Seeing as  am the mother of a  toddler, it makes perfect sense that this is the book on my nightstand, doesn’t it? It was actually given to me by a friend who now has a 4-year old and is well on her way OUT of this phase. I resisted reading it for a few weeks,( I try to stick to non-fiction “educational material”), but the other night when my partner called me from “THE MOST GORGEOUS HOTEL ROOM IN VEGAS”, and I was in our king-sized bed with our 2 girls, I decided to surrender to my domestic bliss and picked up this read. LOVED IT! Hilarious. Any mother with toddlers out there will do well to pick up a copy of this book. I actually went to the library today and picked up her teen book for my daughter and “Knocked up”, her book on pregnancy for myself.

It seems this photo of John Gebhardt has been circulating since 2006, but I just received it today. The image of humanity and of hope. According to John Gebhardts wife, Mindy, this small girls whole family  including the children was executed by the insurgents in Iraq. Miraculously she survived after being shot in the head and was cared for in a military hospital. John had the magic touch with her and was able to comfort her when she woke screaming and groaning. According to the article he spent 4 days and nights comforting her and sleeping in this chair with her on his chest, close to his heart. A tragic story tempered with promise  and faith in mankind. It is an image that I won’t ever forget. Yet when I think about it, isn’t his action one we all would embrace? Wouldn’t you do the same?

Can our kids get any more inquisitive? They are natural born yogi’s, we learn from them!
No one asked little Talulah Belle to do this pose, she just mimicked and it turned out to be such a special moment.
I would like to create an abundance of “yoga moments” with you and your children, and am leading a class for you with your child ages 0-5 starting next Tuesday Jan.12th 2010.
Class will be held at the Alchemy Center #3-431 Mountain Hwy in North Vancouver on Tuesdays from 9.30-10.30 am. The aim is for parents of tiny ones to get a practice in while babes rest on blankets, mats , or in seats, while the older children participate with us.
I will run the class on a drop-in basis for the first 5 weeks, and as a signed up course after the Olympics.
Please see my schedule on my website for more information.

email me for further info  dhana@dhana.ca

My friend Tamara told me about the Good Stuff Connection Clothing Program in North Vancouver and I shop/donate there whenever possible. I was in the other day, when this book “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” by James and Phyllis Balch jumped out at me. It is a classic, well researched book that should be a part of everyone’s library. The price tag on it was $1.50, unbelievable. Snatched that one right up, and will be making a New Years donation to Sage Transition house next week. Here is some further information.

The Good Stuff Connection Clothing Program ensures that clean, good quality clothing, shoes, personal items and small household goods donated by the public are provided free of charge to women and children staying at SAGE Transition House and to men, women and children referred by other community social service agencies.  The Good Stuff Connection is funded by donations from the community as well as the sales revenue from the Thrift Shop portion of the program.

Donations currently being accepted include:  gently worn men’s, women’s and children’s clothing items and accessories, books, toys, and essential household items (such as towels, linens, glassware, cutlery, dishes, pots and pans).  Toiletry items for SAGE Transition House are also accepted, as well as bus tickets (two zone and concession), grocery gift certificates and entertainment gift certificates for the women and children who are staying at SAGE Transition House.

Donations are accepted Tuesday to Friday from 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm and Saturdays from 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm at the front door of The Good Stuff Connection, 154 West 3rd Street, North Vancouver, BC  V7M 1E8 (North side of the street between Lonsdale Avenue and Chesterfield.  For further information, please call our recorded message at 604.987.1773.  The Good Stuff Connection is closed on all statutory holidays

I’ve seen friends tandem breastfeeding, but never a baby and a fawn! How lovely. I am a HUGE breastfeeding advocate and this picture describes compassion beautifully.

Last night , just before my little toddler Talulah’s bedtime, my family was all piled onto my daughters bed, uner her mosquito net. I was working on a yoga article I am writing for a Tennis Mag, my 12 year old and my partner were checking out the latest cell phones online, Tutu, as we call her, was snuggling in with us giggling. It was perfect.

All of the sudden Tutu got off the bed, and before anyone noticed, she had poured a thermos of boiling peppermint tea all over her face, mouth, neck and chest. This tea had just been poured, it was, literally boiling.

I am an excellent mother, these things don’t happen to me or my loved ones. But it did, and the moment demanded complete dharana, concentration.

I used to work in film and held my Occupational First Aid Level 3, but it was a long time ago, and when it is one’s baby, emotions take over.

Ambulance or not? How bad is it? She was crying, good sign. Then her skin , all over, began peeling and blistering, bad sign. Cold compresses on, blanket around her we dove into the car.

Car seat? No way, she’s burnt all over. Keep her in my lap and break the law endangering us even further? definately. She went into shock, and boy was I glad when we streaked into emergency.

I was in my slippers, didn’t have my wallet or any ID. Thank God I’d given birth at that hospital 12 years ago and I was still in the system.

