Infant/Toddler Creativity

Cottonbabies (makers of bumgenius diapers) ask:

How do you encourage a creative, artistic spirit in your baby, toddler or young child?

We have a 7 month old, so getting his creativity flowing might seem to be a bigger challenge than for a toddler or older child, but not necessarily. We just try to appeal to all his senses. See examples below of how to get your baby to explore his or her creative side:

Taste: We practice baby-led solids, so we try to get lots of different flavors and textures of food. Just this week Aengus has tried onion, hummus, sushi (cooked-not raw), cheese, BBQ, and ravioli for the first time.

Smell: different foods, letting him smell unlit candles or air fresheners while shopping, coffee beans or vanilla

Sound: Aengus loves music-so we try to vary the types. Anything from AC/DC (obviously), to Pavarotti, to They Might Be Giants!

Sight: Babies' developing brains love patterns and colors, depending on age. We love books, pictures, and even an occasional video.

Touch: This is the fun one in my opinion. Having a time to touch textures-sand, water, fur (from our dog), silk, wood, wool, etc.

War

Shakesville: Stay Classy, Catholic Church

"You just can't make this stuff up:

The Vatican today made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the gravest crimes under church law, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors, heresy and schism.

So, just to be clear: According to the Catholic Church, ordaining a woman is just as bad as raping a child. Or, if you prefer, raping a child is only as a bad as attempting to ordain a woman.

You got your virulent misogyny in my diminishment of sexual assault!

All I can do is laugh bitterly at this point."

Does that mean that just like in the case of child abuse, priests ordaining women will just get reassigned and have it covered up?

Looks like everyone who criticized Sinead O'Connor in 1992 over her SNL appearance owes her a big apology.

Reading Day

Yes, I am a terrible blogger. I feel terrible, other than the fact that no one reads this but my hubby anyway.

So, we've reached the stage where Aengus likes to have a book read to him. We only have a few books, but his favorite so far is the Lorax.

Although, I have the sneaking suspicion he prefers eating books to reading them.

Gardening

Will and I had moderate success growing tomatoes and peppers in a potted garden on our patio last year. We continued the tradition Monday with what we learned about this crazy bayou climate. It was pretty mosquito-ridden, but Aengus didn't get any bites. I was covered and had to coat my legs in castor oil--fun stuff...

Aengus enjoyed playing in the bouncer while we planted. He was so proud that he could hit the little dangling animals.

Baxter wanted to be in the picture. Hopefully we'll get a better yield this time. The Thai peppers are already budding.

Tuckered out after a big day of playing. We all slept pretty well that night.

Recipe: Chana Masala

From VegWeb.com

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 tbsp curry paste (can substitute 1 tbsp curry + 1 tbsp tomato paste)

15 oz can chick peas, drained, reserving 3 tablespoon liquid

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

fresh black pepper

crushed red pepper, optional to taste

1 tbsp vegan margarine

Directions:

Heat oil on medium high heat. Fry onions until slightly browned. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic and curry paste. Stir and simmer about 2 minutes. Add chick peas, liquid, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. Simmer 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add red pepper to taste. Add margarine, stirring through to melt it. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes more or until peas are softened and dish is hot. Serve over rice.

This was so delicious! Not to mention simple to make. I recommend some delicious organic jasmine rice.

The Family Bed

Will, Aengus, and I (and sometimes, despite my best efforts, the dog) have a Family Bed. This was natural for us, and has worked brilliantly for the past 2 months. In fact, it has worked for millions of years for us mammals. Sleeping with your children is an evolutionary imperative.

I love this comic. It is almost exactly how our bed looks, minus Will wearing a mask.

If you love cloth diapers as much as I do and want to support mom-owned business, check out the Happy Baby Company, aka Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers. On Facebook, enter the discussion contest!

Spare the rod?

Time magazine just released an article on a study showing how spanking leads to more aggression in children.

Duh.

There are more scientific studies showing a correlation between childhood corporal punishment and violence than I could read (and I am adept at reading journal articles by now). But, what bothers me more about this Time article is the comment section. With people becoming so angry over the idea of NOT hitting a child, is it any wonder that our nation has so much violence?

"Children are the only people in this society anybody is allowed to hit. All the rest of us are legally protected."**from the article "Physical Punishment in the Home" by Penelope Leach.
If questioned, I could go on and on about why hitting should not be used as a form of discipline for anyone (it doesn't work, it leads to resentment and mistrust of parents, aggression, it's not logical) but I don't want to be questioned. Because all those questions are really asking is "why don't you make the right decision and hit your kid?" Anecdotal evidence stating "I was spanked and I turned out fine" does not convince me that hitting is an effective form of discipline. I could just as easily say "John Smith was spanked and he is a serial killer, or Susie Q wasn't spanked and now she runs a fortune 500 company". Anecdotal evidence is nothing. Not to mention, I like to include in my anecdotal response "I was spanked and turned out amazing despite the hitting. And I still work through it emotionally every day".Really, what I find interesting is that people assume that spanking is the only discipline. Umm...no. Hitting is easy discipline; discipline for those who did not have time to build skills in conflict resolution, who don't believe children are beings with whom you can be rational or reasonable, or who are exhausted and don't have enough support. Or maybe they feel their religion compels them to spank.***
Well, I am not raising a dog here, I want Aengus to be his own person. I'm just here to help him along the way, not to be Augusto Pinochet. If sometimes he disagrees with me, so what? I disagree with Will sometimes--does that mean I have disrespected him? Not necessarily. It's all about respecting each other. Which led us to: Gentle Discipline.
"Parents who choose "gentle discipline" or "positive discipline", do not spank, but instead will use things like distraction (for toddlers) and natural and logical consequences (for older children). If they do use "time-outs", they tend to use them in a nonpunitive way--a break, away from a situation where the child has lost control of themselves and need to take a couple minutes to get control again. Generally the parent will participate in this "positive time-out" with the child, as opposed to sending them away to "think about what they did" or to punish them."
***By the way, if you are part of a certain mainstream U.S. religion (evangelicals, I'm looking at you) and you feel hitting is wrong, please check out this website for other parents from your religion who will support you in parenting gently. (They can also provide you with resources including verses from the bible and other religious texts to help with explaining to family members, etc).