My Babies and I

2011-2012 school year

2012-02-04T14:56:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,
Two out of my three kids are in school this year. One in 3rd grade I cant believe how fast time flies and the other in kindergarden so that means I will have another first grader come next year. I am much calmer now then looking back to when my first child entered the public school systerm. I see great progress in him in the last 6 months since school started. He is reading, writing and really matured in many ways. I am not afraid of him going to first grade next year I know he is ready. I also have another little one at home with me. I hope he will start preschool next september as well. Lots of excitement in this house. There is always a homework assignment to help with, a story to listen to from everyone that spend the day outside the house and believe me kids bring a lot back home from school. I am talking things one day at a time, i am busy but it feels great

Getting Back To Writing

2012-02-04T14:52:00.003-05:00

Wow it has been a long , long time. I let this blog go and now plan to revive it. Lots has happened since i wrote on here for the very last time. I had another baby, so now its three boys in my family. The baby is not a baby anymore he will be 3 in November. I got cought into the everyday of mommy life, school, household chores and after school activities that are keeping me super busy and made me forget about everything else. As much as I love my kids I miss writing here a lot. So now I am back and plan on keeping all of you updated on what has been going on in the life of this family.

Winter break turned bad

2010-12-28T21:48:00.002-05:00

My kids are on a winter break from school this week. The weather was supposed to be good and I had plans to take them out to the city, go bowling and to have their friend visit at the house. Well all plans went down hill :( and its very upsetting. We are ending the year with the biggest snow storm. I can barely make it out of my house to walk and to take the car out is just crazy. I did take them and their sleighs out for some sledding at the yard of the local church. It was fun acitivity and we had another little friend join in. I guess we have to make the best out of what we got. In two days we have to prepare for New Years Party. Having some friends over and looking very much forward to the celebrations. Lots of wonderful food and a very happy get together for us and for kids. I love this time of the year.

My expanding family

2009-06-05T22:22:00.001-04:00

I found out today I am have a 3rd boy. I am happy believe it or not but what I can’t help but think is why do people as soon as I tell them sound like they are feeling sorry for me? What is wrong with having 3 boys? I love my kids, I always wanted 3 so what’s the difference boys or girls they are still mine and I love them regardless.

A child is the most special gift that I could ever ask for and I always wanted 3 so it really does not matter to me if they are all boys or girls. I am doing so many boy activities right now with my other two kids that having another boy makes it a lot easier knowing that I will not have to change a lot. That eventually they will be playing sports together, going to school together, standing up for each other and being there for each other the rest of their lives.

I also kind of feel good knowing I am the only girl in the house surrounded by all these handsome men. If I need help with something I can always rely on one of them, well depending on what they can handle at this age but eventually they will grow up and my only hope for them is that they become good, honest, smart, educated people are able to live their lives to the fullest. I do feel afraid sometimes when I hear people say that when boys leave the house they forget their parents. I guess my husband and I will just have to work and hope that our kids will always remember us. My husband calls his parents everyday and is always there for them if they need. I don’t expect anything different from my sons.

Wolfs Pond Park

2009-05-30T20:09:00.001-04:00

I love summer. I can spend so much time with my family doing things outdoors. When the weather is good there is always plenty to do and it only requires minimal planning. I remember as a child when my parents would get together with friends or even just us and a few other family members and we would drive out to some picnic area and barbecue there all day long. It was one of the best parts of summer. I loved to eat and stay outside all day long and not having a worry in the world.

I have two little boys of my own now and I want them to enjoy summer as much as I did when I was a child. I want them to play at the play grounds till their hearts content. I want them to enjoy barbecue,hot dogs , ice cream and what ever else they want and keep memories of us spending time together as a family or with our closest friends. Today we did just that. Living on Staten Island has its privileges. We have huge park with great picnic areas and play grounds. Today we got to together with our friends at one of the picnic areas knows as Wolfs Pond Park.

