Author Archive

Baby Teeth: To Brush or Not to Brush

Feb 28th, 13 / 0 Comments
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We all know the drill, no pun intended.

Your child hands you his toothbrush and bares his teeth. He giggles and grins as each tooth is expertly polished. Then he gives you a hug, climbs into bed and sleeps until morning.

Oh wait, that’s not it. It’s more like we carry him screaming into the bathroom, he squirms mightily while we try to get the toothbrush past his locked lips, then he deliberately dumps the glass of rinse water onto our laps.

Tooth brushing. It’s a chore many of us dread as parents. And for some parents, it’s a chore they’ve simply decided to skip.

We were chatting with a friend of ours recently, a woman who has a son about the same age as ours. The conversation eventually settled on how to get Louie to let us brush his tiny teeth. Teeth which sometimes have a sort of orange film on the front.

Our friend said she doesn’t brush her son’s teeth. Ever. She explained that since they’re just baby teeth, what’s the point?

And I thought “Great! We don’t have to brush our son’s teeth then?”

Ummmmm, no. We do have to brush his baby teeth even if they are all going to fall out anyway, and here’s why.

According to an article on the University of Washington’s site, toddlers are susceptible to something called dental “caries,” or rot that leaves small holes in their teeth. It’s a disease that can affect their whole body and can easily be prevented by brushing. If left untreated, caries can lead to infection and tooth loss.

I had never heard of dental caries, but the best way to identify if your child has tooth decay is to take him or her to the dentist. It’s difficult to diagnose on your own. Nowadays, dental pros are recommending a child have their first dental examination and risk assessment by the time they turn 1.

At home, it’s best to brush your toddler’s teeth at least twice a day, if not more. And it’s especially important to brush before bedtime, so that bacteria don’t linger on teeth overnight.

So, the battle continues. We are trying to make a game of brushing his teeth, showing him how mommy and daddy brush, and making up silly songs about his incisors. But if none of that does the trick, I hold Louie on my lap, dip his head back over my arm until his mouth falls open and scrub away. He’ll thank us later. I’m sure of it.

For more information about children’s oral health, including tips, a dental dictionary and a list of free and low-cost dental care facilities, visit our Oral Health Campaign Hub.

Who’s Brushing Baby’s Teeth?

http://www.washington.edu/earlychildhood/articles/brushing-babys-teeth

 

Optimizing Infant and Toddler Oral Health: The Importance of Early Intervention

http://www.dentistrytoday.com/pediatric-dentistry/1580

 

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Health and Nutrition, Parenting

New Year’s Resolution

Jan 29th, 13 / 0 Comments
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Last time my kid went outside, he fell in some mud, dribbled strawberry juice down his face and shirt, picked up a variety of dirty branches, leaves and sticks, and tried to grab a couple of pigeons by luring them closer with a piece of turkey. This is, if you think about it, feeding one bird to another bird – which just seems wrong. Otherwise, though, it was exactly the day I’d been hoping for.

Lately, my wife and I have started to worry about our son’s time spent outside of our home. Whole days go by when he doesn’t leave our loft in downtown Los Angeles. Some days he is merely paraded through the downtown streets, past hundreds of cars and buses with just a few cement-bound trees in sight, to a small pocket park that he can run through in under 60 seconds.

Sometimes my wife has work to do, sometimes it rains, or she may have 14 errands to accomplish in the space of an afternoon. On certain days, when you factor in lunch, a nap, reading time and getting out of downtown in traffic, it just doesn’t seem worth the effort to leave home.

But with a new year, we’ve made a resolution. The boy goes out every day, rain or shine, into nature. So today, it was to the Wednesday farmers’ market in Santa Monica, and then to a picnic at Palisades Park overlooking the ocean. Tuesday it was a walk in Pasadena’s arroyo. My wife took him to a playground at Griffith Park on Monday, and Sunday we all went for a long hike, with my son hauling himself up the mountain for a good part of the way.

But this may not even be enough. Kids need to not only spend 90 to 120 minutes in outdoor play EVERY day, but they need the chance to get dirty, climb things, chase squirrels, etc.

In other words, be a kid.

We may not make it happen every day. The trick is not to beat yourself up about it, but try your best to give them that outside play as soon as you can.

