Joyful Noise Day Care -- 2007 Archives

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Now that we've finally had a little more snow, it feels more like winter around here again and it's hard to believe that just last week we were playing outside without mittens.  Most of us are too little to go outside when the temperature's in the 20's and low 30's, so we're finding all kinds of indoor playthings that were put away during the summer for just this time, like puzzles and an old Viewmaster.   One lovely winter 'toy' is a basket of walnuts still in their shells. This simple gesture brings endless, safe fun (since none of the children here now are allergic to nuts) and the children inside resemble the squirrels that they love to watch out the window as they all scurry around with seeds in their hands.   Like the squirrels the children love to hide things, so I'm constantly finding the nuts in unexpected places!

Two of the Mothers in our family are starting to look conspicuously "with child" and are having a very hard time bending and squatting, so let's all remember to lend them a hand while we admire their beautiful shapes.   Neither of them are feeling particularly comfortable right now and we're all getting anxious for the new infants to show us their original faces.  Collin's sister is due to join us in February and Ashlee's brother in March.   In the meantime, Hendrix is trying to grow up as fast as he can and has sprouted his first two teeth on the bottom!   He is determined to join the big kids and is doing push ups on his knees or toes but his arms are still stronger so he makes great progress sliding backwards across the floors, which in the end is very frustrating.  

Well, it's been an exciting week here.   Collin's Mom, who is also my daughter Elizabeth, developed blood pressure high enough to put their baby in a little too much peril for everyone's comfort level, so labor was induced on Wednesday and baby Mary Anne was born!   This is only two weeks before her 'due date' so even though she's a lightweight, (5 pounds, 15 ounces; 19 inches long,) she is fully formed and perfection.   Named after my Mother, so far she has her same sweet disposition and ability to charm all of our hearts.   Collin spent Tuesday and Wednesday night here at Grandma and Grandpa's house so none of us got much sleep this week and the day care felt how the whole world shifts with excited energy and moves over a little bit for a new soul to enter.   Those of us lucky enough to get to hold her in those first hours of life have come away with little bits of her silent wisdom clinging to us and can't help but be changed.

The days are getting longer, but there hasn't been much time to write here lately.   With the weather in the single digits, one of the best things we can do is stay indoors and cuddle with the children, so it's hard to find a reason to sit at the computer when I have the option of holding little babies!   I've also been putting in some overtime as Ben's webmistress on his latest Bonkers Institute features, but now that they're posted I'm back in the swing of things here at the Joyful Noise site.

This indoor time is a time of subtle growth and exploration.   Our two-year-olds are polishing their language skills and negotiating techniques, baby Hendrix is mastering mobility, baby Mary is showing off her ability to gain weight and I've been learning how to make mittens and dolls and better websites.   The little ones get plenty of excercise in the house, but the grown-ups can go a little stir crazy in such close proximity to so many super-heroes every day, so I'm taking some 'mental health' days off in March.   Also just some advance notice: Ben and I have settled on a date for our wedding -- Sunday, October 7th-- so the day care will be closed for a little while then as well!

A sad bit of news is that Foster will be leaving us in mid-March.   As his family grows and accomodates for the huge changes that they've gone through this year, their child care needs have also had to grow and accomodate and he'll be spending Fridays cozily at home with his siblings.   We hope that from time to time they'll need us to 'pinch hit' for them and that Foster will drop in to show us how much he's grown.   Good-byes are a part of life and a big part of child care, but they're never easy; whether they're the little ones we have to say every morning or the big ones we have to say at every milestone.

Something happened to one of our children at the doctor's office last week that I want to warn you against here.   Aaron, who is 14 months old, developed an ear infection and was prescribed amoxicillin, which he promptly displayed an allergy to.   When his parents took him back to the pediatrician his ear infection was worse, so they prescribed Aaron Omnicef.   His parents asked the doctor at the time if all penicillin drugs ended with the 'cillin' suffix, so they would know which drugs to avoid in the future.   The doctor told them yes, all of them did except for Augmentin.   They were informed that a small percentage of patients with penicillin allergy will also react to Omnicef, but we all know that with any drug there is a risk of an allergic reaction, so his parents trusted the doctor's recommendation.   The pharmacist told them that the new antibiotic was very expensive and there was no generic substitute; but with a crabby baby in pain they bit the bullet and filled it with no further ado.

In a few days, Aaron developed another rash.   This time they were told the doctor wouldn't see him until he had been on Benadryl for 24 hours, so again his parents complied.   When they finally got back into the clinic they saw another doctor who told them that Omnicef does indeed have penicillin in it but it is still the next course of action for patients who react to amoxicillin.   The truth is somewhere in between; Omnicef is not a penicillin drug, but it has a bacteria in common with penicillin so that there are strong warnings against using it in any patient with a penicillin allergy.

