Thoughtful Thursday – Questions!

My oldest is deep in the why stage.  If you’ve never experienced this, or if it’s been a while, I thought I’d give you a little insight into what life is like in this stage.  Here is a conversation we had in the car:

J:  Why does William live so far away?

me:  He lives in a different state than we live in.  He lives in New Hampshire and we live in Massachusetts.

J:  But he didn’t live far away before and now he does.

me:  That’s right.  He used to live in the same town as us, but he moved away.

J:  I know our town (tells me his name and address).  You live there and Dad and Matthew too.  But I can’t remember how to call on the phone.  What is it?  (he’s been working on memorizing his phone number – we repeat it a few times)  Like when George calls the fire department.  He presses the numbers on the phone.

me:  Yes, but not the same numbers.  The numbers we said only call our house.  George dialed the emergency number.

J:  what is it?

me:  911.  You only call that number if its an emergency though.  You can get in big trouble if you call it for fun.  Just like George.

J:  Why?

me:  The number is only for people that need help.  If they said the emergency workers for someone just having fun then someone that really needed help might not get it.

J:  Why?

me:  They would be busy seeing if you needed help and the person that really needed help would be waiting and waiting for them?

J:  Why?

me:  The emergency workers have to check and make sure there isn’t really an emergency if you call, so they will come to you  instead of someone else.

J:  Why?

me:  That is their job

J:  They come when you call 991?

me: no 911.

J:  Why is it 911?

me:  That is the number that they picked for emergencies.

J:  why?

me:  I don’t know.  I bet Dad knows.  Let’s ask him when he gets home!!!!!

Yes, that is just a short glimpse into the never ending questions I go through every day.  My dad line at the end is a favorite when I just can’t go on.

This leads me to a blog post I just read and thought I’d share because I found it interesting!

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2012/05/21/early-education-are-we-doing-it-wrong/

Thoughtful Thursday – Thanks!

How often do I tell my boys they should thank people?

How about me?  I need to say thank you to all of my readers.  I am overwhelmed by the responses I get, both on my blog and through messages (and even in person).  This really started out as a way for me to be accountable and intentional with my kids, and I really appreciate people taking the time to read and consider my thoughts and ideas (regardless of whether you agree or not).

We’ve been doing so many things lately, and I haven’t posted nearly as much as I’d like, but I’m doing, so things are good busy, not bad busy.

If you live nearby, just drive by my house for a glimpse of our crazy fun!

Anyhow, thanks to you, my readers, for taking the time to read my ramblings!!!

Make It Monday – Inside Chalk

It’s too rainy here to go outside and use our chalk on the pavement, so we did it inside!  We just used black paper and dipped the chalk in water to “paint” with it.

 

Weekend Activity – Water Colors

Color on some coffee filters with washable marker…

Add water…either a paintbrush and a cup of water to paint on filters, or a spray bottle with water in it, like we used…let dry, and…

I’m sure you could think of much better ideas than just hanging the finished project on the wall, but that’s all we got to after a crazy couple of days!

Thoughtful Thursday – All or nothing

I know I’ve mentioned Wife Swap before.  It’s like a guilty pleasure.  I don’t like to admit that I watch it – and I definitely don’t follow the show – but I do, on occasion, like to catch an episode.

One thing that I think really turns people away from the show is that the families are it are SO EXTREME.  A mom that works 3 jobs and does all of the housework swaps lives with a mom that has nannies watching the kids and housekeepers cleaning her house, while she goes out to shop and get pampered.  A mom that believes her kids should have the freedom to make their own choices about EVERYTHING swaps with a mom that schedules every minute of her children’s lives and enforces severe disciple to the most minor offense.  Sometimes it does seem like they learn something from each other, but often they spend their time defending their choices and pointing out how the other people are wrong.

I’ve seen these extremes in teaching styles in classrooms, and in available curriculum.  It just makes me wonder why the middle of the road isn’t an option for some people.  Do you really feel like you have to choose between having children that are free thinkers and children that are well-behaved?  A huge movement in parenting right now is what I’ve heard people call the “yes” movement.  It’s like the Montessori teaching philosophy taken to the extreme and applied to home life.  Allow children to explore and do what they  want, and they will naturally learn because it follows their interests.  They will also learn natural consequences to control their behavior.

I do think that children are often more intelligent than people give them credit for, and their ability to learn their desire to explore is phenomenal.  I think this movement is particularly seen as being needed among those parents that take an extreme view of discipline as reaction to the belief that young adults now are lazy and feel entitled.  However, I don’t think using it 100% of the time is best for kids, and seems like many are taking it as all or nothing.

Anyhow, watching Wife Swap makes me want to scream, “Compromise!  Take lessons from both sides!  Use the best of both worlds!”  Also, sometimes reading other mommy blogs and parenting philosophy articles makes me want to scream the same thing.

So yes, relax and give your children freedom.  Realize that you can believe in them and trust them, but also don’t be afraid to teach them.  Teach them what is important to you and what you believe.  You are their parents!

