Connecticut does not have a major league baseball team.  Half the state roots for the Boston Red Sox, and the other half roots for the New York Yankees.  Another, unquantifiable portion roots for the New York Mets, although most won’t admit it in public.  I am a Mets fan, by inheritance if not by choice.  My father started following the Mets during their inaugural (and awful) 1962 season, and I started joining him 20 years later when they were not quite as bad.

My best childhood memories were formed at Shea Stadium, a cavernous and poorly designed ballpark which was eventually demolished in 2009 when the Mets found something better.  As a kid, I could not imagine anything greater than watching live baseball.  I did not realize that, for my father, it was so much more than that.  It was watching live baseball with his son.  I get that now, as I try to teach the rudiments of the game to my seven year old.

Out of all the ballgames I watched with my Dad, the one that stands out is a night game from June of 1985, when we saw Dwight Gooden shutout the Chicago Cubs.  Anyone who was a Mets fan in the 1980s will tell you how Gooden, a kid from Tampa, became the toast of New York.  Gooden was barely out of high school when he became the Mets’ star pitcher in 1984.  That summer, Gooden made many of the world’s best baseball players look like fools, earning himself the nickname “Dr. K” — the letter “K” being baseball shorthand for Strikeout, the pitcher’s chef d’oeuvre.  His fastball could exceed 95 miles per hour, and it was not even his best pitch.  Gooden’s curveball was so good that players dubbed it “Lord Charles,” in contrast to “Uncle Charlie” which is the common nickname for a curveball.

As amazing as Gooden was in 1984, in 1985 he was even better, leading the league in nearly every major statistical category and handily winning the Cy Young award for best pitcher.  The kid from Tampa became New York’s son.  An image of Gooden, in full pitching wind-up, looked down on the city from a 102 foot high mural painted on the side of a building in Times Square.  Although he was only 20 years old, there was constant speculation that Gooden would become one of the best pitchers, if not the best pitcher, in baseball history.

That speculation proved short-lived.  Over the next few years, Gooden’s performance gradually declined from supernatural to mortally flawed.  There were news reports of cocaine addiction and struggles with the law, and he began missing playing time due to various injuries and ailments.  By the time he retired from baseball in the year 2000, Gooden had amassed a decent record as a serviceable pitcher.  However, he never came close to replicating his triumphs from the mid-1980s, and he never fulfilled the hype that had been placed on his back at such a young age.  Some chalk this up to drug abuse, and some to shoulder strain from overuse.  Others say that the league’s hitters simply learned to adjust to Gooden’s pitching style.  Whatever the reason, Gooden’s career is deemed one of the biggest disappointments in Mets franchise history.

Yet in my mind, Doc Gooden is forever the kid from Tampa who stood larger than life over New York and all of baseball.  I will never forget the June night in 1985 when my father kept me out way past my bedtime so we could see  the good doctor operate live before a capacity crowd at Shea Stadium.  I was 11 years old and my Dad was 43 (only four years older than I am now), yet that evening it felt like we were peers.   We sat in the first row of the mezzanine section, overlooking the Mets dugout and the pitching mound beyond, bedazzled by the best-hurled game that either of us had ever seen or has ever seen since.  Gooden pitched a complete game shutout, striking out nine batters over nine innings as the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs by a score of 1 to 0.  While my father usually made me leave after the seventh inning so we could beat the traffic over the Whitestone Bridge, that night we stayed for the entire game.  We still reminisce about it.

I think about Doc Gooden, and that ballgame in particular, even more as I approach my 40th birthday.  The dreams that were sparked when I was 11 have fermented into memories that I am dying to share with my children.  More than the game itself, I remember splitting a pretzel with my Dad, and guzzling my soda as he sipped his beer, feeling as close to him as I ever have.  Within a couple of years, I would enter puberty and begin to distance myself from both my father and baseball; coincidentally, around the same time that Gooden’s career would decline from its early promise.  On that June night in 1985, however, Dr. K was my hero and my Dad was a very close second.