I find this whole scene extremely disturbing.   Even if it is standard practice to try out a drug that is contraindicated in patients with penicillin allergy on a 14 month old child, I would think that at the very least the physician would inform the parents that their child was going to be used as a guinea pig and give them the option of going with a safer choice.   But this did not happen.   Omnicef's risks were downplayed so that Aaron's parents believed that there was no more risk than any of their other options.   An example of the arrogance of many doctors who assume that their clients are not entitled to be privy to details of their treatment or capable of making decisions. This course of action meant that not only was this child subjected to extra days of a toxic substance in his body that was doubly toxic to him, but then he was also subjected to a third toxic substance, Benadryl, before the almighty doctor would deem to examine him again.   Heaven forbid that the healer should see the child with a full blown rash in order to witness the extent of his insensitive mistake.

It's very possible that if the options had been clearly laid out before them, the parents may have chosen to take the risk.   But no choice was given.   This is the case more often than not with almost any diagnosis.   However, if we refuse the prescribed treatment, we can be accused and prosecuted of being neglectful and abusive parents.   This is why it is of the utmost importance when dealing with the medical profession that you arm yourself with knowledge, be bold and ask questions, questions and more questions.   The website Epocrates is a good source of information on any prescription your doctor recommends.   Don't be intimidated that you have to register; it's free and worth the couple mintues that it takes.   If you have any questions or concerns about the side effects or contraindication of drugs, go back and confront your doctor.

These doctors are well respected in this area, which is abundant in doctors.   They are a clinic that has been around for generations and many of my clients have used them.   There are several doctors in the clinic and the second doctor these parents saw supported the decision of the first to use Omnicef as a follow-up to amoxicillin.   I would have no qualms in naming these pediatricians except I don't want parents to become complacent if these aren't their doctors, thinking that "my doctor would never do such a thing."   This is common practice; yes, your doctor would most likely do the very same thing.   But if you're curious as to the clinic and you ask me in person I'll be happy to tell you.

Aaron's parents are intelligent people with a healthy mistrust of doctors.   They asked lots of questions and still were misled.   They have found another clinic to entrust their precious child to.   Don't be afraid to switch doctors until you find one that respects your right to participate in your own health instead of just being an ignorant bystander to experimental science.   They call it 'practicing' medicine for a reason.

It's been busy around here lately, especially during the time that I usually write at my computer.   The taxes are coming due which means I have more than my normal share of paperwork to concentrate on, as I've always done my own taxes.   When I started my daycare, 26 years ago, hardly any tax preparers knew the regulations for home based daycare, which the IRS has special rules for.   If you took your taxes to a 'professional' you had to be prepared to educate them.   It seemed to me to be easier to educate just myself, so I took some workshops, found a good source of literature (Redleaf) and have been doing my own taxes ever since.   As home day care has become more of a legitimate business in the eyes of the public, more tax agencies have bothered to learn the ins and outs for providers, so the newbies have more support if they want to take their shoeboxes of receipts to someone else.  I prefer to keep them to myself, but it does cut into my weblog time.

In the days that I've been away, a few landmarks have occured.   Foster had his last day with us on Friday and his parents and I came away with our rightful share of tears.   These times are always harder for the grown-ups than for the children as most of them really have no frame of reference for permanent partings yet.   Outgrowing the places we have grown into is the way of life and nature so we need to embrace them with and for our children and cry the happy tears that tell us we've done well to form these heartfelt relationships and we've also done well to grow to place where we need to move on.

Another departure will take place next month as Hendrix' Mom has decided to leave her job to be a stay-at-home Mom.   Reconciling work and parenting is a profoundly complicated task.   Most people don't have a choice; they can find work that pays them more than childcare costs and their family needs every little bit of income that they can provide.   Other people are faced with the reality that they cannot find employment that will net them a profit worth reaping after they've subtracted all the costs of working at that particular place, or find that they can be very happy with the standard of living that one parent can provide.   These have the happy problem of choosing to work outside the home or to have one or both parents raise the children.   However, unlike my Mother's generation, women today get very little peer support for the choice to stay home and be "just" a Mom.   And if women get little support, men often get ridiculed for it!

I've just published an article that I wrote many years ago about the task of caring for children, as a parent and as a profession, where I get up on my little soapbox and talk about how it's a damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't kind of choice, so I'll forego any further prostelizing about that subject here.   For now, I would just love to congratulate Hendrix' Mom on her choice, on her ability to make the choice and her success at her new, challenging career!

One more item before I close.   I'm curious as to how many of my clients actually read this website, so I'm going to start holding a contest every month!   There will be real prizes for the winners, like reduced child care costs for a week or a choice of a book or a toy or maybe a magazine subscription.   It will be fun for all of us, so check back in April for the first challenge.

Well, on Wednesday Ashlee's little brother, Eliot, finally made his appearance in the world!   Rumor has it that he's about ten and a half pounds, twenty-two inches long and the family is all happy, healthy and well.   We hope that we'll get a glimpse of his little fingers and toes before too long but in the meantime our hearts are full of joy and we happily move over to make room for him in our family.

