Neighborhood: East Side of Providence
Kidoinfo Interviewer: Katy Killilea

Kidoinfo: Where were you born?
CSB: Boston.

Kidoinfo: How long have you been in Rhode Island?
CSB: I’ve been in Rhode Island since eighth grade (scary), except for being an undergrad in upstate NY, and doing grad school in NYC.

Kidoinfo: What is your current state of mind?

CSB: Slightly spazzy. I’m trying to focus on NOT multitasking; just doing one thing at a time and seeing it through to completion.

Kidoinfo: Who’s in your family?

CSB: My hilarious husband, Eric, and our cheeky kids, Alice and Leo.

Kidoinfo: What trait do you most admire about your family?
CSB: We laugh and laugh and laugh.

Kidoinfo: What is your favorite thing to do?
CSB: Travel (but ask me the last time I went anywhere exciting!).

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In Exchange City, students take on the roles and responsibilities of business owners, entrepreneurs, employees, civil servants, public officials, and consumers in a wide variety of stores, businesses, and government offices.

This valuable hands-on learning experience for middle and high schools is designed to integrate into the regular school program. Students from participating schools begin with a standards-based curriculum taught by teachers in their classroom over a two-week or six-week period, learning about entrepreneurship, economics, and financial literacy. The in-class program is followed by a field trip visit to a model city that the middle and high school students run themselves. Exchange City lets students apply and reinforce the lessons learned in the classroom in this real-life “city” setting. Since our children are our future, this program is a great way to prepare them.

Created by the Learning Exchange of Kansas City, Exchange City is one of the largest hands-on education programs in the world and more than 1,000,000 students have already participated. There are twenty-four Exchange City sites throughout the United States and more on the way. Rhode Island opened its own “city” on May 3, 2007, on the Harborside campus of Johnson & Wales University. This Providence facility serves students in Rhode Island, Southern Massachusetts, and Connecticut. By the time Rhode Island’s Exchange City celebrates its one-year anniversary, it will have hosted almost 12,000 students. What a way to make a difference.

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I took my kids to see Tape Art Artaquarium at the recently opened 5 Traverse Gallery in Fox Point. This unusual exhibit is the work of Michael Townsend, James Mercer, and Jay Zehngebot from the Trummerkind art collective (some may know them as “the mall artists”). For four weeks, they are residing in this funky little gallery off Wickenden Street and creating Tape Art. Using low-adhesive drawing tape, they create temporary, large-scale murals designed to interact with both the viewer and the environment. One of the artists showed my kids how to draw with tape—which is both easy to shape and easy to remove if you change your mind. We were at the gallery for about an hour before the opening so everyone was a bit busy setting up for the event–including bringing in buckets of stones to create the aquarium floor–but they invited us to come back another day when there would be more time to watch them work on the mural and for the kids to draw with tape.

My kids and I were so inspired to make our own art that we stopped at Utrecht around the corner on Wickenden Street and bought a couple rolls of blue (Scotch Brand) removable painters Tape (3/4-inch x 60 yards on sale for $2.99 a role, regularly $3.99) and headed home to decorate our walls. Although my boy’s bedroom is a converted attic with sloping walls in one corner, there’s an alcove under the eaves (we call it “the clubhouse” and it is where the boys currently sleep). The walls were plain and unadorned–a blank canvas waiting to be transformed.
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By Maura Keating

Many girls play with dolls when they are young. From Cabbage Patch Kids to Barbie, I loved to drag my dolls about and play Mom. Very little from that time of my life has actually prepared me for the realities of motherhood, except for one strange correlation between dolls and babies: It’s just as hard to keep shoes on Baby as it is to keep high heels on Barbie.

They are ubiquitous when you are talking about baby feet among Moms who know, but they deserve a mention here—Robeez makes the baby shoes that you’ve seen on little feet everywhere. Gentle elastic on the heel of the shoes keeps the soft leather shoe on baby’s foot so these won’t be falling off. My son can yank almost anything off his feet, but the Robeez stay put. Pediatricians recommend soft, flexible soles for baby’s first shoe, and the soles of Robeez shoes are made of a non-slip textured suede that can take a lot of abuse and my son puts his shoes through a rigorous test. And while the shoes are lightweight and perfect for beginning walkers, expert walkers like them too. Robeez are available in sizes up to four years. When my son started walking, we made the mistake of getting my son a pair of “real shoes.” They were heavier than the Robeez and clunky, causing him to trip. Instead of the usual pitter-patter, he stomped about the house like Frankenstein’s monster. The shoes looked cute on, but he insistently tugged at them to take them off. These “real shoes” were also hard to get on, while the Robeez slip on easily. I rarely dig the “real shoes” out of the closet. Robeez have become our mainstay.

