As we gear up for the holiday season, those of us with young children in our lives may find ourselves tempted by the commercials and glossy magazine ads for every toy imaginable!  Of course we succumb because all we want is to see the babes smile on Christmas morning, right?  Let’s take a collective step back from the commercialism this season and put some thought and heart into the gifts we give. We don’t have to just wrap up the latest Star Wars figure or Monkey Fingerlings to make them smile. Over the years, I have tried to give my daughters and nieces and nephews and friends children something original that sparks their creativity and imagination.

Here are some of the tried and tested greatest hits:

Dress up box

• Just after Halloween hit the clearance racks of kids’ costumes (you can get up to 70% off!) then just fill a box! Maybe decorate a box or buy a cardboard box shaped like a treasure chest or even a large hat box will do. The kids will love being princesses, firemen or action heroes for hours on end, but you will be the real hero!

Puppet theater

• Cut a hole in a large box to create a little puppet theater. I got a little carried away and made mine out of plywood. You can decorate the front and even hang curtains if you like. Inexpensive hand puppets can be found in craft stores or kids can be given “kits” to make their own sock puppets. All you need is a pack of tube socks, markers and maybe some felt pieces to glue on for clothes. This gift will spark some creativity and lots of fun. My daughters put on countless puppet shows in their theater, learning skills such as story-telling, working together, sharing ideas, and sequencing their ideas.

Stuffed animal comes to life

• One year I gave all my nieces and nephews paper and crayons and had them draw a stuffed animal and name it. Their creations were adorable! I then used their drawings as a pattern and created the animals out of felt. I am not a seamstress, but it was surprisingly easy! It was just like making the pillow I made in seventh grade Home Economics class. I used a hot glue gun to attach eyes, antennae, and any other features they put on their drawings. There are companies that will do this for you, (budsies.com) but if I can do it, anyone can! I promise, Christmas morning will be a huge hit!

My nieces and nephews on Christmas morning loving their stuffed animal creations❤️

Create a story book where your child is the main character

• I have made several of these over the years. Sometimes I make them like a scrapbook with pictures of my kids that I put into a story and sometimes I do them professionally on sites such as www.shutterfly.com or www.storyjumper.com. When my kids were really little, I made picture books and had them laminated so my kids could turn the pages and even bite on a corner without it getting ruined.

For toddlers you could make an ispy game in a plastic water bottle with birdseed and “hidden” objects to find, such as buttons, paperclips, and marbles. For babies, you could make visual toys such as laminated cutouts of pictures of themselves or you to hang on carseats or cribs. You could also make rattles out of small water bottles filled with different things such as beans or rice to create different noises.

I spy jars with bird seed and lots of items hidden inside

You can avoid the crazy lines and chaos of the holiday season with a little ingenuity and imagination and the kids will love your creations!

Taking care of a baby is one of the hardest jobs on earth! Bringing the new little love of your life home from the hospital is exciting and exhilarating, but soon that sleep deprivation sets in and those rose-colored glasses are looking a little bit blurry.
You probably feel like you have to do it all and do it right, but you do not have to do it alone. It is really important that you take care of yourself first so that you can effectively take care of your baby. That might just mean a bubble bath now and then or it might mean seeking out professional help for post-partum depression. Either way, getting the necessary help is paramount for your health and your baby’s well being.
Think about what made you feel happy and fulfilled before your baby was born. Was it a good trip to the gym, cleaning the house and feeling productive, a latte, or a walk with a friend? Even if you are staying at home, there are ways to find little pockets of time for yourself and it is great for your mental health and your baby if you take advantage of those times. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Everyone loves to hold a baby. A trusted friend or relative would probably love to come cuddle with your little treasure for an hour while you take care of yourself.
There is a stigma among moms. We feel like we have to do it all ourselves. We feel ashamed if we ask for help or even say yes to the offer of a warm home-cooked meal brought over by a friend. We need to let go of that and support one another and accept the support that is offered. Maybe there is an in-law or friend who can lend a helping hand in those first few months when there is no time to even wash your hair. Put down that guilt and pick up the phone!

Here are some tips on asking for help from someone you trust:
1. Be specific with what you need. “Can you please come over for one hour and hold my baby while I get a shower?”
2. Share responsibilities with your partner. Set up “shifts” if necessary.
3. It is perfectly ok to say “no” if people want to visit.
4. It is ok to say “yes” to people who offer to bring a meal. You can even ask them not to stay this time, but come back on Saturday.
5. Put a note on your front door that says “mom and baby are resting right now. Please do not ring door bell.” And don’t feel bad about it!
6. Ask a friend or family member to take older children out of the house for a little while to give you time alone with the baby.
7. Ask a friend to pick up some necessary items for you next them they go to the store so you don’t have to take the baby out.

