After their chocolate milk or pasta with tomato sauce it is always good to have something to wash their durty face. Of course you can use the baby wipes but my kids just love too much baby wipes to play with it.
Until last year I was using a face cloth (the French type, where you slide your hand inside, it is called a "gant de toilette") that you normally use to wash your body or for my kids ears and head.
Until I discovered in US that most mums have wash wipes, for some it is even a gilt for the baby shower. The wash cloth is thinner and dry faster than the French glove, and doesn’t smell that bad after just one use. So I bought like 20 from Carter’s that you can find at Target.
So far I didn’t find any in Paris. So for the one we live in France, don’t hesitate to ask for it, it is those little things that helped me to be more green oriented. Voilà!
There is some morning you just want your breakfast and read your emails but with 3 kids it is not always like this. So this morning I decided to add some spicy in my life giving crayons to my oldest kids but the younger decided that he could also be a Picasso so one minute after I just discover red walls. As their dad was still sleeping I put everyone in the stroller and run to buy Magic Eraser from Mr Clean.
I discovered this product through a commercial in US 3 years ago and I decided it would be my buddy and now it is also available in France Yes!
On the way back the dad was awake and unhappy to see this new decoration but at the end of the day the magic worked so well that I just learned from my lesson: no more crayons for the breakfast. Just be careful don’t let the kids clean their mess for once with this sponge.
Travelling with kids for some parents it is just impossible for me it is okay even after 12 hours flight. But bringing kids to a good restaurant is just unthinkable. When a friend invited me lately in a French restaurant in Boston I just cannot recommend any.
So decided to be able to choose among the big choice we have in Boston. The answer was in the Boston magazine that I bought until I discovered that they have a great website that help you to choose exactly what you like wherever you live in Boston, Beyond Boston, or Cambridge…
So the only French restaurant I went in Boston is Pigalle, rated Best of winner Boston, and I really had a great time, the food is good for my French taste and the design, the light, the waiters are nice so I recommend it as The Boston Magazine saying "Rich, savory fare paired with exceptional service sets this cozy hideaway apart. Chef Marc Orfaly uses traditional techniques (mostly French) but there is a true sense of fun in his food.(…) this is an upscale spot, Orfaly isn’t too haughty to delight us with a dessert of fresh-baked cookies."
Another French restaurant that many friends recommend me is Le Petit Robert, they say that is good food and the Boston Magazine highlights "Affordable French fare without sacrificing style" .
Regarding Paris you can go in a bistrot or some brasseries during the summer with kids, in this way you will be in a terrass, but don’t go with a double stroller if you don’t want to hear bad things about kids… My favorite spot is Paul you can find one anywhere in France and it is nice food with kids, you won’t cry if the plate falls down. You will find all the good French dessert, Eclair au chocolat, macarons, tarte aux citrons… Bon Appétit!
Travelling between France and US, offers me the opportunity to find the best gears for my kids.
So I would like to share with you some of the things I really appreciate from France and US. With the first baby I discovered not always at the right time all the things I would love to have for the second baby.
For me the first things I brought back from US were the vibrating bouncer from Fisher Price and the Bassinet from Kolcraft. I just could not live without them. The baby was always in movement in his mother tummy so when it doesn’t move he cries so I had always the cradle close to my bed that I could move with one hand when he was crying. And to be all set some people just swear by the Ergo baby Carrier and the Phil&Teds stroller.
When my kids grow-up I found in US something to give medicine and to feed them without chocking.
When you are in France some brands are really appreciated in US such as: Petit Bateau (be careful they don’t cut the pyjamas in the same way in France and US), Jacadi, Mustela. It is really good brands and more expensive in US. Now you are ready for a smart shopping!
One of the great things I discovered in US is the mother groups.
When I had my first baby and moved in California, my little girl was 2 years and half and just started talking in French. I didn’t want to mix up her head with two different languages so I joined a French mother group. It was really great because you have french people but also american mothers that speak a very good french, so every week my kids could join this group and I could meet new people. I highly recommend to google "french mother group" in the city of your choice or to look in Yahoo! groups.
In Silicon Valley you also have another american mother group named Las Madres. Like other mother groups you have a meeting once or twice a week, in your area with your kids age.
