Busy day

Today while Alex was busy making some beautiful things to give people for Christmas, Maya was busy cooking and eating at the table nearby. It was actually quiet in the house for quite a while thing morning!

Maya...Maya.....

It snowed a bit

Ok, so maybe a little more than "a bit" !

Downtown Traverse City

We have a giant Christmas tree in the middle of one of the streets downtown. When they re-did the street in fact they installed a tree stand right into the street! The friday after Thanksgiving there is carol singing and Santa comes to town and lights the tree. Last year my parents took Alex and he really enjoyed it - no interest in seeing Santa but liked the tree lighting. This year Alex and I went together. We figured Maya was still too little to like being out in the cold that long and just waiting for things.
I have to admit, it was pretty cool. Alex really got into the carol singing. He was singing along even when he didn't know the words and danced the whole time.
When Santa arrived up on stage the look on his face was pretty precious, I couldn't snap a picture because I was holding him up so he could see better. They had a great Santa - his hair and beard are real so it looks much less "costume-y".
Alex loved the count down to the tree lighting. And we got to do it twice - because the tree didn't light up the first time! Actually it didn't the second time either, Santa was trying to figure out what to say and do after the second countdown and the tree just randomly turned on finally.
This year Alex was determined that he wanted to stand in line and actually talk to Santa. He was very good and very determined......we stood in line for about an hour. It was kind of fun, there were some horse drawn carriages all decorated and lit up riding around downtown to watch. It was snowing lightly and not overly cold. I gave him several chances to change his mind and come back another day but he was determined.
Thankfully most people were feeling the Christmas spirit - the lady behind us offered to save our place in the Santa line when Alex announced about half way through that he had to go potty. Then the people in line at the nearest potty let us go ahead of them because it soon became aparent (due to all the dancing around and grabbing himself) that this was an emergency!
When it was finally our turn we went into Santa's house and Alex announced he did not want to sit on his lap, just stand next to him. Fine by me! And he announced he didn't want his picture taken...not so fine by me so I tried to sneak a few.
He told Santa he only wanted one thing for Christmas - Star Wars Legos of his very own.
So I guess I will be shopping for some Star Wars legos.

Maya and turkey

I guess the whole turkey makes you tired thing is true for Maya!

Another talker?

For a while it seemed that Maya would maybe wait longer to talk than Alex did.  But she has had a pretty significant word increase in the past couple days and she is also much more interested in signing.

She recently added the words:

cheese (both for picture taking and eating!)

cracker

doggy

quack quack (for duck)

Uh-oh!

She is trying to say Chewy and Alex but both are hard.  She has started signing "all done" consistantly and makes a sound along with it that sounds like she's trying to say "all done".

So we'll see what the next few months bring - we may have another chatty one on our hands!

It sometimes pays to complain.

A few days ago Motrin brand pain reliever put an ad up online (there is aparently also a similar print ad, though I have not seen it.). They are targeting mothers in their advertising and have something called a "mom-alogue" and this is what the ad is suppose to be. You know a real life mom situation. (sarcasm).
You can view the ad here:
Motrin Ad

It's offensive in several ways. Obiously first of all it completely mis-represents babywearing. But it is also offensive to mothers in general with the idea that we would put ourselves through physical pain just to be a part of some sort of senseless fashion trend. You know, we wear our babies just to look like "official moms".

As you can imagine this clip flew around the internet through email, blogs and message boards. I wrote an email to the company yesterday and hundreds of other babywearing moms did too over the weekend. Yesterday this video was placed on youtube as a response:
Motrin makes moms mad
The organization Babywearing International has also sent a really good letter, which you can read here: Babywearing International response to Motrin ad

Well, the VP of marketing for the company that makes Motrin is responding. They took the clip off the internet by early this morning and are saying they will retract the print ads as well although that will take more time. On the main page of the Motrin website she has also printed an apology: Motrin.com
So sometimes it does pay off to complain!

