Links

It must be back to school time, every thing I see are mini-fridges and Trapper Keepers.  Are Trapper Keepers still around?  I hope they started making the rings out of metal instead of plastic.  Those things lasted the first two months of school before ductape was needed. My favorite time of the year was when we got all new school supplies and a couple of new threads.  The smell of new pencils and sharpie markers that still sends me into a childhood bliss. Here are some great links I found this week:

• The Parental Push to Repeat a Grade - I'm not sure what we'd do if faced with this situation. Dave and I grew up as the younger kids in our grades and I think it gave us a fighting attitude about learning.  We have some time and have no idea how Lilli will take to school, but it's something interesting to ponder. 
• Personality May Be Set By 1st Grade - Love this article. I have a passion for learning about personality, especially the ones that I am close to in real life.  Recently, my aunt and cousin were watching some old videos of us as kids.  It was no surprised that they described me as a ham and bossy. 
• 25 Best Organizations and Charities for Children and How You Can Help - I was surprised to see who made this list and more surprised that a lot of foundations, I know of personally, that did not.  One of my senior projects at Drexel was to work with an organization called Children's Services Inc. The project we worked on was for promoting literacy for underprivileged kids through an after-school program. It was a very quick three months, we worked very hard on setting up a structure for the next semester's students. At the time Dave and I were contract workers for The Department of Human Services, barely getting through those winter months.  We worked on some of the most heart wrenching life stories I've ever heard.  We lived with two other people who were also struggling, the four of us often think about the times when we had a mop holding our fridge closed.  This time period of my life reminds me to be grateful for what we have and where we've come from, even if that place was dark and complicated.   
• Does Having Daughters Make You More Liberal?  - At first I thought this was a load of crappola.  After reading through the reasoning, it sort of make sense.  

Enjoy! 

"Song of the Entry" 

You Found Me by Josh Mease

Imagination

It started with a tea party, from there it was grocery shopping and playing mommy to her babies. Then the story lines got more complex, sometimes not rational to our jaded adult minds. We were asked to participate and ordered to say our lines correctly or put the block in the "right spot." There were tents made and houses constructed of blocks where only certain members could apply for housing (mostly of the stuffed persuasion). We bought her a baby stroller for her dolls, though she'd rather sit in it herself, she loves to take any number of her "kids" for walks around the complex. She has a purse that contains fake credit cards, a gigantic tub of plastic lipstick (which is used as concealer, blush and eyeshadow), her "monies" in a plastic change purse, and of course her keys. Watching her reproduce the events in her life with her own imaginative twist is nothing short of captivating.

She knows how to use the tools of life from watching us so very closely for the past (almost) two years. She tries to put her huge plastic key in the door, she uses her money to pay for things, and she plays mommy to her many babies. Though, I'm pretty sure she'd be arrested for child abuse in real life. She's a typical toddler exploring the incredible world of imagination. Most of her play is mimicking what she sees in real life. Like most kids her age, she has formed her ideas of what grown ups do from watching us do everyday things.  Daddy does the dishes, Mommy does the laundry and the baby cries... very loudly... until their needs are met.  Things we rarely pay close enough attention to to realize these little sponges are absorbing at the most incredible rate. She is forming her own ideas about gender roles, social norms, and culture. It's amazing to see those roles and norms fall so quickly into place.  (Here's a great article about gender roles.)

For her birthday, Grammy (Dave's mom) bought Lilli a "My First Doll House". The two of them spent many days of her visit playing house. Grammy is always in the rocker, Dad is in bed, and for some reason I am always in the tub. Maybe she's trying to tell me something *sniff sniff*, maybe not. Watching Lilli go from a little blob of skin and bones, flopping about to get a better view of the fuzzy world she had yet to explore, to a thinking, speaking, imagining toddler has gone by faster than anything I've ever experienced in my entire life.

While I may not understand why she is cooking her baby with a strawberry, using a glow stick to stir and yelling at me for suggesting she use a spoon, I promote this strange behavior.  I'm sure she wont go on to cook babies in a fruit sauce, she will certainly get the most she can out of her imagination with out any judgement from me.

"Song of the Entry"
Shhh by Donora

Links

A few more links I came across at some point over the past week that have something to do with something.

