Signing Times is coming out with a Spanish Language program in the very near future!

Thank you, 2010BEBES!  I hope your baby enjoys a little art "sneaked" into their playtime as much as mine! 

Oh, girl... I hear you.  I have similar issues with my in-laws.  They are huge gift givers, and it seems to be the only way they know how to express any affection.  However, my husband and I do not want our daughter to be this way.  I have watched other kids in my family just grow up to be what I feel like are users.  That sounds so harsh, but they only come to their grandparents when they want something. 
So, we made a point to both of our families (although only one side really needed to hear the message) that we feel like children today have far too many things and we even told them about several studies that show the desire for more and more breeds discontentment in children.
We have chosen to select one large gift for our daughter for each birthday and Christmas.  Then anyone who would like may contribute, however much they wish.  This ensures that our daugther, while not having a plentitude of toys, does have high quality toys that she will actually use.  And we told them they are welcome to give her a book or item of clothing if they want to give something from them personally.   
As far as other unsolicited gifts, we've had to just politely tell our inlaws several times things like, "that is so sweet of you to think of our daughter, but she already has something quite similar" or whatever fits that particular situation.  I have learned that beating around the bush seems to only cause more problems and breeds resentment. 
I hope this is at least somewhat helpful.  I feel for you! 

after everything was done, i was having subway sandwich and a pepsi on top of the delivery table and my son cuddled in a soft blankie in my arms!

Ha, ha!!! jsmonton... I had a roast beef sandwich on the table as they as they were stitching up my tear!  I think it was the best roat beef of my life! 

I do not have Little Math yet... but I have read that one of the features is being able to use a variety of different icons, including your own pictures, as dots.  What about using differnt car icons?

[Motivation:]

www.starfall.com

Starfall is a scientific, research-based reading materials and activities based on the "Big Five" focus areas recommended by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension—with the additional area of motivation.  The Starfall program weaves these focus areas together into a cohesive, fun, and entertaining program that kids from pre-kindergarten thru second grade will love!

Motivation: Starfall employs the computer to develop feelings of wonderment and play, not rote assessment. The activities, songs and books complement your classroom by creating an atmosphere of fun and enthusiasm that infuses all aspects of learning. Our online and printed activities use positive reinforcement to guide children in making correct responses. Because students meet success with our activities, they are motivated to want to learn more. You will find that Starfall students of all reading levels are excited and eager to participate. Starfall students who receive personal copies of the materials feel a sense of ownership, responsibility and pride.

Phonemic Awareness: Drawing from the foundational "Alphabetic Principle," of phonics, children learn to recognize the relationship between letters and sounds.                             
--Online                                                                                                                               
Starfall ABCs                                                                                                                         
--Offline                                                                                                                                           ABC Practice Pages

Systematic Phonics:  A sequential phonics method recommended by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development encourages children as they master sound-spelling by listening to, manipulating, and reading through a variety of books and games.                                                                                                                                   
–Online                                                                                                                               
Learn to Read                                                                                                                         
--Offline                                                                                                                                   
Level I Journal (Block Print or Manuscript)                                                                        
Cut Up/ Take Home Books

Vocabulary: Children expand their reading vocabulary and comprehension through exploration of a variety of genres and topics.
--Online    
It’s Fun to Read
--Offline
Level II Journal (Tip: Great for students learning English as a second language!)

Fluency: Vocabulary-controlled stories introduce children to words they will frequently encounter in reading. Selections read in their entirety model the qualities of fluent reading: intonation, expression, inflection and rate.                                                                           
--Online    
I'm Reading                                                                                                                                                            --Offline                                                                                                                     
Download Center: features a large selection of books and activity printables

Comprehension:  As your children develop the above skills they will transition from learning to read to reading to learn—the end goal of all reading instruction. Writing prompts appear site-wide, but more importantly, every activity at Starfall is a springboard for discussion.    

Thank you.  I am going to go and check it out right now!