Whether you stay home with your child, have a caregiver, or take them to preschool or elementary, here are some tips for getting outdoor play under your child’s belt every day:

  1. Make outdoor play a must-do errand, like going to the dry cleaner or getting the car washed.
  2. Make a commitment to spend at least one hour outdoors with your child, and if you feel that cuts too much into your schedule, try bringing other things with you to do while your child is digging in the dirt. There’s nothing that says you can’t sit on a bench while paying your bills or making your grocery list.
  3. Walk your child to school and home.
  4. On the weekends, make sure you’re doing something outdoors both Saturday AND Sunday. You do this realizing it’s just as important for your child as all the other things you want to accomplish on your days off. And the bonus: It’s good for you, too.
  5. Talk to your preschool about the amount of outdoor play your child is getting on a daily basis. If it isn’t 90 to 120 minutes, find a way to work with the preschool administrators and teachers to make it a priority.

Resources:

Playtime for preschoolers is essential, study says. (via CNN.com)

All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed (via The Atlantic)

 

Share your family’s new year’s resolution in the comments below. :-)

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Parenting

Three Wise Men

Dec 27th, 12 / 0 Comments
three-wise-men

It’s the holiday season again, and once more my wife and I have found ourselves swept up in the wave of  Christmas shopping; getting together with family; more Christmas shopping; planning our annual trip up north to see relatives; more Christmas shopping; completing year-end tasks at work and at home; and finally, more Christmas shopping.

What gets lost in all this craziness  is remembering the true meaning of Christmas. Recently, my  wife asked me if we should tell our 2-year-old son that Santa Claus is real so that he can enjoy that fun and wonderful tradition in the innocence of his childhood.  I really had to stop and ask  what Christmas means to me and my family, and what tradition do I  pass on to our son.  And while he’s not really talking yet, he’s already starting to get curious, and we feel the great responsibility of determining now what his Christmas tradition will be for years to come.

English: Thomas Nast's most famous drawing, &q...

Thomas Nast's most famous drawing, "Merry Old Santa Claus", from the January 1, 1881 edition of Harper's Weekly.

Having been brought up in a Catholic household, we did not grow up with a Christmas tree in our home.   Instead, Christmas  always meant setting up an elaborate nativity scene in the living room.  There would be a manger and figurines of the holy family, shepherds in the fields, lambs, donkeys, a little town of Bethlehem, angels, and the requisite star shining above it all.  My siblings and I loved to add things to the rural scene, including whatever our latest toys were.  All kinds of strange little plastic animals, army figures, superheroes, and Smurfs would find their way into the little town of Bethlehem.  It must have been a strange and amusing site for visitors to our home.

Key to this whole scene was the arrival of the three wise men.  Also known as the three kings from the east, or the three magi, they represent the biblical figures who came from far off lands to bring gifts to the baby Jesus at his birth.  Their gifts were gold, frankincense and myrrh.  In many parts of Latin America, the three kings are called “Los Tres Reyes Magos,” and they are depicted as travelling on camels from the Far East bringing gifts to children on January 6, the Epiphany, which is the twelfth day of Christmas.

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Parenting

Downtown Day Care

Sep 5th, 12 / 0 Comments
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By Downtown Dad

Summer is over, kids are back to school and looking for day care for our toddler in downtown Los Angeles has been quite an education for me and my wife. We’ve come to learn that high prices, long wait lists and seemingly low standards are apparently the norm.

Look, our son is only 2. We understand he won’t be learning physics — at least not until we find that dreamy boarding school in the English countryside, the one that’s perpetually damp and the kids joke around in Latin. But we did kind of hope for at least a story hour, especially for the going rate of $1,000 a month.

So during one of our tours, when we asked the teacher who would be leading our son through his first formal learning experience if they read to the kids, she said not so much — but the kids were welcome to look at books anytime they wanted to. Problem is, genius that I believe him to be, my son can’t actually read — so we were expecting that they would read to him.

Our search has been frustrating to say the least.

First, as any parent out there with a toddler knows, many of the daycare centers have no openings for the foreseeable future. It seems there aren’t enough day care centers in this city and no one is doing much about it. You sign up on the wait list, and then just cross your fingers that something will become available in the next year or two. This might be acceptable to a family with at least one parent who can stay home from work, but if both have to work? Good luck figuring out what to do.

