Skin Care

Children have silk skin and parents should try to keep their good skin to last for lifetime. Years ago, parents have no concepts about the sun, UV damages and bathed their children under the sun a lot without sun screens. These days, we hear a lot about sun screens, skin cancer and aging. Parents have taken actions to protect their young ones from the beginning. However proper direct sun exposure without any sunscreen is essential to our health (15 minutes, Cleveland Clinic). One should not be afraid of sunlight and stay indoors or cover oneself up all the time. Our skin needs ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight to generate vitamin D which plays a role to prevent cancers, heart attacks, diabetes and strokes. Vitamin D helps the body use calcium from diet and its deficiency may result in serious health problems. Pedestrians often recommends babies to take vitamin D supplement such as D-Vi-Sol . Not only for babies, elderly may also need take vitamin D supplements due to the ability to produce vitamin D decrease with age.

Vitamin D can be also found in a few foods including fish, fish liver oils, egg yolks and in fortified dairy and grain products. If there is no lack of vitamin D and proper sun exposure, avoiding overexposure from the sun usually is recommended for a healthy skin.

Five tips of Skin care from Mayo clinic are:

1. 
   
   Protect from the Sun
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Avoid the sun between 10am to 4pm
      
   
   
   2. Wear protective clothing
      
   
   
   3. Use sunscreen
      


2. Do not smoke (it is not only bad for skin; it is bad for the lung, heart and any other organs).
   


3. 
   
   Treat skin gently
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Limit bath time
      
   
   
   2. Avoid strong soaps
      
   
   
   3. Shave carefully
      
   
   
   4. Pat dry
      
   
   
   5. Moisturize dry skin
      


4. 
   
   Eat a healthy diet
   
   
   
   
   
   1. Plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grain and lean proteins
      


5. Manage Stress
   

Top 4 Sunscreen (consumer research.com)

• Neutrogena ultra sheer dry-touch sunblock SPF 55
  


• No-ad sunblock lotion SPF45
  


• Blue Lizard Sunscreen Sensitive SPF30+ (for sensitive skin and babies)
  


• Banana Boat Sport Performance Dri-Blok Sunblock lotion SPF30.
  

UV protective swimsuits are available for children and adults.

Best facial moisturizers (consumer research.com)

• Olay Regnerist UV defense regenerating lotion (SPF 15)
  


• Aveeno ultra-calming daily moisturizer SPF 15
  


• Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing gel
  


• Neutrogena healthy skin anti-wrinkle cream
  


• Revale Skin Night Cream
  

A Play Date

Twins always have each other and it does not take practice to build “friendships”. The friendships between twins have been built-in by birth. I had wondered if my twins can acquire other friends as naturally as they did to each other.

When they were newborns, I often put them side by side next to each other. They always looked at each other, touched each other, exchanged hand signals and some simple vocal expressions. When I put them with other babies, they stared at other babies quietly and they usually tried to move themselves close to their own brother. When the twins were 10 months old, they had a play date with a girl in the neighborhood who is 8 months older. As soon as the girl tried to grab Tom’s clothes, with a horrified expression on his face, Tom immediately leaned onto and grabbed his brother. It became evident that they always looked for each other after they were able to express themselves by talking or pointing. They liked being together.

It is wonderful that they have each other all the time but it is important for them to have other friends. Friendship is important to a child’s social and mental development and parents have responsibility to help their child to develop relationship and interpersonal skills.

Do twins have the same friends? So far, most of time it has been the case to my two; they have shared common friends. Although my children are fraternal twins, who have different interests and personalities, in a small class setting, they do not have too many choices for their friends. The “persons” in the proximity become their common friends. This may change later as they grow up.

I asked the daycare teachers to see if my children play with other kids, and the answers before two were: All the kids in their class play by themselves, they may play next to other kids but they do not actually interact with one another. Because the twins were so used to share toys with other, in a group setting, they seemed to position themselves well and felt comfortable with all the babies around them. In addition, they had no problem to share toys with others.
The answers after two are different; children at age of two are well aware of their surroundings. They start to play with others, and socialize with their classmates:

• The twins play with each other a lot, so teachers separate them in different playing groups sometime.
• They play with other kids, both girls and boys.
• They have their own play buddies.
• The twins hug each other at School and show affections for their own brother.
  

