'Twas the Night Before Christmas, the famous narrative poem by Clement Clarke Moore, is my favorite story, ever. When I was nine-years-old, my 4-H groups presented it at our holiday pageant, and each of us were responsible for reciting a few pages. I learned my lines by heart, and loved the lyrical story so much, I ended up memorizing all 28 lines of the poem, and so began my love affair with memorizing poems, book excerpts, bible passages, which would last my lifetime.  When my little sister was born, I read and recited 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to her. I'd tell it to myself if I ever had trouble falling asleep. And then when Maya was born, it has been one of my greatest Christmas joys to share this special story with her. It might be counterintuitive to love this story so much while proselytizing that Santa is not real, but there's just something about this story that is so beautiful, with its meter and rhyme pattern, alliteration, and imagery.  The nearly 200

As I've rocked Mateo to sleep in my arms for the past few weeks, I've found myself singing to him Christmas carols. Those traditional songs we'd sing at midnight mass: Away in a Manger, Hark the Harold Angel Sings, The First Noel. Did you ever think about how the songs we sing to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus sound so much like lullabies? Christmas Eve is going to look quite different this year, without the large gathering of family we're accustomed to, without children's holiday pageants, without breakfast potlucks, without midnight mass. I feel almost as if I'm reciting a new edition of How Corona Stole Christmas...      “And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before."  The underlying mess

Often referred to as the most wonderful time of the year, these days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be filled with magic for kids of all ages. Each family has their own holiday traditions that might go back generations, or might be new experiences that you create each year. As we blend our backgrounds and cultures to build our bilingual family, making new traditions and paying homage to old traditions is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season.  For these few story times before Christmas, we will be reading some holiday-themed books. I love this story, Good Night Christmas, because it recounts common holiday traditions here in the US, many of which our family takes part in. Cutting down a fresh Christmas tree is one of my favorite childhood memories, and now it's even more special for Maya and Mateo, because we cut a tree from our own backyard! I also remember fondly driving around town as a little girl, enthralled by the house with lights. Now when we are out abou

We started a new tradition this year and counted down the days until Christmas by unwrapping a book each night. Some are brand-new, some are well-loved, and many I found for sale for $1 at the Holliston Public Library. Making holiday memories is simple with the adage: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to READ! Since we don't celebrate with a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve or opening a mountain of gifts on Christmas morning, this was a simple way to incorporate the joy of gift giving and receiving in our holiday season. It was like an advent calendar--each evening after bath and pjs, I placed a wrapped book for each child under the tree and they got to open them and sit with me and read them before bed.  Maya, Mateo, and Sofia eagerly opened their new or new-to-them books, and this special holiday tradition is something I plan to do in years to come. Next year, I'll use this same Christmas library, and slowly reveal a beloved book each

It is our evolutionary instinct to love babies. Their big eyes, chubby cheeks, sweet smell and cooing sounds make them irresistible to most grown ups. But what do babies love? Babies love to snooze, snuggle, and suckle. And they love to look at pictures of other babies! So in this week's story time, we read a bilingual book that features all the things babies love to do. S cientific research shows babies' cuteness sets off a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. When grown humans see babies, they are triggered to have a  hardwired, primarily maternal, caregiving response, and researchers are now learning that cuteness actually sets off unique brain activity. But as babies grow and develop, they need much more than food, water, and shelter. Once these basic needs are met, the next step is to develop baby brains, and research shows the best way to do this is to read to them. That's why we share a story time each week wit

 This year has turned our lives upside down. As we embarked upon 2020, I never dreamed I would finish my maternity leave in months of quarantine, or that I’d return to work in the fall teaching remotely. Shifting from our pre-quarantine lives to quarantine life to masks and pandemic life has necessitated an immense amount of emotional and mental growth... and a lot of letting go. Letting go of expectations, letting go of in-person gatherings, letting go of what used to be and what might have been, in order to embrace a new normal.   But throughout all of the challenging changes that have happened this year, there’s also been some special moments I’m extra thankful about. More time with immediate family and no more commute to work. We were able to refinance our house with the record-low interest rates, and get solar panels installed on our roof. Our gas budget has significantly diminished since we barely drive anywhere and we’ve spent more time playing outside this spring, summer, and f

Books are a way for readers of all ages to explore the world around ourselves, without even leaving our home. I love books that are educational in a fun way, so that when kids are reading them, they don't even know that they are learning. Kids are always interacting with their environment, and here's a story that supports early problem solving skills and scientific concepts. It's another installment in our mini story time segments with just Mami & Teo, and this is one of our bilingual Spanish & English books from our friend Jane Cohen  from the Early Childhood Alliance of Framingham. In Bug Needs a Boat/Esta oruga necesita un barco, the narrator encounters a little bug trying to cross a small body of water. ( And as we read, we accompanied by his own little toy caterpillar.) The story builds little learner's background knowledge of density as the narrator sees which items found in nature not only float, but are strong enough to be a caterpillar's boat. It

