Natural skincare products are the clear choice, but which ones? To save you trying a bunch of different brands, I want to tell you about Cocoon Apothecary.

Yesterday I spent the evening with a friend I haven’t seen much for a while. When I mentioned my upcoming birthday, she said, “I want to say something, but I don’t want to offend. I just need to ask. You look younger than last time I saw you. How is that possible?”

Wow. How could that possibly offend? I came up with two possibilities: I’ve been working out, and I’ve started using a new line of skincare products. She said, “It’s your skin. Tell me about these products.” So, together we looked up Cocoon Apothecary, and she made me show her the exact products I’m using.

I have noticed a difference. I knew I was going to be writing about it this morning, so I’ve been asking myself each day what I think of each step in my skincare routine. That my friend said what she did yesterday is just happy coincidence, and it convinces me that what I’m seeing isn’t just my own wishful thinking. My skin is smooth and not dry even a full day after applying Cocoon products.

After writing about Cocoon Apothecary and my dry skin a few months ago, Nature Mom sent me samples to try. I wanted to follow up with a review of the products.

I’ve been using Jason Natural C-Effects products for years, and I do quite like them. This is specifically an “anti-aging” line. Do you see where I’m going with this? No one ever told me how young I looked when I used Jason. I haven’t loved the changes to their formulas, but I’ve kept using it. I used to love the smell, but it’s far more chemical now. Still, it worked better with my skin than other products I tried. But, this last winter I had terribly dry skin. Nothing worked to keep it from getting flaky. I resorted to using straight olive oil on my skin for most of the winter.

Until I tried Cocoon Apothecary.

Reading about Cocoon for the March “Winter Dry Skin” post, I just loved their philosophy and their open list of natural ingredients. Now that I’ve tried the products for a while, I love the products as well as the philosophy.

Petal Purity Facial Cleanser

This is my least favorite, because my skin doesn’t feel clean when I use this. It is applied on dry skin then rinsed off. I think I’m using it right, but I just don’t feel clean afterward. I have continued to use my Body Shop soap. I won’t be buying more of this. It was just the product that came in the sample, so I plan to try a different Cocoon Apothecary cleanser.

Rose Dew Facial Toner

After cleaning my skin, I just close my eyes and spritz this on. I go about my business for a few minutes, and the toner has done its work. It tightens without drying, which is a big help when drying is my biggest issue. No more rubbing on. I love that. The smell is rosey. More on that below.

Rosey Cheeks Facial Cream

My favorite product is the moisturizer. My goal is always to find lotion and other moisturizers that give a lot of moisture without leaving a greasy feeling or a waxy film. I get neither with this cream. It is thick, but it absorbs completely without leaving any unpleasant feel.

My one problem is the smell of both the Rose Dew Facial Toner and the Rosey Cheeks Facial Cream. They smell like roses. Some deep down memory tells me that roses smell like old women and funerals. When I’m using anti-aging skin products anyway, the last thing I want is to smell like someone’s grandmother. I asked my family if I smell like roses generally, and they said no. I made each of my children smell my face very closely after I had applied the facial cream about 8 hours before, and they did say they smell roses, but that it is faint. It’s a strong smell when it goes on. I miss the creamsicle smell of Jason, but I’m willing to give it up when my friends tell me I look younger than I did years before.

The most important difference I see between my old skincare products and my new favorites is that one just replaces moisture and the other also nourishes the skin. The Rosey Cheeks Facial Cream includes Rosehip Oil (trans-retinoic acid, which is likely one of the reasons for my younger-looking skin), Rose Absolute (not vodka but an antioxidant), Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, and Green Tea Oil. Intellectually, sure I know this is going to help, but seeing the change is still surprising.

Big thanks to Nature Mom for the Cocoon Apothecary Starter Kit. I’m hooked, and I’m planning my big order for more. I will be trying Rosehip Oil Facial Scrum. I’m actually excited about it. I’m not one to talk about cosmetics usually, but these cosmetics are different. If you are looking for not just natural ingredients but a nourishing skin care routine, try Cocoon Apothecary. Plus, they are Made in Canada, and I know that matters to a lot of our customers.

Image © Cynoclub | Dreamstime.com

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If it’s your baby’s first summer, not quite ready to run around quite yet, what will you do all day during the summer? I have a few ideas based on the activities that my babies loved.

When I was a very new parent, there were days I just had no idea what to do. I would stare at my baby and ask her, “What do you want to do?” She would just smile at me. By the time I had a second baby, I knew that he was very happy to be my passenger. What I liked to do, he liked to do. So, I put him in a baby carrier, peeking over my shoulder, and I set off doing what I would have done anyway.

If you are looking ahead to the long, hot summer and wondering what to do, I have a few ideas for outdoor activities you can do with your baby.

