Optimization Through Simplification
This post was sponsored by Rethink Water. All words and opinions are my own. All images of West were taken by me while my son was engaging naturally and happily in his own way.
On a recent routine visit to the doctor, we were told that our 1 year old son should be drinking much more water than he is, and should be drinking less milk now that he’s no longer nursing. Shortly thereafter, this sentiment was echoed by the director of a preschool that we visited.
However, our sweet boy wouldn’t drink anything but milk or elaborate homemade green juices. (We don’t give him store-bought juices, as most are pumped full of sugar and often housed in plastic containers.) Both the milk and the green juices aren’t ideal for all of our sunny, outdoor playroom/porch and adventures throughout Venice. And neither substance is fun to clean from the car, stroller, or sofa.
We tried fresh-squeezed lemon water, orange-infused water, and sparkling water, all with no luck. Luckily, a week later, we were introduced to Rethink Water, which checked off all the boxes.
✅🌎 Rethink Water is contained in FCS certified paperboard that’s 100% recyclable. (Why is anyone still buying products that come in single-use plastic bottles?!)
✅0⃣ It has zero sugar, zero calories, and zero sodium.
✅🍏 It’s simple, organically flavored water.
✅💧 It doesn’t leave a sticky mess behind. (This helps, as West regularly tries to water our greenery with his beverages.)
✅🚣 It’s easy to grab-and-go for our bike rides, walks on the canals, and visits to the beach.
✅☀ When West and Adam are on the playroom/porch or romping around in the garden, it won’t go bad if its accidentally left in the sun for a bit.
✅🎨 The carton artwork is adorable, and the containers are the perfect size for tossing into a stroller or bag. West also enjoys the boxes as toys— he usually grabs more than one at a time from his kitchen drawer, and stacks as many as possible.
✅♻ We even reused our first batch of cartons for West’s first gardening project.
✅👦 Most importantly, WEST ACTUALLY ENJOYS & DRINKS IT. (Hallelujah!)
Problem solved, and solved simply. (Adventure, ahoy!)
Cloth Diapering
Now that West is well into his toddler phase, we've revised our diapering habits here at the cottage. A few things have proven crucial for us, so I'm sharing what we've learned in case it helps anyone else. Almost always, we use cloth diapers from Grovia.
The heroes of our simple system are as follows:
BioLiners - BioLiners are amazing. They're similar in size/weight/form to a dryer sheet, and they catch solids, which makes cleaning West's cloth diapers so easy. (I won't even use a cloth diaper without the liner.) We just toss the used liners into our small diaper pail.
Musical Greeting Cards - YES. HEAR ME OUT ON THIS! West frequently flails around like a maniac when we're changing his diaper. Musical greeting cards have been the best way to keep him entertained and engaged during changing sessions without handing him an iPad or iPhone. (We're not big fans of screens here.) When he gets tired of a certain card, we just remove the music box and toss the paper into the recycling bin. (Downside: we get the worst songs stuck in our heads. The number of times I've caught Adam humming the hamster song as he cooks is ridiculous.)
Gathre Mats - We use several Gathre Mats every day, one of which is reserved as West's changing surface. We use it on our bed and it works perfectly. Since there's no safety belt, we never leave our son unattended.
Coconut Oil - West had a horrible diaper rash during a stretch of time when we stopped using cloth diapers. (We hadn't been using the BioLiners yet, and it was getting to be a hassle without them. Once I discovered the liners, I really regretted using disposable diapers.) Our son's doctors prescribed 3 different ointments for his skin, but none of them worked for more than a day or two. But safe and natural coconut oil (with cloth diapering) helped the rash go away-- and stay away-- within 2 or 3 days.
Wet Bags - We try to wash the worn diapers every 2 days. In the stretch of time between laundry loads, we keep used diapers in hanging wet bags.
Snap-In Soaker Pads - We do use pre-fold cloths in West's diaper shells, but I prefer the snap-in soaker pads. They're less likely to bunch up or slide down when West is particularly wiggly.
