Dearest our little ones,

today, we are celebrating an early Valentine's Day. Little darlings, you bring so much joy and love in our lives, it is almost impossible for us not to think of what to get you on this lovely hearty day.
You know we love you. Very very much. So here are some cute presents for you:
1. Milk on the Rocks' "Tête Fleurie"
2. Mira Mikati's "Collier Poupée Jaune" (pic)
3. Juliette Lepage's "Bracelet Photo"
4. King Kong "Angel Tee" (cool product of the day)
5. Nathalie Lete's “Arc de Triomphe” Notebook

Lots and lots of Hearts,
In Casa

COOL PRODUCT OF THE DAY

Débardeur "Ange"

Boys and girls, you know Tuesday is your day at In Casa! This week is a kiddie graphic week, so here are some visually-yummy suggestions for you:
1. Rabbit and Turtle - Yukari Miyagi
2. Tokyo and My Daughter - Takashi Homma
3. Emerald - Yoshimi
4. Untitled - Laura Owens
5. Inside - Kuniko Nagasaki

(all books can be purchased through nieves.ch)

COOL PRODUCT OF THE DAY

Hand Crocheted Dolls

IN CASA KIDS: MUSEUM VISIT

Children are having a lot of fun in the museum. So why not taking them there often?

It is so fascinating and thrilling to see these little beings running around vast hallways filled with valuable artifacts: their bright faces are filled with excitement, curious eyes are wide-opened, and tireless legs are pacing fast.
This past Sunday, I am previledged enough to follow the path of Archer, the super-toddler, meandering around the American Museum of Natural History at the W. 79th.
Never I imagined that a 3-year old toddler would understand what a volcano is and would actually take a deep interest in understanding the concept.
It's amazing watching this energy-charged boy zooming from one site to another, or listening to him explaining me the different types of dinosaurus: flyingswimmingwalkingstanding. All in one word. This boy definitely understands much more about his surrounding than an adult might thought. He certainly is much more advance than a 3-year old me who was just starting to learn A B C.

So take your kids to the museum. Enjoy watching them going through the exhibition and be the enthusiasts of the newly-learned knowledge.

IN CASA KIDS: MOVE WITH KIDS

Moving is a pain. Especially moving with kid(s).. from the planning and packing to traveling and unpacking. Who wants to hear all the screaming or wants to keep stopping them from running around unpacking boxes a second after you sealed them.

Believe it or not though, kids love to help. They love the feeling of being present and important (for better or worse), and believe me, assigning them some responsibilities can actually help both you and your kids during the moving process.

One project that I know will work is to have them draw or paint their
moving boxes. This helps for many reasons:
- They'll be busy being artistic. It'll help you to concentrate on your own tasks.
- They'll be very proud of their cute boxes sticking out from the rest of the super boring Uhaul cubes.
- It'll be easy for you to distinguish your kids' boxes from the other boxes.
- The fun boxes can be reused for your kiddie storage system.

So here are the steps:
- Pick a coloring medium that is carton friendly (avoid using paints as they tend to warp the boxes and take some time to dry), easy to be washed (in case of spills or marks on the wall) and age appropriate (e.g. crayon or colored pencils for toddlers, marker or fast-drying paint for older kids).
- Set up a work corner with the least traffic: arrange a tarp, plastic mat, materials, and anything else to make them feel comfortable.
- Be creative: set a theme, fun rules (three animals and a boy per box, one color per side, or anything fun like that).
- Let them help pack some of their stuff inside their boxes and let them help seal the boxes.
- Always acknowledge that they are doing a great job!

And then, have fun moving!

(As posted on the Apartment Therapy)

HUDSON TOUR DE FORCE

Link to Apartment Therapy posting today (click the title).

SLIDE SHOW

VIEW ALL AT ONCE

Aug 25th 2006:
Maybe it is not appropriate for me to post people's emails on the blog, but these are just way-too-cool to pass:
- Direct email from the amazingly talented international artist, Oliver Lutz (the family owns one of Lutz' tree paintings):
"your posting is beaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutiful! very nice job, indeed."
- Email from artist Dan Levenson to Max and Allyson (they also own one of Levenson's paintings shown in the slideshow):
"First my friend Jeff calls me and says he was looking at apartment therapy and there's the nicest home he's ever seen, in his words, and there's a painting in one shot that looks like it might be by me.

THEN my coworker Liza calls me over to her computer to show me this apartment that she and her architect husband were admiring last night. It's her dream place. When she found out I knew you two she was so excited she had to call her husband at work. She says it's cooler than knowing Ben Affleck.

Both events were within an hour of one another."

Again, many many thanks to Max and Allyson for being so gracious introducing one of the most magical houses in America.

