The Mom Crowd

I was going to write a post on Co-sleepers for this week but I had such a spontaneous art afternoon with my 5 year old that I had to share! It is now officially fall and here in Pennsylvania the leaves are turning beautiful colors of orange, pink, red, and yellow.  Driving through the valleys makes me wish I had a convertible so I could take in the beauty.  Every time I look out the window in the backyard I see leaves falling and drifting down to find a place to land in the grass.My 5 year old, Ewan, had an idea to go out and rake the leaves in the backyard–so he could jump in them, of course.  The other 2 boys were napping and I like to use that time to spend some quality time with Ewan.  In my head I could do several things at once (us moms  are so good at multi-tasking, aren’t we?)–I could spend time with Ewan, AND get the leaves raked, AND burn some calories too.  Score!We finished the backyard and moved into the front yard.  We have a beautiful Maple tree in the front yard that is also shedding its beautiful red leaves.  As we were finishing our raking, Ewan suggested that we pick some leaves so we could paint around them and make a collage.I couldn’t believe that my son was suggesting we do an art project together!  He isn’t necessarily a crafty kid.  I told him we could do whatever he wanted.  So he picked out some leaves of different sizes and we brought them in.Here is what you need for the project:

• Washable Tempera Paints
• Paint Brushes
• Paper
• Flat leaves of various sizes  (you don’t want them curled too much because it makes them harder to paint over)
• Paper towels
• A cup with water for rinsing the paint brush
• A plate (paper or plastic) for a pallet

As we were working on our project, Ewan shared that he had read about this project in a book at school and thought it would be fun to try.  It was so fun for him to tell me his idea and how to do the project! 1. We used extra large 12″X18″ finger painting paper for our project.2. We set the paper on the table and then placed the leaves in a random pattern on the paper.3. We got our paint brushes loaded with paint and got ready to paint over the leaves.4. I helped Ewan hold down the leaves on his paper so he could paint around them leaving a white spot in the shape of the leaf.5. When he was done painting around the leaf we took the leaf off of the paper and set it on a paper towel to keep the table clean.When we were done, I thought the pictures came out great and it was a very simple project.  I was having so much fun with it that I wanted try some different variations with the paints. Even though Ewan was excited about his idea, it didn’t mean that he wanted to spend an hour doing it! So, I didn’t make a lot of them but i did have fun. We did take the leftover leaves that were covered in paint and made prints of them too. I think that this project would be great for kids 2 years and older.  Obviously, the younger the child, the more help he/she will need.  Two year olds will love going on a leaf hunt, picking up leaves, and trying to paint over them.  Just be prepared with a wet towel nearby for paint spills! I hope that you enjoy making this project with your kids as much as I did!  If you decide to make this project, take a picture of it, post it on your blog and leave a comment with a link so we can see your own budding artists at work!

Dick Hoyt is one of the most inspirational parents I have ever heard of.  Their story is so empowering and inspiring.  My husband told me about them after reading about them in his Sports Illustrated magazine a while ago.  When I think of how to love my children, this is the picture that comes to my mind now.  I hope to give my child the amount of love Dick gives to Rick.  Rick was born with Cerebral Palsy.  While doctors encouraged Dick and his wife to place Rick in an institution, they knew that their son belonged in their home with their family.  When Rick learned to talk with computer assistance, he told his dad he wanted to compete in races.  Rick’s amazing dad competed in the Ironman Triathalon with his son.  The last part of this video will surely force you to find some tissues if you haven’t already needed them.  You can learn more about this dynamic duo at their website: Team Hoyt.

Mothers have a security gland and when that security glad is beeping it is hard to ignore.  Some of us may fear for the future of our family and our nation, because the media is constantly over sensationalizing our nation’s current economic downturn. Here are 7 facts that you may not hear from the news outlets that will help decrease your fears of the future.

1. Today’s economic crisis is NOT like The Great Depression. Historians have deeply studied the problems leading up to the Great Depression in 1929 and we don’t have same problems today. The FDIC did not exist yet, we are now a service based economy versus a manufacturing economy, farming is not our main source of jobs, and trading between countries has become easier. In 1929 the unemployment rate was 25%. This past July it was 5.7%. For a more in depth look at how we are different today I would highly recommend reading this 1-page PDF.

2. Think long term when you look at your 401k and your investments. A lot of us have seen our retirement accounts and mutual funds take a dip. My only comfort is that investing is over a 5 year period. The market naturally goes up and down. We have seen bear markets in the past and on average they last 10 months. The only people who get hurt on a roller coaster are those who jump off midway through the ride.

3. The DOW only represents 30 companies. So when you hear that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down, remember that it only measures 30 of the thousands of publicly traded companies.

4. The FDIC insures your money in the bank up to $100,000. As long as your money is in an account at a bank that is FDIC insured, then your money is safe. There is no need to pull it out and hide it under the mattress. Who of us has more than 100,000 dollars in one bank account anyway?

