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Updated: Nov 1, 2018 49 Comments · by

Finally Friday: Mini Battery Operated Fan

Gear· Recent Recs

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A Portable Fan 10000 mAh Misting Fan BatterySure, it’s disgusting and gross outside, but this shouldn’t concern YOUR little prince (or princess), amiright? This battery operated “stroller clip-on fan” looks great, whether for the stroller (or, fine, the bedroom, where sleeping is a concern) or even (gasp!) for you in your office or on your commute. The fan is $12.99 at Amazon, available in blue, black, and purple. SkyGenius Mini Battery Operated Fan (L-2)

Sales of note for 9.10.24

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

Kid/Family Sales

  • Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
  • Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
  • J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
  • Old Navy – 40% off everything
  • Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs

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Comments

  1. Meg Murry says

    For something a little larger, I had a fan similar to this one on my desk at a previous job. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001V99X1G/

    It is a little on the noisy side, but since I was in cubical-land I liked having the white noise – sometimes I would turn it on but aim it mostly toward the cube wall just to cut back on the amount of chatter I could hear around me.

    I don’t know that I paid $25+ for it like it is listed for right now, but I may very well have after spending a week of heat wave intending to go buy one after work and never getting around to it. It held up well, so it’s probably worth the money.

  2. Closet Redux says

    I have a hard time believing that little cherub is just going to sit there pensively enjoying the breeze… pretty sure if I sat my toddler that close to a toddler-size fan we’d have a severed finger and/or a broken fan in a matter of seconds.

  3. Knope says

    So I’m in the in-between stage of my pregnancy where my regular clothes don’t fit quite right but I’m not big enough for maternity clothes yet either. I tried on some dresses at the store in a size larger than my usual but it just ended up highlighting my belly by looking baggy everywhere else except there. Anyone have any recommendations for styles of casual clothing that I can hide in for a while longer? I’m thinking A-line dresses but I’m having a hard time finding stuff that is neither too poofy/girly nor a super-structured dress, which would look strange in my casual office.

    • Closet Redux says

      Do you have a belly band? I wore my regular clothes with a belly band through that stage in both of my pregnancies and it was perfect for “hiding.” Skinny pants (with belly band) and the selection of shirts from my regular rotation that were not form fitting lasted me through 5 months or so.

      • Anonymous says

        +1. I didnt switch to maternity clothes until around 7 months by using the belly band with regular clothes. Which is good, because I was so tired of my maternity clothes that I was ready to burn them.

    • JP says

      Everything from Loft (not maternity, just regular) is super tenty this season. I bought a bunch of shirts in my regular size and they worked until quite recently (I’m 23 weeks). But mostly I wish I’d just gotten maternity shirts without ruching or obvious maternity details that I could grow into. I am still wearing my pre-pregnancy wrap dresses and they fit well, but they’re not super subtle on the bump.

      I will say that maternity pants are soooo much more comfortable, even if you’re in regular shirts, since your belly starts expanding between your hip bones. You could also get Jag jeans, which are pull-on and not as constricting in the waist. I wore those up until about 14 weeks when I gave into the glory that is maternity jeans.

    • H says

      Elastic waist skirts are great for this. Wear with a looser fitting shirt (maybe a size up from what you normally wear or just a looser style) under an open cardigan.

    • Bean74 says

      I got a long maxi skirt from Old Navy that worked well but I wear it with form-fitting shirts that definitely highlight my bump. Skinny ankle pants and a blousy top worked really well too, especially with an open cardigan or a casual jacket.

  4. JP says

    We are finally biting the bullet and figuring out childcare for after our kid is born. We’ll need to get a nanny for about 3 months right when I go back to work in March, and then we’ll start daycare in September (we won’t need childcare for the summer, and most centers seem to make you pay for the summer even if you’re not using it, which is why we’re going to start w a nanny). Questions:
    1) how did you find your nanny and do you think it would have been impossible to find someone for the short term or who was willing to work only during the school year? If it works out, we’d be open to just staying with the nanny once our summer childcare ends, but we don’t want to commit to that yet
    2) how much do you pay the nanny for 5 days/week? We’d do it on the books and live in a HCOL area–suburb of big east coast city.
    3) do you think it would be a deal breaker for your nanny if one of the parents worked at home and there was a low-maintenance dog at home?