Meanwhile, we're getting ready to say good-bye to Hendrix.   His Mom is working her last day at her old job today so he'll be with us one more week while she makes some adjustments to her new career and then he'll be off.   Though we're sad to see him leave it's a joyful change for all of them and we're sure that he'll come to visit us occasionally so we won't have to wonder what he looks like as he grows into the fine young man we're sure he's going to be.   His doting Grandpa has been stopping by for extra visits and I've told him that he's welcome to come even after Hendrix is gone, since all of the daycare kids have adopted this 'Papa' and will miss climbing all over him while he folds endless paper airplanes for them.

I'm now caught up in one of the more stressful parts of child care; interviewing prospective clients.   For a fundamentally shy person who prefers spending her days with very short people, the chore of marketing myself and my services arouses more anxiety than it needs to, I'm sure.   Nonetheless, inviting strangers into our home for the purpose of judging and being judged has always been my least favorite part of day care, including doing my taxes.   However, in spite of myself, I am meeting some wonderful people as I take calls, make appointments and go through the process of screening them for this opening that Hendrix makes and before long we will have another equally charming new family member to take his place.

While we were on vacation last week Ben was quoted in the New York Times in a front page article by Stephanie Saul.   The quote was only one word and not one that his Mother is too proud of but the article is a good glimpse into a small bit of what Ben does in his spare time.   He's spent many hours researching drug company involvement in our state Medicaid funds and the cesspool keeps getting deeper.  Her article only scratches the surface of Ben's repeated filings of Freedom of Information Act requests to the State of Michigan and it's not over yet, folks.

I'm working out the bugs of my website contest that will start next month.   It won't be ready exactly on the first of April so no worries about confusing it with an April Fool's joke.   But it will make it's premier shortly thereafter, so be sure to check in.

OK, the taxes are all done, copied and in the mail and life can get back to what ever passes as normal around here!   In this case normal means that one child has left our family, two are joining it, one more is in transition while two more are quickly becoming old enough to join us.   Normal does NOT mean dull!

While interviewing applicants to fill the opening that Hendrix would create, I encountered two irresistible families and so we are now welcoming 15 month old Lily (a.k.a. Little Lily or Lily Ann,) and 3 month old Rebecca.   Lily Ann has now spent four stellar days at Joyful Noise and to watch her you would think that she's been here all along.   We all are so happy to have her with us, enjoying her wide-eyed, spunky little ways and her charming habit of singing to herself as she plays.   Rebecca starts on Monday and the adventure and honor of getting to know her will be equally enchanting, I'm sure.   Life is full of blessings!

In the meantime, the end of 'tax season' means that Whitman's Mom will be able to work a little less and Whitman will likewise be able to see more of her and less of us.   We have yet to determine if this means another new face will be greeting you all at the door, but stay tuned!   Baby Eliot has come to visit us twice now and we couldn't be more impressed with his obvious intelligence, good looks and philosophical depth.   He'll be joining us toward the end of June and then you'll all be able to see for yourselves what I'm talking about.

As promised, today I will launch my new website challenge.   As with all entries on the weblog this will be irregular, varied and ever-evolving.   There are rules on a separate rule page that you must follow or you will not win any prize.   The rules may change with each different challenge, so always check the rule page so you don't disqualify yourself.   The current challenge is: What page of the website contains a bit of writing by Antoine de Saint-Exupery?   To win a one-time $5.00 discount off any payment made during the month of April, write down at least one whole sentence of the quote as well as the title of the website page that you found it on.   You must have BOTH the sentence AND the title of the page (that's the big print at the top) to receive the $5.00 discount.   Remember, NO second chances if you only write down one part of the answer.   EXTRA BONUS: If you write down the WHOLE quote from beginning to end, you'll also get a cookie jar prize.   This challenge is good until the end of April, so good luck!   I really AM rooting for you!

As the snow finally melts and spring is here to stay, the two-year-olds are one by one turning to three-year-olds and what further blossoming THAT brings!   Primarily, as they learn to string words into clear sentences, their personalities start to present themselves and at least once a day any grown-up within earshot finds their laugh lines deepening.   Ben came home from a walk last week with bird droppings on his hat.   As he was washing it, Will wanted to know what he was doing so Ben explained that a bird had pooped on his hat.   A whole week later, when departing for another walk, Will warned him at the door; "Don't let a bird poop on your head!"   Good advice for all of us!

The end of April already!   Baby Rebecca has been with us two weeks now and Lily for three and we're all so happy that fate and the angels have brought us together.   It's always a miracle to see how often upsetting or disruptive circumstances in our lives move us into places that seem to fit perfectly.   Rebecca and Lily are still adjusting a little but, for the most part, seem to feel like they're old friends and we're all thrilled to be finally united.

