Blog Archives

Come and join us for "Box City"!

4/30/2013

**Great outdoor children's event**

Planned by Cape Cod Organic Moms.

Come and join us for "Box City"!

This photo give you an idea of what a small Box City looks like but ours will be much bigger and much different in a special way.;)
Box City is a field of over 50 huge cardboard boxes that are being repurposed before they get recycled into a fun adventures play scape for any one interested in attending to explore.

These boxes will be tapped and cut to form shapes of houses trains and rocket ships many will be left for your own creativity. We encourage children to bring crayons sticker and markers to decorate the boxes many of which will form tunnels and or have doors and window cut into them.

  Our friends over at Sandwich Partnership for Families volunteered to partner with us as they are so
awesome how could we resist!

The date is set for May 4th- at 11:30am at Quaker Meeting House Rd Field in Sandwich Behind the Stop & Shop. There is plenty of parking.

   All the boxes used have been checked for safety and did not hold anything toxic or hazardous.

Cape Cod Organic Moms encourages families to bring a picnic lunch, a beach chair or blanket. This
event is open to the public you do not have to be a member of Cape Cod Organic Moms to attend.:) This is an activity to help promote community and outdoor play, exploration, imagination and thinking "outside the box".

Cape Cod Organic Moms will be providing our normal bag of tricks, raffle for a basket of organic art supplies, parachute play, bubble machine, table with info and educational posters, eco stickers, eco craft, recycling game, hula hoops, music, 2 huge sets of ring toss ,a small set up of educational information on
recycling, going Green and we will have a mini petting zoo among many other activities. We know you are interested in getting the kids out of the house and in the fresh air making friends and having cool neat new experiences. This free event is open to the public we hope you will come out and join Cape Cod Organic
Moms for this fun filled experience. For more information- theorganicmom@hotmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/CapeCodOrganicMom?ref=hl

When Actions Match Intentions

4/29/2013

When Actions Match Intentions
(7th of 7 posts on child sexual abuse prevention)
By: Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS

The words that usually come up in the training when we brainstorm the qualities that we want our children to experience…

HAPPY
CAREFREE
INNOCENT
IN AWE OF THE WORLD
TRUSTING
SAFE

In order to make this happy, our choices need to reflect these qualities. As a parent, you want to do everything in your power to keep your children safe! But the number one comment I hear from parents that I work with after it has been learned that their child has been sexually abused, is, “I didn’t know.”

Didn’t know…

The questions to ask…the signs to look for…(especially) didn’t know the tricks that offenders use to draw
in children and their parents.

Stewards of Children will equip you with this information. Click here for testimonials from Cape Cod parents and professionals who took this training with Tracy Lamperti.

Thursday, May 9th, 6-9pm
$25 per person
At The Children’s Center
115 Sisson Rd. Haywich Port, MA
(just past, or before the Harwich Police Dept)

Register Now with Paypal
or by mailing payment directly to:
Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS
57 Route 6A
Orleans, MA 02653

REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Tomorrow, APRIL 30th

I urge every parent to take this training or call me directly for assistance. Between my services, other qualified professionals, Children’s Cove, Independence House, and others, every adult; parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle….should be trained, along with EVERY person providing any level of care to a minor.

Our #1 defense and method to keep children safe in our community is to begin to talk about CSA and educate ourselves about CSA.

It is an adult responsibility to protect children from sexual abuse!

By Tracy Lamperti,
Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant

Please see www.tracylamperti.com for more information about working with children and families or specifically about sexual abuse.

If you would like 1:1 assistance, please contact Tracy Lamperti for a consultation.

Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS
Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant
My Blog
My Website
lamperticc@gmail.com
774-722-5919

Tending to the Miracle

4/25/2013

By: Maurene Merritt, RN
Mary has just 5 minutes prior given birth to a beautiful baby girl. It is her second baby, and like her first, she wants to give birth without medication. I began care of her when she is already deeply drawn inside herself, 8 centimeters dilated with hefty contractions, coming every 2 minutes apart. I remember how strong they are, like the under toes in the ocean, that as a young girl I'd have to guard against being pulled in, lost in the abyss of what is big and unknown. It doesn't take Mary very long to open up her body and give birth, 40 minutes later with only 3 pushes.

