General discussion - Mom and Dad Esq.

[SEC_Chick]

Try the message board for the Baby Bargains book at www.babybargains.com They have a separate board for stroller discussion and probably half of the posts are regarding double strollers (and those people take strollers seriously and have probably gone through 5-8 strollers each in search of the perfect one). There are a number of strollers that are also single strollers to which you can add a toddler seat. you can probably get the pros/cons of the most highly regarded doubles which usually include:

Mountain Buggy Urban Double (this and the Valco are probably the most highly regarded)
Valco Runabout Double (or single with toddler seat)
Peg Perego Aria Twin (they have some tandems too, like the Duette)
Maclaren (I forget what it's called)
Phil & Ted's e3 (my personal fave and pretty cool looking)
BumbleRide Queen B (with a toddler seat)
Zooper Tango

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally posted by SEC_Chick
Try the message board for the Baby Bargains book at www.babybargains.com They have a separate board for stroller discussion and probably half of the posts are regarding double strollers (and those people take strollers seriously and have probably gone through 5-8 strollers each in search of the perfect one). There are a number of strollers that are also single strollers to which you can add a toddler seat. you can probably get the pros/cons of the most highly regarded doubles which usually include:

Mountain Buggy Urban Double (this and the Valco are probably the most highly regarded)
Valco Runabout Double (or single with toddler seat)
Peg Perego Aria Twin (they have some tandems too, like the Duette)
Maclaren (I forget what it's called)
Phil & Ted's e3 (my personal fave and pretty cool looking)
BumbleRide Queen B (with a toddler seat)
Zooper Tango

The Valco is really nice, big wheels, manuevers well, looks comfy. But it is really heavy, and my wife didn't think she wanted to lug that out of the trunk everyday. I think we got a side by side Peg Pereggo (sp) aria twin instead. Superlight, easy to fold. If I personally were using it more, I'd pick the Valco, but that's just me. I think the lighter versions are more practical day to day.

[viet_mom]

Ugh. I need a mailbox and I'd like it to look "pretty" or elegant with no pictures of dogs and cats and the like. It seems impossible to find one, even over the internet. The ones at the big stores seem to all be those big ones that come in three colors (black, beige, copper) and weigh more than Viet Babe. I'm talking about a wall-mounted one. Ideas anyone?

(Oh, and must I really leave beer out in my garden in pie pans to intoxicate the grubs so they won't eat my dahlias?)

As usual, thanks in advance.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by viet_mom
Ugh. I need a mailbox and I'd like it to look "pretty" or elegant with no pictures of dogs and cats and the like. It seems impossible to find one, even over the internet.

Restoration Hardware and Smith & Hawken have loads that are "pretty" in the modernist sense --- clean lines. I imagine you have already considered and rejected this, but that's where I'd look first, if I were me, and I am.



http://www.smithandhawken.com/jhtml/...jhtml?CATID=47

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by viet_mom

(Oh, and must I really leave beer out in my garden in pie pans to intoxicate the grubs so they won't eat my dahlias?)

As usual, thanks in advance.

You mean slugs? Grubs you need poison--like Grub-X. Slugs go with beer in trays. Although i bought a trap once from a catalog. I'll try to remember which one.

[viet_mom]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
You mean slugs? Grubs you need poison--like Grub-X. Slugs go with beer in trays. Although i bought a trap once from a catalog. I'll try to remember which one.

Huh. I've been getting bum advice. I definitely have Grubs (I think, that is, they are pure white, short and fat but not fat like huge or anything; they are under the soil and there's a ton of them). I got this for killing them:



but it requires you to hook it up to the hose and the water mixes automatically with the stuff . But I don't want to do that b/c that is for lawn care and the grubs are only in my flower beds (plus the landscaper does his thing with the lawn). So I don't know how much water to add to it to "spot" treat the garden. It's a very small area. Which makes me realize I paid less money for the dahlias than I did for the grub killer. Damn!


As for mailboxes, Atticus you have good taste. So far, that one was in my list of 3 acceptable ones. I was hoping for something a little interesting and more ornate because the house is a cape cod and not modern.

I'm such a fussy homeowner.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by viet_mom
Huh. I've been getting bum advice. I definitely have Grubs (I think, that is, they are pure white, short and fat but not fat like huge or anything; they are under the soil and there's a ton of them). I got this for killing them:

.

Yeah, those are grubs. Never heard about beer. What you have probably works. I used pellets--grub-x--and they seem to be gone now. Spray can work as well, but you want it in the soil. The pellets should be easy enough to apply just to the ground, and they'll soak in. They won't really disappear until next year regardless, though. I think the white things are the pupae (or whatever), that come up in the fall.

[tmdiva]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Yeah, those are grubs. Never heard about beer. What you have probably works. I used pellets--grub-x--and they seem to be gone now. Spray can work as well, but you want it in the soil. The pellets should be easy enough to apply just to the ground, and they'll soak in. They won't really disappear until next year regardless, though. I think the white things are the pupae (or whatever), that come up in the fall.

Argh!!! Don't put those scary chemicals in your yard! For grubs/cutworms, use beneficial nematodes. They're microscopic creatures that you buy on a little sponge. You soak the sponge in water, then load the water into a pump sprayer and spray on your beds. The nematodes are bad for the cutworms but not anything else.

