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[AlohaDawg]

Add me to the list of parents who think that devices like "electric baby wipe warmers" are inventions intended to part you from your money by inventing a non-existent problem and then solving it.

I like the characterization of the "Klingon Battle Sash"; a friend of ours used one quite effectively and, as a bonus, generally always looked like he was wearing a toga.

I went with the Baby Bjorn too but THIS time around I want one of those cool backpack things the baby sits on. It looks like  you are wearing a lawn chair but I bet it's way easier to deal with.

[jay-ell]

I just hope those retail knaves don't make a woman in your delicate condition do any heavy lifting or push for those flaky add-on sales. ("I'm expecting to enjoy this video game I just bought; it stands to reason, then, that a piece of candy / air freshener in the shape of a character from that game would function as a multiplier for that enjoyment," is how marketing geniuses and district managers hear the internal monologue of the Consumer.)

We don't do that shit in my store.  I mean, when we're pushing add-ons, it's stuff that's *useful*.  

"Oh, you're buying Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball?  That plays up to four -- do you have enough controllers for everyone?"

"Finally picking up a copy of Counterstrike, eh?  Well, you're gonna want XBox live and a headset, for sure."  

Ah, yes...upsells...not for the faint of heart.  

Re: heavy lifting, it's actually gotten to the point where it's amusing to what lengths the guys will go -- now that the cat is out of the bag about the bun in my li'l easy-bake oven -- to *keep* me from lifting anything heavier than a GameCube.   Also, they won't let me climb the ladder to get to the up-stock.  But they can't act like they're concerned or anything, 'cause they're a bunch of twentysomething gamer guys, so they instead make half-hearted jokes about how you can't trust a woman with this and that.  It's almost endearing.

[jay-ell]

We went with the Graco SnugRide car seat.   It snaps into a base that fits in the back seat of your car.  It also snaps into most Graco strollers.

My $.02 worth of unwanted parenting advice.

We also registered for the new version of the SnugRide, along with a compatible stroller.  Consumer Reports gave it high marks, and I'm a big fan of not having to move sleeping babies any more than necessary.  

We've been considering the BabyBjorn, but have heard mixed reviews -- some people say they never used thiers; I say if they didn't need it they didn't leave the house enough.  In the end, I think we'll get one.  

At this point, *all* parenting advice is welcome!  I'll let you know when we hit saturation point...

[St_Zartan]

But they can't act like they're concerned or anything, 'cause they're a bunch of twentysomething gamer guys, so they instead make half-hearted jokes about how you can't trust a woman with this and that.  It's almost endearing.

God bless that feminine aptitude for reading subtext.

At this point, *all* parenting advice is welcome! I'll let you know when we hit saturation point...

This [X] is my pledge not to sit at the grown-up table oversaturate you and Pedro w/ parenting Advice.

[Carlos del Vaca]

We have a Bjorn, and we found it useful for a while.  Trouble is, or kid is freakishly large (28 pounds at 18 months, 97th percentile!) so she outgrew it relatively quickly.

I didn't like it; it made me sweaty and clautrophobic. Mrs. del Vaca used it quite a bit though.

I third the Graco car seat/stroller thingy.

[Va]

I got a Graco Snugride infant seat.  Don't pay extra for the version with the infant floppy-head-pillow thing--it doesn't work very well, and you'll end up buying something else anyway.  I got mine for $59 but some models run up to $129.  BabyCenter.com has pretty good prices.

[wombat]

I just came back from visiting my sister and was amazed at what American ingenuity has come up with to sell to worried parents.  She has foam thingies that hold the doors open so the kid can't close his finger in a door or close himself in a room.  She has a thing that holds the toilet seat shut - I'm not sure what this is about, can a toddler drown in a toilet?  To get the kid out of the high chair you practically had to be Houdini, there was so much stuff holding him in.  And this was just the stuff she'd brought from her old place - she hadn't done all the shopping for the new house yet.

[Carlos del Vaca]

She has foam thingies that hold the doors open so the kid can't close his finger in a door or close himself in a room.  She has a thing that holds the toilet seat shut - I'm not sure what this is about, can a toddler drown in a toilet?

Um, we have both of those things.

A toddler can drown in a toilet.  Difficult, but not impossible, and who wants to be the poor loser who has it happen.

Besides, such crap isn't all that expensive.

[AlohaDawg]

We mostly just shut the bathroom door and watched the kid. We did put caps on all the outlets and moved the poisonous stuff out of reach. Becca was very good about not getting into cabinets very much.

She is still at the 99th percentile at 5 years old; the Baby Bjorn thing we got for her was quilted and she was born in April, so it was too hot - and then winter came  and I tried to wear it under a big coat with her head sticking out. Then she outgrew it.

I think the climate here is more friendly to this device. It hardly ever gets as hot as it used to get in the midwest and the breezes are usually blowing.

[jough]

Doesn't the toilet seat lock thing cost like, $10?  Isn't that worth it not to have your kid drown when she imitates the dog and tries to drink from the toilet, topples over, and drowns?

I'm just saying - why take the chance?

Of course, we didn't have any of these things when I was a kid.  No outlet protectors, no stairwell gate, no foam padded ANYTHING.  Yeah, I got hurt sometimes.  I still have a scar on my chin from falling down the steps when I was a kid (I crawled down backwards and slipped one time when I was about three and smashed my chin on the edge of a step).

Anyway, kids today are pussies.  They're coddled, over-managed, waaaaaaay over-protected, and tend to be weak in the face of disease since their parents make everything too antiseptic.  The first time they leave their house they'll run the risk of growing sick and dying.

I don't have any kids, but the only advice I will offer is to not freak out too much if your kid drops some food on the ground and then picks it back up and eats it.  The germs won't kill it.  Honest.

Just make sure they observe the 3-second rule and kiss it up to God first.

[AlohaDawg]

Anyway, kids today are pussies.  They're coddled, over-managed, waaaaaaay over-protected, and tend to be weak in the face of disease since their parents make everything too antiseptic.  The first time they leave their house they'll run the risk of growing sick and dying.

I don't have any kids, but the only advice I will offer is to not freak out too much if your kid drops some food on the ground and then picks it back up and eats it.  The germs won't kill it.  Honest.

Just make sure they observe the 3-second rule and kiss it up to God first.

To some degree I agree with this; overprotecting a kid can result in a kid completely incapable of handling themselves in any real-life situation. I get especially angry at the need for so many schools to outlaw 'tag' and create situations that are completely non-competitive. I think kids do need to learn to be more collaborative but at the same time, eventually they will have to compete - and my kid will know how to compete.

I think there is some social drive to create a legion of wussies in the next generation and I don't understand it.

[Limmo]

I think there is some social drive to create a legion of wussies in the next generation and I don't understand it.

I'm enrolling Audrey in ninjutsu classes as soon as she can use the potty.

[AlohaDawg]

Awesome. Becca just took ballet, but she did manage to kick a standing kid in the face 'by accident' at pre-school.

[andalucia]

Aw, man, I must have had about the wussiest possible upbringing: Quaker parents.  I wasn't allowed to play with toys that suggested violence and was discouraged from those that promoted traditional gender roles, and I've never been on a sports team.  
But I turned out OKish!

[AlohaDawg]

They probably wouldn't object to Ballet.