Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

He has geeky feet!

June 9, 2011 By Deirdre

We live in the land of flip flops here in South Carolina and JDaniel wears socks with his sandals almost every day. Thankfully there are people from all over the world that live in our area. My husband says that if people notice they will just think we are from a European country where socks with sandals are fashion trend in the toddler set. (I am pretty sure that that unspecified country probably would probably frown on wearing socks that have bright red toes and heels. )

If we visited them in their unspecified country, they would probably think we were geeky Americans. I sure they wouldn’t think we were displaying a new American sandal trends. With the advent of the internet people can now see in a split second what the American toddler set is wearing this summer.

Why does he have socks on with his sandals? He has them on to prevent his feet from having contact with grass. JDaniel has topical allergies that can give him an extremely itchy rash on his feet and legs in the spring and summer.

Some people may look at his feet and think we have missed the summer sandal fashion boat. I look at his feet and think they are protected and itch free.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop. The prompt was “In honor of the “white” after Memorial Day rule, name a fashion rule that you either break or enforce.”

Do Dust Bunnies Hatch?

June 8, 2011 By Deirdre

I talk about dust bunnies a lot with JDaniel as we remove them from our house. They seem to gather frequently behind tables and under furniture in our home.

One day while riding in the car JDaniel started asking questions about dust bunnies.

JDaniel: Where do the bunnies come from?

Me: Well, they form when dead skin, hair and other things gather close to each other on the floor.

JDaniel: No, how are they born? Do they hatch?

Me: Hatch? Sweet boy, they aren’t birds they don’t hatch.

JDaniel: Do they have moms and dads like I do?

Me: No, they don’t have parents?

JDaniel: Why? I do.

Me: Yes, you do. They aren’t real bunnies. If they were real bunnies, they would have parents.

JDaniel: Mom, they are real. I can see them.

Me: That’s true. I can see them too.

JDaniel: How do they grow?

Me: They move closer to other dust and it sort of attaches to them.

JDaniel: No, what do they eat.

Me: I don’t think they have mouths to eat.

JDaniel: Sure, they do.

Me: I guess there could be dust carrots.

JDaniel: I only like cooked carrots. Do dust bunnies like cooked carrots?

Me: I haven’t really noticed. I guess they would like them cooked.

JDaniel: Can I feed them some of mine?

Me: I don’t think we should feed them or they will start to grow larger and larger.

JDaniel: Are you sure they don’t hatch?

Me: Yes, I am sure they don’t hatch.

Disclaimer: I couldn’t remember the conversation word for word so, I added words that I felt I needed to. Most of it came straight from our conversation.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Pause Life for a Moment- a belle, a bean and a chicago dog

June 7, 2011 By Deirdre

Liz of a belle, a bean, and a chicago dog is an amazing blogger. She understands social media, loves to collaborate with and support other bloggers, and runs several communities and a media consulting firm. What I love best about her is the way she loves her husband and her girls. I have never seen them together in person, but the pictures she has drawn about them with her words display her love over and over again.

In the Final Moments of the Day

To say our children are only small for a moment may sound so trite but it’s oh so true. Those first couple years are filled with pounds gained, inches grown and milestones reached, and then without notice, we are left with a blossoming preschooler, often too independent for mom.

My oldest, Kate, was never a cuddler. As soon as she could sit up on her own, she wanted to be free to do and see what she pleased. My second chance at stealing those sweet snuggly moments was with Madelyn, and – colic aside – she’s come through for me with some sweet nuzzles here and there.

My favorite time of the day is bedtime. And not just because that means I can consider myself “off duty.” We have a long-standing bedtime routine in our house, and cozying up in the glider in Maddie’s room, singing songs and telling stories, is how we end our days.
Unfortunately, the countdown to age 3 is on for Maddie, which means those precious, End-of-the-Day moments are limited. It saddens me on the nights she asks to sit next to me on the glider instead of on my lap. Or when she tries to cuddle up against my chest but can’t quite get comfortable because she’s grown too tall.

I often wonder how soon our treasured bedtime routine will come to an end.

But for now, I’m enjoying each evening as it comes. I’ve recently added an additional song to our routine, and may or may not frequently ask her if she wants to rock for a bit longer even though her songs and stories are done. Then I rest my head on the cushioned chair back and take in that extra time with my baby, peacefully swaying back and forth.

Please stop by a belle, a bean, and a chicago dog and tell her about your own special sleepy time moments.

I can’t wait until the end of June when I can meet her in person at the Type A Parent Conference.

Muffin Tin Monday- A Visit to the Chinese Market

June 6, 2011 By Deirdre

Chicken stir fry, mango gelatin, rice cookies, and tropical fruit

We are so blessed to live in a community with many cultures. I thought it would be fun to take JDaniel to explore the Chinese market in Greenville. He had a wonderful time taking in all that the market had in store. Some of the things he selected to try were things I couldn’t identify. I tried to guide him towards things I knew he might eat.

