High Maintenance Mom

Kilauea, the volcano on the main island of Hawaii that has been in a continuous state of eruption since 1983, has been showing new activity in the past year. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), located next to the caldera, monitors the volcanic activity and posts beautiful pictures online. The glow from the current plume is easiest to see at night. Because of the time difference, you can often view the glow for yourself on the Halema`uma`u web cam in the early morning. The Kilauea image here shows the pre-moonrise stars and the intense Halema`uma`u glow on April 27th. If you view the April 2008 Image Archive, you will see an image of the observatory with the plume in the backgound. Watching the eruption is a great way to introduce science to kids...

Have you or your children learned any Spanish words from Dora or Diego? Do you want your children to hear Chinese words too? Ni Hao, Kai-lan is a new show from Nick Jr. that combines Chinese language and culture. "Ni Hao" means "Hi" in Chinese, so we've already learned one word. The show is aimed at preschool children and the characters include six year-old Kai-lan Chow, her grandfather, a koala, a monkey, and a tiger. See below for more information on the values the show aims to teach including mind-body connection, perspective-taking, being a good member of a group, and social & emotional goals. Ni Hao, Kai-lan premieres on Nick Jr. Thursday, February 7 at 11 a.m.

I was at Target the other day and noticed a section of WordWorld games and toys. If you haven't seen WordWorld, it's a show where "letters come to life". The animals are made of the letters in their name and when they need something, they "build a word." It's quite cute with bright colorful graphics and a catchy soundtrack. My kids love it. The web site is nice too. Check out the activities section and the games. You can also purchase WorldWord games and toys from Amazon or Target.

Apparently today was GIS Day, which is part of Geography Awareness Week. Each year a different region is highlighted. This year the theme is "Asia: Continent of Contrasts". Here are a few links for learning more about GIS.

• National Geographic's My Wonderful World - Get a passport to explore Asia online, also check out the links on the more to explore page.
• Google's educator page - Tour Asia using Google Earth, see videos, and take interactive quizzes.
• gis.com's GIS Day activities.

During pregnancy, moms are accustomed to a variety of screening tests for conditions such as Down syndrome and diabetes. The rationale for these tests is not to make moms anxious about their pregnancy but to identify potential pregnancy problems to allow for timely intervention.

What is kick counting?
Kick counting, a daily systematic record of moms’ perception of their baby’s movement during the third trimester, is a reliable, harmless, simple and effective screening for the baby’s well-being. Kick counting can document changes in the fetal movement pattern and can help moms-to-be alert their healthcare provider of potential problems. A timely evaluation can allow intervention and prevention of potential problems, including stillbirth.

Looking for bilingual resources for the Kindergirl, I came across this really excellent online library of children's books from around the world: International Children's Digital Library They have a straightforward mechanism for paging through the books, easy enough for a five year old, and a very nice search facility (though I have yet to crack the code behind the book cover colors): Simple Search

I have to admit that I am very interested in the whole going green trend and hope that it isn't a trend for long but turns into something we all do. In that light, I have begun researching and doing some things to make my family's lives more eco-friendly. Going green isn't cheap so I am starting small with food items as I learn what foods are best organic (soft skin fruits for example) and moving my way up to home items like sheets.

Check out zoo images including the zebra and horse crossbreed. My kids love pictures of animals so we are always looking for fun images.

Recent research has identified women, called tetrachromats, who can see four distinct ranges of color and therefore can distinguish much more subtle color differences than the average person with only three distinct ranges of color. It's estimated the eye can pick up about 100 different gradations of color using the standard red, green, and blue cones. The brain then combines those variations so the average person can distinguish about 1 million different hues.

B's class at school has a calendar up on the wall to mark all their important activities. Days are marked for the days when friends are moving or have vacations planned, pajama day, share day, farm day, and the end of the year party. It looked like a great idea so I thought I would put up a calendar at home too. I bought the write-on-wipe-off $1.00 one at Target and started to fill in August. I had filled in one through 14 before B started to cry. He wanted to fill in his birthday month. Then he got even more upset when I started to fill in his birthday month and didn't start with the one in the far left corner...