The kids were running around, playing , riding their bikes and just seeing how happy they were made it worth spending the day at the park. My only regret is that I didn’t that my youngest son with us. I was not sure how he would handle being out all day since he is still a small boy. I worry that he will not nap and become cranky and then I will have to take him and go home. I think I will try it next time when go just to see if he can handle it. I think its a wonderful experience for all of us and on a nice day very healthy thing to do with kids. They get to spend the day outside breathing fresh air.

http://maps.google.com/maps?rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=wolfs+pond+park&near=Carteret,+NJ&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&view=text&latlng=7914257122603284849

How to keep kids safe

2009-05-26T20:37:00.001-04:00

This is a constant question on my mind. How do I keep my children safe and also give them the freedom to grow and enjoy the world that is surrounding them? Everyday there is something on the news or online that I read about a certain situation happening to a child and it scares me to the point that I can just give up and say that's it I am keeping them at home until they become fully grown adults. I know this is not a realistic thought but as a mom I want to do everything in my power to protect from harm.

Today I read about what happened to Mike Tyson’s four year old daughter and my jaw dropped. A child dying such a senseless death at such a young age. The scary part is that it can happen to anyone in a blink of an eye. I really walk around my house almost daily looking for things I can move out of the way, I know when my boys are running around the house they don’t stop to think whether or not something is safe to touch. I can just go on and on all day long don’t touch that , don’t do this , that is hot get away from it and so on. I also know that I am not perfect and can sometimes miss something very important.

That is why today I decided to post a few tips on my blog regarding child safety. I know we as parents do everything in our power to help our children be safe. I hope that I can raise awareness just a little more so that our children can grow up happy and healthy and accomplish all their goals in life.

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/safety/Child_Safety.htm

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=2814

http://pollyklaasaction.org/campaign/Keep_Safe_New?gclid=COGJwK-g25oCFQSPFQodfmei2w

http://www.childsafetytips.net/

Great Israeli Restaurant

2009-05-25T09:58:00.001-04:00

I have to tell you about the Restaurant my husband and I went to last Saturday night. Finally we were able to live the kids with grandparents and and venture out into the city for some quiet time and a nice dinner. When we get a chance to go out we usually go for dinner to a nice sushi place or an Italian restaurant. We are so used to this type of food that we don't ever think of trying something new. It is also very hard to find a good place unless someone recommends it and even then that's not a guarantee that I or my better half will enjoy it.

This time around it was different. I felt a little adventurous in terms of going out and wanted to try a new cuisine. After searching the net and going through places that are Zagat rated I came across a place on upper east side Manhattan. The name of the place is Rectangles. It is an Israeli Yemenite restaurant. Let me tell you amazing is not the word for it. We were totally in love with the place. The decor is middle eastern, very relaxing, music playing in the back ground sometimes in Arabic and other times in Hebrew. The staff is very attentive and helpful. The food was spectacular. My husband had a lamb shank that he said was the softest meat he ever had it was melting in his mouth. I had chicken liver with rice and salad and loved every bite it. There are other dishes to try there for starters we had Kibbeh it was like a fried ball stuffed with minced meat. After we were done with dinner we took a stroll around Manhattan and then came back to the same place for some coffee and cake. The variety of choices is pretty good and will for sure satisfy anyone in the mood to try something good.

I would for sure recommend this place to all my friends and to all my readers. If you ever have a chance to be in the city and want to try something different and amazing do go to Rectangles. I am sure those of you who appreciate good food know what I mean.

http://www.rectanglesrestaurant.com/

maternity clothes

2009-05-20T20:58:00.001-04:00

Lately I am going through my closet and getting extremely frustrated. Nothing fits me and it really drives me crazy. I hate the look of maternity clothes. I went to a few maternity shops even the very expensive ones like Mimi or Pea in the Pod and still when I try something on it just makes want to go puke. It just feels like who ever designs that stuff has no idea what they are doing and they for sure are not aiming to please anyone. It just makes me want to scream.

I guess you can see today I am ranting. Maybe its the pregnancy hormones playing a role but I really see that I get irritated with certain issues and now it just happens to be maternity clothes. Just today I went shopping cause i could not stand looking at my self anymore. I tried on numerous tops at Motherhood maternity shop and one was more hideous then the other. The colors were all solid and the style looked like it made me three hundred times bigger then I actually am. Maybe I am crazy but it literary drove me to tears.