I've recently enrolled in Conversational Spanish at NMC.   For years I've held the intention to learn Spanish but the circumstances for taking up the task haven't presented themselves until now.   I'm so enjoying the new challenge and it is challenging.   Luckily Ben speaks the language fluently so he helps me with my homework.   I feel that it's important to learn Spanish as so many children in our country come from Spanish-speaking families.   It's not so evident in our area, but in larger cities there are many places where I found myself unable to communicate well and regretted choosing French in high school over Español.  An added benefit is that I'll comfortably be able to incorporate a few Spanish words into the air here at Joyful Noise.

I strongly hold that a child should learn any language that she has an opportunity to converse in on a daily basis.   But I think to actively teach a language that is foreign to their immediate surroundings only confuses a child who is still learning their mother tongue.   I don't believe that it's beneficial to teach a second language aggressively at this pre-school age to children unless they are in a bi-lingual home or neighborhood. Even several families that I've talked to who are genuinely bi-lingual have a strong feeling that their children's initial language skills were slower for having to learn two languages at once.   Having said that, I also believe that hearing a second language with no pressure to memorize it is extremely helpful to children in many areas of learning, as is experimenting with verbal skills from other cultures.   Some child development scholars feel that people who are exposed to more than one language grow into more open-minded adults.   We also know that a variety of physical experiences is necessary for brain development at this early age, including the fine muscles of the face and tongue.   And I know that learning from my Grandma Pawloski how to say my name in Polish gave me the practice in rolling my 'r's that now helps me feel more comfortable in Spanish class!

So now I'll be able to toss in a few more Spanish words within the children's hearing along with the little bit of Japanese and French that I know.  The other important language that we practice here with a bit more rigor is American Sign Language.   Along with Spanish I recommend that everyone incorporate at least a little of this in their lives and I am constantly trying to improve my skills here.   At Joyful Noise these are the only 'finger plays' that we do, as I feel that it's much more important and fun to learn gestures that are truly meaningful in our everyday lives than some made up stories about pumpkins or monkeys or flowers.   Not only that, but it's fairly inappropriate to expect children of two or three to understand the abstract connection between their fist and a seed or an apple, but they are very aware of non-verbal communication and how hand gestures can have meaning and produce results.   One of the great delights of ASL is that the gestures are abstract representations in some way of a word, so later in life the child will be able to make a connection between, for instance, the sign for water and the letter W.   But for a two-year-old none of that is important.   Their only concern is the task of imitating the gesture of W close to their chin, which is very difficult, but when done successfully will communicate to another human being the element of water.

Last weekend I spent part of Saturday at the 2007 Northwest Michigan Early Childhood Conference in Mancelona.   It was a great little conference and more valuable than some that I've spent a lot more money to attend!   The keynote speaker was one of my favorites, Gary Bower.   The workshop I especially went for was one on S'cool Moves which is similar to some techniques that I've already got under my belt called Brain Gym.   These techniques are not without their controversy but those of us who embrace Waldorf are no strangers to controversy.   I have concerns about labeling children and then claiming certain techniques "cure" the labels, however, I wholeheartly encourage caregivers and teachers to get children moving in gestures that are reminiscent of natural play and I think that some of these techniques do exactly that.   How much of this is relevant to the Joyful Noise program remains to be seen.

The closing speaker was Evie Boss who sent me away with a new concern that I would like to share.   The use of pesticides and herbicides is proving to be a much greater danger to children than previously thought (and we all knew it was extremely dangerous.)   Childhood neurological disorders and cancer are increasingly linked to the chemicals routinely used on lawns, playgrounds, roadsides and farms.   Please stop using these things near children and where children play. Work to educate yourselves and others.   Look for more information on this website about this topic as I find it and please send me any good resources that you have.   This is another case of big business being completely negligent and the government doing nothing to stop them.

Hoo whee, a lot is going on around here lately!  First of all, we have another new addition to our family!   Keira, who is close in age to Lily Ann and Aaron, joined us this last week and we couldn't be more thrilled.   Though she's still getting used to us after her first four days, for the most part she acts like she's always been here.   It's such an honor to be trusted with all these precious souls; I count my blessings every night and now Keira's one of them.

And, as it so often goes in child care, Sophie will be leaving us next month.   We suspected this day was coming sooner rather than later as we watched her turn five years old, but now there is no doubt.   We will all sorely miss her shining, dimple-cheeked presence among us, as well as her dear parents.   My only consolations are that she is moving on to places that are going to be full of love and fun for her, and I've been assured I'll have the opportunity see her from time to time in the months to come.

We have a new door and window in the 'back room'!   This has been my dream for a couple of decades and now it's a reality.   There are still a lot of finishing details to attend to, including a few stairs so that first step isn't so much of a doozy, but the transformation is well underway and the back yard is now much more with us.  Not only does this make things more convienent and fun for all of us, but safer too, so be sure to check out this latest development.