Nearly 30 years later, the young Dwight Gooden is still lodged in the minds of Mets fans.  This season, the Mets have a rookie pitcher named Matt Harvey, who is even more electrifying than Gooden.  The 24 year old Connecticut native is one of the few bright spots for the Mets, who are a winning team when Harvey is pitching and one of the worst teams in baseball every other night of the week.   If you want to see the Mets’ greatest pitching phenom since Gooden, run — don’t walk — to Citi Field, the Mets’ ballpark in Queens (www.mets.com).  Better yet, drive or take the train.  If you prefer to root for baseball teams that win even when their best pitchers are not on the mound, you might want to go to a New York Yankees (www.yankees.com) or Boston Red Sox (www.redsox.com) game.

Baseball in Connecticut

Major league baseball games can be pricey.  While ballparks offer seats for less than $15 or even $10, those seats are often in uncomfortable bleachers or nosebleed sections far away from the field.  The better seats usually run closer to $40 or $50, with the best seats costing hundreds of dollars.  Add in travel, parking, and the cost of refreshments for a family of four or five, and you are looking at a long and expensive day.  For a more “family friendly” experience, minor league baseball is the better bet.  Minor league games are cheaper and less crowded than major league games, and they frequently have events and promotions which specifically cater to children.  Here is some information about the three minor league teams who call Connecticut home:

New Britain Rock Cats

www.rockcats.com

Class AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins

Tickets:  $6 to $20 (plus $5 parking)

2013 Season:  April 4 – Sept. 2

Player to Watch:  Alex Meyer, right-handed pitcher and former 1st round draft pick

Connecticut Tigers (Norwich)

www.cttigers.com

Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers

Tickets:  $8 to $20 (plus $3 parking)

2013 Season:  June 17 – Sept. 4

Player to Watch:  Brenny Paulino, right-handed pitcher

Bridgeport Bluefish

www.bridgeportbluefish.com

Independent franchise

Tickets:  $9 to $13.50

2013 Season:  April 18 – Sept. 5

Players to Watch:  Several former major leaguers, including Jeff Fulchino, a UConn grad who pitched for the Houston Astros from 2009 to 2011

In addition to minor league baseball, Connecticut has a number of college, semi-pro, and amateur teams, as well as the Stratford Brakettes — a nationally known, all-female softball team (www.brakettes.com).   If you’re a history buff, you may want to check out the Connecticut members of the Vintage Baseball Association, who strive to recreate early baseball as it existed in the mid-19th Century (www.vbba.org).  Handlebar mustaches are optional, as far as I can tell.

Be sure to bring the kids.

Thanks to the kind folks at Elm City Market, J. Miranda gets a $50 gift card in thanks for her hard work.  Read her review below, and click here to write your own review to be next month’s winner!

- Mira and the schoolHaven committee

April 2013.  Upon many recommendations from friends, I visited Bethany Nursery Group to explore as a pre school option for my children.  The minute I walked in, I knew this was the warm, friendly, nurturing environment I was looking for. The programming is excellent. The children are able to explore and discover so many different things.  I am surprised at how much knowledge they have gained after two years.  Being part of a co-op provides a great sense of community.  Parents involvement is great and rewarding. The staff have longevity at BNG, and treat the children with respect.  A true gem. J. Miranda, parent

My mom and I are close. We look alike and we act alike. We organize our kitchens the same way, we both love a junk drawer, and at church, we both tilt our heads slightly to the left in prayer. As a child, I always loved her handwriting, and I attempted, without success, to copy her elegant, loopy style. My mom and I are also very different, because I am my father’s daughter.

My dad had a sharp, dry, and sometimes biting sense of humor. He found great delight in the absurdities of life, and some of my favorite memories are of laughing with him about things that others didn’t find nearly as funny as we did. My dad was instrumental in shaping my personality, while my mother dominated the hell out of the genes race. To be sure, I am an interesting example of nature vs nurture.

I often wonder what my kids will take away from their childhood. Will they remember the lessons that I think are most important? Or are they locking away life lessons that I’m not even aware I’m teaching? I have vivid memories of my mother telling me something I knew at the time was important (Never make fun of someone’s laugh. Don’t complain about your period; it’s going to happen for 40 years, so learn to live with it, and go about your business.), but the lessons I’ve learned (and am still learning) from my mother’s example are the ones that are the most memorable:

1. Be a good friend and you will have good friends.
2. Sometimes marriage is hard. Really hard. Stick it out, and it will get good again. Really good.
3. If you find a man that you are crazy about, that “my heart will jump out of my body if I can’t see him” type of crazy, marry him, and have his babies. That love will see you through the hard times.
4. When that man dies, don’t lie down and give up. Hold your head up, lean on friends, and show strength. Others will be comforted by it.
5. Be kind to your children’s friends. They will love you forever, and rely on you when their own families let them down. This is a special and wonderful blessing.
6. Know when you are wrong, and apologize with sincerity. Stand your ground when you are right, even if it pisses people off.
7. Laugh, even when you don’t feel like it. The time will come when you do feel like it, and you won’t have forgotten how.
8. Love unapologetically. Trust your choices, and eventually others will, too.
9. Work hard. Treat your boss and your employees with the same level of respect.
10. Compliment your children frequently. They will grow up with a strong sense of self, and will pass this on to your grandchildren.

…

Nearly five years ago, Amy and her husband packed up their dog, their stuff, and their 12 month old son, and moved from the Pacific Northwest to New Haven for her husband’s job. She immediately adopted the term “package store” but will never use the word “carriage”, and she frequently brags about her close proximity to the beach and access to the world’s best pizza to her friends back home. You can find Amy laughing at the absurdity of parenting on Facebook and Twitter, and pinning things she’ll never do on Pinterest. She writes embarrassing stories about herself and her family at Funny is Family.

Guest blog on kidHaven.  Email kim at kidhaven@email.com.

Juliet, you have small kids, your husband works long hours, and you do a great deal of volunteer work. Why did you add chicken ownership to your list of responsibilities?

Living in the city or suburbs, it can be hard to feel connected with nature. I wanted to make this more of a priority for my family. I also wanted us to eat better, healthier food, and to be more self-sufficient. I started with a 4’ x 12′ kitchen garden in our small yard. I started juicing. We began making more effort to enjoy hikes in New Haven’s great local parks. We started composting and became more conscious of the waste our family produces.

Slowly, these small life changes made a transition to keeping hens feel really natural and easy. I have found that stewardship over the animals is very rewarding, and it doesn’t seem to take up that much time–maybe ten minutes a day. The benefits seem well worth the effort. And it’s fun!

Let’s cover the basics. Where did you get your chickens? Where did you get supplies?

My “ladies” came from a friend in Woodbridge. He has a large lot and raised 11 birds, but determined that he didn’t want them all, so I took three. It’s great to have a friend with chickens because we care for each other’s flocks when we vacation.

My initial investment for supplies was only around $50. I bought some 2x4s and chicken wire from Lowe’s and built a coop inside the corner of my garage, with a window. Outside of the window, I fenced in an outdoor area for the chickens to run. I built a chicken ladder going up to the window from the outside, and a perch underneath the window on the inside. Every morning I simply go out and open the window unless the weather is awful, though the “gals” won’t go out in the cold or pouring rain anyway. At night, they instinctively come back in, so I simply close it and collect any eggs from the nesting box (just a milk crate).

My chicken supplies come from Agway. I recommend the galvanized hanging feeders and waterers for ease and durability. I also recommend layer feed pellets (less waste with pellets) and pine shavings for the coop floor. (Pine costs a bit more, but is clean and easiest to maintain.)
 You can also purchase coops at Agway or online.

So, how do you take care of a chicken? What do they need? And how is your three year old involved?

Once you understand the animal, you realize how easy they are to keep. (I always thought cats are the easiest animals–until I got chickens.) They need: food and plenty of water; a secure, well-ventilated coop that is cleaned thoroughly every six months or so; protection from harsh elements; and someone to collect their eggs. That’s about it. Oh, and in the winter they need supplemental light and a warmer to keep their water from freezing. I was surprised how clean they are and how they will eat anything. We never throw food away anymore.

It is my three year old’s job to collect the eggs. She has a little basket and every day she and I go out together to the coop after lunch. She sings, “Chickens, make an egg for me!” and gets really excited when she picks them up. Sure, she’s dropped a few, but the chickens make quick work of them, so no worries. She feeds them garden scraps, too.

My daughter has also taken it upon herself to police the chickens. She likes to sit and watch them and if they fight over food or peck each other she is quick to scold them. She calls them by name and knows their places in the pecking order. I like that she’s learning responsibility and appreciation for where her eggs come from. And it’s really cute.

What resources (local or otherwise) have you used to learn what you need to know? How much research did you do before taking on these special pets?

The first thing I did before getting the chickens was to read Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens. It teaches you what you need to know and is a great reference.

