Women's Health and Environment

Fascinating, scary and inspiring – a call to action to help our world, make smart consumer choices and live as a responsible citizen.

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/blog/what-i-learned-about-links-between-womens-health-and-environment?source=email&utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=What+I+Learned+About+the+Links+Between+Women%27s+Health+and+the%0AEnvironment&utm_content=christina.klinepeter%40gmail.com&utm_campaign=7Gen+-+October+7%2C+2009+-+Nation

Screaming quote of the day:
"Wow! Eve-ah is powerful, just like Jesus is powerful!"
Gabe Klinepeter, while watching Wall-E with wide, bright eyes 08.16.09

Great Resource

A great resource for cosmetics and personal care products: Skin Deep is a safety guide and searchable data base resource from the researchers at the Environmental Working Group.

The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth

My brother-in-law had this book and when I discovered it during one of our family visits to my in-laws' I became obsessed with it. So obsessed in fact that I probably read 1/3 of it in one sitting and proceeded to add sticky notes to pages which contained nuggets of info that I deemed valuable. In the end, my brother-in-law very sweetly insisted that I take it home and keep it. Thanks, Steve!

I'm a foodie. I appreciate good food – real food, not the processed, manipulated food that has ruled the majority of our grocery stores today – and care about what I eat. I view food as delicious, a gift and believe in the functional qualities of it.

This is a beautiful book and the bounty of information it contains is very easy to digest. So easy, in fact, that when my toddler asks me about a particular food – "Mommy, what are bananas for?" – I respond with an enthusiastic, "Let's find out!," pull the book off the shelf and read it to my boys while we eat.

Enjoy!

The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why

Gabe and I just had a precious few minutes... at 5.45 a.m.

We've been potty training this week, and he woke up to tell me that he had a wet diaper. A good sign, though early in the morning.

I changed him and he climbed back in bed. Then requested a song. Many times I'd say no and go back to bed but my heart was tender this morning so I did: Rock A By Baby -- the usual in which the last two lines in the first stanza I sing la-la-la-la instead of the words. This is mostly because I forgot the words for weeks on end when I first started singing it to Gabe and partly because once I learned the words I decided I didn't really want to sing about the baby falling.

After singing the la-la-la-la part Gabe said, "No Mom. You need to sing "When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby chick, cradle and all.' Right Mom?" So cute that he actually sang those lines. "Right buddy," And I proceeded.

Immediately following the song he laid their and plopped his right hand over his chest. I couldn't figure it out and said "Watchya doing there buddy?" And he said "I'm doing my hand like at Wrigley Field." (Background: A few weeks ago I took Gabe on a special Mommy/Gabe trip to Chicago where we used to live. When we were at a Cubs game I taught him to put his hand over his heart during the "National Anthem.") At this point in our early morning moment I was reminded of how my little guy is so stinking cute!

And so I sang the National Anthem. Then he said "That song is only for me, right Mom? It's not for Will." I told him how it was the National. Anthem. for the United States, for all of America. And he said "It's for the Hancock too." And I said "Sure. The Hancock is in the United States so it's for the Hancock too."

This whole time I'm looking for a break to exit and crawl back into my bed and then he said "Just one more thing. I want you to pray." He took my hands and put them together for me, brought both of his pointer fingers up to his eyes and showed me how to shut my eyes.

We proceeded. I prayed for the usual. Gabe followed the prayer by saying "Let's pray for the Hancock building. I miss the Hancock building." So we did. Then he told me his heart was sad because he misses the Hancock. I offered some comforting words, told him to stay in bed until his light turns green (his clock has a glowing light that turns green when it's 6.30) and left.

Sleep times are one reason I'm thankful for the conclusion of daylight savings time. It's still mostly dark at 6 a.m. now. Refreshing in a way and great for putting the kids back to sleep at 5.45 am. if need be.

the unseen world

Gabe + Will are hilarious. They've started to pretend play with each other. At meal times they'll fight over pretend keys or get upset because the other put the "keys" in his pocket. So a little gesture that I observe and means nothing to me means a world of unseen to their eyes. The beauty of this is that I can make up more pretend keys when they get intense about not sharing the pretend keys! Tonight they're at it again. One is pretending to spray the other with water then the sprayee asks the sprayer for a towel. The sprayer proceeds to either toss a towel to the other or say that all the towels are in the drier and aren't dried yet. Then they switch roles. Very precious to observe. Their little minds are fascinating.

