It’s the big day they’ve been looking forward to. My twin boys turned 6 today! It is certainly a major milestone for the kids as well as for the parents. Here are the reasons why:

• 6 is the age when they start primary school. Until a year ago, kindergarten in Switzerland was not obligatory, so that for many kids, 6 is the year when they actually “leave the nest” for the first time.

• 6 is the age when kids start paying. From now on, they will be paying for public transport, museums, swimming pools, shows, etc. For the kids, 6 is the age when they can have their very own – albeit reduced – ticket. They are no longer the “gratis” babies who had to sit on mom/dad’s laps at ice hockey matches. They will have their own seat! Oh, how proud they are. (And oh, how much more do mommy and daddy have to spend now).

• 6 is the age when kids can do much more. There are games, rides, or toys that are only accessible to 6+ kids, including that big slide and the 3-meter diving board at our local swimming pool.

• 6 is also the age of the big doctor’s check up, when inoculations are finally completed, and when the kids are checked for school readiness.

In addition to these milestones, we have agreed that a couple things can happen once they turn 6, namely:

• They can choose the clothes they wear in the morning, although mommy still has to give the final approval based on weather conditions.

• They can go and shop for their birthday presents.

• They can brush their teeth in the evenings on their own.

Things went fairly well even though they went for sleeveless shirts and shorts on a not-so-warm day. It took them two hours to decide what to buy with their birthday budget of 10 Swiss Francs (about 8 US dollars).

In the end, they refused all suggestions from us parents – from swimming fins, to a ping pong set, etc, and opted for a little stuff toy instead (much to Dad’s dismay and mom’s delight). As for the tooth brushing, it went pretty well despite a mishap with the toothpaste.

It was just 6 years ago, they were born premature and much smaller than normal babies. I remember the weeks when they had to stay in the neonatal clinic. I remember how we lived through post partum depression, the superhot summer of 2003, four months of breast milk pumping, countless sleepless nights, tummy aches, teething pains, and respiratory tract infections. Those are the times when I had my doubts whether I could make it. But then I also remember the first smiles, the first steps, the first words, all the other “firsts”. My six years have come and gone. And I guess I’m allowed to say: we made it! Good night, my babies.

I am convinced that my toddler thinks she is a rock star. At just a few weeks past two years old, she has trashed so many rooms you’d think she is on tour, but her diva behavior doesn’t end there. We keep some of her clothes in a dresser in our living room, which we keep shut but, being a toddler, she has some sort of intrinsic need to open the drawers. She then proceeds to toss out every article of clothing from the dresser and strew them all over the living room — usually at the most inconvenient times, like when company is coming over.

Meal times are no different. If she doesn’t like a certain food, she is sure to either toss it over the edge of her high chair tray or hurl it at the wall. I simply cannot count the number of times she has overturned a bowl of food onto the floor, or dumped it onto the tray and then grabbed it with her hands. Same with her water glass – she loves to pour the water anywhere but inside her mouth.

Fortunately, she also enjoys cleaning up. One of her favorite activities is washing her hands, and she almost always willingly scrubs her hands at the sink, especially before and after meals. She usually helps with cleaning the living room as well, and is most likely to do so when an incentive is introduced. For a little Elmo or Kai Lan time, she will pick up her clothes and jam them into the dresser drawer one at a time, but only after she has tried on a few of them in ways they weren’t intended to be worn. She will take a blouse and wear it like a skirt, or a onesie and pull it over her head like a shawl. Then she’ll find a pair of my shoes and put them on her feet, usually with one on backwards. She’s a rock star, all right – one with a very, um, striking sense of style.

Does your toddler have rock star behavior?

It was a cool spring day here, which I love. We are both ultra-fair skinned and burn so easily, so the summer hat battle and sunscreen tantrum were not an issue. It was a perfect day to be outside, so we drove a little way out of the city and went for a hike.

Just like almost every baby, my toddler loves to be outside, especially after being deprived of sunlight all winter. The playground at our local park is his favorite place that we visit regularly. The slide and the swings are fun, digging in the sand is fun, and he loves to collect leaves and find bugs and put twigs in a sand dump truck.

Man-made outdoor fun is fun, but even better is the real outdoors. We drove out to a country park which has a hill that rises over the river and hiked up it. I say hike, it’s about a quarter-mile to the top, which is not really a hike, unless you are three and have short legs.

