Little Screamer

Kids have been sick recently so I guess I don't have much to say. Will do a bit of picture catching up tonight though.

Akasha is doing this crazy throaty yell alot lately. So it seems like all her pictures look like this:


She is loving the jumper, but I worry about having in there since I have heard they aren't good for little hips. Ironically, the doctor I asked about her gross motor pokiness suggested a jumper. So we just a few short periods a day.

Few Random Akasha Pics and...

...she is clapping! Just all of a sudden. So cute!

Slightly out of focus, but such a cute expression!
"No, I am not going to give you a bit smile."
Doing a funny little shrug thing.
And doing her favorite throaty yell.

Revolving Door

Orion did the cutest thing he called a revolving door. I think it would be really hard to explain in words, but it was really clever. I asked him how he came up with the idea, and he said, "I just decided it. My brain helped." hahahahah I love my kid!

In toothy news...

Akasha has both her two front top teeth just poking through! I didn't even catch it at first because she has had three teeth on the bottom for ages, so I kept thinking the fourth one down there would be next. Then I had my finger in her mouth, and poof, there they were!

When Breastfeeding is Accepted, It Won't Be Noticed

New Breastfeeding Campaign Turns Heads

Group introduces unique ad campaign

By SAJID FAROOQ

No it's not time to change your glasses. You really are seeing more women breastfeeding in public.

The woman standing by the mailbox has been breastfeeding for hours. Same with the lady sitting on the bench. They, and two of their friends, are going to be breastfeeding all over Marin County, Calif. in the coming weeks.

But if you look closely you might notice that looks can be deceiving.

A series of life-sized photographs of women breastfeeding their babies, cut-out and plastered on poster board, is all part of an eye-catching campaign to encourage and promote the acceptance of breastfeeding in public.

“Breastfeeding is recognized as the standard for infant feeding by all major health organizations,” said lactation consultant and coalition member Susan Martinelli. “Mother’s milk provides the best nutritional, immunological and emotional nurturance for the normal growth and development of babies. No manufactured formula offers anything close.”

The life-like cutouts of the “women and their babies will make their debut this week at The Village shopping center in Corte Madera, near a children’s play area.

Marin Breastfeeding Coalition, an advocacy group, has launched the campaign to raise breastfeeding awareness and support.

During a recent test run in San Rafael, the cutouts drew dozens of gawking eyes and confused second looks. Each cut-out figure is holding a card which reads, “When breastfeeding is accepted, it won’t be noticed.”

The Marin Breastfeeding Coalition said it would love for everyone to notice the campaign and to question why they were even paying so much attention to a breastfeeding mother in the first place.

The group wants the public to know that breastfeeding in public is perfectly acceptable and that it is actually protected by law.

Article About Kids Needing Play in School

Gee, we need a study to tell us this? Also, I think these folks are missing out on some of the other important reason about *why*. Still, any move in the right direction is a good one. I am glad there are some science minded people out there thinking this way!

U.S. school children need less work, more play: study

By Michael Conlon Michael Conlon – Mon Jan 26, 1:53 am ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) – All work and no play may be a hazard for some U.S. school children.

Researchers reported on Monday that a growing trend of curbing free time at school may lead to unruly classrooms and rob youngsters of needed exercise and an important chance to socialize.

A look at more than 10,000 children aged 8 and 9 found better classroom behavior among those who had at least a 15-minute break during the school day compared to those who did not, Dr. Romina Barros and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York reported.

The behavior assessments were general in nature and not made at any particular time of the school day, their report said.

"The available research suggests that recess may play an important role in the learning, social development, and health of children in elementary school," the research team said in a study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But today many children get less free time and fewer physical outlets at school "because many school districts responded to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 by reducing time committed to recess, the creative arts, and even physical education in an effort to focus on reading and mathematics," they added.

The researchers also found that children not getting recess were more likely to be black, from poor families and attending public schools in large cities.

"This raises concern in light of evidence that many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are not free to roam their neighborhoods or even their own yards unless they are accompanied by adults," the team said. "For many of these children, recess periods may be the only opportunity for them to practice their social skills with other children."

Barros told Reuters that previously published research indicates that poor children often are deprived of recess because "those schools are located in very violent neighborhoods, and there is the concern that children may get exposed to fights or gun shooting while in recess."

In addition, she said, such schools are often overcrowded, with space designated for recess or physical activity turned into classrooms.

The study also said the growing problem of childhood obesity needs to be addressed by more activity, especially at school where children spend so much of their day.

One earlier study found that free time has shrunk for U.S. children in and out of school since the 1970s, the report said. At the same time most elementary schools in Asia provide a 10-minute break after every 40 to 50 minutes of instruction, it added.

(Editing by Andrew Stern and Eric Walsh)

Blessed Be the Peacemakers

I got the shock of my life today - in a good way! Orion went with me to a meeting, which I always worry about just a little because he can get pretty intense with other kids around sometimes. There was a local teen doing childcare, but whoa, did she have her hands full! Way too many kids for one young woman to handle, and many of them very high energy. At one point a mom came up the stairs and mentioned some of the boys were not "cooperating", and I thought, uh oh! So I go down to check on Orion, and he was sitting quietly on the couch playing his DS. But it gets better! The teen tells me he has been helping her if anything! She said at one point, there were some siblings fighting and saying they hated each other, and Orion actually went over, squatted down, put his hands on their shoulders and said, "If you are brothers, you should treat each other more lovingly." Wow! I told a friend of mine this story, and she said she wished she could have gotten a picture of my face when I heard it! The funny thing is, I have never even said that to him about Akasha. He is normally great with her. I have no idea where he even heard that, but it warmed my heart for sure.