After my soon-to-be 5-year-old saw a fabulous pirate girl costume at our local party shop, it was a done deal. Its going to be a pirate party!! Luckily for Mom, the shop was on 50% off (hurrah!), so we stocked up on plates, hats, cups and so on. Next up was research time on the internet, as I was more of a girly kid in my youth, preferring princesses and castles to dirty, brazen-mouth pirates. I think my daughter takes after my hubby in that respect!

Online, I found some pretty great resources, like Birthday Party Ideas, which I would highly recommend for any parent planning any party. Written by parents who so kindly share their experience with loads of tips and advice, the site has all the birthday party themes any kid would want, with over 150 categories of fantastic birthday party ideas. I love it!!

For Pirate Kids party fayre, the site Pirate Party Food has some easy kid-friendly recipes to give you some creative ideas when planning for the party’s menu.

More ideas which came in handy were found at Boardman’s Birthday Party Ideas, like some thorough instructions for the invitations like how you should dip the paper in coffee for that old ragged look, and very pirate-y wording like:

“Aye…..ye be invited fer some birthday spirits at Captn Tyler’s Buccaneer Bash
Chart yer course fer the “location” ? day of month
We be a meetin at “time” fer some swashbuckling fun, grub and kiddie spirits.
Wave yer flag if ye be attendin or hav yer mum send message by yer phone to “number”
Sees ye there…..aarrgghh!

Yesterday we hit the shops in search for pirate loot for the prizes etc, and although we did find a good amount of stuff, I’m still kicking myself for not being more organized and getting stocked up at Halloween when all the pirate-y goods like skeletons, skulls and so forth were everywhere. But such is the last-minute decision making of 4-year-olds! I’ll have to search for my inner Martha now. Aaaarrgh!

[tags]Pirate party, kids’s party, birthdays, 5th birthday[/tags]

My daughter’s preschool has a lovely little Christmas tradition. Every year, at the school Christmas party, after the show where the kids sing carols and hold a nativity play ( my little one was Mary last year, and played the part so seriously - adorable!), Santa Claus himself comes to visit.

Its a huge surprise and thrill for the kids, and best of all, “jolly old Saint Nick” comes complete with a big sack of toys (pre-bought by the parents) for all the children. He then goes through his list (its a pretty small school, so this thankfully doesnt take too long), calling each child’s name and the talking about the times they were “naughty” or “nice” - followed by the present. Great for some positive reinforcement for the year ahead, don’t you think?

There’s a set price for all the presents, and the kids always come out happy, if a little peevish that Santa really did know what they were up to this year. Tomorrow, I give my daughter’s “naughty and nice” list in for Santa’s review, in time for the school party on Friday.

Naughty

Hitting her brother (she whacked him very hard on the forehead the other day, causing a nasty goose egg - apparently because he hit her with a block first)

Hitting and kicking her nanny (I swear, she really isnt a monster-child, but has put our nanny in tears because of some very aggressive behaviour).

Nice

Being a good Big Sister - Despite hitting her baby brother on rare occassions (ok, maybe 3x a week), there have been more times when she’s been really very sweet to him, especially when we went on our family holiday recently, where she looked after him quite a lot.

Sharing and Giving her Toys Away - A few times a year, I like to put aside a lot of their old toys that they don’t really play with anymore and fill a few bags to give away to needy children. She actually enjoys doing this and it makes me so proud to see her empathy and generosity (even when she wants to give away the very expensive Bratz doll we just bought last month!) to kids in need.

[tags]Christmas, Holidays, School, naughty or nice list, Santa[/tags]

Yesterday morning after I took my daughter to Kindergarten, I was busy answering my emails when O toddled to my desk. He often does this when he sees me on my laptop, and most of the time (if I don’t have any deadlines to meet), I indulge him by going to the Thomas the Tank Engine or Bob the Builder sites. If his big sister is around, she play games while he watches, and fun seems to be had by all.

Anyway, for some reason, I was in You Tube, and somehow, we found the video “Manamana” as you see pictured above. Its a vintage Sesame Street/Muppets clip (wasn’t I just talking about this?) from the 70’s, and involves a very catchy tune “sung” by the two pink creatures (birds?) and the caveman-esque chap with the shades. It is absolutely delightful!

Well, O LOVED it, and just kept on cracking up when the caveman would pop up saying “manamana”. For what seemed like ages, we watched the clip over and over again, which eventually prompted me to sign up at the site and get more into memory lane by searching for more clips from the childhood, of which I found a couple of gems - “Eleven O’Clock!” and the clown who takes his makeup off. Hurrah!

When N got home from school, O just had to show her “anama!”, which she LOVED as well.
They watched it again first thing this morning, and now N wants them to sing it at out family Christmas party on Christmas Eve. Guess who’ll have to be one of the pink furry creatures?

To see the video, click HERE.

[tags]Muppets, manamana, Sesame Street,childhood[/tags]

We arrived Koh Samui and were happily greeted by Lola and Poppa Joe (my Mother and step-dad who had moved to the island last April). My four-year old N was thrilled (as she adores her Grandma) as was the little O, who unfortunately by now had a fever which spiked to a ghastly 39 degrees.