1. Bubbles. My number one favorite play activity with babies is blowing and popping bubbles. One second they are there then they POP! No more bubbles. Who can resist a baby’s amazement the first time they see this happen.

2. Water. My babies loved water, especially splashing. They did not love the sprinkler, which they didn’t control. Go slowly so you don’t take your baby over that edge of excitement into worry and fear. I liked keeping the water movement under my baby’s control as we drummed and splashed in a bucket of water.

3. Garden peekaboo. Whether you have a cultivated garden, a wild garden, or a collection of weeds, it’s all the same to your baby. Sit the baby on the lawn and hide, popping up behind big plants. The simple movement out from behind leaves where you were gone then you are suddenly there can be a big surprise.

4. Lawn ball. Sometimes when it is hot, the lawn in the shade is still a bit cool. Sit on the cool lawn and roll a ball.

5. Music and dance. Grab something to shake or pound and head outside. Sing your baby’s future favorite song. Make sure your baby has something to grip and shake—a rattle will do. If your baby can stand, then dance! This was one of the our favorite daily activities, and my children still remember the songs we sang. We still sing them now as car songs.

6. Take a walk. Wear your baby in a kangaroo position or on your back, so it’s easy to look around. Just get away. Point out birds and animals. Involve your baby. You’ll probably have a sleeping baby by the end.

7. Picnic. The newness of a familiar activity in a different place is fun even if you just have your lunch then breastfeed your baby.

Nearly everything is new and exciting for a baby. Look for developmentally appropriate activities that let your baby use and improve motor skills, social skills, and language.

If you share in the delight your baby feels at every new and exciting thing, you can share a summer of discovery. Really, though, all your baby wants is to be with you. As long as you are there and having fun, your baby will likely have fun as well.

Image © Msghita | Dreamstime.com

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If you have a baby and you think you don’t need to know about potty training, think again. Helping your child learn to use the toilet is a lot easier if you’ve prepared. Now is the time to prepare.

Communicate Openly and Gently

I think the most important preparation you can do for potty training and for most other parenting is to create a foundation of good communication. It takes more time than just telling your child what to do, sure, but it’s worth the relationship you are building.

These are the habits I find most important for those early communication preparations.

• Open conversation – Do you welcome questions? (“Mommy, why do you sit on the potty instead of wearing a diaper?”)
• Compassion about issues – Do you calmly help when your child has an accident or has trouble when doing something that s/he was asked not to? (“Mommy, I made a mess.”)
• Supportive and helpful – Do you offer help when asked? (“Mommy, would you help me?”)
• Encouraging of independence – Do you ask your child to try alone once you’ve shown how to do something? (“You can do it like this. Now, you try.”)

Even if your child isn’t verbal yet, you communicate with one another. You can respond when needed and give space when needed.

If you have already been responsive in your parenting, it will be a lot easier for your child to learn to use the toilet. If there is less mystery around the tools and the process, it won’t be so intimidating. Or, if it does feel intimidating to the child, you can encourage those brave moments of trying something new in a safe situation.

Of course, this kind of open communication with your child will help you both now, during potty training, during those difficult years (whichever difficult years they might be), and into your adult parent-child relationship in the future. It isn’t special to potty training, but I found it an important part of my family’s positive potty experience.

Start When Your Child Is Ready

Is your child ready for potty training? More to the point, are YOU ready for potty training? If you haven’t learned that teaching is easier when your student is ready to learn, you might want to work on your own awareness first.

If you start before you child is ready, it will be a frustrating experience for you both. I watched a friend push her one-year-old to use the toilet while he pushed back by squatting in the middle of her hard wood floor every chance he got, leaving them both in tears most days. I just remember the screaming from them both. It was such a painful situation to witness that my reaction was to back off even further from encouraging my children to use the toilet. All I did was point out where the tiny toilet was, tell my child what it was for, show where the underwear were in the drawer next to diapers, and leave it at that. In the end, after she experimented with the potty on the floor, my daughter told me when it was time to switch—not start training but switch. One day she wore diapers, and the next day she wore underwear. There were accidents, but we took care of them.

Signs your child might be ready:

• Regular dry diapers
• Pulls pants up and down
• Curious about your use of the toilet

Your child will already be familiar with the toilet or with a child’s potty if you’ve been using Infant Pottying—also called EC (Elimination Communication) or just diaper free. More important, though, you and your child will both be aware of the signals that even a very small baby gives before urinating or passing stool. Rather than ignoring or even suppressing these signs, you take advantage of them in infant pottying. The process of your child learning to use the toilet independently will be fairly seamless if you’ve already acknowledged together what it feels like to need to void and how to respond.

The Stuff to Put in Place

Potty. You don’t necessarily need a small toilet or a child seat for your full-size toilet, but it could be one step in the process. We love the Beco Biodegradable Potty Seat. Your child will use the potty for such a short time, and you needn’t worry about creating plastic waste because you can plant this in the garden and watch it break down.

