Montessori Free Fall

Some Food Dye Links...

2011-02-28T16:22:00.001-08:00

Loved this article about food dyes, it's worth a read. Is it just me, or are the "foods" that are being marketed to our kids getting straight up ridiculous? Inane? Criminal? Silly question. I know it's not just me.

The author mentions a "Real Red" Valentine's Day party, which (thanks to my friend Teresa who sent me the link in January) I suggested to PBug's teacher as an option for her class Valentine's Day party. To my delight, she loved the idea! The class has been studying heart health all month, so it coincided perfectly with their curriculum. For the first time all year, PBug was able to partake in every single item offered at a class party! They had tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, raspberries, craisens, and apples to name a few. While most of the "real red" foods were out of season, you won't hear me complaining!

Do some kids a favor...

2011-02-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine has a blog where her sixth grade students write reviews of the books they've read for class. What great encouragement for the kids to read and write about it! I comment on each post because, according to her, they LOVE to get comments (who doesn't, right?). If you feel so inclined, head over there and leave some comments. Consider it a little (blogger) community service :)

Room 23 Book Reviews

Q & A

2011-01-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

I'm a follower of your blog. Jessie, from Education of Ours. My
preschooler is in public, and will be k next year, too. I wonder if you
still work with Montessori together? If there's a schedule, and how it
mingles with K. We may both be unique in this way. I consider myself
a homeschooler via Montessori, even though my children will be in public.

I thought I'd answer Jessie's question via my blog since it's been so long since I've blogged about Montessori on this, er, Montessori blog. I feel the same way Jessie does: no matter what, I think I'll always feel like a homeschooler to some extent. Particularly because I am very intentional about the ways I prefer my children to spend their time, but also because I'm their most important teacher!

Before PBug started kindergarten it was my intention work with her on Montessori activities in the afternoons. What became apparent soon after is that, after spending all morning at school, PBug undeniably needs the afternoons for unstructured play time. She's not interested in doing learning activities with me, and I made the executive decision not to force it.

Instead, her afternoon routine has morphed into something that works perfectly for her. Her afternoons usually involve:

Reading

PBug doesn't nap, but sometimes she (and, let's be honest here, I) need some down time. Since the babies nap in the afternoons, I (desperately) need her to be quiet. We spend a lot of time laying on the couch reading, mostly me reading to her from chapter books. (Sometimes I doze off:P)

Cooking & Baking

I don't think you need me to tell you about all of the teachable moments that can arise in the kitchen! We spend a lot of time there working together. This post mentions some of the skills she's mastering.

Sewing

We've been reading a lot of Little House on the Prairie and before Christmas PBug decided she wanted to sew a handkerchief for her brother for Christmas. Using a scrap cut from an old receiving blanket, a needle and thread, she sewed him a handkerchief by hand. My mother-in-law bought her this child's sewing machine for Christmas and PBug is obsessed with it. In fact, the first time she used it she had to stop sewing every few seconds to giggle uncontrollably she was so excited. (I don't necessarily recommend it myself, the Amazon reviews speak for themselves. The only thing that makes it worthwhile is the guard around the needle.) I'm currently sewing a quilt so she chose pieces to make a quilt for her dolls and we've been sewing it together on my machine.

Outside Play

Our backyard is PBug's kingdom. This past fall we cut down three 20 year-old birch trees that died and the branches, twigs, and stumps have kept her busy for months. She spends hours outside playing on her "farm" building tepees and digging her swimming pool (lofty goals!).

We also do lots of TALKING. The best part of our afternoons is all the talking we do. Because it is usually just the two of us, we spend a lot of time chatting about all kinds of things. I think it's what I'll miss most next year when she's in first grade.

Sometimes I set out activities for her on the kitchen table for her to work on when she gets home from school. Sometimes they're art activities or play dough, sometimes I put out Montessori materials such as the hundred board or the number rods. I've found that when I make the Montessori materials scarce she gets excited when they make an appearance!

Now that I've written it all down, it seems like her afternoons are very simplistic. But truly, they're rich with learning. I think it's important to follow your child's lead, and in our case I think I've made the right choice for her.

I'm very curious to know what you do (or did) in the afternoons with your kindergartner.

Stranger Danger

2011-01-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who picks PBug up from school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Her husband has Tuesdays off, and yesterday he was out running errands around pick-up time, so he called his wife a told her that he would swing by and pick up their son Kyle who is in the class next door to PBug. My friend agreed and it totally slipped her mind that she was supposed to pick up PBug that day. Luckily, their son remembered and he reminded his dad. They went back to her classroom and got her.

PBug has never met Kyle's dad and doesn't know what he looks like. He is not on the emergency card or on the list of people I approved to pick her up. When he picked her up he didn't introduce himself to PBug or tell her who he was (although she did notice that Kyle was with him). She knew he was a stranger, and she knew that she shouldn't go with him. Inside she was nervous and scared, but she went with him anyway, even though her gut was telling her not to.

Let me say that again.

Yesterday my child left school with a stranger.

(I won't get into where the teacher was in all of this. I plan on talking to her about it face-to-face when I pick PBug up on Friday.)

Needless to say, we have made it abundantly clear to PBug for years now that she is never, under any circumstances, allowed to go with a stranger. You might say we harp on it. We've run through all of the "What would you do if someone offered you cupcakes to go with him" scenarios a million times. I've made her memorize (short) list of people with whom she is allowed to go home with and I go over it with her often. (C'mon, I know I'm not alone here!) This particular person was not on that list.

So what happened? According to PBug, she was scared, and she knew she shouldn't go with him, but she just didn't know what to do or what to say.

So she went. Simple as that.

It could have been so much worse: after all, the stranger in this case wasn't bad and my kid did come home right on time. But I was terrified that she went so willingly. I was even more shaken by it when I woke up this morning after it had a chance to really sink in. But in the end, I'm glad it happened, because now I know that telling her not to go with a stranger isn't enough.

So we role-played what she should do in that situation. She had absolutely no idea how to handle it. Not a clue. Yeah, I'm not counting on her winning any awards in the "street smarts" category. Ever.

I told her that she could have told Kyle's dad "I need to talk to my teacher." She could have whispered (so as not to embarrass anyone, something she's always concerned about) to her teacher that a stranger was trying to take her home. I told her that her teacher would have known what to do and she would have been very nice to Kyle's dad about it. That surprised her, and she was very curious to know what her teacher would have done. I told her that she probably would have called me to make sure it was okay for her to go with Kyle's dad.

As it stands, she's very upset with herself that she went. She hasn't said as much, but I can tell by the way she responds when I've brought it up. So I'm going to lay low for a little bit, but you can be sure that we'll be role playing situations a LOT more in the future!

I'd love to hear from all of you on this subject! How do you talk to your kids about strangers and other dangerous situations?

All I Want For Christmas Is A Flock of Poultry

2010-12-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

My dad is the most generous person I know. He's always giving of himself - his time, his resources, his energy - to anyone and everyone. He's also the least materialistic person I know. Interesting how those two qualities go hand in hand. He doesn't ever want anything, except to spend time with his family. And who can blame him? We are pretty great!

This year for Christmas I made a donation to Heifer International in his name. In a nutshell, they provide livestock (and saplings, honeybees, etc.) and education to hungry people all over the world. PBug and I looked through their gift catalog and she chose the "Flock of Hope" package, which will provide chicks, ducklings, and goslings to hungry families from the Philippines and Rwanda, as well as teach them how to care for their animals.

One of the great things about donating through Heifer International is that you choose what your money is spent on. Your kids can participate in the decision, giving them a tangible idea of the difference that will be made.

Later the same day, we were eating eggs from our own chickens and started talking about the eggs and fertilizer that our gift would provide for a family. She asked me "What if they don't like eggs?" That question sparked a very interesting conversation about what it really means to be hungry, a condition I intend to ensure she never experiences.

I'm pretty sure my dad's going to love his "gift," and I'm positive that he's going to make a big deal out of it when he opens it. I hope to make this gift a Christmas tradition, and am also looking for more opportunities to give in this way.

Do you have any traditions involving charitable giving? I love to hear about them!

Blast from the Past

2010-12-16T11:43:00.001-08:00

I heard from a former student of mine this week. She was a fourth grader in my very first class and she was one of the "testers" in the bunch, if you know what I mean. She tracked me down on Facebook and was excited to find me. She wrote me one of those this-is-what-makes-teaching-worthwhile messages, thanking me for being a memorable teacher.

This kid is special. She's seventeen years old, she's had a job working at Jamba Juice for over a year, and she just graduated from high school a semester early. She's in the process of applying to colleges to do something in the medical field. Oh yeah, and she has a four year old daughter.

When she had a baby in the eighth grade, I wondered if she'd even go back to school at all. But somewhere along the line she must have gotten the message that education is important. Not only did she graduate, but she managed to do it early! I'm sure she had support, but it takes a lot of initiative and personal dedication to accomplish what she's done.

She's been on my mind a lot since we reconnected. I'm so proud of her!

Sight Word Spelling

2010-11-21T13:26:00.000-08:00

Although PBug reads sight words with accuracy, she doesn't always spell them correctly. For example, 'and' is 'adn'. Also, 'you' is yoy'. I'm not terribly concerned about it, and I was reassured by a friend that this is completely normal.

The same friend gave me a page of common sight words for PBug to keep with her when she writes and refer to for correct spelling. I explained to her how to use it when I gave it to her, but she never remembers to use it. I haven't mentioned it again to her. Right now I want her to enjoy the process of writing and not feel hampered down by spelling. Also, I enjoy seeing her invented spelling!

I came across a very simple website this week that is perfect for PBug at this stage. It just has a few games in which she can practice spelling sight words. It has 11 word lists, but I'm having her stick to the first four for now. She loves playing the games! It's too soon to tell if playing them will transfer to improvement of sight word spelling in her writing, but I figure it can't really hurt as long as she's enjoying it.

Superior Eggs

2010-11-20T12:55:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned lately how much I love having chickens? Today I cracked two of our eggs and a grocery store egg in a bowl and it was clear where the superior eggs came from:

Okay, so maybe it's hard to tell from this cell phone picture, but I can assure you that our eggs are the winners! Look at those big, dark yolks! That equals nutrition! Sadly, that other egg is high quality, as far as store bought eggs go.

You might be asking yourself why I'm using store bought eggs in the first place, when I have chickens in my backyard. Sad story.

A few weeks ago, Imogen (aka Jenny) was pecked to death by the other three chickens. PBug witnessed the whole thing. She was playing outside and suddenly came running in the house screaming "There's an emergency! There's an emergency!" Apparently Jenny came out of the coop and, according to PBug, the other chickens started "creaming and pecking on her." By the time I got outside she was dead as a doornail. Pecked to death within minutes.

Exactly one week later, I went out in the afternoon to collect eggs and Shirley was dead in the nest.

After Jenny died, I called animal control because I didn't know what to do with a dead animal. I was told, rather rudely, to put her in the garage can. The lady over the phone might as well have said "Duh!"

Pardon me, lady!

Our city has a non-optional recycling program, meaning we don't have a separate recycling bin. Our garbage is sent to a facility and sorted for recycling. I feel bad for the people who came across our birds, but you have to think that they must come across some crazier stuff in people's trash.

Anyway, we're down to two chickens. Combine that factor with fewer hours of sunlight this time of year and we have fewer eggs. I'm only getting about one a day. We'd like to get more chickens, but I think it would be a lot of fun to wait and hatch some babies in the spring. Before we make that decision, however, we need to determine a back-up plan in case we end up with roosters. We are allowed to have one rooster in our city, but I don't want the neighbors to hate us!

Nobody Told Me

2010-11-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

Four years after the fact, I've realized that PBug was the easiest toddler on the planet. Unfortunately, it's too late now to appreciate it. If only I'd have known how hard toddlerhood could be, I would have savored every moment of her second year!

When PBug was a toddler I babysat for a family with a child a few months younger than her named Lauren. Lauren would take toys out of PBug's hands, hit her, knock down her block castles... all typical toddler behaviors, all things that PBug never did. I had no idea how unusual it was that PBug never reacted, never cried, never hit back, and never complained. She would just keep right on playing as if nothing had happened, every time. (I know now that it's her personality to be passive with kids. Passive with kids, aggressive with mom.)

Fast-forward a few years and I finally get why people use the words "brave" and even "crazy" regarding my willingness to care for additional kids. I'm breaking up brawls left and right. Little Man (who is now 15 months) and Little Sprout (who is 19 months) are at it constantly - hitting, pushing, taking toys and books, hitting with the toys and books, and yesterday even biting! It was so bad this week that I actually put the baby gate in the doorway of Little Man's room and put one toddler inside the room and one outside the room so that I could have a few minutes of sanity. (I didn't even have a baby gate when PBug was little!)

Keeping Little Man off the top of furniture is, in itself, a full time job. I have to keep constant watch. Yesterday I found him sitting on the kitchen table with a cup of dirt in one hand and his sister's bean sprout that she planted in the other. The day before that I found him stranded on the top of my computer desk. The day before that I caught him eating tortilla chips out of a bag on the kitchen counter. At fifteen months he's already figured out how to open all the doors in the house. Last week Spud found the back door wide open and Little Man in the backyard.

Add all of this on top of the constant tornado-like mess that is my house, and I'm exhausted. As much as I'd love to be blogging about creative and exciting Montessori activities that I've planned for both of my children, that's just not happening. Damage control is my life right now. But I'll take all of it gladly, because Little Man is the best little lover boy on the planet!

There's A New Breadcrumb Queen Around Here

2010-11-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening PBug and I made Green Beans Supreme for her class feast. I taught her how to use my Braun Hand Chopper to make breadcrumbs. She enjoyed it so much that she made me plenty of extra breadcrumbs for the freezer. Then she declared that she was the official breadcrumb maker in our house and I would never have to make breadcrumbs again.

I never have to make breadcrumbs again! YAY FOR ME!

Promoting Immunity

2010-11-15T10:51:00.001-08:00

PBug is a sleeve chewer. It's a nervous habit, like nail biting or hair twirling. I don't have any control over it, and she doesn't seem to either. I was amused when the dentist told me that I needed to make her stop doing it. (He has one kid. She's a year old. He doesn't get it yet.) I told him that when he figures out how I can do that, he can let me know. The hygenist just snickered behind his back.

Last year by the beginning of spring PBug had been sick more times than the whole rest of her life combined. At one point she was so sick she had to be re-hydrated by IV and we were told after her blood work came back that a less healthy child may have been comatose. It was terrifying, and I blamed (still do) the sleeve chewing.

Think about it: Wet sleeves. Preschool toilet. Wet sleeves back in the mouth.

~Shudders~

This year I'm doing everything I know to head off illness.

First, I no longer buy long sleeved shirts. Luckily, we live in California and can get away with this. She can wear a coat at recess if she wants to. PBug gets hot really easily and prefers to wear short sleeves anyway. Today when I picked her up from school she wasn't chewing on her sleeves, she was chewing on the neck of her shirt.

Second, I purchased a chewlery necklace for her to chew on in school (or anytime) when she feels like she needs to chew. It gets really gross, but it's certainly preferable to the sleeves. Sometimes she has it on when I pick her up from school. I only have one, so when it's in the wash she can't use it.

Third, I make sure she gets plenty of rest, exercise, and eats nutritious, whole foods. Which brings me to my last point. I've been feeding her everything I know about that promotes immunity, including the following:

1. Warm Lemon Water

In the morning when she wakes up, I squeeze half a lemon into about six ounces of water and heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds. She likes to drink it with a straw and it works best on an empty stomach. Just Google "warm lemon water" and you'll get a whole lot of information about why this is beneficial to your health. I'm just glad she likes it, especially since you're not supposed to sweeten it. Not even with:

2. Raw, Local, Organic Honey

I let her eat it right off the spoon when she's done with her breakfast. She loves it. Also, it's great incentive for her to finish her breakfast.

3. Cinnamon

After trying and trying to get my kids to eat steel cut oats, I finally succeeded just a couple of weeks ago. With BOTH of them! The key for PBug is to add brown sugar and frozen blueberries (great for cooling down the oats quickly). Now that I have her hooked, I've been gradually reducing the amount of brown sugar I add (the blueberries should provide enough sweetness) and plan on trying to sneak cinnamon in instead. I also put cinnamon on buttered toast. (BTW, I add frozen blueberries, cinnamon, and honey to Little Man's oats.)

4. Garlic

I use a lot of garlic in my cooking, but I've heard that the garlic needs to be raw to have health benefits. We haven't gone there, but I figure using lots of garlic in everything can't hurt.

5. Citrus

My kids both love the little clementines and mandarins that are plentiful this time of year. Little Man will even eat the peel if he gets ahold of one.

All of these things not only promote immunity, but help you get well once you're already sick. I'd love to hear what you use to promote immunity during cold and flu season!

An Organized Home

2010-11-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

I got an e-mail recently asking me "What is one way to make your home more Montessori friendly?"

Maria Montessori believed that children's educational environments should be clean, orderly, and aesthetically appealing. Since I believe that our home is our children's primary educational environment, I apply this concept to our home.

I can vividly remember how unorganized my fifth grade classroom was. There was junk piled all over the room, on counter tops, and even stacked on top of cupboards to the ceiling. I remember sitting in that classroom during countless lessons, completely distracted by the mess. I wanted to clean it up so badly! I could not concentrate in that mess - not the best recipe for educational success! (If Mrs. Hall was still in room 19, I'd go straight there and clean it up right now!)

In an organized home, everything has a place. That does not mean that everything is always in it's place, let's be real! It means that, when it's time to clean up, there's no question about where things go. I strive to keep our home organized so it runs efficiently, but also because a cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind. Children learn through play, and if they're surrounded by clutter, their learning will be muddled.

The best way to maintain an organized home is to not have too much stuff in it. I follow one rule of thumb when it comes to deciding what to keep in our home. I ask myself two questions: "Does it add function?" and "Does it add beauty?" If I get two no's, the item goes.

Twice the Love

2010-11-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

I love having two kids! I love that they adore each other. I love that they play together every day and have their own rhythm that needs no assistance from anyone. My favorite is hearing them laugh together - melts my heart! And PBug is over the moon about having a bath time buddy!

PBug is such an attentive big sister in every way, and Little Man adores her. When I tell him it's time to get PBug from school he runs to the front door, tries to open it, and says "Sis! Sis!" When I tell her that he does that, she showers him with affection.

Another thing I love about having two kids is how fascinatingly different they are. They both came from the exact same place, but they couldn't be more different. Having Little Man here makes me remember so many things about PBug from four years ago that I haven't thought about in so long. I'm in constant awe of how opposite they seem!

She likes to build things and put things together; he likes to knock things down and take things apart. And throw things. A lot.

She would sit and look at books or play in her room for an hour at a time; I'm head-over-heels excited if he can find something to occupy himself with for three minutes that doesn't involve following me around crying or clinging to my leg.

She ate like it was going out of style; he throws every fourth bite across the room because he can't go longer than that without throwing something. We laugh a lot at dinner!

This year PBug was a farmer for Halloween (because that's what she wants to be when she grows up) and Little Man was a cow (because we happened to have a hand-me-down cow costume in his closet). It was his first time trick-or-treating (kinda not really, since he didn't even get any candy) and she took him by the hand and led the way. She was so excited for him and so proud to show him off to the neighbors. I marveled at what a great big sister she is.

I love how excited PBug gets for Little Man when he experiences new things. It reminds me of how excited Spud and I were when she was that little and she did new things. It's kind of sad, but we didn't get nearly as excited about his first mustard-seed poop or the loss of his umbilical cord stub as we did for her. But I'm happy for him that he has a big sister there rooting him on when his parents are indifferent.

His first time eating dirt!

His first time licking the cat!

His first time pooping in the tub!

So often I hear "Mom, Little Man just fill-in-the-blanked for his FIRST TIME!"

What a great big sister, and what a lucky little boy to have her. What a lucky mom I am to have them both!

Hot Diggity Dog

2010-10-25T09:07:00.001-07:00

On Friday evening, Spud took PBug to her school carnival. In the name of school spirit, they ate dinner there. PBug had a hot dog and some corn chips. Saturday morning she was an emotional wreck. She was melting down over everything and just couldn't get herself together. I told Spud I suspected the hot dog. I mentioned it to my mom, who happened to be visiting Saturday and witnessing some of this behavior, and she told me that my seven year-old niece can't have regular hot dogs because they give her a rash. I hadn't known that.

"Maybe hot dogs are giving PBug a rash on her frontal lobe," I thought.

Yesterday we went to a birthday party (yes, I know, we go to an excessive amount of birthday parties) and I knew that they would be serving hot dogs. Since I already suspected hot dogs were effecting her behavior, I considered bringing along one of our hot dogs from home for PBug to eat along with her Whole Foods cupcake. I didn't though. I wanted to see what would happen when she ate another regular hot dog.

This morning she cried about anything and everything from the minute she got up until the moment I dropped her off at her classroom. The behavior I noticed was out of the ordinary for her. (It can't be blamed on tiredness or crankiness because she'd had plenty of sleep all weekend.) Just as with food dyes, I didn't see an obvious reaction until the next day. I'm nearly convinced that hot dogs are to blame.

There's this little voice in the back of my head that whispers "You're blaming your kid's bratty behavior on food instead of taking responsibility for it." But I've learned to ignore that voice. I know PBug very well, and I can tell the difference between her typical five year-old negative behavior (of which there is no shortage) and the kind of behavior that I see in her when she's having a dietary reaction. It's a complete-loss-of-control-over-her-emotions.

So there you have it. Add conventional hot dogs to the list of things PBug won't be consuming any time soon. (I'm broken-hearted, can you tell?) I once had a friend suggest that the reason my kid has reactions to food dyes is because she so rarely consumed them that she hadn't been able to build up a resistance to them. To that I say, Oh well!

I'm curious, have your kids ever had a behavioral reaction to any foods they've eaten? How do you deal with it?

Food Dye Update

2010-10-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Many of you may recall reading about our battle with artificial dyes here and here.

