Essex, CT - All aboard for the best birthday party ever! Thomas the Tank Engine is coming to Essex (the only Day Out With Thomas event in Connecticut in 2010) to celebrate with all of his fans.  Thomas, the beloved and courageous storybook engine, is set to roll into Essex Steam Train for the Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010, presented by HIT Entertainment, a worldwide leader in children’s entertainment, and sponsored by MEGA Brands, a leading toy company. 

This fun-filled event offers preschoolers and their families the opportunity to take a ride with a 15-ton replica of Thomas the Tank Engine, star of the popular Thomas & Friends series. Children will ride along with their favorite hero on his latest adventure.  The tour, now in its 15^th year, will make stops in more than 45 US cities and is expected to welcome more than one million passengers in 2010.  This year also marks Thomas the Tank Engines 65^th publishing anniversary and fans are invited to partake in some choo choo-riffic celebratory activities!   

Thomas the Tank Engine

WHEN: New Dates in 2010:  May 8-9 & 15-16TIME:                    9:00 AM - 4:00 PMWHERE:               Essex Steam Train, 1 Railroad Avenue, Essex, CT  06426 TICKET LINK: http://essexsteamtrain.com/dowt2010/main_MoM.htmlCODE: MOM (DISCOUNT IS $2)WHO:                   Thomas the Tank EngineWHAT:                 A 25-minute (approximate) ride with Thomas the Tank Engine

                                -              An opportunity to meet Sir Topham Hatt, Controller of The Railway

-              Activities for the whole family, including arts & crafts, storytelling, video viewing, live music, magic, face painting, Kaboose the Clown, and the thrill of climbing aboard a Diesel Locomotive Simulator to drive the engine, toot the horn and ring the bell!

-              NEW! A special display at every DOWT location celebrating 65 years of Thomas the Tank Engine

-              NEW! 2010 commemorative merchandise and giveaways, including a mini-view finder giveaway that tells the story of Thomas upcoming adventure, Misty Island Rescue

-              NEW! A photo opportunity with Roary the Racing Ca

-              NEW! An authentic rail yard experience complete with a tour of Essex Locomotive Works

Tickets for Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010 are on sale now and available by calling Ticketweb toll-free 866-468-7630, or by visiting http://events.hitentertainment.com or www.essexsteamtrain.com.  Ticket prices are $18 plus tax for ages 2 and up (service charges and fee may apply).

For more information and directions contact Essex Steam Train & Riverboat at 800-377-3987 or visit www.essexsteamtrain.com.  For information on Thomas & Friends, visit www.thomasandfriends.com

I work for Miles Of Marketing and this information was provided to me by them (www.milesofmarketing.com).

Before I had kids, I knew everything. I knew how I would birth, when my kids would hit their milestones and how I'd nurture and guide them. They'd eat healthy food and would never, ever, watch terrible, repetitive cartoons. I'll wait for the experienced moms to stop laughing before I continue.

Like many slightly-crunchy Portland moms, I knew I'd have an uncomplicated, drug-free delivery, and that my children would sleep cuddled in my arms. My baby would sleep sweetly in a sling while I continued my classes and did my research to finish my degree, and they'd behave at the doula-owned baby store where I was employed. Then my midwife walked out of my labor, and I had to have an emergency C-section to deliver my daughter. She nursed just fine, but screamed twelve hours a day, and would only fall asleep in a cool, dark room. She came to school with me, but kept trying to take over the class, and once she was mobile, she tried as hard as she could to sneak out of the store and get hit by a car. She didn't talk until she was nearly two and a half, making do with sign and screaming. Still, aside from those few setbacks, a bout of flesh-eating staphylococcus bacteria when she was 18 months old, and some rather severe Obsessive/Compulsive tendencies, I thought we were mastering this whole parenting gig. I figured I'd learned from my mistakes. The next child, would be easy. This time, I was ready.

