sunday school according to Jem

I'm starting to think that I might need to create a new post series based around Jem's interpretation of Sunday school. Today's conversation about church went as follows:

Sam: What did you learn about today in church?
Jem: There was a lady who came over to visit and she cleaned Jesus' feet and then they smelled awesome!
Me: Why did she do that?
Jem: She was doing something nice. Can you turn Kung Fu Panda back on now?

Hope you have an "awesome" day!

photo from:  axlching.wordpress.com
changes by me

sometimes it comes down to a shoe

If you ever want to see me lose my cool, just come over to my house before preschool and hide one of my kid's shoes. I mean, wow. It's epic.
I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about the day. We had breakfast and everyone was doing good. And then it was time to get shoes and coats on and suddenly Jem's right shoe is nowhere to be found. I should probably clarify a little bit and say that my kids only have one pair of shoes each. They do have sneakers that are too small for them that we use for muddy play and snow boots for snow days. But as far as regular, every day shoes go, one pair is all we've got. I should also say that, since moving to our new house, I haven't been as strict with making sure the shoes get put into the right place when they are taken off. So we occasionally run into the problem of not being able to find shoes.
And I'm not sure how it is in your house but my kids' definition of "looking for something" is to stand in one spot and turn in a half-circle before throwing themselves on the floor and yelling that they can't find it. Heaven forbid they look behind a door or lift up a blanket or look under the bed. So I'm the one who is running around the house trying to find the shoe.
This morning the shoe was behind the bedroom door and by the time I found it we were already late to school. I misplaced my purse during the search and had to retrace my steps to find it. It was an unhappy crew that finally climbed into the car this morning. And all because of a shoe.

the day the cleaning died

When I was a young girl I enjoyed cleaning. Especially the bathroom. My mom must have thought she had died and gone to heaven. I just loved the way you could make everything look new and shiny.
And then, one tragic day, my love of cleaning died. Actually it was killed by my dad. When I was growing up he was the manager of a feed mill. Feed mills are dusty, dirty places and his office was no exception. He and his co-worker would tromp in after spending hours fixing an auger or unloading a rail car and the dust and dirt would trail in after them. I spent a lot of time there over the summer and one day I took it into my head to clean the place up. I even convinced my dad to pay me for my effort. And let me tell you I earned that money. I scrubbed and swept and organized and swept again and it had never looked better. I was so proud of my work. But the next day, I came back in to discover that it looked like I had done nothing at all. My dad had managed to undo everything that I had done in less than 24 hours time. And that is the day that my inner cleaner died.
I no longer find joy in a shiny bathroom faucet because I know that someone will "accidentally" spit toothpaste onto it that same day. Organization holds no thrill because my little ones refuse to get on board. Why make the bed? I'm just going to get back into it. I never even went through the nesting phase during pregnancy. Sam kept waiting for it and it just didn't happen. My love of cleaning is dead. Thanks a lot Dad.

photo from:  themodelife.com

he went with B

A question for you -

If your brother is singing and yelling and you want him to be quiet do you...

A. ask him nicely to please be quiet

 

B. kick him the eye

 

C. run and tell someone else that he is bothering you

I would choose option A and then go to C if that didn't work. Guess which option my dragon chose?

 

*Sigh*

stars

Day 1 with our good behavior chart was filled with plenty of eager direction following, very little complaining and a lot of respectful responses. Sometimes a complaint was uttered but the complainer quickly changed his tune when he remembered the chance to earn stars.
Day 2 was a return to our normal. I knew that the behavior chart wasn't going to be a magical cure-all but I had hoped it would last longer than one day. The novelty wore off quickly. However, I continued to look for things on that second day to praise them for.
We are now on Day 7 and we seem to have found a balance. There are less thank you's and pleases than we had on the first day. But, there are more than we had on Day 2. Today I asked Tru to go upstairs and climb into bed for his nap while I went to the laundry room and got his blanket. When I headed upstairs I found that he had actually listened to me. He wasn't lying on the stairs complaining that he was too tired to go upstairs. He wasn't running around the playroom. He wasn't playing with water in the bathroom. He was in his bed waiting for me. Following directions is one way that he can earn stars.
Dinner has also been much more pleasant lately. There have been fewer exclamations of how disgusting something looks. Eating dinner without complaining is another way to earn stars. Right now, they are behaving because they want to earn stars. They want the rewards. But whether they realize it or not, they are developing better habits. They are learning to listen and obey. They are learning to think before they speak and to be respectful.
I think though that the biggest benefit of this whole thing has been for me. I am now actively looking for and noticing good things about them. Like the way Truett is so eager to take care of Caia when she is upset. Or how good Jem is at following directions. And I can't even tell you how much nicer it is to see the good things about my kids instead of focusing on the ways they disobey or the whining and complaining. Those things are still there and I notice them and I'm still frustrated by them. But now I have the good things to help balance it out. I should have done this a long time ago. Ah, hindsight.

we learned about leprechauns

A conversation during our walk to the car after church:

Me: So Jemmy, what did you learn about today in church?

 

Jem: We learned about leprechauns. No, not leprechauns but people. And they had a lot of bandages.

 

Tru: Yeah, lots of bandages and things falling off and Jesus made them all better.

 

Me: Um...so did you maybe learn about lepers?

 

Jem: Yes! Lepers.

Happy Monday!

photo by dabidovich http://www.flickr.com/photos/dabidovich/383084070/

going at her own pace

Caia will be 15 months old tomorrow and she still isn't talking or walking. Remember, back in November when I wrote about how great she did at Thanksgiving dinner with her walker? I was so sure that walking was just around the corner. I was wrong. She stands on her own and walks from the tv to the ottoman but she prefers to crawl. I thought for sure that she would walk early, just to keep up with her brothers. But she is determined to go at her own pace.
She also isn't saying any words. She will babble once in a while. And she does blurt out "mama" but it is indiscriminate. She'll say it to me and she'll say it when she is pointing at a toy or a bowl of cheerios. When I ask her to say "mama" she just smiles at me and refuses to utter a peep.
It can be hard to not play the comparison game. There are babies younger than her who have moved on to the walker classroom at church while she is still with the crawlers. There are the other parents who claim their child can say twenty words already and started speaking at six months. And even though I know that she will talk and walk when she is ready, it can be hard to rest in that. I remember Jem's 15 month check-up when the doctor insisted that he should be saying 15 words already. He was speaking but he wasn't quite to 15 words and I left the check-up worried that something was wrong with my child. But really, he was just going at his own pace and while there might be an average age for walking and talking, it varies across the board.
Besides, there is one thing that Caia is way ahead on. The girl has growing teeth down to a science. It's like she has a mouth full of tic-tacs. As for everything else, she'll do it when she's ready I guess. Obviously her timeline doesn't match up with mine so I'll just wait patiently and smile and nod when someone else talks about their advanced baby. And then I will show them all of her teeth and brag about her advanced gums.