In a kind of ironic twist - International Babywearing Week is Nov 12-18th. I have some links to information about babywearing, baby carrier and our local group always listed on the right hand side of this blog.
Why is this something I care about?
Here is some good basic information off the Babywearing International website:

Benefits of Babywearing

Medical professionals agree that infants thrive through touch; “wearing”
your baby is another way to meet this need. But the benefits of babywearing don’t end there … babywearing offers many other advantages, some of which include:

• Happy Babies. It’s true … carried babies cry less! In a study published
in the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that babywearing for three hours a day reduced infant crying by 43 percent overall and 54 percent during evening hours. (1)

• Healthy Babies. Premature babies and babies with special needs often
enter the world with fragile nervous systems. When a baby rides in a sling attached to his mother, he is in tune with the rhythm of her breathing, the sound of her heartbeat, and the movements his mother makes—walking, bending, and reaching. This stimulation helps him to regulate his own physical responses. Research has even shown that premature babies who are touched and held gain weight faster and are healthier than babies who are not. (2)

• Confident Parents. A large part of feeling confident as a parent is the
ability to read our babies’ cues successfully. Holding our babies close in a
sling allows us to become finely attuned to their movements, gestures, and facial expressions. Every time a baby is able to let us know that she is hungry, bored, or wet without having to cry, her trust in us is increased, her learning is enhanced, and our own confidence is reinforced. This cycle of positive interaction deepens the mutual attachment between parent and child, and is especially beneficial for mothers who are at risk for or suffering from postpartum depression. (3) (4)

• Loving Caregivers. Baby carriers are a great bonding tool for fathers,
grandparents, adoptive parents, babysitters, and other caregivers. Imagine a new father going for a walk with his baby in a sling. The baby is becoming used to his voice, heartbeat, movements, and facial expressions, and the two are forging a strong attachment of their own. Baby carriers are beneficial for every adult in a baby’s life. Cuddling up close in the sling is a wonderful way to get to know the baby in your life, and for the baby to get to know you!

•Comfort and Convenience. With the help of a good carrier, you can take
care of older children or do chores without frequent interruptions from an anxious or distressed infant—which helps to reduce sibling rivalry. Baby
carriers are also wonderful to use with older babies and toddlers; you can save those arms and go where strollers can’t. Climbing stairs, hiking, and navigating crowded airports all can be done with ease when you use a well-designed baby carrier!

References1 - Hunziker UA, Garr RG. (1986) Increased carrying reduces
infant crying: A random-ized controlled trial. Pediatrics 77:641-6482 - “Current knowledge about skin-to-skin (kangaroo) care for pre-term infants”. J Perinatol. 1991 Sep;11(3):216-26.3 - Pelaez-Nogueras M, Field TM, Hossain Z, Pickens J. (1996). Depressed mothers’ touching increases infants’ positive affect and attention in still-face interactions. Child Development, 67, 1780-92.4 - Tessier R, M Cristo, S Velez, M Giron, JG Ruiz-Palaez, Y Charpak and N Charpak. (1998) Kangaroo mother care and the bonding hypothesis. Pediatrics 102:e17.

So happy Babywearing!

Little Packer backers

Go Pack Go!

Sunday funday......

The last time it snowed enough to stay on the ground Alex and I went outside to play but didn't stay out long because it was windy and felt really damp out. Today we had a little more snow and it was cold enough to cut the dampness so it was really nice out! We made our first snowman of the year. He has chocolate chip eyes, carrot tip nose and a piece of licorice for the mouth!

Not many pictures

I haven't been taking enough pictures lately.

Life is just moving along....with Alex in preschool 3 mornings a week it always seems like we are "busy".  

We've been doing a lot of playing and working outside, working on some projects to give as Christmas gifts, trying to still play with friends.

Alex loves school.  Last tuesday they learned about voting by pretending the class was getting a new pet and they had to vote for either a turtle or a fish.  Once the kids understood the concept then they talked about the President and the class held their own election.  Obama won 5 votes to the 3 votes for McCain.  Two kids abstained and one kid would only vote for his dad (his dad was running for State Rep so I'm guessing there was a lot of vote for dad talk in their house).

Ben went to bed tuesday night but I stayed up to watch everyone speak.  WOW.  What a night.  It was something amazing to see all those people all over the country and even around the world celebrating in the streets and the emotional impact this election had.

Ben really dislikes politics so he's just happy there are no more advertisements and he doesn't have to listen to me talk politics (as much) for a while.

Alex was happy because he had voted for Obama at school so he really wanted him to be the "real winner" too.

And I was just...happy :)

Maya is trying in earnest to walk.  She's taken 1-2 steps unassisted here and there.  She is quite the climber though.  I think she will be our daredevil and probably our first to need stitches at some point.

She's saying mommy, daddy, hi, hello and trying to say Alex.

She's working on some teeth right now and has had a goopy eye on and off for almost a week now but is still mostly happy.

Our neighborhood

Just as a note - the beads on Maya are her own addition to her costume. In fact she wears them almost every day. I have to sneak her beads off after she falls asleep!