In downtown L.A., there are about a dozen or so day care centers. They range from publicly subsidized centers for very low income parents in the Skid Row area all the way to upscale places that cater to the privileged children of wealthy bankers and lawyers on Bunker Hill. Prices range from free to $1,500 per month for a toddler. The older the child is, the lower the monthly cost.

In our search, we checked out a few of the in-between centers, as well as an upscale place. The differences in the quality of the facilities were expected, with the upscale places having much nicer furnishings and surroundings. What we didn’t expect was that the in-between places charging $1,000 per month had very low standards for developmental exercises. At one place, when we asked what the development strategy included, we were told that potty training was the main focus.

This would all be fine, except that several of my coworkers with small children have told me about day care centers in the suburban neighborhoods where they live that cost half the price.

How do you say “downtown needs more affordable quality daycare centers” in Latin?

*  *  *

To locate a child care center in your area and get helpful information, go to HealthyCity.org or call 211.

Not sure what to look for when searching for a high-quality preschool? Check out these guidelines. Learn more about the importance of good early care and education in the latest Ready. Set. Grow! Family Guide Back-to-School Issue, available online by clicking here.

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Preschool, Reading, Safety

Use Your Words!

Mar 6th, 12 / 0 Comments
use-your-words

By Downtown Dad

“Agua.” “Banana.” “Dada.” “Gogigo.” And, one time…“ank u.”

My son once had words to express himself. Granted, three of them sounded alike and he never went much beyond those essentials, but those words were his, and we were proud. “Look at our preemie man go!” my wife and I thought. “Maybe they’ll ask him to skip a grade.”

At 19 months, it’s still too early to bet on his getting into Harvard. So we’re sticking to the basics, like practicing vowel sounds and repeating some basic words.

Unfortunately, Louie for some reason stopped using the few words he knew and that brought us so much joy. Now he grunts and points to his water cup, shrieks for a banana, and grins instead of saying “ank u.” And “gogigo?” It’s gogigone, and we never could figure out what it meant anyway.

We try to emphasize those lost words. “Do you want a baaaaaannnnnnnnaaaaaana?” I ask.

I even tried “gogigo” and he looked at me as if to say, “What the heck does that mean?”

Before panicking and sending Louie off to speech therapy, we did a little research and are relieved to report that this is pretty normal for a toddler. According to “What to Expect: The Toddler Years,” by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff, and Sandee B. Hathaway, all kids learn speech the same way: first words, then phrases, then sentences. And according to their personal timetable, they will often speed up, slow down or stop using words for awhile.

The reasons are varied. Toddlers who are early walkers or climbers can talk later, as they put more of their energy into the physical. Lack of verbal stimulation can inhibit language development, as can parents who anticipate their toddler’s every need, like handing them the water as soon as they have a thirsty look in their eye (yes, that’s us).

The good news is that late talkers may have better pronunciation and a bigger vocabulary simply because they are more mature when they start to speak.

As long as your toddler seems to understand your questions, can follow statements and can respond to simple commands, he’s doing fine. But you can always check in with your pediatrician if you have lingering worries.

And don’t forget that half of communication is listening.

The other day, I drove past a business in Culver City that caught my eye. It was called Yogiyo.

Now, I finally get it. All this time, Louie just wanted some frozen yogurt.

 

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Language, Uncategorized

Controversy in the Bedroom: To Sleep With Your Baby or Not?

Jan 24th, 12 / 0 Comments
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By Downtown Dad

My back hurts, I’m always tired and, some nights, I sleep in a crevice between my bed and the nightstand. All this so I can snuggle up to my son, who’s getting so big now that whenever he sleeps with us, both my wife and I are relegated to the far edges of our full-size mattress.

We’ve heard a lot of suggestions. “Why don’t you get a bigger bed?” people ask unbelievingly, as if our suffering stems from our lack of awareness of the California King.

Oh, we know of this “California King.” Unfortunately, our downtown loft bedroom is roughly the size of a cabin on a cruise ship below the water line. And there’s no Captain Stubing giving us an upgrade.

We also get a lot of “why is your kid sleeping with you?” The answer to that is a little more complicated.

