Tag Archives: toddler

MIR: The Good, The WTF, and The Alt-Good. Welcome to Life, 2017-Style. It's Been A While.....Time to Catch Up.

It’s been some time since I’ve blogged. Over a month, actually. Why? You could say that life has gotten in my way. Or, more specifically, work.

So. Much. Work.

Report card time can be stressful when you service, IDK, about 60ish students, I am learning. Also, dedicating a week-plus to writing up a detailed report on every kid’s progress to the detriment of sleep, family time, and at times, my sanity, has, plainly, sucked. Plus, after finishing all 60 reports, I then had to enter another round of student observational data, or risk falling behind on that. Because you know, after writing 60 reports, writing 47 more narratives is exactly the kind of wind-down activity I long for.

Yeah. It’s been a rough life, these last few weeks. Continue reading →

Book Review #2: #BabyLove: My Toddler Life by Corine Dehghanpisheh A 21st Century Picture Book For Toddlers And Moderation Moms Like Me!

You’ve Probably Seen The Headlines…

Eh, I think she’ll be OK.

About Toddlers and Cell Phones:

“Tablets and Smartphones May Affect Social and Emotional Development, Scientists Speculate,” (theguardian.com, February 1, 2015)

“Smartphone, Tablet Overuse Among Toddlers May Stunt Development,” (cbc.ca, February 3, 2015)

About Parenting and Cell Phones:

“Cell Phone Distracted Parenting Can Have Long-Term Consequences: Study,” (time.com, January 6, 2016)

“Dear Mom On The iPhone: Let Me Tell You What You Don’t See,”

At times, I do text or Facebook when I’m the parent in charge. Other times, I do not.

(deseretnews.com, February 15, 2013)
Note: Judgmental much?

And the epic rebuttal to the above:
“Dear Mom On The iPhone: You’re Doing Fine,” (huffingtonpost.com, August 11, 2014)

Yes, many folks on the Internet have strong opinions about cell phones, toddlers, and the parents who own at least one of each. Therefore, I was very curious about how

The author, Dehghanpisheh, is also the illustrator. She does a beautiful job creating vivid, colorful, fun, page-filling illustrations that complement the text well.

this subject matter would be incorporated into a read-aloud picture book for very young children when I was asked to review #BabyLove: My Toddler Life, which was written and illustrated by Corine Dehghanpisheh. I ended up on the final page of the story nodding in an enthusiastic manner, complete with a big smile on my face. What a great story this is! Not only was the book entertaining, but the characters and the plot totally resonated with me as well. Continue reading →

Christmukkah 2016: Last-Minute Holiday Gift Ideas, Toddler/Tween Edition Making our older baby and baby adolescent smile since Holiday 2006!

 

Christmukkah cheer.

Another holiday season is upon us! When you celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah like we do in my home, there is double the pressure to find the best gifts for the (lack of) money we have. Quadruple, if you multiply two holidays by two kids. And this year, both holidays fall at the exact same time. This phenomenon has definite pros, but also significant cons.

Pros: I have a bit more time to bargain hunt than when Hanukkah falls at the start of the month. That year when Hanukkah merged with Thanksgiving? Yeah, that was stressful.

Cons: That’s, like, a ton of stuff to seek out, purchase, and wrap by a certain date and time. Oh, and Mike and I are hosting Christmas dinner this year too, because apparently, we enjoy chaos. Pile it on, yo!

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I[/embedyt]
OK, it’s not at the level of pressure described in this song, but holiday time is still filled with pressure when you are a parent. Plus, its a Freddie Mercury-David Bowie duet, for Pete’s sake. That’s reason enough to throw this video into a post. Continue reading →

Performance Review #2: Hanna and the Moonlit Dress at the 14th Street Y, NYC I'm Guest Reviewing For Be Your Best Mom Again!

Today’s review of the Theater at the 14th Street Y’s Hanna and the Moonlit Dress was again sponsored by the great Milena Barrett of Be Your Best Mom Dot Com. Big thanks to Ms. Barrett for such an enjoyable opportunity!

Last Saturday, December 3, the whole family and I jumped in the car and headed out to NYC to see Hanna and the Moonlit Dress, an interactive musical for children based on the Israeli children’s book Hanna’s Sabbath Dress by Itzhak Schweiger-Dmi’el. The show took place at the Theater at the 14th Street Y near Union Square, NYC. Please enjoy reading our before-and-after the show story below, then follow the link to the Be Your Best Mom site for the rest! Continue reading →

Vacation Destination Review #1: Mystic, CT: Aquarium Day! An Exhausting, Educational Saturday at the Mystic Aquarium!

