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I was wondering if you would have any suggestions for nut free places (bakeries, resturants,etc…) in CT.
Hi Kristine! I’ve been thinking about this and haven’t come up with much. I’m going to work on this, though, and hopefully come up with some suggestions for you.
I know there’s only about a month to go in the summer, but do you know anything about places that offer swimming lessons? My daughter is 20 months old and loves the water and I’d love to start teaching her to swim!
I’ve heard really great things about swim lessons at the YMCA in Milford. Every parent I’ve met that’s had their kids take lessons there say nothing but good things!
Doug – I posted your question on kidHaven’s Facebook fan page and got these responses. Hope this helps!
-I’ve heard great things about swim lessons at the YMCA in Milford.
-I had a great experience with swim lessons at the Shoreline Foundation…not sure if they still do them, but they used to teach lessons in Madison at the Aquadome.
-YMCA Hamden-North Haven (Sherman AVe)
-We had a great experience with cindy at the jcc in woodbridge.
-ditto Hamden Y
-I thought the pool was freezing at the Hamden Y, but the instructor was great. Alycia – how is the pool temp at the JCC? I’m all about the heat! LOL!
-I’ve heard the same thing about the frigid water at the Hamden Y from a few parents! FYI, the Milford Y is warm in the winter and cool in the summer – just how I like it :0)
Hi,
Do you know any sewing class for age 8 & up in Milford area?
Off the top of my head, I would recommend looking at both Michael’s and Joann’s craft stores on the Post road. I know both offer regular classes. I’ll also post your question on Facebook and see what others recommend. I’ll let you know about any other ideas as they pop up…
Thank you .I checked joann and michaels.I’m waiting for other ideas
I haven’t gotten anything from FB yet. Sorry :( Check back, though, you never know…
@ Kristine:
http://www.bethiemacsnutfree.com/
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knows a good indoor pool/splash park, which is warm enough for little ones? We were at the Coco water park twice, it’s great for I guess 2.5/3 and up, and the first time we went our 1 year old loved it. But we (and mostly her) were freezing last time :-(. Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Ilka
Hi Ilka – A sort of similar question was asked a while back. I’m copying and pasting the answers below for now. I will also post your specific question on Facebook tomorrow (are you a fan of kidHaven on FB?) and see if any other ideas come about.
Doug asked about swim lessons in the area:
-I’ve heard great things about swim lessons at the YMCA in Milford.
-I had a great experience with swim lessons at the Shoreline Foundation…not sure if they still do them, but they used to teach lessons in Madison at the Aquadome.
-YMCA Hamden-North Haven (Sherman AVe)
-We had a great experience with cindy at the jcc in woodbridge.
-ditto Hamden Y
-I thought the pool was freezing at the Hamden Y, but the instructor was great. Alycia – how is the pool temp at the JCC? I’m all about the heat! LOL!
-I’ve heard the same thing about the frigid water at the Hamden Y from a few parents! FYI, the Milford Y is warm in the winter and cool in the summer – just how I like it :0)
Hi thanks,
that sounds good (of course I am a friend of kidhaven on fb :-) ).
We are also looking into other activities like pony riding and I’ll post my research and experience.
Ilka
Does anyone know of a good, fun Spanish class for a 4-yr-old? I’d really like my daughter to be bi-lingual.
Please note that the Cuentos y Rondas at Mitchell Library is from 11-11:30am on Thursdays. If you have any questions please contact me at 203-946-8117.
Thank You,
Tatiana O’Connor
Children’s Librarian at Mitchell Library
Thank you, Tatiana! I’ve just updated this on kidHaven’s calendar.
Hi Kim,
I love your website!
I was wondering if anyone knows of dance lessons for 6 yearl olds close to Woodbridge that don’t require a 1-year commitment. It could be short sessions….
Thank you!
