It’s the time of year that I personally have a bit of a love hate relationship with. Love the extra hour of daylight, hate losing the hour of sleep! Daylight savings time starts this weekend so remember to turn your clocks ahead 1 hour before you go to bed Saturday night!
Sweet dreams…Hope you can grab that extra hour of rest between now and Monday morning!
Bring on the Spring time!
We are getting close to our first ever visit by the Tooth Fairy and I have been trying to find out the going rate for baby teeth these days. Back when I was a kid I always got a shiny new SILVER DOLLAR under my pillow for every tooth that fell out…apparently silver dollars these days are not only hard to come by but also worthless.
In my research I did come across a website that helped me put a value on my little ones chompers, apparently in Canada the going rate is $2.10. I’m not about to put a pile of change under his pillow once the prized teeth fall out so I think I’ll stick with the Toonie and secretly deposit the additional 10 cents into his piggy bank (I don’t want to rip him off!)
So here is the plan for our first “lost tooth”.
We are going to make it a big deal because it is! You only have one set of baby teeth and when they start falling out it’s a sign that you are officially growing up!
I’ve found a great printable tooth fairy envelope to use to put the tooth in so that the tooth fairy can collect her treasure and leave some loot behind.
We will be making the envelope together and placing the tooth inside before bedtime while I tell him the “Legend of the Tooth Fairy”
We will read a Tooth Fairy Story, here are some great ones that are likely to be available at your public library!
Norman Fools the Tooth Fairy, by Carol Carrick
The Story of the Tooth Fairy, by Tom Paxton
Science Fair Bunnies, by Kathryn Lasky
Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth, by Lucy Bate
Tabitha’s Terrifically Tough Tooth, by Charlotte Middleton
Then we’ll tuck him and his tooth in for the night and wait for the sun to rise to see if the Tooth Fairy stopped at our house.
My job after he falls asleep will be to sprinkle fairy dust (glitter) around the room and under his pillow, swipe the tooth (to be lovingly preserved in his scrapbook, once I get around to that!) and leave a shiny Toonie behind attached to one of these adorable Tooth Fairy Business Cards I found on Zazzle!
Since we are very big on oral hygiene in our house the Tooth Fairy will also be leaving behind a “Tooth Care Kit” including a new tooth brush, kids flossers and a mini tooth paste all in a colorful bag with a big tooth on it!
From the Website: http://www.theofficialtoothfairypoll.com
We would love to hear your tooth fairy stories! Share them in the comments below!
Saturday, February 18 at 10:30 am (doors open at 10 am), CBC Studio 700, 700 Hamilton Street, Vancouver. I will be performing a bilingual concert with The Backyard Band to launch my new French album, “Ensemble, en cadence.” We are co-producing this event with Le Centre Culturel. A free snack and drink will be provided for kids.
Tickets:$5 for kids 1-8 (and Le Centre members); $10 for adults; kids under 1 year are free. To buy in advance, call 604-736-9806 or visit www.lecentreculturel.com.
We’d love to pre-sell more tickets, so please consider buying in advance and help us spread the word!
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Contributor:
Sarah Joseph, BSW, CGE, HCHI, HCHD
We are Sarah and Rhiannon, and our business is Prenatal to Parenting. We are both moms, to almost 5 kids between us! Rhiannon has a daughter, Ava, who is 6 and a son, Luke, who just turned 4 years old and she is expecting a baby in June! Sarah has an almost 3 yr old son, Parker and a baby girl Zola. We are both Hypnobabies Instructors, birth doulas, hypno-doulas, postpartum doulas, placenta specialists and parent educators. We love all things pregnancy, birth and baby related.
We offer a wide variety of services that can meet the needs of parents anywhere along the continuum from prenatal to parenting, including: Hypnobabies prenatal classes, an early pregnancy class, doula services, placenta services, parent education (including The Bringing Baby Home Program) and parent support services. Our parenting workshops cover topics such as Sleep Solutions, Parenting Together When Your Parenting Styles Collide, Positive Discipline and Sibling Solutions, to name just a few. All of classes are available privately as well as in group settings.
Do you lie to your kids? Little white ones or big whoppers?
We get psyched up for Santa and over the summer I couldn’t bring myself to explain why kitty made a hasty exit. He now excitedly points out our cat every time we pick berries at the berry farm.
