Imagination Library
Quick information on the Imagination Library program.
I posted a quick ‘nap chat’ post on Instagram the other day where I talked about the Imagination Library program. I wanted to follow-up and give someone a link directly to it if they needed it!
Some quick information on the Imagination Library:
This program was founded in 1995 by Dolly Parton
Originally it was only available in the United States. It’s now available in five countries!
Over 170 million books have been gifted through this program so far (as of the date of this post)
Over 1,890,525 children are enrolled (again, as of the date of this post)
You can check your eligibility right on their website (link provided above)
Once enrolled, your child(ren) will receive an age appropriate book every month for FREE.
Honestly, anything that can foster a healthy love of reading is a win in my book (pun intended)! Just so everyone knows, I am not affiliated with this program… I’m just a parent who finds this program beneficial and wanted to share the joy. Feel free to leave a comment below on if you find/found this program just as awesome as I do!
Traveling for the Holidays: Road Trip Edition
How is it already the holiday season? Where has the time gone!? My family, like many others around the world, will be joining the crush and traveling this year. We headed North to spend some time with family for Thanksgiving. Since we don’t feel comfortable traveling with Ro by plane yet- we drove there. And oh, my was it a long one. If you find yourself in similar shoes, I’ve compiled some helpful hacks to get you through:
1) Plan Your Stops. Also Plan for Unplanned Stops.
Does this make sense? No… but yes. You see, we try and stop every two to three hours when traveling by car. Many car seat manufacturers recommend a two hour time limit. As always, do what feels right for your family and follow guidance from your Pediatrician. For us, if Ro is finally sleeping (he doesn’t typically nap well in the car), we will let him sleep. Which is where the ‘plan for unplanned stops’ comes into play.
Before hitting the road we map out our route and where we are going to stop (roughly every two hours). We try and find tourist spots, parks, and/or children’s play areas along the way. When we stop, our goal is to have Ro get some energy out, eat, and get a diaper change. Since we have been cautious in this pandemic, we have not brought Ro inside anywhere (hence why you won’t see us stopping at a restaurant any time soon). In this planning process, it’s good to leave some wiggle room for the unexpected. For example, Ro may become restless, hungry, or need a diaper change sooner. It’s good to get a general sense of what else is around your route for these spontaneous stops. Something important to keep in mind: check the safety ratings of the towns you’ll be stopping in. You’ll want to feel comfortable while changing a diaper out of your car and letting your little one get out the energy they need.
2) Plan Around Naps and Mealtimes
This was a little easier to do this when Ro was napping twice a day. On travel day, I recommend keeping the morning routine as familiar as possible. LO gets up at 6a usually? 6a wake-up it is. Ro wakes up at 7a every morning, so that’s when he gets up on departure day. Now, I have found that we can have success when Ro is woken up a little earlier. However, the maximum amount of time I have varied from his usual routine on departure day is one hour (earlier). We follow the same morning routine and eat breakfast. Before leaving, we make sure Ro has had his morning snack and his tummy is full and happy. Always remember to check that diaper too!
As a side note, I have always found it beneficial (even when Ro was a baby) to describe what is going to be happening for the day. We all know younger children thrive on routine and knowing what to expect. Therefore, I frequently review the schedule for the day, what the trip is about, and why we are doing it. And yes, I start this several days before we even depart.
Now, when Ro was napping twice a day, his first nap was around 10/10:30a, so it was nice to depart by 9a with the hopes that he would fall asleep shortly into the ride (and not get behind on naps… because let’s face it, kids get downright cranky when they are tired. So do adults for that matter). When he woke up we would be close to stopping at our first stop. Now that Ro isn’t napping in the morning- it takes patience and distraction. Here is where you get to decide what distractions work best for your family. Do you allow screen time? Light-up toys? Do you like listening to music? The choice is totally yours. Whatever works for your family is best. We’ll talk more on distraction options next. Please note that Ro may very well fall asleep and that’s okay. Is it his usual schedule? Nope. But we aren’t exactly following his normal schedule that day anyway. It’s okay to deviate slightly from the routine you establish at home. Control what you can… and roll with what you can’t. As soon as you get back home- jump right back into the normal routine. It may take a bit to get back into the swing of things, but you will!
We plan our first stop right around lunch time. On the first stop, we change diaper(s), run around, and have lunch. If the situation allows (it’s not too cold, wet, and there’s a good spot) then I recommend having a picnic. The time outside in the sunshine can do wonders for all. Pro tip: keep a picnic blanket in the trunk of your car. You never know when a nice opportunity to bask in the sunshine at a park may arise (both on a trip and driving around town at home).