IN CASA KIDS: favorites of the week

What a week! It's been a roller-coaster ride (I'll elaborate soon, of course). Anyway, here is my favorite son-father pic that I took a week ago at the Mulberry St. playground. Enjoy!


As far as items, I love these little homemade dolls: hand-crocheted little Peruvian finger puppets. You can get some of these cute dollies at street vendors across NYC.

IN CASA KIDS: TRIPPIN' TRIPPEN SHOES

We just miss you so much, kiddos. Therefore we must deliver these awesome hot kiddie shoes to your screen, ASAP! Trippen is the hot shoe brand aus Berlin that is still very under the radar in the US. Duo Michael Oehlen and Angela Spieth created Trippen and ever since have upgraded shoe-design concept to the next level. They would easily be putting those Crocks and Robbiezes back to their warehouses.

note: Hello parents, watch those cool adult Trippen shoes! Crave. Choose one. Shop. Wear. Buy 10 more pairs. Aren't they amazing? NYC's Lilith and Penvern carry select Trippen shoes.
ps: For those of you in Berlin, visit Trippen's outlet store beyond visiting their 3 major shop locations. Everything is 10-75% off. Don't get lost... it is in the middle of industrial area where every building looks alike. U6 Zinnowitzerstr (psst.. ask around for an exact location..)
www.trippen.com

KIDS DAY: DESIGNER CHAIRS

From Eames to Mies to Rietveld to Panton, FOR ONLY 7 EURO EACH!!
Well, hear us out for a sec before you get a serious heart attack. They are just miniatures (no, not even a kids' version... they are real miniatures about 8 cm tall) of those super expensive vintage designer chairs. And nope, they are not even Vitra's, they are Inconnu's.
The good thing is, everybody can finally afford one in his/her own living room, even your little ones can! So have fun... aren't kids these days truly blessed with cool miniatures?

KIDS DAY: MUJI

Forget brand names, cry no more!
Muji (stands for 'no brand' in Japanese) creates very cool progressive-minimalist stuff for your little ones.
Above pictures: Pop Up Card - Tokyo, £2.95 (or $9), New York in a Bag £4.95 ($16) -don't want to mislead you with the pic, they are small; adorable regardless-, Windup Rubberband Plane £4.95, Mini Pencils £2.95, Re-Used Yam Covered Giraffe £7.50, Puzzle Cookie Cutter £6.95.
Available at: www.mujionline.co.uk or MUJI at MoMA Store SoHo (only select items).

AHOY BRITISH-PIRATE CHILDREN!

What better translates the marriage between the pirates, the British, and the cool lifestyle? While a movie or a Keira Knightly could easily be forgotten over time (we hope not for Keira), this wallpaper definitely is not.
Also for those of you who love the RedStr/Collective's Costa Rica Wallpaper, here is another one to adore and MUST have.
Contact us for catalog and pricing info: shop.incasa@gmail.com

photo credit: Alice Pringadi

MOMMY: SWIM SLIM

SUMMER IS HERE! (and for all of us in the East Coast, summer has arrived around 10 times now)
Either case, this is the time to have fun with water, both you and your little ones.
Your kiddie will have fun regardless of their outfit, so our suggestions for them are: spend as much time as you like in the water, wear sunblock and sunscreens, drink a lot of water, wear swimming shoes for those of you swimming at beaches (careful for those occasional broken glasses or sharp objects), play and swim close to your parents, have fun!

But today, we are going to share the coolest, amazing swimming gear to all our hip and playful mommy readers who cannot settle for less than the best: SPEEDO and Comme des Garçons swimwear collection ($100 + tax).
Trust us, it will make you feel like the coolest water goddess, looking super sexy and very in shape (do you see the pics?? it does clad our tummy flabs and stretch marks while exposing our fab backs and sexy shoulder blades)

"I wanted to make real swimwear for people who like swimming for pleasure or for training their bodies. I chose Speedo because of their tradition and authenticity and because they simply make the best swimwear. The collection is for all those that love creative design... and swimming!" REI KAWAKUBO (Comme des Garçons)
We trust her with all our hearts. This is by far the best investment in our entire swimming life time. It does make us just as excited as our toddlers to go to the neighborhood's jungle jim that has all those wonderful kiddie fountains. And soon enough, you will see us blend seamlessly in the midst of water-happiness-soaked children... oh, it is not us, it's just the outfit we are wearing...

PLAY COOKING

Now on fun activity:

Let your kids help out in the kitchen, or for younger ones, encourage them to play cooking just like you.

TODDLERS:
You can set up a corner at your kitchen for your little one's stove or cooking corner (far from stove, oven, or any hazardous instruments or ingredients).
Be creative! You don't have to break your bank account buying all those expensive miniature tools or ingredients. Anything could be toy: plastic or paper containers and bottles, tea or plastic spoons, dry beans, pasta, medium moving box painted as stove (supervise your kid), small mittens and apron, ...

