Real-Life Nurseries - Part 4

Need a little inspiration? Design-savvy parents share their nursery decorating tips. Here are our top picks.

Mia's Floral-Mod Room

Inspiration: Flowers

Location: Hazlet, New Jersey

Mom's favorite element: Ribbon mobile. Diane Desimini says it keeps Mia entertained during diaper changes. Crafty idea: Desimini created the mobile from ribbons and an embroidery hoop. Once all the elements were in place, she hot-glued the ribbons to keep them from slipping and placed another sash around the hoop.

Decorating tips: Desimini hand-painted the border on the wall to echo the pattern on the baby's bedding. "I also sewed the letters of Mia's name myself, and hung them with ribbons on tiny nails," she says.

Carson's Cowboy Room

Inspiration: Vintage cowboys

Location: McKinney, Texas

Favorite element: Three-wall mural painted by a friend. "It envelops you as you walk in the room," Kerry Doke says.

Decorating tips: "If you go with a theme, go all out," says Doke. "(A nursery) is the only place in the house you can get away with going overboard." If you have trouble deciding where to put everything, try her trick: "I cut out pieces of newspaper the size of my furniture and placed them in the room before putting the furniture in." Moving pieces of paper is a lot easier than lifting heavy objects.

Schuyler's Garden

Inspiration: A love for the outdoors

Location: Bethesda, Maryland

Favorite element: Butterflies hanging from the ceiling. Says Liz Weirshousky: "They've caught Schuyler's attention since she was born."

Decorating tips: "Blue painters' tape is a do-it-yourselfer's best friend," she says. "I always get the 2-inch-wide tape. It covers hard areas that you don't want to get paint on." She also advises use of uncommon elements. Weirshousky tacked up pieces of vertical blinds to create the illusion of a picket fence. "I drew the design on each slat and cut them out with regular scissors," she explains. "We nailed the horizontal pieces to the wall in just a couple of places and then used double-stick cushion tape to fasten the pickets to the horizontal rails."

Lily's Bright Quarters

Inspiration: Curtains

Location: Covington, Georgia

Favorite element: Bold, checkered walls

Decorating tips: For painting stripes, the key is to be exact with all the measuring, says Judy David. She first measured the center of the room to paint the yellow cloud. Then before tackling the watermelon stripes, she covered the cloud with tape. "We mixed one part paint to two parts glaze," she adds. David repainted the stripes with a wallpaper brush to give it a linen effect.

Keep sending us your photos! We'd like to add the picture of your baby's room to our collection of real-life nurseries.

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Real-Life Nurseries - Part 3

Need a little inspiration? Design-savvy parents share their nursery decorating tips. Here are our top picks.

Ashlyn's Secret Garden

Inspiration: A dream garden

Location: Long Beach, California

Mom's favorite element: The tree is my favorite part of the room. "I never get tired of looking at the pink flowers and the different directions the branches run," says Ashlyn's mom Erica Kee.

Decorating tips: Erica used carpenters chalk to get such straight lines. "First we marked the top of the wall with hash marks the width of the stripes, held the string up to each hash mark, and snapped to make a chalk line. Then we went around with painter's tape and followed the chalk lines." To create the tree, she searched online for other images of similar murals for inspiration, and drew it freehand with pencil first, and then filled in with paint. "I debated about painting on the ceiling," she says, "but decided it helped make the room look bigger."

Parents.com tip: If you're going with a tree mural, give it a sense of movement by extending the branches to the ceiling, even painting right over the crown molding.

Amelia's Romantic Room

Inspiration: A love for vintage

Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

Mom's favorite element: Toile curtains. They dictate the colors and tone of the whole room.

Decorating tips: "Splurge on draperies and upholstered pieces," says Jennifer Hutton Whipple. "You'll use them for years." Whipple was fortunate to have the toile curtains made by her mom to surround the white balloon shades. She crafted a pink-and-white polka-dot organza dust ruffle for the crib and a matching chain sleeve for the chandelier. "The room is accessorized with my favorite finds from antique stores through the years," she says. "The walls are painted a neutral tan, while the ceiling is a soft pink. White crown molding was a first-time project for Dad."