Toddler had a big grin on his face all the way up. There were tree roots to climb over, fallen trees to balance on and walk along, piles of dead leaves to crunch, woodpeckers to spot, rocks to pick up, other people’s dogs to pet, wild flowers to smell, ferns to stroke, mud to stand in, and lots and lots more things to investigate.

I’ve been taking him hiking since he was a baby and he rode in a sling and I hiked. I’m hoping that he’ll grow up to love and respect nature and the outdoors, but right now I’m enjoying that he has so much fun being outside.

Have you ever taken your baby out into the country? If you haven’t, and get a chance to take your baby out into the country, or if you have woodland or parkland near you, then go. It’s so different to being outside in your yard or in a playground, and babies and toddlers usually love it.

So after looking at the view and having a snack, we started back down. He needed a ride some of the way, and I’m glad he’s still just about small enough to carry. Then he got bored being carried and walked the rest of the way himself. Some of the trees were dropping seed pods that looked like furry caterpillars, which he loved, and then we found a tunnel that lead into the rocks to wonder who lived inside. We thought it might be a Gruffalo.

Back to the car, and he was fast asleep in his carseat within minutes of hitting the road. A good sign of a happily exhausted toddler!

So that was my Day, and it was lovely.

One in five preschoolers are obese, according to researchers at Ohio State University. That adds up to half-a-million obese four year olds in America.

Baby fat is adorable, and even necessary for survival. Babies are designed to be fat, because fat is needed to help babies regulate their temperature. Those adorable little rolls around their tummies? Their sausage-y legs, fat little fingers, chubby cheeks and squidgy little knees? Precious.

As babies become crawlers and toddlers, and become more aware of the relationship between having a coat on and not being cold, being fat is not vital for survival. And crawling and toddling and running uses up calories and builds muscles, so that baby fat is designed to gradually disappear.

It seems like that isn’t happening in many of today’s children. Many people can tell you their opinion of why people are getting heavier, and getting heavier younger.  Perhaps our kids are getting less exercise, maybe they are eating more food, or the wrong kind of food. Perhaps it’s a combination.

Most of us know that a healthy diet and plenty of activity is vital for maintaining a healthy weight, and that seems to apply to everyone from babies on up.

And the researcher’s best non-obvious advice for preventing a baby becoming an overweight toddler and an obese preschooler?  Helping baby recognise when they are full. Babies are born knowing when they have had enough to eat, and trying to get a baby to eat more than she needs disrupts the natural system and may lead to overeating in future.

Let’s face it: Babies and toddlers have temper tantrums at the most inopportune times.  Whether you’re in line at the grocery store or sitting in a church service, young kids seem to have a sixth sense about when it is the worst time to start crying and get upset.  Some might make the claim that it’s harder to deal with babies when they have these fits since they can’t really tell you why they are upset, but remind me to tell you about the tantrum my three year old son had the other day where he slapped me across the face and told me “Shut up!”

But I digress.

It can be really tough to keep your cool when your baby is freaking out.  It’s one thing when you can pinpoint the issue, such as when a diaper needs changing or you know your baby is way overdue for a nap.  It’s another thing when your baby just starts flipping out for no apparent reason.  Does something hurt? Does she want a specific toy? Is she scared by something that you don’t see?

It’s only made worse when there are people around you giving you that tsk-tsk look that some people give.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about printing up a shirt to wear that says Unless you’re going to offer me help with my kids, keep your critical glances to yourself.  I never did get that shirt printed up but I have perfected conveying the same message through an equally critically counter-glance.

So how do you keep your cool when your baby is having a full-blown tantrum? It’s important to remember that the younger your child is, the less likely it is that what you’re experiencing is an actual “tantrum.”  Young babies start crying and fussing as a result of being unable to say, “Mom, I’m hungry,” or “Mom, that guy with the beard is scaring the heck out of me because I’ve never seen a beard before.”  When a baby is young, this certainly isn’t the time to discipline.  You can’t hope to get a newborn to stop crying by delivering a stern speech about how to act in public.

It’s better to try to soothe your baby while also getting through whatever it is you’re doing.  If you’re in line at a grocery store, it may be worth it to simply finish your transaction and let your baby have a cry in the stroller.  If your baby is in your arms it makes it a little harder, but keep in mind that the world doesn’t stop because your baby is upset.  In other words, you can’t expect everyone around you to be nice for long if you hold up a line of shoppers so you can soothe your baby with a lullaby.

