NatureToto - How to Start Your Own Group

Our mamatoto group is so incredible! I feel so lucky to have these amazing mamas and little ones in my life. I think I already posted about the Nature-toto group we started, but I have been asked so many questions about it lately that I thought I'd post again. We have a set time each week and meet in a new spot every time. We've gone apricot picking, blueberry picking:



on wilderness adventures to places like Ellwood, the beach, Cold Springs, Rocky Nook, and Lane Farms:







to go apple picking and mini donkey brushing at Seeing Spot Farms:



and, to top it all off, we went on a mamas and kids only NatureToto camping trip at Big Caliente!





I highly suggest creating a nature adventure group with your circle of mamas and little friends. What we've learned works best is 1.keeping it consistent. This means same time, same day, so it's easier to remember. 2.keeping it frequent. This is key. If you try to make sure everyone can go, you will hardly ever end up meeting. If it's every week, then it's not a huge deal if somebody can't make it. 3.create a groupMe texting circle, so you can all keep in touch for any last minute changes or check in about the location.

Happy adventures!

Nature Toto

It is a little tricky at times to keep up a mamatoto group now that most of the totos are in school and most of the mamas are working. The nap schedules of the second crop of totos usually conflicts, and it's hard to find a day and time that works for everyone. Our answer to this was to add more times to meet up. My favorite of the additions is "Friendly Fridays," otherwise known as "Nature Toto." We try to get out in the beautiful nature of Santa Barbara every Friday morning and have done things like: apple picking, blueberry picking, hikes (such as Coldsprings, pictured), the butterflies at Elwood, The Backyard at the NHM, miniature donkey-riding in Santa Ynez, the beach, and White Rock. I am much less concerned with getting my girls in organized-anything (sports, ballet, other classes) as I am with getting them in nature. While organized activities can lend an atmosphere of competition, our Nature Toto has fostered cooperation (building teepees together, searching for treasure, playing house in the roots of a tree...) while still giving the children plenty of opportunities to develop their gross motor skills. And all the while they are developing an attitude of love and respect for our Mother Earth!

Potty Training Camping Weekend

With all of the babies either two or nearly two, my mamatoto group thought it might be a good idea to try out potty training. We thought somewhere out in nature would be best, where it was warm and they could run around diaper-free for a few days. We camped at the Paradise Campgrounds at Red Rock, and there were nine babies in all, although some just made it for one day or another. The idea was that the babies would see each other using the potty and that we, the parents, would have the support of the other mamas and daddies in the group.

I wasn't sure Isla was ready. Actually, I was pretty sure she wasn't, but I thought it would be a fun camping trip either way. We gathered up our camping gear. I tried on my down jacket ahead of time to make sure it fit over my enormous pregnant belly, and grabbed Isla's potty along with her potty baby and her potty. Luckily husband Ryan is a great camper. He got everything else together first thing Friday morning and we were at the campgrounds by two.

It turned out that Isla had very little interest in being potty trained. We had a lot of poop on the floor, and ended up back in diapers for the last day and a half. I wanted to be careful she didn't feel pressured, and the group did a good job of keeping it fun for the babies. We had potties everywhere, and when a baby went pee or poop in one, we sang a song and did a dance about it. Besides that, we went to the river every day and cooked dinner together every night.

The camping trip was such a success that there are plans for it to be an annual event, and I am already looking forward to next year... with TWO babies!

New-Mom Groups / Circles in Santa Barbara

As far as I know, there are two main new-mom circles in Santa Barbara: PEP, and Mamatoto.  I joined both, although I no longer meet with my PEP group.  They are so different, and I have friends in both circles, but Mamatoto was the one for me.  PEP (postpartum education for parents) is open to both moms and dads, and all styles of parenting.  Mamatoto is a Swahili word for the mother-baby unit, and is an attachment parenting group.  (I'll have a post up about attachment parenting soon, but you can read a little about it here).  

My Mamatoto group has been meeting since last September, and we have become a close-knit group.  We meet twice a week for a play group / support group / chat, once for swim class with the babies, once for a morning beach walk followed by mom and baby yoga at SBYC with Emma and Olivia (see earlier post), and once for music class.  We have other random meetings as well for mamas-only happy hour or baby birthday parties.  Of course not everyone makes it to everything.  There are 30 of us in the group and usually between 5 and 15 make it to each gathering.

To give an idea of the feel, most of us use cloth diapers, at least part time, co-sleep (either crib in the same room, or share a family bed), baby-wear (we love our ergos!), hold our babies a lot, try to eat organic, locally-grown food, use homeopathic and /or non-toxic products on our babies, care about the environment, and respect our babies and their needs.  Some of us chose to vaccinate; others didn't.  Most of us selectively vaccinated; we all made our decisions after much thought and processing of information.  We are all different from one another, but the common thread in the Mamatoto group is that we all believe in and are practicing attachment parenting.  

Regardless of your parenting style, I suggest checking out both groups.  I still would be meeting with my PEP group every week if I had time, and it was really helpful when Isla was a newborn, just to get out of the house and connect with other new moms.