No thanks to a “concerned” neighbor, I got an extra lesson on Westville’s chicken regulations. Fortunately, my coop was within code! Before you build, make sure to check with your neighborhood regulations. For example, in Westville, the bird enclosures must not be within five feet of a neighbor’s property line, and you can keep a maximum of six hens (and no roosters!).

What are some of the best aspects of having chickens? What’s not so hot?

My favorite part about keeping hens is the role they play in helping us have a greener, healthier lifestyle and connect to the earth. The chickens eat the weeds from our garden and leftover food from our kitchen. In turn, they provide us with eggs. The droppings help produce great fertilizer for the garden. (Another fun fact about chicken poop: it contains something that kills flies. So flies eat the poop, die, and the chickens eat the flies, as well as other bugs around the garden. Gross, but great!)

I also like the stewardship aspect. I love having and caring for the chickens, but I am not attached to them in the same way I am to house pets. If the time comes to make a chicken dinner, it will not feel like loosing a pet. I can’t really explain it, but it just feels like a natural circle of life relationship.

A bad part about chickens is that, while they do have individual personalities, they are mostly really dumb. This helps you to become less attached to them, but it also makes them easy prey to predators. Secure their living space but also prepare yourself for the possibility that someday an animal could maul a bird, forcing you to humanely put her down.

Also—safety first! Know that chickens are attracted to shiny things – including eyeballs. A hen isn’t going to chase you down and peck your eyes, but don’t get right up in their beaks. Best practice is to wear glasses or goggles in the coop and keep your small kids a safe distance from the birds. (They don’t want to hurt you, but they don’t know the difference.)

What else would you tell someone interested in having backyard chickens?

People don’t generally raise urban chickens to save money. In fact, if you plan to keep only a few birds, you should know that the eggs you get will probably end up costing you more than what the grocery store is charging. You don’t start really saving money unless you have more birds than most urban and suburban areas allow. [N.B. Contrary to Juliet’s experience, many think you can save $; see this article, for example. In any case, be realistic about your yield and the possibility that you might not save money, or at least not in the short term. ~Green Mama]

A hen can live 15 years, but she is most productive laying in her first few years. (There are ways to inspect her to tell her approximate age.) It takes about 25 hours for a hen to produce an egg in optimum conditions. I find one egg a day from three hens to be a realistic yield.)

Even though eggs from your own chickens may cost a bit more, they are much more delicious (big golden yolks and firm whites) than store bought eggs, they keep longer, and you can feel good about the fact that your chickens are living wonderful, humane lives. And food can’t get more local than from your own backyard!

…

Additional Resources:

• www.backyardchickens.com
• “City Hatches Hen Ordinance” in the Yale Daily News, 10/22/09
• Best Practices Manual for Chicken Keepers from CT NOFA, the Connecticut Chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association.
  An indispensable 26-page resource for everyone in the New Haven area considering keeping hens. It’s chock-full of information on everything from regular care to egg safety, along with many additional local, online, and library resources on various chicken-related topics, like building coops and choosing your breed. (The document is a few years old, so some of the links are dead, but most are not.) Also included in the document is the full text of the New Haven ordinance, along with an explanation.

And don’t miss Chicks & Chickens Day at Common Ground on Saturday May 4, 2013!

 ~ Green Mama

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Written by Sara from Kidical Mass New Haven

Sure, I had seen baby seats on the back of bikes and even the occasional Trail-a-Bike.  But beyond bike trailers, I was stumped by any biking options available to me as a momma of twins.  Feeling uncomfortable riding on city streets with the boys sitting low and far behind me, I didn’t think there was any way we could get around by bike. Thankfully, I was proved wrong and since our discovery of cargo bikes nearly three years ago, it is clear that the family biking options out there have grown.

Here are various family bike set-ups that accommodate a number of different aged children (click the links to see examples).

Child Seats

• Back: for toddlers and even for bigger kids up to 75 lbs
• Front: like this iBert,  the BoBike Mini, and the Yepp Mini
• Gotta love the mamafiets (mama-bikes) that have both front and back seats like this one and this one even equipped with a windshield.  The Japanese versions or “mamacharis” are incredible.

Bike Trailers

• Burleys are a brand many know but there are lots of options available out there, including ones that convert to strollers.

