Beltway Bambinos

(re) discover Washington DC through the eyes of your children

The fun, festive holiday of Purim is exuberant, colorful and full of joy

Let PJ Library’s unique, family-friendly ideas enliven your family celebrations this March! The early springtime holiday of Purim, with all of its festive fun, is an especially accessible holiday for children; this year, the holiday falls on March 9th-10th.

On Purim, it’s customary to listen to the biblical Book of Esther (also known as the Megillah in Hebrew), put on comic productions of the story of Purim called purimspiels (Yiddish for “plays”), dress up in costumes as the famous characters from the story, bake (and eat!) hamantaschen, shake Purim groggers (noisemakers), give gift baskets (mishloach manot) to friends and do tzedakah and other good works to spread joy and help the needy.

This Purim, PJ Library wants to help families celebrate in fun and unique ways, so they’ve created 18 great ideas sure to spur creativity and togetherness.  Whether your children have never dressed for Purim before or baked a classic, delicious hamantaschen – or you’re just tired of the same old routine – check out these enjoyable activities! And, for more, families are welcome to visit PJ Library’s Purim Hub!

If you currently receive PJ Library books, be on the lookout for the special February mailing, which contains a Purim gift basket to make and decorate!

A program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library sends more than two hundred ten thousand expertly curated books to families raising Jewish children – every month, at no cost to subscribers. Families raising Jewish children may subscribe here, tapping in to a wealth of information, parenting resources and community events as well as free books.

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop at the National Postal Museum

The Valentine’s Day Card Workshop at the National Postal Museum is one of the very first events I included in a blog post back in 2014 when I was just staring out. I remember running into an acquaintance that Saturday afternoon, after the card workshop at the National Postal Museum had taken place. She told me she took her kids to the card workshop because she read about it on my blog and thought the event was the perfect way to get into the spirit of Valentine’s Day. She mentioned how crazy her kids went for all of the creative supplies the museum provided and how much fun they all had. Because this workshop is free and no registration is required, pop in when you can and create some cute DIY cards for those you love. More details about the program below…

Saturday, February 8, 2020 from 10:00am – 4:00pm
Sunday, February 9, 2020 from 10:00am – 4:00pm

Homemade love is in the air at the annual Valentine’s Day Card Workshop at the National Postal Museum on February 8th and 9th! Create handmade heartfelt cards to send to your loved ones.

The museum provides a bountiful spread of patterned papers, rubber stamps and postage stamps for decoration, gems and other 3-D embellishments, special cut-out scissors, washi tape, stickers, markers of every color (with a surplus of red and pink of course!) and more. Following their own creative instincts, kids and adults can choose whichever supplies they would like to design one-of-a-kind Valentine greetings.

Once finished, cards can then be placed in envelopes, addressed and adorned with a distinctive National Postal Museum postmark at the museum’s stamp store! How cool is this?! You may want to bring some addresses of those who you will make a card for because in keeping with educating children about the postal service and how mail works, kids can pop their own cards in an official USPS mailbox that is decorated to exactly resemble – none other than – SpongeBob SquarePants!

You will find the event at the National Postal Museum in the lower-level Atrium. For those new to the National Postal Museum, the Atrium is full of various postal transports from over the years, including a real train car, semi-truck (yes, kids can climb in and pretend to drive!), a horse-drawn carriage and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. The layout of the card-making stations and supply tables fosters sharing, friendliness and a sense of community. And the museum’s pleasant staff and volunteers are always available to answer questions, provide examples of completed cards, or help in any other way!

Visit the museum’s event calendar for information on the many fun and educational programs available at the National Postal Museum.

Address of the National Postal Museum:
2 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Washington, D.C. 20002

This January, PJ Library launches PJ LISTEN, a streaming entertainment hub offering hours of audio and animated stories, themed playlists and more!

PJ Library is helping families kick off 2020 with great, curated, free entertainment– available both online and off.

This year, make a resolution to bring great, award-winning and meaningful entertainment to your children through PJ Library’s numerous fee-free offerings – from the new streaming entertainment hub, PJ Library LISTEN, to receive monthly age-appropriate books through PJ Library.

Launched in January, PJ Library LISTEN is a fee-free curated streaming hub for family-friendly audio and video entertainment. With one click, families may access hours of audio stories, themed musical playlists, animated videos and the 24/7 PJ Library Radio channel. New and seasonal content will be added to PJ Library LISTEN every month.

The children’s literature and music experts at PJ Library select the content for PJ Library LISTEN. Picture books by authors like Jennifer Rosner and Bara Bat-Shem come to life in animated videos. The curated playlists feature songs for most any occasion: back to school, bedtime and family dance parties by children’s music stars Joanie Leeds, Mister G and Josh and the Jamtones as well as artists like Nefesh Mountain, Rick Recht, and a special upcoming playlist featuring Lisa Loeb.All the content is available anywhere, anytime, and with no fee or sign-up required.