Above all else, just do what you can to stay calm.  Your baby can probably sense your mood, so if you freak out then your baby will be even more scared because she’s looking for you to fix the problem instead of making it worse.  Believe me when I say that it’s not always possible to not get a little frazzled.  There have been plenty of times when I was ready to hang up my Mommy hat because I was so taken aback by my kid’s temper tantrum.  Just remember: stay calm, stay focused, and remember that this too shall pass.

We are in the middle of the spring thaw, and snow, and thaw again. Then soon we’ll have spring rain, and storms, and all of that weather means one thing that toddlers love. Puddles.

I’m encouraging my daycare baby, who is a wobbly try away from her first steps, to get walking so she can splash in puddles. My toddler loves the rain, and he loves his rainboots, and he loves that he can put on his own rain boots (rainboot shopping tip – get the ones with the little handles on the sides for ease of toddler use) and he loves, loves, loves splashing in puddles.

Another puddle tip. On puddle outings, bring a spare pair of pants, and a spare pair of socks. Despite the rainboots, any enthusiastic toddler can splash enough water to get inside the boots.

And enthusiastic toddlers in a slippy puddle are at risk of falling over… so the spare pants are likely to come in handy.

Muddy puddles add another dimension of toddler joy to puddles. Once my son walked into a muddle puddle and squelched and splashed about happily. Then his boots got stuck, and he pulled his feet out walked out without them, squish squish squish. He thought it was hilarious. And since we weren’t on the way to anywhere that we needed to be presentable, so did I.

Splashing in puddles with your kids is fun, it’s great to be outside after the winter. I love that kids love puddles. Puddles are free. Puddles are one of the ultimate simple pleasures.

How do even the tiniest babies know that your attention is not 100% on them? Telephones are fascinating to little children. The phone rings, mom drops everything to go and talk to it. Kids are curious, what is it about this little plastic object with the buttons on that has so much power over mom?

And babies and toddlers also don’t like something that mom obeys without question. After all, when a toddler has been whining for another cup of juice for twenty minutes and isn’t getting any, it seems highly unfair that the phone gets responded to immediately after it rings.

So the strategy adopted by many babies is to not take it lying down. Oh no. Baby is not going to let the phone win.

Take the last time I tried to call my bank to attempt to sort out a complicated and boring mess with my account, I’ll spare you the details. Toddler and Daycare Baby collectively object to me not looking at them.

Toddler starts a pterodactly impression, skrark skrark skrark. Daycare Baby copies Toddler, peep peep peep. Toddler starts jumping off the couch and landing with a bang on the floor. Daycare Baby eggs him on by banging blocks on the floor. Toddler starts pulling out all the bloody annoying electronic toys that play music and animal sounds and encouraging phrases. Daycare Baby loves annoying electronic toys. Daycare Baby starts trying to climb up my leg and Toddler copies her. I’m sitting on the couch and I have Toddler sitting on one foot and Daycare Baby sitting on the other foot, both chirruping away.

So I didn’t get the bank account mess cleared up and I say goodbye and hang up. Daycare Baby and Toddler instantly fall silent and look up at me with big wide innocent eyes.

Then they crawl and scamper off to play with cotton balls and socks and fluff from under the bed and other zero decibel items.

Saving important phone calls for naptime or other baby-free times is a good strategy, but that’s not always possible. And no matter how clever or engaging a distraction we can think up, it’s really hard to distract a baby or toddler that has decided that he/she needs attention from mommy NOW.

Do you have any tips or tricks for talking on the phone with babies around?

I’ve never been the kind of person to refer to the dog as my furry baby, or buy her outfits, or attempt to carry her around in a fluffy pink crystal embellished dog handbag.  Still, I love my dog and I think she’s a bit fond of me, in a “oh, there’s that person who walks me and puts food in my bowl” way.

So when I got pregnant, I wasn’t too worried that the dog would feel like she was replaced and get upset or jealous of the baby. And she wasn’t, as long as she kept getting food and walks.  Well, there were a few instances when I was especially sleep deprived with a newborn and the dog was hungry and my brain couldn’t work out what she wanted. Dog barks. I look at her dimly.  Dog stands by her empty food bowl and whines. The gears start to turn slowly in my mind. Dog tries to hack her way into the dog food bin. Oh! Food. Yes. That only took about five minutes to work out.

And so things went smoothly, until the baby started crawling. Do you know what the most fascinating thing in the whole world to a crawling baby is? Dog or cat food bowls. No toy can compete. Mom and dad are dull in comparison. There’s water to splash, either squishy wet food or interesting kibble (yum), dog cooties and dog drool, and the dog or cat will appear and query what baby is up to, plus mom will scream and remove baby which is the best way to make a baby want to do it again.

