Category Archives: Daily Life

Doctors and Toys

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Today at Candace’s 2 month check-up, Hasbro presented a solution to keeping kids busy at doctor’s appointments without spreading germs. They give coloring pages and pre-packaged crayons (4 in a pack) to each child that the child gets to take home. What a great idea!! Here’s why.

Less Likelihood of Germs

Sure germs are still around, but at least sick children will not be chewing on toys that well children will be playing with. Also, you don’t have to worry about whether the toys get cleaned often enough. I should point out that Hasbro has automatic hand sanitizer machines everywhere to help prevent the spread of germs. I really like them, even though both Peter and I have had our hair sprayed from standing (or sitting in my case) underneath one.

More Personal

There is something more personal about the nurse personally handing the coloring pages to each child. This is especially true if the nurse is giving them to the siblings of the child being seen because the siblings don’t feel ignored. Plus each child gets to make his/her own creation (even if it is a printed coloring page). And, best of all, he/she gets to take it home to show off to siblings or other family members!

Quiet Activity

Coloring kept my kids’ attention for about 20 minutes. They sat quietly and colored and compared their crayons and pictures. After awhile they began to pretend their crayons were people, but at least they were playing with un-contaminated “toys,” and even then, they were quite quiet. And maybe, since they get to take the pages home with them, they’ll decide to have more quiet coloring time in the car on the way home.

Less Chaos

With toys in the room, children are likely to argue over who gets the “coolest toy.” This is not as much of a problem when they all have identical coloring pages and even all had the exact same color crayons (yes, I know this is also a bit boring because they only had 4 colors to work with). Also, as parents of small toddlers are leaving, they don’t have to convince the child that he/she really wants to leave the toys in the room. They just take the coloring pages and crayons with them!

Good for Everyone

Pediatric offices see patients ranging in age between newborn through teenager. It is difficult to provide toys that work for all age groups. For some reason, coloring works for them all (except infants, of course)! I still enjoy coloring, and I’m…….uh….well, I’m an adult! 🙂 Too bad coloring pages weren’t available for me at the doctor’s office as a child. It would have been neat to come home and show off my artwork.

Have you caught on to the fact that I like being able to take home the coloring pages and crayons? Maybe it is because I like pictures plastered all over the refrigerator. Or maybe I just like seeing a full-length crayon with the wrapper still on it in the kids crayon box from time to time. Regardless of the reason, I am hooked on this activity at the doctor’s office…as long as my young toddler doesn’t leave her artwork (almost) permanently on the walls!

Learning to Write My Name

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Tonight, for the first time, we had Chinese friends over. They even brought their translator. We had an exciting evening of conversing and learning a new language! I don’t seem to be learning it very quickly, but I am hoping it will one day click, and I will at least be able to understand Chinese. I even learned to write my name!

Luke got the opportunity to tell our story and share some of his lifetime interests. He even got to share how God seems to be pulling together the puzzle pieces of our lives.

Anna had a blast with Tong (Xu Wenli’s wife), and Ruo Mei (the translator) learning hand games, drawing, and playing with their hair. She also practiced writing Chinese a bit and learned to write her name.

Peter was a little clown. He was also told over and over that he looked like the perfect American male model. Maybe he won’t be too arrogant after tonight! 🙂 He, being the early bird that he is, soon grew very tired and put himself to bed on the love seat.

Phillip got along well with Xu Wenli and talked to him most of the evening, even though he only knows about 3 Chinese words. I am sure he will pick it up much more quickly than I will!

Bethany was a bit shy at first, but she soon opened up and acted like herself. Everyone loved her messy face while she ate supper, especially the chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

Candice didn’t seem to be aware of anything out of the ordinary. She slept most of the time. My wonderful husband was very helpful by helping me care for her and helping with supper! Xie Xie, Luke! 😉

We all had a great time! All in all, it was an interesting learning experience and wonderful time together with new friends!

Somewhere Out There

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My favorite reader said he wished he knew the words to “Somewhere Out There“ as sung on An AmericanTail. His wish is my command! Click here to hear the song.

Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someones thinking of me
And loving me tonight

Somewhere out there
Someones saying a prayer
That we’ll find one another
In that big somewhere out there

And even though I know
How very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star

And when the night wind
Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we’re sleeping
Underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we’ll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true

And even though I know
How very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
on the same bright star

And when the night wind
Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we’re sleeping
Underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we’ll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true…

Foaming Hand Soap

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Foaming hand soap is the coolest thing! The kids love to see the bubbly soap squirt out onto their hands, so they want to wash their hands more often just to see the bubblies. I have also read that you can actually save money by using it. The most expensive part is the pump soap dispenser. You can refill your dispenser using your normal liquid hand soap and diluting it with water.

