This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
When both of my kids were babies, I was always on the hunt for a baby bag that I could contemplate using long after my kids were diaper-free.
Kate Spade makes such whimsical, yet practical bags, and their Jae Baby Bag is no exception. The outside and inside are both made from easy-to-care-for and wipeable fabrics. It also includes loads of pockets, a changing pad, and a zipper closure so your stuff doesn’t fall out all over the floor (speaking from experience).
The bag is on sale at Kate Spade for $109. It also comes in a bright and cheery floral pattern for $114. (Note that both are final sale.)
Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
Click here to see our top posts!
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
Anonymous says
My previously very chill kid is entering an age of tantrums (2 yrs old). I’ve followed Big Little Feelings’ advice but so far the only thing that seems to work is distraction. Any advice for dealing with the meltdown two minutes before we have to pack up and go to daycare?
Anonymous says
I think this may be really kid-specific. Assuming kid is fed and rested and this is just your average toddler tantrum…my most tantrum-y of kids responded really well to stopping everything and giving her a big hug for a minute or two.
One of my other kids was just inconsolable so I just threw her in the car mid-meltdown vs fighting a losing battle every morning.
Anon says
Yes, kid-specific I think. My daughter will only accept hugs and comfort when she’s crying because she got physically hurt. Any other kind of meltdown she gets downright enraged if we try to comfort her or g-d forbid hug her. We have gotten slightly better at avoiding tantrums(/she’s gotten better at controlling her emotions) as she gets older but once she melts down there’s really no way to stop it except leaving her alone, which doesn’t work when we need to go somewhere, so unfortunately we just carry her into the car kicking and screaming.
Anonymous says
I have had luck with “do you want a hug?” And if I catch the tantrum early enough she sort of melts down to to the hug instead of a full blown rage.
Same with my 5 y/o who is doing a lot of Big Feeling Raging right now too. Sometimes she’ll yell “NO!!” But sometimes she’ll recognize that she’s just upset.
Good luck!
Anon says
Yeah, we always ask because we’re big on teaching consent. But she doesn’t react well to it, even in the early stages of a meltdown. Although tbh there aren’t really “early stages” with my kid – she goes zero to 60 in under a second. I understand this works well for a lot of people! But I think like all parenting advice, it’s not universally applicable.
anon says
Warnings before transitions can help. Y
ou can do a countdown followed by an incitement. 5 minutes to go.3 minutes to go. 1 minute and we’re leaving. Time to go. Please come put on shoes. What song do you want me to put on in the car? Elmo? Frozen? (If we don’t hurry I won’t have time to pick your song on Spotify!)
For leaving transitions, you can also distract with toys. Which toy do you want to ride with you in your car seat with you to daycare? I bet piggie wants to ride along today, or maybe bear? Grab a friend and so you can snuggle while I put your shoes on. Who will be the lucky friend today?
So Anon says
Adding on to this that a visual timer can be a huge help! There are a few apps that are great for this. That way your kiddo can see the time to leave getting closer.
CCLA says
I’m a similar vein, once they can recognize numbers we just use a large wall clock. This morning I told the kids “you can play until the long arrow is at the 9 then we are putting sunscreen on for school”. Yesterday it was “you can watch one tv show when the long arrow is at the 12”.
CPA Lady says
Timers somehow worked better than directions when warning a transition. So instead of saying “we’re leaving in five minutes” and then “okay time to go” it would be “when the timer goes off, we’re going to do [next thing]”. Children can’t accurately understand time until early elementary school, so the concept of “five minutes” is completely meaningless to toddlers. But “when the timer goes off” is not so meaningless.
Also, random unsolicited advice- allow yourself more time to get out of the house in the morning, so that any tantrum will not derail and stress you as much. I had to think through what would make me the least stressed when my kid was that age. So if she was the hold up, it stressed me out a lot more than if I was the holdup. So I would get her completely ready to go before getting myself ready to go. That way when I was ready to go we could just walk out the door (or I could carry her out kicking and screaming, depending on the day).
And yes, handling tantrums is kid specific. One size does not fit all. Janet Lansbury approaches and any kind of touching or talking during a tantrum enraged my child to the point of puking at that age. It was just TOO MUCH stimulation when she was already losing it. We had much better luck in letting her scream it out alone in her room and hugging it out once it was over. Just try different things til you find out what works best. And what works best will change as your child gets older. Hugging and talking it out during the big feelings works a lot better for us now that kiddo’s older.
Anon says
Thanks for this. I’m the one above with the kid for whom comfort and Janet Lansbury techniques don’t work at all once a meltdown has begun. I’m glad someone else just let their kid cry it out and glad to hear it got better as your DD got older.
anonn says
When my kid was 2 getting dressed or shoes on was the biggest issue, sometimes I asked if she wanted to get dressed at school and that made her happy. we’d just change her clothes in the parking lot in the car, like that was enough novelty to end the tantrum. To prevent tantrums the only thing I’ve found is to avoid rushing her, and letting her wear whatever the heck she wants. Once she starts a tantrum, t there is nothing we can really do to stop it (she’s 4 now), we just have to ride it out, which means I’m late to work.
Anon says
Frivolous question: what’s the cutest play kitchen that’s not like $600 (looking at you, Pottery Barn).
Anon says
I’ve recommend it here before but I think the Kidkraft Farmhouse Kitchen is really cute. It’s less than $200.
anon says
We have a different Kidcraft kitchen and it’s held up well for 6 years now.
Lots of people also do the Ikea play kitchen, often with decor hacks. I wanted something with more doors to open and close, but it’s a good option for a small space.
Boston Legal Eagle says
We have the Kidkraft Farm to Table one too and we love it. The water and stove sounds are fun and lots of storage for play food underneath. I think it looks good in our living room too, not too flashy.
AnonATL says
We have a plastic step 2 one that my son loves. Doesn’t take up a ton of space and when he hurls plastic plates across the house, nothing gets broken.
Anon says
Big fans of the Hape kitchen here. Easy enough to put together, solid build quality and not crazy expensive. We got the fridge to go with it. We bought them separately, but appears Target is offering them together: https://www.target.com/p/hape-wooden-play-gourmet-kitchen-w-oven-stovetop-sink-cabinet-style-fridge/-/A-76733998#lnk=sametab
AwayEmily says
We also have the Hape and like it (kitchen only, no fridge). When the kids got old enough to stop playing with it regularly we moved it out onto our covered porch (along with the play food) and it’s held up well out there, too (even in the winter).
IHeartBacon says
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/duktig-play-kitchen-birch-60319972/
Very durable and not gaudy. We love it.