Ilan's Wild Weir

Inspiration: A love for leopard prints. "I created Ilan's room around the baby bedding," says Ilan's mom, Hollie Nelson.

Location: Trenton, Georgia

Mom's favorite element: The walls

Decorating tips: The special paint treatment is Nelson's first attempt at faux finishing. "Instead of using a sponge to give the walls a shadowy look, I used a regular paint brush," she says. "I followed the same technique oil canvas painters use to paint the clouds in their landscapes."

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Real-Life Nurseries - Part 2

Need a little inspiration? Design-savvy parents share their nursery decorating tips. Here are our top picks.

Hannah's Pink and Green Paradise

Inspiration: Twins! "The room actually came from the idea of how I would do a nursery if I were having twins," says mom Brittany Durrett. "We had two bedrooms and I wondered how it would look if we tore down the wall and had a suite. I didn't have twins," she says, "but I thought, why not tear it down anyway?"

Location: Alpharetta, GA

Mom's favorite element: The bedding. "My mom made the bedding, the wall treatments, and many other accessories in the room," Durrett says. "Everything is very special to me."

Decorating tips: "Don't rush the process," she says. "When I get an idea, I want to see the result right away. But if I had chosen the first few fabrics or accessories that I found, then I wouldn't be nearly as happy with the room as I am," she adds.

Jaxen's Cosmic Space

Inspiration: Outer space. "My husband is a space junkie, so the rocket-ship theme was a no-brainer," says mom Hope Litwin.

Location: Alberta, Canada

Mom's favorite element: The painted rocket ship on the wall and the laser projector that displays stars on the ceiling.

Decorating tips: "Be creative and don't be afraid to go over the top," says Litwin. "Kids love color and creativity, so make the room as personal as you would have liked your room to be when you were a kid."

Parents.com tip: To create a mural, sketch your design or trace an image you find on to a piece of paper, and get a transparency made at a copy shop. Use an overhead projector to display it on the wall you wish to paint, moving it farther or closer to get it the right size. Trace your design using a pencil, then paint inside the lines.

Harrison's Timeless Stripes

Inspiration: A desire for timeless decor. "We wanted a nursery that our son could grow into and wouldn't appear too babyish when he got older," says mom Julie Rurka.

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina

Mom's favorite element: The stripes! "I really like the striking contrast of the pale blue and cream with the dark brown furniture."

Decorating tips: "Plan!" says Julie. "We first measured from the floor to the section of the wall where we wanted to put the chair rail and drew a line in pencil. We painted below the line brown and above the line cream. We then went through with measuring tape and measured 10 inches apart and drew the lines in pencil using a vertical laser level. We taped up each section or stripe with paint tape and painted every other stripe light blue. We removed the tape before the paint dried too much in order to prevent the paint from peeling." She also suggests toting paint samples around wherever you go in case you see something you want to buy for the nursery. "We were able to pick out bedding without wondering whether or not the colors would match."

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Real-Life Nurseries

Need a little inspiration? Design-savvy parents share their nursery decorating tips. Here are our top picks.

Noah's Rustic Retreat

Inspiration: The outdoors. "We live in a log house and wanted to keep the rustic feeling," says mom Lori Mercado.

Location: LaGrangeville, NY
Mom's favorite element: The tree. "I love the silhouette look. I just freehanded it and added little birds on the branches to give it that extra touch."

Decorating tips: "If freehand painting intimidates you," Lori says, "then find an image from a book or magazine and project it onto the wall." You can do this by renting a projector that hooks up to your laptop.

Ava's Block Party

Inspiration: Texture and geometry. "We wanted to use some of the same colors that are in our main living while a lso creating a nursery that would stimulate our baby's mind with different shapes," says mom Tasha Lewis.

Location: Terre Haute, IN

Mom's favorite element: "I like all the different textures and shapes from the painted walls, hanging lamps, and the fur rug."

Decorating tips: "Look at how the rest of your house is decorated," Lewis says. "Then see if you can incorporate that into a baby-friendly space."

Maya's Modern Room

Inspiration: Modernism. "My husband and I wanted to stray away from the traditional, idea of feminine room and keep it feeling up-to-date," says mom Kim Wardell.