PBug had artificial colors on a birthday cake in January. She had such a terrible behavioral reaction that we washed our hands of them. Like most kids, she goes to a lot of parties. We always stop by Whole Foods on our way and pick up a cupcake for her. They're $2 each, but I prefer doing this to baking my own batch of cupcakes. (You see, I have no self-control, and I'd eat the remaining 11 cupcakes in about two days' time.)

In September she was invited to a birthday party. We were running late and didn't have time to stop by Whole Foods before the party. Since it was at one of those bouncy house places where you pretty much have to be on time or you'll miss the whole party, I gave PBug three choices:

#1: Stop by Whole Foods anyway and be late to the party, thus missing most of it.
#2: Go to the party, then stop by Whole Foods on the way home and get a cupcake after.
#3: Try eating the cake at the party and see how it makes you feel. You will be responsible for your subsequent behavior.

She chose option #3.

She ate the cake and by the next day she was in full-on, red-alert, no-holds-barred meltdown mode. Interestingly, there was no violence. She seems to have outgrown it. But as far as controlling her emotions, she was unable. Let's just say there was a lot of crying, a lot of screaming, and a lot of desperation. It wasn't pretty, but we needn't go into detail.

So, we went back to our strict ban on food dyes.

Last Friday morning PBug was getting ready for school. I was feeding Little Man his breakfast in the kitchen. She had her bedroom door closed, but I could hear her crying, screaming, slamming and banging. This went on for a few minutes before she came to the kitchen wearing nothing but her pants and sobbed/screamed "I CAN'T GET MY ZIPPER UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Later that morning, she melted down because I told her it was time to leave for school and she wanted to draw me a picture.

Then she cried hysterically because she didn't like where I parked the car when we got to school.

I knew something was off. Turns out, her teacher had been giving the class individual Smarties as a reward. (My fault, I still hadn't gotten around to telling her new teacher that she couldn't have food dyes.) PBug, who's usually really good about asking if things have colors, didn't ask because they don't look like they do. Well, they do.

After school I described to PBug the scene from earlier that morning in which she freaked out about the zipper. She appeared to be quite thoughtful about it when I told her that I could tell she'd had colors the day before because of how she acted. She was even more thoughtful when I told her that without having colors, she would have come into the kitchen and calmly asked "Mom, can you please help me with my zipper?", or something along those lines, like she always does when she needs help with something.

It was a great opportunity to remind her that we don't allow her to have food dyes because they make it really hard for her to control her emotions.

Yesterday when I picked PBug up from school she told me that one of the boys in her class stole her Smartie. (Our deal is that if she gets something she can't have she brings it home and I trade it for something she can have, like a SunDrop.) While trying to avoid laughing out loud at the Smartie-stealer, I took her back to her classroom so she could tell her teacher what happened. I thought it would be a good excuse to talk to the teacher about the snack situation.

I explained that the first teacher made absolutely no restrictions regarding group snack and that my husband and I weren't comfortable with the kinds of foods that have been coming in. I'm sure she wasn't surprised since she sees PBug eat her hard boiled eggs, hummus with crackers, or homemade muffins every day. But I was pleased that she's on the same page as I am. She told me that she's appalled when she sees Rice Krispie Treats come in, she's "grossed out" by the Handisnax, and she doesn't even want cupcakes on birthdays (woo hoo!).

She is going to be sending a note home this week asking parents to bring healthy snacks, which I think is great. I hope she doesn't mind that I continue to send PBug's snack myself, since "healthy" can be a very, very subjective term!

Mommy Reward Time

2010-10-20T10:00:00.001-07:00

I was so interested in all of your comments on the bedtime post I wrote yesterday, thank you for commenting! Every family has a routine that works for them, but the common thread is that all of our kids get enough rest and we find some time for ourselves, whether it's after they go to bed at night or before they get up in the morning. Pats on the back for all of us!

My mother-in-law told me that when my husband and sister-in-law were little they stayed up until they fell asleep on the family room floor, usually sometime between 10:00 and midnight. My father-in-law got home from work so late that it was the only time they got to spend with him. She was a stay-at-home mom and her kids would, according to her, sleep until noon every day. It's what worked for them.

In our family, my husband leaves for work around 6:30 a.m. and usually gets home from work by 3:30. I would consider him "getting home late" if he came through the door after 4:00. We're fortunate that his schedule allows the kids plenty of time to spend with him. Little Man goes down at 7:00 gets up around 6:30 a.m. regardless of when he goes down. PBug's lights go out at 7:30 and she's (hopefully!) up by 7:00 a.m.

Last night after the marathon of cleaning up dinner/giving the kids a bath/doing the bedtime routine/lights out at 7:30, Spud and I made chocolate chip cookies, ate them, I laughed at his subsequent sneezing because I used dark chocolate in the cookies and he's allergic but can't resist a chocolate chip cookie, watched a little t.v., I solicited a shoulder massage (thanks for the suggestion, Teresa!), and we were in bed by ten. And I loved every minute of my reward time.

Are We Being Unreasonable Here?

2010-10-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Last night I took PBug to a birthday party for one of her classmates. I was suprised that it was being held from six to eight on a school night, but I was glad to take her. I had planned on leaving at 8:00, but it wasn't until 8:10 that I gave PBug her five-minute warning. Two of the other moms who have kids in PBug's class overheard me tell her that it was past her bedtime. When they asked me about it, they were shocked to hear that PBug's bedtime on school nights is 7:30. (It's 8:00 on weekends. I had to move it up on school nights because she wasn't waking up on her own by 7:00.)

"I would be doing a happy dance if my daughter went to bed before 9:30!" said one.

"My daughter would have a heart attack if she had to go to bed while it was still light out!" said the other.

Oh, how sorry I feel for those mothers! Without passing judgement on them or anyone else because every family is different, I see two problems with late bedtimes for little ones. First, they're likely not getting enough rest - that's a no-brainer. After loving my kids, feeding them well and making sure they get enough rest are tied for the most important aspect of my job as their mom. I feel so strongly about this. I don't think there's any way our children can get the most out of their days if they don't have adequate nourishment and rest.

Second, assuming you and your spouse are going to bed at a reasonable hour, how on earth are you ever going to get any down time? If I allowed my kids to stay up until I went to bed, I'd go OUT of my mind. Those hours between 7:30 and 10:00 when I go to bed are my reward for not killing my children that day. That's when I get to veg out and watch tv, play a board game with my husband, read a book, chat with a friend on Facebook, make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and scarf them all with my husband, enjoy my marriage (if you know what I mean)... pretty much whatever I want to do. It's my time, and I don't need a five year old with whom my patience has likely already worn thin running around ruining it for me.

So I'm curious - who's with me on this?! What time do your kids go to bed and, if you don't mind sharing, what's your favorite thing to do with your reward time?

My New Trick

2010-10-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

When PBug gets home from school she runs off to her bedroom or the playroom and I may not see her again all afternoon. Usually she's drawing pictures or fixing her hair. I can hardly even coax her out of hiding to eat lunch, and anyone who has spent any time with PBug knows that eating is one of her favorite things.

Last week I said "I don't want to force you to spend time with me, but I'd really like it if you stayed in here and told me about your day while I make lunch." Her response? She looked at me for half a second, turned around, and ran off to her room.

Ouch.

Thankfully I stumbled upon a solution over at The Artful Parent! The post was about new art materials, but she mentioned that she often sets out art materials on the kitchen table for her daughter to do when she gets home from school. So before I left to pick her up from school today, I set out some paper, stickers, and markers on the kitchen table for PBug.

Worked like a charm :)

How do you "trick" your kids into spending time with you?

Germany Or Bust!

2010-10-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

When he was a junior in high school, my husband and his family had a German foreign exchange student live with them. They bonded immediately and formed a close friendship that continues to enrich all of our lives even more than Spud could have imagined.

He and Uwe (pronounced 'Oo-vah') have remained close over the past 17 years, traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Europe whenever they can. Spud (and several of his high school friends) has been there four times, twice before we met, once with me tagging along, and most recently in 2006 when six of the guys all traveled there together to attend the World Cup (that's soccer for all you sports-illiterate folks like me) and celebrate their 30th birthdays collectively.

Uwe has been able to travel here even more (ya know, they get a lot more vacation time in Germany!), including for our wedding in 2003. Spud has always said that when Uwe gets married he'll drop everything and go - even if it's in the middle of the school year. (Which, if you know anything about how teacher's contracts work, is quite a sacrifice.)

This summer Uwe asked his girlfriend to marry him. But before he popped the question, he contacted Spud and I to find out when the most convenient time for us would be for them to get married! We're so glad they are willing to work around Spud's school schedule and plan their wedding when we can be there without sacrificing Spud's job security!

When we first discussed it, we had no intention of taking the kids. The cost of the plane tickets alone was prohibitive and that's a loooooong flight from California (12 hours) for a six year-old and not-even-two-year-old. Plus we thought it might be fun to take a vacation without them, something we haven't done since PBug was born. I told him my maximum for being away from the kids was two weeks, and he told me his minimum for traveling overseas was two weeks, so we were planning on being there for - you guessed it - two weeks.

But the more Spud talked about the tickets he was finding, the more I got cold feet about leaving my babies thousands of miles away for that long. I realized I'm just not the kind of mom who can go that far away for that long - at least not yet. (Funny thing is, both Spud and Uwe predicted it before I realized that I wasn't going to be able to do it.) So I gave Spud two options: either he could travel over there alone for as long as he wanted and I would meet up with him for just one week of the trip, or we take the kids and we could all stay as long as he wanted us to.

I was shocked - shocked, I tell you! - when he picked option two! I never thought he'd go for it, especially since he's said over and over and over that he never wanted to take our kids to Europe until they are much older. He's not very good at going-with-the-flow, so taking kids on vacation really stresses him out. So much to remember, so many things that could go wrong! He has many fabulous qualities, don't get me wrong, but he's just not great at thinking on the fly. Luckily he has me, and being married to him has taught me to be even more decisive and quick-thinking than I ever was (gotta love when marriage magnifies your good qualities, right?).

So, we're taking the kids to Germany!!! We're probably going to be there for three weeks. Usually Spud travels all over Europe when he's over there, but we're not planning on leaving Germany this time as he will be doing all the driving and at this point he's only comfortable driving in Germany. I'm so excited about everything - seeing our good friends get married, taking a family vacation with the whole family, being in Germany with several other of our U.S. friends and their families, seeing some of our favorite places and some new places, too.

I. Can't. Wait.

Most of our conversations lately revolve around this trip. Uwe is contacting friends all over Germany for us to stay with so we won't have to pay for lodging. He is also providing us with a car to use. (It's so good to have great friends!) Our main expenses after the plane tickets will be gas, food (Spud keeps reminding me that we have to eat anyway, so I shouldn't really count food), and admissions to attractions.

The wedding will take place near Hamburg in northern Germany, so we'll be spending some time up there. We are planning on touring the castles on the Rhine river and staying one night in a real castle. Spud has been to the Rhine Falls once before, which is just inside Switzerland, and he said he's comfortable driving us there. We have also just recently learned about Europa Park from one of PBug's classmates, and we're going to go there. We would also like to reserve some time on our trip to explore the villages in southern Germany since it's our dream to have a home there someday.

I could go on and on - I really should start breaking these long posts into shorter posts but that would take extra effort, sorry! Have you even been to Germany? What is your favorite thing about it? Have you taken your small children on a painfully long plane ride? Have you taken your kids on a three-week-long road trip in a foreign country? How did it go? Are we crazy? Have we lost our minds??

I Survived!

2010-10-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

I apologize to all of you for getting stuck on this topic and thank you for being patient with me as I work out my parenting obstacles on my blog!

Today's play date certainly kept me on my toes! Five energetic little girls for two hours - WHEW! The good news is that I did quite a bit of [discreet] observing this afternoon and am so thankful I temporarily went out of my mind and organized this play date. (Even more thankful now that it's over.)

I was quickly able to determine which of the girls is "Queen Bee" (Thanks for the book recommendation, Evenspor, I will try to get my hands on it soon. Even though it's targeted at parents of adolescent girls, I'm starting to get the impression I need a leg up on my reading!). It happened to be the girl I suspected it to be (usually is).

I was also able to identify who plays other roles in the group. One of the girls was really good at standing up diplomatically to the Queen Bee whenever she tried to take over the play. Another girl continuously butted heads with the Queen Bee. (I have a feeling this girl would be the Queen Bee if the actual Queen Bee wasn't in the picture.) My own child acted as the peacemaker, she just wanted everyone to get along. And finally there was the kid I'll call the victim; she's the one who kept getting her feelings hurt. If you added more kids to the group, I get the feeling you'd just be adding more victims.

This evening we had a short "play date debriefing" session. I didn't want to make it a big thing, but I'm pleased with how it went. I think I was able to gently open PBug's eyes to some of the behaviors her friends exhibited in a way made her think she noticed them herself.

She acknowledged that Queen Bee often tells the group what to do, and they do it even if they don't really want to. She admitted that she wasn't always happy about that.

We talked about how The Diplomat was able to redirect the group when Queen Bee tried to take over, yet Queen Bee still seems to like The Diplomat just as much as all of the other girls. I mused aloud about how The Diplomat seems to be really good at sticking up for herself and the group in a nice way. I gave an example that I happened to overhear.

We brainstormed some ways that she, too, could stick up for herself nicely. I told her that, even if she stuck up for herself, it probably wouldn't make Queen Bee like her any less. PBug is big on listening to her heart, so I often use that to help our discussions. I told her that if her heart is telling her something, it's okay to say it out loud. Specifically, we talked about saying "It's my turn to choose what we do now. You can choose next time."

I asked her what her heart was saying about our discussion, and she said "My heart is telling me that I should do that." I hope she does.

At dinner Spud asked PBug about her play date and she gave him a rundown. We gave her a heads up that, from now on, her play dates would be for only one of her friends at a time. He asked which of her friends she enjoys playing with the most, and she quickly responded Queen Bee. "Really?" he asked. "Because it sounded to me like you don't always like how she plays." Then PBug thought a minute and said "No, no, that's not right. I really like playing with The Diplomat."

I found it very interesting that, even when she's not in the presence of the Queen, she is still loyal to her first. Tonight I'm feeling fortunate that Little Man is a boy :P

And On It Goes...

2010-10-12T10:42:00.000-07:00

This afternoon PBug is having four of her classmates over for a play date. Yes, I realize this is a ridiculous number of five year-olds, but it seems to be the pattern we are on, and it was our "turn." I am, however, looking forward to having the girls here without their mothers around so I can get some insight into the group dynamics that seem to be affecting my dear, sweet child so substantially.

Speaking of, when she got home from school yesterday she was so excited about her upcoming play date, but I was surprised to see how her excitement manifested itself. She headed to the bathroom and started cleaning. Actual cleaning. She wiped down the counter tops, cleaned out the sink and the bathtub, and (much to my chagrin) rearranged everything.

Then she came out to the living area and started wiping down the kitchen table. Next she was off to clean the glass on the french doors. (She did a terrible job on all of this, by the way, but I wasn't about to complain.) She's never done anything like that before. I just stood back and watched.

Then the little stinker told me that she was embarrassed by how messy the house was and she didn't want her friends to see it when they came over.

Ouch.

Let me just say, in my defense, that the house was not that messy. The dining room table had some junk piled on it - diaper bag, newspapers, etc. - stuff I'd put there to keep out of Little Man's reach. And of course the house was strewn with Little Man's toys and books (the minimal amount I actually make available to him), all of which could be picked up in a matter of minutes if need be. And although there are times the house can get very messy, yesterday it was not.

I told her she'd hurt my feelings - because she had. I explained that it's okay to clean your house in anticipation of company. There's nothing wrong with presenting your home as an extension of yourself. But I was concerned that she was worried that her friends wouldn't like her if they thought her house was messy.

And so it seems that we're still on the same ride. Writing this on the internet makes me feel defensive of PBug. I don't want my readers to think that my sweet, loving, caring, empathetic, love of a child is a brat. She's not. She's a wonderful kid with so many fantastic qualities I often wonder how we ended up so lucky.

But she seems to be trudging her way through some really crappy behavior right now. I appreciate all of you who comment and assure me she's normal, share your similar experiences, and remind me that it will pass. Each of your comments helps me let go of it a little bit more, get some distance from the situation, and learn how to deal with this rationally instead of losing my cool.

Because my naive and innocent five year-old turned into a teenager-in-training overnight, and all I really want to do it lose my cool!

Homework Confessions

2010-10-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

I have a confession.

When PBug's homework folder comes home with "predecodable readers," sight word flashcards, and capital/lowercase letter memory match games, I throw them away. PBug doesn't even know about them. If it's anything that doesn't have to be returned to school for credit, I just chuck 'em before she evens lays eyes on them.

Here's the thing, I just don't need one more reason to butt heads with my kid. We already have a weekly homework packet to get through, and thankfully at this point she enjoys it. It mostly consists of letter writing practice, some rhyming worksheets, a math worksheet or two... the basic kindergarten fare. But I know if I said "Okay PBug, time to practice your sight words on these flashcards!" we'd have a major battle on our hands.

Everything about flashcarding my kid feels wrong. She is picking up sight words like wildfire simply by reading (which I am continuing to work with her on at home as leveled reading has not taken place in her classroom yet), so I'm not concerned about her learning. But I do feel a little guilty and ashamed - and if her teacher ever specifically asked me about it I think I'd freeze like a deer in headlights.

Speaking of that homework packet, I made a decision before school even started that I would not fight with PBug over homework. I would guide her, help her, and remind her if necessary. But if she decided not to do her homework, I would send it back to school in her folder on Friday incomplete and she could deal with the consequences at school.

It hasn't happened yet, but I think it will someday (maybe not kindergarten, but someday). And I'm so curious to find out if I'll actually stick to my guns and let her go to school with incomplete homework!

Okay, So I Went Off on a Tangent During This Post... Whatever.

2010-10-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Right now, it's all things Little House around here. We are making our way through Little House on the Prairie, but it's taking us longer than it usually takes us to read a chapter book because PBug is asking questions about everything, which I love. I can predict exactly what she's going to ask me before I even finish reading a sentence!

As I type this, our couch has had the cushions removed and a blanket - excuse me, canvas - has been "stretched over" the top to make a covered wagon.

PBug regularly refers to her father as "Oh, Charles!" (not just Charles) and Little Man has been assigned the role of Baby Carrie. I am usually Ma, and PBug is usually Laura.

And PBug has become much more interested in maps. In fact, she drew this one for me today of where we've been:

It's supposed to be of the United States (writing copied from another map), but it looks like a cross between the U.S. and planet Earth. The green "state" on the left is California, with an 'X' on it because we are there.

I've blogged before about maps. We kept maps of California, the United States, and the world tacked to the wall in the hallway for quite some time but had to take them down awhile back. (Little Man gets into everything! Nothing in our house is safe anymore!) I'm going to have to find some wall space to put them back up. I liked the hallway because it's a place that we are in all the time. It's centrally located and easy to go to and look at the maps together. Often times I would find PBug in the hallway looking at her maps and I'd stop to look at them with her. If we put them in a bedroom or playroom they won't be seen as much, but it's better than nothing.

I'm also on the hunt for some map activities that pertain to the Little House series but I haven't found anything too exciting. I might have to dust the cobwebs off of my own brain and come up with something myself.

And I'm serious about the boy, people! He tears down/throws/dumps/strews/knocks over/bams/hides/terrorizes everything in his path! Nothing is safe! It's like he thinks "Well those shoes shouldn't be in that basket, they should be strewn on the floor around the basket. Let me take care of that for you." "Pillows on the couch? Why, those pillows should be on the floor. There. Problem solved." "Baby-proof? Watch me reach right past your cabinet lock, pull all of the trash out of the can and throw it all over the kitchen!" "You didn't want the newspaper to stay neatly folded on the counter, right? Because I saw the tiniest corner of it hanging off the edge and decorated the house with it for you." "These pots and pans lids are mine, right? Because I took it upon myself to fill all of your pots with all of my magnets and then hide the lids." "Thanks for putting all of my toys in the basket, mom. Now I can take them out again. Play with them? No, I'm not going to play with them. I just wanted to take them out of the basket because they go on the floor. Didn't you know?"

He exhausts me.

And when we tell him 'no,' he looks us right in the eye and laughs the biggest belly laugh, like nothing on Earth is funnier than us thinking that he's going to stop.

Mr. Radley, Is That You?

2010-10-10T20:03:00.001-07:00

*In order to get the full picture of the following story, you need to know that PBug has three little ceramic elephant figurines sitting on the bookshelf in her bedroom. They were mine when I was little, and I just recently gave them to her, so they're fresh on the brain.

Early this morning, early enough that the sun was just rising, I was sleeping blissfully when I woke up to PBug calling me from her bed.

"Mom! Mom! I need you to come here!"

Normally she just gets up in the morning and tends to herself. "What do you need?" I called.

She called back to me, "There are some mysteries in here and it's really freakin' me out!"

"What mysteries?" I responded.

Her response had be bolting upright out of bed: "There are two elephants kissing on my bed and something behind the door."

Like a bolt of lightening, an image flashed in my head of some creepy Boo Radley-like character sneaking into her room, posing her elephant figurines on her bed, and hiding behind the door. I ran to her room, turned on the light, and pushed the door all the way open, expecting to feel something fleshy back there. All I felt was her backpack, which was hanging on the doorknob, right where I'd put it when I turned off her light the night before.

I was still looking for Boo Radley when PBug said "Oh, it's just my backpack."

"What elephants?" I asked. She pointed at her comforter, which was puffed up at the foot of her bed - apparently in the shape of two elephants kissing.

I've been chuckling to myself about it all day. At her, for her imagination-run-wild. But mostly at myself, for displaying exactly where PBug inherited her imagination-run-wild from!

The New 'Do

2010-10-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah, she's still a cutie. The bangs are mad short, but she seems to be pulling it off. Most importantly, she is in love with her new look. I suppose I can't ask for more than that.

Sometimes her new haircut reminds me of:

but other times I look at her and see

I wasn't planning on taking her in for a haircut as I had tried my best to blend her handiwork into the rest of her hair on my own. But we had a heart-to-heart yesterday afternoon and it became clear to me just how much she wanted a haircut, so I dropped everything and took her in. I wanted to drive home the point that she is not to cut her own hair when she desires a new look, she is to ask me to take her for a haircut! (We have a deal now.)

