Holiday Traditions

Whatever your faith or beliefs may be, the end of the year can be a great time for focusing in on family traditions. Whether the tradition is generations old or created today it can be a unifying source for the family. It doesn't need to be traditional. One family I know eschews the turkey, stuffing, and cranberries for burgers on the grill every Thanksgiving. The important thing is that it can be anticipated and enjoyed year after year. A few years ago when we got married, we decided that one family tradition would be to buy a Christmas book every year and open and read it on Christmas Eve. This year, with the birth of our son, we tweaked the idea a bit and decided to wrap up our collection and open one to read on each day leading up to Christmas Day. The newest book will be opened on Christmas Eve. Of course, at some point we will run out of days in December and will have to start a rotation, but that is years away. The fun will be rediscovering the stories year after year. What are your oldest and newest family traditions? They do not need to be holiday related; let's hear your great ideas!

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Ahem

Ahem.
Dear readers,

Please excuse my three month hiatus from this blog. My excuse?



It is now Autumn, my dear son is nearly four months old, and I am bursting with ideas for this blog. To start, a potpourri of linky love for kids yoga, early childhood ideas, and green parenting! Enjoy~

Kids Yoga
ABC Yoga for Kids A delightful book introducing yoga in the form of an alphabet book


Children's Literature
Planet Esme



Early Childhood
Preschool Playbook blog by an experienced preschool teacher
No Time for Flashcards blog
Momtessori blog by a former Montessori teacher/current SAHM



Green Parenting

Inhabitots

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Spanglish Baby Usborne Book Giveaway!

Check out this great Usborne book giveway over at Spanglish Baby! Good til tonight at midnight! Andale!

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Itsy Bitsy Yoga

My son Owen Nathaniel was born 20 days ago on June 12, 2009 at 8:15 A.M.

We have been blissfully enjoying his presence and our new life with him.

This morning I started practicing yoga with him, using the Itsy Bitsy Yoga book by Helen Garabedian.
I will also be using Yoga Baby by DeAnsin Goodson Parker.

Itsy Bitsy Yoga is divided into sections by baby's age and development, and also offers 7 Magic poses that can calm fussy babies within one minute. Today Owen and I tried the Good Morning Newborn Series of four poses including the Scoop n' Hug pose which was his favorite. Check out the book today!








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Yoga for kids linkies

From 2001 to 2005 I had a children's yoga business in South Florida. As a classroom teacher, I observed first hand the differences in children who had some breathwork and training to help regulate their energy levels during a busy day. Outside the classroom, I taught yoga at a local studio, in private home sessions, at community centers and to Girl Scout groups. I had one regular private group of 2-4 girls for over a year, and in that time we really developed the idea of self-reliance and management of stress, two issues which I believe kids today need desperately.

At the local studio, I taught one afterschool group of 5 first grade boys with LOTS of energy (3 of whom happened to be in my first grade class at the time) With them, we always started the class with some laughter and "log-rolling" to help get some excess energy out and set boundaries for the class. Since moving to the west coast in 2005, I no longer have the business, but I am still able to incorporate some breathing and stretching into my kindergarten classes.

Below are some fun kids yoga linkies (so many more than when I first started researching kids' yoga in 2000!) Enjoy!

Global Family Yoga Blog
Yoga 4 Kids
Radiant Child Yoga Program
Next Generation Yoga (where I did my training in July 2002)
Jodi Komitor from NGY preschool yoga video clips at Activity TV

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Kiss the Chef!

There are so many wonderful titles available that focus on multicultural foods and food traditions around the world. Some of them focus on one particular ethnic treat while others concentrate on finding the commonalities between popular ethnic foods.

Comparing food between cultures has always intrigued me. For example, that most cultures have some type of portable meal wrapped in bread; Hungarian pierogies, burritos from Mexico, pork buns or egg rolls from China, wraps or sandwiches in the United States, empanadas, stromboli or calzone, the list is virtually endless. Even regional dishes such as New Orleans Po'Boy sandwiches or hot weiners from Rhode Island make the list. Below are some children's titles to spark your interest in exploring new foods with your young ones. Seek out recipes and pair a book with a new meal. Even picky eaters might be interested when they have seen the food in another context or played with it in a non-threatening dramatic play setting.

Some scenarios:

Dim-sum lunch
Read Yum Yum Dim Sum by Amy Wilson Sanger
or Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin



Have fun using the Good Fortune Chinese Food Play Set by Small World Toys or make your own with wooden chopsticks and clay!

Try a simple recipe for one or two items or find them frozen at the market. Pork buns and dumplings are easy to find.

Tamale or Jalapeno bagel breakfast (with or without actual jalapenos!)

Read Jalapeno Bagels by Natasha Wing (for preschool or school-age kids) and then make some!



Read ¡Hola! Jalapeno by Amy Wilson Sanger and pair it up with the Hispanic play food set by Learning Resources which includes a tamale or make real ones!






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It takes a village

As we get closer and closer to baby's "birthday", I think about how realistic our plan to raise baby with two languages may or may not be in our community. In my last community in South Florida, I had at least one friend and colleague speaking exclusively Spanish with her young daughter. Here in our current town, I think it's time to find other bilingual families (especially Spanish and English speaking ones) to help model "mommy" language for me and to spend time with in order to foster more language practice and interaction. What are your experiences with building a community of bilingual families in your local communities?

Though I am bilingual, Spanish is my second language, learned while living with a Bolivian family in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia in 1991 and 1992 as a high school exchange student. I am certified as a bilingual teacher but most of my Spanish is now related to education and early childhood vocabulary instead of parenting. Also, my husband is monolingual but has some Spanish and German language background. I plan to use Spanish 100% of the time when interacting with my son, other than some English songs and reading. I plan to also sing traditional spanish lullabies and children's songs and read to him in Spanish.
Has this worked for anyone? I am eager to hear about your experiences! Please leave your comment.

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