Putting Indestructibles to the Test

A few years ago, when Baz was a baby, my mom sent us 2 books from a company called Indestructibles. They are, supposedly, immune to the abuse toddlers put books through. By the time we got them, I'd already been working with Baz to be gentle with books so he did not put them through the wringer.

 (tip: start with catalogues. If those get torn, no one cares, and they're more delicate than picture books, so by the time you introduce picture books, the bar has been set.)

Walter got them pretty early - and he's a kid who puts everything in his mouth (Baz, not so much.)

He just can't get enough of the amazing illustrations and the tasty paper. Trust me, he has been known to just gaze at the images, too.

These books have been put through the ringer. On the left - Humpty Dumpty gets some love, but Frere Jacques (about a chef who dreams of food) gets the most love. He crushes, chews, sucks, throws, peruses, and smashes. They are crumpled, but that actually makes them softer. The illustrations are not worse for the wear, either. 

Hey Diddle Diddle was Baz's - he reads it quite often. Note its near-perfect condition. I have a rather fastidious child.

I decided to put them to the ultimate test: ironing. I used the steam, a fairly high heat, and a linen napkin (you should always put something lint-free and color fast between your iron and whatever you're ironing, lest you over-heat the fabric and leave shiny spots or burns. Those are tell-tale wear signs and not acceptable at all....wonder where my 3 year old gets his fastidiousness from? ;-) )

After ironing - flat books again! 

Ok, so I found one chink in the armor of the virtually indestructible books: direct heat from the iron will melt the pages. I found this out when I was ironing and the cord of the iron pulled the napkin away. I do not recommend that. I'm pretty sure you could cut these with scissors, too, but I don't want to try because we enjoy these books!

So there you go - the perfect infant books. I want to make a point of saying these are the perfect car books - they're not hard or heavy like board books, they're not prone to tearing like paperbacks, and the pictures are colorful and inviting. We keep at least one in the seat pocket at all times.

For legal reasons I need to say that this company doesn't know who I am, that I ironed their book, or even that I own their books. They do not care that I melted Frere Jacques because they do not know that I own Frere Jacques (they may care if they ever find out, but who knows if that will happen. 12 people ready my blog.) They also would probably like to know that I HEARTILY recommend these books as gifts for the small ones in your life and that I feel the price (~$5) is well worth it. Find them at your local book store* or amazon.

*why shop local? Here's why. Seriously. Click through and read at least the cover page at the

 3/50 Project. 

You'll be amazed.

Monster Be Gone!

Do you have one of these living next door to you? A Macaw? The bird is beautiful, but its squawks are startling and jarring to an adult (when I first heard them I honestly thought something was being mauled) and they're downright scary to a small child.

Husband didn't help things when he coined it the Dinosaur Bird and made up this song: "Dinosaur Bird is gonna eat you!" Which he happily sang to Baz ONCE. 

We've been paying for it ever since.

Add to that a new fear of anything even remotely scary (scene not well lit enough in an otherwise mellow movie? TOO SCARY! Someone being snappish? SCARY! Women in a gas mask? SCARY!) and we've had a fun night pattern emerge.

Enter pinterest and co-workers.

It's not revolutionary, but kids are literal and so it's miraculously effective.

We made a sign:

It reads: NO Monsters or Dinosaur Birds ALLOWED!!!

Then we made some spray, just in case the sign isn't enough for the persistent ones: 

 

The California Baby spray bottles are the best. And the Calming Room Spray we already had has the added benefit of combating the Stinky Feet Boy Room smell that has a tendency of hanging around sometimes.

VOILA! So far, so good. Bedtimes are much easier these days. 

Unless the Dinosaur Bird has been squawking, that is. I love/hate that bird.

Whew!