Wordless Wednesday - Cuddle Time Chaos

Read Little Man

Since DayOne we've read to the boys. Anytime they ask. Drop everything.
I was at IKEA with a friend recently and found these adorable boxes in a set of 3 (one large, two small) for $2.
So...I bought 5 sets. Hey, you never know when you might wish you had that many to fill a bookshelf or something....$2!

I figured out what to do with the first set pretty quickly. I put the long box in Curly's bed and the two small ones in Spike and Trilogy's cribs. Curly and Spike have their books in theirs and Trilogy (when he can someday) will be able to grab from his lovey and some small chew toys.

The boxes are soft cotton, foldable and extremely flexible. They're also reversible and have a zipper closure on the bottom. I feel very safe having these in the beds with the boys. They also came in red.

It eliminates one extra step when I go to bed - prying a book from Curly's hands or unsticking it from his chin or trying not to laugh at the crease across his forehead when he's fallen asleep on top of The Very Hungry Caterpillar =)

Mom, Can My Invisible Friend See Himself?

Ironically, Curly, our oldest, has been mentioning a friend from school, Benjamin, being around the house during free-play, dinner time and naptime. I wasn't worried in the slightest and used it as a teaching moment to "remind" Benjamin about the rules in our house. This came to my in-box today.

Imaginary Friends

Why pretend playmates are good for children's development.

by Heather Turgeon

February 22, 2010

0

I

t's a sunny day at the park. Susan and her three-year-old daughter, Emily, are swinging happily, chatting about friends and the day's preschool activities. "Mom, don't forget to push Cartoons!" shouts Emily. Mom sidles up to the empty swing beside them and gives it a few good shoves. Cartoons is Emily's baby sister. She lives in Alabama with her mom and dad and she likes stuffed animals and rattles. And she happens to be invisible.

Imaginary friends used to be a cause for concern, but research is finding that kids with elaborate tales of friends who aren't really there are getting ahead in learning and social development. So what makes children who dream up pretend playmates so advanced?

Studies Show Imaginary Friends have Real Benefits

In the days of Dr. Spock, imaginary friends were seen as a symptom of social problems. If your child was spending her time talking to thin air, prevailing wisdom said she probably needed more attention and company. Seen as a way to deal with loneliness, stress, or conflict, imaginary friends had a bad rep for most of the 20th century.

But the tables have turned, with psychologists touting pretend friends as boosters for language and social skills. Last year a study from La Trobe University in Melbourne found that three- to six-year-olds with imaginary friends were more creative and socially advanced. Earlier studies had shown that kids with imaginary pals use more complex sentence structure, have richer vocabularies, and get along better with classmates.

The explanation? Kids who create a playmate get a chance to practice taking both sides of the conversation. They try on different roles, think abstractly, and conjure up original ideas. An elaborate fantasy world is like a test lab for some of the most important childhood skills.

How Imaginary Friends Affect Brain Development All pretend play is critical for brain development.

The regions of the brain that make imaginary friends possible — among them the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe — start picking up signals around eighteen months of age, and they tap into some of our most advanced, higher-order thinking. When you hear your toddler make a chu chu noise with his train, this is your first clue that abstract thought has begun. It's no coincidence that the birth of pretend play synchs up with children recognizing themselves in the mirror — these are skills that mean our little monkeys are becoming conscious beings.

The Message for Parents

In all the excitement over imaginary friends, though, the real message seems to have gotten lost. It's not that made-up playmates are the key to success (no need to start nudging our kids to "get to work and make up an invisible friend"). What the results really suggest is that all pretend play is critical for brain development. When kids create worlds in their heads, they're flexing vital regions of the brain, and if we want their imaginations to really run wild, kids need space and unhurried time. If they get it, the pay-off can be significant (The recent book Nurture Shock cites research demonstrating that kids in preschool programs that dedicate extended time to pretend play jumped miles ahead in school achievement).

So maybe we should go lighter on the music and ballet lessons. Kids get a lot of stimulation and encouragement to be competitive in school and in their interactions with other kids. Let's make sure that they get the same support for directing their own play — whether it's at the playground with an invisible sister from the South, or at imaginary tea parties or forts at home. Hang back and let them exercise their imaginations — and think of all the brainpower they're building.

You Know You Deserve It

SpaFinder's Deal Days is back! Think DineLA but with your body and not your taste buds.

March 8th - March 14th ONLY $50 gets you a variety of 50-minute treatments from participating spas nationwide. Yes, for just $50 each. "You will be able to choose a sampling of a variety of treatments, like a mini facial and mini massage or a manicure and pedicure combination, or full 50-minute treatments such as facial, massage, pedicure, or body treatment. Spas with medical treatments will be offering laser hair removal, and dental spas will be offering teeth whitening."

$50.

Yes, just $50. That's like a dollar a minute. You KNOW you are worth more than that, but you can justify that at least once.

Besides, your toddler charges more to walk on your back and the spit-up mask the baby gave you last night clogged your pores.

Click here to sign up for email notices starting Feb. 26th.

Eat this one up!

A Greener You

A free guide to reducing unwanted or intrusive advertising

Stop junk mail, unwanted credit card applications, etc. Click here for a comprehensive list on small things you can do to save the world =) No excuses...

Does this explain why Mom kills them and Dad rescues them?

http://www.livescience.com/animals/fear-of-spiders-100218.html

In our house, if you are an "8-legged" as we call them, you have 2 paths to choose from to determine the remainder of your days:

1) stay OUT of the house and you will survive to spin another web.

OR

2) enter Mom's domain and basically commit suicide. If I find you, I kill you. Even Curly knows that now - one afternoon as I dozed on the couch while he played blocks, he woke me up with a wadded up bundle of toilet paper - "See Mommy. I got the bug."

There is a 3rd option, but I don't like to share it...it involves Mr. P and only if you're lucky will he be the one to find you and put you outside. But if word gets out that you can tempt fate and risk it, I'm afraid we'll be overwhelmed by the WoodStock of 8-leggeds. That's the last thing I need - a bunch of hippy arachnids running around my house all naked and high on illegal websilk.

Flip over this Free Pancake offer!

IHOP is sharing their specialty with you! What a generous way to start a Tuesday....February 23, 2010. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.,

"we'll give you one free short stack (three) of our famous buttermilk pancakes. All we ask is that you consider making a donation to support local children's hospitals through Children's Miracle Network or other local charities." Click here for more details.

I know my kids won't finish all of theirs...Sad for them. Happy for me.