Step Stool. If you don’t have a small potty, you may need a step up to the toilet. My kids used a yoga brick. We also carry a Beco step stool, which is useful in a lot of places where your child needs a few extra inches to use the adult-sized equipment.

Underwear. Training pants with extra absorbency are helpful for that transition period. You might be able to avoid the training pants by adding a diaper insert to regular underwear, but it might be more difficult for your child to be independent when there are several pieces that need to go together correctly. We love the new Bummis training pants and Super Undies trainers, which come in snap-on or pull-up styles.

There are a lot of other products you can buy to encourage, reward, and otherwise pressure your child to use the toilet, but I think that puts too much emphasis on this short phase—and more pressure on your wallet than is necessary.

Using the toilet shouldn’t be a such a big deal that your child gets into a pattern of needing and wanting praise for meeting simple developmental milestones.

Potty Learning or Potty Training?

Some say that calling this process “potty training” puts the emphasis too much on your role as a parent, while “potty learning” focuses on the child’s own process. I agree! Call it whatever fits for you. Just understand that you might have to explain if you use a phrase other than that commonly used. That can be a good thing if you want to start a conversation.

Is It Potty Time?

If you have good communication with your child, your child is showing signs of readiness, and you have a few helpful tools in place, maybe it’s potty time.

Have I made it sound simple? I hope so. It was simple for my famly. When I saw signs of trouble, I ignored them. I didn’t want to focus on a resistant child, creating a more resistant child and a combative relationship between us, so I just let go until my child told me it was time. What’s the rush?

If you had a different kind of experience, please do share. I don’t want to assume that everyone will have the same easy time with potty learning that my two children did.

Image © Fisechko | Dreamstime.com

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The best way to keep the sun’s UV rays away from your children’s skin is to cover their skin. The Skin Cancer Foundation calls clothing “Our first line of defense.” Dressing your children in clothing with a high UVF rating is a smart move when you go to the beach or the pool this summer.

A physical barrier to the sun gives better protection than a chemical barrier. We wrote about the importance of a physical barrier to UV rays in our review of natural sunscreens. Clothing can create a barrier without the mess of sunscreen. Clothing is a good option if you must be in the sun with a baby (since you shouldn’t use sunscreen on babies under 6 months old) or with a very fair-haired child (since lighter skin has less natural protection against sunburn).

There is a history of skin cancer in my family, so I am very cautious about sun exposure for my children and myself. Even in extreme heat, I wear long sleeves. It will be 90 degrees Fahrenheit today. I’m going to an outdoor event to hear my husband and son play in a bagpipe band. Based on experience, I’m guessing someone will ask, “Aren’t you hot in that long-sleeved shirt.” Don’t be deterred by those who second guess you when you cover yourself or your children. Fabric is the easiest, most effective way to avoid sunburn and the long-term damage caused by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation.

How UV Protective Fabric Works

In much the same way that minerals in natural suncreen block or absorb UVA and UVB rays from the sun before they reach our skin, fabric can absorb or deflect sunlight. Think of how much light different curtains let in to your house. Fabric that prevents light prevents harmful rays.

What to Look for in Fabric

A tightly woven or knit fabric gives better protection because there is less room between the threads for sun to peek through. Darker fabrics with a lot of pigment give more protection. Because of its structure, polyester is the most effective lightweight fabric for sun protection, but heavier weight natural fabrics, like dark blue jeans, can block most of the sun’s rays. There are also chemical treatments that are added to some fabrics for extra UV protection. We prefer to avoid the chemical treatments and go with fabrics that provide protection through structure.

UPF Rating

Sunscreen has an SPF (Sun Protection Factor) rating that tells you how effective a product is against UVB rays that cause sunburn. UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) ratings are given to clothing as an indication of how effective a product is against UV rays of both kinds (UVA as well as UVB). UPF 50+ means that clothing has been tested to block 99% of UV rays. UPF 50+ is a rating of Excellent.

Sun Protective Swimwear for Children

Full Sun Protective Suit
UPF 50+
Size: 0-6 months through 10 years

We carry sun protection suits (half-sleeve and half-leg) in sizes 0-6 months and up for babies through 10 years for children. This is the fastest way to cover large areas. 100% polyester. Comfortable, stretchy, chlorine resistant. Made in Canada from specialized Australian fabrics.

UV-Tee
UPF 50+
Size: 3-6 months to 18-24 months

Bummis has a new line of sun protection clothing that coordinates with the prints of their popular Swimmi swim diapers. These T-shirts cover the shoulders, often the first spot to get burned at the pool. A separate top and bottom is a much quicker way to get out of the swim suit fast, which is very important when your child is potty training. Soft and durable. Chlorine resistant. Made in Canada from fabric made in Canada.