We checked into the Banana Fan Sea Resort in Chaweng beach, which was the main beach and tourist area of the island, which suited us well, as it was also the most child-friendly. Our “hut” for the next two weeks was wonderful, right on the beach with our own little terrace, and a tiny garden enclosed by a wooden gate - perfect for deterring my darlings from running straight to the beach. Aside from a pool area which stocked a good supply of water games equipment, and a little tykes playground on the beach, the hotel had a kids menu, crayons, and fantastic themed buffets nightly where the kids ate free. Add a very reasonable and friendly baby-sitting service and we were set up. It was perfect!!

As luck would have it, we had also arrived right on time for Loy Krathong, one of the biggest and most beautiful festivals in Thailand. On this night of the full moon, pretty little rafts made from banana tree trunks are filled with flowers, candles, incense and banana leaves are set afloat in rivers all over the country. There are contests and fireworks and
in our case, after a traditional show , we all set the rafts afloat in the hotel pool, which you can imagine, thrilled the children to no end. My girl N was actually the last person on the poolside, arranging the floats that had drifted to the edge of the pool and pushing them away again.

The days that preceeded were lazy and in true holiday-mode, except for my little boy’s awful cold, that is. After a few days of a seemingly relentless fever, Lola and I took him to the impressive Bangkok Hospital, where a very good doctor said that his cold had progressed to an ear infection and ordered him to take some antibiotics. Barely two days later O was back to his normal self, and our remaining days at the Banana Hotel (as N called it) were filled with swimming, eating roasted corn and mangoes from the vendor on the beach and when it rained, shopping at Tescos for toys and art supplies, and eating at Svensens ice cream.

[tags]Thailand, holiday, Loy Krathong, Travel with Kids[/tags]

The daring parents we are, we’ve now taken our two kids to Thailand for a family holiday. As my husband had some work to attend to in the region, we decided to meet up in Bangkok and fly down to Koh Samui for a two week holiday.

And even more daring, I think, is that I flew solo with a 21-month-old and 4 year-old to Bangkok. To make things worse, my 21-month-old came down with a raging fever that very morning we were leaving, promptly vomiting on me (twice) in the car on the way to the airport. A very important lesson in travel with kids (and perhaps the single most important thing to do) - bring more than 2 sets of extra clothes (this means for Mom as well)!! The longer the journey and the younger the child, add an extra shirt or two, or be doomed to buying something hideously ill-fitting or overpriced at the duty free when you touch down.

After a frenzied call to Dr.J, who assured me that the show must go on and that a cold with fever is no big deal, we arrived at the airport, got through airport security, made it through to the plane, and finally arrived in Bangkok. The plane journey turned out to be pretty painless actually, my little girl was thrilled with her window seat, headset and kid’s meal saying “Mom, this is the best ever!, can I always have food like this?”, and amazingly, my little boy slept most of the way through.

Upon arrival, the flight attendant informed me that our stroller would NOT be available until the baggage carousel (grrrr), which was a real nightmare if you have ever been to the new airport in Bangkok and know how many miles you have to walk until you reach the baggage claim.

After a seemingly endless number of those flat escalator thingies (sorry I just cant remember what they’re called), going through immigration (I think the Thai police pitied us with my son screaming in line and opened a desk just for us to stop upsetting the other travellers) and getting our bags (which came out last, of course), it was the most wonderful feeling of all seeing my husband at the greeting area while my kids screamed Dada! and with a sigh of relief, I handed the stroller over to him.

[tags]Travel with children,Kids travel,Asia,Thailand,Koh Samui,Air travel with kids[/tags]

October 24th is United Nations Day, which means a big school program for us parents where we’ll be getting to see our kids dress up and do a dance number or two. It also can mean that the school will be roping us parents in for a (dreaded) “parent activity”, which is what happened to me.

So at the beginning of the month, we were told by the school administrator that my daughter’s Kindergarten class would be representing Mexico for the big UN celebrations this year. It was to be a pretty big event - several classrooms representing different countries, and there was to be a big show (where the kids and teachers did several song and dance numbers), followed by an international food fair where each classroom/country would be serving food from our alloted country.

At the first big moms-meeting, only 8 of us showed up, out of a total 12. Not a bad turnout. We broke up into pairs, and yours truly was put into the costume committee with my pal and fellow mom, M. The decorations were to be taken care of by an art teacher and an architect and food by a factory owner and a very Martha-esque type (much warmer though) - a very workable team, I thought.

Out of all the Moms, I only knew one of them well (meaning that I could call her for a coffee), two so-so, and the rest merely by “hi!” at drop-off and pick up times at school. But by the end of it, we were all friends and having a laugh in spite of probably not having too much in common except for our kids. I guess thats one of the reasons why teachers make us do these things.

[tags]United Nations,UN,school presentation,food,Mexico[/tags]

Upon hearing the unsettling news of my kids’s condition (my four-year-old was
also developing the rash and complaining of “owies” in her mouth), I dutifully rang my friend M, whose kids were scheduled to come to my place that afternoon for playgroup.