Then I got an idea to go to Macys and maybe get some things that are not maternity but just regular clothes in bigger sizes. I was on a mission and it was not very successful. I am not even going to go into prices cause we all know if you want something good it cost more. I just refuse to pay so much now for something I will wear maybe 3 months before I grow even bigger and will need something else. Even better I wont wear it again after I give birth so there is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on it but I do expect to spend some money to better my look. Anyways to make this story short I came out of Macys with a cute summer dress in bigger size to fit my growing belly and that was it. I tried on a few tops but they were not meant to get stretched out ,so when they went over my belly it just did not look right. I will continue searching for some more stuff in the coming days and hopefully I can get through the next six months with minimal stress.

Gifted and Talented Exam NYC

2009-05-17T10:55:00.001-04:00

So the first part of this process is over. My son passed the gifted and talented exam given to all New York City students in order to get into the gifted program at the city public schools. I can honestly say I am a very proud mom. It was really hard work to try and prepare him for this exam. I purchased a seven folder system online that was seven different categories that the test covers. I made copies of all these folders and had him study every single day by repeating these folders over and over again. It is not really possible to actually study for this exam as you don't know what type of questions will dominate but it is possible to practice similar type of questions so that the child gets used to the process of actually sitting down and getting the work done. That the child gets used to seeing questions and answers as they appear on the test and its not total shock for them when they are taking the test and they have no idea what is going on.

My son practiced these folders over and over again until about a week prior to the test. At that time I let him take it easy, it is not good to make a 5 year old child stress out over something like this. He took the test in January and we just received the results last week. He received 94 %. We had to wait four months for the results of the test and now after we picked out the schools we have to wait another month for them to actually tell us which school he will go to. I really hope they will have a spot for him.

Sambucus

2009-05-16T20:41:00.001-04:00

This winter I tried a new product on my kids. I am not big on experimenting but this was suggested by our pediatrician and its a natural product so I thought to give it a chance. In the years prior to this my kids would get sick a lot during the winter and the only way I would treat them was with antibiotics. We all know well when we take a lot of antibiotics eventually they will stop working and we have to move on to some other stronger antibiotic. I always wanted to try some homeopathic stuff but as I entered the whole foods store and saw so many products on the shelf it scared me cause I was not sure what I should take, especially when it came to my kids.

When my son got sick this past winter the doctor recommended I try a product called sambucus. It is a natural liquid product made up from Echinacea, Propolis and Elderberry. It is sweet to the taste. It is an immune system booster that you take a certain dose for six weeks and then have the kids stop for about a month or two and go back to it after that. It can be started as early in the fall as September. I had both of kids on it 5 and 2 at that time. I can honestly tell you I saw major differences in they way they felt. They seemed to me a lot stronger and willing to do things instead of just moping around and feeling weak. They ate better. The most important thing that I got from it is that they didn't get sick. If they had a little runny nose it seemed to go away a lot easier and not turn into something a lot worse.

I can swear by this product and would recommend it to all my friends. It really helped my kids get through the fall/winter months. I will for sure have them back on it come September. I am tired of all the antibiotics and would only give them from now on as a last resort. This Sambucus really seemed like miracle stuff and they also have it for adults. I am really happy with the doctor for recommending this to me and I will let you know how we do on it this coming winter. I really hope the miracle can continue.

My fast growing 2 year old son

2009-05-07T20:43:00.001-04:00

Sometimes in my day to day routine I forget to notice or maybe i should say I miss out on certain things going around me. Today as I was doing some household chores and my two year son was helping me I realized how I can actually at this point have him help out with little things and he actually understood me and listened to me and did what I said. It was just the coolest thing around. I could not get over it the entire day that's how impressed I was with his actions. A few months ago it would of been me cleaning up his toys after he played with something cause he just refused to help out and now wow he is great.

I now can do things around the house or actually take him places with me and talk to him while I am doing something and he will not fool around or have a tantrum. I still have to give him time to take a nap during the day but now certain things will become easier. I can take him food shopping with me and have him count all the vegetables and he will actually do it. I love learning something new about my kids it helps me understand them better.

