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I just learned this one from a good friend of mine: borrow the C and D magnets from the alphabet set that
is littering your fridge and stick one to your dishwasher to help family members know when the dishes are either clean or dirty.
Easter fell on my father's birthday this year - so we traveled to celebrate with my folks. I baked some special pies but additionally made these angel-food cupcakes. I just used a box mix, but discovered something really terrific - because the batter incorporates so much air, you can easily get two dozen or
more cupcakes from one cake! You will need to fill the cups generously as the individual cakes shrink a little bit as they cool, but you'll still have enough for tons of cupcakes. I thought this would be a great idea for those times when you need to bring something to your child's class or a party. The cupcakes are pretty and tasty just as is if you want to forgo the icing - and they are not at all crumbly like regular cupcakes, so they won't make a mess and end up all over kids and ground into the carpet. We iced ours with a light, whipped white icing and added shredded coconut and bunny-shaped marshmallows to some. They were so tasty! This would also make an easy one-serving portion for strawberry shortcakes or an easy low-fat lunchbox treat.
This is our little corner. I always keep some sort of book display here in the playroom and now also the "responsibility chart" we started with Hope at the new year. This has been one of the best things ever! It has really helped us to gain a better handle on a regular daily schedule, for Hope to accomplish things that she needs to do anyway throughout the day and feel great about it, and to eliminate a lot of the whining about picking up her things and brushing hair. We've started very simply with just 5 things on her chart - for us, it's getting dressed in the morning, brushing hair and teeth in the morning, doing whatever "preschool" activity we have planned for the day, reading at least one book to me, and picking up her toys whenever asked. If she completes her responsibility then she gets a check for the day, at the end of the day if there are all five checks, she gets a star. At the end of Mon.-Fri., if she has five stars, she gets to choose a coupon from mom's special coupon book. Her coupon choices range from a pack of bubble gum or an ice cream cone to visiting the playground or playpit of her choice, to staying up 30min. past bedtime, to a book from Barnes and Noble or $2 spending money...etc...we try to keep the rewards small but enticing and as many rewards involving time and play and relationship as possible vs. food or money rewards. So far, our chart has had big success. I think the key is to keep the amount of tasks limited and have rewards that are instant (check), daily (star), and fun/worthwhile (coupon). Hope is also gaining money handling skills by being issued a signed coupon that she then has to safely keep until she presents it for use and she has learned all seven days of the week. The tasks are things that for the most part she needs to do anyway, so eventually we will remove these items from the chart (while keeping them as part of our regular day) and replace them with additional items - such as maybe setting the table for dinner or sorting her own laundry for washing.
I love bath time for the girls...cute naked tooshies, rosy clean faces, kids contained all in one small space!
What's not to love? Though, sometimes at the end of a long day as we're getting the kids ready for bed, I admit it seems a bit of a chore and I have a hard time not rushing them through it. But occasionally, like today, we rearrange our schedule a bit and the girls get a morning or mid-day bath instead. They get to stay in for a really long time and enjoy themselves...and I get to have them both contained and entertained while I soak my feet or sit nearby and give myself a little mani/pedi....or maybe indulge in a magazine or book...or even just enjoy the time to play with them. While there might be a few extra wet towels and washcloths and a mountain of toys left in the tub in the end, at least there is no mess being made elsewhere and I get some time to slow down a bit and it all results in clean, well-groomed children.
We spent the entire morning at an open house for a homeschooling program that we are looking at for the girls....it was a great time, but Hope and Maddie were pretty tapped out by the end of it and fell asleep on the drive home. I decided to just park the car in the sun and read for a while to let them have some of the rest they needed. It was a nice moment to gather some of the rest I needed as well. The bonus of the natural light minus the distractions that await within my house combined with the sweet sounds of peaceful breathing from the backseat and otherwise silence....was really refreshing. It probably only lasted twenty minutes before Hope awakened and we headed inside to carry Maddie off to bed and get on with other things. But, it was definitely a wonderful treat of slowing down in the midst of my day.
