Gardner's Eight Intelligences: Musical

This is an eight-part series covering Gardner's eight multiple intelligences and applying the theory with my children in every day life.

 

Ty loves to dance with his Elmo guitar, sing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, make up words for his computer's music, and turn on every music, noise-making toy that he has. Lately, he sings songs that my husband and I enjoy. He mangles the words, which delights us. He dances by skipping his feet together, which produces a bouncing and jolted appearance.

I've sung to him his entire life: ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells (when I am desperate), tons of nursery rhymes, and all of his sing-a-long books. We listen to music in the car and he has a CD player in his room. He plays ELMO.

His favorite song is "Name-O." "Name-O" is the tune of "Old McDonald" and he lists every name that he knows and wants us to sing it. It goes something like this: "mommy, name-o. mommy! name-o!" And I will sing, 

There is a lady who is so tired

And mommy is her name-o

M-O-M-M-Y

M-O-M-M-Y

M-O-M-M-Y

And mommy is her name-o.

He will repeat, with his family, cousins, dogs, and friends. It is adorable and *I wonder* if this teaches him to spell. He claps along, and I wonder if he is counting, or at least keeping a beat. My husband and I cannot sing, but I took formal music lessons for a decade when I was younger. I normally do not learn or memorize to music. I make mnemonics without involving music. Little kids sing to learn in elementary school, but that often stops when they are older. 

My mother made fun of me when I danced and I still feel that fear and shame today at weddings or clubs. I just clap and encourage Ty when he dances. This may be a strong intelligence for him, but I can't tell yet. Music works both sides of the brain and I want him to take formal lessons in a few years. The small exposure he receives now, fun and light, hopefully helps him later.

Shame On: Enfamil

Enfamil RestFull promotes the idea that babies will sleep better with this formula. Mead Johnson "Nutrition"'s website states the following unethical advertising and manipulations:

Your baby needs a proper amount of sleep to keep her healthy and happy. That's why we created new Enfamil RestFull, the formula specially designed to naturally encourage a good night's sleep.

• A natural way to help keep your baby feeling satisfied.
• Thickens gently in baby's tummy and digests slowly.

I do wish Mead Johnson "Nutrition" would answer the following questions:

1. In what way is this a "natural way" to keep baby satisfied?

2. The use of the word "feeling" before "satisfied" leads me to wonder the exact fullness for the baby. Will the baby be full or not? Will the baby be hungry, and think he or she is not? How long does this "feeling" last? Is there really such a feeling for an infant whose stomach is the size of a small fist? 

3. What chemical concoction makes this bovine based powered breast milk-imitation "thicken"?

4. "Gently." Really? Most formula fed babies cry because their stomachs hurt, or because they need the nurturing and comfort of their mothers. How is this gentle?

5. "Tummy." Nice word and a cute euphemism. We are on to you, Mead Johnson "Nutrition." Make everything associated with your junk-product sweet and moms will buy it. No more. 

I also wonder, in general, why a company with "nutrition" in the title would want formula to "digest slowly." As an adult, and I eat something I should not have eaten (very much like babies who are fed your formula should not eat formula) and it digests slowly, I am in pain. My stomach hurts and I always think, "I shouldn't eat ___. I won't eat ____ again." It is too bad that babies do not have advanced communication skills, leaving them only to cry.

Unless common citizens promote breastfeeding and openly demand the abolition of the atrocity that is formula, babies will suffer. Excuses and self-comforting hinder the breastfeeding movement, as does cruelty and hatred.

SAHM Struggle: Socks in the Dryer

Za's socks no longer fall out of the dryer anymore. Nesting in the final months of pregnancy, I washed her clothes with special Dreft. Her socks laid in the seal of the front load washer and fell out when I opened the dryer. They were so tiny; smaller than a finger. I remember bending over my belly, legs wide apart so the belly would fit through the legs to pick up her socks. I would ball them and they were smaller than a golf ball.