Speaking of expensive improvements to the daycare, Syracuse Cultural Workers has agreed to take us on as a fundraising partner, meaning that they'll give us a discount on their products so that a percentage of their items purchased through me can go to the daycare.   I have catalogs available if you're interested and soon I'll have a few implulse items on hand like cards, t-shirts and books.   I realize that some of their products may be a little liberal or radical for some people, but their main focus is to help sustain a culture that honors diversity, community, justice, equality and freedom, our fragile Earth and all its beings.  I've ordered merchandise from them for years and found them a reliable company to work with and am looking forward to exploring this new venture with them.   Fundraising helps to keep daycare costs down so I'm going to keep researching the most painless ways to do it.   Any suggestions will be thoughtfully considered.

I've posted a couple of new articles in the community section: a guide to withdrawing from antidepressants and an overview of teaching children literary skills.   Many parents are concerned with this early learning information, and the dangers of antidepressants are becoming more and more apparent as we learn more about them, so I feel that these are valuable additions to our 'library'.   Both of these articles are with permission from their authors who are highly respected in their fields, so take a few minutes and look them over.

Ben has been the subject of a local paper, The Express, and journalist Anne Stanton who is focused on some of his latest advocacy work.   The first article in the series is Are kids being overdosed?   She's doing a great job of explaining a complicated and important topic so be sure to check it out if you've ever wondered what he's doing up there in his office!

There will be a new website challenge in my next posting, so stay tuned!

I've hung the pots of flowers on the front porch so now we know that summer is near.   In this neck of the woods, June marks "tourist season" which unlike deer season or bass season does not involve doing away with any unsuspecting beings, though by August many of the locals are considering it.   It does mean that we have more traffic, longer lines at the grocery store, crowded beaches and no tables at our favorite restaurant.   Tourism is a hard industry to live with and, in spite of what the chamber of commerce would have us believe, brings dubious gains to the towns involved.   Tempers get short and children don't understand so we all need to take a deep breath and remember that we live here because it's a lovely place; take time to enjoy what many people save up all year and travel hundreds of miles to see.   Those of you on vacation, wherever you go, remember to be kind and humble to the locals who are hosting you and to leave the place more beautiful than it was when you arrived.

I apologize profusely for this long gap in communication.   There are no good excuses except that sometimes we have to choose between living life and writing about it and lately there has just been a lot of life to live!   The weather has been beautiful so we've been outside every day, trying out our new watering cans, playing in the sprinkler, finding exciting bugs, digging, sweating, climbing trees, sampling fresh chives, chasing squirrels and eating our lunch on the picnic table under the shade of the mulberry tree.   Being outside so much means that not much gets done inside except trying to chase all the dirt we track in back out the door, so website maintenance has fallen in priority.   And then of course Ben and I have taken a couple of small vacations 'down state' to Meijer gardens in Grand Rapids and Comerica Park in Detroit, so even the weekends have been all used up until just today.

Our back porch is finished and we can hardly believe how wonderful it is!   Thank you again, Ben, for such hard work to make the day care a better place.   The interior trim was especially difficult to finish with so many helpers underfoot, but he's a patient grandpa and the job is done at last.

We've had our sad last day with Sophie this week and she has promised she'll come to visit.   We hope it's often and soon.   We're looking forward to baby Eliot, Ashlee's little brother, joining us on the 20th and though his Mom wishes her maternity leave could last much longer, we're delighted to be welcoming him into this lively summer home.   And thus the life of a day care family goes; breathing in and out, expanding and contracting and expanding again.   These small, natural comings and goings prepare the children for all the future comings and goings in their lives.   Another going that is hard for me is my next-door neighbor to the east, Joy Olman, died a couple of weeks ago.   Though for the past few years she's been in a care facility, that house has been hers for decades.   She watched my children grow, was one of the sweetest women I'll ever know and some part of me always held out hope that she would get better and return to chat over the fence with me.   Now I know for sure that that won't happen anymore, and perhaps we'll have new neighbors there before long.   But she will be sorely missed and fondly remembered always.

Journalist Anne Stanton followed up her previous article about Ben with two more, Is Our Pill-popping Society Losing Its Mind? and Is there a fox in the Medicaid henhouse? These are controversial pieces that have raised quite a bit of discussion not only around town but, thanks to the internet, nation wide.   No matter what your opinions are on these topics it's important that the dialog and debate take place; as with all matters where health and business are intertwined.

As promised, my next website challenge is here, long overdue.   What two substances can carob be compared to?   To win a one-time $5.00 discount off any payment made during the month of June, you must write down the two substances AND the title of the page (the big words at the top) that you found the answer on.   EXTRA BONUS: If you write down the name of the website that says in its description, "This subject is so important that this website is posted twice on Joyful Noise.com", you'll also get a cookie jar prize.   (Hint: both answers are on the same page.)   This challenge is good until the end of June, so good luck!   Remember to check the rule page so you don't disqualify yourself.