After lunch, we pack up and head out on to the next leg of our journey. We typically get Ro ready for his second nap before we head out. In other words we try to do some familiar routines before heading out. So, for us, we read a book to Ro after getting him into his car set, set him up with his lovey (only use if age appropriate), and turn on his portable sound machine. We’ll usually keep the car quiet and calm to also help encourage Ro to fall asleep. We then travel as far as we can on this nap (which usually lasts for 2-2.5 hours). If/when Ro wakes up- it’s back to distraction time.
Our next stop will happen around his afternoon snack time. We try and keep this stop a little shorter- so diaper change(s), some run around time, and a quick bite. The last trek of the trip is always the hardest. We’ve had our naps, snacks, and are usually over being in the car at this point. My recommendation is to save a special and new toy for this time. Distraction, distraction, distraction. I’ve also had to hop in the backseat on a few trips at this point in the drive. Ro likes the company and he loves when we read to him- which is such an easy thing for me to do.
The final stop of the day should be next. We typically only drive a max of 6 hours (of specifically ‘drive time’). Because we stop, our total trip time is usually around 8 hours. Once we get to our destination, we let Ro run around for a bit. It’s important to let kids explore safely and get all that cooped up energy out. Watch for fast burnout though- it’s been a long day for all. If you have to continue traveling the next day (and even if you’re not tbh) try and go through your usual evening routine when you arrive at your destination. Have dinner, go for a walk, start bedtime routine, bath time routine… whatever it is you normally do at home. We want to help reduce stress and exhaustion and prepare kiddo(s) for the festivities that will happen tomorrow (whether that’s playing with family or driving another leg of the journey).
3) Distractions
For fear of sounding older than I am… back in my day we didn’t have access to screens in the car and we turned out just fine. At Ro’s age, we don’t necessary want him focusing on screens at this age. So what do we use for distractions? Snacks, books, and toys. Here is my list of successful car distractions:
Light-up toys. Ro is obsessed with this radio. We even use it for dirty diaper changes (hello always-running-around-toddler-stage). He doesn’t use this toy outside of #2’s and the car, so it stays really novel for him.
New toys. Before we leave, we always buy a couple new toys for Ro to enjoy while traveling. We present them to him in the car and it has been really helpful in keeping Ro engaged as he figures out how to play with a new item.
Toniebox. I can’t even tell you how much I love our new Toniebox. I heard of these through one of my favorite podcasts (The Mom Hour). And then I happened to make a new mom friend this fall that has one for her children. She couldn’t say enough good things about it. So, what’s a Toniebox? It’s literally a padded speaker cube that plays music, educational programs, and stories by connecting “tonies” or these little handmade figurines (attached via a magnet) to the top of the cube. These tonies play whatever is recorded on them. You can even buy ‘blank’ tonies and (using the really easy app) record your own songs, stories, etc. Since Ro LOVES us singing to him (especially in the car) we recorded about 30-40 minutes of us singing all our favorite jams. And Ro WAS HERE FOR IT. It saved our voices (since we didn’t have to be constantly singing for 6 straight hours) and it kept Ro calm when he was starting to get fussy. Please note that I don’t allow Ro to play with the Toniebox himself. I think the recommended age range for this item is 3+. Since the tonies attach via a magnet, the magnet can pose a choking hazard. We therefore kept the Toniebox and tonies up front with us. We continue to use the Toniebox at home and I’ve found it to be super helpful to put on while I’m cooking dinner!
Snacks. All the snacks. I was really hesitant to feed Ro while he was in the car seat and waited until I felt truly comfortable with his eating skills. I still have certain hang-up’s. For one, I don’t let him feed himself (unless it’s a yogurt or applesauce pack) while we are driving. I also make sure to offer really small bite-sized pieces of whatever he is eating (again, while I feed it to him either from the backseat or up front). The small bite-sized pieces put my mind at ease about safety… but they also honestly help with keeping the snack going longer (which is never a bad thing while on a road trip).
So there you have it! My ‘long road-trip survival guide.’ I hope this helps you with all your future travels! If you have any advice that you found has worked for road trips with littles, please feel free to leave a comment, below. Happy holidays and safe travels to all!