The more time passes and I look at my son and realize kids mature with time. It is not good to rush certain things because you will be just irritating everyone around you but mostly your child. There is no need to put stress on things. Just be patient and work on things but make the child feel comfortable and everything will be ok. I am always worried on things and try to make sure that both of kids advance in things but I can see now on certain issues I grow up together with my child. I learn from him as he does from me

Am I making my son work too hard for his age?

2009-03-18T20:26:00.001-04:00

My six year old son in the last few weeks changed in the way he acts. He is not a bad kid don’t get me wrong but we have these occasional fits that became sort of like a tradition every single day and almost in the same time of the day. I say its time to go to sleep he starts screaming and stumping his feet. We always try to use punishment as the last resort but this time it was just too much. Last night he was screaming and crying for almost an hour. All my pleading with him did not work. I first was calm and kept talking to him and trying to calm him down. Then i started to get upset and telling him if he does not stop now I will punish him. He did not react to this either because I came to realize that he does not know what it is to be punished.

I don’t want to just go straight to punishing him. I want him to understand that he needs to settle his issues as calmly as possible. I started thinking this morning where is it all coming from? We really never before had any major issues with him. Then after speaking to my husband we came to a conclusion that we may put too much pressure on him. When he comes home from school there is really no time to just relax. It is either he has to do his homework right away or rush to an after school activity and then come home and finish his homework. I think its getting to him to the point that he is starting to act out. The teacher in school today told me that he takes a very long time to do his work. He seems almost spaced out. It really scared me cause this is not like him. He always brings home good grades and I really never heard anything bad from the teacher , maybe just some mischief on occasion but he is a boy and a child so I know that it happens.

I feel like i should cut down on something that we do after school. That maybe he can use the break. I just don't know what to cut. He is doing so well at all his activities. He enjoys going to swimming, karate and music. He has been going to a program called Kumon for the last 4 years and it helped him be the top student in the his class. He can read , and add and subtract double digit numbers and he is only in kindergarten. I feel like if i do take things away that he will just be stuck at home. Then again i remember when i was a kid coming home from school , I had time to relax, eat my lunch and watch some tv before doing my homework. My parents keep on screaming at me that I should just let him be a kid. That he will get all he needs I should not drive him crazy. I am just so confused on what to do.

I want to give him all the opportunities but because he is starting to act out now I feel that maybe all he needs is to play outside and enjoy being a child. So i guess some things have to be taken out of his week or at least made a little easier. maybe less books for kumon, and karate one time a week instead of two.

My Son Turned 6

2009-02-23T22:41:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we had a party for my now 6 year old son. It was amazing. We had about 23 kids some of whom belonged to my friends and some were his school mates. We had it in a bowling place on Staten Island. Robs Country Lanes is the name of the place. I must say i left very happy from there. They were organized, new where to place each child, watched them, set up the food that I have preordered and was just over all very pleasant to deal with.

I must say bowling is a great activity with kids. They have so much fun and were all excited. My son received so many new presents. He was one happy kid. I don’t know if this is my imagination but in the last few days I have noticed a change in him. My first born baby is growing up. There is still certain issues that we need to grow from but he is changing so much. When we came home after the party and he unwrapped all his presents it was amazing to see his reaction when we told him he can open two that evening and save the rest for other days. It used to be that he would throw a fit and stump his feet until either we give in or let him cry until he would calm down and understand that he was not going to get things done like that. I know some people will not agree with me and say why not let him open all his presents? after all it was his birthday. We let him open a few cause with all the excitement I actually want him to enjoy each gift that he opens. I want him to play with that toy, or read that book and appreciate it. If he opens everything all at one time then it becomes useless and old to him when he looks in his toy chest. This way he always has a new toy to open.

I can see that with each year he changes a lot. Its really interesting to me and i learn from it all the time. I love all the changes that come into our life and keep all the memories as much as i can. I just wanted to say that he received a lot of board games for presents. We have been playing for the past few days and we love it. Its a great activity to do with children and it makes them feel good that your spending time with them. My son was so surprised that I wanted to play a game with him tonight that it made me see that I should do it more often. I made him really happy this way and we got to spend some very precious time together. When my kids grow up I want them to have these memories of me. It felt really good hearing him say “ I love you mommy” just because we played one game.

I finally found a preschool for my son.

