Natural Parenting Blog Party

¡Hola y bienvenidos!  I am so excited to team up with some of my favorite bloggers ever for the Natural Parenting Blog Party.  If this is your first time to visit, hello and welcome!  I am so happy to have you stop by.  And if you are already a friend, hugs for coming back!

Jenny has thoughtfully given us some starters to introduce ourselves.  Here goes:

1.How many children do you have, and how old are they?  I have four kidlets, Ariana (7), Joel (5), Elena (2) and Amaya (9 months).

2.Do you have a partner, or are you a single parent?  I have been married to my amado, Carlos, for almost 12 years.  :)

3.What are your “hot button” parenting issues?  Gentle discipline and breastfeeding are biggies for me.  I have a really hard time keeping my mouth shut when people claim that the Bible teaches that we must spank our children.

4.Have you made any parenting choices that you didn’t think you would make before you were a parent, i.e. cloth diapering a child when you had previously thought it was disgusting?  Ooooh boy, yes!  Pretty much every thing.  I mention some in this post.  That was from a couple years ago, and I am still enjoying the cookies on the dark side.  ;)

5.Is there one book or person in particular that’s heavily influenced your parenting choices?  Just one???  I have way too many to mention.  As a follower of Jesus, the Bible is a huge influence.  To Train Up a Child was a significant influence in a very ironic way, as it is what started me on the journey into gentle discipline.

6.If you had to describe each of your children using only one word, what word would you use?
                 Ariana ~ Healer
                 Joel ~ Believer
                 Elena ~ Warrior
                 Amaya ~ Contentment

7.Is there one parenting decision that you regret more than others and wish you could change?  I regret vaccinating Ariana according to the schedule.  It may not have had any negative effects at all, but I wonder if it played into her food allergies, etc.  In a broader answer, I wish that I had learned and chosen early on never to shame my kids. 

8.Is there an area of your parenting you wish you were better at?  I still struggle with shaming sometimes, although I can look back and see improvement, which is encouraging.  I also get frustrated some times with triage care--feeling like I so often have to focus on whoever needs me most at a given moment.  Finally, I am not very good at playing.  I do well at setting up opportunities for them to play, but it is really difficult for me to enter into it fully--I am more likely to watch. 

9.Now for the fun questions – is there one particular food or type of food that you could eat every day?  Chocolate, of course (except for recently--see below).  Mexican food (real Mexican food).  I never get tired of either.

10.Vanilla ice cream or chocolate?  Both.  Although I am avoiding chocolate since my youngest reacts really badly.  But when she weans or outgrows the allergies, definitely both.

11.What’s your guilty pleasure?  Gallons of decaf iced coffee (the decaf cancels out the gallons.  Or something.), a good book, and a long soak with lavender bath oil.

12.If you could be part of any television show, which show would it be?  I would love to be a guest judge on Top Chef or Iron Chef America.  Food and fun, what could be better?

I am looking forward to getting to know you, too.  Feel free to leave comments or poke around the blog.  Blessings!

Dulce