I am so guilty of this! I mean, I make them go to bed at a certain time and keep a routine, and I limit their “screen time”, and I make them finish a reasonable amount of dinner before they have dessert, etc.
But I love to make and get them stuff. When we go into a store, I love the toys as much as they do. So tonight we were killing a little time while our carry-out order was prepared in a downtown restaurant, andwe saw a window display with all these adorable gnome and forest fairy toys. And we went inside the store. Cute, cute, cute!
But … I told the kids they couldn’t have any new toys until either Christmas or the third day in a row they had kept their room clean by themselves, whichever happens first.
So, they couldn’t have any new toys.
But … oh, look here! Such […]
Original post by learningumbrella
HP has had another growth spurt, and I just don’t have time to sew her a bunch of clothes right now. I have two new cute patterns, and a huge stash of fabric, but no time to do more than maybe 1 shirt in the next couple weeks.
As much as I’d love to order some Hanna Andersen stuff, like this dress, I can’t afford those prices for a complete wardrobe. And our local thrift shops looked pretty tapped out on stuff in her size. So we found ourselves at Target, sifting through sale racks. And she’s just too big for the baby section now, since I want to buy stuff with a little room to grow. That pushed us over into the Girls section, and we found ourselves fussing about the appropriateness of the clothing.
It reminded me of how I felt when Carbon made that shift from toddler to Boy […]
Original post by learningumbrella
It takes a village to raise a child. Well, that’s a cliche, but it’s good when you realize how many people are out there who can help you as a parent. Right now, I need to express my gratitude.
To my nanny, and her partner, and her roommate - the kids love them all, they all love the kids, and she is so giving and helpful. When I was sick last week, she took the kids away all day and then drove them back to me in the evening, so I could just rest all day. I’m so lucky to have found her.
Also, to my sister-in-law, who is great with the kids, and seems to honestly like to play with them. She came over on Monday to watch them in the evening when my DH forgot he had to be home in time for me to make it to a work […]
Original post by learningumbrella
Driving around with Carbon in the back seat is an exercise in concentration for me. He likes to talk, and his conversations take crazy turns that keep me on my feet. And some of the ideas he wants to talk about are hard to explain! A sample:
Carbon: “If there are vampire bats, are there vampire spiders?”
Me: “No, there is just a bat that sucks on blood, so they named it after a vampire. There aren’t any real vampires - they are just a myth.”
Carbon: “Oh. Are Minotaurs a myth also?”
Me: “Yes. The Minotaur was in the greek myth about the maze, remember?”
Carbon: “But if someone said a word, and the word went into a black hole, could people never say that word again?”
Me: (Shifting gears, where did that come from?) “Well, the sound of that word - the waves that made that sound - would get stuck inside the black […]
Original post by learningumbrella
Off to my cousin’s wedding in Iowa. Will everyone survive without me? I’ve been sick the last three days, so my preparations have been pretty rough. Not at all how I wanted to leave things. At work, I did the prep, and I sent my substitute a detailed list of what she needs to do on Sunday. I submitted things early that will come up to deadline while I’m gone. At home, I have my SIL sleeping on my couch right now. She’s first shift at home, then the nanny comes in, then SIL comes back from work, then DH gets back tonight. DH is going to work late tomorrow, the nanny comes in, SIL comes over after work. DH is on his own for the weekend. I didn’t get a chance to leave food in the frige for everyone, but I did do all the laundry. DH thinks they […]
Original post by learningumbrella
Section 4 of Just Kiss Me and Tell Me You did the Laundry: How to Negotiate Equal Roles for Husband and Wife in Parenting, Career, and Home Life is “Raising the Children”.
The author makes a great point here, that parenting is about more than just showing up and changing a few diapers. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work for parenting, such as buying the diapers, knowing the brand that works best for your child, keeping track of supplies, taking out the trash when it starts to smell, knowing about diaper-rash, and taking the kid to the doctor if it gets really bad. It’s not just being there and doing what needs doing in that exact moment.