The Dust Bowl
Reading the incredible novel ‘The Four Winds’ by Kristin Hannah inspired me to research the Dust Bowl. The novel follows one family’s experience surviving the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Kristin has become one of my favorite authors. I really appreciate the detail that she puts into her stories and she 100% delivered those details for this book as well. If you haven’t already tuned in, I discuss this novel more in depth in my latest podcast episode (Episode 3). You can listen to this podcast through Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Google Podcast. You can also access it through my website, here.
The book describes the struggles of these people so vividly, I couldn’t help but dive into the history and write a blog post outlining the information I gathered on this time period. I know I can’t be the only one out there who is curious to know more about it! So, let’s get to it. The Dust Bowl is a term used to describe this decade-long drought in the Great Plains of the United States during the 1930’s. What caused this event to happen? Well, the short answer is: people.
Allow me to expand on that a little more, you see… a lot changed in the years following the Civil War. Thanks to higher birth rates and immigration, there was a drastic increase in the United States population during the 1800’s. The idea of Manifest Destiny - a phrase coined in 1845 that defined America’s obsession with expanding its territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean - played a big role. There were also several economic crises that occurred, including another depression that was the second longest in America’s history (the first being The Great Depression of the 1930’s). All of this motivated people to head out West in search of new opportunities. In addition, The Homestead Act of 1862, Kinkaid Act of 1904, and the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 encouraged Americans to move westward into the Great Plains by offering hundreds of free acres to those willing to farm in the semi-arid climate.
Unfortunately, this region of the United States was seeing higher than normal rainfall during this time. This led to A LOT of misconceptions about the climate in this area. Furthermore, many of these settlers had no experience in farming and believed in a false superstition that ‘the rain follows the plow.’ This, along with many farmers' inexperience, led to incorrect farming techniques and over-farming of the land. It gets worse, World War 1 increased the demand for wheat through the 1920’s, which in turn also increased wheat prices. Millions of acres of grassland were plowed to accommodate the explosive demand. Then, the Great Depression hit and wheat prices crashed. Farmers plowed even more land to plant ‘bumper crops’ (extra crops that would provide more goods to sell) with the hope that they would break-even. Then, the drought of 1931 came followed by a series of droughts that lasted until 1939. These droughts left the land bone dry and revealed the bare and over-plowed fields. The native prairie grass, which naturally held the rich topsoil of the Great Plains in place, had been completely torn up. The topsoil was then free to blow around wherever the wind would take it…and it most certainly did.
It’s hard to wrap my head around this number, but 100 million acres of land became dead-zone. This dead-zone was mostly located in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Texas. The rich topsoil of the Great Plains used to be six feet deep. By 1930, about four generations had been incorrectly farming this land. Millions of tons of topsoil was plowed up and disrupted… and then dried out from the drought. Believe it or not, static electricity built up between the earth and the dust and acted as a magnet- pulling the dust up and gathering it. This created what would is now known as ‘dust storms.’ Cold fronts drove these dust storm across the prairies at up to 65 mph. Some storms got up to 10,000 feet high and created enough static electricity to fuel New York City. 1934 held the longest and most wide reaching drought in the last millennium. During this year, temperatures consistently exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit for several weeks across the Great Plains. When historians say the land became ‘bone dry’ they mean it. As a result, when the spring of 1935 arrived there was even more dust to blow around. It was on April 14, 1935 that the worst dust storm occurred: ‘Black Sunday’ lasted for hours. Reports state that it took a clear, sunny day and turned it 'black as night.’
Many people tried to protect themselves from the dust. They wore masks, used vaseline to line their noses, tried to fill-in cracks in their homes and along windows and doors. But the dust travelled into even the most well-sealed houses. People became sick with what was known as ‘dust pneumonia.’ Cows and other livestock died and were cut open to find dust filling their internal organs. Obviously, no crops were being produced and therefore farmers couldn’t pay their mortgages and lost their properties. Roughly 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states during this decade. Oklahoma alone lost 440,000 people to migration. Because most of the migrants came from Oklahoma, Dust Bowl refugees were called “Okies” regardless of what state they actually originated from. Okies faced discrimination, degrading labor and horrible wages upon reaching California. Many of them lived in shanty towns and tents along irrigation ditches.
Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933 and was faced with the almost impossible task of saving the nation’s economy. The government incentivized farmers to stop plowing part of their lands. President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant the Great Plains Shelterbelt, a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas. These trees were planted with the intent to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil in place. These interventions, along with the end of the drought in 1941 and the start of World War 2 (since it helped boost the economy), officially ended this era in American history.