Trail-a-Bike/ Tag-Along

• These go by various names but they look like this and this and kids get to pedal along.
• Here’s a different take on this, where you can purchase a bracket to attach your child’s regular  bike to your own and tow him/her around this way.

Convertible bikes

• There are now products out there like the Zigo and the TrioBike that convert from a regular bike to a bike with front child carrier to a stroller. I was especially excited to see a Taga bike at the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival this year. This local family had double seats (if only I had my camera with me).

Box Bikes/ Bucket Bikes/ Cargo Trikes

This is the cargo bike that started it all for us. Think of it as the minivan of bikes: space for multiple kids and all the stuff we schlep around with them.

• Bakfiets: The Dutch wheelbarrow-type-bucket-in-front bike like this, this, and this.   Here’s a couple of USA-made versions like the Joe’s Bike’s  and Metrofiets (hers even has an electric assist!) and Copenhagen’s Bullitt. Small tidbit: pronounced “bak-feet;” plural is “bakfietsen.”
• Madsen: US company with the Tupperware-like bucket in the back. There are a few local families riding Madsens and New Haven’s Devil’s Gear Bike Shop is a Madsen dealer.
• Boxcycle/Christiana Trikes: Some folks are more comfortable on three wheels instead of two.  Originally harder to find on the East Coast, these trikes are really popping up all around!  I was excited to see a few parked along the sidewalks last time I visited New York City.

Longtail Bikes

These cargo bikes have an extended tail that allows a rider to carry passengers and/or a whole lot of freight (like large furniture!).

• Xtracycle kits allow people to convert their existing bikes into longtail cargo bikes. Also, Xtracycle has ‘full’ bikes like the Radish and Big Dummy. Xtracycle owners can customize their bikes to fit their passengers, like here, here,  here, and here.  There are a number of Xtracycles in the area and more arriving each week it seems. The Devil’s Gear bike shop here in New Haven is an Xtracycle dealer.
• Yuba Mundo: This cargo bike is heavier than an Xtracycle and has a longer tail with built-in ‘running boards.’  See here and here. Like Xtras, Yuba owners can customize their bikes to fit their families’ needs: some add toddler seats, others stoker bars (handlebars for a back passenger).  Mundos can also be equipped with electric assists to help ride up hills or with extra heavy cargo.
•  Kona Ute: An example here.
• Sun Atlas Cargo: This is a relative newcomer in the longtail cargo bike family. It is especially intriguing because it seems to be one of the more affordable options out there.

Tandems/Triples

Some families ride with their kids using bicycles-built-for-two or tandems so the children can help with the pedaling. One can lower seats and/or raise pedals to fit younger riders.  The triples are most impressive.  Here’s a version you see less in the States with the stokers (riders not controlling the bike) up front and another example here, too.

I would be remiss not to recognize, that yes, the initial sticker shock on some of these cargo bikes can seem extremely prohibitive.  People continuously ask what we paid for our family bicycles.  Since we use our cargo bikes as an alternative to buying a second car, we figure with the cost of a car, insurance, gas, upkeep, and parking downtown, we’ve invested well.  However, if you are put off by the costs of these bikes, do not despair.  We’ve met a number of folks who have found their Xtracycles or Madsens on Craig’s List for a reduced cost. Also, as the demand for family cargo bikes grow, the market gets more competitive. I suspect we shall see lower-cost options, like the Sun Atlas Cargo, out there more and more.

And now for some photos of my favorite family bike set-ups where folks cobble together what works best for their crew like this, this, and this!

Thanks to the kind folks at Elm City Market, Jenn gets a $50 gift card in thanks for her hard work.  Read her review below, and click here to write your own review to be next month’s winner!

- Mira and the schoolHaven committee

March 2013.  I have had two kids at Sunshine—my five-year-old was there until she started at one of the NH Magnet schools for Pre-K and my 20-month old has been there since he was six or eight weeks old; and now that my older daughter is in our neighborhood school’s kindergarten she goes to Sunshine after school each day.

Sunshine is everything I like in a daycare (and my daughter had been at two or three others before we settled on Sunshine). It’s large enough that it is much more than a home-based daycare with separate spaces for the babies, toddlers and preschoolers, a curriculum for each—but small enough that it feels homey and has a family-like atmosphere.

