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 por...

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 Publ...

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...

Although it was written just about 30 years ago now, Oh the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss, reaches the best-seller list every year right around graduation time. It's no surprise, because the children's story tells the archetypal truths of growing up, moving out, and embarking upon life's journey on your own. It depicts both the highs and the lows of coming of age, and as children love it for its playful images, meter and rhyme, and nonsense words, adults enjoy it just as much, because even after countless reads, it still pulls on the heartstrings. So when Audelina, the first emerging bilingual I raised, came by after her graduation ceremony in her cap and gown to show off her diploma, I had to record a bilingual story time of her reading this story to Maya and Mateo.  I actually received this copy of the book from my youth pastor at Ojai Presbyterian Church when I graduate from high school in 2005. All of my friends in the youth group signed it, and when I was a classro...

 Mateo absolutely loves trucks. In fact, one of his first "words" was "vroom vroom," as he crawled around the house, pushing one of his favorite toy trucks. Since his big sister is only two years older, he inherited most of her toys, so there is always an assortment of toys on the lower levels of the bookshelf for the kids to choose from. Some are baby dolls, or toys that could be considered "girly," but most are gender-neutral like musical instruments, play food, and puzzles. If Maya is playing with her baby dolls or her doll house, Mateo is happy to play with her. But when I set him loose just to play on his own, he always gravitates directly to his toy trucks, tractors, and cars.  So it is no surprise that the Spanish translation of the classic Little Blue Truck is Mateo's favorite book. Now that he is tall enough to select books for himself from the bookshelf, that one is the first one he grabs.    He clutched it tightly, toddles over to the rug, s...