Picks of the Week № 44 📍

Hello, week № 44.

It’s been a while since I’ve gathered up Kid Jupiter’s favorite things, so today is the day! He’s a few months shy of being two entire years old, so these picks are handy if you have a younger toddler too. For me this will be a tiny time capsule.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links; I may earn a tiny commission from purchases.

Here are Kid Jupiter’s five favorites this week:

Magnatiles
Lunch “Bento”
WaterWow Pads
Cat & Jack Shoes
Shortsleeve Rompers

— Magnatiles
These are fun magnets and the whole house loves them!

I prefer to buy the Kid open-ended toys; toys and other objects that encourage imaginative play because they don’t have to be played with any certain way. These tiles are just fun because you can do almost anything with them. We have the clear set (transparent plastic with visible magnets), but Magnatiles are available in a wide range of colors and even can glow in the dark!

Mister Jupiter and I prefer to build, but Kid Jupiter prefers to make different flat arrangements. Since they are just regular magnets (not the super strong rare earth magnets), the Kid can play with them on other magnetic surfaces like the refrigerator, my car, and metal cabinets without me worrying about damage.

— Lunch “Bento”
I started making faux-bento boxes for the Kid when he wanted to feed himself more.

These are divided trays from Pampered Chef – I don’t always see them on the site, so they may be discontinued. I bought these to preserve herbs in olive oil, but realized that Kid Jupiter would like them better as a food tray.

Most days I fill the six cavities with three different things, but if he’s being an adventurous eater I will give him six different foods. What we do and how we do it changes every day, but having “bento” is something he often looks forward to. Here are some of the things he likes having available

Peas
Cubed cheese
Rice
Crumbled meat
Broccoli
Beets

— WaterWow Pads
These were introduced by a friend years before Kid Jupiter was in the world.

We were having dinner in a restaurant, and she brought the kids – one little kid, and a high chair baby. The “little kid” was maybe three or four and had so much fun coloring with water, that we could have a meal AND conversation.

Kid Jupiter is currently more interested in the empty brushes than the water-revealing function, so it’s nice knowing that he already enjoys these pads and hasn’t really started using them yet! These are great surprise gifts if you’re going out to lunch and your friend is bringing their child. Of course parents will bring something to entertain their kid(s), but something new and interesting is very captivating, and generally easy to stash in a purse.

Water Wow! Pads (on Amazon)

— Cat & Jack Shoes
Cat & Jack is a brand of children’s clothes available at Target. I’m a big fan of their plain clothes – they usually have a good local selection of non-obnoxious kid’s clothes.

But my favorite are the shoes. They are simple and sturdy. When Kid Jupiter was walking regularly on hardwood floors we needed real shoes for outdoor adventures, and after trying out some mysterious brands on Amazon, I found our new favorites online at Target.

Shoe shopping online when you’re not familiar with the sizing system is fun – so good return policies are important. We’ve gotten lucky with Cat & Jack shoes – excellent quality, practical, and affordable. I buy Kid Jupiter’s shoes two at a time. One in his current (or suspected current) size, and one the next size up. This way of shopping sometimes results in me forgetting that I already have certain sizes handy, but it also means that shoe buying is never an emergency.

— Shortsleeve Rompers
One-piece rompers and pajamas are the best. Luckily babies and toddlers can get away with wearing them as daytime clothes as Kid Jupiter often does.

Our favorite zip up rompers are from Primary (long, lean, fitted), but I wanted to try a lower-cost alternative, so I found some on Amazon. The sizing was a little more ambiguous, and the fit isn’t as snug around the belly like we prefer, but for the price of two mochas – they’re a great buy.

Besides the double ended zipper (genius!), we love the short sleeves. Kid Jupiter tends to run hot, so the short sleeves keep him cool. Then in the evening or on chilly days we can easily add a track jacket on top without being too bulky.