The dog (or cat) is also a bewitching creature. I have a theory that babies with a pet in the home start crawling earlier than those who don’t, because they want to be like the dog.

And they feel good too. Tail to pull, fur to grab, ears to poke fingers in, whiskers to yank. Sharp claws and teeth do not mix well with delicate baby skin so babies must always always always be supervised around animals and that includes the gentle creature that you’ve had since she was a puppy/kitten and who has never hurt a fly. Any animal can snap or scratch if baby is hurting or annoying them.

I’m currently trying to teach Daycare Baby to be gentle with our dog. The routine goes like this. Daycare Baby crawls up to dog, attempts to whack dog in the face. I grab her and hold her hand and stroke the dog gently. “Gentle, gentle” I say. So far, this has not worked.

It took my toddler son a while to understand the concept of “gentle” so I know that I have to persevere and try to protect the dog as best I can until she does get it.

Did I say that my toddler son understood the concept of “gentle”? Yes, I did, and he does understand. But one caveat: he understands but he’s quite capable of pretending he doesn’t. He’s also much faster than me and has pulled the dog’s ears several times. Toddlers are rarely being mean when they hurt animals, there’s no malice when they pull tails, they are interested in the reaction it gets, and it’s often a good one from the animal and the parent.

So my policy with toddler and the dog is keeping calm, removing him from the dog and quietly but firmly telling him that he’s hurting the dog when he does that, and he must not pull her ears or throw things at her or poke her.

That one is taking some time to work too, but he’s getting better. And the spontaneous moment of kindness to the dog – stroking gently, wanting to help feed her – make me hopeful that he’ll grow up and be nice to animals.

Apparently, it’s not because they want to make us tear out our hair.  Researchers at  the University of Colorado have been studying toddlers and older children, and they’ve decided that toddlers just don’t think the way adults and older children do.

Toddlers live in the present, as the parent of any toddler knows very well. Only what’s happening right now matters to a two or three year old. Trying to explain to a toddler that if they can’t leave their current dollhouse project soon, then there won’t be enough time to go to the park before dinner, is an exercise in futility.

So why can’t toddlers understand that there will be consequences of their actions? Or that what happens now affects what happens in the future? And why don’t they believe us when we say that yes, they really do need their coat on or they will be cold outside?

The researchers aren’t really sure, and they don’t have much helpful advice in getting your toddler to put their coat on. It’s part of the brain’s development process, and gradually children learn to consider what will happen in the future. And then they turn into adults and spend too much time stressing about the future.

But right now, I guess us parents just have to appreciate that our little ones just don’t have a grasp of planning for the future. When we ask our toddlers to do something, we are often asking them to think about something that is going to happen, and toddlers find that very difficult or impossible to understand. And that’s why they can be so resistant or uncooperative when we tell them not to put their fingers in the door hinge or they will get squashed.

In November last year, Megan Howard was babysitting a toddler. She gave the little girl her breakfast, then left the room to use the bathroom leaving the little girl eating a pop tart.

While she was gone, the toddler started choking. But Megan’s Quaker parrot, Willie, raised the alarm by flapping his wings and squawking “Mama! Baby!” over and over until Megan ran back in. She did the Heimlich maneuver and stopped the toddler choking.

Willie recived the Animal Lifesaver Award award from the Denver Red Cross today for saving the little girl.

Well done Willie and Megan for saving the little girl. Although how the parrot knew the little girl was in trouble is beyond me. And because Megan knew about the Heimlich maneuver, she got the food out of the toddler’s throat and saved her from choking.

Perhaps I need a parrot? Well, probably not, and learning how to do the Heimlich maneuver would be much much more useful in an emergency.  Where can you learn how to help a choking baby?

Even if you have taken an adult CPR class, the procedure for helping a choking baby or small child is different for what you would do for an adult, so the best place is at an Infant and Child CPR class approved by either the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or a hospital.

The American Red Cross offers baby and child CPR courses, you can find you local Red Cross chapter at RedCross.org

The American Heart Association has a directory of other health care and community organizations that offer CPR classes, searchable by your zip code.

The maternity and baby ward of your hospital might also offer infant CPR classes, or have referrals to organizations who offer them.

