Three Things: Favorite Kids Books

Let's keep the book theme going for the week! This month's 3 Things are my favorite kids books. 

As regular readers know, I have a tiny child. I've been reading to Babycakes pretty much since she popped out (and a little before that). She gets free books through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, and we swap books through our local used bookstore which has a trade-in program (LOVE that). She also gets books for holidays...a family member said at Christmas "Well I didn't know what to get her, but I knew you would appreciate books." You're welcome, Babycakes- Mama is ensuring you are showered with books. I hope you never stop loving that.

Here's some of our favorites!

How to Catch the Tooth Fairy 

by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Andy Elkerton
My in-laws got this book for Babycakes, no clue where. But it's totally adorable! I love that the main Tooth Fairy in the story looks like a punkish Amelia Earhart, I love that the other tooth fairies are different races/colors, as are the kids featured in the books. I love that it specifically talks about a female whose job includes lots of travel and having fun. I love that it, however loosely, encourages STEM creativity by showing different types of kid-created "traps." It's totally adorable.

Be a Star, Wonder Woman 

by Michael Dahl and illustrated by Omar Lozano

This book is super cute. I love that it equates being kind and honest and admitting when you need help as equal to being brave and smart when it comes to being heroic. Also, it features a little girl in a hijab on the playground saying "Girl Power" which is something that warms my heart every time because...well, it wasn't in the books I was reading as a kid.

Babycakes 

by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Sam Williams

This is the book that ended up providing Babycake's bloggy nickname! It's one of the ones from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. It has cute rhymes with actions (kiss on the nose, clap, sing, etc) that make it fun to read and act out.

What are you favorite books to read with kids, or what were your favorites to read when YOU were a kid?

She Has Arrived!

If you are on Twitter, you may have picked up on the fact that the baby is here!

There's so much to say and I don't know where to start. 

For the time being, here is a picture of my new life. 

The Child (Sort of) Without Television

Guest post from Tim at That Tiny Website

http://thattinywebsite.com/

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I’m not to the point where I’m having kids yet. 

I’m really okay with that. 

I have friends and family members who have kids and while I enjoy being around those kids (at least for the most part), there’s things I’m definitely not comfortable with as a potential parent yet. Whether it be the cost of raising a child, the prospect of losing the extremely little free time I do have, or just the simple annoyance of people saying your baby is cute when it’s really not, there’s a lot of aspects of raising a kid I’m just not ready for at this moment in my life.

One strange thing I’m not sure if I’m ready for as a potential parent is the explosion of television that would surely happen in my household if there were a child around. 

I have a niece who is a toddler that loves watching television. Which is fine. I mean, watching the same movies over and over gets annoying – The Land Before Time films weren’t that good when I was a child, let alone when you have to watch them repeatedly as an adult – but all in all at least the child has the potential to learn from television.

As a child, I really didn’t have much exposure to television at home. While we had a TV around, screen time was limited for most of my childhood. Both my mom and dad (my parents were divorced, so separate households) strongly preferred my brother and I played outside to being inside, and when we were watching television, they had control over what was on TV at all times. Watching TV with my dad wasn’t so bad, as he tended to mix content between cartoons, James Bond films, and history documentaries. Watching with my mom meant that a lot of biblical stories, ’60s Westerns, and old timey musicals were on, so I usually just went back outside to play more.

There was a gap though – roughly from the age of 7 to the age of 14 – that the TV was almost never on. 

At my dad’s, it was because we generally didn’t have cable or electricity at a given time (sometimes both), and at my mom’s it was because we were required to read the Bible for an hour a day before we did anything else (and even then, chores came next). At the peak age where most children watch television, I spent most of my time reading, playing outside, or practicing my trumpet. I can’t fully fathom a potential child not having at least some of that same experience.

On one hand, I recognize that the previous sentence makes me sound like an old person who is out of touch with the realities of a rapidly changing, technologically advancing world. 

After all, I’m typing this blog post out on my work computer while my iPad beside me auto-plays a game, my person computer plays Crash Course World History, and I occasionally check my phone for texts from my friends. It’s a bit hypocritical to not give children access to better technologies than you had access to as a child, particularly when you use those same technologies heavily in your day-to-day life.

On the other hand, I also recognize that one of the most responsible actions you can take as a parent is to diversify your child’s upbringing as much as you possibly can. 

Surrounding your child with people of different cultures, faiths, beliefs, and opinions allows them to not only learn that the world is a complex place with many different types of individuals, but it also allows them to avoid the narrow-minded opinions and belief systems that can hamstring their personal, social, and intellectual development as they grow.

On top of all that, there has been an explosion of great educational content – both for children and adults – over the last 5-10 years. You’re no longer required as a parent to watch Frozen 45 times in a weekend because it’s the only thing safe for your child to watch. Though you might still…and I’m very, very sorry for you if that happens. 

But the technology and content is out there to raise our children to be more intelligent, compassionate, and accepting human beings, all well before they start school. 

We should take advantage of that whenever we have the opportunity. Even me, once I decide I’m at that stage of life.

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Tim makes some great points! I certainly hope I can fight the technology takeover and provide Baby May with tactile experiences like parks, zoos, libraries, etc. But also unstructured play is incredibly important to encourage creativity and independence. 

How To Pick a Baby Name

Today, we're going to discuss some tips on picking a baby name. This is not just for people expecting a baby- that's my first tip, actually. Start BEFORE the kid is a reality. You don't need the hormones and stress that a baby brings getting in the way of you finding a name you love.