On the way to the salon it became clear to me that she thinks stylists are magicians. First she expressed her excitement that she was on her way to get her hair back. You know, the hair she cut off. No sooner had I set her straight on that than she mentioned how excited she was that she was going to get straight hair. Um, no. Wow, is she really this confused about how hair works?!

So after another round of your hair is your hair, it's the color/texture that you were born with and that's how it will stay, I felt like we hadn't made any progress at all. I reminded her that this haircut is for her and her alone. She shouldn't be getting it for her friends. If her friends don't like it, she will have to live with that. I told her that the only person who has to like it is her.

Still she kept talking about all the compliments she was hoping to get and how she was going to ask everyone if they liked her new haircut. The dagger to my heart was when we pulled into a parking space and she said "Tomorrow at school I'm going to ask Elaine if it's okay if I have this haircut for a long time."

Excuse me?! Since when do you need another child's permission to have your hair how you want it?

Long story short, we're still working through this - the short bangs and the identity crisis. I was assured by the stylist that the bangs would be a normal length in two months time, and PBug is over the moon about them. And she even got a compliment when she got to school this morning. And really, who doesn't love compliments for a new haircut?

Mom's Little [Kitchen] Helper

2010-10-07T10:42:00.001-07:00

Family dinner is big at our house, and it's important to us that we all sit down around the table to eat together whenever possible. For this reason, we only like PBug to be enrolled in one activity (right now, soccer) at a time. Keeping our lives simple is a priority of ours, and coming together at dinnertime each night is like the cherry on top of our simple sundae. Often, Spud and PBug help me in the kitchen while I cook, fetching ingredients, doing small cooking tasks, and setting the table. I love this family time, and it's what I look forward to most all day. Now that PBug is in kindergarten, it's more important than ever.

For the past two years, working in the kitchen together has been a great way for PBug and I to connect. At other times throughout the day our personalities might clash and our interactions can get stressful (My fault, not hers! Working on it!), but cooking or baking together has been a source of stress-free mother/daughter quality time for us for awhile now. We chat, we work together, I teach, she learns. She loves sampling every single ingredient from spices to veggies - even flour and vanilla! We have a good time.

Off the top of my head, some of the tasks she helps me with in the kitchen are:

-Setting the table
-Stirring
-Tearing lettuce for salads, tacos, etc
-Cutting olives with a butter knife
-Fetching things from the fridge
-Pouring ingredients

Just recently I've started giving her more responsibility in the kitchen. She has begun to:

-Measure ingredients, both small (tsp & Tbsp) and large (cups)
-Crack eggs
-Cut tougher foods, like fruit and cheese, with this knife

And last week, she had her first chance to cook on the stove. She was SO excited! I taught her how to make Mexican rice. I didn't have to explain very much about stove safety, just the basics, because she really seemed to understand the seriousness of cooking safety with my having to elaborate. She was very careful.

I taught her how to turn the burner on and we waited for the skillet to heat up. Then we added oil. She poured the rice in the skillet and I taught her how to hold the wooden spoon and "stir constantly" making '8's' and 'O's.' This was tricky for her, but she really got the hang of it with practice. She got to add in the spices, garlic, and onions herself, and pour in the chicken stock and tomato sauce. She even set the timer.

She was initially nervous about adding the wet ingredients because she's heard me warn her enough times to stand back from the stove when I cook, but she got over her butterflies quickly when she saw that there was nothing to be afraid of. She burned the inside of her wrist once on the the side of the skillet, but I don't necessarily think that was a bad thing. It definitely made her more aware from that point on!

Yesterday PBug helped me make a pizza, and she did more preparation all by herself on it than on anything else she's ever done in the kitchen. I was so proud of that pizza when we were done! The recipe called for browning some sausage, and she added it to the skillet and kept it moving all on her own. I had to remind her a few times how to hold the spoon, but she did a great job and I even felt comfortable walking away from her just for a few seconds at a time. She spread the sauce on the crust ALL by herself! She sliced the olives all by herself! She added the mozzarella, Gorgonzola, and all the toppings all by herself! The only steps she didn't complete on her own were making and rolling out the dough, slicing the bell peppers (which I did while she spread sauce), and putting the pizza in and out of the oven.

Perhaps next time she can try her hand at rolling out pizza dough!

What tasks do your kids do in the kitchen?

Dear Anonymous,

2010-10-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm mad because I'm human. I'm mad because my daughter's hair looks stupid and it bothers me. I'm mad because she directly disobeyed me. I offered to take her to get a haircut if it was that important to her, and she chose to cut it herself after I told her not to. I'm mad.

I'm not perfect. I'm always honest about that on my blog. I'm not an expert parent, I'm learning as I go. I could easily blog about the way I wish I had handled a situation and leave out the part where I messed up, but dishonesty is not in my nature.

I'm tired of people leaving critical comments on my blog under the guise of "anonymous." Are you the same person, or are there several anonymous commenters out there going around leaving critical comments on other people's blogs but not having the gumption to show your face, so to speak?

I love sharing my experiences online because we moms are great at lifting one another up. I think that it helps moms to see evidence that other moms aren't perfect. We're all just making it up as we go along. I welcome constructive criticism and kindly worded challenges to my parenting decisions, but if you're here to be rude, just go. Leave me alone. You're not welcome here.

Sincerely,

Steph
Proud mommy of a little girl with a stupid haircut (and yes, I do admire her gumption)

Things Just Got Serious!

2010-10-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

I had a wtf moment this morning. Yes, my friends, that is my daughter's hair, no longer attached to her head. This is what happens when your child is determined to fit in to her peer group - all of whom have bangs, by the way - and abuses her scissor privledges.

My kid doesn't have bangs, in case that isn't clear. She didn't have bangs yesterday before she cut her hair, and she still doesn't have bangs today, because she cut way too much off!

Last week she specifically asked me if she could do this: cut her own hair to be like s0-and-so. I specifically told her no. I explained that, if she wants a hair cut, I would take her to get one by someone who is a trained professional. I explained that her hair wouldn't lay in the same way that so-and-so's hair lays because hers is wavy and her friend's is straight, and no matter how it was cut it would never look the same. I explained that cutting your hair, or changing your appearance at all, to be like someone else is never a good idea.

She did it anyway.

I didn't handle it very well. I was mad, and I made sure she knew it. I punished her by cancelling the play date with her classmates that we had scheduled at our house on Friday. I lectured her. I think it sank in when I told her that what she did is a great example of "irreversible change," a concept Sid the Science Kid taught her last week, because that's when she started crying.

I know that kids cut their own hair sometimes, but mine did it for more than just the thrill of it. She directly disobeyed me in order to be like the crowd. I really thought I had a good seven or eight years before that started happening!

Oh, I'm so MAD! I was glad she didn't have bangs because it meant we wouldn't have to go through the dreaded growing-out-the-bangs phase. So much for that! Now we have to go through the growing-out-the-butchered-locks phase before we can even get to the growing-out-the-bangs phase!!

Dear Oprah...

2010-10-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I was home alone, chillaxin on the couch, and going through my DVR. I came across the Oprah episode where she talks about the movie "Waiting For Superman." I kind of live in a bubble, so I had only heard some quiet buzzing about the movie at soccer practice and ladies' night. So I gave it a look-see, and I've been filled with a storm of emotions ever since - the top two being excitement and anger.

I'm excited because I think the episode blew the lid off of a serious issue that's never spoken of outside of the teacher's lounge: bad teachers. Lemons. Specifically how impossible it is to get rid of them. Even when I was a teacher, I thought tenure was a bad idea. Oh believe me, I adored my tenure! There's nothing like job security when you're a teacher! But tenure makes it possible for people who have no business in the profession to remain there year after year after year.

I'm angry because, although I haven't seen the movie yet (it's not released here until the 8th), it appears to demonize teachers, their unions, and public schools and put charter schools on a pedestal. (Charter schools are also unionized, by the way.) Oprah tries to be diplomatic, reminding us that there are good and bad teachers, good and bad public schools, good and bad charter schools, but honestly one hour (or even two or three) is not enough time to have this discussion fairly.

My family lives in a community with pretty great public schools, most of which are achieving well above where they "should" be. My husband, as well as many of our close friends, teaches in a nearby community that is lower income but has many high-achieving schools. I am proud that my husband teaches at a blue ribbon school, the nation's highest honor a school can achieve, and would gladly send my own children there.

I'm not familiar with the kinds of schools and communities that are struggling in education - the ones showcased in the movie like Newark, New Jersey - or the issues they face, because I haven't lived or worked in one. The Oprah episode made it clear that all kids can learn, and that's 100% true. It showed example after example of kids succeeding once they entered a better school.

But there's one side of the story that I didn't see addressed, and I don't think the discussion can be complete without considering it. Every single one of those kids who "got out" of a bad school, who is attending one of these "breakthrough," quality charter schools, who is succeeding, achieving, and going on to college - every single one of them - is there because they have a parent who cares. They had a parent who wouldn't settle for less for their child. They had a parent who refused to allow their child to fall through the cracks and end up in jail instead of in college. They had a PARENT advocate who cared enough about their child's future that they did everything it would take to make sure their child got a quality education and a brighter future. Of course their kids are going to succeed!

What about the kids who don't have that? The kids who don't have anyone at home who cares? Do we think that, simply by sending them to a better school, they'll be graduation-bound and heading off to college lickety split?

When I was a teacher, every single kid in my class had unbridled potential. But I'm only one person, there were 28-34 of them, and I couldn't do everything. THE biggest factor I saw that determined student achievement in my class was parent involvement. PARENTS WHO CARE. It was quite obvious when mom or dad or grandma signed a reading log for a kid who didn't do his reading. Or did their book report for her. Or didn't encourage (or require) him to come to me for help at recess or after school for extra help in math when they were unable to help at home. I've seen "smart" kids fail and "not-as-smart" kids succeed - the determining factor is at-home support.

As a parent, I believe it is first my responsibility to educate my children, and then the school's. This is the mindset that our nation is lacking. When I was a student, I graduated from a high school with a high drop-out rate in a community with a lot of crime and low-income families. My brother and I succeeded not because the school cared, but because our mom made damn sure of it. My mom cared.

Plain and simple.

I'm not saying that there aren't major issues in our nation's education system that need to be addressed immediately, that there aren't bad teachers who should be fired, or that schools shouldn't care about the children they're supposed to be educating, but everyone needs to take equal responsibility in this. It seems to me that parents get a free pass. Some take it and some don't, but parents should be held just as accountable as teachers.

Just my two cents, what do you think?

Teaching Art to Kindergarteners

2010-10-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

PBug's school has an Art Docent program, and I volunteered to be the docent for her class. Today was my first time teaching a lesson and I was so excited! I have never taught kindergarten before, not even during my student teaching. I have never even substituted in a kindergarten class! I didn't know what to expect and I tried to prepare myself by having no expectations at all, although the teacher told me not to expect to maintain their attention very long!

I was provided with a curriculum and an entire room full of art supplies. The first lesson was simple: I taught them about portraits, a few different aspects of portraits (profiles vs forward-facing, realistic vs. abstract), and shared with them some famous works as examples. They were so cute when I showed them Paul Klee's Head of a Man and the whole class burst into fits of laughter! We talked about drawing faces and then they drew realistic, forward-facing portraits of one another.

I had a lot of fun and it felt like it hasn't been over five years since I've been in front of a class of kids. I remembered how much I love teaching!

On the other hand, I have to give mad props to kindergarten teachers. There are 25 kids in the class, and their abilities range from still-learning-how-to-hold-a-pencil to writing-complete-sentences-with-perfect-handwriting. I learned that their attention span while I was giving the lesson was extraordinary, but their ability to focus on the point of the assignment was nearly non-existent. In other words, I don't think one of them followed my instructions!

And about 85% of the "realistic" portraits looked more abstract than a Picasso - but I adored all of them!

Let's just say I learned a lot today and I'll be much more prepared for my next lesson... I can't wait!

Following the Crowd

2010-10-01T10:54:00.001-07:00

Sending my baby girl to kindergarten this year has been throwing me for all kinds of loops. I'm still grappling with the food issue, but now it's not just during school, it's at the constant play dates she been invited to after school (four this week alone!). I'm trying very hard to find a balance between making sure my kid eats the way I want her to eat, which is of utmost importance to me, and not offending the parents of her new friends.

On a different note, I've noticed a distinct change in PBug's behavior since starting school. I'm struggling with it internally and externally, because all of a sudden my free-spirited, independent, free-thinking, fantastically original, utterly charming and fabulous child... wants to be just like everyone else.

She wants to get a haircut like this kid. (Never mind that she doesn't have the hair type to pull off such a style.) She comes home from school, goes straight to the bathroom, and spends an hour "working on her hair." Then she proceeds to accessorize.

She wants her bedroom to look like that kid's. If she's not working on her hair, she's in her room "redecorating." She moves the things on her dresser to her nightstand, and the things on her nightstand to her bookshelf. She finds places to hang things from. She tells me she doesn't like her room.

She's spending all of her free time trying to fit herself into this box or that box and it's making me so sad.

I've never really been a "follow the crowd" kind of person. Sure, I had my moments growing up when I didn't always make the right decisions because I chose to do what my friends were doing. That's almost inevitable, and I'd be foolish not to expect a little bit of that. But I have always done things my own way, even when it went against the grain, and didn't worry what others thought about me. I thought that's how PBug was, too. But she's suddenly so easily influenced and so concerned about how everyone else looks that I almost feel sick to my stomach about it.

All of our soliloquies about loving her the way she is and being the person she is in her heart are falling on deaf ears. She's SO excited to have ALL of these new friends that she has tunnel vision. How do I deal with a five year-old who is so over-the-moon for her new friends that she wants to BE them?? Spud and I are backpedaling every day when she says things like "I want to dye my hair brown like so-and-so's."

What?!

I've never known her before to worry about what others think, and I don't like it! Especially since I like her a whole lot more than I like all of those other kids (no offense to them)! Right now we're trying to handle it by trying not to make a big deal out of it. Here's to hoping that this is a passing trend.

Have you ever dealt with anything like this before?

Paying Off My Kid

2010-09-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

I pay my child in exchange for good manners. I also pay her for - pardon me for the bathroom talk - wiping before she gets off the toilet. Please don't judge me, sometimes we just do what we have to do.

PBug is a very excitable child. She moves through life quickly, and try as we might, we've never been able to get her to actually slow down and attend to life's necessities - such as eating and toileting - in a thorough manner. She shovels food from her plate into her mouth with her hands, chunks of food flying - literally - across the room. She jumps off the toilet, pulls up her pants, and runs off to play, never wiping or flushing the toilet. (Thankfully she's pretty consistent about washing her hands. Don't know how that happened, but I'm not going to question it.) She has so little self-awareness that she doesn't even seem to have the ability to comprehend what we're saying when we tell her "SLOW! DOWN!"

So I decided that every time she got through a meal without being sent away from the table for displaying nauseating manners, I'd give her two cents. Every time she uses toilet paper before hopping off the toilet, I'd give her two cents as well. Oh, and she hates - HATES! - having her earrings taken out and put back in for soccer, so Spud gives her five cents an ear if she lets me do it without totally losing it.

We've seen two benefits since starting this routine. First, PBug's behavior has improved dramatically. Second, she's learning about money. Every time she gets enough pennies, she can trade for nickles. She can trade her nickles for dimes. She can trade her nickles and dimes for quarters... and dollars... and so on. She doesn't have a lot of experience with money, probably because her parents don't have any, so this is a good introduction for her. Perhaps someday she'll have enough money to buy something that she would like to have.

We haven't decided how we feel about allowances or chores yet, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'm actually saving money by paying her, because now that she has better manners, I don't feel the need to drink as much at dinner.

Babies Don't Keep

2010-09-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, Lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek-peek-a-boo).
The shopping is not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there is a hullabaloo.
But I'm playing "Kanga" and this is my "Roo.
"Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rock-a-bye, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958
When PBug was a baby I'd rock her all day and all night. I rocked her to sleep every time I put her down for a nap or for the night. Sometimes I just held her through her entire nap because I figured, why should I put her down if I didn't want to put her down? I don't think I actually put her down until she was five months old. In fact, sometimes I would go into her room, take my sleeping baby from her crib, rock her, and put her back after I got my fix. I cherished every little bit of it.
A little over the top?
Maybe.
Now ask me if I care.
Little Man is not a rock-me-to-sleep baby, not since the day he was born. He would cry and cry until I put him down wide awake, then was perfectly content to fall asleep on his own. My heart ached to rock him. Thank goodness for nursing, or I never would have been able to. But, quite unceremoniously, he weaned himself completely the day after his first birthday.
Every once in awhile, maybe every other week or so, he throws me a bone and lets me rock him. And OH do I rock him! I've sat in there for an hour, just for the pleasure of holding him in my arms. In those moments, there's no place in the world I'd rather be and nothing I'd rather be doing. So I drop everything, all my plans for prepping dinner or moving the laundry along or scrubbing toilets, and rock.

The Secrit Cubhos

2010-09-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spotted a refrigerator box on my neighbor's driveway and knew PBug had to have it! I sent Spud up the street and he lugged it home. We told PBug we had a surprise for her and when she saw it, her eyes grew wide and she asked "What is it?!"

Uh-oh. She thought her surprise was in the box!

"It's a big box, just for you!" I told her.

Even better!

Whew!

To me, this looks like a big, giant jumble of mess. Luckily for PBug, our backyard in currently in transition and I could care less what she does to it. (Pardon the dead grass, but we're replacing it with, well, we don't know yet, but it will be anything but grass! We just didn't want to water it all summer in the middle of a drought if we're not even keeping it.)

Turns out, the box itself was a better surprise than anything that could have been in the box. She promptly turned it into her clubhouse, complete with "The Secrit Cubhos" sign. She drew windows and doors and had Spud cut them out for her - some she specified to be cut all the way out, and some she wanted uncut on one side so she could close them. She even has a skylight! She's dragged all kinds of materials out there, including glue, Post-its, Wiki-Stix, thumbtacks (given to her by Spud when he discovered that she was using discarded construction nails to nails things to the walls inside - great except that she had nails sticking about three inches out the outside!), chalk, crayons, sticks, rocks... and I'm sure the list is going to be even more extensive than that before long!

My neighbor stopped by yesterday morning to borrow a skillet and saw what great use her box is being put to. She suggested I make curtains for it, but I was thinking maybe I'd give PBug some fabric and let her make curtains for it. I was also thinking of letting her paint it. But I'm not so sure if I should interfere. Instead I think I might just wait and see what else she does with the box on her own.

Follow Up

2010-09-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here with my feet up because I have these darn plantar warts on the ball of my foot that I've been having treated since March and my foot hurts so bad I can't stand it. I have crutches but I can't use them because they're so painful on my wrists. On Friday the podiatrist put this blister beetle juice (yes, that would be the actual juice from a blister beetle!) on the cluster of warts which causes a giant blister to develop. (On Saturday I had to pop it myself with a sterile needle he gave me - UGH!) I have to go in again this Friday so he can clip the dead skin and warts off. This is the third time I've had this particular treatment since July. My house is an absolute disaster because my foot is killing me (apparently I'm the only one who cleans around here), so here I sit. Please send me good vibes that they actually go away this time!!

I wanted to follow up yesterday's post about PBug's kindergarten situation. I am a little upset about how the whole thing is going down so far, but I wanted to write a post today about why, on the other hand, I'm not too terribly upset about it. Not yet, anyway. (Now if things don't change soon, I might be singing a different tune!)

At the very least, PBug is having a lot of fun at school. They do a lot of singing and arts and crafts and they listen to stories every day. She has P.E. and computer lab and library time. She has a group of friends she adores. They've dubbed themselves the "Super Girls" and have already had two after school group play dates. In this sense I'm very pleased. They are doing a lot of busy work right now, but Spud and I are really holding out hope that this new teacher will turn things around as soon as she gets her bearings.

I know I said I would never be able to home school PBug, and that's true. But I have been able to teach PBug a lot of things, and it works because there's no pressure. Homeschooling (for me) would be a pressure situation, which cause me to be impatient (much to my dismay), which would cause PBug to rebel and not want to do anything. But since the learning we do it isn't technically "homeschooling," just mommy/PBug time, it works. I've been teaching her how to read, but I don't feel pressure to push it if she doesn't feel like doing it. If we miss a day - or a week - of reading practice, it's no big deal. We just pick up where we left off the next time we feel like it.

I'm hopeful that those first three weeks were just a blip on the radar. At least she's only there three and a half hours, so we get to spend our afternoons doing whatever we want. For now, at least until I know they've started reading groups in school, I'm going to continue working with her on reading. Right now she's really excited about her reading so I'm running with it. I don't have to worry about writing because she writes all the time. I guess writing just comes naturally, because I never taught her how to write, she just does it. She even has a feelings journal that she keeps by her bed to write in when she's upset (she's a passionate little girl, so she gets upset a lot!). When she writes her feelings down, in complete sentences by the way, I can always understand what she wrote. This summer PBug surprised herself by counting to 100 and then kept going. I figure if I just keep doing whatever I've been doing, she'll be okay.

And we still have plenty of time leftover to do all of the other things that we love. In the afternoons we cook and bake together a lot. We spend a lot of time reading, right now the Little House in the Big Woods. She asks a million questions about the stories we read and we spend a lot of time talking about the stories and imagining them. Sometimes I set up an art project for her. Right now she's spending a lot of time in her new refrigerator box clubhouse in the backyard (more on that in another post), and she's constantly coming in requesting things like hammers or glue. A couple of time a week she watches a tv show - right now Sid the Science Kid or Super Why are her favorites, but I'm excited to surprise her soon with the DVD of Little House on the Prairie that came in the mail yesterday. All of these things, even the tv which provides her with some down time, are hugely important in my opinion.

I'm a huge, huge fan of public education. But a little piece of me has felt from the beginning that I could have just kept PBug home in the first place - no preschool, no kindergarten - and she would still be learning all she needs to learn and more. I am not even a big believer that children need to be in a classroom for socialization. Honestly the best thing about school for us is that we, she and I and our particular relationship, need a little bit of time apart each week. School gives us that.

