Creature Bug

Week 212: The Magazine Bug

Last Tuesday was the start of one of our favorite summer activities: the library's Summer Reading Fun program.

Oh boy, oh boy. We read like the crazy cats that we are, and add up those minutes which can be redeemed for prizes and awards and gift certificates. I'm so jealous that Sydney and Jules get to participate in it, wishing that my reading time counted too so I could enter my minutes in the drawing for a spa day. Because really, is a person ever too old to be rewarded for reading? I think not.

To fully participate in the program, the kids are expected to read from (or, in our case with Sydney, read to) different genres. They read mysteries, science fiction, books about nature, books about different cultures. Last year, we had no trouble checking off the different genres, except one. Magazines.

While Sydney may occasionally flip through a People magazine, I don't think that exactly qualifies. Sure, it's riveting reading, but you know. It has its limits as far as "literature" goes. But I couldn't think of what kind of magazines she should be reading. I had grown up reading Highlights (oh that Goofus and Gallant, they were a kick, weren't they?), and even though the knock-knock jokes were funny enough I didn't think Sydney would like them much.

So, I wandered through the children's section at our library and randomly picked up a magazine that I thought looked nifty enough. It had some lovely illustrations. It had interesting stories. It even had a "find the object" page, which was (and still is) one of Sydney's favorite activities. The magazine I happened to pick up was called Ladybug.

As it so happens when the stars twinkle brightly and the wind blows softly, many moons later I was asked by Parent Bloggers Network if I wanted to review Ladybug magazine. Did I? A magazine that encourages child literacy? A magazine that Jason's mom--a preschool teacher for two decades--loves to a hundred little buggy pieces? Indeed, I would.

And just as I had been smitten with the magazine last summer, I was in love all over again when we started receiving copies a couple months ago. It has wonderful pictures on high-quality paper, and plenty of classical literature sprinkled throughout. There's always a song to learn, and reoccurring characters from issue to issue. It has craft suggestions for the kids, and nearly always includes a pull-out craft that we can make into a book or mobile.

February's issue even had a beautifully illustrated poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. "Picture Books in Winter" has now become one of my favorite Stevenson poems. Lovely.

We also receive High Five, which is the pre-school version of Highlights, and would probably be Ladybug's nearest competition. There are some similarities between the two magazines: stories, music, craft activities. While both include plenty of diversity in the characters, High Five seems to have more emphasis on bringing in different languages. Ladybug, however, is printed on better paper, and does overall have a greater artistic rendering. It's more expensive than High Five, but I suspect that's due to the magazine itself being of higher quality. When my mother-in-law saw a copy of Ladybug on our table, she was tickled pink that Sydney was able to enjoy that magazine too, even though she was the one who got Syd the subscription to High Five. As she says, "High Five isn't as expensive, but Ladybug is really my favorite."

Overall, we have become big fans of Ladybug magazine, and I think now that Jules is finally past her "ripping up magazines" stage, we might be getting her the baby version of Ladybug, called Babybug.

They already love reading, and magazines are a cool way to add some extra variety to our reading schedule. We are already one step ahead of the genres to check off for the Summer Reading program. Magazines? Check.

This review was brought to you by Parent Bloggers Network.

(C) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

A Hairy Story with A Happy Ending

There is something very peculiar about wanting to write about one thing (Pasadena! sunburns! good food!), but then being scheduled to write about something else entirely. Or maybe that's not peculiar. Maybe that's just the way it works out. Anyway, I hope you'll forgive the juxtaposition of my being in Pasadena with a review (OH! I saw the musical Wicked! It's amazing, and, and...I'll have to tell you all about it later...).

Here we go.

PS: I'm writing this review while I'm listening to the soundtrack from Wicked. So, if my sentences start meandering about no one mourning for the wicked, you know why.

***

Once upon a time, there was a little princess who had the most beautiful hair. Everywhere she went, the townspeople commented on her blond, curly hair. "What beautiful hair you have, little girl," they would say. The princess, while sometimes a shy one, learned to say "Thank You" because that was the kind of good behavior that was expected of princesses. Surliness is definitely not princess behavior.

The princess's mother was fortunate to have been gifted with a certain kind of knowledge that it takes to manage such curly hair. No shampoo, only conditioner. No brushes, only wide-toothed combs. No hair dryers, only air drying. Scrunch with fingers; hair products on special occasions. Once dry, hands should be kept out of the hair or the wicked frizzies would terrify the sweet princess.

As it happens so often with hair, the princess could not always control it. Try as she might, hairbands would fall out. Headbands hurt her head. Hair clips would slide away until they too fell out. Rubberbands were wonderful, but only if she was in the mood for "piggies" or "ponies." What to do to keep the hair out of her eyes?

The little princess and her mother fretted about, trying to find ways to keep the curly hair in place. Then one day, there was a knock at the door. "Who could it be?" wondered the princess's mother.

"Maybe," said the princess, "it's ice cream!"

In fact, it wasn't ice cream.

It was, however, a gift from another maiden of the village. Maiden America had sent the little princess beautiful barrettes that wouldn't slip, and wouldn't slide. They would stay put, no matter how fine her hair was, and how fuzzy curly it might be.

The princess was overjoyed to see such beautiful barrettes. Green ones! Pink ones! White ones with swarovski crystals! Each barrette made perfectly so that it would stay in the princess's hair. The princess insisted on two non-matching barrettes in her hair, which was evidently the fashion among the toddler set. She could put them in herself, although she did have to have some help from her mother to get them out.

The mother was relieved to find a solution to the hair-in-eyes dilemma, and spread the good news in the village that there was a perfect barrette for every little princess, whether she had straight or curly hair, long or short. (Although the hair couldn't be too short, as happened to be the case with the princess's tiny sister who still didn't have enough hair for barrettes to adorn her head.)

The delivery was swift, the production of barrettes American-made. The cost was small enough to be affordable, though big enough to make the princess and her mother sad when the apple-green barrette was lost. As the sun set in the distance, the princess rejoiced that Maiden America had created such lovely gifts and shared them with the people.

And as every good story should end...

...they all lived happily ever after.

This review brought to you by Parent Bloggers Network.

*****

I'm flying back from Pasadena today, so pictures of my SoCal adventures will be forthcoming.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Stamps, Tiny Reads, TVs, and Energetic Cranberries

A few random items...

: stamps :

Postage stamps are going up in price on Monday, so you should do as I did and stock up on those terribly un-pretty Forever Stamps (seriously. would it kill them to put a flower on the Forever Stamps? the Liberty Bell is so not great). If you get them now, they're *only* 41 cents a piece. Starting Monday, they'll cost you 42 cents. Consider this your friendly PSA reminder.

: tiny reads :

I've added a new link feature to my left sidebar. Under the Tiny Reads heading, I've "shared" different blog posts from my Google Reader that have caught my attention, for one reason or another. I'll be updating it daily.

: tv :

We are now the proud owners of two TV converter boxes. In case you haven't heard, if you are one of the few dozen people who doesn't have cable and instead uses an antenna/rabbit ears to get your tv signal, then you'll have to get a converter box so that you can still get free tv after the signal changes to digital next February. We received converter coupons in the mail a few weeks ago--thanks to a reminder from Sophie (who, sadly, is no longer posting)--and each coupon is worth $40 off a converter box. Walmart sells the boxes for $49.95, but the south Commercial store was out when I checked last week. Fred Meyer sells the boxes for $49.98, and so I got ours there. Twenty dollars for the privilege of free tv. Yippee.

