Friday, April 2, 2010

Bilingual carnival, writing opportunities galore, & a winner!

The blogging carnival on bilingualism is now up at Multi Tongue Kids:

An Easter kind of Carnival...



This month's carnival is full of hidden goodies! Click over to browse the variety — from non-native French, to dual citizenship, to favorite books, to sensitivity in correcting language mistakes.

I submitted my post on being intentional with non-native bilingualism. You'll be happy to know that Mikko's preschool teachers asked Sam if I'd been speaking more German with him at home — because he's started speaking German at Schule! I had noticed the change with me as well. He'll say something in English, and I'll repeat or answer it in German (not in
Hampelmann jumping jack dolls Hampelmänner
Wondering what a Hampelmann is? Wonder no longer. Here is an assortment to choose from.
a teaching/correcting way, just in a conversational way), and he'll repeat it back in German. It's so stinking fun to hear German come out of his mouth! I love it. He really seems to be enjoying it, because there's this little shy sparkle in his eyes when he says something to me in German; I don't know how to explain it, but maybe he thinks it's our secret code. And his favorite song right now? "Jetzt steigt Hampelmann." Or, as he calls it, "Play 'Hampelmann,' Mama! Play 'Hampelmann.'" Ad infinitum — well, at least until I get the iPod cued correctly to please his highness.

To participate in the next bilingual carnival, sign up for the carnival newsletter at FeedBlitz to receive notice of due dates and where to send your post link to, and check the schedule at the bottom of this page at Bilingual for Fun once it's updated with the new dates and hosts.



In fact, there are a lot of great carnivals happening soon if you're itching to contribute.

There's a Body Image Carnival, hosted by Breastfeeding Moms Unite! and Maman A Droit, from April 12-19.

We want to hear your stories of how pregnancy, parenthood, and life in general have changed your body and your body image. We want to know about the good, the bad, and the stretchmarks.

Email your submission by April 9, and then enjoy a week that features body-image posts by theme!



If you root for healthy birth, Science & Sensibility is accepting submissions for the fifth Healthy Birth Blog Carnival, on the pushing stage of labor. More specifically:

Avoid giving birth on your back and follow your body’s urges to push.

Good idea!

Post your entry and email it to Amy by April 7.



Submissions for the next Attachment Parenting carnival through Attachment Parenting International are due April 9. The topic is the third principle of attachment parenting: Respond With Sensitivity.



white envelope in a fence for April Carnival of Natural Parenting--Parenting adviceAnd no post highlighting carnivals would be complete without throwing in our own Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Parenting advice: We all need a little input. Write a Dear Abby-like letter asking your readers for help with a current parenting issue. Let your readers give solutions to your problem in the comments.

You don't have to do this, but I'll just say that the submissions so far have been really cutely formatted, with clever sign-offs just like a real advice-column letter. Any parenting question is fair game, so ask away! The trouble might be narrowing it down...

This is a great way to get your readers involved in your blog, as well as, you know, get some ideas for how to solve your current parenting dilemma! If you want to write a follow-up post later talking about your favorite solution or what conclusions you came to, you absolutely can. I think this will be a fun, collaborative topic for everyone!

Email us your submission (mail {at} HoboMama.com and CodeNameMama {at} gmail.com), and fill out our webform — and all by April 6. That's next Tuesday (which means I should start writing...).

If you're a Carnival participant, I hope you've enjoyed how Dionna and I have been posting the entries on Facebook and Twitter throughout the month. We love getting the word out about your wonderful posts! Thank you again for participating and sharing your writing.



To find ever more blogging carnivals, check out Melodie's comprehensive crunchy-carnival list at Breastfeeding Moms Unite!



poetry magnetsFinally — if that wasn't enough writing for you, it's time for the Poem-a-Day Challenge for National Poetry Month!

Check out my post at LaurenWayne.com (my writing blog) inviting you to join me in Poetic Asides' annual PAD Challenge. We're going to write a poem each day throughout the month of April, and I intend to concentrate on writing as many parenting-specific poems this year as I can.

I know, I know, it's already the 2nd — but you're allowed to catch up, and it's not hard. (Assuming you don't write epic poetry. Homer would definitely have issues.)

If you take the challenge and follow Robert Lee Brewer's prompts, even on only a day here or there, feel free to share any of the poetic results on your blog or with me if you're feeling so inclined!



Did you see who won the giveaway of the Mini Mei Tai doll carrier?

Well, go see! It's a worthy winner who runs a blog about making cute stuff for herself and her daughter. You'll be inspired, guaranteed.

And the good news is, I even found my sewing machine cord, so I can actually get cracking making the Pink Swirls Mini Mei Tai and shipping it out to an adora-girl in Germany!

Didn't win and are feeling glum? It is so easy to make your own Mini Mei Tai. See how at my wonder-tutorial extraordinaire. You can even do like Amber now and not misplace your sewing-machine cord.


Photo of Hampelmänner courtesy nayrb7 on flickr (cc); photo of white envelope in fence courtesy Margarit Ralev of Ralev.com on stock.xchng; photo of magnetic poetry tiles courtesy surrealmuse on flickr (cc)

5 comments:

Dionna @Code Name: Mama said...

I feel so together this week - I have my Carnival of Natural Parenting AND my Healthy Birth Blog Carnival posts DONE already! We'll see how I'm feeling next week though ;)

Anonymous said...

Yay for Mikko speaking more Deutsch! I signed up for LiveMocha so I'll try to commit myself to maybe 15 mins a day there.

So many carnivals! If I get a couple hours to myself I might be able to churn out a few posts plus the other stuff I'm working on. That might be wishful thinking though. As always, the Carnival of Natural Parenting will be number one on my list.

Melodie said...

I love these posts you do Lauren. They always help me get on track with what I'm going to write about in the coming weeks.

Joy@WDDCH said...

Congrats for winning first place for the co-sleeping book!!! One of my articles made it into the book as well. I had to come over and check out your blog and I LOVE it. I'm going to be checking out the carnivals you've mentioned and see which ones I'd be interested in entering.

I also want to add that my daughter attends a charter school where about 80% of her classmates are Hispanic so she learns Spanish through "immersion". It's really wonderful! She doesn't know very much just yet but I know she'll catch on quick.

Anonymous said...

The carnivals sound super fun!

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