Blog Posts by LilSugar

YumSugarSource: 10 Fantastic Fall Books For Tots

Autumn themes - falling leaves and forest animals preparing for the long Winter - make for perfect stories for kids. From beginning listeners to budding readers, learning about Fall is lots of fun with these vibrantly illustrated and sweetly written books. Click through for a sampling of Autumn stories that will keep your tot warm and cozy during the Fall season.

• It's Fall! ($8): Here's an easy-to-read Fall book perfect for lil ones enjoying Autumn for the first time. Follow along as a tot experiences the colors and textures of the Fall season. It includes a fantastic list of seasonal nature activities to enjoy with your tot.
• Too Many Pumpkins ($7): Along with falling leaves, pumpkins are a big part of the Autumn season. Here's a fun read perfect for Fall and those who might be too young for ghoulish books that come with this time of year.
• Fall ($4): For the young tots, here's a board book that introduces Fall. With

Source: How Many Hours a Year Do Grandma and Grandpa Babysit Your Kids?

Grandparents love to say that they have the best of all worlds - they can enjoy their grandchildren and they can hand them back to their children when it's time for things like potty training and discipline. But the today's grandparents are also experiencing a new role - that of babysitter for their grandkids.

A new study released in the September issue of the Journal of Family Issues finds that more than 60 percent of grandparents who don't live with their grandkids provide grandchild care, and they do so for at least 50 hours a year - 70 percent have done it for two years or more. The care, which ranges from Saturday-night babysitting to daily after-school care, not only helps build stronger bonds between the generations, but it lifts the financial burden on cash-strapped families. In addition to providing care, 62 percent have provided financial support to their grandchildren in the past five years, averaging

Source: Craftastic: Welcome Fall Leaf Print Cards

The official first day of Fall is right around the corner - why not make a colorful card with your lil one to send to a family member or friend to celebrate the season? These vibrant cards are easier to create than you think and will look lovely adorning someone's mantel. This project is also a great learning opportunity for exploring how letters and cards are sent through the mail. So get out the tissue paper and find a few fallen leaves for this craft that welcomes Fall.



What You'll Need:

• White paper
• Red, yellow, and orange tissue paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Water
• Small container
• Paintbrush
• Leaves
• Black tempera paint
• Paper towel
• Blank white card

• Cut several sized squares of tissue paper from the red, yellow, and orange tissue paper. If your tot is able to use scissors comfortably, invite her to cut the squares, making sure to cut various sizes.
• Squeeze about one-quarter

LilSugarSource: 8, 9, 10! Counting Books For Beginners

It's never too early to start counting, and these books are perfect for early learners. Before you know it, your lil one will be counting fingers, toes, and everything in between. Counting books are delightful reads and wonderful for starting your tot down the path of numerical adventures. It doesn't need to be daunting; make it fun with silly rhyming counting books, ones filled with beautiful pictures, or stories that are centered around your tot's favorite animal. Get ready for numbers with this collection of counting books that are exciting and educational!

• 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo ($7): Your lil one will love learning about numbers while reading this animal-filled counting book by Eric Carle. Full of colorful illustrations and animals your tot loves, this book will help him start recognizing numbers found around him in no time!
• Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On ($7): Written and illustrated by Loic Ehlert, this fun and fishy

Source: How Old Should a Child Be to Use a Public Restroom on His Own?

Is there a definitive point in a child's life that indicates when it's OK for him to use a public restroom on his own? As Summer winds down, I find myself looking back at my kids' accomplishments over the past few months, and among them is my eldest son going to the restroom on his own on an airplane. It took much coaxing and confidence-building to get him to do so - I made sure I could see the door the entire time in case there was an issue with the lock - but in the end, it was a milestone that we both celebrated.

It's also one that I don't plan to replicate in all public spaces, as the thought of sending my son into a men's room on his own in a high-traffic area terrifies me. At the same time, he's reaching that age where it's becoming uncomfortable for him to use the women's room with Mom. So what's a mom of boys to do? Is there a magic age when Mom just has to let go? Take our poll here.


Related Content:
Tips

Source: Kidoodles: A Fine-Motor-Boosting Sticker Paint Creation

Finger painting is tons of fun for lil ones, so take things to the next level with the help of a few puffy stickers. Along with honing fine motor skills, finger painting introduces your tot to color and what happens when they mix together. Adding puffy stickers kicks your tyke's fine motor skills up a notch as they are a bit easier to grasp onto than regular flat stickers. Once the paint has dried, add another step to the project by carefully peeling away those puffy stickers, creating a really fun finished product. Tailor the project to fit the season with different-shaped stickers, such as leaf shapes for Fall, flowers for Spring or Summer, or snowflakes for Winter.

What You'll Need:

• Finger paint
• White drawing paper
• Puffy stickers
• Smock or wet wipes
• Tape

• Offer your child a sheet of white drawing paper and an assortment of puffy stickers. Using drawing paper or white construction

LilSugarSource: Read Between the Lines: 10 Classic Kids' Books With Delightfully Subversive Subtext

Lewis Carroll, beloved author of Alice in Wonderland once wrote that, "words mean more than we mean to express when we use them; so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer means." A highly appropriate quote from a man whose work has been interpreted as everything from an LSD-laden parable to an homage to mathematical logic. Like beauty, meaning is often found in the eye of the beholder, and this is certainly true when it comes to deciphering the hidden meanings - if any - found in some of the most wildly popular kids' books. Morality tales have always been a major cannon in children's literature, but plenty of tomes for tots take a more subtle approach to tackling the social and political issues of the day, leaving them wide open to interpretation. Keep reading for the real stories lurking between the lines of some of your favorite bedtime classics.

• The Lorax ($9):

Source: Mom on a Cleanse? 5 Surprising Things Juice Might Teach You

Before motherhood, before pregnancy, I went through a pretty intense health phase. We're talking daily hot yoga, a refrigerator stocked with veggies and fruit, a very active My Food Diary account, and a monthly three-day BluePrint Cleanse regimen. I was at my ideal weight, felt lean and strong, and I was a couple of months from getting married. Then came the wedding, the honeymoon, and four weeks later, a big fat positive!

Now, two-plus years and a crazy cute and superactive 17-month-old later, I've been losing and regaining those last seven baby pounds for months, am dedicated to my gym mostly because it has an awesome kids' program, and my fridge? Well, let's just say most of the nutritious stuff is earmarked for my daughter's growing body. So I recently decided to return to my old favorite: the juice cleanse. "We have a lot of new moms who do our cleanse," say the brains behind BluePrint Cleanse. "They love it