milk factory blog

Big News!!

It's official. Yesterday was my last day at work. Penny's last day is at the end of the month.

We've started our own company, called Milk Factory Designs, and things are just starting to get exciting! The business plan is done. The labels have been ordered. The prototypes have been washed and tested. The temporary website is up.

And we've had some very productive meetings with our financial services officer at the local VanCity Savings Credit Union.

Did I mention that we both quit our jobs??

Sunscreen for kids

Now that Ella's been playing outside, in the sun, almost every day, my mom has been voicing her concerns. Is she wearing a hat? Are you covering up her arms and her legs? Is she drinking enough water? Strangely enough, one of her biggest worries was that we were putting suncreen on Ella's face. "Just don't put on the waterproof kind," she warned us. "You don't know what kind of chemicals they put in there."

And perhaps her worries are warranted. We've been using a kids' sunscreen made by KINeSYS, and it's expensive, but I think it's good. Go-Daddy-O picked it from a shelf full of other products because of the ingredients it didn't contain:

· Oil-free / Alcohol-free / PABA-free
· Hypoallergenic / Non-comedogenic
· Fragrance-free

We had bought another sunscreen, with a higher SPF, which contained titanium dioxide. I looked up this ingredient on the Environmental Working Group site, and it was listed as a having the following two health concerns:

-Thought to possibly cause cancer in humans, based on limited data
-Not yet assessed for safety by the cosmetic industry's Cosmetics Ingredient Review board

You can look up the ingredients in personal care products here.

Are there possible human carcinogens in your child's sunscreen?

Beach Bum

Last week, we bought Ella a some UV protective beach wear made by SurfDuk (40% off at the Kids Market on Granville Island) and then headed to Jericho beach. The tide was low, so we kept walking. And playing. Enough said.

Discontinued

IKEA's colorful children's SAFTIG dish sets are soon to be discontinued. It looks like they're being replaced with a similiar product, KALAS; fewer pieces but at the same price. I must say, the new cutlery looks rather unsafe for younger children.

Could it be that IKEA is finally catching on to the "less for more" selling craze?

ABC 123

Here's something all parents love...FREEBIES!

The best part is that they are educational freebies.

Baby Bumblebee is a great site, full of educational tools for infants and toddlers. I have yet to print them off myself but when I can get Oliver to sit still for a minute, he enjoys watching them pop up on the computer screen.

My First Crayons

Ollie had his first chew on his first crayons tonight. He seemed quite proud of himself for some reason. Maybe it was the way I responded..."Eeewwwwwwww! Ollie! Yuckers!". That just made him giggle more - black teeth and all. Do you know how hard it is to get wax crayon out of a one year old's mouth?!

Wasn't it smart of Crayola to make the crayons non-toxic ;o)

Another Great Toy

As one would expect, the older Oliver gets, the more stuff he seems to accumulate. At the rate he's going, he better learn young to part with things he doesn't use or he'll be worse than his pack-rat parents. Having said that, he has had the good fortune to receive a number of great toys. And once again, Little Tikes gets my vote. This 3-in-1 sports set got his attention from the point of assembly. He found out very quickly that the "basketballs" are not the only things that fit in the basket. Soother...Mega Blocks...socks...milk bottle, you bet!

I love the innocence that allows him the freedom to try just about anything...over and over again.

(no, this is not Oliver...photo with child, courtesy of Little Tikes)

The Best Kind of Toy

How many uses can a food container have? These little freezable containers by PetitMonde come in very handy for making Oliver meals ahead of time. They fit exactly 2 tablespoons of mashed or pureed baby food and are working well for non-liquid foods in his lunchbox - he's not a big vegetable eater so they're the perfect size to store diced vegetables.

Tonight I found that Oliver had a few uses of his own. The teddy puff he threw on the floor during dinner makes a nifty sound when shaken in a cube. It balances nicely on the edge of his toy basket. Great substitute for blocks. Can entertain him for many minutes by simply opening and closing the flap. They're light enough to throw across the room and fetch back to throw again. Best of all, they're the perfect size to save a piece of grated cheese for later!

I quite like that he is easily entertained by things I find around the house.

He Shoots, He Scores

Now here's a great toy!

It bounces. It rolls. You can lift it. Roll over it. Kick it. Hug it.

It's entertaining for a good many minutes!

Tiny 'n Tuff

Tiny and tough is what Oliver is all about. Ok, maybe he's not so tiny anymore. But he's got tough down to an art. He chews. He bangs. He throws. Plastic. Foam. Shoes. Rubber dog bone. Stainless steel freezer door handle. Doesn't matter. If the toys aren't tough enough to withstand his abuse, they get tossed.

Oliver is a very lucky and spoiled little boy. He's got a bit of everything. THEN, he's got bath toys. Now, he's got A LOT of bath toys. The latest, is this great set of bath boats by Mega Bloks. With bathtime being a favorite daily activity, you can never have too many bath toys.

Mega Bloks are great because the pieces are interchangeable with themselves and the regular Mega Bloks that he already has. They're small enough that he can get a good grip, but large enough that he can't swallow them. In a pinch, the single blok will even do as a soother.