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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A December Tradition

Our family celebrates Christmas and it has been fun keeping up some old traditions and starting new ones with our 18 month old this year. One new one is the "Book-A-Day" Advent calendar. Basically you wrap up 24 books and one is unwrapped each night. We plan to use the same collection of holiday books each year. This year we only had 21 books, so we started Dec. 4. We plan to add a book every year or two until we get to 24. Another option would be to wrap up library holiday books instead of buying them, since most library systems check out for 2-3 weeks and can be renewed online. I kept the book for Christmas Eve out of the basket; it was my husband's copy of The Night Before Christmas from his childhood. We let Owen pick any book from a basket after dinner each night. We missed a night or two due to scheduling so we ended up not opening all the books anyway. Next year we plan on numbering the first 10 and then letting the kids (!) pick the rest. Yes, I said kids! We are due in a month with our second child, a little girl. Hence the lack of posts this year. I've been a busy working pregnant momma to a toddler. It was funny how Owen ended up picking most of the board books toward the beginning of the month, and the longer picture books toward the end. The first few days he was more into the unwrapping the the reading, but by the end he would sit through the whole book. My hope was that he would go back and reread the books during the month, but that didn't happen this year. Here are some of the books from our collection.










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Pumpkin Playdough

I have been looking forward to making homemade playdough with Owen and this week we finally did it! I used an easy recipe and we were playing with it within 15 minutes! I added Tang drink mix to the recipe for a light orange color and orange smell. Then I used a black Food Writer marker by Wilton to draw jack-o-lantern faces on the small balls. O played with some and I packaged the rest up as treat bag favors for his parent-tot class Halloween party. My first mommy project!

First mix up a batch!
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup hot water
2 T oil
add Tang or Kool-aid for desired color/smell

Roll into balls and use a Food coloring marker to create designs. This way, playdough is edible just in case. (I am lucky O. doesn't put everything in his mouth, but always nice to know he could.)

bag it up and add a cute ribbon. You can also attach the recipe if giving as a gift or favor.

Having fun with the results!



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Owen's spanish language development

Owen now says agua and ojos for water and eyes. I end up speaking in Spanish about 80% of the time to him. He loves paging through books and one current favorite is an alphabet board book with realistic pictures on each page. He spends a long time turning through and pointing to two or three pictures on each page asking "uh?" or "di" or some other syllabic question meaning "What is this called?" So I name them repeatedly in Spanish. He does the same with other family members who answer in English. It seems like it might be confusing to him. I hope not.

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Zapatos

Our plan with Owen is to expose him to both English and Spanish at home, using the OPOL (One parent, one language) method. Before his birth, I read up on the idea (mostly on blogs of others trying the same or a different method) and at first it was pretty fun and easy. But I found myself wanting to use my mother tongue a lot. Reading to him, singing to him, naming things. Spanish was fun too, but I felt a little trapped. So I use it when I can, often translating something I just said in English to Spanish. He knows several spanish words, (especially for things he loves), like zapatos, perro, and "mira mama". He responds by finding his shoes, barking like a dog, or looking at me, so it's fun to know he is picking up the meaning. I've decided not to stress about trying to use Spanish with him 100% of the time, and to simply continue to expose him to the language and the culture. We are planning on an extended visit to South America next summer, and I know that will make a huge difference. In the meantime, we are having fun reading Spanish books, singing songs, and playing word games just for fun, like counting his bath toys in Spanish and naming the colors of things.

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How to Relax

Friday my Kindergarten class had an Introduction to Relaxation during P.E. time, with some unexpected but delightful results.
Earlier in the week, I had the students copy a rectangle onto their writing papers, and then proceed to guess what it could be. They were used to doing this with circles and squares, but I wasn't sure what they would come up with for rectangles. One said "wagon", another said "door". I went to the cupboard and pulled out a purple rolled up yoga mat. As I unfurled it I saw the eyes around the classroom grow wide. They were hooked. I knew that just saying "It's a mat." in a room half full of English Language Learners I would not get my point across. But walking around with a life size rectangle made of squishy purple stuff? Oh, yeah.
Soon everyone was digging for their purple crayons and furiously copying the letters m-a-t onto their writing papers. There was no question about what a mat was in my room that day. A few lucky kids even got to touch it. Then I engaged them further. "Later this week, we are going to learn how to relax with these." With that I rolled it up and put it away.