Even if you don’t have a partner or family to help you, there are resources in your community and ways you can get support.
Here is a list of resources at your fingertips on the internet that can be found in most communities:

MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) www.mops.org

Moms Club www.momsclub.org

Mom-mentum http://www.mom-mentum.org

Postpartum Progress http://www.postpartumprogress.com/ppd-support-groups-in-the-u-s-canada

Postpartum support international
http://www.postpartum.net

Baby Center http://www.babycenter.com/about

Co-parenting for child custody parenting plans http://www.coparenting.com

United Way https://www.unitedway.org

YWCA http://www.ywca.org/site/c.cuIRJ7NTKrLaG/b.9360173/k.1089/YWCAEliminating_Racism_Empowering_Women.htm

Life Matters online parenting classes http://www.lifematters.com/parentn.asp

Catholic charities
https://catholiccharitiesusa.org/network

Find a food bank at Feeding America
http://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/about-feeding-america/

Homeless Shelter Directory:
http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps)
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/programs/liheap

National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse
https://www.fatherhood.gov/about-us
1-877-4DAD411

Secrets for new dads app

Military One Source
http://www.militaryonesource.mil
1-800-342-9647

U.S. Vets

Home

213-542-2600

Science is really just a way of thinking, observing, experimenting, and asking questions. Before babies are mobile, they are nothing if not little scientists, observing and taking in their world all day long. Babies are constantly watching and learning from what they see. Toddler are intuitively questioning everything they see, attempting to make sense of the world.

Technology is a way of being inventive, identifying problems, coming up with solutions and making things work. If you have ever watched a toddler at play, they are using technology the whole time, making shapes fit into a hole, cars drive on a track, blocks stack high.

Take that a step further and they are little engineers, designing and creating and building things that work. Building forts and bug houses and leprechaun traps. Using ingenuity and creativity and a boundless imagination.

Math is integral component of so many early skills. Anything that involves counting, sequencing, patterning, or exploring shapes, size, or volume is an early math skill. Without even knowing it, babies and toddlers use these skills constantly during play and exploration.

Part of what makes babies and young children such great scientists is their natural curiosity and willingness to repeat actions that interest them. They have a truly innate need to explore the world and attempt to make sense of it all.

You can foster these important STEM skills on your little scientists by allowing them lots of opportunity to explore their world. Set up situations that require them to think and solve problems.

While you are cooking dinner, pull out some plastic containers and encourage your baby to see what fits inside of what, stack them, put them in order from smallest to largest while you say these words to teach the concepts.

For older children, add measuring cups, spoons and ladles and something to transfer and measure such as dry beans or pasta.

Make it a sensory activity by using cooked pasta, jello, or pudding. It’s ok to get dirty, more brain cells are stimulated!

Ask lots of questions to make your child think…”what color do you think this avocado will be on the inside when I cut it?”…“how many pieces of apple will this apple slicer make?”…”Let’s count them together”.

Integrate these concepts into activities all day long. Think about how you can ask questions and set up thought-provoking situations during bath time, meal time, outdoor play and while cleaning up toys. Maybe set timers and count down to the last second, guess how many toys will fit in the bin, then count them as you clean up. There are opportunities everywhere to add STEM skills to your child’s day. Take advantage of all of these great opportunities and help prepare your child for school and the complex world that lies ahead.

Hey dads, looking for ideas to make mom feel appreciated this Mother’s Day? I got you covered! First of all, Mother’s Day is May 14th, so it will be here before you know it. No matter if this is mom’s first Mother’s Day or her 40th, I can tell you, all we want is a little time off. By “off” I mean, we don’t want to think or make decisions…about anything…just for a little while. We are exhausted from decision-making all day every day. Deciding what to make for dinner, what groceries we need to pick up, what laundry needs to be clean by Tuesday, how long should the kids spend on screen time, what should everyone wear today, what should we spend money on, deciding when we should re-apply sunblock on everyone, deciding how to manage our time between work, our home and our children, and the list goes on and on and on.

Simply making decisions is very taxing on the brain. Researchers call it “decision fatigue” and it’s a real thing. “…decision fatigue … is a real psychological concept where a person’s productivity suffers as a result of becoming mentally exhausted from making so many irrelevant decisions.” as described in an Elite Daily article. As a mom, even when the decisions are completely trivial they can be overwhelming simply because of the sheer volume of them, and moms are making decisions all day long for not only ourselves, but for our children.

“Mom, can I have a cookie?”
“Mom, can I watch TV?”
“Mom, what are we doing this afternoon?”
“Mom, what’s for dinner?”

Scientific American cites research that shows that the simple act of making a choice depletes executive resources in the brain. Some of the smartest people have caught onto this concept and protected their brain power by streamlining the decisions they had to make in a day. Albert Einstein reportedly wore the same grey suit every day, Mark Zuckerburg wears the same grey t-shirt and hoodie and Barack Obama, the same black suit, all of them avoiding the strenuous task of deciding what to wear every day to preserve brain power. Take note, none of them are moms. We decide wardrobes for two, three, four, five people on the daily!