things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.I agree that toy boxes seem like a really great idea, because we know the
accumulation of toys which begin to take over the homes of small children and the inevitable lack of storage solution. But I'm a big proponent of staying away from the toy box idea and aiming towards anchored shelving, drawers, cabinets, and smaller bins. Here's why:
Hope had her second ballet class today - and loved it, no surprise. In the meantime, Maddie and I had an hour to spend together just killing time. I took a book for us to look at and when we were finished, I decided to walk next door to the grocery store. Usually shopping with the girls is a whirlwind kind of experience. So, I took Maddie to the produce section for no other reason than to browse, to take the time to let her feel the differences between a bumpy round orange, a smooth oblong mango, and fuzzy kiwi....to look at all the different colors, and to smell the pineapples and also the roses from the nearby floral dept. It was really nice to just not care about a grocery list or if the kids were getting cranky and spend some one on one time experiencing things with my two year old. Grocery stores are great opportunities for fun with young ones - you can scavenger hunt for shapes, colors, letters, textures, sounds, and temperatures! You can make up games out of your usual shopping trips, or it's a good idea just to visit the store with no intentions of buying anything and when there's plenty of time to let it be a fun and relaxing experience for you and your children. Here are some more game ideas for the grocery store from Wondertime magazine and PBS.
While I stopped teaching general music and chorus in public school after just three years to stay home with my own children, I still continue to give private lessons to a few students. As a result, I am often asked by friends and others when is the appropriate time to start music lessons (most frequently piano) for their children. This is the advice I always give:
opportunities to listen to a variety of music or tinker with music makers and instruments, just singing to your baby and helping kids to clap in rhythm will go a long way towards developing musicianship. 
Alright all you mamas driving gas-guzzling minivans and SUV's out there - buy a hybrid! If I could, I would - especially with gas prices predicted to hit $4 a gallon this summer! (not to mention those destructive pollutants!) In the meantime, here are a few tips to help you get the most for your money, straight from someone who has worked in the petroleum business for 30+ years:
While we haven't yet added a furry friend to our home, our girls are still big fans of dogs. My husband and I
both grew up with a family pup, there was not a time as a child that I can remember being unfamiliar with a canine pal. In either case, even children who are growing up with a pooch as well as those who are not should be taught how to handle dogs that they might meet anywhere - on a walk, in the park, other people's homes, etc..... In order to better ensure your child's safety, your child should be well equipped with knowledge of when to leave dogs alone and how to safely approach a dog only after they have asked the owner if it is okay. Over-exuberance or fear can easily be turned into a calm confidence that will allow your children to have wonderful and safe encounters with our furry friends. A quick search will reveal all the tips you need to know, but May I Pet Your Dog? by Stephanie Calmenson, told from the first-person perspective of a friendly Dachsund, is a great book - a fun and wonderful resource for teaching your child.
You know you've been there - especially if you have more than one child....that tiny event when you need to
briefly manage something while getting in or out of the car which requires your young child to wait momentarily. And you are wondering if it is in that one second that your kid will decide to bolt out into the path of a moving vehicle. I've got some routines down now which avoid this scenario as much as possible and I've done a good amount of work teaching my children to be careful of areas designed for traveling cars...but here's a tip we've used frequently and it has worked really well (I'm sure another mom passed it onto me, but I can't remember). We taught our children that whenever they get out of the car or are waiting to get in, they must keep "one hand on the car" at all times. I've repeated that phrase a million times by now! One hand gets glued to the car, giving them plenty of wiggle room for their energetic little bodies, but also a very concrete safety rule to follow. And the rule remains until a parent can grab hold of one of their hands to "release" them.
If you've run out of ideas to use at the doctor's office, at a restaurant while you wait, or other times when you need to entertain or occupy your child for a short while....here's one you might try. Put a couple of magnets and a handful of paper clips in a ziploc and stash it in your purse. Your young child will be fascinated with using the magnet to pick up the paper clips all at once or one at a time. They'll love to see the clips dangle from their edge or be "magically" pulled toward the magnet. They may also like to try their magnet out on various other objects - the silverware at your restaurant table, your keys, and more to see which objects it "sticks" to. They make take interest in watching magnets with exposed poles attract and also repel eachother. They'll be having fun and learning science at the same time.
