I gave a talk today in church. It was quite interesting; Tim is still getting over the flu, so he stayed home, and since he's still getting over the flu, he couldn't watch the kids for me. I hoped to be able to sit next to a mom I knew, so she could watch the kids while I gave my talk. My kids' temperaments are such that I can leave them in a pew and they'll do fine, I just wanted to make sure someone I knew would be in charge so that IF something went wrong, they'd be taken care of. I ended up leaving home late, which greatly lowered my chances of even getting to sit in the chapel at all, so when I got there and there was an open spot right next to a mom I know, I rejoiced! I breakfasted my kids while the first speaker gave his talk, then I got up and gave my talk (which I'll post later), and my kids did great! Jack sat and listened (and told me later he wasn't able to listen to all of it, which I thought was cute), and Lily did too until the guy sitting behind her was unable to resist her overwhelming cuteness. He picked her up and sat her in his lap, and she immediately crumpled into tears! Poor kid, poor guy! So the mom I sat next to took her out; luckily I could see that she was fine, or I would have had to stop RIGHT THEN. But within a few seconds, HER daughter was crying! Her older kids took care of their youngest sister, but it wasn't good enough. I ended with my testimony and skedaddled :D And Lily was fine, and my friend's daughter was fine too. So my talk wasn't quite long enough, but I was able to give every last word that I had prepared, so I would have ended soon whether there were crying daughters or not. (I guess the crying kids just saved the congregation from my rambling to take up time!)
THEN I got to help with Jack's class! That was AWESOME! I was a little worried he'd be clingy and disobedient, the way he was back in Texas when I was called to Primary and was in there with him every week. But he did great :D He hugged and kissed me goodbye, hugged and kissed Lily goodbye, sat in his spot, then noticed that I was still there in the back, and he wanted to come sit with me. I told him he still needed to sit with his class and he didn't argue, and sat with his class and participated. They did a memory game, with kids coming up to take turns playing, and Jack called out a couple of times that he wanted a turn, but he never got one, and he didn't fuss about it at all. Then his class went to their classroom, and I was amazed he did so well there too. His teacher had a love for her students that they could feel, and they behaved really well for her. She didn't seem to have any groundbreaking ideas for keeping them in line (which I was expecting since she took Jack from whiny clingy disobedient to happy cheerful obedient), just love and the Holy Ghost. (Maybe her usual helper is the magic-worker, but she's on vacation and it's her job I was filling.) She expected them all to raise their hands to speak, which I never would have thought of since they're all FOUR YEARS OLD, but she just reminded them gently at the beginning of class, then ignored them if they didn't raise their hands. She never had to remind them again, and none of them cried or fussed about being ignored. She rewarded them with stars by their names on the chalkboard; one of the girls tried to get competitive about that ("I've got more stars than you do!"), which is exactly why I wouldn't be using stars by names, but she was the only one who tried and she forgot about it after a while. So it worked out pretty well, and they got lots of stars :D
A couple of times, I was tempted to remind Jack not to do nasty 4-year-old things like lick his hands and pick his nose, but then I noticed that other kids were doing similar nasty things and I wouldn't dream of asking them not to (unless it was REALLY nasty...), so I refrained. I remembered that the very first time I was in Primary with Jack, I treated him like I would have treated any Primary kid, and it went fabulously. I lost that idea somewhere in the following months, and his behavior (and mine) deteriorated :(
Tim's better! He's about 90% or so. He's still weak, and gets tired easily if he over-exerts himself, but he's fever-free and cheerful :D He first came down with it Thursday-ish, though, so he's supposed to be quarantined until Tuesday regardless of how well he feels (flu is considered contagious until 48 hours after last fever, or 5 days after first fever, whichever comes last). I didn't let him go home teaching today, or wash the car (yes, he wanted to go wash the car. Seriously. He can't hold Lily for very long, but he thinks he can scrub the car by hand. ????), but since he came down with this flu at work and probably got it from his coworkers, I'll let him go to work tomorrow if he's still feeling great. (I probably have enough power to keep him home if I really insist on it, but I'd have to have a good reason, and I don't! Marriage isn't about power struggles anyway :D)
I cross-stitched! I'm getting into a bit of a habit of crafting a bit on Sundays. I have to be careful to not let Tim do all the childcare while I craft, which is hard b/c I love knitting/crocheting/sewing/stitching/etc., but I can do it if I put forth the effort. Today I picked up my cross-stitch Christmas stocking again, for the first time in a year or so, and I'm so glad I did. I'd love to get it done by this Christmas! Jack is getting old enough to pick his stocking out, so I'd love to get on to that :D I can't wait to be making something for my son. I crocheted diaper covers for him when he was a baby, but that's really not the same! He was a baby, and honestly the diaper cover was more for my appreciation than for his.