That reminds me, I need to pick some up this week. Time for another application. At least with nematodes (as opposed to deer repellent, rodent repellent, slug bait, neem oil, etc. etc.) I don't have to worry about our lovely early June rains washing away my handiwork.

tm

Originally posted by viet_mom
(Oh, and must I really leave beer out in my garden in pie pans to intoxicate the grubs so they won't eat my dahlias?)

Yeah, beer is definitely for slugs. For grubs, try an armadillo - they will eat all the grubs and then leave when the food is gone. They might dig up the flowers to get to the grubs, but the grubs will be gone.

Are the leaves being eaten or the roots? Grubs don't eat leaves - you may have something else if that is the problem. I am rather anti-chemical myself (except for Texas fire ants - they must die die die) - never had to try the nematodes, but you can order them online.


On another note, if the ultrasounds are to be believed, #2 measured ~8# at 34w and appears to be gaining almost 1#/week. Any bets on ultimate size (@38w2d via c-section, thank god!) later this month?

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by TexLex
I saw a woman at Kroger the other day with 4 kids - approx ages 5, 4, 3, 2. That takes strength. Or a couple of strong drinks before leaving the house.

Dial back to the early 1970s, and that was my mother. Always took all four of us to Kroger on Saturday, and my father never went to the store.

Of course, he did his own shopping after the divorce.

We used to go to the store together. After our first child was born, we have discovered the joys of "Peapod" by Giant -- order online, schedule a delivery time. There are other such services in various regions. The selection is not as complete as a full store, but it is workable. The prices are in the same ballpark.

P.S. to Vietmom: Beer actually works for slugs. Draws them in and kills them dead.

S_A_M

[Trepidation_Mom]

So, what's the take on window guards for apartments? In NYC, you're required to have them permanently fixed on all windows of apartments with little kids (other than windows opening onto a fire escape). NYC law requires that all "child guards" must be permanently fixed to the window frame and unopenable. (Brilliant!)

Our local fire house, however, recommended (off the record) that at least one window in every room should have no guards (because if there are guards they can't get in, and even the openable ones usually aren't really openable from the outside, in addition to being illegal as child guards). So per fire department advice, we would have child guards on exactly one window in our apartment, which is blocked by furniture anyway.

Combine this with the fact that trepidation kid climbs like a monkey, and several times already he's gotten stuck hanging 4 feet off the ground, having scaled the window guards like a maniac rock-climber and unable to get down. And since the apartment is going to be hermetically sealed for air conditioning until September, I'm inclined just to take the damn things off and rethink in the fall.

Opinions?

I am, however, seriously considering putting kiddie gates up on the stairs on and off the fire escape/patio, just in case the trepidation kid manages to jimmy the door open. What the hell, it's no more illegal than the hibachi the upstairs neighbors have on theirs.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Trepidation_Mom
So, what's the take on window guards for apartments? In NYC, you're required to have them permanently fixed on all windows of apartments with little kids (other than windows opening onto a fire escape). NYC law requires that all "child guards" must be permanently fixed to the window frame and unopenable.

I'm not an expert on apartment life, but your post brought to mind the story of an entire family in East Palo Alto who died when they couldn't get out of their burning house as a result of security grates over all of their windows. It sparked a public discussion about how these grates should all have removal mechanisms on the inside, but the hell of the situation is that if you live in a neighborhood where such things are necessary, you can't afford that kind of retrofit. So we'll all just wait until it happens again. I've never looked at those things the same way since.

That said, maybe NYC has different issues. For example, window guards could have saved Lexi Featherston's life.

Looking at the above post, I guess it would have been better to say I have nothing productive to add.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Trepidation_Mom


Opinions?

.

My opinion is that the rule is an overreaction to a relatively small problem that common sense and vigilence should adequately combat, and, further, that it probably fails to account for the alternative risks, such as the one identified by the fire department. While I have a hard time believing they couldn't whack through any window guards post haste in an emergency, I'd still be worried about getting out.

Why not get a couple of the standard window security latches that allow windows to open only four inches (unless slid to the open position)? If your child is able to figure out how to do that, and open the window, isn't your child old enough to realize that falling out the window hurts . . . a lot?

ETA: Here the first link I found when googling. Seems like any of these solutions create as much safety without increasing risks arising from fires.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by Trepidation_Mom
So, what's the take on window guards for apartments? In NYC, you're required to have them permanently fixed on all windows of apartments with little kids (other than windows opening onto a fire escape). NYC law requires that all "child guards" must be permanently fixed to the window frame and unopenable. (Brilliant!)

I worked on a case in which four or five children burned to death because the bars on the windows couldn't be opened. She couldn't reach their room through the fire, and they couldn't get out the window. (This isn't the East Palo Alto fire that AG referenced; this was in Oakland.)

So, bars that won't open seem to me to be incredibly dangerous.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
After our first child was born, we have discovered the joys of "Peapod" by Giant -- order online, schedule a delivery time. There are other such services in various regions. The selection is not as complete as a full store, but it is workable. The prices are in the same ballpark.

Sing it, brudda SAM. Peapod rocked. You wouldn't go there for meat (or, depending, produce) necessarily, but all the other nonsense you have to put up with in grocery shopping can be avoided. The convenience, time saved, and ability to forego the battles with an infant in a grocery store were well worth whatever the delivery fee might be.