Tag: momlife

Let’s Go to CAMP!

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Before we start, there’s no need to pack your tent, sleeping bags or s’mores ingredients, because I’m referring to a different kind of Camp.

On second thought, you should never not pack s’mores ingredients.

Camp, a family experience company, currently has five locations in three states: New York, Connecticut and Texas. Each location is based on a different camp experience:

  • Base Camp: Explore and discover the wonders of nature, arts & crafts, sports, theatre and fun.
  • Toy Lab Camp: Test and shop for the best toys of the season.
  • Travel Camp: Explore the wonders of the world.
  • Cooking Camp: Explore the evolution of food; from farm to our kitchen table.

You can learn more about Camp by visiting camp.com and by listening to the Magical Mommy Monday Podcast, with special guests Counselor Dan and Counselor Matt!

My work history includes experiential marketing and retail, but hearing about Camp, blew anything I knew out of the water. Being a mom, I love immersive experiences for the whole family and that’s exactly what Camp provides. The best part is, if you’re not near a location, you can take part in their virtual experiences. Unfortunately, I haven’t visited a Camp location yet, but it is on my To-Do list so stay tuned for a follow up!

You can also shop their educational based products in person or online. Here are a few products that stood out to me (descriptions pulled from camp.com):

Fat Brain Dimpl Duo

For 12+ months, one side has silicone buttons embossed with different shapes, with their matching words labeled in English and Braille. Flip the whole thing over and the buttons are smooth, and the words match the colors.

Mad Mattr

For ages 3+, not only is Mad Mattr perfect for creating calm, relaxing and imaginative fun, it’s also great for strengthening fingers, hands, wrists, and more.

Fat Brain SpinAgain

For ages 12 months+, this toy is designed to combine the early developmental benefits of stacking with the thrill of watching colorful discs that corkscrew down, down, down the pole. They can make a rainbow, arrange pieces by size and shape, or just go rogue like some kind of twisted toddler. 

Camp.com is full of Sensory, STEM and Educational toys and books, you definitely need to check out all they have to offer.

You can follow @CampStores on Instagram and Facebook. You can also subscribe to Camp on YouTube for past virtual experiences, as well as Music Mondays!

*I am not affiliate of Camp, nor am I sponsored by Camp. I just think it’s awesome!

Happy Earth Day!

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Picture it: 5 AM in my house (said in my Sophia Petrillo voice):

‘J’ wakes up, comes into our room and excitedly whispers IT’S EARTH DAY IT’S EARTH DAY!

Do I love how into Earth Day he is? YES

Do I love how he wants to learn more about helping the environment? YES

Do I love that he wanted to buy the Earth a gift? YES

Do I love that he acted like it was Christmas morning and woke everyone else up? No, no I don’t. But hey, ya win some ya lose some.

‘J’ has been learning about Earth Day this week in school. He’s learned all about reducing, reusing and recycling. Watching all of this reminds me that each generation gets smarter. It’s awesome being a fly on the wall to watch it all.

‘J’ and his sister were all in for some Earth Day photos. We worked on arts and crafts by reusing various materials and planted some flowers in old coffee cans. How did you celebrate Earth Day?

L to R: Creating the earth with a paper plate, paint and a ziplock bag, Making flowers out of recycled paper, planting flowers in old coffee cans

Magical Mommy Monday Meets Sensory Spectacle

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If you’ve checked out my previous blogs, then you saw a series written by Becky Lyddon, founder of Sensory Spectacle.

Fun fact: I host two podcasts! One is Theme Park Thursday with Dillo’s Diz, with my brother, where we focus on Disney nostalgia. The other is Magical Mommy Monday with my friend, Angela Dahlgren.

Ok, now that the cheap plugs are done, we can move on.

Becky was kind enough to take time out of quarantine to chat with us on the Magical Mommy Monday Podcast. Along with her amazing YouTube videos and her website containing trainings, she also has a podcast as well.

Click here to check out episode with Becky to learn more about her background, sensory processing and Sensory Spectacle!

You can visit Becky’s one stop shop for Sensory Spectacle here: https://www.sensoryspectacle.co.uk/

A Sensory Evaluation: Take 2

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During his Kindergarten year, ‘J’ received Occupational Therapy at school. His Occupational Therapist (OT) was awesome and we stayed in contact to keep each other in the loop. However, occupational therapy in school typically focuses more on fine motor skills (ie: handwriting) and whether or not the student cannot focus in class. ‘J’ was doing great in both of these areas. Unfortunately, the school could not provide more assistance when it came to sensory difficulties. They did not have the space or types of therapies to assist students in this way. It was recommended that ‘J’ would not receive OT for 1st grade.

Knowing that ‘J’ struggled with lighting, sounds and still had separation anxiety during morning drop off, we had him evaluated by an outside OT. He was evaluated at the end of February, 2020 in the areas of Touch Processing, Visual, Oral, Movement and Motor. Without going into specific details, he received scores under the categories of “More Than Others” or “Much More Than Others.”