I just took your survey... and what a great idea to do forgein language DVDs!  I love it!  Another thought... Potty Training DVD!  Keep up the good work... Signing Times is the first thing I recommend to new parents!

Here is an overview of the program for Pre-Readers:

Fast ForWord Reading Prep builds pre-reading skills, with a focus on letter recognition and naming, phonological awareness, and letter-sound associations.
Fast ForWord Reading Prep software is designed for early literacy development, helping students who are having trouble moving from the spoken word to the written word.

To build a bridge to reading, Fast ForWord Reading Prep develops critical brain processing efficiency in four key areas:

Builds memory by developing the ability to hold a spoken word in working memory while retrieving picture-concept associations.
Improves attention by developing the ability to focus on tasks and ignore distractions.
Develops processing of images and sounds quickly enough to discriminate between their differences.
Develops sequencing by using positional clues to identify missing letters.

Children use the program for 30 minutes each day, five days a week. 

You can view a demo of the program here:  http://www.scilearn.com/products/reading-series/fast-forword-reading-prep/index.php

Great suggestion kizudo!  I think I am going to go through our Signing Time videos and make a PowerPoint presentation with the words!

Sheeberi, wow, I imagine it was frightening to go from a vaginal delivery to being, I assume, rushed in for a C-section!  Thankfully it seems to have turned out well!!!  I'm hoping you had already had an epidural so that you were already set for the C-section?  Or were they able to give you one quickly? 

