I love Works For Me Wednesday hosted here... even if I don't participate very often, I love to read other peoples ideas.
Erin at Closing Time wrote about making Mickey Mouse tuna melts for her kids. This was perfect timing! (Thanks Erin!) Last week I realized that DD (who will be 4 soon) has never had tuna, so I bought a can. I figured this would be the best way to have her try it out!
Its hot here...well of course it is... this IS Texas. But living in the only neighborhood in our area without a pool leaves us to have to get a bit creative :) We bought this little squirt toy at the dollar store and Little Miss loves filling the bucket up with water and using it. And of course, our sprinkler system comes in handy :)
Oh...and a side note. While I love blogging to document the things we do (I figure it will be helpful later since I have a horrible memory) we do love to get comments from the people who read our blog!! Under each post is a "comment" link, click it and leave us some love!!! :)
I wish her eyes were open...but what can you do? I'm lucky she stayed still long enough to get what I did!
I was behind you today at a red light of a very busy intersection. I saw your precious little 2 (2 1/2?) year old little girl standing in the back of your car. Mrs. Pathfinder, you turned around and talked to her, oh so sweetly, and you were obviously aware of what she was doing.
Now, while I am certain that this must be because you are without a doubt, the BEST drivers in the state of Texas, I must remind you that you can't control the other drivers on the road. Lucky for you, I am quite the safety fanatic and tend to pay attention as much as possible when I drive. I wasn't doing my hair, talking on my phone, or reading a book like so many distracted drivers out there do. So, for today, your little girl's life was saved. I can't imagine why on earth you would spend 3 minutes putting her hair in that cute ponytail, but can't spend 30 seconds to buckle her into a car seat.
Mr and Mrs. Nissan Pathfinder, I hope to one day run into you again when I have the time to chew you out. Until then, hug that little girl for me.
Little MIss loves puzzles. This isn't a surprise, she loves dumping them out and putting them back together. As you will see in this video, my smart little 3 year old knows her stuff. You will even her one of her famous lines referring to her "hard tuffy puzzle"
I would also like to announce that I have now given "permission" (in blog terms) for my lovely husband Dave to post here on One Monkey, Two Monkey. I hope by me announcing this that he will get the hint to post. We shall see :)
A common phrase in my house! I can not keep Bobo out of ANYTHING! He doesn't care if he has 500 toys on the floor, he goes straight for anything hes not suppose to! I don't like my kids in the kitchen when they are crawling. I just think kitchen floors...no matter how clean, are gross!
So here we are...just this morning, we've been up for about an hour and hes into EVERYTHING already.
He found a crayon that Little Miss left on the floor. :) I took the next shot JUST as he was putting it in his mouth. I caught it right in time :)
Little MIss eats her breakfast at her little table. For the last few weeks Bobo has decided that he wants cereal too! LOL He terrorizes her on a daily basis! "MOM...Bobo is pulling on my shiirrrtttt!" And a few times he has knocked her cereal onto the floor!
Bobo being occupied for ohhh... 2.3 seconds.Then he's off, passing over his toys to get to the next thing.
As we speak...hes under my feet getting to the computer! How do I get 5 minutes of "peace" to finish posting this blog...
Amanda and I took the kids to IPC today. They had a blast :) And because I totally wiped out on the wet floor and tore up my knee, we get to go back for free :) Woo hoo!
playing miniture golf
Little Miss and the giant glasses Mommy and Bobo
Merry go round
Little Miss
Little Miss in the airplane
Time for Lunch!
I also added some pictures of Dave and Little Miss in a smart car the other day. I forgot to post those!
Car accidents are the number one cause of death in children over 1 year of age. The proper carseat is your first defense against having your child become a statistic!Most people know that I am obsessed when it comes to the safety of my children....some would say so much as being over protective. (I can hear DH now.... "some???" LOL) But I figure its one thing that I can afford to be obsessed with :)
I sent an email out a few months ago regarding car seat safety. I had seen too many of my friends put their kids in incorrect car seats and I couldn’t just keep this information to myself any longer. That is how this post started, but now I have added even more information to ensure the reader leaves with an understanding on proper car seat usage.
