Educational Day

Today was very educational. First, I had Zoe's car seat inspected for proper installation. While Trevor did a really good job installing it, it still needed a few adjustments. We scheduled our inspection with a car seat consultant we found through www.seatcheck.org. (Website was recommended during our Infant CPR and Safety class) The consultant we went with was awesome! My one-hour appointment turned into nearly two hours, and it was the best two hours I've spent in awhile! I learned all about our car seat and infant car seat safety from A-Z, and I now feel equipped to keep Zoe safe! I highly recommend this type of exercise for any new mom or when transitioning a child from an infant seat to a convertible seat and/or when transitioning to a new vehicle. Biggest take-away....don't clean the car seat straps/harness with anything but water. The chemicals in soaps can break down the integrity of the straps/harness and render them ineffective during a collision. If the straps/harness get too nasty or stinky, it's best to buy a new set from the manufacturer. Also, don't use any of the after-market stuff sold as car seat accessories (e.g., seat protectors to place between the base and your automobile's seat, "baby view" mirrors, etc.) because they are not crash-tested with the infant seat, so you have to use them at your own risk. And who wants to risk injury to their child?!

Second, I went to a "New Moms Tea" offered at our hospital. It is a monthly gathering offered for new moms and expectant mothers. It was great meeting and seeing so many new moms with their babies and meeting other moms-to-be. I will definitely be doing this on a monthly basis. (And it's free!) Today's lecture was "Diapers to Dendrites", which focused on infant brain development. It was great!!! We were taught how we can contribute to our child's brain development in a meaningful way from day one. I had a number of take-aways, but my biggest take-away.....LIMIT TV to about 20 minutes per day (once a child is ready for it). I've been so accustomed to hearing family and friends talk about how much their kids love (fill in the blank) cartoon or educational video, so I always assumed I'd expose my child(ren) to the same "entertainment". But we were encouraged to limit TV to help our children learn to entertain themselves and to even replace TV with music if possible. This helps with a child's attention span, which will do wonders for them when they start school. I plan on doing additional research on dendrites and healthy brain development so that we can equip Zoe. (Trevor got a precursor to this lecture during his new dad's boot camp, so we're both pumped!) Another interesting factoid was that kids don't develop socialization skills until age 3 and beyond. I've often heard people advocate day care around age 18-24 mos. all in the name of teaching their kids socialization skills. Apparently this isn't true. Interesting to know from a child care perspective since this will probably influence when we transition Zoe from nanny care to day care.

Today was a good day.