While there are so many creative ideas for tackling that great sentimental chore of
storing/preserving/cherishing your child's artwork....eventually the overwhelming evidence points directly to the fact that you just can't keep it all. Here's a few ways, though, that I liked to help hold on to those priceless moments and special talents:
Recently my daughter Hope has had a growing fascination with games. She has rooted out every game in the house searching for ones she would be able to play. Beyond her own collection including Candyland and Chutes and Ladders, Lucky Ducks, and Memory, she has begged me to teach her checkers. After learning that one (still not great at strategy, but not bad either), she talked her cousins into teaching her to play the card game "war." When she grew tired of that, she made me dig through our closet shelf of games to find one she could manage and we landed on Sorry! which she played and then decided she didn't like because of the word sorry. Next, she managed to get her father to teach her chess - which she learned pretty well in a couple of sessions and then beat him today (with a slight amount of grace from her daddy). Following which, she coerced him into teaching her Tri-ominos. Now she is discouraged that there aren't any games left in the house that she can tackle. Still, it has gifted us with some great family time and has been an unexpected vehicle for teaching rule following, strategy, good sportsmanship, and some other basic skills like memory, matching, and deduction. I never would have guessed that at 3 years old, our dusty old board games and decks of cards would become a treasury of fun and learning.
I love veggies, but I really don't like them at all if they come from a can...or are overcooked.....or drowned in a bunch of greasy additions. Getting kids to eat their veggies seems like an issue every mother has to tackle at some point and while I can't really attribute it to anything specific that I've done, I can happily say I've got this one nailed with a two and four year old who love a huge variety of both raw and cooked veggies including mostly the green variety. While I have continued to always provide and offer veggies, I do think there is something to be said about caring for the appeal factor. I can't say I'd relish veggies that were mushy, souped in sugar and salt, overcooked, and dim in color either. Veggies that are steamed and left still slightly crisp retain a gorgeous color and texture which may be more appealing to children (not to mention actually still retain their healthful nutrients). If your kids are like mine, a little ketchup might go a long way in persuading them to take up the veggie habit and cooked right, a vibrantly colored, crisp green bean can win the appeal contest over a limp, greasy, brown french fry any day.
I can't believe I never thought of this before! My girls like to draw and color, but the novelty wears off somewhat quickly. However, I recently inherited a very large pad of paper from a neighbor...the kind that is large enough that I can lay it on the floor and both the girls and I can color from a different side without infringing on eachother's artwork. I don't know whether it is because it is more easy or more fun, but having the ability to color with huge sweeping strokes and draw in larger-than-life figures has totally won over my girls. Forget about those coloring books with the little pictures, this giant blank canvas really stirs up the artist in my children. The only unfortunate thing is that I can only find room to tack one giant piece of art to my refridgerator at a time.
A while ago my family ate at a restaurant that offered my children a toy to play with while we waited - it was a small package of Model Magic. If you are familiar with this art media, you will remember Model Magic as a sort of soft foamy moldable clay that even after air drying remains lightweight and spongy.
The amazing thing about this material is that it is clean handling, non-toxic, won't crumble or stick to skin or clothing. Once the material is dry you can paint, color, or glue stuff onto it, and it comes in a fantastic array of colors - even neon - and you can mix and blend them to get new colors.
This came to us in a perfect small amount individually packaged and totally held my girls' attention until the food arrived. I thought "I've got to go get a bucket of this stuff (yes they sell it by the bucket) and some ziplocs and have this stuff on hand." But a big fat thanks to crayola who now sells the stuff in boxes containing 6 little bags in various color sets. I've got two little packages in my purse right now, I wouldn't leave the house without it!
My girls don't often hound me about buying them things
when we are in the store. Maybe it's because I've never made an issue
of it. They can usually expect that I'll buy them something small. A
juice box goes a long way with these guys. 
