Boyd Meets Girl

Every now and again, I get an email with a title that catches my eye, and I actually open it and read it. (Yes, I am one of those people who have 4,597 unread emails - not kidding - and one of these days I will guiltily click "select all" and "mark as read" because I can't handle it anymore) But I do absolutely look for the important ones.  The email I read yesterday was about Toddler Food Throwing on the What to Expect Web site . Now, I'm including the above link so you can take a gander yourself - there are some good strategies listed there. And I'm not trying to hate, but it is prompting me to share with you guys our mealtime strategies and how they might be a little different than what the peeps over at What to Expect are suggesting. (Disclaimer: This is what works for our family and specifically our 21-month old. A younger child under the age of 1 might have different needs. Your kiddo might have feeding issues or weight gain problems. So, I abs...

Hi guys! Writing for CupcakeMag this week, about 4 common baby registry pitfalls and how to save your money by not buying these unnecessary popular baby items. To read the article, click  here.  

I'm not really quite sure what I want to accomplish by this "open letter," other than to blow off some steam and possibly (read: highly unlikely) change a few people's minds (probably after pissing them off), but let me preface it with the following statement: My blog posts are, in general, not bitchy, judgmental or negative in nature, nor do I like to have those aforementioned adjectives be a part of my life either, so this topic has been brewing for quite some time. And I'm usually quite a nice and polite person. Here's the topic: PARENTS: Stop knowingly bringing your sick and contagious child around mine!!!!!  Now, I'm writing this from the standpoint of a parent of a youngin' but also as a provider (speech therapist) to many MANY young children. I'm also writing this with full acknowledgment that it may be misconstrued as rude, unthoughtful, snotty, and cocky. For that, I will only say that is not my intention, but DAMN.  I feel l...

Exciting news, y'all!! I've been asked to contribute to  CupcakeMag  on my totally "expert opinion" of children, being a mom, and speech therapy things. Of course, I am honored and completely stoked to have this opportunity, because as you may well know, I do like to write about these things! (I'm joking about being an expert - half the time I wonder if I truly know what the heck I'm doing regarding parenting and children at least!)  Click here to read my FIRST blog post about this over at CupcakeMag.  Today marks my first post , about what to do if you are concerned about your child's speech development. Time and time again I have had family members, friends, colleagues, and strangers ask me my opinion on if they should be worried about their kiddo's speech. So, naturally, I wrote a blog post about what to do (and what to refrain from doing) if you are the slightest bit concerned about how your little cherub is progressing in the area of speech!...

Most of the time, my blog posts are inspired by real life... my life to be exact, which is why you will find a bunch of stuff on here about being a mom, having a family and being a speech therapist. That pretty much covers all the bases when it comes to me lately. So, with that in mind, I'm going to be sharing with you guys some information and a rant about something that has been nagging me for several months. Now, I'm pretty riled up about this right now, so YES I'm striking while the iron is hot, so-to-speak, but I'm getting to the point in life/mommyhood where I really could give two sh--s about whether you like me or not if it's about my kid. I'm sorry if things come out brash or rude. Most of the time, I am a very likable/reasonable person. But, y'all, I got my mama bear claws out, and I'm ready to roll. Here is the topic. Childhood diseases. Yes. Diseases. Sure, I could say illnesses or ailments, but I feel like "diseases" is more d...

Welcome to parenthood... the land of unsolicited advice... From the second you announce your pregnancy 'til.. well, does it ever end?... people, well-meaning and know-it-all alike, are quick to share their parenting advice with you. As a new parent, you might be overwhelmed and/or anxious with what to do with this new plethora of information. Do yourself a favor, and give this a read before putting too much weight on what other people think. DON'T listen to people's opinions of your child's name. This is why people somewhere along the line decided to not share the name of their little bambino-to-be. The fact that I spent nanosecond(s) caring what people would think of Beulah's name when I was pregnant is laughable now, as I could give two you-know-whats what anyone thinks about my precious baby girl's name. But pregnancy does weird things to your brain and can trick you into thinking you care. Do you know that I have actually had grown-a$$ adults b...