I feel like that was a terribly rambling post. My apologies! I can't wait to start posting more about some of the culture activities we'll be doing to prepare for our trip to Europe next summer! I promise to make those shorter!

Kindergarten Update

2010-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

I had sincerely hoped that homeschooling would be an option for us, but the reality is that I'm just not cut out for it. I have profound flaws as a parent, many of which would make for a disaster if I were to attempt homeschooling PBug. I seem to have patience for everyone else's kid but my own. I don't know how to describe it because I'm still learning how to deal with my parenting shortcomings. I'll just say that I believe homeschooling would damage our relationship and make learning unenjoyable for PBug, which would both be disastrous results.

Fortunately, one of my parenting strengths is knowing my weaknesses! Therefore, we knew we'd be sending PBug to kindergarten somewhere, we just weren't sure where. Keeping her in Montessori would have been a dream come true, but affording three mornings a week for one year was a challenge - it wasn't going to happen! (In my next life I definitely plan on having enough money to send all my kids to Montessori. Or maybe I'll just plan on having more patience for my own kids...)

There are a few Montessori charter schools in our area that we could have considered, but I had to think of Little Man. The schools are a distance from our house, and I'm learning that baby #2 already spends far more time strapped into car seats and strollers than baby #1 ever had to endure. I didn't think it would be fair to him to drag him along on his big sister's commute to school twice a day. Between school pick-ups, drop-offs, play dates, errand running and soccer games, he needs as much time to hang out and play around the house as he can get. So that option was out, too.

That left two options: our neighborhood school, or Spud's school.

First, we decided on Spud's school. The best part was that we were able to hand-pick the world's greatest kindergarten teacher. I loved the fact that they're be planting a garden and hatching chicks in the spring. The school is only about a ten minute commute from our house on the freeway, but it has full-day kindergarten. She'd be able to go with Spud to school in the morning and come home with him in the afternoon. I was going out of my mind with frustration last year, because she would behave like an angel in preschool and then come home and let the devil out all over me, so full-day kinder was looking mighty attractive!

But the closer we got to making a decision, the colder my feet got. PBug would have to go to bed and get up extra early in order to get enough sleep and have a full breakfast (the two most important functions in a child's life) make it there by 7:30, which is when Spud has to be there. School doesn't end until 2:30, and Spud can't leave with the bell. I realized I'd only see her for 3-4 hours, most of which would be taken up with making dinner, eating dinner, cleaning up dinner, doing homework, taking baths, and our bedtime routine. In other words: no down time. As much as Spud was looking forward to having her at his school, I realized that I wasn't ready to give up all my lazy, relaxing free time with her just yet.

In the end, we decided to send her to our neighborhood school. It's a good school, and I've heard only wonderful things about it. PBug didn't get the teacher we were told we wanted, and the teacher she did get, Mrs. B, has a very different teaching style than we would have liked. From what I gleaned after an hour of Back to School and an hour of volunteering in the classroom, she is lenient and unorganized - which isn't to say that she's not a great teacher! So we tried to look on the bright side, figuring maybe PBug could benefit from a more relaxed environment at school since we tend to be more on the strict and regimented side at home. We tried not to worry about the fact that the second week of school was being reserved for learning all about the color red.

Or that the third week they would focus on yellow.

Yesterday morning, after having substitute teachers all last week, we were greeted by a new teacher who told us that Mrs. B wouldn't be coming back and that she, Mrs. I, would be there until the end of the year. PBug was crushed. You may recall that this very thing happened to her last year, when her [phenomenal] preschool teacher had to leave after just a month because she'd been diagnosed with cancer. Yesterday was the first day I ever had to leave my child at school crying, and I was pretty pi$$ed that the school didn't take the time to call us the night before to warn us. Mrs. B didn't even say goodbye to the kids.

I did my best to comfort PBug before I left, promising her that this isn't how it normally works and that it wouldn't happen every year, secretly hoping that I wasn't lying to her. I was scheduled to come in and help that morning, but Mrs. I asked that I not so that she could focus on getting to know the kids. When I picked PBug up after school I asked her about her new teacher and she said "I got the hang of her."

I'm not totally digging the kindergarten thing yet because from what I can tell my daughter spends a whole lot of time doing dot-to-dots and letter tracing dittos every day. There's been no journal writing, no language lessons, and they've been "exploring" the math manipulatives for three weeks now. No evidence of any science or art. But we're back to square one with this new teacher and we'll have to see how it goes. I have no idea what happened to Mrs. B, but I sure hope Mrs. I is in it for the long haul!

I've been busy...

2010-09-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

...creating a new blog, Recipes For Our Particular Brand of Picky. I thought it would be a great way to have all of the recipes I make for my family in one place. It's an ongoing project, of course! I'm writing it to my kids, so that someday they'll be able to go there and find everything they need if they're looking for one of their favorites. Check it out! Some of them will be your standard, run-of-the-mill pancake recipes and such, but if you're anything like me, your radar is always out for new recipes that the family will enjoy. Maybe you'll find something there. If you do, let me know how it goes!

A Quick Rundown on Hand Sanitizers

2010-09-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

My research is unscientific, but here's what I've gleaned from my reading regarding hand sanitizers:

They are toxic. They contain triclosan, which is an endocrine disruptor.

They are often ineffective anyway, especially when not used correctly. Read this, it makes a lot of sense.

They have a negative environmental impact.

If your child's teacher insists on using hand sanitizer, try Hand Sanz or Cleanwell if you'd like a safer alternative. Or you can find a harmful ingredients list here to check your labels against. Or go to Skin Deep's Cosmetic Database to determine how safe your products are.

Who knows if these alternatives are any more effective than Purell, but at least they won't do any harm. PBug has her own little bottle in her cubby, and when they start doling it out to the rest of the class she gets her own.

Little House in the Suburbs

2010-09-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

The other day I started reading Little House in the Big Woods to PBug. She's completely enthralled! So far we've read three chapters and it's been nothing but description of how the Ingalls family lived 150 years ago. When I read the part about how Pa killed the deer and the pig, then the family butchered them, smoked them, and stored them for the winter, she listened with wide eyes and bated breath! Afterward she said "Thank you for reading me this book, mom!"

Switch gears with me for a minute. This is how I spent my morning:

Picked up organic tomatoes (mine have stopped producing - BOO!) and bought them out of organic red bell peppers (HARD to find and even harder to grow!) at the farmer's market

Put babies down for morning nap

Cleaned and sliced peppers, laid them out on cookie sheets, froze them

Made enchilada sauce from scratch using all fresh ingredients for Thursday night's dinner

Composted my kitchen scraps

Soaked and started cooking pinto beans for tonight's dinner

Gathered eggs from the chickens and gave them fresh water

Took cloth diapers off the clothesline

Cleaned toilets with vinegar and baking soda

Then I saw a reflection of myself in my apron with my handful of eggs, basket of clean, dry diapers, onion goggles perched on top of my head - and laughed!

Now, I realize I'm a far cry from Mrs. Ingalls. After all, I doubt she got her clothesline at Home Depot, her baking soda from Costco, and looked up her recipes online. She certainly wouldn't have blogged about it! But I'm also a far cry from myself. The me from about seven years ago, that is.

Seven years ago I not only wouldn't have made my own enchilada sauce, I wouldn't have made my own enchiladas. In fact, Spud and I most likely would have eaten out!

Seven years ago I would have bought beans in a can (what a waste of money!), and I would have bought my eggs at the store.

Seven years ago, I'm not sure I even understood what a compost pile is and why someone would want one in their backyard.

Seven years ago, I wouldn't have entertained the possibility of using cloth diapers OR a clothesline.

Seven years ago, I would have wasted my money on toilet bowl cleaner.

As I was working today, I found it ironic that all of the things I was doing have alternative, more convenient methods for achieving similar results.

Like disposable diapers.

Canned foods.

Clothes dryers.

Superfluous cleaning products.

Methods that are coined as progress.

I found it ironic how that my personal progress looks very different than the conventional idea of progress. After all, if I swapped my method of doing these chores for conventional methods, I would have shaved about two and a half hours off of my time!

But you know what? I love cooking from scratch. I love the satisfaction of tending to my own garden/compost pile/chickens. The quality of our eggs. The smell of my laundry when I take it off the line. The comfort of knowing we're not eating food that's had chemicals leached into it by the cans they were stored in. The money we save.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

While I'm not going to be churning my own butter or making my own headcheese a la Little House any time soon, I love the satisfaction I get from my work. Even - especially - when I do it the hard way.

How about you? What chores do you do the hard way?

P.S. The onion goggles are the best $20 I ever spent.

Thanks...

2010-09-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

...for letting me blow off some steam about kindergarten snack. I knew I could come here and find support from some like-minded people, and I was (mostly) right. It's comforting to know that there are people out there who understand how I feel about this, because I often feel very alone. Sometimes it makes me sad.

I understand why my post could cause people who still eat conventionally to roll their eyes. But my kids are my kids, I get to be the one who decides what's best for them - and it's NOT Cheese-Its and Handisnacks. I am informed enough to be confident that I'm making the best choices for my kids. Most of the food products in our supermarkets are making people sick, and if my kids ever got sick, at least I wouldn't have to worry that I did something in my knowledge to cause it.

I am responsible for my kids, and that's the bottom line.

My Bubble Has Burst!

2010-09-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Kindergarten has forced me out of the parenting bubble I've been sheltered in for the last five years.

Particularly in the realm of FOOD.

Oh, how I'm wishing homeschooling had been a reasonable option for our family right about now!

PBug's teacher prefers that one child bring snack for the entire class each day. We did this last year in preschool and it was fine. The preschool teacher requested only whole foods, nothing processed. At the time I remember feeling uncomfortable that PBug was getting three snacks each week that weren't necessarily organic!

Fast forward a year and my world has been rocked! PBug's teacher has put absolutely no restrictions on what parents may send for snack. In fact, she went so far as to tell the group of parents at the Back To School meeting that she would prefer if cupcakes and treats were saved for birthdays, and if we started sending cupcakes all the time she would just pass them out at the end of the day and send our hyped up kids home with us so she wouldn't have to deal with them.

I'm astonished at the kinds of snacks I've seen pass through the doors in only eight days of school.

Snackwells cookies.

Gummy fruit snacks.

Cheez-Its.

Ritz crackers.

Handisnacks Crackers and Cheez. (I'm fearful of any product that is not even allowed to spell 'cheese' correctly on it's packaging.)

Chocolate chip cookies. (Okay, these were for a birthday. But even Spud's school has stopped allowing sweet treats for birthdays. Personally, I find them unnecessary. With anywhere from 20 go 34 kids per class, that's WAY too many junky, sweet treats in school.)

Not to mention these kids are getting packaged juice EVERY day.

Holy.

Crap.

After the first day of school (during which the children were served cookies and juice) I told the teacher that PBug is not allowed to have artificial colors as they cause her to behave violently, and that we are, in fact, still trying to work through her food issues and would prefer to send her to school with her own snack so that we can continue to monitor what she eats. (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!) A stretch of the truth, but it gave me a free pass. I can breath easy.

I really didn't want to make any kind of deal out of it. I didn't want the teacher to announce it to the other parents as she did for the kid with the nut allergy (which is far more socially acceptable than a "reaction" to food dyes). I want to be as quiet about it as possible. I still don't want to be THAT mom. But Spud and I are PBug's best advocates. We feel incredibly strongly about what she eats and we are ultimately responsible for her health. So I put myself out there for my kid. Luckily the teacher was totally fine with it, and it has not been an issue - at all. So far I have been sending PBug to school with homemade zucchini muffins or homemade soft pretzels, and I don't have to worry about the processed garbage that she would otherwise be eating.

The kind of food I feed my family is such a personal decision, and I've done a lot of research and reading to determine my standards for what goes into their bodies.
The thought of PBug going to school and eating processed junk with zero nutritional value every day for an entire year made me sick to my stomach. I know that I won't have control of my kid's diets forever, but at five years old I'm not ready to hand over the reins just yet. If she went to a friend's house and was served crackers and cheez, I might cringe, but I'd get over it in about two seconds.

This is every day.

I had to put my foot down, even if I was the ooooooooonly mom out of 22 moms.

Oh, and don't get me started on the hand sanitizer they're trying to laden my child with every day! Oh please don't get me started! I'll just say that I found a less-toxic alternative, slipped it into her cubby, and instructed her to discretely use it when they try to give her the other stuff... so far, so good ;)

I am coming to terms with being "that" mom, but I really hope PBug doesn't end up being "that weird kid" who brings her own snacks and uses "special" hand sanitizer.

How about you? Have you had to deal with a situation in school that went against your values or beliefs? How did you handle it?

Meet the Lovely Ladies!

2010-08-26T20:47:00.001-07:00

That's Shirley on the left, Imogen is next to her (Jenny for short), Nellie is next to her (named by PBug after one of Charlotte's babies in Charlotte's Web, her favorite book) and Laverne on the right (Spud is responsible for naming the duo).

Can I just say I love having backyard chickens?! I never want to go back to buying eggs. This summer we were given four chickens, a coop, and all the necessary equipment to keep backyard chickens from a friend. I'd been considering chickens for quite awhile but didn't want to take the plunge and buy a coop just to discover it wasn't for me. Now I know that it would have been well worth the investment if I'd had to pay for everything, but I'm stoked that I didn't!

First of all, it's nearly impossible to find humane eggs in the grocery store. Farmer's markets maybe. (Click here for the best guide I've come across for explaining those egg carton claims.) After having these quirky and entertaining birds as pets, I don't want to buy eggs from chickens that may have had their beaks cut or no access to the outdoors. What better way to stick it to those big conglomerate chicken farms?

The plus side to having backyard chickens is that I know exactly what's going in to my girls to ensure that what comes out is high quality. I can buy organic feed and only give them organic kitchen scraps. They can graze in an organic yard.

Chickens are super low-maintenance - They require food and water, they need their eggs collected daily (during which time I add a little padding to their nests), and their poop cleaned out every week or so. They eat bugs, weeds, and kitchen scraps. Their poop is great fertilizer for your garden. (Speaking of poop, simple good hygiene is all you need to prevent any spreading of germs.) They're entertaining. They don't ask for much from their humans.

The downsides? Well, we have more flies around than we've ever had before, but since we've never had any flies before, I guess it's not so bad. And two nights ago one of our cats brought a mouse to the back door - presumably lured to our yard by chicken scratch. Well, at least we have a cat! And while the chickens are normally surprisingly quiet (we don't have a rooster!), every once in a while one or two of them will get noisy around five in the morning. Since I don't want our neighbors to despise us, I open the back door and throw some tortilla chips at them to shut them up. This has only happened two or three times.

My favorite thing about having chickens is that my kids get to can experience where our eggs come from. They will understand. They will get it. That alone makes it worth it. I highly recommend backyard chickens!

Now if I could only talk my husband in to letting me get a cow...

Hello, Everyone!

2010-08-26T10:06:00.001-07:00

It's been quite a dry spell for me. I haven't blogged in three months! But suddenly I have the urge to get back on the horse and start writing stuff down! Not sure if anyone is still reading, but here's a run-down of our summer:

After much contemplation, I decided not to open a day care. I'm going to continue to babysit for Little Sprout three days a week, although Sprout has started preschool and will no longer be coming to me.

PBug "graduated" from preschool.

We did some home improvement - adding square footage to our living space and updating our floors. Next up - revamping the backyard!

PBug was a flower girl in a family wedding and was fabulous!

Over the summer we held our art group every Wednesday morning for eight weeks and made a lot of fun projects. Art group is now back to the first (and sometimes third) Saturdays.

PBug turned five.

We went camping, to the beach, and to Lake Tahoe a few times.

I traded time with a friend - I worked with her two year old on Montessori-based activities in order to prep her for her new preschool and she worked with PBug on reading and writing.

We got four chickens from a friend and have been enjoying a bounty of eggs. No need to concern ourselves with any egg recalls!

Little Man turned one, but not before he started walking and signing like crazy. He is a mama's boy and a tantrum thrower, and nap times are the only breaks I get!

PBug started playing on her first soccer team, which Spud is coaching.

I spent my summer trying new recipes, reading good books, and enjoying my new subscription to Netflix!

Spud spent his summer freaking out over how we're going to afford four plane tickets to Germany and obsessively looking up flights.

And Tuesday, PBug started going to kindergarten in the mornings at our local public school.

Perhaps that's why I have the itch to blog... PBug is away for 3 1/2 hours a day and I have two little ones taking their morning naps. It remains to be seen what kinds of posts I'll be writing, but I'm hoping to start posting a little more often.

PBug's kindergarten program sounds like it leans heavily on language arts, so I'm hoping to spend some time with her in the afternoons on some fun Montessori activities. Spud and I are planning a trip to Germany next summer for a friend's wedding and we're seriously considering taking the kids. (Long story short, I don't think I can leave them for two weeks, and if we take them with us, we can stay as long as we want! Well, at least until school starts!) Anyway, I am planning some Montessori-based cultural activities to do with PBug to teach her about Europe, and specifically Germany, before taking her abroad.

What have you been up to?

Charitable Giving Update

2010-05-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted, I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately... too many other things going on, including the fact that I've made it a priority to get more sleep!

My last posts were about an idea I had to allow PBug to choose a charity for her friends to donate to in lieu of gifts on her birthday. I haven't re-read my post or the comments since I wrote them so I only have a vague recollection of what was written, but I really seem to have struck a nerve! I feel like people didn't read all of or understand my posts, or maybe I didn't make points clear, so I'm addressing those issues.

First of all, this was my idea, one that she responded to positively, but it will be her choice whether she carries it out or not. In no way would I ever force this on her, or even coax her in my direction! True, I do hope she does it, and I have manufactured some experiences so that she can feel the pleasure of giving (for example, we called the local animal shelter to find out what they needed, then bought kitten food and delivered it - a very rewarding experience for her!), but she will make her final decision without interference from me. She probably knows I'd like her to do it since it was my idea, but I'm also confident that she's comfortable turning my idea down.

Second, I also mentioned that she will receive plenty of gifts for her birthday: from her father and I, from both sets of grandparents, and from her aunties. PBug also understands this. No child needs more presents than that anyway. Trust me, she will get plenty of presents. She will get more presents than she needs. The fact is, she doesn't need anything, which is the whole point of the exercise.

Third, we started talking about this in January. We've been talking about it every so often since then, so when the time comes for her to make her decision, it will be an informed one. If she chooses to do it, I may be a little bit nervous about her reaction when people show up to her party without gifts for her, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The truth is, I think it will be fine. If not, I'm positive it will be fine after she drops off her donation.

Finally, I realize that many people may still be tempted to bring a gift for PBug in addition to the donation. I've been thinking about ways to avoid this but I'm not overly concerned about it. IF she chooses this, I plan on making it very clear that gifts will not be expected, and I think our friends will cooperate.

I realize that this is a very unorthodox direction to go for a five year-old's birthday, but I believe I have an unorthodox child. She is giving and kind, and I want to nurture these character traits. There is no rule that a child must get presents from her friends on her birthday. I think five is the perfect age to try this experiment. She's old enough to understand that there are others in greater need than herself, but she has not developed the "gimmes" yet.

Let me regroup! I'm sorry for my defensiveness. Frankly, I was surprised by the reaction I got from these posts. I expected unconditional support from my loyal readers and instead I was challenged - by loyal readers and strangers alike! I'm cool with that. In fact, I'm glad you're keeping me in check - don't be afraid to challenge me in the future! Good to know that PBug has the blogging world looking out for her! I just don't want to come off looking like Mommy Dearest, not letting my kid have presents on her birthday.

PBug's birthday is June 24th and I hope you'll keep an open mind about my experiment. I am not approaching this lightly or without considering her feelings. I firmly believe this would be a better experience for her than receiving a plethora or gifts, but I am certainly not going to be disappointed in her if she chooses presents over charity. I realize that there will be more than enough oppotunities for charitable giving in her life. Stay tuned...

Charitable Giving: Blazing Your Own Trail

2010-03-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend PBug went to a birthday party for a classmate. She was so excited to go and she had a ball picking out a gift for her. I took the opportunity beforehand to talk about her own birthday. I mentioned that there would probably be a lot of kids at Lana's party, and that they would all be bringing her a gift. I said it was going to be very exciting to watch Lana open all of her presents, and that she would probably get a whole lot of toys that look like a lot of fun. I mentioned that it might make her feel like she wanted to get a lot of presents for her birthday, too, instead of having her friends bring a donation.

I was driving at the time, and she was suddenly very quiet in the backseat. Then she said she wanted all of her friends to bring her presents on her birthday. I told her that was okay, that she still had three months to decide so she can change her mind if she wants to.

Later, I told PBug that if she decides not to ask for the charity donations, then we will have a small family party at home like we have in the past. I was simply honest and explained that I wasn't comfortable inviting all of her classmates and gymnastics friends to a party because I don't think it's fair to their families to spend their money on a present for a child they don't know very well. I reminded her that whatever she decides, she will still get presents.

In the end, the child who's party we attended didn't even open her presents in front of her guests because the children were having too much fun playing to stop. PBug has a birthday party to go to this weekend, and another one next weekend. I'm sure there will be even more before her own birthday. All of these parties might make her decisoin hard on her. I reeeeally want her to decide to do the donations, so I have concocted a stealthy (but fair!) plan to steer her in that direction. Stay tuned!

Charitable Giving: Getting the Kid On Board!

2010-03-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

PBug was already aware that there are some people - kids and grown-ups alike - who don't have homes or enough food or clothes, let alone toys to play with. She knew what "homeless" means, she knew that some kids don't have parents, and she knew that some kids don't get anything for Christmas. Every year at Christmas we sponsor a child or two and she goes with me to the store to pick out gifts. This past Christmas my mom took all the kids to the fire station to drop off toys for the Toys For Tots drive. Whenever I do a Goodwill run, she contributes. I don't know if she knew the word 'charity,' but I know she understood the concept.

I brought up the idea of choosing a charity to sponsor for her birthday casually. I told her that I had an idea, and asked how she would like to share her birthday presents with people who need help. I told her she could invite all of her friends to a big birthday party, and instead of bringing presents, she could ask them to bring donations for a charity that she picks.

