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!