I am officially an aunt again as of last night.
Welcome to the world, Sweet One. Can't wait to see pictures of your beautiful baby girl face!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Crazy Busy! (or, Our Life in 2010 Words or Less)
It's been a while so we'll have a brief recap.
First...me. I did something to my right back rib area in early December, of which I still haven't a clue how it happened. I've been through a couple physical therapists, a chiropractor and a massage therapist. I'm still working on it though I'm much better than I was. It's just been a really slow road. Sitting at my computer isn't very comfortable so I haven't been blogging much as my faithful readers can see. Sorry! But I'm improving every day and I HOPE it's only a few more weeks until I'm back to 100%. I'd put myself at about 75% now.
Secondly, I guess I can spill the beans now. Hubby got a new job! :) :) :) We're thrilled!! It's a great opportunity and he will be working out of the house. So hello to an extra $250/month in gas alone! And I'm glad we'll be doing our part towards helping the environment a little too. :) He starts next week. I'm a little concerned about the noise level that we get to some days but we'll all have adjustments and thankfully, spring *should* be just around the corner so we can do lots more outside.
Now to the kids...
Almost 3yr old Jade does still have hair left, thank goodness! Her foray into the world of 'beautician with no training' was short lived and no more hair has been sacrificed. Her baby sister sighed a large breath of relief. ;) She's getting her last set of molars and has been a bit crabbier than usual but she's still my happiest kid all around. She is her big sister's shadow, sometimes to Rose's dismay. Rose wants to do whatever Matthew is doing and Jade wants to do whatever Rose is doing. Matthew doesn't mind the attention at all but Rose doesn't always like the tag-along. The day is coming soon when they will need to share a room though so I hope it's a phase. Jade has had some issues with speech - she's just been slow to get understandable. But within the last month, she's gotten so much clearer! She's also sporting a new pink potty too (and I have to say, I've been though *many* different potty 'contraptions'. This one is **totally** awesome!). My third baby is growing up...sniff..sniff..
Almost 11 month old Linnae has sprouted 4 teeth. Aside from a week of restless sleep, she's doing well. She also FINALLY decided to eat food in January, at 9 months old. She's sitting up and rolls from one side of the room to the other. I doubt she will ever crawl because she's such an efficient roller. And rolling fits her name better, I believe...
I have to pause to write about something that gave me a huge vindicating guffaw regarding her. I use my kids middle names on the blog (and their first names, with the exception of the baby, are very normal common names as opposed to some of their second names. lol). The baby is Rhonan Linnae. I have already posted her name back when she was born so the info is already out here. However, when I was pregnant (and yes, by the time you're pg with your 4th kid, it's "I am pregnant", not "we"), we decided that we really liked the name Ronan. It goes back to my Irish heritage and sounded good with the last name and we were looking for an R name (Hubby and I have a naming scheme based on our initials). We got the name from a character on one of our favorite shows, Stargate Atlantis. Not that we would name our kid "after" that character but that we liked the name. But we never came up with a good R girl name. Some of the top ones were Regan and Reese but we weren't totally convinced. I thought that maybe I needed to see her to decide her name. When she was born, we didn't name her right away like the other kids. On the second day, Hubby said teasingly, "It's a shame she wasn't a boy because we had that name picked out!" I said, "Why can't we still use it? Ronan means 'little seal' - that sounds like a girl name to me!" I decided to put an H in the name to make it look more girly and thus she was named Rhonan Linnae. It suits her very well and the kids call her "Rho-Rho" for a nickname. So, as with all unusual names, no one ever gets it right. And we spend a lot of time telling people what her name means. Most people either immediately love it or look at me like I'm nuts. I don't care. Like I said, it suits her.
A few episodes ago on Stargate Atlantis, Teyla told Ronan that she was pregnant. A while later in a sweet moment, he said to his friend, "And hey, boy or girl, Ronan is a good name". Hubby and I sat and stared at each other in total disbelief for a while. I think this was the first time in history when I was actually speechless. ;)
So, I have a 'little seal' who is rolling, not crawling. It fits. ;)
Rose...ahhh Rose. Rose had her 5th birthday this weekend. She is an animal lover, through and through. She asked for the hard Schleich animals you see at Target and Michaels and she asked for Littlest Pet Shop toys. And that's exactly what she got...gobs of them. She's in 7th heaven. The funny thing is that I've caught Jade quietly playing with them many times. In a family with 3 other siblings, it's rare to enjoy a toy completely by yourself and she's been sneaking off into Rose's room whenever she can. :) Rose is reading quite well for someone who just turned 5. She's taking a bit longer than Matthew did (he was reading very proficiently by 5) but her writing is coming along much faster than his ever did. And probably better than he is even today. She loves drawing and writing. She sounds out words and writes them down. They're phonetic spellings but I know the rest will come in time as she reads more. A friend gave her a diary on Sunday and she's already written several pages in it.
At one of our MOPS meetings in September, a little boy showed Matthew (currently 7.5yrs old) how to make a paper airplane. If only I knew how far he'd go with it! By the next day, I had a house FULL of airplanes. Grammy babysat that evening and another day passed and I had a house FULL of paper boats. That expanded to different kinds of planes (and discussions about aerodynamics) and I found gliders and dive bombers planes that did loop-de-loops. Then we had different kinds of boats. We compared and contrasted catamaran, typical sailing boats and canoes. We filled our sinks with water and saw which ones would actually float. When Grammy babysat, she told stories about how she would make paper boats and sail them down the creek behind her childhood home and her dog would chase after the boats and catch them. Then when the intrigue of paper planes and boats started to wean a bit, I checked out a book from the library on origami. His first few creations lacked the skill of neat folds and I found myself wondering if he was just too young yet to understand it. But he persevered and kept asking for more paper. By Christmas, he was making beautiful cranes with my Christmas dinner napkins. By New Years, he was making entire zoos. Animals, gift boxes, decorations, stars. He even made a reindeer for Rose's birthday. He can make a crane in any size you request. Even today, I find myself searching the library's website to see if they have advanced creation books. I really must post some pictures of them soon! The only real problem with this hobby is that he refuses to throw them away. Each creation is unique, even if it's his 1000th elephant. So we have origami pieces everywhere...and I do mean *everywhere*. But it'll be a neater party trick in college than belching his abc's. ;)
Matthew also recently dug out Hubby's old electronics kit from the basement. (Hubby is setting up his home office down there so I expect to see many old things being brought up in the next few months as the kids find new-to-them things to explore.) I got the set for Hubby off his Christmas list many years ago and Hubby never really found much time to play around with it. He told Matthew that he could play with it downstairs if he read the instruction book first. The book came up from the basement and Matthew went back to origami or chasing his sisters or Bionicle building or...something. About a week later, the kids and I were heading to MOPS and upon climbing out of the van at the church, Matthew said, "Mom, what would be a good grounding source in the basement? Could I use the door hinge?" Now I like to work with my hands (I built a rolling kitchen cart all by myself several years ago...hmmm...I should take a picture) and I'm no stranger to the concept of grounding but in the question coming from my 7 year old in the MOPS church parking lot really threw me. Sometimes it's scary how fast their minds absorb things. I suppose we'll have some electricity experiments in our near future.
We got it in our heads to study Chinese New Year this month. I make lots of Chinese food at home (just love the taste!) and we saw that it was coming up and it just stuck. The New Year started on Feb 7 and in China, they celebrate for 15 days, ending in a lantern ceremony on the evening of the 15th day. We've made lanterns and hung them all around our house. We made dragon puppets, almond cookies, we've read numerous books about China and learned a lot online as well. We're currently reading Grace Lin's book entitled, "The Year of the Rat". It's well written and the kids really seem to be enjoying it. We might even try our hand at making a compass and/or kites this week. This Friday will be the 15th day and the kids and Grammy and I are going our to our favorite Chinese restaurant to end the celebration with a bang. Hubby has a work party that evening in honor of his last day or he'd come along with us too.
I guess you're pretty much up to speed on our life. I hope to post some pictures soon! And if anyone has seen my point-and-shoot HP digital camera, please let me know where. ;) I have my dig SLR and all my memory cards but can't find that little camera. I guess that's why I don't like the little point-and-shoot ones - too easy to loose! At least my SLR is big and heavy and demands that you pay attention to where you're setting it down! ;) Last I saw the little one, it was at Grandma's house on Christmas Eve.
I'm adding something new to the blog on the sidebar. Those of you who use a feed reader might want to visit my blog and check it out (I'll let you know when it actually goes up). I'm going to try to keep a list of books we're reading and have read. I always like to see what friends are reading - especially the homeschooling kids. I might see if I can do something with LibraryThing (very neat site if you're a book buff!) that can track current reads and list older reads.
Oh and have you seen the ads for Prince Caspian?? We just can't wait to see it!
First...me. I did something to my right back rib area in early December, of which I still haven't a clue how it happened. I've been through a couple physical therapists, a chiropractor and a massage therapist. I'm still working on it though I'm much better than I was. It's just been a really slow road. Sitting at my computer isn't very comfortable so I haven't been blogging much as my faithful readers can see. Sorry! But I'm improving every day and I HOPE it's only a few more weeks until I'm back to 100%. I'd put myself at about 75% now.
Secondly, I guess I can spill the beans now. Hubby got a new job! :) :) :) We're thrilled!! It's a great opportunity and he will be working out of the house. So hello to an extra $250/month in gas alone! And I'm glad we'll be doing our part towards helping the environment a little too. :) He starts next week. I'm a little concerned about the noise level that we get to some days but we'll all have adjustments and thankfully, spring *should* be just around the corner so we can do lots more outside.
Now to the kids...
Almost 3yr old Jade does still have hair left, thank goodness! Her foray into the world of 'beautician with no training' was short lived and no more hair has been sacrificed. Her baby sister sighed a large breath of relief. ;) She's getting her last set of molars and has been a bit crabbier than usual but she's still my happiest kid all around. She is her big sister's shadow, sometimes to Rose's dismay. Rose wants to do whatever Matthew is doing and Jade wants to do whatever Rose is doing. Matthew doesn't mind the attention at all but Rose doesn't always like the tag-along. The day is coming soon when they will need to share a room though so I hope it's a phase. Jade has had some issues with speech - she's just been slow to get understandable. But within the last month, she's gotten so much clearer! She's also sporting a new pink potty too (and I have to say, I've been though *many* different potty 'contraptions'. This one is **totally** awesome!). My third baby is growing up...sniff..sniff..