My experience was pretty wild as well.  My doctor's were not sure that I could even get pregnant, due to severe endometriosis (I had already had one ovary and fallopian tube removed because I had an endometrioma the size of a baby's head!).  We were blessed though and got pregnant in our third month of trying! 
From then on it was a roller coaster.  The doctor who had treated my endometriosis said that IF I was able to get pregnant I would be at high risk for ectopic pregnancy.  So even though I was pregnant we were still waiting in fear until we could find out if I had a healthy pregnancy, trying hard to rely on the Lord.  It was very tense... not feeling that you could just jump for joy the way you see people on pregnancy test commercials doing... just waiting and praying.  Then we got the news that it was not an ectopic pregnancy!  But at the same time, I started spotting and my doctor was concerned about miscarriage.  I was treated with hormones and put on a restricted activity level.  About the same time our risk for miscarriage went down I started getting sick... each and every day... multiple times a day.  And like so many other babies... my daughter found a way to seemingly curl her toes around my ribs and jab at them with her little feet (she still jabs her feet so hard but now it hits my husband too and that somehow makes me feel better! ha!)!!!  And I swear her arms were outstretched pressing both sides for more room!  Not to seem ungrateful, but this up and down of terror and excitement was not what I imagined when I thought about creating life with my husband!!!  Then my blood-pressure was moderately high.  My original doctor was already talking about putting me on medication and inducing me at the earliest possible time and I was less than three months pregnant!  We were so scarred!  I have always preferred a more natural approach and this was my personal nightmare!  I had dreamed for years of an unmedicated water birth  With having endometriosis, when my cramps were at their high points, a warm bath was the only thing that could ever soothe me... no amount of meds helped!  And now a water birth was looking more and more like a just a dream.  I tried to change doctors/hospitals but I was denied.  We continued to pray.
A couple of weeks later a referral from our insurance company arrived in our mailbox for the exact women's clinic I wanted to go to!  We were delighted and thanked the Lord!  People came from miles around to have water births there!  This emotional ride seemed to be smoothing out... although I was still sick all the time!  It was just a few months of reprieve though.  As my pregnancy neared its end I was showing no signs of going into labor naturally and my blood pressure was rising.  My midwife placed me on blood pressure meds in effort to hold off inducing me.  But as my blood pressure started to show signs of negatively affecting my organs, she gave me the news... If I did not go into labor naturally within the next week she would induce-- and that meant no water birth.  She said that in her estimation I would NOT go into labor naturally before then.  We were so broken hearted.  My mom was staying with my husband and me by then, I cried to her as I listed off all the reasons I did not want to be induced and why a water birth was so important to us!  She said that things had been set up against me from the beginning of this... even doctors thought it was unlikely I would get pregnant, and my other doctor thought that I would already have had to be induced weeks earlier, now I was facing another challenge.  She reminded me that in the Bible God most often chooses the underdog, the one that no one believes can succeed.  She reminded me of a story in the Bible where the Israelites were going to war against an army much larger than they... and what was God's master plan? He told their leader to loose a ton of their men... God made their army seemingly even more vulnerable.  But God said that He did this so that no one could say it was by their might but everyone would know when they won the war that it was God who had gone before them!!!  So we all prayed, prayed that God would simply be setting up the odds against me so that He could show His might!  But I've gotta admit I was terrified.  I kept having to give over my worries to the Lord, again and again.  The morning after my due date, and just three days before my scheduled induction my husband and I went swimming.  When we came home I noticed that I had dropped!  Seeing as he had the day off, we decided to—uuhumm—make the most of our last bit of uninterrupted time!  Then, about 11am I started having contractions… around 4:45pm my contractions started getting more intense… I had been taking showers throughout the day but had read that water can slow down labor if you get in too soon and speed up labor after 8 cm.  So I decided to forgo the shower and do some of my prenatal yoga.  And at 5 o’clock as I was doing pelvic circles my water popped like a balloon!  The hospital said I should come right in… I delayed as long as possible…. Taking one more shower before leaving.  I was banging on the roof of the car and screaming the whole ride to the hospital!  We got arrived around 6pm.  And I was like a wild woman—according to my mother!  I wanted to be on the toilet (that position felt most comfortable and I really felt like I had to go)… when the very anxious nurse got me out of the bathroom and put me in a bed I could not lay still.  I was had back labor and was up on all fours on top of the bed.  The nurse came in and told me (according to my mother… by this time I was in my own little world and did not really see the people around me) that she had good news and bad… my labor was going to be quick but incredibly intense.  Although my blood pressure was rising the nurses did not chart it, knowing that the baby was coming quickly and that it was best for me at the time to just let nature take it’s course.  I was in the water by 7pm.  And, oh, I can still remember what an incredible difference it made!  But no time to rest… this baby was moving!  Intense is the only way I can describe it… I moaned and groaned quite loudly, my mom told me later that a group of nurses were gathered outside my door watching!  She said she heard one of them saying that she could not believe this was my first birthing experience!  Aside from the midwife reaching into the water to turn my daughter’s shoulders, I delivered my baby at 8:07pm—with the support of my husband and my mom!  I was able to pull her out of my body and up onto my chest!  It was the most amazing experience of my life.  I nursed her there in the water.  And she did not cry until they took her out of the warm water!  I know that all the wisdom of medical science was against this happening!  And yet it did!  God did indeed show His might that night!  It was such a rocky journey, but how He blessed us!       

I would enjoy hearing more about all of your birth stories!  Especially those of you who have delivered more than once... what were the diffeneces?!

It is easy... even if you are not Martha!  Can you mold with play-do?  If you can, then chances are good you can needle felt!  With needle felting you use both your hands and the needle to mold the wool roving (strips of loose wool that would normally be used to spin into yarn).  You simply poke the needle into the basic shape you have formed with the wool.  The poking sculpts the wool into shape!  Or in the case of doing appliques it meshes the wool fibers into whatever natural cloth surface you are using: a piece of wool felt, a cotton t-shirt, a linen jacket, a wool scarf, etc.  Seriously, children can do this!  Although they do say that you should do it with older children.  This is a risk taking craft... the needles used to felt have small barbs on them that you can barely see... and you either need to wear leather thimbles or be prepared to get poked.  If you do the craft when undistracted you are less likely to poke yourself, but accidents can happen.     