But lately my favorite offering and their favorite anticipation is a banana nut flavored Odwalla bar! - fondly known to them as a cookie. They think of it as a real treat - better than a candy bar - but I know that it's actually pretty good for them. So I go ahead and let them spoil their dinner appetite on a "cookie" and get my grocery shopping done in peace.
I've gotten used to doing most of my 
shopping at a particular store simply because it is so close. While it doesn't always satisfy every whim or need, in the past two years of being faithful to this store I have found certain benefits accumulating, and it's lots of fun:
It may seem silly, but it's nice. After a while, any place that you frequent becomes like a comfortable little community. That's a good thing. With the availability of computers, online shopping, and other forms of communication, it seems like we're missing out more and more on the important aspects of relating personally.
Did you know that if every home in America replaced just one regular light bulb with an energy-saving bulb, the reduction in pollution created would be equal to removing 800,000 vehicles from the roads? Now, granted that is EVERY home, but what if half of American homes replaced just two bulbs?
There are lots of myths and conflicting data out there about the trends in the Earth's health due to the demands of a high-energy, consumeristic, growing population. Nevertheless, our commitment to cherish and actively care for our planet is not only helpful in a practical and long-term sense, but also communicates some very special lessons to our little ones.To get your mind rolling, here is are just some ways your family might be able to begin protecting and conserving today:
Here's a trick to pull out of your rainy-day-bag, or when you absolutely need something to do with the kids: peanutbutter play-dough!
I suggest doing this only as a treat as you are practically handing your kids candy, but the delectible, moldable stuff is sure to be a hit and is as easy as it is entertaining.
Simply put a large spoonful of creamy peanutbutter into a bowl with equal amounts of powdered sugar and flour. Work it all together using your hands - or letting the kids do so - until the peanut butter is thick and still soft and moldable but no longer sticky, adding more sugar or flour as needed.
This works best with truly creamy peanut butter, and therefore not as well with the natural stuff. Also,you can omit either the sugar or flour if desired. I've never tried to do this with a substitute such as almond butter, so I can't vouch for that... but if your child has an allergy to peanuts, it might be worth a try. Research and recommendations as to at what age you should allow peanutbutter into your child's diet varies, so consult with your pediatrician if you aren't sure.
Here's a little known and kind of weird fact about me: In our basement is a tall bookshelf on which I have accumulated collections of random junk items... cardboard tubes, egg cartons, oatmeal cannisters, pipe cleaners, yarn, construction paper, sheets of styrofoam, empty wipes containers, baby food jars, etc... From time to time, I pull something out and Hope and I make a craft or play a game.
Just the other day, my girls and I were in a long-stretching part of the day when I ran downstairs and collected 5 empty oatmeal cannisters. We played with them for quite a while and it might have been one of the most fun play times of our day. We set them up and rolled balls at them for a couple rounds of bowling. We filled them with different objects to make different sounds and made "music" with our drums, we stacked them on top of eachother to make tall towers that we then knocked down. Hope and Maddie enjoyed taking the lids off and replacing them. We used them as mailboxes to deliver secret messages. The girls teamed up and played together nicely and we all enjoyed trying to figure out what new things we could do with them.
Seems kind of simple and silly, huh? Well, we got as much play and joy out of those cardboard containers than any other toys we play with anyway.
I wouldn't normally be the first to get a cool techno-gadget, but for my birthday in October - and since I was due for my 2-year update - my husband splurged and bought me the new Chocolate from Verizon, which I love though I have hardly had time to really get to know it and begin to use all the cool features.
However, I did just recently - in the car on the way to family for Thanksgiving, in fact - managed to transfer all of the phone numbers from my old phone over to my new one. I also made sure to update and transfer all of the emergency numbers I keep close at hand. Here is a short list of numbers that every mother should have both memorized and stored in her phone's memory:
And, as soon as they are able, don't forget to teach your children about emergencies, how to remember and dial 911, plus recite their address and their parent's names.
