Finding Time

I woke up this morning at 5:42.  After pulling back my unruly curls I stepped into the hall on my way to my regular morning spot in front of Facebook and unexpectedly found...some time.  Yes, I was as flabbergasted as you might imagine.  There it was, right in front of the overflowing IKEA bookshelf in the loft area we use as a home office/library/playroom/music room/well you get the idea.  So I grabbed that time and plopped myself down and did some stretching with it.  It was there all along.  I decided not to measure the time.  I moved through some basic asana, letting my body guide me.  As I moved from bridge pose to legs up the wall, a furry little face popped up between my legs; my 13 year old tuxedo cat Luna had found some time as well.  So we spent some time together, nose kissing between stretches.  My heart swelled as I realized how important these moments with her were in the whole scheme of things.  And then I moved downstairs and found some more time, right there at the table between my laptop and yesterday's mail.  So I sat down with my purple pen and a fresh legal pad and used that time to write.  Actual words on a  piece of paper.  And you know what I realized? There is time everywhere. Where will you find some time today?

Birthday "cake"

For daddy's upcoming 40th birthday, we crafted an alternative to the popular diaper cakes you see at baby showers. Using consumable drinks, snacks, and toiletries, we created a 40th birthday "cake" using  40 items on a round tray base and tied with ribbons.  Bath poofs created a fun and colorful cake topper.
We recycled ribbons from a diaper cake we received at my 3 year old's baby shower.  Both kids had fun laying out the items in rows and counting them before we arranged them on the tray.

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Where the Wild Things Are

Story-Yoga

Read or listen to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are then retell the story using yoga poses.

Tree pose (forest in bedroom)
Boat pose
Dolphin pose (water/waves)
Lion pose (wild things)
Chair pose (King Max on his throne)

With four and five year olds, ask them to draw the different parts of the story they acted out.

Fun vocabulary to learn: rumpus and scepter

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Olympic playdate

Friday July 27 we invited a neighbor friend to help us celebrate the Olympic opening ceremonies. We ate Olympic fruit ring snacks and baby ice cream cones filled with vanilla yogurt and fruit, printed Olympic circles using the ends of paper tube rolls, and made our own torches with paper tubes, foil, and red and orange tissue paper. Then we marched around outside. Simple and super fun!

Ice Painting

There are so many great ideas on so many early childhood blogs it boggles the mind. I would love to give credit to the blog where I first saw this idea but I honestly don't remember what it was. First, we gathered out materials: ice cube trays (we chose stars for easy gripping in tiny hands, especially as they would be cold and slippery), water, watercolors, a baster, and small paintbrushes

First, three year old Owen filled the stars using a baster

Then, he added color by dipping a small brush in a watercolor tray and then into the star several times. (Since the stars are mostly water, the colors will be diluted somewhat.)

The kids had some sensory surprise when they first gripped their colorful ice!

Perfect for a hot summer afternoon!

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Raising bilingual children- Where we're at

We have been trying the OPOL (one person one language) approach with Owen since his birth in June 2009. Dad speaks English and the goal was for me to speak to him only in Spanish. This has proven difficult not only because Spanish is my second language and there are holes in my vocabulary but also because there are many words, phrases, songs, and books I wish to share with him in English. Over the past few months he is hitting a peak language development time and about a month ago my husband and family said, "Now's the time." If I really wanted my son to learn both English and Spanish I needed to buckle down.
That day I started and for a solid week I spoke only in Spanish 100% of the time when speaking directly to Owen. He already has a lot of vocabulary in Spanish, using some words exclusively like "agua", "jugo" and "venga". He identifies body parts in Spanish and seems to understand me when I speak to him. From Monday to Friday I went strong, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling when on playdates with non-Spanish speakers. Friday at five o'clock, like a laborer going off the Friday shift, I stopped and switched to English. I want Owen to know spanish. The question is, do I want him to be fluent or would I be happy if he has a solid vocabulary background and some conversational skills?

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Berry Smoothies (with kryptonite)

the ingredients

adding the ingredients





berry-licious

YUM!


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