Six years ago, when I was a first-time mom and before Magic Beans, I “discovered” these neat new baby shoes that actually stayed on my daughter’s feet. Finally, no more lost socks! It was a revelation. It was no small wonder that Robeez caught on in a big way. Now they are pretty much ubiquitous. The designs have come a long way since that first pair I bought, and Robeez has grown into a mature company. Mature enough, in fact, to attract the attention of Stride Rite, which bought the company last year.

Earlier this year, Robeez debuted Tredz, their line of toddler shoes, which offer a thicker sole and more traditional shoe-like designs. This was a logical next step for them, and the Tredz have had a warm reception from parents. Now, their newest introduction is The Luxury Collection, a line of high-end soft-soled shoes that uses super-premium, buttery soft leather, offers a cushioned insole and features designs that are more elegant than whimsical. They also offer a slightly different sizing scale with a new 0-3 month size that is significantly smaller than their traditional 0-6 month shoe, which generally swims on little newborn feet. The packaging is beautiful and very appealing for gift-givers looking to find something special for a new arrival.

Yesterday, I received a statement from the JPMA (Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association), the well-respected organization that, among many other functions, sets safety standards for many of the most common baby products on the market. In this statement, the JPMA continues to deny the risk of using baby bottles produced with BPA (bisphenol A). The media has been having a field day with this topic over the past six months, mostly stemming from the work of an organization called the Environmental Working Group. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably not sure what to make of all the fuss.

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Today, Britax officially announced their newest seat, the Frontier. This forward-facing seat is designed to hold a child from 25-80 pounds using the 5-point harness, and 40-100 pounds as a belt-positioning booster.

This seat fills a hole in the Britax product line, and should be a nice option for parents looking to keep their kids in a 5-point harness for longer periods of time. To me, the only real competition with this seat is the Safeguard Go, which sports an unconventional design that emphasizes portability, and accordingly doesn’t offer the cushioning and side-impact protection of the Frontier.

For those of you who like measurements (and I know you’re out there), I’ve gotten a full set of specs from Britax. I will try and include the highlights, but if I’ve left out something important, forgive me. Just leave a note in the comments, and I’ll try to get an answer.

The seat weighs 23.5 lbs. The exterior width of the seat is 19.5″, and the height can range (depending on the headrest setting) from 22-27.5″. The seat area is 13.5″ deep and 12″ wide. The top harness slot is 18.25″ high.

The only downside of the Frontier is that you can’t go straight into it from your infant car seat. I understand why they did this, though. Britax is committed to encouraging parents to keep their children rear-facing as long as possible, and to offer this seat with a 20 pound weight minimum would accomplish the opposite goal. From a safety perspective, it is better to go from an infant car seat to a convertible and then into a Frontier. The Radian 80 from Sunshine Kids is still perhaps a better long-term investment, because it is a convertible seat that will hold a child in a 5-point harness up to 80 pounds. But it doesn’t become a booster seat, and trust me when I tell you it’s a battle to convince a 6-year-old to wear a 5-point harness.

The timing of the Frontier is fortuitous in that it coincides nicely with the new car seat law that will go into effect in Massachusetts this summer. More on that later…

I’ve been going to the Big Apple Circus for a long time, but it still came as a bit of a shock to realize that they are celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year. A circus is supposed to be a long-standing institution. It’s not supposed to be approximately the same age as me. How can I be older than a circus???

Fortunately, this fact didn’t penetrate until I was already sitting under the big top tonight, and it’s hard to feel old when you’re sitting in a striped tent and eating cotton candy. For their 30th Anniversary show, the circus has gone back to its roots. Over the past few years, it seemed like the success of Cirque du Soleil was giving The Big Apple Circus a serious identity crisis. The mood started to turn darker, and the acts got a bit weirder. But this year, the show is turning its back on all things bizarre and embracing the charm and simplicity of a classic circus. It wasn’t overly flashy, but it was really entertaining.

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There’s a relatively new board book from Workman Publishing that is creating quite a stir, and small wonder. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before in a board book. Take a look at this YouTube video, and you’ll understand why Gallop is currently #1 on the New York Times Best-Seller List for Children’s Books. The technique is called scanimation and it’s a fascinating (and utterly low-tech) way to bring pictures in a book to life.

When you have a new baby, packing light to go anywhere is nothing short of comical. Babies may be small, but it always seems like you need a lot of stuff. And the longer you’ll be away from home, the more you’ll need. A full day’s worth of supplies - diapers, wipes, a couple of changes of clothes, a few receiving blankets and a stack of burp cloths don’t easily fit into a typical diaper bag. If you’re pumping or giving a bottle, forget about it. But recently, The Bumble Collection debuted their new Natalie bag, an extra-large diaper bag that’s designed for day trips and weekends.