When my son arrived via VBAC, I had five blissful days with a baby who snuggled, didn't cry unless he wanted something and was content to be fawned over by his big sister. At his newborn checkup, we were sent for his first battery of tests. By the end of his first month, we could regurgitate phrases like “functional bi-cuspid aortal valve” and “non-syndromatic mutli-suture crainiosynostosis with cloverleaf deformity.” At two months we had a nearly six hour neurosurgery behind us, and still we kept the television off and did enriching activities. My son progressed normally, rolling over, sitting up and learning to crawl well within the typical parameters, getting to be big and fat and healthy. His second surgery, at nine months, was only three hours long, and we were told we only had one more to do sometime down the road. Finally, we were getting our lives back on track.

And then, around his first birthday, he stopped. Just froze in time. In the more-than-a-year since he turned one, he hasn't gained a pound of weight or an inch in height. His head is no bigger, which means there will be more corrective surgery, but there's no pressure on his brain because it isn't growing either. He still can't talk, or stack blocks, or put together a puzzle. He doesn't pretend, or understand simple directions. He only learned to eat solid food a few months ago, and still chokes on meat and yogurt. All of his blood panels and skull scans show nothing out of the ordinary, no lesions on his brain or weird hormonal deficiencies. His genetic tests come back normal, across the board. Yes, his neurologist at Doernbecher is concerned with his global processing delays, but his neuro-developmental age closely corresponds to his physical size, according to his evaluation by the Multnomah Early Intervention people. He's a happy, smiling, adorable one year old boy, who just happens to be nearly two and a half.

When you become the parent of a medically fragile child, or a child with any kind of special-needs, things change. You change. Chances are that you'll dust less and grow more patient. Your focus, your personal goals and your dreams change. They have to. You no longer have the luxury of focusing on the ephemera. Your children will sometimes leave the house in mismatched socks, and so might you. You may find that you have to put your professional or educational plans on the back burner to wade through IEPs and evaluations, scans and screenings, tests and therapy appointments. You also have to exchange your dreams of a perfect child for the hope that they reach their full potential and are happy. You may grieve over the fact that your child's disability prevents them from being an astronaut or opera-singer, but you learn to dream of them speaking, walking independently, or making their first friend. In time, you learn that these aspirations are just as fulfilling. This isn't to imply that all the little things fall away leaving you able to focus only on your child's health and development, because bills still need to be paid and dinner still needs to be cooked. You life is never the same, though

All this goes to say that today, I found myself holding my son down on a gurney at Doernbecher and trying to distract him from his heart scan with a Dora the Explorer video. After he'd thrown up the apple juice the cardiologist gave him and slept off the sedative, he awoke ravenous, and I nearly wept with joy to see how happily he gorged on a dinner of cookies and a few spoonfuls of macaroni and cheese. Am I plagued by mommy-guilt? Of course I am. However, like other moms of developmentally atypical kids, I need to learn to cut myself a break over the fact that he sometimes eats crap and likes TV.

A great resource for families as well as a play place for kids, the SunnySide Swapshop is simply one of the best places in SE to hang out on drizzly days.  For a few bucks a month, families can come in, play in the huge space (including an infant room, toddler space, stage and big kid room) or in the back yard, and trade their used clothes/toys for things they can actually use.  When was the last time you were able to take Baby's excersaucer into a place and walk out with a musical instument, a jumpy toy or a tricycle, without paying for them?

There are classes and events that happen, and it is a co-op, whcih means you will have to take on a job, but it is more than worth it.  There are some free-play days, so pop on over to the website and check them out.

A few short years ago, if you'd seen a parent and child using American Sign Language in a park or at a store, it would have been safe to assume that one of the two was Deaf. However there are now thousands of hearing parents teaching their hearing children how to sign basic words, due, in part, to the popularity of the hit PBS show Signing Time! Baby signing classes are popping up all over the United States as parents proudly showcase their toddlers' approximations of MILK and MORE, and it isn't only infants that are learning signs. How, and why, did this phenomenon come about?

