General Family News – Page 78 – Embracing the Insanity

Preschool at Home

Posted on April 1, 2009April 1, 2009 by Becky

My daughter is two years old and madly in love with her world! She is learning voraciously and talking incessantly about anything and everything new she discovers!

My background is not in education or child development. (I was a CPA, who worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young, before becoming a stay-at-home mom at age 31.) So I would love to brainstorm with the blogging-moms community about structure, activities, and learning for the preschool child.

My 2-year-old can:

Count to twelve by herself.
Recognize most letters of the alphabet. (She is also learning the sounds letters make.)
Sing the ABCs song and other simple songs like “Amazing Grace” and “Jesus Loves Me.”
Fill in words in her oft-read books, if I pause in the story (i.e. “Corduroy is a bear who once lived in the. . . ” she will finish, “. . . toy department of a big store.”
Recite short verses (for example, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Ephesians 6:1.”)
Look through her Bible story verse and tell you a short synopsis of each picture. (“God made light.” “God made Adam and Eve from dust.” “Noah built big boat.” “Abraham Sarah laughing–baby!”)

I don’t want to overwhelm her or push her–she is only two. But she loves to learn and she just devours everything I can teach her. Since she loves to learn letters, numbers, songs, and verses, I want to do some sort of “lesson plans,” in order to be focused in the things we are learning, rather than just randomly learning things that come up, which is basically what we are doing now.

Talk to me about:

Preschool/toddler schedules (This is a big one for me!–how much one-on-one time with mom, playtime alone, reading time, helping time, naptime, etc.).
Goals for preschoolers
Activities to include daily/weekly/occasionally
Methods of teaching/learning (and discuss how this varies between boys & girls: my son is 10 months old, so it’s not long before he’ll be a toddler too!)
Lists of books we should check out from the library
Childrens’ Bible verse programs you have found helpful
Bible story books/visuals that seem consistent with the Scriptural text
Also a discussion on early music training (she loves to sing and “play the piano” with me–I teach piano, and as a child, I started taking lessons at age seven, but I’m interested in a discussion of the pros and cons of starting music earlier.)

I’m all ears!

I would soo love to read dozens of blog posts on this topic tomorrow! So pleeeeze reply in the comments or link to your own blog! Thank you!

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I never thought I would blog about potty training

Posted on March 27, 2009March 27, 2009 by Becky

Funny how having children changes you. This morning as I came upstairs from the basement carrying a basket of laundry, my 2-year-old ran toward me wearing shoes and socks, but no pants or underwear. ??

“Lop-a-lop!” she announced with a smug grin, hands clasped behind her back. (Lollipops are the reward for going #2.)

“Did you go potty?” I asked, looking into her little potty. “No,” I answered my own question emphatically. “No lollipop.–There’s nothing in there.”

“I fushed it,” she explained.

First of all, her potty doesn’t flush. Second, if she had gone #2, she would be calling for me to wipe her.

But she insisted, pointing to a random piece of plastic protruding from the potty seat. “See? I fushed it right there!”

Oh, my . . . you’re not convincing me, little girl. NO lop-a-lop!

All Organized

Posted on March 25, 2009April 10, 2009 by Becky

In my endless pursuit of home-organization, I purchased three stackable bins at Target for my daughter’s toys. I want toys in the living room. I want the kids to be able to play downstairs but the growing pile of toys, books, puzzles and stuffed animals is becoming quite unwieldy.

The bins were on clearance for $2.99 each. My 2-year-old daughter loves them. (They are purple.) She walked behind me in Target dragging one of the purple bins behind her the entire way, garnering all sorts of attention on every aisle.

“We’re going to get organized!” I told her. “One for books! One for puzzles! Little toys in the top!”

When we got home, I put all the puzzles in one, and then I got interrupted, so I instructed my daughter: “Get all your books and put them in this bin.”

She is a good little worker, and I watched as she picked up each book. When she set the last book in the purple bin, she clapped with her signature enthusiasm:

“YAY!!!!” she cheered. “Mara! All! OR-nun-ized!” she shouted.

I couldn’t help laughing. “That makes one of us,” I thought. “It’s a start.”

And Daniel said, “Maybe she can teach you now.”

Will I ever be able to say that? “Mommy all organized”? . . . wow

Why Daddy Doesn’t Cry in the Bath

Posted on March 24, 2009April 10, 2009 by Becky

It was Bathtime.

Micah is finally old enough to sit up in the bathtub without needing constant support, so last week I started giving them their baths together. It definitely saves time. And in a weird sort of way, I think Micah is a good example to his big sister!

Mara watched as I washed his bald little head. “Micah didn’t diiiiie,” she observed dramatically.

(And just in case you think my 2-year-old is worried about her brother drowning in the bathtub, I should mention that she says ‘die’ when she means ‘cry.’ It took us awhile to figure that out. She says ”people didn’t die,” after she acts out a school bus crash in which all the Little People fall out. We were wondering ‘where is she getting this stuff?!?!’ But finally we realized she was trying to say that the people didn’t cry when they fell. OOOOOkay. . . !)

Anyway, Mara loves her bath, until we lean her back to rinse her hair. She would really be fine, if she didn’t panic and flail around trying to sit up. So after she cried yet again tonight when she got her hair washed, Daniel was trying to figure out what is causing her consternation.

“Do your ears hurt?” he asked, seeing her tug on her ear.

“Yes,” Mara said sadly.

“Daddy’s ears don’t hurt when he gets water in them,” Daniel told her.

But Mara knew why: “Daddy big!” she exclaimed.

So that explains why Daddy doesn’t cry in the bath!

We Finally Had Portraits Taken!

Posted on March 24, 2009March 24, 2009 by Becky

My son is now 9-1/2 months old. With the whole NICU craziness, his being on an apnea/brady monitor for four months, then buying a house and moving, and battling sickness most of the winter, we have not found a good time for portraits! But last week I finally took the kids to have professional pictures taken.

My favorite studio for kids’ portraits is Portrait Innovations, and I love telling people about it.–There are locations all across the country. They have a great $9.99 package, which gives you a ton of pics of one pose (1- 11×13, 2 – 8x10s, 4 5x7s, 4 – 3-1/2 x5, and a bunch of wallets). But I have to admit–I have yet to walk out spending only $9.99! The portraits are just incredible. Plus you select and receive your portraits before you leave–same day!

Better than mere words, the portraits themselves tell you why you it is such a great studio. So let me share . . .

Here is my little buddy! (We had a picture taken of my daughter in this pose around the same age, so I specifically requested the first one.)

Here’s another shot of Micah–just chillin’–his typical high chair pose!

I also had several pics taken of the two kids together. I couldn’t choose just one, so I will share the top four!

I always prefer the white background with minimal props. But they have all sorts of props (various chairs, animals, floral arrangements, sports stuff) and several backgrounds (black, white, blue, a “garden” scene for Easter).

So visit the Portrait Innovations website and find a studio near you. I would love to see your portraits too!

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