OOTD: Mommy and Toddler Edition

OOTD: Mommy and Toddler Edition:

Bad(ass) in Plaid!

                   Plaid Shirt- 19.99$ from Urban Planet

                   Blue T-shirt Underneith- 12.99$ from Stitches

                   Faded Skinny Jeans- 29.99$ from Urban Planet

                   Blue Bandana on my head- 1$ from Dollarama

                   Black Belt- 10$ from Urban Planet

                   Fake Brown Uggs- 12.99$ from Urban Plat

                   'Guess' 3-Heart Necklace- Gift from my Nanny

   

                   Outfit Total: 76.96$ Before Taxes

                   I absolutely LOVE bandanas. You can get them from the dollar store in
                   almost any color. The blue, red and pink are my faves!


Cute & Casual:

                   Hoodie- 24.99$ from Old Navy
                   Sweatpants-19.99$ from Old Navy (Sold Seperately)
                   Purple Tank Underneath- 3$ from Superstore
                   Brown Ugg-style Boots- 19.99$ from Old Navy
                   Pink hair elastics- 1$ for pk of 100 from Dollarama

                   Outfit Total: 68.97$ Before Taxes

                   
                   **Tune in next time for OOTD: Kindergarten Edition Featuring my son,  
                       Coder. Age: Five years old!!**

30 Fabulously Fun and Free Winter Activities...Plus: Get Featured on TTT!

With the shorter days and sub-zero temperatures its easy to understand why your kids may have a case of the winter blues. Shake things up and prevent cabin fever from setting in with these super fun winter activities. All of them are either very cheap or FREE! They are guaranteed to beat the boredom and create lasting memories! 

**Instructions on how to enter to be Featured on this blog are posted at the bottom of this list! You get a post featured, your blog name with a link back to it, your blog button featured on my homepage and an "I Was Featured..." button for your own blog:)**

30 Fabulously Fun & Free Winter Activities

1) Have a camp out in your living room. Spread out your sleeping bags, make s'mores in the microwave (Adult supervision required). Tell spooky stories, play camp games or sing camp fire songs.

2) Make Creamy Hot Cocoa with marshmallows. (Try this Valentine's Day Marshmallow trick by Martha)

3) Build a snow fort and "paint" it with Kool-Aid powder mixed with a bit of water in a spray bottle.

4) Make a Snow Measuring Stick to track the amount of snowfall. Graph the amounts on a chart.

5) Have a talent show. Give each family member a turn to show their talents and then vote for a  winner.

6) Go sledding! Grab your toboggans and have sled races on a nearby hill. Just don't slide near traffic.

7) Visit your local public library and cuddle up for story time. Many library's also have special activity days for different age groups. Call to find out!

8) Snuggle up for family movie night marathon! Pick winter themed flicks such as Jack Frost, Ice Age or Happy Feet!

9) Bake some cookies together! Designate each child a job such as dumping ingredients, mixing,
     spooning onto cookie sheets. Try this great recipe HERE. When they are done dip them in milk and enjoy!

10) Take your kids to try a class such as tumbling. Call around, many places such as My Gym offer a free trial class with no conditions.

11) Have a treasure hunt!! Place clues around these house with each one leading to the next. Clues can range from a simple picture to a riddle they must figure out. Have a small prize at the end such as a treat or new coloring book, it can be anything really...The real fun is in the chase! Smaller children may need a bit of assistance to stay on track.

12) Make a bird feeder from a pine cone. Directions HERE. Hang it up in your yard and bird watch. See how many different species of birds you can spot.

13) Go skating!! Play a game of hockey..Designate kids too small to skate as the "cheerleaders" or score keepers.

14) Make your own snow cones with REAL snow! Here is a great recipe for Snowcone Syrup. Keep it in the fridge in a squirt bottle and poor it over fresh snow or shaved ice whenever you want a treat.

15) Build a snowman together. Or even a whole snow family!!

16) Have an indoor snowball fight with wadded up paper! You could even make paper snowflakes to make it "snow"!

17) Go viral! Make a funny home video. Have the kids put on a skit and then post it on Youtube!

18) Have a family game night! Play classic family board games like monopoly or snakes and ladder. For some real laughs try Twister!