These are the days we dream of lately.   The grown-ups all get a little more cheerful once the temperature gets back down in the 70's; we live up North for lots of reasons, but usually the big one is that we don't tolerate the heat too well.   The children seem oblivious to it however, and they will run and yell and jump equally while sweating or not.   It's our job to make sure that they get chilled down once in awhile, as they will enthusiastically overheat themselves and become burned and ill. Once the weather cooled off on Wednesday we didn't have to worry about that anymore. The adults found their energy again and the backyard became a picture of heaven, with contented (mostly) little cherubs trudging through the wildflowers, examining a patient dragonfly, digging in the dirt and staining their faces with mulberries picked by their own chubby hands.   Baby Elliott had his first whole week with us, not-so-baby Hendrix came to visit us (complete with his Papa who all the children have missed at least as much as Hendrix,) and some cousins from the far away land of New York popped in to play which was a short but special treat for us all.

Cherry Festival will be starting next week and my good friend Joani will be hostessing one of the children's events next Sunday, July 8th.   She's putting on the Teddy Bear Tea at F&M Park at 3:30pm.   This is one of her specialties: stories with puppets, songs, movement and story apron (which is really cool) underneath the large oak tree.   Parents crash on blankets while she entertains the kiddies.   Not all bear related, but a lot of bear things; kids bring their favorite bear and have fun!   There is a craft and snack too.   Joani is great with kids and will also do these teas for birthday parties or preschools for a nominal fee, so this is a good way to check her out.

Look for a new installment to the website challenge soon!

Happy Independence Day!   It's always fun to have a holiday off in the middle of the week.   Here in town it's pretty quiet; no mail, no phone ringing and not much traffic since on a nice day like today most people are probably swimming.   We're content to stay home today, catching up on some chores and email and later on we'll watch the Tiger game on television.   Later on if we feel like it we'll walk down to the beach to watch the fireworks over the bay.

I promised a new challenge for July and here it is.   Write down one thing that you love about the website and hope I'll never change, and then write down one thing about the website that you would like to see; either a new feature or a change to an existing feature.   As your reward for accomplishing these two tasks you will win a pamper prize.   Only one prize per person during the month of July but couples can both play and each get a prize.   Yes, one person can choose both prizes.

Well that's enough work for a holiday.   I'll be looking forward to your suggestions and comments and hope you all have some time today to contemplate independence and what that means to you.

Oh, getting older is hard work but Ben and I have both survived it again!   These warm days take a lot of energy too and we're trying to enjoy them to the fullest though I'm sorry to say we still have not been down to the bay to swim yet.   We did go wading last weekend and I'm happy to report that the water was beautiful, warm with some lovely waves blowing in.   I would feel more remiss about this except that we have scheduled time to go to the water but the weather was characteristically Michigan; meaning unpredictably cold.   We'll keep trying and reminding ourselves that summer doesn't end until well into September!

After a few years of experimenting with my policy of making home visits I've decided to only schedule them if the parents request it.   This is not because I've changed my stand that they're a very important part of child care, but because I've realized that this gives the family a graceful way out if they find the practice intrusive or uncomfortable or just too darned time consuming.   So for those newer families who have not yet had a home visit, if you would like one please talk to me about it.   If you don't bring it up, for whatever reason, that's fine.   Not all of the families have scheduled one so you will not be the first nor the last and it will have no bearing on my love for you whatsoever.   Also be aware that if you have some sort of birthday party for your child or a holiday open house, that this sort of thing is just as valuable as a private meeting while often being easier to fit into our daily lives.

By the end of this next week I'll be placing an order with Syracuse Cultural Workers for some items to sell as fundraisers.   They also have given me catalogs that you can look through to choose items that you'd like me to order for you.   I can offer you most items from the catalog at a 20% discount.   Some items are not available at a discount and I should have a clear idea of those by the end of this weekend.

I don't know about you, but I love Harry Potter!   I've been gifted with the book and will start reading it soon, so if you've already finished it don't give away the ending to me yet!

I'm still here though the drought conditions have taken their toll on our spirits and on our energy.   Summer heat is hard on those who care for children; we can't stop for siesta when all sensibilities tell us we should.   The cool days and nights we've had here lately are welcome relief but the grass is parched and conserving water means we hold out and only sprinkle the plants that will die without it, not the lawn which is just going dormant and will come back with those lovely autumn showers.   It's quite a dismal sight though; the tall weeds that happily spring to full height two days after whacking, waving in the crispy brown lawn.   The lack of rain has also provided for outdoor play every day of the week, which is great for the children but plays havoc with our indoor duties which all must be accomplished in the short hours that the daycare is closed.   Some people talk about feeling more 'down' in the winter but for me it's the summer that has me dragging, as evidenced by the sparse entries here.