Anonymous says
We love our ikea one too and fits well with our decor (lots of white). The kid Kraft farm to table one is super cute though.
Anonymous says
There is an adorable one at Target by Magnolia.
Anonymous says
Someone on a huge like 50 person, senior level call this morning accidentally turned on video while they were clearly on their Peloton and if that is not 2021 I don’t know what is.
SC says
A friend of mine has a kid who constructed a home office out of foam cubes and large cardboard bricks. He put a Leapfrog laptop, family photo, water bottle, and coffee cup on the desk. There is a kid’s camping chair. It is surrounded by additional seating (also camping chairs) for guests.
IHeartBacon says
I love this so much.
Anonymous says
Talk to me about the pros and cons of having a finished basement. I’m from the south and have never had one before, but we’re looking at houses in the Silver Spring, MD area and many have a bedroom, office, gym, and/or playroom space in the basement. These seem great to me, but do people really use their basements for living space? Do they get damp, gross, or have bugs?
Anonymous says
I have seen a lot of finished walk-out basements that are not damp, gross, or buggy. I would love to have a big open finished space in a walk-out basement for a gym or kid media/hangout room.
anne-on says
I think a walk out basement is a VERY different situation from a totally underground basement. Walk out spaces can be great – lots of light, easy outdoor access to a yard for kids/family use and a great option for true kid/family hang out that can be a bit more casual and used in a lot of flex combinations as your family grows.
Traditional fully underground basements (even nicely finished ones) do tend to easily get damp/humid/buggy/dim, so I’d ask LOTS of questions about water seepage, check for mold (or ask about previous mold remediation) and you’ll likely need to test for radon/gas. It can still be a good workout/laundry/storage/kid space but I wouldn’t use it in the same ‘part of your true living space’ way that I would with a walkout.
Anon says
If your nicely finished basement is getting damp and moldy you have a contractor problem. I understand they don’t get natural light and whatever, but a finished basement should NOT be damp or moldy. At least in the Midwest, radon testing is a standard part of a home inspection and should definitely not be overlooked even if you don’t plan to use the basement. It’s easily fixed if there is a radon problem.
Anonymous says
… and how often do people have contractor problems? Pretty often, right?
Anon says
Eh, there’s different kinds of contractor problems. Projects going over time and over budget are fairly common, but if you choose a reputable contractor they usually do very good work. I know lots of people who’ve finished basements without having any major issues. It also sounds like she’s buying a house with an existing finished basement, so a good home inspector can tell her if the work was done well or not and if it wasn’t she doesn’t have to buy it.
Anon says
It might depend on where you live, but here any major problems should be caught during the inspections required from the permit.
Pogo says
We use our walk-out basement as my husband’s office and sometimes as a guest room when we have the whole family staying over for big holidays. It is not gross and moldy, but we run a dehumidifier all the time in the summer. I think gym is also a really reasonable use for the basement, even a non walkout one.
Boston Legal Eagle says
We have a semi walk-out basement, I think (we’re on a slope so part of it is basically ground level and part is below the other side of the ground). We use one of the rooms (with a door) as a kids’ playroom and treadmill room and the other part is currently storage for now. There’s a bathroom down there too. We can use the playroom as a guestroom and eventually teenage hangout room. It doesn’t get damp at all, and there aren’t too many more bugs or anything.
Anonymous says
That depends on whether it was originally designed to be used as living space or was just a basement that was later converted to living space.
Anon says
Why does it matter? People renovate houses all the time and if it was done well it will be a very functional living space. I’m confused why the original basement design matters. Just like if people rip out an ugly kitchen and replace it with a beautiful kitchen, who cares what the original kitchen looked like?
Anonymous says
Because if it was originally designed as living space it will be built not to get damp and moldy.
Anon says
I still don’t understand what this means. “Designed to be a living space” usually refers to how many rooms are framed out – what does that have to do with damp and mold? A contractor can also build rooms even if they weren’t there originally – our basement was framed in as one giant room but our contractor converted it into three separate finished rooms plus multiple unfinished storage areas. I understand a crawl space or something like that is very different than a basement, but I don’t understand what the original layout of the basement has to do with damp and mold and why changes to that layout would lead to problems down the road.
Anon says
Windows and ventilation.
Anonymous says
And drainage.
Anonymous says
They’re great. I don’t use them for sleeping unless they have proper windows for fire safety but for a playroom/office/work out room no problem. We get crickets from time to time which the cat loves and run a dehumidifier
Anon says
People definitely use basements here. As long as they have been finished appropriately (sump pump, dehumidifier) it shouldn’t be damp. I was thinking about that the other week after someone was ranting about how open concept layouts were horrible – they must not have basement space to use!
Anon says
Ah yes the “teenagers will have no privacy in an open concept house” person! That was hilarious to me as someone who lives where every house has a basement and many teenagers basically move down there.
anon says
That discussion was funny to me, too. I mean, really? Even if those houses don’t have basements (unlikely around here), don’t the teens have bedrooms?
Anon says
Yes exactly! A teenager with a private bedroom has nothing to complain about. Especially years later as an adult. I grew up in a 900 sq foot house (just me and my parents) even though my parents had plenty of money for a bigger house, and while it definitely felt cramped at times and I”m sure I b1tched about it to my parents when I was *actually a teenager*, I don’t hang around internet forums 20 years later talking about how my parents tortured me with their small house.
Anon4This says
+1 as a child of immigrants who grew up in a townhouse…where “privacy” wasn’t really a thing (not saying that’s a good thing, just something I never thought about).
Anon says
I can’t image any teen wanting to hang out in my cramped former dining room or former galley kitchen anyway, tbh.
Anon says
We’re in the Midwest so everyone has a basement for tornadoes but often they’re not finished. We paid $65k to finish ours when we bought our house, and I think it was worth it. We have a bathroom, a huge family room/playroom with a TV and a large sectional couch, and a separate room that could be a guest sleeping space or an office (it’s not technically a bedroom for real estate because it doesn’t have a window), plus several storage areas. It doesn’t get damp or gross. We do have more bugs down than there than on our main floor but it’s not that big a deal. It’s really nice with kids because we basically don’t have any toys anywhere in our house except our daughter’s bedroom and the basement playroom.
Realist says
Unless the house has really good water drainage around it with good grading, gutters, roofline, and most do not, I would never finish a basement. Just asking for hidden mold problems. Eventually virtually all finished basements will have a dampness problem with the extreme weather we are getting with climate change. And it is an absolute no for a play area down there if you have any kids with allergies or asthma. I realize others have different opinions, but I will never finish a basement.