Speech and Language professionals have been using American Sign Language signs to help hearing children communicate with their parents for over 25 years. The reason? Babies often have the motor skills and ability to understand communication far earlier than they are ready to begin oral speech (Robertson, 2007), and parents have found that sign language allows them to communicate with their children at as young as six months of age. Most people have seen pre-verbal children waving “bye-bye” before they can say it, or raising their arms in an attempt to get someone to lift them up, and teaching children American Sign Language signs is the next logical step. Parents of signing children rave that their kids began talking early, grasped the concept of language very young, and have fewer temper tantrums because of their ability to communicate with their caregivers. Sign is also embraced by many parents of children with speech and other developmental delays, as most Speech and Language Pathologists agree that sign facilitates the acquisition of verbal communication (Robertson, 2007). Simply put, it works.

What about other parents, though? Those whose children are already verbal, and able to hear? Is there any reason for parents to work on teaching signs to their older, healthy and developmentally typical children? The benefits of teaching American Sign Language signs to preschool and elementary-aged children are threefold, positively affecting a child's cognitive, academic and social growth, besides the obvious advantage were the child ever to lose their hearing.

In the realm of cognitive development, it seems that children who learn sign have larger vocabularies than those who don't, and retain superior language skills even after they stop signing. A recent study compared “groups of children who were exposed to sign for a single school year” with groups who were taught a similar curriculum without the use of sign language (Robertson, 2007). The researchers found that those children whose education had included manual communication developed better vocabulary skills during the year they were signing, and that they retained a larger vocabulary in the following year. At the end of the multiple-year study, the researchers found that “the more varied ways a child is exposed to language, the more retention and learning of that language will take place” (Robertson, 2007).

A larger vocabulary would seem to be an academic boon, as well. However, knowing the rudiments of a second language gives a child an even more impressive edge on their classmates, and American Sign Language is recognized as its own language, separate from English (Wilcox, 1999). Most parents know that learning a second language is important, and the proliferation of early immersion programs at the elementary level show that Portland parents have grasped that younger children learn and retain new languages much easier than older children and adults. However, a York University study seems to indicate that having a second language actually changes the way the brain works, which allowed “bilingual children [to] outperform monolingual students on tasks involving...abstract thinking, planning, initiating and inhibiting actions” (Exchange, 2010). Experience with another language is also a requirement for most colleges and universities in the United States.

So, it seems that signing with your child will make them smarter and help them do better in school, but did you know that it can also help them make the world a warmer and more inclusive place for others? Rachel Coleman, the creator of Signing Time! (and its Emmy-nominated star) has shared how her Deaf daughter, Leah, was ostracized on the playground and on her soccer team because the other children mistakenly believed she couldn't communicate with them. After a boy on Leah's soccer team refused to play with her, Rachel took a chance at the local school and volunteered to read and sign a story to the little boy's class. At the next practice, the boy “rushed up to Leah signing, 'FRIEND-PLAY-BALL!'” Rachel continues, “He wasn’t fluent in ASL. He hadn’t taken an ASL course. He only remembered three signs. Three signs changed their world!” (Examiner, 2010). Rachel's story illustrates how just a few signs mean that when a hearing child meets a Deaf child at school or encounters someone signing at their neighborhood park, the two won't have a language barrier to their friendship.

So, why do the parents of hearing children insist on their children learning American Sign Language signs? Because the knowledge will be good for their minds, good for their grades, and good for their hearts.

Sources:

Exchange Magazine. (2010). “Bilingualism boosts children’s focus, lessens distraction: York U study.” Editorial. Retrieved from: http://www.exchangemagazine.com/morningpost/2010/week5/Wednesday/020311.htm.

Robertson, Shari. (2007). “Using Sign to Facilitate Oral Language: Building a Case with Parents.” Speech Pathology.com. Retrieved from: http://www.speechpathology.com/Articles/article_detail.asp?article_id=315.

Sedlock, Heather. (2010). Examiner. “Signing Time Videos to be aired on Nick Jr: Interview withcreator Rachel Coleman.” Retrieved from:http://www.examiner.com/x-/x-10560-Special- Needs-Kids-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Signing-Time-Videos-to-be-aired-on-Nick-Jr-Interview- with-creator-Rachel-Coleman.