Almost 11 month old Linnae has sprouted 4 teeth. Aside from a week of restless sleep, she's doing well. She also FINALLY decided to eat food in January, at 9 months old. She's sitting up and rolls from one side of the room to the other. I doubt she will ever crawl because she's such an efficient roller. And rolling fits her name better, I believe...
I have to pause to write about something that gave me a huge vindicating guffaw regarding her. I use my kids middle names on the blog (and their first names, with the exception of the baby, are very normal common names as opposed to some of their second names. lol). The baby is Rhonan Linnae. I have already posted her name back when she was born so the info is already out here. However, when I was pregnant (and yes, by the time you're pg with your 4th kid, it's "I am pregnant", not "we"), we decided that we really liked the name Ronan. It goes back to my Irish heritage and sounded good with the last name and we were looking for an R name (Hubby and I have a naming scheme based on our initials). We got the name from a character on one of our favorite shows, Stargate Atlantis. Not that we would name our kid "after" that character but that we liked the name. But we never came up with a good R girl name. Some of the top ones were Regan and Reese but we weren't totally convinced. I thought that maybe I needed to see her to decide her name. When she was born, we didn't name her right away like the other kids. On the second day, Hubby said teasingly, "It's a shame she wasn't a boy because we had that name picked out!" I said, "Why can't we still use it? Ronan means 'little seal' - that sounds like a girl name to me!" I decided to put an H in the name to make it look more girly and thus she was named Rhonan Linnae. It suits her very well and the kids call her "Rho-Rho" for a nickname. So, as with all unusual names, no one ever gets it right. And we spend a lot of time telling people what her name means. Most people either immediately love it or look at me like I'm nuts. I don't care. Like I said, it suits her.
A few episodes ago on Stargate Atlantis, Teyla told Ronan that she was pregnant. A while later in a sweet moment, he said to his friend, "And hey, boy or girl, Ronan is a good name". Hubby and I sat and stared at each other in total disbelief for a while. I think this was the first time in history when I was actually speechless. ;)
So, I have a 'little seal' who is rolling, not crawling. It fits. ;)
Rose...ahhh Rose. Rose had her 5th birthday this weekend. She is an animal lover, through and through. She asked for the hard Schleich animals you see at Target and Michaels and she asked for Littlest Pet Shop toys. And that's exactly what she got...gobs of them. She's in 7th heaven. The funny thing is that I've caught Jade quietly playing with them many times. In a family with 3 other siblings, it's rare to enjoy a toy completely by yourself and she's been sneaking off into Rose's room whenever she can. :) Rose is reading quite well for someone who just turned 5. She's taking a bit longer than Matthew did (he was reading very proficiently by 5) but her writing is coming along much faster than his ever did. And probably better than he is even today. She loves drawing and writing. She sounds out words and writes them down. They're phonetic spellings but I know the rest will come in time as she reads more. A friend gave her a diary on Sunday and she's already written several pages in it.
At one of our MOPS meetings in September, a little boy showed Matthew (currently 7.5yrs old) how to make a paper airplane. If only I knew how far he'd go with it! By the next day, I had a house FULL of airplanes. Grammy babysat that evening and another day passed and I had a house FULL of paper boats. That expanded to different kinds of planes (and discussions about aerodynamics) and I found gliders and dive bombers planes that did loop-de-loops. Then we had different kinds of boats. We compared and contrasted catamaran, typical sailing boats and canoes. We filled our sinks with water and saw which ones would actually float. When Grammy babysat, she told stories about how she would make paper boats and sail them down the creek behind her childhood home and her dog would chase after the boats and catch them. Then when the intrigue of paper planes and boats started to wean a bit, I checked out a book from the library on origami. His first few creations lacked the skill of neat folds and I found myself wondering if he was just too young yet to understand it. But he persevered and kept asking for more paper. By Christmas, he was making beautiful cranes with my Christmas dinner napkins. By New Years, he was making entire zoos. Animals, gift boxes, decorations, stars. He even made a reindeer for Rose's birthday. He can make a crane in any size you request. Even today, I find myself searching the library's website to see if they have advanced creation books. I really must post some pictures of them soon! The only real problem with this hobby is that he refuses to throw them away. Each creation is unique, even if it's his 1000th elephant. So we have origami pieces everywhere...and I do mean *everywhere*. But it'll be a neater party trick in college than belching his abc's. ;)
Matthew also recently dug out Hubby's old electronics kit from the basement. (Hubby is setting up his home office down there so I expect to see many old things being brought up in the next few months as the kids find new-to-them things to explore.) I got the set for Hubby off his Christmas list many years ago and Hubby never really found much time to play around with it. He told Matthew that he could play with it downstairs if he read the instruction book first. The book came up from the basement and Matthew went back to origami or chasing his sisters or Bionicle building or...something. About a week later, the kids and I were heading to MOPS and upon climbing out of the van at the church, Matthew said, "Mom, what would be a good grounding source in the basement? Could I use the door hinge?" Now I like to work with my hands (I built a rolling kitchen cart all by myself several years ago...hmmm...I should take a picture) and I'm no stranger to the concept of grounding but in the question coming from my 7 year old in the MOPS church parking lot really threw me. Sometimes it's scary how fast their minds absorb things. I suppose we'll have some electricity experiments in our near future.
We got it in our heads to study Chinese New Year this month. I make lots of Chinese food at home (just love the taste!) and we saw that it was coming up and it just stuck. The New Year started on Feb 7 and in China, they celebrate for 15 days, ending in a lantern ceremony on the evening of the 15th day. We've made lanterns and hung them all around our house. We made dragon puppets, almond cookies, we've read numerous books about China and learned a lot online as well. We're currently reading Grace Lin's book entitled, "The Year of the Rat". It's well written and the kids really seem to be enjoying it. We might even try our hand at making a compass and/or kites this week. This Friday will be the 15th day and the kids and Grammy and I are going our to our favorite Chinese restaurant to end the celebration with a bang. Hubby has a work party that evening in honor of his last day or he'd come along with us too.
I guess you're pretty much up to speed on our life. I hope to post some pictures soon! And if anyone has seen my point-and-shoot HP digital camera, please let me know where. ;) I have my dig SLR and all my memory cards but can't find that little camera. I guess that's why I don't like the little point-and-shoot ones - too easy to loose! At least my SLR is big and heavy and demands that you pay attention to where you're setting it down! ;) Last I saw the little one, it was at Grandma's house on Christmas Eve.
I'm adding something new to the blog on the sidebar. Those of you who use a feed reader might want to visit my blog and check it out (I'll let you know when it actually goes up). I'm going to try to keep a list of books we're reading and have read. I always like to see what friends are reading - especially the homeschooling kids. I might see if I can do something with LibraryThing (very neat site if you're a book buff!) that can track current reads and list older reads.
Oh and have you seen the ads for Prince Caspian?? We just can't wait to see it!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Lost but not forgotten
I wrote this small blog entry back in January but for some reason, never posted it. I don't think it was intentionally skipped but I'm glad I just discovered the issue because I have more to add. So here's the original post from Jan 30:
***********************
An interesting thing happened yesterday that is the perfect example of how we learn things around here. Many of you have asked, "What if your child doesn't want to...learn about the civil war (for example)?" I'm glad you asked. ;)
Yesterday morning, we had beautiful weather. Though it was very windy, it was in the upper 60's, unheard of for January in STL. So the kids ran outside and got to blow some cabin fever off. While they were out there, I took the opportunity to do some housework and turned on the TV for some company. "Planet of the Apes" was on and though I've seen parts here and there and I know the gist of the story, I've never seen the whole movie. So I chose that to watch (for, as many of you SAHMs know, there's basically NOTHING worth watching during the week day mornings).
The kids came in a while later, Matthew first. He asked what show I was watching. I told him the name. He asked me what the story was about and I told him. He asked why the apes were talking and wearing clothes. We discussed that as well. He started to get really interested in it, eventually asking why the human was being treated so badly. This led to a really interesting discussion about slavery.
I found it hard and embarrassing to explain the actions of our forefathers but it was a really good talk. I'm sure, that at the age of 7.5, the Civil War has more meaning for him than most of his peers in school, who won't touch the subject for five more years.
***************************************************
As I mentioned a few posts back, Matthew told me that he wanted to study the US Presidents in succession, starting with Washington. I have to say that it's quite a challenge (in my library at least) to find good living books about Presidents.
But I was able to find one for Washington, Adams and Jefferson, as well as a historical fiction about Jefferson's childhood that looks promising. When I brought them home, Matthew was excited to get started on Washington. He glanced at the other books and picked up the Jefferson one and said, "Oh yeah, this was the one who was President in the Civil War." I started to say, "No," but he cut me off saying, "No, no...that was Lincoln." The kid has an amazing memory. I'm not sure if it was from our original talk about The Planet Of The Apes or a book along the way or something else but he made a connection because the information was important to the story line or the discussion...it wasn't just a list of facts and dates that someone said he needed to know in seventh grade. The information was presented in a living book form: The details absorbed him and the players came alive...the opposite of cold, dry textbooks.
***********************
An interesting thing happened yesterday that is the perfect example of how we learn things around here. Many of you have asked, "What if your child doesn't want to...learn about the civil war (for example)?" I'm glad you asked. ;)
Yesterday morning, we had beautiful weather. Though it was very windy, it was in the upper 60's, unheard of for January in STL. So the kids ran outside and got to blow some cabin fever off. While they were out there, I took the opportunity to do some housework and turned on the TV for some company. "Planet of the Apes" was on and though I've seen parts here and there and I know the gist of the story, I've never seen the whole movie. So I chose that to watch (for, as many of you SAHMs know, there's basically NOTHING worth watching during the week day mornings).
The kids came in a while later, Matthew first. He asked what show I was watching. I told him the name. He asked me what the story was about and I told him. He asked why the apes were talking and wearing clothes. We discussed that as well. He started to get really interested in it, eventually asking why the human was being treated so badly. This led to a really interesting discussion about slavery.
I found it hard and embarrassing to explain the actions of our forefathers but it was a really good talk. I'm sure, that at the age of 7.5, the Civil War has more meaning for him than most of his peers in school, who won't touch the subject for five more years.
***************************************************
As I mentioned a few posts back, Matthew told me that he wanted to study the US Presidents in succession, starting with Washington. I have to say that it's quite a challenge (in my library at least) to find good living books about Presidents.