All of these mini decisions for all of these mini people in our lives are exhausting! So what we really want for Mother’s Day when we say “how about breakfast in bed”…”how about you make dinner”…”how about you dress the kids”…”how about you read the bedtimes stories tonight” is a break from all the decision making. If you can decide what’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner, what the kids are wearing and what bedtimes stories to read, that is a huge break!

Of course we want a present too, but a break from making decisions for a day will go a long way!

What would your baby tweet about you? #wordgapbabytweets

I am always encouraging parents to consider what your baby might be thinking. What is your baby seeing from his vantage point? What sounds and voices is he hearing throughout the day. What does he smell, taste, and feel? What textures are against his skin?

Stop for a second and think about everything your baby experienced today. What thoughts would she tweet about you? Positive or negative…

Maybe “mommy gave me extra cuddles this morning. #itfeltnice” or “mommy is wearing too much perfume today. #eyeswatering” or “daddy talked on his phone the whole time we were in the car. #boring” or “daddy read me a great book last night. #cozytime”.

They are taking notice of everything you do! #wordgapbabytweets

Thinking about what your baby would tweet about you could serve as a reminder to talk to your baby all day long to introduce as many words as possible to help build that important vocabulary and avoid the word gap.

Believe me, it will not be long until they actually are tweeting about you! As a mom of two teenage daughters I can tell you, this can be very insightful!

So, what would your baby tweet about you? I decided to have a little fun with this and make it a contest on social media. Post a picture of your baby with a sign or just a caption of your baby’s tweet. Use the hashtag #wordgapbabytweets and the person who gets the most likes will win a $50 Target Gift Card! Share your post and encourage friends to like your photo for a chance to win! The prize will be awarded on Friday, May 5th!

What would your baby tweet about you? #wordgapbabytweets Enter for a chance to win a $50 gift card to Target!

In the school setting, OTs go crazy for St. Patrick’s Day! We can make cute shamrock crafts, using fine motor skills, Leprechaun traps, using problem solving skills, not to mention chasing rainbows for gross motor skills!

In nursing homes, OTs can spend two weeks celebrating Martin Luther King Day! It’s a great holiday for reminiscence groups, memory activities, baking, working on kitchen skills,  and social awareness brain boosting exercises! We love to celebrate.

I guess that’s why at our national conference a few weeks ago in Philadelphia occupational therapists were dancing in the aisles and starting a congo line! We were especially excited to have Al Roker there, via satellite, congratulating us on our hundred year anniversary and singing the praises of the occupational therapist who has worked with his son for several years. Thanks Al!

Al Roker gave us a shout out! Always good to have Al around!

The American occupational therapy Association also put together an amazing video about the history of occupational therapy. You can find information about our centennial celebration and the video of the history of occupational therapy here: http://www.otcentennial.org

I highly recommended checking out the video. I have taken classes on the history of occupational therapy and I still learned a great deal from this video.

This picture is taken from the OT Centennial website.

So if you are in occupational therapist, happy OT month and congratulations on the hundred years of our profession! Now go celebrate! If you know an occupational therapist, please congratulate them.

We don’t do a whole lot of celebrating in the neonatal intensive care unit but I was able to recognize national occupational therapy month by going to speak to my congressman yesterday. He was home on Easter break and some of my friends and I were able to get a meeting with him by going through all the proper channels. I am happy to say that we had a very productive meeting. I brought to light many of the concerns I have about our nation taking care of our youngest Americans. I talked about how repealing the affordable care act what a fat maternity services and babies. I talked about the importance of compensation for maternity leave and paternity leave so that parents have time to bond with their babies. I made sure that my congressman was aware that 85% of the babies’ brain develops by the time they are three years old and the first few years are critical for the foundation of the rest of that child’s life. I felt like he heard and agreed with what I said and I sincerely hope he remembers the pictures of the babies I showed him when he is helping to create legislation for our country.

Happy Occupational Therapy Month!

Today, more than one fifth of all babies in the U.S. live below the poverty line and almost half of all babies born this year will live in “low-income” families.* This means that way too many babies are not being given the best start possible. Because of lack or resources, these children are falling behind before they reach their first birthday, often times, even ending up with significant developmental delays.

The science behind early development is clear and well-researched.  Early brain cells, or neurons develop at lightning speed, presenting both a prime opportunity for enrichment as well as a serious window of vulnerability for falling behind.  Babies brains create 700 new neural connections every second if the baby is nurtured and adequately stimulated. As children get older,  higher-level learning is built upon these early connections. If the foundation is not there, future development is severely impeded.