19) Play an interactive video game such as Rock Band or Dance dance Revolution. Have a friendly competition and crown the winner as the "Video Game Champion."

20) Give each other silly makeovers then have a fashion show at the end to show off your new looks. Take "Before" and "After" pictures.

21) Have an indoor picnic. Spread a blanket on the floor and have your lunch there! Don't forget dessert, too!

22) Make homemade valentines with your kids to give out to their classmates. Get some inspiration HERE.

23) Go swimming!! Let the kids put on their bathing suits and go swimming in the bathtub! Washing is optional!

24) Make Edible Play-doh and have fun making (and eating) sculptures.

25) Make a countdown to Spring paper chain and remove one link per day! Have a spring activity planned for when you reach the last link.

26) Get a huge empty box such as one from a refrigerator and transform it into a rocket ship (or whatever you want). Use your imaginations to act out different scenarios like pretending that you have just landed on the moon. (Ask around at local furniture stores to see if they have a box they were going to throw out that you can have...Most will be happy to give you one!)

27) Bundle up and go on a nature walk in a local park. Look for animal tracks, acorns, fallen leaves and whatever other treasures you can find. Bring them home and make a nature collage or scrapbook of your findings!

28) Get active and play some energy burning games indoors (or outdoors if you don't have enough room) such as Hide & Seek, Freeze Tag or Red Light, Green Light.

29) Go outdoors and blow bubbles in the cold. If the temperature is below zero or colder, the bubbles with harden in the air and then shatter when they hit the ground! Make your own Bubble Solution.

Frozen bubbles are SO cool!

30) Try to make a list of 30 MORE fun winter activities!! Post it in the comments her e or email it to me at babygurljrl23@gmail.com. I will  publish my favorite list with the most creative ideas as part two of this blog post! Don't worry you will get the credit for it, a link back to your blog and have your blog button posted on my homepage:) You will also get an "I Was Featured..." button to post on your own blog!So start brainstorming!!

Blog Content Theft and Copyrights

As I was checking my stats the other day I noticed that one of the search keywords that directs traffic to my site was 2 Tiny Tyrants.

I decided to Google it and up pops a blog with the exact same name as mine, with only a slight change. I checked to see when the blog was started and it was started about two weeks after mine. Now I am not trying to say that said name was stolen from me. I am aware of the millions of blogs in blogland, and how it is possible to think of an idea only to find it has already been claimed. And I thought I had found a name that was my own. I tried to take all necessary precautions. I Googled my blog title to make sure it was not taken, which it wasn't. I spent almost two weeks trying to think of the perfect, catchy but not to complicated blog title before finally deciding on this one. But even all those precautions and all that effort cannot guarantee that someone won't wind up with the same title as you. And I am not gonna lie, it does irk me a lot a tiny bit. I am really trying to make a name for myself in the big bad world of blogging and as you can see by my lame 10 Followers, it is NOT easy. And now I have to compete with another blog having the same name. It is definitely fury-inducing.

Anyways, there is a point to this rant. All this BS got me thinking about copyrights and trademarks and what steps can be taken to protect my blog content. I am not talking about the title, but the posts, pictures and everything in between. Most bloggers, like me, put a lot of time and effort into their work. Every blog post I write means time spent away from my kids.Plus, I take pride in my work. Everyone has heard the horror stories of people having their blog concept and posts stolen and posted on another website, copied word for word. I can only imagine how frustrating THAT would be. Now I am not going to ramble on in all these technical terms about copyright laws and all that jazz. I am just going to give you a few tips that can help to protect your work. Now, keep in mind, these tips can not guarantee that your work won't be plagiarised or used without your permission, but they can be a very good deterrent and may be able to help in the unfortunate event that your work is stolen.

The first thing we will discuss is copyrights. What is a copyright?

A copyright is a form of protection, often a document, that is offered to authors of personal work, such as a blogger, that proves that said author is the real owner of that work and grants exclusive selling and reproduction  rights to that person. Basically, it gives you exclusive rights to you work and how it is used. To effectively protect your work you should copyright each of your blog posts. However, copyrighting costs money and many beginner bloggers do not have said money. Lucky for you, I found a way to copyright your work for free. I found a great website that copyrights your work, including every additional blog post you publish, for absolutely FREE. They even give you a unique copyright number to use for future reference. It is free and simple and it is what I am now using to protect my work. Simply go to www.myfreecopyright.com to start protecting your work for free.