Living Books = books that are well-written and engaging---they absorb the reader---the narrative and characters "come alive"; living books are the opposite of cold, dry textbooks.
But I was able to find one for Washington, Adams and Jefferson, as well as a historical fiction about Jefferson's childhood that looks promising. When I brought them home, Matthew was excited to get started on Washington. He glanced at the other books and picked up the Jefferson one and said, "Oh yeah, this was the one who was President in the Civil War." I started to say, "No," but he cut me off saying, "No, no...that was Lincoln." The kid has an amazing memory. I'm not sure if it was from our original talk about The Planet Of The Apes or a book along the way or something else but he made a connection because the information was important to the story line or the discussion...it wasn't just a list of facts and dates that someone said he needed to know in seventh grade. The information was presented in a living book form: The details absorbed him and the players came alive...the opposite of cold, dry textbooks.
Monday, January 14, 2008
My little Jedi Knights
It's so good to see those baby blankets that Grandma spent lots of time making are still getting good use. ;) Guess I should have wrapped one around the baby too but she's busy EATING! Yes, she's finally decided to eat at 9 months. Every few days, since she was 6 months old, I've been spooning baby food into her mouth only to have it spat back out at me as she showed me her new trick, raspberries. This might be cute to a brand-new mom but by the time you get to your 4th kid, you've had EVERYTHING done to you. You've had spit-up galore all over yourself, vomit, poo, urine and every kind of food imaginable. 'Raspberries of food' is no longer cute to me. So I'd wait a couple days and try again. Nuttin. I finally decided that perhaps her waking me every 2 hours all night for a feed would be helped if I pushed food a little more. So I got those cereal puff things. For those of you non-moms (or ones with older kids) out there, they're similar to cheerios in that it's a crunchy finger sized food. With a big "Melts in their mouth!" slogan on the front, I decided to try them. She chews on anything else I put in her mouth - why not these? So last week, she got them. She immediately picked it up and put it in her mouth. LOVED them. And though they most definitely do NOT 'melt in their mouth', she had no trouble with them at all. So we did those for a few days and then Cheerios for a few days and yesterday, I tried the baby food again. Pears. *NO* raspberries. She slurped it off the spoon, swallowed it down and looked at me in that "can I please have some more, Mom?" way. Today I smooshed up a banana and she loved that too. Thank goodness! Life becomes easier, as a mom, when baby starts eating solids. Now I can tide her over for a bit if I'm stuck in a store at feeding time. :) That's worth its weight in gold, especially if you have 3 more tired hungry kids as well. Oh yeah, and she's working on sippy cup techniques too.
Coming soon...Matthew's latest obsession...and is Rose reading yet...and does Jade have any hair left on her head or have her mothers dreams (i.e. nightmares) come true?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Organization
Yes, I said that yucky O word. ;) You might see a mother of 4 kids and automatically think, "She must have been born organized!" Well, this one was definitely not. I'm a disaster walking. So whenever I see organizational tips, I jump on them. Yesterday at MOPS, we had a speaker come and talk on the subject. I thought I'd share with you.
[Side note - I will be back soon to blogging! I'm still dealing with back issues and can't sit at the computer very long but I will be back soon, I hope!! Please send prayers for a speedier recovery!]
1. She bought a white plastic drawer for her kitchen/pantry that is the “snack drawer”. It’s filled with individual snack packs of goodies. Sometimes when she’s being really good (frugal), she will get the big goldfish (or whatever food) container and put single servings into small ziplocks. This way, she doesn’t have to stop what she’s doing every time they want snack – they can go pick out a snack themselves.
2. she highly recommends the book Desperation Dinners (hers was used so much that the cover had been burned off!). Easy 30 minutes or less meals.
3. Dippy Dinner – if you give kids dip, they’ll eat anything. So she has a dippy dinner every so often where it’s toasted ravioli with spaghetti sauce, carrots with ranch and apple with caramel. She says her 13 year old still asks for dippy dinner.
4. She has 3 boys and a husband and they all wear the same size socks and sorting socks was a total nightmare. So a friend told her to buy a different brand for each person. So #1 son has Hanes socks, #2 son has Champion, etc.
5. Hand-me-downs. Once you hand clothing down to the next child, sometimes you forget who it belongs to. And you could do letters on shirt tags but then you scratch off when you hand it down and it can get messy. A friend told her to just put one dot on the tag for child #1, and add a dot when that item gets handed down to child #2, etc. (I LOVE this idea!)
7. Kids have a lot of trouble figuring out which shoe goes on which foot. So she puts a permanent black marker dot on the inside heel of each shoe and then the kids get to “match” the dot so they know which foot it goes on.
8. She has several different backpacks for different events. Her daughter has 3 older brothers so they’re constantly at sporting events. She has a backpack filled with activity stuff for games. Then she has a quiet backpack for church and doctors appts, etc.
9. She color codes her kids sippy cups so everyone knows whose is whose and she would fill them up the night before and set them in the fridge. A couple years ago, Jean1 told me about this related tip and I LOVE it - I also assign each person a certain color for their hangers – it’s much easier sorting when I get upstairs with an armload to disburse)
10. A friend of hers started something years ago where she got a white cotton tablecloth and it’s her Thanksgiving tablecloth. Each year, whoever is there signs it. Now that her dad has passed away, it’s really turned into an heirloom. (You could also ask them to put down what they’re thankful for on it.)
11. She recommends the magazine called Real Simple because it has good practical advice for organization
12. She talked about all the artwork floating around the house that the kids make. What do you do with all that stuff? She said some people put them in frames. One of her friends painted a few frames on the wall and can change out the artwork frequently. She keeps a labeled accordion folder per kid per year that she keeps the extra special artwork in and at the end of the year, stores in a box in the basement. She has a friend who puts clear packing tape on the back of artwork so that when you place and remove masking tape to hang it, the paper doesn’t rip.
13. She also picks a family Bible verse each year (I think Marge talked about this already this year) for them to think about. Ephesians 4:29 and 1 Peter 3:8 were ones she’s used.
14. A friend said during small group discussion that she used to have a toy basket downstairs and before bed, they’d all toss toys in there…but then she’d have this basket of crud that didn’t get emptied. So she went to Target and got some small canvas totes for each kid (color coded) and they put their own toys in there and can carry it up to their own room.
[Side note - I will be back soon to blogging! I'm still dealing with back issues and can't sit at the computer very long but I will be back soon, I hope!! Please send prayers for a speedier recovery!]
1. She bought a white plastic drawer for her kitchen/pantry that is the “snack drawer”. It’s filled with individual snack packs of goodies. Sometimes when she’s being really good (frugal), she will get the big goldfish (or whatever food) container and put single servings into small ziplocks. This way, she doesn’t have to stop what she’s doing every time they want snack – they can go pick out a snack themselves.
2. she highly recommends the book Desperation Dinners (hers was used so much that the cover had been burned off!). Easy 30 minutes or less meals.
3. Dippy Dinner – if you give kids dip, they’ll eat anything. So she has a dippy dinner every so often where it’s toasted ravioli with spaghetti sauce, carrots with ranch and apple with caramel. She says her 13 year old still asks for dippy dinner.
4. She has 3 boys and a husband and they all wear the same size socks and sorting socks was a total nightmare. So a friend told her to buy a different brand for each person. So #1 son has Hanes socks, #2 son has Champion, etc.
5. Hand-me-downs. Once you hand clothing down to the next child, sometimes you forget who it belongs to. And you could do letters on shirt tags but then you scratch off when you hand it down and it can get messy. A friend told her to just put one dot on the tag for child #1, and add a dot when that item gets handed down to child #2, etc. (I LOVE this idea!)
7. Kids have a lot of trouble figuring out which shoe goes on which foot. So she puts a permanent black marker dot on the inside heel of each shoe and then the kids get to “match” the dot so they know which foot it goes on.
8. She has several different backpacks for different events. Her daughter has 3 older brothers so they’re constantly at sporting events. She has a backpack filled with activity stuff for games. Then she has a quiet backpack for church and doctors appts, etc.
9. She color codes her kids sippy cups so everyone knows whose is whose and she would fill them up the night before and set them in the fridge. A couple years ago, Jean1 told me about this related tip and I LOVE it - I also assign each person a certain color for their hangers – it’s much easier sorting when I get upstairs with an armload to disburse)
10. A friend of hers started something years ago where she got a white cotton tablecloth and it’s her Thanksgiving tablecloth. Each year, whoever is there signs it. Now that her dad has passed away, it’s really turned into an heirloom. (You could also ask them to put down what they’re thankful for on it.)
11. She recommends the magazine called Real Simple because it has good practical advice for organization
12. She talked about all the artwork floating around the house that the kids make. What do you do with all that stuff? She said some people put them in frames. One of her friends painted a few frames on the wall and can change out the artwork frequently. She keeps a labeled accordion folder per kid per year that she keeps the extra special artwork in and at the end of the year, stores in a box in the basement. She has a friend who puts clear packing tape on the back of artwork so that when you place and remove masking tape to hang it, the paper doesn’t rip.
13. She also picks a family Bible verse each year (I think Marge talked about this already this year) for them to think about. Ephesians 4:29 and 1 Peter 3:8 were ones she’s used.
14. A friend said during small group discussion that she used to have a toy basket downstairs and before bed, they’d all toss toys in there…but then she’d have this basket of crud that didn’t get emptied. So she went to Target and got some small canvas totes for each kid (color coded) and they put their own toys in there and can carry it up to their own room.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Snow day from last weekend
This one requires a bit of explanation - Rose is mimicking a meerkat, trying to dig through the snow down to find dinner.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Serendipity
I admit it...I'm a sucker for romantic comedies. You've Got Mail, Sleepless In Seattle, Only You, Return To Me and While You Were Sleeping (as well as many others) are all DVD's that I have purchased and watch over and over again. Serendipity is also on the top of my list. I have watched these so many times that I can point out editing errors that should have been fixed. In Serendipity's opening credits, for example, you see them panning down some tall busy city building. What you might not have noticed is that, if you look closely, you can see the camera boom in the window reflections. In Romancing The Stone, the map changes several times from laminated to unlaminated. You also see Michael Douglas over-shoot the truck with his backpack and the supposedly remote waterfall cave they dig in? Yep, you can see the tire treads from their previous takes upon approach.
But none of these things ruin the movies for me. I'm a sucker for them. In fact, Hubby proposed to me after we watched Groundhog Day. It's "our" movie.
