tooth fairy awol
my youngest sons 1st tooth fell out on at christmas dinner, after seeing his older brother receive money from the tooth fairy he was extremely excited to be able to put his tooth under his pillow so he could wake up to his first tooth money! Well... it was late christmas night by the time we got to bed... up early, run, run, run I was tired.. We went to bed and I remembered about the tooth fairy, so I went into my husband's change area knowing that he had some gold one dollar coins in there... got $5 in gold coins, snuck into my sons room and put the coins on his nightstand. The next morning when I was at work, I called to see if the 'tooth fairy' came. My son was very excited about his gold coins but didn't understand why the tooth fairy would give him $3 in gold coins and 2 Chuck E. Cheese tokens! apparently in my sleep deprived state, I grabbed left over tokens and gave those to him!
Play equals learning!
Playing doesn't only help with social aspects for children but also their physical and developmental growth as well! There has been many studies which have emphasized educational kinesiology and development that are available for any mom to review and use. One particular peice of literature I find influential as a vision therapist is Brain Gym. As a vision therapist, my goal is, for all my children, to maintain accurate depth perception, which then influences their ability to understand where they are and where objects are in space. Ocular, or eye, movements, are a fine motor action (comparable to the small motor movements needed to influence holding a pencil or handwriting). Larger gross motor movements must be mastered first (such as bilateral skills, and infantile reflexes), before fine motor and vision are influenced. Using Brain Gym (developed by educational specialists Dr. Paul Dennison and Gail E. Dennison) gives me the tools necessary to help children know where they are in space (so they may stop bumping into everything in the house and the playground!) You may notice, many of the moves are already reflected in your child's play, but the majority of activities consist of well-coordinated movements, emphasizing bilateral skills and midline training- skills all children will need to produce quality handwriting, sequencing of ideas and thoughts as well as understanding space for math skills. If you haven't noticed your child playing lately, you may find it advantageous to pick up this book and discover for yourself why Playing is so important! Diana Lako, V.T. diana@excelinst.com Excel Institute of Shelby 586-731-9725
Summer and set bedtimes
Kids need a lot more sleep than they realize! Our kids also attend summer day camp, so, even though they don't have to leave the house until 9:30 a.m., they do have to go to bed at "a decent hour." They are rarely not in bed after 10 p.m. during the week in the summer. Even on weekends it's not much later. We're all tired by then and otherwise they're just watching TV or playing video games. Sleep in more important!
I need a nap
I hear ya! I used to work three days a week (most of the time) and I've found that I now have so little time for myself it's basically nonexistent. But, as I told my husband last night after a particularly difficult 10 minutes with our oldest son, we'll really miss the kids when they are gone and we have lots more time on our hands. The grass is always greener!
Kids say the darnedest things
Your argument about your 21 year old son being completely wrong nullifies itself. You say, everybody sees differently and then you say that he is wrong.
Maybe you were looking for a compliment but sometimes it can also just be an observation, an opinion.
I'm not quite ready for summer vacation
Dianna, I guess I would be worried, too, because this is a situation you haven't faced before. However, I am confident it will work out fine for the two of you.
1) Your niece is too young to stay home by herself all day, every day. So there's no other choice, really. And don't let her think there is. Don't apologize for making her do this. It is what it is. She's actually lucky, because ...
2) Your niece would be bored if she had to stay home by herself every day. My boys have been going to the same summer day camp since they were in kindergarten and love it. Sure, there are days when they'd like to stay home or sleep in longer, but they never complain. In fact, other kids in the neighborhood whose mom or dad is able to be home with them are envious of my kids. The grass is always greener.
Keep us posted!
Chidlren's Skeletal Injuries from Video Gaming
DARN...forgot my web iste www.miketomich.com
Comments and questions? miketomich@yahoo.com Put Children's Fingers in subject line please.
Chidlren's Skeletal Injuries from Video Gaming
Go to our web site www.miketomich.com and look at the pictures on the left side which show deformities caused to children's soft bones from the repetitive motions of playing video games, using computers, and coloring during the ages their bones are too soft(un-calcified).
Click on the blue book on the home page for a free copy of the report.
Thanks...for our children... Mike Tomich
Please share with your friends.
How to keep a toddler clean
Answer: You don't. You let kids be kids and have fun and play in the dirt and discover the world around them. They aren't china dolls to dress up, sit on the couch and coo over. It's grandma's problem if she buys her high priced clothes, not the toddlers problem. Your choices are: leave the clothes in the closet and let them sit there while your kid outgrows them, or let your kid lead a normal childhood. If it's important to have a nice photo in the new clothes, then take a picture the first time they wear the outfit - then let nature take its course. You can't get stressed over dirty clothes and a two year old - it's inevitable that they'll trash what they are wearing. Enjoy life!
An idea
Another thing you could do is not to allow a computer in their room. Instead, put it in a high traffic area such as the living room. By putting the PC in a very public place of your home, it's easy to check what your kids are doing. Likewise, your kids will be much less inclined to look, write or do anything they shouldn't be online because it's so easy for mom and dad to look over their shoulder.
What if they want to listen to music while they're at the PC? Just get a pair of headphones. $20 will be more than enough for anyone that wants to sit and listen to whatever at the PC while other family members watch TV.
Finally, be active, be nosy in your kids virtual life. Ask who the people are that they're talking to online. Heck make a list of names paired up with their screen-names so you're in the know. If you're active and a part of your kids virtual life again, they'll be less inclined to get into any sort of trouble.
