A is for....

This week, we learned the letter A!  Here are our projects:

1.  Introduction to the letter A:

2.  A is for Alligator

These are Thing One's feet dipped in paint, which led to this...

3.  A is for Apple...and Apple Butter!

 

I chopped up 5 lbs. of apples the night before, and Thing One put them spoonful by spoonful into the crockpot.

 

 

He dumped all the spices in, too.

4.  A is for Ants!

This are Thing One's fingerprints.  We looked at a picture of an ant on the Internet first and counted body parts.  Then we counted fingerprints:  one, two, three!  Lots of messy fun!

We're still working on letter recognition, but I think it's a good start.  Next week, the letter B!

Not So Civil Disobedience

Two baby steps forward, three giant steps back.  This is what being a consistent parent feels like to me.  Most of the time.

Thing One has decided to test me during the two hardest times for me to punish him:  when there are people over and when we are in public.

Case One:  My friend R and her son J come over to play.  Thing One goes to time out twice for hitting J.  I make him apologize and hug J, but the play date ends with Thing One going
down for a nap halfway through lunch.

Case Two:  Church.  Sunday morning.  Shawn and I are keeping the two-old class during church.  Thing One hits J...again.  Shawn sticks Thing One in the corner for time out, makes him     apologize and hug J, then lets him go play.

Case Three:  Trip the Wonder Cat is lounging in a basket of clean, warm laundry.  Thing One smacks him and says, "Get down, cat!"  I tell him not to hit the cat.  He replies, "No hit cat.  It's
not nice."  We visit time out again.

Case Four:  Wednesday night.  Church.  In front of God, the preacher, and everyone.  Thing One stands up in his high chair, after polishing off most of my dinner, and shouts, "No!" when I ask him to sit down.  I delegate Thing Two, who is smack dab in the middle of his rice cereal and applesauce, to my friend R, and take Thing One to the nearest corner.

He decides his legs are made of Jell-O and won't stand.  I threaten a spanking.  Legs continue to melt into the floor.  I HAVE to back up my threat, so I take him to the ladies room, make sure no one is in there, bend him over my knee, and give him a quick spanking.

His legs no longer melt into the floor, and his nose goes into the corner.  The toe of his shoe attempts to carve a small hole in the floor, but he STAYS.

After his time is up, he goes to the high chair and proceeds to act like a gentleman.  His AWANA Puggles teacher said he was very well behaved during class. 

 I pull about 20 strands of my hair out as I realize, yep, it's just me. 

I can only hope that, when Thing One is in a corner in public, people walk by and think, "Good for her!" and not "Hmmm....maybe I should report her..."

Making Music!

This week, our Bible verse is "I will sing and make music to the Lord" (Psalm 27:6).

Thing One can repeat it as I say it.  Of course, he says it around the paci we can't seem to permanently lose.

We played the piano on Monday. Thing One really liked for me to play the accompianament to "Heart and Soul" while he smashed his fingers into the upper keys.  Every time I would start to play "Jesus Loves Me," he would hake his head vehemently, say, "No," and move my hands back to the lower keys.  I can't decide if this is really cute or really annoying. 

On Tuesday, we made rice tambourines out of paper plates.  We put a scoop of rice between two paper plates and stapled them together.  He had more fun putting stickers on and painting it than playing with it, to be honest. 

Today was by far the biggest hit:  tupperware drums!!

 
Thing Two spent his time chewing on a "drumstick." 

We sang Thing One's current favorite song while we drummed, "Amazing Grace."  He says, "More Yace," which is how he says "grace."  This, I've decided, is cute. 

We also watched this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcXUMVt21X8.  We LOVE Casting Crowns!!

Tomorrow, bring on the guitar!!

Mail Order Hugs!

Today, Thing One and I, after playing outside until we were gross and sweaty, came in to cool off and work on a project:  mail order hugs.

I saw this on someone's blog back when I was pregnant with Thing Two and unable to sleep...lots of time was spent on the computer...

We have two friends of the family and a grandma who are sick, so we are sending them hugs in the mail.

Here's what we did:

1.  We traced Thing One's hands.  He LOVED doing this!  He kept saying, "It tickles, Mama!" and giggling.  Then we cut them out.  He made them clap and laughed hysterically.

 

 

2.  I tried to get Thing One to color the handprints, but we came REALLY close to a meltdown, so we compromised and used stickers to decorate them.

 

 

 

 

3.  Once that crisis was averted, we entered into the next mine field...GLUE.  I (grudgingly) let Thing One help me with putting a thin strip of glue on the backs of the hands.  Then we attached a ribbon we cut that's about the length of his wingspan.





