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My California Girl!
Archive for the 'The Kid' Category
2010 Dance Recital
Finally, we had a Silicon Valley day without rain. (Yeah, I do not pay Silicon Valley housing prices to get Seattle weather!) I was itching to get outside, but the kid wanted to stay inside to play. Desperate, I offered up a bike ride, a walk around the block, even a wagon ride. No dice… until I pulled out the magic idea: let’s decorate the driveway with sidewalk chalk!
The kid and I spent a good hour working on our masterpiece. We drew ourselves holding kites, tall apple trees, pink and purple flowers and a giant yellow and orange sun. It was so much fun to be outside, breathing fresh air, and sharing our creativity. We collaborated on the design and color choices, and laughed a lot! We were very proud of our accomplishment, and this mom will always love sidewalk chalk for outside activity and mother-daughter bonding!
– LTV Mom
Note: the sidewalk chalk was all mine, and Crayola was not part of this post.
I was really looking forward to attending the Mom 2.0 Summit this year. I purchased my conference ticket in December, I had my hotel booked, I was even going to travel with one of my favorite clients. It was going to be a great conference with some of my favorite blogging women.
And then, I learned my daughter’s dance team would be performing at Disneyland that same weekend. No contest. (I love my fellow blogging-mamas… but I love my kid more.) I quickly found a new owner for my Mom 2.0 ticket, and booked a flight to the OC. I’m not sure who was more excited: my little dancer or her mama (who has impressive stage-mom potential).
My husband and I gathered our best friends in Silicon Valley, and our best friends in Orange County, and we all trekked to Disneyland. We braved roller coasters, consumed cotton candy, hugged Mickey and Minnie, and marveled at my five-year-old dancing on stage! Our family had a good time at Disneyland and a great time watching the Big Show. My little girl may not be the next Cyd Charisse, but she is cute as a button!
Take a look at the video, and you too will understand why I can wait until 2011 to attend the Mom 2.0 Summit.
– LTV Mom
Video Credit: totally goes to Tulia’s Dad (not only is he a Bay Area firefighter and EMT, he’s awesome at getting video off his video camera and to a place where people can actually see it!)
I’m obviously not a food blogger, but I love to write about (and watch) food television. I’m a long-time fan of shows like Top Chef, Chopped and Next Food Network Star. Recently, I’ve been sucked into the cake decorating shows, and Cake Boss is a fan-favorite in my house.
I admittedly watch a lot of television after the kid goes to bed and I go back to work (hence the moniker Laptop TV Mom). But during waking hours, we limit TV-time in my house. My young daughter is allowed to watch cartoons during breakfast, but then has to “earn” TV time for her favorites like iCarly. But let’s be honest, there are times when this mama just wants to cuddle on the couch with her special girl, and chill with some TV. The challenge is finding TV that we both want to watch. And this is where cooking shows come in.
My 4.5 year-old daughter and I love to watch cooking shows together. We spend the time talking about the mystery ingredients, the decorations on the cakes, and which recipes we would eat for dinner. We can watch these shows, and I know there will be no sex, drugs and bad language. (Well, some of the shows have bad language, but I can usually work around a bleeped-out F-bomb.)
All that said, I’m also a closet foodie who loves to cook (and eat). I love cookbooks, entertaining, and experiencing new and exciting restaurants.
So, absorb all that information — and couple it with BlogHer Food 09 in San Francisco — and you have LTV Mom attending the upcoming conference for food bloggers. I am meeting up with cookbook author Gina von Esmarch, and we are going to see cooking demonstrations, learn about food photography, and meet the food bloggers we love to read.
But my favorite part? I am bringing my kid with me! My hubby is out of town, so the kid and I are hitting Highway 280 and joining the foodies in San Francisco. She says she wants to drink milk and watch people cook. (I told her the California Milk Board will be there, and milk is her absolute favorite drink!)
So, if you see a TV blogger (and closet foodie) with her super-cute kid, please say hello!
– LTV Mom
Photo Credit: BlogHer
SuperWhy on PBS
I grew up watching PBS television. In fact, I vividly remember watching Sesame Street and Electric Company in my family room at home. Oddly enough, and much to my chagrin, my daughter was never into Sesame Street unless Elmo was on the screen. But once she outgrew Elmo, we happily discovered Word World and then SuperWhy.
My kid did not watch lots of television as young toddler, but we did allow her to watch these select shows. Looking back, it strikes me that I never questioned the quality or integrity of Word World or SuperWhy; I just trusted PBS to develop a product that was appropriate for kids. In fact, to this day, PBS is the only network I turn on, walk away from the television, and know my daughter is watching a “safe” program. (Before anyone asks, I usually walk away to cook dinner, wash clothes or another one of my domestic duties.)
Recently, the moms of Silicon Valley Moms Blog were invited to a special evening with the creators of SuperWhy. I tell you what, I have a whole new level of respect for the show and the brilliant *mothers* behind the educational and creative content. Here’s a snapshot of what we learned about PBS and SuperWhy programming:
- PBS does not view kids as consumers, rather as “citizens of learning.”
