Kidding
About a month back or so, when the time came to send our four and a half year old to the music preschool, one day a week, one hour and a half–(4.5 year old to 1 day a week, 1.5 hours)–I panicked. I posted on a fb group I’m freaking out about dropping off my son at music class!!! Backing up. This teacher, and this school, are phenomenal. We took a year long class together with the teacher. If anyone tells you pre-k music is just a time-filler, they haven’t had the experience I have. Wow. Not only is the curriculum geared toward building their little minds and skill sets, it’s artfully woven into a fun time and a silly time and a playing music time. And most especially, a time for exposure to instruments and musical ideas I simply cannot provide. BUT we’ve never dropped our kids anywhere. Only a few friends have babysat, otherwise always family. We’ve never left that at a gym play area, a church play area, a crafts play area, a daycare, a school, nothing. Returning to my panic. I called my sisters, my friends, my husband at work, and my mom, is he ready? what if there are peanuts? what if he poops and doesn’t wipe all the way? what if he’s mean to another kid? what if he’s the sassy boy in class? I texted my bloggy mommy friends. I freaked out. My fb group was soothing, for the most part. The moms reminded me that…
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I don’t get it. They’re pretty adorable in real life. I just simply cannot say the same after I’ve threatened and cajoled them into attempting Christmas pictures. You heard it from the goat’s mouth. These pictures are pretty abysmal. We tried to rush them in after SuperBoy had sustained a tolerable level of good behavior at the 2 hour (you heard me. Two hour) mass at our beloved parish for All Souls Day. It was Mozart’s Requiem. Google it, people. It’s stunning. But I kept little screamer (that’s the one you know affectionately as SweetPea) and the true angel of the family (BabyLoves) at home. She has taken to acquiring an F- at mass these days. The girl who cried potty one too many times. The girl who needs whatever her brother has and isn’t afraid to slap for it. He was dressed up anyway, so I cleaned up her, and put something on the baby, and voila. Christmas photo opp. {also not afraid to show you what a 31 year old who has had three kids and isn’t working out regularly’s neck looks like. be warned, as my girl Lyz puts it so much more funnierly. Be warned.} Help me pic a Christmas photo?? I LOVE my cousin Meghan’s work but this year we’re on a tightytight budget leash so I think I’ll be printing them meeeself. Check out her work if you want something really pretty! And then she opened her eyes. Kinda ends with some foot aggression,…
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Well my dears, I have a real treat for you! A new girlfriend who’s an incredible foodie is kind enough to share her methods of starting solid foods with us today. With BabyLoves edging into his fifth month and snatching things, I’m still determined to hold off til his gut bacteria is ready (AAP recommended 6 months) and, frankly, because I’m not ready for the MESS. But when we do start down that lane, I am eating ALL of this advice. Right. Up. Hop to her site for two recipes & a giveaway of one of my Bandit Bibs. Like you’re a bunny. hop hop HOP. And while you’re there, follow her because we all need all the food help we can get. Thanks, Sarah. Take it away with your adorable children!! — Hello Whole Parenting friends! I’ve been following along with Nell’s adventures since her blog was mentioned over on Camp Patton a while back. I always enjoy seeing what she is up to, and reading her advice on all things kid related! Let’s just say her recent post on 4 year old discipline spoke to me! I’m a mama to two mostly sweet boys—David (pronounced in Spanish— da-veed), 3 ½, and Jonathan, 6 months. You can read all about our foodie adventures over on my blog Fried Dandelions. Stop by today to get two new baby food recipes, and enter for a chance to win one of Nell’s fabulous Bandit Bibs! Today I am…
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I recently took stock in all that I’ve written on the blog over the past 3.5 years to see if there was good material for a book. I mean, the very original idea that a mommy blogger who’s a crunchy Catholic could schmoosh her posts into a book. Well, 170 pages of posts that generally fall under “parenting” had me convinced I am the next behavioral expert. Until I started re-reading it all. Yes, there are a few gems in there, but . . . big boy battles, 2 under 2, 3 under 5, taming your toddler’s tantrums, feeling powerless with your preschooler, power parenting: why force & fear don’t work, helping emotional boy find his voice & ears, clearly I’m just another mom with limited knowledge, time, energy, and yet unlimited opinions. Book may have to take a different form. But I digress. Right now we’re dealing with the fine line between threats and explained consequences with our budding four year old boy. Mr. SuperPants SuperBoy. He’s so sweet until he’s terrible. He loves to take directions until he doesn’t. He is never cross until he’s crossed. You know how it is. I’ve found a few things work and don’t work with his temperament. His sister’s already shaping up to be a completely different person (shocker!) with acute needs of her own. I share not because I’m an expert but because maybe your child is similarly situated and what is working for us might work for you. Or might…
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I have written so many posts on sleep. Why? Because it’s what we all dream about as moms, right? Dream // dread // fear // desiresodeeply. Sleep sampler // infant -12 months Toddler sleep & big boy wakes Ousting the co-sleeper (sorta) Why co-sleep? Toddler sleep night trouble 12 steps to recovering your humanity when you’re a wreck When to stop night nursing When your infant screams and screams and you do too to name a few. Generally, we’re in the attachment parenting group. We follow Dr. Sears on most things. We don’t do cry it out with babies. Once our kiddos hit 12 months, we night wean and gently work on letting them cry for a few minutes alone before comforting them, then letting them cry a little again. You’re thinking: SHE’S CRAZY. Combined with: WHO HAS TIME FOR THIS??? And I can only laugh and agree I’m crazy. And yet, somehow, it has worked so far for our family. My big kids screamfightplay if I’m nursing the baby down for his nap. They don’t get screen time because I’m (crazy) and (not nice) not a huge fan. They learn to deal with each other and are old enough to be left unsupervised a room away from me for a little while. They learn to negotiate, freak out, and come and bother me 53 times and be told again and again to work it out. I follow the same basic pattern with my babies for sleep that doesn’t involve sleep training.…
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She’s the world’s most opinionated 2.4 your old I’ve ever met. She has very definite needs. And shares without equivocation. “Mama, where is Cloe and Darling and Thumper . . . oh, Thumper is at church with Jesus. My dollies need to come with me and nurse. And I’ll tuck them in. They will love me.” “Can you HOLD ME?” Arms up stretched. “NOW?” x 100/day. “I NEED you. I need you to take my hand and walk me to my room. Then you can sit in the rocker with the baby and sing to me while I play in my bed.” Her bed. Her favorite place on earth. It’s just an Ikea cheapie crib that now has one side down & a little plank up. Does that qualify it as a converter bed? Converter crib? Toddler bed? Whatever. It’s her big girl bed and that’s all that matters to her. She must have at least three swaddle blankets, five stuffed animals/dolls, and two pacifiers. One for her and one for one of her babies. This is coming from a girl who never wanted a pacifier as a baby herself. Me thinks she’s teething those back molars in. And don’t forget her night stand. A little second hand mini drawers covered with one of my blankets I made for her. It houses her water, her assortment of chokable hazards, and her hair accessories that she refuses to wear, and simply admires. “Holy God we pwaaaaise thy name . . .…
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