OLDER KIDS:
You can start by introducing food names, how to tell if an apple is fresh or not, how to clean vegetable, or how to set a table for family dinner.
As far as cooking, we are thinking of salad because it is easy and can be a great and fun way to start in the kitchen.
Also, assign them their own mittens and apron.

Always remind them to clean up after playing. This will promote strong sense of responsibility and accomplishment.
Supervise them at all time.
Have Fun!

note: we love wooden kitchen toys by Haba, Erzi, Melissa & Doug
-AP

ORIGINALITY

Original Effort is Golden, Unique, and Which Shine. At least that's what I think.

Is it ok to not be original?

A girl in my undergraduate program would come to everyone's desks just to monitor on projects, snoop on progress, and be very resourceful and creative on how she could top her rivals' projects, by any means: from crying for sympathy to tailgating one's design process, and to throwing someone's finished model out of the window and shuttered it to pieces a day before class presentation. Nothing she produced was original although all the work were presented better than many of us who own the original concepts.
At the end she graduated 4.0/4.0.
But is it worth it? Are ambition and goal-oriented tasks really teaching and educating?
Or is originality dumb and so yesterday?

Now. Is it then ok to not be original as long as one is not causing any damage?

Kids were born to follow. Fortunately, at one point, they will grow and be comfortable with their own ideas. And it requires adult's efforts to assure, to guide and teach, to correct, to set precedence, and never to 'compare'.
And for parents to accept, embrace, and respect your kids' talents and to praise their project outcomes starting now are crutial steps to build your children's confidence. They also allow them to be creative and proud with their own ideas, ideology and consequently be true to and happy with themselves in the long run. Once they feel secure and valuable, it is much more like that they will produce many original ideas and solutions, effectiveness aside.

Originality is always fabulous, no matter what others might say.
And while it is not necessarily wrong to not be original, it definitely is not requiring any sense of pride to be in.
Above all, NO, it is never acceptable to damage, no matter what, no matter how.
-AP

HERO

Yesterday, I walked down the street to the parking garage three blocks away just to be fully distantly-engaged with the conversation of a father with his two girls who were sharing the same path as mine. He "lectured" them in how corporate law works, when and how to sue and to get the sue reversed.
Definitely impressive! The enthused girls were like 6-8 and they were learning about corporate law. I am sure these girls were dreaming of becoming either a lawyer or someone in law practice, just like daddy.

It is not that hard a parent or any adult to be adored by a child. It is what an adult can "offer" to make the child feel wonderful and accepted, whether it is warmth, good relationship, advises, teaching, wonderful meals (inspires the kid to be a chef), insider tactics (eg. in law practice, like the above story, or business ventures). I learnt it's never too much or too early for them to share our knowledge.

note: Happy World Cup 2006: Italy vs. France! May parents spend some (extra) quality and educational soccer moment with their kids.
-AP

CASE STUDY #1

Austin treated us very well!
We finally returned to Boston yesterday. During the (loooooong) airplane ride, towards the end of the journey I was encountered with dilemma that I am sure most people will find it as bothersome from every depth and perspective.

A woman and her daughter sat nearby, the daughter next to the window and the mother, next to the aisle. The whole time, she "showered" the girl with both the extreme treatments: either kissesessess or slap-slap-hit-slap-hit. The girl was ordered to stay under her pink blanket and sleep, and when she refused, another hits and finally she surrendered and hid inside the blanket.

I know I should be able to step up to the plate and say "stop". On the other hand, the situation was really confusing. It was really sketchy, once I thought for sure she's abusing the girl, she would shower her with so much loudly-proclaimed kisses and I-love-yous. And when I try to convince myself that the mother was just having a horrible day and immediately recognized her fault for hitting the daughter, she slapped her again.

What if I stood up, gave her this "I know you are abusing her" kind of look, or even said something to her how can I deal with an angry woman, sitting really close to me and other kids nearby, in a plane 10,000 miles above the ground?

What should I do?

WELCOME!

Hello!
I am compelled to start this blog to channel our thoughts and ideas on progressive and creative learning methods. Children are amazing. They are ever-thirsty sponges who thrive for good teaching, guidance, education, stimulation, emotional freedom and acceptance.
In contrast, there are just so many misconceptions and misleading guidelines about children, not just among individuals, but also as a culture.

So here we are..
freely talking about what is progressive, children, progressive children.
What developmental approaches and educational methods are working. What is applicable. What is sensible. What is creative.
And what is not.
And let us not be confined in the psychological aspect of "progressive children". Let us talk about what's progressive from multiple standpoints: design, architecture, art, music, linguistic, science, social practices...

Let all of us think progressively and write boldly for our children!
-AP