I often feel some amount of general fatigue, and with multiple small children to care for this hardly seems an unusual problem. Now with the onset of cold and flu season, I am doing my best to keep my energy up in healthy ways that won't lead to burn-out or compromise my immune system. I know that one of the most important things I can do for myself is to keep hydrated. It seems so simple - but here is a reminder from me to you to drink up!
So ladies, remember take care of yourselves and here's to one easy thing we can do to help our energy levels and our health this season! Cheers!
Applicable in so many situations, it is particularly useful to remember this when it comes to taking our children to the doctor or dentist. Many parents, apprehensive about their child's own possible nervousness or discomfort, actually end up sending subtle messages that their child has reason to fear or fret. And, in their hovering effort to console their child, may actually inhibit the doctor's ability to do their job well.
When Hope went for her 2 year vaccinations, the nurse asked me as she was preparing the syringe which arm I would like her to give the shot in. Before I could reply, Hope held out her right arm and said "this one." She watched the nurse give her the shot, without any tears, and then asked if she could have her sticker now. Not that this is always the case - she did cry at her last shot and tell me that it hurt a little bit - but the tears were wiped away in just a few seconds and she never mentioned it again.
Part is due to temperment I'm sure, but also I believe in conveying to them that the doctors and nurses are their friends, that their offices are a safe place. It's natural to want to hover and coddle our children, whispering endless strings of "don't worry... really everything will be all right... mommy's right here... I won't leave you... it will all be over soon." But we have to be careful not to convey that there is something to be nervous or afraid about, instead of comfort.
Just so you understand me, I'm not advocating that we don't comfort and attend to the true needs of our children as needed. I'd love to hear some thoughts on this... what are your own experiences?
I have enjoyed getting to know Maddie as she gets a bit older... she is so different in many ways from her sister. She has lots of interesting little quirks that are all her own. One that I am loving right now is that whenever she poops, she points to her diaper and says "poop," so nonchalantly.
Speaking of such... an area where I have not found quirkiness so appealing is with diaper disposal systems. I was given a diaper genie when Hope was born, which lasted only a very short while until I decided that it didn't work that well for me. The twisting was annoying, and the bags - which you have to buy specially made for this contraption - weren't so easy to remove. Now, I know that there actually are some great disposal systems out there, but somehow I was disinterested in having one more can to remember to empty, and a surplus of old poopy diapers hidden away neatly in my child's sweet nursery. It just didn't jive with me. But what to do?
Well, I simply keep a supply of those handy travel disposal bags at our changing station. After a change, I secure the diapers in said bag and remove it to my larger kitchen trashcan downstairs, which gets taken out at least every other day. The smell is contained, the diapers are removed from the house fairly promptly, I have one less can to empty, and no hidden stashes of yuckiness. It may seem like more effort, but really it isn't. Anyway, I'm finally happy with my diaper disposal system.
With accidental injury being one of the leading killers of children under the age of 14, it is worth taking the extra time and effort to educate yourself and put good habits into practice. Safe Kids Worldwide is the first and only worldwide non-profit organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury - and it is based right here in D.C. Their website offers safety tips, news and facts.
In our fast paced lives, we are often tempted to cut corners when it comes to safety. I, for one, have carried a hot beverage in one hand and my baby in the other arm before and Maddie has made it up the stairs before I even knew it a couple of times. On the otherhand I am mad crazy about the car seats being installed and used correctly and double-check every time. Yet I know that consistency is the best policy when it comes to preventing accidental injury, taking time to prevent accidents before they happen.
I actually enjoy writing, but believe it or not I am terrible at keeping a handwritten journal. I've been finding recently - especially with the addition of Maddie - that I can't seem to clearly remember things about my kids that maybe I should be recording. I just have never been able to commit to journaling or scrapbooking, and I don't have the time even if I wanted to. My sister was aghast at my confession - or at least, having two somewhat older children of her own, concerned that I would find myself wanting those stories and informative tidbits at some point when I will undoubtedly have forgotten them completely.