In Paris I joined an english mother group, Message. Message is really cool, because once my kids had started to speak french and english I wanted they still be connected with this community. To celebrate Thanksgiving, Halloween, or the Valentin’s day, it is not as warm as in US but it sounds like good memories. You have weekly meetings with children of the same ages, you have a forum, twice a year you can sell all your old kids stuff…but indeed it brings you more than that!
In Boston I joined the Gardenmom group. To be honest I never attended a meeting but I use it to be in contact of what’s going on in this city, to find a good hairdresser, to know where to buy specific things for my kids and myself…
So if you don’t belong already to a mother group, don’t hesitate, your kids will really have fun and you can meet your new best friend!
When I was pregnant of my first baby I decided to buy a MacLaren stroller, because in Paris the pavements are wide like side by side strollers. I didn’t want to have a heavy stroller in case I would have to carry it, so I just took the Triumph. But I wanted also a pram for the good health of the back of my baby.
Then I moved in the bay area, south of San Francisco, and there I realised that I could have a bigger stroller with big wheels. Big wheels are so easy to push, it is like biking, it is a great pleasure. I found a BabyTrend single stroller, I loved it.
As I was using the car almost all the time, I needed something more convenient for all those moments my kid was falling asleep in the car seat and take her in the stroller. The Metrolite of Graco with 2 bases for each car and the Graco car seat were my team until…I had my second child.
With the arrival of my second child, I needed a new team stroller. Back in Paris for few months, I still needed something not too wide, so the Graco double stroller was good with the big basket but it is also good for the arms. It is also too long in the parisians elevators. So a compact double stroller that look like a single stroller is good even if still tough to push.
So I discovered one day a friend from Message pushing a Jane double stroller so easily that it became my new buddy in Paris I just added a little bag from Mac Laren because the basket is too small for me. And now in Boston the side by side stroller of BabyTrend is my companion, but the fight between kidsin the stroller can happen more often! So that’s it!
Basically my advice would be to have:
-A Mac Laren Techno with one kid and with the second kid a Jane in Paris.
-Jane double stroller for 2 kids (or more)
-In a city where you use cars most of the time the Graco is ideal.
-For the weekends and cities with big pavements, a three wheels stroller is wonderful! Now make your choice…
As a French parent I raise my kids in a both environments. The Alliance Française is always a good resource to find events, information… for the one who wants to be in a French network.
So this year if you want to be in a French mood the French Library Alliance Française of Boston propose differents events to celebrate Bastille Day. A French Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts, July 9 – 26, a welcoming ceremony for two Poitou donkeys, just arrived from France July 12 at 1:30 pm. And of course the 14th of July they celebrate Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité at Boston’s own Bastille, the Liberty Hotel!
And in case of a good weather, we can still hope, the brasserie Miel a French Brasserie will feature the French game of ‘boules de pétanque’ (similar to the game of boccie) the 11th of July from 5-10pm.
And for live entertainment, dancing, Harvard Square will be the place, July 12th from 3pm-1am. So let’s celebrate the summer to have sun!
Look at this new advertising for Evian, the French Alps natural water. This story explains everything. 10 years ago it was the first Evian’s advertising with swimming babies. Evian is usually used in France to prepare formula for babies.
For me the best tasting natural water is Volvic, from the ancient volcanoes of the Auvergne in France but the advertising is less fun!
Bad weather again in Boston! Even when it rains, there is still more things we can do with kids and a double stroller than I could do in Paris. When you go in Paris without kids it is a pleasure to move, there is always a bus stop or a subway at the end of the street but when you start having 2 kids everything get complicated except for the Line 14 that goes from Saint-Lazare to Bercy. Indeed it is a great but old network so it would cost a lot of money to add an elevator everywhere.
Here in Boston it is just a pleasure to go anywhere by bus, subway, you can most of the time find an elevator.
Plus here you can find skybridge that brings you in malls, to your shopping center. So let’s enjoy the elevators and the sliding doors.
Of course once you have done your shopping with kids you can do:
-Some cooking, it is one of my favorite activities because everyone is happy even the dad after his working day can eat a yummy meal
-Some crafts, with my friend Andrea and her kids they all enjoy doing their own cards. With papers and stickers and glue, you are set for a great afternoon.
Keep enjoying this bad weather in Boston, the kids won’t get sunburns and you don’t have to run after them to put a sun hat!
Gear, Kids | admin | 
July 30, 2009 10:17 PM | 
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