Here’s a couple of videos to give an idea of what’s involved in first aid for a choking baby, and a choking toddler or small child. Don’t depend on the videos though – the best way to learn is at a CPR class from a trained instructor.

One of the delightful things about babies is that they just keep getting better and better. When my son turned one, I remember thinking how wonderful and how much fun he was, and surely this was the best it got? And then he got a little older, and I remember thinking how wonderful and how much fun he was, and this had to be the best it got? But now I still think how wonderful and how much fun he is. He just keeps getting more interesting and more amazing, and more fun to be around, Bar the odd tantrum, and his continuing quest to find perilous activities. At least it keeps me on my toes.

What’s my favorite thing about the kids in my life right now?

My toddler, almost three: he can talk. I can have a conversation with him, often a surreal conversation, and he’s adorable to listen to. He picks up random words and uses them in an interesting and totally candid way. Daycare baby is a bag of potatoes! My peas are very green indeed! Mommy stop singing you are very obnoxious! I love driving and listening to him chatter in the carseat in the back. It’s so fascinating to know what’s going on in his head.

My daycare baby, just turned one: how fascinating everything is. Take her to Target and it’s like Disneyland. Give her a box of spoons and it’s like treasure. I took her to the zoo and her eyes were round with amazement at the sea lions and the zebras. She even likes me singing.

My boyfriend’s daughter and toddler’s best friend, five: her unquenchable enthusiasm for her projects. Once she’s into something, it’s so fun to watch her involve herself and anyone else who comes nearby into it. Our whole house was full of pretend aliens a few days ago (we all had to pretend) and her art projects are a legend in their own time.

What is your favorite thing about your baby or toddler right now?

We’ve been reading a lot about the importance of DHA as “brain food” for children and adults, alike, but what exactly is DHA?

DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, is an essential Omega-3 fatty acid found naturally in foods like salmon, tuna and other coldwater fish, as well as flax and pumpkin seeds. Most children and toddlers’ diets (not to mention many adults’ diets) lack sufficient quantities of these foods, which is why trusted pediatrician Dr. Sears recommends adding a DHA supplement to your child’s diet.

When the body lacks essential Omega-3 fatty acids, the cells try to build “replacement fatty acids,” which are similar in function but may cause depression and Attention Deficit Disorder. A diet rich in DHA lowers the blood level of these replacement fatty acids and also of harmful fats such as cholesterol.

So how did DHA earn its reputation as “brain food?” According to Dr. Sears, DHA is the primary structural component of brain tissue, as well as an important part of the enzymes within cell membranes that allow the membranes to transport valuable nutrients in and out of the cells. DHA also affects the brain’s neurotransmitters, and helps brain cells communicate with each other more effectively. Simply put, a healthy brain is a smart brain!

A diet rich in DHA has been shown to improve focus, behavior and cognitive function, and even increase learning capacity in young children. Children who are more focused and can concentrate better also tend to remain in better moods longer — less tantrums and more time to play, study and learn!

DHA also helps vision development because the retina contains a high concentration of the fatty acid. Improved vision development also leads to greater learning capabilities, since the eyes are such important tools in education.

When the body has enough DHA, the brain can function at its highest capacity. This is especially important in infants and toddlers, because brains grow more rapidly in the first few years than at any other time of life. Evidence shows that the increased academic performance of breast-fed children is due, at least in part, to the DHA-rich diet breast milk provides. Breast milk contains DHA for growing infants, and most infant formula today is fortified with DHA. But toddlers don’t receive DHA from these sources, which is why a supplement is important. Dr. Sears offers a variety of vitamin products to insure that your child is getting enough of the crucial fatty acid.

Dr. Sears’ specially-developed Go Fish Brainy Kidz Omega-3 DHA natural fruit-based soft chews contain optimal levels of DHA for improved brain function. Each soft chew contains 100 mg of DHA and is certified by Safe Source ™ to be free of detectable levels of over 250 environmental contaminants, including mercury, heavy metals, dioxins, PCBs and pesticides. The pediatrician-developed, kid-approved, tasty vitamin supplements are all-natural and do not contain any high-fructose corn syrup.

My toddler has a new obsession: baking. He loves making cookies, muffins, and baking cakes. Well, what he really loves is playing with the ingredients, eating the ingredients, and generally making a mess. And eating the final result is fun too.

