My daughter Maria turned 5 years old the other day. When she woke up that morning, she straightened her legs and said, “Ma, my legs are long.” I asked her why? She said, “I am five years old today, and I am a big girl.” She had a surprised expression, and her eyes were big as well. As her birthday drew near, she didn’t want to be called a baby anymore. I call her many names like honey, sweetheart, darling or baby. But when I call her baby, she says “Don’t call me baby.” She doesn’t understand that I am just using sweet terms of endearment, so instead of calling her a baby, I ...

It’s a big challenge for me to cut Bianca’s hair. I prefer her hair to be short, so that I will not have to cut it as often and to keep it away from her face and eyes. My husband was disappointed when he came back from work, and her bangs were short, because I cut it short again. He said, “Bianca looks like a boy and it looks pitiful”. I think bangs are great for toddlers. Bianca’s hair is very hard to manage, because I would have to tie her hair with something every time I would put her air up. When eating, sometimes she would pull them all out, and her hair would get foods in it an...

In a few weeks from now, the Pre-Kindergarten school year will be over; and next week we will already apply for Kindergarten. We have learned that there are a lot of plans to be made; and it takes a lot of preparation, so that we will not be late with all the requirements. We had a teacher and parents’ conference over one month ago to talk about my daughter Maria’s development in the school; this was the first time, and I didn’t know what to expect, so I was a little worried about it. The teacher discussed with us about Maria’s progress and what she needs to improve on; overall, it was...

From the day my daughter, Maria, was born, we have been sleeping and sharing one bed together. Now that she is almost five years old, I have trained her to sleep by herself in her own bedroom. It has now been about two months ago, since she started sleeping in her bedroom alone. It was hard for me to separate her from me, because we have been sleeping together each night for a long time. I had almost finished buying all the things that I needed to put in Maria’s bedroom; after about one week, from the day we moved into our house, I purchased most of the things for her room. She was very ex...

For toddlers, watching television for many hours is not good. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics it is recommended that no more than one hour of television per day should be allowed for children of ages 2 and up. My daughter Bianca loves to watch television, especially for her favorite shows such as Dora, Blues Clues, Super Why, Word World and Barney the Dinosaur. The last is her most recent favorite. During weekdays, she never misses watching the Super Why and Word World programs on the television. She is always at home though, and it would be very boring and lonely for her if...

About a month ago, my daughter Maria had her booster shots and other immunizations for preparation to enter kindergarten. She had her vision, hearing and blood screening tests too. She already had a hearing test the day she was born, but I don’t know why they did it again; it must be because they want to know that she will be able to hear the teacher. I also have heard that some schools will require this screening annually for each student from kindergarten to the 8th grade. One the same day, just before her scheduled appointment, there was a career day at her pre-K school. She said, she...