Families That Hit Pine Cones Together Stay Together
September 23, 2008
Families That Hit Pine Cones Together Stay Together
by: Duane Shinn
It is said that families that pray together stay together. I think it’s almost equally true that families that play together stay together. If play time is the glue of family life, our family is a sticky crew!
One scorching August day we were trying to escape the heat by retreating to a summer cabin rental at Diamond Lake, high in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Our little league star, Garin, suggested that we play baseball.
“But we don’t have a ball up here,” I objected.
“We don’t need a ball. We can use pine cones,” answered Garin.
“Where would we play? There’s no clearing big enough,” I countered.
“We can play in the driveway if you move the car.” Garin always was a problem solver.
“Alright,” I groaned. “Come on. Everybody out to the driveway.” I pouted while moving the car. I always was a bad loser.
The driveway to our cabin, you understand, was not the nicely paved driveway you find in subdivisions. Instead, it was more like a wild bear trail, weaving its way between 200-foot pines and spruce and white fur, bordered on the west by Diamond Lake and on the right by the country road. I had visions of the Cincinnati Reds playing the World Series on a motorcycle track. “The boat trailer will be first base,” declared Garin with the authority that only comes with entrepreneurs. “The back of the car will be second, and the outhouse will be third. Let’s use this squirrel hole for home plate. ”
So we did.
Mom said to start the game without her. She would be there in a minute. Garin was first up, naturally. He tripled off the Blue Spruce. Conveniently at third, used the opportunity to hurry Mom out of the game by pounding the rhythm of “Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho” on the outhouse wall.
Mom made her appearance just as Garth lined a foul ball into the right field forest. Kendy claimed she retrieved the ball, but the rest of us had our doubts, as the new ball seemed larger and was certainly stickier than the old ball.
“Yuk” exclaimed the pitcher, Kurt. “This ball has pitch all over it.’
Since I was doubling as catcher and umpire, I examined the ball and decided that the new ball was definitely in order. I threw out the old ball, threw in the new, and play resumed. Things went nicely for 3 or 4 innings Kurt hit the ball over the cabin and into the lake; the squirrel stuck his head up once but quickly re-submerged when he saw Garth about to slide into home plate; and a passing doe watched the game briefly from the left field stands, but apparently got bored with our game and moved on to more exciting adventures.
After the game we totaled the score, which was kept engraved in the red dirt behind home plate. Kids 76; Mom and Dad 37. Garth complained because he wanted to go swimming.
Bev and I, decisively defeated, headed for the cabin to drown our sorrows in a tall ice tea while the kids scrambled to get their swimming suits, inner tubes, frog feet, and snorkels.
While the victors celebrated loudly in the lake, the losers retreated to the shade of a massive fir tree by the shore where they licked their wounds and re-grouped for the next encounter.
duane@playpiano.com
Sweep Away Colic Baby Crying with White Noise
September 23, 2008
Sweep Away Colic Baby Crying with White Noise
by: Cherie Stirewalt
It doesn’t make sense does it? You do everything possible as a new parent to keep your baby healthy and happy. So why is it, your baby decides to start screaming inconsolably right around dinner time? Just when you need it least.
Ask yourself
- When your baby starts crying, is it for spells of 3 or more hours at a time?
- Do these crying spells happen 3 or more times a week?
- Did you notice the crying spells becoming more apparent about the 3rd week after you brought your baby home?
If you’ve answered yes to the above questions, you might have a baby with colic.
Colic is the diagnosis many pediatricians tag on a baby who is otherwise healthy and thriving, but follows the “Rule of Threes” as stated above. A colic baby has episodes of inconsolable crying beginning around the 3rd week of life, lasting at least 3 hours a day, for at least 3 days a week.
Attempting to calm a colicky infant can leave a parent emotionally battered and physically exhausted. Some doctors believe the cause of colic stems from your baby having a pain in the gut. “Colic” actually comes from the Greek word kolikos, which means “suffering in the colon.” Sometimes, simply changing the baby’s diet can help dramatically (or changing the mother’s diet in the case of breastfeeding).
However, another theory is emerging about the cause of colic.
Some doctors believe an underdeveloped and immature nervous system may be the cause of colic crying. When a baby is born, its head isn’t big enough to house a brain that is mature enough to have all the survival tools a human infant needs. A baby’s brain is only the size of an apple. The birth canal cannot handle a bigger head. So, when a baby is born, the only inherent survival skills they possess are sneezing, sucking, swallowing and.CRYING!
Eighty percent of babies are capable of crying for a reason, and then calming themselves down. They are awake for awhile to learn and accept stimuli. Then they sleep to recover and awake to take in more stimuli.
A colicky baby is high-maintenance. Their nervous system is overloaded with all the sights and sounds of a new world. And by about dinner time, they’ve had it. The crying begins. Once they start crying, they lack the mechanism to calm themselves down. In my experience, most mothers with colicky infants tell the same story. Their baby fights going to sleep. They won’t take a nap. They won’t stay asleep once they do finally go to sleep. These poor babies never take the time to recover from all the stimuli they have taken in over the course of a day.
What can you, as a parent, do to eliminate these crying spells?
An effective method to calming a colicky infant is by using white noise to mask environmental stimuli.
White noise is something we hear all the time, but rarely pay any attention. You hear white noise from:
- the roar of you wheels while driving in your car,
- the hum of your fan while working at your computer
- the hum of the motor while running a vacuum cleaner
- and even from the roar of a crowd while watching sporting events.