I'm watching her, she is sighing, with her sight glazed, gazing off into space. She has an easy, unblemished hold on her baby that is cradled in the soft part of her that now is shiny wet from the heat of labor. I perform my nursing tasks with an eye on their inner state. It's so heavy, childbirth but I know that there is deep satisfaction rendered from the experience, despite her body now collapsed into a heap of worn flesh.

I let the air settle, and softly, quietly approach her to inquire about her experience. I don't want to disrupt the subtlety that so easily can disappear with just the slightest hint of our more abrupt, unconscious side. There's a pause, and then she begins, "well, you have to get out of the way and let your
body take over". I listen intently. I ask her about how she felt
immediately after the birth. There is a pause. She interjects,
"there are no words to describe it." I say, "can we try?" Another pause, longer this time. "elation". I'm delighted for
her experience and then eager to share more of what I know about the nervous system and childbirth.

Specifically, our nervous system function in patterns, and in order for us to embody a particular pattern, we must have the experience first, and then the pattern can make itself available to our perceptions. In the case of Mary, what is so remarkable is that her elation is independent of any outer circumstances. In fact, I believe that such elation is self born manifested from the rare, powerful inner experience of childbirth. This gives Mary the opportunity to shift her awareness to an infinite supply of the same joy, just waiting to be rediscovered.

Let me give you a more concrete example to help clarify this concept. Soon after a baby is born, a pediatrician will shine a small beam of light into their eyes with a cone shaped instrument. They are looking to see that the nerve pathway responsible for site is clear. A baby does not activate the nerve responsible for seeing until later on in infancy, and if there are any blockages in that pathway, the baby would be blind. This would occur because the experience (seeing) has to occur before the nerve activates that pattern. In the same way, consider that the joy that is our essential nature can only be perceived once we have the experience.

I then asked Mary how she could help herself embody her elation? Her response of "remember the experience" was so perfectly aligned with our teachings, to continuously be drawn back to the details of our inner experiences.

I encouraged Mary to share her experience frequently to loved ones, friends, anyone who will be truly present for her. Too, I suggested writing because, like my teacher says, it will further help clarify and take the measure of the subtleties and intricacies of her experience.

I thanked Mary for being so courageous in her exploration of one of the most profound experiences in a woman's life. She has my blessings to search deeper into its essence.

In love and light,
Maurene
*reprinted with full permission from http://www.birthblessingsyoga.blogspot.com/

Shake It Up

4/24/2013

By: Coach Pam Wills

Here are a few ideas to help move and shake you out of that comfortably numb state we all slide into now and then… Try a few!

1) Get up on the opposite side of the bed

2) Brush your teeth with the other hand

3) Wear a different color than you usually do (shirt, earrings, lipstick, socks, even pj’s!)

4) Take a different route to work

5) Try a bite of something you’ve never eaten before

6) Look up a new word in the dictionary and use it in conversation as often as possible during the day

7) Have a salad for dinner if you normally eat meat and potatoes

8) Read instead of watching TV

9) Take a walk or do some other physical activity for 20 to 30 minutes WITHOUT music or TV or reading materials to distract you — give your mind some space to just BE

10) Call a friend — don’t use email or Facebook, call!

Do at least three of these things TODAY and see how you feel… pay attention, you might just come up with your next big idea. =)

The BONUS 3
1) Write a poem
2) Move your furniture around
3) Create a mind map (a free-form diagram) of something that’s on your mind or a project you want to complete

Good luck and have fun!

About Pamela
As your Confidence Coach, it is my mission to guide you from darkness into the light of feeling strong, confident and sexy so you can Get Your Sizzle On!™ The boring stuff: I earned my Certified Professional Coach (CPC) credential from
Fowler-Wainwright International and my BA in English Lit from Georgetown University. I’ve been writing and teaching
professionally for over 20 years and currently publish my own weekly blog and eZine.The FUN stuff: I am currently an Expert on the following awesome websites:LawofAttractionKey.com LifeBusinessGrowth.com Soulwoman
eMagazineI’m also a Speaker for B.I.G. Women’s Network in Massachusetts. (Fun fact: I’m also a choreographer for community theater in my spare time! ;) My newest workshops, “Master Your Stage Fright” and “Brains + Beauty
= YOU!” are scheduled for early 2013 at various locations on Cape Cod, MA.

Contact me at info@pamelawills.com for deets. Book a FREE Spark Session with me at www.PamelaWills.com/schedule-session/ so I can help you build your courage, grow your confidence and Get Your Sizzle On!™ My intention is to see you push through your fears, move into that shimmering light of confidence and really SIZZLE with reawakened charisma!