I, like many other fashion-forward mamas out there, covet the often-imitated-but-never-duplicated moccasins made by Freshly Picked . They just released a neon line, and their metallics literally make me hurt with desire to buy every.single.last.pair. But... I worried. These are expensive little shoes, for a little diva-in-the-making with quickly growing feet who, among other things, despises long sleeve shirts and any type of footwear. After much turmoil over which size to get using this handy little chart , I decided to make the dive and commit to a size 3 perfect gold metallic moccasin. Whilst Boo ripped off every pair of shoes borrowed from my niece and became more mobile with her attempts to walk, I anxiously awaited the box to arrive from Freshly Picked, perfectly packaged in a canvas bag with an added touch of button flair. My inner fashionista flapped with delight when the package came. low and behold, the packaging. A little note about the sizing chart - you totally...

Am I the only one who feels like a psycho when leaving my kid with a babysitter? I'm keeping myself from stalker texting and/or calling the minute I walk out the door and am hoping that I left them with all the information they need to care for my little cherub. Usually, when we leave Beulah with a babysitter, we have tried to plan it to where she is already asleep. We sneak out of the house like rebellious teenagers and hope she doesn't even wake up to discover our absences. But the last two instances, our plans started during the day. My OCD-ness kicked in, and I decided to create a Babysitter's Box. Rather than walk all over the house, showing the babysitter where everything she would need was located, I just shoved it all in a big tubberware that I already had. While I was at it, I printed out some things about our home and our baby for her to have if she needed it and taped it to the inside top of the tubberware. I also printed out a tylenol dosage chart I created ...

Mommy guilt. Although not partial to mothers, parents are affected by this phenomenon from day 1 (sometimes even before that!!!), and the verdict is still out on if it ever goes away. The positive news is that if you suffer from mommy guilt, that's a pretty good sign that you are a caring parent because you are even worried in the first place. I decided to turn to my friends for the reasons they felt mommy guilt. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for sharing what makes you feel guilty as a parent - I know sometimes it's hard to verbalize and almost makes you feel worse. I was amazed by the sheer amount of responses I got - y'all, mommy guilt doesn't mess around, nor is it partial to one group of people versus another! Mommy guilt is an equal opportunity employer. I'm big into positivity these days, and I truly believe that the way that you think about things has a direct relationship to how things turn out. So I took 10 of the most common mommy...

Here's a little something I have learned about serving the 0-3 population and their sweet families: often times, I am managing behaviors as much as I am managing their communication. I truly think that at the ripe young age of 2, behavior and communication are completely intertwined . Think about it. If you are a little cherub angel baby, there are few things under your control. You might be finding your voice and not yet figured out the enormous power behind the word "no." You might not have figured out yet that simply closing your mouth and deciding not to eat whatever mom and dad are giving you will make everyone go crazy. But as you figure out that your actions (or lackthereof) warrants a reaction (good or bad) from your surrounding people, most kids' little wheels... they start a-turning. POWER. Power in social terms is defined as "the ability to influence the behavior of people." Now, think about the different things that toddlers sometimes do. ...

When you look at your 1, 2 or 3 year old, you may not be thinking about them reading in a couple of years, but there are things we can do as parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents/amazing nannies to help develop pre-literacy skills in our little angels. Now, I am not saying that I read to my child every night - I am not that good at what I do (being a mommy) yet. But I aim to, and there are reasons why I do so. 1) Find a time in your day where you always read. Some people do it before bed. This doesn't work out with our routine, because Boo is usually a fussy monster by 5:45, so we like to read after her afternoon nap. 2) Find books that have simple, bright and stimulating art. We love Eric Carle books, but there are many other good choices. 3) You don't have to read what each page says, but IF and WHEN you do, point to each word as you read it. That will get your kiddo looking at the words and putting together that those words are telling the story of the book. 4) As yo...

A couple things before we get started. A) this is speech therapist Tara speaking, not mom Tara. Two different hats. B) These are just suggestions and are definitely not an exhaustive list of developmental toys; these are just a few of my favorites C) these toys are only to be used under adult supervision -- duh. D) this blog post contains affiliate links, meaning if you were to click the links and it resulted in a purchase, I would receive a small commission. It might come as a surprise to you, but your little cherub wasn't born knowing how to play. Now, pooping, peeing, and being as cute as a button--- yes, those are innate skills. But playing doesn't always come as naturally. As your child develops, he/she will go through various stages of play development. And as their play skills develop, so do their communication skills and physical skills. What this means is that your child will greatly benefit from playing with you.  In the age of technology (read my thoughts...