I had to share with you all this fabulous CD I purchased for my daughter-- Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake!   Originally released in the Summer of 2004 it is a compilation of award winning jazz for kids!  A hand clapping, can't keep from dancing, sing-a-long introduction to the jazz masters!  It features Ella Fitzgerald singing "Old McDonald", Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five with a wonderfully entertaining "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and it wraps up with Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."  Seriously, it does not get any better than this!  My daughter giggles with delight and starts slapping her legs to the beat when I put it on in the car!  And, what a work out?!  We have to move the couch out of the way so as not to have our groove hampered when we play this at home!  You can purchase it on Amazon.com but I suggest looking at LandofNod.com... it's cheaper there and they offer free shipping!

•  Various Artists
•  Ages: 2 - 4 years
•  Genre: Jazz
•  Original Release Date: June 22, 2004
•  Running Time: 28.20

Track Listing:
1. Old McDonald - Ella Fitzgerald (Listen)
2. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens - Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five (Listen)
3. Yes, We Have No Bananas - Louis Prima (Listen)
4. Chicken Rhythm - Slim Gaillard
5. Mumbles - Oscar Peterson featuring Clark Terry
6. Rag Mop - Lionel Hampton
7. The Muffin Man - Ella Fitzgerald
8. When The Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bobbin' Along - Carmen McRae
9. Potato Chips - Slim Gaillard and His Baker's Dozen
10. Doop-Doo-De-Doop (A Doodlin' Song) - Blossom Dearie
11. What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

[Boosting the immune system to prevent infectious diseases and to minimize vaccine side effects]

Vaccinations are confusing.  You hear terrifying stories about the potential side-effects of vaccines and have people telling you that vaccines are basically a potential poison on one side and on the other you have people that seem to be telling you to blindly listen to your doctor and implying, if not outright saying, that you are a bad mother and are socially irresponsible if you do not vaccinate your child according to the accepted schedule. 
I don’t know about anyone else but I was practically in tears over what to do.  All of the information out there was so extreme and incredibly overwhelming.  Then I came across Dr. Sears The Vaccine Book.  This was an absolute lifesaver for my family!  Dr. Sears gives an even-handed approach to vaccines.  In his book he explains the pros and cons of each vaccine, talks about any ingredients that could give parents’ cause for alarm, discusses why parents choose for or against each vaccine and gives you his take.  He also lets you know who needs to have certain vaccines-- based on where you live, whether your child will be in daycare, etc.  For instance he lets you know how likely your child is to be exposed to a certain disease or virus in the grocery line.  He also lets you know what you should be willing to do for your child if you choose not to give them or to delay certain vaccines.  For example, keeping them out of daycare or Sunday school (uncontrolled potentially very germy environments) for the first two years and nursing exclusively for one year and then continuing to nurse in addition to solids during the second year, etc..  Dr. Sears also provides two alternative vaccination schedules: one for parents who would really rather not give their child any vaccines and one for parents who want to follow the standard vaccination program but would like to do so in the safest way possible.  He talks about looking at the specific ingredients in each vaccine and not giving your child more than one vaccine containing aluminum at a time.  There are also varying amounts of aluminum in different brands of the same vaccine.  So this helps you choose which brand of a vaccine has the least objectionable ingredients for your child. 
Basically, his book helps you to really gain a handle on the whole vaccine issue and then to tailor a schedule to your family’s needs and desires. 

Even if you want to do everything exactly by the book he offers great help in boosting your child’s immune system to avoid the common side effects of vaccines.  I included some of his suggestions below.  We have used several of his suggestions with our daughter and she has never had so much as a red spot on her after a shot.           
 
Boosting the immune system to prevent infectious diseases and to minimize vaccine side effects

A healthy immune system is the key to preventing infectious diseases. We are all exposed to millions of germs every day, and vaccines only cover a tiny fraction of one percent of these germs. So we must rely on our own immune system to fight off most potential infections. Children and adults with healthy immune systems are also less likely to suffer a serious vaccine reaction. Most vaccine side effects involve the immune system reacting poorly to the vaccine, so insuring a healthy immune system is one way parents can decrease their child’s risk of a vaccine reaction. Here’s what you can do:

Breastfeed. If you are breastfeeding, plan to continue for a minimum of one year. Two years is better. Not only will your baby catch fewer illnesses, but her immune system may be better equipped to handle vaccines. No one has actually studied whether or not breastfed babies show fewer reactions, but theoretically it makes sense.