DH and I have a huge inequality here, because he is perfectly comfortable with the idea that I am “the expert”. We try to have discussions (or I guess I try to have the […]
Original post by learningumbrella
Section 4 of Just Kiss Me and Tell Me You did the Laundry: How to Negotiate Equal Roles for Husband and Wife in Parenting, Career, and Home Life is “Raising the Children”.
The author makes a great point here, that parenting is about more than just showing up and changing a few diapers. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work for parenting, such as buying the diapers, knowing the brand that works best for your child, keeping track of supplies, taking out the trash when it starts to smell, knowing about diaper-rash, and taking the kid to the doctor if it gets really bad. It’s not just being there and doing what needs doing in that exact moment.
DH and I have a huge inequality here, because he is perfectly comfortable with the idea that I am “the expert”. We try to have discussions (or I guess I try to have the […]
Original post by learningumbrella
During yoga today, I felt such clarity in so many things in my life.
It felt so good to be there doing yoga, first of all. I had not been able to go for a week so that was a long time to go without the purification.
I realized that connecting with my aunt on the phone last night was very therapeutic. She seemed very happy to hear from me. I thanked her for sending a birthday card to my son, who is her godchild, and she made it sound like, “Of course, that is something I should do.” My words, not hers. I realized that even though I still want to make a connection and have my dc connect with some older adults, senior citizens, I will still need to fill other voids. My aunt could help fill the void of having someone from my own family (my dad’s side) to connect with. Maybe I will need to find someone to connect […]
Original post by themindfulhomeschool
“Love is the greatest commandment on which all other commandments are based; We are here to bring a particular gift of talent into the world, without which the world would be a poorer place; Time is a gift that is only given to us moment by moment; The gifts of grace, faith, talent, life, nature and breath are free; All gifts are given to be given away.” - Esther Armstrong
It was my 4 yo’s birthday about a week ago. Both of my sons were born in October and it makes for a busy time. We took him to the zoo which was fun for the whole family. We saw a Russian Grizzly Coast exhibit and even saw a grizzly bear up close swimming in the water. We saw very playful sea otters doing somersaults and various back floats up close. I could have sat there for a long time watching them play […]
Original post by themindfulhomeschool
Today was my 8 yo’s birthday. We started the day with coffee cake and ended the day with chocolate birthday cake! We went shopping, ate yummy food, told stories about what W was like when he was little, and swam and “hot-tubbed” at our local health club. He and his big sister played with his K’nex toys and made some impressive structures, most notably, a big Ferris wheel. They are planning to do more of the same with the K’nex tomorrow.
W, my precious 8 yo, expressed how much he was enjoying his day and what I have done for him. What a grateful kid! It’s funny because he didn’t receive any lavish presents or lots of birthday wishes from relatives. As a matter of fact, he received one birthday card in the mail - from his dear aunt. But he didn’t seem to notice what he might be lacking. I, on […]
Original post by themindfulhomeschool
Fall always brings a spate of sickness, although it’s nothing compared to what we always go through in January and February. So here we are, all sick at the same time. Hypatia is wrapped up in blankets, watching TV. Carbon is in his room, listening to a reggae CD and reading a lego catalog - he’s been doing this for hours. So, it’s not too hard to take care of them like this. Actually, I think it’s easier when we are all sick, and just want to wrap ourselves up in blankets and rest. It’s a lot harder when I’m horribly sick and they want to go play.
Original post by learningumbrella
I am always amazed …
… that doing just 10 minutes of yoga stretches and mindful breathing can make me feel so much better.
… how much my 7 yo son loves animals. (On Friday we saw chickens at a farm we were visiting. W just adored them. I guess I am going to have to work on getting him a pet of his own.)
… how much I love to walk on clean floors and how it can truly brighten my day, sometimes my week.
… how a good book can change your life, or at least your perspective on your life.
… how passionately I feel about politics, the issues, and the politicians themselves.
… that I don’t always do all the things I am supposed to do to stay healthy, like eating broccoli (!) and exercising regularly and meditating, etc., when I know how good they are for one’s health and well-being.