Anonymous says
Where do you live? Where I am, your statement about allergens etc is simply not the case, but I recognize that we have widely varying areas of the country.
We have a walk out finished basement. It is 1300sq ft and has heat, central AC, a full bathroom. We had it finished and it’s fully insulated with spray foam on the walls and vapor barrier under the floors. It houses our big rec/family room (soon to be teen haven), my wine cellar, a small home office and a gym space.
Yes, of course, we have proper gutters and drainage but that’s a given where we live.
anon says
I’m curious about where you live.
Anon says
I think this really depends on the basement. My childhood home had a basement that bothered my allergies and asthma so I almost never went down there. My parents had multiple mold inspections and they never found anything, but there was clearly something aggravating my allergies. (OT but the basement was my dad’s “man cave” but he also got the only main floor home office, which I realize in hindsight was SO unfair to my mom (they both worked outside the home).)
But I have zero issues in our current house’s basement. We basically lived down there during the 2020 daycare lockdown (we slept upstairs, but spent virtually all our waking hours in the basement) and we were all fine. Both houses are in Midwest suburbia, fwiw.
Realist says
I’ve seen this issue in both the Midwest and Northeast. Most builders do not do good site work. Many homes are just plopped down on the ground as it stands, even if they are sitting lower than the street. Without good drainage, the moisture eventually finds a way through. And the usual high humidity in the summer doesn’t help, as once the spores are there they will happily grow in the standard 60%+ humidity that hangs around all summer unless you have a really good dehumidifier running 24/7.
And I will admit that I am easily bothered by levels of mold that don’t bother most people, but about 90% of finished basements have mold that I immediately react to upon entry. They all have it. Even the ones that look nice and clean and have a $100,000 worth of beautiful materials to make a nice living space. You can’t see what is growing on the paperbacked drywall that backs up to cold cement and that covers copper pipes that are covered in condensation all summer. All it takes is one bad rain, a spell of warmth and humidity while the house is empty and the air sits stale and motionless for a week or two, etc.
Anon says
I think you are missing the vapor barrier in your example – drywall shouldn’t be up against cement walls, right? And you can always regrade if your house had poor drainage around it.
Anonymous says
Houses are not built like this. Inside the concrete is the vapor barrier and insulation before the drywall?
Some basements can be damp but that’s often because people don’t heat them properly so they get cold and damp. We have a heat pump in part because it keeps the whole house (including the developed basement) evenly heated and dry. And I know we don’t have mold because we had a copper pipe in the basement ceiling burst so our entire basement was stripped to the studs and rebuilt. There was no mold anywhere. And we only had copper because it was original to the house in the 1990s. Not many houses have copper anymore. There may be poorly built older houses with basement issues but it’s not correct that most houses have drywall against concrete.
Realist says
I’m glad that other people’s areas have perfect contractors and builders and newer houses with perfectly intact waterproofing barriers and no one ever cut any corners or did shoddy work, but my area must be weird because that is not likely to be the case for the majority of houses.
I would never finish a basement. I would never buy a home with a finished basement without ripping it out. 90% of houses that I have ever been in for either visits or house shopping have mold in the basement, whether the owners realize it or not. OP will know their own level of sensitivity and can make their own decision. I was just offering my perspective.
Anon says
Why would you rip it out?! That’s insane to slash your home’s resale value like that. Just don’t go down there if you don’t want to use the basement.
Maybe your nose doesn’t like the smell of basements, but saying 90% of basements have mold is a factual assertion and one that I would bet my entire life savings is inaccurate. You’re not a dr*g-sniffing dog- you can’t diagnose mold just because you get the sniffles when you go into a basement. I am also very sensitive to mold (my office discovered a black mold problem because of me), have been in probably 100 basements and basically never had issues.
Anon says
In my experience (finishing a basement) it would not pass inspection without a vapor barrier.
Realist says
Inspectors cannot and will not go behind walls. They will miss anything from an improperly installed or completely missing vapor barrier, to window leaks that go behind the wall, to improperly insulated HVAC or pipes, to water issues that were deliberately covered up by prior owners. Trust an inspector and inspection at your own peril. I would never skip an inspection, but you are dreaming if you think that having an inspection means that a house’s finished basement was built correctly and will not have a water issue.
Anon says
I think she means the inspection when the basement is first finished. That’s different than an inspection when you’re selling a house.
Anon. says
Our basement has our guestroom which is now my husband’s pandemic office and a large open living space. We use the basement as another play area for the kids – particularly useful in the winter or on rainy days when spending time in the yard isn’t a great option. It offers a change of scenery and different toys. We also have less precious things down there so we are more permissive about rowdy play, throwing balls etc. My Peloton also lives down there.
Cons, we do have a few more bugs downstairs than the rest of the house. It is also generally 5-10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. Depending on the house, they can be dark which isn’t super inviting. Look for a walkout basement or garden level basement that has lots of windows for natural light to avoid the dungeon feel.
anon says
I’m a town over from Silver Spring and finished basements are super common around here! Ours is unfinished but we still use it as a kid play space. It’s not damp (because we have a good yard drainage system–the past few years have really tested this!) but does get some spiders, etc. In our friends’ finished basements bugs really aren’t an issue.
We’ve been thinking about finishing ours, but have been prioritizing other reno projects first.
Anonymous says
I grew up in Silver Spring and this is how I remember our basement – partially finished, used as a playspace, a little spidery but not nasty.
anon says
Huh? We have a finished basement and it doubles our living space. It is as nicely finished as the upstairs. It is not damp, grungy, or buggy.
Anonymous says
+1. Our basement increased our living space by 50% which has been really great even though we only have 1 kid. It’s not damp, moldy or buggy and I don’t view it any different than the rest of the house except it tends to be colder in summer and warmer in winter than the rest of the house, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective. My mom is always cold and refuses to go to the basement in the summer because she says it’s like the arctic. I tend to run hot and enjoy escaping down there when it’s 90+. No one has ever complained about anything except the temperature.
Anon says
I can’t be the only one who’s lived in a basement apartment as a broke 20-something, right?? Once was a walk-out basement and once was the first floor and basement of a house where we slept in the basement part (it had an egress window, not walk-out) and neither was gross/damp/bug-infested.
Anonymous says
I looked at some basement apartments as a broke 20-something and I just couldn’t do it.
anon says
every summer break in college was spent in my parent’s basement, as did most of my friends. Sometimes this site gets so snobby sounding. UGH.