Minimize sugar and junk food. We do know that sugar weakens the immune system; one of the busiest times in our office is the week after Halloween. Of course, this doesn’t apply to babies, but for older kids, minimize treats and sugary foods for several weeks prior to checkups and vaccines at the doctor’s office.

Minimize other chemical exposures. The small amounts of chemicals in vaccines are unavoidable. But there are other areas of life where we can control this exposure, and that is in the foods we feed our kids. Serve organic foods as much as possible, beginning with baby foods. A little baby’s growing brain and developing immune system are very susceptible to chemical influences. Eating organic fruits, veggies, grains, and meats is a good way to help insure a healthier brain and body.

> AskDrSears.com: Feeding Infants and Toddlers

Use omega-3 oil supplements. Most children are deficient in the healthy omega-3 fats, since the main dietary source is fish and eggs, foods that most kids don’t eat enough of. Breast milk is also full of omega-3’s. Fish oils (liquids for toddlers over age one and chewables or capsules for older kids) that are tested and found to be mercury free are a healthy addition to any diet and can improve many aspects of a child’s health, including the immune system.

> GO FISH Children’s Omega-3 Fish Oil Liquid

Probiotics. These are the healthy bacteria that live in our intestines. They play a critical role in regulating both our intestinal immune system and our internal immune system. Antibiotic use, which is a typical part of every infant and child’s early life, destroys all these healthy bacteria, leaving a child more susceptible to a host of illnesses and intestinal problems. Taking probiotics on a continuous basis, but especially for a week before and several weeks after vaccinations, can really do wonders for the immune system, and may help protect from the side effects of vaccines. Also called acidophilus, probiotics can either be mixed into food or liquid as a powder for infants 6 months and older, or swallowed as small capsules or pearls for older kids.

Fruits and vegetables. Everyone knows these are good for you, but unfortunately very few children get enough. Fruit, veggie, and berry supplements are available as chewables for children and as capsules for adults. Infants age one and older can also use adult capsules opened up into their food. The immune-boosting content of fruit, veggie, and berry supplements can really help prevent infectious diseases and may limit vaccine reactions.

> Why Dr. Sears Recommends JuicePLUS+

Vitamin A. This specific vitamin helps with neurologic health. It also helps regulate the immune system’s response to infections. Some researchers believe it can play a role in protecting the brain from vaccine side effects. Give vitamin A once a day for 3 days prior to vaccines and continue each day for 10 days after. Infants should get 1500 IUs daily, toddlers and preschoolers 2500 IUs and older kids and teens 5000 IUs. A commonly available form of vitamin drops for babies and young kids is a mix of Vitamins A, C and D available at any drug store. Another choice would be a total multivitamin liquid or chewable. A better source of Vitamin A is cod liver oil, available at health food stores. The label will say how much Vitamin A is in each teaspoon. You should be aware that overdosing Vitamin A can be toxic, so do not exceed the suggested amounts. I would suggest not using cod liver oil for any baby younger than 9 months.

Vitamin C. This anti-oxidant vitamin can help boost the immune system and may decrease vaccine side effects. Give this once a day for 5 days starting on the day of the shots. Infants should get 150 mg daily, toddlers and preschoolers 250 mg, and older kids and teens 500 mg. Vitamin C drops, chewables, and capsules are available at any health food or drug store. The amount of Vitamin C in the multivitamins discussed above (with vitamin A) usually isn’t enough.

Awesome site!  Thank you!  Also, nationalgeographic.com has some amazing photo downloads... and they are large sizes so they look great on PowerPoint Slides!