After reading about all the contaminants – including cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, titanium and chlorine (not to mention pharmaceuticals, PCB’s and rocket fuel!)  that were in the water – all American city water – I nagged my husband into putting a whole house water filter on our water system before my first son was born. Honestly, it was the best gift he ever gave me.

I am frequently asked by women what they should register for. And my first recommendation is always a whole house water filter. Your child bathes and drinks this stuff daily – and it just isn’t clean or pure enough for your babies highly absorbent skin and vulnerable developing system. He needs clean water more than cute onesies, stuffed rabbits and silver rattles. I know that water filters aren’t adorable, photogenic or engravable – but the benefits to your child’s immediate and long term health are inestimable. THIS is one of the top ten best gifts you’ll ever give your child. All for the price of one really nice handbag. Not including installation.

Why am I mentioning this again now? Today the Chicago Tribune featured an article on lead in Chicago drinking water …

High lead levels were found in drinking water in seven of 38 Chicago homes tested by federal regulators this spring, according to records obtained by the Tribune.

Why should you care?

Experts say there is no safe level of exposure to lead, which has been known to cause diminished IQs in children, even at low levels, and heart attacks and strokes in adults.

This is bad stuff, ya’ll. And very easily kept from your child’s system.

If you are preggos you honestly want to think about registering for a whole house water system.  Our water isn’t safe enough for you or anyone you really love (maybe for a despised boss – but that’s it). At first, other moms will roll their eyes and think that you’re a right nutter – but ask them to Google “water quality” and let’s see who is rolling their eyes then.

Note: Champagne has none of these contaminants.

Cheers!

Please watch this video. I’m a lifelong Republican – but I’d vote for this man, stuff envelopes for him, and rub elbows with grimy NYU liberals if he were running.

Sen. Lautenburg and the Safe Chemicals Act.

Of course, he’s not running. But he’s the only cat up there in them hallowed halls of mawble columns that seems to give a lab rats @#$ as to the toxic soup we are living in.

Pass it on.

I’d get on my knees and beg, but you can’t see me.

Organic cherries on top.

Thank you.

My son won’t be allowed to play with a computer until he’s 6 or 7 – for various health and other reasons that I won’t bore you with – but I know that he needs to be familiar with a keyboard and, like all boys, likes “buttons” and things that go clickity clack.

Luckily, mama found an “old fashioned computer” on Etsy, that I think beautifully fits the bill: a vintage typewriter!  The newest, shiniest, most mercury and lead laden expensive PC can never compete with the cool and romantic lines of a vintage typewriter of any era. And that sound! It’s like the sound of a heavy Sunday rain on Fall leaves. The sound of horses trotting on gravel. The sound of hard nosed journalism. And the great American novel being pounded out despite being almost choked by a fog of Whiskey and cigars — it’s the sound of all the best words ever not written by quill. The weight and caprice of the letters is a feeling I want my son to have. The look of a mistake “X’ed” out, the darker, inky cast of words written with greater fury…of these great things my boy shall not be deprived. No ma’am. That boy will learns to pound out his words like millions (including mama) before him. Let him know the banal homogenous apathetic click of a plastic keyboard when he’s old enough to mourn the loss of dragons, Santa and a very large bunny. If Joyce, Oppenheimer and Churchill only needed a typewriter – it’s good enough for my boys.

Plus, low carbon footprint, no lead, mercury or a zillion other nasty chemicals, no radiation and no creepy guys to worry about. Nope. Just pure music and an infinite number of words….

Vintage typewriters.

My new favourite thing.

Recently, a very lovely mum invited my son (and me) to a Pump it Up party. Pump it Up is a popular party location in Chicago where pizza and sugar fueled kids run screaming and flailing whilst they – quite literally – bounce off the walls.  (This isn’t anything you should witness sober.)  Quite honestly, I am still recovering from the one and only Pump it Up party I attended 3 years ago, so I was fortunate that being a green mum provided a ready made excuse. Okay. I actually didn’t have the cojones to tell her why we couldn’t attend – but I can tell you….

The Center for Environmental health uncovered that bouncy castles, such as those at Pump it Up, have been found to have 70 times – SEVENTY TIMES – “the federal limit for lead in children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Independent testing commissioned by CEH also showed that lead from bounce houses can expose children to the toxic chemical at levels that violate California law.”

You heard that correctly.

“Bounce houses are often made with vinyl (polyvinyl chloride, or PVC), a “poison plastic” that is often made with lead, a neurotoxin that can cause learning disorders, brain and nerve damage, hearing problems, stunted growth, and digestive problems. Scientists are increasingly convinced that there is no safe level of lead exposure, especially for young children.”

Yup.

For my more astute readers, I had posted about this a while back, but it’s summer – so I thought that it was worth another mention.

PS: If you now have to scrap your own plans for a bouncy party, consider something like this, for boys, instead…

Or for girls, a nice “art gallery” fete…

So much nicer for pictures.

And your friends that are pregnant and can’t take Xanax.

Happy Birthday!

When you become a green mama some people will start to hate you. Not dislike – but truly and verily detest you. They will think that you are ridiculous, self righteous and dramatic. They will roll their eyes. They will feel sorry for your child. They will continue living with their heads buried in the sand as juniors fertility, cancer and health is compromised by the corporatocracy that we live in that has allowed for childrens health to go straight into the toilet. Our kids are sick. They are suffering from increasing levels of ADD, Autism, Asthma – and thats just in the “A’s”! And to be honest, there is only so much that we can do about it. But do, we must.

Though you may end up with only 3 friends – (less if you are Republican. Trust me. I am one.), you need to get your Rosa Parks on, inhale the spirit of those first suffragettes, feel the “Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death” patriot vibe – and soldier through like a Brit being bombed by Germans.

Stay the course.

