Pregnancy, Parenting and Beyond

 As a part of son's community service project, we (or I must really say He) decided to host a Book Exchange - along with a few neighbors. As the days passed, J got more and more excited and spread the word. With the generous donations from well-wishers, we were able to host it as a Book Sale - all proceeds of which we are to donate to St Jude Children's Research hospital.    We created a Raffle box - and picked out a winner at the end of the event. The little 9 yr old girl was over  the moon and brimming with joy. Also, as we waited for our patrons to show up, some of the children and J made bookmarks. The children were super excited to learn how to fold the paper and then embellished them with glitter - (sadly no pics as I was enjoying with them). But below are a sample of what we made. Courtesy:  Creative M by Meetu G For step by step instructions click here :  Bookmarks

Courtesy :  Pinterest

Courtesy :  Bits of wisdom

At this age, children learn best from unstructured play, so just make the toys available and off she'll go. Plastic tea set or playhouse : Your child will get a kick out of play eating and drinking. And in general, scaled-down toys, from rakes, push brooms, and shopping carts to miniature kitchens, give her a chance to do one of the things she loves best — mimic what she sees the adults around her do and organize her world to her own satisfaction. Large and small blocks : Working with blocks lets your toddler build her handling skills by grabbing, stacking, and sorting. Large cardboard bricks easily add up to toddler-size forts and hiding spaces. Small wooden ones can be sorted and organized into any number of original designs. Toy instruments : Children generally love music and the chance to create their own sound, no matter how cacophonous. Give her a toy guitar to strum or a keyboard to bang on and she'll treat you to many original compositions. Make sure whatever in...