It adds up

A co-worker mentioned this article to me yesterday and I thought it was worth sharing ...

Teaching Kids to Love Math - Wall Street Journal

I think I've alluded to a similar idea before as told to me by our Parents as Teachers educator - there is a correlation between the amount of block play (with related math concepts) a child has and their success in school / math. I think America / Western countries focus more on reading and music concepts in toddlers and less on math and science. I'm certainly guilty of the same.

Ellen has never been a child who loves to play with blocks or legos, so I don't push it. She really does love art and creative projects and reading, but I think I can still work harder at building math concepts into our days. She has started to do easy addition by counting her fingers, which I've tried to encourage. Last night at dinner I tried to incorporate some subtraction - 6 grapes, take away 1, now you have ....

Cooking is a good way to do this, too, and lord knows I've been making LOTS of treats lately. It's OK - it's Math!

Some light reading

I'm waist deep (belly deep?) in projects this weekend - making lists and lists and lists! I woke up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night this week and then spent the next 1 1/2 hours planning Ellen's birthday party in my head. Nesting - UGH - though rather productive, I must admit. I've also already purchased half of my Christmas gifts - jealous?  :)

Here is a link to a good article on 7 Lessons Your Daughter Needs You To Teach Her. And, the photograph just happens to be from yours truly of two of our favorite people!

Also, came across this on Flipboard last night from Parenting magazine ... What Teachers Wish Parents Knew about Kindergarten. We aren't there yet (phew!), but thought there were some interesting points, especially on teaching your kids how to make friends and be social.

In other random news, if you're looking for a Halloween bucket for this year, Land's End has some new cute ones that are like their tote bags that I am generally obsessed with. Yes, I will be working on Ellen's Halloween costume this weekend. Nesting!

Tricky people

I came across this in the wormhole that is Pinterest. I admittedly haven't really explored it, but it seemed like a good thing worth sharing.

I have had some of this same difficulty in explaining the concept of a "stranger" to Ellen. Same with "bad guy" (or "bad lady", I suppose). I think around age 3 they start to develop a concept of "bad guy" from movies and books, which is most certainly not what a "bad guy" in real life will look like.

Tricky People are the New Strangers

You have to get it wrong before you get it right

I'm in the midst of spray painting furniture and arranging art for walls ... two rooms to get ready for one Big and one Little and, seemingly, no time for blogging!

Interesting article via Design Mom and The New York Times on

Raising Successful Children

Caution, caution

I follow our little local police department on facebook and, fortunately, the posts are mostly of the "lock your cars" "bike stolen" "traffic work" variety rather than that other nasty stuff.

They did have a good tip the other day, I thought ....
If you take your kid(s), or especially a group of kids, to a busy event - circus, fair, etc - take a picture of them on your phone before you leave the house.

Should they get separated from you -**please, please, please never let this happen to me** - you have a current picture that shows exactly what they are wearing. It can be distributed quickly in an emergency.

(My two scariest "lost child" moments thus far have been 1. in the hardware store as Ellen wandered the aisles just fast enough that she was gone before I turned each corner, and 2. when she was watering with me in the back yard and again, wandered to the front and around the house fast enough that we were chasing each other, but couldn't see each other. Awful. Our rule is that she has to be able to see my eyes if we aren't holding hands.)

I love taking pictures with my iPhone and I bet a lot of us do it anyways, but I've never specifically thought to get a quick full body picture including Ellen's outfit.

Note to self ...