Book Recommendation

Reclaiming Childhood
Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society
By William Crain

This is one of the many books I am currently reading and I highly recommend it even though I'm only about 1/4 of the way through. Having taught in the public school system for eight years, I became very aware of the lack of time and resources for teachers to be creative. There is so much pressure to have kids perform on standardized tests(some of it is good, but much of it isn't) that teachers are just trying to do the best they can to fly through all the material they are expected to cover in the limited time they have.

The pressure to perform and to prepare kids for adulthood doesn't start when kids go off to school. When I was pregnant, I was amazed by all the so-called "brain boosting" products available for purchase and use during pregnancy. Some of the items I remember seeing were head phones that you could put on your belly to pipe in classical music and foreign languages to complete courses, in what I'm not sure, to play for your child. Then when the baby gets here, you can use flash cards, videos, and yes, even sign language to give your child an IQ boost.

I love this book because it shows that children are natural explorers, dramatists, artists, poets and linguists. All we need to do is follow their lead and let them be children. How often do you see kids in your neighborhood playing outside today? I have several friends who teach elementary school who say that watching the kids on the playground is downright sad because the kids don't know how to play with each other. It is summer vacation and it's not uncommon for me to not see any kids out playing on a given day. They're so used to sitting in front of the TV and playing video games that going outside is not a joy, it's a chore. Add to that the fear that many parents have today of their children being abducted and you get a generation of children who are missing out on all the fun and opportunities for creativity that being outdoors affords.

If you have had a nagging feeling that babies and kids don't need all the commercialized products out there to boost their IQ's, that their brains can be challenged by being given safe opportunities to explore and create, check out this book and pass it along to a friend!

10 Months!

Wow! It's hard to believe Max will be 10 months old tomorrow. I swear time is flying even faster in the last few months than it was before. It's a bit risky for me to post an update on him at this moment because he barely slept last night for some unknown reason, which means I am not the most well-rested or happiest camper on the block today!

Max continues to be on the move every waking minute, which is a great workout for me. He loves to climb steps and can make it up two flights in no time at all. He has no idea how to get back down yet, but we're working on it. He is babbling a lot, but so far he isn't saying any words consistently. Last week I pointed to a light and said, "Can you say 'light'?" and he showed me the word using sign language AND actually said "ight!" I nearly fell over! However, he has yet to repeat that word since then. He makes a lot of "mmmmmammmmaammmma" sounds but I don't know if he is saying "mama" or not. Usually he is trying to show me he wants to nurse when he does that rather than get my attention for other things.

I thought maybe he was starting to wean himself from nursing a couple weeks ago, but now he must be going through a growth spurt. Whenever I hold him or carry him, he starts climbing up my side and trying to get in the nursing position.

He is eating pretty much anything I eat, but I try to make sure he doesn't eat junk food. He eats "super porridge" in the morning for breakfast - a mix of frozen food cubes. It usually consists of kale, brown rice, a vitamin A food cube (usually sweet potato), avocado, and a legume (kidney beans this week) into that I mix powdered kelp, flax oil and his daily vitamins. Yummmmmmm! It's actually not that bad. I feel like if he eats that for breakfast he's gotten most of his nutrients for the day so I can relax a bit. He eats things like cheese and fruit for snack and plain yogurt mixed with fruit or breakfast leftovers for lunch and then more yogurt for dinner, or bite sized versions of what we're eating such as chicken and veggies. I should eat as healthy as he does!!

I am still trying to find the time to baby proof. He gets into everything and eats everything he finds on the ground, be it food, dirt, paper, etc. Speaking of paper - this child has probably consumed and entire tree worth of paper. I try to make sure to keep it away from him, but he's drawn to it with some kind of strange magnetism. Maybe I'm not giving him enough fiber??

He loves people and it's fun taking him out to restaurants right now because he enjoys watching all the action going on as well as the looking at the decorations and light fixtures.

He has started dancing when he hears music sometimes, which is super cute. He also loves it when we get on the floor and chase him, then catch him and tickle him.

He's not walking yet, but he can cruise all over the place and he's stood unassisted for several seconds at a time. It won't be long now, so I'd better make time to get the gates up and the drawer latches in place.

He loves books and will sit in my lap while I read 5-6 books to him. He gets a bit annoyed when I won't let him eat the pages though! One of his books has a picture of a panda in it and that seems to be his favorite animal at the moment. It must have something to do with the black/white contrast. He LOVES pandas!