Now when I ask Will "How'd you get so cute?" or "How'd you get so precious?" He responds: "Jesus loves me this I know!" I have no idea how his sweet mind formulated this response, but it's adorable!

Will just ate a fist-full of cayenne pepper. I was helping Gabe in his room with a puzzle and Will came to me screaming and crying, mouth orange with one hand on it and the other hand holding the little bag of pepper. Ouch! We rushed to the kitchen. I know dairy usually helps but since he doesn't do dairy, he downed a few glasses of water, some rice milk and we settled on eating ice cream (rice dream) as a lunch appetizer. Whew. Poor little guy!

Most mornings Will (2) and I open the kitchen cabinet to get a snack for him, and the past few mornings, he's spotted a container of macaroons. He gets very excited to see the container and shouts "cookies!" He asks to see them. A little background here: Will is allergic to coconut so he can't eat these cookies, which causes much hesitation in me to show the cookies to him in the spirit of trying to avoid a frustrating situation for him. Much to my surprise, every time we open the container, he picks one up and says, "Mommy, you want one?" So I gladly accept this morning treat (What else am I supposed to do?) and he said, "Mommy, you want another one? I'll get a big one. Here, eat it! Is it yummy?" After a couple, we put the lid back on, and I relish in this sweet moment with the little guy. He amazes me: that he gets that these cookies would make his tummy feel yucky, accepts this reality and shares so joyfully.

This morning I asked Will how he got so cute, and he said, "I'm not cute. I'm special!" Then I asked how he got so sweet, and he said, "I'm not sweet. I'm green!"

Gabe is on his second whole apple and Will just ate an entire carrot. There are few things that make my heart this happy!

Humbled. Again. Just when I think I'm doing a great job being a mom to these precious boys, my brokenness grabs a hold of me and swings me around. Jon is out of town for the next couple of days and I was really looking forward to a special time with the boys. We had a great morning and after nap time seemed promising. Will started spiraling toward crying every few minutes, Gabe took advantage with a few pushes and shoves and taking toys away. It angers me to see Will hurt by Gabe and vice versa. Emotions were running high and instead of pausing and remembering that I can tap into asking God for some help and reconsidering my perspective and engagement with the boys in the middle of cooking bacon that took an hour – instead of the projected 12 minutes on the package – I ended up throwing my own temper tantrum. After some talks and apologies, it seemed that we had all emptied ourselves of the needed emotional release. And now, determined yet again to love these boys well, the forecast is looking good for sunny skies ahead.

Help ban BPA in products for kids

Despite all of the media attention about the safety of kids products over the last year; the toxic chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) is still found in products that kids use every day, like baby bottles, sports water bottles, the lining of formula cans, and sippy cups.

This is a real problem because more than 200 studies have linked BPA exposures at very low doses to breast and prostate cancer, obesity, diabetes, altered development of the brain and immune systems, lowered sperm counts, and early puberty. Growing children are especially at risk from BPA because they have smaller bodies. In fact, BPA is so toxic that even very small amounts have been shown to cross the placenta and impact prenatal development.¹

Together we can change this! Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Ban Poisonous Additives Act, which will prohibit the sale of food and beverage containers that contain BPA.

Use this link to act:

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27254

Being the cook for a family full of food allergies including gluten, dairy, corn, sugar and on, I'm very much looking forward to the release of this book by BabyCakes, a bakery in NY. Can't wait!

Take a look:
BabyCakes: Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery

Below are a few resources that I've discovered as I continue on my mom journey that have been extremely helpful to me and my family, our health and sanity!

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Books:

On sleep:
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

On discipline and behavior:
Positive Discipline: The First Three Years: From Infant to Toddler--Laying the Foundation for Raising a Capable, Confident Child (Positive Discipline Library)
Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool

On health, food and a toxin-free environment:
Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders

On home environment:
How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way

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Products:

A brilliant tool for teaching my toddler to sleep through to the morning; Its "Okay to Wake" Dual-Color Nightlight Timer that turns green when it's okay to get up has been more than helpful to my sleep!
http://www.americaninnovative.com/products/teachmetime.php