    Thanks so much! I feel totally in the dark on this.

    • Faye says

      Does your city have a “[City] Moms Club” Facebook group? If so, join immediately. Since the school year just started, mine is full of nanny posts (either looking for one or nannies themselves). There’s also a lot of talk about the going babysitter/nanny rates.

      You might get lucky, but that seems like a hard timing request for a nanny. Talk to some centers around you to see if they’ll make an exception for you on the summer part. Could you go to one for the 3 months, quit it for the summer, and then rejoin? Or go to a different one? You might have to pay another registration/holding fee, but might be easier than finding a short term nanny.

    • Katala says

      1) We’ve used care.com with good results, but it was very hard to filter through results and many did not listen to our job description (so you would have to re-screen for people willing to do temp.). Also try local listservs. In my previous city, lots of SAHMs wanted nanny gigs, so you could potentially find someone with kids in school (maybe watching both after school hours) who would want summer off. It’s not at all impossible to find a short-term nanny. Might be tougher if you expect them to return when school starts.
      2) This depends very much on the area. In previous higher but not highest COL city, $17/hr for someone with basically zero experience. In new LCOL city, $15/hr and 20 years experience. We also give 2 weeks vacation/PTO and pay on the books.
      3) My husband works at home and it’s never been an issue. We have cats, also not an issue. We mention cats in the ad and during initial email/phone call so we don’t waste time if someone’s allergic. They should be comfortable having a parent home, I’d be concerned if they had an issue with that. The bigger issue is actually for the working parent, IME. DH is interrupted often throughout the day – nanny asks questions, if he goes into the kitchen DS wants attention (and how could you deny that?!), DS is now mobile and will burst into the office if nanny doesn’t catch him in time. So I recommend thinking a lot about the setup – if just while baby is little it’s probably fine.

    • Anonymous says

      Totally possible to find someone short term. You might run across another mom who has someone in mind that they want to hire but only need them starting in June and they have availability before that.

    • Anonymous says

      Something to consider: 3 months of a nanny is easily equal to 6 months of day care tuition, so if you have found a center you like it might make economic sense just to start your child there right away and pay for the summer even if you won’t be using the spot. You could also use the spot part-time in the summer even if you aren’t working, just to save your sanity.

      For short-term nannies (for us that’s a week or two at a time) we use College Nannies and pay $18.50 per hour, taxes etc. included, in a LCOL area.

      • pockets says

        This isn’t always true. I had to pay a nanny $3k a month for full-time care. Daycare in NYC can easily be $2500 a month and in some places approaches $3k.

  5. NewMomAnon says

    I’ve been thinking about the “Maternity Leave/Paternity Leave Expectations” thread from yesterday, and it occurred to me that I would have been (and would still be) so upset if I requested that a partner prepare dinner, and he/she handed me a bowl of cereal. Not because that is an objectively inappropriate dinner selection, but because “acts of service” is my love language, so asking a loved one to prepare dinner for me is actually asking for a display of care and affection and not simply delivery of nutrition.

    So, OP, if you are reading this – if you’re actually feeling unloved because your to-do lists are going undone, think about how to communicate that to your husband without piling on a laundry list of overwhelming “responsibilities”. Maybe you don’t need him to run through a whole to-do list regularly; maybe it would be enough that he consistently empties the trash (or the diaper pail) and gives you a kiss on his way out the door.

    And hugs. Having a tiny baby can be a lonely place.

    • tK says

      When my husband went back to work after a 3-week paternity leave I promised I’d make him lunch but was so sleep deprived that I couldn’t even fathom actually putting together a meal so I gave him a can of tomato soup and a can opener.

      Newborns are hard. No on is thinking straight. I agree with all of the suggestions from yesterday to delegate as much as you can to paid help, then just grit your teeth and get through those first months however you can.