Today we tried cupcakes, me, toddler, and daycare baby. Toddler stands on his little chair, daycare baby is one but she’s tiny so she can sit on the counter top. They poke the flour, taste the flour, spit the flour out. Both of them want to eat all the sugar and most of the butter before it gets mixed. Toddler loves to measure things and pour things into bowls. We’d have to add 47 teaspoons of baking powder if I let him have his way. I’m just trying to ignore the little fingers in the mouth and then back into the mixing bowls, and that they have both sneezed into the sugar, and all the other baby slime that is getting into the batter…

Both of them love eggs. Toddler likes to crack eggs. We need two, he wants to put the whole box in. Baby wants to eat the eggs whole. I’m one of those city types and while I could have sworn that cows are for making skinny grande mochaccinos, I do know which end of a chicken an egg comes from and that they are not especially hygienic. I try to stop baby sucking the egg. Baby wails and throws egg on the floor. I wish we had a dog. Meanwhile toddler has been trying to crack eggs, and another one goes on the floor.

Baby twigs that we are adding lots of things to one bowl, so helps by attempting to add random objects to the cake mix – all the spoons, cheerios, the baking powder packet, etc. Toddler is trying his best to spoon the cake mix into the cupcake pan. The recipe says that it makes 12 cupcakes. After spillage, we get 10. Not bad!  The mix is slightly unevenly distributed but I don’t want to hurt his feelings or seem unappreciative of his hard work so I don’t try to even it up and we bake them like that.

Cupcakes go in the oven for 20 minutes, I clean up the egg on the floor and the cake batter and flour and wash the bowls and spoons and change everyone’s clothes. Mine included.  There’s a reason they take 20 minutes to bake, it’s the same time that it takes to clean up two small children and one mom.

Cupcakes come out, there’s giant cupcakes and teeny ones. Toddler wants “dat big one!” Ah, so that was his plan. If you only get one cupcake at lunchtime, make it one GREAT BIG cupcake.

We decorate the cakes with a Valentine’s day theme – we squidge on white frosting, add pink-and-red sprinkles, and enjoy the results of our hard work. Yum!

Discovery Kids, Sesame Street, Cartoon Netowrk, Disney Channel,…

The choices are almost endless. They are supposed to enhance a little child’s language and cognitive skills. But are they really beneficial as they claim to be?

Dimitri Christakis, a researcher at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington says such claims are not supported by scientific evidence. Dr. Christakis reviewed 78 research studies published during the last 25 years on the effects of TV on children and the conclusions he got from the reviews were concerning.

Here are some of his findings:

• 9 out of 10 toddlers (under two!) sit in front of the TV regularly, many as much 40% of their waking hours.
• Many parents are not aware of the potential hazards of TV. In a survey, 29% of parents interviewed believe that watching TV is “good for the brains.” Only about 6% are aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not encourage TV viewing in the first two years of a child’s life.
• In another study, 1 out of 5 parents interviewed admit they allow kids to watch TV to have a little bit of time for themselves.
• A number of studies indicate that watching TV programs and DVDs during the first 2 years of life can actually delay language development, regardless of the language.
• Another study reported that schoolchildren exposed to TV in their early years performed poorly in reading and memory tests.
• The claims being made by DVD manufacturers and TV producers are not supported by research data from peer-reviewed journals or even by studies supported by the entertainment industry itself.

Some of the reasons of the adverse effects of TV cited by Dr. Christakis are as follows:

• While watching TV, children are exposed to “flashing lights, scene changes, quick edits and auditory cuts which may be over stimulating to developing brains.”
• TV also tends to take the time normally spent on age-appropriate and more beneficial activities like free play, role playing, and interaction with parents and other children.

As a mother of twins, I must admit I was tempted on several occasions to use TV just to get a couple of hours’ of peace. But I am glad to say, I never gave in to the temptation and managed to keep my children “TV-free” during their first 3 years of life. After that, we slowly eased them to TV viewing, with selected shows and films, starting with 10 minutes a day. Now at 5 and a half, they are up to 20 minutes of short cartoons or educational TV shows, whereas some of their classmates have already viewed full-length films like the Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter. I know the time will come when my kids will demand for more TV time. In the meantime, we try to engage their interest in other, more useful activities like sports, art and crafts, reading, and music. Hopefully, their varied interests will help limit their need for TV viewing as they grow older.

Is there no end to the bad news in connection with cough and cold medicines? And it’s not only the syrups that we know which are in question here. The safety issues concern chest rubs and salves as well.