As it turns out, we may not even need the converter boxes if we sell our house before next February. Our new house will probably have to have cable, although I am totally willing to have an antenna on our house if it means we'll get free tv.

: cranberries :

And finally, here's a review for a drink I've been trying out this week...

Last week I got a sample of Ocean Spray's Cranergy juice in the mail, courtesy of Mom Central. Being someone who loves cranberry juice, I quickly drank the whole thing. It tastes a lot like...hmm...cranberry juice! With a healthy, green tea kick. Then I went to Winco and got some more. Then I went to Fred Meyer, saw they were having a sale on jugs instead of the more expensive personal-sized, and got even more. This could be trouble.

Even though I am perpetually tired all the time, I stay away from those energy drinks because I'm deathly afraid of them. I am certain I would drink one and drop dead from a heart attack within minutes. As someone who has no caffeine addiction at all, consuming that much caffeine in one sitting would totally screw me up. However, I am acutely aware that some amount of caffeine--preferrably something natural from a tea source--might actually help me feel better. Or at least, feel capable of folding laundry. So, after reading the label for the Cranergy juice, it evidently gets its caffeine naturally from green tea. And it has a whole host of B vitamins, which I think are supposed to give you energy.

Since it's juice-ish (23% juice isn't exactly Juicy Juice), since it has vitamins, and since green tea extract is a natural source of caffeine, then I've been drinking it every day with breakfast. It does have Splenda, although the juice doesn't taste crazy-sweet like some things do that have been sweetened with Splenda. Even Jason, who hates cranberry juice, has said it's not too bad (especially the cranberry-raspberry version), although if he starts drinking it then that means less for me, so...I don't know how I feel about that.

The thing is, I actually feel more energized after drinking it, but maybe it's just a pyschological trick I'm playing on myself. I feel like it should energized me, so then it does. But trick or not, I'm all for it. Probably someone who depends on energy drinks and/or multiple cups of coffee wouldn't notice a difference. Nevertheless, for me it's definitely better than drinking soda, it has cranberries in it, and even though I wouldn't let my girls drink it (no caffeine for them,natural or not, thank you. they have plenty of energy), I'm all for something that helps me stay just a little more focused on something other than dreaming of a nap.

Jason thinks I should exercise more often, but for as much as I do like to exercise, so often I'm too tired to even think about doing it. Anybody have any other suggestions for fighting fatigue? B vitamins? Multi-vitamins? Iron supplements? Less sugar? More sugar?

Please say "eat five dozen marshmallows" because I could totally do that.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

To See the Game

I still have the rest of the story to tell about the girls and their nighttime miseries (or rather, maybe it's my nighttime miseries? and they're not that miserable? either way...), but when I sat down to write about it I got all grumpy and fussy and decided I didn't want to write about it right then.

So.

It'll wait.

Until then--and maybe the girls will miraculously fix their sleeping issues while I avoid writing about it--I'm writing about something else.

Did I mention that Sydney got bifocals? The ones that I had been thinking maybe she didn't need? The ones that cost $200 because we already got her a new pair last summer and so our vision insurance (which I am thankful we have in the first place) didn't cover a new pair?

Ah, well, she did. In fact, you've already seen her with them.

If you look closely, you can see the bifocal line on the lens. And actually, these are the first pair she got. The pair that were supposed to be purple, but whoever decided to label these glasses "purple" clearly wasn't familiar with a toddler's perception of purple. These weren't purple; they were indigo. And indigo to a 3 year-old looks like black. So she hated them and refused to wear them, and is only wearing them in this picture because I bribed her with candy.

Then we took them back and got red ones. Which Syd still isn't fond of, but only because they're bifocals and make the world all funky looking.

"There are steps all over! I walk to the step, but it moves!" and she stumbles around for a few minutes until she gets her bearings and then forgets she has them on until she sees her other non-bifocal pair and demands to wear those instead.

We've set up a deal with Syd about wearing her bifocals: she has to wear them when she's reading, and she has to wear them when we're playing games. I wish she'd wear them when we're eating (because that's a close-range activity so her left eye crosses inward), but no deal.

The upside is that she's at least wearing them sometimes; the downside is that I have no excuse to not play games with her.

We play Memory with her Dora cards, and I regularly lose because I have about five million things I have to remember, let alone remember where the card is with Dora wearing a backpack.

We play some other nifty games that she received as gifts.

And lately, we've been playing Rapelli, from the Discovery Store.

All the parts are constructed with bamboo, so it's eco-friendly. (Bamboo is cool! Jason and I were even thinking of getting bamboo flooring in the new house except I don't think it comes in wide planks, which we want.) It's constructed well enough that if Jules happens to grab a piece we don't have to worry about her breaking it (although, the parts are small enough that little babies shouldn't be playing with it). When Parent Bloggers Network was looking for reviewers, I immediately thought of Sydney and working with her close-vision skills. This seemed like a great game to have her practice getting small parts into small holes, and it seemed engaging enough that she would consider it worth playing even if she had to wear her bifocals.

Well, folks. We have a winner.

Sydney plays this game almost every day, and she'll even play around with it even when we're not playing the game with her. The object of the game is to pull the little bamboo caterpillars out of the "tree." You go about doing that by rolling the dice and seeing how many links you can pull the caterpillar out (or, conversely, have to push the caterpillar back in, an aspect of the game we don't follow). The official rules are a bit vague on some of the details of playing the game, but that didn't bother us since we just make up our own rules to fit what we're doing and Sydney's age. For instance, I think maybe you're supposed to collect a certain color to win? And perhaps can use strategy to keep others from getting their caterpillars out? Obviously, though, we're not working on strategy. We're just trying to get as many of those little caterpillars out as we can.

Playing it the way we do, there is no strategy at all involved. It's all just random luck based on the dice. But that's okay because then when Sydney wins we don't have to feel badly that we were just crushed in a caterpillar game by a 3-year-old.

It's also a great game to help Sydney work on vision exercises. She has to look at small parts, manipulate smallish pieces, and coordinate all those things together. She never feels like it's a chore to play the game (and since the game only take about 15-minutes to play, it doesn't feel like a chore to us either), and right now that's key to getting her transitioned into wearing her bifocals more often.

And really, even though I rarely enjoy playing dice games (is it me, or do dice games take forever to play?!), I think this one is a great fit for Sydney and what we're working on, and that makes it worth it for me.

The game is available at the Discovery Store for $29.95, and considering the excellent construction of the game, the environmental friendliness of the parts, and the overall engaging aspects for kids, I'd say that's a reasonable price. More reviews of this game can be found here.

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

A Clean Toilet Goes a Long Ways

A book review brought to you by Parent Bloggers Network...

Shortly before Sydney was born, some of my former students threw a baby shower for me. They were all poor college students, and the party was where a few of them were living in a not-quite-fabulous apartment in Corvallis. Despite being college students and despite not having lots of money, I distinctly remember the yummy food, the good conversation, and A CLEAN BATHROOM. Honestly, if I had gone into labor I think I could have delivered in that bathroom, although I will say that the lighting wasn't great and the color of the tile wasn't exactly flattering. But hey, there was a pre-nursing student in the midst, so I would have been okay.

