It's Raining Beans

There are just some things you hope never to hear uttered aloud inside your house, this phrase being one of them...

Lia carefully gathered pinto beans from a dried up plant, placed them in a bowl, and brought them inside. Then later, while I was cleaning up in the kitchen, I was startled to hear Etan joyfully exclaiming “it’s raining beans!” while tossing the bowl’s contents into the air, followed by vigorous whacking of the beans with various toy trucks and cars.

Two of my three vacuums are broken (I have bad machine karma), and it is so much fun hand collecting beans in one’s living room. Just one of the many fun moments we’ve had while I solo parent for 8 weeks.

BatMom

My brothers were visiting this week and I managed to hire a babysitter to see the new Batman movie, aka "The Dark Knight." With a title like that, you'd think maybe it's about the night I lost sleep because my child had a rota virus and expelled the contents of her belly multiple times and required that I wash sheets repeatedly until dawn.

But no, it's about the Joker and how he's an agent of chaos and anarchy. Which reminds me of my son, who at age 2.5, also happens to be an agent of chaos and anarchy. I require order, organization, neatness, the flower in the vase angled just so. Etan is compelled to expel every scintilla of artful composition from our home. Markers and crayons are tossed gleefully, leaving indelible marks on newly painted walls. Hats litter the floor. Crumbs mark an interior trail raccoons could follow. Books are pulled off shelves and scattered.

So I wondered initially, why do people seem to revel in this Joker character? Why are they dressing up like poor Heath Ledger for their movie excursions? Don't they realize he's the villain?

I suspect they identify with those irrepressable early urges to upset the apple cart. Why not splash all the bathwater onto the floor? It's there isn't it? It sure is fun.

While watching the Joker explain his motives (chaos is his raison d'etre), I wondered, does the universe tend towards order or disorder? The answer, I think, depends on whether you're a mom, or a toddler..Publish Post

An actual Posh update

I've been trying to update the new hats & diaper pouches whenever I have a free moment. I'm Photoshopping until my fingers cramp up! They'll all be uploaded within the next week or so. Meanwhile, if you want a matching accessory to your sling and don't see a matching product on the site, you can order it as a "custom" item and we can make it, if we don't actually have it in stock - which is likely.
I'm debating whether or not to re-order more of those "dots" everyone likes so much. (cocoa blue dot, cocoa pink dot, etc.) I went to reorder the new "Ziggy" from that supplier and much to my horror, it was already out of print and being retired and I'd just seen it as new in October 07 at the fabric show.
If we take a break from Cocoa Blue Dot and its kissing cousins, Pink & Candy, will you all still find something you like? I hope so...! We've got yardage for heck of a lot of slings in about 30+ other darn cute prints & solid combos. Anyway, I'd love hear what you like best of the new prints. Even if you aren't buying right now, it helps to get a sense of what to stock up on before anything gets "retired" or out of print.

I'll send out an actual newsletter soon too. Just as soon as I find the time to sit down and focus!

They outsmart me

Lia said, “Mama, I really really want to be six.”
I told her, “You’ll be six in six months.”
Lia: “But I really want to be six now!”
Me: “What if you always want to be older and older and one day you’re 110 and then you’re dead! Do you want that?”
Lia:” No, mama. I just want to be six.”

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Etan: “No! It’s not ours. It’s mine!”
Etan refers to body glitter as “glittery” and he loves to smear it on his face like some sparkly West Hollywood savage. The ambulance is “my siren.” Chocolate yogurt is “brown yogurt” and when I try to sneak in pureed fruit or veggies, he calls me on it and refuses to eat it.

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Lia & I tussled the other morning the other day over getting dressed. I decided to pull rank and just force the clothes onto her. In the process I scratched her somehow and drew a speck of blood. Tears were shed. Later that day, I apologized to her for being forceful and for her getting hurt. I still wanted her to be more cooperative, however. She said,” Mama, sometimes you just need to calm down.”

And later, when I repeated the story to Will while laughing at her sage wisdom, she said, hurt, “It’s not funny, Mama.”

Why I will never be on time.