A recent article in the January issue of the journal CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) reported that Vicks VapoRub “may stimulate production and airway inflammation”, that can induce respiratory distress in infants and toddlers under the age of 2. The salve contains substances that irritate the airway passages. These irritants cause mucus production, which unfortunately in young children whose airways are much narrower than those of adults, can have some serious consequences, according to the report by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC.

To be fair, the current labeling of Vicks VapoRub specifically warns against the use of the product in children under the age of two. However, many parents tend to forget to read the labels before using seemingly innocuous medications such as a chest rub, which I am sure, is a fixture in many households.

Many of us grew up with Vicks VapoRub. I can still remember that nice menthol smell in my nose and the coolness on my chest every time my mom used it to ease my stuff nose. Who would have thought that this for-external-use only decongestant could present a danger to little children? The researchers reported that although application of decongestants may seem make you feel better, it actually doesn’t relieve the congestion. They discourage the practice of applying the salve under the nose or inside the nostrils. They also emphasize that although only Vicks VaporRub was tested, their warnings may also be valid to other decongestant rubs with similar ingredients.

I never used Vicks VapoRub on my kids because my German pharmacist discouraged its use on little babies. What I used (and is still using) are nose sprays made from sterile saline solution or seawater.

Babies and toddlers learn a lot by copying you. That’s why they want to learn to talk and walk and play with your cellphone. I don’t know why babies want to drop cellphones in the toilet, you’ll have to ask your friendly neighborhood child development psychologist.

Babies mimic you, and it’s natural to mimic them back, and coo to babies, clap our hands together with them and stick our tongues back out at them, and apparently this is very good for making baby feel important, validated and loved, and encourages baby to keep copying you.

If only there was a way to filter what they copy and what they don’t. Once I locked myself out my house and broke in through a window with a shovel from my son’s sandbox. He spent a lot of time bashing his sand tools on the walls and windows after that, and was probably wondering why we didn’t climb in to the house through the windows more often.

I’ve also learned that I burn toast too often. I was cleaning the kitchen today with my toddler, and gave him a towel to help wipe with. He looked at it blankly. Then realization dawned! He ran to the other side of the kitchen and started  flapping it towards the smoke alarm.

Then there’s the way he talks to my daycare baby. Daycare baby was crawling on the sofa, and he shouts “Baby! Get Down! Now!” in an eerily familiar way. OK, so one day he was climbing on the back of the sofa again and again and again and trying valiantly to fall off the back and break his head on the hardwood floor and totally ignoring my polite requests to get down.

It’s amusing, interesting and sometimes humbling to see yourself mirrored like that, and a little reminder that just about everything you do in front of your child affects them, a little or a lot.

Taking your child to get their photo taken can be quite the challenge at times.? Babies can be very unpredictable, toddlers have a hard time sitting still and preschoolers can be hit or miss with their moods and cooperation.

I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a newborn baby boy.? I’ve experienced it all during photo shoots with our children from distractions to inconsolable meltdowns.

Here are some tricks that I have learned along the way for taking picture of baby:

Infants

Toddlers

Preschoolers

If you have more than one child and you are getting a group shot done along with individual portraits, make sure you speak up with regards to the order in which the photos will be taken.? Aim for the group shot to be taken first and then individuals in order of priority according to moods, cooperativeness and age.? Remember to remind the children to not worry about themselves and to focus on the camera, not each other.? Too often, children worry about their siblings and then get caught not looking at the camera while they are trying to help out.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon?I’m reminded of the Thanksgiving not too long ago that went really, really wrong.? I wasn’t the hostess so it wasn’t like I was the one who felt the bulk of frustration for everything that happened, but since the hostess was a friend of mine I could feel her frustration.

My friend always puts on a perfect event.? She reminds me a lot of Martha Stewart in the sense that everything has to be perfect whenever she has people over.? Our daughters were both about to turn three, and since we don’t have any family nearby she invited us over for Thanksgiving to join some other members of her family.? It was a sweet gesture and we eagerly accepted the invitation.

When we arrived I noticed tension in the air immediately.? It became obvious that her mother was driving her a little crazy.? Every so often her mother would march up to my friend and tell her about something she was doing wrong.? “Darling,” she would say, breathless and condescending, “don’t you think we should start seating the guests?” To this my friend would snap back, “Mo-ther, this is MY party and MY guests and I will do things as I choose!”? Then she would take a deep breath and pleasantly announce that it was time to find our seats.

You have to understand that I grew up with very laid-back parents.? I was also brought up as a strict vegetarian, so you can imagine what our Thanksgivings were like.? Picture pizza and soda and lounging on a sofa.

