Some great reads for the weekend:

Anne Marie has lovely ideas for celebrating St Patrick’s Day with your kids.  Great time to reinforce the color green – try painting the drawings different shades of green each.

Picky eater?   JoLynn Braley at The Fit Shack has tips to help get your child to eat healthier.

For those of you looking forward to beautiful spring in your part of the world, (summer is creeping up on us here) Workout Mommy has great ideas to involve your kids in spring time exercises.   Great ways to combine Mommy time with some exercise for yourself!

And finally, these pics at Blonde Mom Blog had me racing to find my boy’s old photos for an afternoon of nostalgia.  All the more reason to cherish them – because they grow up so fast.  Sigh.

Enjoy!

Hi, and welcome to all who’ve dropped by from 5 Minutes for Mom!

I am Shabana, and I am a 35 year old WAHM. I have a fairly humdrum kind of existence with my husband and our wonderful seven year old boy, and I like it that way. I love to read, write (I am a freelance writer when I am not blogging), and watch Johnny Depp movies.

The PreSchool Mama (which is where you are right now) is a labor of love that I began in December of last year. I used to be a Montessori preschool teacher, and blogging seemed like the perfect way to share what I’ve learned with other moms, and educate myself further in the process.

If you have toddlers or preschoolers, I hope you’ll look around the site, and find something that you could use with your child. Check out the Best of PreSchool Mama page for standalone articles that are informative and useful.

If you don’t have preschoolers, well, stay a while anyway, and share some of your wisdom with me!

It wouldn’t be much of a party without a few guffaws, so before you leave, here’s something to make you smile.

Enjoy!

Onward with my weekly search for the best mom advice from the blogosphere.   It’s a shorter list this week, but more than worth checking out.

First up, Char has a list of 30 foods that your orthodontist hates – you’ll recognize most of these on your preschooler’s favorites.  Just because he still has his milk teeth is no reason not to take care of that gorgeous smile.

Next, the talented Lis Garrett has some thoughts on preventing toddler tantrums .  These make perfect sense for preschoolers too, so the next time you’re in the middle of a  ear drum shattering meltdown, you might want to check back on Lis’s list to see if you’re making these mistakes.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting The Ultimate Blog Party 2008, and everyone’s invited.  Many of my friends in the blogosphere are coming, and I can’t wait for the chance to meet up with new mom bloggers!

If you’d like to participate, just click on the hot pink party widget on the right hand side of your screen.

See you there!

This weekend, I thought I’d point you to a few other terrific resources for your preschoolers (and you!)

First up, the wonderful Gayla at Supernanny Rules wants your man. Relax, she only needs you to send in a picture of your “big kid” if you think he deserves to be hottie of the year. Great prizes to be won! Get your cameras out.

Megan at Imaginif talks about getting your child to express his feeling – great tips, and easy to practise.

The very fit (I am so envious) Cindy at Go Workout Mom has easy ways to get your preschoolers to exercise while having fun.

Dread meal time fussiness? The super organized Planning Queen writes about things you can do make meal times enjoyable.

Last but not least, Tami at Speech Therapy Web has 101 Ways to Encourage Kids.

Enjoy!

First up, take a look at this great math link I found while Stumbling. It’s got sections right from kindergarten up to Grade 6. The preschool section is terrific, and really easy to use. If your preschooler has no experience with a mouse, this might be a good chance to teach her to point and click.

Now to the next item on the agenda, and this one’s for you. I am apparently one of the last people on the planet to see this terrific video. Better late than never! It’s a condensed version of what a mom would say in 24 hours, and it’s hilarious! I’ve also posted the lyrics below the video (thanks to Crystal from the WAHM forums!) Listen closely, and you might hear yourself!

Enjoy!