Her first response was something along the lines of "No thanks." So I explained to her that she would still get presents. I told her that daddy and I would get her a present, and Nana and grandpa, and grammy and gramps, and auntie would all give her presents. I said "Think of it like this. You could have a party and get twenty presents for yourself -" (She nodded enthusiastically at this) "- and the people you could help would get zero." (Frown.) "Or you can get five presents for yourself and help fifteen people get what they need." (More enthusiastic nodding.) That explanation was all it took and she's been on board ever since.

We talked at length that day about the different kinds of charities there are and the different kinds of people and animals that they help. At one point during the conversation I mentioned that there are some people in the world who don't have clean water to drink. She was very interested in this, and suggested sending those children toys. I explained that if you didn't have clean water to drink, you would be sick all the time and you probably might not even feel well enough to play with toys. Then I asked her if she didn't have clean water and she was sick, would she rather have clean water to drink or a new toy. We had a wonderful conversation about needs versus wants and I got great insight into how wonderfully thoughtful a four year-old can be.

Charitable Giving

2010-03-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

Shortly after Christmas I hatched a plan involving PBug's birthday, which isn't until June. I presented PBug with the idea of having her friends bring donations for a charity to her birthday party in lieu of gifts.

PBug LOVES kids, and she wants to invite the whole world to her birthday party every year. I'm not comfortable inviting everyone on her list because it feels like we're soliciting gifts. By asking for donations to a charity instead of gifts, I'm glad to invite everyone she asks for because they'll be supporting a good cause, and PBug gets to have the big, giant party she dreams of. Truly, she cares more about the friendly companionship than the gifts anyway.

I've heard about people doing this kind of thing for their kids birthdays and have dismissed the idea in the past. After all, what kid would willingly give up presents and why would you even bother suggesting it? Now that PBug is older, I realize that she's exactly the kind of kid who might be willing to do this and I think five is the perfect age to try. She's incredibly empathetic and one of the most generous, giving kids I've ever known. She's always shared willingly, even when she was very young. I can't recall a time when she's ever taken a toy away from another kid (not that it's never happened!), and she rarely protests when another kid takes a toy away from her. In fact, sometimes I think she's generous to a fault.

Could these traits transfer to a selfless act such as trading birthday presents in support of a charity? That's what I've set out to discover. This is a process that involves more than just the day of her birthday and we've already been undergoing it for over two months. I'll continue to write quick posts about our experiences, and I'd love to hear from you, too!

Artificial Colors: One Year Later

2010-02-24T09:24:00.001-08:00

Valentine's Day marked the one year anniversary of our decision to eliminate artificial colors from PBug's life. I use the word 'life' instead of 'diet' because they weren't really a part of her diet to begin with, they would just show up in her life every once in awhile. On that day, my sister-in-law brought PBug a red velvet cupcake. Later that evening, PBug was hitting, biting, and clawing her dad with unexplainable fury over a minor behavior correction. We were at the end of our rope and we knew SOMETHING had to change!

We've come a long way in a year. We obviously don't have rock-solid proof that artificial colors are to blame for PBug's erratic, violent, uncontrollable behavior, but I've been in the trenches and I don't doubt it for a second. In the beginning I had "Maybe I'm wrong..." thoughts, but after a year of hypersensitivity to the issue, Spud and I know with absolute certainty that PBug just can't handle artificial colors.

PBug went to a birthday party a few weeks ago and, being lax about our rule for the first time that I can remember, she had a piece of birthday cake. The frosting was white with very dark blue and green frosting. PBug, as always, licked her plate clean - literally. What ensued was probably the most dreadful, awful week of my existence. She lost all control, and each day for five days she spiraled further and further out of control until I barely recognized her. She wasn't as physically violent with us as she was a year ago, (although there was some violence), instead she was erratic, emotional, short-tempered and simply crazy. I'll spare the details, but on the fifth day I cried at least four times.

Then, as if it had all been a bad dream, she woke up one morning and our sweet girl was back.

The whole incident was the perfect reminder for us - artificial colors are JUST. NOT. WORTH IT. If I was worried before about being that mom, the one who brings her kid to a birthday party with her own piece of homemade cake, I'm not now! Spud and I both agreed that we just don't care what other people think! If people want to think we're nuts for believing our theory, they're perfectly welcome to.

PBug is incredibly mature about all of this. She's still in the process of learning which foods contain artificial colors. For example, last summer when she went to pirate day camp for a week, she turned down the colored goldfish crackers because she knew them to contain colors, but she ate the Fruit Loops that were offered because she didn't know (she didn't even know what a Fruit Loop was). These days if someone offers her food she's not familiar with, she always asks first if it has artificial colors (she's gotten some pretty funny looks!).

A couple of weeks ago, a five year-old neighbor offered her pop rocks. When PBug asked if they had artificial colors in them, the child, who had no idea what she was talking about, told her no. Luckily, PBug used her better judgement and didn't eat them. Instead she came and asked me, and when I told her they did she turned them down. Later I used the incident to explain to her that there are certain colors that you just won't find in nature, and the electric blue on that candy was one of them!

This year on Valentine's Day the children were asked not to bring candy. Of course, a handful of them did anyway! They were not allowed to eat them at school and PBug came home with two suckers and one bag of Sweethearts. As always, I traded her suckers for one from my organic stash that I keep on hand. The Sweethearts, however, became an issue. It was one of the rare occasions when I told her she couldn't have something and she really, really wanted it! She cried and did a little begging, but still the answer was no. In the end, she decided to give them to her daddy and hid them under his pillow so he would find the treat when he went to bed that night. If she'd had colors in her system at the time, she would have spiraled out of control and the whole day would have been a wasteland of angry, screaming, violent tantrums.

The sweet girl who left the candy under her daddy's pillow is the one I much prefer to have around :)

Handmade Valentines

2010-02-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last week I asked PBug if she wanted to make valentines for her class or buy them. She responded, "Make them, because none of my shoes fit me anymore." I discovered her reasoning later. She told me that we needed to save our money for new shoes, so we shouldn't buy valentines... my little frugalista!

Because she LOVES using the hole puncher right now, I showed her this project on The Artful Parent and she was excited to try it. She put her own spin on it, of course.

I took her to Michael's where she picked out poster board, ribbon, and stickers. I cut the posterboard into 24 pieces and she drew a heart on each piece. We cut the hearts out together. As it turned out, the poster board was too thick for her to punch holes through, so I ended up doing that step for her. I cut the ribbon into strips and started a piece in each heart by taping it to the back. She laced the ribbons through (she worked on them over the course of three days and I'm pretty sure she suckered her dad into doing a few for her while I wasn't home), and then decorated them with stickers and signed her name on each.

She was so excited to go to school this morning and hand her valentines out to her friends!

Montessori Wednesday

2010-02-10T17:11:00.001-08:00

Last week I introduced Color Box #3, but I only gave Sprout the odd numbered tablets. By taking out three of the middle tablets, the contrast in shades is greater, thus easier for her to grasp the initial concept. I'm pretty sure I'm taking great liberties with the Montessori method by doing this, but I like the flexibility it offers me with a number of the materials. I ended up sending home four shades each of five colors.

I made the tablets for color box #3 using paint swatches from Home Depot glued to foam poster board. I store them in a bead box from Michael's. Not perfect, but they've worked for us.

Today Sprout wanted to work on language activities so that's what we did. I took a leap of faith and got out the movable alphabet, and it paid off. I told her that she was going to spell, and that spelling means making words with sounds. I showed her the box and we went through the letters one at a time, saying them as I pointed to them. I set out a picture of a pot and told her to find that sounds in the box that she heard in the word... and she did! She did five words before she was ready to move on.

She noticed that all of the words had three letters and that the middle letter was always red, so I explained that the red letters are vowels and the blue letters are consonants. She'll probably remember that, considering she goes around pointing out pteranadons and ovoids.

In case you're curious, our bargain version of the movable alphabet can be found here, but I'm pretty darn sure I didn't pay that much for it - or even close.

Next week I won't have the girls since the school district is taking the week off.

My Montessori Big Kid

2010-01-27T12:42:00.000-08:00

Today I started to make lunch and PBug stopped me.

"Mom, I want a turkey sandwich for lunch," she said.

"Okay," I responded.

"I want to make it myself."

Pause.

"Okay... sure."

And she did!

The only thing she needed help with was opening the mustard! I know she's not the first kid who ever made her own sandwich, but for some reason I'm super proud of her!

Montessori Wednesday

2010-01-27T10:49:00.000-08:00

While I've been slacking on our Montessori Wednesday posts, Montessori Wednesday itself has been going very well. And today I actually took pictures! Sprout is SO enthusiastic about our preschool time, and she especially loves the language activities. As I mentioned before, she is working in period two in every area except language, which she's ahead in. So today, I "saved the best for last."

While I got babies down for naps and prepared for our lessons, she poured water. She's been really into pouring lately.

We did some work with the geometric solids. I introduced the very last one: ovoid. She knows all nine of solids so well at this point: cube, sphere, cylinder, cone, pyramid, rectangular prism, triangular prism, ellipsoid, and of course ovoid. I had her do a sort using ellipsoid and ovoid to make sure she understood the difference. Ovoids are narrow on one end and wide on the other, while ellipsoids are symmetrical. She did great.

Then I had her sort the solids into three families: flat sided solids, curved sided solids, and flat-and-curved sided solids. She was a little distracted during this exercise, but it was review and I could tell she still understood.

Finally, I blindfolded her and put the solids into her hands one-by-one so she could identify them. She did it so quickly and so accurately that I thought she was peeking, but she wasn't :)

Next I taught her the binomial cube. I demonstrated it twice. The first time, I actually narrated what I was doing, the second time I didn't talk. Then she had her turn. This one is going to take some practice. It was pretty challenging for her, but not out of her reach. I'm going to leave it out on the coffee table at my house until she gets really good at it, then I'll send it home so she can impress her parents.

Here she is taking it apart:

Now she's putting it back together:

Oops! I love this material because it really makes kids THINK! If you're not familiar with the binomial cube, I'll tell you that this:

is a mess! This was her first attempt. She did it three times and got better and better each time. She has shown more interest in puzzles lately, so I think this will hold her interest for awhile.

Finally, we did some language practice. She's so far beyond the rhyming and sorting activities that I think she'll be ready to start reading soon. Today I said "If you keep it up you'll be reading books soon. Would you like to read a book?" She responded "Sure, why wouldn't I?"

Anyway, we reviewed her word slider cards and I added three more: 'leg,' 'jet,' and 'sun.' She actually read 'leg' and 'jet' before seeing the picture. She now has fifteen words that she's practicing.

I made her a new game using some of the new words I've introduced and a few of the old. I have her choose a word first and then find the matching picture. If she does it the other way, she gets them all wrong:

When she is done she can check her work:

Tone Matching

2010-01-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

My grandma gave PBug a set of hand bells from Pottery Barn Kids a year or ago for Christmas. Immediately I knew they would make a perfect Montessori activity - if only I had another set. I looked into buying one but they were $50 so I didn't. This weekend we were at the mall - we always stop into Pottery Barn Kids so PBug can play - and I saw a set of tabletop bells marked down to $30. I couldn't pass them up. I'm SO glad I bought them, they make a super-fun activity!

PBug lines the tabletop bells up from low to high on the coffee table (they're numbered, which makes it pretty easy :).

I sit behind her (On the couch. With my feet up.) and ring a random bell while she finds the match. She loves playing and I can only assume that it's a great way to train her ear for when she starts playing an instrument. Currently, she always starts with the first bell and tries them all until she finds the match. I imagine the more we play, the easier it will be for her to directly to the matching bell, or at least close to it.

Thirty dollars well spent!

Journaling Update

2010-01-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

Journaling our nightly chapter book reading has been an ongoing activity that we all enjoy. We now have journal entries for each chapter of eight different books: four from the Magic Tree House series and four from the Pixie Tricks series.

About a week ago I finished up a chapter and, as always, picked up the journal and a pencil to take the dictation of PBug's sentence. This time, however, she decided she wanted to write the sentence herself. She's been writing her own entries ever since. We don't say anything or help in any way, we just let her write. It's so exciting to watch her take the lead and create her sentences. I'm looking forward to seeing her writing progress.

The first time she did it I asked if I could copy her sentence below in my own handwriting. She agreed and has expected me to do it ever since. It's been helpful because the more time that passes, the less able she is to read back her sentences (which is important when one parent misses a chapter and needs a review!).

She hasn't illustrated these yet, but here are the last two entries in her journal:

Fairy Houses

2010-01-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we took a day trip up to the snow and when we arrived home there was a package waiting for us on the porch - Fairy Houses was inside! I was about as excited as a four and a half year old! We read it right away and PBug immediately decided to build one of her own.

We still have some pumpkins leftover from our fall display so I suggested we use one of them to make our first house. I carved out the door according to her specifications and then we went out in the dark with a flashlight to pick the perfect location. Going out in the dark was actually a great way to find the perfect, hidden location for a fairy house!

In the morning we took the pumpkin outside and set up house following the rules of the woods.

PBug has been checking on her fairy house each day and giving us updates on it. She hasn't discovered any fairies inside yet, but she tidies it and does "home improvements" and sometimes she pretends to be the fairy.

Who knows, maybe one of these mornings she'll find that a fairy left some pixie dust behind ;)

Piano Lessons

2010-01-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

PBug has been asking for piano lessons for awhile now. I'm thrilled about this because I decided long ago, for various reasons I'm not willing to budge on, that learning an instrument would be a requirement for our children - just like school. Actually, she wants to learn to play the harp, but I told her she would have to learn to play the piano first. Neither Spud nor I are musical so I'm not really sure if this is true, but I figured I'd be hard pressed to find someone who can teach a four year old to play the harp.

My mom gave PBug a really nice keyboard for Christmas and I told her that she could take lessons if that's what she really wants to do. Little did I know, finding a piano teacher for a four year old would be a chore - most start at age seven. The only teachers who teach to kids her age use the Suzuki method. I had to do some research on this.

It's my understanding that the Suzuki method operates under the theory that children learn music the same way they learn language - through immersion. It focuses less on notation in the beginning and more on imitation - which intimidates me because imitation requires listening, something PBug is not very good at! While I uncovered a lot of criticism for this method, I decided I had to see it for myself.

Fortunately for us, the area we live in has one of the highest concentrations of Suzuki teachers in the world, so we didn't have to travel far. Today we observed two sisters, ages four and six, have their piano lessons. PBug was SO excited and couldn't wait for our observation! The four year old had her turn first, and PBug watched intently. I could tell she was in complete awe of the little girl. Her attention span didn't hold her long enough to watch the second sister's lesson, but she was sold. I talked with the girls' mom after their lesson and she had nothing but wonderful things to say about the teacher.

I feel like we're at a crossroads. The teacher gave me paperwork describing her expectations and policies. If we decide to allow PBug to take the lessons, we'll be making a huge commitment. I feel like we'll be jumping in the deep end! Between listening to the music, practicing the pieces, attending the lessons (twice a week in the beginning) and observations I feel like our lives could quickly become consumed by piano lessons.

On the other hand, now could be the best time to start. I don't want my kids to ever become "those" kids who have their schedules filled to the brim, and right now PBug is only in school three mornings a week, as opposed to the five full days she'll be in school next year. Her only other commitment is gymnastics once a week. She has a ton of free time to play, be creative, use her imagination and just be a kid, and to me that's more important than any lessons could ever be. And as I mentioned before, music will be a requirement at some point anyway, perhaps I should allow her to start while her interest is high and she doesn't know it's a requirement!

The price is right, the teacher seems fabulous, and PBug is just waiting for me to say yes. I think I'm just nervous to set piano lessons in motion because it will be one more big change right on the heels of my decision to open a daycare next fall. I'm feeling overstimulated! Has anyone out there had any experience with any of this?

A New Chapter

2010-01-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

Who knows where our lives will take us? Sometimes I like to imagine where mine will take me but the truth is I've always been perfectly happy doing exactly what I'm doing at any given time. Some people might think I'm just another housewife, but I have some lofty dreams! Most of them involve traveling, which my husband and I love to do together, yet haven't done enough of since we became parents. When we share our hopes and dreams, our conversations always come around to seeing the world and, at least while they're at home, dragging our children around the world with us.

Lately I've been spending an obsessive amount of time calculating different scenarios using online retirement calculators. Our financial advisor bugs me. We met with him recently and he told us we're "doing fine" saving the [in my opinion] minuscule amount we're currently saving. He seems to think that, just because we've never borrowed from our retirement, we're on the "right track." Excuse me, who borrows from their retirement?! Anyway, I'm not a financial advisor but one trip here tells me that we're not on track! Yes, we'll be fine - if we want to sit at home watching Wheel of Fortune all day on a fixed income - but really, we don't!

If I go back to work in four years, I'll need to save around $20,000 of my salary in order to live like the rock stars we're planning on living like when we're retired. (We're planning a part-time retirement in Europe so we need a lot of savings!) While I'd have no problem saving that amount, I started doing some calculations to figure out what the difference would be if I started saving that much now rather than four years from now. Of course, the difference is significant!

All of these musings led me to the decision to become a working mom next fall. I talked it over with Spud, who was actually pretty hard to convince (he's concerned I won't be happy - I love him!), but in the end he came around and I now have his full support. I'm very excited! I'm opening an in-home day care when school starts next fall! It only took a day and a half to confirm a full roster of children who's mothers work at Spud's school (including Sprout and Little Sprout), and there are plenty more waiting in the wings if need be. I'm planning on taking teacher's kids exclusively so that my vacations will coincide with Spud's - otherwise there is NO WAY I would do it! Also, Potato Bug will be headed off to full-day kindergarten at Spud's school next year and I figure a day care will be a necessary distraction from my broken heart.

For half a second I worried that I might be making the wrong decision, but I'm sure I haven't because I'm SO excited and I'm already planning non-stop! I don't think it would have been a good decision any sooner than this, but now the time is right. I'm nervous, but it's a good kind of nervous. I'll have a Montessori-inspired preschool element included in my daycare and I am hoping that, unlike PBug, I'll be able to home school Little Man at least through preschool. So bear with me, I'm really excited about this and I might be posting about it a lot as my plans take shape.

In the meantime I have seven more months to live it up before I re-join the workforce!

Montessori Wednesday

2010-01-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

This week I have Sprout and Little Sprout back after a two week vacation and today Sprout and I got back to work. She was really excited to do preschool activities this morning. Their family had a small disaster occur at their house a few days before Christmas, a pipe burst in the middle of the night and flooded half their house, needless to say they have been dealing with that and havne't had much time to work with her on her activities!

I set out a few new activities this morning and let Sprout choose which ones she wanted to try. She practiced the sound jars, which I introduced to her before the break. She also chose the brown stairs for the first time and did pretty well with them. I want her to practice them and master them quickly so I can start doing the pink tower/brown stair extentions with her!

She also chose the sandpaper texture matching activity I made (I posted about it here awhile back) in which she matched different textures of sandpaper while blindfolded. I have the activity set up with five different grades of sandpaper, numbered one through five, however when I introduce the activity I like to use only one, three and five to start so there's more of a noticeable difference and they're easier to match. I also had her order the boards from smoothest to roughest, making sure to use those vocabulary words.

As an aside, I'm so sorry that I haven't been including pictures in my posts! The truth is that I'm so focused on the lessons that I don't remember to take pictures. I will try harder but I happen to be a total ditz about it lately. Couldn't have anything to do with the sleep deprivation :)

I've introduced eight of the nine geometric solids to Sprout and she does really well with them. Even after over two weeks of not practicing, she could still name all eight of them, from the triangular prism to the ellipsoid, flawlessly. Since it had been so long since we worked together, however, I decided to save the ninth (ovoid) for another day. I missed a few Montessori Wednesday posts, but we've been working with the solids a lot because Sprout enjoys them so much. Today we sorted the solids into their respective "families;" smooth-sided solids, flat-sided solids, and solids with smooth and flat sides. She was already so familiar with the language that she didn't even require an explanation beyond what I just described above and she did great.

One of the things Sprout did practice over the break was the seven Word Detective Sliders that I'd sent home with her: bib, hat, pot, map, cat, mop, fan. When I reviewed them with her, I was impressed that she was able to read all of them without seeing the picture - I figured they must have practiced them a lot, but it was obvious that she didn't just have them memorized because I could she was thinking about how the sounds went together. I added three more word cards to her pile: web, bag, and dog. I slid the card, revealing one sound at a time. She said the sounds and read all three words, three brand-new-to-her words, without seeing the picture.

I made a little game for her. I wrote all of the words that she learned in her sliders on a piece of cardstock in individual squares. Then I found pictures of each of those words and asked her to match the pictures to the words. I assumed she would pick a picture first and find the corresponding word. Instead, she read a word first and found the corresponding picture!

I know what you're thinking, didn't this child just turn three in October? Yes, yes she did. I promise, I have absolutely nothing to do with her genius, it just comes naturally to her. I make sure to communicate everything I do with her to her mom in detail so she knows what Sprout is doing and so far she's comfortable with everything. I'm not doing anything Sprout's not interested in doing, not pushing, just following her lead. If you could have seen how her eyes lit up when I brought out the word slider box and she realized she was getting new words, you would know that I'm not joking. I don't want anyone thinking I'm trying to force a three year old to read against her will!

Sibling Love

2010-01-03T22:33:00.000-08:00

For months prior to Little Man's arrival we prepared Potato Bug for a "boring" baby brother. We told her that babies don't do much but eat, sleep and wet their diapers and that he wouldn't be able to play with her for a really long time. We told her how much he would cry, and even that he would take mom and dad's attention away from her sometimes. We wanted to make sure she wasn't disappointed in the baby, but didn't realize how very wrong we were!

PBug and Little Man simply adore each other. PBug is definitely NOT one of those big sisters who wants to feed the baby and hold the baby and be a miniature mommy - she's still her own number one - but she is an awesome big sister! She does everything the same as she always did, only now she includes her brother. When she's playing in her playroom, she sets up his Bumbo chair right where she's playing and engages him in her play. When he's having tummy time in his room, she has tummy time with him and shows him how to play with his toys. When he takes a bath, she's right there next to me giving him his "animal lessons." For months before he was born she talked about giving him a jack-in-the-box, and when we found a sock monkey one she decided it was the perfect Christmas gift. Now she plays it for him constantly and sings Pop Goes the Weasel for him every time.

