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My sister has been here for a week with her adorable baby girl V who is just about 1 year old. SuperBoy and SweetPea are so lucky to have a cousin! It’s been wonderful for many reasons, but most fascinating has been watching the two older children interact, and then also watching SweetPea watch them. It’s layers upon layers of learning. Most keenly I think SuperBoy has influenced V’s language and coordination. She’s added a few words to her vocab, complete with what appears to be a real understanding about what those words correspond to. He’s a real talker at 25 months, full discernible sentences and a highly developed vocab. She says “babeh” and “dahh” for baby and dog now! And she’s really a “cruiser”…
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When you have two children (ohman my friends who have more!), and you stay home with them, and you blog, and you have an Etsy shop, and you cook from scratch, and you are an urban farmer, and you love playdates, and you love mommy-centric playdates (here, kids, play with this while I gab with my girlfriend), and you love to make elaborate dinners, and you love to go out of town to your family’s lodge in the country, and you love to stay connected to all 700 of your electronic friends, it can be hard to stay sane, and keep your priorities straight. (Nota bene, this post is a confession.) Here’s what I should do, and how I should do it, and how I…
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My fabulous hair stylist at Salon George is the owner of a beautiful salon in Saint Paul. She also happens to be a gourmet chef. Of course while she masterfully fixes my hair, we talk about life, family, and most importantly: food. She gave me a great Lebanese sauce that can be everything from salad dressing to drizzling over veggies prior to roasting to whatever. The garlic is what gives it a nice distinct taste. I added 1/2 cup oil (EVOO if you’re using it all right away, canola if it’s going into the fridge as EVOO hardens up!) & 1/2 cup lemon juice together. And ground 2 cloves garlic into a paste with about a big big pinch of salt in the mortar with the pestle…
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Please, please get tickets to see the Rembrandt in America exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (affectionately known as the MIA). It is awe inspiriting, breath taking, and lovely. It’s the largest exhibition of Rembrandts in America. Ever! Get tickets in advance (we failed to–thank goodness for our friends who we went with). And hop up to the second floor, and you’re there! All 5 glorious rooms of it. We are big on exposing our children to the arts early. See posts here {Get More Piano and Cello in Your Life} and here {Art and Beauty in Your Life} and here {How to Choose Music for Your Child}. My mom’s been a docent at the MIA for over 25 years so I grew up thinking it was normal to…
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Watch this movie: Doulas, A Documentary. Yes, it’s made by our doula, Emily Rumsey!, and sponsored by the Childbirth Collective, both of whom we love mucho mucho. And yep, we’re interviewed in it. You can see SuperBoy when he was right around 12 months running around us. You can rent it for a few bucks or buy it. At least watch the trailer. And then rent it or buy it 🙂 I was a movie star along with AA and SuperBoy for my 15 minutes of fame. Woot! (SweetPea was a mere twinkle in my eye at the time as SuperBoy was around 12 months when we were interviewed for it.) So what’s a doula? Why do I need one? Isn’t that my partner’s…
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Parents tend to freak out about what precisely their toddler / preschooler knows. Don’t google “what should my preschooler know.” Children progress at different rates and respond differently to different environments, so let children develop a love of learning! Learning is fun when all parties are enjoying it, so here are a few enjoyable learning tools we’ve experienced. Things like: books, books, books {Homegrown Gifts, Introducing Books Early, Books for Holiday Gifts}, music and music (Music and Its Impact, Popular Music in Our House}, no screen time {Damage of Screen Time on Babies}, and craft play and bean play {Jumpstarting Toddler Imaginations, Developing Fine Motor Skills}. We all want our children to want to learn, explore, and take delight and pride in their accomplishments. Create an environment without distracting…
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