Anon says
Yeah, some of these “ugh I could NEVER” comments about basements are extremely snobby and feel like they’re kind of looking down on the parts of the country where basements are ubiquitous. I grew up in the Midwest where every house has one and yes we hung out in them all the time as kids and teens and loved the privacy. We always slept down there for slumber parties. I have severe asthma and am very sensitive to mold and I can only ever recall having an allergic reaction to one basement that was very obviously not well-maintained.
Anonymous says
So to me a (nicely) finished basement seems amazingly expensive and fancy. I can’t ever imagine having that kind of money.
Anon says
They can be fancy if you put in bathrooms and wet bars and stuff like that, but just to put up walls and put down carpeting should not be that expensive. At least in the Midwest city where I grew up, a basic finished basement was standard in a single family home. I know plenty of people who had houses that cost less than $200k who had nice basements (“nice” as in clean and comfortable, not “nice” as in fancy). The basement was the only place we ever slept on sleepovers, except at the “rich kid” houses. Unless you have a very large home I don’t know where else you could put half a dozen kids and their sleeping bags!
Anonymous says
We live in a townhouse in Silver Spring, and the garage level also includes a den that is finished and fully underground. It’s currently a den/ exercise room, and especially this time of year it’s great because the temp is significantly cooler than the rest of the house! The prior owner with kids also used it as a music practice room, and it seemed great to have that separation from the rest of the living space!
anonamommy says
We live near-ish to Silver Spring and I am typing this from my finished basement. It doubles as an office and exercise studio. We have a separate full bathroom down here so guests can stay on the couch when they come. (I do wish that the previous owners had put sound-dampening panels in the ceiling, you can hear people walking on the main floor.)
In this area, water management is the most important thing. You need good drains and probably a french drain system around the perimeter, with a sump pump as well. And good gutters to minimize water coming near the basement walls. You also want to tie into your HVAC system to dehumidify the air, or be prepared to run a dehumidifier in the summer. But we don’t have any issues in the basement that aren’t on the main floor and it’s really nice to have the extra space.
Anon says
Yeah, we have drainage pipes that route water around the house, a french drain, a sump pump, and a dehumidifier for our MD basement.
Anonanonanon says
This is definitely the type of stuff to ask a realtor about. Ours has none of those things (my husband purchased before I met him) and I would never purchase another before fully investigating the basement situation. A realtor familiar with area will be able to tell you how to tell if it’s probably set up to deal with the water
Anonymous says
Ha, someone just posted on the main page about having to remediate asbestos floor tile after her basement flooded. No thank you.
Anon says
Asbestos is only an issue in old houses though, right? That poster said her house was 100 years old.
Anonymous says
Why do you think asbestos is only a problem in basements?
Anonymous says
Flooding is mostly a problem in basements. But I wouldn’t buy a 100-year-old house either because asbestos and lead.
Anonymous says
Really depends on the house. My current house in another part of the country has a finished walk-out basement that is exactly as nice and well finished as the rest of the house- but it’s almost a split level, the basement is only basement on one side. Our old house in Silver Spring MD had a basement that was half finished, half unfinished. It was technically finished – walls, floor, etc. but yes, it wa damp and full of giant crickets and spiders. (My experience in that area is you can’t avoid the crickets completely.). We used the basement mainly for exercise space (treadmill, weight bench) but probably would’ve become a playroom if we stayed. We visited friends’ houses that had much nicer finished basements – I think you CAN make them very comfortable- but expect to pay $$$$ in that area.
Anonanonanon says
Haha I posted my reply below before reading yours, but yes, the camel crickets in this area are very difficult to avoid
Anonymous says
My in-laws had camel crickets in their super fancy walk-out basement. It seemed unavoidable. It was cat heaven.
anon says
I mean, my cats aren’t allowed in our basement or outside and still constantly find spider crickets, so MD houses may just be doomed!
Spirograph says
My cats are only marginally helpful at crickets. I scold them all the time to *kill* the crickets, not just stalk and pounce near them, but to no avail.
anonamommy says
Camel crickets are a sign of moisture. Run a dehumidifier and look for any leaks or moisture intrusion.
Anonanonanon says
Ours was finished when we got the house and has our laundry etc. down there but we don’t use it as often as I hoped. It is not walkout and is in generally the same area you are looking in. However, a good realtor should be able to tell you what to look for in that area basement-wise.
1. Ours has very small windows at exactly ground level. They go out to under our back porch. The plastic covering over them has broken and now water can build up and leak through them. We have to rip out our porch to get it fixed
2. There isn’t a built-in dehumidifier so we have a fairly large one that we have to empty daily. Otherwise, it does start to feel a bit basement-y
3. It gets cold, because heat rises.
4. It gets camel crickets and silverfish sometimes. This is the case for the whole neighborhood. Diatomaceous earth helps but I’d rather just not have to deal with it.
That being said, my husband routinely used it as a gym before I moved in, and I use it as an office very frequently. The kids aren’t super interested in playing down there without us and I don’t really like sitting down there unless I have to, so it’s not much help on the playroom front. All in all, for a small house, I appreciate the extra living space and finished storage space, but it isn’t used as much as I wish we could.
Anonymous says
Be very careful with the diatomaceous earth! My husband had sinus issues after inhaling it.
Anonymous says
Do you have somewhere to drain your dehumidifier? Get one with a pump if you can. Just picked up another Frigidaire on sale at Walmart…recommend (got it to replace a crappier one).
Anonymous says
If this helps…we had camel crickets when we bought it (I was horrified, I had never seen one before). We put down glue traps, like the ones you use for mice? and it seems to have totally knocked out the population and they weren’t able to breed/repopulate.
Anonanonanon says
Thank you! And yes, I had never seen one until I moved here and they are truly horrifying
Anonymous says
We live in silver spring/rockville. We have a split level so downstairs is half underground (full sized windows). It’s our family room/playroom and utility room with laundry and bathroom. No issues with water or bugs except the occasional one or two and my house was built in 1960. All my friends have either true basements or walk out basement and none have been damp/cold/moldy. My ideal house would be a ranch with a walk out basement. It’s way cooler in the summer.
Anonymous says
As is clear from all the replies, this really varies by region and also by age of the home. I’m in the Midwest where it is uncommon not to have a basement. In lots of older houses, the basement is more cellar-like (in fact, my grandparents called their very normal height, unfinished basement a “cellar”). Newer houses have basements that were typically meant to be a living space, meaning that windows are larger, and there usually is more of an effort to have a portion of the basement above ground level on at least one side of the home if possible. Usually a portion of those basements are finished or destined to be finished someday into one or more rooms, whereas there is also a room that doubles as storage and the mechanical room. It is typically in the portion of the basement that is least desirable for living (higher ground height/fewer or no windows). I’ll agree that some old basements are undesirable for living spaces. But homes built since about 1990 (maybe a tish earlier) are built with basement living in mind.