5.  There ARE companies who are winning in this economy. We keep hearing about Wachovia, Washington Mutual, AIG, and other companies that are going bankrupt or being bought out, but smaller banks and companies are gaining from their downturns.

6. Buying single stocks are risky. According to Dave Ramsey, ” Looking back at the last 78 years, the performance of the stock market as a whole has averaged near 12 percent annually; yet the average return of the single stock investor is closer to 7 percent annually. “  If we play the single stock game, then we inherently have more risk to lose our money. Honestly, I don’t know any of my friends who are playing the stock market. If we keep to a good growth stock mutual fund then we will be alright.

7. You have more effect on your destiny than Washington. We live in a land of opportunity. We get to chose our own career paths. According to ‘The Millionaire Next Door’ 80% of America’s millionaires are first-generation rich. We have our personal responsibility to take charge of our lives and care for ourselves. Washington may not spend our tax dollars with wisdom, but we do have a say in our spend and earn our own money. When you have goals and plans for your money, you have a lot more peace about the future.

Additional Resources:

Putting ‘Panic’ in Perspective: 6 facts to help dispel the fear and 10 key reminders for investors
The 2008 credit crisis: A step-by-step look at how we got here
Investing a Bear Market
Having a Monthly Family Budget Meeting
We Are Not Headed for a Great Depression
A new Great Depression? It’s different this time
5 Myths of the Financial Crisis

Last week I watched Paris, Je T’aime for the first time.  It is a collection of 18 “love stories” in the city of Paris, all with different directors and actors.  Each story was about 5 minutes long.  I liked sifting through them.  Some I fast-forwarded, and some stuck with me for days.

Like this one, featuring actress Catalina Sandino Moreno:

It totally broke my heart.

What is your response to this short film?

Many of us don’t have time to read the paper or watch the news. (Most of it is fear-mongering anyway, but that is an entirely different story.) So I am sharing some headlines that have been in the news lately that may be of interest of interest to us moms. Starting off with one of my most favorite foods on the planet, cereal. Seriously, do you remember that episode of Seinfeld with Janeane Garofalo where she even orders cereal at a restaurant and eats it for lunch? I am close to loving cereal that much.

• Consumer Reports Rates 27 Different Kids Cereal – Based on the cereal’s fiber, sugar, calories, and nutritional content in a serving the top four cereals are plain Cheerios, Kix, Life, and Honey Nut Cheerios (yay!). The worst cereals are Post’s Golden Crisp and Kellogg’s Honey Smacks, Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, Cap’n Crunch, and Pops. You have to be a member of Consumer Reports to get the full report, but WebMD does a good job summarizes the report.

• New Blood Tests During Early Pregnancy for Down syndrome – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences came out with a report yesterday from a few doctors who are testing the pregnant mother’s blood, because some of the fetus’ blood ends up in the mother’s blood. They are looking for extra chromosomes usually found in Down syndrome, Edward syndrome, Patau syndrome. They are hoping that their findings will help women be tested as early as 5 weeks and lessen the need for more invasive tests that could lead to miscarriages. For me, I can see the need for this, but it doesn’t effect me. I just recently turned down all those tests in my own pregnancy. I am going to have the baby either way. My fear is that almost 9o% of women diagnosed with a fetus with Down syndrome abort the baby. When they do get the DS confirmation and abort, the baby is pretty far along. So if this test does become common and women find out at 5 weeks that their baby has Down syndrome will the abortion rate rise or fall?

• Letting Your Newborn Sleep With a Fan On May Reduce the Risk of SIDS – According to the report, “Young infants who sleep in bedrooms with fans have a lower risk of sudden infant death syndrome than babies who sleep in less well-ventilated rooms, new research shows. Investigators concluded that sleeping with a fan lowers SIDS risk by more than 70%.” The article says that a fan is not a substitute for placing them on their backs. The reports are interesting, because I know SIDS was a fear of mine and I am up for anything I can do reduce the risk. I am not sure I will be militant about this for my next little one, but it is something to consider.

• More Controversy over Cough and Cold Meds for Children – We have already covered previous FDA findings here and here. Now the New York Times is reporting, “manufacturers of pediatric cough and cold medicines announced Tuesday that they would voluntarily change their products’ labels to say that they should not be used in children under the age of 4.” The FDA is considering taking some cough and cold medications off the shelves and making them available by prescription. However, none of this would actually take place for a few years if it did happen. The FDA also fears that adults will then give their children medication meant for adults instead and over medicating them. My daughter is still under 2, so I haven’t used any of them on her. I am more of a Tylenol and home remedy kind of mom.

What is your favorite cereal? Would you start using a fan now for reduce the risk of SIDS? Has the news about cough and cold medications changed your mind about using them? Or do you find that they work?