• Growing up too soon? Puberty strikes 7-year old girls - Dave sent me this one earlier this week. Directly after he sent it, he said he would have to change his homepage from MSN to avoid being worried all the time.  
• Baby Declared Dead, Comes Back To Life - Seriously? At her own funeral no less. I had to read it to believe it.  
• Is a mom's college degree a waste? - I have a lot to say on this topic, but I'll keep it short. I am a WAHM, not a SAHM which is just as hard as far as the kids and home go.  Perhaps, in my opinion, not quite as taxing mentally and requires less planning.  Being somewhat employed, my degree is obviously coming in handy. I'd imagine someone who is a SAHM isn't planning to never work again, although I could be wrong.  I don't think education is ever a waste, no matter in what form it comes. I'd be interested to hear what other moms think about this topic. Any takers?

"Song of the Entry" 

Wave Backwards To Massachusetts by Hallelujah The Hills

Play-doh 2

One of my favorite things in life is crafting. I love to sit down with some pieces of material and create something out of nothing. Since Lilli was able to pick up a crayon (probably much younger than the suggested use), we've been exploring all the world of crafts has to offer a baby or toddler.  Just before her first birthday she started with crayons. She has been expressing an interest in cooking for some time now.

She has done play-doh before, not quite grasping the idea behind it but exploring the composition.  I knew she would understand that this substance can be used in new ways.  She is starting to use her imagination quite a bit and so I decided to try something new, edible play-doh. I didn't go with the exact directions, going on the light side of sugar and honey.  I mixed it to a play-doh-ish consistency and it still worked out great.  I love that this site allows you to put in your own serving size and adjusts the ingredients accordingly.  I have to admit, it tastes great and it was super fun.  Plus, we have a nice sized sandwich bag in the fridge for another day.

"Song of the Entry"

Only Pieces by Here We Go Magic

Toddler Bed: part 2

Once we finished making the crib adjustments and putting on her sheets, Lilli jumped into her "new big girl bed" and refused to leave for almost the entire day.  

  

Our plan was to start the move on Friday morning.  This way the first time in her new bed was a nap time and if it all fell to pieces we at least had a second chance that didn't involve losing eight hours of sleep.  She spent all day in her bed, playing and exploring.  I thought it would be cake since she was so excited for her new bed.  Well, nap time started off well, she went down quietly and I left the room. I watched her on the video monitor for a minute then decided to take the dog out for his afternoon walk.  When I came back in I heard her door knob jiggling and of course she had made a run for it.  Two and a half hours later, her nap time had passed and I had failed.  We were not giving up that easily.  

That night, she was so exhausted from skipping her nap she went right to sleep without a single problem. WOO! We had the rest of the weekend to work on naps, this was going to work out. I would not lose her nap completely, my job depends on it.  So the days passed and naps were getting harder. They became a stressful issue instead of becoming more comfortable as the days passed.  Both weekend naps resulted in being moved to the pack n' play. The first after two hours of trying and the second after only an hour.  

We didn't want it to become something she associated with stress, so if she got too upset and wouldn't stay in bed, we moved her to the pack n' play. She'd fall asleep with in 20 minutes and wake up like nothing happened.  I couldn't lose that nap, it's my most productive time of the day for working and it simply was not an option.  So, like with anything else that requires more than explanation, I made a plan that involved bribery.  

Monday morning, we got up early, got dressed and headed out the door before our normal time. We ran some errands and went to the store to buy poster board and stickers.  She walked around every store we visited and I made sure she got out as much energy as possible.  We got home and went to work on a sleeping chart.  Much like her potty chart (that's another blog for another time), she put a lot of hard work into  it and was very proud when we hung it up on her wall in her room.  For every successful nap, she got to pick a sticker and a piece of candy (just like potty successes).  We talked about her sticker chart and what it was used for all day long.  Right before nap time, I took her outside across the street to our complex's playground. It felt like 120 degrees outside but she didn't care.  She ran and played her heart out. I told her to "get your wiggles out!" To which she'd respond by shaking her body as hard as she could then running around.  We went in for juice and a snack, then stories.  It only took reminding her about the sticker chart and enticing her with some juice.  

She nearly fell asleep mid story, so I put her in her bed and reminded her once more.  "If you stay in your new big girl bed for your whole rest (we can't use the word nap), then you get a NEW (emphasis on the word new) sticker to put on your super cool sleeping chart!" I reminded her that when she woke up Daddy would come get her like every other day.  She was out in just a few minutes. Cheers were heard around my building.  

We haven't had a problem since. I've started a routine that is exhausting and extremely hot, but it works.  Every day we visit the park, she gets tired and tells me when she's ready for juice and stories.  She hardly ever gives me any issues and almost never leaves her bed without one of us present.  I'm not sure what we'll do on rainy days, but so far I've been lucky. 

