Tip of the Day

Today's tip is more like a tribute to my husband the techie in our family.
So.....
Have your camera charged! Especially in this day and age of digital cameras you need to have it charged up and ready to go at a moments notice. We also have a back up battery so one is always charged and one is in use. Way to go John for getting us the back up battery!
So why did we need it today?

Check our our pictures link for more great shots of Gianna's first Easter Egg Hunt!

Psych 101

Today's tip brings us back to Psychology 101. Do you remember it from college? Piaget, a leading psychologist in children, brought us some great theories that we still use today. The first one is his Sensorimotor stage. This stage says: Toddlers will put everything in their mouths. And they they exist outside of you and you will come back even if they can't see you.
This is why "no" is so hard and concrete things are so important to her. (And extremely difficult!!!)

The next stage is Preoperational: (begins about the time the child starts to talk to about age 7) More on this stage later!!!!!

The one I want to focus on today is his Concrete operations stage.

Here is how I use this idea in my world. Tip #14:
Basically if Gianna wants something in each hand and you only want to give her one. Break it in half and now she has two, and is happy. It's not that she is greedy or is hungry. It's just that she needs to have something in each hand.

Wasn't that a fun trip back to college? And they said that psychology was just a blow off class!

Bag it up

The toddler tip today comes from Jenny C. She gives her daughter a bag of cheerios to hold and eat from. Sure there are fancy snack traps out there, but what happens when you leave it at Grandma's or it's dirty? You don't have one. So grab a bag and fill it, but just be OK if they spill it. Start off with just a little bit inside and add more if they run out.
This also plays in to the toddlers love of holding and storing things. They get to hold a bag and get to be in control of how fast and how much food they eat!

Color Fantastic

#12
This is more of a mom's hands on project to be enjoyed by your toddler later.
Those new Crayola crayons are cool for toddlers. They are big and exactly the right shape for little toddler hands. But a cool way you can make something at home that fits hands just as well is by making your own crayons!
Step 1- Crush crayons. These can be brand new or the ones you find rolling on the floor of the minivan. Make sure you remove all traces of paper.
Step 2- place parchment paper into muffin tins like little cupcake wrappers.
Step 3- Put crayons in each well if the muffin tin. And place in the oven at low heat watching until all crayons melt.
Step 4- Let cool and peal back paper. Now you have a little disk crayon.
Step 5- Give to toddler to enjoy!

You can mix colors or keep the same ones in each well. It's a good way to give new life to those broken crayons.

Tip #11

Don't give your toddler beans two meals in a row.


It's not pretty.



Then don't stick your hand in a diaper to see if it's wet. It might be more than wet.



I'm just saying.

Tip # 10

Today's tip is a classic but a goodie. Tear some paper.
Sound simple and fun- because it is!!!! Toddlers can't quite get the dexterity they need for scissors for a few years, but the next best think to to tear. Tearing builds up muscles in the hand and is rewarding visually, auditorially, and kinesthetically. Go ahead- get some paper and give it a rip!

OK to Change Your Mind.

Tip #9 It's OK to change your mind in the middle

John and I were blessed to have Aunt Lori come for the day while we took the day off and spent it in a day long date. We started off at Barnes and Nobel and then on to the mall for some shopping! We then had lunch looked around some neighborhoods, and then back home to have a nap! It was wonderful.
While at B&N I was reading an article that I thought would be great for a tip of the day. So a couple of days ago I wrote about adjusting your daily schedule in small increments so you would be ready when the time change happened. That my blog friends was an ideal- a pipe dream- a wishful thought. Because what happened was- Gianna refused to have her schedule messed with. I tried to wait to feed her a snack and meals every day, but she has this problem when she is hungry- she cries- a lot!
So we ended up not being able to do it gradually. We put her to bed at old time Saturday night and she woke up at new time Sunday morning and we began our schedule as if the time change never happened. She is a little fussy today, but I am too- I miss that hour of sleep :)
So here is the tip: It's OK to change your mind about some aspect of parenting. We have so many choices today as parents and they can all seem good. It's OK to try something for a while and then find out that it doesn't work for you. Long term damage will not be done. Should you Ferber, Baby wise or Attachment parent? Should you do cloth or disposable? What about front or back sleeping? We can be caught up in fear that we HAVE to do it the right way.
We all have different personalities and there is a reason that God designed us that way. What works for me may not ALWAYS work, and it's OK to try something else and see if that fits our lives, and my child better.
Let go of the guilt and know that each day, "You do the best you can with the best you got."