If you are reading this blog then you probably have young children. As a mother of school aged children and now an infant it is easy for me to reflect on things that I missed or did not take seriously the first time around, like access to pertinent information about poison control centres. 

In Canada National Poison Prevention Week was March 14th to 20th, while in the USA it was from March 20th -26th 2011.  I was happy to find a lot of useful information, and statistics that I did not know before. As a new mom, I have a million things on my mind. New moms are likely sleep-deprived and anxious about our new baby's feeding habits as well as their growth, illnesses and basic health and safety issues, but what about the bigger things? Yes, there are bigger things. For example, is your CPR updated, are your medications in a locked cabinet? 

Often parents, and care-givers think of poison control in the terms of children ingesting chemicals, but this is far from the reality of situations that I have heard about. Some of the cases that I have heard about are children drinking too much cough syrup or parents giving children higher doses of medication (based on their age/weight etc).

So what exactly is poisoning? A poison is any substance, including medications, that is harmful to your body if too much is eaten, inhaled, injected, or absorbed through the skin. Any substance can be poisonous if too much is taken. Generally speaking, poisonings are either intentional or unintentional. However, unintentional poisoning is usually the case for children, especially young children.

In Canada
Health Canada
List of Poison Control Centres


In the United States
Kids Health
Poison Prevention

Bismillah...
I am happy to say that Rainbow and I have explored many sites and I cannot wait to give you all my feed-back on some of them. My dh (dear hubby) has agreed to help me review some of the Arabic and Islamic sites that I found.
 Today Rainbow and I started the day off on a great note, alhamdullelah. When he is awake, I must give him my complete attention, so I sat down and shared some videos with him, and read to him.
For some reason, I can't think of what it is now, I decided I would look at a journal that I kept after my son Hussein died and I cannot believe how far I have come (emotionally, physically, spiritually), everything.

I am happy to have my Rainbow baby and really look forward to helping him grow.
As I also teach my daughter Amira at home, sometimes, I have a difficult time making him a priority. Having this blog as a journal is helpful, because when I look back on my days, I am amazed what I accomplish or don't in any given day.
Rainbow is five months old now. I still cannot believe it. We didn't even wait that long before we were able to have him, but I was so impatient and afraid of the unknown. Now he is sitting up, and grabbing things, and shaking his rattle and laughing so loud, I can't help but laugh with him (even when I have no idea why he's laughing).

His eyes light up when I enter a room, and he is always searching for his daddy's voice. He loves to hang out with Amira, who is always doing something silly, and he likes to be rocked to sleep by Iman. He sees his grand-parents (my inlaws) on Messenger , and he sees my parents as well. I think he is starting to remember people, but I can't be sure.

There is one funny thing that I must note. When he is screaming or crying, I often say "La" (no). This annoys him to no end of course, because nobody (even babies) like to hear the word "No". However, if I say "...la habibi", then he smiles or laughs. I don't really know what the difference is...maybe I say it in a nicer tone, lol.
 Rainbow also enjoyed his first Earth Day. It was very nice. We actually stayed in and lit candles and he was in awe of all the glowing candles everywhere.

Bismillah...

The 2011 annual storytelling festival is on, and your kids can enjoy some great story-telling at the Bata Shoe Museum. How soon? March 27th is the date and I am excited. The last time we had a date planned Rainbow was very cranky, so I knew better than taking him out and suffering for 3-4 hours...there's enough time for that in the future right? InshaAllah we will enjoy ourselves at this great event.


The Bata Shoe Museum will be having a special storytelling session (3 for that matter) for children. It is included with regular Museum admission, however, pre-registration is recommended. To pre-register email programs@batashoemuseum.ca or call 416-979-7799 ext 242

• "Where are you tiny mouse?"
  10:15-11:00am
  For the very young, children 0-4 and their families

• Animal Tales
  11:00am - 12:00pm
  For children 0-6 years old and their families

• The Trickster Trilogy
  1:00pm - 2:00pm
  All ages but especially suitable for children 7-12 years of age

Check out other participating venues across Toronto Toronto Festival of Storytelling

TVO kid's Don't Sit Still Tour

I am excited to celebrate another Earth Day. So far, I am unsure what we will be doing because there is so much to do. I am very excited to get the kids involved, and to ask hubby to turn off the computer for the hour. We will probably be heading off to the Science Centre for a fun event. What are you all up to?

 

Where: at The tour comes to the Science Centre

Ontario Science Centre