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Crayons, comics, and chocolate chip star pancakes for the boys. The 1621 (turkey) sandwich and juice for my husband, and a spicy apple and brie omelet and hot coffee for me. The boys were in a good mood and full of animated conversation. Lovely.

Blue Elephant
312 Wickenden Street, Providence, RI 02906
phone: (401) 383-8149
web: www.blueelephantprovidence.com
Open: Daily from 7am – 9:30pm (Closes at 3pm Monday & Tuesday)
Dinner served Wednesday - Sunday from 5pm–9:30pm 
Special children’s menu
Items on the breakfast menu are served all day long
Lunch items are served daily starting at 11am
Dinner: Nightly specials in addition to the standard menu items like burritos and sandwiches. You can BYOB since they do not have a liquor license – makes for an affordable date night out.

Note: They have a small lending library (mostly for adults) from Symposium Books. Maybe people will start dropping off some children’s books and expand the collection to appeal to the younger set.

Read Fine(ish) Dining with your kids for other restaurant recommendations.

By Marianne Ruggiero
Coordinator of Family Programs at The RISD Museum

Shakespeare wrote, “All that glitters is not gold.” What this means is that you have to be careful about judging things that LOOK really good on the outside, because chances are that they might not be so great when you look on the inside. Inner value, in other words, is just as important as surface value.

Think about a favorite bracelet or ring you own. Is it special because it’s beautiful, or because a special person gave it to you as a gift? Perhaps it’s both. This makes our jewelry extra-special for us, in terms of its beauty and sentimental value.

Jewelry has played an important role throughout history. Different cultures attach very different meanings to the pieces of jewelry they create. Let’s look at some examples of this:

JEWELRY THAT TAKES GOOD CARE OF YOU
The ancient Egyptians believed that the images of gods and goddesses they wore when they were buried kept them from harm throughout eternity. This type of jewelry (pictured above) is a “pectoral,” worn over a man or woman’s chest. It is made of faience, which the Egyptians produced by mixing powdered quartz with other minerals. Faience objects turned bright blue green when fired. The goddess represented is Isis, a powerful protector of the dead. This pectoral was pierced with tiny holes jewelry so that it could be sewn to the mummy’s bandages.

Image Credit:
Egypt, Third Intermediate period
Winged Isis Pectoral, around 1075 – 712 BCE
Egyptian faience
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund
Photography by Erik Gould

ROYAL JEWELRY FROM THE SEA
Can you guess what was used to make the long necklace of this Native American Sachem, or chief? Give up? The answer is clam and mussel shells. Shells were also used to make his crown. The person in this portrait is thought to be Robin Cassacinamon, ruler of the Pequot nation almost four centuries ago.

Image Credit:
Artist unknown
Native American Sachem, late 17th century
Oil on canvas
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Gift of Mr. Robert Winthrop
Photography by Erik Gould

JEWELRY THAT SAYS: “I’M IMPORTANT!”
Would you guess that this fancy necklace was made to be worn by a man? High government officials in Tibet once wore such beautiful jewelry as a mark of their importance. The light blue stones are turquoise and the red ones are rubies, a gem of great value. The “monster” face in the center of the necklace was meant to protect its wearer from evil.

Image Credit:
Tibetan
Collar (neckwear)
Brass (alloy), gilding, turquoise, ruby, mother of pearl, stone
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Bequest of Martha B. Lisle
Photography by Erik Gould

BLING KING
The creator of this strawberry pendant is Kenneth Jay Lane, one of today’s most famous costume jewelry designers. Visit the RISD Museum to see the current exhibit of Lane’s jewelry.

Image Credit:
Kenneth Jay Lane
Strawberry Pendant Necklace
Gold-plated base metal with enamel and rhinestones
Courtesy of Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design
Photography by Erik Gould

NOW YOU’RE THE DESIGNER
Now it’s time to try your hand at designing a piece of jewelry. Click here to print a necklace template. With markers, crayons, paint or collage materials, add details to the jewelry shown here or use your own imagination.