2009-01-27T21:48:00.001-05:00

After a very long search for a preschool for my two year old son I was ready to give up the search and have him stay home with me for another year. I was told my requirement for what I wanted was too much.That there are plenty of schools on the island that were just right. I do not believe into all these little day cares that have been opening up in private homes. They are really tiny and take kids with different age range. It makes me feel that they are just big babysitting centers. It may work well for some but not for me. I want my son to go to preschool that is well equipped to prepare him for what is a head. I believe the facility has to be clean, well lit, bright so when a child enters his day starts with a smile. The teacher has to be licensed in early childhood education and not only that she also has to be pleasant. This is the beginning , the base of what will follow him/her for the rest of their lives.

As I kept searching I came across a site for CBI Academy. I read about the school and saw pictures on the site. I know that everything can be made to look amazing but there was something about this place and I decided to call and set up an appointment for a visit. I was greeted by a very pleasant Director her name is Ellen. She gave me a guide of the preschool. It is located inside Congregation Bnei Israel in Bay Terrace. The classrooms are big and bright. It is clean, the centers are set up with an abundance of toys, books, games, puzzles and what ever else is needed to enrich a child. The teacher is a pleasant young and full of energy to deal with her class. They offer a full time and half day schedule. The half a day kids get a snack and full time kids get lunch.They have a huge yard for play time. It was something that made me very happy. The kids need to be outside and have room to move around. I saw other schools on the island and they have a small boxed in area for a play yard where they kids are packed like sardines. As I drove home that day I remember thinking how great it was that I finally had found what I was looking for in a preschool.

My son has been attending now for the last two weeks. I am very happy. They are always doing something. He never comes home empty handed. He is learning new words. In the morning he wakes up and says "school" or "go to school" and has this enormous smile on his face. I will recommend this preschool to all my friends. It is a safe, nurturing environment. It is something that will leave lasting memories for a child.

http://www.cbiacademy.com/index.html

this is the site of the preschool.

School Breaks

2008-12-29T11:46:00.001-05:00

I never thought it would be this hard to come up with something to do during winter break from school. I am now home with two kids and always have to keep them busy with something otherwise they will go crazy. It is also very hard cause of the difference in age of my two kids. I made a list of things to do with them but not always are we able to go by the list.

I did a search on Google and this is what I came up with for my kids.The pool at YMCA is great. My older one loves to swim and its a good way to let out some energy so that by the time he comes home he is all calm and ready to either nap or do some homework. This is great for me cause it gives me a chance to relax after a busy morning. Staten Island has also one of the nicest parks. I take my kids out every morning to let of some steam. They come home drink some hot chocolate and watch TV. We also went bowling to http://www.rabslanes.com/its a great place on a cold winter day. My son bowled and had a slice of pizza and was the happiest little person.

We are also going away to PA for a couple days. The new year will be spend skiing and tubing. It is a great activity to do with children 4 and up. My son just loves it and also lets a lot of energy out that way :)) ha ha. Well this is what I came up with so far. I am sure there is plenty more to do . We may also just have a day of movies at home and a large pizza pie to stuff our selves and sleep all day long.

My Son is 2.5 and Only Repeats Words

2008-12-23T20:16:00.001-05:00

All kids go through milestones at their own pace. I used to think after I had my first child that everything has to be by the book, that they sit, crawl,walk, talk by the chart that is in the book. I came to realize that each child has their own pace and even though there is a norm that they should follow each one still moves and develops on their own.

My son at 2.5 receives speech therapy. He only a few months ago started to repeat single words and to build up his vocabulary. The speech therapist assured me that as long as he understands what we ask him he will start talking eventually. I was so worried and still am that his speech is moving along slowly. He has been receiving speech from the early intervention program of New York City. It really helped give him a push and helped him progress at a much faster pace. I hear him now using lots of words that were not there prior to him getting extra help.

I also work with him at home. The speech therapist does family training with me and I apply what I learn towards my son. It is wonderful when I see progress. I hope that by the time he turns 3 this summer he will be able to use two or three word sentences. I know his speech will not be clear yet but that can also be worked on with time. I want to help him prepare for nursery school and it will be great if he will go with the ability to be able to talk to the teacher if he needs something from her.

