The Biz: The Grapevine

Before children learn to resent chores comes a delightful stage that wise parents are eager to encourage: the “Can I help?” stage. A particularly clever mama, Carol Gamble, decided to avoid the risk of her small daughter falling off a chair when helping her mother in the kitchen, and invented The Learning Tower, a multi-purpose, adjustable-height stepstool. The Learning Tower is a patented product of Little Partners, a company started by Gamble, with a simple, attractive design that has ample space to hold two children simultaneously.

Beautiful black-and-white illustrations with rich splashes of color depicting the vibrancy of smells, as experienced by a dog are the delightful focal points created by artist Amanda Giacomini for the wonderful smell-o-rama book series, Mo’s Nose about a rescued dog named Mo.

This multi-sensory series has found the sweet smell of success with each of its scentsational releases.

In this era of low-rise pants, getting the perfect fit can be a real challenge — especially when slender young girls are involved. Parents are left to choose between overlooking revealing gaps or settling on a bunched waistline with a traditional belt. Rising to the occasion, designer and fashion savvy mom, Kathy Kramer, has created a functional belt for girls that she calls Invisibelt Girl.

Taking bedtime by the hand is a company called The Incredibeds, started by father and visionary Jeremy Maloney, who believed that bedtime didn’t have to remain something for kids to balk at. Tired of looking all over the house for his son’s favorite stuffed animals, in an effort to make sleeping more appealing, he imagined what it would be like for parents if the comforting presence of a stuffed friend was impossible to lose! Thus, Incredibeds was launched, and a new, appealing way of settling kids into bed was born.