Online Storytime {FREE}

Thanks to Pinterest, I have discovered Barnes and Noble's online storytime. They have animated books read by the author(s), illustrator and sometimes even famous people! The best part is that it's FREE! 


Currently there are 14 books available to listen to and a new book is added the 1st of every month. They have a great selection mixed with classics and newer releases. Somebody was thinking when they set this up, because it automatically keeps reading the next book until you hit stop. 


I thought this was a creative and different way, other than me reading, to incorporate literacy into our house. And Grace LOVES it!

Grace's current favorite: Where the Wild Things Are

I don't think it will ever get old watching daddy/daughter moments like these.

changing the world- one girl at a time

My friend, Amber, sent me the following email with a link to an interesting article:
"This was so profound to me. I will here forward be asking Grace questions about books and current events when I see her." xo, A


It has inspired me enough to blog about it and take the pledge....

I highly recommend you read the GREAT article How to Talk to Little Girls by Lisa Bloom, which encourages adults to ask little girls about ideas and books, instead of complimenting their looks. "Teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything," says Bloom. 


(It's crazy how true this is if you think about it. I admit, I think it's natural to compliment a little girl (or her parent) on how adorable she is, her big beautiful eyes, contagious smile, gorgeous outfit, and so on...)


"Clothes or hair or bodies...it's surprising how hard it is to stay away from those topics with little girls, but I'm stubborn," Bloom writes. "Try this the next time you meet a little girl [ask her what she's reading]. She may be surprised and unsure at first, because few ask her about her mind, but be patient and stick with it...Model for her what a thinking woman says and does."


I tried this out tonight with an adorable 9 year-old. She had beautiful blond hair, a big smile and her outfit was so darn cute. Instead of complimenting her, which I have to admit I'm a little paranoid about how often I have done this in the past, I literally asked her what the last book was she read. She thought about it and said, "the American Girl magazine. I really like the pictures." We ended up having a conversation about how she loves taking pictures, particularly the side view of objects. She grabbed her parent's DSLR camera and showed me her favorite picture she has taken so far on her holiday (holiday=vacation here in London). I complimented her picture and told her specifically what I liked about it (a teaching technique) and asked her to show me another picture she was proud of. This discussion turned into how she's continuing her holiday to Paris tomorrow and she's excited to take really cool pictures of the Eiffel Tower. I told her how, Amber, our mutual friend, took cool pictures of the Eiffel Tower while she was there and suggested they swap their favorite pictures via email to see each other's perspective. I'm curious to see if they do this and hope I can check out both pictures. What an idea to travel to a country with your big kid camera and later compare your perspective of the same thing with a 9-year old? I know I'm a dorky teacher at heart, but it doesn't get much cooler than that.

What enlightening advice from Lisa Bloom's to have real conversations with little girls (and boys!). Can you imagine the possibilities, teachable moments, and random influences that can be had with kids everywhere! This concept definitely fulfills my passion to talk to complete strangers who are willing to listen to me. Hopefully, I don't become the creepy mummy who tries to have meaningful conversations with the little kids at the park. Who cares...you know this is going to be me. :) Students and parents have complimented me in the past for talking to their child as "an adult" instead of talking down to them. It's amazing how excited they are to share their thoughts and opinions with you when you take the time to just talk to them. It was something I felt was important to do as a teacher, especially being a teacher of kids with special needs. I just never knew the depth behind it or the potential affect. 


The stats behind Lisa Bloom's article are unsettling and thought provoking. "15-18% of girls under 12 now wear mascara, eyeliner, and lipstick regularly; eating disorders are up and self-esteem is down; and 25% of American woman would rather win Next Top Model than the Nobel Peace Prize."


Now it's your turn. Just try it...[what book are you reading? How do you feel about summer coming to an end? What are you most/least excited about school starting in a couple of weeks? Who's your best friend? Why is he/she your best friend? Where do you like you'll live when you're your parents' age? What is the last dream you remember having? Do you want to go to college? What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your favorite vacation/holiday you have taken with your family? Can you share a picture you took that you are proud to show off?] Who is the last girl you had a conversation with and what was it about? Was she your daughter, niece, cousin, neighbor, family friend, student, patient, or maybe a complete stranger?  


Will you take the pledge? Please share your story(ies) with me if you're stubborn enough like Lisa Bloom, and now me, to initiate intelligent conversations with little girls (and don't forget about the boys) instead of complimenting their good looks. 


This topic is currently consuming my mind. I literally couldn't turn off my brain last night while sitting in bed. Katie, I was thinking of you because I was up past 1 AM. I have two new books added to my must read list. Can you tell I'm excited to feed my brain something other than the daily conversations between my 7.5 month old daughter and me?


Good luck changing the world- one girl at a time!


*Thanks, Amber for feeding my brain today.

How to Talk to Girls, original article by: Lisa Bloom
A Cup of Jo, the blog post Amber sent me
Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World, title of the book

random memories

Thursday was a day that everywhere I looked the most random things kept popping up and reminded me of people back home in the states. Bare with me on this one because this is definitely going to be my most random post.

