Characteristics

Compassionate, Sympathetic, Empathy, Loving, gentleness, Sincere are but a few of many characteristics I want my children to have. One of the ways I have been able to teach them a few is through there interaction with our pets and smaller children.
We have gone over how we need to take care of our pets, remember to feed them, and love them. We talk about how they have feelings too.
In our house it's a common fact that, babies need love to grow. That we need to protect them and care for them. We can do that by being gentle, giving them our OLD baby toys, wrapping them in soft blankets to sleep etc...
So I am always very happy and feel like I've sorta succeed when I catch my kids doing things that express any of the for mentioned characteristics.


Jasey early in the morning loving Taz on the couch.


C.J. playing with cousin Camden

Good Choice

I constantly tell my kids "These are your choices", "That wasn't a good choice" or "That was a good choice". So when we were heading to the library the other day and I was trying to gather everything, I specifically told C.J. opening the front door wasn't a good choice. I went to the bathroom, and came out to the front door open and the two of them sitting on the porch waiting. C.J. looked at me and says "Mom, we weren't running in the street, we are sitting here waiting on the porch. That's a GOOD choice."

School

Today they did health screenings at C.J.'s school, he passed everything as I thought he would. He was also the weather reporter today, when asked what the weather was like, he replied "Good and Sunny". He is continuing to have happy morning drop offs and wonderful pick ups.
Sissy is doing better, she still repeatedly says "C.J. bye-bye?" almost like she needs reassurance that we are coming back to get him, and I didn't just give him away. So I tell her 10 times on the way to the car. Yes, C.J. is at preschool and we will come get him later. Yesterday at our Mommy and Me toddle time, we sang a couple new hand songs: thumb-kin and thumbilina. We also danced with tambourines and maracas. We made our own maracas out of plastic Easter eggs filled with beans and then taped shut. She had a lot of fun. She left me to go play when we first arrived and participated more. She went the whole hour without her pacie!!!! For us that's a huge thing. We ended the afternoon by going for a walk with grandma, nothing like fresh air to wear a child out.

Tradition

I am very proud to say that our young family does have many family traditions. I LOVE doing things as a family. I love seeing their faces as they do new things. So Halloween is on it's way and we decided this year will be the first year of a new family tradition. Because we feel our kids are finally old enough to Carve pumpkins and roast pumpkin seeds. I know we started early, but it had been eons since Chris and I had done this so we needed a trial run.

First we got all the guts out.


Then we transferred the stencil.


Or draw on the face.


Then we cut out the pieces, while others (cj) enthusiastically stabbed the pumpkin parts.



Ta-Da!!

This was the first time I had ever attempted to roast pumpkin seeds. So I went online and found an awesome recipe. First I washed all the pulp off the seeds, then I dried them with my hair drier and finally mixed them with the seasoning.
I used

4 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tbsp Garlic Salt

Then I placed them in my oven on a cookie sheet at 275 degrees for 10 minute increments, every time shifting them around, until dry. They are SO good.

Tattoos

Chris and I both have tattoos. This month the Mcdonalds toy has a fake tattoo with it. C.J. was so excited to have it put on. Right on his chest like daddy. For the rest of the day he is refusing to wear a shirt. He keeps telling me he's just like dad now!

Reading

I love to read, anything and everything. I could spend my life savings on books and be happy. One thing I want for my kids is for them to also love reading and to read well. We read everyday and visit the library 1-2 times a week. I try and buy my kids books that correspond with holidays so that during October we read Halloween books, during thanksgiving we red thanksgiving books so forth. Along with reading whatever else we want. I notice my son learning to love reading and learning so many things from the books we read. Right now we seem to be reading every single insect book the library has to offer. C.J. will readily tell you how many legs a spider has, that they are not bugs they are insects, that this bee makes honey and that ant is a worker ant. I enjoy knowing that through reading he is enjoying learning.

We know reading with kids is important, we are told that all the time. Heres the proof:

The early Childhood Longitude Study found that children who were read to at least three times a week as they entered kindergarten (http://www.education.com/grade/kindergarten/?_module=DeepLink&hit&id=8502)

76% has mastered the letter-sound relationship at the beginning of words, compared to 64% of children who were read to fewer then 3 times a week.

57% had mastered the letter-sound relationship at the end of words, compared to 43% who were read to fewer then 3 times a week.

15% had sight-word recognition skills, compared to the 8% who were read to less then 3 times a week.

5% could understand words in context, compared to the 2% who were read to less then 3 times a week.

sad :(

Some times I wish I could adopt all the lonely neglected children in the world. Maybe one day, but not now.

For now I can try to make a difference in the children's lives that I am in. I would love to one day adopt when my own kids are much older, but for now I don't have the support I would need. still my heart breaks for those little ones with no one to call their mom or dad.

