I’ll admit it - we’re drowning in baby expenses - food, diapers, wipes, swimming lessons and daycare. Add to that New York City rent, working at a nonprofit and well, you can do the math. It’s tight. So last week when I went to buy diapers - again - I got cheap. There were Duane Reade generic diapers on sale for $5.99. So I bought them.

You can guess what happened… That night I woke up to the cries of a very uncomfortable baby. He had soaked through his pajamas and bed sheet. Here’s where the really shameful part comes. After this mishap, you would think that I learned my lesson and got him better diapers. Nope, I couldn’t make myself waste the $6 so I sent them all to daycare for them to use on him there.

The very next day when I went to pick him up he was in a different outfit. His teacher informed me that he had soaked through his clothes and sheets during nap time. I acted shocked by this turn of events (even though I knew full well that would happen).

Finally, I went to buy the Huggies diapers and threw out the Duane Reade generics, but I did hang my head in shame the whole walk to CVS.

Jen

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Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Mary Kate

When I look back on my first few hours of breastfeeding, it is hard to believe that I have been breastfeeding for 22 months and counting. I remember in the early days I was taken it one day at a time and before I knew it, I had been breastfeeding for 3 weeks, then 3 months, then 6 months. All of a sudden I was approaching a year and found myself beginning to think about weaning.

The thought of weaning felt really overwhelming. I had grown accustomed to my “secret weapon” of nursing. Becca having trouble sleeping? Whip out a boob! Not sure that Becca had enough to eat tonight? Whip out the boob? Becca fell and skinned her knee? Whip out the boob? Becca just feeling cranky and annoyed? Whip out the boob!

I hadn’t realized how much I had grown to rely on nursing until I began to think about not having it anymore. How the heck was I going to deal with all of the situations above without nursing? It was the ultimate panacea and I didn’t have any reliable back-ups.

Since Becca’s 1st birthday, we have been s-l-o-w-l-y working on weaning. A month after her birthday, she went 24 hours without nursing. I thought for sure that it was just a matter of days before Becca would be finished nursing. I felt conflicted at the thought but also excited about truly getting my body back. Instead, it was as if Becca had her own freak-out about losing her panacea and increased her nursing significantly.

For the past 10 months, Becca has continued to decrease and increase her nursing. During this time, she has gone as long as 72 hours without nursing. Just when I am getting ready to pack in my nursing bras, Becca will begin to nurse again. Apparently, she is as conflicted as I am.

Mary Kate

Lately, I seem to be writing about the library a lot. What can I say? I spend a lot of time there.

One of my main reasons for going there is to get free books. Isn’t that one of the reasons most people go to the library? I can choose any book my heart desires and I don’t have to pay a red cent for them. If my library doesn’t have a certain book, I can even request it from one of the dozens of libraries in my county’s library system.

But here’s the thing, recently I requested all kinds of books from the inter-library loan and then I become overwhelmed by the sheer number of them and then I just got busy. So I lost track of time and began racking up fines for my books. When I returned the first batch of books, I had $20 in fines. Yep, that’s right. I paid $20 for free books. Instead of learning from my mistakes, I managed to return the next batch of books late and now have a $12 fee waiting for me. I am beginning to feel as if my free library card has morphed into a high interest credit card overnight. This is one walk of shame that I can not afford to keep making.

Mary Kate

Like all toddlers, Becca is instinctually a scientist that is fascinated by the world around her. She is always trying to figure out how things work or determine where things belong. I often find that her investigations of an every day object will engross her for hours at a time while her fancy, battery operated toys collect dust in the corner.

• A cell phone rings and she begins to run around the house frantically searching for it *sort of like her mom*. When she manages to locate it, she will then run up to the owner (my husband, my MIL or myself) and proudly hand it to him or her. It is amazing how often she manages to match the correct cell phone with the correct person.
• As I am filling up her sippy cup, I knock it over and it manages to soak the counter and quickly drip onto the floor. As I am grabbing for a paper towel to soak up the spill, Becca is eagerly hunched over it poking at it, mesmerized by how the liquid moves at her touch.
• Becca discovers a ziploc bag filled with pencils. She spends the next 1/2 hour or so taking the pencils in and out of the bag. Sometimes struggling to line the pencil up properly and get it situated on correctly with the other pencils but completely engrossed in her task.

On a regular basis, Becca (and many other toddlers) are informally practicing the scientific process and perfecting the ability to make scientific inquiries. It isn’t necessary to buy any genius tapes or purchase any special products. Instead, I just need to engage with her and support her as she explores her world. Without any flashcards or outside intervention, Becca is naturally developing the inquiry skills recommend by the Center for Science, Mathematics and Engineering.

In order to develop this process, the Center recommends that students do the following:

• ASK A QUESTION ABOUT OBJECTS, ORGANISMS, AND EVENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT.
• PLAN AND CONDUCT A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION.
• EMPLOY SIMPLE EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS TO GATHER DATA AND EXTEND THE SENSES.
• USE DATA TO CONSTRUCT A REASONABLE EXPLANATION.
• COMMUNICATE INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPLANATIONS.

