Category: Parenting

Dealing with the ups and downs of raising toddlers

Tub Time!

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What do you get when you mix shaving cream, food coloring, paintbrushes, tiny hands, and a bath tub?  A rainbow shaving cream paint artist, of course!

I’ve been dying to try this new idea I found online and it was a hit!  It’s ridiculously easy, too!  Grab a silicon muffin pan, some shaving cream, food coloring, and a paintbrush or two, create some shaving cream paint, and let your toddler put some color on those white bathroom tile walls!  Just another way to encourage that creative streak in your little one.  Give it a try and enjoy!

One paintbrush wasn’t nearly enough for my little guy!

A rainbow of colors

Pictures? I’m trying to paint here!

Don’t Be That Parent

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What, have we as parents, become, when actions we take to see our children succeed are so competitive and aggressive that they result in communities canceling Easter egg hunts?  As I was planning an Easter party for Logan and his friends last week, I ran across this article on NPR:  Easter Egg Hunt Canceled Due To Aggressive Parents.  Just yesterday, I read a similar account of a local Easter egg hunt my cousins attended with their three-year old in Alexandria, Virginia:  Easter Eggs or Bust.

Parental aggression is now commonplace at youth sporting events (and if you aren’t in the loop about that, here’s an article:  “Being a Good Sports Parent“) — which is bad enough — but c’mon folks, Easter egg hunts?  Do we really need the media to remind us of how we should behave at childrens’ sporting events?  Or worse, for communities to cancel traditional holiday festivities because we have begun to ruin them for our children?  Parents staking out an hour ahead of time to scope out the landscape, looking for an edge to get their kids more eggs?    Parents jumping fences and crossing lines into kids-only areas to pick up additional Easter loot for their children?  It’s so ridiculous, it’s almost comical.  This Easter, I urge you not to be that parent.  And with that, I leave you with some photos of an Easter party Logan hosted this year . . . and yes, each of the children scored at least one egg during the calm and collected inner city hunt.

Activity of the Week: Kinderjam for Charity

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Looking for something to do with your little one(s) Wednesday morning, April 4? What better than singing and dancing. learning about colors and numbers, and socializing with others – all the while supporting charity?

Kinderjam instructor Ami Park is hosting a Kinderjam class on April 4 at 10am at the Trinity Complex (Chong Nonsi BTS) from which all proceeds go to Smiles on Wings, a non-profit mobile dental clinic that provides free services to hill tribe children in Northern Thailand.

What a great way to start your morning – and what a great way to begin to teach your children about the importance of giving to others.  Hope you’ll join in the fun!

For more information, Contact Ms. Ami at ms.ami@kinderjam.com

Pimped Out Buses and Reggaeton

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Logan is a huge fan of buses.  He loves cars, but I mean he ADORES buses.  I’m not entirely sure what the appeal of a school bus is over, say a Porsche or a Aston Martin , but whatever it is, it’s powerful.  As I mentioned in a previous post, he loves to sit with Daddy every night and watch pimped car slide shows on youtube.  His favorite slides show showcases the pimped out Cadillac school bus shown below.

Hopefully Logan won't be too upset in a few years when he realizes his school bus doesn't quite look like this . . .

The number of times we have had to rewind or pause the slide show to catch that two-second snapshot of the school bus is in the hundreds.  So, in honor of Logan’s adoration of buses, Walter went online to find the most awesome, pimped out school bus images imaginable.  He then made a slide show of the buses and set it to Reggaeton.  For you and/or your child’s viewing pleasure, here is the result:  Crazy School Buses.  Enjoy!

What? You’re Telling Me I Can’t Get an Epidural?!

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For those mamas soon-to-deliver in Bangkok, I thought I’d shed some light on a recent rumor that’s going around about hospitals changing their policies on epidurals, and in some cases, the inability to get epidurals at all.  With an impending delivery on the way myself, you better believe I wanted to get to the bottom of what is really happening before Baby Girl Braunohler makes her debut in May.  I heard everything from – “women haven’t been able to get epidurals” to “more women are choosing c-sections” to “once you have an epidural, the anesthesiologist stays in the room with you the entire time through delivery, and you now pay based on the amount of time you are in labor with an epidural (instead of a set fee for having an epidural).”  I held out until 7cm to get an epidural when I was in labor with Logan, but I can tell you that I would not have wanted to know what the final 3cm + pitocin + pushing and final delivery would have felt like without it.  So, yes, when the time comes, I better be able to get an epidural if I want one.

According to my OB,  sixteen years ago, a women in labor at Samitivej Hospital died of an amniotic fluid embolism, a very rare condition that is almost always fatal.  The anesthesiologist who had administered her epidural was able to reach her in about one minute, however her rapidly deteriorating situation could not be reversed and she died quickly.  Last month, the judge rendered a decision on the case (yes, after 16 years!) and found the medical team to be at fault for not attending to the woman sooner.  As a result, all anesthesiologists in the city went on strike — and if you happened to deliver on that unlucky day or two last month, an epidural would have been very difficult to come by.  Because of the decision, hospitals quickly realized they needed to “take care of their own,” and each one restructured their policies and protocol for anesthesiologists working in labor and maternity wards.  As I will be delivering at Bumrungrad, the hospital has now hired an anesthesiologist to be present in the labor and maternity ward at all times.  In the event that you have an epidural and then have to deliver via c-section, you will be taken to the operating room and handled by a second anesthesiologist for the c-section.   This means that you will pay double the doctor’s fees for anesthesia, since the delivery will require two anesthesiologists instead of one.  I understand from other mothers that have/are delivering at Samitivej, if you are administered an epidural, the anesthesiologist must remain with you in the room through delivery.  You will then pay anesthesiologist fees based on the length of time you were in labor with an epidural instead of a set price for having an epidural.  I’m not sure about BNH or other hospitals in town, but if you know, please do share.

I hope this clears up some confusion surrounding why hospitals’ policies and pricing are changing.  One less thing to worry about during labor and delivery certainly makes for a more calm mama!