The answers from my children were not quite the same as those from teachers.

• They do play with girls but they prefer playing with boys because girls like jewelries.
  
• They have the same best friend but they also play with other different friends.
  
• They cannot play with their own brother because their friends get mad.

After attending several birthday parties and a few of play dates, now they are fully aware of “parties” and would like to have many parties of their own. I asked them whom I should invite for their play date; the answer has been “All of them”. We invited all their friends for their birthday. Since two of them only have one birthday per year, so we add an annual “run around” party for every little friends. For play dates, I have to let them narrow down to 2-3 little friends or it becomes a “big project” to take care of. Sometime, even 2 friends only were invited but friends’ siblings do often attend.

Given the differences in eating, food preference and medical conditions between families, there is a procedure for a successful play date at home.

• Send invitations, clearly print the time (from when to when) and request RSVP.
  
• Talk to the parents before the parties to figure out
  
• Dietary preference, especially some of the little friends have allergies to nuts or eggs.
  
• Favor activities: so we can plan some fun activities for all the attendees.
  
• Will their siblings come? The accurate head count is important and it had better to know in advance.
  
• Get children involved. Discuss with your children to see what they have in mind for the party.
  
• Prepare for the party (food, toys, utensils, cleaning, hiding breakable stuffs and things your kids do not want to share etc; prepare food and drink for other parents).
  
• Clean house with your children.
  
• Get some rest before the party.
  
• Party day: Safety first. Run around, have fun and laugh a lot. Provide enough drink and food. Toddlers/preschoolers can be unhappy if they are thirsty or hungry.
• Tell children that they will have another party again only when they do well at school and at home.
  
• Clean house with your children.

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Party supply on-line stores:
Partycheap
Oriental Trading
Party supplies net
Discount party supplies warehouse
Partypro

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Wii video games

The TOP 10 Wii games recommended for family by Edutaining Kids.com are:

• Animal Crossing: City Folk
  
  
  • De Blob
    
  • Super Mario Galaxy
    
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
  
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  
• Zack and Wiki Quest for Barbaro's Treasure
  
  
  • Guitar Hero III
    
    

    
    

• Wario Ware Smooth Moves
  
• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
  
• Mario Party 8
  
• High School Musical Sing it Bundle with Microphone
  
• Smarty Pants
  
• Cosmic Family
  

Recommended Lists for families from Common Sense Media (All ages)

• Disney Think Fast (Wii)
  
• Active Life: Outdoor Challenge (Wii)
  
• Game Party 2 (Wii)
  
• Let's Tap (Wii)
  
• Hasbro Family Game Night (playstation, Mac/windows/wii/Nintendo DS, Xbox360)
  
• Wii Sports resort (Wii)
  
• Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party 2 (Wii)
  
• Buzz Quiz TV (Playstation)
  
• Guitar Hero: World tour (Playstaion, Xbox and Wii)
  

My kids' choices are:

Wubbzy's underwater adventure

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• Wii sports
  
• Indiana Jones
  
• Mini-ninjas
  
• Diego dinosaurs rescue
  
• Team Umizoomi
  
• Nintendo DS: mini games

Dilemmas in Playing Video Games

We, as parents, had some interesting discussions with our relatives and daycare teachers because we allowed our four- year old playing Indiana Jones (Wii) video game. Similar to the movies, Indiana Jones and his pals need to run around to seek for treasures and explore all the mysteries to solve the puzzles. In many occasions, they would need to defeat enemies, avoid dangers and check every possible clue. The recommended age for the game is ten and older.

To us, properly playing video game actually poses a good exercise for young kids to develop problem-solving ability, practice the hand-eye coordination and refine their motor skills. At the same, the little ones can have some fun. One of my twins (Tom) loves video game and his brother who does not like playing the game, but he enjoys watching the story and actions. We restrict the play time is 45 minutes at most and he can play the game only when he does well in the daycare and he remembers the spelling of today's new word. To Tom, playing video game is a reward for his good behaviors.

