Pondering pesos

The best $6 we've spent: two rickety bicycle rentals at Coba, the rather spread-out ancient Mayan ruins Josh and I explored on our own (we left Z with my Mom and Rick).

The worst $8 we've spent: Day rental of 2 lounge chairs and a beach umbrella in Playa Del Carmen. The wind was so gusty Z refused to leave the shelter of the chairs and the view was dominated by topless European women and (more unattractively) ultra-bronzed Euro men in neon thongs. We lasted maybe 45 minutes.

Priceless: Being a member of the secret society of parents of young children. Z spiked a fever last night and I sent Josh off in search of some Children's Tylenol--or its Mexican equivalent. But rather than head to the understocked and overpriced Super Chomak in central Akumal, he stopped the first parent of a toddler he saw (just outside the condo). Naturally, they were more prepared than us and they graciously lent us a full bottle of the stuff.

Just like last year, we've befriended lots of families with kids between the ages of 18 months and 4. Z is drawn to other children like a magnet, but she spends half of her socializing time saying "I don't wanna share my toys." I guess when all you have is a bucket, rake and shovel, you get pretty possessive.

I'll be packing up our sandy belongings tomorrow. It feels just a little too soon.

Back underwater

Aside from a quick dip in Yal-Ku lagoon, I had largely avoided snorkeling so far on this trip. I had a really bad experience last year, heading out in choppy water only to get sucked under by a viscious undertow. I swallowed a gallon of salt water before thinking to myself: I am not going to die snorkeling as my 1 year old daughter naps on shore.

So it was with my heart pounding that I grabbed my mother's snorkel and fins and headed out into Half Moon Bay. But soon my fears subsided. The current was much, much calmer and the coral seemed to have recovered quite a bit since last year, when it had just taken a hurricane's beating. It was breathtaking, actually. I swam alongside a sea turtle and followed a giant gray stingray and a smaller black and white spotted ray. Spiny sea urchins and schools of tropical fish in every color were everywhere I looked. The only thing that marred the experience for me was the overwhelming sense that this underwater beauty is fragile and may very well not last long enough for my children to enjoy it.

Sun, sand and swim diapers

Just a quick note from Akumal, Mexico, where we've been since Thursday afternoon. Our flight from Chicago to Cancun was uneventful. We rented a crappy little Nissan and headed south on the 307, stopping halfway to stock up on groceries, diapers and a bucket of sand toys at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Playa Del Carmen.

My Mom and her boyfriend had already checked into our two bedroom condo, and Z took one glance at the place and yelled, "The beach! I need sunblock! I need my swimsuit! And my new toys!" She's been in heaven ever since, alternating between all of her favorite activities: digging in the sand, "swimming" in the ocean with us and demanding that books be read to her by all present. She's eating well too, gorging on Mexican food, Raisin Bran and the best homemade ice cream in Riviera Maya (imagine flavors like ginger, caramel and mango). And Mexico has one child-friendly item I wish was more available in the U.S. -- shelf-stable "juice boxes" of 2% milk.

We haven't ventured outside of Akumal yet, but Tulum and some nearby cenotes (underground springs/rivers) are on the agenda for the next couple of days.

La beuna vida!

Are you pro-bacteria?

Apparently marketers believe probiotic foods are the next oat bran, which became a food sensation after it was shown to lower cholesterol back in the 1980s. Dannon Activia is a runaway success, and other food makers are rushing probiotic foods to market.

I wasn't paying much attention to probiotics until my doctor recommended I take probiotic capsules before, during and after our trip to Mexico. Apparently all that good bacteria will build up my guts defenses, making me less susceptible to Montezuma's Revenge. For those of you who don't know, mothers-to-be need to avoid diarrhea because stomach remedies like Pepto-Bismol and Imodium are off-limits.

But while I'll be regular, blog posts will not be. Starting tomorrow, I'll be on vacation!

Z says

"I love my boo-boos. Cause when I get an owie, I get a Band-Aid!"
"At doctor's office, we can look at Mommy's belly button? Listen to the baby?" (No, this appointment was for my foot, not my fetus.)
"We had lots of fun at the doctor's office." (Toys, stickers and Band-Aids for Z, liquid nitrogen for Mommy's foot)
"Adrian wants milk from Adriana's boobies." (Referring to her day care provider, who is nursing her 1-month-old)
"I don't like banilla baby yogurt. I want banana!" (I wish Stonyfield Farms would sell an all-banana 6 pack of Yo Baby.)
"I need to go to work. I'm going to a concert!" (Yes, she's her daddy's girl.)

Good morning sunshine

OK, she's fully dressed and hanging out in our bed, but isn't she the cutest?

15 1/2 week belly

This photo, on the other hand, was taken before 7am. Note the hair still wet from the shower.

