Category: Kids/Parenting

Tips, tricks and adventures in parenting two kids.

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Hayden: cool boy, school boy

I’d post a video of Hayden reading, but I still don’t have a way to upload videos from my video camera to our newer desktop. Barring that, here is a list of words Hayden read (yes, READ) one evening last week:

Sounding out
bat
black cat
block cut                
pin
pen
pan
cob
cap
cub
cup
pup
up
yup
nap		 Sight words
like
see
can
no
go
am
he
and
at
it
yes
I
love
you

challenge word: pumpkin

Sentence: I can see like you.

(The sight words came from a school list, and from words I know he knows already; everything else I made up. They’re working on sight words at school, which mystifies me to some extent. When I hear “sight words,” I assume you’d focus on words that aren’t phonetic, and then focus on phonics for the rest of the words. The first sight words Hayden learned [I, am, can, see, like] follow regular phonetic rules. While there’s definitely something to be said for the feeling of accomplishment at reading a whole word, it seems more worthwhile to focus on teaching broadly applicable phonetic rules. I mean, the only reason the kid can read is because I’ve been teaching him his vowel sounds. </rant>)

I’m suitably proud of him. I might be praising him a bit too much. The other night, after he put together a toy, he sighed in satisfaction and said under his breath, “I’m always a genius.” He turned to me and added more loudly, “I’m always thinkin’, Mom!”

Yep.

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Rebecca’s funny (and she knows it)

A few cute stories from Rebecca over the last few months:

As we walked through our home airport, after three weeks’ summer vacation at Nana’s and 8 hours of traveling:

“For my birthday, I’m gonna go back to Nana’s,” Hayden proclaimed. “Becca, do you want to come with me?”

“Come wis you? Awe we gon’ get mawwied??”

While we were visiting, my wayward sisters taught Rebecca what to say when she received a proposal of marriage. I didn’t realize how deeply it’d sunken in until we’d been home a few days. Rebecca was rolling around on the floor (for fun, you know) and after a minute, I heard what she was saying:

“Whewe’s my big diamond?!”

Last night, since Hayden was sick, I brought Rebecca with me to his school’s literacy night. She was so well-behaved! I let her draw in Hayden’s notebook and she used the crayons on the table—though not always for pictures. Well, two-dimensional ones:

I asked if it was a house. She informed me, “It’s Hayden’s schoow! An’ dis ownge c’own [orange crayon] is Hayden!” After I took the picture, she added another crayon next to Hayden: “His teachew.”

I was letting Rebecca play in our fenced-in backyard while I put Rachel to bed. “Be careful,” I warned her.

“Don’t wowwy, Mommy.” She gave me a thumbs up. “I wiww be pewfectwy fine.”

“You are so funny,” I told Rebecca.

“Yes, I am.”

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Holding on to the Magic (at Power of Moms)

My mom has worked very hard to establish family traditions (and she continues to build new ones). She knows that when we spend time together having fun, we have those memories to hold onto and to knit our hearts together.

Today I’m blogging at the Power of Moms about “Holding onto the Magic,” on establishing and preserving the memories of those fun times.

If you’re visiting from that post, welcome! Please check out some of my favorite posts on fulfillment:

Stay a while! Subscribe! And thank you for reading!

In the mean time, I’m playing with my kids.

Have fun today!

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Rachel has adopted

Hayden is very interested about when Rebecca and Rachel will have babies. I have tried to convince him it will not be for a long time (I’m hoping around 20 years here), but he still brings it up from time to time.

Both girls do love to play with baby dolls and stuffed animals. My in-laws just gave Rachel a stuffed caterpillar that’s a miniature version of her lovey, “Callie” (they didn’t actually know about Callie). We call the little one “Baby Callie,” because we’re imaginative like that.

But today, before and after her nap, Rachel has adopted a new favorite:

Yes, a book. But what book?

Oookay. She also bawled for twenty minutes when Rebecca took it from her (and started screaming when I took it to turn it around). I think she hadn’t quite gotten through it yet. But she does like the sound of flipping the pages.

(I don’t know why I have this book.)