The counter arguments from daycare teachers on video games are:

• The Indiana Jones Video game is too violent for four years old; it displays too many explosives and battles.
  
• He has video games in his mind and does not want to play other things at school.
  

The counter arguments from my relatives on the video games are:

• Video games are bad for their eyes.


• They may become addicted to video games.


• There are other activities better than video games.
  
  
  

I a kind of agree all of above, but I do see the improvement of Tom on verbal expression, attention span, team building and fine motor skills after he started playing the video game. The boy is only paying attention to the things he likes and ignores most of thing which he is not interested in. He wants to be alone at school if the circle time is not interesting to him and he does not want to be involved. I had a few of conversations with teachers on his stubbornness. My husband does not think that the Indiana Jones video game is any more violent than some of the superhero cartoons shown on TV. He also claimed that he played video games as well when he was a child and there were no bad effects. I need to support his points, because my husband is so clam and patient. He is nerdy and he does play "Halo". Tom did much better at school after we rewarded him to play video games; he is good at school because it is only way he can play the game. It may be O.K. if we monitor his progress and control the playing times. Also we provide them plenty of activities after school and on weekends, such as swimming classes, sport lessons, play dates with little friends, museum visits (including, Aquarium, Museum of Science, and Children's museum). Maybe too many activities sometime, my children want to be at home only to get some rest.

Can video games improve learning, motor skills? A study led by assistant professor of psychology and computer science, Paul Schrater, in University of Minnesota in 2007 said " Yes". The excitement and fun that we experience in action video games can engage learning in a way that other things do not. It could take thousand times to try if people are learning in boring ways, in contrast, the process speeds up if it is fun. On the other hand, some experts said video game addiction can be a dangerous problem for gamers who start playing early in their childhood. Compulsive video gaming is a psychological disorder. No parents want to see this happens.

We, as parents, will need to monitor closely on children's "video game behavior" and work with them to develop their other many interests. Tom likes playing video games but he also like to play assemble toys, tools, ride his bicycle, go to museum of science and go hiking. As long as playing video game is only one of his many activities, he can always have fun and learn something at the same time.

Oracles Have Spoken??

I am amazed with how much a four-year old actually understands. The Senate race between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts was intensive and had attracted national attentions. People living in Massachusetts had received endless phone calls from both campaigns in the last few days, so did we. My children noticed right away that we were not answering the phone calls, and asked why? I tried to explain that they were "telemarketing" calls and we did not want to talk to a machine. I did not realize that they had been listening to the phone messages until they asked me: Who is Martha (they cannot pronounce "Coakley")? Who is Scott Brown? Who is senate? What is voting? …

To answer all the questions, I showed them the campaign websites for both candidates (Brown; Coakley) and went over some videos in each site with them. My children were patient and watched the video clips. At the end, I asked them: Who do you like better? Who will win? Rarely, they agreed with each other. Unanimously this time, they liked Scott Brown better and Scott would win. Why?

Some views from two 4-year old are listed below:

• The big truck Brown has which he had driven everywhere in Massachusetts.
  
• The Christmas video in which Brown family including a dog said merry Christmas to the viewers.

• Brown smiled a lot in the videos, and he may play with them.

• The phone recordings for Brown were easier to listen.

• They understand the word, "People", and they do not understand the word, "Kennedy".

• It seemed that Martha is unlikely to play with them.

• There are too many people in Martha's videos?
• The phone recordings for Martha were boring.
• No object is interesting in the Martha's videos they watch.
  

Gee, my kids are very opinionated. They clearly learnt something from this senate race because they asked me last night if vote and boat rhyme. They also realized that senate is a kind of " job".

The opinions from 4-year old may mean nothing. But it is a fact that kids are honest and they speak from their heart. Kids may have better ability than adults in face recognition and different optical response. No matter what it is, it is apparently to them that Scott Brown ran a better "campaign" to them, and to most independent voters.