So everything is humming right along here in Max-land. It's hard to believe just two months from now we'll be blowing out the candles on his first birthday cake!

If you'd like to see more pictures, click on the title to this post. Have a happy Sunday everyone.

P.S. Check out his adorable new jammies!!

Happy Father's Day!

Update

No more pink eyes! I don't know if the ears are getting better or not, but Max is taking his antibiotics, so we'll go back for a check up in a week or so and find out how they're doing.

We made it to the wedding Saturday and Max seemed to feel fine. The reception was outdoors and it was HOT and super humid, so we weren't able to stay very long.

Hope you all had a Happy Father's Day! We went to church and heard Daddy preach and then had a birthday/Father's Day dinner with Grandpa Allen since Daddy had to go to Annual Conference in Roanoke right after church (he will be gone until Wednesday night) - bummer to have that on Matt's first Father's Day, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! I'm stealing the idea for my next post from The Other Max Arthur's Blog. Hope you don't mind WCMA!!!

Quick Update

Hi! Just a quick update - Max has pink eye in both eyes (I guess that means he has pink eyes???) as well as a double ear infection. I didn't know about the ear infection, he hasn't been showing any signs. I took him in to have him seen for the pink eye(s) and because he had a fever last night and today. Now he's on his second round of antibiotics in less than a month, which I wish didn't have to be the case. He looks absolutely pitiful, but his energy seems to be pretty good. Hope this clears up in time for the wedding we're going to Saturday. I also hope he didn't give it to Mabel & Weston since they hung out together this morning. Mabel is the flower girl in the wedding Saturday!!! I'd hate for her to get this. She is really looking forward to wearing her "wedding dress".

Nothing Says Love Like 70 Lbs. of Sweet Potatoes

My sweet husband was the beneficiary of some unexpected good fortune yesterday! He helped haul several thousand pounds of sweet potatoes from one local church to his church for their food pantry and, knowing that Max loves SP's and that they had much more than the food pantry could use, he brought a few home for us. By "a few" I mean around 50-70 lbs. Feast your eyes upon my photo essay and try not to get too jealous. By the way, I am accepting any and all sweet potato recipes as I have but a few weeks to use this bounty. Post recipes in the comment section or send them to my e-mail: sarahallen22@hotmail.com

Some of the loot:

Carcasses of the first batch of roasted potatoes, ready for pureeing:

Carcass of my blender after pureeing about 10 lbs of potatoes:
Sweet Potato & Pear pureed food cubes ready to go into the freezer:
My first batch of sweet potato puree today - this looks to be about 2-3 years worth: The happy recipient of most of the goods - yum, yum, can't wait to dig in! Be sure to check back next week to see a new and improved Max Arthur - now available in orange!

A Day At The Beach

Max went to the beach at Lake Montclair for the first time Sunday. It's a 108 acre lake in our community with several beaches. We met Cousins Mabel and Weston and Aunt Katie and Uncle Nevin there. I hadn't planned on having Max get in the water, so he didn't have a bathing suit or swim diaper on. Once he dipped his toes in, there was no stopping him. He's a water baby!



Actually, he WAS at the beach once before about 8.5 months ago, but he didn't enjoy it as much back then!

Twins! & 9 Month Update

Max got a new outfit from Nana and I realized that I have a shirt that looks similar, so being the cool mom that I am, I wore it so we could match! (Cue eye rolls now). Anyway, I had fun with it.

Max was 9 months old yesterday! I can hardly believe how fast time is flying. He is now 22 lbs, 29 inches and meeting all his milestones. The doctor asked all kinds of questions such as, "How does he react to strangers?", "Is he crawling/pulling up/babbling/etc.?" Yes, yes, yes, yes... Then he asked if he plays peekaboo and I said yes again. Then I thought "Does he mean, do I play peekaboo and Max reacts or does Max actually put his hands over his eyes and say 'peekaboo!'?" Because if that's what he's supposed to be doing then we are WAAAYYY behind. I asked the doctor what he meant by that and he meant does Max react when I did peekaboo to him! Whew, dodged that bullet. Yes, Max reacts when I play peekaboo with him. The doctor had a good laugh over that one!

Max could spend all day standing at the coffee table playing with the remote. He just loves to stand. He is cruising a little and I think walking will happen before he's one. He is still using baby signs: "light", "fan" and "dada" being his current favorites. He has at least 2 more teeth coming in at the moment, which will bring the total to 8. He eats really yummy things like "Super Porridge" - kale, brown rice, banana, flax oil, powdered kelp - it's actually not that bad! I try to eat his leftovers so I can benefit from his healthy diet. He is a joy and a blessing.