This is the best-priced daycare I’ve been able to find in the area and is the ONLY daycare I know of anywhere that is as flexible with days/hours as it is. When my daughter was little she would go 4 days a week (NOBODY does that!) and when my son first started I had him going three six-hour days… The understanding and flexibility is amazing. Everyone who works there is completely devoted and friendly and they always have a smile on their face.

I honestly think the only con I can think of is that they do close for a week during the summer, and for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I could understand this at a much smaller home-based daycare, but I do feel that with a staff they shouldn’t have a summer week completely closed… but it’s a small price to pay.

I couldn’t recommend Sunshine enough!! Jenn S.

I have to say, since going back to work, I feel so much more like myself.  But you know, it’s a little hard to talk about.  It’s hard to describe how happy I am now that I have a “job” because it seems to imply I wasn’t happy before.  The truth is, I was really happy before, too.  Bare with me a moment and let me get this off my chest to explain.  I was a stay at home mom for 4 1/2 years – longer than I’d ever been in any one job, truth be told.  It was absolutely the right decision for our family at the time and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  But life changes, luck was on my side and  I landed an incredible opportunity earlier than I anticipated.  What’s most interesting to me is that I’m pretty convinced it was my pretty awesome experience as a stay at home mom that has made this transition back to work feel so good.  See, before having my own children I knew I was “good with kids,” but could count the number of times on one hand that I’d held an infant.  Embarrassingly, I’d never even changed a diaper before changing my first born’s!  Pre-kids, my forte was with school-age kids and I didn’t know a damn thing about babies.  Way back when, as a new stay at home mom with my first child I had a lot to learn.  A lot!  Talk about on the job training.  My “good with kids” skill set wasn’t worth shit in the beginning.  So I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.  Staying at home for 4 1/2 years was what I like to think of as Mommy College.  I learned how to be a mom.

The value of Mommy College pays off regularly now that life is busier, time is more precious and there are two mini-me’s running around.  I feel really good about my mommy-self.  I have routines, standards, patience.  I’m efficient and think a step ahead out of habit now.  I have community.  I say what I mean and mean what I say.  I can make lemonade out of lemons.  I always call ahead before going anywhere with kids in tow :)  I can whip up a meal in record time.   I understand the importance of being present.  In fact, it’s possibly the most valuable lesson learned.  Having children means I’ve committed myself to planing ahead for many years to come.  I’m their big picture thinker.  However, in Mommy College it was often the minute details of the day to day grind that mattered most to my children.  As a closet Type A personality, living in the moment can take real effort, but spending 15 hours with a young child day after day after day causes one to fully adjust!  Now as a working mom, I reflect on the value of being present regularly because our time together is different now.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that embracing my mom-self in Mommy College definitely allowed me to more comfortably explore my work-self over the past year without a lot of guilt, if that makes sense.  It’s also helped me keep my priorities in check, which is beaucoup important.  I still have so much to learn about being a good parent…and have been tested in some very raw ways lately!  But they say life is about balance, and in my experience, it’s absolutely the key to everything.  This happy working mom didn’t just happen by accident.

Thanks to the kind folks at Elm City Market, Melinda gets a $50 gift card.  Read her review below.

- Mira and the schoolHaven committee

February 2013. Our son, who is now 6 just loves Audubon Arts camp. The kids produce a musical per session that includes learning the songs, dances, making the props and costumes, and learning to work together.  In addition, the kids get to chose a “special” that allows them to go more in-depth into an area of interest from sampling instruments to singing etc.  My son loved the singing intensive and learned the soundtrack to They Must Be Giants Science music. They also do fun things like wacky wednesdays.  The staff are GREAT and its just a fantastic environment.  The kids perform and see performances outside at lunchtime in the adjacent park.  AArts has good before/after camp coverage too.  Downside: could use more boys and so this serves as my pitch to parents of boys too! Melinda P., parent

Thanks to the kind folks at Elm City Market, Sarah gets a $50 gift card and a $25 Atticus Book Store gift card from last month’s winner Alida Engel.  Read her review below.