I almost didn't write on this topic -- of infant choking--, as it sheds some light on not-my-proudest parent moment. But I decided to hell with that, because what parent out there is perfect? None. And shedding some light on this could help out another parent big time. Let me preface this with: Boo is fine. Happy as a clam and completely unaffected. She was not choking, but she could have choked, hence my freak out. So, my little Boo is at the equally cute and terrifying stage of putting EVERYTHING in her mouth. Tonight at dinner we had a bit of a scare when she started gagging on what appeared to be a small piece of paper in her mouth. She was not choking, but it scared the pants off me. What I did (at lightning speed) was finger swipe her mouth to see what was in it (shouldn't have done that, even though it ended up ok). I then yanked her out of her highchair, at which point she gagged again and spit the chewed up paper piece out of her mouth. She was gagging because so...

One of the many hats I wear is that of a speech-language pathologist. I have worked in what seems like every facet of my profession - from babies to senior citizens, from hospitals, to homes, to schools, to nursing homes, to rehab facilities. When we moved to Illinois, I found myself in one niche of my job that I really enjoy - doing speech therapy in Early Intervention for the state of Illinois' 0-3 program. Maybe not every day, but very often I have friends or even people I have just met ask me questions about how to facilitate communication in a little person in their life. So I decided to write up my most common suggestions that I give to parents and caretakers of our little people. Each kiddo is different, so this obviously isn't an individualized plan, but a lot of these strategies can be applied to many children in many scenarios. Tips to Get 'Em Talking Facilitating Communication with Your Toddler  1. Give choices. All day, every day. Give choices! ...

Any parent can tell you that life can be turned upside by a sick child. Sleepless nights, lots of crying (you and the baby!), routines are thrown out the window... it's just for the birds. And to make it even worse, you as a parent are playing a guessing game of what is ailing your child specifically in some instances. So, I don't know about y'all, but this winter season has been a real fun one for Boo. We have had 4 ear infections, a stomach bug, and RSV. I don't even know how to quantify the runny noses, because it has been constant. I know that I am lucky that she is otherwise healthy, so I will go knock on a million pieces of wood now. I have learned from experience (at least 5 trips to the emergency room and 2 hospital stays unfortunately) that earaches/throw up/fever hits in the middle of the night 9 out of 10 times, and at least the first time, you are GROSSLY unprepared. I hope this blog post can change the second part for some new parents out there. (Edit...

Although we are temporarily relocated to arctic tundra of Chicago, we are from Texas - loud and proud! What's cuter than a baby in pink hunting camo? (Hint: answer is nothing. ) I put together this little girl hunting outfit, centering my outfit decisions for Boo around this  RealTree Pink baby camo hoodie  that Boo's grandaddy and bamom got her for Christmas. I paired the jacket with  Carter's pink leggings  , a staple in Boo's wardrobe. We have a ton of leggings in a variety of colors. I prefer leggings to loose pants because it's cold here and I think these leggings keep her more warm. I rounded out the outfit with these super cute  Baby UGGS Bixbee  (affiliate link), that I purchased with my mom at a store in Santa Fe -- they are so super soft and cuddly. Boo has crazy long hair that falls in her face, so baby hair clips are a necessity with every outfit. I found these  baby flower hair clips  (affiliate link) that are a variation on...

I have been seeing a lot of social media memes or someecards lately talking about "kids these days" and all the technology that they are inundated with. (That statement just made me feel super old, for some reason.) Anyway, this is a real issue, people! Our kids are learning how to play with a tablet before they learn how to stack blocks. Some kiddos spend so much time in front of a screen of some sort that they don't know how to play and, more disturbingly so, don't want to. Being told to go play outside is viewed as some sort of punishment or an unwelcome interlude to whatever technology gadgets they have tempting them to be immobile inside the comfort of their own home.  But, this technology thing.... it's complex. It's not just the kids that are inundated with technology, it's EVERYONE. I know this comes to no shock to you, as you read this from your computer, iPad, or iPhone. I have spent the better part of today looking at my phone or a compu...