Please share it with friends! You can link to this post directly if that is easier, it is really important that this information gets out!
The vast lack of education that the typical American parent has in regards to carseats is just ridiculous. Our safety standards for carseats are among the lowest in the world. And with car accidents being the number one killer of children, it is about time that we took a few moments to educate ourselves.
Lets first start with the different kinds of car seats and how to choose the best one for your child. (Please note- every car seat is different and the installation and weight/height restrictions vary, please refer to your car seats manual)
Infant Carriers – These are the kinds that typically snap into your stroller. These are rear facing only and hold kids up to around 22 lbs and 29 inches.
Convertible Car seats- These seats can be used rear facing to around 35 lbs and up and forward facing to around 40 lbs/40 inches (some more). These are the safe way to keep your child rear facing past their infant carrier, or can be used in place of the infant carrier as most can seat a child as small as 5 lbs.
Forward Facing Car seats- These seats are recommended for children over 20 lbs, while as you will see I advocate keeping the child rear facing as long as possible, these seats are great for after your child has hit 35 lbs or over your convertible seat’s height restrictions. These seats weights limits vary greatly depending on the seat. The Graco Nautilus, for example harnesses up to 65 lbs (and is a booster up to 100 lbs).
Booster Seats- These seats are a high backed seat that uses the car’s seatbelt as a means to hold the child into the car. These seats don’t teather in and rely only on the seat belt. These seats should only be used after your child has outgrown their forward facing seat. While the limits on these seats say for children over 40 lbs and 40 inches, your child should be much larger before moving into a seat like this.
Backless Boosters- These are for big kids (7-8 and older), who can no longer sit in a booster seat but aren’t quite tall enough to use just the seat belt. These should be used only after all other seats are too small.
Now, how to put your child in a carseat.
-Most seats that hold children up to 40 lbs come equipped with the LATCH system. This system uses tethers and clips to secure the seat into the car. There are 3 tethers, two that go into the bottom of the seat and one on the back of the seat, or sometimes on the floor behind the seat. Cars manufactured after 2000 or so come equipped for the LATCH system. Follow your car seat and car’s instructions for installation.
-For rear facing seats the straps need to be AT or BELOW the child's shoulders. If the child shoulders is not at the lowest strap setting, they are too small for that seat. For forward facing seats the straps should be AT or ABOVE the child's shoulders. If the child's shoulders are past the top slot of the carseat then they are too big for that seat.
-The straps cannot be twisted at all.
-The chest clip needs to be at armpit level.
-The straps need to be tight. Try doing the pinch test. If you can pinch the belt anywhere on the harness then it is too loose. You may need to loosen the straps to get your child in every time, then tighten them up, but it is what is the safest.
- Check your car seat often, tether straps can move and become loose over time, tighten them as often as needed.
Extended Rear Facing When Little Miss was around 15 months she had reached the recommended age/weight limit to be turned to face forward. The limit that is suggested is 1 year and 20 lbs. Some parents don’t even know that it has to be 1 year AND 20 lbs. But, this is a bare minimum! We weren’t aware and flipped her around to face forward as soon as we could. However, if we would have known that children are 4 to 5 times safer staying rear facing until 35 lbs (when most car seats hit their rear facing maximum) we defiantly would have waited. Here is a crash test that shows the difference between rear and forward facing.
Yes the rear facing is in the front seat (which you should NEVER do) but it shows it side by side.
Extended Harnessing Extended rear facing is a part of car seat safety is becoming more of common knowledge; however, the next part is the one that most people don’t know about. The current suggested limit for moving your child into a high backed booster seat is 4 years of age and 40 lbs. I see SO many children moved to boosters prior to this limit. In addition to that, this limit is significantly too low! Here is a video depicting a high backed booster with a seatbelt and a child in a 5 point harness, both facing forward. The difference is more than obvious.
You don’t need to buy an expensive carseat to ensure your child’s safety. Little Miss has just outgrown her convertible carseat and we have replaced it with a Graco Nautilus, this carseat harnesses up to 65 lbs and has a booster up to 100 lbs. This carseat was only $150, and I have seen it as low as $120 on amazon.com. There is NO reason for your child to be in a high backed booster or even a simple booster seat until they are over 65 lbs.