I am a stay at home mom

2008-12-10T11:51:00.001-05:00

This is a topic that will always bring on millions of opinions. I will not try to impose my opinion on anyone but will try to share my views on this topic. I have been a stay at home mom for the last two and half years, prior to that I was a high school teacher. I love staying home with my children. It gives me the opportunity to monitor their daily life at least for now while they are so small. Some may argue that my life is routine. Our day starts with everyone getting dressed and going to the table for breakfast. My husband leaves very early for work so all the washing, dressing and feeding is on me in the morning. It gets a little hectic but such is life. Then the three of us go outside and walk my older son to school. If the weather is good we stay out for a bit and get some fresh air. Then we go home have a snack and play, my two year old is a very good child he is able to entertain himself for a while so that gives me a chance to make lunch.

Then the baby goes down for a nap and I have time to take care of what I need to have done for my self or around the house. I feel I am always busy with something. I am not a couch potato that will just sit and watch TV all day long. The day passes really fast and before I know it, I am on my way back to school to pick up my son. I take him home feed him and rush him out to his after school activities. Our only activity free day is Tuesday. When we come back home I do homework with him while the baby stays with the sitter.

At times I feel I am just as busy as someone who goes out to work. There is always something to do. I am on top of all the latest news, books, conversations, and what ever else is going on the world. What I do see as an advantage is that I am able to pick up my son early from school have all his homework done and take him to an activity with out having a limit on my time. I know a lot of working parents get home so late that its almost not possible to take children to anything other then school on weekdays. I also know others who work but manage to do everything with their kids and I give thumbs up to those people.

Everyone is different on what they want. I think maybe at one point I will go back to work. When my kids are a bit older and are able to come home after school and do homework with me being next to them. I can come home and check that homework. As for now I feel better if I am the one monitoring what they do. We thought at one point of hiring a full time nanny. Its very hard to trust someone to look after your child and make sure everything that needs to be done while you are away is done. I personally feel that my children would be at a disadvantage if they were home with a full time nanny. It's not easy to hire a person to watch both kids, take them to all the activities, feed them and do homework.

I think this is a topic that can be discussed forever. There is always an opinion and a way to figure out what is better for the family. I guess time will show if I made the right choice but for now it sure feels right at least for me.

My Two Year Old

2008-12-08T12:12:00.001-05:00

My two year old son threw a fit this morning. It has been happening a bit too often lately and I am really not sure on how to handle it. Usually he is a pretty well behaved child. I never had an issue with him and now I am starting to see that maybe he is picking up some of these habits from his older brother. When he wants something and I wont allow it, he will stand there and scream please on top of his lungs thinking that just by saying please I will give in to what he wants. On other days he will just scream and cry while laying on the floor. If I talk to him while he is in a tantrum it just makes it worse, he screams even louder. I try to leave him alone and let him scream it out and then he is ok. It's so hard to let him do this. I don't want him to be so upset but nothing else seems to do the trick.

Thinking back my older son was the exact same way. Until he was able to speak and explain to me what he wants he would scream and cry over everything. It's just terrible to listen to your child scream and feel helpless because of not being sure on what's wrong with him. I've read numerous articles about the terrible twos and there are tons of suggestions that people have on how to deal with tantrums. I know that each child has a personality and I want to help my kids build on who they are. I want them to learn how to cope with different situations. I want them to understand that it wont always work out how they want but they should never give up trying. In a way I am proud that my two year old is a strong minded and I just hope that with time as he gets older and we instill in him the right values , he will understand that a tantrum is not a way to get things done. That his strong mind can be used to accomplish things in a much more productive way.

I will work on it with him. I already picked out a few things from the articles that I read and hopefully some of these suggestions from people can helps us get closer and to understand each other better. I believe that little children are just like adults. They understand a lot more then we give them credit and I believe that my son eventually will grow out of this stage and we can look back on it and laugh :).

New Day Care on Staten Island

2008-12-06T13:40:00.001-05:00

My two year old is getting to the age where he will need to start preschool. I looked all over Staten island and I can tell you honestly I really was not impressed with most of what I seen.

