Best Supplies for Blooming Babies

One thing Montessori-trained proprietress Emelia Metzger knows for certain is babies. And one thing she learned during her former career in early-childhood care and instruction is that our everyday retail world is pathetically lacking in good old-fashioned, quality educational toys in natural materials. So this new cubbyhole on South Broadway, as wet behind the ears as the clientele it's meant to serve, was designed to rectify the situation, one baby step at a time. Metzger's growing inventory at Red Carpet Baby! includes sturdy three-dimensional wooden puzzles and other hard-to-find imported wooden toys, tiny silverware and bake sets and imaginative graphic mobiles for over the crib, as well as such boutique items as bath soaps for tender skin, cloud-soft fringed fleece blankets and simple, toddler-scaled furniture. In time, she also hopes to roll out the red carpet for neighborhood play groups conducive to parental networking. What a way to grow.