So the next time that Becca rips my make-up bag apart and smears lipstick all over her hands, my purse and her car seat, I will remind myself it is just part of the scientific process. I will then ask her to explain what her original hypothesis was (lipstick shows up better on mama’s white purse then on my grey car seat) and ask her to explain what her investigation revealed (mama’s face does get redder than her lipstick).

At the rate we’re going, Becca should be receiving the Nobel Prize before she reaches kindergarten. The question is: should she apply for early admission to MIT now or would it be better for her to wait and compare her scholarship monies before making a decision? I’ve heard that Rutgers has some amazing science programs.

What is your scientist up to?

Mary Kate

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Saturday John Patrick had his first swimming lesson. He really enjoyed it. It was his first time in a pool and he took to it like a fish in water (so to speak). Well, he didn’t cry anyway.

I was really nervous about my 6 1/2 month baby having swimming lessons but it’s been really great. It was really all about getting him used to the water in a fun way. Now I feel like we can go to the public pool across the street and wade around in the kiddie pool. He’s had the proper introduction. (Kudos to Jim for signing him up and ignoring my reservations.)

It was interesting because I saw a couple of five year olds having swimming lessons as well and they were hysterically crying and afraid of the water. I’m hoping that getting John Patrick in the water at such a young age means that he won’t be afraid of the water later. If nothing else, it was fun.

Here’s John and Dad on their first swim together: (I know, I know, he’s the spitting image of Jim.)

Jen

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Jen

Since John Patrick started solids almost a month ago, I’ve been so focused on his eating that it was his daycare teacher who first noticed that he had cut a tooth. To make a long story short, here are all the symptoms I thought were caused by “carrots” but were indeed symptoms of teething: (don’t ask me why I thought it was carrots)

• diarrhea
• lots and lots and lots of pooping
• fussiness
• getting up multiple times in the night
• diaper rash

Reason #56 why daycare has been a positive for my family. They actually know what they are doing!

Jen

In part of my effort to increase the likelihood of Becca speaking (reading and writing) Spanish and English, I requested all of the books from my local library on that topic. I’ve decided to review Leamos! (Let’s Read!) for Everything Educational Thursday.

Let’s Read! 101 Ideas to Help Your Child Learn to Read and Write (Leamos! 101 ideas para ayudar a sus hijos a apredenr a leer y escribir) by Mary and Richard Behm (2000) was one of those books that I had requested and one of the first books that I read because it was really easy to flip through.

As promised, there were 101 activities in the book and they were all numbered and placed in chronologically order. Technically, this book is not specifically about raising a child to speak Spanish and English. Rather it is a book that is written in Spanish and English. So just like the title (Leamos!; Let’s Read!), each reading idea is written in English and Spanish.

In general, I found the activities to be fairly basic reading ideas and didn’t read anything revolutionary. Instead, it reminded me of some of the things that I know that I should be doing with Becca but I don’t always do. I also found a couple of cute ideas that I might incorporate into our lives:

#35. Your Own Museum

I liked this idea for when Becca gets a little older. Basically, instead of Becca just gathering a bunch of treasured odds and ends in her room (or scattered around the house), I should set-up a little museum for her. She would write a description for her item on an index card and then proudly display it in her museum. I could definitely see myself dedicating a shelf or two to this in her room. It would definitely help to showcase what she has become attached to as well as to weed out the junk from the “museum quality” items.

#63. Answering Questions

This one would be good for a long car trip. In this activity, you explain to your child where you are going and talk to him/her about what to expect. As part of your discussion, you ask your child to come up with a few questions they would like answered on the trip (”Will we see any cows? “, “How many times will we stop?” or “What does the ocean look like?”). While on the trip, your child will be on the lookout for the answers and place it on the index card. I also could see myself asking my child to make some predictions about the trip and might ask them to participate in planning the trip beforehand. In this way, they can check their predictions or see if we have stayed on the planned route. I definitely could see these taking some of the angst of a long car trip.

#84 Understanding Commercials I thought this was an important suggestion because children are bombarded with commercials. In this activity, Mr. and Mrs. Behm suggest that you talk to your children about the commercials they see. You can ask them to identify the product being advertised. You can also ask them to differentiate between the facts and opinions included in the commercial (this is an essential skill) and you can ask them to rate the effectiveness of the commercials (thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs sideways). By doing this, you are not only helping your child to understand the concept of the commercial but you are laying the groundwork for him/her to be an educated consumer.

There are a few other cute ideas but those were the three that really stood out. I will definitely use them when Becca gets a little older. This book, although basic, was a good refresher for me and would be helpful for a parent who does not have a background in education.

SUMMARY:

Leamos!; Let’s Read by Mary and Richard Behm (2000) provides simple activities to increase your children’s reading comprehension. It is probably best for parents who have children between the ages of 3 1/2 to 7 years old. Since it is such a quick and simple read, I would recommend checking it out from the library (plus it is difficult to find through Amazon).

Happy Reading!

Mary Kate

P.S. For other things educational, click here. If you are participating in Everything Educational Thursday, leave a comment with your link (or e-mail me at marykatenj at gmail.com) and I will post it. If you are interested in participating, leave a comment or e-mail me.