I love how Little Man's eyes light up when he sees his big sister! I love how upset she gets with herself when she plays with him just a little too roughly and makes him cry. They love each other and it melts my heart. I'm cherishing these moments because, while they'll always love each other, it certainly won't always be this blissful! I know, because I have a little brother. My husband knows, because he has a big sister! And even though I can practically see the future and know all about sibling rivalry, I'll always remind them that they're so lucky because there's nothing in the world like having a sister or a brother.

Fairies, Fairies, and More Fairies!

2010-01-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

The only, single thing on Potato Bug's Christmas list was a "real pixie dust wand." She got one, and you would have thought she discovered a trillion bucks in her stocking on Christmas morning. She didn't touch one present until she put on her fairy wings and threw some dust over her head to see if it really worked.

To be honest I was terribly concerned in the days leading up to Christmas because I knew she expected the pixie dust to make her fly and I worried about what she'd do when it didn't work. I was even prepared with explanations such as "Maybe you're too heavy for the pixie dust to work" or "Maybe you didn't apply it correctly." How foolish of me. Of course pixie dust makes her fly!

The pixie dust has been the biggest hit. She sprinkles it on herself and spends much of her time "flying" around the house wearing the fairy wings she got at Disneyland. We've been asked several times why the baby has glitter all over his head and PBug informs people "It's not glitter. It's pixie dust, and it makes him fly." She's also been jumping off the furniture a little bit more than I'd like, but I've never been a big "Don't jump off the furniture" kind of mom - let's hope I never find myself in the ER with a broken kid. I really can't imagine a more magical time in her life than right now and it's been such a joy to experience childhood through her naive, untainted little eyes.

Needless to say, PBug pretty much lives and breathes fairies right now. Her dad got her the Pixie Tricks series of chapter books by Tracey West and they've been reading them at bedtime and journaling the chapters. Tonight she started the fourth of eight books - she loves them, of course. Last night I ordered Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane and I can't wait for it to come. I'm hoping it will inspire her to build her own fairy house in the backyard and I'm only a little nervous that a black widow will make it her home (they've been abundant this year!). I'm convinced she'll want to make a fairy house and I've warned her dad to be prepared to make that their next project together.

Does anyone else out there have a fairy lover on their hands? Do share!

A New Year, A New Blog!

2010-01-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

Check out my new blog and while you're there be sure to take the poll!

Parent-Teacher Conference

2009-12-15T11:07:00.001-08:00

Spud and I went to Potato Bug's parent-teacher conference yesterday and it went well. Her teacher told us that PBug is well-behaved, cooperates, and is always busy with a task during work time. In all honesty, that last one is what I wanted to hear more than anything else. Considering how much we paid for this school, I want PBug making the most of every minute. I think I'd be pretty irked if I found out she was goofing off and wasting her Montessori work time.

During the meeting her teacher asked us to write down three goals that we have for PBug for the second half of the school year. We came up with two. First, because school is a new environment for PBug, we would like her working on social skills, mainly conflict resolution. She's been having some trouble with another student in her class who keeps telling PBug that she can't play with her group. Unfortunately, one of the girls in this group is PBug's friend who she has had a play date with at our house and that girl doesn't seem to be sticking up for herself. When we ask PBug about it, she says she hasn't used the Peace Rose to resolve the conflict. It seems she doesn't want to use the Peace Rose because she associates it with being "in trouble." We brought all of this to the teacher's attention and she and the aide, who was also present at the meeting, said they would be on the lookout for opportunities to address this issue.

Second, I reminded PBug's teacher that I would like her to take advantage of the Montessori math materials as much as possible this year. Her teacher remembered, and I looked at her assessment list to tell her which activities PBug mastered at home, including number rods, spindle box, and cards and counters. We told her that PBug counts to 29 (before going back to 20 and getting stuck at 29 again) but that she can count by tens up to one hundred. Her teacher told us that they've been learning how to count by fives and tens, and that they learned even and odd numbers up to ten. We forgot to mention that PBug has a very good grasp of single digit addition (she gets the concept and can calculate sums in her head pretty accurately) and is beginning to understand and calculate subtraction.

I reeeeeeally want PBug to start working with the bead materials because it will give her a solid understanding of the base ten system going into Kindergarten and I can't afford to buy them right now. There were a couple of things we heard at the conference that we didn't like, and one of them was this: Her teacher told us she wants PBug to learn how to write her digits from one through ten before she starts teaching her addition. That sounded very un-Montessorilike to us and we both disagreed - in our heads. Neither one of us knew how to respectfully disagree with the teacher, so we said we'd work on writing digits with PBug over break and left it at that. (Funny, because we've both been on the teacher end of a parent/teacher conference before and would have no problem explaining our position to a parent - go figure!)

We talked about it afterward, and we both agreed that writing digits has nothing to do with learning how to add - they're completely unrelated skills. She can recognize single and two-digit numbers, and it seems to me that is what's more important. Montessori is designed so that children do not have to know how to write in order to learn - the movable alphabet is a perfect example of that. So I'm disappointed. This teacher seemed more traditional than the last one, which is fine, but I didn't sign PBug up for traditional!

I've never asked PBug to write her numbers before, but I practiced with her last night and luckily she doesn't have far to go. Her fives and sixes are backward and two is a bit of a challenge for her, but I think she'll be able to master them by the new year with just a little practice. Hopefully she does and we won't have to make an issue out of it. For now, we'll be practicing our number writing :)

Montessori Toys for Babies

2009-11-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

I recently reread How To Raise An Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin because I'm interested in preparing our environment for Little Man. I know I constantly refer to Gettman's Basic Montessori when I work with the girls, but the Seldin book is actually my favorite Montessori book. It provides a great introduction to Montessori, gives on overview on Montessori starting from birth, and has the most beautiful pictures. It's well-organized and easy to read, both qualities a sleep-deprived mother can appreciate!

I can't believe Little Man is almost four months old, time sure flies. He's discovered his hands, and before we know it he'll be on the move. I want to provide him with all of the sensory experiences I can. I got this set of Montessori Baby Toys on etsy for Little Man's stocking:

I love them! They're just the right size for little hands and I can't wait to give them to him on Christmas morning. Right now, Janice at Pinkhouse Handworks is offering free shipping on her set of five baby toys in celebration of the recent certification of her toys' safety according to the new CPSIA laws. If you need some stocking stuffers for your baby, now would be the time to head over to her store!

Book Orders

2009-11-26T22:54:00.000-08:00

When PBug's school started sending home book club orders I was torn. I didn't really want to buy the books because if I want anything all I have to do is ask Spud to use his bonus points and get it for me. Or attend one of the twice yearly half price warehouse sales Scholastic holds for teachers. But I also wanted to support PBug's school by earning free books for her classroom AND let her participate. I LIVED for book orders when I was a kid!

I came up with a solution that I'm pretty excited about! I told PBug that she can have $5 to spend each time a book order is sent home. She can have WHATEVER she wants without interference from me, as long as the total cost doesn't go over $5. We've done this twice now, and so far the system has worked like a charm.

First we go through the book order and circle all of the items she's interested in, as long as they're in her price range. Amazingly she doesn't choose too many. Then we go back through and review the circled items. Then she chooses the book she wants the most. Both times, she has chosen books that cost $4, leaving her $1 to spend. (If she doesn't spend all five dollars they are transferable to the next book order.) The first time she spent the extra dollar on a second book. The second time she wasn't interested in any of the $1 books and is saving her dollar for next time.

One of the books in the flyer was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. PBug had just gone to see the movie with her auntie and the cover of the book had illustrations from the movie on it. PBug already has Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but she absolutely insisted on having the copy with the movie cover. (I absolutely did not want to spend $5 on a book that we already have, but I also wanted her to make her own decision, so I was torn.) I told her that she already has the book but she didn't care. I told her that it has the SAME STORY in it as the one she already has but she didn't care. I told her that she can spend her five dollars on a book she doesn't already have and then she'll have Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs AND another book but she didn't care. I told her that the people who sell the books put that picture on the cover in order to tempt kids who saw the movie to buy it - but she didn't care! I asked her why she wanted it and she told me she liked the cover. Finally I suggested that she cut the picture of the cover out of the book order flyer so she can have the cover AND use her five dollars to buy a new book - and guess what? That totally worked!

So as it turns out, book orders provide lessons in math, economics, AND marketing! So how do you handle book orders at your house?

Montessori Wednesday on a Monday

2009-11-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

On Monday I headed over to Sprout's house to work with her on some preschool activities. With all the illnesses in our family and hers I didn't have the chance to send anything home with her last week and it was bothering me. Her mom held my sleeping baby while she watched us work together. Here's what we did:

1. I introduced three new letters, p, i, and h, and did a beginning sound sort. I also set up some more challenging beginning sound sorts, including one for 'm' and 'n' (both nasal consonants), one for 't', 'c' and 'b' (all stops), as well as one for 'a' and 'e' (both vowels), for her to practice.

2. I gave her a rice tray to practice writing her letters in. She'll practice simple ones like o, c, i, and l.

3. I taught her how to do the buckling frame.

4. I did a three-period lesson introducing the sphere, cube, and rectangular prism from the geometric solids box. Then we did a sort using the Geometric Solids Matching Cards I got from Montessori For Everyone. By the end of the lesson she had all three solids mastered! (Although she can't say 'sphere', it comes out 'beer'. I think it's pretty funny:) Her mom told me today that her dad is really impressed with her new geometry knowledge.

5. I brought the mystery stergonostic bag with two spheres, two cubes, and two rectangular prisms. I showed them to her, let her explore them, and had her put one of each back into the bag. Then she decided which one she wanted to get first, felt the one that was left out, and then found the match without looking.

6. We practiced the I Spy game - she beat me six to two :)

Mother's Thanksgiving Tea

2009-11-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

Today I was invited to PBug's preschool for a Mother's Tea. She was so excited to go, she even chose a special party dress for the occasion. As for me, I'd been looking forward to the tea for quite some time!

When we arrived we went into her classroom where she showed me some of her favorite "jobs." First she chose flower arranging, then pouring popcorn kernels. After that she rolled a rug out on the floor and showed me how to sort the objects in "Sound Basket 2" according to their beginning sounds. Then she brought out the brown stairs carefully, one by one. After working with them for awhile she added the pink tower and made some creations using both. She handled her materials so carefully - I was totally proud! Then she chose some BOB books from the basket and read them to me, including some that I had never heard before.

While PBug was working with the pink tower and brown stairs her teacher sat with us. She was impressed with how well PBug was using the materials so I told her that we have them at home and rattled off some of the other materials we have as well. I gave her a little bit of background as to why that is: I'd been planning on homeschooling PBug and I really wanted to use the Montessori method, but after some time it became clear that I'm not cut out to be a homeschooling mom - at least not to PBug! She was really encouraging and offered to help me and answer any questions that I have.

I asked her my burning question regarding how much math PBug has been doing. She said the children do math, but she really tries to focus on letters and early reading skills. (In other words, I don't think PBug's been doing any math in school at all!) I told her that PBug has very good number sense and, in my humble opinion, she's mathematically inclined. I stressed that I really want her doing as much math as possible while she's in a Montessori school because I love the manipulatives and I think it will give her a fantastic foundation for learning math when she's in public school. She was very gracious about my request and told me that she was glad I told her. I'm glad, too! It's very important to me that math isn't a struggle for PBug like it was for me.

PBug showed me her lima beans that were sprouting in the window and the class pet, a cockatiel named Percy. I actually had to cut her off from showing me jobs because the tea was nearing an end. She really got on a roll and her teacher told me that she stays busy in the classroom all the time. After she put her materials away we headed to the other classroom. PBug set my place and served me pie and tea. The children baked pumpkin pie - from actual pumpkins, of course - and it may have been the most delicious pie I've ever had in my life!

PBug made a Thanksgiving placement and there was a gift for me - a pine cone turkey! It is my first crafty gift from school and it's ridiculous how excited I am about it! Before I became a parent I thought it would annoy me to decorate my home with the stuff my kids made at school... ha! I would gladly decorate my house with a million pine cone turkeys if they were made by PBug!

Around here...

2009-11-21T16:57:00.001-08:00

...we're playing musical illnesses! Normally our family manages to get through cold and flu season with just a sniffly nose or two, but this one has already put us through the wringer - or maybe it just SEEMS that way because there are more of us now. Little Man is just now getting over a case of croup that started on Monday. PBug never got sick when she was a baby, probably because we didn't go as many places, didn't have a preschooler in the house, and weren't exposed to as many germs as we are now. Sick babies make me SO SAD :(

Needless to say, illness has been the cause of my lack of posts. I haven't done Montessori Wednesday with Sprout because last week she wasn't here on Veteran's Day, and this Wednesday I had to take my sick baby to the doctor. I'm hoping I can steal her away from home at some point over the break so I can get caught up with her - I have so many things planned for her!

So here's a little bit of what's going on around here:

I signed PBug up for an Art Pen Pal at The Artful Parent. She was matched up with another four year old girl in Pennsylvania. We're totally excited about this - she's from the same state as Jack and Annie! I'll be posting more about this as we start sending and receiving art.

PBug has a renewed interest in our Montessori materials now that she's started preschool. She mostly uses them appropriately!

Today she was working with cylinder block 4 when I remembered this post from What DID we do all day and blindfolded her. What I thought was going to be a challenge turned out to be mommy watching with her chin on the floor while PBug knocked it out of the park... so now we're going to time her and try to beat her record! She thought it was lots of fun!

As I was uploading that last picture I discovered that PBug got ahold of my camera and took about 30 pictures in the bathroom, including several of her bm - would that be considered photography or performance art? Thank goodness for digital! That's why she's getting her very own camera for Christmas. It was a big purchase and I researched it quite a bit before making my decision - I hope I made the right one!

Speaking of Christmas, I'm becoming obsessed with Etsy.com and am doing all of the shopping this year from this very chair! Love it!

Preschool is continuing to go well for PBug. This week, her new teacher sent home a report of what jobs she did this week. Fabulous, because hitting PBug up for information wasn't working! The report also mentioned PBug's love of "pretend play" during free time - not a surprise to her parents! I'm looking forward to our conference with her teacher on the 14th.

And the winner is...

2009-11-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

...billdebstanton! Please email me at montessorifreefall at live dot com with your contact information so I can send you your prize!

Thanks everyone one for your comments!

CSNBaby.com Product Review & Giveaway!

2009-11-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

I was contacted by CSNBaby.com to do a product review for their website that sells nursery furniture and other baby and toddler gear. When they offered a product to giveaway to my readers, I couldn't refuse! I spent an entire evening pouring over their products, practically salivating over the toys, and wishing I had all the money in the world so I could buy this gorgeous activity gym:

and this awesome bookcase:

Right now I'm especially interested in Montessori for babies. I didn't start focusing on Montessori with PBug until she was 2 1/2. Now that Little Man is here, it's Montessori from the start! CSNBaby.com has a ton of baby toys that are very Montessori-esque! Montessori Mom has a helpful post on activities, games, and toys to play with your baby during the first year.

CSNBaby.com offers lots of wooden toys and even some organic toys. What I love about their website is the icons that help you shop according to your interests, including (but not limited to) Eco-Friendly, Made in USA, JPMA certified, and Award Winning.

I received the Rainbow Sound Blocks by Wonderworld in the mail this week and I was so excited to try them out with all the kiddos. They're gorgeous and I'm so taken with them.

In this single, simple toy there are several aspects that tie into Montessori: sound, geometric shapes, sorting, quality, wooden construction... Little Man is juuuust starting to use his hands so he's not quite there yet. Little Sprout is able to explore them with her hands, mouth, and ears. The big girls are a little old for them, but they still enjoyed playing with them, and the babies watched their every move of course! I love that this toy is so versatile and it's something that will be relevant for the babies for at least a year and a half.

As a thank you for reading this post, I'm giving away this Wooden Toddler Puzzle by Wesco. It retails for $50, is available at CSNBaby.com for $39.99, and can be yours if you win the drawing!

If you'd like to put your name in the hat for the giveaway, just go to www.csnbaby.com, look around, and leave a comment on THIS POST telling me what one item from the site you would get if you could choose anything you wanted... I'll close the comments Saturday morning and choose a winner.

Montessori Wednesday and Thursday

2009-11-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

Montessori Wednesday turned into Montessori Wednesday and Thursday this week. It's been a little hectic around here. Last Friday we threw our annual pumpkin carving party and I woke up that day sick, having done NOTHING ahead of time to prepare for the party. After a fun Halloween on Saturday, Spud left VERY early Sunday morning to fly to Washington D.C. He had the honor of joining his principal at a ceremony recognizing their school for earning the National Blue Ribbon award! It was a quick trip and he returned very late Tuesday night. I felt better by yesterday and my voice is almost back to normal today. PBug had a fever Monday night but she fought it off and never got sick. That kid has an immune system of steel, I tell you! She rarely gets sick and I pray that her brother also inherited a stellar immune system!

Yesterday I worked with Sprout very briefly and this morning I put PBug on Starfall while the babies slept so I could work with her some more. First I went through the materials she returned and determined that she's mastered the Pink Tower and Cylinder Block #4. She didn't practice Color Box #2 at home and she's still working on mastering that button frame, so I put them back in her bag. We focused heavily on language this week because she's breezing through everything I give her and I'm trying to figure out what will challenge her!

We reviewed all of the sandpaper letters that have been introduced so far. She is tracing them nearly perfectly - she's come such a long way with her tracing in just a few weeks! She also draws them almost perfectly on her hand. I introduced the letters 'f', 'n', and 'o' today. Last week I sent home beginning sound sorts for four different letters. When she left my house she was sorting two different sounds at a time and now she can sort three different sounds, so I sent home nine sounds, including three vowels, this week.

I also sent home several pictures of cvc words for an I Spy game that I played a lot with PBug. It's actually one of my favorite games for practicing phonemic awareness and both girls really enjoy it. I started by setting out two pictures, 'cat' and 'dog' for example, and saying "I spy 'duh' 'ahh' 'guh'." Sprout then chose the picture of the word I said. When we started, I said the sounds fairly close together. After ten minutes I was putting out three pictures at a time and was pausing much longer between each sound so she would have to concentrate even harder. She's awesome! I'm giving her parents instructions to add more pictures, pause longer between sounds, and choose pictures with the same sounds in them to make this activity more challenging for her.

We also did the Magnetic Rhyming Sound Sort with two different rhyming sounds and she rocked it. I'm sure she'll be sorting three by next week. How am I going to keep up with this kid?!

Next week I am going to finish up Period One by introducing the last few activities I have at my disposal. After that Sprout will be working solidly in Period Two.

Costume Construction

2009-10-31T16:49:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun making PBug's Halloween costume! I found the costume idea, complete with step-by-step directions, in Country Living Magazine. Being the balloon lover she is, PBug saw it just knew she HAD to be a hot air balloon!

The whole family had a part in making the costume, but I love that we found a costume that PBug could take part in making. She picked out all of the paint colors, painted the dowels, made the sign, picked out the ribbon, chose the balloons, helped me get the balloons in the car (!), and stuffed the "sandbags" with newspaper.

I'm a little bitter that they charged me an extra twelve cents per balloon to make the helium last 24 hours rather than eight, but I'll get over it, I suppose. The costume's a bit cumbersome to walk with, but PBug's getting pretty good at handling it. Even with the balloons attached it's surprisingly mobile - she can make turns and even fit through door jambs just fine. (We might have to carry her bag for her, though!) She has a few extra balloons and she decided she's taking them with her to pass out to the other trick-or-treaters :)

PBug's First Broken Heart

2009-10-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

I'm absolutely devastated. We found out over email last night that PBug's teacher is leaving her position due to "major health issues." We weren't given specifics, but she's ill enough that she's leaving her job and "starting treatment on Monday", so it certainly doesn't sound good. My heart is hurting today for this wonderful lady who we were just starting to get to know. All night I wondered how PBug would take the news.

Today was the teacher's last day and she told the children she would be leaving, but I don't know exactly what she told them. Spud picked PBug up from school and, as expected, she didn't want to talk about it. She TOTALLY takes after her dad in this respect! I didn't want to push the issue, but I fall on the end of the spectrum where the need to talk about things is quite prevalent - the total OPPOSITE of PBug and her father, of course!

I asked her about her day, to which I got her typical response of "I knew it!" As in, I just knew you were going to bug me about how my day went, mother! I asked her if her teacher talked to the class about getting a new teacher and she claimed that she wasn't paying attention... which didn't surprise me, to tell you the truth. In fact, I almost believed her.

Because I wasn't sure exactly how much the teacher had revealed to the class, I didn't want to ask her if her teacher was sick, but finally I did because I didn't want to keep beating around the bush. Apparently that did it, because as soon as I asked PBug burst into tears... "Mother, I love my teacher! I don't want her to go! I love her, mother, I love her! I love her so much! I don't want a new teacher!" She was absolutely heartbroken. I held her for a long time while she cried and I couldn't help crying myself.

I questioned whether I should push the issue. If it were up to Spud he wouldn't have brought it up. He figures if she doesn't want to talk about it, we shouldn't bring it up. But now I feel like I did the right thing by broaching the subject. What if she'd kept all of that emotion inside? Surely she would have expressed it somehow, and it probably wouldn't have been pretty - and we probably would not have figured out why she was acting out (we're not always that intuitive :).

I told PBug that she could draw pictures and write notes to her teacher and we'd make sure she got them. I also explained how it's important to talk about the things that are upsetting us because it usually makes us feel a little better. No matter how young or how old she is, she'll always know that she can talk to me about the things that are bothering her. My job - a huge challenge - will be to make sure my door is always open without making her feel like I'm being pushy.

Montessori Wednesday

2009-10-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Sprout and Little Sprout are back with us this week. It's also Spud's second week of paternity leave, which means today I had Spud on hand to care for babies while I did preschool with Sprout. Sprout's mom brought back all of the activities that I sent home two weeks ago and today we took some time practicing them. She came a long way with all of the activities in two weeks!

