Rome

Easy snacks at ancient ruins

Switch up the snacks and bring emergency meals
One thing I tried to do was get a variety of new things to snack on (or play with) for Ada which saved us many a time. Sometimes our eating schedule didn't exactly line up with hers, so I was glad I had easy things to give her on the go. I especially love baby food that comes in pounches by Plum Organics. Too often convenient food means junk food, but these are nutritious and easy. We also got some GoGo squeeZ applesauce from Typewriter Grandma. Ada loves it. And I love that I don't have to carry around a sticky spoon when she's done.

Make reservations/get the Roma Pass
If you're efficient while you're out and about, you won't feel as bad about calling it a day earlier than you would sans-kids. Like Florence, we got the tourist pass offered and were glad we did. We got right into the Colosseum, the Forum and all the other sites we went to see. I also made sure we had our reservation for the Vatican early (and we made ours for the earliest slot, 9:00, so there would be less chance of a back up). We didn't have to wait hardly a minute at any site and it made Mom happy if no one else. Also, the metro pass (included in the Roma Pass) was a huge perk. We used it every day. There are escalators but not always elevators, so sometimes strollers can get clunky, but not un-doable. 

Making ourselves at home. Ada does this without pants on.

 If you're going to splurge, do it on a nice place to stay
In Rome we stayed in a great bed and breakfast just a few minutes from the Vatican. I was especially glad to have a place where we could hang out since our trip to Rome was a rainy one. It made a huge difference to have a nice place to come home to, dry off, and cook up some pasta. With kids you're bound to have more down time anyway, so you might as well pay to stay in a place that you can create some good memories in.

Bring a stroller
Rome, like Florence, has many accommodations for strollers (elevators, ramps, alternate entrances) and like most major cities, the sidewalks are wide. The one hard thing about strollers here was finding places to cross the street. The Italians will park a car anywhere it will fit—including straddling the crosswalk and wedged between trees. Sometimes we had to walk down a block or so to find a gap wide enough to pass through.

Dada and Ada at the Roman Forum

Toddler-friendly sites in Rome

The Ancient Forum
This was maybe my favorite place to take Ada. Not only was being outside all day great for her, but there isn't the quiet museum atmosphere, there are tons of rocks/ruins to climb, gravel to sort, places to explore. Get some earphones and listen to Rick Steve's audio guide and you've got yourself a great few hours for both parents and toddler. Bonus: she was so tired after all the running around that she took a great afternoon nap. On a related note: I was glad she was asleep for the Colosseum. I wouldn't rank that on a fun place to take toddlers.

Roman Baths
Though it was raining the day we went so Ada was stroller-bound, I can imagine this as being a great place for toddlers to roam and play as well. There are large grassy areas next to the ruins that looked like the perfect spot for a picnic lunch.

Vatican Museum
Most everything is behind glass, up high, or roped off so little hand can't break anything. Ada was awake for a bit of it, but, as we planned (and she magically went along with) she slept through most of it, including the Sistine Chapel which would have been a small nightmare with her. It's so crowded in there and no one is watching where they are walking. Everyone's eyes are, rightfully, glued to the ceiling, which makes tripping over a little one a distinct possibility.

St. Peter's Square
Fountains, pigeons, Berini's statues. What isn't to love? Plus you can get lots of wiggles out before going inside the church. 

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
One of my big regrets about Rome is not getting to Trastevere. My Roman visiting teaching companion said this area is "Romanissma!" But the weather while we were there was not only a downer, but a slower-downer. We opted for less soggy options since it was a slow slog through the city. I have heard from several people, however, that this church has a great garden out front that mothers and babies alike love to dally in. Bonus, the church is beautiful and only minutes away from one of Rome's most magnificent and oldest churches, Santa Maria in Trastevere.