“PJ Library LISTEN offers families a wealth of entertainment options, and parents can trust that the content is safe and worthwhile,” notes Meredith Lewis, director of content for PJ Library. Monthly new musical selections reflect modern styles and content consistent with Jewish values, according to Lewis.

For parents seeking to share the very best-in Jewish storybooks with their children, PJ Library is an award-winning program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation which sends more than 220,000 books per month to families raising Jewish children across North America. PJ Library is a fun, easy way to introduce kids to Jewish traditions, culture, and values through expertly curated, age-specific monthly selections, for children ages 6 months to 8 years old. The experiences changes for kids at age 9 when they graduate to PJ Our Way and get to choose their own book each month. To sign up for the free monthly program or partake in a wealth of activities, recipes and parenting articles, as well as a new podcast for kids: “Have I Got a Story for You,” click here.

The ABCs of Nanny Taxes

This post is brought to you by Poppins Payroll. They happily present an easier way to handle taxes and payroll for nannies, housekeepers, senior caregivers and anyone else you employ in your home. Turns out you don’t have to empty your wallet to run a perfect payroll. Sign-up with Poppins Payroll takes 5 minutes and once you are signed up, Poppins does the rest. Poppins Payroll gets your tax ids, registers your new hires, sets up your state, federal and local accounts, calculates all the withholdings for you and keeps track of your bookkeeping online.

Here’s the scoop on nanny taxes: if you pay a household employee such as a nanny, babysitter, elder caregiver or house manager more than $2,100 a year, the IRS says you are a household employer. 

As a household employer, you must comply with certain tax obligations, commonly referred to as the “nanny taxes” or “household payroll taxes.” It’s complicated, but generally, after you have registered as an employer with all the appropriate agencies and reported your new hires, you must:

  • Payroll – At every pay period, withhold certain state and federal taxes such as income tax, Social Security, and Medicare, and you must also calculate employer contributions such as unemployment taxes related to those wages. 
  • Quarterly – submit the proper paperwork and payments to the correct agencies. The agencies will typically include the IRS, the State and any other local agencies that require remittances, including certain municipalities.
  • Year-End – provide your employee with his or her W-2 form, submit a copy of the W-2 and W-3 to the Social Security Administration, submit state reconciliations if required and prepare a Schedule H to file with your individual tax returns.

To report your nanny’s wages and pay federal unemployment taxes, you’ll need certain tax forms (list includes federal forms only):

  • Form I-9: Have your employee complete this form when hired and provide the required proof of ID.
  • Form W-4: Have your employee complete this form which dictates how income tax is withheld.
  • Form 1040-ES: On a quarterly basis send this form to the IRS along with payment to report taxes from previous quarter. Don’t forget that federal quarter dates do not line up with calendar quarters!
  • Form W-2: Fill out Form W-2 if you pay Social Security and Medicare wages of $1,000 or more, and give Copies B, C and 2 to your nanny. Copy A (along with Form W-3) goes to the Social Security Administration.
  • Schedule H: If you pay your nanny cash wages of $1,000 or more in a calendar quarter or 2,100 in a calendar year file Schedule H.

You can find all the information about your federal obligations in the IRS’s Publication 926 – Household Employer’s Tax Guide.  The IRS estimates that it would take you 60 hours a year to comply with the federal nanny tax regulations.   That doesn’t include what you have to do to comply with the D.C., Maryland or Virginia requirements.

If it all seems like too much, you can hire a service like Poppins Payroll to run your payroll and handle the nanny tax obligations for you. 

It’s simple to sign-up with Poppins Payroll: You just enter your basic information, and Poppins does the rest. Poppins Payroll gets your tax ids, sets up your state, federal and local accounts, calculates all the withholdings for you and keeps track of your bookkeeping online.  You manage and adjust your employee’s payroll on the web site.  You can either pay your nanny by check or use the free direct deposit option.  Best of all, at only $39 a month for everything, Poppins is less than half the price of its competitors.

However you decide to handle those pesky nanny taxes, it’s always a good idea to follow the law.  It gives your nanny important benefits like Social Security, Medicare and Unemployment Insurance.  It also allows him or her to build their credit.  Finally, you never know when you might get nominated for the Supreme Court. 

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Beltway Bambinos Concierge

PJ Library’s Hanukkah Guide

With Hanukkah just around the corner, PJ Library offers a crash course in traditions for the Festival of Lights with an Easy Hanukkah Guide: recipes, gifts and activities for each night.

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is coming up – and that means eight beautiful nights celebrating the miracle of the Maccabees, lighting the menorah, and, well, figuring out what to do to build your family’s own special traditions.