- There are more than 60 drafts of each 30-minute episode.
- SuperWhy is designed to teach kids word strategies, and each character teaches a different critical reading skill.
- Each episode of SuperWhy is designed to teach learning through problem-solving; in fact, “it’s not just memorizing, we want the kids to learn what we are trying to teach them.”
- Whyatt Beanstalk is the preschool version of Zac Efron.
- SuperWhy was created because “words don’t have power until we read them; we can change a story by changing the words.”
- Media is a powerful force on kids; when Fonzie took out a library card, teen ownership of library cards grew by 500 percent.
Did you also know:
- PBS wants to build relationships with parents, the goal is to develop “partners” with PBS programming.
- SuperWhy has created reading camps to inspire kids to love reading and books.
- PBS Kids has created online games to reinforce learning from all SuperWhy episodes.
- There also is an online “Child Development Tracker” to help parents develop customized at-home activities for kids of all ages.
The folks from PBS also took the opportunity to ask the room of mom-bloggers what kind of tools and resources we could use to help extend learning from the television into our homes:
- How can PBS supplement your child’s learning with SuperWhy? Workbooks? Downloadable content?
- They also sent us home with workbooks and resources to encourage summer reading.
If you have ideas or feedback to help PBS and parents work together, the folks at PBS are readily available. Here are Twitter handles: PBS Parents, Jeannine Harvey, Kevin Dando, Stephanie Aaronson, and Angela Santomero.
– LTV Mom
Dance Recital Glitz and Glam
Dad and Daughter at Disneyland
My family just returned from a wonderful vacation that included a trip to Disneyland and California Adventures. We spend two days riding the tea cups, eating Cotton Candy, and meeting Princesses! It was special to spend so much time together, even if our four-year-old was completely spoiled at the end of the trip.
Regardless, our trip was another reminder of how much I love watching a daddy and his daughter! My two favorite people melt my heart!
I recently wrote a post about “Dads with Daughters” over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog — click HERE to take a read.
– LTV Mom
Leapfrog Tag
While I blog about my obsession with television and random pop culture, I actually am a passionate reader who desperately hopes to share my love for books with my daughter. (If you doubt me, I just finished 900-page Pillars of the Earth and quickly dived into 1000-page World Without End!)
Humor aside, I take reading seriously and quickly jumped at the chance to join the ladies of the Silicon Valley Moms blog for an afternoon event hosted by the good people at Leapfrog. I have always admired Leapfrog from afar, first as a non-parent and then the parent of an infant. But now my infant is a toddler, and she is prime for Leapfrog products. Needless to say, I was an eager participant in this meet-up.
The foundation of the afternoon was a Q&A session with Leapfrog Advisory Board member Dr. Anne Cunningham, University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Education. Dr. Cunningham shared her ideas and research on how to help children learn to read… and how they can learn to love reading. As an avid reader, I desperately want my child to love and appreciate books the way I do. Thanks to Dr. Cunningham, I realize (or at least appreciate) how reading to a child is much more than a hoping for a lifelong hobby, rather setting the foundation for a life of education and success. Here are highlights of the conversation with Dr. Cunningham and my blogging mama friends (in my words):
- Expose your children to “rare, rich and extensive” language from 0-3 years. The results have a huge effect on your child’s language development and reading skills.
- Developmental milestones for literacy must be acquired at home or Pre-K to succeed in Kindergarten.
- This can easily be achieved by talking to your kids and exposing them to multi-syllabic words and complex subjects. Just talk, don’t worry about them “getting” it all… they are absorbing words and concepts which are so important for language development.
- Read out loud to your kids every day… they learn new words, and equally important, they learn the meaning of language and the structure of language.
- The key to success is phonics… teaching kids how to sound-out and decode words.
- Intelligence is not what you’re born with, but what you do with it.
- Studies show that avid readers can trump people who are considered “smarter.”
- The goal is a rich vocabulary by 3rd grade; if that does not occur, the delay becomes a bottleneck in 4th or 5th grade academics.
- Teachers agree that most “overachievers” are the result of parental involvement with school.
Thank you, Dr. Cunningham, for your time and wisdom. I walked away feeling empowered and (quite honestly) more equipped to help my child read. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
Of course, the huge bonus of a Leapfrog event is receiving Leapfrog gear to try at home. I came home with a Leapfrog Tag reading system for my 4-year-old daughter, and she has not put it down since we opened it. She works with it (literally) every day, and I highly suggest it for other moms who want to help kids explore reading.
If you want to learn more about Leapfrog, please explore the Leapfrog Community which can be found HERE. If you need smart holiday presents, go HERE and feel free to use the blogger discount code HY8BHPR at check-out!
– LTV Mom
Just trying to squeeze in some television between mothering, working and crashing.