I applaud the amazing people out there who are able to make such a difference, who are able to rescue children from destitute situations.

My friends Adeye is amazing and I encourage all of you to visit her blog www.nogreaterjoymom.com and read her last couple entries. Such a selfless person. If only our world had a few more.

Fall

As the summer days near and end we are spending more and more time outside. trying to soak up the very last of the summer warmth before it fades away.

Yesterday I took the kids to the park, where we found a trail that we followed into the woods. C.J. called it our adventure.Today we played out side with our best friends Quinn and Ryder. I love that my kids have friends and I love watching them play together.We are blessed with many aspen trees in our yard, so it's easy for my to talk to the kids about fall and point out the changing leaves and to pick up the fallen ones.




Jasey and her friends Ryder playing outside in their Wonder Pet capes.




C.J. and Jasey posing by a tree in out back yard. They just look so thrilled as I once again try my hand at photography.

This is my job

As I've said before this is my job, parenting is my 24/7 dedicated job. This is something I want to succeed at, to consistently get better at.

Do you realize we go to school for 12 years, so we can be competent adults. Then many of us continue onto college to get degrees in areas of interest so that we can know what we are doing and do it well.

Yet, anyone can have a kid. Anyone can raise a kid without ever baby-sitting, taking a class. In essence not knowing a thing about it.

Currently recommending: www.carecourses.com

What do you do on a cold day?

What do you do on a cold day when you have a pair of crazy four yr old.s? You turn them into superheros and let them fight all the ninja's.

C.J. and his friend Quinn, C.J. is spider man.



Who says boys can't play dress-up?

First day of Preschool

This is a little late, but I had to see how we would turn out before I posted it. This year C.J. is attending preschool at Gateway the local elementary school. He is in the P.A.L. program, he was accepted through the Colorado Preschool Program due to his declining speech. (more on that in another post)
Myself being a stay at home mom, C.J. has only been away from me a couple times a year and have of that he is with his dad and the other have with close well known trusted family members. I anticipated him having some separation anxiety as I left him with a stranger for the first time. So we took steps to minimize it and or prevent it.

1) At his evaluation he met his teacher and saw his classroom. We located the cubbies and the bathroom.

2) We attended open house where he re-met one teacher and met the other for the first time. He was able to play with several other kids who would be in his class.

3) we talked about it. How mommy would drop him off , he would have fun and learn things and then mommy would come back.

4) we practiced getting up early, getting dressed and fed as if we were heading out the door, two weeks before his first day.

5) We read books about preschool "Maisy goes to preschool" and watched "Caillou" a cartoon about a four yr old boy who also goes to preschool.

He was excited and decked out with new clothes, new shoes, new backpack, an awesome spider man folder. He asked for several days "is this the day I go to preschool?" I felt confident we nailed it and he would start with no problems.

The first day of Preschool he got up and dressed with no problems. we were out the door on time and he was excited. We arrived and he got a little quieter, as more kids arrived he started acting nervous. I helped him was his hands and find his name tag, he was clinging to my leg. I sat him on his spot for story time and he started whimpering and holding me tight. I explained that it was his job for him to stay at preschool to learn things, he was a big boy now and I would be back soon. He started to cry. The teacher had to peal him off of me while he was kicking and screaming "mommy don't leave me".

I cried all the way home and called them as soon as I was through the door to see if he was alright. he was. I was a nervous pacing wreck that morning as I counted down the minutes till pick up time. I hadn't expected this we had done so many things to prepare him, but we had both been faced with a new experience. I now have new respect for all my friends who were working moms. I arrived early to see he was happily playing on the playground, no tears at all. In fact he threw a fit and didn't want to leave. Go figure. The next day he was perfect. We have since then had two days of tears, but way better then the first day.

C.J. loves preschool and now happily lets go of my hand and walks right in, as I sign him in. I see him growing up so quickly all of a sudden. Then I realize we are both growing. While I'm learning to let him go, He is learning to stand on his own.




This is the scrapbook page if his family we did for his class.





C.J.'s first day of preschool.

Sometimes being a good mom means...

Sometimes being a good mom means throwing the towel in before the fight.

So, after a horrible afternoon we are ordering pizza and going to cuddle and watch a movie together.

Pictues

Today we are taking Jasey down to get her pictures done. CJ had his done this morning at preschool and I try to keep things even. being the oldest, I personally don't know if the youngest or middle really do get treated differently. Not to mention I have no picture taking talent.

An article in my "Parents" magazine says I quote that "the oldest child enjoys about 3,000 more hours of quality time with there parents between the ages of 4 and 13 then the next sibling will get, found a study from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah."