And when you say that your son can’t play with metal cars, like the one above that was found to have a ridiculously high lead content, as all the other children are, you will know that you have saved your child from that exposure, as all the other mums add just that much more sickness causing metal into their childs body. (No doubt they’ll be off to McDonalds a bit later in the afternoon.)  They will, you can be sure, laugh at you behind your back – but you are mitigating your childs exposure to disease causing substances making his life better. His health better. His psyche better. (Lead is, as you know, responsible for all sorts of neurological conditions – including lower IQ.) And isn’t that all just EXACTLY what a mum is supposed to do? Generations ago would you have said, “oh, let him have just a little of the poison mushroom”?! No. You wouldn’t have done.

These cars look sweet. The Disney Princess jewelry looks sweet. All these recalled toys have looked just delightful – but they are poisoned. And like mushrooms, only an expert can tell you which ones are bad.

Stick to green or eco toys this season – or at least check HealthyToys.org before buying ANYTHING. Your childs health shouldn’t be compromised over a cheap toy.

For a pittance have our lives been sold….

I should like to apologize in advance for this post. Especially to my best friend who did such a gorgeous job of stringing our Christmas tree lights. Which I now have now had to remove.

So. From the Daily Humbug…or, via Environmental Health News (which is my homepage) – it seems that over half of the Christmas lights tested contain lead at up to 30x what is considered a “safe” level for children. When it comes to my son, there isn’t a safe level for lead – so today, with a heavy heart, I am denuding the tree of her sparkle.

I mean, honestly.

What eggnog drinking idiot thought lead on CHRISTMAS LIGHTS was a good idea???? Who ARE these people?! Are they bitter, childless, infant hating psychopaths????!!!!!

I can’t EXPLATIVE stand it.

Candles would be safer.

Bah!

(PS: I have scoured, and not found any non-PVC/lead covered tree lights. Please let me know if you find any. Gracias.)

I don’t usually (or ever), post warnings likes this. But having had many younger family members and friends children play on these things (as did I, as a child) – I felt it may be of interest.

Bouncy “castles” and massive jumpy toys are irresponsibly toxic. From the Center for Environmental Health:

“CEH testing found one bounce house contained more than 70 times the federal limit for lead in children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Independent testing commissioned by CEH also showed that lead from bounce houses can expose children to the toxic chemical at levels that violate California law.”

(Read more: HERE)

Really? SEVENTY BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP TIMES?!?!

Luckily, a suit is in the making:

“It’s the PVC to blame for the lead content in these bounce houses. This “poison plastic” has prompted the California Attorney General Jerry Brown to file a lawsuit against companies that supply bounce houses.”

(Read more: HERE)

Being safe is a total buzz kill. I get that.

But 70x?!! It’s safer to give them a few Menthols for Pete’s sake.

That doesn’t really seem like anything to celebrate.

I can only imagine that if you are a parent, you already are signed up for several product recall sites – but if you are a friend or auntie, you may not be….

I almost bought this exact book for my beautiful ballet obsessed niece, before I got pregnant and learned that 90% of “cheap” costume jewelry is a) Made in China and b) full of lead.  This book was recalled last year for – surprise – having hazardous amounts of lead, after over 500, 000. units were sold.  How many of those childrens’ moms do you think knew of the recall?  Me too.

Please sign up for a product recall site.  Or just buy green or organic toys (I have a massive source list on the right).  It’s so not worth the guilt later….

Toy Recall Links:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html

http://www.healthystuff.org/departments/toys/

http://www.safetoys.com/

Many people are fortunate enough to  have a family heirloom that they should like to have in their nursery, but that they are concerned is covered in generations of  lead paint. Right they are.  As many of us have read, removing lead paint releases toxic particles into the air, and just creates lead snow.  Not a brilliant thing to do. 

Though I recommend getting someone else to do this – there is a very affordable and safe (well, as safe as safe gets), way to strip Great Grandma Berthas rocking horse, painted Mexican avocado green in 1964: Soy Gel.

It seems that this goo, made of 100% American soy beans, is ideal for lead-based paint removal as the lead becomes encapsulated in the gel, preventing airborne particles and allowing for safe disposal. Further, it doesn’t contain methylene chloride.  (Rule of thumb: If you don’t know what it is, it’s bad for you.)

Again, if you are preggos, do NOT go anywhere NEAR lead anything.  Have a handy in-law do it for you.

And after the offending paint is removed, don’t forget to uses non-toxic finishes to prepare it for your little ones. Just please don’t use Avocado Green.

This is not a torture device – it is a bathtub, inspired by the tubs used by those eccentric Europeans.

Needless to say, it’s BPA, PVC, phthalate and lead free (yes, those things are in conventional plastic tubs), but, most importantly, it seems that babies love being in warm water up to their chests, and in the fetal position – both of which are accomplished in the Spa Baby.

I haven’t bought one of these space age looking things, but they are also BPA/PVC free. (My only concern would be that baby might reach up and touch a still warm spout.  I still have a scar from having done just that.) I do love the name: the Puj Tub (it makes me lust for a curry). It doesn’t seem that anything larger than a baby or Shih Tzu could fit in one, though.

And what to wash the dear one with?  Natural sea sponges (best brought back from the beach holiday you should squeeze in before the baby), and any soap (when he is old enough), that has a “0″  rating from the Skin Deep database.

For a yummy and cozy dry off, organic towels  from Under The Nile are just the thing.

Note: For those of us having winter babies, rather than worry about creams and lotions, just consider using extra virgin olive oil. It’s been the safe choice of mother’s for 4ooo year - and soaks in gorgeously apres bath. (Any oils that contain nuts, such as almond or sunflower, are to be avoided until they are cleared by the Doctor of not having nut allergies.) 

Let me know if you use the Raj, and love it.