Her favorite activity to work on while we were gone was the Pink Tower. She mastered putting it together, so today I went through the rest of the Pink Tower activities in Gettman's book (the picture shows her working on activity #4). She breezed through all but the last one, which offered the perfect amount of challenge for her. The sixth and final activity involves spreading out two mats some distance apart, disassembling the tower randomly on one mat, and choosing a random cube to take to the empty mat (I chose one close to the middle). Once those steps were completed, I asked Sprout to bring me the next biggest or next smallest cube. I did this over and over, usually alternating between the two choices, until we had collected up to the biggest cube and down to the smallest cube. We only did it one time, and there were three cubes remaining on the mat when she was done. With some trial and error she was able to correctly place the three cubes she missed into the row of cubes. Once she masters this activity we'll move onto the Brown Stairs.

Another favorite activity of hers is Cylinder Blocks. (I wish I could illustrate on this blog how concentrated she is when she grasps the knobs just so and places them without making any noise! Practicing the grasp will serve her well when she starts writing.) She mastered blocks one and two before we left, so I had her complete block three which she did effortlessly. Then I had her do block four and it provided much more challenge for her. She is a very persistent little worker and although she put lots of cylinders in the wrong holes, she didn't quit until she got it right! I was there the whole time but said nothing - the beauty of self-correcting materials! When she masters block four I will have her complete blocks 1-3 together.

I got out Color Box #1 and taught her how to do it. Obviously she knows how to match red, yellow, and blue tablets, but the important element of this activity I wanted to emphasize is how to arrange her matches left to right and top to bottom - a very important reading skill! She did great, and next I will be going over Color Box #2 with her - same idea, more colors.

I took some liberties in the Language subject area. Sprout is working in Period One in all other areas, but she's the most verbally advanced child I have ever met in my life and her vocabulary is phenomenal, so we're not spending a lot of time on the Language activities in Period One. Instead, I'm going to focus on doing the "I Spy" games from Period One using the Sandpaper Letters, which is a Period Two activity. (Not to discount the importance of the Period One Language activities, they're just too easy for her at this point.) Today we reviewed the sounds she already learned: s, m, c, e, and t and added the sound l. Sprout is already very familiar with her sounds, and her tracing of the sandpaper letters improved over the past two weeks. We worked on using a gentle touch. I noticed that she did something interesting today - after she traced a sandpaper letter and said the sound, she opened up her hand and drew that letter on her palm.

Afterward I chose pictures of objects that start with 's' and 'm' and played a few rounds of "I Spy" with her. I put out one 'm' and one 's' picture at a time and said "I spy with my little eye something that starts with 'ssssssss' (or 'mmmmm')." She did perfectly! Not one mistake! I can see the phonemic awareness road has already been paved out ahead of me :)

Tomorrow PBug is going on a field trip with her class (Spud gets to take her) and I'll be taking advantage of that time to work with Sprout for one more day. I'm planning on practicing activity #6 of the Pink Tower, Cylinder Block #4, adding more sandpaper letters, adding two more sounds to her sound sort packet, and introducing Color Box #2.

The materials I'll be sending home with Sprout tomorrow are:

-Pink Tower & 2 Mats
-Cylinder Block #4
-Buttoning Frame
-Color Box #2
-Sandpaper Letters: m, s, t, e, c, l + three others
-Sound Sort w/'m' & 's' + two others

We're Back!

2009-10-26T09:06:00.001-07:00

Disneyland was so much fun! Little Man was SO EASY to have along, he was such a trooper riding around in the front pack for two days! It helps that Disney is totally baby-friendly. I love that we were able to take him on almost every ride we went on. And the baby care center makes Disneyland a piece of cake for nursing mothers!

PBug had her moments - like this one about an hour after we got there when she told us she was done with Disneyland and ready to go back to the hotel to swim...

...but she came around :) Truthfully, we don't know if we've ever seen her happier than she was when she was flitting around Pixie Hollow like a fairy...

...or having a conversation with Minnie Mouse. (Minnie said "I like your sunglasses." and PBug said "They have Minnie Mouse on them." and Minnie said "That's why I like them.")...

...or riding her favorite rides for the second and third times (Dumbo and It's A Small World, for the record). She thanked and hugged every ride she went on - her Dumbo, her carousel horse, her bumper car... such a sweet girl!

So was so nervous to meet Lightening McQueen and Mater that she was wringing her hands in her shirt the entire time, but Peter Pan was her favorite character that she met... she was truly starstruck when she met him!

I'm so glad we had this chance to go to Disneyland as a family. It was so magical to experience it through my child's eyes, even better than my own first time! Four and a half was definitely the PERFECT age for PBug's first trip! I was shocked that my usually cheapskate husband (and I'm not pointing fingers, I'm a cheapskate, too) was so generous with the souvenirs (It's Disneyland! Let her have a twelve dollar balloon!). For the record, never, ever tell your kid she can have her face painted and then let her flip through the book to choose her design until you check the price or you may end up paying $18.49 for it. The cost of the face painting was so outlandish that all we can do is just laugh ourselves silly when it comes up. The consolation is that I don't think there's ever been a kid who's had more fun with a face painting as ours - she spent the entire day going around the park meowing and "tricking" everyone into thinking that she was a cat.

It took a couple of days for PBug to get back into her routine, but she's at school this morning. I think a weekend of nothing was just what she needed after our whirlwind week! Spud has one more week of paternity leave which we're planning on enjoying with every fiber of our being!

Montessori Wednesday

2009-10-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Sprout turned three and I was lucky enough to spend some of her special day with her! I made her some blueberry muffins for breakfast and let her choose a tv show to watch in the morning. We didn't do our Montessori Wednesday activities that day because I took Little Man to his two month check-up in the morning while my mom stayed with Sprout and Baby Sprout. Little Man is growing like a weed, weighing in at 13 pounds on the dot and practically perfect in every way. He's not sleeping through the night yet, but he goes a good five or six hours and I feel pretty well-rested most of the time. Most of the time. Relatively speaking, of course. It's funny, PBug started sleeping through the night when she was eight weeks old and I was a LOT more exhausted then than I am now!

Yesterday the stars were lined up and I was able to work with Sprout for a good, long time while PBug was at preschool and both babies slept. I planned four activities to do with her but she kept asking for more! I was too preoccupied to remember to take pictures again (sorry! I'll get it together someday!) but the following is a list of what we did:

1. Pouring beans between two pitchers
This activity is right at her level: challenging but not too challenging. She spilled some beans here and there, but not so many that she was overwhelmed at the prospect of picking them up. When she masters pinto beans, her parents can try rice and then water.

2. Buttoning Frame
She did great with this! It was really hard for her but she concentrated so carefully and was able to accomplish buttoning and unbuttoning!

3. Cylinder Blocks #1 & 2
Sprout did really well with block #1 so I added #2. Doing both at the same time offered just the right amount of challenge for her. I love watching her concentrate so carefully on using her three grasping fingers to grasp the knobs. She takes it so seriously! I also sent home blocks three and four so her parents can add them later. I drew examples of how to set up the blocks depending on how many are being used at once: an 'L' shape for two, a 'U' shape for three, and a square for four.

4. Pink Tower
It shouldn't be too long before she has this one mastered.

5. Classification Cards: Kitchen and BathroomThis was pretty easy for her, but I want her to get used to doing sorts because we'll be doing a lot of them later.

6. Sandpaper Letters: m, s, a, t, & c
This is the activity that she needs the most practice with. She knows her sounds but the tracing is new for her. I gave her mom the entire set of cards so she can add letters if she is ready for them.

I sent all of these activities home with Sprout yesterday so she could "teach" her mom and dad how to do them. Since it will be two weeks before I work with her again, I included some notes with extensions her parents can do with her if she masters the activities. Her mom will bring back the activities that she masters on Tuesdays and I'll send home new activities on Wednesdays. It's a different way of doing Montessori, but it's what will work for us this year.

Of course I'm using my Montessori Bible as a guide. Pages 23-27 are the most visited pages in my copy of the book, that's where I go to decide which activities to introduce next. Those pages have all of the activities broken up by subject area and period. Most of Sprout's activities yesterday came from Period One with the exception of the Sandpaper Letters, which came from Period Two. I have a feeling that we'll breeze through Period One pretty quickly and spend most of the year in Period Two.

Paternity Leave

2009-10-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write a quick post letting you know that I may not be posting as frequently over the next few weeks. Spud is working this week, then he's taking two weeks of paternity leave - which we're all really looking forward to! He was hoping to take up to six weeks, but two is all the paid leave he gets :( Frustrating, when he has over 80 sick days piled up, but I guess that's not how it works.

Next week we'll be picking PBug up from preschool on Monday and headed for Disneyland! We planned on waiting until she was at least five before taking her because we want her first trip to be one that she'll remember when she's older. But, with us both being teachers, we realized that this may be our only opportunity to go during the off-season (less crowds, nice weather). So, four-and-a-half it is, but I think she might still remember it. We'll be home by Thursday evening so she'll only miss one day of school.

Needless to say, we'll be packing, arranging a house sitter, etc, so blogging may have to take a backseat.

Moving Right Along

2009-10-05T14:48:00.001-07:00

Today PBug's teacher told me that her reading is really coming along. She sent home the fourth BOB book, which I hadn't previously introduced to PBug myself, in the reading folder and PBug told me that she read it all by herself. This afternoon she read it to me and she did great! The sentences are a lot more complicated than "Mat sat." Instead they read "Mac had a bag and a dog." and "Mac can tag Mag." and "Mac got the rag."

I made another set of sentences and this time I just copied the sentences from the book. After she read the book to me we did two of the sentences and saved the rest for another day. I'm already noticing an improvement in her decoding skills, and she's recognizing a few sight words quite well.

Her teacher is right - her reading really is coming along. Just a few weeks ago I looked at the fourth book in the BOB books set and thought that it was far too challenging for her, and today she read it all by herself. I don't want to get stuck in a rut of always making sentences to cut up and put in order or she'll lose interest. I'm going to be spending some time looking into Montessori reading activities and hopefully I'll have something interesting to post soon!

Preschool: Week 5

2009-10-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

On Monday I mentioned to PBug's teacher that she was upset about Friday's snack incident. The class ended up eating our snack from Friday on Monday and the class thanked PBug at circle time. She was thrilled that she got her thank you! I think it made her day, if not her week.

According to the teacher, the students are all becoming "normalized." Normalization is a term used in the Montessori classroom to describe the process where young children learn to focus and concentrate for sustained periods of time, while deriving self-satisfaction from their work. Parents are encouraged to observe in the classroom after normalization occurs, and I'm really looking forward to my chance to do that. PBug was very excited this week when she completed the trinomial cube in class. Her teacher made sure I knew that it was a pretty big deal for PBug. She's been working on the map puzzles. They learned more bones in the human body and played instruments. Apparently she also polished a banana this week as well... and yup, it's been a couple of days now and that still make me laugh!

PBug has been showing a lot of interest in spelling, so we got out our Alphabet Sounds Photo Library and the Magnetic Letter Kit from Lakeshore and she practiced some invented spellings. She's starting to get a lot more sounds in there than she used to. Her favorite part, although not a necessary part of invented spelling, is looking on the back of the card when she's done and correcting her spelling. I let her do it since she enjoys it and I can't imagine it's hurting anything. Also, her teacher sent home the second BOB book in her reading folder for her to practice and I made some new sentences for her to practice that go along with the book.

At home we've moved onto the third Magic Tree House book, Mummies in the Morning. (After finishing the second book I suggested taking a break from Magic Tree House and reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8, but PBug wouldn't hear of it.) Mummies in the Morning has us looking at the map and discussing the continent of Africa and the country of Egypt, so we're getting a little geography in there as well.

PBug is one of those kids who doesn't always appear to be paying attention but when you ask her a question about the story she's right on top of it... I'm trying not to let that annoy me. Honestly though, her comprehension of these stories is (in my completely biased opinion, of course) phenomenal. Spud finished up the second book with her and pulled up the Accelerated Reader quiz on the computer that accompanies the story and she answered nine out of the ten questions correctly. She now has two stamps in her passport - she loves that part!

I didn't do a Montessori Wednesday post this week because Sprout was out of town this week with her grandparents, but I'll be sure to do a post next week (as long as the babies are cooperative, that is!).

Grace & Courtesy

2009-09-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

Spud and I have found ourselves asking one another "Who is that kid?" QUITE a bit lately. All of a sudden Potato Bug has become a sweet, charming, polite little lady. I always knew she was in there somewhere but she's been buried so deep for so long. The past couple of weeks she's been consistently and cheerfully completing tasks the first time she's asked. She's been getting herself dressed/teeth brushed/ready for bed/table set/playroom cleaned up/shoes on/you name it - without even being asked. It's like she knows what she's supposed to do and she just... does it. Weird. Her whole demeanor, even her voice, has changed. This morning when Spud walked out the door and she said "Have a great day at work, daddy!" we just looked at each other and shrugged - Who is that kid?

So what's changed? My guess is preschool!

For months people kept trying to encourage us through her terrible behavior, telling us that it will get better when she starts preschool. She just needs to spread her wings, they said. I had a feeling they were right, but I learned a long time ago not to get my hopes up about anything when it comes to my kid. Now I'm wondering, if this behavior improvement is actually a result of attending school, how in the world would I be dealing with her behavior if I had ultimately decided to homeschool her?! I find myself wondering a lot lately how homeschooling moms deal with bad behavior streaks - or are PBug and I just special and we're the only ones with this problem? Just a joke, I know we're not. I have SO much respect for homeschooling moms!

During the first month of preschool the teachers spend a lot of time teaching grace and courtesy, which is part of the Montessori curriculum. I know PBug didn't magically learn good behavior at preschool in a month. We've been setting the foundation for it ever since she was itty bitty. And she's always known good manners and courtesy, but she hasn't always used them consistently. Now it seems like something switched in her brain and she understands. It finally feels like ALL of that consistent parenting - you know, all of that effort that seemed utterly pointless for years - was actually worth it. She's a sweet, sweet girl, and I couldn't be more pleased!

* Please note, I am in no way naive enough to believe that this bliss is permanent. Just trying to enjoy the ride while it lasts :)

Practical Life: Paperclips

2009-09-28T08:41:00.001-07:00

PBug saw me using paperclips this morning and just had to have some!

I sat on a fat cat.

2009-09-27T10:11:00.001-07:00

To go along with the '-at' family of words that PBug has been practicing at school and in the BOB books, I decided to try a new practice approach that might help combat the memorizing issue we've been having. I can't take the credit, however. Spud suggested this activity after his sixth graders did it with their kindergarten buddies - so the credit goes to Cara (thanks, Cara!).

I typed out a bunch of simple sentences and printed them out. Here are the sentences I did:

I sat on a cat.
I sat on a mat.
I sat on a bat.
I sat on a rat.
I sat on a fat cat.
I sat on a fat rat.

I separated the sentences a from one another. I gave PBug the first sentence and had her read it to me: 'I sat on a cat.' I had her read it to me a few more times, pointing to each word as she read it. Then I cut the sentence apart, mixed up the words, and asked PBug to make the sentence again.

PBug really seemed to enjoy this activity and I like it for several reasons:

1. Practicing one-to-one correspondence as she points to each word in the sentence
2. Exposure to sight words without "drill and kill"
3. Exposure to punctuation without making a big deal out of it (there's a period at the end of each sentence)
4. It's easy to make, cheap, I can make unlimited sets depending on what she's learning, I can make it so there's just the right amount of challenge for her, and we can use them over and over

Preschool: Week Four

2009-09-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Part of life is learning to deal with disappointment, and PBug had a lesson in just that on Friday! I signed up to bring snack for her class on Friday and after a lot of deliberation, we decided to bring apple slices, cheese cubes, and pretzels. PBug was so excited as we were preparing the snack! She told me that the class always thanks the kid who brings the snack, and she just couldn't wait to get her thank you! We packed up her snack on Friday morning and I sent PBug off to school with her dad, carrying the apple slices in her arms.

Spud and I both picked her up yesterday afternoon. She had tears in her eyes when she met us, and told Spud that the class didn't eat her snack. (Apparently another parent also brought snack yesterday, and that was the snack that was eaten.) In circle when the teacher asked who brought snack, the other kid raised his hand and PBug didn't speak up - so the class thanked him and not PBug. She was absolutely crushed, and I was heartbroken by her disappointment. Thankfully we planned a family outing for that afternoon, which is why Spud was there in the first place, and the incident was quickly forgotten. I'm hoping they saved her snack for Monday - especially since I paid for it! - and that she'll be thanked then.

Other than that traumatic event, the rest of PBug's week seemed to go really well. She's starting to talk about so many little girls that I can't even keep track of all the new names! I hear glimpses of her day while she's playing. Her teacher has a skeleton that she's named Splinter and she uses him to teach the kids bones - the other day I heard PBug talking about her clavicle and mandible. Yesterday she started singing "Doe, a deer, a female deer..." and I found myself singing along before I realized that I didn't teach her that song. She makes an art project every Monday, and this week she made a fall wreath using real leaves, and it has a prominent place on our front door :)

Montessori Wednesday

2009-09-26T15:29:00.001-07:00

This past week was my first solo week - a four year old, an almost-three-year-old, a five month old, and a seven week old with no help on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Surprisingly, not only did I survive, but I managed to meet everyone's needs and still had time to keep up on the laundry and dishes! The house wasn't nearly the disaster I expected it would be at the end of each day, I didn't have to lower my expectations for PBug and Sprout like I thought I might, and they only watched a half hour of tv the entire week. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself right about now! Although it wasn't quite as perfect as I made it sound just now, and I'm sure not every week will be so great, at least I know I can handle four kids with my sanity intact.

Now that PBug has started preschool, Sprout has been on her own on Wednesday mornings. The first week she was in heaven - she had PBug's entire playroom all to herself! She was a busy little bee the entire three hours. It didn't last long, however, and she's been complaining about being bored on Wednesday mornings ever since.

This week I instituted what I'll hereby refer to as Montessori Wednesdays! On Wednesday mornings, as soon as I have two babies asleep at the same time, I'll sit down with Sprout and do some Montessori work. This week we worked for about 15 minutes and I'm hoping we can gradually work up to more time. I didn't take pictures because my camera was full, but I'll be sure to post pictures on future Montessori Wednesday posts.

This week I started her on the sandpaper letters. I introduced 'm,' 's,' and 'a' using a three-period lesson. She did great with the sounds, but needs practice tracing the letters. After that I introduced Cylinder Block #1 to her. I showed her how to use two fingers and her thumb to grasp the knobs and she concentrated very hard on making sure she was picking the cylinders up properly every time.

For now we'll stick to doing this once a week. I would like to work with both girls on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but at this point I really don't feel right about prying them away from their play time together. Also, I'm trying not to take on too much all at once. I'm thinking about sending home the materials I introduce to Sprout on Thursdays and having her bring them back to me on Tuesdays. That way she can "teach" her parents how to use the materials and practice using them when she's not at my house.

Reading Update

2009-09-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Last week when I dropped PBug off at preschool I took her reading folder inside to turn it back in. I was looking for the clipboard to sign it in and couldn't find it - the teacher had it with her. She asked me if PBug enjoyed working on her sounds over the weekend. We started having a conversation about PBug and I mentioned that I've been working with her using the sandpaper letters at home. She mentioned that when she was working with PBug last week she didn't know all of the sounds she introduced. I thought that was strange since she only brought home ten sounds and they were all sounds that she has down pat. I told her that PBug knows all of her sounds and I also mentioned that I'd picked up the BOB books at the library and she's been reading the first few. There was a look of surprise on her face and she wondered aloud why PBug didn't seem to know her sounds. I suggested that perhaps she's nervous because the school environment it new for her, but assured her that PBug does know all of her sounds.

The whole time I was thinking "Oh my God, please don't think I'm that mom!" But her teacher was genuinely greatful that I shared that with her and said she would try pulling PBug aside by herself to work for awhile without the other kids around her. She kept thanking me for bringing it to her attention and saying she was glad she knew.

I went home feeling really good about the whole interaction. I thought we had communicated well and that I hadn't crossed any crazy-mom lines. Until I went to pick her up, that is. Her teacher told me that she'd pulled out her own set of BOB books and had PBug read a couple of them to her. She was pretty frank about letting me know that PBug had the books memorized. Now she probably thinks I'm one of those moms who thinks that if her child recites a book it means she can "read." So that's it, I'm not saying anything else unless she asks me specifically!!

The problem I've found with the BOB books is that they progress too quickly for PBug. In other words, they get too challenging too quickly. Which is why she memorized the first three - we've already read them too much. To remedy the memorization situation, I started pointing to words on the pages randomly and having her read them before she reads the stories through. Her teacher also added words from the "-at" family to her sound book and I have her practice reading those all out of order as well.

The other issue is sight words. The BOB books have very few sight words in them, but they can trip her up. Since I'm not interested in making her flash cards or anything like that, I've started trying something new. When I read to her, she points out the word 'the' when she sees it. For now, we're only doing 'the.' When she learns 'the,' then I'll probably switch it to "and." So far, she really gets a kick out of finding the word 'the" in her books.

How To Buy Yourself Some Extra Sleep

2009-09-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

PBug's drawings in her reading journal have become so elaborate and detailed that we really only have time to read one chapter each night. Last night I wanted to do more reading, rather than sit there while she drew, so I came up with a plan. I read her one chapter, I wrote the sentence she dictated to me in her journal, and I put the journal and her pencil on her nightstand (where we usually keep it anyway). Then I read her some picture books.

When she woke up this morning - at the crack of dawn, of course - instead of coming into our room to wake us up, she sat in bed and did her elaborate, detailed drawing. I have no idea when she woke up or how long it took her to draw because I was sleeping blissfully - but I'm sure I bought myself about 20 extra minutes of sleep at least!

Preschool: Week Three

2009-09-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Potato Bug had another great week of preschool. The snippets I've gotten include learning some Spanish words, making a tornado, learning the bones of the body, and lots of songs and stories and a little bit of art. PBug told me she learned a song about meatballs and when I started singing "On Top of Spaghetti" she seemed quite impressed that I already knew the song! I wish I could go to preschool - sounds like she's having a blast!

