CHRISTEPHI

It's important to teach our kids about fire safety in a way that empowers them and doesn't immobilize them.  To that end, I decided we'd have a mini fire-safety unit during our two week break.   At the beginning of the week I warned the kids that we were going to have a fire drill sometime that week and not to be too worried when I started shouting that the house was on fire and we needed to get out. I planned to catch them at a time when they were both in their bedroom playing together.  Then I'd go in, shut the door, and tell them there was a fire in the kitchen and we needed to get out, but we couldn't go through the hallway.  We talked about how to touch the door to see if it was safe and how to block the bottom with rags to keep out the smoke.  Then I showed them how to egress from their bedroom window.  The kids loved that! We talked about what to do if there wasn't an adult to help (throw pillows and blankets on the ground and jump...

As much as we love our parents, neither Hubby nor I grew up with particularly stellar financial management examples set before us.  Now o ur kids are still very young, but we have decided we want to teach them the proper way to view and manage money.  It's really important once we have identified a weak area in our own upbringing to seek out tools that will allow us to do better. This is why programs like the  Money Management Certification Program by FamilyMint were created. The Lowdown on FamilyMint FamilyMint was developed by two Michigan dads who saw the need for money management training in their own families, among their own children.  They worked together to create a program that would help instill financial habits in children that would last a lifetime.  They knew the program had to be something that would work long-term, because it takes time to develop information into behavior and behavior into habit.  They wanted something...

As every mother knows, that first year of their kid's life goes so FAST!  So many changes and stages all within such a short period of time.  Little Guy learned to crawl this week. And on the same day, he stood alone (without holding onto anything) for more than just a few seconds.  I've been taking time every day to just play with him, snuggle him, enjoy him as he is because before long he won't be a baby anymore! Miss M is already growing into a tall preschooler. She isn't a toddler anymore. And Oh! The ideas she comes up with! "Daddy, will you type me at work?  I'll type you back, okay?"  By this she means, she'll wake up before Mama does, launch the word processing program on the family computer (conveniently left on by daddy when he went to work), type "d-a-d-d-y" and press enter.  Yes, this actually happened. "Mama, you know, tadpoles turn into frogs and are baby frogs."  How does she come by this knowledge anyway...

Miss M (age 3 1/2) has discovered the anatomical difference between boys and girls.  She told me very seriously this morning, "Mama, I know why boys and girls are different.  Girls have eyelashes and boys don't." P.S. The wedding is over!  It was beautiful!  I have a big post coming with pictures of all the wedding sewing that has consumed my life the past few months.

This makes me want to cry. Children having children.  Cruelty to Innocents.  In our own backyard.  I was mere miles from there when it was happening. A nearly-two-year-old is a remarkably intelligent creature despite his inability to communicate fully. Kids take in a lot more than most people give them credit for.  It breaks my heart that people treat their kids with such merciless distain.  Why is it fun to throw someone off balance, take away their boundaries, make them feel small, cause them distress?  Even in non-criminal ways. Today I hold my own wee ones a little closer and speak to them a little more gently.

My educational history is...interesting.  I am a kindergarten drop-out.  (We moved across the country mid-year).  I went to public school for 5th grade and half of 3rd grade.  I was homeschooled the rest...including two years of 6th grade since we kind of didn't do anything one year.  I went to private school 7th-12th and to college for 5 years, but still don't have a degree*.  The one year of homeschooling when we ended up not doing much was largely due to my mom trying out a new curriculum...or lack of curriculum.  It was the put-it-together-yourself type.  The rest of my homeschooled years were done with Calvert  which I loved! (Though I do remember hating Composition and crying over Arithmetic!)  I always got in trouble for reading ahead in my history and storybooks...I didn't mean to. I just forgot to stop at the ends of chapters, ya know? I've got a 3 year old and a 3 month old.  I have trouble keeping up wit...

I gave Miss M my old point-and-shoot camera.  She entertained herself for more than an hour taking pictures around the house.  It was interesting to look at the pictures and see our home through her eyes (and at her eye level!)   (a messy bookshelf, me at the computer, me doing dishes, and a door) She also drew a family portrait on her Doodle Pad.  It's a good thing I asked her to tell me who everyone was, 'cause what I assumed was the four of us and our pet bird she succinctly told me were actually "Daddy, Mama, me, and two toys for me." We got another  6 inches of snow today, so no more going out of doors for a while.*  Maybe I'll get some actual sewing done this week!  With the end of February fast approaching, I need to get started on the dresses for my sister's wedding ! *Hubby and Miss M went sledding in the backyard after the three of us went for a winter-wonderland-walk-in-the-woods.  We opted not to take th...

Today it was finally warm enough to take both kids out to play.  Miss M has been fighting a bit of a cold, so I bundled her up a lot more than was strictly necessary.  She had a blast playing in the mud.  See her expression...both fascinated and repulsed by the sticky, icky mud.  "It looks like poop , Mama!" At least the rain boots I bought her are being put to good use! At one point she was jumping up and down in her boots...they were stuck to the ground and didn't make the jump with her. Ha! It's supposed to snow again tomorrow...and the next day...and the day after that.  *sigh*

Miss M loves letters and words!  She's constantly reading letters wherever she finds them.  She really wants to write letters too, but she doesn't quite have the hand coordination or muscle strength to do it well yet.  Mind you, she's only 3 years old.  I wouldn't even be thinking about it, except that she herself is so eager.  (Is that what they mean by child-directed learning?)  Anyway, I picked up My First Book of Tracing at the bookstore tonight.  The simple exercises are meant to help her learn to manipulate a pencil effectively.  It has 40 double-sided worksheets...Miss M has already zipped through 10 of them!  She didn't have any trouble at all with the straight lines, but the curvy ones are giving her a bit more of a challenge.  Once I suggested she slow down and take it easy, she was able to stay on the "path" successfully...and with great pleasure at her accomplishment! Seven dollars for a workbook.  Forty lesso...

