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+.

On The Day That You Were Born

March 1, 2011 By Deirdre

It was so quiet in the hospital room the evening JDaniel was born. My husband and I were staring down at our little bundle of joy. JDaniel laid wrapped in a soft blanket in an isolette looking back at us. He was the most beautiful baby either of us had ever seen. We could have looked at him for hours and hours. We did look at him for hours.

Things had been busy earlier in the day. My mom had stopped by along with my husband’s brother’s family to see our little wonder. They had all enjoyed getting to meet JDaniel and hold him for the first time.

It was wonderful share him with others but, there was something so special about our being here just the three of us. It was just our family. JDaniel was the baby we had hoped and prayed for when we decided to start a family a year earlier.

Out of nowhere my husband started singing On the Day That Your Were born to our little man.

Why do birds suddenly appear,

Everytime you are near?

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you……

Why do stars fall down from the sky,

Every time you walk by?

Just like me, they long to be,

close to you………

On the day that you were born the angels got together,

And decided to create a dream come true,

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair

And golden starlight in your eyes of blue…

That is why, all the girls in town,

Follow you, all around,

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you…….

On the day that you were born the angels got together,

And decided to create a dream come true,

So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair

And golden starlight in your eyes of blue…

That is why, all the girls in town,

Follow you, all around,

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you………

Just like me, they long to be,

Close to you………

I hadn’t heard the song in years. It was perfect for that moment. It encompassed everything we both were thinking and feeling.

It will be a memory that stays with me forever.

This post is linked to Remembered.

Muffin Tin Monday- Some of My Favorite Foods

February 28, 2011 By Deirdre

Dear Mom,

Thank you for fixing me a meal with some of my favorite foods. Sometimes I look down and my muffin tin and want to add an extra sentence to my mealtime prayer. I would say something like, “Thank you God for this great food to eat. Mom made some of my favorites today.”

I just love your meatloaf. I don’t know if it is the tomato juice you add to it or the Italian breadcrumbs. It just tastes wonderful!

Sweet potato french fries are my favorite vegetable right now. I never seem to get enough on my plate. Dad doesn’t want to part with his when I ask him for some off his plate. We both just really like them. Could you make it more next time?

I didn’t think I was going to like the navy beans and yellow squash in my tin, but I did. I am glad you had me try new foods.

Blueberries are my favorite fruit right now. I ask for them at every meal and for snacks. Thank goodness you find them on sale and stock up on them.

Grape tomatoes are such fun to eat. They squirt seeds all over the inside of my mouth. Sometimes they squirt all over my shirt too. It is fun to bite into them and see what happens.

Love,

JDaniel

P.S. I would love to have chocolate fudge icing on my chocolate birthday cake. My friends will enjoy it too.

A Quiet Quit Hand Signal

February 26, 2011 By Deirdre

JDaniel and I went to our local children’s museum on Thursday. It was crowded due to several school having field trips there.

Eight to ten year olds were running all over the water play area when we arrived. Water was flying out of the water pools. Waterwheels were spinning wildly shooting water across the pools and on to the children. Each child seemed to be having a wonderful time. There wasn’t any rough play just a bunch playful splashes.

It looked chaotic and wild when we first approached the play pool. I was worried JDaniel would be knocked over. Yet he was able to play with a toy boat and small duck amongst the big kids. He was in heaven.

I noticed the teacher when we entered the water area. She was quietly watching her class play. When one child slipped while trying to run to a different part of the pool, she quietly sauntered over to check on her, made sure she was okay, and reminded her to be careful. She had such a quiet loving way about her.

When it was time for her class to move to another exhibit, she quietly raised her hand. It took about two minutes for the first child to notice the raised hand. Once that child moved to get in line the other got in line behind her.

I stood there amazed at this wonderful teacher. She has obviously set ground rules with her students earlier in the year about lining. I bet she was clear with them about what she expected them to do.

I hope that JDaniel’s life is filled with teachers just like her.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Presidents

February 25, 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 the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

Link your activity below.

Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the 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 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.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

I remember reading The Buck Stops Here to my second graders when Clinton took office the first time. The wonderful book by Alice Provensen gives information in rhyme about each of the presents from Washington to Clinton. The pictures are such fun. They illustrate the rhyme as well as give you fun facts about the president’s families, pets, and favorite snacks.