Michelle
Hi Michelle! I posted your question on Facebook and here’s what others said:
-I know our local YMCA offers dance classes & I believe they are only 6 or 8 week sessions. I’ll bet one of the YMCAs close to Woodbridge might have a similar offering.
-I’d look into the JCC of Greater New Haven right in Woodbridge – Town park and rec depys and ymca usually offer them too.
-I second the YMCA suggestion – plus it’s relatively cheap.
-My only two cents here is to learn a little about the instructors beforehand. We made the mistake of going the YMCA route for my daughter’s first dance experience because it was cheap and non-committal. Unfortunately, the instructor was really lousy and made very little effort to make my daughter feel comfortable or get to know the other girls in the class. I even caught the instructor nearly yelling at a group of 3 and 4 year old girls for “not dancing.” This was NOT the experience we were all hoping for :( Needless to say, my daughter didn’t finish out the class. In retrospect, I wish I would have made more effort to ask around about the instructor or even observed a class beforehand. Live and learn. Moral of the story, don’t go in blind like I did! Alternatively, I have heard amazing things about Sarah Kennedy (but is unfortunately not close to Woodbridge): http://sarahkennedyballetforyoungpeople.com/
I have an update on swimming pools, especially the YMCA in Wallingford. The therapy pool is really nice and warm (89F), the lap pool is a little cooler (82F). Plenty of toys and a slide at the Therapy pool. Tuesday-Thursday there is open swim for non-members. We paid $5 for the whole family (usually $10 for grown-ups, but since you have to accompany a kid under 8 into the water they sometimes let the parents in for free). Unfortunately they changed their policy and Friday-Sunday you have to be a member or Wallingford resident to get in. Staff is super friendly, they provide towels and have a family locker-room. Pool schedule can be found here:
http://www.wallingfordymca.org/Aquatics.html
They have swim-classes from 3 years up as far as I know.
We’ll keep you updated if we find something else.
Thanks for this update, Ilka! Check out the Milford Y sometime. I’d love to know how it compares :) Happy swimming!
Our restaurant is peanut-free although we do use other nuts in some of our cooking and baking. We have a gluten-free menu and we are very careful with allergies so you can feel confidant to eat with us. Ask for a manager and she’ll know every ingredient in our desserts and foods. We’re here to help so just ask. Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel Street, New Haven. Telephone:203-562-3888, http://www.clairescornercopia.com
Thank you.
Do you have a listing of best places for a toddler birthday party? I’ve done Rascals in Hamden and loved it but this year would like something new. It would be for a 4 year old girl.
Hi Camren – Birthdays are a frequent question. The first place to start is to click the ‘Birthdays’ category on the right-hand sidebar here on kidHaven. Everything that shows up there offers birthday parties. I also like to ask my fans on Facebook – they always come up with great ideas! Do you have anything special in mind or things that your daughter likes? Indoor or outdoor? At a party venue or at home? For example, last year we had Curious Creatures (http://www.curiouscreatures.org/) come to our house for my daughter’s party and it was a huge hit! The better idea you can give me of what you’re looking for the easier it is to give you some great options. Think on it and get back to me.
Hi,
Just a suggestion…. As both a regular user and a contributor to the weekend highlights and calendar listings, I find it odd that the links published are often just general links, rather than the directed links that go to the specific event referenced (e.g., the NMS concert link goes to the NMS page rather than the concert listing, the Top of the Rock event goes to the friends of the east rock page where there is no mention of the event, etc.) Don’t know if everyone provides more specific links but I know we at NMS have (as well as some descriptive text which also wasn’t included) and it certainly is more helpful as a user — as I then had to hunt around for more details on some of the other events I was interested in.
Thanks!