For those of you who are not romantic comedy buffs, the movie Serendipity, similarly to Only You, poses the question of fate. Are we indeed fated to someone or some life? Or is it all chance? One of the key scenes in the movie goes like this...
Well, I'll have you know there is no absence of clues or signs in what I'm about to show you. Let's see the clues first...
Clue #1:
Clue #2:
Clue #3:
Sign #1:
The 2.75 year old being happily quiet all by herself with the baby.
You always *think* quiet is good...it never is. So was this fated or left up to chance? I choose to believe this incident was 'opportunistic' at best. ;)
But none of these things ruin the movies for me. I'm a sucker for them. In fact, Hubby proposed to me after we watched Groundhog Day. It's "our" movie.
For those of you who are not romantic comedy buffs, the movie Serendipity, similarly to Only You, poses the question of fate. Are we indeed fated to someone or some life? Or is it all chance? One of the key scenes in the movie goes like this...
- It can't get any more clearer than this. I'm not supposed to be doing this. It's not in the cards.
- Hey, it's another one of your clues, man. Let's talk about it in the cab... on the way over.
- It's not a clue. It's a sign.
- What's the difference?
- A clue is what a detective uses to find a suspect. The receipt, the warehouse, that French guy-- those are clues. This is a sign. Me never finding the book, that's a sign. Sara never finding the $5.00 bill, that's a sign.
- How could something not happening be a sign?
- Maybe the absence of signs is a sign. Isn't it?
Well, I'll have you know there is no absence of clues or signs in what I'm about to show you. Let's see the clues first...
Clue #1:
Clue #2:
Clue #3:
Sign #1:
The 2.75 year old being happily quiet all by herself with the baby.
You always *think* quiet is good...it never is. So was this fated or left up to chance? I choose to believe this incident was 'opportunistic' at best. ;)
Friday, December 14, 2007
Thank God Almighty for Physical Therapists!
As I briefly mentioned, I have been lying flat on my back for almost 2 solid weeks.
Let me back track...
I decided to go crazy and paint...nearly my whole house...by myself. I painted a 2-story foyer (though my SIL did help me with that because I don't like those straight ladders), stairway, hallway, kitchen, breakfast room, living room and kids bathroom. All in the course of like 2 weeks. Yes, I went paint crazy. That's a different story.
After almost all of the painting was done and I was down to piddley (how DO you spell that word?) touch-ups, I started feeling immense pain in my back. It started two weeks ago today. I spent that Friday taking it easy. On Saturday, I felt better so we went out and did a Christmas event and then a 1 1/2 hr drive to and from SIL's house and then I went to a party that night...tolerable, sore pain. Sunday I awoke with sharp stabbing pains in my mid-back. I got the Tylenol and heating pad and through I needed a couple days rest. By Monday, I was feeling worse. On Tuesday, after crying through my shower, I called my doctor. (Yes, I'm one of those who's quick to ask for help...teehee). I barely tolerated the drive there and was in tears in the waiting room because sitting was excruciating.
Now I have to pause and say that while I've always thought of myself as a pain-weenie, I did go through natural childbirth of my own free will last time and would do it again, given the choice. So I have to say that I probably have a pretty good pain tolerance when it's all said and done.
The doctor came into the exam room, saw me lying on my back. Uttered the words, "possible kidney stone" and asked me for a urine sample. I wanted to cry again with the thought of having to attempt that feat. He glanced at my back but never even touched me. He sent the nurse in with a shot of muscle relaxant and gave it 20 minutes to "feel better". It didn't. I was so desperate to get home that I somehow made it through the sample routine. After he cleared me for kidney stones, he sent me on my merry way with a prescription strength anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant (Flexoril). They both had daunting possible side effects so I decided to do one at a time. I took the anti-inflammatory. It gave me blurry eyes and mellowed me out but nothing else. Around 8pm, I took the Flexeril. At 11:30, Hubby woke me and told me it was time to go to bed. My eyes were so blurry that I couldn't make out any shapes whatever - only colors. Very disoriented, I somehow made it upstairs. As I stumbled into the bathroom, I announced to Dear Hubby that I was going to hurl. He tried to talk me out of it...and he told me to cough. Coughing, amazingly, works! But not long enough. So, really hurting back and hurling...not a good combo. Somehow I made it back to bed and vowed never to let Flexeril ever darken my doorstep ever again.
I used the anti-inflammatories and ice packs and stayed on my back...one day, two days, three days...suddenly, it had been a solid week and I was quite depressed. My Christmas tree wasn't up, I had exactly 3 Christmas presents bought and I realized I had only 14 days left. I was getting better but it was very slow going. I also had a MOPS craft to facilitate (today), a Christmas book to gather submissions for and all the baking as well as decorating and shopping. So on Wednesday, I decided I just had to get up. Maybe the muscle was too tight now from non-use and needed to be used. Wednesday I increased my activity a little (still didn't go anywhere but did a few things around the house) and Thursday I did the same. I was determined to at least drop off the craft materials for the moms today.
This morning, I called my doctor and asked for a referral to my old physical therapist who I saw for sciatica during my last pregnancy. At the meeting, I was doing ~moderately well~ until I sat down for the last 30 minutes. That was horrendous and the thought of collecting my children from their rooms and getting my van loaded up with the craft items was enough to make me cry again.
Sharp stabbing pains for almost 2 weeks straight had taken my last nerve away and when I got the report that Matthew had acted up in class, I applauded myself for not bloodily murdering him on the spot (SEE?? I'm NOT super mom!)
Somehow, children made it home alive and the baby got nursed and put down for nap and the kids went up for quiet time. FIL arrived to babysit for me while I went to the physical therapist.
I teared up several times on the way over there, just sitting in the seat driving. I saw no future and was scared that the PT (physical therapist) was going to make me even more sore.
I got on her bed, she had me twist this way and that way a few times, telling her when it hurt where. Then she had me lay on my stomach she poked around my spine for 30 seconds, called the student over to show him what she found. She got me into a pretzel and pulled this way for 30 seconds and that way for 30 seconds and had me sit up.
"How does that feel?" she asked.
"I could KISS you! Ohhhhh my gosh! I feel soooooooo much better!"
Seriously, there's not much I wouldn't have done at that moment to show my appreciation for what she did. She showed me exercises and did ultrasound and some kind of electrode therapy (I'm sure it has a cooler name though). She said that, probably due to my excessive painting, I had twisted one of my vertebra - it was very slightly (she said a "hair") misaligned. And that tiny misalignment caused that much pain. I never would have believed it.
I still have some pain but I feel 1000 times better than I did this morning. I'm even able to cook dinner tonight and I haven't done that in two weeks. I have been able to sit here this whole time and type this post. Last week, I could barely tolerate sitting long enough to take a drink of water. This woman needs to be paid more. A LOT more.
Bless you, Cathy, the ultimate PT! Have the most blessed of blessed holidays...and new year...and...life...ever!! MWAHHHH
Ummm...anyone wanna come paint my pantry/laundry room, master bath and master bedroom? Hmmm...maybe next year. Maybe I should hire someone next time. Learn from my mistakes...if you have 4 kids ages 7 and under, don't do marathon painting. Not a great sport and there aren't any medals.
Let me back track...
I decided to go crazy and paint...nearly my whole house...by myself. I painted a 2-story foyer (though my SIL did help me with that because I don't like those straight ladders), stairway, hallway, kitchen, breakfast room, living room and kids bathroom. All in the course of like 2 weeks. Yes, I went paint crazy. That's a different story.
After almost all of the painting was done and I was down to piddley (how DO you spell that word?) touch-ups, I started feeling immense pain in my back. It started two weeks ago today. I spent that Friday taking it easy. On Saturday, I felt better so we went out and did a Christmas event and then a 1 1/2 hr drive to and from SIL's house and then I went to a party that night...tolerable, sore pain. Sunday I awoke with sharp stabbing pains in my mid-back. I got the Tylenol and heating pad and through I needed a couple days rest. By Monday, I was feeling worse. On Tuesday, after crying through my shower, I called my doctor. (Yes, I'm one of those who's quick to ask for help...teehee). I barely tolerated the drive there and was in tears in the waiting room because sitting was excruciating.
Now I have to pause and say that while I've always thought of myself as a pain-weenie, I did go through natural childbirth of my own free will last time and would do it again, given the choice. So I have to say that I probably have a pretty good pain tolerance when it's all said and done.
The doctor came into the exam room, saw me lying on my back. Uttered the words, "possible kidney stone" and asked me for a urine sample. I wanted to cry again with the thought of having to attempt that feat. He glanced at my back but never even touched me. He sent the nurse in with a shot of muscle relaxant and gave it 20 minutes to "feel better". It didn't. I was so desperate to get home that I somehow made it through the sample routine. After he cleared me for kidney stones, he sent me on my merry way with a prescription strength anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxant (Flexoril). They both had daunting possible side effects so I decided to do one at a time. I took the anti-inflammatory. It gave me blurry eyes and mellowed me out but nothing else. Around 8pm, I took the Flexeril. At 11:30, Hubby woke me and told me it was time to go to bed. My eyes were so blurry that I couldn't make out any shapes whatever - only colors. Very disoriented, I somehow made it upstairs. As I stumbled into the bathroom, I announced to Dear Hubby that I was going to hurl. He tried to talk me out of it...and he told me to cough. Coughing, amazingly, works! But not long enough. So, really hurting back and hurling...not a good combo. Somehow I made it back to bed and vowed never to let Flexeril ever darken my doorstep ever again.
I used the anti-inflammatories and ice packs and stayed on my back...one day, two days, three days...suddenly, it had been a solid week and I was quite depressed. My Christmas tree wasn't up, I had exactly 3 Christmas presents bought and I realized I had only 14 days left. I was getting better but it was very slow going. I also had a MOPS craft to facilitate (today), a Christmas book to gather submissions for and all the baking as well as decorating and shopping. So on Wednesday, I decided I just had to get up. Maybe the muscle was too tight now from non-use and needed to be used. Wednesday I increased my activity a little (still didn't go anywhere but did a few things around the house) and Thursday I did the same. I was determined to at least drop off the craft materials for the moms today.
This morning, I called my doctor and asked for a referral to my old physical therapist who I saw for sciatica during my last pregnancy. At the meeting, I was doing ~moderately well~ until I sat down for the last 30 minutes. That was horrendous and the thought of collecting my children from their rooms and getting my van loaded up with the craft items was enough to make me cry again.