Circus Animals

We went to Potomac Mills Mall today to look at the circus animals - I know that's controversial, I just wanted to get out of the house and how often can you see elephants in your home town?? Here are some of the things we saw:

Elephants lying down - is that normal? I'm not sure, but it was still surreal to see them in the parking lot of our local mall.
Some horses
And finally, Max's favorite of all..... drumroll please..............
That's right, a school bus impressed Max more than elephants and horses! Now I'll just have to take him up to the elementary school at 3:30 every day to impress him, forget about the circus!!

Fun at the Mall

I took Max to Potomac Mills today to see the circus animals (see post above) and then went in to walk around a bit. I forgot there was a nice big open space for him to crawl around. It was great! Yesterday we went to the other end of the mall with Daddy and I let Max crawl around Books -A- Million while Matt perused books about cruising. That didn't last long as Max looked at the bookshelves as millions and millions of toys set out especially for him to play with. So when I rediscovered this big open area it was like the heavens opened and angels sang because, Behold! lots of space to roam, some free things to entertain AND a spot to sit and eat lunch! Fun!

Word of the Day

Temper Tantrums. Okay, so that's two words. If you experienced the sheer volume (that's volume as in number of tantrums and as in LOUD!) of temper tantrums that I got to experience today, you'd have trouble counting too! You can't tell it from these angelic pictures above, but that's because Max is getting what he wants in these pictures. Take away the remote or the cell phone or the basket of note cards or basket of books or the handful of dirt and strands of mommy's hair that he wants to eat and you'd see a far different Max Arthur! I think he may be teething and maybe very close to being able to pull himself up on his own so he is just not a happy camper today. Sigh. This too shall pass and I'm sure I'll long for the days when he fusses about things like not getting the remote instead of not getting to have the car for a hot date!

Rashmi Pappu Photography

One thing I had always dreamed of doing was having maternity and newborn pictures done. Last summer, about 3 weeks before Max was born, Matt & I met Rashmi Pappu who made this dream come true! My sister and her neighbor had had photo sessions with her the year before and I loved her work. We went to the covered bridge at Tackett's Mill and took a bunch of pictures early one morning when they light was just right. Then we came back to our house. Matt went to work and Rashmi took some individual shots. As soon as I saw a few of the proofs I knew it was worth every penny. We really didn't have the finances for this at the time and I wasn't sure how we were going to afford this, but I also knew that this was something that had to be done at that moment in time or it just wasn't going to happen. I had the same dilemma 6 weeks later when I took Max to get his newborn photos done when he was 18 days old. I wasn't able to buy lots of fancy things that were available, but all I cared about was having the memories, so I bought a bunch of 5x7's (actually, most of them were given to me as a birthday gift from my dad!). I found some economical frames at Target and the displays above are the result! If you click on the picture, you can see each 5x7 better.

Rashmi was so much fun and so sweet and down to earth, I felt like I was hanging out with a friend. I even left Max with her while I ran an errand when she did his newborn photos!! She loves children and seems to count it as a privilege to photograph her subjects.

If you look to the right on my list of favorite blogs, you will see "My Photographer's Blog". If you have ever considered having custom portraits done of your kids I would highly recommend Rashmi. Check out her blog - she always has fun posts with new photos she's taken and sometimes even a contest. We plan on having another session done sometime this year and I can hardly wait!!

Cutest Baby Ever!

Okay, so I know I'm biased, but I just love this little guy!! Here he is at 8 months and 2 days old. Nana & Pappy came for a quick visit and we got to play and then go to lunch with Daddy and then take a walk around Manassas Battlefield. Fun times!

My Little Reader

I grabbed my camera in hopes of capturing Max as he pulled the book The History of Beer in America off the bookshelf in the living room, but I wasn't fast enough. Instead, here's a picture of him with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. His favorite part of this book is poking his finger through all the holes in the food eaten by the VHC.