At Castle Sant'Angelo

For more tips on traveling with toddlers in Italy see my other posts in the series:
Overview
Florence
Venice
Ravenna
Trains

Ada's chariot

I've gotten a few emails lately asking to review the stroller I have. Their questions: What kind do you have? And would you recommend it?

Short answer: Phil & Teds Explorer. And Absolutely.

 Here's why:

Babies come with enough stuff anyway, I'm always looking for things that perform multiple functions. I knew several things before I got a stroller: I knew I wanted a jogger; I knew I wanted a travel system; I knew I wanted to have more than one kid; I knew I needed something that could hold up in an urban setting (where I would be walking to the grocery store, walking to pick up Dad from work, walking to the park etc.); I knew I didn't want it to weight 100 pounds or take up my entire trunk.

I concluded that the stroller we purchased would be one contraption that did it all. I can jog with it, it fits my car seat, it can become a double stroller (that still fits through a single doorway), and it folds up easily and isn't too bulky. And we use it ALL THE TIME. Which is the best part. Walks rock.

So rather than having a jogging stroller, a travel system, and a double stroller, I have one stroller that fits the bill in all those categories.

Other things I love about it: The sunshade that has pockets in it. The customer service. The bassinet attachment. The fact that you can pimp it out.

Ada slept in the bassinet until she was 4 months old. We popped it out on a few occasions and just took it on some weekend getaways and it folds down completely flat and slides under the seat in the car. I loved that when she was a newborn I could put her down to sleep and go on a walk or head to the grocery store with her in a little pod. (Attention new-moms or moms-to-be: GET OUT OF THE HOUSE GET OUT OF THE HOUSE GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. Your emotional stability will thank you.)

We haven't gotten the double seat yet, but we will when baby Anderson #2 arrives. I also love that rather than buying a bouncer, you can get a little frame that the doubles kit hooks on to and viola! you have a bouncer. But when your baby grows out of the bouncer stage (which was like at 2 months for Ada) you don't have a big thing to store, you only have a little bar.

Here's my stuff philosophy: do more with less things. Or rather, find less (great) things that do more (great) things.

A diaper update

*Skip this post if you find yourself offended by words like "poop"

Solid foods brought with them two things: better sleeping (I know, I know, they say solids don't make babies sleep through the night. All I know is that she was a good sleeper, then a bad sleeper, then we started her on rice cereal and now she's a good sleeper again. Maybe it's coincidence...) and nastier poops.

I know quite a few cloth diaperers who quit at 6 months for various reasons. The reason I seem to hear about the most is, "It just got gross." Indeed. Squash can do a number in the diaper department.

But I have found a renewed love for cloth diapering as we have entered this new and lovely phase of it all. Diaper liners + flushable wipes = my place never smells like poo (a bonus in the baby world). As lovely as diaper pails are, I swear they're always stinky. When I nannied out East the summer after Mikey and I got married, one family kept their diaper pail on the back deck. No one ever went out there but the brave soul who had an insatiable craving for a grilled hot dog.

Let's face it, poop belongs in the toilet. Not on the deck, or in the nursery, or in the garbage can for that matter.

So I now place a flushable liner on top of the cloth when I suspect that poop might be just around the corner. (Another magical power moms have is the Poop Predictor). When it arrives, I take out the liner, flush it down the toilet with the wipes, and take care of the rest of the diaper as usual. Viola!

I'll say it again: cloth diapering IS SO DOABLE.

Doth Cliapering

Or cloth diapering if you don't have mild dyslexia like we do. . .

I've been asked for an update from a few friends on how this whole cloth diapering adventure is going. For those interested, here's my recap of the cloth diapering adventure so far.

First: Why cloth?
I have a few reasons and I think it's pretty much the same reason that everyone else these days cloth diapers.

