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April 2016!

Ellie on the recorder, Easter egg hunt, Daniel loves the States song, Dad-o mummy, Brachiation ladder, Joseph crosses the brachiation ladder, Ellie stands and chatters, Ellie walks with a mobile tray (again, longer) (and more), Crafts, Googly eyes, Daniel and Dad-o play catch, Daniel gets sleepy, sleepy Dan twirls his hair, Ellie eats a banana, Ellie practices standing, and Ellie jonesing for the camera,

That means there’s still the entire first quarter to go… but I’ve also done more than a quarter in a reasonably short time, so there’s hope!

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Vivienne in the bear trap, Daniel in the bear trap, Ellie on the drums, Joseph’s origami review (part 2) (part 3) (part 4: body book) (part 5) (part 6) (part 7) (part 8), Ellie and the watering can, Big Brainz, Climbing Ellie, and Dice in a box.

These are all from May, and in case you’re wondering where the first half of June went, well, it appears that the videos from June 15th are all we have from the first half of June.  If it’s any consolation, May and April both seem to show the same pattern: few videos in the first half, disproportionately more in the second half.

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One in July, the rest from the second half of June (well, plus June 15th).

Ellie wants to see the video, Ellie walks holding hands, Ellie stays standing (for less time than it takes you to read this parenthetical), a little more standing, Daniel and Ellie on the brachation ladder, Ellie hangs, Fun with felt-tips, Joseph helps Ellie walk, Light switch, Ellie’s presents, Ellie’s cupcake, Flies in the house, Joseph’s birthday treasure hunt – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Joseph’s muffins, Vivienne pushes Ellie, Vivienne and Ellie share a tumble, and Ellie climbs onto the dollhouse.

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I am dauntingly, terrifyingly behind in posting videos of our kids.  Photos, too.  So here are a few for your viewing pleasure from September 27th, 2016.

Abraham booklet, Memory verses (again) (and again), Halleluja chorus, Alphabet song, Narration (again) (and again), Writing (again) (and again), and the lead-up to an unrecorded Halleluja chorus demo.

I’m really hoping we’ll get another Hallelujah chorus demo.

How much toothpaste should I eat?

This is not a question most people ask of themselves, and those that should don’t think to ask it.  It’s left to us parents to wonder: How many Crest commercial brushloads can my kid eat before I should worry about the fluoride?  Here’s a calculation to help answer that.

The safety data I’m using is from the 2013 article by the European Food Safety Authority EFSA, Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for fluoride.  They state that regardless of age and condition, the adequate intake is 0.05mg per day per kg of body weight.  For a 20-kg person (44 lbs), that works out to 1mg per day.

How much toothpaste to get to 1 mg?  It depends on the toothpaste.  Most toothpastes have an indication of fluoride ion content.  We have a children’s toothpaste (Elmex) which states 500ppm fluoride ion, and a regular toothpaste (Crest) that indicates 0,15%.  Our fluoridated table salt contains 0,025% fluoride.  This works out to 2g of toothpaste for Elmex, 0,7g for Crest, and 4g of table salt.

That’s all very well, but few people visualize grams well.  For the salt, an online converter tells me we’re looking at 0,7tsp.  My not terribly precise kitchen scale indicated that for the Crest toothpaste, it corresponds roughly to one TV commercial brushload; for Elmex, to three such brushloads.

And then there’s tea… which weighs in at anywhere between 1.5mg/liter to 4mg/liter, perhaps even more, depending also on whether your water is fluoridated.  AcneEinstein has a more detailed treatment of the tea question, which also links to WHO guidelines that seem to only partially square up with the EFSA guidelines.

The upshot: monitor and train your kids, but don’t freak out if they eat a little toothpaste.  And don’t raise them exclusively on iced tea…

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Here’s the last push to get 2015 settled.

November, in the new house: Jigsaw practice.  If I had realized that there was only one November video left, I might have included it yesterday.

December, obviously in the new house: The will to crawl, Forward motion, Decorating the tree part 1, part 2, part 3, Workspace 1.0, Tooth and (no) crawl, Swim fast, Piano man, Crawling baby six months, Jingle bells, High chair, Stockings, Model planes, Bean bag, Big present, Doll house, Cantons book, Christmas music, Jingle bells (reprise), Jingle bells (Bappe’s turn), Three weeks of crawling.