What works for me: Green Toys

I've been putting together my son's holiday wishlist and it's reminded me how much I love products from the Green Toys brand. If you have a child under the age of 5 years and aren't familiar with them you ought to be. They are made in the USA from BPA-free recycled milk jugs. They are not only food safe, but if you're lucky enough to have a dishwasher you can toss those bad boys right on in there. Everything is solid and sturdy and neatly designed, and things come in minimal recycled (and recyclable) cardboard packaging. That's right, no wire twist ties to contend with, no plastic bubble pack to try and hack open. It's fantastic. Gibson has a number of their toys, and the small plastic bowls were the first I used to feed him from. If I have any complaints at all about their stuff it is the minor complaint that they've introduced a line of pink things which just seems like a cheap ploy to appeal to the standard issue gender stereotypes, but I'm sure that I only think this because I'm a tree hugging left coast intelectual elitist. So yeah, Green Toys! Made in the USA with both the environment and your children in mind. No bells, no whistles, just sturdy toys that both appeal and stand up to children. Green Toys remain one of my favorite brands.

What works for me: Diaper Genie II Elite

I can understand wanting to reduce the amount of crap you consume, especially when it comes to babies. There are so many, many things that people will try to convince you need and try to sell you. (So many I purposefully wrote 'many, many' in that sentence!) But these are things that I highly recommend. Because I'm the expert now, ya know, having had one kid almost a year ago and not killing or maiming him yet!

Parents love to talk poop. It's strange how 2 grown adults can become so engrossed in something so gross. Even if you resist it, you find that one of the only ways to know if your babe's doing alright is by checking what comes out of them. Once you've checked you've got to get rid of it, right? But how?


I've read some posts on a parenting forum about how people don't like the diaper genie. It wasn't 'necessary'. I guess that part is true. Even if you choose disposable diapers, you can dispose of them anywhere. You don't HAVE to have a dedicated trash pail just for diapers. You can do as my friend does and ball them up and take them and put them into her kitchen trash pail. I find that I like the convenience of mine. I have the Diaper Genie II Elite. That last part, the pretentious 'II elite' is the important part. It's what separates the winners from the losers in the diaper pail game. That's the step-on functionality which allows for hands free operation of the thing. And believe me, if there's one thing a parent never has- it's enough hands, especially when poops involved. Yes, you could use any step on trash pail. It'd work probably just as well. The Diaper Genie says it's got a multi layer odor trapping technology or some malarkey. I don't know about that. It's pretty good, but once your kid starts solids and the smells that come from the diapers are not to be believed- the smell sometimes lingers no matter what you do. I can say that I've used my diaper genie at least 6 times a day for the past 11 months and I haven't had any problems with it. The interior's stayed clean, the exterior has needed minimal cleaning. The step on pedal's worked fine and the changing 'the sausage' is so easy that I could probably teach my 11 month old to do it. We change the sausage about twice a week and the plastic wring of casing/bag lasts us about a month. It's compact, easy to use, and collects poopy diapers. What more could I ask of it short of changing the diapers itself?

**I am just writing this crap because I want to. I have not been compensated in any way for my opinions.. **