She practically overnighted a beautiful journal to me and told me to keep it in the kitchen to quickly jot down little stories about my girls during the day. I think it was the freedom to "take notes" or "jot" as opposed to "journaling" that has made this successful for me. I'm calling it my "jot-book" and not worrying about any kind of neatness, organization, or lyrically composed entries... just jotting, scribbling even. One of the coolest things I've discovered is that when my mom is visiting or when Matt comes home from work in the evenings, they can pick up the book and read about what the girls have said or done. That way they too get to share in the cute and amazing things I experience by being with the girls all day.
Someday, when my daughters have their own new babies, we will have the joy of re-opening my jot-book together to reminisce, laugh and compare notes. And when my own days have slowed so that I have all the time in the world to put together lovely scrapbooks and write novels, I'll re-open my jot book and remember what it was like back when I laughed so loud at Hope that I just had to scribble something down inbetween the chaos of simutaneously shoveling mashed avocado into the mouth of my hungry baby, cooking dinner for the rest of us, and playing chutes and ladders at the kitchen table with a two-year-old.
Here is a book that I carry with me everywhere. It is small and so it easily fits in my diaper bag. My sister sent me a copy when I was first expecting Hope three years ago and I have had it with me ever since. Fun on the R
un! 324 Instant Family Activities by Cynthia L. Copeland includes sections featuring games for restaurants, cars, waiting rooms, doctor's offices, grocery stores, hairdressers, bus stops, almost anywhere! It also includes baby games, and things for moms and dads to do while they wait for their kids.
It is so interesting that we were using it with our friends even before we could use it with our kids. It is a good trick to pull out of the bag for boredom, fidgetiness, meltdowns, etc... and no props required!
Here are ten ways you can help preserve the planet - Start doing something today for the sake of your children and your children's children.
If you head to the shore this summer - or any sandy destination - pack a bottle of baby powder. 
Dust it on to remove wet sticky sand from your feet and your kids. It quickly absorbs the moisture, and the sand and powder will wipe away effortlessly, leaving your car and home free from the mess of that sticky sand you can never quite seem to get rid of.
Inevitably babies get to the stage where instead of lying there peacefully blinking at you while you change their diaper, they suddenly have no interest in lying still and you find yourself with a flailing, kicking baby who is trying to roll over and escape while their newly exposed bottom is still covered in poop. I'm sure every mother comes up with a little trick to aid in this event, even companies have created mobiles and other toys that hang above the changing station to grab the baby's attention.
The thing that always works for me is a baby wipe. It seems when Maddie is intent on escaping, no toy will do the trick... but hand over an interesingly moist little cloth and all is well. I get to wash baby's behind in peace while baby washes her hands and face and squeezes and scrutinizes her little treasure.
I've always made it a rule in my house that food should never become an issue. I fed my babies not as much on a highly regulated schedule as learning how to identify when they were indeed hungry and letting that dictate their eating. I don't get uptight about meal schedules. I do provide healthy meals at regular times during the day, and though we are not members of the "clean plate club," I do expect my kids to try what is provided.
There is no food after dinner (if Hope chooses not to eat what is prepared for dinner, she is simply left to a healthy appetite for breakfast the next morning) but if she becomes hungry at other times, I do allow her healthy snacks. When my friend Emily recently mentioned something she was implementing in her own household, I thought it was a great idea and decided to do likewise. Hope now has a special drawer in our refridgerator that is all hers.
I've stocked it currently with healthy items
including a few individual portions of carrots, cherry tomatoes, and
ranch dip cups, yogurt, raisins, apples, blueberries, cheese, two juice
boxes, and a cup for water.
Whenever she needs something to eat, she is now able and responsible to go choose whatever she likes from her own special drawer and eat it in the kitchen. Actually, she was very excited about this. And it works well to give her a sense of responsibility and choice, while freeing me up from being interrupted at inopportune times. Plus, while I was preparing things for her, I made sure to prepare a couple of things for myself to ensure that my own snacking habits are filled healthily and with the ease I appreciate.
Baking something in the oven? Then it's the perfect time to clean your stove top. The heat makes removal of baked-on, dried splatters a simple matter of a damp cloth or sponge. Works like a charm everytime, no chemicals needed.