What did we do?

Craft

We created a cherry tree to represent the one George Washington is supposed to have chopped down.

JDaniel didn’t want to dip his whole arm in the paint. I made the trunk of the tree instead.

JDaniel had no trouble creating the leaves of the tree using his fingers. He did tentative finger touches to start with and then added smears of green paint as leaves.

Once the leaves were on, we added red cherries using a dot stamper.

Then it was time to wash hands by playing with water in the sink. JDaniel loves to play in the sink with bubbles. It such an easy way to get paint of his hands.

This post is also linked to Feed Me Friday.

Belly Laugh Leads to a Faucet Retreat

February 24, 2011 By Deirdre

On Mondays JDaniel and I go to playgroup. We have been meeting with many of these moms for two years. The kids know each other, each other’s toys, and homes like the back of their hands.

Two days ago we met at Joe’s house. Joe’s house is known for its fenced in backyard as well as a sand/water table. When I tell JDaniel we are going to Joe’s, he is thrilled. He loves to play in the sand.

I think all the kids love to play in the sand. At one point all of them were huddled about the table with shovels or scoops in their hands on Monday.

Apparently one of boys named Jay decided that it would be wonderful to add water to the sand. He tried the faucet in the backyard and noted that handle was not screwed on tightly. He must have known he wasn’t supposed to turn it because he only turned the handle so a small trickle was coming out of it. It was just enough to fill dirt spot under the faucet and create mud.

Soon another little boy scurried over to see what he was up to. This drew the attention of Jay’s mom who rushed over to remind him that he wasn’t to play with the faucet. He apparently has worked at faucet handle tightening and loosening at home with much success. His mom wasn’t happy about his plying his talent at Joe’s.

Shortly after Jay’s mom reminded him not to play with the faucet. Jay decided to show JDaniel and Joe how to make more mud. He knew he had to be sly about it or his mom would find out. Joe silently sauntered away from the sand table and leaned against the house. JDaniel tiptoed over to the mud pile and looked like he was scooping up the mud to bring some to the table.

Suddenly JDaniel let out a huge laugh. It rose from his belly and filled the whole backyard. The noisy laugh caught all the moms and other children attention. We all went running to see what was happening.

Water was gushing all over the ground. Joe looked relatively innocent. Jay looked a little perturb at JDaniel. JDaniel just kept laughing.

He must have thought sneaking around to do something forbidden was a hoot.

I don’t think Joe and Jake are going to want to have JDaniel around to act as sentry when they get up to mischief later on. His laugh is going to draw attention every time.

I hope he keeps laughing loudly it will give me a heads up that there is trouble afoot.

Postscript: After Jay’s mom took him in for a timeout, all the children stayed away from the faucet. The lesson of leaving the faucet alone had been learned by all.

This post is linked to Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop.

Trimmings from a Tree Become a Beaver Home

February 23, 2011 By Deirdre

He Loves Sticks

JDaniel has always loved to gather sticks. He started gathering them as soon as he could walk. We have spent hours picking up sticks and carrying them to the woods behind our house.

There have been times when his friend Nathan, our next-door neighbor, has wanted to do something else and JDaniel has told him he has to finish his work first.

I love the simplicity of picking up the sticks and carrying them to the woods. The sticks are taken out of the yard and JDaniel gets to exercise at the same time. I have been astounded by his ability to focus on a single task for 30 or 45 minutes at a time.

The Beaver Dam

The sticks suddenly stopped leaving the yard last week. My husband was trimming the branches of a tree in the front yard. The branches were both large and small in size. JDaniel started picking them up and carrying them to the bushes in front of the house instead of the woods. He gathered one stick or branch at a time and carefully leaned them against the bushes. When the bushes closest to him filled up, he started carrying them to the set of bushes on the far side of the house.

“What are you doing?” I asked him. “Why I am creating a beaver dam?” JDaniel informed me.

Reasoning with a Beaver

I am all for pretend play, but these sticks and branches started to look terrible in front of the house after a couple of days. I can’t imagine what the neighbors thought about them.