- Mira and the schoolHaven committee

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January 2013.  Though our son is not yet old enough to attend Columbus Family Academy, my husband and I have participated in the School Planning and Management Team as members of the community for about a year. We are especially impressed by the dynamic principal, and dual language Spanish program from preK through 8th grade–the only such program that spans all grades in New Haven, I believe. The school has a warm, inviting, family atmosphere. Because it is not a magnet school, it’s not well known outside our neighborhood; though the school accepts students from across the City. We are excited to learn more about Columbus and dual language education as we explore options for our son. Sarah M. parent

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Want to be the next Purple Crayon Award Winner?  Submit a schoolHaven review today.

Thanks to the kind folks at Elm City Market, Alida gets a $50 gift card.  Read her review below.

- Mira and the schoolHaven committee

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December 2012.  After hearing my granddaughter’s enthusiastic stories today about her activities at Creating Kids I was reminded that wonderful things happen there.  She is happy at Creating Kids and is learning a lot.

Recently we read a book about bears and she informed me that a bear is nocturnal and so are…….and she named at least five other animals.  “Where did you learn that?” I ask,  “From Philly, silly” (her daycare teacher at Creating Kids).  “We had nocturnal week.”

This morning she came over with a book that her teachers at Creating Kids put together recording all the wonderful themed weeks they had so far.  The one she liked best was, Bat week.  “Guess what we had for bat food?”  “Little chocolate chips, that we gathered like this.”  And off she went scurrying on the floor pretending to eat them.  Sounds creative to me.   Thanks Creating Kids.

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Want to be the next Purple Crayon Award Winner?  Submit a schoolHaven review today.

Still working on your gift giving? Here are a few ideas:

Go Natural

• It’s easy to forget that inside the stone façade of the Peabody Museum of Natural History is a fantastic shop with items for kids of all ages and adults as well. Check out the books and music, Fair Trade crafts, gifts to inspire budding naturalists, and more, and support this wonderful New Haven institution. Here’s a COUPON for 10% off your purchase: Open M–Sa, 10–4:45, Su, 12–4:45.

Go Local

• In addition to shopping the many craft fairs this month, there is always Etsy.com. On a recent day, “handmade” and “children” in New Haven alone got 85 hits. If you find a vendor you like, you might be able to arrange a pickup or find out if they will be selling anywhere locally this month.

Go Wild

• Support a great cause and educate a youngster about caring for our planet with Symbolic Species Adoptions from World Wildlife Fund. For a $50 donation, receive a plush animal, adoption certificate, information card, and more. Choose from 100+ species. Many other gifts available, too.

The Gift of Art

• Looking for something special? Sign your child up for one of the two hour Weekend Workshops for Young People at Creative Arts Workshop (for ages 6+; $20, $18 for members). Also, six-week classes for kids of all ages are offered for the winter session beginning Jan. 14 (kids 2–5 attend with an adult; $68–$147; $61–$132 for members).
• Another option is the 4-week Creative Kids Pottery Wheel Class (ages 5+; $100) at The Clay Date in Woodbridge. Tuesdays 4:30–5:45.

The Gifts That Keep on Giving: Memberships! (Basic Family Membership for each is $100.)

• Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport. Reciprocity with zoos and aquariums nationwide.
• KidCity in Middletown. A great indoor exploratorium for kids 1–8 and their favorite grown-ups. Free or discounted admission to 200+ children’s museums around the country.
• Stamford Nature Center in Stamford. Indoor and outdoor fun and learning for kids of all ages.

Hey, don't forget to reuse that wrapping!

Thanks to the kind folks at Elm City Market, Elisabeth gets a $50 gift card to turn her writing into something delicious.  Read her review below.

The Purple Crayon challenge is on for December!  This month, any school or child care review will be considered for the award and the $50 Elm City gift card.  You can submit your review here.

–Mira and the schoolHaven committee

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November 2012.  We love St. Rita School.  Our daughter, who is in fourth grade, has finally found a school that works for her.  She’s happy to attend every day, and she’s thriving – both academically and socially.   We chose St. Rita’s for a number of reasons.  First of all, we had tried our local public school and it wasn’t a good fit.  For St. Rita’s we got great reviews from current students, families and alums; it was affordable, close to home, and had a physical and academic structure that fit our child’s needs.  We couldn’t be happier.  LOVE the teachers, the administrators.  A con, which for us has not really turned out to be a con at all, is that we are not Catholic.  Our daughter enjoys the Catholic religious education nonetheless, and this part of her experience has sparked some wonderful conversations at home.  Overall, we are left with how lucky we are to have found such a great place for our child.  Elisabeth K., parent