Speaking of making things for my kids, I've decided I want to make scrapbooks for them. One scrapbook for each kid, documenting the important things of their lives for them to remember when they're grown and gone. Ambitious? I figure no one scrapbook will take up much of my time at once; the big investment will be catching up Jack's to his 5th year and Lily's to her 2nd (remember, we celebrate birthdays at the END of a year, so after our birthday we start working on our next year, ie my 4-year-old son is in his fifth year and my 1-year-old daughter is in her second year :D). I think that'll be fun; I've never been much for scrapbooking, preferring to make a digital photo book and have it printed, but I like the idea of a scrapbook for each of my kids. A dear friend of mine keeps a journal for each of her kids that is in the form of letters to them; she writes in them periodically when they do something noteworthy. I think that is just so neat, but I want pictures to be saved too, so scrapbook it is.
I'm having fun creating things :D I've never thought of myself as a creative person at all, so I'm really pleased to discover that I am, and I'm actually good at some of it :D
Tim's only older sibling, Jessica, had a baby at 1:26 this morning! I have got to be the most excited person about this (except her and her husband and their daughter and their respective parents, of course). I love how so many bits of her experience were so much like mine: her first was early, and born in the hospital. Her second was a healthier pregnancy b/c of better nutrition, and was born at home, and was a week late, all just like me (except my second was one day later than hers, but that's a very minor detail). I told her yesterday that I didn't mind a phone call at 3am to tell me the good news; sure enough, my phone rang at 3:12am! I had kiddos to take care of (nursing Lily back to sleep, then taking Jack to the potty), but once they were back to sleep I called her back. It was so fun to talk to her at 4am about birth and a new baby and just get to share her joy :D
I'm so baby-hungry, btw. I keep noticing pregnancy symptoms that my body is faking, I want a baby so badly. I dream of being pregnant, I even dreamed of adopting a 3-year-old! Chances are 96% that I won't conceive until my cycle starts again; it started when Jack was past his second birthday, so I'm counting on repeating exactly what happened last time. We're pretty sure we will get to have at least one more baby, so my task now is to be patient. I don't see anything wrong with eagerly anticipating my chance to bring another precious spirit to Earth, I just don't need to let that longing get in the way of taking care of the wonderful children I already have :D In some ways they make it easier, b/c they keep me busy (!), but in some ways they make it harder. They've been SO VERY GOOD lately, so helpful with each other and so cute and so sweet, it's exactly that good behavior that makes me want more kids!