Reduce dust mites-induced allergy and eczema

Dust mites are a major cause of asthmas and allergies, eighty percent of allergy and asthma sufferers are reactive to them. Dust mites are small tiny insets, belong to arachnid family. The arachnid family also includes spiders, scorpions, harvestman, chiggers and ticks. The dust mites are very small (0.3 millimeters in length) which cannot be seen by naked eyes. They live on dead skins regularly shed from humans and pets, and they absorb water from humidity in the air. They love warm (70 F and 21 C) and humid environments (70%). In most homes, bedding, upholstered furniture and carpeting provide a comfortable home for dust mites.

The dust mites themselves are harmless and they do not carry diseases. The fecal pellet and decaying bodies from the dust mites are the main causes of allergy. Compared to other house allergens (feathers, fungus spores..), the fecal pellet is relatively dense and does not float in the air. Direct contact of dust mites' feces through toys, bed, furniture, carpet and pillow can cause allergy. The common symptoms are: sneezing, running nose, itch eyes and other signs and symptoms associated with hay fever. It also causes inflammation of contraction of airways of the lungs that leads to asthma. See a doctor if signs and symptoms of dust mite allergy are severe.

A list of thing can reduce house dust mites (eczemaallergy.net)

• 
  
  
  Use hypoallergic mattress protector or foam/latex mattress
  



• 
  
  
  Bed linen: wash at high temperature once a week at least.
  



• 
  
  
  Furniture: Leather sofa collects less dust. Wash covers of upholstered furniture and curtains.
  



• 
  
  
  High efficiency (HEPA) filtration vacuum. Vacuum cleaners for allergy sufferers.
  



• 
  
  
  Freeze toys for a few hours to kill dust mites.
  



• 
  
  
  Use an air cleaner to reduce allergens in the air.
  



• 
  
  
  Use dehumidifier to reduce humidity (less than 70%).
  



• 
  
  
  Do not use carpet.
  



• 
  
  
  Use anti-dust mite carpet spary to clean the carpet: tannic acid-based chemicals can neutralize the dust mites protein.
  
  
  
  

  
  

Eczema Outbreaks

Winter is bad for skin, especially for babies who have most sensitive skin. The dry indoor air and freezing outdoor temperature can cause eczema, as known as atopic dermatitis, characterized by redness, itchy and the outbreak of lesions (wordnik.com)(Cleveland Clinic). The cause of eczema is unknown and it has been suggested that immune system plays an important role. Eczema needs to be diagnosed by physicians and both over-the-counter and prescription treatments are available (medicine net).

Management of eczema or dry itch skin includes:

• See Pediatrician if there are signs of infection (Eczema Net).
  
  
  
  • Honey-colored crusting and pus-filled blisters.
    
  
  
  • Redness
    
  
  
  • Swelling/inflammation
    
  
  
  • Fever
    
  
  
  • Lesions that resemble cold sores or fever blisters.
    
    
    



• Drink enough water and avoid dehydration.
  
  
  

  
  

• Short bath: 10 minutes, and apply moisturizer immediately after bath as recommended.
  
• Mild soaps: cetaphil and oilatum AD
  
  
  
• Lukewarm water (NOT hot water): 90-100 degree F.
  
  
• Use tissue with moisturizing lotion for wiping the nose: such as, Puffs plus with Lotion Soothes.
  
  

• Do NOT overheat your baby by dressing them in too many layers. They prefer colder temperature comparing to adults.


• Wear cotton clothing only: wool or other scratchy fabric can induce irritation.

• Wash clothes with a detergent –free cleanser such as Dreft Laundry detergent.
  
  
  

  
  

• Do not use dryer sheets. They leave an irritating film on clothing (Dr. Reddy.com).
  

• Use Humidifier (45-55%).
  
  


• Avoid scratching: scratching makes skin red and inflamed. Scatching can break the skin and incrase the risk of infection (Staphylococcus aureus). It can become a vicious cycle if scratching and rash persist. Keep fingernails short for your kids.
  
  


• Bleach baths: Bleach baths used once or twice a week (WebMD), can keep recurrence of staphylococcus infections.


• Avoid house dust mites: Eczema sufferers have dead skin which provides food supply for the dust mites.
  
  

A list of thing can reduce house dust mites (eczemaallergy.net)

• Hypoallergic mattress protector or foam/latex mattress
  


• Bed linen: wash at high temperature once a week at least.
  