Grace and I started our morning in a cafe (today's choice was Paul). This brings me to the first person who I thought about- my cousin, Samantha Henry. She has recently spent time in Paris. I believe she was taking a class. Samantha, please correct me if I'm wrong on the comment section. She fell in love with macaroons during her travels. You may remember a previous post where her mother, Aunt Donita, and I went to several French cafes in Chicago seeking out macaroons to be brought back to Kentucky for Samantha. This was also the scary post about the waitress who spilled the hot tea pot and coffee on the 1-year-old girl! While in this cafe, I noticed the delicious macaroons so in Samantha's honor I had to try one. Unfortunately, I now share the same appreciation for macaroons (specifically raspberry flavored) as my cousin. Thanks a lot, Samatha! ;)

After breakfast, we were just strolling along, following cool looking buildings and areas. (Mom, don't worry- I'm surprisingly getting really good at using a map and I keep track of where I am...well, most of the time.) Oops...except for that one time this week where I thought I was lost. More on that later.

As I was saying, Grace and I were strolling around and walked toward this particularly cool looking building, which ended up being the Natural History Museum. I later found out there are about 3-4 museums next to each other and they're all FREE! Perfect activity for Grace and me to explore. I do think I was more excited to check out the architecture of the actual building than what was inside. For school-age kids this would be a great afternoon outing/field trip. (Once a teacher...) Everyone else seemed to agree- the place was filled with families and school field trips. It reminded me of the Chicago Field Museum- they even had their own "Sue" dinosaur welcoming you in the front hall. Side note: The founder of Sue is from Munster, Indiana and graduated with my mother-in-law, Maureen!

cool looking building

main entrance to the London Natural History Museum

This brings me to the second person who I thought about- Matt Nierengarten. This placed was filled with cool interactive exhibits of natural disasters, evolution, etc. Not to mention the many animals and creepy crawlers they had preserved. Grace's favorite exhibit was the sparkly, shiny room filled with precious stones- we may have a problem in the making. I was just picturing Matt's head on a swivel constantly looking round and round. It made me think about his many "at home science experiments" from Kathy Eberle like the skull head he puts in water near Halloween and shows everyone who stops by how big it grows. 

Speaking of the creepy crawlers, this brings me to the third person who I thought about- Dawn Buckley. She was the former art teacher at Elliott Elementary School in Munster (my Mom's former school as well as my elementary school). You may remember my former post about Grace's play date with her two beautiful daughters. On Wednesday evenings, Dawn has been teaching an art class for kids and adults with disabilities. I think she said the age is anywhere from babies to 28 years old. I thought this would be a perfect activity for Matt and I to do together while Grammie Mo and Grandpa Den hung out with Grace, but things got a bit hectic the last month I was home. Hopefully her art class continues to be a huge success and we make something real cool when I get back. Dawn, how cute of an idea is this to incorporate science into teaching the color wheel? I could have seen you and Julie Glavin collaborating on a cool unit.

What was supposed to be a quick view of a free museum, ended up being over 2 hours...oops! We then headed toward Kensington Gardens. Talk about a huge, beautiful, active park! I'm pretty sure I will get myself lost in there. I was trying to follow the signs to see Princess Diana's waterfall memorial and playground- either the signs/paths are confusing or I need some help. I did run into the Peter Pan statue, which brings me to the fourth person who I thought about- Mrs. Casciari. In the past couple of months I have had the pleasure of getting to know Rachel's family, especially her mother. Grace and I might possibly refer to her as the Disney lady from now on. My first Disney experience (I was pregnant so does that mean I can count it as Grace's 1st too?) was with Michael, Rachel, and Mrs. Casciari in California. We had such a blast with her. When Grace was born she bought her a a Minnie Mouse sleeper, which currently fits and she wears all the time. I'm pretty sure she expects us to come back to Cali with Grace to really see Disneyland-- okay, twist my arm... Right before our move we were all at Rachel's new fabulous apartment in Chicago actually watching the Royal Wedding and the one thing her Mom reminded me that I had to see with Grace is the Peter Pan statue since the story was based out of London. Well, Mrs. Casciari, I'm proud to say I can check that off my list after 3 days of moving here. :)

Alright...this is it for now. I warned you this was going to be random. 

Pop-Tastic Wall Decals! {GIVEAWAY}

 While watching American Idol tonight with Michael (of course after Grace was asleep for the night), I was also checking out and becoming obsessed with another Mommy Blog, A Few of My Favorite Things. She gives away free things and is a Mom of twins (shout out to the soon-to-be Bruinsma beauties and the Adley boys...play date next week? Check out her most recent blog about these absolutely adorable wall decals...perfect for a nursery for play room. Amanda Vetor...I think these would be too cute in Sam's upstairs playroom. I'm just sayin... As a teacher, one of my favorites is the tree of knowledge. The Glitzy Girls with their accessories would be so fun for Grace in the future. Imagine having paper dolls on your bedroom walls!

Pop-Tastic Wall Decals! {GIVEAWAY}

Essential books for Baby - Age 2

I just received an email from Amazon.com saying...

Customers who have shown an interest in children's books from Amazon.com might like to know about our new Essential Books for Children Store, where you will find age-appropriate lists of classic fiction and nonfiction books that are the building blocks of any child's library. 


Grace has 2/4 books suggested for her age group! 

 




The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Goodnight Moon were very popular gifts given to Grace at her showers. She received several copies of each of them! Mommy's Chicago friend, Kristin Buchanan also gave Grace Good Night Chicago!