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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+.

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.

Birthday Promise to Jesus-Last Minute Christmas Idea

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My friend Elaine’s family writes birthday promises to Jesus every year. She places a box like the one above under their Christmas tree. In the box are birthday cards to Jesus and a set of pens. The first present they open Christmas morning is this special box. Each member of her family given their card to write a promise to Jesus they would like to keep for the year. They have been writing in their cards for years. Each person can look at the promises they have made over time as they write their new promise. The members of her family take a few minutes to reflect on their prior promises and pray for the promise they are making. Then each person places their card back in the box. No one needs to know what the others have promised in their cards. This is a special promise they each make to Jesus alone.

This year we are going to start this tradition too. My mom and dad along with a friend of my husband’s will be with us for Christmas this year. I am hoping they will all enjoy participating in this birthday promise to Jesus activity.

Thirteen Things JDaniel Should Know According to Kevin

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My sister Michelle’s family spent the night on Friday on their way to a wedding in North Carolina. We love having them come and stay. JDaniel adores his cousins Jason(9)and Kevin (6). His cousin Kevin quickly discovered that he could get JDaniel to do what he wanted him to do if he demonstrated it first. Kevin announced to him, “I am going to teach you thirteen things you need to know.”

The first thing JDaniel needed to know was that his cousin Jason loved to be tickled. (He hates to be tickled. Kevin knew that. I knew that. JDaniel didn’t know that.) The second thing he needed to learn was to jump on his cousin Jason. Jason tolerated both Kevin and JDaniel jumping on him as he lay on the couch. The third thing he needed to learn was to toss throw pillows at Jason. JDaniel decided it would be more fun to toss them at mom.

It was after lesson three that I intervened and stopped the lessons. They are coming back on Friday. I think Kevin plans to continue the lessons. I can’t imagine what the remaining ten lessons will entail. I just hope they don’t involve throwing things or attacking people.

Tinycandy’s Gift Review

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Susan E. Estes has written a touching book about a special elf called Tinycandy’s Gift. Tinycandy has trouble discovering what special gift he can create for Christmas. It doesn’t help that he has limp, uses a cane whittled by Santa, and appears to be one of Santa’s favorites. The other elves don’t see him as useful and resent that Santa favors him. In the end his cane inspires him to make a special holiday candy that will later be named for him. The creation of the candy cane helps Tinycandy get the respect and treatment from the other elves he has desired. This book teaches a special lesson to Tindycandy and its readers. Tinycandy learns that his special limp doesn’t stand in the way of his creative gift. This book would be fun for all children. It would be especially fun for a special needs child.

I really enjoyed the rhyming text in this book. Rhyming text in a whole book is hard and Susan E. Estes does a good job keeping the story flowing and the rhymes going all the way through. The illustrations by Mike Motz in this book seem to glow on the pages.

A bonus with this book is the read –a-long cd that comes with it. Children could listen to this book over and over.

To order this book and learn more about its author go to www.seecreativeconcepts.com.Autographed copies are $14.99 for the first book and $12.00 for each additional book (price includes shipping and all applicable taxes; United States only).

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book to review. I was not compensated for this review beyond receiving a copy of the book.

Shannon’s Mexican Chicken Salad

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Ingredients:
Cooking spray
2 ears fresh or frozen cob corn, thawed
4 reserved cooked chicken breast halves, diced (I used 2)
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained (I used black beans)
1 cup Monterey Jack or pepper Jack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Spanish olives, sliced
1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced
1/4 cup pickled jalapenos, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Directions:
Heat a stove-top grill pan or griddle with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat to preheat.

Place corn on hot pan and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown on all sides, turning frequently. Remove from heat and cool. When cool enough to handle, slice kernels from cob. Transfer kernels to a large bowl and add chicken, beans, cheese, olives, tomatoes, apple, jalapenos, and cilantro. Toss to combine.

For the dressing:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add cumin and cook 1 minute, or until fragrant. Remove from heat and whisk in vinegar. Add dressing to chicken mixture and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

We had this at playgroup on Monday and it was awesome!

Watching My Toddler Play is Fascinating!

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JDaniel and I attended a birthday party for Jesus today thrown by the Upstate Christian Moms Group. We listen to the Christmas story. (I listened and he tried to wiggle out of my lap.) We ate cake and sang “Happy Birthday too. The best part of the party was watching JDaniel play in the nursery. He took care of a baby doll in a highchair. JDaniel brought a plate with food and fed the baby with a fork. He got a cup and held it up to the doll’s mouth. Finally he cooked a meal in the microwave. He placed a plate with a piece of play bread in the microwave. Before he could close the door he hesitated a moment and reached for another plate to put on top of the bread. (I cover everything that goes in the microwave too.) After closing the door, he punched the paper buttons on the microwave. There must not have been enough numbers punched. JDaniel had to go back and punch some more numbers.

I was supposed to being visiting with the other mothers at the party. I had so much fun watching JDaniel pretend to be a mommy or daddy I really didn’t say much to the other mothers. I just love to watch my son do new things!

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.

Beautiful Christmas Books for Storytelling

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I checked out a variety of Christmas books from the library and want to tell you about the ones I enjoyed the most.

Hark! The Aardvark Angels Sing by Teri Sloat is a really fun book about how aardvark angels help the mail service deliver all the holiday mail. Its rhythm and rhyme go right along with the Christmas carol “Hark the Harold Angels Sing”. In this story Harold is the head angel in charge of helping with mail.

The Donkey’s Christmas Song by Nancy Tafuri is about small donkey who feels his song for Baby Jesus won’t be a sweet as that of the other animals. He learns once he sings that Jesus giggles with joy at his song.

One Winter’s Night By Leo and Diane Dillon is about a pregnant cow that follows Mary and Joseph into the stable when she can’t find a place to sleep. This book has beautiful contrasting pictures on each page spread. There are black and white illustrations on the left of Mary and Joseph’s journey and color illustrations on the right from the cow’s journey.

What Christmas books do you love?

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