GMCAA Early Childhood Programs Newsletter

January 27 , 20 1 4 Volume 8, Is sue 2

GMCAA Exe cutive Dir ector, Tom Reed GMCAA D evelopment Di r./He lp Me G row D ir ector, Te re sa Varian Find us on Facebook at Meigs Help Me Grow gallimeigscaa.webs.com your baby Tips for Photographing

Find the best light.

Upcoming Events Please check for cancellations and changes before attending . Call (Meigs) 992-5266 or (Gallia) 367-7341 (Ask For Debbie Davidson) or 1-866-219-0110. Remember to register if you will be attending any of the activities! Forget all the fancy flash settings on your camera. As long as theres daylight, you can get beautiful baby photos with natural light, no matter if youre using a cell phone or a top-of-the-line gadget.

Create a simple backdrop.

One simple baby-photo tip for getting prophotographer results at home: Eliminate background clutter by placing your baby in front of a plain DIY backdrop. Drape a white sheet over a few chairs, tape a piece of plain wrapping paper to the wall, or just set your sweetie on top of a white down comforter on the floor.

Capture the details.

Faces are fabulous, but so are details you wouldnt normally focus on. Make sure to zoom in on little things like that whorl of hair at the back of her head, those perfect tiny toenails, that Buddha belly and crazy-cute belly button. Camera phones normally arent great at getting this up close and personal, but even without a zoom lens you can take pictures that highlight your babys feet, her profile, her nose, her first tooth.

February
Parent/Child Smarts HMG Office Friday, February 14 10AM to 11:30 AM Gallia County Health Department Free Immunizations Feb. 11th 4-6 PM Current Immunization and must be accompanied by parent

Keep baby comfy.

Make sure your baby is well rested, well fed, and comfortable (with a clean diaper and clothes that arent too hot or too tight). Plan your photo shoot within a half hour after feeding your baby and keep their outfit simple. If you want to capture her in her birthday suit, keep her toasty warm so she will stay happy.

MARCH April
Spring Fling @ Dave Dils Park 10:30 to 11:30 Wednesday April 16

Trick out your camera phone.

May Fantastic Fabulous Fun Fair

May 9th @ Family Life Center 423 Main Street Middleport, Ohio 10 AM to 2 PM

There are lots of terrific apps you can download to improve on your smart phones built-in camera. Instagram (free) can give your brand-new baby Time the light right. pics a dreamy vintage feel, and make Photographers love north-facing windows sure to download Adobe Photoshop because they let in indirect sunshine thats Express (free), which lets you edit not so harsh or glaring. You can get similar photos, including cropping and results by waiting for the right time of day brightening images, right on your phone. You should also check out What to snap your pics. Photograph your baby to expects own Grow With Me app in front of a west-facing window in the (free), which helps you take daily morning or an east-facing window in the afternoon to keep her from squinting and photos of your small fry and turn them into a video flip book. minimize shadows.

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GMCAA Early Childhood Programs Newsletter

February/March Activities
If your newborn could talk: They might be saying this: 9+9
Crying is the best way I have to communicate right now. Thats why I use it so often. I might be wet, or need a cuddle, or I might be hungry; and at the rate Im growing, .hungry. is a safe bet. If you think Im hungry ,touch my cheek gently and Ill turn my head automatically, and begin to suck. Sometimes I need practice sucking. And when I cry from hunger and you come with food, I learn that Im a good communicator and that I can make things happen! It feels especially good when you cuddle me, look into my eyes and talk softly to me as I eat. I love to be close to you. Right now, I want what I want when I want it. Soon Ill learn to wait a minute or two, but Ill only be able to do that if I know I can trust you to care for me.

GMCAA Parents Smarts will be held at the GMCAA Help Me Grow office on Friday February 14th, 2014 at 10:00 am featuring Choose My Plate information presented by Linda King of OSU Extension office. Linda King will be going over heart healthy ways to choose healthy options and explaining the choose my plate concept along with ways we can incorporate it into our daily routines. To Learn more about this go to http://www.choosemyplate.gov/.

There are tips for feeding your children and games for them to play, Videos and songs to watch plus activity sheets to do.

March
Linda King will also be on hand Friday March 14, at the Help Me Grow office for another exciting installment on how to serve you children heart healthy foods in ways that they will love.

April Activities
Gallia Meigs Community Action Agency will sponsor its 8th Spring Fling by holding an Easter Egg Hunt and visit from the Easter Bunny on Wednesday April 16 from 10:30AM to 11:30AM At Dave Dils Park in Middleport. Pictures with the Easter Bunny will be taken and juice and a treat will be served to the all participants. There will be two categories for hunting eggs. Infants to 2 year olds and 3 to 5 year olds to allow ample opportunity for all children to find Easter eggs filled with treats. Please give us a call to register so we will be able to have enough eggs and candy for each of the children. You can reach us at 740-992-5266 or 1-888-219-6553. Let us know how many children and adults will be attending.

What your newborn is learning:

Satisfying your babys hunger helps him feel calm. This enables him to focus briefly on his most important business, learning about the world around him, When you talk quietly with him and gently stroke his head as he eats, he knows he is loved and worthy of being well cared for. He begins to understand that he can trust and depend on you. When he sees that his efforts to communicate are successful, you are helping to build his language skills; he cries because hes hungry, you come, you feed him and he feels better. This encourages him to communicate more, first through gestures and vocalizations, and later through words. It is also helping him understand cause and effect (I cry, mom or dad comes) which will help him make sense of the sometimes overwhelming world that surrounds him. Keep up the good work Mom and Dad!