Clearly, these were students not raised by wolves.

Their ability to clean a bathroom and host a party notwithstanding, as young adults they would certainly enjoy reading Were You Raised By Wolves? Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood, by Christie Mellor. I personally enjoyed reading it, and I am moderately clued in to adulthood. Kinda. At least, I'm responsible for small people, so that has to count for something. AND, AND! I save money, which was an entire chapter in the book.

Humorously written in a tone more like a funny older sister than a distantly polite Emily Post, Were You Raised by Wolves captures many of the elements we sometimes assume young people should know, but don't. Even I learned quite a few nifty tricks. As a sidenote that's not completely random, but is still a little bit, I have to tell you that today I received a Thank You card from one of my students who took my class this semester. Not only is it refreshing to see a young adult writing a thank you card for a class she took (for a grade!), but I was tickled pink because I love getting cards. Makes my day.

The book covers important topics--like being polite--as well as helpful cooking tips and amazing uses for baking soda (which inspired me to scrub my kitchen sink until it sparkled), good manners and good fashion, being a good-houseguest and being a polite individual, and creating your own holiday traditions as well as creating a sound budget. And for those who can't be bothered with important things like reading, Mellor fills her book with clever illustrations:

• how to shake hands: firm, look her in the eyes
• how to make a bed properly: ooh! I knew this one! pattern-side down on the top sheet so you can fold it over and make it look just like a Pottery Barn bed
• how to make Christmas ornaments: Q-TIPS! Cereal Boxes!
• how to sew on a button (while we're talking about using metal instruments, how about this nifty tip: "Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your hem and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress." Cool.)

Since the book was just hanging out in our living room, Rebekah the World's Best Nanny took a look-see through it and promptly declared it hilarious and clever. She is actually one of those college students who will make a remarkably responsible adult (since she's already a remarkably responsible adult), yet she still learned things from the book. We're hoping that her other place of employment (twig downtown) will carry the book for sale.

In the interest of full disclosure (and knowing the world views of many of my readers), I'll mention the fact there is one element of language in the book which is written in the context of "don't say this." I'm not mentioning it because I happen to be someone who belongs to--as the book puts it--a "certain fundamentalist religious sect," but because I'd want you to be comfortable with that fact before buying the book for your soon-to-graduate niece. That's all I have to say about that.

That so many of my former high school students are now finishing up college, plus I teach college students, and my brother is graduating from BSU in a few weeks with a graduate degree in kinesiology means that I should be giving this book to more than half the people I know. That's a lot of books. But since I'm following Ms. Mellor's advice on the importance of saving money so that we can build a house, I'll just buy copies for my brother and my favorite students, and give the rest of those fabulous new adults thoughtful cards and a high-five.

The book concludes with the perfect word of encouragement:

"Be a kind and thoughtful person. Don't forget to drink water and wear a hat in the sun, but don't always come inside when it's raining. Splash in a few puddles and enjoy the showers, so you'll appreciate the sunshine that much more." --Christie Mellor

I may have to borrow that quote for those cards I'll be sending out.

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Learning to Read

My parents love to tell the story of how I learned to read. They even have a home movie of me reading the flash cards, which is pretty cute if I do say so myself. After many months of my parents reading books and flash cards to me, one day I picked up a book and started reading on my own.

I was 3 years old.

I used to think it was because I was a bright kid with a propensity for language and words. No doubt, I was a certain kind of learner who was willing to sit and be read to, but it turns out that a lot of kids can learn to read young if they're constantly exposed to words. Even though Jason and I weren't early-childhood or elementary education majors, we still took classes that discussed the concept of reading and how kids learn (or have troubles learning), and definitely our background in education has played a role in our interactions with the girls.

From us reading to her, to pointing out words, to phonetic exercises sprinkled throughout the day, Sydney certainly gets a lot of exposure to the early processes of reading. For a few months now she has started identifying the letter that words begin with. "Look at that red truck! Tih...tih...ter-ruck. 'Truck' starts with T!" But I have to be careful if I try this little game too often: "Hey Syd! There's a horse. What letter does 'horse' start with?"

"No," she says, "not today."

Fair enough.

Right after Sydney was born, I saw a program that taught babies to read. I added it to my Amazon wish list--mostly for my own future reference--and thought it would be pretty cool if I ever had the opportunity to try it out on her. I remember thinking, Wouldn't that be something if I could teach Sydney to read?

Well, since Sydney won't be going to pre-school next year (because of the cost, not because I have anything against pre-school) and she's already really close to reading, I think Jason and I will probably end up being the ones who teach her to read. Pretty cool. And that program that teaches babies to read? Amazingly enough, I've been able to try it out with the girls. Parent Bloggers Network had a handful of review copies, and I asked ever so nicely (okay, begged a little bit) to try it out. I was dying to see if it worked. After months of trying it out, the verdict is...kind of.

This early language development system is called Your Baby Can Read, and it was developed by Dr. Robert Titzer. We tried out the 5-DVD Box Set, which includes sliding word cards. The program asks that you begin with the Starter DVD, and have your child watch it twice a day, for a month. Already this seemed like a difficult task because carving out time to watch a video twice a day, while easy to do with Sydney, was not easy to do with Jules. But I wanted to give the program a fair shot, and so we tried.

The very first time we watched it, Jules (at the time just over 12-months old) kinda-sorta-maybe paid attention and did, in fact, learn something. The phrase "arms up" was shown and repeated several times, along with pictures of babies putting their arms up. Jules heard the phrase, saw the picture, and started doing it. "Arms up!' the voice would read. And Jules' arms went up. Since we don't use the phrase "arms up" around here (having long ago adopted the phrase our nanny taught us: "Praise the Lord!" said in our best southern charismatic voice), I know Jules learned it from the video.

After that first day, however, Julianne had no interest in watching the video, so mostly I was watching it with Sydney and evaluating the program myself. I definitely think the program would work in the right circumstances, with a child who was interested.

We know that children first learn to read using "whole word recognition." Which is to say, most of the time kids first learn to read by recognizing whole words, not through phonics (however, beware of schools that don't teach phonics because it can be detrimental to a child's future reading abilities). Dr. Titzer's program focuses on teaching reading through whole word recognition, although he does incorporate some elements of sounding the word out, which is good. There is a lot of repetition, which is exactly what children need in order to recognize words. (It's through repetition that Sydney has learned to "read" books.)

Both Sydney and I found the pacing of the word presentation a little too fast in some places. She would try to read the word, but either the answer was given too quickly, or the screen would move to a new word too fast, and it would frustrate her. Sometimes I would help her out by pausing the video so she could see the word--I suspect her vision issues were a factor in not seeing the word right away--and this helped. The word screens that accompanied songs moved way too fast, and so when the song "Old MacDonald" was playing, Sydney would read along in her own book rather than on the screen.

So, the videos? We'll probably continue to use them here and there, but I think the real gems of the system are the flash cards.

Sydney loves these flash cards. They're heavy duty, and you can write on them with a dry-erase marker. Sydney traces the words, "writes" her own words (not with recognizable letters, but she's writing from left to right, so that's a step), and overall enjoys playing with the cards. The word cards are clever in that there is a word on the front and back of the card, and a representational picture of the word pulls out from the card. I'm definitely getting more of these word cards for Sydney to use because they seem to work for her.

