HappyMama

 There’s an annual country music concert in our area.  Hubby took me - without the kiddos this year.  (I’m a once-a-year cowgirl, but the baby just wanted to chew on the hat.)  We were gone for 6 hours, babysitting compliments of my parents.  It was the longest I’ve been away from my little one, and you other nursing moms out there understand what I mean when I say I enjoyed myself but was ready to come back home!  Nature’s heart string.

When I was a kid I clearly remember being in the back seat of our brown station wagon and, along with my 3 siblings, moaning and complaining about mom’s choice of “country” music on the radio.  Then as a teenager I discovered Garth Brooks and a few other really great country stars, and I converted.  (Sorry for all my complaining, mom!)  I’m a country fan for 2 reasons:  you can dance to the music, and you can find a lot of great lyrics in there.  (Admittedly, some bad grammar, too, but I’m trying to get over that.)

Lyric example:  I’ve Been Watching You

The Dangerous Book for Boys

by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden

Some day I’ll definitely have to get this book, if for no other reason than it’s just SO not PC!   Click here to read about it on Amazon.  Sorry if this is old news to anyone, I just heard about it recently.

Mom bought me a miniature “bible garden” terrarium that I became enchanted with at HobbyLobby today.  You can see the product on-line here.  The 5 plants that will hopefully grow are aloe, mustard, hyssop, date palm, & an annual called Joseph’s Coat. 

Have I posted before on my love of Mary gardens & Bible gardens?  We’ve been wanting to buy some land in the country near hubby’s home-town, and if that ever happens, I’d really love to plant some fruit trees, grape vines, & wildflowers, and then set aside an area for a Bible garden.  It would be a park-like area (no honey, not too big,) with tall trees for shade, a bench, a fountain perhaps, and as many plants from the Bible as I can acquire and get to grow in that challenging climate.  The plants would be marked and I would have scripture references available for each one.  It would take years and years to mature, which is fine.  Thanks, mom for letting me enjoy my little pot for now!

  Our neighbor saw a turtle today at the end of our driveway & pointed it out to me.  The boys were thrilled.  We made a cage for him out of chicken wire in the back yard.  I asked my son what name he thought would be good for a turtle, and he responded, “reptile!”  Good classification.  “How about Rep?” I asked.  “That’d be good.”  Okay, now I need to go research how to take care of a turtle.

All our work this evening was worth it when we started catching grasshoppers in our bug-catcher.  Twice, my 2-year-old dropped a big grasshopper right in front of the turtles head and we all watched it get gobbled up.  We were enthalled!  My BS in biology may be worthless, but I do still have the enthusiasm of a toddler when it comes to watching nature…

A young child’s mind absorbs so much information. We can help them by showing them ways to classify what they’re learning. I’ve wanted to do some classification materials for a while, but didn’t want to pay for them, or print out a bunch of color prints. Finally yesterday I stumbled upon an excellent sticker book at Target and was able to put together something my 4-year-old enjoyed very much today. I’ll try to show a couple pictures.

We began by talking about the difference between the “natural world” - everything that God has made - versus man-made things, and then looked at how we classify the natural world. In the end, he sorted dozens of flashcards showing vertebrate animals into the categories mammal, fish, bird, amphibian, & reptile. Afterwards he said, “mom, also make me some cards of the invertebrate animals. Okay?”

You betchya.

This pdf file was helpful.

Our 2-year-old has resumed tantrum throwing.  I thought we were getting past this stage, until Wednesday, which turned out to be basically one long tantrum for him.  By “tantrum” I refer to all the types of behaviour that would thoroughly embarrass you if you had company over:  yelling, crying, thrashing about, throwing things, hitting & kicking - for an hour - all because he wanted a blue cup, but I didn’t know that and gave him a green one. 

By the time hubby came home from work, I was in one of those frantic states of “what the heck am I doing wrong here?” and “is this kid normal?”  What is making him go so berserk one minute, only to snap out of it and be perfectly sweet the next?  Is this the result of a food allergy?  Artificial food coloring & flavoring?  Pesticides or immunizations? Did kids ever act like this in previous generations or in other cultures?  What am I doing wrong?!