I knew that he would not be enthusiastic about the sticks being moved out of the front yard. He really loved darting in and out of them pretending to be a beaver.

I decided to reason with him.

“I believe if we leave these sticks out front,” I told him, “Beavers are going to drive by and decide this would make a perfect home for them.”

“Mom, beaver can’t drive!” he replied.

“What is someone drives them?” I asked.

“They wouldn’t like it. There is no water for them here,” he answered.

“Maybe we could move the dam into the backyard so they won’t be tempted?” I told him.

“Okay, we can move them, but they still won’t come,” he said matter-a-factly.

Thank goodness we were able to come to an understanding.

The Big Beaver Moves Sticks

JDaniel doesn’t know this yet, but a beaver has come to take some of the sticks away. He is about six feet tall with graying hair and is JDaniel’s dad when he is not being a giant beaver. This big beaver is not a fan of the sticks being anywhere in the yard. He has been taking one or two sticks a day to the woods.

I am hoping it takes JDaniel a while to notice.

This post is linked to Capture the Everyday and Alphabe Thursday.

Chopping Down Trees a la George Washington

February 22, 2011 By Deirdre

George didn’t have a chain saw like the man we hired to trim our trees. He probably didn’t have cherrypicker as he had either. He might have wished he had them if he knew they would be this much fun. JDaniel and my husband were mesmerized.

I don’t think JDaniel was scratching his head about how the cherry picker could go up and over the first tree to get to the second tree that way. He probably just had an itchy place on his head.

It was amazing to see him weave around the tree branches.

The roaring of the chain saw and the speed the limbs fell from the tree had JDaniel oohing and ahhing.

He stood and watched for over an hour.

Actually they both stood and watched for over an hour. I bet you would too. It isn’t often that you have a cherry picker in your backyard.

Muffin Tin Monday- Lunch by George

February 21, 2011 By Deirdre

In honor of President’s Day JDaniel had a George Washington lunch. Allegedly George Washington chopped down a cherry tree as a young boy. It was fun to try and come up with foods that had cherries or would relate to George’s tree experience.

The first items in the tin are turkey sandwiches. George probably hunted for turkeys on his various properties. I haven’t read anywhere that they were a particular favorite of his. I do know that Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national symbol of our country. JDaniel has made the turkey sandwich his personal favorite for lunch.

The second cup contains broccoli trees and cherry tomatoes for dipping in the blue cheese dipping sauce. I mentioned the fact that George likes to chop down trees or is remembered for chopping down a tree. JDaniel has a special fondness for trees but, didn’t want anything to do with these. He ate all the tomatoes and the dip though.

The third cup contains cherry jello. It came out a little soupy this time. I am not sure what I did wrong, but it had enough clumps it that JDaniel thought it looked like jello and wanted to eat it.

The last cup on the second row contains JDaniel’s favorite part of the meal. I made biscuits and put cherry filling over one for him. I guess you could call it a cherry biscuit cake. It disappeared as soon as the tin hit the table so, I guess you could call it the disappearing cherry biscuit cake.

What is your favorite cherry related food?

“No, Thank You” Could Lead to a Coup Attempt

February 19, 2011 By Deirdre

“No, Thank you” should be a wonderfully polite phrase uttered when you are offered something that you have no interesting having or shouldn’t.

It could be really wonderfully delicious second slice of chocolate cake that you really don’t need.

It could be a cup of coffee offered when you walk into playgroup.

JDaniel has started saying, “No, Thank you”. He says it all the time. When we are out in public, people are so impressed when they hear him say it. While it is better than hearing no over and over, it is starting to sound just the same to me.

“Would you like to go to the potty?” I ask

He replies, “No, Thank you.”

“I need you to help me pick up toys” I say.

He replied, “No, Thank you.”

“It is time for you to take a bath! I exclaim.

He replies, “No, thank you.”

“We are going to have just one cookie for snack,” I inform him.

He replies, “No, thank you.”

It really sounds like he is trying to overrule what I am telling him.

Does it work for me? No, it really doesn’t.

Do I want to keep hearing it? No, thank you.

Well, in a polite way it would be okay as long as it isn’t part of a coup attempt.

Read.Explore.Learn. – Finding Love

February 18, 2011 By Deirdre

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