Tankini
UPF 50+
Size: 0-12 months or 12-24 months

If you aren’t necessarily looking for protection over the shoulders, the adorable Tankini swim top gives the same UPF protection of 50+ to the full torso. Halter clip is adjustable for a wide range of sizes. Use sunscreen for arms, faces, and ears. Made in Canada from fabric Made in Canada.

Sun Cap
UPF 50+
Size: 3-6 months to 18-24 months

Don’t forget to cover your child’s head. Bummis Sun Caps are made from the same prints as their Swimmis reusable swim diapers. Crown and visor have UPF rating of 50+. Coordinates with UV-Tee and Tankini swim tops. Made in Canada.

Should you go outside with your children? Definitely. All of us need to play in nature. Just be aware of the risk of sun exposure and mitigate that risk with UV protection through clothing and sunscreen.

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Children bouncing around looking for summer activities? Preschoolers are at a stage where they start to process more information about the world around them. Much the same way I add carrots and beets to smoothies, I like to suggest delicious and nutritious activities that might stimulate the mind without my children noticing much. For 3 – 6 year old children, I suggest simple mapmaking activities. You can create a multi-step, multi-sensory activity that gets children thinking about the world around them. I like this as a summer activity because it has the potential to spark the kind of interest that can turn into a ongoing project. This could keep them engaged for the summer like Wesley’s project in Weslandia.

Importance of Geography

When I read the sad stories of the geographic ignorance of students who weren’t sure how the world around them fit together, I knew that wouldn’t be my homeschooled children. Geography and social geography have been important themes for us since my children were very young. Over that time, I have collected a lot of great resources for geography and mapmaking for a variety of ages.

By far my favorite book for children is David Sobel’s Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years. If you only go this far in the post, look up this book.

I Am Here!

Young childhood is a stage of curiosity and exploring but still with a focus on self. We can use that to encourage self exploration or close-to-home exploration.

Starting with models built with blocks or Playmobil or other toys, encourage your child to create a model of your house or yard. Starting with moveable objects allows the creation to be a conversation between you. This also puts the tools of creation in your child’s hands if she decides to create her own models some other time.

Then, bring out the crayons and paper. Without giving too much guidance how to do it, ask your child to draw a path through your house or your yard. By suggesting drawing a path, you don’t run into the issue of explaining what a map is—yet. Some children will draw a view from above as we usually think of maps, while others may draw from other directions. Give your child space to be creative.

• Show the path you take in the morning when you get up
• Show the path the dog takes when he runs into the yard
• Show the path from you room to your bike
• Show where each person in the family sleeps
• Show all of your favorite spots in the yard

If your child is a little bit older and more interested in life beyond home, try applying the activity to a map of the neighborhood.

Sobel shows in Mapmaking for Children that developmentally appropriate mapmaking for children progresses through scope (home > neighborhood > community > nation) as well as through methods of representation (models > pictures > panoramas > contour and aerial maps). The more open you make your request, the more naturally your child can move through the stages of thinking about and representing the world.

Earlier this year, my son started a week long neighborhood mapping project. We used overlays so he could draw the houses once then add new, separate elements each day. Each day, he decided what new information to add. Day one, he drew houses in relation to one another from above. Day two, he added the names of neighbors. Day three, he added where children live and their names. Day four, he added trees. Day five, I wanted to encourage him to use other senses. I asked him to add sound to the map, so he walked through the neighborhood and listened for dogs barking at him then he added dogs (and their names) to the next layer. In the end, he created an interesting aerial and aural view of our neighborhood.

Mapmaking Resources for Children

If you can interest your children in place, you can use maps and geography as a starting point for a lot of other learning. Because I like scattering interesting baubles along the path and waiting to see which my children pick up, I have a lot of books on maps, history of maps, geography, children of the world, junior maps, 3-D maps, and more and more maps. And, we frequently fly around the world using Google Earth.

In addition to Sobel’s book above, my favorite resources for geography with children are the National Geographic Society’s Expeditions project, which includes lesson plans by age and by geography standard, and Mapping the World by Heart, which includes one award-winning teacher’s lesson plans for geography. Both have projects that can be adapted for age and interest.

Have a wonderful time exploring with your preschooler. If this isn’t the project of the summer, scatter more baubles and see what he picks up.

Image © Mario Lopes | Dreamstime.com

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Once you’ve got a few plants in your garden, it doesn’t take much to keep them alive and help them thrive. There is so little to do that you might find yourself adding more plants just to keep busy.

June Garden Planting

If you planned your garden in March, prepared the ground in April, and planted hearty plants in May, there might not be much to do in June. If you want to take the easy route (and who doesn’t), garden centers have an abundance of plants this time of year ready to be planted directly in the ground. Even if you did none of the other steps this year, it’s easy to buy a couple of tomato plants and create a garden within an hour on a Saturday morning. You’re better off preparing the soil, which doesn’t take long, but in a wild garden you can probably get away with just digging a hole and dropping a plant in it.