We were literally walking out the door, at 8:05 am, when Lia turns and darts for the bathroom. How did she not notice the urge anytime during the previous 15 minutes? All momentum is lost. Finally, we get out and zoom over to the school, determined to make it through the side gate before it is locked. Lia notices her friends crossing the street at the traffic light and wants to dash for the intersection to join them. I scoop up Etan, his bulldozer, my keys, Lia's backpack, her sweater, and lope towards the light. Apparently I grabbed the wrong miniature vehicle, for Etan is screaming and making his 25 lb body lax as a lox. I put him down for a second, unable to manage all my bundles, and he tries to cross the very busy street back to our car, site of the truly desired toy.
Meanwhile Lia is running ahead towards the now locked gate. "Pick up your backpack!" I shriek. "I can't carry all this stuff myself!" Of course she won't and doesn't and now Etan is lying on his back on the sidewalk by the school buses, screaming. The driver is making sympathetic comments, but I cannot hear them. Lia is yelling at me to hurry up. I decide that I need to have a meltdown too and start screaming. I compose myself and stuff some crap into the backpack, pick up Etan, and start punting the backpack ahead of me like a soccer ball.
As we near the kindergarten gate, I decide, for efficiency sake, to just hurl it over the top and retrieve it when we come around from the other side, for now we have to go in a longer, back way. Now Lia is screaming and sobbing repeatedly, "I want my backpack! I want my backpack!" So I have to push her around and towards the entrance and I'm practically dragging Etan and finally enter the kindergarten yard where Lia stands still while crying for her backpack and my younger one is screaming. Out of the corners of my eyes, I perceive other adults assessing the situation, either breathing a sigh of relief that isn't their child, or wondering how Child Protective Services lets me parent without supervision. Within moments, everyone is settled as if we'd just sauntered into class with nary a quibble. It's 8:15 am, and I am exhausted.

New photos posted!

I still don't think anyone is reading this. But in case you're a devoted PP fan - here's the latest from Posh-land! I managed to post photos of the new prints and they are great. I'd love feedback on what people like best, because I may not re-order all of them. I have photos of the Bamboo and Bamboo-blend solid with accents, and will post those soon. We also took photos on Sunday of new hats & diaper pouches so those'll get posted soon too. If you're dying to see a sneak peak, just email me and I'll send them to you. I'd also love feedback on what people think of the new Bamboo & Bamboo/Cotton blends (aka "Panda"). They both feel great, but wrinkle if you look at them funny. Do you care? I'd love to know. I'm still searching for the perfect solid color fabric, preferably organic or eco-friendly somehow.

Just an aside - my daughter (age 5) decided today that she doesn't have to do something if she merely crosses it off the calendar. Clever, that one.

Wanna see something fun? Check this out (it's ok if your kid sees it) I suspect this from "Improve Everywhere": http://madhatterinnyc.blogspot.com/2008/02/frozen-grand-central.html

New Diaper Pouches

I have no idea so far if anyone is reading this!

Today, I uploaded a new category and product to the website for our brand new Diaper & Wipes Pouches. I think they are way better than similar items you can buy. Why? ours open horizontally, for one thing, which means your diapers won't get squished, and they are easier to access. I also made sure that they are big enough to hold four size 4 diapers, so that you won't get stuck without diapers as often. Julie F., my amazing right hand production guru, says she can fit three size 6's in hers. I'm using mine and it's great. We're going to work up a washable changing pad that can fold up and be inserted into the pouch, maybe it would take the place of 1 - 2 diapers. Or maybe there won't be demand for it. We'll see.

The diaper pouch fits into the sling pocket, or you can toss it into the bottom of your stroller or car for quick standing changes - good for toddlers.

In most cases, we're using up leftover fabric, so it's one way we recycle and leave no waste. But in some cases, I bought adorable fabric just for hats & diaper pouches because I could not resist: the red & blue Stars print, and the "Animal Parade" - just too cute.

Welcome to the Posh Papoose chronicles

An admission: I aspire to being "posh" more than I actually achieve it. Between my two young children, the demands of a household, schools, and small business, I don't have much time or opportunity to spruce myself up in a big way. But it's the little things that add a touch of quick & easy glamor to a mom of young ones: a pretty baby sling, a quick slap of lip gloss, a fun pair of cheap sunglasses...

In 2002 when I was pregnant and not working, I started sewing slings for my own use. Being a helpless fabric junkie (I'm a former silk painter/ textile artist), I kept returning to the fabric store to get more colors and styles so that I could have a cool sling to match nearly everything in my wardrobe. I put in padding, I took out padding. I lengthened, I shortened. I added rings and clips and took them off. My infant grew. I tweaked and made franken-slings until I was really happy with the feel and fit. I was not a fan of the hippie and dull fabrics of the popular brands a that time and knew I could do much better. Modern moms deserver funkier style thatn that. Just because you're into babywearing doesn't mean you have to wear ugly fabrics you'd never buy in any other garment. I thought other moms might feel similarly.

I had so many, I decided to sell them to compensate for all the fabric I bought. And several years later, Posh Papoose(TM) has a full-blown website (launched in 2004, revised in 2007), a collection of different sling styles, hats, blankets, quilts, and more, an LLC, a almost registered trademark, and customers around the world. And on top of trying to meet the demands of a growing business, I'm still wiping tushies on a daily basis (don't worry, I wash my hands before packing slings!).