As for the point of IMing their b/f online, they could always be texting them on the cell phone instead. It's just the way the teen-world is now (and it's cheaper to IM than text).
Hope all that helps!
JFresh
Do you LIKE paying high gas prices moms?
Unfortunately, a boycott of a gas station for a day, or a particular brand etc. won't work. People have tried but to no avail. Even if people did it on a wide-scale and large effort it would actually end up hurting us more.
The only way to really make a difference here is if we all get vehicles with better gas mileage; to reduce our *daily* consumption of gas. If you do want to make a difference, check out a new car that gets better gas mileage. If that's not an option, then get your car checked out and make changes to increase your miles/gallon. Things like reducing the use of A/C and even making sure your tires are filled with air and just a couple of ways to improve your mileage.
For a more complete explanation, check this out:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18492185/page/2/
Lets talk about sex
Let me state for the record I am a newbie at blogging. I usually only peruse the Fathers blog site. I think this is one issue where Ann and I agree. Adolescents need the right information from a trusted source. As the parent of 2 teenagers( boy and girl ) though the information is the same I feel they get different messages from various media. Adolesence by its very nature is a time of rebellion and independence from parents. An interesting statistic in Macomb County is that Macomb has the lowest pregnancy rate in the state. It is believed this is the result of very excellent access to healthcare( birth control ? ). Don't misunderstand I am not advocating birth control for adolescents. Ann refers parents to school based programs, which were mandated by Law to be abstinence based. Set up by parent and community input focused on self esteem building, since numerous studies support the finding that low self esteem and early sexual activity parallel each other. Why not a merger of the two ? School based health care centers ( Federal funding is already in place ) a neutral environment where accurate information (STD/Pregnancy/Self esteem & Abstinence education) is available for both parents and adolescents. The most sobering statistic is that single parents usually have a parent or aunt that was a single parent. Please feel free to visit the Fathers blog site.
Do you LIKE paying high gas prices moms?
As the American economy struggles, and as hard-working Americans find it harder and harder to make ends meet, Big Oil is raking in the bucks hand over fist (to the tune of 35 BILLION dollars in the first quarter ALONE!). So if you ask me, it's time for a good old-fashioned boycott. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a capitalist through and through, and I know businesses need to make a profit in order to stay in business, but I do think it's time we consumers put Big Oil back in it's place. It's time we hit them where they have hit us--in the pocketbook!
How can this be done? Simple, we go after them one at a time. I suggest we start with Exxon/Mobil because they're making the biggest profits. 99% of businesses would be OVERJOYED to make in an ENTIRE YEAR what Exxon/Mobil makes in ONE MONTH! If only 10% of the American people would quit buying from Exxon/Mobil, they would be forced to lower their prices, and once they did, other companies would have-to follow suit. This isn't just theory people, it's fact! And once their price is BELOW $3 per gallon, we will start buying gas from them again--it's simple economics.
Part of the capitalistic process is called Supply and Demand, and I think most people know basically what that means. But I have some questions: Why is it that gas is the only product that seems to be so instantly susceptible to this process? Right before a travel holiday, gas goes up. If a hurricane is approaching (even if it doesn't hit), gas goes up. Before a weekend, gas goes up...etc. The answer is supposedly because demand is higher, or supply is lower, right? But why is it when gas goes up, it goes up 10 or 20 cents OVERNIGHT, but when it goes down--it takes TWO WEEKS to lower the same amount!? Or why is it other companies don't have such a hard time with supply and demand? If I buy a pizza on Super Bowl Sunday it costs the same as on any other day of the week--but demand is probably ten times higher! Why don't restaurants charge more on weekends when demand is higher?...etc. I can give example after example. My whole point being that I really think oil companies are taking advantage of the fact that we must continually buy gas in order to get by in our daily lives. So lets show them the consumer is truly the one with the power. Lets show them if they want our business, they'll have to be better corporate citizens. Lets show them that profits are good, but OBSCENE profits will NOT be tolerated by the American consumer! Lets show them WE mean business! Boycotts are just as much a part of capitalism as price gouging. Big oil has done its part, so now lets do ours.
Is it not at least worth a try?
What's for dinner
Some other easy ideas for dinner are to stop by Simply Good in Birmingham and pick up a beautifully prepared meal...always delicious. They are on the corner of Lincoln and Adams and have great cooking classes too. My other helper is Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine, your guide to fast great meals. She maps it all out for you along with a grocery list. There are sides, main dishes, light ideas, desserts, tips and cookie of the month. All recipes are simple and easy and really pretty good. She gives you ideas for Monday through the weekend and includes the reinvention of leftovers. This publication comes out once a month.
Happy Mothers Day
When I was little I thought I had the best mom that anyone could ever have. I thought she loved me, taught me and understood me in ways that no one else ever could. I couldn't imagine life without her because I loved her so much. Now that my youth is not much more than a faint memory, I just want to say that some things never change, I still believe that God has blessed me and mine with the best mom ever and I love her, appreciate and value her so very very much.
For all of the hard work and sacrifice, the love and dedication that is uniquely mom and in so many ways sets a bench mark for all of us. For everything you do that makes our lives so very rich I just wanted to jump over from the Dads blog and wish each and every one of you a sincere and heartfelt Happy Mothers Day.