    • Maternity/Paternity leave expectations says

      Actually, I was mostly annoyed about dinner because I can make cereal and/or eggs myself. We’d talked about a mutual goal of wanting to continue to eat “real” dinners and on my days, we had(have) actual meals. But…like commenters said yesterday, now is not really the time to quibble over who is “right” here (it’s me :)) but just to get through the next few weeks.

  6. RDC says

    Recommendations for maternity coats? I know I’m kind of off-season here, but I didn’t get one during my last pregnancy and later regretted it when it was freezing out and I had nothing that could cover my tummy. This time around I’ve decided to splurge on a good coat. I’m looking for a winter coat the triangle insert thing so you can wear it for both maternity and baby wearing. There are a few options on figure8maternity, but does anyone have a specific recommendation? (Or, anyone want to sell me a gently-used one??)

    • Anonymous says

      I bought a decent one used from Asos. I would recommend seeing if your local mom’s listserve has anyone willing to sell; it felt like a shame buying a brand new coat to use for the 2 months or so that my normal one would be too tight…

    • Anonymous says

      Just buy a good zip up coat and get an insert from Make My Belly Fit dot com.

  7. Grandmas least favorite says

    Any tips on dealing with favoritism of grandkids? My mil spends two full weekdays with my sil’s two year old and has since he was born. She commutes for over an hour each way to do it. Our son is only 3 months old but she’s really stingy about time with him, and we live in the same town. For example, she’ll volunteer to spend a random time period with him (say two to four on a Saturday). Shell make a huge deal about how we should go have a date. She’ll show up at two thirty, then when we return at four she’ll stick around chatting for another hour. So it’s evident she wasn’t busy. She and I have never been close, but I was hoping she would have a close relationship with our son. Now, I’m so hurt at her stingy efforts, I kind of want to avoid exposing my kid to her at all. I imagine it will be so sad for him to find out how much she favors the other grandkid. My husband says we should ask to “take over” one of his sister’s days but I think that would backfire and we are already paying for prompt and professional childcare.

    • NewMomAnon says

      3 months is very different than 2 years – I would help a family member with a 3 month old out of a sense of obligation, but I don’t really like infants so it would be a chore. 2 year olds, on the other hand, are fun and interesting and awake. I wouldn’t write off MIL now. If you need more help from her, ask, but otherwise – just give her the opportunity to interact regularly as kiddo grows up. She might be more involved as kiddo gets older.

    • AnonMN says

      No advice, because we have a similar situation, but it is step mother in law (whom I call step monster in law, cause i’m really mature), but Amy/Amalah on Alphamom talks alot about grandparent relationships like these. In general, so long as the favortism is not shown when both kids are around, then there’s not much you can do about it. Atleast that’s the advice i’ve received.

    • Jen says

      Also worth noting is that you are the in-law. She probably feels more comfortable “imposing” on your SIL (presumably her daughter). My MIL is very careful not to offend/impose on us while my mom will drive 2 hours and “stop by” unannounced.

    • Anonymous4 says

      So I’m the kid who was “the least favorite grandkid.” It’s painful. It’s painful to see others treated specially and feeling like you don’t matter. And it’s painful when your cousins are weeping over your grandmother’s death and you’re a bit like “well… I’m kinda sad that grandpa’s alone now….” It’s painful when cousins get special trips to Disney world and you go to the local zoo. There’s no way to deny it’s painful to the one that isn’t loved.

      From that position, I can say that little children are a bit immune to this. I didn’t really realize how differently I was treated until I was about 12 or 13. By that point I was old enough to understand a little better and to sort of accept “that’s just how grandma is.” My grandma played favorites with her own kids, and then she did it with her grandkids. I don’t think she knew any other way to be.

      But I’m grateful we didn’t loose relationship with the rest of our family over it. I still have a good relationship with my cousins – because my parents helped me understand it wasn’t their fault that grandma treated them differently. I still have a good relationship with my grandpa, who never played such games. Keeping those relationships caused pain for myself as well as for my mom; but I learned some important life lessons and benefit from good relationships with my cousins now.

      Unless my child were in physical danger, or on the receiving end of abusive behavior, I probably wouldn’t restrict relationships. Especially since things can change, and people can have changes of heart but also because the benefits of having relationships with my cousins, aunts and uncles and grandpa outweigh the pain of one grandma who just didn’t know how to be anything other than what she was.