Friday near the end of the morning, (it is a half-day program.) I instructed the students to sit in a circle and pulled out the mat again. I laid it out in the center of the circle and showed the children how to line up the heels of their shoes at the end of the mat so they wouldn't step on it while lying down. I modeled how to lie on your back and relax your arms and legs outward, palms facing up. How to close your eyes, and how to breathe. "Watch my stomach move up and down," I said. "Imagine there is a toy boat on it and it's floating on the waves of the ocean." (My toy boat yoga props have become bath toys for my one year old at home.) "Would anyone like to try it?" Flurries of waving fingers filled the room. As the kids each took their turn, an interesting thing began to happen. The kids began to sit cross legged around the circle and chant "mmmmm". Now granted it wasn't exactly "aum", but hey, close enough. The kicker? It was the boys who were doing this. And loving it. Can't wait to see what happens when we all get to relax at the same time next Friday.
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South American dreams

My first visit to a Spanish-speaking country was when I got on a plane by myself at age 18 and flew to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia to be a Rotary exchange student. The year was 1991. I had graduated from high school two months before, and decided to take a gap year before going to the University of Miami. I had applied and deferred a scholarship to participate in the exchange. I was armed with 10 years of Spanish classes, 1 summer at the International Language Village for Spanish in Bemidji, Minnesota (where I bunked in a cabin with a girl from Rancho Santa Fe, California who actually knew Joaquin* Phoenix and his sisters Liberty and Rainbow and his brother River, whom I adored), and a letter from my host family which was accompanied by a shadowy picture of them standing in their backyard. It was tough to make out the individual faces in the picture but one thing was sure. There were a lot of them. I would have four sisters in my new family, two of whom were already married with babies and living in the same family home. When they met me at the airport on August 26 they greeted me with hugs and flowers and I instantly became "la quinta", the fifth daughter. Eighteen years later, my host family and I keep in contact. Two sisters live with their families in the Washington D.C. area and there are cousins here in California where I now live. The experience was half a lifetime ago for me, yet it has shaped every day since. Mostly because after four months of listening so much that my ears physically hurt at the end of the day, I learned Spanish there.

I have visited other Spanish speaking countries since then, including Mexico, Spain, and Costa Rica. I have been back to Bolivia twice, in 1994 and 1997. Now that I am making the effort to speak to my 7 1/2 month old son in Spanish, it is awakening memories and a desire to travel with my family back to Bolivia for a visit. So much has changed there, politically and economically. My husband has traveled to Argentina and Chile and would be game for a trip to Bolivia. I would love to see Argentina, Chile and maybe even Peru. His paternal grandfather, Joe, retired to Costa Rica a few years ago. My husband and I visited the Christmas we got married, in 2006. We plan to bring the baby for Christmas this year. Then we can start planning our South American odyssey. The more authentic language he hears, the better!


*During that time he went by the name Leaf.

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Developing Children's Intuition

"Just go with your gut," is a popular phrase that refers to the intuitive guidance provided by our bodies. "I had a gut feeling" is another. If you've ever picked up the phone and just known who was on the other end (without the benefit of caller id, that is) then you've made use of your intuitive skills. Humans have so much untapped brain power and intuition is just a tiny sliver of it. There are many ways to have fun while developing intuitive skills with kids. Guessing games are great for developing and enhancing intuition. Here is a game that is fun with groups of three or more kids. (best for ages 5-10)

1. Put a colored stone (marbles or decorator glass pebbles work great) inside a small bag.
2. Pass the bag around, encouraging the child to take their time while holding the bag to get a "sense" of what the color might be.
3. Have each child predict what color the stone is before passing the bag to the next player.
4. After everyone has had a chance, reveal the stone.

Variations: To avoid "copycatting", change the stone for each player. -or- instead of using stones, have one player visualize a color and the others write down (or use a crayon if they do not write yet) their guesses. Have players take turns visualizing.

This game stimulates brain activity and can also be played by guessing almost anything. For example:

How many pieces of mail are in the mailbox?
Who will be the next person to call or email?
What animal, number, letter, or object am I thinking of?

Developing intuition is all about trusting your instincts; that inner knowing. People often second-guess their first feelings about something, but it can be highly beneficial to attune to the signals of this guidance. In some cases, it even saves lives. There are dozens of stories about people who followed a hunch to not board a plane that later crashed. By playing guessing games and helping children learn to trust themselves, they will be that much more prepared for all the decisions and demands required of them as they grow.

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Twinkle

Twinkle: verb (of a star or light, or a shiny object)* shine with a gleam that varies repeatedly between bright and faint
noun *a sparkle or gleam in a person's eyes
* a light that appears to continually grow fainter and brighter

Spanish: papadear (star, light) brillar (eyes)

Twinkle is my theme word for 2010. For the past three years, I have selected a word to focus on for the year. In 2008, it was "sparkle". In 2009, it was "bounce". I wanted to be more resilient. This year, I selected twinkle, mostly because it is a synonym for sparkle and I loved feeling sparkly all year. Looking for the glitter in life. I am looking for a balance between inner and outer focus, so twinkle seemed appropriate because it incorporates the brightness and the faint, quiet glow of each. What is your theme word for 2010?

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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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