When we brought Louie home from the neo-natal intensive care unit, he slept next to our bed in a co-sleeper. We didn’t actually lower the side and co-sleep with him because we’d purchased the wrong-sized sleeper and our bed was too low.

Eventually, we moved the boy into his very own cabin across the loft. And that’s where he sleeps most the time. Except when he wakes up at 3 a.m. and won’t go back to sleep no matter how many times you lay him down.

As I’ve mentioned, we are older parents who get winded easily. After sitting up with Louie for a bit, we poop out and bring him into our room, where we fully intend to put him back in his crib after he’s fallen asleep between us.

And that’s where you’ll find us five minutes later. Fast asleep.

There’s a lot of information floating around out there about co-sleeping. Should we? Shouldn’t we? The fear is a real one in the case of tiny infants whose parent may roll over on them unawares during the night. Suffocation is also a concern if a baby gets intertwined in bedding or squirms himself between the mattress and headboard or wall.

In October, the American Academy of Pediatrics released new recommendations to ensure safe sleep for babies 1-year-old and younger, including avoiding “bed-sharing,” in which an infant sleeps in the same bed as a parent or another child.

My wife and I both agreed with that recommendation.

But now that Louie is 18 months, we made the choice to let him sleep with us on occasion. And if we so much as breathe too much in his direction, he gives a nice sharp kick or a not-so-nice push to let us know we are intruding on his space. That’s how I end up in the aforementioned crevice.

My wife says we should enjoy as much snuggling and closeness as we can, because when Louie is a teenager, the last thing he’ll do is cuddle up to his love-starved parents.

So I sleep in the crevice with a smile on my face, my sweet son snoring gently beside me.

Recommendations for further reading:

New Rules to Fight Crib Death: Breastfeeding and Vaccinations (My Health News Daily)

Babies sleep problems persist into toddler years (Reuters)

New Program to Target Unsafe Sleeping and Shaken Baby Syndrome (First 5 LA’s Monday Morning Report)

Safe Sleep Tips for Your Baby

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Health and Nutrition, Parenting, Safety, Uncategorized

Something Old, Something New

Dec 19th, 11 / 0 Comments
something-old-something-new

By Downtown Dad

We’re thinking of getting our 16-month-old son a cardboard box for Christmas. Maybe we’ll throw in some of those Styrofoam peanuts for kicks.

Because, we wonder, if our toddler gets the same amount of enjoyment from a pile of ripped-up wrapping paper as he does from a train set, why bother spending the money?

Sadly, my wife had a different vision of Christmas morning. It included a softly-glowing, organically-grown Christmas tree, steaming mugs of warm eggnog, big red bows tied around our cats’ necks and our little guy, laughing merrily as he watches his Lionel train speed ‘round and ‘round the track.

The reality is a wee bit different.

We’re driving up to my mother-in-law’s for Christmas, so we won’t be around to enjoy a tree, organic or otherwise. Eggnog makes you fat. The cats would rip our eyes out if we tried to tie anything around their necks. And the biggest hurdle? Louie doesn’t really seem to care. Given a choice between a toy and a pot lid, he goes for the lid every time.

And, like everyone, this year will be difficult when it comes to money for the little extras. But if we forgo gifts for our son, will he look back on the pictures from this Christmas and say to his gracefully-aging, yet still fabulous parents…“Where the heck are all my toys?”

So we’ve come up with a compromise. We’re going to get him things we would have to buy anyway — namely, clothes — plus one bigger gift that he can’t possibly ignore. After much deliberation, we settled on the Radio Flyer Little Red Roadster, a ride-on toy in an eye-catching, candy apple red that we hope will make his eyes light up come Christmas morning.

And we bought the Roadster used on eBay for a third of what it costs retail. It might have scratches or a dent, but I doubt the little guy will notice.

Additionally, we’re going to stuff a stocking with a bunch of things we pick up from thrift stores and garage sales. Those gifts are not only affordable, but Louie really seems to enjoy pulling things out of containers and putting them back in.

For example, one of his favorite activities is emptying the entire contents of our recycling bag … every day … onto the floor. Merry Christmas, indeed.