Overall, I think the Your Baby Can Read program is very educational, and certainly is a great addition to any early language development. I would recommend it to parents interested in introducing reading skills to their kids, particularly if they don't even know where to begin in helping teach their child to read. My 16-month old didn't learn to read, but my almost 4-year old is getting there. They'll both figure it out eventually--in their own timing--and I'm just happy to help them out, presenting reading in a fun and interesting way.

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Saving the Littlest Bums

Alrighty now, I still want to give away these two jars of Diaper Goop.

So...let's try this again, shall we?

Leave a comment indicating you're interested in trying out Diaper Goop, and I'll choose two random winners on Wednesday, April 9th. In the contest already are the previous comments from Margaret, Amy, Rachel, and Jen so you four are already entered.

The following post (linked below) is from Thursday, which I had removed because of all the negative energy it was bringing to my blog and also my computer. I have clarified some particular elements of the previous posting because clearly the way I wrote it before was giving people--people who don't actually know me or my blog, but people nonetheless--the wrong impression of life in the Creature Bug household. I will chalk up the whole experience of...whatever that was...as a small bump on the road of an otherwise wonderful blogging journey.

*****

When Strangers Judge You

I had an unfortunate incident happen to me today. One of those things that I suppose happens to people every day, although rarely to me. One of those things that at first seems like a practical joke, but then you realize that it isn't. One of those things that makes you laugh, makes you mad, makes you confused, and above all else, makes you wonder what on earth is going on.

I had a post up today that tried to come up with a clever way to talk about the miracle properties of Diaper Goop (that I received from the ever fabulous Parent Bloggers Network). In this post (which no doubt is still in your Google Reader if you haven't read it yet), I talked about how Jules cries in her crib, even with a messy diaper. While this is true, I haven't ever knowingly allowed her to cry in her crib with a messy diaper. My story was meant to illustrate how Diaper Goop keeps Jules rash-free even when I sleep through her cries. (BTW: It's a great product, and the whole family has loved using it.) Also, the story was meant to be humorously self-deprecating--me, the lazy mom. Ha ha. Of course, as anyone who knows me will tell you, it couldn't be farther from the truth. I do everything in my power to keep my kids healthy, safe, and happy. My friends know that. People who regularly read this blog know that. And yet, one story, taken out of context gave someone the right to call me a bad mom.

Today a stranger judged me. Not just one stranger, although the first one I suspect encouraged the rest of the group to follow along, leaving a string of mean comments in their wake. Today people who don't know me judged me on the basis of one half-factual story. These are people who have never met me, never been to my blog before, never read my posts before, never seen my pictures of my girls or been witness to my love for my children. These are people who tried to shame me into thinking I was a bad mom, although there are no words that will make me feel that way.

If it made them feel better to get their scolding words off their chest and say it to me, well, all right then. If they felt like they were making the world a better place--teaching one more bad mommy a lesson and hoping she changes her meth smoking, whip cracking, martini-before-noon drinking ways--okay. There is a place for outrage, this I know. Unfortunately, it was completely misguided being directed at me. Who, I guess it needs to be noted, does not smoke meth, crack whips, or drink martinis.

Clearly they don't know me otherwise they would have known that I am the mom you want on your side, in your corner, fighting for justice and safety. I am the mom you want teaching your children in the classroom. I am the mom who is raising children to be compassionate and loving, not, as you too quickly surmised, someone else. If there's anything you can learn from this mistake it's this: it's very difficult for a stranger to adequately judge someone else. Especially if you're judging through the printed word. Especially if your directive to judge came at the prodding of an annoyed friend. There is no happy ending to that story.

I have my failings as much as anyone, but when it comes down to it I know I'm a great mom. I don't need to list everything I do for and with my children because who the heck cares about that? My kids, that's who, and they aren't reading yet. But when they get old enough to read this post, they'll be the first to rise up and call me blessed. Of that I am convinced.

My story does have a happy ending, however. And it is this:

xoxo

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Listening to Stories

Thank you for all your comments and emails regarding the "should we or shouldn't we?" question of kids. It felt good to finally express my thoughts on it, and I appreciated the insight you gave me!

*****

For more than a year now, we have been going to the library to listen to stories. Whether we hear Miss Connie, Miss Karen, or Miss Shannon, we always love it. We're as dedicated to Family Bedtime Storytime as we are to eating breakfast and brushing our teeth--which is to say, we rarely miss it.

Even though Sydney has a great attention span for us reading her stories, she doesn't always follow along with the stories she hears at the library. Lots of distractions, lots of tending to the younger sister who definitely doesn't pay attention to the stories. But she's certainly picking up more from the stories than she did before. Last night in particular, there was a lot of running back and forth to tell us when something in the story reminds of her something from her real life. "Grandma and Grandpa are in Egypt!" she told us when the alphabet story reached E. "I know an Olivia!" when the O characters were named. "I have a grandpa named Steve!" She's figuring it out.

Knowing that this stage would eventually be coming, a couple months ago I started looking for a certain version of "Peter and the Wolf" that I loved listening to as a kid. I can clearly remember putting the record on and hearing the oboe, the cello (maybe?), and other instruments as Peter and his animal friends searched for the Wolf. I don't quite recall all the details of the story--something about the cat maybe dying, but then not really, hooray! something about a bird?--but I can hear the music clearly. I loved listening to that story.

I did a brief search for the version I grew up with, but either lost patience or got tired of listening to versions that weren't the right one. I had great hopes for a version recommended in a parenting magazine, but it was seriously awful. Horrid. I need to just call my mom and ask her all the pertinent information, but she's in Egypt. Or probably at this moment, in Israel. My dad, sister and grandma are there too. (Check out my sister's post from Egypt that has all sorts of cool pics.)

Anyway, as luck would have it, around the time I first started searching I received copies of Amy Friedman's Tell Me a Story: Timeless Folktales From Around the World and Tell Me a Story 2: Animal Magic. Both these CDs have received great reviews from Cool Mom Picks and rightly so. Listening to the stories makes me remember the magic of sitting in the basement of our house as a kid, eyes closed, envisioning the stories taking place. I think I was lucky as a kid because all I have are fond memories of listening to stories on records. Probably not all the stories were fabulous, but even the record of "Benji" and "Benji the Hunted" were among my faves. Especially since the record had a picture of Benji printed right on it. So cool.

Well, Amy Friedman's stories are cool too. They're multi-cultural enough that Jason is considering having his World Cultures class listen to some of the stories. The wonderful music is by Laura Hall (she of Whose Line is it Anyway? fame), and the narration includes all the kinds of voices that people should be using when they're reading stories (although I have to admit that no one can beat Jim Dale--who narrates the Harry Potter books--for amazing vocal delivery).

Sydney isn't quite ready to be listening to stories in the car. She tries, but she's still a books-with-pages kind of girl. That's okay. There's still plenty of years ahead of her for listening to stories. Just enough time for me to find that version of Peter and the Wolf that I love. In the meantime, I've been listening to the stories myself (my favorite story is called "A Sense of Theft" from the first collection...so clever). I never get tired of listening to stories.