1. Disposables are ex.pen.sive. Most estimate anywhere between $2,000 and $3,000 bucks. Sure, sure, you can get GIANT BOXES of diapers at Costco on the cheap, but after asking my parents (who go with generic brands 90% of the time unless a formal test--aka "hey Paige, which of these syrups do you think tastes better?--reveals a far inferior product) if Kirkland diapers stack up to Huggies and they both gave an emphatic "NO" I decided to price out name brand diapers. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Personally, I'd rather spend that on a hot date. Or a pedicure. Or paying hospital bills (ha).

2. Plastic disposables take 500 years to decompose (When I told my mom this she skeptically said, "What?! Disposables haven't even been around for 500 years. How they heck can they claim that?" Good point. But I believe it. Can't they do some science and figure it out?) and Americans alone toss 50 million a day. That's 20 billion a year. So while I don't expect the world to cloth diaper, and I admire mothers whether they use cloth or disposables, I feel a little less guilty by reducing the gross amount of trash I already produce.

3. They're freaking adorable. When I diaper my baby, I get the same feeling I used to get when I would put on a cute pair of undies. It's a simple pleasure.

Sporting a Golly Molly Pink gDiaper. And a Barbie Band-Aid courtesy of the Doc's.

Second: What brand?

There are an overwhelming number of choices for the new-cloth-diaperer. After a considerable amount of research, I went with gDiapers for a variety of reasons. One of which was because of the hybrid system (aka cloth and disposable--but not just any disposables. Flushable, biodegradable disposables!) I wasn't sure if the babysitting grandmas would be as excited about cloth diapering my child as I was. This also gives me a nice option when I travel or don't have time to do laundry or feel just plain lazy. I also thought the gDiapers were the cutest. Ever. The little "g" on the bum basically screams "Gee! I'm darling!" Yes, "g", yes you are. So far, I love them.

There are three parts to every diaper which seems like a lot of complication, but it's not. At all. There's the cover (the colorful exterior), a plastic, snap-in liner, and a hemp insert (the actual cloth that is next to the baby's skin). Most often, the only part I have to wash is the insert. I have 3 dozen of these and it's perfectly sufficient for full-time cloth diapering. I have 10 covers and 6 extra liners.

Our stash. Disposable inserts are folded on the left. The covers are lined up in the front, and the cloth inserts are stacked behind.

Surprisingly, I hardly ever use the disposables. I think we've used somewhere around 20 in a month and a half? The grandma's (and other babysitters) were actually totally fine to do the cloth diaper thing once I introduced them to the system. I use a wet/dry bag from Planet Wise (after a great tip from a friend). When I change a diaper, I have the clean one already loaded, swap out the dirty diaper (cover, liner and insert) and set it aside until the new diaper is on. Then I'll shake the liner and wipes into the Wet Side and put the cover/liner back in the dry side (unless it was a poopy diaper. Usually what I'll do in that case is unsnap the liner and toss both the liner and the insert into the Wet Side and put just the cover in the dry side). Basically anything dirty or wet in the Wet Side and anything clean and dry stays in the Dry Side. I've never smelled a thing and I carry this bag with me everywhere (unless I don't have Ada with me. That would be weird).

Third: Bottom line

So far, I have yet to have even a hint of a blow-out  (which is amazing considering our little Ada Lou saves them up for a good 2 or 3 days and unloads all at once) or a rash. Laundry has also, surprisingly, been a non-issue. I do it every other day which may sound killer. But guess what?! The loads are smaller so it doesn't seem as bad AND I HAVE YET TO LOSE A SOCK since we have started doing it so often. What a perk!

The cost upfront seems fairly considerable, especially when facing all the other costs that come with having a baby. But we found that by ordering through Diapers.com (first time users got some 30% cash back deals on diapers) it was completely affordable and HOORAY we haven't spent a dime on diapers since. (When Ada grows out of this size, however, we'll have to order the next size up...) Plus there are always sales and deals to be had. Always.

I'll keep you updated on how I like this cloth diapering business once the real poop arrives . . .


Questions? Email me. I've got a lot more where this came from.