I find the disturbing because i love my children equally but differently. What i love about my daughter aren't necessarily the same things I love about my son. They are very different people even at this young age. I don't want either of my children feeling like one got something the other didn't or that my husband and I have favorites. So I make a huge effort to keep things as even as possible.




This is a picture of Jasey I took yesterday after she was told she wasn't as big as her brother and therefore couldn't swing as high. She is glaring at her brother whose not pictured.

Toddler Time

Today was the first day of the Toddler Time: Music and Movement class Jasey and I joined. It was fun, the lady who is directing it, is awesome.She has two little kids in the class as well and seemed very laid back. i loved how friendly she was when I first walked in. I was kinda nervous. I think most moms are while praying that "OUR" kid doesn't be the one to throw a toy or a fit.
First we had a free play period, then a welcome song. Followed by a poem with body movements and then "London Bridge" with colorful scarfs and instruments. Then there was a small craft, where the kids made Kazoo's out of a comb and wax paper. Then a wild dance period and the good bye song.
We had SO much fun. Jasey honestly didn't do very much, she mostly watched and stayed very close to mommy. She seemed to enjoy watching the other kids do things and slowly started to participate. By the end she kept going and sitting in the circle area by herself not wanting to leave. That's always a good sign.
I decided to sign up for this 6 wk class, so that Jasey and I could have "OUR" time together. Cj had his before she was born. Also I want her to make her own friends and learn to play with others by herself not always being an exstention of her older brother. I liked seeing her with kids her own age. I can't wait for next week.

Swimming

Today Chris and I took the kids swimming. It was such a beautiful day, warm breeze and blue skies. One of the last summer like days. Our kids love to swim, they both wear arm floaties and jump right in. C.J. can dog paddle and float on his back, today he learned to do this odd back dog paddle swim thing. He also was jumping into the deep end by himself!! Jasey can float on her back and kick, she loves to be pulled in circles and have daddy put her on his shoulders.

Whenever we spend time together as a family I really feel we are making a huge impact on our kids. Hopefully providing them with many happy memories. In the day and age of t.v. and electronic games, I'm so thankful my kids run and play and are not glued to the t.v.

I believe physical activity is SO important for children! Not only does it reduce their risk for childhood obesity, it improves muscles tone, builds strong bones, helps them sleep better, and learning and accomplishing new things builds self-esteem. I'm an avid believer of learning through play!

The very beginning...

By the time I found out I was pregnant with my eldest, my son C.J., I was teaching preschool and finishing up my associates in Early childhood education. I knew exactly how my pregnancy was going to go. i was going to do everything right. I wasn't going to make any mistakes with MY baby, I knew it all. I had read everything there was to read, I was buying only educational toys, reading to my belly (to insure a high I.Q.), I was eating extremely healthy etc...
In my 20th week, we had a routine ultrasound done and it revealed we had a two-vessel umbilical cord. Something that happens in only .01% of all singleton pregnancies. We could deal with that. But, we were told our child more then likely had down syndrome. After looking at all the present markers in several ultrasounds we were scheduled an amnio. I chose to do the amnio, because I could spend the next 5 months not knowing.
Being faced with a great chance of having a child with special needs, is humbling. I accepted right away that this was my baby and I loved him NO MATTER WHAT!! however, there is a sort of grieving process you go through. Grieving that you dreams have changed, learning to let go of one idea and to accept another. Accepting for once I didn't know what to do. I knew nothing of raising a Down's baby.
The two week wait for amnio results was devastating, I couldn't have done it if my husband hadn't been right by my side the whole time. Finally, we got the news our baby was fine. All the markers in the ultrasound were then linked to Inter-uterine Growth Restriction.
I was relieved, but once your thinking changes it's hard to reverse it. while I was grateful he was fine, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was in over my head. The feeling that maybe i didn't know what to do. How prophetic those thoughts turned out to be.

Parenting

All to often I have said we are but the product of our parenting. Now as a parent I still feel that holds a lot of merit, but now realize the vast other influences that help mold our children. Most parents I have come to believe do try their best, or what they feel is their best. A best that by my definition is lowering it's standards every generation. Some parents are just too young, not sure, and others are so busy working. There are still the group of mothers that just suck, who just don't seem to get it.

I have chosen to make raising my kids my full time job. This means I do not work out side of the home and my kids do not spend their days with someone else. However, contrary to what some make think I don't sit at home and do nothing. I take raising my kids seriously and it means a lot to me. I feel I'm finally getting the hang of it. I plan on elaborating more in a series of blogs to follow.

Maybe passing on what I've learned, could help another mom.

I know...

I know what people are thinking when my son throws a fit.

I know what they are thinking when he is bouncing off the walls.

I know what they mean when they hand out second hand advice... with a smile.


I wonder if they know what I'm THINKING, when I smile and say thanks.