Suggestions for further reading:

Parents’ tips: Doing Christmas on a budget

Christmas on the Cheap: Budget-friendly ideas for a festive, frugal holiday

Santa finds kids giving shorter lists in recession

 

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Budgeting, Parenting

Sharing in the Joy of Reading: Read Early, Read Aloud

Nov 1st, 11 / 0 Comments
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By Downtown Dad

In this high-tech world we live in, the concept of reading is changing fast. Instead of letters, we have email and text messages. Electronic devices that download stories and make them readable on a flat screen are fast replacing books. Newspapers and magazines are online, and there are limitless materials in the blogosphere, just like what you’re reading now.

Still, one of my favorite things to do is pick up a book, hold it in my hands, turn the pages and indulge in the world of reading. The joy of reading for me means escaping into a great piece of fiction or reading up on some non-fiction to learn something new. Reading can be a solitary experience, and this “quiet time” can be very relaxing. Reading can also be a group experience if done aloud.

Some of my favorite early childhood memories include times when our teacher would take out a Dr. Seuss book and we would all gather around, sitting cross-legged on the floor, eager to see the pictures and hear the words that we were just learning to decipher. The teacher would make different voices for the different characters, and we were in heaven listening to her. Green Eggs and Ham was my favorite.

Now that my son is 1, I’m eager to share my love of reading with him. Even though he’s still years away from being able to read, we’ve already stockpiled a respectable little library of children’s books for him.

One Saturday a few months ago, Louie and I were hanging out on the couch, relaxing. I reached over and grabbed one of his books to try reading to him. We looked at the cover and I pointed out the different animals and colors. Then I opened to the first page and started reading. He looked at me and then back at the book. He reached out and touched the page, and we were sharing our first reading experience together. It was a magic moment.

And then it all turned to chaos as he kept reaching for the page, grabbed it, tore some out and started eating it! I recoiled in horror, which then turned to laughter. I hope this means he’ll be a voracious reader some day with a big appetite for good literature (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

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This month, we celebrate early reading and want to encourage parents and caregivers to Read Early, Read Aloud with babies, toddlers and preschoolers! You can learn more about Read Early, Read Aloud, including age-appropriate book suggestions, tips for reading with young kids, an online contest and, soon, local reading events, at the Read Early, Read Aloud page.

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Parenting, Reading

CicLAvia and Other Ways to Enjoy the Great Outdoors in L.A.

Oct 7th, 11 / 0 Comments
ciclavia-and-other-ways-to-enjoy-the-great-outdoors-in-l-a

By Downtown Dad

When you live in Downtown Los Angeles, you get used to certain sights, sounds and smells that are sometimes stimulating and other times just annoying. In the Historic District, where I live with my wife and 1-year-old son, we have police and fire sirens, loud buses, crowds that fill the sidewalks (workers from the nearby Fashion and Jewelry districts by day, bar hoppers at night), and lots and lots of residents walking dogs.

My wife and I enjoy the urban action downtown, but we’re also both tree huggers who like to get into nature and breath some fresh air every chance we get. We also battle daily pangs of guilt knowing our son is growing up in such a confined space, surrounded by all that noise and pollution and fearing he’s not getting enough clean oxygen to breath.

The guilt put us on a mission to find every nearby park and open space to get our son out of the loft at least a couple times a week.

Growing up on the Westside, I took for granted that we had two parks within a block of our house, and the beach was only a mile away. But for those of you who live closer to downtown, you know how hard it can be to find some green space.

Here are some of the places we’ve found:

* Griffith Park: One of the biggest municipal parks in the country, Griffith is a mountainous park located at the junction of the Golden State (5) and Ventura (134) freeways. Inside the park is the Los Angeles Zoo, the Southwest Museum, three golf courses, a driving range, the Griffith Observatory, the Greek Amphitheatre, Travel Town train museum, pony rides, a carousel, an all-access playground and many miles of hiking and biking trails. We’ve hiked and picnicked in this park for years, and still come across new trails we haven’t traveled before. For more information, stop in at the ranger station near the carousel on Crystal Springs Drive. Some of the attractions have a small entrance fee or optional dontation.

* Descanso Gardens: My wife turned me on to this place in La Canada Flintridge near the intersection of the Glendale (2) and Foothill (210) freeways. This sprawling botanical garden goes on for acres and has many specialized gardens, including a massive rose garden, a native California garden, a camellia forest and a Japanese garden. The site is the former home of the late Manchester Boddy, who owned the now-defunct Los Angeles Daily News in downtown Los Angeles in the 1940s. Small children love looking at the colorful blossoms, and be sure to bring your camera for some great shots! Entrance is $8 for adults, $3 for children 5 to 12 and free for children under 5.