Can You Say Good Morning, Even On No Sleep?

S2 thinks that sleep is for suckers, apparently. Haha

S2 thinks that sleep is for suckers, apparently.

Morning, day 2 of our mid-October mini family getaway started…. early. Though with Saturday our only full day here, we wanted to take advantage and try to see as much as possible. Even on just 2.5 hours of sleep (me) and zero-ish hours of sleep (Mike), we were Mystic Aquarium-bound. The Aquarium was the one attraction in the area we’d all been looking forward to visiting for months, and no lack of sleep was going to stop us from going!

Even though I technically had more sleep than my husband did, Mike still woke up and took the girls to breakfast so I could shower and get ready for the day in peace. I appreciated that a lot. There was a little diner nearby that they went to eat at, in walking distance. After the three of them dined out, Mike brought me back a breakfast plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns to have as well. My husband is a good, good man. Continue reading →

Vacation Destination Review #1: Mystic, CT: Part 1 Friday Travel, Arrival, No Rest For The Weary

I know I said before that I’m done introducing new segments on this blog, but I lied. Why? After our family trip last weekend to Mystic, CT, I took time to figure out a way to blog about it without sounding like a fourth grader writing about “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” Instead of a bunch of pictures with a list of everything we did, I came to the conclusion that writing a destination review (of the area as a whole, rather than specific attractions or hotels) would be the best way to approach the subject matter. This way, perhaps you folks can use some of the travel tips and info I share here when planning your own family vacation! See? I want my writing to serve YOU. Sharing is caring!

This will be a 2-part post, BTW. Enjoy! Continue reading →

My Daughters Have A Big Age Gap, And I Love It I'm Guest Blogging on Be Your Best Mom This Week!

Big age gap siblings S2 and S10, 8 Years Apart

S2 and S10 have a big age gap being 8 years apart.

This week, I am thrilled to be guest blogging for the great Milena Barett at Be Your Best Mom Dot Com! My guest post is about loving the big age gap between my two daughters, S10 and S12. This age gap wasn’t planned, but I ended up loving it anyway. Eight is great, indeed! Follow the link below, and I hope you enjoy the read: Continue reading →

Week in Review: September 2-September 9: The First Week of School! It's The First Week of School! It's The First Week of School!

Yes, the first week of school has cometh. Joy for many parents across the land, I’m sure…..unless those parents are teachers like I am.

Haha J/K

Oh, Alice, I’m sure if I was a rock and roll star, I’d be smiling while sending my kids back to school this week too. 

I love my job. I really can’t complain. It’s not an easy job, and I’ve been moved around more these last few years than many teachers are in their entire career, but at least the powers-that-be always have kept my strengths in mind when moving me. Continue reading →

Daughter Different: When Siblings Are Polar Opposites They may be opposites, but my love is equally fierce.

When I was pregnant with my younger daughter, I was pretty confident that I’d have this “raising a small person” thing down pat the second time around. I mean, I had raised a daughter, pretty successfully, for the last 8 years! Another girl? This was going to be easy-peasy. Plus, I was older. Wiser, too (so I thought). Heck, I was straight-up walking, talking, Parenting Wisdom. Bow down to my daughter-raising smarts, all ye who enter here.

#LOL
#HowaboutNOPE Continue reading →

Week in Review July 24-July 30: The Exhaustion Chronicles My First Blog Post! Holla!

What. A(n). Exhausting. Week!

Autumn days are only a month away. But I must ask, where is my summer “vacation”?

Busy, chaotic, and tiring.
What are….three words that describe my last week, Alex?

Though the final week of July felt like it could possibly kill Mike and/or me, now that it has ended, it’s comforting to know that our schedule of demands has eased up quite a bit, at least for the time being. As a result, we as parents are taking full advantage of our increase in free time by simply not.going.anywhere. this week, unless we are actively forced. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta hermit.  It also feels good to have spent a large portion of today in a seated position, I ain’t even gonna lie.

This first post is my blog debut of the Week in Review segment. Here, I plan to discuss the 3 best parts of my previous week, as well as the 3 worst.
Happy reading, y’all! Continue reading →