What did we get? We purchased rice cookies with transportation vehicles on them, noodles, and a mango flavored gelatin.

Making gelatin was a lot of fun. JDaniel loved getting to stir the mixture after I added milk to it. I have never had gelatin with milk, but that is what the directions instructed us to add. JDaniel loved it. He asked for it over and over again. Due to the fact that it made tons of gelatin, he was able to have it over and over again.

The noodles were added to stir-fried veggies and chicken. He inhaled all of it and asked for more.

The cookies were another big hit. It was fun to see what type of car or truck would come out of the box. My husband and I enjoyed them too.

I think we will be going back to get more of everything. We may even try some of the things I couldn’t identify next time.

What do you think we should get on our next trip to the Chinese market?

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Robots

June 3, 2011 By Deirdre

Welcome to first week of the Read. Explore.Learn Summer Reading Challenge! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

Link your activity below.

Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

<center><a href=”http://www.jdaniel4smom.com/”><img alt=”Shibley Smiles” src=”http://69.195.124.116/~jdanielf/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ReadExploreLearn.jpg” alt=”jdaniel4smom” width=”150″ height=”150″ /></a></center>

Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment and Stumble your post.

If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
I would love a comment too.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Hello, Robot by Bob Staake is the tale of four robots. They each have chores they do around their house.

When they get caught in a rainstorm, each has trouble with their wiring. Blink, the robot that bakes tries to bake a birdhouse. Zinc, the robot that fixes things tries to repair a pie with a hammer. Blip, the robot that does yardwork tries to rake the windows. Zip, the robot that cleans shines the grass. As time goes on the problems get worse. The robots realize something has to be done. What can they do?

They decide to switch heads and find that the switcheroo does the trick. They are able to go back to the jobs they love. JDaniel loved the mistakes they made after being in the rain. The mess and choas was right up his alley.

What did we do?

Chalk Drawing

I drew the outline of the robot and JDaniel added the details. What looks like bangs on the robot’s head is really multiple eyes. I didn’t see it at first, but JDaniel explained that the robot needed many eyes to see.

Play Dough Robot Creation

JDaniel decided that a potato masher would make the best tool to smash the play dough.

He used bottle caps to create a three eyed blue mouthed monster. Can you see it?

This post is linked to Feed Me Books Friday, Link and Learn, We Play and It’s Play Time.

It’s in his genes

June 1, 2011 By Deirdre

JDaniel is a happy mix of both my husband’s and my genes.

This is a picture of my father in-law holding JDaniel who is looking at a picture of my husband.

JDaniel looks like his dad. When I look at pictures of this toddler years, my husband looks just like him. My husband looks just like his dad. I joke that I may not live to see JDaniel3 in his eighties, but I know what he will look like.

My husband prefers to read non-fiction books. I read all kinds of books. JDaniel loves to look at and be read books that are based in real things. Fairy tales are not his favorite. He loves books about construction equipment and robots right now. Although if you give him a good book with rhymes and rhythms in it. He will look at it over and over again repeating what he remembers from the book.

We all love to be outside. Our family does a lot of yard work and playing outside. JDaniel can’t get enough of it. We spend time inside during allergy season, but once that passes we are outside a lot.

We all like to put things together. JDaniel has unfortunately inherited my let’s try to put it together without a manual and then get frustrated when it doesn’t work out genes. Maybe he can learn from my husband how to read manuals.

JDaniel has inherited mixed up sleep and awake time genes. He has my husband’s night owl genes along with my early bird genes. I am still hoping the early bird and night owl genes will become recessive. If that happens, he may finally sleep ten hours straight. I have heard it is possible in the teen years for the sleep genes to change.

JDaniel has inherited my auditory learning genes. He talks through what he is learning and needs clarification of by talking about it all the time. It drives my husband crazy. It is like oral processing in stereo. JDaniel has things he is talking about and I have things to share too. Despite the fact I try to filter at least 70% of what I am thinking .There are times he has to seek refuge in the bonus room where JDaniel’s 90% of what he is thinking can be silenced for a few moments. ( JDaniel keeps the 10% of thought s related to trouble he is going to seek to himself)

We are amazed as we watch JDaniel growing older as to how much of who he is comes from his DNA. The same DNA he inherited from us. I laugh at the things that come from my husband and my husband laughs at what comes from me.

JDaniel is his own person, but he has a lot us in him.

What genes did you pass to your children?

This post is link to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe and Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.

Pause Life for a Moment- Mama Dweeb

May 31, 2011 By Deirdre

Mama Dweeb (Annie) is as sweet as she is wise. I met her at the Type A Conference last fall at breakfast and she was so kind to me. What a special lady! I am thrilled that she is sharing with you today.