So if I don't get much crafting done, don't be upset with me.  How can I help but spend half my day gazing into these gorgeous eyes?!  I get lost in them.  Little Guy will be 3 months old on Friday.  He has completely bewitched me.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say he owns me. I love both my children, but it amazes me how different the love is for each of them.  They are unique persons and my love for them, while equal in measure, is as different in nature as they are.  I enjoy this difference immensely and I find great joy in my children.  Some days I don't get much done, but that's okay because I'm enjoying the journey.  There will be time for "doing" later when they're older and more independent.  In the mean time, I'm loving the "being."

Have you seen a bilibo yet?  It's an open-ended toy developed in Switzerland.  Miss M's arrived today and it was an instant hit!  I let her help me open the package.  When he pulled out the bilibo, she said, "What is it, Mama?"  "It's a bilibo.  Why don't you sit in it?"  That's all it took for her to get started.  She quickly figured out several uses for her new toy. "Rocking-dumper" Turtle shell Helmet She also used it as a basin to swirl around a ping pong ball (a lot noisier than you'd think!), a slide, a potty ("only pretend!"), and a boat.  It's about the best $25 I've spent in a long, long time! Little E isn't quite big enough for such active play, but he was content to stare at his little friend with eyes full of deep and expressive things to say, occasionally bursting out with "ah-goo" to emphasize the silent understanding passing between the two of them. And that...

Take one balikbayan box add a pair of scissors and five minutes of time and you'll have a very happy preschooler (and a few minutes free to work on other projects). Throughout the course of the day it was a train tunnel, an examining table, a dog house, a bed, a store, a car, a tent, and probably a few other things I either forgot about or didn't know about. I may have to pick up some poster paints next time I'm at Walmart for another day of amazing 3-year-old imagination.

Today I made up a behavior chart of sorts for Miss M.  It's not so much the specific line items I'm concerned about as it is a wish for her to learn to think about and modify her own behavior.  (Though I cannot wait for her to sleep in her own bed!)  I know she's only three, but she's very intelligent.  Oftentimes I can see it on her face as she mentally weighs her options -- to do what is right or to misbehave and do what she wants instead.  Sadly, she usually chooses to do what she wants.  I'm hoping the stickers will be incentive enough for her to become aware of her choices.  That and the accountability it affords should help relieve me of having to constantly be on her case all the time. Oh, and I promised her that when she gets two charts completely filled (that is, two weeks), we'll go to the zoo, or World's of Fun, or the children's museum, or something. Tonight at the dinner table, Miss M asked me if Jesus is in her heart.  For some reason, I it...

When Miss M was born, we lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment.  The on-site laundry facilities consisted of a single coin-operated washer and two dryers.  Whenever I did laundry, I always washed the adult clothes first so the final load of baby stuff would have as little "contamination" as possible -- particularly the residue of other people's laundry detergents and fabric softeners.  Miss M had such bad eczema that her tiny baby cheeks would bleed on her crib sheets at night.  Prescription ointments didn't work.  I wonder now if cloth diapering would have helped with her sensitive skin, but it really wouldn't have been feasible for us what with the time involved and the expense of coin-operated laundering.  We finally discovered Aquaphor by Eucerin ; it helped keep the worst of the eczema at bay until she outgrew her hypersensitivity. This time around, however, I have my own washer and dryer (hallelujah!) and have decided to cloth diaper the n...

I was recently given a few old books by a neighbor who is moving.  Lovely copies of Treasure Island , Rebecca , and an old book on etiquette called Social Etiquette, or Manners and Customs of Polite Society  published about 1900. (I discovered that you can read the full text online for free since it falls outside modern copyright laws). There is much in the book that is no longer applicable in today's society such as how and when to leave calling cards and when men should lift their hats in greeting.  However, the core premise of the book, the very essence of etiquette, is something that will be appropriate for all peoples, at all times, in all places. Truly good manners, truly good breeding come from cultivating goodness from within. If we try to "put on" good manners when we go out or for special occasions "they will fit but illy, as borrowed plumes are wont to do" (p. 20). And all this is based on one thing: the Golden Rule from Scripture which says, ...

I don't know how people with kids eat vegan. I really don't. We're not vegan or vegetarian or anything, but I am having such a hard time getting Miss M to eat healthy. She won't touch vegetables or fruit. She eats bread (especially crackers and pasta) well. She loves cheese. She does moderately well with chicken and beef.  And she takes a daily multiple vitamin. But she has a serious sweet tooth (thanks to her father!) and is constantly asking for sweets instead of eating her real food. Asking for sweets, not getting sweets, mind you. Here's how the morning went.  She had a bite of my "midnight snack" last night -- a bowl of oatmeal -- and liked it. So she asks for some this morning. She stirs it, nibbles a bit, and asks for juice. Okay, so I give her apple juice. She's allowed to have 2 half-glasses a day (any more than that and she gets the runs).  Next thing you know she's asking for chocolate (as if I ever give her chocolate for breakfast)!  T...