*****

If you or your kids are into listening to stories, I have Ms. Friedman's newest Tell me a Story album to give away. Tell me a Story 2: Animal Magic features seven tales that pull from Nigerian, Chinese, Australian, East Indian, French Canadian, Native American, and Guatemalan storytelling traditions. No road trip is complete without some great stories to go along. Leave a comment, and I'll choose a winner Saturday morning at 10 am PST.

*****

Just for my own future reference, any audiostories you'd recommend to kids? I can't imagine our CD collection of stories will ever outpace our book collection, but since Sydney does know how to run the iPod then we might as well put some stories on it!

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Loving the Bespectacled Kid

(Ah, yes, another review. In fact, there will be even ANOTHER review tomorrow. It's crazy. But it's crazy good because tomorrow I'm giving away something. Yay for free stuff!)

Even before Sydney was born there was a certain brand name that had made its way into our house. The name adorned DVDs, books, the crib mobile, a couple bath puppets, and a baby play gym. Over the course of the years we have collected yet another crib mobile, more books, another DVD, some toys and I suspect somewhere there's a sippy cup all adorned with the infamous sketch of that spiky haired kid wearing glasses.

Guessed it, yet? If you have kids you probably have something that's related to Baby Einstein. It's as familiar to parents as Fisher-Price and Baby Bjorn. I have watched Baby Neptune and Baby Shakespeare more times than I can count, and once upon a time I knew the alphabet in Hebrew thanks to Baby Einstein. Over the course of the years, it kind of got a bad reputation because it promoted the whole "babies watching television" thing, which the American Academy of Pediatrics tends to frown on.

I like the answer that Baby Einstein developed in response to this discussion:

...The Baby Einstein Company is aware of the ongoing discussions regarding children and television viewing, particularly as it pertains to infants under the age of two years old. And, while we respect the American Academy of Pediatrics, we do not believe that their recommendation of no television for children under the age of two reflects the reality of today’s parents, families and households – for example, a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 68% of all babies under two years old watch screen media on any given day. The Baby Einstein Company believes that when used properly, developmentally-appropriate video content can be a useful tool for parents and little ones to enjoy together.

I will say that Sydney didn't watch tv until she was almost two, but not for the lack me trying. I'm sure it was somewhat influenced by her vision--probably she couldn't actually see the television. No less than a month after she got glasses she was suddenly interested in watching those Baby Einstein movies that we had sitting around. It was a significant turning point in our household because at this point I could actually take a shower, clean the kitchen, and have approximately 45 minutes a day to do whatever I darn well pleased. It was blissful.

And if you had wandered into our house this morning you would have seen me trying to encourage Jules for the love of mice and beans! sit and watch Blue's Clues with Sydney. Instead she went through the kitchen and emptied the dog dish, ripped up some cookbooks, and just for fun pulled Sydney's hair and glasses. I can't wait for the day she decides that tv is entertaining so I can reclaim those 45 minutes. Sorry, American Academy of Pediatrics. Your suggestions, while appropriate and important, deprive me of my sanity and toilet-scrubbing time.

Good old Baby Einstein has tried to reconnect their product with parents and get the word out about the positive ways media can be integrated into the lives of your children. Their Ask the Expert page has some great ideas, and you can even share how you and your kid use Baby Einstein in the home. We just got the Baby's First Moves DVD, which features lots of footage of babies moving. Jules, naturally, doesn't care a smidge for it. Sydney, on the other hand, crawls along, rolls over, claps, and reaches for the sky along with those tiny babies. She's all about moving. After watching the movie, she tries to tutor Jules in all the movements she ought to be doing. Added bonus for moms: there's a feature at the end of the movie that gives parents tips on how to exercise with baby. They even tell you the proper way to put baby in the crib so you don't strain your back. Knowledge I wish I knew four years ago!

The new follow up DVD--Baby's First Words--is coming out March 11. Plus, they won some awards last year, and pretty much I'm just saying they'll always have a place in our home as long as we have kids around. Really, who can pass up a product that has a kid wearing glasses? Not us. We're smitten with spectacles.

Now time to confess: who let their kids watch tv before they turned two? Come on. I can't possibly be the only one...

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Clean Green

A few months ago I read an article in some parenting magazine (take your pick of the half dozen I collect at random locations) about the dangers of cleaning solvents on countertops. Or rather, the danger it poses for kids...not actually for countertops. While of course I'm not washing the girls' hands off with bleach or anything, I hadn't ever really thought about cleaners getting on their hands just from touching the countertops. I do try to be careful. Since I started showering with Jules, I stopped spraying the shower with cleaner after we're done because I don't want her to breathe the fumes (even though it's really put a wrinkle in my cleaning routine). Sometimes I can't even get my mind around all the cautionary tales given to parents about poisons, and pesticides, and cleanicides, and electricides and whoknowswhatcides. What's worse? The cleaner or the germs?

So, I stopped using those handy dandy Clorox wipes to clean the kitchen and started using regular soap and water. I doubt it's as effective, but it can't be all bad. Sure, there are "Green" cleaning products out there that are safe for kids but bad for germs. The thing is, I'm pretty skeptical about cleaners that call themselves "Green." To me, if you can eat it (baking soda, vinegar) it's green. If you can't eat it, then I don't know.

Nevertheless, I found myself at the store one day looking at the shelves of All Natural cleaning products. Sydney and I had a good discussion about the merits of All Natural products.

Me: Should I get this new cleaning product?
Syd: I want the pink bottle.
Me: The pink bottle has poison in it. It'll melt the polar ice caps...or hurt the salmon...or something.
Syd: ...
Me: What do you think?
Syd: I like the pink one.

Yep. We're deep thinkers around here. In the end, I didn't get anything.

The one I had thought about getting--Clorox GreenWorks--seemed like it might be okay. It wasn't more expensive than the other cleaners, and it listed all the ingredients in the product, which a lot of other cleaners don't since it's not required. Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind, I recalled hearing that GreenWorks was safer around children than other cleaners. And according to the GreenWorks website, it's better for the environment too.

For reasons that might have involved a screaming baby in the grocery cart, I didn't end up purchasing GreenWorks that day I saw it at the store, but then I managed to score myself a free bottle of the Natural All-Purpose Cleaner (and the Natural Glass and Surface Cleaner) through Mom Central so I could try it out and see how it works.

As far as how it works? Well, it works just fine. It cleans up nicely, has a sweet little lemony fragrance, and the glass cleaner doesn't leave any streaks. It didn't leave any residue on the countertops, a common problem I have with some cleaning products. I've been using it in the kitchen and bathroom all week and don't have any complaints.

As far as it being natural and eco-friendly? It got an endorsement from Sierra Club, and is recognized by the EPA for its safer chemistry. That's cool. However, as this San Francisco Chronicle article (that I found thanks to The Not Quite Crunchy Parent) makes an interesting point:

...some other activist groups raised questions about Clorox's overall environmental commitment - given that its Green Works products remain outnumbered by its conventional cleaners.

"We'd like to see them incorporate these practices into all their products," said Erin Thompson, campaign organizer for Women's Voices for the Earth, a Montana-based group that advocates for fewer chemicals in cleaning products. "Why sell one set of products that have hazardous ingredients and others that don't?"