Wilcox, Sherman. (1999). “American Sign Language as a Foreign Language”. Center for Applied Lingusistics. Retrieved from: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/ASL.html.

Not sure if anyone else has seen the Harlem Globetrotters games/shows, but our kids (3 1/2 year old twins and a 2-year old daughter) LOVE them so I thought I'd pass along information about the upcoming show in Hartford, along with a discount code for $7 off tickets.  Hope some other local families can enjoy the show!!

The Harlem Globetrotters' 2010 "Magical Memories" World Tour is coming to the XL Center in Hartford on Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m.  A family-friendly show kids of all ages are sure to love!

SAVE $7 on tickets when using promotional code MOM (restrictions apply).

Purchase tickets through Ticketmaster at:

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004374980C3CEB?artistid=806223&camefrom=CFC_BUYAT_infinityprotickets

Vie International Group is an exciting baby product company in Japan and we will launch our new original brand in U.S soon!  We are looking for baby and mom models as below for press and promotional materials. 

·         around 24 month old girls and boys

·         around 6 months – 12 month old girls and boys

No experience necessary!  Photo shoot would take about 2 hours.  

Compensation $50 + images on disc.

It will be a memorable event and exciting experience for you and your baby!!

Please go to our website. http://www.totinstyle.jp/brand.html

If you are interested in and need more information, please contact at 212-219-0584 or hiroko@kiteyany.com.

The profession of parenthood is busy, chaotic, and ever-changing.  There are so many resources out there for parents - tv, magazines, the internet - but wouldn't it be easier if you could make the most of your neighborhood and local resources to discuss parenting issues, meet other area families, and utilize your local merchants and resources?

That's the vision of Mom's Turn - to make parenting local.

This group just started in the Twin Cities and offers events for you and your family, discounts to local businesses, and a place to meet other parents in your neighborhood.

Sign up for email updates (your email won't be sold OR overused) and check out the calendar at http://www.momsturnmn.com/.

I absolutely agree we should always be aware of any dangers around us, but please remember that an overwhelming majority (90% plus) of sex offences are committed by family members and friends- people known to the victim- NOT strangers who grab a child off the street.  Although this does happen, it's extremely rare in comparison. Instead, we should teach our children to talk to us when something uncomfortable happens or if they are touched in any way that they don't like or want or hurts them.

Sex offenders registries list all kinds of offenders- not just pedophiles.  Someone may be listed because of a rape, or because they urinated in a public place.  Please understand I'm not trying to excuse any one's behavior- It's just a much more complicated issue than it seems.  The laws vary from state to state.  But keep in mind that sex offenders aren't all seeking children and many do not commit their crimes again.  Very very few will grab a child and run.  Of course, this does happen and these are the cases we hear about in the news- but the real threat- the immediate one- to our children is with those we know. 

We are delighted to announce that our original new brand, called La Vie New York, Chic and stylish baby and mom products, will launch and looking for 6-12 month baby and mom models for press materials.

Our first products will be nursing pillow, stroller accessories such as stroller liner, and stroller cover.



Photo shoot will be the end of Jan and place will be in Soho area. If you are interested in being a model, please contact at 212-219-0584, or hiroko@kiteyany.com.

It will be a memorable and exciting experience for you and your baby!!

Looking for a family to share a nanny beginning in January 2010. Our son was born in October and we are located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Willing to work with a family in the Williamsburg area or in Manhattan as well. Both of us commute to Manhattan (Midtown West & West Village), so we could drop our child at your home if necessary.

Hi there. I'd like to introduce myself if I may. My name is Dana Pulsinelli, owner of Sweet Tush Yummy Bath & Body Treats. I specialize in Cupcake Bath Bomb Party Favors. They are dessert theme bath bombs and are super fun for birthday parties, baby showers as well as bridal showers and so on. They come ready for giving in clear acetate gift boxes with matching ribbon and hang tag. We have a large variety of scents and themes. I'd love to chat with you about Sweet Tush Cupcake Party Favors. I look forward to hearing from you.

www.SweetTush.com

Can anyone suggest a good peditrician in the Kirkland, WA area?