Find the gaps. My main focus in this series has been my husbands hops. Two of the three are over a foot tall now. For those, we added a climbing string that reaches to the roof of the house. One of the hops failed to thrive and finally shrivelled. We don’t want to dig it up, since it might do better next year, and we can’t replace it this late in the season. So, we decided to plant around it. After weeding other areas of my garden, I had a few other gaps as well.
Goal: use well the space you have

Buy plants. As of last weekend, we have passed our last likely frost, so it’s time to go garden wild. That seems to have been everyone’s idea, because the garden store was very busy when I visited last weekend. You could have planted seeds indoors to wait out the frost, but the easiest way to plant a garden is to buy a plant and put it in the ground. I did both. I went to the store for tomatoes, but I bought a couple of tomatoes, a last-minute chili pepper, some lettuce, some kale, a calla lily, basil, a few seeds, and a couple of bags of manure. If you are likely to get excited by all of the possibilities and buy more plants than planned, and if you really don’t want to expand your garden that much right now, send someone else to the store.
Goal: buy a plant for the easiest garden

Plant and water. If you’ve prepared the soil, you probably won’t have to do more than dig a plant pot-sized hole. If you didn’t prepare the soil, dig it up, turn it over, add compost or manure if you have it, and then dig a pot-sized hole. Gently tip the plant out of the pot or tear the bottom and edges off a biodegradable pot, and place it in your hole. Put the rest of the dirt back, press it down a bit, water well, and you have a garden.
Goal: Plant your insta-garden

Note on the red caps. Do you see the two red spots in the garden? Those are bottle caps, beneath which are plastic bottles with holes. When I unscrew the caps, I can add water, which waters the roots of my new tomatoes. The cleverness of Pinterest showed me underground watering with plastic bottles. In the desert, it can get very hot in the summer, and soil dries out quickly. My raised bed is partially shaded by my house, but it still gets enough sun to suffer the heat. I haven’t tried this method of watering before, but I thought I would see if it keeps the tomatoes from drooping. It’s an experiment.

Raised bed is saving my plants. Snails. I have a lot of snails. Usually, I ignore them or admire them up close, since they don’t eat my flowers, but this week they have been munching on my new vegetable plants. So, out comes the eggshell moat around plants outside the raised bed, and up comes the chili pepper into the raised bed. I hadn’t planned to put as many plants around the foot of the hops as I ended up planting, but I found that the snails can’t get over the lip of the raised bed, so I’ve created a snail-free zone. Now, I want to put all of my leafy vegetables up high. As it all grows, we may end up with hops, tomatoes, chili peppers, kale, and a lot of lettuce in the same bed.

Total Cost So Far

• 2 more bags of manure compost – $3.00
• 2 tomato plants – $5.50
• 1 chili pepper plant – $2.50
• 4 lettuce plants – $2.00
• 4 kale plants – $2.00
• 1 package lettuce seeds – $1.50
• Total for June – $16.50 (plants)
• Total for May – $34.00 (manure, top soil, peat moss)
• Total for April – $18.00 (hops)
• Total for the year – $68.50

Total Time So Far

This month, except for shopping, it really did take less than 30 minutes to make changes to the raised bed. Planting is quick. Add the time I now spend every day gazing at the splendor of my tiny garden, and I definitely take more than 30 minutes a month, but I’m not counting gazing time here.

• Shopping – 1 hour
• Digging & planting – 30 minutes
• Previous time spent (research, prep, building raised bed, digging) – 9 hours
• Total so far = 10.5 hours

Almost half of that time was spent building a raised bed.

Your June List: Plants

If your plants from May are thriving, just water, weed, and gaze. If you are filling in spaces like I was, buy a plant to fill in.

Our goal is to spend no more than 30 minutes a month. It probably won’t take you even that long, unless you include shopping time. Here is one possible way to spend your 30 minutes this month.

• Shop (20 minutes)
• Dig a hole (2 minutes)
• Plant (5 minutes)
• Water (1 minute)
• Gaze at your creation (2 minutes)

The Rest of the Garden

Did you notice the plants behind our raised bed? A decade ago, my mother planted bulbs that would give her flowers throughout the season. You can see them green in April, tulips and daffodils in May, and now irises in June. The leafy greens you see on the far right are raspberries that we planted 2 years ago, blackberries planted 3 years ago, and grapes planted 4 years ago. They climb up a metal trellis then across a wire along the edge of the roof of our house. The hops will probably grow up to the wire as well. Every thing that you see growing green around the raised bed is generally neglected but thrives anyway. That’s our wild garden.

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It’s warm. You’ve got your natural sunscreen ready. And, your toddler is itching to go outside.

What to do? Especially if your toddler is solo, you might want to start with everyday games that are interesting and engaging. Reinvent the familiar in an unfamiliar space. Create an opportunity for hours of open play.

