Watching Pyper grow up is both exciting and scary at the same time, recently we have seen her really start to take everything in, today Renee was picking her nose and then Pyper started to touch her nose, tonight I was in another part of the house, and I heard a little girl on the ground crawling, I called out Pyper and before I knew it she was coming through the door and she had a big smile on her face. She also came over to me whilst I was in the kitchen and gave me some tissues, this was really cute as she crawled over to me gave them to me and then i took them from her and then, I gave them back a few minutes later!

The more we speak to her the more she really understands what is going on and what things are all about.

- Scott

There is so much worry about child abuse today, that many people are afraid to give their children the loving care they need, for fear of being accused of abuse. A certain amount of sexual play is common in preschool children, and it is easy to confuse a child’s normal sexual behaviour with signs of possible sexual abuse.
Most well adjusted children will customarily pass through several stages of sexual interest and play.

Small babies may discover that touching their genitals can feel good, and can be comforting. As far as they are concerned, it is rather like sucking their thumb or rubbing their nose - they won’t attach any other meaning to these actions. Baby boys may have erect penises when nappies are removed.

Many two-year-olds will show an interest in the way boys and girls urinate, and in the physical differences between the sexes. ... read more >>

The human brain is particularly susceptible to the effects of poor nutrition during the early years of development, and most preschool diets are either average or impoverished.[1]

Young brains need many nutrients for learning. Food additives and Deficiencies in some nutrients have been linked to ADD and ADHD.

Some guidelines that can help are:
No Soft Drinks - At least till the age of 5, and then only as an occasional treat. Replace Soft drinks with Water, Natural Fruit Juices (Without corn Syrup or Fructose Sweeteners), and Low fat Milk.
Limit Potato Chips, Donuts, Pop-Tarts, and Cookies. These should be a treat and healthier alternatives like whole grain pretzels or baked chips, fruits like bananas, sliced apples, grapes, and watermelon are ideal snack choices. ... read more >>

It’s been a long, hard day at work. You want to come home and just relax and have fun with your kids. You don’t want to deal with discipline. But Mom has had the children for most of the day and she’s tired of the fighting and bickering. So she starts to discipline and wants you to help. This is not your idea of unwinding.

So what do you do? Support her. Absolutely. Children need a unified front from parents, and when Dad is viewed as the Softie, it makes Mom look like the Bad Guy and makes her job so much more difficult. And marital tension increases dramatically. If you have an issue with the way Mom is disciplining, wait to talk to her about it after the children go to bed. Short term, backing up your wife will be extra work. But long term it will be well worth it as your children will be unable to pit Mom and Dad against each other. The softer you are on discipline now, the harder it will be for your family. ... read more >>

I have days that I feel like i could just stay in bed but with a little one two words come to mind – “good” and “luck”! So when I get home no matter what she is doing I will make sure I go and play with her, unless she is sleeping or eating. Like most little ones she loves to play with her food but I’m not allowed to play too much with her at this time as we seem to both get loud and get in trouble.

So once she has finished I make she gets down on the ground and then I will call her down the hall way and we will play “racing” and what racing is, is I will throw one of her toys 10 M in front of her and then will start crawling next to her as if it was a race and she absolutely loves the challenge, she races with me as we are both crawling flat out, and she has her little head down and snorting like a “little piggy”, I’m smiling just thinking of it as I write. Funnily enough she always seems to win and then we turn around and do it on the way back. ... read more >>

I have been a little bit worried after being told by my wife that we need to make sure that we are doing all we can with Pyper, and so sometimes as a male I forget things to do with her, or activities that I plan get pushed to the back burner because of weather or a change in events etc. Now this might look like for example taking pyper to the indoor pools and taking her swimming, or playing with her inside or giving her pegs to put in the box, no matter what we think everyday is a new adventure and they love everything. My problem is letting her do anything, and by this basically I will let her try most things once, except playing with a python, knives, grenades, or other such death defying instruments. ... read more >>

There have been countless debates about how to help your kids become happy, healthy, successful people in their own lives. And one effective method of preparing them for their own lives is to give them a heavy dose of the word that not enough kids are getting today. The word?

“No!”

All of you deal with a certain amount of frustration in your everyday adult lives. You’re frustrated at your jobs, in your relationships, and by circumstances that you have no control over. Over time you learn to handle frustration better and to turn it into challenges and opportunities that you can work through.

People who can handle frustration successfully tend to have happier and more successful lives. They learn to be resilient and to appreciate what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve received.

How about your kids? ... read more >>

Mince Baskets

Suitable for toddlers

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Basic Mince Mixture - Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
500g lean beef or lamb mince
2 Tbsp tomato purée
420g jar pasta sauce
1 tsp mixed herbs or 1 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (optional)
8 slices fresh bread, crusts removed

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan, and cook the onion gently for 5-6 minutes, until tender. Add the mince, breaking up with the back of a spoon to form small pieces until cooked thoroughly and no longer pink. Stir in tomato purée, canned tomatoes and herbs. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes until reduced and thick, but still moist. Set aside. ... read more >>

Walking – well it’s a long road to hoe as any father knows when you have a little person crawling quicker then lightning around the floor but is also pulling herself up and wanting to walk. She is in the in between stages again, she knows what she wants to do but can’t do it straight away and gets very angry with herself for not being able to do it, so what we did do is go to the Salvation Army Toy Library, you pay a membership fee around $50 and you get to use all these difference ages and stages toys for free basically, they are great and it means that you don’t have to worry about having a swing and slide set in your home for 20 years wha hoo! But any way we manage to find this basic trolley for her to push and therefore it’s just tall enough for her to be able to stand up and for one of use to make sure it doesn’t go too fast and her fall over. ... read more >>

Pyper for the last couple of months has been showing signs of talking, like dada and last couple of days out of the blue has said mum, which we just think is great. Now trying to find out when children talk is a tough one, i have spoken to lots of mothers and fathers about it and it comes down to the child, I know of a 2 year old who doesn’t say a word, now this doesn’t mean that they a disability or anything it’s just about when they want to start communicating.

The last few months we have been teaching her baby sign language which to be fair we could be a lot more consistent but we are doing our best, I would have thought she would have picked up a few of the little signs or even more of the words. But she is sticking to the stuff she knows, da da da and things which don’t make sense to us but to her they do. I actually love it when she starts talking like this its sooo cute, well to me anyway!! ... read more >>