Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Face Paint
I could just as easily title this blog "Neck Paint!"
Watching this painting experience was a blast. Kuba was unbelievably focused and Anders was so very patient with his brother, only reminding him to wet his crayon when it got dry. Kuba put so much face paint on Anders that it took forever to get the paint off!! Even today I saw a hint of green on Anders neck.
Shoveling Duo
There wasn't that much snow, but using the shovels to clear it away was still thrilling.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Other Blog Posts about Parenting
"My daughter went to a wonderful preschool that had a slogan on its brochure: Value the Child. I liked the sound of that, but it took me time to realize what it meant. It didn’t mean what I thought at the beginning. I’m not sure how many other parents ever got the gist of it. To them, the value might have represented the bazillion dollars we spent on the monthly tuition. We already valued our children so much that we wanted them to have the best, and the most, and the first, and the highest.
In other words, we didn’t value our children at all.
When I say that my daughter went to the preschool I really mean that I went to the preschool, because I did, for part of every day. Gradually, I learned what the devoted, loving and talented teachers were showing me: what it means to value someone else.
It doesn’t mean to prize.
Not to elevate.
Not to demean.
Not to impose.
Not to judge.
Not to expect.
Not to push.
Not to accelerate.
Not to withdraw.
Not to give up.
Not to coddle.
Not to do things for them.
Not to do things to them.
Not to do things instead of them.
Not to do.
To value a child is to value them as they are. To support them where they are.
To show them the immeasurable and eternal value of love. It never stops growing."
From the blog Cheerio Road http://www.karenmaezenmiller.com/
Karen Maezen Miller
And....
A good mother is simply nothing like I thought. It turns out, among other things, a good mother:
Ignores unwanted behavior
Lets her child fail
Resists the urge to help
Stays in the background
Withholds praise
Doesn’t come to the rescue
Bites her tongue
Relinquishes control
From the blog Twelve and a Half Weeks
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=195375696476535428
Both struck me this morning and I thought I'd pass it on.
In other words, we didn’t value our children at all.
When I say that my daughter went to the preschool I really mean that I went to the preschool, because I did, for part of every day. Gradually, I learned what the devoted, loving and talented teachers were showing me: what it means to value someone else.
It doesn’t mean to prize.
Not to elevate.
Not to demean.
Not to impose.
Not to judge.
Not to expect.
Not to push.
Not to accelerate.
Not to withdraw.
Not to give up.
Not to coddle.
Not to do things for them.
Not to do things to them.
Not to do things instead of them.
Not to do.
To value a child is to value them as they are. To support them where they are.
To show them the immeasurable and eternal value of love. It never stops growing."
From the blog Cheerio Road http://www.karenmaezenmiller.com/
Karen Maezen Miller
And....
A good mother is simply nothing like I thought. It turns out, among other things, a good mother:
Ignores unwanted behavior
Lets her child fail
Resists the urge to help
Stays in the background
Withholds praise
Doesn’t come to the rescue
Bites her tongue
Relinquishes control
From the blog Twelve and a Half Weeks
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=195375696476535428
Both struck me this morning and I thought I'd pass it on.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Do you Read This?
I would love to get a sense of who is actually reading my blog
(Yes, I know you are, Shana!)
so if you read this, can you post a comment?
(Yes, I know you are, Shana!)
so if you read this, can you post a comment?
Dalmation Mollies - Here and Gone
February.
It's a big month in our house. Anna's birthday, Anders birthday, my sister's birthday, and 2 other family members birthdays, and a slew of close friends also born in this same month. It's such a packed 28 days. Oh, right, and then there is the wonderful Valentine's Day bonus!
At our house we are in the midst of cutting wooden dowels and painting magician wands. I bought 6 yards of black shiny fabric at the store today to make magician's capes, and Anna and I have found a 17 year old high school student who can do magic tricks who is willing to come and entertain five year olds. And I love all of it. You might think I am crazy, but the artist/mom/party planner in me gets such a kick out of bringing it all together. I might not always feel this way, nor have this much energy about birthdays, but I currently do, so I am going with it. Can you guess that the theme of Anders birthday party is magic. It was his choice and quite honestly, I am not even sure how he got fixed on it - but he did and so we are off and running.
His birthday was actually on Friday. It was simple and fun and celebrated by the four of us and Anders' Mor Mor. He got a 10 gallon fish tank from her and it's been thrilling for him. We are all learning about how to have fish and keep them alive. The first day he got 2 dalmation mollies and they died by the morning. We just replaced them with a guppie and another kind of fish recommended by the pet store, but that one looks as if it is also about to take a trip down the toilet as well. Keeping fish is more complicated than it appears and cleary we do not understand yet what factors are problematic. We thought it was the water temperature but that seems under control, so now we are on to problemsolving session number two. Anders is so happy about it all, even though his first two fish didn't make it. On the way home from the pet store the second time, Anders said "Mom, I think I am going to name these two fish before they die. I didn't name the other ones." I am so interested in watching his involvement and response to this experience. We haven't yet had any pets so the death aspect of life is new in our home. It seems with fish there isn't a lot of emotional attachment - scooping them in the net and flushing them down the toilet was just as much fun as choosing them at the pet store. But this will be continued....I am sure there will be much more to report on this as time passes. And if you only have a fish for less than 24 ours, you haven't had much opportunity to build a relationship. With names it might be different. Bumble (the guppie) is swimming up a storm right now, and whiskers (the other fish) is still in the same spot it was a few hours ago. Stay tuned.
It's a big month in our house. Anna's birthday, Anders birthday, my sister's birthday, and 2 other family members birthdays, and a slew of close friends also born in this same month. It's such a packed 28 days. Oh, right, and then there is the wonderful Valentine's Day bonus!
At our house we are in the midst of cutting wooden dowels and painting magician wands. I bought 6 yards of black shiny fabric at the store today to make magician's capes, and Anna and I have found a 17 year old high school student who can do magic tricks who is willing to come and entertain five year olds. And I love all of it. You might think I am crazy, but the artist/mom/party planner in me gets such a kick out of bringing it all together. I might not always feel this way, nor have this much energy about birthdays, but I currently do, so I am going with it. Can you guess that the theme of Anders birthday party is magic. It was his choice and quite honestly, I am not even sure how he got fixed on it - but he did and so we are off and running.
His birthday was actually on Friday. It was simple and fun and celebrated by the four of us and Anders' Mor Mor. He got a 10 gallon fish tank from her and it's been thrilling for him. We are all learning about how to have fish and keep them alive. The first day he got 2 dalmation mollies and they died by the morning. We just replaced them with a guppie and another kind of fish recommended by the pet store, but that one looks as if it is also about to take a trip down the toilet as well. Keeping fish is more complicated than it appears and cleary we do not understand yet what factors are problematic. We thought it was the water temperature but that seems under control, so now we are on to problemsolving session number two. Anders is so happy about it all, even though his first two fish didn't make it. On the way home from the pet store the second time, Anders said "Mom, I think I am going to name these two fish before they die. I didn't name the other ones." I am so interested in watching his involvement and response to this experience. We haven't yet had any pets so the death aspect of life is new in our home. It seems with fish there isn't a lot of emotional attachment - scooping them in the net and flushing them down the toilet was just as much fun as choosing them at the pet store. But this will be continued....I am sure there will be much more to report on this as time passes. And if you only have a fish for less than 24 ours, you haven't had much opportunity to build a relationship. With names it might be different. Bumble (the guppie) is swimming up a storm right now, and whiskers (the other fish) is still in the same spot it was a few hours ago. Stay tuned.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
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