Surreal is the word that I’ve been using to describe my life these past few weeks.  My 5 year old son started kindergarten this school year.  My world is upside down once again at the start of another September.  I always imagined myself with children, but they were always babies and toddlers in the pictures in… Continue reading Surreal-ness.

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Up until the current school year, my Oldest son attended the school where I was an Ed Director.  Because I spoke with his teachers throughout the day for various reasons, attended curriculum meetings with them, walked past the classroom multiple times a day and, in addition, received informative journals twice a week, I was never really faced… Continue reading A Simple Way to Encourage Your Child to Answer the Question, “What Did You Do In School Today?”

Finally, we got some snow here in New York!  We saw pictures of our family playing in snow in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA but we had yet to put on our snow pants and boots that had been waiting by the front door for weeks.  The boys were thrilled to be outside in the white stuff, even… Continue reading An Ice Experiment

This year for teacher gifts, my Oldest and I made some sparkly stick stars and homemade air freshener, and we got so many compliments as well as requests for directions and how-to’s.  I loved the idea of using natural materials for the teachers at his science and nature based school.  Also, these items were affordable,… Continue reading Nature Inspired DIY Teacher Gifts

Most babies don’t need much in the way of actual toys and will do just fine with some wooden spoons or bowls but here are some of my favorites. I love toys that are both aesthetically pleasing, are open ended and promote development in a number of different areas.  These two toys from Grimm’s are… Continue reading A Few of Our Favorite Things: Baby Edition

I must admit that I have hesitated to write about our December kindness acts.  Originally, my only goal in this journey was to teach my boys to take time to consider others in this world. However, I have been reflecting on how powerful and important it can be to share positive messages.   So, my intentions with… Continue reading December Acts of Kindness

I’m excited to share some of our favorite toys that encourage cognitive and fine motor development.  I combined these two domains for the majority of this list because each toy or material really fit into both area of development and I didn’t think it would make sense to separate them.  At the bottom you will find a… Continue reading A Few of Our Favorite Things – Cognitive & Fine Motor

Over the past few weeks I’ve been asked about a few of the toys and materials that my boys are playing with or using.  I put together a list of some of our favorites and organized them by which developmental domain they best fit into, first up is gross motor. This Sit-on Crane has been one of… Continue reading A Few of Our Favorite Things – Gross Motor

Encouraging independence in young children has a wide array benefits for both the child as well as the family dynamic.  It can help to develop their fine motor skills,  build their planning and organizational skills, aid in a growing sense of pride, accomplishment and a feeling being a contributing member of the family.  As parents, having children care… Continue reading Nine Items to Help Promote Independence

After some extensive and very fun research, I’ve compiled a list of generic, non-commercial character books that subtly address the topic of superheroes where the main character saves the day or uses his or her imagination to create an alter ego.  These books are powerful in the sense the reader is able to internalize the idea… Continue reading Super Books with Super Powers