If you can't get even, get mad

My friend Nancy had her car totaled by a hit-and-run driver last week, and she's getting the royal runaround from Allstate. I encouraged her to submit her horror story to Consumerist and she did. Check it out.

Do you have people?

Tax prep specialists and scum of the Earth H and R Block have a new ad campaign which just makes my skin crawl. The tagline: "You got people." (The tag follows an everyday person declaring, "I got people.") Icky ick! False intimacy together with terrible grammar. And a ghettoisms from a major financial company? That just makes them seem even more shady.

I don't have people. I have an accountant.

School lunch

I spent Saturday afternoon at the University of Chicago's annual Taking the Next Step, a very impressive career event for third-years. I first represented the Advertising/Marketing/PR industry back in 2005, and since last year I had to call in sick, I think I was demoted from panelist to lunch round table panelist this time around. That means that rather than taking questions from an audience of students, I joined a bunch of students and two other alumni at a table in the ballroom.

The third-years, while initially shy and reserved, asked pretty smart questions about our career paths and the pros and cons of our field. But what was most gratifying was that I recognized one of my co-panelists. She was a fiesty student two years ago and now she is working as an account executive at Leo Burnett (although she's marketing discount cigs via direct mail, ick). The account exec and I were able to cover breaking into agency life, while the other panelist reminded the students that not all marketers write headlines and brand plans. He was a trader turned finance grad student who now covers the less glamorous side of marketing: the product, price, packaging piece of it.

Needless to say, nothing like this existed for me when I was a U of C student. I'm all to happy to help the University broaden students professional horizons beyond grad school and consulting.

Three little monkeys

Z joins her friends Lia and Annelise in Annelise's new big girl bed Sunday afternoon. Z's going to be making the move to a hand-me-down toddler bed in the next few weeks. (Thanks for the picture, Stacie.)

Weekend highlights

Sports highlight 1: Our Chavurah had an adults-only evening featuring Cuban food and bowling and I don't know if it was the added weight around my midsection or the fact that I'd never bowled completely sober before, but I managed a bowling score of 100 during both of the games I played. I usually score in the 45-65 point range.

Sports highlight 2: The Bears trounced the New Orleans Saints, which means Chicago's going to the Super Bowl for the first time in over 20 years. I am not a football fan, but I'm excited for my city. The burning question: will there be another Super Bowl Shuffle?

And, for some non-athletic highlights, I thought I'd round of a couple of the latest things to come out of Z's mouth.

"You look like a zebra, Daddy." (Josh was wearing a black, gray and white striped shirt this morning.)
"This store has a whole candy section!" (At Target, which does indeed have a whole "Want Sweet?" aisle)
"I want dos! Dos are only for girls who go potty." (In the Target snack food aisle, pointing at some awful looking food called YoGos)
"I'm wearing a diaper, Mommy?" (Said moments before a blissful look crossed her face and her diaper became sopping wet)

Chewing the fat with Portillo's

One of my New Year's resolutions has been to avoid trans fats, and while it is very easy to locate the forbidden oils in packaged goods since trans fats are listed on nutrition labels, it is much harder to learn if the doughnut or muffin from the local coffee shop is trans fat free. Although, thanks to media attention to this issue, I can say with confidence that Dunkin Donuts doughnuts have trans fats (their muffins do not) and Starbucks baked goods are trans fat free (although that doesn't make them healthy).

I don't eat much fast food, but I know that McDonald's and Burger King are still using trans fats. Wendy's and KFC are moving away from them and Chipotle and Au Bon Pain are trans fat free zones. But what about Portillo's, the local hot dog chain where we do occasionally indulge in some greasy fare? Well, I checked out their website and couldn't find any nutritional information at all. So I wrote a letter. Here's my missive and their prompt, but overly technical response.

Dear Portillo's,

I am a fan of your restaurants, but I am concerned about trans fats. I
was disappointed not to find any nutritional information on your
website, and I need to know, before returning for a hot dog and fries,
if your menu items are cooked in trans fats or if you are using a trans
fat-free cooking oil.

Thank you in advance.

----------------

Dear Alma,

Thank you for your E-mail.  The requirement to provide nutritional
information is a constantly changing area of government regulations.
At the current time, state and federal law requires labeling of those
items sold as retail grocery.  Items sold at restaurants are exempt.

We continue to watch this area so we can remain in compliance.
However, at this time, the information you seek is unavailable
and we are unable to comply with your request.
Portillo's is a privately held business, with a limited number
of stores.  We do not franchise our restaurants.  The cost of
testing to obtain nutritional information and keeping such
information current and correct is prohibitive.  While we manufacture
some of our products, we source many products from multiple suppliers
with varying specifications.  This fluctuation in purchasing
would create the need for prolonged and repeated testing
making it extremely difficult to generate a concise and accurate
report on the nutritional values of all of our menu items.
We appreciate having the opportunity to explain.