May Activities
GMCAA Help Me Grow will sponsor the 8th annual Family Fun Fair for all parents and children birth to five. It will be held at the Family Life Center 423 Main Street, Pomeroy Ohio from 2 to 4 PM. Come join us for free food, fun, prizes and games. Come join us for the fun and help us reach all Meigs County families with children birth to five years old with important information about all the agencies and businesses in our area that can assist families. We will have a bounce house, face painting and costumed characters that will walk around meet the children and you can take pictures of your child and the character. See you there.

GMCAA Early Childhood Programs Newsletter

Here are some ways to help your child become a healthy eater
1. Remember: Meals are about more than food. Talk with your child during meals and dont let her eat alone. This helps build strong family relationships. 2. Create routines around mealtime. Routines make children feel loved and secure. Establish regular meal and snack times beginning when your child is 9-12 months old. 3. Offer 3 to 4 healthy food choices (that your child likes) at each meal. Research shows that children will choose a healthy diet when they are offered a selection of different healthy foods. 4. Dont force your baby or toddler to eat. This often results in children refusing the food and eating less. 5. Dont give up on new foods! You may have to offer your child a new food 10 or 15 times before he will eat it. 6. Turn off the TV (computers, etc) at mealtime the television can distract children from eating. It also takes time away from talking as a family. 7. Healthy eating and exercise go hand in hand. So make active play a part of everyday family life.

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Quick and Easy Valentines Day Crafts

Fun Learning Song and Finger Plays

Finger Plays and Nursery Rhymes are something you and your children can enjoy together. Children of all ages can reap more benefits from music and movement than just enjoyment. From exposure to rhymes, song, and movement, children can enhance their language development, body awareness, auditory discrimination, self-esteem, muscular coordination; these areas of development are thought to be a crucial prerequisite to other, more academi c activities. So go ahead, dance, sing and do finger plays with your child. You are helping them with early learning skills through play.

Valentine Heart Stamps Paint and an empty roll of toilet paper are all you need for some stamping valentine fun with your little one.

Can You Hop Like a Rabbit? (Suit actions to words) Can you hop like a rabbit? Can you jump like a frog? Can you walk like a duck? Can you run like a dog? Can you fly like a bird? Can you swim like a fish? And be as still as a mouse As still this?
Give your little one a hand! Just trace the hand on to construction paper, cut out and decorate.

Ten Green Peas Ten green peas in a pea pod pressed, (Make fists and bump them together) One grew, two grew, so did all the rest. (Raise 1 finger, then 2, then all) They grew and grew and they would not stop, (Stretch up really tall) Until one day, the pod went POP! (Smack hands together!)

Roly-Poly Roly-poly, roly-poly, up - up - up! Roly-poly, roly-poly, out - out - out! Roly-poly, roly-poly, clap - clap - clap! Roly-poly, roly-poly lay them in your lap!
(Children enjoy rolling their hands around and around to various speeds or without a sound.)

If your little one is too small to participate in craft making, they can still help you make a special Valentine's Day memory. Create a keepsake valentine by imprinting your baby's feet into a heart! Great gift for Grandma or to put in the baby book!

Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program

GMCAA Early Childhood Programs 1369 Powell Street P.O. Box 129 Middleport, Ohio 45760 Phone: 740-367-7341 (740) 992-5266 1-800-219-0110 Fax: 740-992-6553 (740) 992-6553 Give your child a helping hand right from the start!
Gallia Meigs Community Action Agency, by partnering with Washington-Morgan Community Action and Muskingum Economic Opportunity Action Group, Inc. approximately 100 veteran families will receive supportive services in 5 counties. The goal of the grant is to prevent and end homelessness among low income veterans by promoting housing stability. The grant funds will be used to provide supportive services to low income veterans living in or transitioning to permanent housing. According to Teresa Varian, Development Director Gallia-Meigs Community Action, this grant will provide important supportive and financial assistance services to veteran families in Gallia and Meigs Counties. It is an excellent example of how Community Action Agencies can work together to bring resources to our counties to meet community need. The Supportive Services for Veteran Families began on October 1, 2013. Gallia-Meigs has begun outreach to assist veterans in the two county areas. Low income veteran families struggling to remain in their current housing or those families that are homeless will receive a combination of case management and financial assistance services. Veteran households will be required to create a housing stability plan and meet monthly with the case manager. GMCAA is using the guiding principle of providing the right service, at the right time, utilizing the right amount of assistance; the case manager will be able to help veteran families eliminate the barriers to stable housing. For more information on the Supportive Services for Veterans families program contact Anna Shope, Case Manager, at 740-992-5266 ext. 14 or Teresa Varian, Program Manager at 740-367-7341 ext 22 at Gallia-Meigs Community Action Agency.

Visit us on Facebook! Meigs Help Me Grow

GMCAA Help Me Grow 1369 Powell Street P.O. Box 129 Middleport, Ohio 45760 740-992-5266 866-219-0110 galliameigscaa.webs.com