Monday, September 30, 2013

In The News : City Unveils Campaign to Improve Girls’ Self-Esteem

This is a nice FYI in this article.

"“I’m a girl. I’m funny, playful, daring, strong, curious, smart, brave, healthy, friendly and caring,” one ad, featuring DeVoray Wigfall, a robust, laughing 12-year-old from University Heights in the Bronx, says. The ads show girls of different races and sizes, some playing sports and one in a wheelchair. Each one ends with the campaign’s overall slogan: “I’m beautiful the way I am.”"

"City officials and experts in adolescent health said it was the first campaign aimed at female body image that they knew of to be carried out by a major city. Ads began going up on buses and in subways on Monday.  "

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Daily Struggles...

To my little Lina<3,
Mama is missing you when I am not at home with you.  I like being home with my baby, playing, and teaching you as we play. Just being home with my baby is what I want to do. But there are some struggles especially it comes to your morning and bedtime routines, and meals. Morning routines can be tough. Morning, nighttime and bedtime routines include changing clothes, brushing your hair, washing up or getting a wipe down, moisturizing, brushing your teeth, and diaper changes.

Sometimes in the mornings, you do not want to get out of your crib, you would roll from one side of the crib to other side; or you would get up, and run to the other end of the crib.  It is tough to even pick you up from the crib because Mama is short and have a hard time reaching all  across the crib. It does not happen every morning.
Brushing your teeth in mornings and before bedtimes has been a struggle lately. I asked you if you want to brush your teeth or tell you "let's go brush your teeth", you said "no", when I come close to you with the toothbrush, you run away from me, I catch you, you struggle in my arms as I try and brush your teeth and you keep your mouth close. Eventually, the toothbrush goes in your mouth, and I get to brush a little. While trying to brush your teeth, Mama explains to you that how important is it  to brush your teeth, and we should brush our teeth twice a day.
Brushing your hair is hard. I have to explain to you that it is important to brush your hair, otherwise it will get tangled, and have knots in your hair. When you do not want to brush your hair, you snatch the brush away from me, and run away from me. Or sometimes you would just like to brush Mama's hair instead. Most of the time, you do not like to have your hair brushed.
Getting moisturized in the mornings or before bedtime is funny and always a struggle. You always run, play, and laugh. You do not like to get moisturized at all. If we are in your room moisturizing, you would run around the room, giggling and waiting for Mama to catch you. Other times, you would climb on your rocking chair and refused to get down, or twist and turn your body so that I do not moisturized you properly.  Sometimes you would throw yourself on the floor, and stay there so I do not moisturized you properly. But once, Mama catches you, hold onto you, and moisturized you as fast a as possible, as you fussed, twisted, and turn to get out of my grip.
Diaper changes are funny. You run all around the house as soon as the diaper comes off. We tried not to wear the diaper all day long, as you are being potty trained. When you are caught, you struggled, kicked, and fussed, as I clean you and put a new diaper on. From what I read about children's development, I learned that all children run away from diaper changes, and like to be naked.
Meal time can be tough at times because sometimes you just do not want to eat at all. Sometimes when you do want to eat, you would use your spoon or fork to pick out only the things that you want to eat from the meal. Other times, you do not want to put anything in your mouth and you would rather run around and play, instead of sitting down for your meals.
The word "no" has been your everyday vocabulary. If you do not want to eat, sleep, nap, have a snack, come to Mama when I call for you; you would say "no". It seemed like it has become your favorite word. I have tried not say the word "no" too often during the day, and tried to use other words, such as "do not do that" instead of "no".

These are the daily struggles that we go through, almost everyday. I enjoy every moment. I may seem like I am frustrated, and seemed like I am losing my patience with you, but I am never upset with you, and at times, I smile to myself about these moments.

I love you so much my little Lina<3

Mama (as you love to call me and I love hearing it!!)

Sunday, September 22, 2013

In The News : Children's bedtime stories on the wane, according to survey

I find this article to be sad. "Stress and lack of time cited as poll finds only 13% of parents read to their kids at night every day of the week."

I find that reading books, either during bedtime or other times of the day, is one of the best ways to continue bonding with my child. I was not always the biggest fan of reading, and reading bedtime stories were not apart of my childhood but I always love the idea of reading to my children before bedtimes, and just reading to them. Daddy loves to read. I have been reading my little Lina<3 since even before she was born. Bedtime stories has become apart of our bedtime routines. We have been consistent with reading before bedtime every night. Sometimes we do not always get to finish the book(s). Lina<3 knows exactly which books she likes the best, which are usually the picks for bedtime stories. She picks out one or two books to read, sit on either Daddy or my lap (depending on who puts her to sleep), with stuff animal or doll, and read. Sometimes, I caught her "reading" ( she does not know how read yet, but pretends to - which is the cutest thing) to her stuff animals or dolls. Or when she is not busy running around the house, and want to read, she will go into her room, get a book, climb onto her rocking chair, and "read" to self. I call her my little bookworm because it is such a wonderful thing that she likes to read and she gets most of that from Daddy (the biggest bookworm... Lol). I hope that she continues to likes book as she gets older. Of course, we are not going change the fact that we will continue to read to you every night.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Happy Mid Autumn Festival

It's Mid Autumn Festival! May the brightness of the moon light up your life with joy and good fortune as you celebrate with family and friends. Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Moon Festival!

My little Lina<3 loves the moon. Every night, we look for the moon before bedtime, she says "moon" and points to the window. The last two nights the moon was full, and very bright, she loved looking at the moon. It is a tradition that during this holiday, we gather as a family and have dinner and eat mooncake and a large grapefruit (looks like a moon, bright yellow). This year, Lina<3 tried some mooncake but did not like it at all. lol

Friday, September 13, 2013

NYC Little Italy's of San Gennaro


NYC’s Little Italy’s feast of San Gennaro happens every year. My little Lina<3 was having fun without Mommy today. She went to Little Italy with her grandparents. And had a great time walking around at the feast and in Chinatown.