Yesterday during church, Kirk informed that one of the lessons was on parenting. He was very impressed with the lesson and it led us into a long discussion when we arrived home. Some of the things that they discussed during the lesson was being home when your children are home regardless of their age. This really hit home with me because I was away from home a lot over the weekend, and even though it was for good reasons once I was home in the afternoon on Saturday I expressed to Kirk that I really missed my family; however, the break was nice and occasionally you need a break from your children, still I missed being around them and spending time with Kirk.
Another idea that was addressed was gaming. Kirk and I occasionally like to play video games, and I think as a teacher that there can be some educational value to gaming, but we need to be cautious of what type of games we allow our children to play and the frequency. Kirk and I have discussed getting a gaming system in our home, but we have not done it yet. After talking to friends, who have older children, they have encouraged us to wait and encourage our children to participate in other activities, which we have, and we have not had any regrets. However, I know eventually we will purchase a gaming system. I think like with everything else it is finding the balance. I have a friend, who purchased a gaming system for her family a year ago and she said that regardless of age each family member is only allowed 30 minutes of gaming a day. I liked that idea and thought that it sounded like a good practice.
In addition to the above topics, Kirk and I also addressed sleep-overs. Along time ago, prior to children, I had someone very wise tell me that your children do not need to spend the night with friends. She said that there is no purpose to it since at night we were suppose to be sleeping, and our children can have the opportunity to see their friends the next day. I thought that this was an interesting concept since when I was a kid I remember spending the night with friends. However, times have changed and even if your child's friends seem to be "good" people you do not know exactly what your child could be exposed too. Kirk said that in the article it talked about that a lot of children are exposed to ponography for the first time when they sleep over at friend's home, or are exposed to other negative elements. My father used to say, "Nothing good happens after mid-night." I have found this to be a true statement. We are intended to sleep at night, and my wise friend was correct, my children can see their friends the next day.
Since this article brought such a long discussion at our house, I thought that I would share what we discussed on the blog. Parenting is personal and it is between you and the Lord. However, we enjoy getting advice, and ideas about parenting because it is not an easy task. I thought that it was a healthy discussion between Kirk and I and I'm sure that as we go along we will have more discussions. I feel blessed that we have the Church in our life to help lead and guide us.
every trial in my life has brought me to THIS place.....a place where nothing is perfect but everything is great. i wouldn't change a thing. OK MAYBE A FEW THINGS!!!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
What kind of brain do you have?
This past Friday Zachary went to see his Doctor for social skills training. While we were in Dr. Lundy's office Miss. Isabella was in the room with Zachary and Dr. Lundy. When it was time for Zachary's appointment Dr. Lundy said, "Ok mom and Isabella we will see in a while." I reached for Isabella's hand and she turned to me and said, "Bye mom." I said, "Isabella it is time for us to leave." She again said, "Bye Mom." All of the sudden Zachary looked at Dr. Lundy and I and said, "Mom Isabella has rock brain and she needs to go and find super flex." I said, "Zachary what is rock brain?" He said, "Rock brain is something that happens to you when you keep getting stuck on the same idea over and over again and super flex comes in and tells your brain it is time to be flexible." I said, Who taught you about rock brain?" He said, " I learned it during social skills group at school." Needless to say, I had never heard him use these terms before, but I had noticed during the past couple of months Zachary was becoming more flexible in his thinking. I then thought to myself those are pretty good visual terms. I then questioned how frequently I had rock brain? And once I was able to answer my question I thought I could use more super flex too!
Changes
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been facing many changes, which have been exciting and sad. As I have reflected about these changes, I have realized how much Zachary is like me. My little Zachary is a very black and white person, who does not like change in routine, and after these last two weeks I have found that change is difficult for me. I think that is why I enjoyed teaching children with Autism is because I operate a lot like them. I like schedules, organization, clear, concise, and visual directions. I also thrive in an environment that is calm. I'm not an improtu person even if someone invites me to do something fun. I prefer to know ahead of time of what I am going to do. I'm so much looking foreward to a scheduled week. Hence, please nobody else move, please no more appointments that have to be shifted around this week, and please weather behave so that way our children can go to school!!! Psychologists may say that I have control issues and maybe I do, but I'm in need of just a regular scheduled week. That is my soap box for today.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Art of Self- Discipline
I decided to write about self-discipline because it is an area in my life which I need to improve on. Yesterday I was a TV junkie, and all I did was take Zachary to school and came home and visited with a couple of friends and then I watched TV for the rest of the time. It was not a productive day at all!