Halloween is Maya's favorite holiday, which is ironic because we don't even celebrate Halloween. My Guatemalan family, husband included, believe Halloween is a debaucherous   holiday for worshipping the devil. After many attempts to explain to my husband that Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic new year festival of Samhain, and in the United States it is all harmless fun, my husband remains unconvinced, so since having children my husband has be adamant that we not take part in it. In building a marriage that intertwines two different languages, cultural backgrounds, and traditions, one learns there are battles to be fought and battles to let go, and so I decided Halloween was one American tradition that wasn't worth fighting for. Ultimately, families argue with their children over their costume choices, spend money on cheap garments that are only worn once before being discarded, and kids bring home bags of candy that only wires them up and is bad for t

We have a special guest reader for our storytime bilingue this week! Mateo and Maya's older cousin, Cesar, reads the classic "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" Cesar is an emerging bilingual himself, who came to the US from Guatemala three years ago and has been learning English. Thank you, Primo, for reading with us today!

 Teething is probably the hardest milestone for baby and family to go through. From birth until 36 months old, little ones endure the pain and suffering of 20 emerging teeth! So this week, we dedicate our story to Mateo, who is in the process of having both his upper lateral incisors and canine baby teeth coming in. He is such a strong trouper, and once those four teeth fully emerge, his total teeth count will be up to 11! Little ones love looking at pictures of other babies, so what better way to practice counting skills in English and Spanish than to count the little teeth in these precious baby smiles? And at the end of the book, there's also a page with toothy tips and things to try to get your kids excited about caring for their teeth.  Teeth are actually a funny subject in our house, because both Maya and Mateo were born with teeth. Maya's fell out before we left the hospital, and Teo's just disappeared one day. They both were early teethers, too, and received their f

 Francisco and I just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. Our love story is a long story, and needs to be another post entirely, but to celebrate our anniversary, I'd like to share here with you our bilingual vows. From the very beginning, we knew we wanted to create a bilingual life together, and that started on the day we were married.  We had been to far too many bilingual weddings that were translated word for word, so as we were making decisions about our ceremony, we wanted to take the 45-minute Episcopal liturgy and divide up some sections in English and some sections in Spanish. Since we knew we would have friends and family in attendance who only spoke English, only spoke Spanish, and some who spoke both, we wanted to make sure both of our languages were represented without being exhaustively repetitive. So my dear friend and priest from Northeastern University led the English portion, and Francisco's dear friend and pastor from his childhood led the Spanish port

It makes me so happy to see how much  Tea  loves books. At least once a day, he toddles over to the bookshelf in the corner of our living room and takes down a variety of books to read and look at all on his own. Twice this week it was too quiet in the house and I went looking for  Two , only to find him sitting on the  trampoline and flipping through the pages of a board book. Even tonight I heard him babbling to himself and saw him playing with his favorite peek-a-boo book!  As an educator and mama, I know just how important it is to read with children from birth, and I we can see already how early literacy exposure has had a positive effect on Mateo's emotional and mental development. Even when the TV is on, he barely pays attention and instead would rather entertain himself with books. Three years ago when Maya was just an infant, I connected with Jane Cohen with the Early Childhood Alliance of Framingham, when I attended a mom's group at the Framingham Public Library calle

With a day off from school on Monday, I really wanted to take the kids to do something fun in the morning. But since we are in COVID-19 times, there is not a plethora of activities to choose from like there used to be. It made me so nostalgic for this time last year, when my year-long maternity leave had just begun, and we filled each day with story times, playgroups, and had so many options of toddler programming! Community Kangaroo is glaringly vacant nowadays, but there was one activity posted for today. A story walk put together by the Franklin Public Library through the  DelCarte Conservation Area. So that is where we went, and we had the best time! It was the perfect fall day to read Kenard Pak's "Goodbye Summer Hello Autumn" in the woods. This is a beautifully illustrated story of a young girl as she watches the world around her prepare for a new season, from the animals to the trees, to the wind and the air!  The whole walk took us about an hour, because I stopped

In New England, apple picking is the quintessential fall fun activity. I actually didn't know going to an orchard to pick your own apples was a pastime until I moved to Boston, but after I went with my youth group during my freshman year of college I was hooked, and I've been apple picking with friends or family every fall since. I have beautiful memories of walking up and down rows of apple-laden (or sometimes picked bare!) trees, trying to climb to the top and always searching for the shiniest, juiciest apples. Even one of Francisco and my first dates was apple picking.  In my 15 years of residency on the East Coast, I've visited a variety of apple orchards in New England nearly every autumn and a few years ago, I thought I had finally found the perfect place. Tougas Family Farm had everything you wanted for your perfect fall afternoon--apple and pumpkin picking, fresh apple cider and donuts, kettle corn, a petting farm, a hayride, and a playground for the kids. But it al