I work hard. Always have. I graduated high school at 17 years old, got my first job and moved into college dorms one month after graduation. From then on I had at least 2-3 jobs while in college full time.

I cannot take a break.

Now I am a mother of 3 kids – 4 year-old-daughter, 2 year-old-son and 5 month old daughter. I blog full time and volunteer at my church and in my community.

I cannot take a break.

And now, with the internet I really can’t take a break. It is there, 24/7. Tasks needing accomplished, tweets, posts, comments, photos! Constant – yet enjoyable. Working is how I have defined my success my entire life. Taking a break was for the lazy. The busier I was the happier I was and, in my eyes, successful.

But with such young children, if I do not take a break more often, I will miss important things. Very important things. Just the other day, my internet broke. I was without the ability to get online (save for my email on my phone) all day.

I played with my kids. I always play with them. But with the computer off, I really played. My 4 year old and I worked on her letters and numbers literally all day long. My 2 year old and I did sword fights and the baby was just cute.

Now that the internet is back on, I am taking more breaks. I can still be successful, I just have to take more and longer breaks. I am learning how to manage my time better and spend quality time with my children while they are awake.

I still work very hard at my blog. But now, I focus on them better. Focus, like the 50mm lens of a DSLR, blurring out the peripheral. I hone in on them, their grins, their minds expanding. Amazing what I miss when I am right here.

About the Author:

Annie works full time on her Kansas Blog MamaDweeb.com. She lives in Kansas with her 3 kids and loving husband. You can find her on twitter @MamaDweeb, she loves to chat about all things parenting and life!

Muffin Tin Monday-Memorial Day Picnic

May 30, 2011 By Deirdre

Memorial Day always makes me think of picnics though I am not sure I remember the last picnic I went on Memorial Day. JDaniel’s muffin tin today has some picnic foods along with attempts to get more veggies in his diet.

Hot dogs are a staple of summer cookouts and picnics so, JDaniel has a low sodium hot dog and a bun. He loves pickles right now and pickles are another picnic staple. (Pickles count as a vegetable at our house.) I found an amazing easy to make frozen yogurt recipe on No Time for Flashcards and used my star shaped muffin tin as a mold to make frozen strawberry yogurt stars. Baby tomatoes and wrinkled baby lima beans round out the tin.

The wrinkled limas were not touched and I don’t blame JDaniel they look pretty bad. The star went first.

Recipe for Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients

1 cup of fresh or frozen fruit sliced into small pieces

1 1/2 cups of vanilla yogurt

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients into a blender.

2. Use the puree or a similar blender speed to mix the ingredients.

3. Pour the mixture into a silicone mold.

4. Place in the freezer until solid.

5. Enjoy!

My Muffin Tin Themes for June

Exploring foods from a Chinese market

Exploring foods from a Hispanic market
Exploring foods from the farmer’s market
Yankee Doodle loves noodles

What is you favorite picnic food?

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Read.Explore.Learn. Summer Reading Challenge

May 29, 2011 By Deirdre

Many summer reading programs are starting across the United States this week. I thought it would be fun for the Read.Explore.Learn meme to have its own summer reading challenge program.

The Read.Explore.Learn. Summer Reading Challenge will have three stages. Each stage will last the length of one of the summer months.

Each Read.Explore.Learn post tying a book to an activity you link up during a month will count as a challenge entry. At the end of each month I will create a list of all of the entries and randomly select one as the winner of the monthly challenge. The more entries you link up each month the more chances you have to win.

The prizes will be the following:

June- A $10 Gift Code to Amazon.com

July-A $10 Gift Card to Barnes and Noble

August-A summer reading tote filled with three hardcover picture books.

Stage One or the June portion of the Summer Reading Challenge will start this Friday and continue until June 24th.

Read.Explore.Learn. -Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

May 27, 2011 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read. Explore. Learn! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

Link your activity below.

Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

>

Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Pete the Cat : I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin is just a wonderfully upbeat book. Pete sings about how happy he is with white shoes until he walks through strawberries. Then Pete sings about the joys of red shoes. When Pete walks through blueberries, he sings about how wonderful blue shoes are. Later when he walks through mud, he finds joy in brown shoes. When his shoes miraculously become white again after walking through a puddle, he is happy with white.Pete is just a happy cool cat.

The rhythms and rhymes in this book are contagious. You just want to tap your feet or clap your hands as you read it.

What did we do?

Observing Colors in Ice

I found a fun post linked to Link and Learn on No Time for Flashcards called Marching and Melting on a blog called Pfollowing Pfenn. The post showed how they had made red, blue, and yellow ice cubes and then explored the colors the ice cubes made when they melted.

It looked like such fun that we just had to do it.

First, we made the ice cubes.