If you see this DON'T copy it without permission.

What is another way to copyright your work for free?

Well, if you are lucky enough to live in a country that signed the Berne Copyright Convention, then you are already protected for free!! Basically, it is a treaty that states that as soon as you publish an article on your blog it is automatically copyrighted and you own the copyright. And you don't have to provide any fancy scmancy codes on your site or documents either. Although those do come in handy should you wind up in court. It is not necessary to provide any documentation of this copyright law, it can't hurt to state that the content is protected somewhere on your website. This can be something as simple as this:  © Two Tiny Tyrants- 2012. The Berne Convention provides copyright protection to text for up to 50 years after your death and 25 years for photos, although at that point it probably won't really matter that much unless it is worth something substantial. I had a difficult time finding a complete list of all countries that signed the Berne Copyright Convention, the best I could find was the map on the Wiki page highlighting all the countries that are included, which you can view by clicking HERE. However, I do know that the United States and Canada are included under this treaty so if you reside in either you are automatically protected by your own government. This copyright is often used in conjunction with a Creative Common License, which I will explain later. However, if you do not want to include a CC license on top of the copyright protection you can simply add an "All Rights Reserved" and it will look something like this:


© Two Tiny Tyrants-2012 "All Rights Reserved"

If you do come to find out that someone is stealing your work and the blog they are publishing the plagiarised work on is hosted by Blogger or any Google product you can file a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint. Please visit this link to file a report: http://www.google.com/dmca.html

If you don't mind people using your work as long as they give you credit (like in the form of a link back to you) then you should consider using a Creative Commons license on your website. A Creative Commons license allows you to grant permissions for others to copy, distribute or somehow make use of your work while still allowing you to retain your copyright.It also ensures that you get credit for your creative work..You can customise this license to fit your personal needs and wishes by answering a few questions regarding your work and what permissions you wish to grant. Then, based on your answers, it will generate a CC license for you. It will even create a widget for you to add to your website stating your chosen permissions (You can view the widget on the top right hand corner of my homepage). This service is also free of charge and you can get one by visiting: www.creativecommons.org.
 

This image on Wiki is an example of the widget.

Not only do you want to protect your written work, but you may also want to prevent people from using pictures of yours without permission. This happens often and I admit that I have been guilty of using an image without permission. Pictures get passed around the Internet so much that it is often difficult to find the original owner. Most people assume the any pictures on the Internet are free for the taking. But there are ways you can prevent unauthorised use of you images.

One of the simplest ways to mark your images as your own is with what is called a "watermark."  A digital watermark is a visible embedded overlay added to an image that is used to identify the original owner and prevent someone from claiming it as their own. A watermark is often in the form of a logo, text or copyright notice. While it cant stop someone from using the photo without your permission, it can make it difficult from them to claim it as their own. Technically, a watermark can be removed, but it requires a lot of time and effort. The idea is that many people who use other peoples images are probably to lazy to go through all that work to alter a pic. If they did have such time and resources then they would most likely simply get a picture that was their own.

You can add a basic watermark to your own images free of charge very easily. I tried it myself and let me assure you that a child could do it. It can be done with just about any photo editing software, such as Photoshop or Paint.net. However, if you don't have access to a photo editing program you can also do it in a few simple steps by using Picnik, which is a FREE photo editing program. You don't even have to register to use Picnik, anyone can use it free of charge and it allows you to upload, edit and save your photos right from the website without downloading or signing up for anything. Awesome, huh? I wasn't exactly sure how to watermark an image so I Googled it to try to find a basic way to do it on Picnik. The best tutorial I could find was on the blog www.bloggingwithamy.com. You can find the step by step video of how to watermark an image (as well as some other basic editing tips) on Picnik by clicking HERE. I tried it out and this is what the end result looks like:

So there we have it!! Those are a few simple and FREE steps that you can take to better protect your online work. Now if you have a business website or a very large website that you have invested a lot of time or money into then I recommend that you take things a step further and actually register for a copyright at an actual copyright office. While all of these are great ways to deter content theft, many of them will not be enough to hold up in court,  god forbid it should come to that. Also, I am not a lawyer and non of this should be interpreted as legal advice. This is simply for informational purposes and is intended to encourage other bloggers to take the necessary steps to protect their original work. For more information on copyright laws and protection please visit the following websites:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works

USA:  http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl100.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Copyright_law_by_country

How to apply for a Copyright in the USA: http://usgovinfo.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Apply_For_Copyright0962932962.htm

In Canada: http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr00003.html?OpenDocument


http://www.is4profit.com/business-advice/general-advice/copyright-basic-facts.html

***NOTE: Some people seem to think that I am implying that the other blog cannot use that name. That is not the case. As I said in my post, I am aware that it is very possible to come up with a title not knowing that it has already been used. I am not claiming that there has been a copyright infringement and I am not claiming to own the rights to said title. All I am saying is that this situation got me THINKING about copyrights and what I can do to protect my other content on my website. The other blog is totally within their rights to use said name, and while it is a bit annoying when you are trying to make a name for yourself, I would not expect them to change their title either. I hope this clears up the purpose of this post. Thanks***

Best Evening Snack Ever!

This easy treat is just so darn delicious it would be selfish of me not to share it with you.

Although I am TRYING to lose that last ten pounds, I still like to indulge all the time every once in a while. I already know that I should be eating healthy, low fat, high protein snacks that will keep me full longer and prevent unnessecary binging later on...And I try sometimes most of the time to do just that. But...sometimes you just gotta say screw it and just go all out. If you are trying to lose weight, however, then it may be a good idea to save this for a every once and a while treat because the fat content in the cream is pretty high. Not to mention all the sugar were gonna pile on top of it. I just don't want anyone mad at me if they weigh four pounds more after eating this. I will neither confirm or deny that that is a possibility. And trust me on this one, you will want to eat it every day after you try it but you must resist:) You must stay strong. If you can't be strong for me then do it for your midsection. Alright...Let's get this party started!!I present to you my amazing evening snack! And its so simple to prepare a child could do it.

Ingredients:

- Strawberry's (As much as you think you can handle in one sitting)
-Whipping cream (NOT whipped cream, whippING cream, the kind that you get in a small milk carton in the milk section of your grocery store.)
-Granulated  sugar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Prep Time: 5 minutes

 STEP 1: Wash and then cut whole strawberries into slices, everything except the leaf. Put them in a bowl.

 STEP 2: Pour whipping cream into the bowl on top of the strawberries so that they are about 3/4 of the way covered.

STEP 3: Dump Sprinkle sugar on top of the strawberries and cream.

This is what it should look like:

Now ENJOY!! Oh man, I gotta go make a bowl right now just looking at these pictures. I know that those of you who may be on a diet or who prefer to eat healthy are probably horrified at the obscene amount of sugar and fat in this bowl, but the strawberries are good for you so that makes it okay. Trust me. Now run along and try it! No need to thank me.

Children's Eye Troubles

Ever since my daughter was about a year old people close to her started noticing that she seemed to have some sort of "lazy eye" going on.

I didn't really worry about it too much because her eye would only cross every once in a while and I had remembered my son having the same thing as a baby and he had grown out of it (Or so I thought... But more on that later). I chalked it up to her eye muscles not being strong enough yet. I figured that she would probably grow out of it as her eye muscles strengthened and became more developed. Well, she is now two years old and it has not gotten any better. I hesitate to say that it is worse, because I don't really think it has, just more or less the same. The right eye will kind of point inwards from time to time giving her a bit of a cross eyed/ lazy eye look. It does not stay like that and only does it for a spilt second, but it happens often enough for other family members to notice it and to cause me some worry.

In this pic you would never know she has a turned eye

 My son, Coder, started kindergarten this year and he teacher also asked me if he seemed to have trouble seeing. She asked this because, apparently, during class he would put his nose two inches from the paper when reading sometimes. I wasn't really sure what to make of this news because I draw and practice writing his ABC's with him all the time and have never seen him struggled to see the page. I thought maybe he was just horsing around or something because he does do random things like that sometimes (What kid doesn't?). However, he had been struggling in Kindergarten with his ABC's and reading so I figured it was time to get his eyes checked just to rule that out.

