P&K Insider

For better or worse, I haven’t tackled the swine flu in my blog (yet). I think mass media has a hold on that topic quite well. I don’t want to add to the near hysteria instead I want to point you to a few reliable resources for information on protecting your family.

I was also proactive as possible in my own home and reminded my children how to properly wash their hands.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention updates info on the site throughout the day with key facts, antiviral drugs, how to take care of s a sick person.

Local pediatrician and trusted source for the real deal, Dr. Gwenn offers some sage advice and some reassuring words.

And obviously the World Health Organization is another great source.

I was having a bad day yesterday. I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say, it wasn’t a good one. That all changed at around 7 p.m. when my 6-year-old son came into my bedroom and announced, “Mommy, I have some really good news.”

In his hand, he held his tooth. The tiniest, cutest tooth that moments before had been in his cute, little mouth. In fact, it was the first tooth he ever got and now it had become the first tooth he ever lost. Why did that make me so…sad?

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First stop: Visit the calendar section at WickedLocalParents for up-to-the minute ideas for family fun but my favorite picks are right here:

Gore Place in Waltham will host its annual Sheepshearing Festival on Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Taking place over several acres of the governor Gore estate, the annual Sheepshearing Festival has long been a New England tradition. There will be all sorts of activities and demonstrations to enjoy, lively music, dancers, performers, historic recreators, farm animals, wagon rides, and a large crafts fair. There will be plenty of food vendors onsite as well.

More ideas below

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I got a little dose of summer this weekend when I visited Coco Key Resort indoor water park in Danvers. It was a comfy 80 degrees in there and I even pranced around in my bathing suit. Let the record show, I was traveling with three small children and didn’t know another soul there.

My kids thought that they had entered water heaven. The park is a glorious 65,000-sq. ft. and it is wet. I mean water comes at you whether you are in a pool or not. Every 10 minutes or so, a huge pucket holding hundreds of gallons of water dumps out over the Parrot’s Perch attraction. It’s enough to knock you over if you’re unfortunate enough to be standing right under it - although I never saw that happen. The three water slides at Parrot’s Perch moved quickly - my kids would come down and run right back up the stairs for more.

I did mention that I was with 3 kids (ages 4, 6 & 9) That made the day a bit interesting since some of the attractions have height requirements…

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“One Funny Mother - I’m Not Crazy!”

Calling all moms!

If you’ve ever gone unshowered for days at a time, stayed up all night with a sick kid, fought your husband over who works harder, cleaned pudding off a wall, picked a child’s nose, or had a kid pee on you, then Dena Blizzard’s one-woman show “One Funny Mother - I’m Not Crazy!” is for you!

Gather up your girlfriends and plan a night out on Thursday, May 7 in Natick.  I’ll be there with my gal pals. C’mon you deserve a night out  to laugh about the life you lead! I’ve seen Dena perform and she is hysterical. In fact, my cell phone rang in the middle of her act and she got on the phone with my husband! Luckily, he’s a good sport and played along:)

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My son: Super cute and he knows ABSOLUTELY everything

This is my son’s absolute favorite phrase with slight variations from time to time. “I know that already.” “I know that, Mommy.” “Everybody knows that.”

Apparently, I am the dumbest person that my son knows. Last night, he was sure that I didn’t know how to correctly write a lowercase g. He’s in kindergarten and his homework assignment was to write the word orange and the draw an orange. This was obviously above my head.

When I pointed out to him that the circle part of his lowercase “g” was floating above the bottom line, he replied with (guess what?)  “I know that.”

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Anyone who has ever boarded the pastel flumes at the Magic Kingdom for the “happiest cruise that ever sailed,” will already be singing this catchy, can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head tune. (Sorry.) It had been 20 years since I first enjoyed the doll-like figures celebrating international unity and last week I got a chance to do it all over again with my 4-year-old daughter.

She loved the “singing dolls” which included hula dancers, Mexican dancers, Thailand dancers and Irish ones too. And by design, the path of the flume winds around one large room, emphasizing its theme that the world is small and interconnected.

For a child, the world can be that simple.

Lucky for us, much of the word’s treasures, curiosities and traditions can be found in our own back yard. Greater Boston is rich with culture giving families a unique opportunity to immerse themselves into exploring and discovering the many cultures in our part of the world.

From festive Italian street fairs in the North End to colorful celebrations of the Chinese New Year at Boston Children’s Museum, the world can be as close as a few miles away. In this issue of P&K, we’re celebrating local & world culture with features stories on international patients, customs to welcome baby and games played by children in India and beyond.

Children are fascinated by the similarities and differences between themselves and others. Noticing how they are alike or different from other children helps them gain a sense of their own identity, as well as their identity as a member of global community that’s made up of different ethnic, racial, and religious groups.

It’s a small world, after all.

Heather

It’s a world of laughter,
A world of tears.
It’s a world of hopes,
And a world of fears.
There’s so much that we share,
That it’s time we’re aware,
It’s a small world after all.

It’s a small world after all.

(Repeat ad nauseam until it’s permanently etched into your neural synapses.)

Source: About.com