Turn off TV week

This week is turn off your TV week. I am not sure if it is a nation wide thing or what but I know the school and library is doing it. I am going to 'rant' awhile on my opinions and television. I am well aware that I can be opinionated in some areas and I am not asking you to take on mine, but with this week being turn off your TV week, I just felt like I wanted to write my thoughts down.

I did a poll on Baby Center this morning and then read an article about television watching. I also posted a comment and I will put the link to the article below: (the comment seems not to be there)

http://www.babycenter.com/0_tv-watching-guidelines-for-toddlers_11746.bc

I hope you can click on it if you want to. Right now I can't.

I think that my husband and I try to parent by the book. Now you might be saying, are you kidding me? I clearly know you do blah blah and that is so not right. But for the most part, I really think we try to follow all of the recommendations that our pediatrician gives us, as well as what I read that is supposed to be the 'right' thing to do.

Soon after Adam was born, we found out that he wasn't supposed to watch any TV until two. OK, seems fine to me. But when 'we' were watching it, he always seemed to turn his little neck so he could see it. So we would turn his bouncy seat the other way. He has never watched a Baby Einstein video, never watched any programs for infants. He never started watching 'shows' until he was just about 2. He found that Elmo doll at my mother in law's so we would turn on Sesame Street for him at the end (it is an hour program) and he would watch Elmo. To this day, he still only really watches Sesame Street and maybe an occasional Curious George or Big Comfy couch.

Here are some articles I have found on TV watching and small children if you are interested:

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

This one is actually a little scary:

http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=ADHD%20Toddlers

I think that the media has changed since we were younger. When we were small, there only was Sesame Street and an occasional show here or there. Now there are channels and channels all day long! And not only is there TV, there are computers, Internet, video games, hand held games for your baby! And lets think about all the places there are TV: your house, your car, the grocery check out, planes, portable ones to carry around, it is really is overwhelming.

We only have one TV in our house and it is in our living room. I think that is unusual but it was something we decided upon when we were married. I am very happy about it. When we went to buy our van, we asked for one without a DVD player. Crazy huh? But there was only one van and it came with it and guess how many times Adam has watched it? Once, on a four hour trip to Wildwood NJ. He doesn't ask for it. He doesn't ask to watch it in the house either. We went to the gym a few weeks ago and I saw two kids getting out of the van, and they took their headsets off from watching their DVD players and I just thought it was really sad. It takes us over an hour to get to the gym one way, no exaggeration. And we sing and play ABC games and look out the windows.

Maybe one reason I am so adamant about this is because I was a teacher before my kids and I saw so much ADHD, so much obesity and such a lack of creativity which they are saying is linked to TV watching. My students would always write about TV characters, would pick out DVDs and video games for their desired 'gifts' when we were doing math activities with magazines. I just don't want that. I want dirty, creative, well spoken boys. And I think by allowing them to play pretty much all the time, I am going to get just that.

I am fully capable of 'teaching' my boys whatever the educational video or show supposedly does. I know all my shapes and colors and my alphabet as well as phonics rules and many songs. I know my manners and I think by them actually playing along with others rather than having them watch a video of kids doing it, will teach them how to share.

So those are my thoughts on that topic. :)

Adam- at Van's age

So last night my Direct TV was out. I tried all the things, unplug everything, wait the 30 seconds (and I actually count 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi) plugged everything back in, and nothing. And since my dear husband was working, and I didn't feel like calling Direct TV, especially since nothing was REALLY on that I wanted to see, I decided to watch some home movies of Adam when he was Van's age. I wanted to compare the two. I guess as parents, we aren't supposed to 'compare' our children but honestly, I do it all the time. And here are some things I noticed:

1. There always seems to be a radio on in the background which is odd to me because I don't really think I have the radio on that much.

2. If I am not recording, I seem to be in the kitchen, putting away dishes or cleaning up after some meal, which is another thing I don't think I am 'always' doing.

3. For some miraculous reason, my house seems neater NOW than 2 years ago. I think things have a 'place' more now than they did. Then, Adam's toys were in a pile in the living room, now they are in seat benches, thank God!

4. Most of Adam's toys were baby toys and I guess since he was the first born, that makes sense. I have put all of them away pretty much and Van plays with the things his brother does, tractors, trucks, barn sets, not like rattles and things Adam had.

5. Van seems to smile a little more, Adam is more serious.

6. Adam walked later but seems to be jumping in the videos. Van isn't there yet.

7. Van has long outgrown the clothes Adam was wearing which seems bizarre to me since I think he weighs less.

8. Van has a protruding belly which Adam didn't have.

9. We video the same thing over and over again, Adam on a push toy, Adam riding his tractor, Adam with a push toy, Adam eating, Adam on his tractor. That was pretty much one DVD.

