When I worked as a Home visitor the most common complaint across the board was “ My child wont sleep”. This was the most prevalent and common issue parents asked for advice on. The second most popular issue was with picky eaters. It ranged from the child not sleeping in his/her own bed (co-sleeping was not encouraged by my old employer) or the child having such terrible tantrums and fits at bedtime. Many times the parent had to sleep with the child. In all cases bedtime was a huge ordeal. Most Moms’ were in tears as they explained the crying, screaming and... more

I love Children’s Books and I have a large collection. I think it’s really important to keep books out for your child so that he/she can access them and look at them at his/her leisure. I hated seeing all of a child’s book collection up on a shelf when I was a Home visitor. Mom’s were reading the books but putting them up on the shelf afterwards to keep them from being ripped or ruined. I know my daughter will take the book after I have read it to her and look at it over & over again processing what we had just read. Below I have listed the books... more

Argh! I just lost an entire post. Now, I must start again from scratch. Doggonit! I hate it when that happens. Now you will get the truncated version of my original thoughts.

We were sitting around talking at dinner this weekend when my kids began reminiscing about various memories of theirs. I was so touched to see the level of detail they recalled about their fondest memories. I sat at the table looking at them and at my husband and I thought "I done good. Reeeaalll good."

When the girls came home one of the rituals I carried out faithfully for months afterwards... more