As a Special Education teacher, the University prepares us to be self-disciplined in order to be effective special education teachers. For example, your classroom appearance must be highly organized, neat, clean, and not over stimulating. As a teacher you must be able to honestly and effectively communicate with parents and staff, supervise para-eduactors, effectively write and maintain legal documents such as IEPs, figure out the purpose of behavior, and manage those behaviors, have excellent time management skills, conduct and coordinate meetings, be consistent in your use of language and teaching methods, and finally go home to a husband who wants and needs to talk to you, and deal with your own children.
I have always been grateful and prided myself on being a self-disciplined person, and this has come easy to me because of my career choice; however, I have been lacking and I need to bring this skill back up to speed. As many of you know, Kirk is in a full time Master's program, works full time, and tries to maintain some family time. I on the other hand, maintains the home, takes the kids to appointments, tries to daily workout, and a list of other things which I will not mention at this time. I will not say that it is easy to have a husband who works full time and attends Graduate school full time; however, it is easier if you have self-discipline. So my goal is become more self-disciplined within the next month.
As a Special Education teacher, the University prepares us to be self-disciplined in order to be effective special education teachers. For example, your classroom appearance must be highly organized, neat, clean, and not over stimulating. As a teacher you must be able to honestly and effectively communicate with parents and staff, supervise para-eduactors, effectively write and maintain legal documents such as IEPs, figure out the purpose of behavior, and manage those behaviors, have excellent time management skills, conduct and coordinate meetings, be consistent in your use of language and teaching methods, and finally go home to a husband who wants and needs to talk to you, and deal with your own children.
I have always been grateful and prided myself on being a self-disciplined person, and this has come easy to me because of my career choice; however, I have been lacking and I need to bring this skill back up to speed. As many of you know, Kirk is in a full time Master's program, works full time, and tries to maintain some family time. I on the other hand, maintains the home, takes the kids to appointments, tries to daily workout, and a list of other things which I will not mention at this time. I will not say that it is easy to have a husband who works full time and attends Graduate school full time; however, it is easier if you have self-discipline. So my goal is become more self-disciplined within the next month.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Make a Guess
Tonight Zachary was watching the movie "Yours Mine and Ours" and he came in and informed me of the following.
Zachary: Mom guess how many kids I want?
Mom: How many?
Zachary: 40 kids, and don't worry I can run fast.
Mom: If you have that many you will need to wear shoes that can fly as fast as lightening.
Zachary: I already fly as fast as lightening so don't worry.
Zachary: Mom guess how many kids I want?
Mom: How many?
Zachary: 40 kids, and don't worry I can run fast.
Mom: If you have that many you will need to wear shoes that can fly as fast as lightening.
Zachary: I already fly as fast as lightening so don't worry.
My 1st Hair Cut!
That is correct! Our little Princess gave herself her 1st hair cut. Why go to the salon when you are two years old, and already learned how to correctly hold scissors, and cut with them? And by the way her cuts are clean and precise. No worries about fine motor skill control with Miss. Isabella. Here is the story:
The other day I was in the bathroom and I looked on the counter and I saw a pair of kid scissors and hair right next to them. (At least she saved her hair so I could put it in her baby book) I picked up the hair and looked at it and thought this really looks like Isabella's hair. I then yelled out, "Sister Bear come here." (Sister bear is a nickname given to her by her "Brother bear from the Berenstain Bear books) Isabella quickly came and I asked her, "Sister bear is this your hair?" She replied pointing to her hair, "hair cut" I said, "at least you saved your hair so I could put it in your book." She said, "That's right mom." I really did not know if I should laugh or cry because I like to take them into the salon and get their hair cut and take photos. So I have no photos of the process of the 1st hair cut, but at least I have her hair. Some of you may also question well why do you allow your child to have scissors? First of all the scissors are put up high, but I have myself a climber, who is not afraid to climb any where to get anything she wants or desires. Second having another child with fine motor delays, requires me to keep scissors around so he can consistently practice. Plus OTs and Kindergarten teachers encourage you to have your child cut, paste, and color at a very young age to build up their small muscles. Therefore our house is a pro- fine motor home, which at times can be nerve racking and difficult, but trust me well worth it in the end! I think now we will have Miss Bella open up her own hair and nail salon considering what happened a week ago!