It was recommended that ‘J’ receive occupational therapy for help reduce sensory sensitivity in the area of auditory, touch processing, visual, oral and sensory seeking behaviors. There would be focus on strategies to help reduce anxiety in social settings, to make him become more comfortable with challenges and to adapt to given situations within his life.

We were able to have two sessions with his new occupational therapist before everything shut down due to Covid. In the meantime, I came up with a Sensory Diet (pictured below), bought some fidget toys to assist with the sensory bin and luckily it was spring which meant lots of opportunity for outside play.

Like everyone else, we had to adjust our daily life. Although we were looking forward to have ‘J’ get started with occupational therapy to focus on his challenges, we did the best we could without it.

2 Years and 2 Months

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That’s how long it’s been since I’ve blogged. I’ve taken some breaks before, but this one takes the cake. Especially because 2020 was about 10 years long alone, right?

Some changes from the last 2 years:

  • ‘J’ is now 6 and his sister is now 4
  • Last year, ‘J’ ended his Kindergarten year on March 13th and since September has been 100% virtual through his school for 1st grade. His sister is doing homeschooling for nursery school.
  • Just prior to the shutdown last year, we had an outside evaluation done to confirm (once again) that ‘J’ does have Sensory Processing difficulties and we were about to start working with an OT outside of his school.
  • Through the ups and downs of the pandemic, my kids are resilient, thriving and learning new things everyday.

I’ll be getting into more details regarding some of these changes, along with many others. Just wanted to say hello and let you know that I’m back!

Milestones

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First off, I promised a blog everyday this week and I failed yesterday. But it was for a good reason!

‘J’ turned 4 on June 5th. 4! How did that happen? Remember when High School felt like forever? And college?! And yet you start on an awesome adventure of being a parent and 4 years go by in a blink.

In 4 years he has grown and changed so much. I’ve been lucky enough to witness every milestone: rolling, first steps, the long awaited first words and so much more! Toddler days are over and the personality he’s always had continues to flourish. He’s loving, sweet and funny, strong and smart, cute and full of energy. I see him interact with his friends and have flash forwards to years from now catching a glimpse of who he might be. I want the best for him and hope that when life lets him down, he can use his new strength to navigate out of it and turn it into something positive. His smile and laugh are contagious and I never want to see that fade.

Yesterday, ‘J’ had his closing ceremonies for his first year of school. Much like the first day of school can be more emotional for the parents, I think the same can be said for the last day. After talking with some of the other moms, I’m thankful to know I wasn’t the only one not accepting this change. This has been our routine for the past 9 months. We hit the jackpot with his teachers and the kids in his class. We’re going back to the same school in September but with different teachers and kids. I know it won’t always be as good as it was this year which only adds to not wanting to let go. I’m so thankful he found a safe and happy place in his classroom. He knew if he felt overwhelmed, he could go to his teachers for comfort. I heard about a day he was randomly crying and saying he missed me. His teachers said his friends gathered around him to make him feel better. Hearing that makes my heart explode. Of course I want to be there to scoop him up and make the tears stop. But I love that if I can’t be there, he found comfort in his friends.

I’m so proud of how he did in school this year. We continue to navigate through his speech and sensory difficulties. He works so hard everyday between school and his therapies. He’s insanely smart and blows us away daily. At the same time, he’s only 4 and sees everything as a way to play. And isn’t that the best way to learn?

It’s hard to see time go by so fast. I want my babies to stay babies forever, but I also want them to grow to be healthy, strong, independent adults. This is nothing compared to what I’ll be up against in the coming years. I look forward to all of it!

In the meantime, I’ll try to hide my lack of enjoyment when it comes to change so he’s just as excited for school in September as he was this year (hopefully).

Squishy Fidgets

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We’ve all heard of fidget spinners. It went from being a helpful aid for those with sensory disorders, autism and ADHD, to a hot holiday item that everyone wanted.

I never thought much of it, but in recent months I started to wonder if a fidget would be good for ‘J.’ I wasn’t sure where to start and didn’t feel like a spinner was the right answer for him.

I did some research here and there but never moved forward with the idea. About two weeks ago, ‘J’ started watching TV, reading books, etc. and I noticed his hands would be in his mouth pretty often. This was new and something I was keeping an eye on. I also noticed as he was playing play dough or some other toys he would be testing how it felt on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was requiring more sensory input or if something was bothering him. After talking with him and watching him more, I felt like at times he just needed to do something with his hands. I mentioned it to his Occupational Therapist on Monday and she suggested a fidget. During his session, she gave him a squishy fidget to play with. His hands never went in his mouth and he was excited to play with it. She said img_2017it’s something we could try and told me I could find them on Amazon. Easy enough! Amazon and I have a great relationship.

Right after OT, he has speech. I mentioned it to his speech therapist and she had a smaller fidget with her. She gave it to him to play with and mentioned it might help keep him still. Sometimes he gets…for lack of a better word…fidgety during his session. She also let him know that anytime he wants it, all he has to do is ask.

Now we our very own squishy fidget dinosaur (pictured here as he roars) and a few others to try out. I’m hoping this can be used for calming purposes when needed, gives him the sensory input he sometimes requires and of course for fun!

Click here to purchase the same squishy fidget toy for your family!Â