Today I wanted to share with you my opinion on a new day care that I visited on Staten Island. The name of the place is Steps To Success II. Inside the building is very bright and spacious. The walls are all clean painted with soft colors that won't overwhelm a child but also will feel pleasant to be inside. We received a tour and saw all the six classrooms, the yard, the kitchen they provided a menu of what the kids will be eating. So the place is very nice inside.

We had the director explain to us what the curriculum will be, and what the day will be like for the kids. The first thing in the morning they will have yoga to calm them down and prepare for the day. They also mentioned that we the parents will always get a report from the teacher on what the children do everyday. They will have math, science and social studies all appropriate for their age level. They said they want the place to be a center for education and not for babysitting so they will have a lot of structure and activities where kids can learn, improve and achieve higher standards. They have a very spacious yard in the back for the kids to play.

The staff sounded knowledgeable and prepared to deal with little children. It is something to think about. If anything my son will start preschool in September so I still have some time to search and think on where I want him to be.

http://www.stepstosuccess2.com/index.html

School and extra activities

2008-12-03T19:50:00.001-05:00

My five year old son is in kindergarten. The school that he attends is in our neighborhood and he is there from 9am to 3pm which is a full day five days a week. Outside of school he has a lot of extra activities such as karate, music, swimming, and kumon. I really feel bad sometimes when after such a long day at school he comes home and does not even have a chance to rest. I make him eat and right away sit down to do his homework cause we have to rush out of the house to one of his activities. The other day he said to me "mom we really don't go to the park anymore". I saw in his face how innocent and honest that statement was. I was so upset all night thinking am I doing the right thing by pushing him? or am I taking away the joy of childhood just to go out and run around and play. I speak to a lot of mothers and everyone has a different opinion on this issue. I am just so always afraid that if I don't do something for him that he will miss out on something. That he will fall behind. I want to give him a chance to be the best. I want him to have the confidence that he needs to succeed in life. In about two months he will have to take a test in school for the gifted and talented program so on top of his homework and kumon booklets I also have him do practice sheets for the exam. When he is done he only has about 20 minute left to watch TV and then takes a shower and falls a sleep in a matter of minutes. I know this sounds a little crazy he is only 5 but with the education system being the way it is I think it will not be a wise decision to not expand his horizons and help him achieve his best.

My two year old will get to the age soon that I will have to consider starting all of this with him. I would want him to have the same as his brother but when I look at him and see the baby that he still is I feel so bad to take that away from him. He stays home with me now cause I feel its better then sending him off to a day care where he will just one of many, where as at home he is number one. I know eventually I will have to let him go and play, learn and adjust to being around his peers.

It's hard to be a mom. Everyday I make decisions that will impact my kids forever. I don't know if I am right or wrong at this point. I guess life will show.

kids and religion

2008-12-02T18:50:00.002-05:00

So my 5 year old comes home the other day and says to me mom I cant wait till Christmas time. I said to him baby we don't celebrate Christmas. It was time to have the conversation with him on what religion we are. I said to him we are Jewish. that there are three major religions in this world and we follow Judaism. he says to me why do i have to be Jewish? I again start to explain that, this its what god meant for you and you were born to Jewish parents that's what makes you Jewish. He starts crying and screaming I don't want to be Jewish anymore I want to celebrate Christmas. He goes to a neighborhood public school and has contact with kids who are of different religion. This is the time of the year when all the kids start talking about Santa Claus and the gifts they want so he feels a bit left out. What he does not realize that we have Hanukkah coming up and he will receive presents for all eight nights. At home we try as much as possible to celebrate our holidays and do some other traditional things but I am beginning to think this may not be enough. I will look into sending him to Jewish Sunday school so that he can get to know more about his religion and learn to appreciate it. Well i will keep you all updated on what the progress is .

my boys

2008-12-01T12:31:00.001-05:00

This is my first blog so I decided to let you know a little bit about my self. My name is Tatyana. I live in New York and I have two little boys. I plan to talk about my kids a lot here. One of my boys is 5 years old and he is in kindergarten and the other one is 2 and he is home with me. I am having a hard time with letting go of my baby so I decided to leave the day care for when he is 3 years old. I love being a full time mom. My kids do a lot of after school activities. I make sure they are always busy with something.