It tears my heart out to see her grow so quickly. I took so many pictures of this process it was hard to choose which ones to share. I'm so proud of her and yet I wish she could have stayed in that crib forever.  Each time we take on a new challenge there's a new set of rules. She becomes more aware and able to express herself and we are forced to become more creative.  I always hesitate to write about these big challenges, hoping it wont jinx our accomplishments.  I consider this one a triumph.  Go team family.

"Song of the Entry"

Goodbye July by Hjaltalin

Links

I read a lot of articles about family, kids, learning, psychology, and development.  Sometimes I come across great articles to share but I don't like flooding my Facebook and Twitter with articles only a fraction of my friends and family care to read.  So here are a few articles I found this weekend that I thought were interesting:

• Chocolate Mug Cake Recipe - I haven't tried this yet, but with only three ingredients and done in less than a minute, it looks WONDERFUL
• Why Sisters are Good for You - Of course, I love this article. It only makes me feel better about being the oldest sister with too much advice.  It gives me hope that Lilli will be a great older sister some day.  
• Top 10 things they really should warn you about before you get pregnant - I won't pretend like some of these things didn't happen to me. I hated being pregnant, some of these were reasons why it was so terrible.  Not to mention lugging around 41 extra pounds in the Florida summer. 

Hope someone gets use out of some of these links. Please share any great articles you find and maybe I'll post them (with credit of course).

"Song of the Entry"
Shining Spinning by Hiawata!

Toddler Bed: part 1

Once upon a time we had a newborn in a swaddle wrap, who slept (though that's not quite the word for what she did) next to our bed in an Amby Baby Sleeper.  She finally figured out how to unwrap the swaddle and turn herself over any way she pleased around four months.  She preferred her tummy, like most babies, so the next thing to do was drop the wrap.  From there we decided to flip her to her back over and over and over until she won the battle of wills.  And at six months we tried to move her to the crib, unsuccessfully. She ended up in the pack n' play for a few months while we went back and forth trying to figure out the best way to make the move.  We tried again at eight months and finally made the switch permanently right after her first birthday.

Our sleeping journey has been a long one with many trials and errors, online research, and plenty of advice from anyone who was willing to share.  The thing about the process of teaching a baby to sleep is that everyone has an opinion and usually it's a controversial one.  We have never been on one side or the other. We've tried every thing we could think of, including co-sleeping, to finally find something that worked for us.  And that is our stance. Whatever works for your family is the right choice.  At first, we were very nervous about her being in bed with us with SIDS being such a heavy weight on our minds.  So we attempted to go with the safer options. That is... until the the lack of sleep made my brain a little hazy and things got desperate.

Once the real exhaustion kicked in, after many many months of trying new things, I would have tried just about anything to make it through a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep.  We tried mixing some oatmeal or rice with a small bottle before bed to fill her up.  We tried tiring her out, staying up later, and strict routines.  At one point, we moved our bed into her room next to her crib.  That only ended in co-sleeping and getting less sleep than before we moved.  Honestly, I think the only thing that finally worked was being ready and committed to some sort of solution.  She was old enough to feel secure, her body was big enough to hold more food and sustain her until the morning, and we were more confident in our parenting.

Last night in her crib

Finally, we conquered the crib. She was in her own room and sleeping through the night. Then... she grew... and grew... and grew. She scaled the walls of her pack n' play in a fit of rage, landing on the floor in a thud heard around the apartment.  There were tears, many conversations about the "right time" to make the switch, and pillows now line the perimeter of her bed.  We did research, talked to friends and family, and even made a plan (complete with printouts).  Early one Friday morning, before Dad went off to work, we broke out our screw drivers and went to work.

"Song of the Entry"
My Fair Lady by Kelsey Brown

Toddler Technology

If you don't have an iPhone or simply have some sort of an issue with them, you can skip this entry.  If you are super cool, like me, and have the pleasure of enjoying such a wonderful piece of technology and you have a toddler or baby, read on.