Sharp stabbing pains for almost 2 weeks straight had taken my last nerve away and when I got the report that Matthew had acted up in class, I applauded myself for not bloodily murdering him on the spot (SEE?? I'm NOT super mom!)
Somehow, children made it home alive and the baby got nursed and put down for nap and the kids went up for quiet time. FIL arrived to babysit for me while I went to the physical therapist.
I teared up several times on the way over there, just sitting in the seat driving. I saw no future and was scared that the PT (physical therapist) was going to make me even more sore.
I got on her bed, she had me twist this way and that way a few times, telling her when it hurt where. Then she had me lay on my stomach she poked around my spine for 30 seconds, called the student over to show him what she found. She got me into a pretzel and pulled this way for 30 seconds and that way for 30 seconds and had me sit up.
"How does that feel?" she asked.
"I could KISS you! Ohhhhh my gosh! I feel soooooooo much better!"
Seriously, there's not much I wouldn't have done at that moment to show my appreciation for what she did. She showed me exercises and did ultrasound and some kind of electrode therapy (I'm sure it has a cooler name though). She said that, probably due to my excessive painting, I had twisted one of my vertebra - it was very slightly (she said a "hair") misaligned. And that tiny misalignment caused that much pain. I never would have believed it.
I still have some pain but I feel 1000 times better than I did this morning. I'm even able to cook dinner tonight and I haven't done that in two weeks. I have been able to sit here this whole time and type this post. Last week, I could barely tolerate sitting long enough to take a drink of water. This woman needs to be paid more. A LOT more.
Bless you, Cathy, the ultimate PT! Have the most blessed of blessed holidays...and new year...and...life...ever!! MWAHHHH
Ummm...anyone wanna come paint my pantry/laundry room, master bath and master bedroom? Hmmm...maybe next year. Maybe I should hire someone next time. Learn from my mistakes...if you have 4 kids ages 7 and under, don't do marathon painting. Not a great sport and there aren't any medals.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Merry Christmas
Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab
I've hurt my back and haven't been able to sit at the computer for a while but I'll be back soon!! :)
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Happy November!!
Ahhh...the smell of leaves burning, the sound of wind whistling and dark skies. My favorite. Snuggled up in warm blankets with a cup of joe or hot chocolate....mmmmmm. All we need now is the rain pelting against the house and some ice storms. Well, maybe not the ice storms.
So many of you have asked about my moon pic. First, you must know that taking a picture of the full moon is very difficult...and requires a lot of luck. You have that shiny white globe on black. With something that you obviously can't use a flash on. Not easy. But I had a bit of luck. Here are the technical details:
Olympus E500 (digital SLR)
Tripod
F5.6, ISO 100, 150mm zoom lens
Stored at HQ setting (3264 X 2448, 1/8 compression)
And lots of luck. ;) Hubby is so impressed with that shot that I might be able to get some much nicer zooms in the future. Double YAY! :)
Halloween pictures are coming soon.
I'm sure you're wondering why I've been a little MIA the last couple weeks. I've been *extremely* busy. First there was a last minute consignment sale that I spent quite a bit of time on. I had to put the clothes on hangers a certain way and print up tags and attach them a certain way and drop off and pick up and it was pretty crazy. Then came the first big MOPS craft. We did three different jar mixes. I thought the moms would appreciate ideas for the upcoming gift-giving season. They did. But it was a LOT of work on my part. Mainly because recipes call for volume but most every ingredient I purchased listed weight. It was NOT fun, to say the least, figuring out how much I needed of everything...times 60 women. But I survived and had enough ingredients. And, I've been getting orders for more through word-of-mouth. So I've turned it into a mini fundraiser for our group but I have jars and ingredients all over the house. And I have to decorate them up cute if I'm selling them so it's been time consuming (not to mention the added shopping of even more frustrating ingredients! Why can't we just move to the metric system and be done with it?? Did you know America is one of ONLY THREE nations to not use metrics? I swear, I'm gonna start buying non-American cookbooks and use my handy dandy electronic scale that Hubby so nicely got me last Christmas). Where was I? Oh yes...fundraiser.
After that small crisis (that I'm still working on, btw), Halloween had the gall to sneak up and say, "Boo". So I cut a few corners on the family tradition of making all the costumes but they all had fun anyway. And their costumes were cute. Yes, I said the pictures are coming SOON.
Combine all that with Hubby out-of-state for training for a week and another short trip, I've had my hands quite full.
However, that doesn't mean we're not learning around here. Grammy, the ever-teacher, has been concerned about Rose's reading ability lately. Rose is 4.5yrs and Grammy has taught pre-K for 20+ years so she feels she's an expert on where Rose should be. What I've been telling her is that she *might* be a little behind in reading (but I really don't think so) but she's further ahead in spelling and writing. I've touched on this before but I'll mention it again.
I'm not exactly sure how Matthew learned to read. I think he would memorize the story I read him before naptime and read it back to himself after I left. I think somehow, in understanding those 'sight words', he figured out phonics as well. But he has never liked to write much. He can write and he knows how to but doesn't do it very often. Rose, on the other hand, started writing long before she could read. She would copy words or ask us how to spell words so she could write them down. She has pages and pages full of words she's written. Through writing, she has become interested in reading. She knows the sounds each letter makes and when she comes to a word, she sounds out each letter and then puts them together, Sesame Street style. But I've suspected she knows more than she wants to let on for a while now. She will come to a word whose phonics don't sound right but she will say the word correctly. For example, she will come across the word, same. She will sound out, "sss ahhh mmmm eeee" and then say, "same". But if she followed the phonetics she has just sounded out, it would come out more like /sah-me/. So I suspect she's a much better reader than someone who needs to sound each letter out each time.
Last night, the kids wanted to go up to a Trunk-or-treat. I have two booster seats in the back and Grammy was trying to fit in between them. It's a tight squeeze and as Rose watched Grammy wrestle with the seatbelt, she said, "Grammy, I think maybe you are a little too b-i-g." Grammy was quite shocked that Rose had spelled it out correctly. So a while later, I hear Grammy testing Rose..."Rose, what does l-i-t-t-l-e spell?" Rose puts on a big 'i'm thinking hard about this' face and says, "Small, I think". Grammy starts to say, "No, sound it out". "Grammy," I interjected, "I think you're being played". She wasn't quite convinced. To put it to the test, I just pulled her over here while typing. I minimized my window so she couldn't see the word spelled out.
"Rose, what does l-i-t-t-l-e spell?" I asked.
"Sssssloved"
"Roooose, what does it spell?"
"Okay...you help me sound it out."
"No, I think you can do it by yourself," I said.
She sounds out (from memory) "/luh - i - t - t - luh/...little!"
Yep Grammy, I think you've been played. ;)
And a funny to send you on your merry day...
Leaving one house last night, Matthew starts tiptoeing very carefully down the sidewalk. "Watch out, there's dog scat here". While other 7 year olds are out there giggling about the word, poop, mine is using the correct terminology. Apparently my kid watches too much Discovery Channel. ;)
So many of you have asked about my moon pic. First, you must know that taking a picture of the full moon is very difficult...and requires a lot of luck. You have that shiny white globe on black. With something that you obviously can't use a flash on. Not easy. But I had a bit of luck. Here are the technical details:
Olympus E500 (digital SLR)
Tripod
F5.6, ISO 100, 150mm zoom lens
Stored at HQ setting (3264 X 2448, 1/8 compression)
And lots of luck. ;) Hubby is so impressed with that shot that I might be able to get some much nicer zooms in the future. Double YAY! :)
Halloween pictures are coming soon.
I'm sure you're wondering why I've been a little MIA the last couple weeks. I've been *extremely* busy. First there was a last minute consignment sale that I spent quite a bit of time on. I had to put the clothes on hangers a certain way and print up tags and attach them a certain way and drop off and pick up and it was pretty crazy. Then came the first big MOPS craft. We did three different jar mixes. I thought the moms would appreciate ideas for the upcoming gift-giving season. They did. But it was a LOT of work on my part. Mainly because recipes call for volume but most every ingredient I purchased listed weight. It was NOT fun, to say the least, figuring out how much I needed of everything...times 60 women. But I survived and had enough ingredients. And, I've been getting orders for more through word-of-mouth. So I've turned it into a mini fundraiser for our group but I have jars and ingredients all over the house. And I have to decorate them up cute if I'm selling them so it's been time consuming (not to mention the added shopping of even more frustrating ingredients! Why can't we just move to the metric system and be done with it?? Did you know America is one of ONLY THREE nations to not use metrics? I swear, I'm gonna start buying non-American cookbooks and use my handy dandy electronic scale that Hubby so nicely got me last Christmas). Where was I? Oh yes...fundraiser.
After that small crisis (that I'm still working on, btw), Halloween had the gall to sneak up and say, "Boo". So I cut a few corners on the family tradition of making all the costumes but they all had fun anyway. And their costumes were cute. Yes, I said the pictures are coming SOON.
Combine all that with Hubby out-of-state for training for a week and another short trip, I've had my hands quite full.
However, that doesn't mean we're not learning around here. Grammy, the ever-teacher, has been concerned about Rose's reading ability lately. Rose is 4.5yrs and Grammy has taught pre-K for 20+ years so she feels she's an expert on where Rose should be. What I've been telling her is that she *might* be a little behind in reading (but I really don't think so) but she's further ahead in spelling and writing. I've touched on this before but I'll mention it again.
I'm not exactly sure how Matthew learned to read. I think he would memorize the story I read him before naptime and read it back to himself after I left. I think somehow, in understanding those 'sight words', he figured out phonics as well. But he has never liked to write much. He can write and he knows how to but doesn't do it very often. Rose, on the other hand, started writing long before she could read. She would copy words or ask us how to spell words so she could write them down. She has pages and pages full of words she's written. Through writing, she has become interested in reading. She knows the sounds each letter makes and when she comes to a word, she sounds out each letter and then puts them together, Sesame Street style. But I've suspected she knows more than she wants to let on for a while now. She will come to a word whose phonics don't sound right but she will say the word correctly. For example, she will come across the word, same. She will sound out, "sss ahhh mmmm eeee" and then say, "same". But if she followed the phonetics she has just sounded out, it would come out more like /sah-me/. So I suspect she's a much better reader than someone who needs to sound each letter out each time.
