Read or Better Yet, Jam with Your Kid! →

Crucially, its findings are based on situations where the child’s musical activities were informal and shared, typically with a parent – essentially a playful social experience.

Simple and fun musical activities can have enormous power in developing numeracy and literacy: try improvising a counting song, or making up new rhymes to familiar tunes.

But the true power of musical play lies in the unique blend of creativity, sound and face-to-face interaction; the learning is strengthened by its basis in a positive, empathic emotional relationship.

Let's jam. I'll host. Bring your best kitchen utensils and percussion instruments.

I Love that My Wife Breast Feeds (and am very proud too)

I wish that our society was more pro breast feeding and more family oriented. I dread leaving my family for work. I dislike that we all are not given maternity and paternity leave or much less afford the luxury. Fortunately, for the first three months of our daughter's life, my wife and I were there for her. It was amazing! It was perfect. Now our little Norah is approaching 18 months and we are contemplating a full weaning (ultimately of course my wife's choice but I love that she talks to me about it). I've always been all about and can't imagine any reason of how or why people are offended by the act of feeding your kid wherever or whenever.

I'm writing this post because earlier this evening my wife sent me an article and it home. For the full awesome post, follow the link.

For example, the nursing mother’s immune system works in tandem with her child’s, detecting pathogens to which the child has been exposed and producing antibodies that are passed through breast milk (if you’ve ever wondered why mothers have a strange compulsion to kiss their newborns’ hands, one theory is that it’s related to this immune support).

We’re not alone in that opinion. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding alongside appropriate solid foods “up to two years of age or beyond” (WHO). Here in the States, there’s something of a movement afoot toward extended breastfeeding, going hand-in-hand with the movement toward what has been dubbed “attachment parenting.” In a nutshell, attachment parenting is built around the notion that humans are naturally an offspring-carrying species (à la higher primates), not a nesting species like dogs or cats or birds. As such, the argument goes, we are more within our natural element carrying our babies, or wearing them, or co-sleeping with them at night, than we are to plop them in a stroller or a bouncy seat or a playpen or a crib (as were most of us as children). Far from spoiling the child (as the old-schoolers would say we were doing), the theory is that keeping our children physically close to us—carrying them on our chests or backs when we’re out and about, engaging them with direct attention, allowing them to sleep close to us or even with us—helps the child grow into a secure, empathetic, and nurturing adult.

So how public is too public? If you ask me, there is no such thing. Riding a bus, sitting in a restaurant, in uniform, in Parliament, in front of the Pope—you name it. A nursing baby is so much more pleasant than a cranky, hungry baby. Don’t want to see it? That’s simple: Don’t look.

Stop and Use Honest

Since the birth of our daughter, my wife and I were already all about Jessica Alba's company, Honest. In fact, I was so eager to check them out that I ordered a sample a few months prior to her being born and even scheduled our first bundle to ship while we were still at the hospital! We've been subscribers ever since and haven't looked back.

In lieu of recent events of allergies, particularly to methylisothiazolinone (MI), popping up, I thought I'd reiterate their not only effective, but unquestionably safe, eco-friendly, beautiful, convenient, and affordable philosophy. If you haven't read the report on NBC News, I'd get on it then head over to Honest and try out a free sample. Here's a small excerpt:

Dr. Robin Gehris said she has been seeing more and more kids with reactions to the wipes. It’s possible, she said, that this is because manufacturers have bumped up the amount of MI used in wipes 25-fold.

Being the cautious father I am, I still felt compelled to look up the ingredients of the Best, Natural, Plant-Based Baby Wipes by Honest and wasn't surprised at all that it DID NOT contain MI. Here are all the ingredients:

Purified Water, Citric Acid (Fruit-Based Stability Agent), Silver Dihydrogen Citrate (All Natural, Water-Soluble Preservative), Decyl Glucoside (Sugar-Based Cleanser), Sodium Citrate (Corn-Based Antioxidant), Punica Granatum (Pomegranate Fruit) Extract, Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Licorice Root) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile) Extract, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber Fruit) Extract, Peucedanum Ostruthium (Masterwort Leaf) Extract

You can read more about Jessica and Chris' story here. Once again, it DOES NOT contain methylisothiazolinone (MI). Go grab a bag and try them out!

Touching for Toddlers

How do you manage your children's touch time?

A “rattle on steroids,” is what Buckleitner calls it. “All of a sudden a finger could move a bus or smush an insect or turn into a big wet gloopy paintbrush.” To a toddler, this is less magic than intuition.

via The Atlantic The Touch-Screen Generation

Introducing Norah Renée

I snapped this photo on the 2nd of September, 15 days after she blessed us with her presence. I used my new her new Olympus OM-D E-M5 paired with a Panasonic "Leica" DG Summilux 25/f1.4 and just brushed a warmer effect on Aperture. I'm still learning the ins and out of photography again and using my new micro 4/3s camera. If you have any tips and tricks, leave a comment!

http://about.me/norahrenee

Of course this shot was inspired by none other than my friend Gage Caudell. Check out his photo titled "Our Future". It's definitely a much better composition and a wonderful shot of his little girl. The month by month progression is fantastic!

Pinterest and the Withings Smart Baby Monitor Contest

I've really never gotten into Pinterest until Withings started a contest. I signed up, submitted a photo and now the contest is live. Check out the photo that I took of Norah Renée along with the Smart Baby Monitor. If you think it's worthy, please repin it! As of Sunday tonight, she's in 3rd place. Hey, and if you wanted to buy this awesome monitor, use can always use my Amazon link provided here.  It's awesome and my wife and I love it!

Source: blog.withings.com via Withings on Pinterest