The other day I was in the bathroom and I looked on the counter and I saw a pair of kid scissors and hair right next to them. (At least she saved her hair so I could put it in her baby book) I picked up the hair and looked at it and thought this really looks like Isabella's hair. I then yelled out, "Sister Bear come here." (Sister bear is a nickname given to her by her "Brother bear from the Berenstain Bear books) Isabella quickly came and I asked her, "Sister bear is this your hair?" She replied pointing to her hair, "hair cut" I said, "at least you saved your hair so I could put it in your book." She said, "That's right mom." I really did not know if I should laugh or cry because I like to take them into the salon and get their hair cut and take photos. So I have no photos of the process of the 1st hair cut, but at least I have her hair. Some of you may also question well why do you allow your child to have scissors? First of all the scissors are put up high, but I have myself a climber, who is not afraid to climb any where to get anything she wants or desires. Second having another child with fine motor delays, requires me to keep scissors around so he can consistently practice. Plus OTs and Kindergarten teachers encourage you to have your child cut, paste, and color at a very young age to build up their small muscles. Therefore our house is a pro- fine motor home, which at times can be nerve racking and difficult, but trust me well worth it in the end! I think now we will have Miss Bella open up her own hair and nail salon considering what happened a week ago!
The Gift of Art
""In art there are no mistakes, only opportunities for creativity.""
As many of you know I'm the art docent for my son's Kindergarten class. Art and I have not always agreed and I have not always enjoyed teaching art, but I decided to teach art to the Kindergarten class because no other parent volunteered. Well today I discovered why I took this project on. The lead Art docent teachers sent out an e-mail last night stating that one art piece from each classroom would be taken and displayed at our local City Hall, and there would be a reception for the students, whose art pieces were chosen to be displayed. This morning when I dropped Zachary off, I ran into the lead art docent and she told me that she chose Zachary's art piece to be on display at City Hall. Some of you may know that Zachary struggles with fine motor skills and frankly does not always enjoy doing art. However, since I have been coming into the classroom and teaching the class he has been doing his art projects more carefully. Eventhough, I'm the art docent for his Kindergarten class , and that is probably a factor of why Zachary's art piece was chosen, I'm very happy that he gets to show off his Art. I think that when children get this opportunity it is an excellent confidence builder and it increases their self-esteem. The piece that will be on display is very well done and Zachary should be proud! If you have not volunteered in your child's classroom, I encourage you to do it. You never know how your presence will help build your child's confidence and how important that your child sees that you value education!
As many of you know I'm the art docent for my son's Kindergarten class. Art and I have not always agreed and I have not always enjoyed teaching art, but I decided to teach art to the Kindergarten class because no other parent volunteered. Well today I discovered why I took this project on. The lead Art docent teachers sent out an e-mail last night stating that one art piece from each classroom would be taken and displayed at our local City Hall, and there would be a reception for the students, whose art pieces were chosen to be displayed. This morning when I dropped Zachary off, I ran into the lead art docent and she told me that she chose Zachary's art piece to be on display at City Hall. Some of you may know that Zachary struggles with fine motor skills and frankly does not always enjoy doing art. However, since I have been coming into the classroom and teaching the class he has been doing his art projects more carefully. Eventhough, I'm the art docent for his Kindergarten class , and that is probably a factor of why Zachary's art piece was chosen, I'm very happy that he gets to show off his Art. I think that when children get this opportunity it is an excellent confidence builder and it increases their self-esteem. The piece that will be on display is very well done and Zachary should be proud! If you have not volunteered in your child's classroom, I encourage you to do it. You never know how your presence will help build your child's confidence and how important that your child sees that you value education!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Not by Chance
"I have been learning that the people, who we meet in our life are sometimes put in our pathway at a specific time for a specific reason."
This week I have been blessed to meet two women, who have been able to help me with some personal issues that I have been struggling with for the past two weeks. When I laid my head down on my pillow last night, my heart was full of gratitude to my Father in Heaven. I knew that he was starting to answer some of my silent prayers through these two women. I was just amazed how quickly this mixed-up puzzle in my mind was starting to come together to form a complete picture of what was happening and what next steps need to be taken to help remedy this issue. I also thought that it was so wonderful that I was able to openly and honestly share my feelings and concerns with these two women because one of them struggles with the same concern, and the other woman is very familar with the situation and she has earned my trust. The interesting thing is neither of these women attend my church or are close friends. However, I knew that my Father in Heaven placed them in my pathway yesterday because they had the answers that I desired to know. I so much apprectiated their knowledge, support, and understanding .