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Mom's favorite element: The chandelier wall decal. "It's elegant, modern, and different from any other design I've seen," says Wardell.

Decorating tips: "It doesn't have to be expensive to be beautiful," Kim says. "Many o f the items in the room are made up of repurposed furniture or items we made. An old Philadelphia library desk is now used to hold Maya's stuffed animals, the changing table is an old TV stand, and her bookcase came from my husband's family."

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Smart Learning Games - Part 2

Mind and body games

From Fit by Five Preschool, Westlake, OH

Knock 'em down, count 'em up

Set up a bowling alley in your hallway with six empty water bottles and a tennis ball.

Have your child help you arrange the pins in a triangle, and count them out loud together as you stand them up.

After he rolls the ball, ask him, "How many pins did you knock down?" Then count together how many pins are still standing.

Set them back up and let him roll and count over and over.

The hidden lessons: He's honing his hand-eye coordination and learning principles of addition and subtraction.

Feelings fling

Working together, draw happy, sad, mad, surprised, and silly faces on separate pieces of paper.

Make beanbags by filling up socks with dried beans and tying them tightly (the beans can be a choking hazard).

Spread the faces on the floor.

Ask your child things like "How do you feel on your birthday?" or "What does it feel like when your sister takes your toy?"

Have her toss the beanbags to the face that matches her feelings.

Let her ask you things.

The hidden lessons: She's learning to put names to feelings, as well as practicing her throwing skills and using her writing hand.

Balancing act

Form straight, zigzag, bent, or curved lines on the floor using long strips of colored masking tape. Then come up with fun and interesting challenges like: "Walk along the straight line"

"Walk on your tiptoes on the zigzag line"

"Now, take three giant steps backward on the curved line"

See how many crazy combinations you both can come up with.

The hidden lessons: Her body is focused on balance and coordination while her brain is concentrating on following a multifaceted direction - abilities that will take her far, whether she's listening to her teacher, piecing together a Lego set, or doing her first wobbly pli¿¿s at ballet class.

Creative pursuits

From Learning, the Arts and Me Nursery at the Third Street Music School Settlement, New York City

Wonder colors

Cover a table with an old tablecloth and tape down a piece of waxed paper. Then:

Pour diluted blue, red, and yellow food coloring into bowls.

Drip a red dot onto the waxed paper with an eyedropper (for a toddler, try a plastic spoon). Have him use another dropper to squeeze a yellow dot right next to the red.

Watch the colors swirl together: orange!

Ask: What might happen to red and blue? Yellow and blue?

The hidden lessons: He's learning to associate colors with their names. The eyedropper or spoon will also fine-tune his fingers for writing.

Dance fever

Turn on some music.

Have your child make up a simple movement.

Repeat her move and add another one.

Tell her to repeat the first and second movements and add a third.

Keep going until you both break into giggles.

The hidden lessons: Improvising with you shows her how much fun cooperation can be and sharpens her ability to remember a sequence (a math basic). This is also a great way to introduce her to new kinds of music.

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Smart Learning Games

These great educational activities are used at innovative preschools around the country. Now you can bring the fun -- and lessons (shh!) -- to your house.

From Zoo School at the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL

Bat tag (To play with a bunch of kids)

Blindfold one child - she's the bat. The rest of the children are insects.

Every time the bat says "beep, beep," the insects call back "buzz, buzz" while moving all around her.

When the bat tags an insect, the insect has to go to the bat cave (say, the couch).

The last insect standing becomes the next bat.

The hidden lessons: Any chance kids get to work on their social skills, such as following directions and taking turns, pays off in school. Turn the game into Zoology 101 by telling them that they're mimicking echolocation, the complex way bats use sound to detect prey when hunting in the dark.

So big!

Check an encyclopedia or go online to worldalmanacforkids.com and find out with your child how tall his toy animals would grow in the wild.

Draw a line outside with chalk.

Take a stuffed animal (say, a giraffe), remind your child how tall it can grow (19 feet), and have him walk that many steps while you count together.

Mark where he stops and leave the animal there. Repeat with the others.

Study your homegrown zoo together: Which is tallest? Smallest? The hidden lessons: Measuring in this way makes numbers more tangible. Plus, he's counting, comparing, and even graphing.

