Community Activities in December

December can be such a hectic month.  Sometimes we don't take the time to enjoy the activities that are available to us.  Davis Early Intervention staff have been consulting with families all through the month of November to coordinate which activities we will attend with you.  Doing this allows you to enjoy the holiday activities with your family knowing that we are there to help make it successful.  Our goal for the month of December is to help you have an enjoyable holiday experience with your family.

We know you can't be at every activity there is available, but I thought it would be a good idea to post all the activities that we have found that are free so if you have a spare afternoon or evening, your family could enjoy an extra event.  We are already compiling the list of families attending the activities that you have indicated with your service provider, but you are not limited to only attending those with your family.  So enjoy the spirit of the season!

Woods Cross:

• Woods Cross Madrigals Christmas Concert at City Council Chambers - 12/9 (Sunday) 6-8pm

Bountiful:

• Family Art Night at Bountiful/Davis Art Center (745 So. Main St.) Hands on art activities for the whole family, free to the public, treats included. 12/17 (Monday) 7 - 8:30pm
• Library Story Time - Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at 10:30 am
• Holiday Puppet Show at the Library on 12/3 (Monday) at 5:00 and 7:00 pm

West Bountiful:

• Christmas on Onion Street.  Santa begins his trip around the city at 5:00 and returns to City Hall to meet the chldren and light the tree at 7:00 pm.  12/3 (Monday)

Centerville:

• Festival of Lights at Founders Park.  Hot cocoa, cookies and Santa.  Choirs performing.  12/3 (Monday) 6pm
• Library Story Time - Wedensdays at 10:30am

Farmington:

• Santa visits Farmington City's Community Arts Center.  Make and take a craft.  Free to Farmington families.  12/8 (Saturday) 1 - 5pm
• Library Story Time - Wednesdays at 10:30am

Kaysville:

• Tri-City Nursery Holiday Open House.  Pictures with Santa, tractor rides, face painting, hot cocoa, cookies, and live reindeer on Saturdays.  $5.00 donation suggested (benefits Family Connection Center) 12/1 and 12/8 (Saturdays) 1 - 4 pm and 12/3 (Monday) 6 - 8pm
• Library Story Time - Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10:30
• New Year's Eve Party on City Hall Block.  Children's carnival at Kaysville Elementary and Story Time at the Library from 7 - 9pm.  Also, food, bingo, music, dancing from 6 - midnight. 

Layton:

• Layton City's "The Lights Before Christmas" open every evening from dusk to 11:00pm
• Layton City Family Recreation hosts family hay rides throug "Lights Before Christmas".  Free only one night 12/12 (Wednesday) 6 - 8pm from the Layton Commons Park
• Library Story Time - Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 11:00am.  Also on Wednesdays at 1:30pm.

Syracuse:

• Library Story Time - Tuesdays at 10:30am and Wednesdays at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm

Clearfield:

• Clearfield Community Choir's Holiday concert at North Davis Jr. High Commons 12/6 (Thursday) 7pm
• Library Story Time - Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10:30am.  Also Wednesdays at 1:30pm
• Holiday Puppet Show at the Library 12/3 (Monday) 7:00pm

West Point:

• City Lighting Ceremony at West Point City Hall 12/3 (Monday) at 5:30pm

Ogden:

• Christmas Village at 2500 Grant Ave.  Open from 11/26/12 to 1/1/12 from 5pm to midnight

Call to Action

About a month ago I posted a blog about the need for parent input to encourage Governor Herbert to approve an increase in the Baby Watch Early Intervention Program's budget.  We are still working to make that happen.  So if you haven't written to the Governor or the Office of Management and Budget or the State Budget Director yet, there is still time - but not much.  The Governor will approve the new budget by December 8th and at that point it goes to the legislature for approval.  Before we can worry about that, we need to get the budget increase onto the Governor's budget.  (For more information, see the October 20th post).

Here at Davis Early Intervention we are hoping to send 100 emails to the Budget Trio by November 30th.  Please join us in trying to meet this challenge. 

We recommend that parents include the following types of things in a phone call or email:

1.  Your Name

2.  Where you live by city or county

3. Thank the Governor for his current and past support of this program and explain that your child is or was in the Baby Watch Early Intervention Program.