What do we as a country need to do to set babies up for success? We need to provide all babies with the opportunity to thrive.  Parents need support in the form of a national paid family leave program. Both mom and dad need to have the opportunity to spend time with their baby and nurture their early skills, not work two full-time jobs to put food on the table. This new administration needs to hear this loud and clear.  We cannot move backwards. We as nation need to continue to move forward.

We need to make sure all families have access to quality affordable childcare and healthcare. Ensuring quality care for our nation’s future leaders by well-trained and well-compensated providers is paramount to the success of not only our babies, but our country as a whole.  Too many parents work two jobs and still live below the poverty line, causing toxic stress in the household that carries over to the children.  The minimum wage needs to be raised to a living wage that allows families to work less and spend more time together. Overnight daycares need to become less in number, not greater in number.  Babies and young children need to sleep in their own beds.

Early Head Start is an amazing organization, but it needs to be extended.  We need to extend Early Head Start so the needs of all eligible infants can be met. Early Head Start has an incredible vision that provides comprehensive services to both parents and babies in a two-generation approach, but it is severely limited, reaching only 5 percent of eligible parents and babies. We need a major commitment of funds to Early Head Start so that more families can be reached.

Up to 14% of children under the age of 5 experience social and emotional limitations.* We need to prioritize funding for infant mental health programs, education, treatment, and initiatives to help families with education, awareness, and comprehensive treatment.

We need to arm parents with information about child development so they can foster important skills in their children and know immediately if a developmental delay is present so early intervention can be sought.

Economists estimate that when we invest in quality early development for our babies, the rate of return is up to 10% per year.* These numbers speak for themselves. Investment in the future of our country must start with our 4 million potential leaders, thinkers, athletes, scientists, and innovators. An investment in them is an investment in our country’s future. After all, they will be the ones to take on America’s future challenges. Let’s work together to give them the best start possible.  It’s the least we can do.

*statistics are from Zero to Three. For more information, please visit www.zerotothree.org or www.thewordgapapp.com or www.aimeesbabies.com to learn how to give babies the best start possible.

So far it has been having a great response and has been very exciting! New Orleans really knows how to hold a conference as they kicked it off with a jazz band walking up and down the aisles of the exhibition hall!

I have been meeting some amazing people! People who are truly in the front lines of improving the lives of babies and families in our country. I am so excited to share Aimee’s Babies apps with them.

By far the best part of this experience is having my oldest daughter, Marley here with me. She is at my side, explaining my apps and videos and the benefits of them to all of these people and I could not be prouder. She and Kayla are the reason that I do what I do❤️

Now is a mom and a therapist I see the value in this fun craft for more than just a Thanksgiving centerpiece. 

I pull out the toothpicks every year and make this craft with my kids, nieces and nephews and younger patients. It is always a huge hit!

All you need is an apple, toothpicks, an olive for the head and decorative food items for feathers. I like to use cereal, colored small marshmallows, raisins, dried cranberries, popcorn and gummy candies to name a few. But you can be creative.

This activity is not only great for fine motor skills, visual motor skills, and using two hands together but you can also incorporate some patterning, counting, color identification, and lots of language skills!

You can name your turkeys and make them have conversations with each other.  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Remember to ask your child what they are thankful for tomorrow.

I am thankful for you, my readers.

Saturday afternoons may be a busy time but you don’t have to drop everything. You can include some sensory activities into your daily chores. 

Think about all the information your child is taking in from the world. Think about what they see, hear, taste, smell, and feel. Think about the effects of gravity on their body. Whether it’s a newborn trying to hold his head up against gravity for the first time, and early walker, or three-year-old bouncing on a trampoline. 

Brain processes all of the sensations differently. Exposure to these things help build new brain cells. Did you know that your child forms 85% of their brain by the time they are three years old? That’s a lot of new connections in that tiny brain. Let’s do whatever we can to help those connections form by giving them lots of new experiences.

I’m going to focus on some tactile activities today. Think about what your child feels. If you have an infant allow them tons of tummy time so they can feel a large part of their body and their hands against the surface. Rub different textures on their skin as you say their body parts out loud. Think cotton balls, washcloths, different fabrics and textures. 

I love toddlers and preschoolers plenty of activities with their hands in different mediums. Dirt, water, sand, clay, finger paint, just to name a few. Here are some ideas of tactile bins and trays you can set up for your child. 

Sand, flour, salt, or sugar

Cooked spaghetti or noodles, even more fun if you color it with food coloring.

Plain old dirt is always a good option.

Use corn and tiny farm animals four hours of fun. 

Tiny pom-poms are great for fine motor skills and tactile sensation.

colored rice and measuring cups is great for sensory skills and early math skills. 

A bin full of small balls is a great way to encourage gross motor and fine motor skills. Hide some items underneath to work on visual skills as well. 

Try to take a few minutes to include some sensory play into your Saturday!