I wasn’t sure how to react to the tension, so I ignored it.? Then my friend’s mom brought me into it.? “Tamsen, how old is your daughter? She must be older than my granddaughter.”

“No,” I replied.? “Your granddaughter is actually a couple of months older than my daughter.”

To this she gasped and then dramatically declared, “My goodness! Your daughter speaks so much more eloquently than my granddaughter! I just can’t get over the difference!” She then turned to my friend and said, “Darling, doesn’t she speak really well?”

Through gritted teeth my friend replied,? “Yes, Mo-ther, she speaks well.”? You might think this would be enough to make my friend’s head explode, but?her mother wouldn’t drop?it.? All through the meal, whenever my daughter would say something, my friend’s mother would make a face as though she?had just?encountered something fabulous.

My husband and I were incredibly uncomfortable.? We started to make motions to each other that it was time to leave, when all of a sudden my friend’s daughter threw up all over the place.??Not only did my friend shriek and lunge for a carpet cleaner she had in an adjoining room, but I swear her mother stood there with a look on her face that indicated that she was incredibly disappointed that her granddaughter would?dare to throw up on such an important holiday.

We left soon thereafter.? My friend never called me again.

I tried to call her a few times but she was very cold. I later found out through the grapevine that her daughter had delays in speech and was seeing a speech?therapist, so I can only imagine how tough it was to deal with her mom lamenting about my daughter’s verbal ability.

This year we’re going to a different friend’s house, and my kids will be the only kids present.? Unless my?friend wants to compare her dogs to our kids I don’t think we’ll get another experience with fierce?rivalry.

Most people refrain from certain behaviors once they have children, such as swearing, talking about people behind their backs, or otherwise distasteful or impolite behavior. But sometimes it’s not just the words that you say in front of your kids that they might pick up on it’s what you do.

As our daughter has reached toddler age, she has also begun to notice all of the little behaviors and mannerisms my husband and I have both good and bad. Not only does she mimic us when we do certain good things, such as putting our hands to our mouth when we cough and repeating us saying “Bless you,” to someone when they sneeze, but she also will let out an exaggerated sigh when we ask her to do something that she does not want to do. The other day, I had to kill a spider on the wall. Spiders make me jumpy as it is, and having to squish one is definitely not one of my favorite things to do. So I took a deep breath, grabbed a paper towel, and smashed him, squealing in distaste as his life was put to an end. My daughter, of course, witnessed the whole thing, and immediately jumped around the room, saying, “Eeew! Eeew!” Cute, but a good reminder of just how much she sees.

Seeing yourself mirrored in the innocent behaviors of a toddler can be unnerving, to say the least. Suddenly your own bad behavior or traits that you don’t like about yourself are not only being scrutinized by little eyes, but are being acted out as well.

The bright side to this is that she is a little sponge, absorbing every last drop of learning that she can, through our actions and our words. I just wish sometimes that she could be a little more selective about what she chooses to remember and not have to remember Mommy shrieking as she kills a spider.

With an active toddler and another baby on the way, it can be a challenge to find snacks or dessert items that are both healthy and fast. In addition, my daughter is becoming increasingly picky when it comes to food; her breakfast meal can be especially difficult. We like to get her day started with a somewhat nutritious meal as much as possible, preferably made at home with minimal ingredients, and have this fall discovered one food she just can‘t seem to get enough of: pumpkin.

My husband and I aren‘t terribly fond of pumpkin ourselves. Sure, we‘ll eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving or a slice of pumpkin bread here or there, but it’s not something we‘d seek out. However, since discovering just how much our daughter loves the taste of the orange stuff, we‘ve changed our habits to accommodate her - and have begun to eat healthier ourselves in the mean time.

The best and easiest pumpkin recipe I have found is for pumpkin cupcakes. These are simply made with a box of spice cake mix and a can of pureed pumpkin mixed together and baked. Can’t get much easier than that, can we - In fact, if your child is old enough, he or she can even help out with this one, by opening the box of cake mix, stirring the bowl or helping to fill the muffin tins.

To make, combine a box of spice cake mix with a 15 ounce can of pureed pumpkin in a large bowl. Stir until moistened, then use an electric mixer to beat for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour into a prepared cupcake tin and bake at 350 degrees for15-20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans on a wire racks for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Serve with cream cheese frosting, or plain. The cupcakes bake up to a somewhat dense, cake-like consistency, and are a great toddler breakfast or snack.