White noise is the full spectrum of sound frequencies a human ear can hear combined together all at once. When you hear something that creates a monotonous hum, and maybe kind of makes you sleepy, you are hearing white noise. You can purchase white noise CDs and white noise generators, download white noise mp3s or, even try running an appliance (like hair dryers, air conditioners or fans) to create the white noise necessary to calm your baby in the midst of a crying outburst.
Remember, in the womb, your baby was packed in tightly. It was dark. It was warm. And the prominent sound she heard was the “whoosh” of blood flowing through the placenta (a little louder than the noise of a vacuum cleaner running). This “whoosh” of sound actually acted as the white noise your baby heard while in the womb.
You can recreate the feeling your baby had while in the womb. If you lower the lights, swaddle your baby in a blanket, and play some white noise, a colic baby outburst can be eliminated in no time.
vestamarketing@charter.net
Alternative Baby Clothing
September 22, 2008
Alternative Baby Clothing
by: Mark Freeman
Whoever coined the phrase that there is nothing new under the sun was clearly not expecting to see the latest trend in clothing for infants and toddlers. The members of the punk rock generation of the ‘80s are the parents of today and it seems that a good number of them chose to go the way of Peter Pan and simply refused to grow up. That is the only viable explanation for the aforementioned baby clothing trend: “alternative” baby wear. Parents are now able to dress their little Joeys and Siouxsies in all manner of punk-rock and biker inspired clothing designed to make even the most anti-social and anarchistic parents say, “Isn’t he a cute little punk?”
Available at various specialty shops and a number of online retailers, these clothing items intended for infants and toddlers consist primarily of Tee shirts bearing slogans like “If you can read this THE BIB FELL OFF!” and “Little Punker” colored in the requisite blacks, reds, and hot pinks. Many of these articles hail from the UK and are available in the US by mail order only. The panhandling punks of yesteryear must have a bit of cash saved up, however, at a UK site called The Rally Shack the aforementioned “bib” slogan shirt as well as a hot pink tee adorned with a pattern of skulls and crossbones that might look more fitting donning the chest of John Lydon or Iggy Pop sells for £10.00 (about $18.00 US) and is available in 6, 18, and 24 month sizes. Eighteen bucks is a pretty hefty price for a baby tee that is going to be spit up on and outgrown, but, with the number of these sites in business, there must be a market. A few other offerings follow.
The Kids Window
This UK based site offer US, UK, European, and world versions and sells traditional and alternative baby clothes. Of particular interest are the “Jolly Roger” skull and crossbones tees, “Head Banger” tees and “hoodies” bearing both legends and slogans. Prices range from about £12.00 to £16.99 (about $22.00-$31.00 US). Yes, your 6 month old can wear a hoodie! Just like Eminem!
Lucky L’il Devil
This American site has got to be seen to be believed. It offers everything you could want to turn your baby or toddler into a little hoodlum all under one convenient roof. In addition to the rock and pop culture inspired Tee shirts (personal favorites include the Betty Page tee, the Ramones homage tee that reads “Hey, Ho, Let’s Go,” and the disturbingly humorous tee reading “333 - Halfway to Hell”), Lucky L’il Devil offers full outfits like apron dresses and leggings that bear images like the female silhouette familiar to truckers everywhere and slogan “Daddy Drinks Because I Cry.” Prices range from $17.00-$18.00 for tee shirts, $34.00-$36.00 for apron dresses, and $17.00 for leggings.
support@arundel.net
Time for Sleep..A Guide for First Time Parents
September 21, 2008
Time for Sleep..A Guide for First Time Parents
by: Ryan Sorensen
If you don’t want to fight your two year old for space in your own bed, you must start early in establishing good bedtime habits. Good bedtime habits will allow your child the comfort that he or she needs to fall asleep in their own room by themselves. Good bedtime habits for your child are the gift that keeps giving because it pays off with better sleep and more comfort for you as parents.
First time parents always have anxieties about putting their child to bed in their own bedroom for the first time. Mothers may be anxious about their baby growing up so quickly and leaving the comfort of the bassinette that is right next to the bed. Both parents may feel uneasy about the baby being alone in a big dark room. The biggest cause of anxiety may just be the unknown amount of time it will take before your child goes to bed without crying hysterically before falling asleep. Hopefully some advice from a parent that has been through this stage already can help ease the anxiousness.
Bedtime is no different than anything else in a child’s life. Children love habits and they need a comfort level with something before they will accept it. Schedules are very important! Try to put your child to bed at the same time each night, preferably before they are overtired and cranky. Overtired children aren’t themselves and they are less apt to learn if they are crying or throwing a tantrum.
After scheduling a bedtime, make sure that you set up a bedtime “plan”. This begins from the time that you tell your child it is almost bedtime. Consistency is the key. Make sure you set up a plan that is reasonable in time (not too long so as to get the child overtired and not too short that the child doesn’t get to adjust from playtime to bedtime).
The following is the plan that we still use with our 4-year-old daughter (and our 2-year- old daughter) that works very well:
- Announce that it is bedtime.
- Diapers changed/pajamas put on.
- Brush teeth.
- Go into child’s room (make sure before bedtime all necessary blankets, books, etc. are in the room).
- Sit down and read two books (let the child pick which two books).
- Turn on white noise sound maker.
- Turn off light.
- Sing two songs.
- Lay the child in bed, tell the child good night and leave the room immediately, closing the door behind.
This plan might not work for everyone, but it has consistently performed well for my wife and me. The key is consistency in the routine. Doing the same thing every night and at approximately the same time will allow bedtime to become another habit that the child will be comfortable with.