    • Faye says

      Two things here:

      1) Re the favoritism, work on not letting it sting. (I know it’s hard.) Kiddo will encounter lots of favoritism in life, so really try now to find healthy ways to deal with it, so you can model them to kiddo when he’s older. My family has a somewhat similar dynamic. We work on healthy expression of anger, recognizing all feelings as valid, and feeling loved by those who are around more often. Focus on the “it takes a village” sentiment, and find others to be your kiddo’s village.

      2) Work on not letting your relationship be dictated by MIL. YOU decide the hours, not her. Decide on a regular cadence, and then offer those times. (We do it sporadically – basically every other weekend, we look at our calendar and find a 4 hour window where we offer time with grandkids, sometimes with us and sometimes without. They can accept or not, the end.) It’s a small change, but it might help you control the narrative in your head – she’s not being stingy, she’s just working within the bounds that you choose to give her.

      3) Absolutely do not try to issue an ultimatum like taking over a day from the sister. Trying to mandate “fair” doesn’t work in life, and it’s silly to even try. I’m reading WAY too much into your comment, but your husband may want to explore his own feelings of favoritism and fairness, and make sure he’s not passing anything unhealthy down to your kids. The “Siblings Without Rivalry” book might help him recognize some of his own childhood and give some basic techniques for stopping the cycle.

      • Faye says

        Oops. That was 3 things.

        Anyway. Favoritism sucks. Focus on what you can control, use it as a learning technique to become a better person, and just work on not continuing the cycle with your own kids.

    • Anon says

      My paternal grandmother had no interest in having a relationship with my sister or me, but showered (actually, showers, as it is ongoing even as adults) my two cousins with attention, visits, gifts, etc. We became aware of it when we hit 12 or 13. I wouldn’t say it really affected me, other than I don’t have much desire to put effort into having a relationship with her today, and she has never met my 6-month-old baby. I am incredibly close with my maternal grandmother so I don’t feel like I “missed out on” anything. Don’t cut her off, just accept whatever time/effort she is willing to give, as long as it works with your schedule. If she verbalizes favoritism or treats the kids differently when they are together, definitely address it with her and shut that down.

    • Op says

      Thanks all! Writing this helped me process how rediculous she is. It’s almost like she’s passive-aggressively pretending to want to see him in order to manipulate and inconvenience us/me. It’s my gut to say “nope-you don’t deserve a relationship with our awesome kid-have fun with the favorite.” But, calling her out on her bull never works out for me. It’s such a challenge to pretend her intentions are good, but I don’t think I have a choice.

      • In House Lobbyist says

        I will just add that MIL has never kept my 3 year overnight and has only kept my 6 year old a handful of times. He is now asking why he doesn’t see Grandmother very much. She lives the same distance from us as my parents (about an hour) and we literally have to invite her to come visit the kids or say we are coming this Sunday for church and will stay for dinner. My parents are upset if they don’t get the kids at least every other weekend. But I have found that if I invite her spend the day/take kids to park/attend 30 minute preschool event she will come. Maybe the above poster was correct and that doesn’t want to bother her daughter in law.

        • Op says

          But that makes no sense. She picks a time, shorter than three hours, volunteers to sit, urges us to make plans, and then shows up late and asks us to be back sooner than necessary. That’s nothing if not inconvenient. It almost feels like she’s taunting us with promised alone time that she can then manipulate by showing up late and lingering at our house.

          • Jen says

            So, that’s volunteering to babysit- not visiting the kid. My ILs are pretty obviously frustrated with my SIL (their daughter) who lives about an hour away and *only* drops off the kids to be watched (they are 1, 6 and 9 now but this has been happening since the oldest was 4; before that she lived a flight away). The grandparents never get to just visit, they are always babysitting.

            In contrast, we are a flight away so when we visit, we ALL visit and the grandparents can babysit (and we go to dinner) or if they aren’t up for it, we just all stay and visit.

            Worth considering that she might want visit without siting time (‘over’staying at your house?)