To answer your question regarding the oil used to cook our French
fries, it does contain trans fats.

Sincerely,
Cassie Chytracek
The Portillo Restaurant Group

Curly girls unite

If this New York Times trend story is to be believed, we curly-haired gals are finally embracing our natural locks (well, with a lot of help from the 70-odd frizz-fighting products introduced this year).

Unable to manage a blowout myself, I threw out my brush and bought my first bottle of Frizz-Ease back in 2001, when the flat-ironed look was still, er, hot. And I've tried dozens of serums, lotions, creams and sprays in my quest for frizz-free curls.

Consumer Reports retracts car seat report

The blogosphere was abuzz a few weeks ago when Consumer Reports released findings that said most infant car seats were unsafe, failing crash tests at relatively low speeds. But now, given information from NTSB on how their crash simulations may have been flawed, Consumers Union has retracted its report pending further tests.

For your little underachiever

Move over Baby Einstein, Baby Bush toys are developmentally appropriate toys for your future C student. Invest in his or her childhood with these toys and, who knows, your little puddle of drool could someday lead the free world.

Hmm, George Bush does have one thing in common with toddlers. He likes to place things (like, oh, our country...Iraq...the environment) into the toilet.

Know a global warming skeptic?

Gristmill has a comprehensive list of responses to every possible argument the global warming naysayer might introduce. But it's still up to you to make him or her care.

It's a small world after all

As if getting together with our playgroup two days in a row wasn't stimulation enough, Z made a new friend today. And, much like the story of how I met Gloria (and Z her daughter Lia), this one involves both happenstance and friends of friends.

You see, I went to my first session of prenatal yoga at the park district Saturday morning, and Sarah, the woman closest to my due date, looked vaguely familiar. But when she mentioned she had a two-year-old girl, I figured I'd probably just seen her at the pool or the library, both popular mom-and-toddler hangouts. So imagine my surprise when, after the class was over, she mentioned that we shared a mutual friend, Erica. Now Erica doesn't live in Chicago; she went to high school with Josh outside Philly. So I'm all "You remember me from Erica's wedding?" Turns out she wasn't a total savant; Erica had told her that we live in Oak Park and have kids the same age. And that's no lie: Maddy and Z were born one day apart. And now Sarah and I are expecting our second children three weeks apart.

Anyway, Sarah and daughter came over to play this afternoon and our girls got on famously, sharing beautifully, dancing up a storm and playing together. I liked Sarah a lot too, but we didn't play ring-around-the-rosy or dress up like princesses. [Thanks for the long-distance introduction, Erica! Any contractions yet?]

Waisting space

It's not like my first pregnancy was so very long ago, but I don't remember hearing about the Bella Band when I was expecting Z. I did the usual trick of extending the waistband of my pre-pregnancy jeans with a strategically wrapped hair elastic, but once my belly had grown an inch or two, it was up to me to buy bigger clothes or make the switch to maternity pants.

Anyway, the hair elastics quit doing the trick for me about a week ago, so I packed up all my regular clothes this weekend. Then, depressed with how sloppy my too-big maternity pants looked, I made one last call to Oak Park's Majamas store. And low and behold, they'd finally received a shipment of Bella Bands. I stopped in, bought one in black with the gift certificate Josh gave me for Chanukah and prompted returned home to unpack all my regular pants.

I didn't really believe the elastic fabric would effectively smooth out the bumps and zippers of an unbuttoned, unzipped fly, but it does just that. The packaging also claims using the band will help you "wear fun maternity outfits a little sooner," which is a pretty humorous sentence to anyone who has ever worn maternity clothes. But I can see how the band can be used to convert those under the belly waistbands that tend to hang a little to low on us small-hipped gals into more securely positioned over the belly garments.

From the mouth of a babe

So while I was putting Z to bed tonight, we were saying night-night to all her friends and I said "Goodnight Beth B." Beth is a high school classmate of Josh's whom I became friends with while she lived in Chicago. She was Z's very first babysitter (at just 4 weeks!) and we've missed her terribly since she moved to Texas for her medical residency.

Anyway, Z immediately responded with "Where'd Beth B. go?"

"She's in Texas," I said "Probably going to sleep. Do you think she has an aquarium like yours?"

"Beth B. has a crib?"

"Now, she sleeps in a big girl bed."

"No, she doesn't sleep in a big girl bed. She sleeps in a BIG bed." (Here I think she's distinguishing a non-crib kid bed from an adult bed.)

"You're right, Z, she sleeps in a big bed."

"She has an aquarium in the big bed?"

"No, she probably doesn't have an aquarium. It is for cribs."

"Beth B. bought me my doctor book. It's a doctor story. It was a present."

This kid will make an excellent politician or at least a damned good sales rep. She never forgets a name, a face or a favor.