Categories
Kids/Parenting

In case you were wondering . . . suggestions on how not to hate Sundays

I was a little surprised at the response to Monday’s post about trying to enjoy this season (of trying Sundays). Apparently most of us are struggling with this, no matter what our season in particular is.

But since so many of us seem to be struggling with Sundays with small children in particular, here are the suggestions from the comments:

  • “I get brief moments of respite by singing primary songs with my kids.” —Lindsey
  • “My only way to feel better about the whole situation is to remind myself that I am setting an example of church attendance for my kids. We go to church on Sundays (whether we like it or not).” (That, and move.) —Shannon
  • “I promise you’ll get through it and even one day — many, many years from now — you’ll find it comical as well. . . . I know the big lesson here is probably that I just need to sit with not having what I want and learn to want what I have.” —Erin
  • “if you can laugh at it, you can live with it.” —Elisa
  • “It does help, of course when I have everything [for Sundays] prepared ahead of time” —Shannon (a different one)
  • “Here is a really simple thing for sacrament meeting that my cousin made: http://aggiepains.blogspot.com/2011/07/take-two.html

    “My little ones love to play with these laminated pictures of family members. They put them in books and play peek-a-boo with them or have them dance around or other such things: http://www.virtute.org/my-latest-little-project/”—Kathleen

Maybe most helpful, though, was something I came across in a Christian romance novel I was reading today, Love Remains by Kaye Dacus. The main character is faced with a bunch of challenges at once (aren’t we all??) and offers this prayer during church:

All right, Lord. I give up. I can’t handle any of this on my own. That’s clear. You seem to be throwing a lot of stuff at me right now, and I’m guessing You’re once again trying to teach me that the only way I’ll get through it is to depend on You. So forgive me when I fail to trust You and turn everything over to You. Because we both know I will. Please, strengthen my faith so I can make it through these trials. (p 142)

Any other suggestions on how to love the season of life you’re in? (Especially Sundays with small squirmy children?)

Categories
Kids/Parenting

Hayden’s a kindergartener!

Yesterday was Hayden’s first day!

Riding to school (It’s just a couple blocks from door to door.)

Saying bye

(The little boy behind him is the one mentioned below)

Walking in


His teacher is the woman leading the line. Ryan said the yellow-shirted man had a college ID, so he might have been a student teacher? I didn’t see him today.

Naturally, Hayden can’t give me a minute-by-minute account of the day, but I’ve gathered that he got to play with play dough, draw a picture of himself, sit criss-cross apple sauce(d) on the multi color carpet with our neighbor in his class, make a new friend (Who greeted him today by saying, “Hey! You! With glasses!” and holding out his arms as if to say “DUUUH, I’m right HERE!” [Ack, I can’t believe my son is “the one in the glasses!”]). Also, there are stars decorating the classroom. Hayden did his screening interview in this room, and at the time he asked if he could write his name on one of the stars hanging from the ceiling. He tells me he doesn’t have a desk, but a table. Tonight is his back to school night, so we’ll get a better idea of what school is really like.

But he was glad to see me at noon:

And I’m not sure when he picked this trick up, but this was the first I’d seen it:

Rachel slept the whole time. Rebecca loved having me to herself: yesterday, we played games, including one number game (the fourth one here), the entire time. I spent less than half an hour straightening up/on the computer. Today, we laid on the floor and snuggled for 2 hours while we watched Curious George and Toy Story. Every time I even sat up, she’d roll over and say in a perfectly innocent voice, “I thought you were going to duggle me.”

I think she needs a picture:

And Rachel, too. The first time she climbed up in the stroller on her own (I think):

She was very adventurous at the park after school today. She was very upset to leave!

Oh, and what you’re really wondering: how did I take it? Ryan actually took off work and we all went down together, and I teared up, but didn’t cry. My friend/neighbor (mother of Hayden’s friend) pointed out that this is kind of the beginning of the end: from here on out, our sphere of influence will only shrink in their lives. Ouch. But I still managed to keep it together. (Another friend’s son told her that “It was the worst day of my life because you left me,” so I think we all handled it pretty well, eh?)