I receive a lot of questions from parents asking about their babies who suddenly stop signing a sign they were signing before, or refuse to sign back when asked to use their signs to confirm what they want, and start fussing instead. Should we push back and refuse to give them what they want when they choose not to sign it? To answer this, I need to ask a question back… do you want to be in a power struggle? Or more importantly: → How would you like to be treated when you have a request or a need? My son, Ian, was a champion at impatiently throwing things or violently banging his arms at time ..read more

“We started signing with our little one but nothing happened so we gave up”. I often hear from parents that they tried signing with their baby but stopped because it wasn’t working. Unfortunately they gave up too soon! With any developmental skill, it’s important to be realistic -and patient- about our expectations, and it may help to understand a bit more about the processes involved in learning a physical skill like baby signing. Our babies will learn anything and everything we show them consistently, with lots of repetition and context. 1️⃣ The first stage of babies learning to sign is alw ..read more

You can create lots of fun with the sign for WHERE as you cultivate conversations at home with your littles. Like with all of our signs, the concept of WHERE can become more concrete and understandable to your baby when you make it make sense. And you know I like to keep things light-hearted when I teach signs. One way I do that using the sign for WHERE is playing Peek-a-boo! WHERE'S… mommy? Peek-a-boo! WHERE'S… daddy? Peek-a boo! WHERE'S… baby? Peek-a-boo Often I add the tune to Frère Jacques: WHERE'S mommy, WHERE”S mommy, Peek-a-boo! Peek-a-boo! I see Mommy, I see Mommy Peek-a-boo, peek-a-bo ..read more

“We started signing with our little one but nothing happened so we gave up”. I often hear from parents that they tried signing with their baby but stopped because it wasn’t working. Unfortunately they gave up too soon! It’s important to be realistic -and patient- about our expectations, and it may help to understand a bit more about the processes involved in learning a physical skill like baby signing. Our babies will learn anything and everything we show them consistently, with lots of repetition and context. 1️⃣ The first stage of babies learning to sign is always reception. Babies will wat ..read more

You should know that I'm a firm believer in exposing our babies to music, singing, and nursery rhymes. I'm not formally trained, but I love all music! As a family, we listen to classical music in the late afternoons to calm our senses (and get through to bedtime), and I also love this playlist of mostly female R&B artists. We have disco dance parties in the morning when energy levels are high. And I'm not gonna lie, I love all 80's and 90's music. Oh, and then there's country music for a different kind of musical story time because the lyrics are often so rich. I also love to make family ..read more

Will my baby be confused with signs if we speak more than one verbal language at home? The short answer is no. There's no reason to worry that your baby may get confused if you, or other adults who love your baby, speak different languages to them. Babies are incredible learners and will absolutely soak up everything! The key to making things as easy as possible for everyone is consistency. Aim to keep the exposure to verbal languages a regular occurrence in your day together. Essentially, your little one won't be confused by whatever natural ways of speaking are presented to them regularly ..read more

This weekend I was at a big outdoor store, looking to buy some garden soil for replanting my fiddle-leaf fig tree into a bigger pot. After finding the garden section and about 400 piles of different kinds of soil, I realized I needed some help because fiddle-leafs are known to be, well, finicky. I'm told the wrong PH levels can cause a slow, agonizing death. I found an employee and asked about my best soil options... a blank stare and some slow eye blinks came my way, and then they walked away. No help. I found another employee who then scrunched up one eye and cocked their head sideways when ..read more

The year my two kids were 7 & 11 years old (and still believed in Santa), it hit me that the time was coming soon when the magic would change. I desperately wanted to savour every Christmas moment together as a family. After watching The Polar Express ,movie, I hatched a crazy night time plan: to take our two kids on our very own middle of the night “train ride". Wow, was it ever fun to wake them up in their beds and hand them their own Polar Express tickets! I had initially gotten the idea to make our own Polar Express ride from a mom friend who chuckled about how she & her husband ..read more

I've had a lot of requests for my easy coffee smoothie recipe after posting a few times on my Instagram stories (which sadly disappear after 24 hours). I'm typically a tea drinker and love a steamy mug of anything hot in the fall and winter, but his recipe has been on repeat now that we've turned the corner into summer. It solves a lot of problems around getting out of the house quickly with something in my belly and a little hit of caffeine. INGREDIENTS: 1 cup nut milk 1/2 frozen banana 1 shot espresso (or 1/2 cup strong drip coffee) 1 tbs nut butter 1 scoop protein powder handful of ice Opt ..read more

This recipe could not be easier, I promise. You can make these in about 10 minutes once you have all the ingredients, most of which I buy at Costco and then make 4-6 batches at once. Get out your biggest salad bowl and some tongs for tossing. This snack mix is great for packing on the go as well as sending to school for class parties, for hostess gifts, you name it. Ingredients: 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon dill powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 28g packet Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing mix 6-8 cups approx. of crackers & cereal of your choice (I like to use the things my kids lo ..read more