… how much time I can spend on the computer these […]
Original post by themindfulhomeschool
We let our Disney annual passes expire over a year and a half ago. My daughter and I have been going through withdrawl, and my husband is tired of being tolerant while we whine, “We want Disney!” So, I set a health goal for myself and, if met, we are getting those passes back and spending 2 glorious weeks immersed in the magic of The World.
2 glorious weeks, you ask? Oh yes. I love Disney for many reasons. But one of the biggest is because of how they handle my daughter. Yes, they are a huge mega-corporation. Yes, they own most of Orlando. Yes, they border on a dictatorship. But they care.
Is that possible? I didn’t think so until I experienced it myself.
Someone (a better writer than myself) recently wrote a piece that could have flowed from my own pen. (Except that I use a keyboard and much less […]
Original post by Carolyn ~ The Learning Nook
I went out for a Mom’s Night Out last night (my first ever - what a great concept!), and left DH with the kids. I usually have time to fix them dinner, but this time I did not, so he would have to feed them himself.
Apparently, both kids told him they were not hungry, so he didn’t cook dinner. Then, right before bedtime, suddenly Carbon is starving. I think this is totally predictable - that’s why I make people eat dinner when I put it on the table whether or not they feel hungry. But DH just said “No” to food and let Carbon cry and have a “fit” and sent him to bed. So this morning the first thing Carbon told me was that “Daddy didn’t feed me at all and I was soooo hungry without you Mommy!”
But then he still hasn’t eaten all of his oatmeal I made […]
Original post by learningumbrella
Well, it was round 2 with the neighbors. The day was so taxing; it might be hard to recall all of it. I went to talk to the neighbor about the situation we found out about last week. As you may recall from an earlier post, the neighbor boy had been behaving badly with my 3 yo. So I went over there after a few days (or more!) of simmering. I knew that I would not feel right until I told her the complete version of what happened and what I had found out.
It went surprisingly well. Her 10 yo daughter (when questioned by me) tearfully agreed that the “secret meetings” between the 8 yo and my son happened more than once, that her brother was the one who initiated it, and that she saw more than she was telling her mom. This is not what Nikki had told her mother before. I […]
Original post by themindfulhomeschool
As requested by Jove, here is a brief recap of our recent changes.
I have been running a home daycare for over two years, staying home with my own little kids in this way. I recently got a new job, as the Director of Religious Education at my Unitarian Universalist church. This meant that I closed my daycare down, and got a nanny for my kids for three days a week.
So today was the first day Hypatia went over to the nanny’s house. I got her a First Nanny Day present, that we took over there so she would have something to open after I left. Actually, packing for the day seemed like we were taking everything but the kitchen sink: a diaper bag, backpack of toys and art supplies she wanted, lunch bag of snacks, sleeping bag, the present, and a bag of allergy foods. But most of that just stayed […]
Original post by learningumbrella
How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids edited by Sarah Franklin
I don’t remember who’s blog I saw this on, but it was someone who had a story included in the book. There are many women’s tales in this volume, ranging from exotic travel to the standard to road trip to emergency evacuations with children. Some are funny, at least one I wanted to yell at the mother in frustration, and most are interesting and well-written. I could relate to some aspect of all of them, and they reminded me that traveling with kids may be an adventure, but it is not a vacation. Any mother who thinks she’ll actually rest on a trip is crazy, and folks who think kids won’t “slow them down” are in for some very big surprises.
So I’m thankful that I have no big summer vacation plans for […]
Original post by learningumbrella
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way I parent. I’m a big fan of Faber and Mazlish mainly because, when I read this book for the first time, I was struck by how much of it I was already doing instinctively, yet there was still a lot to learn about parenting in a positive way. I think I occasionaly approach TCS (Taking Children Seriously) but it’s mostly a combination of relaxed parenting and my own particular spin of respect and compassion. With a dollop of Cesar Millan too:-) It works for dogs, but it also seems to work for children, especially when I remember to do the exercise part. I can’t manage the four-hour hikes that Cesar does every morning, but we get fresh air and pack migration as often as possible. I digress.
