Our Daughter's Christmas book order arrived just in time! (December, 2015)



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Our daughter's Christmas book order arrived just in time!


I wanted to share my daughter's latest book order featuring her new Christmas books!  Most of these are board books and are for all ages, unless otherwise noted. Enjoy these stories!



Gingerbread Mouse

http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780060090821?redirected=true&selectCurrency=USD&w=AFCCAU99X2RK2QA8Z94S&gclid=CNznn5Da9MkCFYMXHwodnusJRA


In Llama Llama Jingle Bells, little llama and his friends give gifts, sing songs and decorate cookies.

Llama Llama Jingle Bellshttp://www.bookdepository.com/Llam-Llam-Jingle-Bells-Ann-Dewdney/9780451469809


This sticker activity book is for ages: 3+.

I Love Santa!http://www.bookdepository.com/I-Love-Santa-/9781783938124


Bright artwork, finger-holes and a cheerful rhyming story.

Surprisehttp://www.bookdepository.com/Surprise-Jonathan-Litton-Fhion-Galloway/9781589255678


This board book has interesting die-cut pages, adorable artwork and a fun finger puppet!

My Little Stockinghttp://www.bookdepository.com/My-Little-Stocking/9781452102252



An assortment of animal babies offer thanks to God for the blessings of the day.

A Bedtime Prayerhttp://www.bookdepository.com/Bedtime-Prayer-Sanj-Rescek/9781589256064


Twas the Night Before Christmashttp://www.bookdepository.com/Twas-the-Night-Before-Christmas-Mark-Marshall-Clement-Clarke-Moore/9781589251984


A gentle, poetic story that lovingly depicts the special companionship of a young child and her father as well as humankind's close relationship to the natural world.

Owl Moonhttp://www.bookdepository.com/Owl-Moon/9780399214578


It's Snowflake Day in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe and Daniel Tiger has a special part in the Snowflake Day show.
Snowflake Day!http://www.bookdepository.com/Snowflake-Day-/9781481417716



Late on Christmas Eve, after the town has gone to sleep, a boy boards a mysterious train that waits for him: the Polar Express bound for the North Pole.


http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Polar-Express/9781783441815










Have a Merry Christmas and we hope everyone enjoys these books!

-Joy E.
Posted December 24, 2015


Our daughter playing after school

 Swinging at Billy Ward Playground, Brookline.


 Down the slide at the Billy Ward Playground, Brookline.


 Playing at Winthrop Park, Brookline.


Stopping to examine the Christmas trees while leaving the Prudential Mall, Boston.






Our Daughter's New Book Order Arrived! (October, 2015)


resource website created for new moms that provides reliable news, information, support and helpful tidbits.

For more baby related news and information, please review        
 my other pages and the news feeds to the right (scroll down).

 This page features my latest article for new moms. Enjoy!
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Our Daughter's New Book Order Arrived!


I will return with the 'Milestones' series next year.  This month I wanted to share my daughter's latest book order featuring her new Halloween books!  These are all board books and are for all ages, unless otherwise noted. Her teacher loved these selections!



https://www.bookdepository.com/Boo-/9781848691254







http://store.scholastic.com/Books/Board-Books/My-Pumpkin






https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Itsy-Bitsy-Pumpkin/9781481405058


http://www.bookdepository.com/Duck-and-Goose-Find-a-Pumpkin/9781910126592









http://www.bookdepository.com/Llama-Llama-Trick-or-Treat/9780451469786












Other fun books that I ordered:

Five Silly Turkeys: The shiny material attached allows your child to turn pages easily. Age 2+ and up.




http://www.booktopia.com.au/little-tiger-mark-marshall/prod9781908410191.html











Trace, Lift and Learn:  Children can lift the flaps, move the sliders
and trace the letters.







http://www.amazon.com/Trace-Lift-Learn-Scholastic-Learners/dp/0545903130/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444451884&sr=1-1&keywords=trace%2C+lift+and+learn



Eating the Alphabet: This is the paperback version.






http://www.amazon.com/Eating-the-Alphabet-Fruits/dp/B00ES25FHY/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444451956&sr=1-4&keywords=eating+the+alphabet


Also, I ordered these fun flashcards:



http://www.amazon.com/Write-Wipe-Flashcards-Scholastic-Learners/dp/0545903335

















Have a Happy Halloween everyone and enjoy these books!

