4 Products That’ll Make Your Life Easier

4 Products That’ll Make Your Life Easier

1. EZ Leaps. My 3-year-old daughter loves to get herself dressed (when she’s in the mood to get dressed at all, that is). But on the shoe-front, we’ve mostly stuck with Velcro straps because shoe-tying is a ways away. But when EZ Leaps ($5.49) came to my house for review, I was really excited to show my daughter how it works. It’s a simple little tool that’s smaller than a credit card that lets kids start the process to shoe-tying freedom. You simply thread the laces through the holes, leaving loops at the top, and then tie the loops together. My daughter is still a little young for it, but she was super enthusiastic to try it, and I could see the wheels turning that she would one day be able to do this task all by herself. Plus, she loved the monkey design on the product we received. Now if I can just keep track of it until she’s got a little more fine motor skill!

2. Aqueduck. Two-year-olds are great at making messes. They’re not so great at being able to reach the faucet to turn on water to wash their hands — even though they desperately want to do it “by self.” So what to do when a little one can’t reach? Get a faucet extender! I tried the Aqueduck two handle extender. The handle ($15.99) fits onto the handles easily — they also make them for single-handle setups — and Owen could easily turn the water on. The handle then swivels out of the way so you can wash up. It wasn’t as easy for him to turn the water off because it requires swiveling the handle the opposite direction and pushing, but by the time he’s done washing I head over to help him shut if off and dry his hands. It’s nice for times when he comes in from outside with filthy hands but I’m otherwise occupied. I can tell him to go wash up until I can get there — and he can!