Last night, the kids wanted to go up to a Trunk-or-treat. I have two booster seats in the back and Grammy was trying to fit in between them. It's a tight squeeze and as Rose watched Grammy wrestle with the seatbelt, she said, "Grammy, I think maybe you are a little too b-i-g." Grammy was quite shocked that Rose had spelled it out correctly. So a while later, I hear Grammy testing Rose..."Rose, what does l-i-t-t-l-e spell?" Rose puts on a big 'i'm thinking hard about this' face and says, "Small, I think". Grammy starts to say, "No, sound it out". "Grammy," I interjected, "I think you're being played". She wasn't quite convinced. To put it to the test, I just pulled her over here while typing. I minimized my window so she couldn't see the word spelled out.
"Rose, what does l-i-t-t-l-e spell?" I asked.
"Sssssloved"
"Roooose, what does it spell?"
"Okay...you help me sound it out."
"No, I think you can do it by yourself," I said.
She sounds out (from memory) "/luh - i - t - t - luh/...little!"
Yep Grammy, I think you've been played. ;)
And a funny to send you on your merry day...
Leaving one house last night, Matthew starts tiptoeing very carefully down the sidewalk. "Watch out, there's dog scat here". While other 7 year olds are out there giggling about the word, poop, mine is using the correct terminology. Apparently my kid watches too much Discovery Channel. ;)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Consider yourself mooned
And thus my inner photographer takes a grand sigh and says, "WOW...how'd I ever pull THIS pic off??"
Friday, October 12, 2007
Mosaics
Hey guys - I know there are other Amy Grant fans out there. If so, check out Becky's blog - she's giving away three copies of Amy's new book, Mosaics, away!
For those who don't know me well...well, Amy was a HUGE part of my childhood. I remember the day Carrie brought a copy of Amy's first album to 4th grade recess. It was raining that day so we were stuck inside our classroom instead of out on the playground. The teacher somehow let Carrie play Father's Eyes and several others and I was hooked. I did talent shows and sang songs in church with Amy's music (and I had the mock leopard-skin jacket and perm to prove it!). As an adult, my music tastes have changed as much as her style of music has and I continue to love everything she produces. But in the last year, I had a yearning for the earlier music and I have gone back to purchase the oldies and it's amazing that those old songs really speak to me now as much as they did in 4th, 5th, 6th, etc. grades. Thanks Amy!
And Thanks for the chance, Becky! :)
For those who don't know me well...well, Amy was a HUGE part of my childhood. I remember the day Carrie brought a copy of Amy's first album to 4th grade recess. It was raining that day so we were stuck inside our classroom instead of out on the playground. The teacher somehow let Carrie play Father's Eyes and several others and I was hooked. I did talent shows and sang songs in church with Amy's music (and I had the mock leopard-skin jacket and perm to prove it!). As an adult, my music tastes have changed as much as her style of music has and I continue to love everything she produces. But in the last year, I had a yearning for the earlier music and I have gone back to purchase the oldies and it's amazing that those old songs really speak to me now as much as they did in 4th, 5th, 6th, etc. grades. Thanks Amy!
And Thanks for the chance, Becky! :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Welcome at last!
Apparently Autumn heard my previous post because she has finally arrived at long last. Missing a plethora of her usual glory, she is also undaunted, shown by knocking the breath out of me as I opened my front door yesterday. Hubby is out of town this week and so I dutifully checked the weather last night and switched the thermostat from "cool" over to "heat" when I saw that it was supposed to get down in the 40's and 50's overnight.
This morning I awoke at 8am to a toasty warm 61 degree house, after realizing I had nearly frozen to death last night. NOW what? My first thought was to make some coffee and dig my winter robe and slippers out of the back of my closet. Having accomplished that, somehow my thoughts ended up remembering that when the Great Summer Floor Disaster occurred, the commercial fans had blown out the pilot light on the water heater. Of course, it was summer then and we didn't think about the furnace pilot light.
Naturally, I'm scared to death of pilots and lights but especially when you put them together in a sentence. Admit it - you are too. All your life, they tell you NOT to put an open flame anywhere NEAR gas. It's a *bad*...no *very, very bad* combination. But Hubby is gone and I have a sick kiddo running a temp. The light had to be lit, without a pilot (save me), despite my fears.
I couldn't find the instructions on how to do it. FIL uses electric but offered to light it if I could find the instructions (what a sweet man). After quite a bit of searching around the furnace (where Hubby swore the manual was) and rummaging through the filing cabinet of important papers and a quick not-really-any-help call to Hubby, I was able to locate and print out the re-lighting instructions online (amazing what you can find online these days!?!). I debated asking FIL to do it for me but he's a 30 minute drive away and has, you know, a life of his own to live. I decided I needed to be brave and at least attempt to light the durned thing myself (and yes, I can use the word 'durned' because I was raised, for all intents and purposes, a Missouri hick - this is the one slang word I allow myself).
As I plodded back downstairs, I actually found the instruction manual attached to the side of the furnace (guess it doesn't take a genius to know what Freud would say about that). Turns out that it is a newer model and is one of those automatic ignition contraptions. So there was no match to light. PHEW! I simply turned the electric off to the unit, turned the gas switch to 'off', waited 5 minutes, turned it back to 'on' and turned the electric back on. Soon we had that nasty I-just-turned-the-furnace-on-for-the-first-time-this-year smell coming out of our vents. But even those simple steps were very scary. There were cautions and warnings all OVER the manual about 'if you smell natural gas' and 'if unit has been in contact with water' (hmmm...water on floors did drip in that area - how much water is a concern?), etc. I found my stomach in all kinds of knots.
I also found my baby laying right inside the front door of the house, just in case we (rather, the kids) had to make a very quick exit. It's ok - I can say it out loud. Ahem. "My name is Laurie and I'm a nut job who's afraid to light things. Think of me as an anti-pyromaniac". Starting our campfire last summer caused me more concern than the average person, I'm sure. I don't know where this fear came from - I have no scary childhood tales of bad fires or anything of the sort. Though perhaps my mother's fear of my father falling asleep while smoking and 'burning down the house while we are all sleeping' hit a target she wasn't quite aiming for. That one might have been left better unsaid to this child. =;0D
So, I will rest warm and snuggly tonight and I wish you all well-lit pilot lights that never go out.
This morning I awoke at 8am to a toasty warm 61 degree house, after realizing I had nearly frozen to death last night. NOW what? My first thought was to make some coffee and dig my winter robe and slippers out of the back of my closet. Having accomplished that, somehow my thoughts ended up remembering that when the Great Summer Floor Disaster occurred, the commercial fans had blown out the pilot light on the water heater. Of course, it was summer then and we didn't think about the furnace pilot light.
Naturally, I'm scared to death of pilots and lights but especially when you put them together in a sentence. Admit it - you are too. All your life, they tell you NOT to put an open flame anywhere NEAR gas. It's a *bad*...no *very, very bad* combination. But Hubby is gone and I have a sick kiddo running a temp. The light had to be lit, without a pilot (save me), despite my fears.
I couldn't find the instructions on how to do it. FIL uses electric but offered to light it if I could find the instructions (what a sweet man). After quite a bit of searching around the furnace (where Hubby swore the manual was) and rummaging through the filing cabinet of important papers and a quick not-really-any-help call to Hubby, I was able to locate and print out the re-lighting instructions online (amazing what you can find online these days!?!). I debated asking FIL to do it for me but he's a 30 minute drive away and has, you know, a life of his own to live. I decided I needed to be brave and at least attempt to light the durned thing myself (and yes, I can use the word 'durned' because I was raised, for all intents and purposes, a Missouri hick - this is the one slang word I allow myself).
As I plodded back downstairs, I actually found the instruction manual attached to the side of the furnace (guess it doesn't take a genius to know what Freud would say about that). Turns out that it is a newer model and is one of those automatic ignition contraptions. So there was no match to light. PHEW! I simply turned the electric off to the unit, turned the gas switch to 'off', waited 5 minutes, turned it back to 'on' and turned the electric back on. Soon we had that nasty I-just-turned-the-furnace-on-for-the-first-time-this-year smell coming out of our vents. But even those simple steps were very scary. There were cautions and warnings all OVER the manual about 'if you smell natural gas' and 'if unit has been in contact with water' (hmmm...water on floors did drip in that area - how much water is a concern?), etc. I found my stomach in all kinds of knots.
I also found my baby laying right inside the front door of the house, just in case we (rather, the kids) had to make a very quick exit. It's ok - I can say it out loud. Ahem. "My name is Laurie and I'm a nut job who's afraid to light things. Think of me as an anti-pyromaniac". Starting our campfire last summer caused me more concern than the average person, I'm sure. I don't know where this fear came from - I have no scary childhood tales of bad fires or anything of the sort. Though perhaps my mother's fear of my father falling asleep while smoking and 'burning down the house while we are all sleeping' hit a target she wasn't quite aiming for. That one might have been left better unsaid to this child. =;0D
So, I will rest warm and snuggly tonight and I wish you all well-lit pilot lights that never go out.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
I miss you!
Where are your loud crashes throughout my day? Where is your smell of decaying leaves? The sound of crunching twigs beneath my feet and the wind ripping through my jacket, causing me to pull it closer to my skin? Where are my THUNDERSTORMS????
Alas, Fall, I miss you. Please visit soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite the disgustingly *very* unusually warm weather, we've been quite busy. We've had playdates with homeschooling friends, Bible studies, MOPS, poetry creating sessions with more homeschooling friends, etc. Rose and Jade have both had two different illnesses (again, COME ON Fall!!!). And Hubby has gone out of town for training this week. So it's only going to get busier, I'm sure.
But in the midst of our busy-ness, we're still learning. Me especially. I told the kids that I got them a couple books on CD. This is a totally new experience for us all. In explaining what they were, Matthew asked why people wouldn't just read the book to themselves.
"Books on CD are really great for several reasons. One, if you have tired eyes. Two, if you are young and can't read yet. Three, if you have a long drive to work (like almost everyone in our city does), it's a great way to pass the time..."
"Oh, yeah, like Grandma has one about Jonah!" Matthew interjects.
"I'm sure she does. Grandma really likes books on CD," I reply.
"Yeah...Jonah...that's my fav...no wait. It's my second favorite Bible story."
"Really? What's your favorite one?" I query.
"The one where Jesus," [dub total astonishment voice over this part] "feeds FIVE THOUSAND from just a few fish and loaves of bread!"