So I did what I always do under such circumstances, and I headed to the bookstore to ask the “experts”.  I long ago realized that for every bit of parenting advice out there, you can find another expert who will offer the exact opposite advice, so I wasn’t looking for suggestions on what I should be doing.  I just wanted to know if my kid was “normal”. 

I think I found some helpful information in the back of a book called “Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline”by Becky Bailey.  I haven’t read enough of the book to know if I should recommend the whole thing or not, but so far it’s been helpful.  There’s a chapter that describes the irritating things that kids do at each particular age, and as I’m reading through them, my mind is going, “check.  check.  check.”  (She also explains why they do what they do.)  Okay, my kids are normal, at least by today’s standards.  Here’s a sampling:

Infancy:  “between 8-10 months of age infants begin to intensely explore their parent’s faces.  In the process they may pull hair, pinch, stick their fingers in your nose, and grab your earrings or beard…”

Toddlers:  “Toddlers are a force to be reckoned with…  In short, toddlers fiddle with everything, often grow frustrated, and throw temper tantrums.”

Preschoolers (age 3-5):  “They may begin to swear and use elimination swear words.”  What was that?  “‘Doo-doo head’, ‘poo-poo brain’ etc.”  That’s normal?  What a relief.  My kid says things like that.  When he’s really wound up, he’ll say “pee on you!”  (complete with body language.)  And then the 2-year-old repeats it back to him, and then they both laugh hysterically.  It’s moments like that when I feel the enormity of the task I have of forming their character, and also when I really long for a daughter.

After 50 days of celebrating the Easter season, the Church has returned to Ordinary Time. And, as the saying goes, there’s nothin’ ordinary about Ordinary time! In our classroom, it is time to put away the white tablecloth on the prayer table. I explained to my 4-year-old that Ordinary time is a time for growth in our faith. “What color is a good color for things that are growing?” I asked him, and he responded with the “correct” answer - green! Our tablecloth will be green until Advent. (Unless I find the time to celebrate a few martyrs with some red along the way!)

I will put away our baptism materials until next Easter, excepting the Paschal candle. Our little doll has been baptized aplenty for now! (Yes, we do have one doll in our house!) Baptism teaches us about the basics of life. It’s 2 major symbols are light and water - exactly what is needed for little plants to grow. “I am the vine, you are the branches.” May this “ordinary” time be one of growing in your faith, illumined by the Son and quenched by the water of His love.

BIRTH ORDER OF  CHILDREN - a forward we received recently from Mark&Carrie

1st baby: You begin wearing  maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your  pregnancy.

2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long  as possible.

3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

_____________________________________________________
>Preparing for the  Birth:
>
>1st baby: You practice your breathing  religiously.
>2nd baby: You don’t bother because you remember that  last time, breathing didn’t do a thing
>3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in  your eighth month
>______________________________________________________

>The  Layette:
>
>1st baby: You pre-wash newborn’s clothes,  color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby’s little bureau.
>2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains
>3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can’t  they?

Worries:
>1st baby: At the first sign of distress–a whimper, a  frown–you pick up the baby.
>2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails  threaten to wake your firstborn.
>3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind  the mechanical swing
>______________________________________________________

>Pacifier:
>
>1st baby: If the pacifier falls on  the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil  it.
>2nd  baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby’s bottle.
>3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it  back in.
_______________________________________________________

Diapering:

>1st baby: You change your baby’s  diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.>
>2nd baby: You change their diaper  every two to three hours, if needed.
>3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their  knees.
>______________________________________________________

Activities:
>
>1st baby: You take your infant to  Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
>2nd baby: You take your infant to  Baby Gymnastics.>
>3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and  the dry cleaner.
>______________________________________________________

Going  Out:
>
>1st  baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five  times.>
>2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.
>3rd baby: You leave instructions for  the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

________________________________________________________

At Home:
>
>1st baby: You spend a good bit of  every day just gazing at the baby.>
>2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be  sure your older child isn’t squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.>
>3rd  baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the  children.
>______________________________________________________

Swallowing  Coins (a kid’s favorite):
>
>1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush  the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.
>2nd child: When second child  swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.>
>3rd  child: When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance.