March 30th, 2010
Two weeks ago today MyBigMan turned 3!
And though my husband took him to the park and to buy some gifts, we really just skipped over the celebrating. Because throw up and cupcakes do not a party make. Then we were all sick for the next, like, year. Okay, so maybe it was just 10 days, but you get it.
And then once I actually bought the cake stuff, it took me another few days to get up the nerve to make rainbow cupcakes. (Do you know how much effort to stay patient it takes on my part when making 6 bowls of icing, dividing the cupcakes evenly, making 8 little hands wait until their turn, trying to somewhat contain that many sprinkles? Oh, my the energy it takes to actually smile during the process.)
And then once I started, the still ear-infected baby couldn’t for the life of him understand why I wouldn’t pick him up. He complained. Loudly. And non-stop. To the point I told MyOldest to close the back door, someone might call social services for the cupcake making neglect going on. But I did it. And I smiled. And I didn’t snap too much. And I even hung a banner. When daddy got home we sang the special song, blew out candles and enjoyed! Just like we were supposed to two weeks ago.
 Yes, there are 2 candles. I happened to have a birthday in there as well.
March 29th, 2010
It’s a new day and a new title.
And get this, I didn’t come up with it.
I slacked and didn’t keep up with the days and finally quit doing the Children’s Book Tuesday. Then one of my sweet bloggy friends (who found me looking for Children’s Books posts in the first place, hi Kathi!) had a link last week to a Children’s Book Monday. SoVainMe thought “Huh, I do that on Tuesdays, not Mondays. She seems confused.” And then I went alookin’. A Path Made Straight has been doing Children’s Book Mondays for much longer than I had even thought of doing Children’s Book Tuesdays! Hello? A little research always helps, right? Measure twice, cut once?
So here’s my children’s book for this week. (or for the last 2 months, whatevs)
And then go comment on her site and leave your children’s book fav over there!
Little Colt’s Palm Sunday
Written by Michelle Medlock Adams
Illustrated by Wayne Parmenter
What a sweet little book. And for us it’s a great way to start the week before Easter! It’s all pretend based on the real story, a poem told from the donkeys’ points of view.
Jesus the Christ stroked Little Colt.
He had a gentle touch.
“He’s pleased with me!” thought Little Colt.
“I like him very much.”
And then the men took off their coats
And pulled the colt real near.
They placed their coats upon his back,
And said, “Jesus, sit here.”
We read the real version found in Matthew 21:1-11 and the we read this sweet cutesy book. Hope you enjoy!
March 27th, 2010
Just as playful!
March 26th, 2010
With a lot of people and a smallish house (But then it would only be worse with a largish house, wouldn’t it? That’s not one of my desires.) comes a lot of mess.
With messes there must be order. Or Mama loses it.
So we came up with a workable method. If you have younger children don’t feel overwhelmed by this. We didn’t start out with this advanced of a method. They used to only have their toys and a little of the laundry to pick up. But I’ve slowly added more chores, divided the house into fairly even areas, and put them on a rotation. Here’s how that rotation breaks down. As of right now my three oldest (8,6, and 4) are completely responsible for these areas and BigMan (just turned 3) is a floater. He helps me mostly and sometimes he helps the others. ”Help” for him looks like “Hey, buddy do you want to pull these clothes out of the washer and put them in the basket for me?” Or when helping his siblings they’ll tell him what to pick up and where to put it or who to take it to. He likes helping still. He’s also required to pick up something that he’s gotten out (yet another pair of shoes, maybe?) and put them where they belong. Not all of my young 3 year olds could have done this. So, if yours doesn’t, go easy on yourself – it could be that particular child. And you always have to consider: this child has 3 other people to emulate.
They each have what we call a “living area”. They must do these areas first (you gotta put on that illusion first and foremost, right?) And then they move onto the other rooms. I’m not great about making sure the other rooms are spotless as much as I’d like, so occasionally I have to go sit with them while they get it right. And in case you’re wondering they clean our bathroom and bedroom because they leave their toys, clothes, and shoes everywhere - they don’t discriminate.
We keep this sheet posted on our fridge so that everyone can see it (the 2 older boys or I read it to my girl). It eliminates all the “but I cleaned that yesterday” or “that’s not mine” – the answer to those is “Yes, you did clean that yesterday and I’m aware that’s not yours. Next time you’ll remember to put your own things away and somebody else won’t have to pick up after you. And, besides, life is about taking care of others and not feeling put out by it.”
If we miss a day (or 4 when everyone is sick) we don’t worry about who did what last we just pick right up with the day we’re on. No arguments.
There are different times of the day that I may tell whoever happens to be standing closest to clean off the table, pick up the stuff on the rug, or some other random chore – that has nothing to do with what area they have. Just obey.
We have “All” on Sunday just because there’s not an even rotation right now. But I’m kinda liking it so far. They have to actually work together to get something done and they get to see how quickly things can get done when more than one person is working on it.
So, how do you divide chores in your home?
March 25th, 2010
It’s been a busy week of firsts, baby.
There’s that first tooth just breaking the surface.
There’s that first roll that we almost caught on camera.
And there’s that first spoonful of goodness.
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