I have swapped out yam fries for potato ones. When he suspiciously sniffed at them I told him they were coloured orange for Halloween. He wouldn’t eat baked yams so they became Christmas potatoes. Dried cranberries became Santa raisins. And the list goes on.
He is determined to find the eyes on the back of my head and regularly tests them by asking me to read the clock without turning around.
And when he and a friend painted their faces green on a playdate (yep, on my watch) with neither willing to confess who did what, the threat of rewinding the video tape had them folding faster than lawn chairs.
I thought about this last night as I tucked my sweet little kindergartener into bed after I just finished pulling the latest wool over his eyes at dinner.
He hates peas. Always has. As a baby trying the smashed peas for the first time, he made gagging sounds, screwed up his face and yelled. Was not happy with mama at all. It was a pretty honest reaction that hasn’t changed in the last 5 years. If a lone, solitary little pea found its way stuck to his steamed carrots, he would angrily point at it and demand it be removed. If one was hidden within a bite of stew or pot pie he would start heaving and spit it out. Very attractive. Since the child eats lots of veggies and eats them well we never pushed the peas. Last night as I mashed up steamed carrots and peas for his baby brother, the latter of which we ensured was nowhere near the vicinity of my older son’s plate, he asked if his brother likes peas. We told him his brother loves summer peas because they are sweet and yummy. Our older son contemplates this and says he doesn’t like peas (we know) but maybe he has never tried summer peas. You could just tell he was itching to try it but had to save kindergarten face as he has refused these quite steadfastly for a long time. I put one on his plate and pretended not to watch. He ate it. No icky face. Hmmm.. I put one more single pea on his plate and he ate that. I asked if he wanted more and he said a couple spoonfuls would be good. Then he ate spoonfuls of them while my husband and I covered our smirks. He announced he likes summer peas but not those winter ones. Good to know. He later asked me to ring our favourite turkey store to ask them to only put summer peas in their turkey pies. Right, gotcha. I think I may need to start writing these down…..
So back to my question…. do you?
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Sam is a busy mom of 2 boys sharing her mommy-isms.
We are excited to announce that we are one of the sponsors of the Mommies n Munchkins Baby & Family Fair!
This new annual event will take place on April 15th, 2012 in Langley and will feature businesses and services geared towards new and expecting families. This wonderful event is a not for profit event to support the CKNW Orphans Fund. Be sure to mark the date on your calendar and come by to support some fabulous Lower Mainland businesses and the CKNW Orphans fund!
Millions of children in North America are diagnosed with things like autism and ADHD, but a therapy being offered at Kids Matter Inc. is helping many of those families. Integrated Listening Systems combines a listening therapy with visual and balancing games. Doctors say that combination allows the brain to make new connections and improving brain function. It is an enjoyable activity, or “exercise,” which can be customized for all ages and skill levels.
“When our son Joseph was diagnosed with Autism, we were crushed. Without losing a moment, we researched the web and found many resources for ourselves and for our son. After employing numerous solutions from nutritional supplements to dietary restrictions to neurological retraining exercises to behavioural modifications, we stumbled onto iLs. After Joseph’s first intensive, his receptive language increased dramatically as did the quality and quantity of his vocalizations. By his third booster, words started to pop out, his eye contact was perfect and he was now a listener! This program has been nothing short of miraculous for our family. It has returned our son to us and given him the ability to achieve his full human potential.” S.R. Danton, parent.
Using music, iLs stimulates multitasking in the brain. The therapy is based on the concept of neuroplasticity, “which is the ability of the brain to change its function, its organization, its growth and make new neuro connections in response to sensory input,” said Dr. Ron Minson, who helped identify the benefits of combining auditory stimulation with occupational therapy. He said the applications of iLs are numerous. “We know (attention deficit disorder), autism, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorders, attention, concentration, all of these are issues that require optimal brain function,” Minson said. The design of iLs programs is based around the listening component. Each product has a specific listening schedule, into which the balance and visual activities are included. These “integrating” activities comprise 15-20 minutes of each listening session, and are explained in a Playbook which accompanies each product.
Although ASD varies significantly in character and severity, it occurs in all ethnic and socioeconomic groups and affects every age group. Some sources estimate that one child out of every 80 will have ASD. Males are four times more likely to have an ASD than females. iLs appears to be an answer to many prayers from parents and families.