    • Anon says

      Me and my sister were least favourite grand kids of both sets of grand parents. When we were very young, we never noticed it. When we were grew a bit older, we noticed it. But my parents loved us so much that I never felt the need for my grand parents to make me feel special or loved. However, because of that we never grew close to my grandparents.

      Also, I am from India and in India when we were young, there were no day cares. So when my parents went to work, they primarily depended on grand parents to watch the children. Both set of grand parents refused while they were okay watching their favourite grand kids. Our neighbour decided to become our nanny (not for money by the way) seeing my parents’ desperate situation. Me and my sister virtually grew up in my neighbours home from the time we were three months old till we were of school going age. They became our family and they are invited to everything and everyone in that family is treated like any other family member. Now my grandparents want to be close to us as they say they are old and want to be close with their grand kids…but it is almost impossible. I buy them gifts and talk to them as it makes my dad happy.

      This attitude from my grand parents has deeply hurt by mom and dad. They always says that they want to be healthy (and maintain their health) so that they can take care of my children when we go to work.

  8. ChiLaw says

    I am taking my daughter (a year and a half) on a flight, then we are staying in a hotel for a week, and then flying back, obviously. I flew with her when she was a little squishy thing, and it wasn’t that hard, but now that she’s fiercely mobile, I’m worrying!

    Advice? I am mostly worried about how to keep her happy, or if not happy, un-miserable, on the flight. We didn’t buy her a seat, but she’ll have two parents on the plane to bounce between.

    I bought her some kiddie headphones but she’s never used them before. We probably need to practice, eh?

    Any experience with those coloring books where the pen is just water?

    And then, any advice on living in a hotel room with a baby for a week? (Why did I think this was a good idea?!) I think I’m planning on getting familiar groceries when we get to the destination, at least for breakfast and snacks.

    • Anonymous says

      For the plane rides:
      1. Let your kid move around the plane as much as possible. Nobody can steal your kid. Plan to let kiddo walk up and down the aisle.
      2. Wrap every toy you choose to bring in wrapping paper or tissue paper. Bring toys out in most boring first, most interesting last.
      3. Those coloring books whre the pen is just water: GENIUS AND FANTASTIC. There are a bunch on a m a z o n: https://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Water-Coloring-Book/dp/B009B7F6DO
      4. SNACKS. Pack a ton of different stuff, put it all in small tupperware containers (buy a pack of 4 or 8 really small tupperware), fill each one with cheerios / raisins / puffs / goldfish / craisins / whatever your kid will eat.
      5. Practice with the headphones. Get SHORT videos for baby to watch — they love watching themselves, they love anything shorter than 4 minutes.

      • Anonymous says

        For the hotel:
        Unless you have a 2-room suite, you will have to go to bed when baby goes to bed. Pack books, puzzles, movies, whatever you and your spouse enjoy that you can do in very low light without making noise. Definitely have a box of cereal for baby to eat in the mornings. See if you can have the hotel empty the mini fridge so you can have some milk in there too. (Sometimes they have a sensor in the fridge and will charge you just for removing something from the fridge.) Consider having fruits that can be kept room-temperature (apples, bananas) so that you can eat something after baby goes to bed or in the early morning when baby wakes up. Good luck!!

    • Anonymous says

      Make videos of herself on your phone to show her. My toddler will watch the same video of herself endlessly. If you have a dog/pet – make a video of that too. You can play them without sound on the airplace so you don’t need to fuss with headphones

    • NewMomAnon says

      For the plane: those plastic cups they give out on planes are awesome in a pinch. And if it’s a short flight, you may find that the bigger challenge is keeping kiddo occupied in the airport before you board. Escalators, moving sidewalks, watching airplanes, riding the trams, are all lots of fun. If there’s a kid’s area, let your kid run ragged before the flight.

      For the hotel: Do you have at least a door you can close once baby is asleep? Or will you be stuck in the dark with the sleeping baby? If it’s the latter, I recommend buying all the wine and downloading a lot of podcasts, as well as bringing headphones for yourself. If it’s the former, will you be alone or will there be other adults? Bring board games, cards, and a baby monitor or download a baby monitor app. And expect a night or two of rough bedtimes.