All additional inquires or requests should be directed to: Melody Ennis, Coordinator of Photographic Services, The RISD Museum, 224 Benefit Street, Providence, RI 02903. 401 454-6535. E-mail inquires to: mennis@risd.edu

By Katy Killilea

Is it just some frothy, popular misconception that GPs used to freely give mothers (or as I imagine we were called in those days, “wives”) prescriptions for Valium? I think about that a lot; it seems always to be on weekdays at 4:52 PM when I start thinking about it, and then usually one child will whine that the other pinched him, and my husband will call to say he’s stuck in traffic. I do not mean to make light of drug dependency or anxiety disorders–in fact, I consider myself to be suffering from both. It’s just that my drugs are not from a pharmacy. My drugs are not from the street. My drugs are from the grocery store and I am not sure they are working at all. But I do not stop using them. For what it’s worth, these are the Mother’s Little Helpers that might work–sort of–for me.

Bach’s Rescue Remedy ($10 per bottle; available in the homeopathy section of Whole Foods and CVS) This is a blend of flower essences, in a bottle a wee bit smaller than a 1983 Bonnie Bell Lipsmacker. You carry it with you and squirt some on your tongue (like Binaca!) whenever you start to feel tense. Sometimes it works, but this may be because the flowers are marinating in what tastes suspiciously like grain alcohol.

Diet Coke Plus ($2.50 for 12 cans at every grocery store and gas station.) Diet Coke is my afternoon pick-me-up of choice. Diet Coke Plus promises the same gentle caffeine lift, with the “plus” of niacin, zinc, magnesium, and vitamins B6 and B12. It tastes only a little bit less good than Diet Coke, and it provides some sort of reassuring illusion that, at the very least, even if the rest of your afternoon is a wipeout, you will get 15% of the USRDA of those few nutrients. Unfortunately, Diet Coke Plus is not yet available in the cuter (8-ounce) size can hat all of the cool people seem to be using these days.

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Beautiful custom-made dresses and accessories by Smyth and Company will make any girl feel like a princess for the day. Have a dress designed by Mary Pat of Smyth and Company, and it will be made-to-order in Connecticut from an assortment of delicious fabrics and colors. These original handmade dresses and accessories are perfect for any special occasion – holidays, first communion, birthdays, weddings, or to outfit the flower girl. No wallflowers here.

Contact Smyth and Company:
phone: 860-379-2534
email: customerservice@smythandcompany.com
web: www.smythandcompany.com

By Katie Mulligan

Parents frequently have questions about feeding their children; the problem is finding the right answers. Most people you talk to have an opinion — their own or that of their mother, sister, doctor, husband, in-laws — anyone and everyone! If you have nutrition questions about yourself or your child, submit them on the Health Forum at Kidoinfo and I will answer them. Don’t be shy, ask away, because chances are, someone else has your question too.

As winter drags on, it is becoming more and more difficult to find the wonderful bounty of fresh produce associated with warmer months. The cold weather brings thoughts of comfort food – mac and cheese, chicken pot pie, and beef stew – not fresh strawberries and salads of spring greens. If you are like many others, you may be struggling to get in your 5-a-day servings of fresh fruits and veggies. Contrary to popular belief, fruits and vegetables do not need to be fresh to be healthy. Frozen veggies are flash frozen much closer to harvest, which means they have less opportunity to lose valuable nutrients during storage and transport before arriving at your market. Check out the frozen section at your market for a wide array of fruits and veggies. Frozen butternut squash makes a great winter soup or baby puree. Adding frozen peas or green beans to couscous and rice will add greens, fiber, and vitamin C to your dinner. Making a smoothie with frozen berries is an easy way to get kids to drink their fruit. Or try adding frozen blueberries to pancakes (recipe below) or baking strawberry muffins with frozen berries – you’ll be amazed by how fresh they taste.

It is okay to buy canned fruit as long as it is packed in its own juice, not in heavy or even light syrup, which is little more than a sugar solution. The heating process used in canning actually makes the vitamin A in peaches and apricots more bioavailable, which means your system can absorb it more easily. Having trouble getting your kids to eat their veggies? Let them choose which ones to have at dinner and invite them to join in the meal preparation. It’s never too early to teach kids about nutrition and nutritious eating.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce
Makes about 10 pancakes

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I recently wrote about cutting snowflakes from a folded piece of paper. This traditional method worked fine, and my boys and I cut a lot of snowflakes. However on my latest trip to the grocery store, a display of packaged doily circles brought back vague memories of using doilies in grade school to cut snowflakes.

Using the doilies turned out to be super fast and produced beautiful lace-like snowflakes.

Look at images of Wilson A. Bentley’s real snowflakes for snowy inspiration.

Here’s how to hack your own six-sided snowflake.

Supplies:
1 package of round doilies, any size (I used round 5.5”)
Scissors
Dustpan and broom to sweep up the paper cuttings

How-To (PDF):
Fold circle in half
Fold in thirds
Fold in half again
Make various cuts along the edges to customize your own snowflake.