Breastfeeding -- Smarter Kids

Another reason to breastfeed exclusively -- smarter kids.

A new study offers some proof that breastfeeding produces smarter children. Mothers who exclusively breastfed their babies scored better on intelligence exams.

It seems that mothers who choose to breastfeed are different from those who choose not to breastfeed. With breastfeeding taking more time, mothers who do these invest more time with their kids and interact more with them.

If you breastfeed, your baby will not only enjoy the health benefits of breast milk but can also be smarter too.

Read more about breastfeeding and smarter kids here.

Warm Cycle

My little girl loves eating noodles. One time her dad got the leftover noodles from the refrigerator which elicited much glee and excitement from her.

"It's still cold," my husband said. "What are we going to do?" he asked.

"Put it in the washing machine," my daughter seriously replied while pointing to the microwave oven.

Funtastic Art

My two kids attended a 3-week art workshop held at our local museum. It was a fun, educational experience for my daughters as they freely expressed themselves using watercolor, crayons, pastel, paint, natural clay, stones, canvas and all sorts of materials.

My older daughter was very expressive in the execution of her artwork but she wanted to work fast and was unmindful of whatever mistakes she had committed. My younger daughter had only 2 subjects in mind -- cats and pigs.

I was with them all throughout their workshop and and I have seen how they interacted with their art teacher and classmates and how intent they were in doing their work. Both of my kids enjoyed making pictures using paint. They love mixing the colors and coming up with different effects. They were both pleased with what they've created and I was happy to see them looking proud of their handiwork.

My main objectives for enrolling my older daughter was for her to improve more her socialization skills and to discover her artistic abilities. With my younger daughter, it was more about improving her fine motor skills and also to encourage her to express herself through drawing and painting.

I don't expect my kids to be great artists but I would like them to be well-rounded individuals who know they have the freedom to express themselves in whatever form they choose. As their teacher would say, "Kids should be free to learn and express their ideas and not be limited by what adults expect them to do."

One Sandwich Only

Although my older daughter is not fond of junk food she loves to eat and is now overweight. I've talked to her about it and she knows that she has to do her morning exercise daily as well as cut down on the amount of food she eats.

One day, I prepared chicken sandwich for her breakfast. She loves chicken sandwich and given the chance she'd have more than just one. But she knows she has to control herself. After eating the sandwich I prepared for her she looked at me sadly and said, "My tummy is still hungry." She then looked at her tummy and said, "Stop it tummy. You have to wait for lunch. Mommy will cook yummy food."

I'm glad that my daughter understands her situation and is making an effort to lose weight.

Bedtime Story

Last week we bought new books for our kids. When it was time for bed, my husband got one book and started reading to my older daughter who was already getting comfortable lying on the bed. She did not seem interested to listen but my husband still read the story to her since he felt it was ok even if she fell asleep in the middle of it.

Out of the blue my daughter faced her dad and said, "Are you crazy? I'm sleeping."

Moral of the story: Don't read to a sleepy child if she's determined to go to sleep. :-)

Health Issues

The past weeks had been very stressful with my older daughter being febrile for a week right after my younger daughter got sick for 3 days. She had occasional colds and cough and no other complaints. When we paid a visit to her doctor, white spots were noticed on her throat indicative of strep infection.

It really baffled me because my daughter did not complain of a sore throat at all but I did see the spots and saw exactly the same image when I did my research online after our visit to the doctor. Because of a previous allergic reaction to penicillin, my daughter was given erythromycin and it took 2 days before we saw the effect.

While she was sick, my daughter missed school as well as seeing her friends. When she was younger it was very hard to make her drink her medicine but last week she eagerly took her medications because she really wanted to attend school. After being absent from school for 3 days she became depressed and occasionally was seen crying silently. It was heartbreaking to see her so sad that I even prayed that her illness will just transfer to me so that she could resume her normal activities.

But God has other plans and now she is able to attend school once again. I'm hoping and praying that she'll continue to enjoy good health. The same prayer goes for our whole family.

A Relaxing Weekend

So much for New Year's resolutions... I still am not able to update my blog weekly. There are so many things I love to do but I just don't have the time to do them at all. I am glad though that I was able to watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy again for 3 consecutive days (Friday to Sunday).

I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I really enjoyed watching them again with my family. My kids, young as they are were also engrossed in the movie and I was amazed to note that they did not get scared at all by some of the characters in the movie. My older daughter showed maturity as we watched the fight scenes together.

When she was younger, she used to imitate angry or fighting characters that she saw on TV but not so much now. Comments like, "It's not nice to fight," can be heard from her while we were watching the movie. She also talked about what she think the characters' moods and emotions are.

I had fun watching the LOTR and it renewed my desire to read Tolkien's books once again. Now that my older child is getting better in her reading, she's also getting more interested in books and reads anything that she sees on our TV screen. My younger daughter also loves browsing books and she makes up her own stories based on the pictures.

I am looking forward to a relaxing afternoon with my family reading books. The love for reading is one thing I hope my kids would develop.