Well, I booked an appointment for him at my optometrist and brought him in for a checkup. After about an hour of pointing out shapes and animals and doing eye tests the optometrist told me that one of his eyes was, in fact, turned in slightly in as well. The good news is that his vision was really good considering having a turned eye. She said it is only slightly turned, not enough to notice just by looking at him. It was only visible when she checked it with her high-tech, eye tester thingy. So, apparently, he hadn't grown out of it as I had thought he did. She scheduled a follow-up appointment with him in a months time during which they are going to put drops in that can help correct it (I am not sure what the drops are exactly but I have to pay 30$ for them...I will find out more info when we go back). If the drops are unsuccessful then he may have to wear glasses for about a year or so. I asked if it would be just for school or reading but she told me that they would most likely have to be worn all the time. I am not really upset about this possibility because for one it is better to try to fix these type of things while children are still young. Plus, I wore glasses in elementary school and I honestly liked them. I loved going to the eye doctor to pick out my glasses and a cool matching glasses case. If he does end up needing them I will be doing the same thing my mother did, which is including him in the entire process of picking out his glasses (after I narrow it down to a few affordable pairs first) and a matching case, show him how to clean them and take care of them and all that jazz.

The machine that confirmed Coders turned eye

 I will admit that I am a bit worried for his appointment though because the drops that they are putting in will make his eyesight extremely blurry for about an hour. I feel that not being able to see anything will scare him and he may think that it is going to stay like that forever regardless of what we tell him, thus causing him to freak out. It can't stay blurry forever, can it? It makes me a tad anxious too... I guess the only thing I can do is be there for him, explain the process and what to expect as well as I can, reassure him that it won't stay that way and just be there for him. Oh, and hope for the best.

As for my daughter, she is supposed to go back the same day as Coder (although I think I may change their appointments for separate days because I don't wanna get stuck with a toddler AND a five year old having meltdowns at the same time.) I already know that she has the same problem with one eye being turned. I am worried because I know hers is much worse, and is way more noticeable day to day, even by other people like family members and close friends. I am preparing myself for the fact that she will more then likely need glasses or some type of intervention to try to correct it. I only hope that nothing else is wrong with her eyes or that it isn't the result of something more serious.

Glasses are specially made for toddlers/babies

 I try to tell myself that stuff like this is common and happens to all kinds of children, but it is still hard as a mother to see anything wrong with your children. I can't help thinking it may have been something I had done that caused it. I mean BOTH of my kids have the same thing wrong with their eyes. Bad eyesight does run in my Hubby's family, however, and I am not quite sure if that could be a factor. I am worried about my daughter needing glasses because she can be so defiant that I just cannot see her keeping them on. I am worried she will have a freak out if we try to make her wear them. But I have to try to not get ahead of myself and always envision the worse.  I will just have to deal with it, if and when the time comes. Good eyesight is very important because it affects so many aspects of your life.   I am just glad that we were able to catch this while they are still young, because these types of things can be more difficult to correct as they get older. Plus, if left untreated these types of conditions often become worse or untreatable.

**QUICK TIP** You can check if your child has a lazy or turned eye at home by sitting them directly in front of you have having them look straight ahead while you shine a pen light straight into their eyes. If the dot of light reflects in the same spot in the center of each pupil then their eyes are straight. However, it if reflects straight in one eye and then slightly to the left or right in the other eye, then that eye is turned and you should bring them to see the eye doctor to have them assessed. This is is a trick that you can use to confirm whether or not your child has a cross eye or lazy eye, but it is NOT meant to replace an actual diagnosis by an optometrist. If you suspect an issue with your child's eye sight you should get them checked by a licensed optometrist as soon as possible.

So that is that latest news with the kiddos. Do any of you mommy's have children or babies that wear eye glasses? Is it difficult to get a toddler to wear them? Has you child ever had an issue such as cross eyes or lazy eyes? Was it corrected? Any info on this subject or personal stories would be greatly appreciated. I just hope that it can be treated while they are young and that it doesn't have a negative impact on their eye sight as they grow older...I will keep you all updated on the situation once I bring them to their next appointment.