We're not allergic to Fambly Home Ebning--

I recently relearned just how amazing the church resources are. I've been reading parenting websites and magazines (I love, love, love Island Parent, the free mag. for Vancouver Island) and the American Pediatric Association's guide to raising your child for the first 5 years (Thanks, Shelley!).

They gave me great advice for watching over the health and safety of my baby, provided lists of developmental stages to watch for, talked about positive developmental toys, and advised that children under the age of 3 watch no television whatsoever (that's a hard one to do!). They keep giving me positive ideas when it comes to exploring nature, eliminating contaminating chemicals from the home, parenting in environmentally friendly ways (I'll have to try that next time), and not taking myself too seriously (I'll try that next time, too).

Have any of you noticed that parenting advice of any kind--though helpful in the long term--can be really stressful in the short term? I tend to freak out for a bit. Foam at the mouth, run around in circles screaming, that sort of thing.

None of that happens with church materials. They make me go A-Ha! That's how I could do it. They give me ideas, get me motivated, and make me feel good inside for reading them. Best of all they remind me to get back to the basics of Family Home Evening, scripture study, and prayer. I'm grateful to my little sisters for being such good examples of this and giving me good ideas. And of course my parents have been phenomenal teachers.

So Family Home Evening has finally come together. Last night, to prepare for General Conference, we sang "Keep the Commandments" as an opening song, and then showed Shannon a picture of President Monson, had her learn to say "Prophet," talked about listening to the prophet, and had her touch her ear when we said listen. We sang the song again, but only a few lines at a time while we talked about the words. We played a spontaneous game of throw-the-blanket over the head peek-a-boo as an activity, and then put the big girl to bed.

Here's a list of the things I've just found for toddlers that I love:

• The new Nursery manual
• Comics and cut-outs about the life of Joseph Smith in this years' Friend Magazine
• The Children's Songbook
  
• The Interactive Church Music Player
• Grandparents--They're fabulous!
  
• Foster grandparents when you're far away from home (Relief Society is a great support system.)
  
• Books about baby sign language and finger plays (they help come up with actions for Primary songs, but not as much as the Nursery manual. Did I mention I looooovvvvee it?)
• My sisters and their examples using the Gospel Art Kit and the Illustrated Scriptures
• My daughter and husband for reminding me if I forget something I'm supposed to do. Shannon is so sweet when she folds her arms for a blessing on the food.
• Inspiration! It's number one!