Open-ended play works well as toddlers are learning to push the boundaries very quickly. So, I have come up with a few prompts that encourage your toddler to play without much structure.

Inside Out

Take your inside play things outside. Do you have a play kitchen? Take it outside. Do you have a bunch of stuffed animals? Outside they could become wild animals for your budding young Jane Goodall to meet and study. Musical instruments—or even a collection of pots and spoons—outside become very interesting because little people can make big sounds.

Mudpie Kitchen. You don’t need a specific piece of play kitchen equipment to set up your own mudpie bakery. Set up a work space at toddler arm level with a variety of containers within reach. Provide a bucket of dirt and a basin of water. Go exploring for rocks, sticks, flowers, leaves, and other decorations, and it’s time to bake.

Outside Already

What do you already have outside? Is there anything that could be transformed? Your sandbox could become a treasure chest or an archaeological dig. Your furniture could become an obstacle course when extreme running, jumping, and climbing is called for.

Tricycle Obstacle Course. A toddler who has already learned the basics of peddling a trike or some other wheeled contraption might be looking for a new place to practice this skill. Set up your outdoor furniture, a tree stump, a collection of 5-gallon buckets, and whatever other large treasures you find in your garage. Leave plenty of space to get between the obstacles. Make it interesting enough that there is more than one way to get through. My mother’s method with games like this was to start my children at the beginning and tell them she would count. They would run or ride far away then rush back to her to hear how far she had counted. Both my mother and my children seemed to find this very engaging. They could occupy themselves for an hour as the numbers themselves became part of the exploration when they ask, “If I do this, does it make my time faster or slower?”

Color

Sometimes painting can be messy business. Outdoor painting is a worry free business that can get as messy as it needs to get. Finger painting? That’s for indoors. Outside, how about toe painting–or belly painting for extra giggles. Sidewalk chalk gives a great big canvas. My children loved to use sidewalk chalk on our dark brick house

Big Paint. Sometimes a paint brush just isn’t big enough to capture the wave of color we need. Giant sponges and cleaning brushes, however, make nice, big paint brushes for little hands. Mix sidewalk chalk or powdered paint in buckets of water, making very thin paint, and you have color that your toddler can spread all over the sidewalk, driveway, or wooden fence.

Water

Most outdoor painting leads to outdoor water because it will get messy. Water can be big with a hose or a sprikler or small with a water wall. A water wall is a collection of old containers and tubes screwed onto a back board. When the child pours water in the top, the containers dump water into other containers. What makes a water wall or any outdoor day even better is bubbles. Bubbles are very nearly a requirement for toddlers. Big snaking bubbles and tiny, foamy bubbles.

Car wash. Did your mudpie bakery or your big paint get combined with your tricycle obstacle course? It might be time for a car wash. Set up a bucket of soapy water and a big sponge then line up the trike, toy cars, and anything on wheels that won’t suffer too much from some attentive cleaning. Drive the vehicles to a pile of rags for the final stage of drying. You might call it clean up, but your toddler doesn’t need to think of it that way.

Open Play

Whatever you are doing outdoors with your toddler, don’t fill in time so tightlythat you create stress. Toddlers have new-found ideas and physical abilities to explore. They are driven to explore. Sometimes just going outside together and looking around is enough to spark a deep need in a toddler to explore.

A couple of my favorite gentle reminders for open play and open exploration are:

“Summer in Nature for Your Children” – How simple prompts can launch a child into their own explorations.

“Make Sure You Leave Space” – Importance of our role as parents in doing little or nothing as our children find their way, including finding their own play.

Image © Liseykina | Dreamstime.com

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Every beautiful day is a solar power spill lately. Customers come into the store and ask us about natural sunscreen, and they are very consistent in what they want to know. We thought you might have the same questions.

We look for guidance to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Skin Deep database. Every year, EWG reviews new sun protection products. If you want to check the risks of products you already have on hand, look them up in the database.

Is natural sunscreen really effective? Absolutely! If it weren’t effective, we wouldn’t use natural sunscreen on our own children and recommend that you use it on your children. You know what is even more effective? Staying out of the sun. We also see the benefits of children playing outside in nature, so we look for the most natural ways to protect children so they can play carefree.

How does natural sunscreen actually work? By using a physical rather than a chemical barrier. The active ingredients in natural sunscreen are minerals that sit on the surface of your skin and absorb UV radiation. This is why “absorbance” capacity is one of the most important features to look for in EWG sunscreen reviews.

Why does natural sunscreen leave a white residue? That is the zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, minerals that absorbs rays before they reach your skin. Zinc oxide is a powdered mineral, which we prefer over synthetic chemicals not found in nature.