From what I can tell, PBug spends a lot of her time in the Practical Life area at school. I hear about lots of scooping, pouring, and sorting activities that she does. Occasionally she tells me about an activity from the Sensory area. Today when I picked her up, PBug's teacher gave me a take home folder with a sound book in it. She told me that PBug "wants to read" and that we should practice the sound book over the weekend and then bring it back to school. I'm excited that it's only the end of the third week and PBug's teacher already seems to have a grasp of PBug's interests and abilities. I love that her work is tailored to her interests and ability level.

Speaking of wanting to read, PBug has mastered the third BOB book now. The books, however, are getting more challenging for her pretty quickly. After successfully reading the third book, PBug wanted to read the fourth. There were a lot more sounds and a lot more words in the fourth book and she got frustrated quickly so we put it away. We had already read the first three through several times so she was probably about done anyway. We'll try again another day when she's ready.

PBug has always been a very social kid - nothing makes her happier than the chance to play with her friends. In fact, her social calendar is usually more packed than my own :) We've always had lots of playdates, and now we can count preschool friends as part of her social circle. This morning as we were walking out the door to go to preschool she called out "Mackenzie, here I come!" She couldn't wait to get to school to see her friend, and when we got there, Mackenzie was waiting for PBug at the gate :)

Bob Books - Day Two

2009-09-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

Another day, another Bob book mastered! By the end of Friday, PBug was reading the second book in the series perfectly. It's so much fun for me to watch her decipher the words and churn out the story! I love the look of accomplishment on her face when she reads "The End."

But the best part is that I can actually see her confidence building as she reads these books! As with anything she has ever done - even with learning how to walk - she always has the skills necessary to accomplish something long before she ever does but lacks the confidence to actually do it. Once she does, however, she's usually off and running.

PBug, in my opinion, could have walked at nine months if she'd wanted to - there's no doubt in my mind. But the fact that she didn't, that she was cautious and fearful, not trusting herself to ever let go, was my first clue about what kind of kid I had. She walked just before her first birthday - but only because she wasn't paying attention to herself. She was paying attention to a music video on tv, let go of the coffee table to clap along in excitement, and started walking. Only through the reaction of those of us in the room did she realize she'd actually walked. The very day she took her first steps, she was walking all over the house effortlessly, as if she'd been doing it her whole life.

I'm pretty sure PBug is afraid of messing up. Whether it's walking, reading, or anything else, it seems that her biggest hurdle is always the one that allows her to take the risk and try. I want her to be a risk-taker in life! I think she'll learn to take more risks the older she gets, but I know she won't do it if she's pushed. For this reason, I think Montessori is the perfect fit for her. She's allowed to work on what she's interested in, and although new skills will be introduced to her, they won't be required. I think it's going to be a good year :)

Preschool: Week Two

2009-09-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Due to the holiday, PBug only had two days of preschool again this week. Friday was her fourth day, and the first that she was especially excited about getting to school, seeing her friends, and playing on the playground. In fact, when I dropped her off I had to call her back three times to get a kiss and hug goodbye!

When she got home from school, she was more open and talkative about her morning than she was on the other three days put together. I'd told her Friday before we left for school that I was hoping she would tell me three things she did in school when she got home and she did. She made a friend this week who is also new at the school and, according to the teachers, she gets along really well with. All is going well!

I asked PBug if her teacher had done anything with her just the two of them. She told me they did the sandpaper letters and that they'd done 'm', 's', and 'a'. My first thought was that I should let her teacher know that we've worked with the sandpaper letters at home and that she knows her sounds. I mentioned it to Spud (who is also a teacher and offers a good perspective on the matter) and he said "Nope. As soon as you go in there and start telling the teacher what your kid already knows, you become THAT mom."

He's totally right, of course, and I had to chuckle at myself for almost becoming THAT mom - the mom (or dad) I came across a time or two myself as a teacher. Hopefully we'll be able to have a good discussion at parent-teacher conferences - where Spud will be sitting right next to me making sure I steer clear of becoming THAT mom.

Bob Books

2009-09-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

All summer long we focused our language learning attention on phonemic awareness. We did all kinds of activities that required PBug to isolate and identify sounds in words - beginning sounds, middle sounds, ending sounds, rhyming sounds - you name it. Most of our activities involved using some combination of the sandpaper letters, Alphabet Sounds Photo Library, and movable alphabet. Usually the activity was some off-the-cuff thing my lazy, pregnant self would come up with while lying in bed in the morning trying to keep my early-rising preschooler occupied so I wouldn't have to get up and make her breakfast.

More recently PBug has taken a renewed interest in letters. She's been spending a lot of time matching capital letters with their lowercase counterparts using our refrigerator magnets. She's known both capital and lowercase letters since before her second birthday, but suddenly she seems fixated on the phenomena that all letters have partners!

I've run across buzz about BOB Books here and there and my curiosity was peaked, so yesterday I checked the first set out from the library. They seemed harmless enough. Here is a page out of the first book - "Mat sat." Even so, I was hesitant to introduce them to PBug because I knew that if she wasn't ready for them then she would rebel and refuse to have anything to do with reading for the next twenty-five years.

So I did it casually. I didn't say anything to her, I just sat down with them (while she was in the room, of course) and started looking through the box of books on my own. Her curiosity was immediately peaked. So I introduced the first book. We went through the four sounds that the first book covers, and then we set out sounding out the words. She read it one-and-a-half times before she declared "I don't want to read it over and over!" and went on her merry way. So I put the books away.

I very quickly learned my first lesson when it comes to teaching PBug how to read: Keep her wanting more!

Later when Spud got home from work, I suggested that she read him the new book she got at the library. She sat down in his lap and, slowly and laboriously, read the book to him. That was it! After reading the book to her dad all by herself, she got excited. She read it to Nana, then to her baby brother, then to her stuffed cat. She wanted to take it to her auntie's house where we were having dinner and read it there. The entire time I did my best to be casual and make sure that everything was her own idea.

She read the book a few times throughout the day today, and tonight I suggested she read it to me as a bedtime story. She did so gladly, and read it perfectly. She's mastered the book, and it is very clear to me that she has not memorized it, she is reading it.

I then asked her if she would like to read the second book to me and she ran to get it. I used my pointer finger and had her put her pointer finger on top of mine. I pointed to each word, she sounded them out and read the entire book to me! The first time! She did great!

I'm excited that I have the privilege of witnessing PBug's first attempts and successes at reading, no matter how rudimentary they might be. I'll continue to work with her using Bob Books as long as she shows an interest.

Magic Tree House Journal

2009-09-10T19:49:00.001-07:00

This week we started reading Dinosaurs Before Dark, the first in the series of Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. This is the first time I've ever read the books personally, but I'm excited about reading them because they seem like a fun way to expose PBug to different places and times in history.

PBug and I started her very own Magic Tree House journal. Each time we finish reading a chapter we talk about what happened. Then PBug dictates a one or two sentence summary to me and I write it on the page. I haven't actually used the word "summary" with her yet, I just ask her to "tell me what happened in this chapter." She has no idea she's learning a skill. Finally, she illustrates the sentence she dictated.

Each chapter is very short, has one or two pictures, and only includes one significant event. For those reasons, this book is perfect for teaching a four year old how to summarize!

Here are some samples of her work:

This is PBug's drawing for the first chapter. The summary is very simple and her
drawing includes few details, just Jack, Annie, and two trees.

PBug was totally preoccupied with the rope ladder in her first few drawings. I
found it a little amusing that this drawing included three separate rope
ladders. I wrote the sentence exactly as she dictated it to me, without
correcting her grammar.

I thought this drawing was funny because we talked about the word "triceratops"
and what "tri-" means. I used "triangle" and "tricycle" as examples of things
that have three of something. She proceeded to draw a triceratops with two
triangles with several legs coming out of them rather than with three horns on
his head.

So far she has done seven drawings and she's already starting to add more details. For example, tonight was the first night she drew Jack's backpack on him. When she was telling me about her drawing she remembered the book about dinosaurs that Jack was carrying and went back to add it. The fact that she's starting to include smaller and smaller details indicates that she's listening and comprehending the story.

We will continue to use this journal for summarizing Magic Tree House books. I also discovered that the Magic Tree House website has a passport for kids. They can fill it up with stamps by answering comprehension questions about the story. I'm looking forward to doing that with PBug after we finish the book.

Projects!

2009-09-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making the mobile for Little Man's room. (BTW, I guess his bloggy name is Little Man, since that's how I keep referring to him!) I used two twigs from a birch tree in our backyard, some twine, some fishing line, and the leftover stars from decorating his wall. I rigged them all together and hung it over the changing table. So simple and I absolutely love it!

Did you notice the wool soakers hanging on the wall? I decided they're too cute not to display :) They're also easily accessible when I need them.

My mom has been here all week and she made the top pair using a sweater I found at Goodwill. They're more functional than they are aesthetically pleasing, but now we know how to make them for next time.

Reading Comprehension

2009-09-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

When I taught the intermediate grades my favorite part of the day was reading aloud to my class. Sometimes we'd get so consumed by a story that I'd read for an hour. Sadly, with all the curriculum that is required, I doubt I'd even have time for it anymore! Now one of my favorite times of the day is still reading aloud - only now I'm reading aloud to PBug.

When I taught, I'd always allow my students freedom when I read aloud. Some students enjoyed borrowing a copy of the same book from the library and reading along, others enjoyed resting their heads while I read, and I always had a handful of others who would draw pictures of the story.

Last night we finished reading James and the Giant Peach. A few days ago I remembered those students who loved to draw and thought I'd suggest the idea to PBug. We had just finished reading the part where the seagulls fly the peach and it's passengers through the Cloud Men's territory and the Cloud Men throw the hail stones they'd just made at the peach. We talked a little about what she was going to draw beforehand. Here's PBug's interpretation of that scene:

She included each of the passengers, but interestingly she didn't include the peach. The Cloud Men are there in the clouds and the hailstones are being thrown at James and his friends. I had PBug describe the scene to me and it was a great way to check her comprehension of the story.

New Baby Syndrome

2009-09-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

For about a week and a half, PBug had us fooled. We thought she was adjusting to big-sisterhood smoothly. Yes, she had her moments, especially when visitors stopped by to see the new baby and she would act like a loon. And she found a pacifier and adopted it as her own. That lasted a few days, but when she didn't get any attention for it (I pre-warned all visitors not to acknowledge it's presence in her mouth), it quickly fell by the wayside.

About two weeks ago, when we thought we were in the clear, PBug's behavior took a turn for the worse. She started blatantly doing exactly the opposite of what she was told, looking me in the eye the whole time.

Me: PBug, if you pull one more leaf off of that tree you're coming in the house.
PBug: (In a sing-song voice, looking me in the eye as she pulls a leaf off the tree) Okay, just one more!
Me: Okay, come inside the house.
PBug: Okay! (Skips inside the house)

She started showing her emotions more extremely than she has in the past (which, for my child, is saying a lot!).

Me: You need to calm yourself down.
PBug: GRRRR!!! I'm going to throw this bowl of crackers on the floor!!! (Proceeds to throw the bowl of crackers across the room)

Drastic as her behavior was, I understood it. It was obvious to me that she was testing the limits. She just needed to make sure that, even though there was a new baby in the house, nothing had changed - not even rules and consequences. Maybe it was her way of making sure we still loved and cared about her. I simply made sure that we were spending just as much time playing games, reading stories, baking and whatever as we had before the baby was born.

Then she broke my heart! If nothing else, PBug has always been trustworthy. I've never had to worry about her being sneaky or lying. On Wednesday evening, PBug helped my mom bake a cake for my birthday the next day. We frosted it and then she and Sprout decorated it with Sundrops. At lunch on Thursday we each had a piece.

On Saturday after her lunch, Spud gave PBug another piece of cake. After lunch is "quiet resting time" at our house, and Spud and I promptly fell asleep with the baby. I was surprised that PBug allowed us to sleep so long without interruption, but I didn't think much of it. It wasn't until hours later that I realized why. I was nursing the baby when Spud walked in the room holding the plate with the cake on it. It was completely devoid of all frosting and Sundrops. PBug had annihilated it.

I was crushed, and to tell the truth, I really felt like crying. I've never been disappointed in her before. It was the first situation I've had as a parent that I realized that no lecture and no consequences were necessary. When we took the cake to her it was clear that she knew she'd made a mistake and that she wasn't proud of herself. She also knew how disappointed we were. I think that alone was the worst consequence she could have suffered, and it was a natural consequence.

I'm sure there will be countless more times in the coming years that my children disappoint me. I have no idea what made PBug break character and be sneaky, but I hope that such occasions will be few and far between! At least, for the time being anyway, it appears that she still can't bring herself to lie :) Heaven help me the day that changes!

No Turning Back Now!

2009-09-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

***Forgive me for going on about this subject, but it's consuming me right now!***

My mom was here helping out last week when diapers started showing up on my doorstep left and right. As she put it, "Well, you're committed now!" Yes, I am! I feel like I finally have a handle on this cloth diapering thing and we're going full steam ahead! I just wish I could go back in time and cloth diaper PBug. I'm thinking of having another just so I can get more use out of all these cool diapers!

I haven't paid full price for anything; I've mostly purchased used diapers or factory seconds. I've decided that I'm a little-bit-of-everything cloth diaperer. I personally like the prefolds with covers during the day while we're at home, although Spud isn't interested in using those - understandable since he's about the least-dexterous person I know. He prefers to use the pocket diapers, so I tend to save those for him. We have a couple of all-in-ones for going out since they're quick and easy while we're out and when we get home. At night I prefer using fitted diapers, and I found a great deal on Craigslist for 8 hemp Crickett's for $50. I absolutely love these diapers! The mom who sold them to me said her son had a bit of a reaction to the hemp, but my Little Man hasn't had a problem with them. Her loss was my gain!

Mom and Kiddo mom suggested using a wool soaker over fitted diapers, especially at night, but I just couldn't swallow the $30 price tags I was finding. It dawned on me that my sister-in-law knits, and although she is fairly new at it, she can do anything she puts her mind to! She makes gorgeous scarves worthy of Nordstrom or Sac's and she's started branching out lately. I have to show off the gorgeous felted hat she made my Little Man before he was born:

A quick google search came up with a pattern for a wool diaper cover and I asked her if she could pull it off. She bought the yarn on Saturday, stayed up until midnight knitting, and yesterday brought us this organic, alpaca "Butt Sweater":

Worked like a charm under the Crickett's last night! I love it! The best part is that the yarn only cost her $20 and she has enough left over to make second soaker! Two for twenty! I also found a wool sweater at Goodwill yesterday, have already felted it, and while my mom's here helping out (again!) this week, we're going to attempt to use this pattern to sew another soaker... I let you know how it turns out, if at all :)

Preschool: Week One

2009-09-07T08:48:00.001-07:00

PBug started preschool last week and everything seems to be going well in the two days she's been there. She hasn't shared too much with us yet and we're trying to back off. She's the kind of kid who gets turned off when people make too big a deal of something. Since everyone she comes across has been asking her about school when they see her, she's been somewhat of a closed book.

The few tidbits of information PBug has revealed, albeit slowly and sporadically, include that she has done a pouring activity (which she spilled on the floor and cleaned up "with the little sponge before the teacher knew it happened"), a scooping activity, and the red rods. According to her, that's all she remembers. She has told me a little bit about circle time, that they do calendar, songs, stories, and had a discussion about what Labor Day is. Her favorite part of the day is, big shocker here, snack time. If there's something she doesn't forget, it's what she had for snack. All signs indicate that she's having a great time while she's there because she's been filthy both times I've picked her up.

I didn't cry on the first day and neither did she, although she was a little timid. As I was walking out to the parking lot after dropping her off I did get choked up for about half a second, but it passed quickly. It has been a tad bit difficult for me not to know all about PBug's morning while she's at preschool. For the last four years we've been practically joined at the hip. I've been right by her side and been a part of everything she does. Now it's time for me to stand back and let her have this experience.

diaperswappers.com

2009-08-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

So many people have recommended diaperswappers.com so it must be good, but I am SO overwhelmed when I go there! The site seems so unorganized I don't even know where to start! Can anyone tell me what to do if I want to buy used diapers there? I don't know what I'm looking at...

My Cloth Diapering Journey Continues...

2009-08-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with cloth diapers! On Jenn's suggestion, I ordered a trial package of cloth diapers from Jillian's Drawers through their Changing Diapers, Changing Minds Program and I'm so glad I did. For $10 we are trying bumGenius Pocket One-Size & their Organic AIO, Thirsties Fab Fitted with cover and their Pocket AIO, and Fuzzibunz for 21 days.

I'm very happy with the Pocket Change pocket diapers that my friend loaned me, especially because the inserts all come out in the wash - no removal necessary! They fit my little guy really well and they aren't too bulky.

I like the bumGenius Pocket One-Size, although they're pretty bulky. I already bought six of these and I imagine I'll be using them a lot at nighttime with the doublers and more during the day as he gets bigger. I haven't tried the Organic one yet because you have to wash it in hot water four times before it will actually absorb liquid, and I haven't done that yet.

I thought I would love the Thirsties Fab Fitted because it was so cute and soft, and I did. It fit really well, but the Thirsties Cover didn't fit over it right on him. I LOVE the Thirsties Pocket AIO, though, and it didn't take too long to dry. However I dry laundry outside on the line and it's really warm right now, so I might change my tune in the winter! I ordered a couple of these on the Thirsties website that are factory seconds for a discounted price.

I also like the Fuzzibunz - they're so soft inside! However I'm not overly excited about them because they're very similar to the Pocket Change diapers, and I prefer Pocket Change for the mere fact that the insert comes out by itself. In the interest of not having too huge a variety, I'll probably opt out of getting any of these.

I've been scouring Craigslist for used diapers and so far I haven't had any luck. I figure I have some time before he needs the next size up so I'll keep looking. I did, however, find TWO diaper pails like this one:

for $10! Right now I'm using one for cloth and one for disposables, but as we faze out the disposables I'll use both for cloth. I figure that by the time he's six months old and starting solid foods I'll keep one in the bathroom for cloth and one in the bedroom. (So far there hasn't been an odor issue.)

I found this two pack of wet bags

on Walmart's website for $9.98 so now I'm just waiting for them to get to the store so I can pick them up. Now all I need are two diaper pail liners, which I haven't gotten around to deciding on yet, and I'll be set!

I love cloth diapering! It's so easy, and I can feel good about not wasting money or resources on disposables. Plus, they're super cute :)

Back To School Night

2009-08-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

Last night, Spud and I attended Back To School Night at PBug's preschool. PBug's teacher is new to the school this year, although not new to Montessori education by far. She has taught preschool and at the university level. She most recently worked in a corporate job and left her position to come back into the preschool classroom where she feels she can best serve. She has to be the most enthusiastic teacher I have ever known! I could feel her excitement as she talked about each of the curriculum areas and how important each of them are to her. She spent the summer reorganizing the classroom and ordering new materials and she can't wait to get started.

PBug hasn't even started yet and I know I love it there. As we were walking to the car after the presentation, I asked Spud "If I can save up $5,400, can we send her here for Kindergarten, too?"

Rockin' the Cloth!

2009-08-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, who is currently visiting from the far-off land of Texas, came by yesterday armed with a suitcase full of cloth diapers and a head full of KNOWLEDGE! She gave me the complete run-down on prefolds, pocket diapers, and all-in-ones and a stash of diapers that her little one has outgrown. It's hasn't even been 24 hours yet, and can say with confidence that I LOVE CLOTH!!

We're off to a great start. Along with a sampling of all of the different types of diapers she had on hand, my friend loaned us twelve small Pocket Change CDs, which was her favorite brand when her daughter was in infant. Her daughter didn't fit into them until she was around two months old, but they fit my two week old moose perfectly. I like them because they're sooooo easy, perfect for first-time cloth diapering parents. The pocket comes out in the wash, so we can just throw the whole diaper in the pail without taking it apart.

I also ordered six BumGenius one-size all-in-ones. I'm very curious to see how these diapers could possibly fit a child as small as seven pounds and as big as 35 pounds, but they came highly recommended so I'm giving them a try. My friend recommended these diapers for their convenience, although she warned that they do take a long time to dry. I was able to find six new diapers on Ebay for $80, which is about $14.50 each when shipping is included.

I still have a few boxes of disposables on hand, so I'll be making the switch as I can afford the diapers. I'm thankful to have the advice of all of the experienced cloth diapering mommies out there! Thanks again!

Preschool Preview

2009-08-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

Although preschool doesn't start until September 2nd, PBug was invited to attend class for a morning in August. Just two days before the baby was born we dropped her off at 9:00 in the morning. She honestly could care less that we left and she had a great morning. She loved the playground (she was downright filthy when she got home!), the other children (she tends to make fast friends wherever she goes), and the Montessori activities. She was excited that she got to cup up her own bananas and pineapple for snack, too!

When I picked her up at noon, her teacher was just as excited about her morning as PBug was. Apparently PBug told her that she had some of the Montessori materials at home which her teacher was pleased to hear. She said that PBug was "very eager to learn" and that she couldn't wait for her to start in the fall.

I can't wait either! I'm going to miss her while she's at school, after all, we've practically been attached at the hip for the last four years, but I know this will be a positive step for her. I'm eager to watch her grow in this new capacity and gain some Independence away from home. And although she has many, many friends that are her friends by default (i.e. her mommy and daddy are friends with their mommies and daddies), I'm excited for her to start making some friends on her own terms. I'm quite curious to see how that plays out.

I'm also looking forward to spending Monday and Friday mornings with my new favorite little guy and having some one-on-one time with him. I suspect that we will be spending many of our mornings in the beginning napping, but surely that won't last forever :) I'm excited that Mondays and Fridays will be our time together for the next four years.

Next week Sprout and her four month old baby sister will start coming on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I have four weeks of help lined up before I'm on my own with four kiddos. Eventually I would love to get the two babies napping at the same time in the mornings so I can do a few Montessori activities with PBug and Sprout on Tuesdays and Thursdays... I'm pacing myself, though. First I need to catch up on my sleep!