"There is no way my (insert age here) child will sit in a carseat!" Here is my almost 4 year old riding comfortably in her "Graco" lol
Also, many children aren’t even in boosters when they should be. Watch this video showing a child using just a seatbelt.
Again, make sure that your child’s carseats are properly installed. Make sure their chest belt is at armpit level and that the belt is tightened so that you can only get a finger in between your child and the belt.
Here are some other videos that I found helpful. Two are from mothers who wished they had this information before, it may have saved their children’s lives.
If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them! Lets keep our children safe!
Today we went on a playdate with my mom group to Pat the Potter, a clay pot studio near us. We had alot of fun! The kids made little cut outs and turned them into necklaces.
Bobo just hung out...he obviously couldn't care less :)
Here is Little Miss compeltly focased on her project.
Amanda and the girls were there too!The kids playing outside while the clay was baking.
Little Miss with her necklace
Bobo just eating his kix :)
Listening to directions... Good girl :)
And of course the fun couldn't just stop there! Amanda got a flat on the way home :) I had driven to the potter place a different way, but for some reason my gps took me another way home, luckily it led to me following Amanda! She got a flat. There were some trasportation guys that stopped to help us! Woo hoo!
DH and I are starting the process to become foster parents.
"What?? You already have two kids!!"
Uhh...yes we do ... we're aware :)
I wanted to share this process as we go from "Two Monkeys" to.. well, "More Monkeys" :)
Alot of people have asked why we have chosen to foster. The idea came to us in the form of a 16 year old girl named Amanda (not to be confused with my BFF Amanda) She was a cheerleader that I coached back in 2004. She was born to teenage parents and had been bounced around from house to house and it really had an effect on her. After a bad time with her Aunt she came to live with us before they could place her with her Grandmother. She lived with us for about a month.
During that time, we gained some experience with caseworkers, government hassle, but most importantly, having the chance to make a difference in a child's life.
This process is long, and can sometimes be grueling, but we are very excited to start this journey.
I saw this top online and I just was dying to make it. Unfortunatly, the pattern was $10 and I just couldn't see paying that much for a pattern. So... I decided to try it out myself. I used some fabric that was given to me before going out and buying some incase I made some mistakes. There are a few things I will do differently next time (Thinner straps, smaller loops in the back, lower the elastic in the top etc) But overall, it turned out really cute. Little Miss likes it too!!
Discovery Green is a cool park in downtown Houston. They have a playground, splash pad, they do concerts there etc. Yesterday was hot... so we picked up Dave from work and went to play. I have to say, Bobo enjoyed the water more than Little Miss did. Of course I didn't anticipate getting THIS wet, and didn't bring myself a change of clothes. Yeah, I was wet the whole way home (and in the ER...)
Where did the water go??
So after our fun time at Discovery Green, we wound up here... in the ER. Little Miss was buckling her car seat and she did something funny with her arm and popped one of the small bones out again (Nurse's maid) this happened before when she was like 18 months. It usually stops after they are 2, but can happen up to 5 years old. Typically when it happens once, it will happen again. They did x-rays and the doctor popped it back into place. She was a trooper. And of course she loved the purple popsicle they gave her!
Oh and you can't help but notice Bobo's sunscreen hair!!
I wish her eyes were open...but what can you do? I'm lucky she stayed still long enough to get what I did! 
Bobo being occupied for ohhh... 2.3 seconds.
Then he's off, passing over his toys to get to the next thing.
As we speak...hes under my feet getting to the computer!
How do I get 5 minutes of "peace" to finish posting this blog... 
Little Miss and the giant glasses
Mommy and Bobo
Little Miss
Time for Lunch!
Here is Little Miss compeltly focased on her project.
The kids playing outside while the clay was baking.
Little Miss with her necklace
Bobo just eating his kix :)
in the form of a 16 year old girl named Amanda (not to be confused with my BFF Amanda) She was a cheerleader that I coached back in 2004. She was born to teenage parents and had been bounced around from house to house and it really had an effect on her. After a bad time with her Aunt she came to live with us before they could place her with her Grandmother. She lived with us for about a month.
