Susan Pinkwater, owner of the Uptown Bristro, was brave last night. At 5:30 p.m., all 52 seats in her Upper Montclair restaurant were filled. At least two-thirds of her patrons should’ve been wearing bibs. And she (in photo at left) told me she totally didn’t mind.

What seemed like 6,000 kids–three of them mine–were calmly, quietly and politely eating their food for a Parents Who Rock fundraiser to raise money for Little Kids Rock, the nationwide organization that’s based in Montclair. The children were not running all over the place as artist Ellen Paretti tried to sing. They were not throwing French fries all over the floor. And they definitely were not whining for dessert.

We parents know kids never do things like that.

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If you have children in Montclair, you know about the kindergarten tours and “choice” process. Parents drag themselves through six schools in a week’s time, pick one they think will get their kid into Princeton, and then rank elementary schools in order of preference from first to last. Parents do this while trying not to get too emotionally attached to a certain school because very few get their first choice in the end. 

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I’m not happy that salmonella peanut butter is making people sick, as Kristen posted recently, but at least this is one illness my family doesn’t have to worry about. We just have to worry about peanuts in general. They could kill my daughter.

Here are the bakeries, shops and peanut-free places I’ve found around Montclair.

 

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Intellectually, I understand that it’s just preschool. But, as you might understand, my very young twins and baby are already working on their applications for Harvard Medical School. So their preschool school choices are my current obsession. Luckily, there are plenty of nursery and preschool open houses and registrations to keep me plenty busy.

Montclair Community Pre-K Registration
Registration has started for the 4s classes. Get there today, 1-27, between noon and 3, 9 a.m.-noon to register for the 4s classes.
49 Orange Rd.
Montclair, NJ 07042

MMO Programs & Preschool
Registration is underway
Kids ages 18 months through 5 years can register for their various programs
40 N. Fullerton Ave.
Montclair, NJ 07042

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Give us peanut butter or give us death.

That would be funny if it weren’t true. According to the latest news on CNN, salmonella-laced peanut butter products have killed six people, and 486 have gotten sick.

Despite the scary stats, I’m still eating it daily from the jar. (All snacks have been tossed.) Plus, I’m feeding peanut butter to my kids. I swear I’m not a homicidal mom trying to poison my family. Actually, I’m worse. I’m a helicopter mom in the suburbs going to great lengths to secure clean peanut butter.

We’re addicts, and we need peanut butter that won’t make us sick or kill us dead. Here’s how I’ve been getting my hands on it:

I go to Whole Foods on Bloomfield Avenue and pester the staff. I figured Whole Foods had smaller-named, organic brands that would never harm us or make us fat. But then, over the weekend, even their products such as Whole Body nutrition bars, Luna bars and some cereal bars got recalled.

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Tuesday was so exciting that I’m still whipped on Thursday. I celebrated our new president by watching the Inaugural Ball from my couch on Bloomfield Avenue. Maybe my invitation was just lost in the mail. Meanwhile, I’m still celebrating.

Try as I might, Montclair mom Lisa Prince is way cooler than me. She went to the inauguration with her husband, Toby Shorter, and their three kids. There they are, at left–Austin Shorter, 10, Julian Shorter, 5, Jasper Shorter, 12. She’s still on an Obama high.

Lisa, our Mom in DC from Tuesday’s post, sends this update–and some great photos of the Inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington, DC. on January 20, 2009.

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My cool mom friend, Lisa Prince, had to leave New York Sports early to take her family to the inauguration. I was so psyched to hear this news.

I
asked Lisa to send me her thoughts on this important and emotional day.
Right now, she’s in Washington, DC, attending the Presidential
Inauguration of Barack Obama with her husband and three kids ages 5,
10 and 12. 

Lisa just told me, “The energy in Washington right now is so positive, the excitement is palpable.” Here is more on how she feels today.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., drank a lot of coffee. He drank it in the mornings. He drank it while writing his famous speeches. He drank it when he came home exhausted.

This
is what fellow mom, Nicole Gray, tells me. She is a local
friend, and I get a buzz just reading her blog, DrinkingCoffeeAlltheTime. She got some parents together this weekend at Starbucks on Church Street to toast MLK with coffee. (That’s me, second to last on the right. Nicole is on my left.)

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I used to live in Upstate, New York, and it freaked me out when monster trucks loaded with ice fishing huts would drive across Lake George in the winter. But I did ice skate on Lake George with about 100 other people, and it was totally scary and fun. Kind of like doing preschool open houses.

So while we won’t be driving Montclair’s monster trucks–Siennas and Land Rovers–across Edgemont Pond anytime soon, we are invited to ice skate there. I don’t know. Would you ice skate on Edgemont Pond? You know, the one loaded with green scum and geese poop in the spring and fall?

Either way, Edgemont Park’s Pond is officially open for unsupervised skating, weather and ice permitting, over this long weekend. See Baristanet’s photos of the locals enjoying the Ice, Ice Baby. Keep reading for more info.

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This Sunday morning, the temperature is a perfect 26 degrees. That’s cold enough for sledding, but not so cold that my 3-year-olds turn into into kidcicles.

So maybe we’ll hit Montclair’s top sledding spots. Here is a reprint of a helpful piece by Montclair’s cool mom, Bridget Sarubin.

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