Anonymous says
Hi future neighbor! I’m in Silver Spring, so with the caveat that every house might be different…. finished basements are SUPER common in this area. Especially in older neighborhoods where the original footprint of the house is smaller. I absolutely use my basement as a living space – it has the family room with TV and toys, husband and kid computer den, and a 3/4 bath. Non-walkout, small windows. We have an unfinished part of the basement with laundry and shop/storage, and that part does get crickets (I occasionally see one in the finished part), but we have never had any issues with damp or grossness. We live on top of a hill, so ymmv. I have a couple friends who have had water issues in their basement, both were sump pump fails. Again, it’s really common to have an unfinished portion of the basement and that’s where the problems were. The floor drain in our laundry room has backed up twice in the 9 years we’ve lived here, but it did not affect any finished parts of the basement.
My husband would say the con of a finished basement is that you can no longer rollerblade and shoot hockey pucks down there, but the extra, invisible living space is really nice. If we have adult guests over, they stay on the main floor, which is usually more presentable.
SS Fan says
I live in Silver Spring (downtown in one of the Woodsides), and we finished our basement eight years ago and love it. We made ours into a large family room with a playroom/office and a bathroom. The laundry/mudroom was there and stayed the same. We use the family room more than our living room! Our neighbors just redid their unfinished basement and it’s become a large family room with a kitchen area and a music studio. It looks terrific! I think you’ll appreciate the extra space if you decide to redo the basement level. On a side note, we love living in Silver Spring! So much to do! Good luck with your search!
Anonymous says
Thank you! We’re coming from a mid-rise apartment in DC and have never lived in a single family house before, so it’s a bit of an adjustment! Woodside/Forest Glen/Kensington is where we’re focusing for now. Glad to hear you love it!
Anonymous says
Woodmoor, Indian Spring, and Seven Oaks are also nice, if you haven’t checked them out yet. (Not quite as metro-accessible though, if that’s what you’re looking for). I hope you find somewhere you love!
Momofthree says
I’m obviously late to the game here, but chiming in anyways.
I’m surprised that people were jumping all over Realist- she just offered her opinion that she would never buy a finished basement and gave her experience- that seems to be what the OP asked for.
OP- I live in DC- many, many people around me have built out basements to get additional square footage rather than going up & dealing with the historic review board. Many contractors have turned a former rowhouse into 2 condos with the kitchens of the two units on the main & first floor with bedrooms on the 3rd & in the basements. I assume a lot of people are happy with this space. My mother also lives in a basement of a row-house & has been happy with the experience.
I will never own a house with a basement or build out/ dig out a basement because of my concerns about flooding. I grew up in the Midwest in a house built in the 70s in suburbia in an area with lots of tornados. It was meant to be our play area, office space, etc. We had multiple issues with flooding- basically any time it rained, the carpet downstairs would get wet. We had to rip out the carpet in our playroom multiple times. We had multiple humidifiers running constantly. It was a nightmare. It smelled bad.
I have also heard multiple horror stories about people’s basement (below grade) in DC getting flooded & plumbing backing up, etc.
Things to consider 1) ceiling height- many houses only have the basement go down as far as necessary (I’ve seen some with 6 feet)- you’ll want ~10 ft. so that it feels like a real floor in the house 2) as others have mention, access to the outside- if it opens out onto the backyard it can work well, otherwise it will feel cave-like/ people will be able to look in if the windows are high enough.
OTOH, my husband grew up in MoCo with a below ground basement & didn’t have issues so he doesn’t understand my hesitancy.
Anon says
She said 90% of basements have mold. That’s not an opinion, it’s a factual statement that is inaccurate. And it’s a long pattern of spouting mistruths. I don’t think she would have gotten the same reaction if she’d said she finds basements ugly and smelly. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but homeowners are rightfully annoyed at being accused of having mold problems in our houses.
Realist says
It is a factual statement that 90% of basements have mold that I react to. It is your choice not to believe me but I have shared my factual experience for OP’s benefit. And freely admitted I am more sensitive than most.
I can back up any factual statement I have made. If you are still accusing me of being alarmist over Covid, I rest my case on the hundreds of thousands of dead Americans, the stats on Long Covid, and the still true statement that those that died of Covid lost, on average, 10 years of their otherwise expected lifespan. Facts don’t care about your feelings, as I’ve heard some say.
Anon says
Your nose is not a special mold detector, omg! You can say you have an apparent allergic reaction to 90% of basements, but you have no proof these houses have mold unless you’ve seen it or a professional inspection has found it. Otherwise you’re just making $hit up. There are lots of things that could cause you to sneeze or cough or have other symptoms, including your belief that the basement has mold and will make you sick (if you don’t believe me, read about the placebo effect – the power of the mind to influence the body and cause real physical symptoms is very well documented). This has nothing to do with Covid. I have no idea what you’re talking about with that.
AwayEmily says
Did anyone else get a gestational diabetes test super early? My doctor scheduled one at 10 weeks (the 3-hour). I have no risk factors other than being 40+. Ultimately I’ll just do what she tells me but it seems weird; I thought GD didn’t even develop until later on.
Anonymous says
Ask why! Your doctor should be able to explain
AwayEmily says
This is obviously the right answer, thank you for the prod! Called, turned out I was wrong (it is the one-hour), and it’s solely because of my age (I guess this OB errs on the side of caution). I’ll have to do another one later on, but I can live with that.
Anon. says
My doctor scheduled a one-hour test during the first trimester because my BMI is technically obese. I was annoyed but took it.
Anonymous says
If you take it that early, do you have to repeat it at the normal time?
Anon. says
Yep. That’s when I was extra annoyed. But also got over it.
anon says
I did, but that’s because I specifically asked for it (both parents were diabetic and multiple extended family members also diabetic, plus I was late 30s). GD can develop very early in pregnancy, but 10 weeks is pretty unusual for the OGTT. I did mine around 16 weeks (for my second pregnancy, since I had had it for my first, I started tracking my blood sugars as soon as I got pregnant and my endocrinologist treated me as if I had it, so I never actually had the OGTT again). But if your only risk factor is age, it seems a bit odd.
octagon says
Wait, did I miss an announcement? Congrats, AwayEmily!