 

 

4.  Wah lah!  A hug!  Next we made some Get Well Soon cards, included a personal message from the four of us, said a prayer over the hands that God would bless those who received them, and stuffed them all in envelopes.  Now when they open the letters, they will have a Thing One-sized hug!

 



Thing One and I walked down to the mailbox where he insisted on opening the door, putting the letters in, and lifting the flag himself.  Then he RAN back up to the house and relayed the story to his NaNa, who, of course, thought it was the best thing in the world.!

Seeking the Wisdom of the Ages

This is Thing One standing in the corner for hitting.  He HATES standing in the corner.  I think he feels like he's missing out on something, and that hurts him worse than getting a spanking.  :)

When Shawn and I got pregnant with our first child, we started seeking God's wisdom in parenting.  He has blessed us with so many wonderful mentors, classes, and books! 

The first thing we did was go to the Focus on the Family Parenting Seminar.

 

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/articles/parenting_ministry.aspx

We learned a lot from that, but mostly it prompted us to talk about how we wanted to raise our kids.  From the very get go, we knew we were called to be set apart; we just didn't really know what that looked like.

When I got pregnant with Thing Two, an amazing opportunity came to us; an extremely strong Christian couple in our church who have successfully parented 6 amazing kids offered an 18 week DVD seminar called Growing Kids God's Way.  http://www.growingkids.org/gfi-core-curriculum/growing-kids-gods-way/

Knowing what we believed and how we were going to parent certain situations before our kids were old enough to really be punished was crucial for us.  We are on the same page.  We are on the same team.  It's awesome!

So we are learning from those who have gone before us and trying to stay on the right path.

The Bible says it this way, "'Stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls."  Jeremiah 6:16

We are dependent on others.  We are learning from them, from their mistakes and their successes.  We don't have to do it all on our own, like so many people think.  The way has already been carved out for us!

Simple Acts of Kindness

Last week, our grow in favor with God act was to be kind, so Shawn and I made sure to model and narrate any kind acts that we did or that Thing One did.

Today, we hit paydirt!  Thing One, Thing Two, and I went to the grocery store and loaded up on yogurt, bananas, and baby food, but when we got to the car to unload them, one of the bags burst, and jars of baby food came tumbling out.

My sweet two year old, without being prompted or asked, picked up jars one by one and said, "Here you go, Mama."  I couldn't be prouder!

This is Thing One helping me make ham and cheese melts. He loves to be helpful, and we are trying hard to encourage it!  He is such an awesome kid, such a blessing from the Lord!

"We're on a Mission from God!" (in a Blues Brothers' voice)

HI!  I'm Katharine, lover of all good books, proper grammar, old Cary Grant movies, and my wonderful, awesome family.

My husband Shawn and I have two kids, a two year old and a 4 month old.  Let's call them Thing One and Thing Two. 

And I stay at home with them and teach college English on the side.  Saying I have my hands full doesn't even begin to describe my life!  But I love it...even moments like this....

What We're Doing

Shawn and I had been married for two years when I got pregnant with Will, and we felt called to live our lives and raise our family differently, to be set apart from the world.  We cut out cable, which all my students thought was practically a felony, and started focusing our minds on things worth viewing.

Luke 2:52 has been our guideline, our distant light on this long journey:

"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and in favor with man."

It started out as a Christmas gift routine to help us focus on the meaning of Christmas--we give a gift in each category (e.g., a book for wisdom, clothes for stature, etc.)--but it has turned into a lifestyle.

Every week, we have a FLEXIBLE schedule that we follow, compliments of Growing Kids God's Way:  http://www.growingkids.org/leaders/docs/toddlerhood/Daily-Activity-Planner.doc.

We work on each of the four categories that has become so important in our lives.  For example, I added this to the bottom of this week's schedule:

This week, we will grow in:

Wisdom:  Counting   (We have counted Playdough balls until it is literally coming out of my fingernails.)

Stature:  Combing hair  (It's still a game for Thing One, but, well, he's a two-year old boy.)

Favor w/ God:  Being kind to others  (This one Shawn and I are trying to model, which means we narrate a lot.  "Wasn't that kind of NaNa to share her chips with you?")

Favor w/ man:  No whining  (Yeah....he's two...we're working on it!)

We are a young family and still learning, but I hope you will help us grow along the way!   We are very open to godly advice on parenting.  This blog is to document for our family, friends, and ourselves what we are doing, how we are raising our kids, and, most importantly, to keep us on track!