Alas, Fall, I miss you. Please visit soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Despite the disgustingly *very* unusually warm weather, we've been quite busy. We've had playdates with homeschooling friends, Bible studies, MOPS, poetry creating sessions with more homeschooling friends, etc. Rose and Jade have both had two different illnesses (again, COME ON Fall!!!). And Hubby has gone out of town for training this week. So it's only going to get busier, I'm sure.
But in the midst of our busy-ness, we're still learning. Me especially. I told the kids that I got them a couple books on CD. This is a totally new experience for us all. In explaining what they were, Matthew asked why people wouldn't just read the book to themselves.
"Books on CD are really great for several reasons. One, if you have tired eyes. Two, if you are young and can't read yet. Three, if you have a long drive to work (like almost everyone in our city does), it's a great way to pass the time..."
"Oh, yeah, like Grandma has one about Jonah!" Matthew interjects.
"I'm sure she does. Grandma really likes books on CD," I reply.
"Yeah...Jonah...that's my fav...no wait. It's my second favorite Bible story."
"Really? What's your favorite one?" I query.
"The one where Jesus," [dub total astonishment voice over this part] "feeds FIVE THOUSAND from just a few fish and loaves of bread!"
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Flowers Schmauers
Believe it or not, I think they kinda nailed me on this one.
You Are a Nasturtium (incidentally, this is one of the things Hubby does grow and eat in our garden)
"You are more than what you seem. Outwardly, you are a confident person with just a little bit of a temper. Inwardly, you are someone who needs some serious TLC and attention."
What kind are you?
You Are a Nasturtium (incidentally, this is one of the things Hubby does grow and eat in our garden)
"You are more than what you seem. Outwardly, you are a confident person with just a little bit of a temper. Inwardly, you are someone who needs some serious TLC and attention."
What kind are you?
Randomness again
I think the bottom line, for me anyway, is that we do what works best for our children.
Absolutely Pam! Remember they started out every one of our La Leche League meetings that way..."There are many different ideas shared here in our meetings from co-sleeping to cloth diapers and everything in between. Please take what you can use and leave the rest. We're here to support you in doing what works best for your family." I freely admit there are a lot of families where unschooling would not work.
An online buddy just emailed me this morning. Her son has been working on telling time recently. I don't think she considers herself an unschooler but they do homeschool their son. In working on time through workbooks, he gained an interest in it. She got some additional books at the library on time and yesterday, he went into their yard, all of his own volition, and made a sun clock with sticks, rocks, toys and used a t-ball bat for the middle. I would bet that he understands the concept of time and daylight much better than most kids his age from that freedom in exploring the concept in his own way. WTG M!! :)
Matthew, Rose and I caught an episode of "Don't Forget The Lyrics" a couple weeks ago. We've not watched it since but it made a big impression on us. Mostly because we all love music. As much as we all love listening to music (and I love singing it), it is *very* rare that I hear Matthew actually singing. Rose can make up her own songs and sing to herself for two hours in her room but I can't remember the last time I heard Matthew sing. And Rose makes up her own songs and sings the typical little kid songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and such but I don't hear her singing songs off their favorite CD or movies, etc.
After watching the show, I was talking to Hubby and telling him that a home version of "Don't Forget The Lyrics" would be a really fun party idea. We both enjoy entertaining, though we rarely do it, so finding an idea that appealed to both of us was fun to talk about. Matthew piped up that we should start out with a kids version. When he elaborated, he said we should start with their Veggie Tales Silly Songs CD that's in the van. So the past couple of weeks whenever we go anywhere, we've been playing "Don't Forget The Lyrics, Kid Style" (Matthew's name). I let the music play and at some point, I turn the power off and let the kids sing out what they think the next line of the song is. They can ask for a backup singer (each other or me) and occasionally I can come up with couple different multiple choice lines for them to choose from.
This game has been SO fun for us all. I think I enjoy it more than they do. You have *not* laughed yourself silly until you hear Matthew sing the lyrics, "Sometimes I'm off-key when I sing" or when he sings the line, "And you can't come because you don't speak French"... and to hear Rose pipe up the next segment, "Au revoir!" in that I-know-it-all-better-than-anyone four year old attitude.
So I'm finally getting to hear my kids sing. Aside from fun and silly, it's also been really interesting. They know the lyrics well. They can sing the Pirates of Penzance song, Modern Major General. Veggie Tales commonly takes well-known songs and changes the words around. There's a take-off on Funiculi Funicula called Larry's High Silk Hat that is just hysterical. If you haven't watched it, take the 4 minutes. You probably don't know which song I'm talking about from the title but I guarantee you, you'll recognize it.
Which brings me to the next item...cartoons. On Sunday night, I decided to go all out and make a fajita dinner from scratch. Yes, I made the tortillas, refried beans and everything (short of wringing the chicken's neck). This was quite labor intensive and unfortunately the kids didn't want to help out that night. The girls wanted to watch something on TV so I flipped around and found "Top Cat" was coming on Boomerang. I was just telling Rose a few weeks ago that was my favorite cartoon as a kid, after she had asked me about it. So I turned to it and we ended up watching the channel until bedtime. Since that night, we've watched The Flinstones, Pink Panther, Jetsons, Top Cat, Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry. What an experience for them! They often ask me about what my life was like as a kid; did I like this food or did I watch that show? It was fun getting to share a few of my TV shows with them. And they love them, which actually surprises me.
Do you know what's missing from todays cartoons? Classical music. They've taken one of the best features of cartoons out. At least Veggie Tales knows how to do it right. ;)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
A few clarifications
To all my readers:
I know that lately, this might seem as if I'm only having a conversation with Jean2 but I want all of you to feel free to comment and ask questions. She just happens to be asking the questions that I get *very* often by people who are curious about unschooling so I'm using her questions as blog posts, instead of just emailing a response back in comments. So please, feel free to jump in if you have questions yourself or if you're an unschooler who wants to weigh in on questions too. ;)
To Jean2:
I also really appreciate these non-threatened conversations we find ourselves in. I appreciate that you're open enough to try to understand it even if you're not sold on the idea yourself (or even if you never will be). I enjoy learning about things, even if I don't think they're 'for me' so maybe we're more alike than we think. :) After re-reading my last post, I can see where someone less open might have taken offense to some things I said. That was not my intention and I'm glad you didn't. But I would like to clarify a few things that might have been taken the wrong way.
Please remember that there is a wide spectrum even in the unschooling umbrella. Some unschoolers do have a partial curriculum. Some do unit studies based on their kids interests - so the kids have the say in what they're learning about and the moms also have that comfy cushion of I'm-following-some-kind-of-curriculum. There are unschoolers on the opposite end as well...who have absolutely NO limits or restrictions or rules on their kids. Their kids have no bedtimes, no curfews and if they want to estivate all summer, they can. Most of us, I think, fall somewhere in between the two extremes of unschooling.
So, back to our family...
First of all - to your comments about manners. I have no problem correcting my children though there are unschoolers out there who do. They would rather use real-life consequences for the kids to learn that manners get you further than no manners, and that manners feel nice when directed towards you. So they would allow their kids to say, "Gimme that" to whomever and wait to see the response rendered. If you think about other people in your life, you can imagine their different responses. My MIL (mother-in-law) would probably take on the personality of a 3 year old to emphasize her point and respond, "No, I had it first!" My friend Pam would be so shocked to hear it that she'd probably just nod and hand it over (sorry P!). Jean1 would probably say, "Excuse me?" in a who-do-you-think-you're-talking-to voice. If I said it to my own mother, she'd probably say something to the effect of, "I raised you to have better manners than that!" Actually, this might be a really fun science experiment to pull on these people in my life to see how they really do respond. Hmmm...
Anyway, with my own kids, I use several methods...the direct, "Please don't interrupt me"...the modeling method "Mom, would you please pass the butter?"...and yes, there are instances that get punished around here (I do not allow hitting another person in anger at all). My kids are also allowed to call me out when I'm forgetting my manners as well. They will also model something if they think I haven't asked nicely...and that doesn't bother me. We help each other to remember our manners and mutual respect.
Now, I wouldn't talk to another adult in my home that way (unless it was Hubby or Jean1 and she said, "Gimme that"...then I probably *would* model it for her and say facetiously, "Laurie, may I please have some of that?" teehee). But I *do* have a child in the terrible twos and one in the ferocious fours at the moment...I think most adults have outgrown downright rude manners (at least the ones I socialize with anyway). LOL I didn't mean to imply in that post that I let my kids interrupt me and run roughshod all over us. Simply that we don't imply that we're always right or only our opinions matter just because we're the adults/parents. I tried to illustrate that with the going-to-Michael's-story but maybe that wasn't the best attempt. Let's try a different approach...
If I may...you said "any other children interrupting a conversation between adults is just a personal pet peeve of mine". Why? Stop and answer that question before reading more.
Probably because it shows a lack of respect. Does it also bother you when an adult interrupts a conversation between children? For most people, it doesn't. But aren't we showing kids that they don't deserve respect when we interrupt them? I'm not trying to pick on anyone but these are things I see constantly in public that just baffle me. It's a big double-standard. And even the people who are willing to give that respect to the older kids - perhaps preteens and older - they don't usually do it for younger kids. I believe we need to respect them as much as we demand their respect.
If I expect them to knock first before entering a closed door, I need to do the same for them (again, unless it's something that seriously requires immediate action like I hear a loud thud and another child screaming in pain, etc. behind said door). I do intervene like a typical mom when necessary but when it's not necessary, I try to respect their wishes. My son isn't as much a music lover as I am. Sometimes I'm really enjoying the music in the van and he wants me to turn it off. Sometimes he just wants me to stop singing (even though I have a beautiful singing voice if I do say-so myself.) I will turn it off when he asks. Because there are days when I just really don't want to listen to his VeggieTales CD one more time and I ask him to turn it off as well. It's all about mutual respect.
Your next question for me...
Well, if I did the job right in the previous section, you already know the answer to this one. Absolutely they can go. And before you ask, no, I don't talk despairingly about school. He hears enough of that from his friends. ;) He makes comments from time to time to the effect of, "I'm sure glad I don't have all that homework to do" and, "I'm glad I don't have to do book reports". I'm not sure if he even understands what 'homework' is but he gathers from their groanings that it's not pleasant. LOL
Which leads us into another unschooling segue - as for book reports, he does do them...he just doesn't know he does them. It's me casually asking him what he's reading and him telling me the story and us discussing it. Why did book reports start anyway? So the teacher can make sure the child read the book because she has 30 kids and 30 books. So the kids do a book report to prove they read and understood the material. Why do I need to use that at home? There really is no need. In 5 minutes of talking (heck, even one minute sometimes), I can determine if he's read and understood the book.