AwayEmily says
Aw thanks. not precisely an announcement, more like an “aaauuuughhhh I am excited but conflicted about a third kid, please reassure me!” comment from a couple of weeks ago. And everyone very much obliged, which was wonderful. Still excited, albeit with a healthy dose of terror.
Anonymous says
What’s your best storage/organization hack? My kids are old enough (3-8) that I feel like we should be able to keep a relatively tidy house. My goal would be able to walk into a room and have the kids clean up with everything having a place to go that is not…on the floor. Ideally out of sight. Do you do one big toy chest as a catch-all? A more organized system of bookshelves and baskets?
We have a large home, but it seems like we (DH and I included) just put things down because there is space to do so, and not a dedicated home for every item.
Anon says
Having a dedicated home for everything is key! We try to avoid just putting things on random surfaces because that leads to clutter fast.
My kids are 4 and 5 and our main strategy is baskets on bookshelves. We sort things by categories, so there’s a box for legos, a box for dress-up, a box for blocks, a box for animals, etc. which makes it very easy for them to clean up. This also limits how much stuff they can have–anything that doesn’t fit on the shelves gets rotated away to the basement.
Cb says
In our main living space, we have a toy cupboard (an IKEA thing with 4 doors on it, plus a play table. Everything should theoretically fit in there but one quarter is currently filled with books as we’re waiting for a bookcase to arrive and it is a bit untidy. My son’s room has a few of those stacking Hay crates for cars, animals, a big basket for Duplo, another for Brio when not in use, a low book box and a few boxes for books (we have a lot of books, these need tidied and sorted). Art supplies go in the cupboard in the dining room since we tend to do art at the dining room table.
We’re waiting on bookshelf and daybed, so once those arrive, I’m looking forward to doing a big toy purge and reorg, but there isn’t much he isn’t playing with at the moment, so I don’t know how much space I’ll manage to open up.
Cb says
Oh and one more thing – I find if I get overly persnickity about organisation, it’s harder for my kid (4) to put things away on his own. We generally sort by theme but don’t get too fussed if it can be tidied away. Don’t torment yourself sorting Lego by colour and getting annoyed when it goes haywire.
Anonymous says
There is literally no danger of my need to sort lego by color! It’s more that stuff is off the floor, but still visible because it doesn’t have a long-term home.
anon says
We basically do a catch all for pretending toys of all types, but keep building toys and games separated because you need all the pieces. That seems easy enough for kids to be able to keep sorted.
AwayEmily says
I asked for playroom advice maybe six months ago and got really amazing tips. I slowly implemented it and now our playroom is super awesome (so thank you everyone!). I’ll try to pass it on here. We got the Ikea HAVSTA (real wood) bookshelf, a set of three and the middle one has a closed cupboard. They’re designed for dining rooms and so should last us well beyond the playroom stage. Toys are on the shelves, with stuff they use less often (board games, a microscope) on higher shelves. I try to use baskets sparingly (ie only for things with small pieces) and keep toys out/visible instead, I think they get played with more often that way. Then they have a separate corner that’s just for art, with a table/chairs, a closing cupboard with a space for extra supplies, and a little cart with crayons/paper/scissors. And in another corner, a Nugget/beanbag with lots of pillows, and a basket of stuffies.
I would say the three best pieces of advice I got were making sure that there’s a space for everything, be ruthless about getting rid of things (or just rotating by putting them in storage for awhile), and keeping the middle of the room as open as possible. It’s not a huge room but getting bookshelves instead of traditional low kid storage shelves helped a lot because storage goes up instead of taking up floor space, if that makes sense.
DLC says
We have shelves and plastic bins that you can see into. But honestly, when we ask the kids (9 and 4) to clean the play room, it mostly involves them shoving everything to the perimeters of the room. Some things (like trucks) do manage to end up on the shelves. I feel like as long as I can have a pathway to all the windows to open/close them, and the middle of the room is clear, I’m not going to micromanage how they clean. At least not yet. If I have the time to sit with them, I will be more specific about putting things in the right bin, but I figure they are the ones playing with things so if it doesn’t bother them that things aren’t in the right bin, I’m going to try really really really hard to not let it bother me.
CCLA says
Dedicated home for each item is indeed the key thing. In the playroom, we have several trofast units. They’re very “kid” looking but serve their purpose well and since it’s the play room we leaned into bright colors. They can bring a magnatile bin out to living room for instance but then carry back to play room when done (great because playroom is also guest room so when we have visitors we just pull our the few highest use bins for the weekend to live elsewhere). Our kids are almost 3 and 5 and can put most things away if the older one is involved…3 yo on her own needs more direction. If I do it, things are better organized, but they can at least keep duplos in one bin, little people in another, etc. then they end up with several other catch alls which is fine. One giant soft basket for stuffies and one for blankies. Oh and a sizeable bookshelf for books and games, which is in their bedroom because those tend to more often be “going to bed” activities. And of course culling the toys frequently!
Anonymous says
In the family/playroom- We have the 6 cube organizer from IKEA. 2 squares are bins for animals/smaller things, 1 cube is books. The rest of the toys are “on display” so they get played with. In our living room we have one small basket of toys and a basket of books. Side cabinet by the kitchen table that holds craft supplies and playdoh so my 4yo can entertain herself. Barbies, dress up clothes, and baby dolls live in the 4yos room. Each kid has lots of books in their room with rotating books from living room/family room so we can read wherever we are. We are VERY ruthless about toys and giving stuff away. Our biggest clutter spot is the kitchen table because of constant coloring/drawing.
Anonymous says
Our kids are 3 and 6. Most toys are in the living room and each type of toy has its own basket – once toys in baskets it is very straightened up. Costumes in a large covered basket that also functions as a side table, other baskets can go literally behind the couch if we don’t want them out.
In the basement (intended as playroom but whoops covid work from home turned it into my office) we have a set of low shelves with baskets on them.
Anonymous says
Quick reality check – if you’re sharing a vacation house with a family that has a baby, is it reasonable to expect them to put a changing pad or blanket under the baby while they’re doing diaper changes on the carpet? My friend (the mom) got very defensive when I said we should protect the new carpet. I don’t think I was wrong re: the whole trip because there were two “accidents” related to “naked time,” but those didn’t specifically occur during changing. What’s the norm here?
Anon says
Caveat – we only have one baby, she was born during Covid so we haven’t really gone anywhere, and my husband has OCD for germs.
I would throw changing mat/swaddle blanket/towel down before changing my daughter on anything that wasn’t her normal changing table. YMMV.
Hmm says
Honestly, think you should move on unless there was damage that you have to pay for. This is not worth your emotional energy.