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Lyrics

Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepyhead
Here’s your clothes and your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now! Get up and make your bed
Are you hot? Are you cold?
Are you wearing that?
Where’s your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and gloves and your scarf and hat
Don’t forget! You gotta feed the cat
Eat your breakfast, the experts tell us it’s the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at 3 today
Don’t forget your piano lesson is this afternoon so you must play
Don’t shovel
Chew slowly
But hurry
The bus is here
Be careful
Come back here
Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside, don’t play rough, will you just play fair?
Be polite, make a friend, don’t forget to share
Work it out, wait your turn, never take a dare
Get along! Don’t make me come down there
Clean your room, fold your clothes, put your stuff away
Make your bed, do it now, do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay?
Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone! Get off the phone!
Don’t sit so close, turn it down, no texting at the table
No more computer time tonight!
Your iPod’s my iPod if you don’t listen up
Where are you going and with whom and what time do you think you’re coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You’ll appreciate my wisdom someday when you’re older and you’re grown
Can’t wait till you have a couple little children of your own
You’ll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now I thank you not to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew, would appreciate
Take a bite maybe two of the stuff you hate
Use your fork, do not burp or I’ll set you straight
Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, get the door, don’t get smart with me
Get a grip, get in here, I’ll count to three
Get a job, get a life, get a PHD
Get a dose of,
“I don’t care who started it!
You’re grounded until you’re 36″
Get your story straight and tell the truth for once, for heaven’s sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump, too?
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said at least a thousand times before
That you’re too old to act this way
It must be your father’s DNA
Look at me when I am talking
Stand up straighter when you walk
A place for everything and everything must be in place
Stop crying or I’ll give you something real to cry about
Oh!
Brush your teeth, wash your face, put your PJs on
Get in bed, get a hug, say a prayer with mom
Don’t forget, I love you
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom’s work never ends
You don’t need the reason why
Because, because, because, because
I said so, I said so, I said so, I said so
I’m the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom!!

This little girl’s parents are so pissed.

3 year Leonie Terry walked out of her school in Manchester England, managed to cross four streets on her own before a passerby spotted the lone preschooler and escorted her safely back.

The school, in question, Aspinal School in Manchester, apparently had their gates left open, and little Leonie who didn’t quite fancy the pork chops they were serving for lunch, decided to go off home, and get herself a more appetizing meal.

According to the beleaguered school which is being attacked vociferously by the girl parents and child safety experts, they have recently installed high routines and perimeter fencing to ensure kids’ safety.

Umm…News flash, Aspinal. 3 year old kids are more likely to walk through open doors, than vault over 8 foot high fences. Jeez.

If this was my child, heads would have been rolling by now.

Here are 14 reasons for for you to get to work building on your preschooler’s alphabet and word skills, pronto!

Watch at your own risk.

Here’s a cool magic trick for when your child is bored!

Take some milk in a pan, add some drops of food color (different colors) at the side of the pan and then squirt in a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid in the center.

Enjoy!

A hotel in Scotland reports that the weirdest thing that guests left behind this year was a 4 year old boy. Apparently, the boy’s parents had a family party to attend, and were completely flustered on their way out of the hotel. When they realized they were missing their flesh and blood, they turned right around in panic and back to the hotel room where they found their son – still playing with his toys, and none the wiser (which is a good thing.)

I refuse to go tsk tsk here. Just yesterday, we went on a family picnic to a nearby wildlife park with my husband’s entire family. There were 4 cars and every time we stopped for a toilet break, the kids would change cars. When we left at around 6 pm, it was getting pretty dark, and in all the flurry of getting back, I began to panic that my son wasn’t in any of the cars. A couple of high decibel hysteria packed minutes later, we got out, took a roll call, found my son in one of the other cars, and were then on our way. Happy ending, thankfully!
I don’t find it strange that they had a momentary attack of amnesia where their son was concerned – it happens to the best of us. What I found weird was that they didn’t realize he was missing even when they were in their car, and starting off!

Back to the story, and what other things have people been leaving behind in hotel rooms? I love this one – an urn full of ashes.

I am guessing someone didn’t want her mother in law sitting on her mantle.