Hi - it's Tinker.  Mimi said that I could take a turn at writing the blog because I have my thoughts about the earth and its animal kingdom. So I want to tell you about a little creature that I just learned about....one who needs our help.  Just discovered in 1958, the vaquita is a very small porpoise, less than five ft. long and weighing up to 120 lbs, whose only known home is in the far north of Mexico's Gulf of California, the Sea of Cortez.  The shy vaquita lives in the shallow warm water along the shoreline of the gulf.

We are on the brink of losing the vaquitas forever.  More than half of the known vaquita population has died in the last three years and there are estimated to be less than 100 vaquitas left in the world. The vaquita could become extinct, possibly by 2018. Nearly one in five vaquitas gets entangled and drowns in illegal gillnets intended for other marine species. Other causes of death could be habitat change through the damming of the Colorado River and resulting reductions of water flow into their home and possible contamination by agricultural pesticides.

In April 2015, the Mexican government began a two-year ban on gillnet fishing in the vaquita habitat, enforced by the Mexican navy, along with a program to repay the fishermen who would be affected by the ban. Conservation organizations around the world have helped and are now asking for the ban to be made permanent.

The 2015 vaquita survey found that 7 out of 10 vaquitas have been lost since the last survey in 2008. However, the report also notes that the gillnet ban appears to be working as the vaquita habitat is now essentially gillnet-free, thanks to strict enforcement by the Mexican navy. But the vaquita is still in danger.

​What can we do?  I can't do anything because I'm just a little dog but you can find out more about the vaquitas and ask your parents to support the efforts to save the vaquitas and help them recover to a healthy number.  There is more information on the Internet on how you can help.  The vaquitas and I thank you!

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Yesterday, I went to a woman's celebration of Mother Earth as it was the 46th celebration of Earth Day.  Our leader reminded us that Earth Day should be celebrated, not just on Earth Day, but all year long with actions that we can take, both large and small to take care of and sustain our earth.  We have an incredible gift in our earth with its oceans, forests and all of its biodiversity.  We must take care of it for ourselves and our future generations.  I am a mother of three and a grandmother of six and I want them to enjoy a wonderful world to live in.  

A recent event that I enjoyed participating in was a reading and activity night at the Agua Hedionda Discovery Center.  The children were introduced to native animals and reptiles, I read a portion of my book, A Birthday Party for Mother Earth and I led the children in an activity out of the book.  We learned about pollinators from the book and the children made little feeders for the pollinator hummingbirds out of coffee cups that our local Starbucks donated.  It was great fun and a reminder that we must take care of the beautiful earth that we live on.  Happy Earth Day every day!

I am so excited to announce that the Lae Lae book collection has been awarded a "Family Choice Award" which recognizes the best in children's and parenting products.  To quote the Family Choice award staff: "Now in it's 21st year, the award is one of the most coveted, family friendly consumer award programs in the nation.  It is awarded in recognition for producing an extraordinary product that makes a positive difference in the lives of our families."

The panel of judges consists of parents, grandparents, teachers and professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of the family and particularly the children of the next generation.  I am thrilled to have this designation of producing a quality product aimed at the emotional and intellectual education of our children as they grow into socially responsible citizens of tomorrow. Thank you Family Choice Awards!

Although I do not play an instrument and I sing slightly off key, I love music.  I love to listen to it and I love to dance to it.  Music touches the soul and, in the happiest times and in the saddest times, music is always there.  It supports the deepest emotional need in all of us.  

I have been happy to learn about the relatively new study of Music Neuroscience which studies, among other things, how music impacts the development of the brain in young children.  Music Neuroscience is a growing field which began around 2000 and it has produced some wonderful studies about how the brain actually changes when a child listens to music or learns to play an instrument  Singing and playing music improve the reading and language skills for children and develop eye-hand coordination as they learn to play an instrument.   Dancing to the music boosts performance confidence and social skills and is good exercise for the body. Children come into the world loving to move and my children were rocking to the music in their high chairs before they could even walk.

Listening to music from around the world promotes communication and understanding and social interaction between people of different cultures.  A child may not be able to communicate with another child who does not speak the same language verbally but they can both beat a rhythm on a drum or dance to the rhythm together and form communication keys that way.  From early ages, many of our children's songs actually come from other countries and many stories of a people are passed down through music.  Listening to the rhythm and moving to it is wonderful exercise and a healthy outlet for pent up energy and/or overwhelming feelings.  

I have studied Expressive Arts Therapy where we learned how music and art can reach into the depth of a nonverbal or damaged child who quite often cannot adequately speak about his or her feelings but who can express them through music or art.  It can open up unexpressed feelings and reach a child when nothing else can. 

There is a tendency today to cut out music and the arts from the school curriculum,  but it has been proven that the arts and music actually enhance a child's concentration in other areas of schoolwork.  As budgets are getting tighter, we need to lobby to maintain the creative arts for the sake of our children's best development, both academically and emotionally.  

it has been proven that moving the body in exercise is very important to a growing child.  The title of my next book will be "Come Play With Me" because I want to encourage activity for children.  When I was a little girl I suffered from asthma and hay fever terribly (of course I grew up on a lake in the mountainous area of eastern Tennessee which is the allergy capitol of the United States). It was quite beautiful but  I could not exercise because of my allergies and was a very sick child.  The doctors were afraid that if I did anything too strenuous I would have an allergy attack and end up in the hospital and I did.  

Many years later, my children's pediatricians gave me the opposite advice: to get my children into sports and keep them active to build up their lungs and bodies.  All three of my children played soccer from a very early age; they rode bikes, walked and played all day after school. They were all very healthy.  What we know now is that exercise is good for the whole body.  Exercise makes the muscles of the heart stronger and increases the lung capacity.  It strengthens and stretches the muscles and it build strong bones.  It also helps with reflexes and coordination.  Because exercise gets the blood flowing, that means more oxygen to the brain making it work better.  My children always made their best grades during soccer season because they were more alert and could concentrate better.  Of course soccer practice also tired them out so I didn't hear a lot of whining "I'm bored" either.  There was always something to do.

Today we are seeing more obesity because of lack of activity (and poor diet adds to that) in the children of today.  While the internet is entertaining and can be informative, it can also be addictive and too much television, too many computer games, too much time on the internet and talking on cell phones if they have them all reduce the healthy time that children could spend in active play.  It's easy, when we are all so busy, to leave a child in front of a computer game but it's very detrimental to them.  Let's make an effort to find a healthy balance and not forget the moving exercise.  We will have healthier and happier children.  

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