Kendra LaDuca’s eureka moment came while she was pushing a grocery cart through the aisles of a Costco seven years ago. As she scanned the shelves, her infant daughter leaned over and started chewing on Kendra’s leather watchband. “She was slobbering on my arm, and I just let her because she was happy and I was able to shop,” says Kendra, 38, of Silver Spring.
From that experience, Teething Bling was born. Kendra and her business partner, Amy Maurer Creel, also of Silver Spring, developed a line of silicone pendants, bracelets and key chains that double as teething toys after realizing that they had stopped wearing jewelry since their kids were born. “My husband said one day, ‘Why don’t you ever wear the jewelry I give you?’ ” Kendra recalls. “I said, ‘I don’t because they’re going to grab it.’ Also, when you want a teething toy, you can never find it. It’s always at the bottom of your diaper bag.”
Image from SmartMom.