Nevertheless, a step in the right direction is still a good step. Maybe I'm not cynical enough to be skeptical about Big Businesses...selling Green products...at Walmart. I'm just happy that there's a natural (or at least, more natural than the other stuff) cleaning product that I can buy at the store.

Tips for cleaning Green:

• National Geographic's Green Guide indicating top cleaning products to avoid (hint: get plant-based cleaners)
• Women's Voices for the Earth has a report of household hazards.
• Bay Area Pollution Prevention Guide has a brochure indicating Safe Cleaning Practices.
• check out my friend Erin's post about natural cleaning products.

At any rate, I think it's important to think about the stuff we clean with. So, there's my speech about that.

ON A TOTALLY UNRELATED NOTE, it's March and you know what that means? NCAA tournament time! I'll be hosting my traditional bracket, so be ready.

*****

(c) Creature Bug 2008. All rights reserved.

Meet Pingu

Jason was sorting through our collection of DVDs the other day and remarked, "We have a lot of children's DVDs." I wasn't exactly paying attention to him when he said that, so he reiterated his remark for emphasis. "We have a lot of children's DVDs."

"I know," I said. "It comes with the territory."

The "territory" is being part of the fabulous Parent Bloggers Network, which comes with the fun job of getting to review DVDs (as well as other nifty things). With all this reviewing you might assume that we do nothing but watch movies all day, but that's not so much the case. Truthfully, we have an inordinate amount of junior DVDs considering Sydney isn't really allowed to watch that much tv.

This explains why we had never heard of Pingu. Have you? Pingu? Featuring amazing claymation action just like the kind we know and love from the classic Christmas movies? Pingu has his very own show on the PBS Sprout Network, but we just met him. And I have to say, he makes me laugh. Pingu is a lovable little penguin, and his new hour-long movie Pingu On Thin Ice features several short episodes of him getting into all sorts of mischief. Here's Pingu trying to hide his fishy food that he doesn't like (a picker eater! maybe he should come live at my house and he and Syd can bond over their mutual distaste for anything that isn't PB&J). Here's Pingu getting lost in a cave. Oh, and here's Pingu with the hiccups. That Pingu. What a kick.

But the real kicker is that Pingu (and friends) speak in Pinguinese (not to be mistaken for Portuguese, or as my mom initially suspected, French). There aren't any worries about your kids picking up undesirable phrases because no real words make their way into the dialogue. My first thought upon hearing Pinguinese, "Well, this isn't a show for verbal acquisition," and was a bit perplexed. After watching it though I realized what is does promote: understanding storylines and emotions just through observing body language and universal sounds. With some coaching, I got Sydney to figure out what was going on in the story.

"Why is he holding his nose?" I asked Syd.
"Because the fish is stinky!" she said.
"So why won't he eat the fish?"
"Because he doesn't like to eat stinky fish." Clever girl.

True, it's definitely silly stuff. Sydney and I giggled throughout the whole thing, and it's sort of a kids' version of Laurel and Hardy. There are a few occasions of potty humor (the telltale signs of bubbles in the tub, along with universal toot sounds) but mostly it's harmless fare. The one thing that bugged me was that at the end of every episode the theme song and credits play, prompting Sydney to ask EVERY TIME, "Is it over?" No, not yet. "Is it over now?" No. "Is it over?" For the love of all things Pingu, it's not over. Somebody wasn't thinking when they made the end of each episode seem like the end of the movie.

Kids will enjoy the slapstick humor of the program without parental guidance, but the teacher in me had to come tromping out and turn Pingu into a learning opportunity about gestures and vocalizations we use to communicate emotions. Yes, I'm a nerd. No, you don't want me watching cartoons in your house. Really, I had to come up with a reason why my brother should allow Pingu in his house even though the Pinguinese sounds drive him crazy. Bossy older sister complex in full gear.

If you're interested in hearing a bit of Pinguinese, check out the website. And if you're even more interested in welcoming Pingu and his pals into your home for a bit of mischievous fun, Amazon has the movie.

Pingu was all new to us, but now we not only have the movie we also have (thanks to my mom and her amazing research skills) dozens of Pingu episodes that aired on tv. Oh, yeah. We're addicts. And next week I'm teaching a drama class, and what do you think I'll be showing to my students as an illustration of storyline without dialogue? Pingu.

Pass the popcorn.

*****

(c) 2008 Creature Bug. All rights reserved.

Turning to the Purple Side

A couple weeks ago I was talking to my students about blogging and the sometimes reviewing that I do with Parent Bloggers Network, and yada yada yada speech communication model. (I don't remember how I tied it in to the course content, but let's assume it was.) At one point a student asked "So do you watch Barney?"

Funny you should ask, I said. Very funny.

I admit that I didn't exactly have fond feelings of Barney growing up. I think it's because he first surfaced 20 years ago, which would have put me at the age when I was spurning most children's shows (except DuckTales and Gummi Bears, naturally) and child actors (except those cool kids on The All New Mickey Mouse Club). Big purple dinosaurs and singing children seemed...odd. Kids hugging and sharing and being too cheerful was certainly not what I was interested in.

Then I pretty much forgot all about Barney until I got a DVD from Parent Bloggers Network in the mail a few weeks ago. Ah, I said to myself. I have to watch Barney.

I kind of put it off for a few days, not because I thought Sydney wouldn't like it but because I thought it was going to be really annoying. I remembered my general disdain for child actors, and wasn't sure if I could manage introducing a new crew of kids into our household. Eventually, I decided to watch it by myself. Without Sydney. If it was too terrible, Sydney would never be the wiser to all things Barney.

Having rarely seen Barney on tv, I don't know how this compares to the tv shows, but it turns out that this particular DVD--Barney: Celebrating Around the World--is darn entertaining. As soon as I saw it, I knew Sydney would like it. Turns out she liked it so much she took it with her up to my parents' house, and watched it with my mom, who made a point of telling me this past weekend that even she enjoyed it. The songs, the dancing, the cultural education--it's really actually pretty nifty.

The premise is that Barney and his friends get on a magical train and travel throughout the world--Rio de Janeiro, Ireland, India, Kenya, Japan--meeting children from other countries and learning how other cultures celebrate and dance. When we watch the Irish dancers, Sydney gets up and tries to imitate them (okay, I admit it--as soon as I saw the Irish dancers then I knew I had to show Sydney the movie. IRISH DANCERS! IRELAND! I've had a long love of all things Irish, remember?). When we see the girls from India dancing, Sydney says, "They're from India. India is a long ways away from here. Mariah [our friend] is from India." And then I showed her where India was on a globe. Because Barney inspired her.

I'm sure that one of the reasons why Sydney loves the movie so much is because of the dancing and the singing, and I love that she also gets to learn a little bit about other cultures in the process of that. Sure, the other little dinosaur pals are sort of strange (I find myself wondering who the people are inside the costumes...), and there is one song that I'm not real keen on (about getting nervous), but kids love to watch other kids perform, and that's what endears Barney to children.

If your pre-school kids like Barney then obviously they'll love this movie. If your kids don't know who Barney is (like Sydney didn't) then this is great introduction because it's not going to get on your nerves. If you're not keen on Barney yourself, I would say give this one a chance. National dancing...cultural education...IRISH DANCERS. Very cool. Plus, Barney's been around for 20 years, so I have to admit that he must be doing something right in educating preschoolers.

