Learning our {Body Parts}

I discovered by accident a great activity a few days ago.

My 16 month old is big on learning body parts these days. She gets very excited to be able to point a new place on herself. I was playing with the camera the other day and she wanted to 'help' as she always does. So I started showing her pictures of herself, this sent her to the moon. She was so excited to see herself on the tiny screen so we took it a little further {and she was entertained for a while!}.

And looked at her toes ...

                         
                                                                                                     And her ears ...

                                        

                                                Hair ... 

Her cute little belly ... 

Those engaging eyes ... 

             And button nose ... 

And those perfect fingers ... 

This continued on for a while. She loved it. And we've done it a few more times adding parts as we go {shoulder, knee, ... }. She gets to learn her body parts {even the ones she can't see} and pose for the camera in the process {another favorite}.

{Piggy Paint} Natural Nail Polish Review

My daughter was watching me put eyeshadow on the other day {A SUPER rare occurrence in this house.} and wanted some of her own. I had some obvious reservations about putting makeup on her face, but there was a bottle of nail polish on the counter so I thought 'what the heck?' and began to paint her nails.

She sat there patiently as I put a tiny drop on each of her adorable little nails. Never wiggled or got bored. Enthralled in the idea that her fingers were now a pretty pale pink. When I was done she immediately went to show daddy, proud of her new look. 

A few days later I returned home from work to a toddler with that same pretty pink color on her hands and arms. Daddy had tried to paint her nails. {Insert 'awww' here, I know, I know.} 

Since then she's brought me the bottle a few times, but I'm super hesitant to continue this because of the strong odor nail polish has. It just can not be good for you, and certainly isn't good for a young developing set of lungs and brain. 

So the hunt began. We went shopping, and you would be amazed at the looks I got when I asked in store after store if they sold a natural or low odor nail polish. You would have thought I had asked for a paper free greeting card. Seriously. 

We ended up at Wal-Mart ... the least likely place, or so I thought. And that's where we found it ... 

                      Piggy Paint. 

  The slogan reads "As natural as mud."

                                                                                         I love this stuff {so far}. 

It smells natural, almost like mud, more accurately like clay, there's no harshness or offensiveness to it. The colors are super cute, vibrant pinks and purples {or that's what Wal-Mart carried}. The first ingredient listed is water. Plain. Simple. Water. It's non-toxic, eco friendly, and hypoallergenic. Makes me feel alot better about my daughter putting her fingers in her mouth {to eat dirt} after they're painted. 

So how does it work? It only took two coats to get a smooth perfect finish that dries to the touch in less than 60 seconds {two rounds of the ABC song per the website. Hee hee} and I cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher just minutes after it dried without a chip or scratch to be found. Amazing if you ask me. 

I bought these for my daughter, but you better believe I will be using them as well. We'll see how it holds up to the hand sanitizers at work. {That's the true test.}

And what is more adorable than a little girls pink fingernails?

{Visit their website here.}

We also purchased the polish remover. I love that the main ingredient is corn alcohol, nothing too awful AND it too doesn't have an offensive odor. It works great, especially to get the excess polish off the skin from the wiggles. I used a Q-tip to do this.

All in all, so far, great product!! So glad I found it!

What I've learned from George Zimmerman & Trayvon Martin

I'm sorry but I'm so over the Zimmerman/Martin thing. 

First, I {and I assume many of you} haven't combed the evidence or listened word for word to the trial and obviously weren't there so I feel we really have no say or valid opinion in the matter {that's why we have a jury and lawyers} but more importantly the idea that he was judged by his skin color or dress or actions is not a novel idea. It's been happening since the dawn of day. Is it sad, yes. But honestly it's a matter of survival. 
                           You don't go with the funny looking man offering you candy. 

                                                                    He might be an upstanding citizen, you don't do it. 

What I have taken away from this and what I will teach my daughter is that you should be cautious, after all it's a different world out there, but be cautious about your caution. And for heavens sake leave the situation if you can. Let people be {unless they're carrying a machine gun and yelling at the neighbors of course, and then just call 911 and walk the other way}.

Have frank conversations with your children. You will be judged by your color, no matter what color you are. I'm sorry, but there's a reason I take my African American friends with me to some restaurants, I they know this. The fact that they are okay with it solidifies my beliefs that when I walk in the majority of the patrons are going to think "what is that white woman doing here?" It's okay, I am aware of the situation, I still want the good food so I bring a friend. 

You will be judged by your clothes, no matter what they are. Dress preppy and you're a rich prick who doesn't know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. Holes in your clothes, you don't have enough money to buy new. Pants sagging, clearly you don't abide by the law. The list goes on. 

You will be judged by your actions. Give the homeless man a few bucks and you think you're better than him, don't give it to him and your stingy. 

But above all teach them to think before they judge. 

You're children are going to judge their playmates, their family, the patrons at the grocery store. That's okay. They should, again it's a matter of survival to form opinions about those around you. Teach them to think it through. You think the woman in line in front of you is friendly or mean, why? Is it because of what she's wearing? Why? Because of something she said or did? How did it make you feel?

Teach your children to be insightful. Ask them what their first opinion of strangers is and then ask them 'why?'. 

I equate it to teaching teens abstinence. It's not enough to simply say 'dont have sex'. They're going to, teach them to be safe, the emotions that come along with the actions, and the consquensces. 

They're going to judge, teach them to judge with thought, with reason, with solid foundations. Not because someone else thinks so. 

Teach your children to think. This is what's going to change how we treat each other.