What are nano particles, and why does it matter if my sunscreen is free of these? Nano refers to the size of particles. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter like a centimeter is one hundredth of a meter. The concern is that nano particles could enter the human body, which is more of an issue with powdered cosmetics than those in a lotion or cream base. According to Badger, ingredients in chemical sunscreens are even smaller than nano particles, and they “are designed to be absorbed into the skin.”

Why is natural sunscreen so much more expensive than chemical-based sunscreen? Because of the minerals used. It is more expensive to use enough zinc oxide or titanium dioxide to create that physical barrier to UV radiation.

What ingredients should I be looking to avoid in my sunscreen? Oxybenzone (enters the bloodstream and acts like estrogen, disrupting normal hormone function) and Retinyl Palmitate (also called retinol or Vitamin A, which in sun can lead to skin lesions and tumors). The Environmental Working Group also recommends that you avoid inhalation risks (powders or sprays), combined bug spray / sunscreen (since sun and bugs don’t often come together), and super high SPF products that give you a sense of security with UVB protection but leave you exposed to UVA rays.

Our Favorite Natural Sunscreens

Think Baby SPF 50+

Active Ingredient: Zinc Oxide – 25%
Skin Deep Sunscreens 2013 Score: 1 (low hazard)

Think baby is a member of the Safe Cosmetics Campaign Compact. Broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection.

Badger SPF 30 Unscented Active Cream

Active Ingredient: Non-nano, uncoated Zinc Oxide 18.75%
Skin Deep Sunscreens 2013 Score: 1 (low hazard)

Also available in Unscented Daily Lotion, Unscented Sport, dreamy Tangerine and Vanilla, and Face Stick. Active and Sport formulas are naturally water resistant, for days at the pool or beach. Choose Lotion when you are just in the sun not the water. Broad spectrum protection from both UVA and UVB rays. Badger is a signer of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

Choose Daily for everyday wear, Active for beach or pool, and Sport for surfing or other very active outdoor summer sports.

Badger Baby Unscented Active Cream

Sunscreen Active Ingredient: Uncoated, Non-Nano Zinc Oxide 18.75%
Skin Deep Sunscreens 2013 Score: 1 (low hazard)

Also available in Unscented Daily Lotion.

Green Beaver Kids

Sunscreen Active Ingredient: zinc oxide 21%
Skin Deep Sunscreens 2013 Score: not included

Also available in SPF 30 and spray. We love that Green Beaver is Made in Canada.

Sunscreen is not recommended for infants under 6 months old.

For a full report on sunscreens, check out the Environmental Working Group’s 2013 Sunscreen Report.

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Uh-oh. Baby in the pool! Do you worry that your baby will leave a mess in the pool? The answer is easy: use a swim diaper. The idea of a reusable swim diaper is very simple: catch poop and let the pee flow through.

A soggy, leaking mess of a plastic or paper diaper leaks everything, not just urine. That is what gives swim diapers a bad name. Avoid those.

A swim diaper is not designed to hold in urine. If it were absorbent, it would weigh the baby down, which would make swimming a much less pleasant activity for a child. Babies need swim diapers just to hold in solids and prevent those getting into the pool. A great reusable swim diaper also has mesh to hang on to what needs to stay and to let flow what needs to go.

Reusable Swim Diapers – How novel!

Anything but a reusable swimsuit, even for a child, confuses me. After adults and older children swim, they don’t toss their suits in the garbage. We rinse, dry, and repeat.

It’s very easy to do the same for your baby. Your baby deserves a soft, comfortable swim diaper that won’t weigh her down or get in the way of her doing what we should be doing in the pool— having a great time and learning how to swim.

We’ve noticed at byNature.ca that even parents who use disposable diapers otherwise will often buy a reusable swim diaper for the pool because it just makes sense. Granted, some of them are completely wowed by how cute reusable swim diapers are.

Really, Use a Swim Diaper

Cloth diapering parents ask us if they can just use a diaper cover for swimming. Yes and no.

If you use a diaper cover as a swim diaper, you risk chlorine destroying the laminate that makes the cover waterproof. More chlorine means greater chance of leaky cover. Leaks don’t matter with a swim diaper, since they are designed to let urine and pool water flow through.

If you do use a diaper cover as a swim diaper then as a diaper cover again, you may find that you have leaks. If your child has grown out of the cover or it isn’t holding in leaks well enough to pass it on to another child, you can use a polyester or laminated cotton diaper cover as a swim diaper. (Don’t try this with wool! Wool absorbs and stretches, so you will have a baggy, soggy mess.)

Baby Swim Diapers Made in Canada

A note from Nature Mom:

“I realized when talking with a customer in the store the other day that all of the swim diapers we carry are made in Canada. That wasn’t done intentionally, but I certainly wouldn’t change it!”

Swimmis from Bummis is a version of their original diaper cover with fun cotton prints on the outside and a cool mesh lining inside. Lycra bindings are stretchy and comfortable for babies. Made in Canada.