The movie has a run-time of 54 minutes, and goes on sale today over at Amazon. And hey, if you're a local dance fan, Sydney's dance studio is doing an Irish Dancing night next month that I think might be fun to go see. I'll drop you details if you're interested in going.

A Cleaner Alternative

If you are a parent of young children, you probably received that email that circulated several months ago about Purell hand sanitizer. Turns out, while the alcohol in hand sanitizers kill germs, it also poses a serious threat to young children who can get alcohol poisoning if they put their hands in their mouth after using Purell or another like-formulated hand sanitizer.

After the Purell warning, I put the Purell out of reach of my kids (even though at the time Sydney was old enough to know not to put her hands in her mouth, and Jules was too young to reach the Purell), and eventually got rid of the Purell altogether. I had seen an alcohol-free hand sanitizer reviewed on PBN, but it wasn't available in stores and I wasn't up to buying it online. Every time I went to the doctor's office, I searched the pharmacy for an alcohol-free, all-natural hand sanitizer, but to no avail. I couldn't find it anywhere.

With germ season upon us (as I hear both girls coughing in their rooms), I was determined to find a better all-natural product that I could use to clean the girls' hands. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to search very hard because I got lucky enough to review CleanWell, the product that Parent Bloggers Network bloggers reviewed earlier for hand-sanitizer, only now there's a new product: foaming antibacterial hand soap.

While there has been some concern over the chemicals used in antibacterial hand soap--namely, whether they are really safe, and whether or not they promote resistant strains of bacteria--CleanWell's foaming hand wash is the first all-natural Triclosan-free hand soap to kill nearly all those pesky germs. Of course, because it is "foaming" hand wash, then it includes sodium lauryl sulfate which is an irritant for sensitive skin, especially skin prone to eczema (information I learned thanks to nanny Rebekah who was a fountain of information concerning harmful products!).

But the reason for sodium lauryl sulfate is that it helps deliver suds to the skin, helping to clean it faster, which is good since most people (especially kids) don't wash their hands for the recommended round of singing your ABCs. To combat skin from drying out from the sodium lauryl sulfate, CleanWell includes skin conditioners like aloe and white tea. My skin still felt pretty dry after using the soap, but that's probably because between changing diapers and feeding kids I'm washing my hands all the time. Most importantly, however, CleanWell's product is triclosan-free, a chemical commonly found in deodorants and other soaps and appears to be a very unfriendly chemical.

I got to try out all three of CleanWell's foaming hand soaps: orange vanilla, ginger bergamot, lavender absolute. While fragrances are often a no-no when it comes to being all-natural (especially since the FDA doesn't require companies to list what chemicals they use in fragrances), CleanWell goes above and beyond by not only listing their fragrance oils, but using natural ones.

The bottles come with removable labels, which I was initially skeptical about thinking that once you removed the labels then you wouldn't be able to consult the drug facts list. But clever CleanWell: I pulled the labels off and there was still a small box that included the soap's ingredients. Quite handy.

My favorite scent was the orange vanilla, which happens to be the only scent that our local Target currently carries. I was over at the Center Street Target yesterday, and was curious to see what the soap is priced at. I found it (aisle A35), and the foaming hand soap is $4.49, and the hand-sanitizer (which I'm thrilled to be using now as a safer alternative to Purell) was $6.99 for a 6 oz. bottle.

It's hard to know what's safe to use these day, and what isn't. Fortunately, CleanWell seems to be making good strides toward creating a product that is healthier for me and my kids. I think the fewer chemicals that are in our daily products, the better. It follows along with one of my words of the year--gentleness. Looks like I've found a soap that's gentle for us, and gentle for the environment.

PS: If you're interested in researching more of what ingredients your soaps and makeup contain, consider checking out Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. According to Skin Deep, CleanWell has signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. Cool.

Week 186: Lottofafluza

Before getting into the story of how firefighters ended up in my bedroom at 5:30am Saturday morning, I must be upfront that today is a product-review post. I say that so that you don't think I'm using my husband's illness in order to shill a product. While I occasionally agree to receiving free products and then further reviewing them on my blog, and while I may even encourage you to buy books through my Amazon links so that I can become rich and buy myself a pair of designer jeans (right!), when it comes down to it I'm just writing about my family, not trying to sell things. I just wanted to make that clear so you don't feel like I tricked you into reading this post.

But the story must be told, and the product must be reviewed, so they shall share the post space harmoniously together, like peanut butter and jelly. Except not exactly like peanut butter and jelly because Jason is allergic to peanuts and that would only further lead me to calling 9-1-1 again.

So, the firefighters. Me calling 9-1-1. The story unfolds thusly.

Friday afternoon was just a regular afternoon. Jason had gone for a nine-mile run, then had taken Jules out grocery shopping so that I could get some grading done (Sydney was staying the night with her grandparents). Later that night, Jason started complaining of not feeling well. He had major stomach pains, and was showing symptoms of having the flu (food poisoning is also a possible suspect). Although I had great pity for him in my heart, I have a hard time summoning my maternal instincts for anyone other than my girls (and other small children). I can fetch things, but I prefer to keep my distance because bodily fluids seriously gross me out. I did what I could, which was to provide fluids and medicine.

During the night, Jason continued to not feel well. I would periodically wake up, mumble, "Is there something I can get you?" and then promptly fall back asleep (kind of reminds me of the time I told Jason I was pregnant with Sydney, and he said, "Really?" and then fell back asleep, which he says is what happens when you wake someone up at 2am to share pregnancy news).

Sometime around 5am, I hear a loud crash in the bathroom, and rush in there to find Jason unconscious, the crashing sound having resulted from his head hitting the wall. Since he's only allowing me to share this story because it was so traumatic for me, I am leaving out most of the horrible and frightening details. However, I will say that when I first saw him I was terrified at the condition I found him in. After checking his pulse and realizing that he was still breathing, I grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

I know some people say that in moments of crisis they can't recall exactly what transpired, but I remember every little detail. I remember the sound of the woman's voice on the phone, the questions she asked, the first thing Jason said when he regained consciousness. I remember it all, and I was scared. After Jason realized that I had called for an ambulance, he was not exactly thrilled. He was now perfectly lucid, and even though he wasn't feeling great, he was not suffering any significant effects of what had just occurred.

Within a few minutes of my phone call, the firetruck arrived at our house. I was relieved they didn't have their sirens on because that might have woke Jules up. I was also relieved that there was now no imminent threat to Jason's health.

It was this sense of relief that can only explain why at this point I completely lost my senses. I saw those firefighters come marching down our driveway and could only think of one thing: they were wearing some heavy duty boots. Which were going to be walking on my clean carpets. As the men were about to enter the house, I squeaked out in my most embarrassed voice, "Oh dear. You're going to walk your boots all over my carpets aren't you?"

I realized that it sounded horribly insensitive, and what did I honestly expect? That they would take off their shoes before coming in the house? Fortunately, the nice firefighter did not laugh at me and said, "I'm pretty sure they aren't muddy." And then later--after they had checked Jason out and we had declined a trip to the hospital--he managed to tease me about what I had said. I'm sure I turned eight million shades of red before he said, "It's okay. My wife would have said the same thing." So, I'm not totally crazy. Just a little bit crazy.

