Lunching with a fellow mama who had an infant in tow, I was pleasantly surprised by the baby-amenability of Grafton Street in Harvard Square. The restaurant is spacious enough to accommodate strollers (even the wide-girthed Bugaboo), the atmosphere is cool and calm, and the tables are spaced well enough such that nursing was a piece of cake. Oh yeah, and the food for the mamas was quite nice. The lunch menu offers a variety of salads, formal entrees, pizzas, and sandwiches ranging from $6.95 to $14.95.

A mama pal has high praise for the new magazine Wondertime, a periodical focused on helping parents nurture their children’s love of learning. Suitable for moms of infants through 6-year-olds, this magazine offers ideas about playful activities and everyday adventures with your kids, along with developmental insights. My pal likened it to Real Simple: stylish and simple, but with great, practical ideas.

Wondertime offers a subscription rate of $10 for 10 issues over 24 months ($1 per issue).

What a glorious day it was when my sister-in-law turned me onto the Snack Trap. Designed for toddlers/kids ages 1-5, these cups have easy grab handles and a lid with slits that allows the babe to reach in and grab snacks with minimal spillage when they pull their hand out.

I’m one of those people who exhausts every possible avenue to find the answers before going to an adult for them.

That is why we found “The Baby Book” (of the Sears parenting series) to be a handy reference (the book covers topics from birth to two years). While the attachment approach isn’t for everyone (and we certainly didn’t follow every single suggestion despite being pro-breastfeeding and into baby wearing, etc...), the basic baby care and developmental information is extremely useful. We were able to do a lot of successful troubleshooting at home with this book as a reference (with the web as backup here and there) and it saved us many unnecessary trips to the doctor's office.

Available at Amazon - regularly $21.95, currently on sale for $14.27.

Too bad there’s no Harrods in Boston. That’s where a London mama pal picked up her daughter’s unbelievably cute Miffy rolling suitcase.

Meanwhile, you’ll just have to content your Miffy fix via print media. Among our very first baby books was "Miffy’s Magnifying Glass" ($5.99 at Amazon). The babe loved looking at the bright illustrations and that cute big bunny head, and I think the punch line is funny and fitting for parents in the trenches (literally) of diaper duty (although I should warn you that some reviewers on Amazon don't agree!).

Looking for the latest in European and American baby and children's designs in a setting so soothing that you might drift off amidst the fine linens? Then check out Lester Harry’s, an upscale boutique offering shoes, clothing, accessories, bedding, and gear for babes and a few spa items for mamas. My babe loves her bunny blanket buddy from Lester Harry’s.

Located in the Back Bay (Newbury Street) and Marblehead.

A while back our toddler had a truly crappy week. She had conjunctivitis, some big fat molars breaking through, and then she got a handful of splinters when she grabbed a wooden rail across the street. There were about a dozen of the little buggers – all tiny and deeply embedded.

After I stopped hyperventilating, I combed the web for solutions. We tried the tweezers and needle routine (dreadful), dabbing glue on the end of any protruding splinters (to pull out the splinter), and soaking the babe’s hand in a mix of Epsom salt and water (to draw out impurities). The babe started running away whenever she saw me approaching with another “solution.”
Out of home remedies, we finally called the doctor. After asking us questions about size, material, and symptoms it turned out that all we could do was wait; that the body would reject the splinters and eventually push them out. They also suggested not bandaging the hand to encourage splinter movement. Infections from splinters apparently are uncommon, especially if your babe’s vaccinations are up to date. But the doctor did tell us to call immediately if any signs of infection (e.g., redness, swelling, pus) cropped up.

Lo and behold it worked. In the first couple of days I checked the babe’s hand every day and thought maybe some of the splinters looked like there were coming out. Next thing I knew I had forgotten about them for a couple of days; when I looked again there were just a few, and then none at all. Apparently, sometimes modern medicine can’t beat watchful waiting.

Before I officially become a week behind… I have been meaning to mention a feature in last Sunday’s Globe Magazine that struck ire in the heart of the pro-natural childbirth mama who sent me the reference. “The mother lode of pain,” written by Dr. Darshak Sanghavi of U. Mass Medical (July 23, 2006) is decidedly pro-epidural. Dr. Sanghavi notes that “pain [is]…an utterly, primitive thing, a vestige of insect and reptilian brains" and that "reliance on pain to create meaning during childbirth indicates a constricted imagination.” Ouch.

Please feel welcome to comment on your thoughts on, or experience with, natural or assisted childbirth.

What will they think of next? End your days of crawling around picking up broken crayons with Crayola’s Twistable Crayons (available at CVS in various widths and numbers). A mama pal originally got them to deal with her toddler son’s waxy oral fixation; these crayons also serve as a fun means to sort and name colors, in addition to the usual scribbling.