That isn't the case now. This past weekend, my husband and I packed up all the baby, baby stuff. Za is still a baby, just a bigger baby. But we needed to put up the bouncy chairs, bassinet, and the swing. Lots of baby stuff. Tiny stuff, replaced by bigger stuff, but still for my baby. 

SAHM successes are important, and their value will show in our children. 

Feeding Kids (Real) Food

As a teacher, I fret over this situation. My students are awake when they leave for lunch but return drowsy. Starches negatively affect them and make them physically ill. I sign many bathroom passes for dancing students. Instead of corn dogs, pizza, fries, nachos, chicken nuggets, and iceberg lettuce, schools should serve whole wheat bread with real meat and colored vegetables. It isn't cost effective on the front of the books, so schools won't. Students would perform better if they were well fed, and better performances would help finances, but schools won't believe it, or can't afford to take such a risk.

School lunches is a hot topic right now, but I believe healthy food starts when children are young, when they are home, or in preschool. I don't think sending them to school when they are five and expecting wise decisions will work.

As a mom, I try to feed my kids healthy foods. I keep fruit on hand. I avoid the frozen chicken nuggets at the store, and throw a piece of chicken in the oven thirty minutes before lunchtime. At the very least, I stock the freezer with frozen vegetables. It takes effort, but I make it. I am fortunate to have the finances and transportation to get fresh food. What happens to others who cannot, or do not have the knowledge to do so?

Toddler Healthy Food

Brain based learning theories make sense to me, so I try to feed my babies' brains. I know all parents make an effort to feed their kids healthily-I think they do. I take it seriously to the point that I become angry if they eat fried food, corn syrup, enriched flour... a little much, I agree. I make myself calm down and realize they will be fine. My thought process is just that some day, probably really soon, they will choose their own foods. I want to set a good example and acclimate their taste buds accordingly. Plus, if I have healthy foods, why not give it to them? (At this point, I should probably tell you that my husband finds all of this very silly).

I research brain based learning and once that led me to a reading from Dr. Sears. 

One suggestion is to put food in different types of containers to offset toddler pickiness. Easy! I grabbed a tiny muffin cup pan and filled two rows with 'strawbabies'-Ty's favorites, 'bluebabies'-not Ty's favorite, and graham crackers. I filled another dish with vanilla yogurt for dipping (another Dr. Sears' tip). All corn syrup free. Happy me.

Ty ate the 'strawbabies' and picked at the rest of the food. Yay! I ran upstairs to tend to Za and returned to find that Ty fed all his food to the dog, replaced the food with his father's chips (Pringles, gross), and put his race cars in the yogurt. (Pictured to the right). Of course.

Oatmeal and Strawbabies

For breakfast, I had oatmeal, strawberries (or as Ty calls them, 'strawbabies'), Splenda, and soy milk. Lots of fiber and I feel pretty good that I ate something so healthy. Lots of fiber, a fruit, some calcium, yum. Then the old Splenda/Nutrasweet debate started in my head.

One side: They have no calories! People have eaten these things for decades! You've eaten them before! They are in everything!

Other side: People have gotten cancer for decades! It might be zero calories, but it tricks your body! It is a chemical, just use the real thing! It will be stored in your fat! It will get into your breastmilk and hurt your baby's development!

Anyway, the debate in my head kind of ruined my breakfast.

SAHM Struggle: Tired

I am so tired all the time. I read books to my kids and sing songs and clean the house and do the laundry.

I want to exercise, scrapbook, and write. I don't even have to do all of that stuff in one day or in one week. I would just like to do some of it some times. 

I would also like to sleep. I can't lose weight when I am this tired. My stomach won't go away and I get so frustrated.

I am so tired and I can't think of words larger than lame linking verbs followed by pathetic adjectives. This circling life that I could lead, of sleeping, nursing, cleaning, and caring could be one way I could do this SAHM thing. Another way is what I have now, which is the deep lack of sleep but doing things for myself at ridiculous times of night. I am so tired and I want to know what to do.