Like all Bumble Bags, the Natalie features the beautiful patterns hand-designed by Jennie Lynn, the founder of The Bumble Collection. The fabric is soft and lightweight, and is both water- and stain-resistant. The changing pad zips into the side pocket to create a handy station for floor or table changes, and can be detached for use in public bathrooms or other tight spaces. The main compartment is very roomy with several pockets for organization, including hidden zippered pockets. There are two insulated pockets on the sides for bottles, sippy cups or snacks, and a mesh compartment in the changing pocket perfect for holding all the essentials. The bag comes with both tote-style straps and a removable long shoulder strap, and it can also be hooked onto the handles of a stroller.

The Natalie is machine washable (dry flat), the lining is soil-proof and in spite of the size, it’s a beautiful, feminine bag. The best part of all is that The Bumble Collection is donating a whopping 20% of their sales of the Natalie to Horizons for Homeless Children, a Boston-based organization that works to help stabilize the lives of homeless children by providing them with support and education.

I love this bag because you can buy it before the baby comes, use it as your hospital suitcase (when you can still actually pack light), and then use it for years as a supersized diaper bag or family-friendly weekend tote.

My friend Jennie Lynn at Bumble Bags tipped me off to this amazing story she posted on her blog. Enjoy!

My little one turned four this past week, and after all the hullabaloo surrounding the birth of my nephew, I hadn’t had much time to contemplate a birthday party. So I decided to cut my losses and schedule the party at the new local MyGym. It wasn’t as economical as doing it myself (last year, we did cupcake decorating at home, a messy but successful endeavor), but I decided to splurge. With this being the first year that my daughter was in a preschool classroom, I wanted to include her whole class, and I just couldn’t handle 20 4-year-olds in my kitchen. Enough with the excuses though; it was the best money I’ve spent in a long time.

We arrived a mere 15 minutes before the party’s scheduled start at 4:45pm. There was a big, beautiful sign right out front that read “Happy Birthday Mira!” and the tables were already laid with tablecloths, plates and napkins. There was literally nothing to do but set up the cake. Our hosts were two wildly energetic college guys who were, even at the end of the day, well up to the task of corralling and entertaining the rambunctious group. The kids had an absolute blast, and I barely lifted a finger, except to take pictures, and then cut and serve the cake - which they would have been happy to do, too. When the party was done, I started to help clean up, and they shooed me away. Unbelievable.

There’s a very small part of me that feels guilty. But then I remember that I crafted the party invitations myself, and my husband and I baked her cake. From scratch. So I guess there’s a little Martha Stewart in all of us, even if we don’t always go the whole nine yards.

Our first foray into Stroller Speed Dating in February was a rousing success. Feedback from the parents-to-be who attended was outstanding, and we’ve been working hard to get this on the schedule at all three stores. This Thursday night, April 3rd, we’re bringing the fun to Hingham. If you’re in the area, or anyone you know is expecting and in the market for a stroller, don’t miss this. It all begins at 7pm at Magic Beans in Hingham (at the Derby Street Shoppes). Refreshments will be served, and everyone who attends will be entered into a raffle to win a Stokke Xplory, courtesy of our friends at Stokke. To RSVP, send an e-mail to kate@mbeans.com.

When someone from Daily Candy contacted me last week to ask about my new favorite toy for Spring, I didn’t hesitate. We just received a shipment of one of the best things I found at Toy Fair - a new game called Capture the Gag.

Capture the Gag is a hide-and-seek game that comes with two Gags, quirky creatures that look like some sort of a Martian scorpion. The Gags are born to hide, and they integrate many helpful features. The bendy arms end in suction cups, the tail is a clip, and the belly is magnetic. So the little guys will go almost anywhere. The only stipulation is, the Gag’s second eye, a bendy little protrusion on top of his head, must be in plain sight. The game is played in teams of two, and each team chooses a room and hides their Gag. Then, there are two ways to proceed: according to the rules, the teams switch rooms and race to be the first to find the other team’s Gag. In my house, we have just as much fun playing cooperatively, and going together from room to room finding both Gags and playing “hot-and-cold” to help move things along.

I love this game because it gets kids up and moving and using their brains. With several kids, it also promotes good teamwork and social skills. The Gags are as much fun to hide as they are to find, and there’s no downtime. The game includes silicone bracelets in team colors, which my kids absolutely love to wear, even when they’re planing one-on-one (which they do frequently), and team flags, which can be used in a variety of ways to juice up the competition.