I've been doing the daily themes with Jack's "schooling", and that's been working great. I can tell I'm getting a little burned out; I've been slacking in my own personal scripture study, and that certainly affects how well I perform as a mother and educator. But I think I need to add a couple more things to our daily schooling: scripture study and memorization. I know memorization isn't the best way to learn 99% of the things we need to learn, but I feel pretty strongly that we need to have some words of the Lord stored in our heads for us to ponder whenever the need arises. Jack memorized 2 Articles of Faith earlier this year, before we moved, so I know he is old enough. I'd like to work on memorizing some scriptures, too, so we can work on it together :D
I'd also like our family to learn a little German. Ambitious, much? Tim's going to Germany at the end of next month for a conference, and we have a neighbor from Germany, so why not? Even if we only learn a few words, I'd like to put the idea in Jack's head that we can learn to speak another language. I have a lofty dream that our homeschooling family will learn a new language every year, and culminate the year with a trip to a country where they speak that language. I think in reality we'll be doing well to get to do that even just once, but I refuse to give up on the idea! What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun? I don't give up on my dreams unless there's a better one to replace them with :D I dreamed once of being a doctor; I still hold out that I'll do it one day, but for now I'm doing something even better!
Jack is working on reading skills! And I know this b/c I'm reading a book called "Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn -- and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less" by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff (what a mouthful). One of the really important things I'd like to mention is that reading skills are developed as the child develops, and simply cannot be rushed. Some studies have indicated that children who are rushed into "reading" too early (and they're usually not even reading, just recognizing words they've learned) don't do any better in school, and may even be surpassed by their peers in just a few years. Children learn reading by being read to and talked to, holding conversations about their books and telling the stories back to their parents. Children who learn to read in this natural way, if they do learn to read early b/c of the richness of their environment (LOTS of reading, LOTS of storytelling, LOTS of natural conversation with parents and loved ones), will do better throughout their school years and will even do better in life after school.
I'm still in the beginning of the book, and I've learned so much, and it's made me so excited to see the things they're talking about in Jack's (and Lily's!) development :D He's working on math skills, as well, but reading is his big thing right now.
Lily's language development is doing the exact same things Jack's did. We put Jack in speech therapy b/c his pediatrician was adamant, but I was indifferent about it the whole way through. I enjoyed his speech therapy, but I'm pretty sure it didn't make any difference in when he decided to start talking. He simply didn't want to talk; there was nothing wrong with him. I was a little worried about letting him be behind b/c he didn't talk as early as he "should", but once he started talking he surpassed his age level within 2 months! Being able to see the milestones of Lily's speech development, I'm positive that there is nothing wrong with her as well. She just doesn't want to talk, just like Jack, but she is listening and learning. She'll probably continue to follow Jack's precedent in this, and surpass her age level soon after she begins to actually talk.
Which may not be too far off, b/c she said "Shoes" all afternoon. According to the book I'm reading, a word doesn't really count as a first word if it's not used correctly. Well, she said shoes today when holding or pointing to shoes!
In honor of Tim's sister, here are pictures of happy cousins playing together:
Jack liked to get in the way of the camera when I was trying to take a picture of his cousin :P but I got some good pics that way!
Leslie, Jack's cousin! Notice how similar their smiles are? She's 18 months younger than Jack, and 18 months older than Lily. They visited about 7 or 8 months ago, when Jessica was newly pregnant, and Leslie and Jack had trouble getting along; Leslie was in the "Mine!" stage and poor Jack simply could not handle her claiming possession of his toys! They did manage to play nicely together a few times, but it was a challenging time (but fun! And I'm so glad we got to host them!). This time they were two little peas in a pod, playing together so sweetly, and Leslie and Lily even played a little. It was just astounding the difference those few months made for both of those kids! OH OH OH how I wish those two cousins could grow up closer together :( I love the kind of parents Jessica and Aaron are, and I think extended families like that make homeschooling (and life!) so much richer. I do think that that is our goal, though; Tim and I dream of living near his parents, and I think Jessica wants to live closer to them as well. Just think of the possibilities!
I have reached a happy problem. Writing this blog is making me stay up to late at night. Apparently, I have too much going on in my life to be able to document it all :D I'd like to keep writing a post every night, but I guess I'll have to make my posts shorter, just write about the most important, best things. I am so richly blessed :D
Quote from Jack as he watched some cartoon characters balloon into balls, "They got big! They had a lot of poo-poo."
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