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+.

Five Reasons I Loved Hosting Playgroup at My House Yesterday

January 26, 2010 By Deirdre

1.It forced me to really clean my house.

2.I decluttered my house over the weekend so that it didn’t look so dishelved.

3.I tried the two Swanson’s chicken recipes I talked about in the Super Bowl-Swanson’s Chicken Giveaway. They were awesome!

4.JDaniel got practice in sharing his toys. He needs more practice.

5.I didn’t have to risk JDaniel falling asleep on the ride home from playgroup. We were already home.

Muffin Tin Monday- ABC’s Tin (Really Just A-F)

January 25, 2010 By Deirdre

I created an ABC tin for JDaniel this week. He inhaled everything. He almost always inhales everything.

Here is what was in his tin: Applesauce, Bagel (cinnamon and raisin), Cheese, a Drink (milk), Extra peas (They really should be called leftover peas, but that doesn’t start with E.), and Fancy ham ( I don’t know why it is called that. It just is on the package.).

I can’t wait to see what the other Muffin Tin Mom’s came up with.

Update on My Father In-Law

January 25, 2010 By Deirdre

First let me say thank for all the prayers you have said for my in-laws and my husband’s time with them this weekend. My husband’s parents have really needed them. I was talking with my husband today and he said that things were very difficult. It is hard to see your once strong and healthy father get weaker and weaker. JDaniel2’s (my father in-law) mind is strong. His body is the challenge. My husband has been helping his parents pray and talk through tough decisions about his dad’s health and need of care beyond what my 82 year old mother in-law can give him.

If you would continue to lift my in-laws along with my husband and his four siblings up it prayer, that would be wonderful.

Please let me know how I can pray for you.

Helping your kids Understand Tragedy in Haiti and Elsewhere

January 22, 2010 By Deirdre

With all that is happening in the world right now I thought would post some tips on helping children understand tragedy. These tips come from Charlotte Reznick PhD a child educational psychologist.

-Talk to your children and provide simple, accurate information to questions. Allow them to tell and draw their stories about what happened.

-Talk with your children about your own feelings.

-Listen to what your children say and how they say it. Try to acknowledge the underlying feelings in their words and their actions. For example: “I can see it makes you sad to think about all the people who were hurt by this earthquake.” This helps both you and the children clarify feelings.

-Reassure your child: “We are together. We are safe. We will take care of you.”

-Be honest and don’t deny the seriousness of the situation. Saying to a child: “Don’t cry, everything will be okay,” does not reflect how the child feels and the child knows that, at least in the immediate future, this is not true.

-Respond to repeated questions. You may need to repeat information and reassurances many times.

-Hold your child. Touching is especially important for children when they are distressed.

-Observe your child at play. Listen to what she says and how she plays. Frequently children express feelings of fear or anger while playing with dolls, trucks, or friends.

-Have your child imagine not only how it “feels” to be safe, but what it looks like, what sounds she hears, what smells she detects. Evoking as many senses as possible will make the experience seem real.

-Provide play, art, and writing games to relieve tension. You can have him act out, draw, or write out a positive outcome for the situation.

-Plan something practical that your child can do to help (do a pennies fundraiser at school or draw a picture memorializing a person who may have died).

-Resolving all of the feelings related to the disaster may take your child (and you) quite a while. It is normal for a child to bring up the crisis long after it has happened and when you least expect it.

Charlotte Reznick PhD is a child educational psychologist, an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at UCLA, and author of the LA Times bestselling book The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Succes.s

Disclaimer: These tips were sent to me and I thought they would be useful. I was not compensated in any way to post them and was have not read any of Dr. Reznick’s books.

Do you speak JDaniel?

January 19, 2010 By Deirdre

Here are some words for you to translate from JDaniel into English. I have placed a clue as to the meaning of the word beside it. The answers are at the bottom of the page.

Porkel
Hint: It is made from a cucumber.

Sharmer
Hint: He takes care of animals and grows crops.

Keen
Hint: You do it with a duster and vacuum.

Poupon
Hint: You use it to save money at a store.

Anmal
Hint: A sharmer takes care of them.

Orjinz
Hint: They are a color and a fruit.

Sharfall
Hint: JDaniel’s favorite online phonics program.

Answers: pickle, farmer, clean, coupon, animal, oranges, Starfall ( He loves http://www.starfall.com/)

Two Songs About Martin Luther King and a Craft for Children

January 18, 2010 By Deirdre

Martin Luther King’s birthday is this week. I thought I would share two songs for children I found on the internet about him and a wonderful art project my nephew Charlie did in preschool to celebrate his birthday.

