SpoonFullofJelly

This is another set of buzz words that generation-Xers and Millennial knows, but can confuse older generations.When talking with my mother and grand-mother, I told them that Hubby and I are living intentionally. In other words, we are planners and are making conscience decisions for every aspect of our lives. Eyebrows went up. Laughs kind of slipped out too... My family was trying to understand how 'living intentionally' was different than what they did. I asked them why did they raise us the way they did. The responses often reflected back on that's how they were raised. My parents tried to do better than their parents, but they didnt add as much thought that Hubby and I have. Hubby and I have taken so many aspects of our lives and decided what we want to do and don't want to do. We have thought through the possible good and bad of our decisions. We analyzed rather we agree or disagree with what is popular vs. weird, and chose what fits best for us. We just do...

If you are just joining me on how I share new skills with my tot, head back to part one. I spoke of the schedule I used for working with the babies and toddlers overseas. This schedule is not dependent on time. It may take you 20 minutes to read a story, two minutes to point out the vocab words and half hour singing the lullaby because baby loves the song. The point is the complete these activities throughout the day. If your little one isn't into singing on Day 2, skip it. In Japan, the focus was not to drill the information into the child. The goal was to continue to introduce new words, new experiences and constantly be surrounded by the spoke language. Why Rather you are focusing on your native language or a foreign language, never stop reading. Never stop introducing new vocabulary. Never stop exploring the world around you. Babies and toddlers are soaking up everything. I am working hard to add new vocab and books to Baby E's life because I have seen the result...

Babies need books just as much as they need diapers! Perhaps a baby can live without diapers, but they should not live without books. I am old fashioned and I believe in the power of reading. I like physically holding books in my hand. I love the feel of pages and the smell of hardcovers. I did not jump on the digital book craze, but slowly crept in. I am currently reading three books on my phone, only because they were free. It takes me twice as long to finish them. I plan on keeping Baby E surrounded by hard copies of books. I want him to learn how to turn pages rather than swipe left. I'm judging those that love digital book...Yall, do your thing! I am making a list of books that I want to introduce to Baby E this school year. I am doing this now because it allows for Hubby and I to reduce the amount of guessing. Life gets busy during the winter. Our weather forces us inside and I don't want to wake up next spring and have missed out of the opportunity to have intr...

I spent nearly two years living and working in Japan at an English School. Not only did I develop programs for my branch office to increase their sales, but I also taught English. I taught hundreds of children under the age of 18. The youngest group was a baby class of five, 6 month old babies. The babies began to respond to English commands and then speak English and Japanese around 18 months old. I was amazed! The babies attended English lessons 1.5 hours a day, three days a week. This was considered "early childhood education" for these families. Most of these families believed that language must be introduced early in order to give their child the best advantage of being bilingual. They were right. The toddler group that I taught after the baby class was able to hold a full conversation like a native English speaker after one year of learning. I promised myself that I would do the same type of lessons with my future children. Baby E Playing with an animal so...

The day that I didnt speak to my baby was a day that I learned so much about communication. Seven month olds can't speak. They can't read our minds and we can't read theirs. Communication has to come in a different form when it comes to babies. About a week ago, we woke up early Sunday morning with a crying and hot baby. He had a fever. The fever broke later that day but a stuffy nose, cough and sneeze replaced it. On Monday, I woke up with whatever he had. For a whole week, we swapped this nasty cold. Even my husband came down with the cold. By the weekend, I was losing my voice. By the following Monday, I was hoarse. When I tried to talk, Baby E would jerk away and cry. I sounded like I was stuck in a vacuum cleaner. I couldn't talk. So it began, the day that I didn't speak to my child. This is what I learned. 1. Quiet book time is still considered reading. Each day I flip through a half dozen of picture books. I tried to focus on the pictures while rea...

Don't you love winter on those days that you do not have to leave your home? My husband has returned to work after paternity leave. That leaves me back home with our son for the next month. Now that Baby E is 3 months old, he is awake for 1.5 hours at a time. This is the perfect time to introduce him to a variety of topics and activities. I plan on gently "teaching" him. This was a great thought before baby arrived. I did all this work to modify tot school programs and then forgot all about it until last week. I found that I placed Baby E in the swing or on the floor while I read my book of the month. He began to grunt and only stopped when I looked up at him. My baby wanted attention! I put the book down, scooped him and read a baby book to him. He enjoyed it and I enjoyed the look on his face. That is when I remembered all the work I had put in the year before to create a Tot/Baby home learning program. I printed our schedule, gathered all the baby books f...

The moment your household is welcoming a baby, get ready to "ooh" and "ahh" over everything. Baby clothes, tiny shoes and 3 inch socks are so cute. I could spend all day in the baby clothing section. The I will haphazardly wonder over to the nursery decor then bottles and diapers. The choices, the colors and the designs just capture my attention lie a kid in a candy store. I was hooked on the baby section as soon as Hubby said "let's have a baby"! But baby items can quickly over take your life. These companies know how to catch our eyes dont they? But that is the problem! They are all out to get you to spend your money and all of it. Babies often do not need all the items that we buy for them. If you are like me, I was determined not to buy a ton of items for my baby boy. So I learned to closed my eyes through the stores and kept the following ideas in mind. 1. Pause! Don't Shop for clothes! It might be hard to not shop like crazy, but re...

Carrier Vs Stroller   The number of products for a baby is ridiculous! There are more items to soothe, calm and relax a baby than ever before. Technology has certainly played a huge part in the advancement of baby products. All these products can leave a family in total confusion and broke. So like most new parents-to-be, we asked around.  "What is the difference between a stroller and a carrier in the early years?"   Crickets! All I heard were crickets because I couldn't get a straight answer. The only consist response was "It depends on how you want to carry the baby." Well considering that I left college more than 15 years ago, I rarely carry anything on my back. I never carried anything on my front side, so the way I "want to carry" cant be based on previous experience. Other than a grocery cart and a suitcase, I dont push large items around either. So, how do I judge what is best when both actions will be new to me on a daily basis?   ...

I cant recall anything in my past that has prepared me for what seems to be happening to me. I am becoming a housewife. This has not been done on purpose, I must add. Four years of college, 3 years of graduate school, 6 years in the marketing field, and I can not land a full time position. With all the extra time on my hands, I have been preparing meals from scratch, learning to grow veggies on an apartment porch, and reusing broken items around the house. I have been quite busy for the past couple of summers. Now that we have moved  to a different state, I have noticed that my experiences have not been in vain. Many mothers have captured my attention this year as they describe their adventures in raising their children. Some mothers set aside their careers as teachers (often elementary) or other professions to enjoy every moment with their families. Their husband's support is often mentioned in their blogs/postings and to my surprise, they love that their home is filled with l...