When it’s hot outside, there’s no better cool treat than a popsicle. Every afternoon, my son and I indulge on one (maybe two!) of these frozen treats. But OH, what a mess! By the time we’re done, there’s melted popsicle all over my son’s face, hands, shirt, shorts, the chair and the deck! But not anymore!

The Dripstik was invented by a mom to keep the mess off your littles one. It was designed to hold a popsicle and catch the mess all the while keeping your child drip free. It’s double sided, so you can flip it over and use it to hold an ice cream cone. I love that the dripstik is dishwasher safe and stands all by itself on a flat surface so now I don’t get stuck holding a melting popsicle when my son runs off to chase away every bug he sees.

I tried it out on my two year son. He loves the Dripstik and asks for it every time we have a popsicle. The only problem we had was when he tipped the Dripstik over on himself, which he did the first time he used it. He was almost done with his popsicle (with no drips on hands or clothing!) and then he tipped it over right on his shirt and shorts. Well, he is only two! Once he figured out not to do that, we’ve had lots of drip-free popsicle sessions since and yes, we now even have popsicles inside!

Dripstiks come in lots of cool colors and sell for only $5.99. Visit Dripstik to order yours.

Children can begin potty training at the age of 12 months all the way up to 4 years. That’s a huge range! How do you know when it’s the right time to start working with your child? Well, you need to watch for certain signs like emotional readiness and the ability to control bladder and bowels, to recognize the need to go, and to communicate the need to go.

Studies have shown there are many benefits to signing with your baby. As young as 9 months old, a baby often knows what she wants but can’t communicate it to mommy and daddy causing lots of frustration on both sides. By teaching your baby very simple signs like eat and drink, she can easily tell you what she wants, long before she can talk, reducing frustration and raising self-esteem and self-confidence.

Baby Signs is leading the efforts to help parents sign with their babies and now they have come up with the Potty Training Kit to help you potty train your baby at an earlier age. Many children are ready to potty train as early as 18 months but just aren’t able to communicate well enough to make potty training a success. That’s where the Baby Signs Potty Training Kit comes in. Each kit includes a book for mom and dad to help guide you through the potty training process and has diagrams of signs you can teach to your baby. There’s also a DVD for baby to watch to teach her 5 potty signs and introduce her to potty training, a lift-the-flap book for baby to read, and stickers to help reinforce what a great job baby is doing. The kit has a cute potty train theme all children will love so it comes with a wooden train whistle for baby to blow when she needs to go potty or successfully goes on the potty! This kit is sure to make potty training your youngster easy and fun!

Win it! Win your own potty training kit. Visit Baby Signs and check out all their great products. Comeback and leave me a comment about your favorite product. Be sure to leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner. This giveaway will end August 5th at midnight. I will email the winner on August 6th. This giveaway is open to people with mailing addresses in the US and Canada only. Good luck!

When I was contacted recently by ABC Gift Boutique to review their potty training diaper cakes, I was quite intrigued. I’ve seen lots of beautiful diaper cakes but I’d never heard of a potty training diaper cake. I must say, I was quite impressed.

The potty training diaper cakes include everything you need to get your toddler started potty training including diapers, toilet paper, Pull-Ups, big boy underwear and a box of Kandoo wipes. At the bottom is a book about potty training to help introduce the potty training concept to your child. To top it all off, the cake topper is a toy for your toddler to receive once she has reached her potty training goal. A list of potty training resources for mom and dad is also included. You can get the potty training diaper cakes with some of your favorite characters on them, including Lightening McQueen (Cars), Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego Go, and in a princess theme.

We all know that potty training can be a trying experience for for both toddler and parents so many parents give a gift to encourage potty training. A potty training cake would make an excellent gift from mom and dad (or grandma and grandpa, for that matter) to get your toddler excited about the potty training process. Just think how surprised your toddler would be to receive this!

Visit ABC Gift Boutique to see their potty training diaper cakes. Be sure to mention that you heard about ABC Gift Boutique here at Tots Magazine to get 5% off your order through December 31, 2008.

We’ve been posting reviews here at Tots Mag for a couple of months now but wanted to do something to celebrate our beginning and we figure better late than never!  So everyday this week, we will be hosting a giveaway!  Be sure to check back everyday to see what you can win!

Although my full time job now is being a mommy, I have a Ph.D. in science and know all about those little “germies” that can make you and your family really sick. That’s why I get really freaked out when I go grocery shopping with my son and think about all the germs he could be exposed to when I put him in the shopping cart. They might look clean (or maybe they don’t) but they are really covered with all kinds of germs that cause colds and flus. When my son was an infant, I kept him in his car seat so he never touched the cart. He quickly outgrew his infant carrier and I just shuddered at the thought of putting him in the cart and him mouthing the disgusting push bar that everyone else had put their dirty hands on. So I started looking for a shopping cart cover to protect him. I came across cart covers that covered just the front and back, leaving the sides exposed. Others had to be tied on or were made of multiple pieces which seemed too hard to use when your arms are already full with your baby. I decided on the Clean Shopper shopping cart cover and have been absolutely thrilled with it.