Outdoor play

From Schlitz Audubon Nature Preschool, Bayside, WI

Family trees

Hike through the woods or around a park with your child to find baby trees (short, with thin trunks) and grandpa trees (tall, with fat trunks).

Find sizes in between for sisters, brothers, moms, dads, and grandmas.

Greet each new family member, and compare their sizes by giving them hugs around their trunks.

The hidden lessons: Transforming the trees into something that's the center of a toddler's or preschooler's world - family - helps them relate to nature. Wrapping their arms around trees helps them feel what small, medium, and big means.

Nature's treasure chest

When you're out: Have your child fill each compartment of an egg carton with two of the same object, like rocks, acorns, or leaves.

Back home: Look at, touch, smell, and talk about her finds.

Then dump them out and mix them up. Two- and 3-year-olds will have fun trying to re-match the pairs. Give your 4-year-old different ways to sort, such as hard vs. soft, rough vs. smooth, and living vs. nonliving.

The hidden lessons: Digging around outside gives kids a chance to explore and take small risks ("What will happen if I touch this ant?"); plus, matching and sorting are precursors of algebra and geometry.

Can you hear it?

Find a quiet spot outside where you can sit together. Close your eyes.

Use your fingers to count all the sounds that you hear in a minute.

Ask your toddler to tell you how many sounds he heard.

An older child can show you how deer and rabbits use their ears by cupping both of his hands in front of his ears to hear sounds behind him, or at the back of his ears to hear sounds in front.

The hidden lessons: Hones concentration skills and helps kids learn to pay attention.

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Questions to Ask a Pediatrician

10 tips to make your many well child pediatrician visits go smoothly.

Checkups are the cornerstone of good health, and in your baby's first couple of years she'll have plenty of them, as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends at least nine from birth to 18 months. Checkups are the best way to ensure a child is growing and developing as she should. But they're more than that: Routine visits to the pediatrician give parents the opportunity to learn how to keep their kids healthy and safe and to have all their medical questions answered. 

I've been on both sides of this process, as a pediatrician who's conducted thousands of examinations over the past 40 years and as a father of eight. Based on my experience, I've come up with these tips to ensure a successful visit to the pediatrician.

Time it right Don't make an appointment that will coincide with your child's naps or meals, and avoid periods when he tends to get fussy. Feed him beforehand or pack snacks. Find out when the office is least likely to be busy, and, if possible, schedule checkups during these off-peak times so you don't have to wait long.

If you need extra time, say so A problem like poor eating habits or developmental delays may require a little more attention, so be sure to alert the office staff when you're making an appointment that you have an important issue to discuss.

Dress baby for success Avoid multilayered outfits or clothes with lots of snaps and buttons. Many toddlers don't like having their shoes taken off, so opt for slip-ons and remove them yourself before the exam.

Be your child's advocate If you know your toddler is spooked by the scale, ask the nurse to hold off weighing her until the end of the physical. If she hates to have her clothes removed, see if the doctor can perform most of the exam while she's still dressed and in your arms or lap.

Bring photos or videos Snap a photo with your smartphone to show the doctor just how bad the rash was two days ago. Or use a Flip video camera to record your baby's colicky cries. I've found these tools highly useful in diagnosing and treating patients in my own practice.

Write it down Bring a list of questions so you don't forget anything important you want to discuss. You may also find it useful to bring a pad and pen to help you remember the doctor's answers and instructions after you leave.

Speak freely There's no such thing as a silly question. If you want to know whether something is normal or whether your child should have a new test or vaccine you've read about, just ask. Part of the purpose of these well-baby checkups is to get information and reassurance from your doctor.

Prepare to report Be ready to answer questions on general topics, such as how your child is sleeping, what and how much he's eating and whether his health or behavior has changed since his last visit. You'll also be asked age-specific questions about milestones like walking and talking.

Be honest If your child isn't sleeping enough or is eating too much junk food, fess up; your doctor can make accurate judgments only if you tell him the truth.

Don't worry, be happy Mothers mirror what I call exam anxiety. Instead of being anxious yourself, quickly engage the doctor with “happy to be here” greetings and facial gestures. When baby senses the doctor is a mom-approved person, she'll be more cooperative.

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