Another reason for less to say here lately is that we're having a busy personal life.   My license comes up for renewal at the end of the year which involves a lot of paperwork and requirement checking.   Baby Mary was christened last weekend, Rosie's baby shower is next weekend, and Ben and I are entering the last stages of planning for our wedding in October which is just when Rosie's baby is due.   Look for more long empty spaces until we get past some of these milestones and get back to our regular, peaceful life...say sometime in January!

But the children remain a beautiful joy and a constant source of richness.   The youngest infants are all in various stages of mobility and teething now, and the one-year-olds are cutting their canine teeth so there is a lot of extra comfort needed for those little hearts lately.   The two-turning-three year olds are really feeling their oats as their limbs lengthen and they start to exert their wills on the world.   Parents are feeling the stress of this tyrannical age and we're all doing a lot of deep breathing in between our laughter; they each can be so darned cute in their individual methods of tackling the world.

We're sorry to report that Will will be leaving us for more formal schooling in September, so we're trying to soak in his bold, shining spirit as much as we can before it moves on to light other hearts.  The good news is that Whitman will start to come every day again and Lily Marie's new role as a kindergartener will not interfere with the time she spends with us.   As the oldest child here she is a sweet and wise influence on all the children and we all look forward to those days she and Pilar join us.   Sophie may be dropping in next week in this transitional time between summer camp and the start of school, and the kids that I nannied in Virginia are also coming to visit next week!

I haven't been able to get to the Syracuse Cultural Workers order yet but no one seems to be too anxious about it.   Since I've dragged my feet so long I may wait until the fall catalog comes out so that I can order some Christmas cards.   (Yes, I said Christmas..)   Soon I will be passing out flyers from Scholastic which is not a fund-raiser but only a chance for you to get good kid's books for cheap.   I used to incorporate this program before my sabbatical but it took me until now to reconnect with them again.   You may remember the Lucky Book Club from when you were in grade school; the program for pre-school is called Firefly and it's really great.   I WILL get these out within the next couple of weeks; promise.

In just a couple of days my website will be one year old!   I'm extending last month's contest until the end of September, so just look down the weblog a little bit and find out what it was.   Those who played in July can play again in August and AGAIN in September, but you have to give me different suggestions for each month.   Those of you who didn't play, please don't be shy.   I have lots of gifts that I want to get rid of and I really value the feedback.   Some of the suggestions from last time I've already incorporated and the ones that will take more time are on my 'to-do' list for those long winter evenings when the Tigers are done with all these heart-wrenching games.

The September air is easier to breathe as the heat and humidity slowly give way to falling acorns, fire-colored leaves and bushels of apples in the back porch.   Ahhhh, autumn!   It's so hard to believe that it's been over a month since I've written here!   We're getting into the countdown weeks for the wedding, Will has gone off to school, the two baby girls are forwardly mobile and baby Elliott is spending more and more time on his tummy trying to catch up with them.   A couple more people have taken me up on my website challenge this month and I so appreciate the comments and suggestions.   I'll address them in detail after our busy October is over...or maybe in 2008, as the holidays will also be hard on our heels soon.   I have several good "Ask the Nanny" questions waiting in the wings as well, so stay tuned for some interesting subjects in that area later in the year.   Thank you all for your patience as the blessings of life overwhelm me for awhile and I take some time off from my computer to live them fully.

Last night, at about 9:12pm, our new grandson was born to Rose and Jeff.   It was a long day for all involved with a very happy ending; a healthy boy, who is yet to be named, weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces, 21 inches long and lots of dark hair.   He looks a lot like his brother Aaron, who is pleased as punch to finally have a baby of his own.   Of course all the respective relatives can hardly contain themselves and are counting our blessings tenfold today as we try to catch up on our sleep and still go to the hospital to fight over who gets to hold him next.   He takes it all in stride with mellow smiles and lots of yawns and sneezes.

For the Celtic pagans, this day was called Samhain and was the New Year.   Some part of me still feels that tradition as these grey autumn days seem a very definite ending of heat and growth and the beginning of rest, sleep and renewal for whatever is to come.   Also, tradition has it that this is when the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living is the thinnest, so pay attention!   Whether or not you cherish these old ways, there's no denying that during these holidays we are thinking more of our loved ones and elders who have gone ahead of us into the unknown and also we're all feeling the urge to slow down, wind down, put away the toys of summer and find the things that warm us.

Compared to the time of my last weblog entry, we've slowed down a lot!   Two personal updates: the new grandbaby is named Mason and he's thriving in the love and care of his doting parents and big brother, Aaron.   Our wedding was the joyous celebration that we hoped it would be, hampered only by the unseasonably high temperatures: almost 90°!  Thank you all for your patience here as we passed through some momentous thresholds in our lives!

Quite abruptly we have lost Lily Marie (or "big Lily") as she has decided that she wants to spend all her day at the big kids school with her kindergarten friends.   This is sad, but not really a surprise, as around five years old is when we start to lose our friends to the larger world.   Lily still comes to visit us when she picks up her sister Pilar and maybe she'll spend a snow day with us or a school holiday sometime in the future.   We will miss her as we miss everyone, sooner or later.