Jason spent most of Saturday recovering, and by that evening he was able to keep some soup and jello down. By Sunday he was mostly recovered, and barring a relapse, he'll have no trouble teaching today and tomorrow before beginning his Christmas vacation. I'm thankful he's okay. I'm thankful for the firefighters who were here and did such a wonderful job. I'm thankful that Sydney wasn't here that night. And, I have to say it again, I'm thankful Jason is okay. I hope I never have to experience that again.

*****

Up until this weekend we had been pretty lucky to escape any significant sicknesses this year. Sure, there's been the occasional cold, and a few days Jason and I had a sore throat. Naturally, I have my migraines every once in awhile which I treat with Peppermint oil and Excedrin. The colds we pretty much suffered through, but the sore throats we were able to ward off with a dose of Simply Gargle, a salt-water gargle that tastes absolutely awful but makes your throat feel a million times better. I confess I'm not really a big fan of medicinal gargles, but Parent Bloggers Network hooked me up with Simply Gargle, and I had every sore-throated person I know try it. My parents loved it. Our nanny's sister loved it (although she said, "It tastes SO gross, but my throat feels better"). And Jason and I, while we despise the taste of it, now use it because its handy one-use capsules are easy to store, and it makes my throat feel like butter (in a good way). I even used it one day when my throat was just tired after a day of lecturing since Simply Gargle is not a medicine that I would have to ingest. I'm not against taking medicine, but if I can find one that will solve my aches without having to swallow it? Now, that's a good idea. Another good idea? Visit their website and sign up to receive a free sample of Simply Gargle. If you don't want your free sample just give it to me. I do enough talking to require a salt-water gargle weekly.

I know during this season of germs and sicknesses, I need to make sure my medicine cabinet is well stocked. I have to get something for the flu (fingers crossed we don't get it again), and I have to go get another box of Simply Gargle because we're out. I'm really hoping the next illness we get in our house is as mild as a sore throat because I don't think my nerves could take another dose of the flu.

Or the carpets either, for that matter.

Week 185: Imaginative Play

I saw an article in the newspaper last week about kids and imaginative play. Some researchers were alarmed that kids weren't learning how to play on their own, watching too much tv and listening to their iPods too much, and consequently....well, I don't know. I didn't finish reading the article, but I suspected the findings would include something like 'let kids play more on their own, powering toys with their imagination instead of remote controls and high-powered batteries.'

I didn't finish reading it because, truthfully, I don't worry about Sydney and imaginative play. Once upon a time I did. I worried that she'd never play on her own and that I'd have to entertain her for the rest. of. my. life. Which isn't to say that I don't love playing with Sydney, I do. But I also wanted her to be able to play on her own and entertain herself. After we had her vision checked and got her glasses, she became much more willing to play away from us (maybe because she could finally see!). She even had her own posse of imaginary friends that she would pull from the mirror and "line up" on the floor. Her "friend" Dawby first visited us a year ago, and comes and goes at random times. And as for Jules, she is more than willing to wander away from us and play on her own. I'm sure it helps that she has a sister around.

Even though I don't think kids need fancy toys to encourage imaginative play, a certain selection of well-made toys can go a long way. I love blocks (even though they end up all over the place) and I love the little play kitchen that both girls are so enamored with (even though the plastic foods find their way to every place but back to the little kitchen). Several weeks ago we added another well-made toy to our collection, courtesy Parent Bloggers Network: Discovery Channel's Ready Set Learn! Lift-Off Rocket.

The timing for getting the rocket couldn't have been better. Sydney had been introduced to Little Einstein's Rocketship, and our library had just converted the Discovery Room into a science fiction exploration center. We were totally spaced out...in a good way.

As soon as we got the Lift-Off Rocket, Sydney was clamoring for me to get it out the box. She recognized right away what it was, and was "flying" it around the house in no time. The four little space critters were shuttled through the living room, zooming through the hallway, and having adventures in Sydney's room. In Sydney's imagination, the little animal astronauts would have breakfast in one of the rocket's compartments and take a nap on the fold-down bed in the other. Maybe while Commander Bunny Astronaut was talking to Houston, Commander Lamby-kins was rolling along on the space buggy exploring the little moon crater (all included with the Rocket).

It's a toy that does take a couple batteries in order to power its blast-off sounds, but it is mostly powered by imagination. My favorite kind of toy.

Turns out, the library has the exact same Rocketship in the Discovery Room, except instead of animal astronauts, they have people astronauts. Sydney was delighted to see that she could play with the Lift-Off Rocket at the library as well as at home. Because I adore our library and our children's librarians (Hooray for Ms. Karen and Ms. Connie!!), I see their endorsement of the Rocket as a good sign. True, spending nearly $40 on a toy is kind of out of our price range; however, I will say it is well-built and one of those toys whose pieces are not so small that I worry about Julianne playing with it. Jules is big on sucking on the little astronauts (I can hear them now: "Slobber monster straight ahead, Captain!"), and they have held up quite well. Also, I must mention that the product is made in China, but that Discovery Channel hasn't had any product recalls so I'm believing that it's safe. I haven't yet moved to the point of refusing to buy any toys from China, although I'm close.

I can't leave you with just a recommendation of a toy without giving you my favorite resource that will assist your kiddos in developing that imagination of theirs: BOOKS!

Some of our favorite space books:

• Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, by Eric Carle. Monica's father fulfills her request for the moon by taking it down after it is small enough to carry, but it still changes. Very sweet.
• Beegu, by Alexis Deacon. A small, yellow creature from space finds no welcome on earth until visiting a children's playground. Good for teaching about acceptance.
• Mooncakes, by Frank Asch. We love Asch's Moonbear books--they're wonderful stories about a little bear and his love of the moon. The illustrations are simple, yet creative enough to capture a child's imagination.

Imagination, prepare for lift-off...5...4...3...2...1...Blast off!

One thing I'm good at

Not to brag, but I think I'd say there are a few things that I am capable of doing better than the average person. Which isn't to say that I do them exceptionally well, but probably better than 50% of the population. Or at least, 50% of the people I know. Okay, let's just say I can these things better than Sydney and call it good:

• sing
• clean
• apply mascara
• organize

Although I'm not talented enough to do all of these things at the same time, each thing individually I can manage without too much trouble. The one thing, however, that takes a bit more thought and determination is the area of organization.

I think growing up with a mom who was a professional secretary taught me the importance of organization. My parents gave me filing cabinet when I was still in middle school, and I used it faithfully to organize and file away everything that I thought was worth keeping. School art papers. Old book reports. Articles from magazines that I had found especially interesting (or worth looking at again, like that Seventeen article on Kirk Cameron that I held on to for...much longer than I should have). Saving papers ended up serving me quite well because when I became a teacher I used some of my old high school and college papers and hand-outs as examples.

Even now, we have two massive filing cabinets in our garage that hold all my old teaching materials. I can't exactly imagine myself using them again, but I keep all the lesson plans anyway. In the house, however, I keep all the information that I deem important and necessary. Bills, paper work, employment stuff, etc.

So, when Parent Bloggers Network wanted me to try out an organization system from Dayrunner, I was curious to see what new organizational tricks I could learn. My fingers were crossed that I would get a big, erasable wall calendar that I could post in our kitchen. I had seen one someplace and wanted one with all my organized heart.

I got one.

And I do love it.