The clean shopper is so easy to use. It is one piece and slips on easily with one hand so no need to put baby down. It covers the whole seat; front, back and sides, so your baby is completely protected from all those germs that could make him sick. Not only does the Clean Shopper protect babies and toddlers, but it makes them so much more comfortable. In fact, the first time I used it with my son, he cuddled up with his teddy and went right to sleep. Boy, that was a great shopping trip! The Clean Shopper is made from quilted, cotton fabric to help pad baby. It has two pockets on the sides to hold sippies or grocery lists and two loops to hook toys on to keep baby entertained. It also comes with a safety strap to keep your child secure in the seat. It is machine washable and holds up well washing after washing and when not in use can be stored in the carrying tote that comes with it. The Clean Shopper fits wooden restaurant high chairs, too. so no need to buy a separate cover.

Visit the Clean Shopper website to see all the great fabrics these covers come in and see the other useful products they offer, like the traveling ABCs shown in the photo above. Clip them on the loops for your baby to play with or to help your toddler learn to associate foods that start with each letter. Enjoy 15% off your order when you check out with the code TOTS.

We just got back from vacation and had the best time! I purchased a new stroller for our trip and am so happy I did. I’ve been looking at buying a new stroller for sometime and finally bit the bullet. I wanted something lighter than our old Graco travel system but that would be just as comfortable for my son and have lots of storage space. I decided to go with the Maclaren Triumphand I absolutely love it!

We spent several days walking around Busch Gardens and Jamestown and the Triumph really held up. The handles are high and ergonomically placed so it was easy on our backs and it turned on a dime, something my old system did not do! My son seemed to be really comfy in it, too. The seat reclines into multiple positions, which alot of umbrella strollers don’t do, and the seat is padded for extra comfort. The stroller is really easy to open and close, even one handed.

My only complaint about the Triumph is that the mesh basket under the seat is not quite as roomy as the basket under my old stroller system. I think this is the case for most of the umbrella strollers. I ordered a stroller bag (the Cups’N Cargo by JL Childress) to hold our extra stuff. This bag is soooo roomy. It has lots of pockets that zip to keep your wallet and cell phone secure and keep wipes and diapers organized. There is also a large mesh bag to hold whatever else you might need. My favorite part is the cup holders. I can’t live without my cup holders. I have to admit, the idea of purchasing a stroller without cup holders was one of the biggest reasons I had held off on buying a new stroller. But this stroller bag has two cup holders which hold baby bottles, water bottles and stretches to hold larger cups (it even holds Starbucks cups, YEAH!). The cup holders on some of the other stroller bags don’t stretch and only fit bottles, which just doesn’t work for us. The bag easily clips on and can be left on all the time even when the stroller is folded up.

After trying the Triumph out on our trip, we have decided to retire our old stroller and use this one full time. It can be used for children up to 55 lbs. so we will be using this one for quite a while.

Now you can personalize your favorite candy with your favorite photo. M&M’s has made it as easy as choosing your favorite color, uploading your photo and then adding your personalized message. Order the new M&M’s Faces as a special treat for your kid’s lunch box or to give as party favors. We think they would be perfect to send as birth announcements. Just put your newborn’s face on them and send them to friends and family to announce the birth of your new sweety. You can purchase them already packaged or in bulk to repackage yourself. Check them out at www.mymms.com

I wish I had found the Baby light and clip when my son was an infant. He would never hold still to have his nails clipped so we waited till he fell asleep to cut them. So of course, it took two of us to get the job done; my husband to hold the flashlight and me to clip. Even then, we were lucky to get two or three toenails clipped in one night. My son’s has the most sensitive feet and he would wake up when I started touching them. Needless to say, I dreaded cutting his toenails so I usually waited until they were so long and icky that I would have been so embarrassed if anybody saw them.

Then I found the Baby light and clip. Its so simple its genius! Its a baby sized nail clipper with a small light built in. The light is just bright enough that you can see baby’s nails but its not too bright to disturb baby’s sleep. The nail clippings are also caught inside of the clipper’s case so there are no sharp nails left behind in baby’s bed. Now there is no huge production to cut my son’s nails. It hasn’t solved my son’s ticklish foot issue but now I can slip in easily and quietly by myself and trim a couple of nails before he wakes up.

You can order your Baby light and clip from Mom4life. This online store is owned by a mom and who has a passion for helping other moms. She offers lots of wonderful products with terrific customer service. Plus when you order from Mom4life, your order always ships for free (and she includes a small gift with your order).

Get rid of all those monsters hiding under the bed and in closets once and for all with Monster Go Away Spray. Go on over to Pink With Sparkles to win your own bottle. I’m definitely entering. My son is moving into his big boy bed this weekend. He has a very active imagination so I’m sure we’re going to need it!