One more topic I would like to discuss that is related to all of this is the famous photo known as the ‘Migrant Mother.’ This photo was taken by a government official named Dorothea Lange in March of 1936. Lange was working for the Farm Security Administration and was documenting what was happening out West. Lange had stopped by a migrant workers campsite where she ran into the mother in the photo. Lange was normally one to take extensive notes - but for some reason or another didn’t with this photo. All that she wrote down was that this woman was a mother of seven and she was thirty-two years old. Lange didn’t have a name or any history. Somewhere along the way, Lange was led to believe that this woman and her family had just sold the tires to their car for food. It’s reported that Lange deviated even further from her normal procedures. Instead of sending the photos back to her administration in Washington D.C., she sent the film directly to San Francisco News, who ran the picture promptly. One could apply modern terms and say this picture went viral.
It was posted in newspapers, magazines, and even used on stamps. This photo became a well known symbol for the Great Depression era. It wasn’t until about forty years later that the woman in the photo identified herself. Her name was Florence Owens Thompson and she wasn’t happy with the inaccurate story surrounding her photo. Apparently Lange had told her that this photo wouldn’t be published… but it was and Florence felt exposed all these years. You see, Florence was a full-blooded Native American (both of her parents were Cherokee). She was originally from Oklahoma, but when she married her first husband, they moved to California in the 1920’s and found farm and mill work. Her husband died of tuberculosis in 1931 and Florence was left to support six children on her own. Florence had been picking crops for several years before migrants even came to town. Lange only found Florence at the migrant camp because their car had broken down. Florence’s partner and two older sons were in town with the car getting it fixed. They were on their way to another farm to pick lettuce. When Florence hit hard times and was diagnosed with several medical issues in the early 1980’s, her children solicited for donations to cover her healthcare costs. Over 2,000 people responded and $35,000 was raised. It helped Florence and her children see this image in a different light… no longer did it invoke shame. In fact, that shame morphed into pride. After her death in September 1983, her identity as the ‘Migrant Mother’ was forever solidified as her gravestone reads: "FLORENCE LEONA THOMPSON Migrant Mother – A Legend of the Strength of American Motherhood."
I hope y’all enjoyed my little recap of the history surrounding “The Four Winds”. What a complicated time in American history in so many ways! If you have anything to add, please make sure to comment (below).
Sources:
Spooky Season’s Greetings: Ideas for fall weekends
Spooky Season’s Greetings: Ideas for fall family fun!
As soon as the air started to get a little cooler here in North Carolina- I began my quest to find as many family friendly fall activities as possible. Fall of 2020 obviously didn’t go according to plan. Our son, Ro, was a tiny adorable bundle of pure infant, which put him into the higher risk category for COVID-19. Therefore, we decided to lay low last year and missed out on all the wonderful activities that are available to us. So this time around I was determined to make up for it. The result: every single weekend in October is booked with some type of fall activity. I would totally have started earlier but there is a rule in our household: no pumpkins until October.
Where did this very specific rule come from? Well, I am originally from New York and fall starts in September there. As soon as Labor Day is over- so is summer. Kids go back to school, the leaves start changing, and the air starts to have a ‘crisp’ quality to it. That is (surprise, surprise) not the case in the South. So when our first fall in the South came along I was convinced that I had to start decorating in September. I travelled out to a wonderful farmers market with a friend and bought so. many. pumpkins. In 80 degree heat. Needless to say those charming pumpkins were rotted within a couple of weeks. After being the pumpkin removal crew, my sweet husband declared no pumpkins until October.
So here we are, well into October, and every weekend my family has been collecting at least one pumpkin to add to our fall decor. I would love to share some of the activities we have done (or will be doing) to help y’all have some inspiration for this upcoming week with the little ones!
My Activities List:
1) Pick pumpkins at a local farm
2) Indulge in pumpkin ice cream (Ro may have cried when his was finished)
3) Attend a Halloween themed farm class and paint a pumpkin
4) Trick or Treat at a local farm
5) Head to your local Science Museum to engage in fall/halloween activities
6) Get lost in a corn maze
7) Get some fall family photos taken
8) Pumpkin carving at home (spooky music or movie accompaniment is a must)
9) Cook up some delicious Halloween themed snacks or dessert
10) Stroll around the neighborhood and take in the festive decorations
What are your plans? What’s on your list? I’d love to hear your ideas and activities! Please share in the comment section, below, and Happy Halloween y’all!
Don’t forget to subscribe to my podcast now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. If you are craving even more Halloween fun, I have a spooktacular episode coming up (releasing on Halloween). Hope to see you there, mamas!