Here is a list of a few of my favorite applications for Lilli.  I guess I shouldn't call them my favorites, they are Lilli's favorites.  They're great when we're waiting in lines, bribing her to do things when she must sit still, and when we need a few minutes of quiet.  Some of them are very educational, she has learned a lot from the shape and animal based games.  And some make my head feel like it's going to explode if I hear the same song again, like almost any annoying toy toddlers enjoy repeating.  Here we go:

• Peek-a-boo Farm and Peek-a-boo Wild - She has loved these since she was very very young.  They were great when we couldn't get her to stop crying in the car when she was a baby.  Now she loves them even more, shouting the names of the animals followed by their corresponding sounds.  
• Elias collection - These includes eliasZoo, eliasABC, and eliasTours.  We have recently found a new one from this company called eliasFarm where you can customize the banner of the flying airplane. 
• Balloonimals - We started with the light version of this game and as she got older she started to really enjoy it more and more. Eventually I folded and got the full version.  While I don't enjoy the slobber she seems to be unable to control while blowing up these cute interactive balloon animals, it definitely has come in handy from time to time. 
• Baby Piano Lite - I have yet to go for the full version, the light one is great in itself. Be warned, this is one of those that will make you want to buy a pair of toddler headphones.  
• Toddler Teasers - This company has a ton of apps, we tried out the free shapes. She gets so excited when they clap for her and she has definitely benefited by learning her shapes.
• Preschool Tap - She just recently rediscovered this one. I think she likes it because she knows the answers and when she gets them right the smiley face nods yes and tells her how awesome she is for getting it right.  
• Blowfish Poppers - This is fun for me too, I love it as much as she does for the first 50 times she makes me play while she watches.  She can play herself but prefers to watch me.  
• iPuzzleWords - A newer app, it's cute and a little over her head.  She loves it just the same and when she does eventually get the words right, she yells at the top of her lungs the animal.  
• HippoShapes - Another shape game that tells her she's wonderful. 

We have about 30 apps for her to choose from at any given time. With two iPhones in the house, it's helpful when bribery seems to be the only means of getting anything done these days. I'll try and post a few more every now and then, and please share any good ones we should try out (I will definitely give credit where credit is due).  If you try them out and you like any, let me know! 

"Song of the Entry"

Chimineys Stood Like Monuments by Cartridge  

iToddler

It has to be such a difficult task to grasp the concept of self. While personally, I don't remember the challenge, I have the opportunity to have watched Lilli wrap her messy curly head around the idea.  To see her go from not even knowing she had hands to figuring out she is a singular being with an entire separate set of ideas, feelings and physical needs has been nothing short of incredible.  And luckily for us, she has become astonishingly good at expressing her "self" on a regular basis.

Her vocabulary is expanding at an alarming (and yes, I meant alarming) rate.  Every day she is learning new words, perfecting old ones, and putting together the English language and all of it's parts like she has known it all along.  Sometimes I am shocked, other times appalled.  For example, the time she finished my sentence after cursing at stubbing my toe "son of a...." "BITCH!" That one was all me, can't even pretend it was anyone else's fault. And then there are times when I marvel at her abilities. When she masters more than just the enunciation of the word, but also the concept.

One morning, we went into her room to get her out of bed.  She had misplaced her favorite stuffed animal, Augie, and was searching high and low.  Suddenly she looked at us with a distressed look and said "Augie missing!" The concepts to follow were quick and sometimes amusing.  She figured out how to create "Mommy, make house blocks." request assistance from someone specific "Daddy help?" and my least favorite "Mommy, get up!" She was pulling it all together and creating sentences.

While she understands that I am Mommy and Dave is Daddy, she has a hard time with her own name. We are really to blame, picking a name with three L's was not our best idea.  She has trouble with L's (sounding like Y) and R (coming out as an "ah" sound) and a few other letters.  She has been able to clear up most of her words with in a few weeks, even the R is coming around, but L's seem to escape her and worse frustrate her.  She refuses to say words with L's in them, especially her name.  So I guess the next best thing, when trying to say she was doing or needed something was using "I."

This new understanding turned into a narration of her day.  "I play. I hungry. I all done. I sweep. I help. I make. I clean. I make mess."  It was wonderful to finally get the play by play of what she was doing or planning.  Most recently she has started saying "I cold" which resulted in dragging out all of the winter hoodies from the back of her closet. My favorite so far, though, is "I busy." I can't count many times have I said "Lilli, Mommy is busy, you need to be patient." I would soon live to regret those words.

"Song of the Entry"
Living Room by Honey Clouds

Hiatus

I'm taking a break from blogging for a little while. One of my most favorite people passed away last week.   Between that, work, life, and having visitors I've fallen behind in everything.  When I regain some of my creativity and ability to think straight, I'll be back with some great ones about potty training, new words, great iPhone apps for toddlers, and a new library list.