Lisa
Hi Lisa – Thanks for this feedback. I always appreciate hearing suggestions from folks. Here’s the scoop on Weekend Highlights as it is now – I do my best to provide a specific link whenever possible but obviously there are many that you will find that go to a generic site when one hasn’t been provided (or found). I realize it requires a little extra time on the user’s part to find details or a phone number, but the alternative is not to list the event altogether. That is, I’d rather list the event and have folks that are interested get more information on their own. I’d love to provide specific details for every event listed…and I used to list Weekend Highlight event details, addresses, etc in the Community Calendar, but it was incredibly time consuming. As kidHaven has grown and Weekend Highlights has expanded greatly, my time must be divvied up differently in order to keep up with everything. Not to mention, ask my husband and he’ll tell you until what ridiculous hour I’m up to every Wednesday night getting the list together! You’d be surprised how many hours it takes to do Weekend Highlights every week (and maybe understand why some generic links end up here and there). It’s hours of looking for a needle in a haystack.
I have contemplated having a membership fee for users and making Weekend Highlights a non-public list so that I could dedicate “paid” time to managing it, but have elected not to take that route yet for several reasons, but mostly because kidHaven was started with the intention to make these lists public and free to all, but maybe it’s at the point this needs to change? I don’t like knowing that what I’m publishing is less than perfect, especially given the time I dedicate to a hobby turned part-time job :(
Finally, for future reference, please submit your event details for NMS in the form of a flyer or blog post/press release (longer than 3 or 4 sentences) and it will automatically get published in kidHaven’s daily blog…which will then also serve as the link for whatever event you’re promoting.
Hope this all makes sense, Lisa. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. ~kim
Taking your suggestion to heart, I also just included some specific details for submitting event info on the “Contact” page. If this works and folks get me more specific information, you will have just made my life easier :)
Hi – do you know yet when the Milford Pirate Festival is this year?
Thanks…love your site! :o)
Hi Kathy – It’s June 12th…just around the corner. Good thing since my gal has been asking about the Pirate Festival since January, I think :)
Really like your weekend update and Kid Haven in general. I’d just suggest care in the use of words like “kiddos” in order to help your non-English speaking audience. Google translate is not that good, at least not yet. Thanks for everything you are doing to keep parents informed.
LOVE KidHaven!!!!!!
Here are some great shows for kids at Long Warf for next week that are easy on the wallet!!
http://www.longwharf.org/shake-it-up-shakespeare
Hi Hilary! Thanks so much for letting me know about this. I just published info about it on kidHaven (via the link you sent me!).
Hello Again,
I wrote earlier in the summer to inquire about advertising rates on your page. Perhaps you replied to my initial inquiry and it was filtered into my junk mail (and if that is the case I apologize for pestering you again, but I thought I’d try one more time.) Thank you.
Hi Paige, I just sent you an email. Let me know if you don’t receive it. ~kim
My daughter will be going to kindergarten next year and I am hoping you will get reviews of after school programs in and around New Haven.
Hi Kim,
I’m sorry, I just saw your post about sending me a message in response to my inquiry, but I never received it. In any case, can you try resending? I’ll be sure to keep an out out. I’m interested in advertising rates for the site. Thanks!
Hello, I need some ideas for a 4 year old boys birthday party. He loves animals. I was thinking of the Peabody but looking for more idea.
Hi Jeanine – I posted your question on Facebook and there are a ton of ideas there for you. Happy birthday planning :)
Please advise if you will be holding a Touch a Truck event in 2012. thanks Dan
Hi Dan – Touch a Truck events are very popular and happen throughout the warmer months. Look for listings on kidHaven’s Weekend Highlights page. In terms of kidHaven actually organizing or sponsoring an event, it’s not something I do right now. Stay well. ~kim
I am interested in volunteer activities in New Haven to do with my 7 year old daughter. Can you recommend volunteer programs that accept parents and kids.
Hi Kristen! I posted your question on Facebook and there are a few ideas there. Hope this helps :)
We’re thinking about summer and wondering what pools are out there that we could join? In or close to New Haven would be ideal, of course!
I just noticed your question – sorry it’s been a couple of days! I posted it on Facebook today so hopefully you’ll get some good ideas there :) Happy almost-Spring!