As an important side note, it's estimated that disposable diapers make up over 2% of the garbage in American landfills each year-- that's millions of tons! One of the key criticisms of cloth diapers is that they require an increase in water to wash. Parts of cloth diapers must be washed after every use, but you can reuse shells from hybrid diapers, depending on the circumstance. If you use about the same amount of water as the average American household, washing diapers could account for up to 5% of your total water use.Washing diapers is relatively efficient when you compare it to how much water is required to produce products.
Looking for more conservation tips to apply in and around your home? This wonderful graphic from Arhaus has some easy, helpful suggestions. Their philanthropy page contains links to even more info.
Tiny Adventures: Museum Day
One of the things I love most about small space living is that it encourages us to seek every day adventures outside of our home, and it reminds us to engage more with our local communities. As such, I'm starting a new series of mini posts on the blog to share these lil' moments from our lives here at the Cottage.
Left: West stepping out of his room, ready to explore the world. Right: Sophee saying bye to us through a window in the front cottage.
This week, I decided to play hooky for a half-day and take Adam and West to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. West recently became super intersted in animal and dinosaur illustrations, so I thought it would be the perfect time to show him some creatures beyond the pages of his books.
We took the Metro from West LA to the museum. (Psst-- LA folks: If you take the metro to the Museum, you get a discount on adult admission fees to the museum.)It was West's first time on a train, beyond the shuttles at airpots. He was enthralled at first... and then passed out.
When we arrived, I though our son would be so excited by the oversized sculptures at the entrance to the museum. However, the passing construction trucks nearby stole most of his attention. (Sad trombone!) Luckily he was out-of-his-mind with joy the moment we entered the exhibition halls.
Above: Enjoying the beautiful installations at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.
It turns out that this museum is the PERFECT place for a toddler to safely bolt around. West repeatedly ran from window to window, animal to animal, and garden to garden, soaking up all the there was to see.
It felt wonderful to step outside and show our son something new and extraordinary. And it felt equally as wonderful to return home-- satiated and exhausted-- to our little slice of the world after our tiny adventure.
Toys (+ Toy Storage) for Tiny Homes
While we aren't minimalists, our overarching goal at the Cottage is to minimize our possessions without sacrificing comfort, style or experiences. When it comes to our son's book and toy collection, we've stayed in this mindset and only acquired items that he seems to genuinely enjoy, and that we believe to be beneficial to his development-- and, of course, we try to find pieces that we actually enjoy seeing scattered all over the floor, whenever possible.
In our small space, it's been helpful to find the following types of toys and containers:
Collapsible
Travel-Sized
Self-Contained
Scalable (for longevity)
Woven, wood, leather, or hanging baskets/boxes (to suit the style of our home)
As long as everything West enjoys regularly has a dedicated space that's easily accessible (and can be contained in a way that makes our home still feel uncluttered and organized), it works for us. Here are some visual examples of our everyday, ever-evolving storage methods:
A Handmade hanging basket on A magnetic hook Holds west's magnetic letters and numbers on the fridge or dishwasher
Wire mesh hanging baskets hold small toys high up in the nursery
An oversized Knotted string hamper basket contains miscellaneous toys that west enjoys daily
a mix of Toys contained via similarly-toned boxes and suitcases
the large Built-in trundle storage bin beneath our bed
Here are some of our favorite types of toys at West's current stage, along with the reasons why we love them:
The above sampling of West's toys demonstrates the types of items that work well in our small home. Our son uses all of these regularly, and we can store them easily. The small train breaks down into segments for simple clean up. The leaf puzzle slides onto the bookshelf at night. The wooden book is pocket-sized, and travels everywhere with us. The alphabet books entertain West endlessly, and are self-contained in a small box. The geometric star is pliable and can fit almost anywhere. The handmade magnetic fishing set has small (yet safe) parts that we quickly stash away in a drawstring linen bag.
I want my son to have access to a diverse array of colors, shapes, materials, and activities that make him happy and stimulate his growth. I look forward to seeing how his preferences and styles differ from my own. Having said that, I take joy in analyzing everything we bring into our home, and if we can make select items work for all of us (at this stage), then why not. Everyone wins!