Funnily enough, she was really cool about the entire “Hand Foot Mouth” thing, and said her kids probably had it too by now so another day wouldnt make a difference anyway, so would it be ok if they came over as planned? Oh, ok then.

But for Moms who are probably more OC about hygene like I am ( and I can name a couple), it pays to know how to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Here’s what I found, also useful for any other infectious disease our kids are exposed to in this big wide world of ours, courtesy of the National Center For Infectious Diseases:

“Specific prevention for HFMD or other non-polio enterovirus infections is not available, but the risk of infection can be lowered by good hygienic practices. Preventive measures include frequent handwashing, especially after diaper changes (see “Handwashing” in: An Ounce of Prevention: Keeps the Germs Away), cleaning of contaminated surfaces and soiled items first with soap and water, and then disinfecting them by diluted solution of chlorine-containing bleach (made by mixing approximately ¼ cup of bleach with 1 gallon of water. Avoidance of close contact (kissing, hugging, sharing utensils, etc.) with children with HFMD may also help to reduce of the risk of infection to caregivers.”

[tags]Hand foot mouth disease,infectious diseases children, kids health, coxackie[/tags]

My sincere apologies for the disturbing images, but sadly this is what I’ve been faced with lately. You see, my two kids were just diagnosed with Coxackie virus, otherwise known as Hand Foot Mouth disease. And, NO it has nothing to do with the mad cow thing (Foot and Mouth)- which I had to reassure my husband of vehemently when I told him the news.

It all started when I noticed some strange, blistery, pimply spots on my son’s hands and feet. When it didn’t disappear in a day (as many of these rashes do), I dutifully visited our pediatrician Dr. J, thinking she might as well check it out since he was due for a shot anyway.

One look and she told me he had HFM disease, which was obvious as he also had another big symptom - losing his appetite lately with solid food and saying “owie” when he ate. When Dr.J that it was no big deal (in spite of its rather sketchy name), fairly common in babies and young children, and self-limiting (read: no meds necessary except for paracetamol in case of fever, which neither of my kids got), I honestly felt more “ICK” than anything else, especially when I realized that this icky virus was probably spreading among the kids at school, playgroup or even at Gymboree. Ick!!

Dr.J then advised me to tell the Moms and teachers that my kids had (gulp) “it”, and to keep them away from other kids for another 5 days or so as it was HIGHLY contagious. Although, contagious kids may never even develop symptoms, or just have some of them.

[tags]Hand foot mouth disease,coxackie virus,kids disease,kids health[/tags]

Playgroup is the lifeline of a lot of moms. New moms, old moms, expat moms, native moms…whatever. If you have kids who don’t go to “big school”(read:full time elementary), a playgroup is the answer to not just keeping the little ones busy, but the best way to spend time with kindered spirits of the “hood”.

The problem is, some members of the “hood” can’t help but take advantage of the situation. I just got an email from the coordinator mom of one of my kids playgroups with list of guidelines and rules. Very necessary, she said because of the certain way things were going lately. There were rules like:

“No leaving your kids without supervision. This is NOT a daycare. If you cannot be around, you must okay it with the host first”.

These new rules were especially pertinent when at a playgroup at my house the other day, one mom texted me at 5.00 pm (the set time for pick-up) and asked if it was ok if she left her 2 kids (4 years and 2 years) with us until “around” 8.30 pm because she and her husband had gone to some far-off place to buy fish for their aquarium and would “probably” be stuck in traffic. Grrrrr….

First of all, I didn’t know her that well (our kids are Kindergarten classmates), and second of all, anyone with young kids should know that from 6-9 pm is the “crunch” time of the day to get your kids fed,bathed and put to bed - and not still be in playgroup. I was seething. Probably because I knew in my heart that she probably could get them earlier if she wanted to, but decided to go shopping instead with the hubby. Double grrrr.

[tags]parenting,kids,playgroup,protocol,toddlers,kindergarten,moms[/tags]

As a follow up on my post some days ago about ADHD Paranoia, I did some research on ADHD, and to be honest, am still non the wiser on whether my paranoia had some basis or not. What I do know is that I do have a daughter who is decidedly a handful (having a tantrum now as I type this over not having TV control because Daddy wanted to watch his sports), and the only way to really find out is through a battery of tests given my a psychiatrist.

So here’s what I dug up:

What is ADHD? Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder. In the old days they used to just say things like “Oh, Jamie is hyper”, but I guess now the norm is more like” oh, Jamie has ADD and takes medication”.

Doctors explain though that the difference between old fashioned hyperactivity which most small kids have, is that kids with ADD have the symptoms for a prolonged period of time and it adversely affects their functions at home, and in social situations. Its frighteningly become a “common” disorder, said to affect 8-10% of school children.

But where is the line drawn between normal naughty kid behaviour and a medical disorder? Unfortunately, like I said earlier, its a call only a trained professional can make.

[tags]ADHD,ADD,Kids,Health[/tags]