Bilirubin levels in infants

Even hospital staff may misinterpret bilirubin levels in the lab results, so it may be useful to you to read the recommendations in this articls. This article gives excellent graphs (see Figures 2 and Figure 3) for which levels are considered dangerous. Note that how bad the bilirubin level is depends on the age of the infant and on the presence of some risk factors explained next to the charts.
Of course these are only guidelines and your pediatrician should interpret lab results for you but reading this article will let you ask intelligent questions to nurses and doctors.

in reference to:

"All bilirubin levels should be interpreted according to the infant’s age in hours"
- Management of Hyperbilirubinemia in the Newborn Infant 35 or More Weeks of Gestation -- Subcommittee on Hyperbilirubinemia 114 (1): 297 -- AAP Policy (view on Google Sidewiki)

Preschool classes at Dance Connection

My daughter has been attending the "Preschool Combination" class for a few months and she really loves it. The teachers are great and the girls love being in the class.
The class is called "combination" because it part of it teaches tap dance and part of it teaches ballet.
The last class of each month is a "backwards class" that focuses on gymnastics.

in reference to: Dance Connection Palo Alto (view on Google Sidewiki)

"Parent and Tot" classes at the Winter Lodge

"Serious" classes at the Winter Lodge in Palo Alto are for kids who are 4 and older but even younger kids will have fun at the Friday "Parent and Tot" class (provided that the parent can skate well enough to help the child in the class). My daughter took this class with me when she just turned 3 and she had a lot of fun even though at this age she couldn't learn anything too complicated. Both her happiness about ice skating and the fact that she became somewhat confident skating with my support made this class very worthwhile for us.

in reference to: Winter Lodge (view on Google Sidewiki)

T-ball in Palo Alto starting from 5 years of age

Children who are as young as 5 year-old may participate in this league. See http://pabaseball.org/info/faq_tball.php#ages for details.

in reference to: Welcome to Palo Alto Little League (view on Google Sidewiki)

Amazing Family Game Board Book

The Amazing Family Game Board Book is one of the best purchases we made. This box full of games was inexpensive, it doesn't take much space and we already played with Avril many games: checkers, backgammon, Chinese checkers, nine men's morris, A-to-Z eye spy, trick track, reversi, mancala, war, go fish, crazy 8s and dominoes. And there are still many games left.
Some of the rules are too hard for a 3 year-old, so I had to simplify them a little and it is very hard at this age to lose but otherwise the games are a lot of fun both for my daughter and for me.

Olema Ranch Campground

We spent the July 4 weekend at the Olema Campground near Point Reyes. We usually camp in somewhat primitive condition and this was the most upscale experience we have had so far.  I really recommend it for families especially for families without much camping experience.  The tent sites are pleasant and the resort has many conveniences: hot showers, a little store, laundry. There's even a playground for children. The campground is very close to Point Reyes National Seashore, so many activities are possible there.

Here's a picture of the playground:

Goats and May Fête Parade

Bay Area weather doesn't look promising this weekend but there are some interesting events going on this weekend.

• May Fête Parade on Saturday (May 2, 2009) in Palo Alto should be a lot of fun. This year’s theme is "Dream Green".
• Fantasy Faire on Saturday in the Los Gatos Parent Nursery School is a smaller event but if you live close to Los Gatos and don't feel like driving to Palo Alto, it's good option too.
• Last but not least: goats! This is not really an event but I saw them today and it's an amazing that one can see so many goats in Mountain View. Read more about it in the Google blog post.