What extremes have you experienced?

Make it Monday – Rubbings

I love being outside – but I hate yard work!  If you’ve ever been to my house, you could probably guess as much.  So, little by little, I’ve been trying to get my overgrown garden under control.  It is really tough on a busy street with two little ones.  My neighbors don’t seem to have the same problem as I do, however, as their yards are lovely, so I’m open to other good excuses if you have any!

So, the boys are coming out with me and helping me to collect weeds and debris in my yard bags.  To make it fun, they are on a special mission to find the coolest items for making rubbings.  We will continue this until they catch on that they are doing work.  After each rubbing we can talk about what didn’t come out clearly, and what we want to try to get more of to rub again.

Image courtesy of http://www.veganfamily.co.uk/

Make it Monday – Bird’s Nest

While walking in a local city last week, we spotted a bird building a nest above a sign on a building.  In fact, we noticed it because the bird was dropping quite a few twigs right where we were walking.

Watching this, but having a bit of an obstructed view led to the questions, “How do birds make nests?” and “Is it easy to make a nest?”  I wasn’t sure I could really accurately answer these questions, so I said we would find out.

We did a bit of research on how birds build nests.  It turns out different birds build nests differently.  So, I took a guess at what kind of bird we saw that day, and we looked into how that bird built its nest.

Next, we saw if we could build a nest with things we could find in our yard.  We spoke about how it would probably be more difficult to build it without hands like birds do.

Anyhow, the nest isn’t pretty, but we made it.  Just wanted to share to show that sometimes not being able to answer a question can end up being better than knowing all of the answers!

Thoughtful Thursday – Count Your Blessings

The past few weeks have been really difficult for me.  I’ve been through quite a bit, but what I keep coming back to is how truly blessed I really am.  I think I better  understand what joy is now.  I’ve heard people speak of joy in church for years, and kind of just thought it meant really long happiness.  It doesn’t.  Joy is still there in your heart when you’re feeling devastated.  You can look around, no matter what is going on, and know that you have great hope in Jesus and you have been truly blessed.

Last night my head was spinning, and I couldn’t fall asleep.  I watched a terrible episode of Wife Swap where a very materialistic woman swapped lives with a family living without electricity in a log cabin.  She was cruel to them and looked down on the way they lived.  I kept thinking about how sad for that woman that she couldn’t see that she was valuing the wrong things.  It was obvious she doesn’t have joy.

And all through my struggles the past few weeks, I feel like I’ve realized more and more how really blessed I am in so many ways.  I am.  I feel like the richest woman in the world.  So, last night, as I tossed and turned, I heard Bing Crosby in my head singing, “if you’re tired and you can’t sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep, and you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings.”

I’m behind in my posts, and also in my replies to some of your emails.  I will try to get on that when I can.  For now, here’s some pictures of what’s been going on here, and my attempts at being intentional the past few weeks.  There not full posts about them, but let me know if you have any questions about what we did (also suggestions), and I’d be happy to reply.

 

Weekend Activity – Easter Eggs

We played with plastic Easter eggs this weekend.  We’ve played with them over the past few weeks, but I finally got some pictures.

Some eggs were put in cartons for the boys to open and play with.  I wish we had the cardboard cartons too, but right now, this is all we have.  It just gave them a chance to explore, sort, and rearrange them.  I think their favorite part was spilling them out and pretending they broke.

I also filled some eggs with different items, and had Joe sort them by what he thought was inside.  We’ve done this a few times with a few different materials, and I think the sounds from the oatmeal, marble, and dried black beans are the most fun and the most distinctive.  You don’t need to tape the eggs, we didn’t every time, to allow the boys to look inside, but we did this time because they were particularly cheap eggs.

I left the actual materials that filled the eggs out so they could be explored as  well.  When he sorted, Joe placed the egg next to the material he thought was inside each time.  When we were done sorting, we all sang and used the eggs as shakers for our songs.  The favorite was:

Shake it baby, shake it

Shake it if you can.

Shake it like a milkshake,

And drink it if you can.

Rumble to the bottom,

Rumble tot he top,

Then turn around and turn around

Until you make a STOP!

Bonus – Saint Patrick’s Day

I know Saint Patrick’s Day was over a few weeks ago, but I wanted to post this, and never got to it.

Have you heard of the Shamrock Shake?  Did you have one?  As I get older things like the machines that shakes come out of gross me out more and more, so even though they looked great, I couldn’t bring myself to buy one.  So, we made our own!

Guess what?  You can have them any time of year!

I didn’t measure, but will guess about what I added.  Of course you can play with it and see what you like.

1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream

1 1/2 cup milk

5 mint leaves

5 drops food coloring

 

You could also use mint extract.  More ice cream makes it thicker.  Add milk and leaves first to dice leaves, then add other ingredients.  All four of us loved having this for dessert on St. Patrick’s Day!