* The Cornfield: Technically called  the Los Angeles State Historic Park, this little 32-acre park (about half a mile long) is located along North Main Street near the Chinatown Gold Line stop, a few blocks north of Cesar Chavez Boulevard. It’s a popular place for joggers, with a dirt track that measures almost exactly a mile that goes around the edge of the park. One end of the park has a nice cluster of trees and grass good for picnicking, kite flying or bird watching. This state park is in transition. Plans to develop the landscaping have been put on hold because of recent state budget cuts.

* Elysian Park: This underused park overlooks Chinatown includes Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles police and fire academies and miles of hiking trails. There are also several playgrounds in the park, and some great open grassy areas and an arboretum.

* The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising: I know, I know. Your reaction is probably: “Huh?” The school is on the corner of Ninth and Hope streets, and includes a block-long park with great landscaping, a playground and workout area open to the public seven days a week. This not-so-secret-anymore little spot has become a favorite gathering place for downtowners with small kids looking for someplace within walking distance that’s clean and safe for them to run around.

On Sunday Oct. 9,  many parts of the central city will shut down to automobile traffic for the CicLAvia, which allows bicyclists, roller skaters and pedestrians to take a leisurely ride or walk without all the traffic and exhaust fumes. We took the stroller out last year and had a great time walking and people watching along Spring and Seventh streets.

Check out 10 Kid-Friendly Things to Do at CicLAvia – it was originally posted before the last CicLAvia in April, but still useful for this weekend’s event!

 

 

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Just for Fun

Eats and Treats

Aug 22nd, 11 / 0 Comments
eats-and-treats

By Downtown Dad

My son Louie turned 1 last month. We put together a great first birthday party for him and, when I say “we,” I mean mostly my wife. Diets and calorie counting were left at the door.

Louie, of course, will remember none of it. He still ate his healthy little dinner as usual, but the rest of us enjoyed the heck out of it — filling up on decadent dishes and lots of birthday cake. Between Pin the Tail on the Donkey and musical chairs, we stuffed our faces with a buffet of food from great old recipes.

I worked my way around the table, starting with a large hunk of the Mystery Cheese Log, which consisted of bleu cheese, cheddar cheese and cream cheese all rolled into a giant log layered with finely chopped nuts.

Next up were the shrimp with cocktail sauce, followed by chicken and egg salad finger sandwiches. There was also a Green Goddess dip, which was something like 99 percent sour cream and one percent herbs.

Finally, at the end of the table, in a jiggling circle of temptation, was a basketball-sized, orange Jell-O mold. I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid.

Louie was too busy getting passed around like a rock star to notice all the great food being devoured.

About halfway through the festivities, Louie had his dinner, which consists of a mixture of fresh-steamed green and orange vegetables, brown rice and some sort of beans. This combination gives him a complete serving of protein, lots of vitamins and tons of fiber. We’ve been feeding him this combination for months, and he loves it (again, when I say “we,” this means my wife is the brains behind this). We’re hoping this will lead to Louie loving vegetables when he gets bigger, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

One book that’s been invaluable in our coming up with recipes and tips for baby’s diet is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Check out the web site at http://www.superbabyfood.com/. There are also lots of great healthy eating tips here on Ready. Set. Grow! Visit our Moving Families Forward Keep Your Child Eating Healthy page to learn more.

Back at the party, the closest Louie got to the high-calorie action was when we sang ‘Happy Birthday” and brought out the cake. My wife had made two separate cakes. First was a big, three-layered yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

She also baked a miniature “smash cake” just for the boy. It was a white cake with almond cream cheese frosting. After we helped him blow out his candle, we slid the cake down the table within reach of his high chair. He looked around, first at his mom, then at me. With a big, rascally grin on his face, he nosedived right into it, with both hands clawing at the frosting.

Now that he’s had his first taste of sugar, what’s next? Fast food chicken nuggets? Energy drinks?

Not if we can help it.

 

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Health and Nutrition, Parenting, Recipes and Cooking