Find out how to feel strong and confident about being your true Self, a unique and powerful woman at

www.PamelaWills.com

“Short & Sweet” Pocket Full of Posies

4/23/2013

By: Sarah

Yes by the title you may think that I am excited that posies are popping up in my yard giving way to true signs of spring, we have violets, and other cute little flowers too along with my husbands nemesis the dandelion. I truly believe the dandelion is the nemesis to every man who mows his lawn. My 3-year old son though loves to pick them and wants them in vase as soon as possible, who am I to say no. But this post is not about the posies popping up in my yard.

Can anyone tell me why my baby’s pants, sweatshirts, and t-shirts have pockets? I mean besides to look super adorable and for us as parents to look at in the store and say “oh my gosh, so cute, and look at the little pockets.” Not once has my 2nd born used said pockets for pacifiers, wipes, or anything useful to him. My first born is obsessed with singing twinkle twinkle and turning everything in daily life into lyrics to that cute tune, which is now imprinted in my brain on a daily life, along with the Mickey Mouse Club “hot dog” song which will be the death of me, especially when I’m singing it around the house with no child in sight. Perhaps this mouse is MY nemesis?!

Anyways, I digress and back to the pockets, so before twinkle it was all about having a pocketful of posies. And recently with the posies popping up my son may have actually filled one said pocket with posies, the three-year old son, not the baby. But I’m sure you figured that out. Finding all sorts of things in my 3-year olds pockets has been fun, especially after a trip to the beach or playtime in the sandbox, then its mostly sand that I find and it goes everywhere. But we are entering sand season, so I should just get used to it. The pockets of toddlers are at least functionally, not in anyway that makes me happy really though. Do I want to find bugs, sand, rocks and random beach trash in his pockets, not really. Although my Mom tells me I would almost always have worms, bugs and even frogs in my own as a youngster.

I figured the gap would probably make jeans for babies with what looks like pockets but not actually be functioning, but there is room in there for stuff. I guess the baby pockets are for cuteness factor alone, or perhaps I will start using them. Maybe put a baby cell phone in there, or a small baby-size wallet (with chain of course cause my baby is a badass)?!

What fun and crazy things have you found in your children’s pockets these days? Anyone find something in a baby pocket?!

FREE Clothing Swap!

4/23/2013

Do You Have Any of These Questions?

4/22/2013

Do You Have Any of These Questions?
(6th of 7 posts on child sexual abuse prevention)

·       I suspect a child I know is being sexually abused. What should I do?
·       My son (or daughter) is constantly touching him/herself and seems to know things they shouldn’t know. Could something have happened?
·       My father was inappropriate with me, but I’m not sure if anything ever happened. Should I leave
my daughter with him?
·       Should we teach our child to use the “real” words for their private parts?
·       I found my child and their friend in the closet with their pants down. I’m not sure if I
handled it the right way.
·       I get the “uh-oh” feeling around Uncle Jim. Should we stay away from him, even if that means skipping a family get-together?
·       My “X” has a new live-in boyfriend and our daughter is sleeping in the bed with them. I don’t like it, but can I do anything about it?
·       I was sexually abused as a child and I’m worried that I am over-reacting to everything. Could I be harming my child?

You can find answers to these questions, and many more, by attending Stewards of Children, a Program Developed by Darkness to Light and is taught NATIONWIDE!

Click here for testimonials from Cape Cod parents and professionals who took this
training with Tracy Lamperti.

Thursday, May 9th, 6-9pm
$25 per person
57 Boardwalk Commons, Orleans

Register Now with Paypal
or by mailing payment directly to:
Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS
57 Route 6A
Orleans, MA 02653

REGISTRATION DEADLINE
APRIL 28th

Please, if these informational posts are triggering you because sexual abuse has touched your life in a personal way, now is the time to seek assistance. “IT IS THE SILENCE THAT POISONS OUR FAMILIES” (Former Miss America, Marilyn van Derbur, Stewards of Children)

I urge every parent to take this training or call me directly for assistance. Between my services, other qualified professionals, Children’s Cove, Independence House, and others, every adult; parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle….should be trained, along with EVERY person providing any level of care to a minor.