This week I have been blessed to meet two women, who have been able to help me with some personal issues that I have been struggling with for the past two weeks. When I laid my head down on my pillow last night, my heart was full of gratitude to my Father in Heaven. I knew that he was starting to answer some of my silent prayers through these two women. I was just amazed how quickly this mixed-up puzzle in my mind was starting to come together to form a complete picture of what was happening and what next steps need to be taken to help remedy this issue. I also thought that it was so wonderful that I was able to openly and honestly share my feelings and concerns with these two women because one of them struggles with the same concern, and the other woman is very familar with the situation and she has earned my trust. The interesting thing is neither of these women attend my church or are close friends. However, I knew that my Father in Heaven placed them in my pathway yesterday because they had the answers that I desired to know. I so much apprectiated their knowledge, support, and understanding .
Our Family Journal
Today I was talking to a friend and during our conversation we were talking about facebook. While we were visiting, an impression came to my mind that instead of posting brief snapshots about my family on facebook, I should post them in my blog so that way I can print it off if I would like and my husband and I and children can have a copy of some of our daily happenings. When I found out that I was pregnant with all of my children, I wrote each of them a letter, and I have always kept a Mother's Journal so that way when I am gone some day they always have something to go back and read. So what I have decided is I'm going to start writing down some of our family events in my blog so that way I also have an eletronic copy as well as a written document.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Fast Bar Cookies
For those who know me well they know that I'm not a "Betty Crocker" and cooking and sewing are not my favorite projects. However, I'm a mother now and my family needs to eat so I have had to learn to cook at least simple meals. The other day I came across this easy receipe and I thought this is my kind of baking so here it is.
Cake Mix Bar Cookies
1. One yellow cake mix
2. 1 Egg
3. 1/2 C of oil
4. 1/4 C water
5. 1C semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix cake mix, egg, oil, and water until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips, bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.
Cake Mix Bar Cookies
1. One yellow cake mix
2. 1 Egg
3. 1/2 C of oil
4. 1/4 C water
5. 1C semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix cake mix, egg, oil, and water until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips, bake in a greased 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.
Polish
" Never underestimate a child's ability to get into more trouble."
Each day I tell myself I love having a two year old in my life, and most days she is adorable; however, last night she turned into a little turkey. Kirk was gone to a study group and I was visiting with a friend when all of the sudden it was really quiet. I excused myself from my friend to walk down the hallway and walk into the master bathroom to discover my little girl sitting in an empty bathtub painting herself and the tub with white fingernail polish. My first thought was how in the world did she get the fingernail polish? And then I looked down and noticed that she had taken her potty chair closed the lid and used as a stool to get up onto the bathroom counter, and reach up to the shelf to get the polish. Evidently she then chose to sit in an empty bathtub and begin to create her masterpiece. First of all I was thankful that she was in the tub painting and not painting the wall or floor. Second she was in the bathtub so I was able to remove the paint from the tub and most of the paint from her face. Zachary wanted to take her picture, but Isabella loves having her picture taken, and I was not going to reward her with taking her photo eventhough years later it would be funny to show her the photo when she has to deal with her own two year old child. Needless to say, today Isabella's masterpiece has diappeared never to be seen again.....
Each day I tell myself I love having a two year old in my life, and most days she is adorable; however, last night she turned into a little turkey. Kirk was gone to a study group and I was visiting with a friend when all of the sudden it was really quiet. I excused myself from my friend to walk down the hallway and walk into the master bathroom to discover my little girl sitting in an empty bathtub painting herself and the tub with white fingernail polish. My first thought was how in the world did she get the fingernail polish? And then I looked down and noticed that she had taken her potty chair closed the lid and used as a stool to get up onto the bathroom counter, and reach up to the shelf to get the polish. Evidently she then chose to sit in an empty bathtub and begin to create her masterpiece. First of all I was thankful that she was in the tub painting and not painting the wall or floor. Second she was in the bathtub so I was able to remove the paint from the tub and most of the paint from her face. Zachary wanted to take her picture, but Isabella loves having her picture taken, and I was not going to reward her with taking her photo eventhough years later it would be funny to show her the photo when she has to deal with her own two year old child. Needless to say, today Isabella's masterpiece has diappeared never to be seen again.....
Monday, February 7, 2011
Great Quote
"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can to be cumbered with your old nonesense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays." Emerson
I came across this quote today and really liked it because it is so true. Often when we lay down in our beds at night we question and wonder what we could have or should have done differently and we replay this in our mind. As people we really do have to let go of yesterday and embrace tomorrow with a fresh and new outlook.
I came across this quote today and really liked it because it is so true. Often when we lay down in our beds at night we question and wonder what we could have or should have done differently and we replay this in our mind. As people we really do have to let go of yesterday and embrace tomorrow with a fresh and new outlook.
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