Whether you grew up celebrating Hanukkah or are building traditions with your own family, PJ Library has resources and books for you! Check out their latest post – a Hanukkah “cheat sheet” supplying parents and kids with story book ideas to read each night of Hanukkah, gift ideas to make or exchange, recipes to cook together including delectable latkes and sufganiyot donut holes, and more. You’ll also find a “Get Togethers” section to help you share the holiday with your friends and family!

A program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library sends families expertly curated, age-appropriate Jewish children’s books each month at no cost to subscribers. The books encourage parents to share and explore Jewish values, ideas, and traditions with their children. Sign up here for free books, parenting resources, and activities to help your whole family learn, create and play together far beyond story time.

Byrdsmiles Orthodontics in Tenleytown provides orthodontic care for patients of all ages

Dr. Sonia Talley is a board-certified orthodontist at Byrdsmiles Orthodontics. Dr. Talley is going to offer her knowledge with Beltway Bambinos as it relates to orthodontics for children and adolescents and we are so pleased to share this information with you. Her first blog post is about orthodontics and how the field has progressed and improved thanks to advances in research and technology. The following post is written by Dr. Sonia Talley.

Dr. Sonia Talley and Dr. Kathryn Clark with the Byrdsmiles Team

Our Philosophy:

At Byrdsmiles Orthodontics we provide orthodontic care for patients of all ages. From a first phase of treatment that can begin around age 8 to a more comprehensive treatment to resolve crowding and misalignment in adults. We love treating the whole family!

Our philosophy is to take a conservative, research-based, preventative approach to orthodontic care. Each patient has a customized treatment plan developed. The plan takes into consideration the patients dental anatomy, skeletal structure, facial proportions and smile. It is through careful planning that we can set our patients up for a lifetime of excellent oral health.

Dr. Sonia Talley and Dr. Kathryn Clark

What’s changed in Orthodontics?

Advances in technology have changed the way we drive, cook and even make phone calls. Life wouldn’t be the same without a rear view camera, an Instant Pot and Facetime. Forward strides of similar magnitude have changed the field of orthodontics, making your children’s orthodontic experience more comfortable and easy.

In order to move teeth a consistent force is needed, teeth don’t mind whether that force comes from a clear aligner such as invisalign or from braces. With the advent of Invisalign we as orthodontists have more tools to provide our patients with happy healthy smiles.

Do you think your experience with braces is a great way to prep your kids for their first orthodontist visit? Think again! Much has changed since the days where stainless steel wires were used that exerted high forces on teeth causing none too easily forgotten pain and soreness. Research has shown us that these traditionally used high forces were not ideal for the health of the teeth so they’ve been upgraded to gentle, consistent forces. With the advent of nitinol; a memory form wire, teeth are gently guided into better alignment while minimizing discomfort.

Before and after photo shows what a difference orthodontic treatment can make

Why early treatment?   

Ever wonder why age 7 is when the American Association of Orthodontists recommends a child have their first orthodontic exam? This is an age when children are in the early mixed dentition i.e. they have some baby teeth and some permanent teeth. At this visit we typically procure a Panoramic x-ray from your child’s dentist. This x-ray contains a wealth of information, it can tell us if the adult teeth are developing properly and on a good path of eruption, if there are missing permanent teeth or if there is crowding of permanent teeth in the bone that we cannot see with the naked eye. Using this imaging we are better able to determine if early treatment is indicated or if it’s best to monitor growth and development.

Panoramic x-ray of a patient in the mixed-dentition. Note the missing permanent lower left second premolar.

There’s been a shift in the way we, as orthodontists, approach treatment. Forty years ago it was typical to wait for all the permanent teeth to erupt before initiating treatment. Often times, crowding was so severe that the teeth struggled to erupt and in cases of severe crowding, extraction of permanent teeth was recommended. Nowadays, we take a more proactive approach and create a harmonious skeletal structure through growth modification. The key is to initiate treatment at the quintessential time, when the permanent teeth are at the ideal stage of development and the skeletal structure is still in formation. This occurs in pre-pubertal children, where the bones of the jaw are not yet fused.

8 year-old patient after getting her braces at Byrdsmiles

In this small window of opportunity with the use of partial braces, expanders and space maintainers we are able to create more space and preserve existing space to alleviate crowding and allow the developing teeth to erupt. I liken this as needing to create a parking space for each tooth to pull into, similar to a car in a garage. By setting ourselves up for success in this way, teeth erupt into healthy bony and soft tissue support. While not every child needs a first phase of treatment, when indicated, it sets us up for success and lifetime of healthy teeth.

We at Byrdsmiles Orthodontics would love the opportunity to get to know you and answer your questions. Please call us to schedule a complimentary new patient exam. You can also find us on Google, Facebook, and Rate a biz.

Location: 4110 River Rd. NW Washington, DC 20016
Phone: (202) 686-2108

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