4. Tell your story.  Explain how Early Intervention has benefitted your child and your family and why the services are important.  Let them know that families like yours might not get the services they need without the funding for the Baby Watch Early Intervention Program.  Explain that Early Intervention services are an investment in your child's future.

5.  Ask them to support the full amount of the funding request for the Baby Watch Early Intervention Program.

Remember to be brief and clear in your request and thank them for their consideration!

Contact information for the Governor, the Governor's Office of Management and Budget and the State Budget Director are:

Gov. Gary Herbert
801 538-1000
E220 State Capitol Complex
gherbert@utah.gov

Clifford Strachan
Gov. Office of Management and Budget
801 538-1861
cstrachan@utah.gov

Ron Bigelow, State Budget Director
150 State Capitol Complex
801 538-1555
ronbigelow@utah.gov

We are also continuing to collect stories of how Davis Early Intervention has influenced your family and helped your child.  Please email those to me at mzeschke@dsdmail.net.

Once the Baby Watch Early Intervention Program budget request has been sent to the legislators for approval, we will be inviting local legislators to talk to our families and possibly attend a Parent Panel discussion and home visits to see what we do.  If you are interested in participating, please let your service provider know.

We appreciate our families and their dedication to helping their children.  We love working with you and enjoy the time we are able to spend watching your children progress and your families succeed in reaching the next step in your child's development.

Thank you for all your help and support in keeping the Davis Early Intervention Program going.

Family Fun

It seems like this time of year is so busy, but when my children were small, I was always looking for places to go and things to do with them.  It is hard for big people to be cooped up indoors all the time.  It's nearly impossible for little people!  Here are some ideas for outings for the family and dates when the admission is free!

Utah's Hogle Zoo - Free admission on November 28th, December 26th (except Zoo-Lights), January 30th and February 27th.

Living Planet Aquarium - Free admission on November 26th.

Discovery Gateway - Free admission March 14th.

Utah Museum of Fine Arts - Free admission on the first Wednesday of every month and the third Saturday of every month.

Red Butte Gardens - Free Open House December 1 - 2.  Also, free admission April 26th (Arbor Day), July 24th (Pioneer Day), and September 2nd (Labor Day).

You can also find a lot of ideas of activities to do with your child at home at familyfun.go.com. 

Utah's Early Learning Guidelines

Last week I was able to attend the Early Childhood Conference held in Provo.  This conference focuses on children from birth to six years and a variety of classes were held for us to choose from.  One of the classes I attended was an introduction to the New Utah's Early Learning Guidelines for children from birth to three.  This is a document adopted with permission fromt he Minnesota's Early Childhood Indicators of Progress.  This is a guideline for parents, caregivers, early childhood educators and early intervention to understand developmentally appropirate expectations for infants and toddlers.  The guidelines come from research by The National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative about what children should know and do in different domains of learning.  The domains are: Social and Emotional Development, Language Development and communication, Cognitivie Development, and Physical and Motor Development.

This document was developed with three goals in mind:
1.  To help parents andother caregivers understand what young children should be doing socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and communicatively at certain points during the first three years.
2.  To promote healthy child growth and development, high quality child care and early childhood education.
3.  To provide common lanugage for those who are providing services to benefit families with infants and toddlers.

These guidelines are a resource to support the learning and development of infants and toddlers.  The framework provides guidance for parents and caregivers as they plan and implement appropriate activities for children to support growth and development.  This is not an assessment tool.  The developers of the the guidelines recognize that all children develop differently and this is simply a guide to see what development would occur next from where the child is currently functioning.  In fact the guiding principles of the guidelines are that infants and toddlers develop in the context of their families, cultures and communitites; Nurturing and responsive caregiving helps infants and toddlers develop secure and trusing relationships; rapid growth occures during the years from birth to three; multiple abilities and skills develop simultaneously during the child's first three years of life; and individual children vary considerably in their rate of progress in achieving developmental milestones.

This is a great resource for those working with children from birth to three.  The best part is that along with developmental milestones, the developers also included a list of strategies to target development of children.  The strategies are not all inclusive and will hopefully be used to help you think of your own strategies to use with your children.

If you are interested in receiving a copy of the guidelines, please let your service provider know, comment below or contact me (mzeschke@dsdmail.net) and we will provide one for you.