This is an empowerment program, not a paranoia or scare based program. Even given the numbers of 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys being sexually abused before their 18th birthday, it is important to keep a sense of perspective. While we have to keep in mind that there are offenders in the local community, the vast majority of people do not sexually abuse children. Our #1 defense and method to keep children safe in our community is to begin to talk about CSA and educate ourselves about CSA.

It is an adult responsibility to protect children from sexual abuse!

By Tracy Lamperti,
Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant

Please see www.tracylamperti.com for more information about working with children and families or specifically about sexual abuse. If you would like 1:1 assistance, please contact Tracy Lamperti for a consultation.

Tracy Lamperti, LMHC, BCETS
Psychotherapist, Educator, Consultant
My Blog
My Website
lamperticc@gmail.com
774-722-5919

A Lesson in Germs and Glitter

4/18/2013

By Heather Fiscus

It is the fateful “Achoo!” that allows for the preschool saying, “If you sneeze, cover please!” Whether it is Spring time allergies or the dreadful flu season, the preschool children at The Children’s Workshop in South Dennis are very prepared to handle an onset of germs.

We began in early October teaching about how germs can spread from one child to another. During circle time, we sat in a large circle. I had sprinkled a large amount of glitter on a pan and placed my hands in it. When I removed my hands, they were completely covered with, what we call, the preschool plague. I proceeded to tell my class that glitter, just like germs, can be passed from one friend to another until everyone has the germs on their hands. I then shook hands with the child to the right of me and he shook hands with the child next to him. This cycle continued until all the way around our circle until the child on the left of me had glitter on her hands too. The children all looked at their hands as I continued talking, “Now we all have the germs on our hands! The only way to get rid of these germs is to
wash our hands with soap and water, and then dry our hands with a paper towel.” The children all took turns washings and drying their hands. When everyone had returned to the circle, we compared our hands. The over whelming verdict was that the germs were all gone!

Ever since performing this experiment, we continue to wash our hands frequently to rid ourselves of the germs that constantly linger in a preschool classroom. We wash our hands before and after we eat, after blowing or wiping our noses, after using the bathroom, and after we come in from outside. The children have become adept at catching a friend when he or she needs to go wash their hands. I often catch my students repeating the phrase, “We are Safe! We Wash Our Hands!”

This has helped my students to become more aware of their bodies, what it means to be sick, and what it may take to help a friend or family member feel better. I frequently see my students run over and give a hug or a pat on the back if they notice a friend is not feeling well. By doing this, they are demonstrating a growing empathy that we love to encourage here at The Children’s Workshop.

Heather Fiscus is the lead teacher of the Preschool Once classroom at The Children’s Workshop in South Dennis. She
holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Psychology and is currently working towards her Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. She has been with The Children’s Workshop for about a year, and says, “I love every minute of it!”

The Children's Workshop is a family owned, quality child care provider that was founded in Lincoln, RI in 1990 by working father of three, Dave MacDonald. 22 years later, the company is still owned by the MacDonald family and has grown to include 19 different locations in RI and MA. The Children’s Workshop uses the Children’s Workshop Curriculum, a research based framework developed by the company’s top teachers that focuses on learning through play. The Children's Workshop provides early education programs for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years. To learn more about The Children's Workshop family, go to www.childrensworkshop.com.

Boogie Wipes Giveaway!

4/17/2013

Both Spring and allergy season are upon us! Both runny noses and colds are rampant! And of course this means your nose gets raw from constantly wiping to keep that faucet under control! And if it is the kids, forget about trying to wipe with a tissue, they just want to play! Well problem solved! Cape Cod Mommies is proud to be a Saline Ambassador, which means we have tons of Boogie Wipes!!!!

In honor of Spring, Cape Cod Mommies is happy to announce we are giving away a Boogie Wipes prize pack to a lucky reader! Contest opens today and will go thru 11:59pm on Tuesday April 30, 2012.

WIN A BOOGIE WIPES PRIZE PACK

Tasty Tuesday ~ Homemade Fruit Popsicles

4/16/2013

These Fruit Popsicles are an easy and fun to get fruit into the little ones and a refreshing treat for bigger kids and adults too!

What You Need:
Popsicle molds
Watermelon
Assorted chopped fruit:
Blueberries and Bananas
Strawberries and Raspberries
Kiwi and cherries
Pineapple and peach

Blend up the watermelon in a blender. Prepare the dices/chopped fruit and place it into the molds. Have the kids help you! Then pour in the watermelon juice. Freeze and ENJOY!

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.