesting situation in that both my parents and my husband's parents had rather poor childhoods, and both sets of grandparents are now in a position to spend the kind of money on our kids that they couldn't with us (and that their parents couldn't spend on them). As you can imagine, our little ones got lots of toys because it made the grandparents happy to be able to give these kinds of gifts.

I picked up a book a couple of months ago called something like 101 Things to Do Before You're 12 (I might have the age wrong, but it's something like that). It features experiences kids should have and places that kids should visit and focuses mainly on the United States.

I shared with my parents and my in-laws that we were going to try to do as much of the book as we could. So, every few months, I tell them the two or three activities we're going to accomplish - such as, visit a lighthouse, or see a cavern, or tour a historic home - and if that activity happens to coincide with a gift-giving holiday or a birthday, I ask them to give something that relates to the experience. We've gotten tickets to historic attractions, little binoculars for bird-watching, hiking gear for kids... basically, things that are not toys but that aid in the experience.

It seems to be working well, and the kids are getting a lot out of the experiences, even if they might be too young to remember them! We still get the occasional toy from the grandparents but not at the same volume as before!

We've traveled from the east coast to the west coast several times a year since our little one was 5 months old. I have just a couple of tips that aren't already on simplymodernmom's lists.

1) If you can afford it, buy your daughter her own seat! You'll appreciate having that extra space for her to play in and sleep on (and not be on your lap the entire time).

2) Bring along new, fun things for distraction. We all think of the flight as the hardest part of traveling, but I think standing in line(s) - ticket counter, security - might be the hardest for little ones. We bring stickers for our now toddler son to distract him while in line. He likes to stick them on us, on our bags, on himself. A sheet of about a dozen stickers equals about 15 minutes of distracted fun! Also, introduce new toys/books/other fun things one at a time. There are lots of things on the plane to 'play' with: plastic cups; magazines; window shade.

3) Don't take a carry-on and check the stroller. We check all our baggage (yup, swallowing the baggage fees) in order to have our hands free for chasing, corraling, and otherwise containing our toddler, especially in the time leading up to boarding the plane. My husband and I each take a personal bag, but we don't take a wheeled carry-on, for example. If your little one is still happy in the baby carrier, use that instead of hauling the stroller through the airport.

By the way, if you're taking Alaska Airlines and you have a layover in Seattle, SEA-TAC has a fantastic space for kids to run around in! It's free and has little playthings for kids to climb on.