Sounds wonderful! My question is does it make you cheat? When I watch my kids wash their hands with foaming soap at the store, they squirt, play with the bubbles a few seconds, rub for about 2 seconds, and then rinse.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, you are supposed to lather and rub for at least 20 seconds (long enough to sing “Happy Birthday” twice) before rinsing. Regular liquid soap makes this pretty easy because it is very thick and probably takes about 20 seconds just to get off your hands. With foaming soap, you can put it on your hands and then rinse it off with very little rubbing at all (and that is almost exactly what my kids do). 🙂

So, I guess my question isn’t whether the soap works. The question is, do people actually take long enough washing their hands to make it worthwhile. I know it makes kids want to wash their hands more often because it is so fun. Maybe frequent washing makes up for the lack of time spent washing each time? I am not sure.

So, tell me. Do you think foaming hand soap does the job just as well as liquid hand soap? I would like to hear your opinion. (In other words, please leave me a comment) 😀

If you already use foaming hand soap and think it is a great product, check out recipes for the homemade refill at the blogs of Butterfly Mama and Melanie.

If you aren’t quite sure how to wash your hands and need to see a video, check this out! My only question is, does each person get his own individual towel? If you’re not sure why I asked that question, let me know. 🙂 Meanwhile, go wash your hands….and please use soap. Oh, and don’t forget to wish your mother, brother, or dog (or whoever happens to be nearby), a double happy birthday!

Respiratory Synctial Virus

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Well, it is the time of year for Respiratory Synctial Virus, more commonly known as RSV. The symptoms in an adult are similar to a cold, but are viral instead of bacterial. RSV can be quite serious in a young baby 6 weeks old and younger, especially preemies.

RSV is probably the bug that has been going around our church, but we probably would not have known it if Candice had not tested positive for it. I took her to the emergency room early (and I do mean early) this morning for holding her breath, and they admitted her to watch her.

Candice had very mild symptoms that did not get serious at all. But because RSV affects the airways, which happen to be quite small in an infant, and because she was holding her breath, the doctor wanted to keep her for monitoring. She is home now and still sick but seems to be taking the virus in stride.

On another note, the hospital had these nifty Purell dispensers that automatically spray hand sanitizer in your hand when you hold it under the dispenser. They are so neat…until you sit in a chair that happens to be right underneath a dispenser! Hand sanitizer instantly becomes hair sanitizer!:)

It’s Free!

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A couple of years ago, someone told me about a website you could go to and get free stuff. Usually when you hear of a site like that, you expect hidden cost or something you have to do to get the free stuff. In this case, the stuff is genuinely free except for the gas you use going to pick it up. This site is availabe in many areas and invites you to start a group in your area if there isn’t one. Check out freecycle!

The downside of freecycle is that you must become a member to view listings, and to become a member, you must have a yahoo ID. But the sign-up process doesn’t take long and is free. It might be worth your while.

One of the many positives of freecycle is that their goal is to keep good usable stuff out of landfills. Furniture, clothing, and many other items can be recycled kind of like paper, plastic, and glass!

We have gotten good use out of freecycle both in Nashville, TN and here in Rhode Island. We have gotten a baby swing, walker,stroller, high chair, clothing, bunk beds, and many other items from freecycle, and most of the time the items were in good shape! I just got some clothing for Candice, and it looks and smells brand new!

So, if there is something you need or want, why not try out freecycle before you spend money. You could save anywhere from a couple of dollars to a couple hundred dollars. Go ahead. Try it. You know you want to! 🙂

A Great Mommy Resource

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Candice has been having occasional wake-up spells in the evening. During these spells, she nurses about every hour and is awake and fussing in between. This tends to last for 4 hours or so. I think it might have to do with growth spurts, but I’ve never experienced this with my other little ones. I found a great online article that addresses this evening fussy time. Kellymom.com is a great resource for parents regardless of how many kids they have! It gives more details than you could imagine and is very well put together. Check it out!

Magic?

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While cleaning our old apartment in our recent move, I discovered a cleaning product that I will never forget! We had many black marks on our walls, and our apartment manager had told us that they planned to paint the walls. Any dark marks would show through the paint, so we were asked to remove them. They suggested using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I figured it was worth a try and got one from the store.

I was absolutely amazed at how well the Magic Eraser worked! I wet the sponge, rubbed gently on the wall, and black crayon marks erased easily from the wall! It also worked on marker and furniture marks! I was quite impressed! I plan to keep one around the house from now on!

5 Munchkins at the Mart

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A few days ago I made my first adventurous trip to Wal-Mart with 5 children. It has been quite a while since I made that venture with just 4 kids, so I was expecting something near chaos! I am quite pleased to say that things went quite well! Praise the Lord for those carts that have seats for toddlers on the front! I felt like Super Mom!