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Kids Matter Inc.
Since 1995, Kids Matter Inc. has been supporting and guiding families in British Columbia, Alberta and California, with ASD, Anxiety Disorders, FASD, OCD, ADD & ADHD. Located in Abbotsford, Kids Matter provides therapy, intervention and programs like RDI (Relationship Development Intervention), Social Skills programs, Service Coordination, Advocacy and Spring/Summer Camps. Funding for programs is available for those who qualify.
For more information visit their WEBSITE or call toll free 1-877-897-0633, local 604-746-4331.
Follow them on Twitter @kidsmatter_inc
So as I write this, my hubby is on a boy’s trip and I am home with the little boys. Not that I mind…. huge king bed to starfish on, tea after the boys go to bed and all the girly TV I can handle. But I have also decided to make good use of the separation time with a little sleep training. See… I sleep like a rock. A cannon could go off in our room and I wouldn’t stir. I have been known to nap at speedways sans the earplugs and even fell asleep on a cooler. My hubby, on the other hand, will wake to the sound of a butterfly floating by. I roll over one too many times and he gets up the next morning looking like he tied one on.
Our first son takes after me in the sleep department. Slept through the night at 6 weeks and took naps on a tight schedule. At a year and a half he would take his blanket, walk into his room and rattle the bars of his crib to be lifted in. We thought we were amazing parents. We weren’t. It was just him. We learnt this when we had our second baby. Cute as the dickens. Super quick to smile. And has something against sleep. We went through what I can only describe as colic, irregular naps and waking up all night long.
So at 8 1/2 months, while hubby is away, I decided to try CIO. For the acronym challenged that stands for ‘Cry it out’. (The only other acronym I know is ‘lol’ so don’t feel bad if you weren’t on top of this one!) Now before the readers separate into the ‘tough love’ and the ‘you horrible mother’ camps, understand that I have tried almost everything. Feeding on demand (every 90 minutes), pick him up right away, don’t pick him up right away, too cold, too hot, soother (he refused it) and so on. I have read Dr, Weissbluth, Dr. Spock, Dr. Suess. Tried them all too. So since my older son can also sleep through anything, I am typing this to the sound of crying at 2am. I figure I will give it an hour…..
I gave it 2 hours. Apparently my baby didn’t read the books. I caved. So the next night I went in at the first peep to pat his back and soothe him to sleep. Fed him at the second wake up but not the third. The following night he slept through the night. I have no idea what I did or didn’t do to make this happen. Of course this was also the night my 5 yr old woke up with his very first nightmare.
One day I will look back at this and giggle I am sure. Right now I am just going to take a nap.
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Sam is a busy mom of 2 boys sharing her mommy-isms.
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January 9, 5:00pm-7:30pm
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Click on each logo to get more details!
With 2011 behind us we are looking forward to some amazing events in 2012! Here is a short list of “Save the Dates” for you to look forward to!
Be sure to RSVP to be eligible for the GRAND PRIZE, FREE SPORTBALL FOR A YEAR FOR YOU AND A FRIEND PLUS A SPORTBALL BIRTHDAY PARTY!
Time: 5:00pm-7:30pm Location: Sullivan Heights Secondary – 6248 144th Street, Surrey BC MORE INFO: http://tiny.cc/FanFest2This is an entirely FREE event, and we welcome all families — expectant parents, new parents, and seasoned ones alike! Bring the kids — this is as much for them as it is for you!
Time:9am- 5pm Location:Sapperton Hall in New Westminster, BC MORE INFO: www.royalcitykids.comAdmission is by donation benefiting Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Be sure to register!
Time: 11am-4pm Location: Roundhouse Community Centre- 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver BC MORE INFO: http://www.onceuponabelly.com/This is the first parenting Conference of it’s kind in the Lower Mainland! Be sure to get your tickets early!
Time: 10am-5pm Location: Douglas College David Lam Campus- 1250 Pinetree Way Coquitlam, BC MORE INFO: www.parentalguidanceconference.caAdmission is by Donation to Basics for Babies
Time: 11am- 4pm Location: Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive, Vancouver Auditorium I, Main Level MORE INFO: www.belliestobabiescelebration.com
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