While we were waiting to be seen a family came in, carrying a very sick 6 year old girl. H1N1. We sat there facing one another, that families face wearing masks, mine in tears. Instant empathy and community formed there, out of necessity.

Tutu has first and second degree burns to her chest, tummy, throat, mouth and right side of her face. She will be alright though. The nurses applied an antibiotic mesh screen-like adhesive to her torso, her face we anointed with antibacterial gel. She can’t eat, but luckily she can still nurse. This afternoon her buoyant spirit returned, she giggled and played though she looks awful. We sat outside and watched the birds on the feeder we keep for them.

And I prayed in Gratitude.And I prayed for the little girl from last night.

Then I threw that thermos out.

I have attended seminars with these lovely women before and highly recommend their work. The Gordon Neufeld approach to parenting is a wonderful one, and this looks like it will be a fantastic way to strengthen or learn about this parenting style.  Mark your calendars and preregister, these talks draw huge crowds!

 

Date: Saturday November 14thTime: 9:30am to 12:30pm

Location: “Brainboost Tutoring” #270 - 3355 West Broadway, Vancouver

Cost: $60.00 To register: email Patti Drobot at pdrobot@shaw.ca 

 

   
I discovered this wonderful program recently and cannot say enough about it, really. It is the most friendly, welcoming, educational, playful, nurturing place I have discovered. Located right beside Maplewood Farm in North Vancouver, their “Learning through Play” program offers children aged 0-6 and their often frazzled caregivers a place to learn, socialize, play and delight in. With toys, games, crafts, puzzles of every kind, for all ages of development, a bathroom complete with potties and trainer toilets, a fully equipped kitchen and a mind boggling assortment of teas and coffees for the adults, the edginess of life seeps away once you step inside this veritable “Goldilocks House”. There are a multitude of highly trained staff and vounteers to serve as eyes and ears, happily taking over for mums to regroup, parenting experts, librarians, dentists and other experts in their field who volunteer their time and expertise at this program. I myself led an impromptu preschool “Halloween Yoga” session this morning and it was Maaahhhhrvously” received.
This is the kind of program that provides the glue that brings a community together. The I Hope Centre truly delivers hope for a better future!

The “I Hope Family Centre” IHFC . The I hope family centre was founded upon the recognition that all families need support regardless of their economic or social circumstances, and that such resources are particularly necessary during the early years.The centre reaches out to families who have difficulty accessing community services by allowing them to find the resources they need – right in their own neighbourhood.The I hope family centre is a multi-service family resource centre working to ensure that all North Shore families and their children under age 6, have access to innovative support and prevention programs from pregnancy through birth, to Kindergarten entry.

The proud recipient of the Family Service Canada Leadership Awards for “Programming with a National Impact,” the centre welcomes over 600 families each year.Research shows that parental isolation, lack of parent education, lack of child development knowledge and immigration are key factors that contribute to children being at risk for child abuse and neglect. Parents and caregivers most likely to have safe and healthy homes are those who have resources and supports that help them develop better knowledge about parenting and child development. Some of the service and programs offered include Learning Together Through Play, Parent-Child Mother Goose (Infant and Toddler Groups), Parent Education for the Early Years, Family Support Counselling, Breast Feeding Support Groups, and a Clothing Exchange.

•Family Services of the North Shore Education•

A few months back I was driving to pick up my 12 year old daughter from school, with my one year  old girl sleeping in the carseat in the back.
I was listening to CBC radio and a woman , one of the authors of this book, was relaying a story. I started listening in the middle of the programming, so I didn’t have context and the story she relayed caused me to pull my car over on the side of the road and tremble.
It was the experience of a woman in Rwanda who was forced to take her infant daughter off her back, lay her in the mud, and was then raped repeatedly over a lengthy period of time. The men who did this were white men. Once through with her, she was thrown into a ditch to die.
Miraculously, by the Grace of God, this infant that lay suffering in the mud, somehow wiggled her way to the edge of this ditch, and fell in, near where her mother lay suffering. This allowed the mother to suckle her and they both  survived.

I am a woman . I am a nursing mother of 2 girls. I am appalled, horrified at the suffering humans inflict on one another. I teach the precept of “Ahimsa”-non-violence as a cornerstone of all my yoga classes and am sure, that if we all were lucky enough to practice yoga as children, the world would be a more peaceful place.

“Fifteen years after the Rwandan genocide, The Men Who Killed Me features testimonials from seventeen survivors. Through their narratives and portraits, sixteen women and one man bear witness to the crimes committed against hundreds of thousands of others. Proceeds from this book will go to Mukomeze, a charitable organization established to improve the lives of girls and women who survived sexual violence in the Rwandan genocide.”

As Stephen Lewis, co-director of Aids Free World, stated in his foreword, “…the stories in this book, however painful, are exactly what is needed to jolt the world into sanity”.

http://www.menwhokilledme.com