(And All My) Work Be Praise

I've spent time over the past week or so preparing activities for Levi to do on our upcoming flight to Texas.  I'll include pictures and commentary after we've used them, but for now, here's what I've put together: Clothespin upper/lower case matching from I Can Teach My Child Clothespin Number Wheel  as seen on Money Saving Mom Button-and-Felt Snake  as seen on Money Saving Mom Color-coded parking lot  from The Princess and the Tot Since I have a few handfuls of Fruit Loops left, I might do the Fruit Loop Chart again, as well as a sticker counting activity I made up on the fly a few weeks ago.  And, of course, we'll take as many books as we can fit in the carry-on!  If only Owen was as easily entertained . . .

I just unsubscribed from about half of the blogs I've read regularly for the past year or two. I'm a pretty self-confident woman.  I make snap decisions, I trust my instincts, and I am not often wrong.  (Yep, I said that out loud.)  I've got a lot of common sense (I think), I generally understand how the world works, I'm not a worrier, I like to be in charge and I'm good at it.  (I also have a horrible time depending on God instead of my own alleged self-sufficiency, but that's another post for another time.) Over the past few weeks, however, I've found myself either paralyzed by indecision or frantic over a lack of clear-cut direction.  It popped up first while I was trying to plan meals for the month: I need meat, but good meat costs a lot, but it's good to support local and organic farmers, but I don't want to spend the money, but we need meat.  In the end, I gave up and walked away from my plan, and we went meatless twice last week.  I simpl...

I'm not sure that this is appropriate blog fodder, but since I figure the vast majority of my readers (all twelve of you) are moms (you know, except for my husband and maybe my dad occasionally), I might as well share my story. I've already mentioned a few times how Levi (now 25 months) is completely uninterested in -- nay, completely opposed to  -- using the potty.  We talk about it a fair bit, but his answer to "do you want to sit on the potty" is always, unequivocally, NO.  A few times this summer, I've taken him (and the potty chair) out on the back deck in the nude, hoping that he'd eventually let loose and I could at least say, "there!  That's what you will do in the potty some day."  I tell you what, this kid can hold it: no matter how long we stayed out, he came back in as full in bladder as he went out. A few days ago, Levi spotted some M&Ms in a Ziploc bag in the cupboard and proclaimed, "blueberries!"  (And to think I...

The best motherhood advice I've ever heard (at least, that is relevant to the two years and two children I've been mothering) came from Rachel Jankovic's book, Loving the Little Years .  (By the way, Jenae over at I Can Teach My Child is hosting a giveaway of this book through Friday, Sept. 9.   Hop on over and try to snag yourself a copy!)  Her little book is chock full of wisdom, but for super-practical me, this little gem topped them all: "If things started seeming really out of control, I would look at the clock and note the time. Then I would tell myself that in twenty minutes this would be over." (p. 43) Of course, she was writing this about having 2-year-old, a one-year-old, and twin babies, and my life is nowhere near that chaotic.  Her next paragraph goes on to say, "Twenty minutes is enough time (if you are moving quickly and not moping) to change three diapers and one complete outfit, spank one disobeyer, tuck two people into naps, and sit do...

It's (Levi's and Owen's) Grandma's birthday today!  Levi picked out flowers at the farmers' market for Grandma (he wanted the purple flowers), and made her a card:  As you can see, Levi's super into drawing circles right now.  For the letters, I wrote out "happy birthday grandma" on little garage sale pricing stickers, then wrote it on the cardstock and had him match the lettered stickers to the card.  He held the crayon, but I wrote his name.  :) Then, Levi flipped the cardstock over and proceeded to draw his favorite animal of the moment: snakes.  With a black crayon.   So cheery.   :) Levi can tell you how old Grandma is, but out of respect for her, I'll not share.  ;)

After swinging widely through a variety of convictions -- everything from "I should plan an activity every day for Levi!" to "I should be allowing all unstructured play so that he can follow his own interests" -- I've settled on a modest goal for our educational activities: two a week.  That gives me something special to do with Levi while Owen is taking his morning nap, on the days when we're at home all day, without my feeling super-pressured to have an elaborate, handmade activity ready to go every day.  (In truth, it matters very little whether the activity is elaborate or handmade!) The past three activities we've done have all been from The Princess and the Tot blog.   [Side note: I started to panic a little when I first browsed her site.  It went something like this: me: Her tot is only a few months older than Levi and she has a different tray for every day and sensory bins for each holiday and I don't have all of those cool learning toys a...