Glue for Kids

Glue

Growing up, I marveled at my mother's ability to make something out of nothing. In fact, I often think of her as the female version of MacGyver. Really! If you put her inside of a sinking ship, she will conjure up a lifeboat out of plastic spoons and a bra strap; she's that good.


Recently, MomGyver came to the rescue, again. While getting materials ready for a homemade pinata, I noticed that I was out of glue. After hearing me bitch about it, mom suggested I make my own. WHAT?! Yes, homemade glue. Here it is:

• 1 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of cold water
• 2 Tbs of flour
• 1 Tbs of white vinegar
• Food coloring (optional)

Mix 1/2 cup of cold water with the flour. In a small pan, bring the 1 1/2 of water to a boil. When the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium and add the flour mixture. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes. Remove the mixture from the stove and add vinegar. Finally, add food coloring to change the color of the glue. This is not necessary but Camila loves everything pink. Let it cool before using.

The glue really works and I love that my little girl will, too, think of me as MomGyver. Some of my fondest memories is of my mom building or sewing an amazing art project.

Mom, thanks for being my mom. Happy Mother's Day.

Bath Paint for a 3-year Old

 Yes, I'm going for the Mom-of-the-Year award and think that the bath paint will get me there.

While searching the Internet for kid-friendly projects, I ran into a bath paint tutorial. Since Camila, as most kids, loves bath time, I decided to give it a try. 

Camila loves it! She spends a great amount of time coloring the bath walls, rinsing it, and coloring it again. To make it more interactive and help increase motor skills, I draw on the walls circles, stars, and letters with bath crayons. I then ask her to fill in the drawings with the paint. Love it!

Ingredient (I cut the tutorial recipe in half since I have kid-friendly containers that hold 1/2 paint)

• 1/2 cup of tear-free clear liquid soap
• 2 Tbs of corn starch
• Food coloring 

Directions

• Whisk together all the ingredients and pour it into a plastic, kid-friendly container. Done!

Baby Boy

New baby boy

The nine month wait is finally over. My baby boy was born on Easter, April 8th, after 17 hours of labor!

Baby and mom:

Aquarela Kids Above:

Throughout the preg, I opted not to know the sex of the baby. Since knowing but not allowed to talk about it was too much pressure, hubby also decided not to know the sex of the baby.

We would have been more than happy with either sex, but the idea of having a little boy and girl, a couple, was top on our list. Needless to say, we were and are thrilled to have a little boy. He is going to learn how to dance with mom and will become a soccer-fan-cake-baking little boy with dad!

Baby and Dad:

While at the hospital, we were given the option to circumcise him. To be honest, I know little of the benefits or disadvantages associated with the procedure, but hubby felt no need to go through with it. After a little research, I discovered that C is on the decline in the U.S. Excluding cultural or religious reasons, parents and doctors see little benefits to it.

After asking around, a friend sent me this video on circumcisions. It's a little long and graphic but informative.

Personalized Story Book

Personalized Story Book

I strongly believe that by exposing Camila to a variety of texts she will grow to be an avid reader, good student, and successful individual. Well, to maintain my goal and add a little extra oomph to the reading materials we read, I composed a story book for my little girl. I combined my love for reading with a project--can't get better than that!Using Kodak Projects, I composed a fairy tale that blends text and photos. In the story, relatives and friends are transformed into magical characters who help Princess Camila along her journey. The end result is fabulous and we are having fun reading it.The photo book cost less than $30 and we love reading it :)

Baby Shower

Festival Du Bebe

Countdown begins! I now have less than one weeks before maternity leave begins--can you tell I'm excited? I'm looking forward to the relaxing and alone time I will have until the birth of the baby and then all hell breaks loose and I will have numerous sleepless night :)

To kick off the last few weeks of pregnancy and to celebrate the baby to come, my friends hosted a great baby shower in my honor. Since the shower had a French circus theme, we had face paint, clown performances, and a beautiful cake. The party was great and I'm happy to have such wonderful friends!

A quick video of the event.

Here are some of the pictures:

Face Paint by Tammy Artis--she did a great job!
Clown Show. I asked for strippers but got samba dancers. I can live with that :)Games: This was so beyond embarrassing but I did get the pen inside the bottle :)

Imaginative Play and the Behavior of Kids

Call me old fashion but should babies have an iPad case? Hell! Should they have an iPad?

Fisher Price recently released an iPad case for toddlers. The case, which costs less than $40, protects the iPad against biting and drooling. They actually market it that way...crazy!

I'm pro entertainment and using educational resources to motivate, guide, distract, and teach kids, but what has happened to letting kids use their imagination to build, discover, create, learn, and self-monitor? What is wrong with imaginative play? What is wrong with letting kids be bored? What is wrong with Fisher Price?