• Furniture: Leather sofa collects less dust. Wash covers and curtains.
  


• Vacuum cleaners for allergy sufferers.
  


• Freeze toys for a few hours to kill dust mites.
  

• Apply cortisone anti-itch cream
  

Some eczema may caused by food allergy. Figure out the source of allergy and avoid eating them.

Yum-Yum Birthday Cake

Yum-Yum cake recipes

Taste of home

Birthday cake Boston (Yelp.com)

Bake me a wish

Cakes by Terri (Cambridge, Natick MA)

159 Charles Street
Cambridge, MA 02141

(617) 576-2097

Yum Bunnies Cakery (Belmont, MA)

241 Belmont St
Belmont, MA 02478

(617) 484-3300

Royal Pastry Shop (Cambridge, MA)

738 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02141

(617) 547-2053

Lilly's Café and French Bakery (Watertown)

71 Arlington St
Watertown, MA 02472

(617) 926-2312

Yi-Soon Bakery (Brighton)

Neighborhood: Allston/Brighton
112 Brighton Ave
(between Harvard Ave & Linden St)
Allston, MA 02134

(617) 254-3099

Eldo Cake House (Boston)

36 Harrison Ave
Boston, MA 02111

(617) 350-7977

The Icing on the Cake (Newton)

230 Adams Street
Newton, MA 02458

(617) 969-1830

Danish Pastry House (Medford, MA)

330 Boston Ave
Medford, MA 02155

(781) 396-8999

Penzey's spices (Arlington, MA)

1293 Massachusetts Ave
Arlington, MA 02474

(781) 646-7707

Pieces A. European Pastry Shop (Natick MA)

160 W Central St
Natick, MA 01760

(508) 651-0500

Lumiere (Newton, MA)

1293 Washington St
Newton, MA 02465

(617) 244-9199

Boys will be Boys

My children were born two minutes apart. One had the two minutes by himself, but the rest of time, he has always had his brother. Both of them have received the same teaching, played with the same toys, heard the same conversations and grown up in the same environment. Still, they are very different. They enjoy playing different games. They like different animals and sports. They are just very different. Environment and parenting may help to shape their development but still many things are encoded in their genes.

Boys will be boys. It is hard to argue about it. At six months of age, as soon as they could crawl, my boys could not wait to touch the objects that they have been longing for. One wanted to touch the mechanical dinosaur we bought for my nephew, the other wanted to touch his Grandfather's antique gun mounted on the wall. At one year of age, they loved playing with toy cars and fire engines. Without knowing anything about Star Wars, at age of eighteen months, they would stare at Star War toys including the Darth Vader's mask and Jedi light sabers in the toy store. Even though we did not encourage them to play with swords or guns, at the age of two, they still engaged in sword fights using fallen sticks from trees. Now, they just chop me off using their retractable sausage arms.

Once in a while, I try to trick them to see if they want a pink walking dog or cat; the answers have consistently been NO. These days, they would laugh and tell me," Mommy, those are for girls". I complain their messy eating style, and the boys would explain: it is becuase they are chuck-chuck beavers.

They picked out the Wii Indiana Jones game without having watched any of the Indiana Jones movies. They had never watched a Bakugan cartoon, but they wanted the Bakugan battle brawlers they saw in stores. They wander around and around in aisles containing toy cars, trucks, and action figures and never walk into the aisles with dolls or crafts, not even once. We cannot watch any adult TV programs unless they are about animals, cars, machines or building.

In the Home Depot, they will sit on the riding tractors for hours if I let them. They like to go to the electronic stores with Daddy to look at the big screen TVs and other gadgets. It was funny to watch three of them sit comfortably in front of a big screen TV in one of the local furniture stores; they even put their feet up like Daddy and fought for the remote control with Daddy. As they grow up, it is sad for me to think that they may not want to have anything to do with Mommy. They have already decided not to go to the supermarket with Mommy at the age of three. In addition, they have shown no patience for Mommy if I go shopping for clothes.

They are still so young but it is very evident that many of their behaviors are encoded in their genes. I do not need to tell them, nor does Daddy need to. They have known what they want for a long time and we can only assist the process of development.