Anonymous says
Yes, you should always put something down underneath a baby when changing a diaper. Why on earth would you want to clean pee or poop off the carpet when you could easily wipe off a changing pad and then throw it in the wash?
Anonymous says
Why was the mom allowing the baby to run around without a diaper in a house that wasn’t hers? Gross.
Boston Legal Eagle says
Yeah… I’m a little confused about this “naked time” in a vacation property with other people who aren’t your family.
Anon says
Agree that part is weird.
Rocks says
Why was the dad allowing the baby to run around naked in a house that wasn’t his? Gross.
anon says
I would definitely put something on the carpet before changing a baby. It sort of skeeves me out that people wouldn’t regularly do this.
Anon says
Innormally do but I don’t understand what the issue is since it seems you said something and this is now in the past.
Do I think best practice is to use a changing pad? Yes. Would I likely react defensively if a friend commented on how I changed my baby? Also yes.
Anon says
We traveled a lot with kids in diapers and it would never have occurred to me to change the kids without something under them! I wouldn’t want to be responsible for cleaning the bed/carpet/whatever in a vacation house, which you’d obviously have to do if there was an incident.
Anon says
We always put a towel down.
Anon says
I should add, I put a towel down whenever I’m using the bed or floor as a changing table. Like some other people, I have changed pee diapers standing up once my kid was reliably no longer peeing mid-diaper change. If no butts are making contact with anything, I don’t think you need a towel.
More Sleep Would Be Nice says
Your gut is right. This is not okay.
anon says
I’ve probably changed a wet toddler without putting down a blanket or pad. It just takes a moment and they’re already on the floor crawling and playing, so picking up germs isn’t really a consideration. For an infant, pads are more important to contain accidents during the diaper change, and keeping the baby away from germs is also a consideration.
IMO poop call for a pad or blanket.
Anonymous says
Infant? Or toddler/baby? Infant 100% always gets a blanket/towel/something. And if you don’t have one you best do it quickly because you KNOW they are going to pee!
But an older baby or toddler is different. I’ve been able to change a diaper, particularly if it’s just pee, laying, standing, whatever. A poop diaper should have something just in case there’s an unexpected disaster but it isn’t crazy to think you just wipe and move on quickly.
NYCer says
+1. I don’t think it is outrageous to change an older baby or toddler without putting something down on the floor for a pee diaper.
Regardless, this is not something I would ever comment to a friend about. YMMV.
Anon says
Agreed. Infant yes. Older baby/toddler, eh. I’m guilty of just throwing a bigger kid down and changing them quickly without a towel. Poop, need something but sometimes you also get surprised.
anon says
If it’s your house/your responsibility (you rented the house), I think it’s reasonable to insist on a changing pad/towel, no matter what they do at home.
In general, I see nothing wrong with a quick pee change (especially if a stand up change) with no changing pad when the child’s elimination is predictable enough. However, with two accidents, it doesn’t sound like the family is there yet.
Anon says
I think there’s some wiggle room on a pee change if they’re an older baby who doesn’t pee during changes.
Anonymous says
Thanks all, appreciate the responses. I feel grossed out (and concerned, since the family had recently had a bout of novovirus and I have some health conditions that make me higher risk for certain illnesses). Next time I’ll definitely say something. We usually stay in our own place but couldn’t do it this time due to limited availability in the vacation area we were in.
Anon says
I think you’re overreacting a bit. I would put a changing pad down in this situation, personally, and think that’s the right thing to do – but that’s different from saying you should intervene and make a big thing out of it.
GCA says
What? That’s odd and a little gross. I would always change a baby on some sort of mat/ blanket/ towel, for cleanliness of both carpet and baby.
anon says
I’ve changed just wet diapers with the kid standing. Back off your friend if you want her to travel with you again. I’d expect comments on things from my MIL but if a friend did it I’d be annoyed. Now, if there is an accident, the parents are the ones who should clean it.
Yes says
+1
Anon says
Agreed. The question you asked was whether people would use a changing pad in these circumstances. I would in this situation, absolutely – but that doesn’t mean an intervention is in order if you see your friend doing it a different way.
Anon says
+1. And honestly I usually just put the new diaper under the old one for a change rather than a whole mat
Anonymous says
So I typically put something down when I changed kiddo away from our home changing table…but I am not horrified by this. In lots of cases the new diaper can serve the same purpose. You put it down first to protect what is underneath and kiddo.
Anonymous says
I wouldn’t have an issue with that (OP), but that’s not how my friend and her husband did it. There was direct butt-to-carpet contact during no. 2 changes in the middle of the one living room.
Anon says
Yeah, that’s not only disrespectful to the homeowners, it’s also disrespectful to anyone else staying there.
Anon for this says
I just found out that the business unit I support hired a consultant whose job description appears to basically be my job description…and she’s getting paid twice as much me. I’m so confused and annoyed. I don’t think I’m getting fired? I just had a decent evaluation. But I feel like I should not be so out of the loop about this…
Anonymous says
Consultants always get paid more for the same job.
Anonymous says
As a consultant, I 100% agree. It is often my job to come in and say the same thing being said by others in the org, but louder and with a different slide deck. Frankly, some of the best engagements I’ve had have been where the person who has been shouting all along recognizes that I am saying the same thing and leans into it. They were right! They told you so! Except nobody listened until the org dropped $80k on a flashy ppt deck to say it.
KH says
Fellow consultant. 100% correct.
Anon says
I think that’s normal, but that’s also the billable rate and not what the consultant actually makes.
Mathy says
+1! Signed a consultant whose billing rate is approximately 650% of my actual salary.
Anonymous says
I’m having a bunch of 7/8 year old girls over for a movie night soon. What movie(s) have your girls/kids of that age liked recently? We have all the streaming services and can always rent if needed.
anon says
My 7.5 yo absolutely loved Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Kids, but you’d want to clear it with the other parents. There is some boy-girl stuff and language.
Anonymous says
I’ve watched that with my kids before, actually! I’m thinking more of new/newish releases that kids might be excited to see. We don’t watch a ton of TV and when we do, it’s usually geared toward younger kids because mine are 2/5/8. She loves Descendants but I’m pretty sure everyone has seen all of those by now ;)
Anon says
Zombies is great as a next disney original. My 6 year old also recently enjoyed Newsies but it’s loong.
DLC says
My kids really love movie musicals. It’s not super recent, but they love Greatest Showman. They would probably love Hamilton, but we don’t have Disney. In The Heights was pretty great too.