If my post today seems a little garbled, please forgive me. It's Saturday and I've had lots of activity today. I've been stopped many times during the writing of this one and it may not seem to flow smoothly.
I know that lately, this might seem as if I'm only having a conversation with Jean2 but I want all of you to feel free to comment and ask questions. She just happens to be asking the questions that I get *very* often by people who are curious about unschooling so I'm using her questions as blog posts, instead of just emailing a response back in comments. So please, feel free to jump in if you have questions yourself or if you're an unschooler who wants to weigh in on questions too. ;)
To Jean2:
I also really appreciate these non-threatened conversations we find ourselves in. I appreciate that you're open enough to try to understand it even if you're not sold on the idea yourself (or even if you never will be). I enjoy learning about things, even if I don't think they're 'for me' so maybe we're more alike than we think. :) After re-reading my last post, I can see where someone less open might have taken offense to some things I said. That was not my intention and I'm glad you didn't. But I would like to clarify a few things that might have been taken the wrong way.
Please remember that there is a wide spectrum even in the unschooling umbrella. Some unschoolers do have a partial curriculum. Some do unit studies based on their kids interests - so the kids have the say in what they're learning about and the moms also have that comfy cushion of I'm-following-some-kind-of-curriculum. There are unschoolers on the opposite end as well...who have absolutely NO limits or restrictions or rules on their kids. Their kids have no bedtimes, no curfews and if they want to estivate all summer, they can. Most of us, I think, fall somewhere in between the two extremes of unschooling.
So, back to our family...
First of all - to your comments about manners. I have no problem correcting my children though there are unschoolers out there who do. They would rather use real-life consequences for the kids to learn that manners get you further than no manners, and that manners feel nice when directed towards you. So they would allow their kids to say, "Gimme that" to whomever and wait to see the response rendered. If you think about other people in your life, you can imagine their different responses. My MIL (mother-in-law) would probably take on the personality of a 3 year old to emphasize her point and respond, "No, I had it first!" My friend Pam would be so shocked to hear it that she'd probably just nod and hand it over (sorry P!). Jean1 would probably say, "Excuse me?" in a who-do-you-think-you're-talking-to voice. If I said it to my own mother, she'd probably say something to the effect of, "I raised you to have better manners than that!" Actually, this might be a really fun science experiment to pull on these people in my life to see how they really do respond. Hmmm...
Anyway, with my own kids, I use several methods...the direct, "Please don't interrupt me"...the modeling method "Mom, would you please pass the butter?"...and yes, there are instances that get punished around here (I do not allow hitting another person in anger at all). My kids are also allowed to call me out when I'm forgetting my manners as well. They will also model something if they think I haven't asked nicely...and that doesn't bother me. We help each other to remember our manners and mutual respect.
Now, I wouldn't talk to another adult in my home that way (unless it was Hubby or Jean1 and she said, "Gimme that"...then I probably *would* model it for her and say facetiously, "Laurie, may I please have some of that?" teehee). But I *do* have a child in the terrible twos and one in the ferocious fours at the moment...I think most adults have outgrown downright rude manners (at least the ones I socialize with anyway). LOL I didn't mean to imply in that post that I let my kids interrupt me and run roughshod all over us. Simply that we don't imply that we're always right or only our opinions matter just because we're the adults/parents. I tried to illustrate that with the going-to-Michael's-story but maybe that wasn't the best attempt. Let's try a different approach...
If I may...you said "any other children interrupting a conversation between adults is just a personal pet peeve of mine". Why? Stop and answer that question before reading more.
Probably because it shows a lack of respect. Does it also bother you when an adult interrupts a conversation between children? For most people, it doesn't. But aren't we showing kids that they don't deserve respect when we interrupt them? I'm not trying to pick on anyone but these are things I see constantly in public that just baffle me. It's a big double-standard. And even the people who are willing to give that respect to the older kids - perhaps preteens and older - they don't usually do it for younger kids. I believe we need to respect them as much as we demand their respect.
If I expect them to knock first before entering a closed door, I need to do the same for them (again, unless it's something that seriously requires immediate action like I hear a loud thud and another child screaming in pain, etc. behind said door). I do intervene like a typical mom when necessary but when it's not necessary, I try to respect their wishes. My son isn't as much a music lover as I am. Sometimes I'm really enjoying the music in the van and he wants me to turn it off. Sometimes he just wants me to stop singing (even though I have a beautiful singing voice if I do say-so myself.) I will turn it off when he asks. Because there are days when I just really don't want to listen to his VeggieTales CD one more time and I ask him to turn it off as well. It's all about mutual respect.
Your next question for me...
If your children ever desired to go to public school-would you allow it?
Well, if I did the job right in the previous section, you already know the answer to this one. Absolutely they can go. And before you ask, no, I don't talk despairingly about school. He hears enough of that from his friends. ;) He makes comments from time to time to the effect of, "I'm sure glad I don't have all that homework to do" and, "I'm glad I don't have to do book reports". I'm not sure if he even understands what 'homework' is but he gathers from their groanings that it's not pleasant. LOL
Which leads us into another unschooling segue - as for book reports, he does do them...he just doesn't know he does them. It's me casually asking him what he's reading and him telling me the story and us discussing it. Why did book reports start anyway? So the teacher can make sure the child read the book because she has 30 kids and 30 books. So the kids do a book report to prove they read and understood the material. Why do I need to use that at home? There really is no need. In 5 minutes of talking (heck, even one minute sometimes), I can determine if he's read and understood the book.
If my post today seems a little garbled, please forgive me. It's Saturday and I've had lots of activity today. I've been stopped many times during the writing of this one and it may not seem to flow smoothly.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Smallville request!
Ok, I'll admit it - I'm a Smallville fan. But due to TIVO issues (I think the hard drive has issues), we totally missed the season premiere!! If anyone has a copy of it, I'll pay the shipping for you to send it on VHS or disk! Pulllleeeeeeeeeze?? I have to know if Chloe made it...and I don't want to just be told...I wanna see it. lol
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Us vs. Them?
Jean2, you're also very open and honest and I respect that. I think I have a very unique perspective here because I was raised in a family with similar beliefs to most Americans (and yourself) about children. We were to be seen and not heard, we were to always have our very best manners, never to embarrass our mother, NEVER to interrupt anyone (especially adults) and do our job (school) as dutifully as we could. And I believed all that too, until I started looking into homeschooling and was led to unschooling. So I know exactly where you're coming from.
But now I'm on the other side where I find myself asking, "why is it ok for me to interrupt their playtime to make them cleanup just because I decide it's time?" I wouldn't want them to come in while I'm scrapbooking and say, "OK, time to clean up - I want to go to Walmart," and me be forced into it. Yeah, I'm the mom. OK. Sometimes I *have to* (there are those words again) - like tomorrow morning, I have to take one kid to the dr. They all *have to* go - they're simply too young to stay home by themselves. But on the way home from playing with friends today, I wanted to make a quick stop by Michaels. They were hot and thirsty from playing and didn't want to stop. I quickly calculated that I could change my plans and just go tonight after Hubby gets home. It'll probably be a much more enjoyable trip for me anyway without all of them tagging along, unless they want to, of course.
If I want their respect and consideration for me, I need to model the same for them. Yesterday I got a *super fantastic* deal on some used Gameboy's and games. The games that came along in the package were for older kids but my kids were anxious to get games they could play (who could blame them? If I had a new scrapbooking tool, I'd want to use it right away!). So, although I had 3 stops to make today before making it to our date with friends, I added a stop to the game store too. I don't want my actions to tell them that my wants and needs are more important than theirs simply because they are kids. Yes, I am in authority over them and sometimes I have to make calls they don't like. But we're a family unit. It's not us vs. the kids. Everyone gets a voice (who is old enough to give one), we vote on activities that conflict, etc. If they were roommates who shared our car, wouldn't we give them that courtesy? I try to ask more than tell. I like to give them the opportunity to choose. There are many times I tell rather than ask...I tell them to brush their teeth, I tell them to eat their veggies if they want dessert. But I let them choose when to brush and which veggie they prefer and if they want something to dip it in. I don't want to stifle my kids with control as my parents generation did. I also don't want to leave them as free as their parents generation did (which led to sex, drugs and Woodstock...lol). Hubby and I strive for a somewhere in between the two.
But now I'm on the other side where I find myself asking, "why is it ok for me to interrupt their playtime to make them cleanup just because I decide it's time?" I wouldn't want them to come in while I'm scrapbooking and say, "OK, time to clean up - I want to go to Walmart," and me be forced into it. Yeah, I'm the mom. OK. Sometimes I *have to* (there are those words again) - like tomorrow morning, I have to take one kid to the dr. They all *have to* go - they're simply too young to stay home by themselves. But on the way home from playing with friends today, I wanted to make a quick stop by Michaels. They were hot and thirsty from playing and didn't want to stop. I quickly calculated that I could change my plans and just go tonight after Hubby gets home. It'll probably be a much more enjoyable trip for me anyway without all of them tagging along, unless they want to, of course.
If I want their respect and consideration for me, I need to model the same for them. Yesterday I got a *super fantastic* deal on some used Gameboy's and games. The games that came along in the package were for older kids but my kids were anxious to get games they could play (who could blame them? If I had a new scrapbooking tool, I'd want to use it right away!). So, although I had 3 stops to make today before making it to our date with friends, I added a stop to the game store too. I don't want my actions to tell them that my wants and needs are more important than theirs simply because they are kids. Yes, I am in authority over them and sometimes I have to make calls they don't like. But we're a family unit. It's not us vs. the kids. Everyone gets a voice (who is old enough to give one), we vote on activities that conflict, etc. If they were roommates who shared our car, wouldn't we give them that courtesy? I try to ask more than tell. I like to give them the opportunity to choose. There are many times I tell rather than ask...I tell them to brush their teeth, I tell them to eat their veggies if they want dessert. But I let them choose when to brush and which veggie they prefer and if they want something to dip it in. I don't want to stifle my kids with control as my parents generation did. I also don't want to leave them as free as their parents generation did (which led to sex, drugs and Woodstock...lol). Hubby and I strive for a somewhere in between the two.
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