- Joy E.
Posted October 10, 2015

Our daughter with her Boo! book (on left) and playing with her Halloween wand.




Milestones: My Daughter's Early Learning, Part 2

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 my other pages and the news feeds to the right (scroll down).

 This page features my latest article for new moms. Enjoy!
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Milestones: My Daughter's Early Learning, Part 2

For the next few months, I will be repeating my 'Milestones' series from 2013.  I will begin with Part 2 to, once again, give new parents ideas about how to play with your 1 year old as well as the toys that I introduced.  For Part 1 of this series, here is the link: http://www.networkformoms.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-resource-website-created-for-new-moms.html


Shapes and Blocks

Once my daughter was 11 months old and ready to start crawling, I knew, with that, would come the need for more intense exploration.  I knew she would want to explore new types of toys and objects.  So, I decided that it would be best for her to start playing with different shapes, so that she could spend some time learning about what those shapes are; and what they looked like up close.


I began by purchasing the Natural Animal Wooden Blocks set by Hape Toys.  She spent almost her entire 11th month playing with her new blocks and enjoying her older toys as well.  She seemed to really like the triangle shape the most and the brightly colored blocks (neon green and yellow mostly). They now have a new version called Maple Blocks sold at Hape Toys here:
 http://hapetoys.shptron.com/products/productdetail/part_number=HAPE0409/327.0



Once she turned 1 year old (12 months), I decided that she needed to explore other shapes.  She was excited to play with some of her birthday gifts which included the Edushape Sensory Balance Toy and the Melissa & Doug Chunky Puzzle of Safari Animals. So, we opened these gifts together and had fun playing with these new toys.


"Yay, my new shape toys - I can't wait!"










My daughter really liked the circular shapes the most. They came in blue, hot pink and yellow. She really loved the feel of these shapes since they were soft and easy to handle. I brought them with us wherever we went.  She was always entertained and happy with this toy.

I also decided to arrange the blocks in sets of three where one block was in a different color. In the picture below is a typical arrangement that I put together for her. I noticed that she would study the blocks when she saw them in this arrangement.



Next on the list was the Melissa & Doug Chunky Puzzle of Safari Animals. She loved the animal shapes and would hold on to her favorite ones the most.  She was not ready to place the animals back in the puzzle, but I figured, that this would come with time.  In the meantime, she could have fun enjoying the safari animal puzzle pieces!


http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-732160/melissa-doug-safari-chunky-puzzle.jsp

Sorting Shoes

After about 2 weeks with her new toys, I decided that I would need to play with her differently, because just having her sit and play with her toys was not going to be enough to entertain her.

After my daughter's 1st birthday, I noticed that she liked playing with my summer sandals. I decided to let her play with two pairs while I watched. She really enjoyed playing with the sandals, and eventually, as you can see in this video below, she sorts the sandals by type.  I am in the background saying the word "shoe" or "shoes" depending on whether she was holding one shoe in one hand or if she was holding a shoe in each hand. In this way, we made a little game out of matching the sandals together.

If you have a chance, and want to understand this activity, watch the 04:09 video below. My daughter is 12 months and 12 days old in this video. I love this early video because she very happily sorts the sandals and is into her play time.  Also, it gave me a chance to observe her learning process and enjoy the fact that she was having fun with my old sandals!

                                                   Sorting Shoes 9-8-12 .MOV



I hope the video was helpful to those trying to help their babies explore the big world around them, while having fun with their baby (without stressing them out before they have had a chance to become who they are supposed to be in life).

This series will continue over the next few months and I hope that new moms (and dads!) will have fun enjoying the videos, pictures, ideas and activities that I created for my daughter. In some cases, I created activities by accident while playing another type of game with her. By creating these activities, my time spent with my 11 - 18 month old daughter was enjoyable, happy and exciting for her.

I love the fact that, at 18 months old, she was a very happy, smart and pleasant person. I hope these ideas benefit new moms and my NetworkforMoms.org buddies. Feel free to contact me any time, if you need to, at JoyE@NetworkforMoms.org.

Happy play time everyone!

Joy E.
Posted September 13, 2015
*NetworkforMoms.org is not paid by any of the companies mentioned above.

**Please do not use my articles, photos or videos without permission from me.


Family Outing: Artesani Pool!

