Babies are adorable, and most people don’t need to be told that.  It’s hard coded into humans to adore and faun over little tykes, and Babies uses this as an entire premise for a movie.  Using little dialogue, and no narrations the Babies movie is a surprising hit.  It uses a documentary format to walk viewers through the first year of four babies lives.

It shows the wee ones growing up in Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco, and Tokyo.  It manages to highlight the differences with no social commentary, and no bad feelings.

From Tokyo’s Mari and San Francisco’s Hatti having fun with their high tech toys, and baby yoga (respectively) while Mongolia’s Bayer and Namibia’s Ponijao having their own run ins with the local livestock.

Babies is a fun movie that is really breaking the standard mold, it doesn’t have what many have now come to expect in the theaters.  However, for what it lacks in the dramatic moments that many audiences are used to, more than makes up for it with a still sweet and feel-good aspect.

French filmmaker Thomas Balmès banked on the audience’s human nature for babies overall, and has created a smart movie overall that could also be enjoyed by the title audience as well.  If you are lucky enough to have a tyke that could sit through a just over an hour movie, they would love to see the wee ones on the silver screen (plus mom would love it too!).

Nick Jonas has Type 1 Diabetes

Doctors really don’t know what causes Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. Research is being done to explore both genetics and environmental triggers, but many kids who are diagnosed with diabetes have no family history of it at all.

Diabetes is manageable; kids who have this condition can live normal, active lives if they pay close attention to treating their condition. Diabetes can’t be cured, but its effects can be minimized. If your child doesn’t do this conscientiously, he or she might develop several undesirable complications. These can include:

• Neuropathy. This is nerve damage. It commonly causes problems in the legs, but it can also affect other systems in the body as well.

• Retinopathy. Diabetes can cause damage to the eyes, including causing blindness.

• Nephropathy. Nephropathy is kidney disease. Weak kidneys allow toxins to build up in the body and make a child sick.

• Heart Disease. Heart disease is more common to diabetics than non-diabetics. It can lead to other complications such as stroke, embolism, or heart attack.

So how do you know if your child has diabetes? There are some symptoms that all parents should be on the lookout for:

• Excessive thirst. Is your child constantly asking for something to drink?

• Frequent urination. If you find yourself saying, “Are you in the bathroom again?”…pay attention!

• Drowsiness or lethargy. They fall asleep over their homework, or they just can’t get the energy to do things they used to enjoy. If you’ve tried adjusting your child’s bedtime and it isn’t helping, bring this to your doctor’s attention.

• Sugar in urine. Obviously your doctor will have to test this, but it’s a pretty significant indicator.

• Sudden vision changes. The cells in the eyes are being attacked by the immune system, so vision decreases fairly quickly.

• Increased appetite. Are they suddenly hungry all the time, and can’t seem to get enough? They could be going through a growth spurt, as all kids do…but it could be diabetes.

• Sudden weight loss. None of that food is being processed like it should be. Instead of gaining weight, they might lose weight very quickly.

• Fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath. The imbalance of sugar and insulin in the blood can come out in strange ways, including very sweet breath.

• Heavy, labored breathing. Your child might find it hard to catch his or her breath, even if they aren’t doing anything strenuous.

• Stupor, unconsciousness. If diabetes goes too long without being diagnosed, it can cause kids to faint or, in extreme cases, fall into a coma.

Taken alone, most of these symptoms seem harmless, but together, they could indicate the presence of Type 1 diabetes. Don’t be afraid to bring them up to your doctor; he or she can judge whether there’s anything to be concerned about. The sooner you start treatment, the more likely your child is to live a normal, active life.

You wouldn’t know it by the weather where I am, but it is officially Spring.  Several religious traditions have important holidays around this time–a couple of them this very week.   One of my favorite sites for holiday crafts and activities is Kaboose–you might remember that I linked to their MLK day activities a while back. 

If you want to do some Passover-based crafts, Kaboose has them, and so do a few other sites.  Here are some to try:

• This is the basic Passover page.
• Here are some kid-friendly Passover recipes.
• These are Passover coloring pages.

Then some Holy Week/Easter activities can be found at these locations:

• This is Kaboose’s Easter page.
• This page has Easter puzzles, contests, and games.
• Here’s a huge list of kids’ books for Easter.

And don’t forget Earth Day, on April 22!

• Kaboose’s Earth Day page.
• This is Planetpals, with a huge range of activities.
• Here are some Earth Day crafts.

We missed listing this on March 21, but the Spring Equinox is the Wiccan festival of Ostara, which also offers fun things to do with kids:

• This is a traditional Ostara story, and here is a contemporary story.
• Here are some nature activities.
• And here are some Ostara crafts you can do.

Spring provides so many opportunities to do things with our kids and to learn together.  I hope you find the above ideas helpful.