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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

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+.

It’s freezing and JDaniel says, “Hot! Hot! Hot!”

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I am trying to be a good mom and keep my little one warm as we venture out of the house in this frigid weather. JDaniel is usually wearing long sleeve shirts, jeans, a winter coat and hat when we leave the house in the morning to run errands. I try to warm up the car to keep him warm as we travel to the grocery store, library, playgroup, etc… From the backseat of the car I keep hearing a very ornery toddler voice say, “Hot! Hot! Hot!” There is very little I can do while driving down the street. Once we get to our destination he needs to be dressed warmly to get out of the car.

It is hard as a mom to know how to dress a toddler for a car trip in winter. All I can do it turn down the heat, unzip his coat and take off his hat when he is in the car.

I am looking forward to it getting warmer!

What a Difference a Year Makes!

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Out
Jumparoo
Nursing
Low crawl
Babbling
Two naps
Waking up at 5:30 a.m.
Baby Einstein
The Hungry Caterpillar
Feeding him with a spoon and some self-feeding
Watching me clean
Existing with other children in playgroup

In
Climbing the outside of the stairs
Sippy Cups
Running
Words like coupons, football, oh-oh, eat,pacie,Jesus and many more
One nap
Waking up at 6:30 a.m.
Curious George and Thomas the Train
Richard Scarry’s Books
“I do it meself” (eating and everything else)
Sweeping and dusting
Learning to share with others in playgroup

My husband and I notice more and more how JDaniel has grown and changed in the last year.

My New Year’s Baby!

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JDaniel has decided it is time to have a baby in the house. No, I am not going to have another little one. This baby is a stuffed dog. A few months ago I jokingly put his favorite stuffed animal Eckel in a swim diaper. After I took it off ,JDaniel would go and get diapers for Eckel a few times a week. I would explain that Eckel didn’t need a diaper, Mommy was just being silly and put the diaper back in the bathroom. Well, JDaniel finally got Eckel into a swim diaper last week. He doesn’t want it taken off either. Eckel needs it.

The next thing JDaniel decided Eckel had to have was a baby blanket. I was packing up the last of the baby blankets to get ready to consign them. They were quickly absconded and taken to a different part of the room. JDaniel ended up creating a nest to sit in with the baby blankets. Later he carried one around and kept repeating, “Baby,baby,baby.” “No,” I told him, “We don’t have a baby in our house. We have a toddler.” “Eckel baby,” I was told as he handed Eckel the blanket. Now Eckel has to wear a diaper and carry a blanket around or be wrapped in it all the time.

I am hoping the Eckel will stop wearing diapers and will give up the blanket soon. Until then I have a new baby in the house.

A Family New Year’s Eve Party

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Kate H. is my youngest sister. She is the mother of two, an adjunct college instructor, war veteran, and so much more. She is very creative. I thought you would enjoy hearing about how she celebrates New Year’s Eve with her family and friends.

We invite over 3 families with children around 7pm. They are encouraged to bring an appetizer or dessert to share. We play family games with the kids.

Last year I used a cut-out Snowman from a Holiday card and we played secret snowman where the kids try to secretly attach the snowman (I put strong tape on the back) to someone. If the person notices them they need to try another person. It was great fun. The kids could not keep a straight face, but the adults pretended not to notice when the snowman was stuck to their backs. (This year the kids got Operation, and I Spy board game and Farmyard Uno so we will probably stick with board games.)

As 8 p.m. approached we break out the tacky paper hats and noise makers. I found some plastic champagne glasses at a discount store and we serve sparkling grape juice.

We have a battery operated clock in our kitchen which I take down and reset the time to make 8 pm turn magically into midnight. At midnight we toast each other and shout Happy New Year. This year I think we will make confetti because Charlie’s teacher said he needs to practice cutting.

How do you celebrate with your family?


Muffin Tin Monday- New Year’s Day

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JDaniel had a New Year’s Muffin Tin today. It contained confetti fruit salad, New Year’s ball drop tomatoes, ham, black eyed peas, and apple slices cut into 2010. He loved all of it.

Lessons Taken From Books- Christmas Day in the Morning

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Christmas Day in the Morning is a beautiful book by Pearl Buck with gorgeous illustrations by Mark Buehner. The story takes place on a dairy farm. A boy named Rob and his father have to get up early every morning to milk the cows. One morning he overhears his father tell his mother he wishes he could let Rob sleep in. This tells Rob how much his father loves him. The boy decides he want to do something special for his dad for Christmas. Rob decides that if he gets up early and milks the cows, his father will get time to rest. That is exactly what he does and in doing so he gives his dad the best gift of all his love.

What can you do to show the ones that you love how much your care between now and the New Year?

The Shepherds are on the Move

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One of the ladies in my mom’s group at church shared this wonderful activity that she did with her children when they were little. She would set up her nativity scene minus the shepherds. The shepherds would start their journey to the stable far away from the nativity scene somewhere else in the house. Each day the shepherds would appear in a new location in her home closer to the nativity scene. They would move closer and closer until they appeared in the nativity on Christmas Eve.

This activity could be started at any point leading up to Christmas. It won’t be to late start it this week. I am going to try it with JDaniel. It will be fun to search the house and look for the shepherds.

Muffin Tin Monday-Christmas

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I have really enjoyed reading the postings in December by other Muffin Tin Moms that involved decorating part of your meal. I decided to create a decorate your meal muffin tin for JDaniel. He wasn’t interested in creating though. He was really interested in eating what was in his tin!

The meal was made up of flat bread Christmas trees, cheese and carrot garland strips, ornaments of sausage circles, peas and peaches.

When he had inhaled the contents of his tin, he glanced to the top of the china cabinet, and pointed to the tin of his Aunt Kate’s cookies. “Cookie please,” he said. (He should have been full. I guess he is like all of us and has room for Christmas goodies.)

Here is what her cookies looked like.

Picture Walking- Holiday Storytelling

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I have a number of favorite picture books that have way too many words for JDaniel to sit still and listen too. Many of these books are favorites because of the pictures in them. Rather than set them aside for later, JDaniel and I picture walk through them.

What is picture walking?
Picture walking involves looking through the various images in the picture as you go through the book. You can talk about the story as it appears in the pictures. Sometimes we just look for a specific image like an animal on each page. Sometimes we look at the weather. Sometimes a paraphrase that story as it is told in the pictures.

You don’t even have to use a book. Sometimes we picture walk through magazines, coupon inserts, posters on the wall, billboards and more. I just want to introduce using picture clues, story sense, and looking for details as well as the big picture.

Holidays are a Time for Family Storytelling- Mommyhood Tip

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We went to visit with my in-laws recently. I was able to spend the large part of an afternoon talking with my mother in-law. She told me stories about raising her five children. Then she focused on the various girlfriends and boyfriends each had brought home to meet her and my father in-law. I have heard many of the stories before. This time she focused on my husband’s more than she had before. She said that each one seemed nice, but after a visit or two they never came back. “You were the one that keep coming back!” she said. It was wonderful to hear her retell the events that lead up to my getting to join her family.

I hope you will take time to listen to family stories from your aunts, uncles, mom, dad or grandparents this year.

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