Anon says
+1 to this! Or even old ones like Singing in the Rain. Musicals are the best.
So Anon says
Boss Baby 2 just came out last weekend and was a huge hit with my rising 3rd grader and my rising 5th grader. It is available on Peacock.
Anon says
That is prime age for DCOMs. Princess Protection Program was a huge hit. As was High School Musical, Descendants, Zombies, Camp Rock, Teen Beach Movie, and Cheetah Girls.
Other non-DCOM favorites are Princess Diaries, Raya and the Last Dragon, Black Widow, Princess Bride, and The Sandlot. Also “Yes Day” on Netflix came out recently and was much discussed at camp earlier in the summer.
Spirograph says
My kids, which include a 6 year old girl and an 8 year old boy, have watched Luca approximately 5 times in the last two weeks. I have watched it zero times, and can’t comment on the content, but apparently they love it.
Anon4This says
Weird cooking question. I was making frozen chicken in the IP last night, and kept getting the burn notice (usually never happens, the IP and I are tight), so finished it on the stove. DH and I both had a taste and it was fine. Has anyone else had this happen, and was the contents of IP ok to eat?
Anonymous says
Did you check the temperature of the chicken when it was done cooking?
OP says
Ugh, no I didn’t, just looked to see if it was cooked through.
Curious says
How much liquid did you have in there? We get that notice when we accidentally put in less than needed.
OP says
About 2 cups total. It was so strange!
Anon says
Did you do any sauteing or anything first or just put the chicken + liquid directly in to pressure cook?
OP says
I sauteed some veggies on the stove (IP saute mode is too slow for me), and put those in, but had in theory plenty of other liquid added.
Anonymous says
I think this can happen when the “wrong” stuff is on the bottom of the pot. I know tomatoes or tomato sauce isn’t supposed to be on the bottom of the IP because that will burn. If you didn’t use tomatoes, it may be something else similar that was coating the bottom.
octagon says
We are gearing up for a 2-day car trip and I need fidget toys for kiddo (6). He gets carsick so reading is out. We are throwing any screen time boundaries out the window and he’ll watch the ipad mounted on the driver’s headrest, but he’ll need something to do with his hands. Last year on a similar trip we had Stretchy Jelly Strings (on ama*on) and a fidget cube, but I want a few new things for this trip. (PSA, those stretchy strings are great, I would tie them into complicated knots and it would take him 30 minutes to undo them.)
Any car toys you can recommend?
Anon says
Pop Its are huge right now, and you can get them in any size or shape. Like popping bubble wrap over and over.
But I would say to buy one of those 30-pack varieties on Ama*on and just dole one out every few hours. Some might be a bust or some might get lost, but then you’ll have lots of other options.
Anonymous says
Kiddo is 5.5 (almost 6) and really prefers to hold the iPad now instead of having it mounted so that she can change shows when she wants, switch to games, etc. I understand if looking up is better than looking down for the carsickness and you need to mount it. But if that doesn’t matter, you could just let him hold the iPad.
Anonanonanon says
-Wiki stix? pipe cleaners?
-My son gets carsick and I got him a sticker-by-number book for a road trip and he was able to do it without issue
-The dollar tree near me has travel lego boxes where the top is a lego mat so you can store legos in it and build on top of it. I bought them for my kids for an upcoming road trip.
-travel-sized wooly willy and etch a sketch were a hit with my son around that age
-One of those spirograph kits (they make a travel-sized one)
Anonymous says
As someone who also gets carsick, it is suprising to me that none of these activities make him sick in addition to the reading. Having to focus on much of anything in the car makes me feel disgusting. It doesn’t matter if it is a book or a giant knot.
Anon says
I think the idea is you don’t have to look down to play with a giant knot with your fingers? If you can look out the window, that generally mitigates motion sickness. I agree looking down at a knot wouldn’t be any different than looking down at a book for me.
Anonanonanon says
It seems with my kid that if he can look up frequently, he is OK, but prolonged lookingdown (like reading) is the issue. My mom is like you, though, basically can’t do anything but stare straight ahead.
anon in brooklyn says
My 5 year old gets carsick and we rely on audiobooks for long car rides. I get ones of either chapter books she’s already read and loves, or ones about characters from shows or movies she watches. I mostly get them from Libby, the library app, and she listens to them on headphones.
SC says
Pipe cleaners have kept my 6-year-old entertained for a while in the car. He made hats/crowns for himself and DH a few weeks ago.I love Wiki sticks.
Anonymous says
I just got an e-mail announcement that “Blippi: The Musical” is coming to town. How is this permitted to exist?
Anon says
Hahaha oh dear.
Anon says
Kind of a random question, but how easy is it to tell if a toddler has chipped a tooth? Mine fell against some tile last night and I’m questioning myself whether her tooth chipped or if it’s always been that way. The top middle two teeth look longer on the sides than in the middle, if that makes sense. I’m trying to get her into the dentist but it’s booked out through October.
Anon says
If it looks uneven it may be chipped. But there’s nothing a dentist can do most likely. My daughter chipped her front upper tooth badly when she was 18 months and the dentist said all they could do was pull it if turned black (!?) which thankfully it did not. They do not fill in chipped baby teeth. She’s 3.5 now and it’s a lot less noticeable than it was. I think more of the tooth came in, so the chipped section is smaller relative to the overall tooth maybe? I don’t know. Anyway no one notices unless we tell them.
Anonymous says
This feels like an emergency to me. How can you not get in for three months? I’d be looking for a new dentist. That’s not okay.
Anon says
I called our pediatric dentist when this happened and they didn’t want to see our kid. There’s nothing they can do unless the tooth gets loose and needs to be pulled. That’s why there’s no urgency on the dentist’s end.
anon says
Fun question — good location for a short girls weekend? Two of us are in the midwest and one is in LA. Hoping for somewhere with direct flights for all of us, so we can maximize time together. Two of us are also moms, so at least for me I’m thinking somewhere with good restaurants and enough to do downtown that it feels like a trip, but still relatively easy. (AKA I want to eat good food, drink good drinks, and sleep in a nice hotel with two good friends. I’m not trying to cram a bunch into two days.)
Anonymous says
wow it’s been a long day… I totally read this as you asking for a good location for short girls to spend the weekend, and wondered why height would be a factor.
couldindicate says
Summer outfits for toddler girls may be found in a variety of locations online. I have a few suggestions for you. It is Baby Outlet, which has a large selection of toddler girl summer shirts. You can select from this list and hope to discover a shirt you like.
https://babyoutlet.com/tags/toddler-girl-summer-clothes