And speaking of people that we miss, we had five lively days where Will came back to visit us.   Boy, were we happy to see him.   We hope that happens again soon!

On the business end of the daycare, my license is up for renewal in January so Ben and Elizabeth and I are busy making sure that all the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted around here.   Mostly that means getting our medical clearance forms filled out by the doctor, getting the furnace inspected and making sure that I've got all the paperwork filled out correctly.   Then, sometime in the next couple months, we'll be having our DHS inspection, so please be patient on that day.   I do my best to run a tight ship, and these inspections help to keep me honest and on my toes.   My DHS worker is a partner in quality child care; every year there are a couple of changes in policy or procedure and these visits help keep me current.   No one who is conscientious has to worry about losing their license during a renewal, but there are so many details to attend to that it is easy to let one or two fall through the cracks.   I'll let you know here how well I've complied once she's gone through the house and all my paperwork!

Besides the license renewal we just have the holiday hub-bub coming up.   Please get familiar with the calendar page to help you remember when the vacation days are.   There's an odd Monday in there due to my involvement with the great poetry contest at the library; Poet's Night Out.   Whitman's Dad, Paul, and I spend a long day facilitating a poetry workshop that culminates in a grand event Sunday evening, November 18th, where the winners of the contest read their poetry at the Opera House.   I'm not really in very good shape to perform quality child care after such a grueling day, so I need the day off.   It also allows me to go to the doctor to get that aforementioned medical clearance form signed.   I'd like to encourage anyone interested in poetry to come down to the Opera House that night and see what wonderful poets you have living and working among you.   This really is what poetry is all about; people who write for the love of it, not for money or fame.   If you're a poet yourself, I'd like to encourage you to enter the contest next year!

The only other bit of news for this month is that one of my daycare "alumni" is a recent television star, so now I'm glued to Survivor every Thursday night.   Yes, Frosti, who has been written up in the local papers, is a Joyful Noise graduate, so we're all rooting for him here.   Go Frosti!

Little by little things are settling into an autumn routine around here.   Lily had her official last day and we hope we'll still see her often.   We're trying to get outdoors as much as possible so be sure to send appropriate clothing especially for the three-year-olds.   I'm working on updating the essential parts of the website, so poke around and see what's new.   I have lots in the works for after the holidays as well, so now hopefully it will start to get a little more interesting again.   I'd like to encourage you to revisit some of the old pages though.   Some of you have been coming to me with questions and concerns that are answered in some of the articles here, so maybe there's some things you haven't stumbled upon yet!

The solstice holidays are barreling toward us in a flurry of snow and darkness.   We've purchased our sacrificial tree, the fruitcakes are soaking in their brandied wrappers and we're already making plans for the new year.   There is no slowing down of the clock or the calendar, no matter how our instincts tell us to fatten up, relax and hibernate!   Still, all these preparations spiral around the need to celebrate our inner light in times of darkness and our struggles to procure and maintain that light when cold winds bear down.   An essential celebration.

One of our pleasures at this time is our annual open house.   Though we know there are many other family gatherings and traditions this time of year, we hope that those of you who have time on that day will join us for some cheer around the tree.   I promise there will be nourishment for the heart, soul and belly.

Finally the Syracuse Cultural Workers fundraiser basket is organized and in the entry way.   You'll find mugs, totes, t-shirts, pins, bookmarks, postcards, greeting cards, blank books and holiday cards.   The website challenge for the next two weeks is, if you bring me the holiday greeting of your tradition (i.e. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, etc.) written on a piece of paper, you get a free pin, bookmark or postcard.

Still no word from my DHS worker about the date of my home inspection but I hope it will be soon.   Don't worry, I'll let you know what she finds lacking when she makes her list and checks it twice.   I've been sorting and reading and doing my best to make sure I'm totally in compliance but there's a lot to keep track of and so many details to forget.

Be sure to poke around the website if you haven't lately.   I recently started posting my current reading list, answered an interesting question to The Nanny and posted a new Featured Pick article in the Community section.   After our Poet's Night Out event in November I had several requests for a poem I read called Hot Flashing so I promised that I would post it on the website.   That page gets changed every equinox, solstice and cross-quarter holidays, so look for it there soon.   And be sure to check out the December recipe; Spiced Nuts a holiday favorite in this house.

Remember that there is a long break in daycare services during the holidays.   Check the calendar page if you can't remember when we close and reopen and which days are paid holidays.   When we come back in January we are expecting to have a new addition to our daycare family; Jenna who will be two in February.   Also I have been offered a part time job with the local 4C's Council doing training classes for other providers.   Don't worry, they're all in the evenings and weekends so they won't cut into child care hours.   They will help beef up the quality of care that you receive here, however, as I branch out into new levels of awareness, skills, and advocacy in the child care field.