With Daddy at the Artesani spray pool.
With Daddy playing with water spout.





Melissa and her family joined us at the pool!
Sliding in the park with my play date.


Meetup Groups for Fathers! (August, 2015)


resource website created for new moms that provides reliable news, information, support and helpful tidbits.

For more baby related news and information, please review        
 my other pages and the news feeds to the right (scroll down).

 This page features my latest article for new moms. Enjoy!
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Meetup Groups for Fathers!


I wanted to let everyone know that several Dad groups have been established across the United States. New dads and experienced fathers can join and meet up for playgroups in these cities.

Here is a list of the Dad groups:
Boston, MA : http://www.meetup.com/BostonDadsGroup/
New York City: http://www.meetup.com/New-York-City-Dads-Meetup-Group/
Atlanta, GA: http://www.meetup.com/AtlantaDadsGroup/
Chicago, IL: http://www.meetup.com/ChicagoDadsGroup/
Cleveland, OH: http://www.meetup.com/ClevelandDadsGroup/
Columbus, OH: http://www.meetup.com/ColumbusDadsGroup/
Philadelphia, PA: http://www.meetup.com/PhillyDadsGroup/
Denver, CO: http://www.meetup.com/DenverDadsGroup/
Detroit, MI: http://www.meetup.com/DetroitDadsGroup/
Indianapolis, IN: http://www.meetup.com/IndyDadsGroup/
Madison, WI: http://www.meetup.com/MadisonDadsGroup/
Dallas, TX: http://www.meetup.com/DallasDadsGroup/
Alburquerque, NM: http://www.meetup.com/ABQDadsGroup/
Los Angeles, CA: http://www.meetup.com/LADadsGroup/
East Bay (Martinez), CA: http://www.meetup.com/East-Bay-Dads-Group/
San Francisco, CA: http://www.meetup.com/SanFranciscoDadsGroup/
Portland, OR: http://www.meetup.com/PDXDadsGroup/
Las Vegas, NV: http://www.meetup.com/VegasDadsGroup/
Vancouver: http://www.meetup.com/Vancouver-Dads-Group-YVRDads/
Tampa Bay, Florida -AT HOME DADS: http://www.meetup.com/Tampa-Bay-at-Home-Dads/
Omaha, NE: AT HOME DADS: http://www.meetup.com/Omaha-Dads/

For local groups looking for ideas, here are some of the Boston Dads' past playgroup meetups: Baby Pictures (discounted movie in a baby-friendly setting), New England Aquarium - which also has the Sea Squirts program and MFA Play dates.
 
+ Baby Pictures: https://www.showcasecinemas.com/programs/kids-and-families/baby-pictures

+ Sea Squirts program: http://www.neaq.org/education_and_activities/programs_and_classes/family_programs/family_explorers/Sea_Squirts_Preview.php

+ MFA Play dates: http://www.mfa.org/programs/kids-and-family-programs

With Dad in the Arboretum, Lilac Sunday, 2015.


These Meetup.com groups are a convenient way to meet and socialize with other Dads who enjoy spending quality time with their children!

Have fun everyone! :)

- Joy E.
Posted
August 14, 2015



                                                           
Also, here are a few interesting Dad-related articles:
'How new moms assess their partners' ability to parent' (using data from New Parents Project):
https://news.osu.edu/news/2015/08/04/partner-ability/

'Controlling parents harm future mental health':
http://www.bbc.com/news/education-34140965

'Dad bloggers are redefining 'real men':
http://www.marinij.com/lifestyle/20150309/dad-bloggers-are-redefining-real-men


Our daughter in the Arboretum, Lilac Sunday, 2015.

Family Outings and Fun!

Me, Dad and Grand-Dad at the Four's Restaurant for lunch 4-25-15


Me and Mommy at the Four's, 4-25-15.


 

At Singing Beach 4-25-15.












In Artesani Pool with Daddy, 8-1-15.







Playing in new DCR spray pool at Artesani, 8-1-15.
Exercising with ball at My Gym with Mommy, 8-13-15.

Leaping into the ball pit at My Gym! 8-13-15.






Swimming in the ball pit, My Gym, 8-13-15.


At My Gym, 8-13-15.



In Minot Rose Garden 5-12-15.






Walking in Minot garden, 5-12-15.












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