Here are the songs:

Freedom, Freedom, Let It Ring to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Freedom, freedom, let it ring. Let it ring, said Dr. King.

Let it ring from North to South.

Let it ring from house to house.

Let it ring for everyone,

All across the whole nation.

Let it ring for black and white,

Let it ring both day and night.

Let it ring for young and old,

Forever may its song ring bold. Freedom, freedom, let it ring.

Let it ring, said Dr. King.

Let Us Keep His Dream Alive to the tune of “This Old Man”

This young man had a dream;

In his eye, he had a gleam.

We must love each other to survive.

Let us keep his dream alive.

He believed a man was good;

He had dreams of brotherhood.

We must love each other to survive.
Let us keep his dream alive.

All join hands, let us sing;

Let the bells of freedom ring.

We must love each other to survive.

Let us keep his dream alive.

We can learn from the past;
Then we’ll all be “free at last!”

We must love each other to survive.

Let us keep his dream alive.

Here is the wonderful craft:

Charlie and his classmates put handprints on each person’s paper to create unity ring of many skin tones. Then they played this beautiful dove in the center of the ring.

“We Are Going to the Zoo,” I said and JDaniel did a Little Dance!

January 17, 2010 By Deirdre

The weather finally warmed up here in South Carolina on Friday. It was almost sixty degrees by the afternoon. The day was perfect for a trip to the zoo. My friend Bridget and I decided to take your children downtown to visit the animals at the Greenville Zoo.

Well, you would have thought JDaniel had won the lottery when I told him about going to the zoo. He did a “happy dance” in the kitchen. Feet were tapping and arms were flying around in the air. JDaniel loves to go to the zoo to see the animals.

When we got there it was still a little chilly, he had to wear a coat. By the time we got halfway through the zoo, I had tucked his coat into his stroller. He has the best time looking at the animals and walking hand in hand with Morgyn from one exhibit to the next. The leopard was sitting right near the window sticking out his tongue at the kids. They thought that was so funny. They were in awe of the animals eating lunch. They loved seeing the alligators sleep while floating in the water and the snakes slithering around. The best thing according to JDaniel was the pigs and chickens. Who knew they would stand out to him the most?

The weather is cold and wet here today. I am so glad we got to go to the zoo and enjoyed the warmth while we had it.

Can the Early Bird Catch the Worm if the Worm is Asleep?

January 15, 2010 By Deirdre

I truly believe that the early bird can only catch the worm if the worm is awake. This morning JDaniel woke up at 5:00 a.m. Through the baby monitor I heard, “Eat! Eat! Mommy! Mommy!” being said in a little sleepy voice. He has been sleeping until at least 6:00 a.m. and sometimes later. I am not sure what the difference is. Maybe it is because we didn’t march around the house last night or dance to 80’s music before bath time. I have got to figure this out. The worm is really not awake enough this morning to get the early bird out of bed at 5:00 a.m. There was another little word spoken at 5:30 a.m. “Pacie”. I think I am going to leave him in bed until 6:00 a.m. and then begin his day.

I hope all your little birds are sleeping in today!

My Daddy’s Things and Tasks According to JDaniel

January 13, 2010 By Deirdre

Mommy is still very important to JDaniel. He still wants to know where I am and what I am doing all day. When he wakes up in the morning, it is mommy that is calls for.(Part of that is due to the fact that mommy is the only one that gets him out of bed in the morning. I am a morning person and my husband is really not.)

Lately there has been a daddy shift. He runs to the door to see “Daddy”! He insists we get daddy before we start building or playing. He has let me know that some things are just daddy things. The stories before bedtime have become Daddy’s. If I try and start the reading, I am informed by a little voice, “Daddy reads.” It is not just things daddy does. It is also my daddy’s shoes that I am told about. There is also daddy’s chair and daddy’s glass. (JDaniel loves to slip to the table and get any green tea left in daddy’s glass.) The list goes on. It seemed like the house was filled with daddy’s things.

Thankfully last week I finally was driving mommy’s car, reading mommy’s book, and wore mommy’s shoes. It is nice to be included as the owner of a few things.

Muffin Tin Monday- Counting to Six

January 11, 2010 By Deirdre

Today the Muffin Tin Monday Theme is Back to School/Learning. JDaniel had a counting tin for lunch. He had one strip of chicken, two pieces of cheese, three yellow pepper strips (He didn’t like them raw. He loved them cooked.), four grape tomatoes, five orange slices, and mixed veggies with six green beans. This meal didn’t fill him up. JDaniel requested two crackers and more oranges. Maybe I should have done three strips of chicken and one yellow pepper strip.