Thanksgiving Thursday

"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.

Have you used one to say "thank you?"

~William A. Ward

I love Thanksgiving Thursday! I started it to ensure that I take the time to reflect on the many blessings in my life! I like this quote, because with all the time we have each day I think it is still so easy to forget to say "thank you" simply for "being". I am guilty of getting caught up with "everything" and not reflecting as much as I should. So here I am reminding myself with this quote and Thanksgiving Thursday to give thanks to all the wonderful things in my life. Here are my five for the day.

Thank you:

1.) For Little Chick and her radiant smile!
2.) For having been blessed with two sweet doggies in my life (Cuddles we miss you)!
3.) For having grown up in a very loving family!
4.) For the ocean!
5.) For having a voice to be able to make a positive difference while here on Earth!

What About Plastic?

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ~Margaret Mead

Do we know our plastics? The past few years we have been inundated with information on BPA, phalphates, and lead in our children's lunchboxes. Little Chick was a baby when all of this information was being splashed all over the news. I immediately tried to find safer toys, bottles, sippy cups and anything else that involved creating a healthier home for my baby. As I said in yesterday's post - this can be very overwhelming and can get expensive! I ended up finding companies online where I could buy Haba toys (most made in Germany). The European standards on toys and many other consumer products are much higher than here in the United States. Why this is, I am not sure. But it shows we really need to do our homework before purchasing things, especially for our children.

When Little Chick was a baby I got rid of most of my plastic storage containers and got glass containers instead. I also switched to Pyrex for cooking. Debra Lynn Dadd has a lot of information about what is safer to cook with. Her link is to the left. She also contains a plethora of information having to do with toxins in all products and the hazards they have on our health. She has a great book called Home Safe Home. Another must have to use as a reference.

Do I still use plastic? Yes. When trying to find the safest things for Little Chick and packing her lunch I researched her lunch box, back pack and containers. If I could use glass I would. But I am sure the teachers would not appreciate glass with a bunch of three year olds. So I use #5 containers for her lunch. I never put anything in them that is warm or hot. I also taught Little Chick from early on to eat off of our regular china dishes, as well as to use our utensils. Does she have plastic toys? Sure. Plastic is all around us, but I have tried to cut it out as much as possible. Especially when food is involved. So click here for information on safer plastics. Click on What to do for a list of what to use and what to avoid. Regarding bath toys, unfortunately many have BPA and phalphates. There are not a lot that don't, but Sassy has come out with about ten safer toys, as well as Boon.

I don't have all of the answers and I am trying my best to make healthier choices for my family. I just want to share some of the great references I have encountered while trying to educate myself.

Children and Toxic Chemicals

"We do not inherit the Earth from our anscestors,

we borrow it from our children."

Native American Proverb

This is a post I have been wanting to write since I began my blog. To the left under my Favorite Links you will see I have put Healthy Child Healthy World at the top of the list. It is a book and website I encourage every mom to be and parent to buy and log onto. I discovered it when Little Chick was a baby and all the lead recalls were coming out along with the information on BPA and phalphates. I don't know about you, but I was overwhelmed! I still am at times regarding making the right choices and purchases, but I feel like I am trying to make healthy changes all the time. As the book mentions, we must make small changes which will eventually become big changes.

There is no way that this one little post could cover even a portion of the things I would like to talk about, so I will pick one: pesticides. My yard is really lovely, but if you take a closer look you might see that I don't use pesticides. There have been too many studies showing how much our children and unborn children are effected by pesticides along with the thousands of other chemicals out there. Just last week Dr. Elizabeth Whelan appeared on a two night special CNN had, called Toxic America. It is horrifying what is being uncovered about children, chemicals, diseases, and cancer. I am bringing up pesticides because even though I don't use them, most of my neighbors do. And we live on a running stream. So when it rains we know where all those chemicals are running off to - my yard and in the water. One thing I grew up doing and have enforced especially since I had Little Chick is removing our shoes at the front door. The amount of chemicals brought into a home is unbelievable. Then our children are crawling and putting their hands in their mouths.

So I encourage all the mommies out there to log onto Healthy Child Healthy World and see for yourselves that it is an excellent reference for creating a healthier home for our children and families. I will bring up more topics as time goes on, but this is a good start.

The Love of Learning

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."

I love watching the excitement Little Chick has when she is learning and playing games! Like every mommy is with their children, I am so proud of all of her accomplishments! When I met with her teacher during teacher parent conference week I had a grin from ear to ear as we went through the list of all the wonderful things she had learned. Lately she has had a voracious appetite to write and practice the alphabet and numbers. Of course I was ecstatic when she knew all of her upper and lower case letters. She never ceases to amaze me. I am in awe of the light she carries within and the happy attitude she has towards getting to know something new. I love my Little Chick!! What a proud mama she has!

Smile Sunday

"The world always looks brighter from behind a smile."

It is Smile Sunday again and I am happy to share a big smile with you today. I started this, because a simple smile directed at someone else can create a ripple effect of smiles. So hopefully my smile will be contagious.

I had such a wonderful day with Little Chick! We both had a huge grin from ear to ear and lots of belly laughs while we were outside. I got her little pool out of the shed and cleaned it up. Boy was she happy. We filled it up with water and she had a blast. I hope you have a wonderful day with your family! Make sure to smile as much as you can. It really does have a wonderful effect!

Acts of Kindness

"Children are like flowers, let them bloom by giving them your warm smiles, your gentle words and your air of confidence. You'll be amazed at your garden."

I know I have said it in past posts, but an act of kindness is so powerful for both parties involved. There are so many opportunities in the day to do kind deeds. It may mean so little at the time of giving, but mean the world to the one it is directed at.

Have you ever noticed how throughout the day children are constantly doing acts of kindness. It is in their nature. Today Little Chick kept picking dandelions for me when we were outside. She would come to me carrying a radiant smile and say, "Mommy, this flower is for you." I made a huge deal over my beautiful gift, which excited her and encouraged her to pick more.

As I was hobbling around the house I bumped my sprained foot and made a disgruntled noise. Little Chick came running over saying, "You OK Mommy? I love you." She then grabbed my hand and guided me to the couch to sit. What better medicine could there be?

It sure does not take much for everyone to be kind throughout the day. But just like focusing on cherishing the moments, we also need to take a conscientious approach to doing good deeds for others. Just watch children and we can all learn something. It doesn't have to cost a thing - a simple smile is all it takes!

Cherished Moments

"Cherish the moments for they too, become memories."

L. Kaliski

I was looking at some photo albums and began wondering how the time has passed so quickly. When we get older our appearance can stay the same for periods of time, however, watching our children grow makes us realize how fast time goes by. Little Chick was just a baby not too long ago. It astounds me how much children grow and learn in just their first few years of life. It is a gift and a miracle all in one.

I need to keep reminding myself to "stay in the moment" so I can fully enjoy my time with my daughter. Somehow life and all the "stuff" we need to do each day gets in the way of truly being able to "stay in the moments" that I so wish to cherish at all times. I want to stamp the impression of these wonderful memories in my mind as they come and go. It is something we all have to diligently focus on each day so that we don't turn around in ten or twenty years and say, where did the time go?

Some of my favorite "moments" are when Little Chick and I are at the beach. It has always been such a huge part of who I am and now I pass this love on to my beautiful daughter. Time does not stop for us, so we need to stop ourselves and look at all that should be cherished each and every moment.