10. Neither of them are really saying too much which was what I was really looking for. I sort of remember Adam didn't say very much but I wanted to see on video. Van is too interested in climbing, trying to run, and getting in and out of things. I think Adam was the same way.

The Sayings of my boy

This is something I probably wouldn't scrapbook but it is something I surely want to remember because I almost have started to forget about it!

There are some things that Adam would repeatedly say at different points in his life. So much so that they would become annoying. And I am sure when he is older, I will look back and think, oh, I wish I could hear him say that now....!

When he was about 2 and 1/2 or maybe a little younger, the saying of the time was HOLD YOU. This meant that he wanted us to hold him. I look back on that now and I wish he would say that. He doesn't want us to hold him at all really. But I remember at the time, it was like a constant thing. In the car seat, hold you, hold you, hold you, etc... And when he would get scared, he would SCREAM IT! Poor little guy. But I almost forgot about that.

Then, not too long ago, and continuing to do so is WHATAYA DOIN'? This was also a constant thing. Whataya doin'? I'm driving in the car. Two seconds later, whataya doin'? Now we have gotten to the point where we say, Adam, what are we doing? And he says, driving in the car.

And now we are at the WHY? stage. I knew this would come at some point. It's time to eat dinner. WHY? So you can grow. WHY? etc, etc.

But these are things I am sure I will soon forget and I want to make sure I remember them. And with that said, I need to go and see what he is doing because he is supposed to be napping, but I know he isn't...

Craft time

I found this new website:

http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

while I was looking for crafts to do with Adam and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!! Everything is so age appropriate, I love the songs and the books to go with it. I love the fact that she puts each step of the directions and the pictures and her kid doing the craft... he's only 15 months, I guess I better get going with Van. But here are some pictures of Adam making some of them. The first is a turtle and the second is a space ship. Adam LOVES the spaceship song. I had to print it out because I didn't know it. The woman even has a little video of her singing the song which is awesome. So many things you can do with paint, toilet paper tubes and paper plates. I even went out and bought some brown paper lunch bags, I thought, I know I will use these soon! It's great that I can have Adam using his scissors and other crafty things. (Oh, and my chairs are up in the background because I was mopping today if you were wondering). :)

Guess the boy

Here are two pictures of two different boys, wearing the same sweatshirt at about the same time in their lives. A sweatshirt that has gotten a lot of use out of it mind you, I got it at a consignment shoppe for the first boy and now another is wearing it, and whoever wore it before my two. So thrifty I am! I guess the dates on the pictures give away the boys huh? :)

Something that makes me laugh

When Van sits in his car seat, or high chair, he always crosses his feet like this. I don't know why but it makes me chuckle. I wonder if this is something that he will always do?

Food shopping with mom

Today Adam and I went to the grocery store or the 'food store' as he calls it. He loves to grocery shop. For his birthday Chip's sister and family gave him this grocery cart and some food to go along with it. Well today I brought the cart to the store with us and he had a blast!! It is kinda small and as you can see, it is pretty much full by the end of the first aisle. We did throw some crackers and cereal underneath though later on. Everyone thought he was a hit in the store. And he needed to explain to everyone what was in his cart as well. If we saw someone more than once he would say, 'Look, I have batteries now!' or whatever else was small we could cram in there. I am sure we will be bringing it back to the store again. A man said to me, oh, don't you wish you had a camera? And I said, oh, I do, I took his picture. :)

The other thing that sort of sounds mean and you probably think I am a terrible mom for saying this but... it seems like Adam is going through this yucky smiley face faze. Well, I hope it is a faze. We tried to take a picture of the boys and I a few days ago and we can't get a good smile out of him to save ourselves. He doesn't get the concept of a 'nice smile.' Hopefully he will again soon.

Baby clothes

Ok, this is sort of like a mom confession. I love baby clothes! I think probably every mom does. But for some reason, I always tend to gravitate to the infant section. Now mind you, infancy is not my favorite stage of baby-dome, I will be first to admit it. But there is something about those little bitty clothes that are just so darn cute! I have started some spring shopping for the boys. Well, for Adam really. I got out the bin of Adam's old clothes for Van and Van needs NOTHING. Maybe shoes or if I find something that I absolutely must have, but for the most part, he is set. I still have things with tags on them from Adam.

I remember feeling sad with Van though once he was out of the infant section. Like the Carters have the small, medium and large sleepers and pretty much the large is up to 9 months. Then you move on to the toddler section I guess. Like Adam is in the 3T section now. But a few of my friends who have larger children said they were sad when they had to leave that section and move on to the larger boys, like across the aisle to the big boy section. I am not there yet but I am sure I will be sad when I have to leave the toddler section. But this romper that I have up above runs up to 24 months. I just love those rompers. Van will live in them this summer, I have a ton of them. But there is just something about that itty bitty section that always grabs my eye...