    • PhilanthropyGirl says

      +10000000 to snacks. So. Many. Snacks.

      Also try reusable stickers. It requires lots of interaction from you – she probably wont’ be able to peel them by herself yet. But you can help her stick and make a picture and make up a story for her. Melissa and Doug have a ton, also available on a m a z o n. And they don’t stick to stuff, so there isn’t the hassle of real stickers.

      Re: hotel stays:

      1) I always travel with a book light when I know I’ll be sharing a room with the kidlet. Aside from it’s obvious use, I find it helpful for searching for things in my suitcase in the dark or lighting my way to the bathroom and not having to turn on light+fan.
      2) Are you bed sharing, or will your kiddo have her own bed? I’d recommend using a porta-crib or renting a pack ‘n’ play. You can tuck it in a corner where it won’t be as disturbed by light or sound.
      3) We always take our sleep sheep noise machine, or flip on a white noise app to help reduce distractions of strange noises.
      4) Hotel rooms are pretty toddler safe, although be sure to put the chain in the lock, because she can probably pull the handle by now.
      5) Take a night light. Most desk lamps will be too bright for sleeping by, and hotel bathrooms often have light + fan, which is annoying.

      • Anonymous says

        With snacks, if you pack a lot of cheerios/puffs/goldfish/pretzels, make sure to keep your kid hydrated, or you will have one CONSTIPATED kid. If possible, bring berries, cut up apple slices from the grocery store (pre-packaged seem to last a whole lot longer than any apples I cut up), vegetables (baby carrots just to gnaw on, sliced peppers, sliced cucumber), and water/milk.

    • ChiLaw says

      Thank you so much! All your suggestions are added to my packing list!

      Sleeping — our plan was to have her sleep in our bed, because that’s what she does for naps when she’s not at daycare (it’s my husband’s job to nap her most of the time, so I don’t fight him if that’s what he’s gonna do). Ugh I hadn’t thought about the whole thing of us being silent then. A book light is a good idea. I’m sure I still have one somewhere from nursing days. (Also, probably for some of those nights — it’s a conference for me — I’ll let my husband deal with getting her down while I do the necessary networking.)

      Good thought on the videos of her! Those are some of her favorites! And yeah, maybe we can bypass the headphones and just watch without noise.

    • K. says

      Is there any way you can rent an apartment on Air BnB or something instead of a hotel room? We just spent 6 weeks in Europe with our two year old and were so grateful to have more than just a room for her to spread out. Some of the places we stayed on our trip were even so kid-friendly that they had toys and such for her.

      Pinterest has TONS of ideas for keeping a kid entertained on the plane and we used a lot of them. Having several apps available on your phone or ipad for your child is helpful too. My daughter had no screen time before our trip, but in that situation, it is good to have options.

      • ChiLaw says

        Thanks!

        The hotel is mandatory, because my company is putting on a conference, and I have to be on-site. (Though we are traveling for pleasure with some of her cousins in a few months, and we did rent a house! So excited for that!)

        Did your kid operate the ipad/iphone without practice? The last time I tried to give my kiddo the ipad (admittedly during a teething breakdown) she really liked it but only wanted to hit the Home button, which meant the Dr. Seuss app kept closing, and she was even more upset than before!

        Hitting up Pinterest right now!

        • Katala says

          Yes, practice helps with the ipad. But still frequent home button presses. We tell him, don’t touch that button unless you want “Y” (fave video he begs for) to stop. He presses, video stops, we tell him, see it stops when you press the button. I guess that button is just too darn tempting because he’s not getting it yet (15 months, probably too young to connect the cause/effect). But practice tapping helped him be able to make things happen on his apps (we like a couple from duck duck moose, old mcdonald and wheels on the bus) rather than mash with his hand or keep a finger on the screen so it wouldn’t work.

  9. Due in 2 weeks says

    It’s the last day of the annual week-long daycare shutdown, and can I just say: after spending the better part of a full week with my charming, adorable 3 and 1.5 year old kids (when, of course, it has largely been way too hot to spend much time outdoors, 9 months pregnant or not)… Monday cannot get here soon enough. Full time childcare would be worth it even at twice the price.

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