Granted, I do not claim to be an expert here. I'm currently pregnant with my first child, and while her name is picked out...she isn't actually here yet. She's currently taking up space in my belly. But she is named. And picking out her name was a relatively easy process. So take my advice with a grain of salt, but I do feel it's worth consideration.

Some of these are personal things I just think helped the overall name picking process. Some are things I whole-heartedly believe from having worked in both medical and educational records. Trust me, I say these things to make your life/your child's life/anyone who has to deal with your child in a professional manner's life.

The Dos:

• Start before you are expecting! 
• For seriously. I have been considering kids names since I was a teenager- maybe before. They've changed a lot over the years (I'm great at predicting a trend, apparently) but I'm glad I didn't start at ground zero once the stick turned blue.  

 

• Pick a direction or general theme or some kind of starting point.
• My hubby and I both have Celtic ancestry, so we started there. We also knew we didn't want a super common name...because we both have super common names (I may have pushed this more than him...I don't remember, but it is something I feel really strongly about and he agrees although perhaps not as vehemently). It was much easier to have a theme to go to rather than picking things out of the air.  

 

• Yell it out loud.
• You're going to scream your kids name at some point. Maybe you will be the super amazing parent who never looses their temper...even then you'll probably yell it when you loose sight of them at the grocery store for 5 seconds. It'll happen- you want it to flow.
• This is the point where you also ensure it flows with a middle name, and last name. It needs to sound good in all of these arrangements: First+Middle, First+Last, and First+Middle+Last.

 

• Consider the monogram.
• Some people don't care about monograms or initials...but if you see a monogram that says aSs...it's not good. Or sTd...no. Just no.

 

•  Consider the nicknames.
• Over Christmas my MIL mentioned a nickname that she would 100% be calling the baby. She made a comment basically going "You know this is going to happen, right?" Um, yeah. If I didn't like the nickname, I wouldn't have named her that! People who MUST be called their full name (or MUST be called their nickname) are super annoying. Prepare for a nickname, be sure you like that as much as the name itself. 

 

The Don'ts:

• No hypens. Or any other form of punctuation. 
• There's no place for that in a name. This goes for first and last names. It's just annoying, as you will find out with EVERY LEGAL DOCUMENT EVER.  

 

• Don't give your kid two of anything. 
• No two first names, or two middle names, or two last names. At least in America, okay? Just give them three flipping names.
• If you want to name your child Mary Ann, make it MaryAnn or better yet Marianne. JoAnn versus Jo Ann. Just make it ONE FREAKIN' WORD.

 

•  Don't pick a crazy spelling of a normal name.
• Either pick a super unique name, or accept a traditional spelling. You're trying to have it both ways and it sucks. Trust me, I know because my name is one of the top 3 for my birth year and there's like 12 different ways to spell it and IT DRIVES ME BATTY. 

 

•  Don't name them something you have no intention of calling them.
• This includes middle names that you want your child to go by, and nicknames.
• If you want your child to be known by their middle name...make it their first name!
• If you want your child to be Evie instead of Evangeline, name her Evie! There is no need for an "adult" version of a name, if she is going to spend the first 12+ years being called solely a nickname. You'll give them a friggin' identity crisis, and if she decides to take her husband's last name one day (or wife's, I guess) she will probably just change her first name too (or drop it all together if you've called her by her middle name) making her life's paper trail super annoying to follow.
• Nicknames are a term of endearment for those you are close to, not a requirement for the rest of the world. If you name your child John and call him Hank, your pediatrician's new receptionist is going to have a lot of trouble scheduling an appointment for "Hank" because he is definitely listed as "John" in the computer system because THAT'S HIS LEGAL NAME.
• Yes, I may be speaking from experience here. 

 

•  Juniors, Thirds, etc are not worth anything at all.  

• Give the kid a family middle name and move on. Or a first name with a different middle.
•  Especially if you all go to the same doctor or college, etc. It's SO CONFUSING. Some forms just don't have places for Jr, or III, and especially if the first one isn't willing to put Sr there (which you probably haven't been doing your whole life anyway). Your child deserves his/her own personal identifier.

• Don't "steal" a name.
• I've heard some people say that you can't really do this...but you can. We all know it. This is why I'm really hesitant to put my baby's name out there online (along with security reasons), or to tell anyone the boy name we have in place. Obviously, I think a LOT about baby names, and other people do to. If you just hear a name from someone and use it before they can...it really does feel like a betrayal. Maybe it wasn't on purpose- that happens. But if you know someone in your life has their hopes on a specific name for their little one, back off. Stretch your creative muscles and get to thinking!

 

•  Don't expect expecting parents to give a crap about YOUR opinion of their child's name.
• People get way too involved in other people's pregnancies. If you don't like a name, who cares?! If you want them to use a specific name (especially your own), who cares?! It's not your place. Let the parents choose the name and STFU about it.

So there you go. Some of these seem harsh- I'm okay with that. It's an important decision! But here is my final and most important piece of advice:

Stick to your guns!

We already had a boy and girl name picked out when I found out I was pregnant. We told a few select people, but announced her name after we found out the gender. It was decided, we weren't wavering, we weren't interested in anyone's opinion. That was IT. Some people go even further and don't tell anyone until the baby is actually born and the birth certificate is signed.

Some people feel super opinionated about names (clearly, I can be one of them). That being said, I've read way to much about drama between friends and family over this. Discuss with your partner, find what works for you, and let any negative comments roll of your back.