Quick 8 month update (8 months on 4/23!!) - He's crawling, eating lots of food (avocados, pears, sweet potatoes, bananas, peas, pizza crust, yogurt, rice cereal), enjoys trying to feed himself with a spoon, but can't quite figure out how to get the spoon out of his hand so he shakes his fist over and over again until the spoon magically comes flying out of it and onto the floor for Mommy to pick up, he babbles (mamama, lalalala, dadadada), clicks his tongue, likes to shake his head back and forth as if saying "no" and loves it when you do it back to him, is seeming less interested in nursing, sleeping for longer stretches at night, has 6 teeth (well, more like 5 1/2), weighs almost 22 lbs and loves people & dogs. Oh, and he likes pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. That's our boy! It's been a crazy and fun 8 months. Can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Beautiful Day!

It was a beautful day today! Sunny, no humidity & in the mid-70's - in Virginia that's a rare combination. We have to take advantage of weather like this when it pops up. In no time at all it will be in the 90's with 99% humidity and bugs galore. Today was a perfect day for a stroll along the Potomac River at Leesylvania State Park. My brother Josh joined us and brought the dogs (Jake & Xavier) to enjoy the day.

April is Autism Awareness Month

As most of you know, I taught teens with autism for 4 years. It was the best job I ever had, but it also opened my eyes to autism. I used to be afraid of autism because I didn’t understand it and the videos they showed us in college while getting my education degree were pretty scary! However, I easily overcame that fear when I got to know my dear, sweet students. They were each unique and had so much more to offer than the average person would guess. They had difficulties overcoming things that are easy for the "typical" person such as interacting with others, but they were so much fun. One of the biggest misconceptions people have about those with autism is that they don’t have feelings or are like robots. That was just plain wrong! I found that each of my students definitely had emotions and a unique personality. Understanding their way of expressing themselves took a little more work than understanding someone without autism, but it IS possible!
We still don’t know what causes it, but the incidence of autism is increasing every year and it strikes boys 4x more than girls!
Now that I have a son, I am even more interested in finding the cause(s) of autism because I don’t want him to be a statistic. There’s a lot of controversy out there about the possible causes, and I encourage each of you to find out what you can about autism, because with the numbers increasing as they are, there’s a very good chance you already know or will meet someone with autism in the future.
After learning about autism over the last several years one of the only things I am 100% convinced about is that early intervention is THE BEST way to handle any autism or autism-like diagnosis (Aspberger’s, PDD-NOS). The early years are crucial. Please take 46 seconds to watch this video on early autism signs. You never know who you could help just by knowing these few very important possible identifiers of autism. Too many parents hope their child will "just grow out of" a phase, but that doesn’t always happen. Also, many parents think that autism doesn't show up until the age of 2 or 3, and while that is the case for some children, there are many studies that show that children often show signs of autism much, much earlier - as early as 6 months- if only the parent knows what to look for.
Thanks for taking 46 seconds to view this PSA! I posted it earlier, but it's so good I wanted to post it again!

Skull & Cross Bones Needed

I think most new parents can understand the frightening idea that there are literally thousands of things in our daily lives that, though previously considered harmless, we now think should be packaged with multiple images of a skull and cross bones. The other night I went to pick Max up from his crib after he'd been crying for a while. I heard him sucking, but couldn't see a pacifier coming out of his mouth. I then realized that he had THE WHOLE THING IN HIS MOUTH! At first I laughed because I couldn't believe he was able to do that, then I became so worried because it seems to me that it's possible the same thing could've happened, but with much more dire consequences. He could've suffocated if he got it back far enough into his mouth!

I wanted to post this so that all my other new-parent friends would be aware that pacifiers should be the right size for your baby's mouth. The kind I was using, the Soothie pictured above, was only meant for newborns - I learned this today when I went to Babies R Us to get a different paci for Max. Soothie has another pacifier meant for ages 3 months and up. And guess what? They even have a warning on the back of the package: "Do not use if entire pacifier will fit inside child's mouth; this will happen as he gets older." Who keeps the packaging????? Anyway, I hope this will help someone!!

I Love Daddy!

Max LOVES his daddy. He's lucky to have a dad who loves him like crazy and who understands how much he is needed by his boy. It seems that for years our society has downplayed or even ignored the importance of fathers in their children's lives to the detriment of countless children. I am thankful Matt is such an involved and loving father!! Check out this article for more information on the important role of fathers.

Happy Easter!

Max the Bunny wishes you a wonderful and very happy Easter!

Autism Awareness

April is Autism Awareness month - yes, I know it's still March! Please take 46 seconds to view this link and share with as many people as you can. After teaching teens with autism for 4 years it became VERY apparent to me that early diagnosis and intervention is THE best way to deal with autsim. Thanks!!