Mother-ease swim diapers are made of soft, stretchy, bathing suit material. If you have ever caught hook-and-loop closures from you baby’s swim diaper on your swimsuit, you will understand why some parents prefer snaps. Netting on the inside of the swim diaper catches messes. Made in Canada.

AMP swim diapers have two layers of micro mesh to catch messes. We like that snaps will last a long time, but wiggly babies and anxious toddlers might not stick around long enough for snaps. Made in Canada.

Apple Cheeks swim diapers have one layer of knit and one layer of mesh to let the water flow through easily. This two-size system adjusts with a snap at the waist and another at the thigh. Made in Canada.

When you get home, either toss the swim diaper in the diaper pail if soiled or rinse the swim diaper and wet bag with the rest of the swimsuits if it’s just wet.

Have a great swim!

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Infant pottying, or elimination communication, has entered the mainstream conversation several times recently. It’s easy to laugh, unless you’ve seen it work.

Every day my children, both teenagers now, come to me to talk about the news. They get their news from Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report (which, I tell them often, is only a start. “You could read news online. I could show you how to get news in your Facebook feed.”). Last week, my son was laughing. He wanted me to know how weird it was that some parents didn’t use diapers at all, because they just get their babies to pee in bowls around the house.

“You know,” I told him, “we did that with you. You wore diapers, but I don’t remember you pooping in diapers.”

Yes, that did quiet him. Of course, it became a lesson in not being so quick to judge what is unfamiliar as just weird, and we deconstructed the needs of a comedy news show to exaggerate for effect. We got past the news quickly. He asked why we did it and how it worked. I planted the seeds for my son to look past mainstream pressures to avoid “weird” and look at parenting choices on their own merits.

One of the themes, as my children and I talk every day and call it homeschool, is the need to look beyond the surface of what we read or hear to get to the pattern of facts, the bigger picture, the deeper need. I have been reading a new book by Jennifer Margulis, The Business of Baby. This investigative journalist looks at mainstream cultural practices around birth and babies as they are shaped not by science but by corporate interests. Marketing pushes us to choose actions that serve corporate profits. Ultrasound, ceasarean, formula feeding, vaccinations. These choices are the norm. They are often expected. Parents who do not follow the full mainstream path are pushed or shamed by those around them who have also been conditioned to accept the marketed norms. As my children get closer to their own parenting than to their babyhood, I want to make sure they realize they can get past the pressure to laugh at the weirdos to understand their real choices. So, I’ve been talking to my children about each section of The Business of Baby as I read it. I don’t want them just to know they were born at home and think, “That was the weird choice of my weird mother.” I want them to understand that I looked at the evidence and specifically made that choice because I was confident it would serve them best.

My son isn’t a particularly awkward teen. He asks questions easily. After the laughter, he slows down and thinks through issues. Comedy news gave us a learning moment to push back against the kind of pressures he feels every day to fit tidily into the norm.

For some parents, cloth diapers are too far outside the bounds of their norm. The idea of washing soiled diapers is difficult to process if you have been conditioned to think of diapers as a thing that is thrown away. For many parents, even those who find washing cloth diapers to be perfectly acceptable, the idea of holding a baby over the toilet is too unfamiliar to find a way to fit it into their idea of normal.

One point that I find really disappointing in The Business of Baby is the author’s speculation that perhaps infant pottying isn’t mentioned as a third option in the diaper debate of disposables vs. cloth because no one makes money from parents who choose no diapers at all. On the contrary, most of the cloth diaper retailers and activists I know include a range of possibilities when they teach classes or talk to customers in a store. Many of the cloth diaper professionals I know have used elimination communication with their babies. Few cloth diaper business owners I’ve met are in it for the money. I think the idea that there are discrete choices (disposable diapers, cloth diapers, elimination communication) is a convenient way to draw a comparison without being an accurate description of how parents really choose to deal with a baby’s elimination. It makes each choice weird to those who choose otherwise when the reality of our parenting practices is far more fluid. We cloth diaper; we potty. It isn’t either/or.

Stephen Colbert’s newsie item was based on a New York Times article, which was less unflattering that you might expect. Despite the somewhat dismissive tone of mainstream stories about natural parenting choices, you could learn a lot about infant pottying from reading this New York Times article and watching the Colbert Report. If you haven’t considered going diaper-free at least some of the time, use these pieces to think about it. Don’t be swayed by the peer pressure to join in the laughter. Or, laugh, but try it anyway. You might be surprised how easily you and your baby take to pottying. You might be surprised how close you feel to your baby when you become responsive to needs in this way.

As Jennifer Margulis wrote in The Business of Baby, “Unless you actually try it, it’s easy to dismiss infant pottying as too hard or too messy or simply too weird.”

Image © Iliuha007 | Dreamstime.com

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