What I was mostly thinking is that doing it this way demands a lot of […]
Original post by attamum
No, not THAT Tiger Woods, our hermit crab Tiger Woods.
I was giving Simon crap about not giving his hermit crabs water and food the other night. He finally got off his butt and did, but he came to me and said, “Mom, Tiger’s not moving.” Sometimes Tiger is shy, so I was hoping he was just not in the mood to move. I went to his cage and picked him up and as I was lifting his shell out of the cage, he flopped out of it into his newly filled water dish. Dead.
Poor Simon. His face just went white. And Oh.My.God. what a smell! Aaaaack.
So I did what any good mom would do, I called my husband down to take care of it. LOL!
We had Tiger for almost a year. We got him after Albert, who is still alive. Simon came to me last night and said he couldn’t […]
Original post by Not June Cleaver
Whilst watching a tv programme on unassisted birth, (Extraordinary People: Outlaw births) I started to think about the parallels between unassisted birth and unschooling. I know I was supposed to be thinking ‘Oh look at those strange people, putting themselves and their babies at risk by turning their back on the medical profession’ but being fairly literate media-wise, and having taken part in a similar documentary (’Honey I suckle the kids’. That title sucks. Literally) I ignored the obvious bias and just watched the mothers talking and followed their stories.
Like unschoolers, or autonomous home educators, these mothers were following their own instincts, trusting their bodies and their babies and arming themselves with enough knowledge to cope with most eventualities. The process would probably scare the pants off most people (in the case of unassisted birth and unschooling) but the results spoke for themselves. You only had to look at the faces of the […]
Original post by attamum
My nine year old, Alvin, is sitting on our bed watching some program on Discovery or some other normal cable station. I’m in the bathroom getting ready for bed.
Alvin: Mom, what’s herbies?
Mom: Huh?
Alvin: There’s a doctor on TV talking about herbies.
Mom: It’s a virus. There are all sorts of drugs advertised on TV.
Up next, erectile dysfunction. (pun intended)
Oooh I can’t wait to see what sort of search hits I’ll get now.
Original post by Not June Cleaver
I needed this post today.
Original post by razorbackmama
Although I would describe ourselves as an autonomous family, especially where the children’s learning is concerned, one area where I’m unashamedly NOT autonomous is sleep, or rather bedtimes. This is because, if the kids were allowed to let their bodies tell them when to go to bed, we’d have 3 different bedtimes and 3 different waking times which would effectively mean that I’d be on call most of the evening and starting the day pretty early due to their differing body clocks.I definitely need some ‘me’ time. I suppose to be strictly accurate I need some ‘no kids’ time in order to wind down properly and recharge my own batteries. However we have been really struggling with how to get them to go to sleep at night. The usual bedtime for the older two, aged 9 and 6, is 8.30 with lights out at 9. This doesn’t mean that they go to […]
Original post by attamum
What would I be doing if I never had kids?
This is my entry for the Thinking Homeschoolers Essay. Since I’m usually too busy to think, I haven’t participated yet, but today is different.
This subject came up on the day my oldest child turned 11.
My parenting journey has been a difficult one, but I cannot imagine life without my children.
Parenting was not something I always imagined doing. In fact, one of my sisters and I had a little “no kids” pact. We had a bond between us. She held on to her no kids ideal. I did not. And I can’t even say why I changed my mind. I was 33 when I had my first child. I wasn’t driven to have children, but I was also afraid NOT to have them. I guess I felt like the regret of not having […]
Original post by Not June Cleaver
So, after the scary skies, we had the most beautiful sunset! This picture taken perhaps 1 hour after the scary sky picture!
And then all good things must come to an end, and we returned home. The ride was mostly uneventful, which is amazing for a 5 hour drive with three small boys. I never thought I’d EVER say this, but thank God for Nintendo DS. And if we could figure out a way to put invisible shields between the kids, we could trade our 20 mpg (highway, but only 14 city) car for something more fuel efficient. The kids think that everything has been invented that can be invented (didn’t someone famous say that about 150 years ago?), but I think there is still money to be made here.
But all is well when you can leave home for a week and come home to […]
Original post by Not June Cleaver
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