I'm sorry, but the Fisher Price case has really gotten me fired up!

A few years ago, I heard a great report on NPR about imaginative play, which I'm sharing with you. It provides a hypothesis to why some believe kids are less mature today them they were in prior years. I found the report very informative and it helped shed light on the disruptive and immature behavior of some of my students. As a parent, the report reminded me that kids need time, space, and opportunities to be creative and free-thinkers.

Please read the article. You may be surprised to learn that it began with toys.

Here is another great article:

Imaginative play for Toddlers

Baby-Free Day

Years ago, pre-parenthood, I asked a good friend what he and his wife did on date night (a concept I did not understand until I had kids of my own). He replied that he and his wife liked going to Macy's to look at furniture. Furniture! What happened to dancing, dinner, movies, drinks at an awesome lounge? Needless to say, I did not understand his choice of entertainment.

I'm now a parent and fully understand the trials and tribulations of parenthood. My parents kidnapped my daughter for 3 days and 2 nights. According to my childless friends, I now should be living it up, going out, enjoying life! The truth, however, is that my husband and I really miss our little Camilusca. In fact, her departure was bitter-sweet. As my father drove off with her, tears filled our eyes but the prospect of waking up at anytime and going to Macy's to look at furniture gave us a feeling of excitement.

Early Puberty & Paraben Products

My daughter has fabulous curly hair. At time, though, it is a little wild and difficult to manage. So logically, my husband and I have turned to a variety of hair products to remedy the problem. I also asked others for advice and was surprised by what I learned.

During a conversation with my sister, she began recounting the story of an eight-year old girl who has hair like my daughter. The little girl recently began menstruating--yes, she is eight and has a period! My sister, then, went on to explain the consequences, which I never considered. Women who begin their period early begin menopause early. My sister went on to explaining that some believe paraben, a common preservative in beauty products, can lead to early puberty in addition to breast cancer and a decrease in sperm count. My sister concluded by stating that the parents of the eight-year old believe that, to some extent, harmful products led to their daughter's early development.

What? I found the information intriguing, so I began researching. While there is information that proves and disproves the parent's claim, my hubby and I want to be on the safe side. We began purging our home of paraben products and were surprised to learn that paraben is in everything from toothpaste to organic beauty products! We are now on the hunt for paraben-free products that work and are easy to find.Paraben-free products:

1. Mixed Chicks hair products
2. Eucerin original lotion. Not all are paraben free. Check the ingredients.

Below are a few links to sites with more information on paraben.

Livestrong.com

Children's Health

Bright Hub

Me Time

I'm a Scorpio, so by nature I am passionate and unpredictable. With time I have learned to deal with my love-it-or-hate-it attitude--what Brazilians call 8 or 80. But I am currently struggling with the latter. This normally happens when I feel overwhelmed by the numerous essays and reading assignments I have to grade--the downside of being a teacher.

Monday through Friday I am busy meeting obligations. At times, I miss the freedom of leaving work and doing something adventurous, like going to the library and losing myself in the Historical fiction section (adventurous, I know). I miss talking on the phone with friends without the musical sounds of a cranky 2-year old. And I also miss the ability to sit in front of the TV or read a good novel without feeling guilty that I have not finished grading my students' essays. In other words, I miss Me time.

Though I have not found a remedy for my problem, I may have a temporary solution. While my top choice is to marry Brad Pitt, work part time, and have Freddy as my lover (I can't live without Freddy), I will settle for a personal day off. I will then go out for a long walk, catch up on 30 Rock episodes, talk on the phone, read the same novel I've been trying to finish for the past 3 months, and not grade a single essay! FYI: The essays are usually what drives me to need a personal day off.

To achieve me goal, I have two options: Take a day off from work or ask a friend to babysit Camila. Since a day off From work is not a viable option right now, I'm going with the second choice.

We have dear friends with a daughter the same age as Camila. It also happens that their daughter and Camila attend the same daycare. Consequently, we often see each other and enjoy each others company. Unplanned, we began doing babysitting swaps, which I love. Almost weekly, Camila has a play-date at their home or the other way around. The same goes for sleepovers. We drop Camila off for dinner and pick her up at 9ish. I love the swaps!! Best of all, I have a day off and am comfortable knowing that Camila is in good hands.

On a side note, here is a great video from the Onion, a satirical new source. It's title: "In the Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students who Don't Give a Shit." Though the video is not about teacher overwhelmed by numerous essays, it is a humorous skit. From the title, you can guess that this is a informative, accurate, and newsworthy ;) report.